Duco ten Haven Gets the Trophy and the Prized Envelope in the €10,200 Mystery Bounty
Paris is the City of Light, and today at the 2024 PokerStars European Poker Tour Paris €10,200 Mystery Bounty, the light shined brightest on Duco ten Haven.
The Dutch pro, who considers Paris a second home, is usually an online crusher but captured his first EPT title today at Le Palais des Congrès by defeating Quan Zhou heads-up to win the trophy and €126,500. In addition to the top prize, he also earned €117,500 in bounties including one of the €50,000 top mystery bounty envelopes as he began his festival here in Paris with a total score of €244,000, the best of his career.
“That’s great. I didn’t even want to play this tournament,” ten Haven said following his victory. “It’s amazing. My first EPT. My best live score. Can’t get any better. I come also from Paris, kind of, so it’s the best feeling to win the EPT in the city that I come from.”
Mystery bounty tournaments have become a fixture on the poker calendar within a few short years. Players can collect a bounty by eliminating a player, but the amount is left up to chance. An envelope is pulled out of a wooden box and the figure that is in there is the player’s to keep. For ten Haven, it’s a way to keep poker more interesting, especially with how it affects the overall strategy of the tournament.
“It’s fun. A mixture of the different types of tournaments is the best thing to have. I enjoy all the formats as much as one another, but the best is having diversification so you’re not bored at any point in time,” he said.
“When the mystery bounty is first getting into play there were a lot, so you should gamble way more at that point, especially if there are short stacks that you cover. But as the tournament goes towards the end they are worth less and less so it plays out more or less like a normal format.”
Final Table Results
| Rank | Player | Country | Prize | Bounties | Total Earnings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Duco ten Haven | Netherlands | €126,500 | €117,500 | €244,000 |
| 2 | Quan Zhou | China | €81,500 | €72,500 | €154,000 |
| 3 | Thomas Boivin | Belgium | €58,200 | €25,000 | €83,200 |
| 4 | Sirzat Hissou | Germany | €44,800 | €47,500 | €92,300 |
| 5 | Sergi Reixach | Spain | €35,800 | €62,500 | €98,300 |
| 6 | Adrian Mateos | Spain | €28,700 | €7,500 | €36,200 |
| 7 | Elias Gutierrez | Spain | €22,900 | €15,000 | €37,900 |
| 8 | Aurelien Russo | France | €18,300 | €7,500 | €25,800 |
| 9 | Mike Watson | Canada | €14,700 | €35,000 | €49,700 |
Day 2 Action
Day 2 began with 46 surviving players from Day 1 beginning play at 12:30 p.m. local time. With late registration open for the first two levels of the day, they were joined by 32 new arrivals to bring the total field up to 103.
Mystery bounties kicked in beginning on Level 13. Team PokerStars Pros Alejandro Lococo and Sam Grafton, as well as EPT champion Steve O’Dwyer, Chris Brewer, and Day 1 chip leader Joris Ruijs were among those who busted early. Stephen Chidwick fell two spots off the money, while Artur Martirosian fell victim to Zhou’s flush to finish in 14th place as the unfortunate bubble boy.
Once the bubble burst and the remaining 13 players guaranteed themselves a payday, Joakim Andersson had his aces cracked by Mike Watson to fall in 13th. Atanas Malinov lost to Elias Gutierrez’s rivered pair of aces as he busted in 12th.
Thomas Boivin earned a massive double up when he spiked a set of kings on the river to beat Sergi Reixach’s two aces. Gutierrez then won a race against EPT champion Adrian Mateos to double up and leave Mateos nursing an extreme short stack. Mateos, though, managed to climb back into contention and even claimed the next bounty, eliminating Jean-Noel Thorel in 11th place.
Jakob Miegel suffered a massive cooler when his tens over queens lost to Boivin’s queens full of tens as he finished on the final table bubble in 10th place. Boivin took the chip lead into the nine-handed final table with 1,940,000, ten Haven following close behind in second on a stack of 1,815,000.
Two-time EPT champion Watson was the first to fall, losing a three-way all in to Sirzat Hissou’s turned flush. Mateos picked off a bluff from Gutierrez to double up yet again before Aurelien Russo was eliminated in eighth place when his eights lost to Reixach’s flopped pair of kings. A hand later, Reixach made a straight on the river to beat Gutierrez’s pocket deuces to send the online phenom and streamer known as “SinKarma” to the rail in seventh.
Mateos finally fell when he moved all in for 850,000 with king-six. Zhou called with ace-six and both players made two pair on the flop, but Zhou’s ace earned him the pot as Mateos was sent to the exit in sixth. Zhou took the chip lead, but his turn atop the leaderboard was short-lived as Boivin won a massive flip with nines against Reixach’s ace-king to double up. Reixach was eliminated the next hand by Zhou’s turned straight.
The biggest hand of the tournament, though, was yet to come as ten Haven catapulted into a massive lead. Zhou four-bet jammed and ten Haven snap-called for 2,530,000 with two aces. Zhou had ace-king and was forced to hand over most of his chips as ten Haven took firm control of the tournament.
Zhou nearly tripled up a few hands later to get back into contention. Hissou doubled up his short stack several times before calling off his last 650,000 against ten Haven, who made a pair of aces to bust Hissou in fourth place. Boivin then moved all in for 3,100,000 with a pair of eights and ten Haven called with a dominating pair of nines. Ten Haven ended up with quads to eliminate Boivin in third and take a 8,600,000 to 1,330,000 lead over Zhou into heads-up play.
Zhou managed two double ups until he jammed again for 1,825,000 with jack-four. Ten Haven called with king-three and ended up with a full house to win the pot and tournament. Ten Haven’s night only got better from there, as he claimed the last remaining €50,000 mystery bounty after clinching the title. Fittingly, Zhou won the other top bounty prize.
His career-defining windfall today is going to change ten Haven’s plans for the rest of the EPT Paris festival. The high roller events weren’t on his original schedule, but that might change with his win today. “I wasn’t planning to, but now this makes me reconsider it. So I think so,” ten Haven said.
That concludes PokerNews’ coverage of the €10,200 Mystery Bounty at the 2024 EPT Paris. Stay tuned for more coverage throughout the festival.