PokerStars has announced the premiere of a nine-day Mystery Bounty Series, giving the sizzling-hot tourney format a series of its own. Running from June 23 to July 1, PokerStars' new Mystery Bounty Series guarantees $4,000,000 in total prize money across 50 mystery-bounty events.
Stars has offered mystery-bounty events within other online series, but this marks the first time the PokerStars.com global platform will host a series dedicated entirely to the innovative format. With buy-ins ranging from $5.30 to $530, there are events on offer to fit almost every player's budget.
The mystery-bounty format has captured the poker world's interest in recent years, adding a lottery element to a more traditional knockout-style event. The mystery bounties don't come into play, however, until the money bubble bursts, and from that point on each knockout is worth a 'mystery' prize. Since only a small percentage of the field reaches the money, the top mystery-bounty prizes can bring a hefty bonus to the lucky players who draw them.
Mystery bounties started in live tournaments and have made their way to the online game.Two million-dollar events headline series
Half of the total prize money guaranteed up front is accounted for by the series' two marquee events. On June 23, the $109 Sunday Million Special Mystery Bounty Edition guarantees $1,000,000, and on June 30, the $109 Mystery Bounty Series Main Event guarantees another $1,000,000.
Since a mystery-bounty framework can be applied to virtually any tourney format, there's plenty of variety to be had among the festival's 50 events. Besides traditional no-limit hold'em, players will find PLO, 8-game, no-limit 2-7 single draw, no-limit 5-card draw, no-limit Omaha-8, PLO8, pot-limit badugi and other variants, plus a mixture of structures and tourney speeds.
PokerStars will also make a 'Silver Ticket' bundle available via its Power Path steps-style framework, offering players the chance to win an assortment of series entries all at once.
Additional details offered via the Stars Blog
PokerStars has also published additional information on the series on the vaunted PokerStars Blog, including defining exactly how the mystery bounties will be presented throughout the festival. For example, each mystery-bounty event will include up to nine different tiers of prizes. The structure is shaped like a pyramid, with the highest but rarest mystery prize at the top.
Players can, of course, win multiple mystery bounties throughout the in-the-money phase of the event. The 'Tournament Info' widget available within each event will also show exactly how many and which bounties are remaining to be drawn.
The Stars Blog landing page for the Mystery Bounty Series also includes special links to advice on playing the format from pros who have specialized in the format, including strategy author Dara O'Kearney and Elias 'SinKarma' Gutierrez, who dominated the mystery-bounty event at the 2023 EPT Prague festival.
Additional reporting by Mo Afdhal.
