Players Out En Masse for First MCOP Progressive Bounty
The Master Classics of Poker debuted a new format of poker today, the Progressive Bounty. Holland Casino had experienced with the game before in Rotterdam, but this was the first time the game was introduced on the biggest stage in the small country of the Netherlands. The popular online game, frequently offered on most sites, attracted an enthusiastic field of players to Amsterdam. While the event originally had 80 seats available only, the tournament organization quickly decided to welcome more players, eventually getting 131 stacks out.
After 12 levels of 40 minutes each, Spel Sah Hwan came out on top with 27 players left. He had successfully turned his 20,000 starting stack into 244,000. Close on his heels is American player Doug Roberts. The former MCOP side event champion ended the day with 239,800. Wim Anne Wesselink completes the top 3 with 215,700 in chips.
Having mastered the procedures of organizing the progressive bounty, everything ran smoothly. Players all started with a white slip of paper with their id on it and their bounty, which was €500 for every player to start. When players busted someone, half their bounty was paid out in casino chips right away, while the other half was added to the victor's bounty. The organization updated the slips of paper and kept track of all of it in an Excel sheet. At the end of the day, some players had a bounty in excess of €2,000, while others still "only" had €500 in front of them.
Dutch pro Joep van den Bijgaart, who made final tables at both the EPT and WSOP and won an event at the MCOP before, was one of the earliest casualties. He didn't believe his opponent when a move was made and called with his over pair of jacks. Unfortunately for the amicable Van den Bijgaart, his opponent had a set of deuces and no jacks were seen on the turn or river.
While Raul van Boxtel was first to acclaim a big stack and Doug Roberts was also building, Rembert Net suffered the ultimate beat. While we had seen a 2-card ace-high versus a 2-card straight flush in the Main Event already, his beat might have even been a bit worse still. He got it in with quads sevens only to run into quads kings. There was no poker in the deck as no jokers were available, so that meant he had to leave the tournament with hanging shoulders, a photo of the board as the only thing in return for his €1,600 entrance fee.
The 27 remaining players return to action at 2 p.m. on Monday. With 17 players in the money, it won't take long for the bubble to be reached. By then, however, some bounties might be worth more than the €2,796 min-cash. The winner will lift a cheque with €29,900 on it tomorrow.
