In a week where an alternative to Mystery Bounties debuted in Barcelona, we ask if the current format is too luck based?
In the same week that WPT Global launched Mystery Bounties, the European Poker Tour debuted a format which appears to be an alternative to them.
Cuatro Bounties see you win a whole buy-in when you eliminate a player, but the bounty phase only happens with 25% of the field remaining.
Like a Mystery Bounty, the bounties only kick in when the tournament is deep, which means the average bounty is worth much more. However, unlike a mystery bounty, there is no variance with the bounty value.
Same format, less variance?
I have no doubt that this new format came into existence because some players have complained that there is too much gambling in the Mystery Bounty format. How can there not be, when a player could win a prize bigger than the eventual champion gets just for busting a micro stack at the start of Day 2?
This is not to say there is no variance in tournaments, but broadly speaking the deeper you get, the more good players there will be relatively left in the field.
Having players win a whole buy-in back will appeal to people who are sick of winning small Mystery Bounties and watching seemingly underserved players pulling the big one. The ecosystem in general benefits more because it will flatten the payout structure much more.
Careful what you wish for
I like the format and think it could work, especially in mid-sized events with mid-sized buy-ins, where perhaps you cannot create a life-changing single bounty. I still think Mystery Bounty will be King. People like to gamble and the thrill of a big bounty will always appeal. From an operator’s perspective, they market themselves, creating viral moments every time the big prize is won.
Plus, and I don’t know how often this needs saying, we would all hate poker without the variance. Weaker players have to be able to occasionally win big money and events like Mystery Bounty attracts much weaker players for that very reason.
The only change I would make to Mystery Bounty is a suggestion from Irish Poker Tour Boss Fintan Gavin, which is there should be one big bounty held back for the final table to make that more exciting. Beyond that, be careful what you wish for when you try and take the variance out of poker.
Is there too much gamble in Mystery Bounties? Let us know in the comments:
