Mystery Bounty Plays Down to Winner Today; Uladzimir Zhyharau Returns as Chip Leader
It's time for the final day of the $3,000 Mystery Bounty event, running at the Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa as part of the 2024 PokerStars European Poker Tour Cyprus.
A total field of 894 players has now been reduced to the final 15 hopefuls, who will return to contend for the lion's share of the prize pool.
Uladzimir Zhyharau begins the day with a significant chip lead. It wasn't all smooth sailing for Zhyharau, but it was about as close as it gets. He finished Day 1 as the chip leader and built his stack throughout Day 2 to bag for 4,920,000 chips.
Behind him, kicking off Day 3 in second place, is Ryhor Karapanau, who sits on 3,225,000, over 1.5 million chips behind Zhyharau but with all to play for.
Nicolae Paunescu, Marius Kudzmanas and Matthias Lipp round out the top five.
Start of Day 3 Chip Counts
| Position | Player | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Uladzimir Zhyharau | Belarus | 4,920,000 | 98 |
| 2 | Ryhor Karapanau | Latvia | 3,225,000 | 65 |
| 3 | Nicolae Paunescu | Romania | 3,020,000 | 60 |
| 4 | Marius Kudzmanas | Lithuania | 2,735,000 | 55 |
| 5 | Matthias Lipp | Austria | 2,325,000 | 47 |
| 6 | Valeriu Rosca | Romania | 1,340,000 | 27 |
| 7 | Stoyan Obreshkov | Bulgaria | 1,295,000 | 26 |
| 8 | Karen Nazarian | Russia | 1,300,000 | 26 |
| 9 | Guoliang Wei | Hong Kong | 1,155,000 | 23 |
| 10 | Hadi Khordbin | Iran | 1,050,000 | 21 |
| 11 | Aziz Efe | Turkey | 1,005,000 | 20 |
| 12 | Boris Kolev | Bulgaria | 1,000,000 | 20 |
| 13 | Morten Klein | Norway | 965,000 | 19 |
| 14 | Anze Smajd | Slovenia | 905,000 | 18 |
| 15 | Maroun Jazzar | Lebanon | 490,000 | 10 |
Day 3 action resumes at midday local time, with blinds on 25,000/50,000 and a 50,000 big blind ante. There will be a 15-minute break every three levels, but no dinner break is scheduled.
Regarding bounty prizes, the three $75,000 top prizes were pulled on Day 2, along with most of the other appealing envelopes. The top bounty prize available is $5,000 and the rest are $1,000s.
There are still huge prizes up for grabs, with two-thirds of the prize pool, $1,509,072, going to payouts. The eventual winner is set to walk away with $265,972 plus bounties.
| Place | Prize | Place | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $265,972 | 8 | $31,990 |
| 2 | $166,330 | 9 | $24,610 |
| 3 | $118,810 | 10 – 11 | $19,800 |
| 4 | $91,390 | 12 – 13 | $16,490 |
| 5 | $70,310 | 14 – 15 | $13,750 |
| 6 | $54,090 | 16 | $11,950 |
| 7 | $41,590 |
Players return to average stacks of a little over 30 big blinds, and with many of those chips sitting with the current leaders, it could be a rapid affair.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for live updates straight from the tournament floor as the event plays down to a winner on Day 3.
