PokerStars Develops Formats in Its Mystery Bounty Series

Over the last couple of years, PokerStars has significantly fallen from grace. GGPoker took over as the uncontested King of the Poker World. However, since finding its feet, PokerStars has taken various steps to regain its popularity, with varying success. Its latest innovation is the changed Mystery Bounty Series (MBS), which features some brand-new elements.

The inaugural MBS starts on June 23rd and runs until the 30th, with the Main Event finishing off on July 1st. 

This event will be the first MB-only tournament the poker room offers so far, with the only other room offering a similar series being 888poker. Many expected this series, as the brand offered similar ones in the Southern European and Italian markets.

The series will have 55 events and offers a moderate guaranteed prize pool of $4 million. The buy-ins will range between $5.50 and $215, with the guarantees being anything between $20,000 and $1 million. 

In fact, there’ll be two $1 million events: the $109 Sunday Million, which some players might be familiar with, and the $109 Main Event. Unlike the norm of multi-day flights, all of these events will be single-day flights. 

The regular No-Limit Hold’em and Pot-Limit Omaha formats will be available. However, it also introduces the MB feature in never-tried formats. These include No-Limit 5-Card Draw, 8-Game, Pot-Limit Badugi, No-Limit 2-7 Single Draw, and several more.

Other variations to the traditional and well-loved MB format are the addition of a heads-up variant and a fast-fold variant called Zoom. However, players will also find the following available:

• Total Mystery: The entire prize pool is part of the mystery bounty pool. Bounty starts with 40% of the participants left.
• Mostly Mystery: The mystery bounty accounts for 70% of the prize pool.
• Final Table Bounties: MBs are only available at the final table.
• Fabulous Forty: MBs activate with the last forty participants (five tables).
• Goose Hunt: A single MB drop contains 80% of the prize pool.
• Super Sixteen: MBs start when there are 16 players (two tables) left.
• Ten Percenter: MBs start when 10% of participants are left.

The brand attempted a “Vanilla” version of its Sunday Millions, but it didn’t perform well at all. It was a non-bounty event with a $215 buy-in and resulted in a $110k overlay on its $1 million guarantee. 

This failure might be what prompted the change in the format for the Mystery Bounties. However, while the innovations seem exciting, it’s also too soon to tell whether they’ll be successful among players. The original MB format is much loved, and players are familiar with it.

GGPoker was the first online poker room to host a Mystery Bounty tournament. They’ve enjoyed incredible results with it through events like the legendary Bounty Hunters Series. One has to wonder, is it necessary to make so many changes to a proven format that’s already achieved great success? 

Maybe PokerStars should rather try and create a new format instead of trying to improve one that works. Still, players might surprise us and love the new game formats, so you can be sure we’ll keep our eye on the series as it progresses.