Mystery Bounty tournaments are a relatively new poker variant that 888poker Ontario has fully embraced. They work similar to a traditional bounty event where, usually, 50% of the prize pool is awarded like a non-bounty tournament, with the remaining 50% going onto the head of each player. However, the main differences are that the bounties are not in play from the start, and the bounty amounts remain secret until a predetermined stage of the tournament.
Using the Mystery Bounty Festival Main Event as an example, $50,000 will go into the main prize pool and awarded like any other No-Limit Hold’em tournament. The remaining 50% is divided up, placed into golden envelopes, and randomly assigned to the players that progress to Day 2. Eliminate an opponent once the mystery bounties have kicked in, and the 888poker Ontario software opens the envelope and reveals the mystery prize.
It is a cool format that adds more surprise and suspense to the gain, in addition to forcing players to alter their strategy because the mystery bounties only come into play later in the tournament.