888poker’s Success With New Format Is No Mystery
888poker was among the first online poker operators to roll out the hot new Mystery Bounty format. The format that randomizes the bounty totals including some truly massive bounties compared to buy-in has quickly become the fastest-growing form of poker both live and online.
There is little surprise what is driving the recent success of the hottest new format in poker. The Mystery Bounty format burst onto the scene in 2022 and quickly took the poker world by storm, in no small part because of the chance to win massive bounties compared to the buy-in.
With poker players constantly on the hunt for value and big prizes, the new format caught on like wildfire. It debuted in the live poker space and was met with huge excitement from the player base, making it a certainty the format would move into the online space as well.
It was 888poker who stepped up to the plate in a big way. Among the first four operators to debut the format online, the operator not only debuted the format but also spread it across its schedule. While the format initially debuted as a $109 game, by early 2023 there are multiple Mystery games throughout the day with prices to fit nearly all players.
While other operators, like rival GGPoker, have dabbled in the Mystery format, 888poker went all-in with the new format, eventually spreading the game across its schedule to include games in basically every bankroll category.
What’s the Mystery?
It’s no mystery what has made the format so popular. A variation on the more common knockout (KO) game, the Mystery Bounty does something a little different with the bounty pool. In a regular KO game, every player has a certain price on their head from the very first hand, and whenever a player busts, the winner gets the bounty amount directly in their pocket.
That was the first iteration of bounty games, but a new variant quickly emerged, called progressive knockout games (PKO). In a PKO, the bounties still start from the first hand, but players only get a portion of a busted player’s bounty, with the remaining money added to their own price.
The latest craze is yet another variation on the KO game. In this case, there is some significant divergence from the original format, not least because bounties never kick in on the first hand in the Mystery Bounty format.
While a portion of the buy-in is still reserved for bounties, players can’t win those bounties until later in the game. The format varies with implementation, but common forms include bounties kicking in when late registration ends, or when players get into the money. In the case of 888poker Mystery Bounty games, players play 16 levels with no bounties in play and the envelopes come out at the start of Level 17.
Once bounties are in play, there are some truly huge prizes to be won in this format, and that is what fuels the excitement. The bounty pool in the Mystery games is divided up into a number of big bounties” that can be as big as 150 times the buy-in or more. Once the big bounties are calculated – the specific structure of the big bounties varies by event but typically, 50% of the bounty pool is reserved for big bounties. The rest of the bounty pool gets divided into “average bounties” which are generally at least the size of the buy-in.
888poker Loves the Mystery
Players on 888poker responded very positively to the first trial games of the format. In the earliest trial in Sep 2022, the $109 game saw nearly 1,500 entries, almost doubling its $100k guarantee, and was generally met with excitement from all, including the operator’s team of ambassadors.
The huge response to that opening trial game virtually guaranteed the format would roll out in a wider way on 888poker, and that’s exactly what happened. By the end of 2022, there were Mystery Bounty games in all the bankroll categories on the site with the current daily schedule ranging from $1 to $109.
As an example of the kind of bounties that can be won, the $1 game ($1,500 guaranteed) features a big bounty of $150 with 69 big bounties starting at $2.20. The daily $109 game ($12k guaranteed), on the other hand, has $1,200 for the biggest bounty prize and 12 total big bounties starting at $180.
See below for a look at the daily and weekly Mystery Bounty games on 888poker. There’s no mystery what it is that fuels the excitement, and 888poker is the place to take your shot at drawing an envelop worth as much as $10k.
888poker Mystery Bounty Schedule
| Time | Buy-In | GTD | Biggest Big Bounty | Smallest Big Bounty | Total Big Bounties |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11:00 | $1.00 | $1,500 | $150 | $2.25 | 69 |
| 14:00 | $2.20 | $2,000 | $200 | $3.00 | 69 |
| 12:00 | $5.50 | $5,000 | $500 | $7.50 | 69 |
| 11:15 | $8.80 | $5,000 | $500 | $15.00 | 49 |
| 18:00 | $8.80 | $1,500 | $150 | $22.50 | 12 |
| 10:00 | $11.00 | $10,000 | $1,000 | $14.00 | 104 |
| 23:00 | $11.00 | $1,200 | $120 | $18.00 | 12 |
| 15:30 | $16.50 | $2,500 | $250 | $37.50 | 12 |
| 12:00 | $22.00 | $12,000 | $1,200 | $36.00 | 49 |
| 16:30 | $33.00 | $2,500 | $150 | $37.50 | 12 |
| 04:00 | $33.00 | $3,000 | $300 | $45.00 | 12 |
| 11:30 | $55.00 | $15,000 | $1,500 | $75.00 | 33 |
| 14:15 | $55.00 | $5,000 | $500 | $75.00 | 12 |
| 12:30 | $109.00 | $12,000 | $1,200 | $180.00 | 12 |
| Sunday Mystery Bounty | |||||
| 12:00 | $109.00 | $100,000 | $10,000 | $140.00 | 104 |
