Many players consider Mystery Bounty poker tournaments a fun way to play online poker. Anyone who is familiar with this tournament format will know exactly why, given how good it can feel to bust a player and collect an immediate prize for doing so. 

If you’re not familiar with Mystery bounties, this benefit alone may sound intriguing. These poker tournaments add a level of action and excitement that is often missing from standard tournament structures. This blog post will answer a range of questions to introduce curious players to Mystery Bounty tournaments, including: What is a Mystery Bounty poker tournament? How does it work? How can you develop or improve your Mystery Bounty poker strategy? 

What Is a Mystery Bounty Poker Tournament?

A Mystery Bounty is a type of poker tournament in which players earn rewards for eliminating opponents. Standard bounty tournaments in poker offer fixed cash rewards for each elimination. In progressive knockout (PKO) tournaments, part of each bounty is paid immediately while the remaining portion is added to the player’s own bounty. In most mystery bounty tournaments, however, bounties only become available at a later stage of the event, often once a certain blind level is reached or the field is close to the money. 

While some brick-and-mortar casinos offer Mystery Bounty tournaments, they’re more commonly played as components of larger online poker tournament series.

How Does a Mystery Bounty Work?

A Mystery Bounty tournament is typically split into two parts. It starts with the initial phase, also known as the early stage, followed by a final phase, or late stage. Sometimes, a Mystery Bounty is a two-day tournament in which the final phase begins on the second day. Poker tournament formats and structures may vary by site or casino, but the general setup remains the same.

The prize pool is divided into two parts. One is distributed among the top finishers in a manner similar to regular tournaments, with an escalated payout regime for the top 10 percent or 15 percent of the field. The second part is reserved for bounties. The bounties, however, aren’t divided equally. Instead, there are many different amounts established once registration closes, and the amount allocated for bounties is final. However, the bounties are distributed at random, and players don’t find out the value of a bounty until they eliminate an opponent and are randomly awarded one.

Any Mystery Bounty event could use a slightly different prize structure. So it’s always smart to check the exact rules whenever you play poker online or at a land-based card room or casino. The most common division of the prize pool is half for bounties and half for the standard payouts, but there can be various splits, such as 60/40 or 70/30. That’s necessary to know if you want to make the optimal decisions as you play. Here’s a general example of how an event might work. 

Example

Assume there’s a $5,500 buy-in Mystery Bounty event. The entry fee is $500, so the other $5,000 goes into the prize pool. The event brings in 200 players, so the prize pool totals $1,000,000. Half of that goes toward the bounties, and the rest goes into the regular prize pool. The latter will be distributed just as it would be in a regular tournament setting. The bounty pool, on the other hand, could be split into something like this:

• One bounty of $200,000
• Two bounties of $70,000
• Five bounties of $20,000
• Eight bounties of $5,000
• Sixteen bounties of $1,250

There are only 32 bounties in this hypothetical scenario, but this doesn’t mean that 32 players will reach the bounty stage. According to basic poker tournament rules, the number of players who reach the bounty stage is determined by the tournament structure, not the number of bounties. However, if you do manage to reach this part of the tournament, it can be very rewarding. Knocking just a single player out gives you a chance at the highest $200,000 bounty.

Why Do Recreational Players Like Mystery Bounties?

Mystery bounties are more popular among recreational poker players. Why is that so? Well, there are multiple reasons. 

First, many players might consider the rewards in standard online poker tournaments with real cash prizes too top-heavy. While they can consistently finish somewhat highly in the tournament, they rarely win. For them, a Mystery Bounty event offers a way to potentially collect more prizes than with a regular tournament structure.

Second, it offers a twist to the traditional poker game. You don’t just care about finishing first anymore. Now, you want to eliminate as many players as you can, as the rewards can be lucrative.

Last but most definitely not least, it’s fun. Whenever you manage to knock out an opponent, there’s a possibility of winning the highest prize. Discovering your reward is always exciting.

More seasoned players may not enjoy this format as much because of the increased variance. These are players who are highly skilled and able to achieve strong long-term results in standard tournaments, so they may be less inclined to introduce additional variance by randomly assigning a portion of the prize pool through bounties. They don’t mind top-heavy payout structures when they’re a favorite to finish deep when playing poker online or at a casino.

Mystery Bounty Strategy

Mystery bounty events are still poker tournaments. So, according to poker tournament strategy for beginners, your tactics shouldn’t differ from your traditional no-limit poker strategy, right? Well, that’s not entirely true. The added bounties change your expected value, which brings a slew of consequences.

Additionally, the two stages of the tournament are distinct. Thus, you should approach them differently.

Early Stage

Your main goal in the early stage is to advance to the final phase of the tournament with a relatively big stack.

Imagine you manage to barely scrape into the next stage without many chips, just happy with the thought of making your poker buy-in back with a min-cash. In that scenario, it will take a lot of work to knock anyone out. Your opponents will be able to leverage their higher chip count and put you in bad spots. Thus, you shouldn’t just settle for advancing. You want to do so with a reasonably-sized stack.

In the early stage, patience and tight play are key. Spewing chips can be extremely punishing, preventing you from competing for bounties.

Since many recreational players play these events, you might notice more opponents playing loosely. Take a mental note of that and use it to your advantage. 

Late Stage

Once you’re in the bounty stage with a large stack, strategic priorities begin to shift compared to early and mid-stage poker strategies. The most exciting part of the tournament is about to begin. If ever there was a time to bluff like a pro poker player, this is it. Here’s the reason. 

If your stack is bigger than your opponent’s stack, you can call with a wider range of hands when they shove. Even if you aren’t the favorite to win, things like the odds change drastically once you account for the bounty.

Suppose the odds that you’ll knock out that opponent with a call are only +400. If the EV (expected value) of the bounty is extremely high, the play could still have a positive EV. A rough way to estimate bounty value is to look at the average remaining bounty. Still, true bounty EV depends on factors such as your equity in the hand, the distribution of remaining bounties, and future knockout opportunities.

Preparing

What should your preparation for a Mystery Bounty look like? Improving your general poker strategy is obviously a must. Read articles, consume video content, listen to podcasts — whatever works best for you.

In addition to asking standard questions about poker tournaments, you should find out how many players are likely to play in the upcoming Mystery Bounty tournament. You can do this in BetMGM poker tournaments, for example, by looking at the results of past events with similar buy-ins and structures. Will you be playing full-ring poker? In that case, practicing at the shorthanded poker tables doesn’t make much sense, and vice versa. 

Enjoy a Bountiful Experience at BetMGM

Poker has its serious side, but ultimately, it’s a game. It’s supposed to be fun to play. Mystery bounties bring a different level of entertainment to the table. But there are a whole host of other enjoyable tournament and cash game formats to enjoy, too. Register to play poker with real money at BetMGM and find out how to qualify for online poker tournaments, as well as the upcoming online poker tournaments this week and beyond. And use an online poker welcome bonus to make the most of your first cash deposit.