PokerStars Bounty Builder Sees $36.2M Awarded Across 180 Tournaments
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While poker players the world over are clearing their schedules for the upcoming MicroMillions series on PokerStars, it's worth looking back on the recently completed Bounty Builder series that ran through most of October.
The Bounty Builder offered a slate of progressive knockout (PKO) format events, with guarantees totaling $25 million. While there were a few hiccups along the way in the form of overlays, the series overall soared past its total guarantee and gave several players the opportunities to amass huge prizes from very small satellite entries.
More than $36 Million Awarded
Across 180 individual tournaments, 772,380 entries were registered and $36,229,739.98 in prize money was doled out, with plenty of that coming in the form of knockout bounties. That number means the total guarantee on the series was surpassed by more than $11 million, which will undoubtedly encourage PokerStars as the operator builds up this latest series in response to the PKO craze spreading across the online poker industry.
The largest prize naturally came in the $530 Main Event, which saw "vesaaaa_1" of China secure $319,872.12 in combined prizes between payouts and bounties after topping a field of 5,573.
Other six-figure prizes went to "JK-GuRRuNEAA" ($108,765.48 in $2,100 No-Limit Hold'em), Andras "probirs" Nemeth ($143,780.98 in $5,200 High Roller), Connor "blanconegro" Drinan ($196,666.59 in $10,300 High Roller), and "pm_marke" ($180,062.24 in $5,200 High Roller.)
While the series as a whole crushed its guarantee, it wasn't all sunshine and roses for PokerStars as there were a few events that came up shy of the target numbers. According to Poker Industry PRO, 15 tournaments missed the mark ($) for a total of $352,904 in overlay.
Top Performers
PokerStars offered incentives to the top-performing players, with those tallying the most knockouts throughout the series earning thousands of dollars in prize money and tournament tickets.
When the dust settled, "4bet_multibet!" of Poland got the most with 384. That ranked the player well above the nearest competitor. Here's a look at the full top 10:
| Rank | Player | Knockouts | Winnings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4bet_multibet! | 384 | $28,445.71 |
| 2 | Andypsx | 331 | $20,512.84 |
| 3 | Zapahzamazki | 313 | $43,680.21 |
| 4 | kawachi1984 | 301 | $14,447.99 |
| 5 | WithoutCards | 267 | $2,404.17 |
| 6 | K.Nielsen88 | 216 | $10,724.83 |
| 7 | ROUNDSKY | 212 | $4,763.77 |
| 8 | liamkid | 207 | $6,415.53 |
| 9 | PhoenixGrind | 204 | $6,278.46 |
| 10 | alexxt7 | 200 | $22,476.09 |
Several players also used the satellite system to turn tiny investments into massive scores in various Bounty Builder events. The following players all cleared 2,000% ROI, making the online poker dream a reality:
| Rank | Player | Satellite Buy-in | Cash | ROI% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | toccini76 | $0.22 | $11,127.72 | 50,580.50 |
| 2 | FITZYOK | $2.20 | $14,329.26 | 6,513.30 |
| 3 | mikhakortua | $6.60 | $20,836.62 | 3,157.06 |
| 4 | bondo74rus | $2.20 | $6,074.72 | 2,761.24 |
| 5 | xxSaara | $2 | $4,869.55 | 2,434.78 |
| 6 | Aspirinsan | $0.15 | $335.55 | 2,237 |
| 7 | Turcooooo | $5.50 | $12,230.63 | 2,223.75 |
| 8 | JayMow30 | $5.50 | $12,057.23 | 2,192.22 |
| 9 | syki | $1.45 | $2,955.64 | 2,038.37 |
| 10 | Aina_0818 | $55 | $110,474.67 | 2,008.63 |
With the Bounty Builder having wrapped up, poker players can turn their attention to the MicroMillions, the next chance to make a huge score. It's running Nov. 10-24 at the world's leading online poker operator.
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