The Mystery Bounty Festival on 888poker kicked off on February 19 with an unprecedented schedule of all Mystery Bounty games, all the time. There is $2 million guaranteed across the entire series between numbered and side events, with a massive $300k Main Event planned for the final weekend of play.
With 12 events in the books, the series is running very close to the pre-series guarantees. While not all events have hit their guarantee, the total prize money collected across the opening 12 games was about $4000 above the promised amounts.
There have been a few big tournaments so far on the schedule. The most massive prize pool came on the opening day, but that was always in the plans. Event #3 had $120k guaranteed on opening day, which was the biggest prize pool of the opening week. That game did not quite hit the $120k mark, leaving about $16,000 in overlay for players to enjoy, but that was the biggest miss to date.
Overall, the missed guarantees in the first week amounted to barely $20,000, but games that broke the guarantee helped push the total money collected over the guarantees. $345,140 was collected during the opening 12 games, but with the missed guarantees, the total prizes thus far are $365,805.
Saliba Goes Deep on Opening Day
Among the players to have a deep run in the big $120k event on opening day was Team888’s Vivian “Vivi.888.” Saliba. She made the final table of the big game but had to settle for 4th place and a total score of $4,001.88 in combined prizes.
Among the other Team888 members with results from the Mystery Bounty Festival was Ian Simpson. He was 39th for a small cash in the big $120k event, but the following day, “Simpioni” had deep runs in two side events.
Opening Day Sees Biggest Events
In addition to the hefty $120k game, which not only put up the biggest prize pool but also notched the fourth-best total entries, the opening day saw the most extensive field of the numbered events so far. MB Festival #01 was an $11 even with $20k guaranteed, and a whopping 2581 entries swelled the prize pool almost 30% above the guarantee.
That field dwarfed all the others, with the second-place game getting 1488 entries for a close miss on the $15k guarantee. MB Festival #11 also did well by field size with 1147, but it also missed its guarantee by a whisker.
The opening event was the best increase on guarantee so far in this series, with just over a 29% bump, but #12 did nearly as well. That $55 tournament saw 469 entries for a prize pool of $25,795, just under 29% over the $20k guarantee. Three other events in the opening week did better than 15% above their guarantee, with seven games out of 12 breaking guarantees by at least a small amount.
Overall, the series so far is in the green. With $345,140 collected on $341k of guarantees, the raw money is slightly ahead of the promises, but with five missed guarantees, the operator has had to cover $20,665 in overlay. However, the games have generated $29,522.50 in fees through the first week, so no matter how the pie is sliced, there’s a bit of money left over after all the beans are counted.
Final Weekend Has More than $350k Guaranteed
There is still a lot to come in the MB Festival from 888poker. The final weekend of the festival, playing out on March 4 through 6 features the $300k Main Event and a $50k game for $55.
The Main Event has Day 1 flights playing out throughout the upcoming week, with Day 2 scheduled for March 6, while the $50k MB Festival #12 runs on March 5.
See the 888poker client for full details on the upcoming events. In addition to the numbered events, there are many side events every day at various buy-in levels, so there is likely something to whet the appetite of any player.
