Cuatro is an exciting new bounty format that’s being added to the 2026 Irish Open schedule.
Essentially, this is bounty with a twist! The event starts off as a non-bounty tournament but once the field reaches the final 25%, all the remaining players are given a bounty token representing the full amount of the buy-in.
PokerStars first introduced Cuatros at EPT Barcelona last year and we’ll be running both a €3k NLHE High Roller Cuatro and a €3k PLO High Roller Cuatro at next year’s Irish Open.
Extra bubble!
One of the interesting features of the Cuatro is that it adds a new kind of bubble to the event. Once late registration is over, the TD will calculate the point at which the bounties will come into play (ie 25% of the field.) If there were 100 entries, then we’ll be on the bubble when we are down to 26 players.
Most of the field (75%) will never have the chance to win a bounty but once we reach that magic 25% figure, we are in bounty territory. All remaining players will win a bounty – equivalent to the full tournament buy-in – each time they knock someone out. The second bubble comes when everyone remaining is also guaranteed a slice of the main prize pool. The tournament champion will – of course – keep their own bounty token plus all the other bounties they’ve managed to accrue.
Dates and Info
Both our Cuatro tourneys are two-day events and feature unlimited re-entries. The PLO edition is on Friday, March 27 starting at 4pm. There are two €650 satellites taking place for the PLO: the first starts at 7pm on Thursday, March 26 and the second satellite at 1pm on the Friday. T
The NLHE edition starts on Sunday, March 29 at 4pm, with a €650 milestone satellite earlier in the day at 1pm. All satellites feature a five-seat guarantee.
2022 Irish Open champion Steve O’Dwyer has been running all over the EPT’s Cuatro tourneys so far: he took down the inaugural event at EPT Barcelona and was runner-up in the very next edition at EPT Prague. He said: “Cuatro is a great bounty format, I like it a lot more than traditional bounty formats and mystery bounties.
“The bounties kicking in late in the tournament allows players to play the early stages normally but adds a fun twist to the late game without the randomness of mystery bounties that some people love but I don’t particularly care for! I think players who will be trying Cuatro out for the first time at the Irish Open will really enjoy a fresh tournament format.”
At PokerStars‘ debut Cuatro event in Barcelona, it was 5am before O’Dwyer managed to defeat his heads-up opponent Bryon Kaverman to win the trophy, top prize and four bounties.
