In a week where an alternative to Mystery Bounties debuted in Barcelona, we ask if the current format is too luck based? MB’s provide viral moments In the same week that WPT Global launched Mystery Bounties , the European Poker Tour debuted a format which appears to be an alternative to them.
Cuatro Bounties see you win a whole buy-in when you eliminate a player, but the bounty phase only happens with 25% of the field remaining.
Like a Mystery Bounty, the bounties only kick in when the tournament is deep, which means the average bounty is worth much more. However, unlike a mystery bounty, there is no variance with the bounty value. Same format, less variance?
A similar alternative was trialled at Dusk Till Dawn (Click to enlarge) I have no doubt that this new format came into existence because some players have complained that there is too much gambling in the Mystery Bounty format. How can there not be, when a player could win a prize bigger than the eventual champion gets just for busting a micro stack at the start of Day 2?
This is not to say there is no variance in tournaments, but broadly speaking the deeper you get, the more good players there will be relatively left in the field.
Having players win a whole buy-in back will appeal to people who are sick of winning small Mystery Bounties and watching seemingly underserved players pulling the big one. The ecosystem in general benefits more because it will flatten the payout structure much more. Careful what you wish for
MB’s have just dropped at WPT Global I like the format and think it could work, especially in mid-sized events with mid-sized buy-ins, where perhaps you cannot create a life-changing single bounty. I still think Mystery Bounty will be King. People like to gamble and the thrill of a big bounty will always appeal. From an operator’s perspective, they market themselves, creating viral moments every time the big prize is won.
Plus, and I don’t know how often this needs saying, we would all hate poker without the […]
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