Finally! After much anticipation, Mystery Bounty Poker (MBP) has officially entered the public testing phase at PokerStars.
This innovative format, which has gained significant popularity over the past year, involves concealed bounties only unveiled upon a player’s elimination. The concept has garnered widespread attention in live and online poker circles, with nearly a dozen online poker networks embracing this intriguing format.
PokerStars, which has worked on this tournament format for several months, has unveiled it to the public. Pokerfuse first disclosed that the operator has been working on this format in an exclusive report back in July.
- Deposit $20 and get $30 worth of free play
- One of the best mobile apps
- Biggest MTT guarantees
The first-ever mystery bounty poker tournament on PokerStars was a “test tournament” on Monday afternoon, December 4. The event featured a $1.10 buy-in with a guaranteed prize pool of $100, capped at 200 players. All 200 spots were quickly filled before the tournament commenced.
PokerStars’ version of mystery bounty tournaments did not deviate from the tried-and-tested structure seen elsewhere. It adhered to the established structure seen at other sites, with 50% of the buy-in going towards the bounty pool and bounties only coming into play once the bubble has burst. This meant that 50 cents from each player’s buy-in went to the bounty pool, PokerStars charged 48 cents to the regular pool, and 12 cents as the tournament fee.
Each player received 10,000 starting stacks, and the blinds escalated every four minutes. A total of 27 places were paid, and the mystery bounty aspect came into play post-bubble burst.
Following the bubble burst, the $100 allocated to the bounty pool was distributed among the remaining 27 players. Four different types of bounty amounts were set:
| Bounty Amount | No. of Prizes | Total Amount |
|---|---|---|
| $28 | 1 | $28 |
| $22 | 1 | $22 |
| $13 | 2 | $26 |
| $1.04 | 23 | $23.92 |
| Total | 27 | $99.92 |
After elimination, each player received a golden envelope with a hidden bounty only revealed once the player had been knocked out.
The debut of MBP was unavailable in all countries as the operator awaits regulatory approval in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Romania, and other locally regulated market. Nonetheless, the tournament welcomed participants from several countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Finland, Poland, and the UK.
At the time of writing, no further MBP tournaments are deployed in the schedule. PokerStars has not announced a firm date for when these tournaments will come out of testing and whether they will be rolled out in other segregated markets such as the US and Ontario.
- Deposit $20 and get $30 worth of free play
- One of the best mobile apps
- Biggest MTT guarantees
PokerStars has joined the growing ranks of online poker networks by launching mystery bounty poker. By pokerfuse’s count, nearly a dozen online poker networks offer MBP thus far.
GGPoker was among the first to introduce the format in March 2022. Subsequently, Winamax, 888poker, PokerBros, WSOP US, iPoker, 4poker, and even US-facing offshore networks like WPN and Chico Poker Network have embraced the trend.
A comprehensive launch of Mystery Bounty tournaments on PokerStars could be just days away.
Online Poker Sites with Mystery Bounty Tournaments
| Operator | Launch Month |
|---|---|
| PokerMatch | Feb 2022 (since closed) |
| GGPoker | Mar 2022 |
| Winamax | Aug 2022 |
| 888poker | Sep 2022 |
| PokerBros | Nov 2022 |
| WSOP US | Jan 2023 |
| WPN | May 2023 |
| iPoker | Oct 2023 |
| 4Poker | Oct 2023 |
| Chico Poker Network | Oct 2023 |
| PokerStars | Dec 2023 (Trial Phase) |
