There is little question that bounty games in their various forms are the hottest format in poker right now. Between Mystery Bounties (MB) and Progressive Knockouts (PKO), bounty poker games can be found across the schedules of nearly every online poker operator. In March, PokerStars is guaranteeing $20 million across two weeks of knockout poker in the Bounty Builder series.
March is a big month for bounty games on PokerStars. The 2023 edition of the Bounty Builder series kicks off on March 5 with 15 days of KO games. More than $20 million is guaranteed across 169 events, including 19 tournaments with two buy-in levels.
There are four games with $1 million or more guaranteed across the series, including the opening day Sunday Million on March 5, rebranded as part of the Bounty Builder festival. That opening Sunday Million is the best value of the whole series, offering almost $9,200 in guaranteed prizes for every dollar of buy-in.
- Play one hand & get $150 in bonus play funds
- Top-quality mobile app
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The biggest guarantee of the whole series comes from the High version of the Main Event. The $1,050 buy-in has $1.25 million guaranteed, the only game with more than $1 million in promised prizes.
2023 Bounty Builder Series Summary
| Total Days: | 15 |
| Total Events: | 150 (169 including H/L) |
| Total Gtd: | $20m |
| Average Gtd: | $118,817 |
| Median Gtd: | $75,000 |
| Average Buy-In: | $209.51 |
| Median Buy-In: | $55.00 |
| Min Buy-In: | $5.50 |
| Max Buy-In: | $5,200.00 |
PKO from Start to End
As the name suggests, the Bounty Builder series features bounty games across the board, and, in this case, the specific format on offer is PKO. In the progressive game, rather than pocketing a player’s entire bounty on a bust out, the winning player pockets half the bounty while the other half adds to their bounty.
That tends to put some genuinely massive bounties into the mix during the endgame of the tournaments, impacting the optimal freezeout MTT line to a considerable degree. With so much extra data to consider in PKO games, they are among the least-solved poker formats and perhaps the best value for recreational players.
This version of PokerStars’ Bounty Builder Series allows players to hone their knockout skills. There are 150 numbered events between March 5 and March 20, with 1e coming in two sizes, for a total of 169 games to choose from.
The big games to watch for are four games with at least $1 million on offer. The most extensive guarantee of the whole series comes in Bounty Builder Series 137-H: $1,050 Main Event with $1.25 million guaranteed. While that could be the biggest prize pool of the series, the $1 million guaranteed Bounty Builder Series 137-L: $109 Main Event certainly has a chance to beat it.
The other two games with seven-figure guarantees are two rebranded Sunday Million events. Both of these also have a solid shot at the biggest prize pool when the dust settles, and the opening day Sunday Million is tied with the low Main Event for the best value game across the whole series.
2023 Bounty Builder Series Biggest Guarantees
| Event | Date | Buy-in | Guarantee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bounty Builder Series 137-H: $1,050 Main Event | Mar, 19 13:05 | $1,050 | $1.25m |
| Bounty Builder Series 5: $109 Sunday Million | Mar, 05 13:05 | $109 | $1m |
| Bounty Builder Series 71: $215 Sunday Million | Mar, 12 13:05 | $215 | $1m |
| Bounty Builder Series 137-L: $109 Main Event | Mar, 19 13:05 | $109 | $1m |
| Bounty Builder Series 4-L: $55 NLHE Mini Bounty Builder HR | Mar, 05 12:30 | $55 | $400k |
The picture looks a bit different in terms of value. While the $1,050 game has the biggest guarantee, it is one of the lower-value games of the series. On the other hand, the opening Sunday Million and the Low version of the Main Event are loaded with value.
Those two games are the highest-value games of the whole series, guaranteeing almost $9,200 for every dollar of buy-in. As is pretty typical, the best value tends to be found in the lower buy-in tournaments, and the third game to promise more than $9k in value is the $11 event on March 19. Two $55 games round out the top-five events in terms of value.
2023 Bounty Builder Series Highest Value Games
| Event | Date | Buy-in | Guarantee | $Gtd/$Buy-In |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bounty Builder Series 5: $109 Sunday Million | Mar, 05 13:05 | $109 | $1m | $9,174.31 |
| Bounty Builder Series 137-L: $109 Main Event | Mar, 19 13:05 | $109 | $1m | $9,174.31 |
| Bounty Builder Series 135: $11 NLHE | Mar, 19 11:30 | $11 | $100k | $9,090.91 |
| Bounty Builder Series 4-L: $55 Mini Bounty Builder HR | Mar, 05 12:30 | $55 | $400k | $7,272.73 |
| Bounty Builder Series 70-L: $55 Mini Bounty Builder HR | Mar, 12 12:30 | $55 | $400k | $7,272.73 |
The 2023 Bounty Builder Series from PokerStars is two weeks of wall-to-wall PKO games. The Bounty Builder Series should make March an excellent month for players who love the chance to earn money from the very firsthand.
