Bizarre Deal Struck in the $120K PokerNews Online Championship Mystery Bounty

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Feb 27, 2024 6 min read Last updated Feb 28, 2024

888poker has since clarified some details regarding the heads-up deal; please check the foot of this article for an explanation.

It is not uncommon for a poker tournament to end in a heads-up deal. Often, the players have battled for several hours to reach the one-on-one stage. The difference between first and second-place prize money can be substantial, and they make a deal to lessen that pay jump.

The $120,000 Opening Event Mystery Bounty, part of the PokerNews Online Championship at 888poker, featured a heads-up deal last night, but it raised a few eyebrows with the 888poker Twitch viewers. Start of the final table chip leader "andrey59" and Ukraine's "yriy3" reached the business end of the tournament almost even in chips. Both players clicked the deal-making icon after a couple of hands of one-on-one action.

At that stage, "yriy3" held the most slender of leads, their 8,608,352 stack containing a mere 2.8 big blinds more than the 8,161,648 stack of "andrey59." The original payouts were $8,766 for first place and $6,408 for second (plus mystery bounties), so one would expect the neck-and-neck players to negotiate a deal that made those amounts closer together. Indeed, an ICM deal would have made the payouts closer to $7,587 each; almost 50/50.

However, it transpires that either "andrey59" misclicked during the negotiations or "yriy3" is the master of negotiation because "yriy3" locked in $10,606 and "andrey59" agreed to take $4,568, a couple of hundred bucks less than third place received! A strange turn of events, to say the least.

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How Did the $120,000 Opening Event Mystery Bounty Go Down?

Some 891 unique players plus 227 re-entries took the total attendance to 1,118, and they first locked horns during Day 1 on February 25. By the time Day 1 was done and dusted, only six hopefuls remained in contention for the title of champion, the $8,766 top prize, and whatever bounties they'd collected along the way.

Outside of the PokerNews Online Championship, this tournament's final table is an eight-handed affair. However, "alexos888," "2pacnrw16," "Hodor83," and "friedrich101" crashed out at the same time when only ten players remained, leaving only six players at the final table. Double eliminations are uncommon, but quadruple bustouts are rarer than hen's teeth.

The final table got underway under the watchful eyes of the 888poker Twitch channel with the chip counts as shown below:

$120,000 Opening Event Mystery Bounty Final Table Chip Counts

The deep stacked nature of the final table meant almost 30 minutes passed without an elimination. Blinds were 35,000/70,000/8,750a, when the action folded to "yriy3" on the button, and they raised to 280,000 with pocket queens. "Babychill377" three-bet shoved for 2,102,750 from the small blind with ace-ten of spades, and "yriy3" called. A king-high board kept the queens as the best hand, and the final table lost a player.

Fifth place was decided on the very next hand. Everyone folded to Sweden's "Lahdo15" in the small blind, and they open-shoved for 1,054,960 with pocket deuced. Such a move would usually win the blinds and antes, but not this time because "TitovSerj" was holding ace-king in the big blind, and had an easy call. Call they did, and it was off to the races. The stream missed the run-out, but "Lahdo15" was nowhere to be seen when the stream resumed.

The final four became three as the final table reached the hour mark. The players had just returned to 50,000/100,000/12,500a blinds after a scheduled break. "yriy3" min-raised from the small blind with ace-trey before calling the 1,393,349 shove from "TitoSerj" in the big blind, a move they made with ten-nine of diamonds. An ace on the flop left "TitoSerj" drawing to running cards. The jack of diamonds turn meant the at-risk player could spike any eight or diamond on the river and double up. However, another jack completed the community cards, and "TitoSerj" was done and dusted.

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Third place was determined 40 minutes after the demise of "TitoSerj." Blinds were now biting at 80,000/160,000/20,000a. "yriy3" moved all-in from the small blind with king-nine, and "RazvyB" called off their 1,282,611 stack with ace-six. A nine on the river was a cruel way for "RazvyB" to bust. Perhaps they used up all their luck by pulling out the $12,000 jackpot mystery bounty before the final table gathered? Although "RazvyB" busted in third, they took home $21,159 in total, more than anyone else, including the champion, in this tournament.

As mentioned at the start of this piece, the heads-up duo played a couple of hands before agreeing to the weirdly structured deal. The third hand of heads-up concluded the $120,000 Opening Event Mystery Bounty. "andrey59" opened to 480,000 on the button with pocket queens, "yriy3" made it 1,160,000 with ace-jack before calling the 8,091,648 shove of their opponent. An ace landed on the flop, and the fat lady began singing.

$120,000 Opening Event Mystery Bounty Final Table Results

PokerNews Online Championship Results So Far

Four other 888poker players can now call themselves PokerNews Online Championship champions, having taking down the PKO events on Day 2 of the inaugural series.

"GemeValter" turned their $11 investment into $1,844 in the PKO Mini, while "jetskii" rode off with a $2,232 haul after taking down the $33 buy-in PKO Mid. "Sosiska" is $2,372 richer than a couple of days ago courtesy of becoming the $55 PKO champion, with "michel.mica" coming out on top in the $109 PKO for $3,526.

Remaining PokerNews Online Championship Schedule

If short-handed progressive knockout tournaments are what get you all hot and bothered, you're in luck on Day 3 of the PokerNews Online Championship. Between 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. GMT, four No-Limit Hold'em 6-Max PKO events shuffle up and deal, with buy-ins between $11 and $320, and guaranteed prize pools of $10,000 to $15,000.

You'll also be able to start your quest for Mini Main Event and Main Event glory on February 27. The $25 buy-in, $50,000 guaranteed Mini Main Event has flights at 2:00 p.m., 6:00 p.m., and 10:00 p.m. GMT.

The $215 buy-in, $300,000 guaranteed Main Event has flights starting at 4:00 p.m., and 7:00 p.m. GMT.

Matthew Pitt hails from Leeds, West Yorkshire, in the United Kingdom, and has worked in the poker industry since 2008, and worked for PokerNews since 2010. In September 2010, he became the editor of PokerNews. Matthew stepped away from live reporting duties in 2015, and now concentrates on his role of Senior Editor for the PokerNews.

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