Both $1 Million Prizes Pulled in WSOP Mystery Bounty!
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Update: DJ Buckley has pulled the second $1 million mystery bounty (story below).
The first $1 million mystery bounty has been pulled at the World Series of Poker (WSOP), and no, it wasn't Matt Glantz this time. Instead, it was Valentyn Shabelnyk, who pulled it at around 12:30 p.m. PT.
Day 2 of Event #5: Mystery Millions No-Limit Hold'em kicked off Monday morning, an event that had 18,418 entrants across four Day 1 starting flights. The tournament has a separate mystery bounty component, and two of the bounties are worth a cool million dollars.
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How the Mystery Bounty Prizes Work
The bounty pulls all take place over on the Paris Las Vegas ballroom. PokerGO reporter Jeff Platt is stationed all day on a podium to announce each mystery bounty as the players come up to open a treasure chest.
There are 949 bounties, and 798 of them (84%) are worth just $1,000. But there are two valued at $1 million, another good for $500,000, one for $250,000, and three at $100,000. For those who don't pull any of the six or seven figure chests, there are still 60 envelopes worth at least $10,000, including five being $50,000 pulls.
Breakdown of Bounty Prizes
| Number of Bounties | Bounty Prize | Total |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | $1,000,000 | $2,000,000 |
| 1 | $500,000 | $500,000 |
| 1 | $250,000 | $250,000 |
| 3 | $100,000 | $300,000 |
| 5 | $50,000 | $250,000 |
| 38 | $25,000 | $950,000 |
| 17 | $10,000 | $170,000 |
| 38 | $5,000 | $190,000 |
| 46 | $2,500 | $115,000 |
| 798 | $1,000 | $798,000 |
| Total Bounty Prize Pool | $5,523,000 |
First Milly Goes Early
The first dozen "big" bounties were all of the $25,000 variety, including three-time bracelet winner David "ODB" Baker. But then one of the two really big ones were pulled, and that went to Shabelnyk, a Ukrainian with over $1.2 million in live tournament cashes, according to The Hendon Mob.
Shabelnyk was the first millionaire of the 2024 WSOP, but had a reserved and quiet celebration as he hurried back to his table as he was still leftin the tournament with around 500 players remaining.
There will be a second $1 million mystery bounty winner before this event ends, along with another $1 million guaranteed to the champion of the event — could Shabelnyk do an unimaginable double?!
Matt Glantz Finds the $1 Million Bounty at the 2022 WSOP
AFTERNOON UPDATE: DJ Buckley Pulls Second $1 Million Mystery Bounty
Apologies to all the remaining players in the Mystery Millions, but there are now zero $1 million mystery bounties left to pull.
DJ Buckley opened the second lucky $1 million envelope on Monday during Day 2 of Event #5: $1,000 Mystery Millions No-Limit Hold'em. And unlike the first to hit the grand jackpot — Valentyn Shabelnyk — Buckley appeared to be at least somewhat enthusiastic about having won a fortune.
With that, there are no additional seven-figure bounties still to be pulled. But many of the high denomination bounties remain in play, including $500,000 and $250,000 bounties.
Buckley, a poker pro from Minnesota, has over $1.3 million in live tournament cashes, according to The Hendon Mob. That includes 41 — well, now 42 — cashes in WSOP bracelet events.
Beyond Buckley, there have been a number of big name players pulling some of the biggest bounties, including Craig Varnell who found both a $25,000 and $50,000 envelope. Antonio Payne also pulled multiple five-figure bounties, both for $25,000. Adam Hendrix, one of the top high stakes players in the world, pulled two bounties for a combined $125,000, both coming within the span of a few minutes.
At the time of publishing, only four bounties valued at $100,000 or more remained. The good news for those still in the field who didn't pull one of the two $1 million bounties, there's still an opportunity to win $1 million by claiming first place in the tournament. At the time of publishing, only 150 players remained out of the original 18,409, and players are dropping fast.
