"Mapoker96" Leads Final Eight in Event #34: $888 Mystery Bounty Main Event
After a relatively brief four hours of play on Day 2 of Event #34: $888 Mystery Bounty Main Event at the 2024 888Poker XL Winter Series, 189 players were whittled down to a final table of eight. Leading those eight in pursuit of the $82,618 top prize is Brazil's "Mapoker96" with 3,684,120, good for 105 big blinds at the start of Day 3. They managed to put considerable distance between themselves and the rest of the field, "Cosmin1812" of Ireland being their closest competitor on 1,732,440. Canadian "CheersMates" rounds out the top three with 1,673,617.
Each of the surviving players has locked up a minimum of $10,354 to go along with any bounties they may have acquired along the way. Of greater interest, however, will be the $100,000 top bounty that remarkably is still in play. Given that that sum is significantly larger than the first place payout, ICM dynamics at the final table will be skewed from the norm, which should make for a thrilling conclusion to the tournament.
Event #34: $888 Mystery Bounty Main Event Final Table Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Mapoker96" | Brazil | 3,684,120 | 105 |
| 2 | "Cosmin1812" | Ireland | 1,732,440 | 50 |
| 3 | "CheersMates" | Canada | 1,673,617 | 48 |
| 4 | "Iroquois" | Montenegro | 1,580,382 | 45 |
| 5 | "DominykasJ" | Lithuania | 1,245,541 | 36 |
| 6 | "LookAround" | Kazakhstan | 1,013,172 | 29 |
| 7 | "BIG_BIN" | Estonia | 804,389 | 23 |
| 8 | "TAJJMAAKKHAL" | Unaffiliated | 456,339 | 13 |
Once late registration closed at the start of Day 2, the total prizepool was confirmed at $1,033,712, clearing the one million dollar guarantee fairly comfortably. The $533,712 set aside for the regular prizepool was set to be divided amongst the top 144 finishers, meaning that not everyone who retook their virtual seat would see a return on their investment.
The individual unfortunate enough to fall just short of the money in 145th place was "raw_dawg". They did not go home empty handed, however, as they managed to pull a $5,000 bounty prior to their elimination.
Play resumes Tuesday, January 30th at 2 p.m. ET at which point the final table will be narrowed down to a winner. Blinds resume in level 35 at 17,500/35,000 and will continue to increase every 15-minutes.
Be sure to stay tuned to PokerNews as its live reporting team provides coverage through to the conclusion of the tournament.