Jack on the River Worth Half a Million in Venom Bounty Win

This year’s earliest big online poker bounty tournament is in the can and a thriller ended in dramatic fashion last night. The United Kingdom player ‘BALDOUS’ not only won the $500,000 top bounty prize but filmed it live as he hit a 13% shot on the river to claim a miraculous victory against the odds.

Bumper Prize Pool for Signature Bounty Tournament

This year’s Venom festival on Americas Cardroom has given away million in winnings and one player walked away with over $1.2m in regular and bounty prizes last night. The $2,500-entry No Limit Hold’em Mystery Bounty event saw the U.K. player ‘BALDOUS’ win more money than the eventual winner of the event.

While this wasn’t the Main Event of ACR Poker’s Venom series, the $2,500 buy-in tournament was always going to be big. The rise in popularity of mystery bounty tournaments has been phenomenal over the past few years and while many of the headlines associated with such events have been reserved for WSOP events with millions on the line, online events are growing at an even faster rate.

On Americas Cardroom (ACR), this is self-evident, as this week’s NLHE Mystery Bounty event had a guarantee of $8 million. It reached $9.1m, and incredibly, one player won a massive $1.24m of it across regular and bounty prizes. There were 442 places paid in the event, and so the biggest bounty winner ended up the biggest winner overall, even more than the outright winner, ‘MatasSembolas’.

How Did the Key Hand Play Out?

The vital hand in the NLHE Mystery Bounty didn’t take place at the final table on ACR this week, but rather several levels before. Calling off an all-in, the bigger stack belonged to United Kingdom player ‘BALDOUS’, who had ace-jack. The victim in the hand had pocket sevens and needed to hold through flop, turn and river. No ace or jack arrived on the flop, and the turn was clear.

BALDOUS needed a 13% miracle on the river, and it came in, the jack landing to not only give him the pot, but crucially eliminate his opponent. Now it was simply a case of the bounty prize… and the graphic slowly revealed a stunning $500,000 top bounty prize for BALDOUS too. Not only did the British player scoop that massive half-million bounty score but he filmed it too.

More was to come. In total, BALDOUS won another $200,000 in bounties by the end of the event and reached the final table hoping to close it out for the win. Down to the final three players, however, things changed and BALDOUS agreed to a deal. It was perfect timing, as the British player came second, banking over $510,000 as he finished as runner-up, earning $1.24 million including over $700,000 in bounties – more than the $728,281 claimed by the winner ‘MatasSembolas’ ($630,327 and $97,953 in bounties).

Latest Bounty Scoop Proves Popularity of Format

BALDOUS’s terrific win on ACR didn’t just earn him a monster payday of $1.24 million, a return that was out of this world for the $2,500 entry fee. He also highlighted just how lucrative bounty events can be for players who lack the experience of closing out events. Sure, BALDOUS came second, but even if he’d bubbled the final table, he would have won more than anyone else in the tournament courtesy of drawing the top bounty.

Over the past few years, mystery bounty events, especially in Las Vegas at the WSOP have been incredibly popular. Even the Irish Open will feature a huge mystery bounty event this year, while Americas Cardroom are already looking forward to The Moneymaker Mystery Million which will play out later this month.

For BALDOUS, however, it was the result of a lifetime. With a second-place prize of $510,378, and $729,931 in bounties, his total prize fund of $1,240,310 in the Venom Mystery Bounty event may not be eclipsed for a very long time.