The $550 Mystery Millions is one of the smallest buy-ins of the summer.
But among the 20,488 entries, it attracted a load of big-name players for two reasons.
- There's a top bounty jackpot of $1 million. Turning $550 into $1 million is pretty hard to fade. Okay, a lot of those big names ended up firing a load of bullets, but still... $1 million.
- The huge field also makes it a big draw for players with one eye on their fantasy scores this summer. Making the final 81 pays out a huge 100-point field bonus.
The event also attracted plenty of recreational players.
Who would get today's $1 million bounty? It would be life-changing for many of the 793 players left in.
Last year's $1 million bounties went to Thomas Zanot, who had previously won a $6 million Pai Gow jackpot, and Tyler Montana, who had more than $500K in Hendon Mob earnings.
Could we find a deserving player today with less than $10K in Hendon Mob earnings?
Big bounties go early
The poker world might have been waiting for the $1 million pull, but the two $250K bounties went early.
The hunt for the $1 million bounty went on, with someone asking whether the WSOP forgot to put it in the chest.
Matt Stout, founder of the Charity Series of Poker, was next up. He FaceTimed his girlfriend and pulled a $25K. "F**k!" he shouted. It's the only place you can be mad about turning a $550 investment into $25K in an instant.
By 5pm, the $1 million bounty was still in play and it was starting to get serious. There were just 12 gold chests left and the odds of picking the milly were getting hotter.
By 6pm, you had a 1 in 8 shot of winning $1 million if you pulled a gold chest.
That was the situation when Andrew Shelton stepped up to the chest.
You can watch what happened in the video below.
Now that's the sort of reaction you want from a $1 million bounty pull.
Shelton might have more than $10K in his Hendon Mob, but not by much. He's got $21,961, not including his $3,350 cash for finishing 138th today.
And he only fired one bullet.
"I never thought I'd win this much money," he told us afterwards. "It's f***ing wild. I don't know what to think or say."
Is he planning on playing any more tournaments this summer?
"Oh no, I'm f***ing partying," he said.
