The latest craze in poker — the Mystery Bounty format — is becoming ubiquitous. And it has already made its way to the nascant regulated Ontario online poker market, thanks to 888poker.
The operator, which was the first legalized operator to go live Canada’s largest province, debuted the format in late September with a CAD $30,000 guaranteed prize money tournament for a buy-in of CAD $109. It also offered the format as part of the recent XL Autumn Series, carrying the same buy-in and prize money.
Now, following this success, 888poker Ontario has added the trending format to its daily tournament schedule. Three Mystery Bounty tournaments will run daily with combined guarantees of CAD $14,000.
One of these guarantees CAD $10,000 — the second-largest tournament in 888poker’s weekly schedule. It comes for a buy-in of $109, meaning it needs to attract 100 entrants to avoid the overlay.
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For those with tight budgets, 888 will be offering Mystery Bounty tournaments with affordable buy-ins of $5.50 and $22. These two guarantee $1000 and $3000 and will need 200 and 150 entrants to cover.
The tournaments are already listed in the client, and those with the 888poker Ontario download can start participating in these today.
888poker Ontario Daily Mystery Bounty Tournaments (CAD)
| Time (Daily) | Buy-in | Guarantee | Entrants Needed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19:00 EST | $22 | $3,000 | 150 |
| 19:30 EST | $5.50 | $1,000 | 200 |
| 19:30 EST | $109 | $10,000 | 100 |
Each of the three daily Mystery Bounty tournaments is configured as a single flight; there are no multiple Day 1 phases. Bounties kick in at the start of Level 17, regardless of if players are in the money.
How Mystery Bounty Tournaments Work
The format plays much like a regular bounty tournament in which half of the buy-in goes to the regular prize pool and the other half to the bounty pool. But bounties only come into play after a certain level of play has progressed — with a twist that they are hidden and only revealed once a player has been eliminated.
Players do not have to run deep to win big bounties, rather they can win the biggest bounty as soon as bounties come into play. This randomness makes the format so appealing and intriguing. Indeed, the format has become so popular that online poker operators are rushing to develop the game and add it to their offerings.
Sub-satellites to the daily Mystery Bounty tournaments are available for as low as 22 cents. Players can qualify for the $109 buy-in MB for as low as $2.20 and direct satellites are available for $16.50.
The newly added tournaments come off the back of a very successful Mystery Bounty event held as part of the XL Autumn Series. The event boasting CAD $30,000 in guaranteed prize money for a buy-in of CAD $109 attracted 288 unique players and 84 re-entries to surpass its guarantee with ease, adding another $7200 to the promised prize pool.
This was the second-largest tournament of the series and was only behind the Main Event that came with $50,000 guaranteed prize money. The XL Autumn Series kicked off on October 9 boasting over $220,000 in prize money spread over 60 tournaments. The series ended up generating well over $250,000 in prizes.
888Poker is the Only Ontario Online Poker Room with Mystery Bounties — for Now
888poker may not be running headline-making six-figure guarantees like some of its competitors, it is the only one offering Mystery Bounties. So while it might not currently top pokerfuse’s Ontario online poker reviews, it is finding ways to differentiate itself itself — and should attract players interested in the format.
888’s competitors — BetMGM, PokerStars, and the newly launched WSOP Ontario — have yet to offer the format. Though this could come soon. WSOP Ontario uses GGPoker’s software and does spread the format on the dot-com market. It has yet to introduce them in the province and may need to seek approval from the regulators before it does so.
In the dot-com market, GGPoker has hosted the largest-guaranteed Mystery Bounty format in history, with a prize pool of $10 million as part of the online bracelet series.
