After six years, Kick-Off has disappeared from PokerStars’ dot-com offering. The unusual format combined elements of PKO tournaments, hyper-turbo sit & gos and jackpot-style prizes.
PokerStars has discontinued its Kick-Off tournaments on its international dot-com network. Originally launched under the Grand Tour name, the format spent six years combining elements of hyper-turbo sit & gos, progressive knockout tournaments and randomized prizes.
Kick-Off was removed from the PokerStars dot-com client on September 24. The operator has not yet revealed exactly why it decided to discontinue the game.
The format’s history dates back six years, when PokerStars introduced it as Grand Tour. The original concept was built around the world of cycling before later undergoing a complete rebranding.
The cycling theme was replaced by football, and for a period the game was known as Neymar Kick-Off, with the branding centered around PokerStars’ Brazilian ambassador Neymar. The Neymar branding was later dropped, although the football theme remained.
A version originally launched as La Course in Southern European markets is still available.
PKO, Hyper-Turbo and Jackpot Mechanics in One Game
One of Kick-Off’s defining features was the way it combined several popular online poker formats. Each tournament began with four players holding 1,000-chip stacks, with each so-called “sprint” lasting around five minutes. Play continued until only one player remained, who could then advance to the next level.
Half of an eliminated player’s bounty was immediately awarded to the player responsible for the knockout, while the other half was added to the winner’s own bounty. The system also featured random multipliers that could reach as high as 6,000x, allowing jackpots to exceed $100,000.
Kick-Off was available at five buy-in levels: $1, $2, $5, $12 and $25. Players did not have to start at the lowest level and could enter directly into higher-stakes sprints. After winning a level, they could either continue immediately or save their entry to the next stage for later.
PokerStars also experimented with the presentation of the game. Kick-Off had its own interactive lobby, where players could follow the various sprints and their progress toward the final stage on a map.
From there, players could choose the level at which they wanted to enter, watch games already in progress, and see recent winners, the biggest bounties and the format’s most successful players.
This made Kick-Off distinctive, but also considerably more complicated than a conventional sit & go. New players had to understand the sprint structure, multiple entry points, progressive bounty mechanics and random multipliers at the same time.
There Was Already a Clue When Betfair Joined
One earlier development may have hinted that Kick-Off was on its way out. When Betfair joined the new PokerStars Network and PokerStars on Betfair launched, Kick-Off was not included among the available games. PokerStars may therefore already have been planning to phase out the format.
In a message displayed in the client, PokerStars thanked players for their support and recommended other bounty and jackpot tournaments to Kick-Off fans.
The decision to discontinue the game is particularly interesting because other operators in the online poker market are currently experimenting with similar concepts.
Winamax’s Space KO also uses randomized bounty values, while Betclic has introduced a similar concept called Smash Knockout. Meanwhile, both iPoker and WPN are working on new bounty formats that combine progressive knockout and mystery bounty mechanics. ACR Poker began testing its own PKO Mystery Bounty variant on October 1.
Kick-Off therefore featured several elements that have since become increasingly prominent in online poker: short playing times, small tables, progressive bounties and randomized prizes.
At the same time, combining all of these mechanics may also have been one of the format’s weaknesses, creating a higher barrier to entry for players with less poker experience.
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