Summary
- WSOP is currently running its Mystery Bounty variant in Michigan
- It became the first operator to launch the format in the US online poker market
- Three online poker rooms are already offering the format in the international dot-com market
Mystery Bounty has finally made its way to the US online poker market, thanks to WSOP.com which recently launched the popular format on its Michigan platform.
Players in the Wolverine State now have a selection of Mystery Bounties to choose from, running daily on WSOP MI.
The WSOP first introduced the format during the 2022 live series in Las Vegas, with a $1,000 buy-in Mystery Bounty tournament included in the line-up. The gold bracelet event ended up attracting a huge field of 14,112 entries to generate a total prize pool of $8.3 million. It was won by Quincy Borland for $750,120, but the lucky player who drew the top $1 million bounty was Pennsylvania native Matt Glanz.
Now, the WSOP has finally brought the exciting format to the virtual felts in the US, becoming the first operator to do so.
Mystery Bounty Comes to WSOP MI
Not many people noticed when Mystery Bounty was launched on WSOP MI, but it’s believed the format went live just last week. Mystery Bounties run daily with a $10 buy-in and $1,000 in guarantees. During Sundays, players can take a shot at $5,000 in guaranteed prize money, for a buy-in of $30.
The WSOP MI main lobby now includes a new Mystery Bounty tab where all the tournaments scheduled over the week are displayed. Players sit down with an 8,000 starting stack played to eight-minute levels. Blinds begin at 20/40.
Mystery Bounties on WSOP MI allow unlimited re-entries, with the bounty portion kicking in at level 17.
At the moment, the format is only available to Michigan players. It has yet to be deployed on WSOP Pennsylvania and the WSOP New Jersey/Nevada network.
How Mystery Bounties Work
In Mystery Bounties, a portion of the buy-in is placed into a bounty pool, just like in regular bounty tournaments. However, bounties are not awarded right away. Players only start receiving bounties for eliminating an opponent during the second phase of the tournament.
The amount of the bounty is also unknown as each player is randomly assigned a bounty on their head. The bounty amount is only revealed when a player busts.
Players on the international dot-com network have already been enjoying the format via three online poker rooms – GGPoker, 888poker and Winamax. In North America, 888poker was the first to introduce the format after launching it in Ontario.
The Mystery Bounty format will once again feature in the 2023 WSOP live festival this summer. It will run during the opening weekend.
