Four years ago, a game appeared on the GG Network that combined three of the hottest ideas in online poker. At first, Battle Royale resembles fast poker – a new hand starts immediately after the cards are discarded. All this is in the shootout format: to move on, you have to wait for a certain number of opponents to be eliminated or knock them out yourself. Of course, there are rewards for knockouts.
Initially, in June 2021, Battle Royale tournaments were designed for 100 participants and were held in three stages:
- Rush Zone . The stage lasted 15 minutes, then the top 50 participants moved on to the next stage. The remaining players were eliminated automatically, and their bounty was added to the prize pool.
- Shootout Zone . Participants were divided into 10 5-max tables and the game continued until there was 1 player left at each table.
- Final Table : All survivors advanced to the final table, where the tournament continued as normal.
After just 2 months, the number of participants was reduced to 30, while maintaining the basic rules:
- Rush Zone was played with up to 15 players. If after 15 minutes there were more than 15 players left in the game, the shortest stacks, not included in the top 15, were eliminated. Their bounty was added to the overall prize pool.
- Shootout Zone was played 3-max until there was one player left at each table. If there was more than one player left at the table after 5 minutes, everyone automatically went all-in.
- The final table was played in 5-max.
The game was available at four stakes: $0.25, $1, $3, $10. The payouts in the top 5 were the same: 27.4%, 27.38%, 20%, 14.58% and 10.64% of the prize pool.
The reduction in the number of participants added dynamics to the game, tournaments began to be held much more often. But the format remained niche and almost unclaimed by regulars.
In April 2024, the rules were changed once again. The number of participants was reduced to 18, and the main mechanic became Mystery Bounty.
The tournament currently consists of two phases:
- Rush — until there are 9 participants left. If there are more than 9 participants 10 minutes after the start, then the top 8 go to the final table, and for the rest, an All-In Shootout begins: everyone goes all-in every hand until there is one left.
- Final — the final table with prizes for the top 3.
The payouts have also changed. Instead of fixed knockouts and standard prizes (top 10 in 100-max and top 6 in 30-max), there are now knockouts that are paid only at the final. After a knockout, the Mystery Jackpot Bounty chest opens.
The odds of winning the prizes match the payouts in the spins. For example, this is what the prizes for $3 tournaments look like:
| Pay | Drop rate (per 100 million attempts) |
|---|---|
| $30,000 | 80 |
| $3,000 | 400 |
| $300 | 4,000 |
| $30 | 3,500,000 |
| $6 | 3,600,000 |
| $4.5 | 3,800,000 |
| $3 | 4,000,000 |
| $2.25 | 23,000,000 |
| $1.5 | 32,904,480 |
| $0.75 | 29,191,040 |
In the new conditions, daily leaderboards became a noticeable addition to the win rate for regulars. It is noteworthy that only actions performed in the Rush stage are counted: fold – 1 point, call – 3 points, bet or raise – 5 points (no more than 20 points per hand).
| Stakes | Prize fund | Number of winners |
|---|---|---|
| $25 | $4,600 | 30 |
| $10 | $3,000 | 40 |
| $3 | $1,500 | 70 |
| $1 | $600 | 110 |
| $0.25 | $300 | 170 |
All prizes are paid in Mystery Battle Royale tickets
How Battle Royale's Popularity Grew
The rise in interest in the game is clearly visible on our website: in the second half of 2024, posts about Battle Royale are increasingly appearing in the forum slider.
One of the main masters of the "new" discipline was eshkere , a former experienced hyper-turbo SnG player. In early October, he returned to poker and the forum on a high note and shared impressive results.
"Now all the SnG legends of the past years have gathered in the "royals". I wondered if I would be able to show anything with my experience in the game, or if I was no longer good enough? In 3 months, I played 9,800 tournaments, mostly for $10. In total, about $13,000 in profit came out of 9,800 tournaments. Below my expectations, but there was a shortfall in the finals, especially in HU.
I suppose that over the long term I should make about $1.5 per tournament and about 37 tournaments per hour. At $25 I will be happy to win from $2.2 per tournament."
den_turbo decided to fully immerse himself in the new format in November and made a plan to learn them from scratch.
"So far I'm training on C grades. I'll play on my own, I'm not going to join any funds or teams, because I've long since set a course for independent development. I have a calculator, a range editor, a postflop program, an equilab; I know the principles of building strategies (I have two schools behind me, after all). I'll start learning a new discipline from scratch: I'll set a preflop, analyze the final tables, make a competent schedule; I'll gradually accumulate and analyze the database. At first, I'll ask some competent guys about something."
The first month den_turbo played in the plus and released an impressive report on the hands, time spent and profit. He also compared Battle Royale with hyperturbo in the WPN network and shared the difficulties in organizing the work process.
In December, den_turbo started a marathon of 5,000 tournaments in 15 days, but the variance remained criminally indifferent to his efforts.
However, the profits returned a month later in the form of x100 in a $10 tournament.
A player called fun4you1 also reported on his decent results . He switched to a new game in September, and then for 3 months in a row he collected $3,000+ in profit. Even the prize money in the leaderboards cut for the New Year did not hurt.
Another player named Kidkatka got so comfortable during 2024 that he earned as much as $15,273 in December. And in January, he announced a challenge – to earn $10,000 in 2 months, starting with the minimum stakes. After 3 weeks, he already had a sufficient bankroll to move to $10, and he began to look at $25. By March 1, the goal was achieved on PokerOK (Russia's version of GGPoker).
Chdenis returned from MTT in July, two months after Battle Royale went 18-max. He doesn't post game reports very often, but he impresses with solid graphs and double-digit win rates (not only his own, but his students').
