Malcolm Trayner added yet another mystery bounty title to his resume on Saturday after taking down $1,100 BetMGM Mystery Bounty at the Aria Poker Classic. The tournament drew 592 entries, building a $355,200 prize pool, with an additional $216,080 in bounties up for grabs.
The Australian pro earned $66,060 for the win, along with $34,500 in bounties, including the $15,000 final table bounty and multiple $5,000 pulls. It marks his second huge score in this format, following his famous $1,000,000 victory in last year’s WSOP Mystery Millions.
'It all worked out'
“This is my favorite tournament. It’s the most fun format,” Trayner told us. “It attracts the gamblers. I’m a gambler. I was a gambler before I was a poker player. I love it.”
Trayner went into the final table top three in chips, but changed everything just two hands in when he picked up queens against ace-king. .
“I went into the final table thinking I’d be in the ICM bin behind two bigger stacks. I told myself to be tight and get some ladders. But then second hand in, I get queens against ace-king, win the flip, and everything changed. I never lost the chip lead after that. Picked up good hands, picked up blinds. It just all worked out.”
“You gotta win flips to win tournaments,” he explained. “From then on, it became a steamroll. I picked up a lot of good hands in good moments and kept picking up the blinds. It helped me lock it up.”
Back from the brink
Earlier in the day, Trayner said he got lucky to survive a big river spot and was nearly out of the tournament around 4 p.m. He recovered from that scare and ended up bagging the biggest score of the series so far. "I could’ve been out ages ago. I got lucky on the river early on, probably 12 hours before we closed it out.”
The biggest bounty of the day – a $30,000 top prize – went to Bobby Poe, who was eliminated in 19th place.
Meanwhile, Juan Giambartolomei of Italy made a strong run but ultimately fell short heads-up. He still walked away with $45,820 and $34,000 in bounties for his deep run.
Action continues at the Aria Poker Classic with the $1,600 BetMGM NLH event and a meaty $500K guarantee. It all leads up to the $3,500 BetMGM Championship on June 30.
BetMGM Mystery Bounty final table results
| Place | Player | Prize+Bounties |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Malcolm Trayner | $66,060+$34,500 |
| 2 | Juan Giambartolomei | $45,820+$34,000 |
| 3 | Yuan Lei | $30,370+$10,000 |
| 4 | Josiel Da Cruz | $21,670+$15,500 |
| 5 | Brett Murray | $16,635+$15,000 |
| 6 | Vytautas Atkocaitis | $13,655+$2,000 |
| 7 | Martin Stausholm | $11,255+$5,500 |
| 8 | William Mikulla-Kaufman | $8,975+$1,500 |
| 9 | Jogen Thorkidsen | $6,735+$9,080 |
