The APT Mystery Bounty Hunter: An Adventure Into the Thrilling Unknown

Noel Zarate / 28 May 2023

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The APT Mystery Bounty Hunter: An Adventure Into the Thrilling Unknown

APT Host Greg Goes All-In (R) celebrates with bounty recipient Van An Chu

In 2020, the World Series of Poker (WSOP) embarked to introduce a new twist in its tournament format by introducing a bounty tilt wherein players have no idea how much they attain with bust outs they garner. It was coined “The Mystery Bounty”.

However, COVID-19 halted their plans and it wasn’t until the 2021 Wynn Fall Classic in Las Vegas that the full concept was realized and it is now an integral part of any festival since then, even in online platforms.

Asian Poker Tour (APT) Marketing Manager Ray Chiu—who was then just a regular player—had heard about this new concept and relayed it to APT VP of Poker Operations Lloyd Fontillas who got intrigued by the idea and began efforts to make it part of the tour.

The APT launched its foray into the Mystery Bounty craze by not only integrating it into its regular event schedules but via an entire series dedicated to breaking-in the innovation by virtue of the APT-RWM Mystery Bounty Weekend which ran from March 3-6, 2022 in the Philippines. The initial staging had four events.

The flagship “Mystery Bounty Single-Day Introduction Event” drew 246 entries with local shark Richard “Hot Sauce” Marquez taking down the inaugural title.

Richard Marquez wins inaugural Mystery bounty Richard Marquez of the Philippines taking down the first ever APT Mystery Bounty championship in 2022

The Mystery Bounty runs like a normal Hold’em tournament until the remaining players enter ITM; at which point, each elimination enables the “executioner” to draw sealed envelopes containing the price of the bounty gained. There are usually three envelopes containing amounts that rival that of the prize money given to the top three finishers in the event—in short, life-changing sums.

It is not an abnormality for players to collect more money from the bounties taken down than the actual purse of their positional finish.

In the 2022 APT Philippines Mystery Bounty, Don “Pusang Gala” Carmona of the host nation finished ninth in the event for PhP144,200 (~US$2,600) but took down eight bounties, including two of the three big ones each worth PhP288,000 (~US$5,200) with his total haul eclipsing the prize money of eventual champion Song Jangwon of Korea.

Don Carmona collected eight bounties in the 2022 APT Philippines Filipino Don Carmona (L) garnered eight bounties in APT Philippines 2022

Since the first successful run last year, the Mystery Bounty has been one of the most anticipated and thrilling side events of the tour with attendance that comes close to rivaling even the Main Event.

This year, Natural8 has opted to become the title sponsor of this increasingly popular poker tour and the champions’ list has local man Linh Dinh Duc emerging victorious in Hanoi, Japan’s Kaito Hirai winning in Phu Quoc and Sukhum Kiwanont of Thailand triumphing in the record-breaking most recent staging in Taiwan.

Kiwanont wons 2023 APT Taiwan Mystery Bounty Thailand's Sukhum Kiwanont is the latest Mystery Bounty Hunter titlist

Who joins them today in the APT Summer Series Hanoi? Who makes the most in bounties? Follow the APT Summer Series Hanoi, Vietnam Mystery Bounty Hunter Day 2 action via the APT Blog.

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