As interest in the discipline grew, regulars began not only discussing strategy, but also sharing ideas for effective improvements. For example:
– FranSiSko calculated the value of 1,000 chips at different stages of the tournament and showed how to accurately calculate All-in Adj EV.
– marselrussia showed how to pack calculations from the Holdem Resources Calculator into mind maps for a compact display of the decision tree.
What's Happening With Battle Royale Now
We reached out to active forum "royalists" and coaches to ask questions about Battle Royale and get a more detailed understanding of the current state of the discipline.
The following people helped us figure this out:
den_turbo — $3 regular, author of the blog High Stakes Marathon .
Shadowski — founder of his own Battle Royale team, $25 regular, author of the blog " Waiting for an Upstreak ".
fun4you1 — $10 regular, author of the blog My Game .
eshkere — $25 regular, author of the blog " Mysterious Royal Battle ".
Question: Battle Royale has been around since 2021, but it seems like regulars came to the format en masse quite late, after several years. Is this true and why didn't the interest appear from the very beginning?
den_turbo : In 2021, SNG players had a lot of choice. PokerStars had a good field, acceptable rake, and a lot of action. The WPN network had enough action at stakes up to $200, generous rakeback, and regular bonuses. Chico had a good field and enough action. Even 888poker and partypoker still had SNGs. Regulars weren't really looking for alternatives.
In the next couple of years, the rooms simply strangled the format: PokerStars introduced a horse rake, Chico changed the format to a faster one, WPN traffic dropped significantly. Plus, many rooms left the Russian Federation.
In 2024, regulars started looking at Battle Royale. Streamers playing this discipline appeared. In the summer, a $25 stake was added. By autumn, the boom began. Everyone realized that this is a format close to regular SNGs, plus there is traffic, profit and jackpots.
I think the main reason for the delay in the transition was the lack of trust in the format. After all, this is no longer classic poker, but with casino elements.
eshkere : Battle Royale in its current form has been around since early last year. The wait used to be lower, so there weren't as many regulars. I started taking these tournaments seriously when the wait got above $5,000 a month.
Question: How close are MTSNGs to each other, like the old 18-45 max on PokerStars and Battle Royale?
den_turbo : Royals have many elements borrowed from regular SNGs. Overall, it's a hybrid format, some kind of mix of MTSNG, zoom, knockout tournaments and spins. Poker with casino elements. But I must admit, it's done well.
Shadowski : If we compare it with hyperturbo MTSNG 18-max, the structures, tempo, duration are similar, regulars have a similar approach to organizing their working time. But still, these are different disciplines. There are many more differences than it seems at first glance. At the very least, the presence of a random multiplier for knockouts at the final table. I think the genome of these two disciplines is 80% similar.
Question: What ROI can be considered working for regulars?
den_turbo : Most regulars play around zero, getting their main profit from rakeback. Good regulars have an ROI of 5-7%, top ones – 10%+. Everything is about the same as in regular SNGs.
fun4you1 : I know guys who beat Battle Royale for $10-25 with ROI of 6-10% without taking into account rakeback. But they play with full concentration and hardly get into the minimum bonus in the leaderboard (it is equal to 2 buy-ins).
I know those who farm top 2-3 in the leaderboard every other day. They play with ROI 0% or even -2-3%, but at the same time earn good money due to the volume of the game. Everyone has their own approach.
Question: Is there a growth ceiling in the discipline now and what does it look like? How quickly can it be reached?
Shadowski : There is a ceiling. The maximum playable stake now is $25. You can reach it in 5 minutes with a deposit =) But seriously, there are many factors that influence the growth in limits: poker background, how much time you are ready to spend on the game and theory, how strong your mental game is.
Each case is unique. For example, we have a person in our team who went from $1 to $25 in 2 months. And there are people who have been sitting at the same stakes for 3 months. Everything is very individual. But here the ceiling is reached much faster than in other disciplines.
eshkere : The ceiling is about $15,000-$20,000 per month, but only a few can do that. I think the expectation of a good reg at $25 is $7,000-$8,000 per month, at $10 – $3,500-$5,000 per month, at the stakes of $3, maybe $2,000.
Question: What change could kill or greatly reduce regulars' interest in the discipline tomorrow?
fun4you1 : Currently in Battle Royale PVI (rake value) is 100%. Make PVI 20-50%, cut the leaderboard in half – and that's enough to kill this discipline. Only those who play a little and strictly for profit will remain.
eshkere : In fact, profit consists of three components – profit before rakeback, rakeback and payments from the leaderboard.
The profit before rakeback has dropped significantly in the last few months: the field has become much stronger; the regs have become denser. The leaderboards have changed twice, both for the worse. One of these changes has greatly affected the expectations of average regs, a large group immediately disappeared from the radar screens.
If a low PVI is introduced, the discipline could very quickly become unprofitable.
Question: Do you think Mystery Battle Royale has a future, will they remain popular and will other rooms want to introduce something similar?
den_turbo : I think the format has a future. It is very interesting, fast enough, with a lot of action. High variance and random prizes in chests bring the chances of winning closer to regulars and amateurs. Therefore, there will always be the "right balance". It is quite possible that Mystery Battle Royale will appear in other rooms in the near future.
eshkere : If Battle Royale stays in its current format, it will live forever. However, as far as we know, the rooms really like to change something, so the discipline will remain alive until they cut the leaderboards or rakeback. As for other rooms, I doubt it – no one else has such traffic as PokerOK .
Question: How much does a good Battle Royale regular earn?
Shadowski : Depends heavily on ROI, number of tables played, and hours of grinding. But if you take a top $25 reg who plays 150 hours a month, the expectation would be around $70,000-80,000 a year.
fun4you1 : I think $5,000 a month at $10 and $10,000 at $25 is the ceiling. Of course, the profit depends on how much you play. There are regs who earn more, but they sleep 4-5 hours a day.
