In just a few days, two more operators have introduced Mystery Bounty tournaments, a format that has taken both the online and live poker worlds by storm since its debut in 2021.
WPT Global began offering mystery bounty tournaments on a trial basis last week and has now officially incorporated the format into their daily tournament schedule. It will also feature prominently in WPT Global’s upcoming Fall Festival tournament series, where mystery bounty MTTs will represent more than one-third of the overall series guaranteed prize pool.
Meanwhile, another global operator, PartyPoker, has quietly introduced the format as well. Although the company has not yet made an official announcement, it is clearly testing the waters: The first Mystery Bounty tournaments on PartyPoker launched on Thursday, August 29, and both events surpassed their guarantees. Two more are scheduled to run later today.
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The format on both sites follows the tried-and-tested structure seen in other mystery bounty tournaments, dividing the event into two stages: the Initial Phase, where the tournament plays like a regular event with no bounties for eliminations, and the Final Phase, where the excitement peaks as bounties are awarded. Bounty amounts remain a secret until an opponent is eliminated. So far, so standard.
However, PartyPoker has introduced a slight variation in when that final phase begins. While most operators, including WPT Global, trigger mystery bounties after the money bubble bursts, PartyPoker has chosen to initiate the bounty phase when a specific number of players remain or when a certain percentage of the starting field is left, regardless of whether the bubble has burst.
Both operators currently offer MBTs in a single-day format, with no multiple phases or Day 1s available on either platform. On WPT Global, MBTs run several times a day, featuring a wide range of buy-ins from $2.20 to $110. The guarantees top at $27,500 for the Nightly $110 Mystery Bounty. In fact, WPT Global is the only operator in the industry to offer Mystery Bounty tournaments in a Short Deck variant on a daily basis.
At PartyPoker, where the format is currently in a trial phase, Mystery Bounty tournaments have featured buy-ins ranging from $11 to $33, with guarantees between $2,000 and $10,000. The tournaments run in both 6-handed and 7-handed structures, offering both turbo and regular-paced options. The operator also experimented with a unique buy-in structure, allocating 25% of the buy-in to the regular prize pool and 75% to the mystery bounties.
Both operators have executed the format impressively, with polished animations, sound effects, and clear information on available bounties and the number of bounties claimed — all accessible in the tournament lobby. WPT Global uses a “Mystery Chest” to reveal bounties, while PartyPoker employs a “Wild West” theme, where bounties are revealed on a piece of paper.
We knew this was coming. Earlier this year, WPT Global’s President, Alex Scott, hinted in a pokerfuse podcast interview about the introduction of mystery bounty games.
“It’ll be no surprise,” Scott said. “One of the tournament features that we will release this year will be no surprise to anybody because it’s a very, very popular tournament format.”
Meanwhile, Poker Industry PRO, our premium news and data analytics platform for poker, exclusively revealed earlier this month that PartyPoker was internally testing Mystery Bounty tournaments. Now, they have officially gone live for public testing.
Rapid Adoption of Mystery Bounties
Mystery bounty tournaments have quickly become a staple in the online poker world, transforming the tournament landscape much like progressive knockouts did a decade ago. This action-packed format is now available almost everywhere — from the UK and Europe to the US, Ontario, Asia, and Latin America.
GGPoker was one of the first major operators to introduce mystery bounties, soon followed by 888poker, the iPoker network, Winamax, and even a sweepstakes-based poker site.
Earlier this year, online poker giant PokerStars joined the trend, initially offering mystery bounties in the iconic Sunday Million as a one-off event before integrating them into their daily MTT schedule. PokerStars also launched a dedicated mystery bounty series in the dot-com market and has since expanded the format to all of its markets, including Ontario and the US.
In the regulated North American market, WSOP offers mystery bounties in all four US states alongside 888poker and GGPoker in Ontario. BetMGM remains the only major US operator not yet supporting the format, though this might change soon, given that BetMGM uses PartyPoker’s software, and PartyPoker has now launched mystery bounties. Meanwhile, in the dot-com market, Unibet is the only one that has yet to introduce the format.
