Inaugural PokerStars Mystery Bounty Sunday Million Is a Roaring Success
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Recent editions of the PokerStars Sunday Million have seen online poker's most popular weekly tournament play as progressive knockouts (PKO). It is no secret that the Sunday Million has often struggled to meet its $1 million guarantee under its PKO format, but there were no such struggles in the New Year Series edition, which saw PokerStars change the long-running event's format to a mystery bounty.
PokerStars tested the mystery bounty format in early December 2023, and it proved popular, with all 200 available seats snapped up in seconds. However, changing its flagship tournament to this new format was not without risk. A $1 million guarantee meant PokerStars required 10,000 entrants, many of whom would have been unfamiliar with how mystery bounty tournaments work. Any fears of an overlay were soon dispelled thanks to 16,234 players, including 4,622 re-entries, created a guarantee-busting $1,623,400 prize pool, some 62.3% more than the advertised guarantee.
The impressive attendance would likely have been higher had it not been for the mystery bounty Sunday Million being unavailable in some countries. Players from Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, and Romania were frozen out due to pending approval from those countries' respective regulators.
The top 2,671 finishers were paid out $811,700 from the regular prize pool, with the remaining $811,700 divided up and placed in golden envelopes on the heads of each in-the-money player. Anyone who eliminated an opponent got to open that mystery bounty containing mystery bounty, and some of those payouts were substantial.
Mystery Bounty Sunday Million Bounty Amounts
Bounty Amount | Avalable |
---|---|
$50,000 | 1 |
$15,234 | 5 |
$4,687.38 | 26 |
$1,542.68 | 79 |
$459.89 | 265 |
$148.08 | 823 |
$135.92 | 1,457 |
Team PokerStars was out in force in support of the massive mystery bounty tournament, with mixed results. The in-form Lex "L. Veldhuis" Veldhuis was one of five PokerStars pros who helped themselves to some of the regular prize pool. Laurie "LaliTournier" Tournier, Sebastian "peace&loove" Huber, and Lasse "Wistern" Jagd Lauritsen finished inside the money places, while Parker "tonkaaaa" Talbot went the deepest.
Talbot bowed out in 31st place having captured three mystery bounties. Unfortunately, there is no way of knowing what that trio of mystery bounties was worth to the popular Canadian because the information is not shown in the PokerStars lobby. Perhaps PokerStars will show this information in future mystery bounty tournaments.
Each of the nine PokerStars players who progressed to the final table did so with at least $5,646 from the regular prize pool locked in, plus any mystery bounties they scooped along the way.
Brazilian "fersantos88" busted in ninth for the previously mentioned $5,646, although they eliminated ten foes before crashing out, meaning they added at least $1,359.20 worth of mystery bounties to their haul.
The next four players eliminated also hailed from Brazil. "SaoJorge2222" ($8,376 and seven bounties), "thiagofs1808" ($11,587 and 13 bounties), "_Miazakii_" ($14,860 and nine bounties), and "IgorSNK" ($22,312 and seven bounties) were that unfortunate quartet.
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Fourth place and $30,816 (plus four bounties) went to Canada's "eqn778", with the inaugural PokerStars Sunday Million Mystery Bounty progressing to the heads-up stage when "ac3play" saw their tournament end in a third place finish worth $40,638 (plus seven bounties).
Heads-up pitted "BoostedAAnimal" against Ukraine's "SoEzForMe." The one-on-one battle went the way of the Ukrainian, and they secured an $89,681 payout plus 15 mystery bounties, including whatever amount was in the envelope on their head. Runner-up "BoostedAAnimal" walked away with a $57,787 consolation prize and 11 mystery bounty payments.
$109 NLHE 8-Max Mystery Bounty Sunday Million Final Table Results
Rank | Player | Country | Bounties | Prize |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | SoEzForMe | Ukraine | 15 | $89,681 |
2 | BoostedAAnimal | Malta | 11 | $57,787 |
3 | ac3play | Austria | 7 | $40,638 |
4 | eqn778 | Canada | 4 | $30,816 |
5 | IgorSNK | Brazil | 7 | $22,312 |
6 | _Miazakii_ | Brazil | 9 | $14,860 |
7 | thiagofs1808 | Brazil | 13 | $11,587 |
8 | SaoJorge2222 | Brazil | 7 | $8,736 |
9 | fersantos88 | Brazil | 10 | $5,646 |
Another mystery bounty affair ran alongside the special edition Sunday Million, an $11 buy-in with $250,000 guaranteed. Some 29,964 entrants created a $293,647 prize pool, obliterating the guaranteed amount. The United Kingdom's "the_jokerS20" finished top of the pile, reeling in $10,304 plus 19 mystery bounty payments following a four-way deal.
With how well received these mystery bounty events were on the debuts, you should not be surprised to learn PokerStars has added two Mystery Bounty side events to the New Year Series schedule. They both commence at 7:15 p.m. GMT on January 14, one with a $22 buy-in and a $100,000 guarantee, with the other commanding a $215 buy-in which comes with $200,000 guaranteed. Expect both to blow those guarantees out of the water.
PokerStars New Year Series Results So Far
The huge Sunday Million Mystery Bounty aside, there have been plenty of big results for several well-known grinders since our last New Year Series round-up.
Lex "L. Veldhuis" Veldhuis helped himself to his third title of the New Year Series, triumphing in the $2,100 NLHE PKO Thursday Thrill for $54,442, including bounties.
Jens "Fresh_oO_D" Lakemeier won two events in quick succession. First, he bagged $34,572 after taking down a $530 NLHE 8-Max PKO, then an additional $47,332 in a $2,100 PLO 6-Max PKO tournament.
Other notable champions include Shawn "buck21" Buchanan, Alexandre "aminolast" Raymond, and Roman "Gogac sniper" Hrabec, the latter coming out on top in a $1,050 NLHE 8-Max PKO for a cool $98,629.
*includes bounty payments
++excludes mystery bounty payments
Four New Year Series Main Events Start on January 14
The New Year Series is rapidly nearing its conclusion, and that means the festival's main events are in sight. Three No-Limit Hold'em and one Pot-Limit Omaha Main Events are on the cards.
No-Limit Hold'em players have a choice of a $109, $1,050, and $5,200 buy-in edition, which come with $1 million, $1.25 million, and $1.5 million guaranteed prize pools. Cards in in the air in the NLHE Main Events from 5:30 p.m. GMT on January 14.
Pot-Limit Omaha players can jump into a $215 buy-in $100,000 guaranteed Main Event in their favorite format. This tournament starts at 6:05 p.m. GMT on January 14.
PokerNews will have a detailed preview of the New Year Series Main Events, including the best routes into them for those on a budget, in the coming days. Watch this space.