By all accounts, the first-ever WSOP Million Dollar Mystery Bounty tournament was a success.
The event offered a $1K chance at this bracelet, with reentries allowed at one per flight. There were four flights. Payouts began at the end of each flight for a certain percentage of the field. By Day 2, everyone was in the money and qualified for bounties. When a player received a knockout ticket for busting another player, they took turns going to a huge chest in the front of the room to pick a mystery bounty.
Players were guaranteed at least $1K per bounty, but there were numerous prizes in a special golden chest. If players received a golden chest, they picked from the bin of much larger bounties. The top one was worth $1M, and that one went to poker pro Matt Glantz, who criticized the tournament as a gimmick but played anyway.
There were other significant prizes, one for $500K (Arin Youssefian), one for $250K (Azim Popatia), and three worth $100K each (Ramon Kropmanns, Daniel de Almeida, David Timmons).
The tournament proved exciting, and the WSOP handled the bounties well. There was a big screen above the golden chest, and Jeff Platt was there with a microphone to host the choosing of those bounties.
https://twitter.com/golferjosh/status/1544460079222493184?s=20&t=CiWtZZRWi3whsJvzNHQ7ww
Event 68: $1K NLHE Million Dollar Bounty
There were 33 players at the start of this event’s last day, but they quickly thinned that field down to two tables. The eventual eliminations of the likes of Charles Combes and Natalie Hof helped set the one last table. And the tenth-place elimination of Christopher Doan made that the official final table.
Kevin Hong kicked things off at that table by ousting Ramon Kropmanns in ninth place. Wojciech Barzantny took out Daniel de Almeida and Arash Asadabadi in a single hand. Quincy Borland doubled through Barzantny as Michael Smith busted Nellie Park. Borland then doubled through David Timmons, while Hong eliminated Michael Smith in fifth place.
Borland started making more moves. He bounced Barzantny from the tournament in fourth place, though Hong took care of David Timmons. Borland was the underdog going into heads-up but chipped up quickly and continuously into the lead. He then busted Hong.
According to Borland’s interview with PokerNews, he focused on the bracelet instead of the money on the line. And when he won it, he couldn’t believe it. He said it felt “strange,” that it didn’t feel real.
Day 1D brought in more than 4,300 players to the mix. Players like Chris Moneymaker and reigning champion Koray Aldemir played, as did Johnny Chan and Joe Hachem. The latter wasn’t among the top counts at the end of the night, but Daniel Hachem was.
Vince Vaughn opened the day’s action with a “shuffle up and deal” command…in a gladiator outfit. He then mingled with some players as the official Master of Ceremonies for the 2022 WSOP.
https://twitter.com/WSOP/status/1544852334290903040?s=20&t=ThSirE6mb_q4HwiJoh0pLA
Event 70: Day 1D
$10K buy-in
NLHE World Championship Main Event
Total (not final):
8,061 so far
(8569 in 2019, 6650 in 2021)
Total 1A entries:
900
Total 1B entries:
880
Total 1C entries:
1,800
Total 1D entries:
4,481
Players remaining in 1A:
631
Players remaining in 1B:
634
Players remaining in 1C:
1,376
Players remaining in 1D:
3,294
Total prize pool:
TBD
Players paid:
TBD
Minimum payout:
TBD
Winner payout:
TBD
Overall chip counts:
#1
Hao Chen (China) 580,100
#2
Patrick Clarke (Ireland) 397,200
#3
Randal Heeb (USA) 339,
#4
Cedrric Trevino (USA) 317,800
#5
Mathieu His (France) 316,000
Today’s Poker Menu
Event 70 brings together the remaining players from Day 1A, 1B, and 1C to play on in the Main Event.
Event 71 begins the multi-flight One More for One Drop tournament with unlimited reentries.
Event 72 kicks off the Mixed Omaha tournament with PLO-8, Omaha-8, and Big O.
