The 2019 Bounty Builder Series got off to a spectacular start on Sunday, with more than 81,000 winners and prize pools already beyond $3.7 million. Here’s the first round-up of what’s been going on:
TODAY’S TOP STORIES
Big time bounty final: The $2,100 buy-in Event #5 produced a final table every bit as tough as any assembled in the major online series, featuring former WCOOP champion Pascal “Päffchen” Hartmann, former Sunday Million winner “L1VeYRdrEamS”, and recent Pocket Fives No1 Andras “probirs” Nemeth. Topping them all, however, was another noted online superstar Fabiano “Kovalski1” Kovalski, from Brazil, whose prize of $50,582.32 combined with his $38,435.54 haul of bounties to earn him $89,017.86, which was the biggest haul of the day.
Five time Kovalski: Kovalski really hit the ground running in the Bounty Builder series and made the money in five of the 12 tournaments that played out on Sunday. He also made the final table of Event #6, finishing in sixth place in an event won by Diego “diesanser” Sanchez, another former Sunday Million champ.
EPT champ adds Bounty Builder title: On the subject of tough tables, the last event of the first day — a $1,050 Turbo — also boasted a highly decorated final table line-up, eventually won by Aliaksei “ale6ka” Boika. Boika beat Ole “wizowizo” Schemion heads up, after Jans “Graftekkel” Arends and “XMorphineX” had been knocked out in third and fourth, respectively. Boika, who won EPT Malta in 2016, picked up $56,351.19 including bounties. All of Dario “Secret_M0d3” Sammartino, Fabiano “Kovalski1” Kovalski, Gianluca “Tankanza” Speranza, Patrick “pads1161” Leonard, Niklas “Lena900” Astedt, Mike “munchenHB” Telker, “MrAndreeew”, Parker “tonkaaaa” Talbot, Simon “C. Darwin2” Mattsson, Samuel “€urop€an” Vousden, Thiago “KKremate” Crema and Connor “1_conor_b_1” Beresford made the money.
Five million percent!: The Bounty Builder Series has already set a tremendously high bar for the best spin-up story. The winner of Event #2, Russia’s “toccini76” qualified for the event in a satellite tournament costing 22 cents. Yep, the cash award of $11,127.72 came from an investment of less than a quarter. The ROI calculators that didn’t immediately break while trying to analyse these numbers returned a return on investment figure of 5,058,050 percent.
Dancing in the streets of Tórshavn: Despite a population of 18.5 million, the country of Kazakhstan has become something of a lazy shorthand in the west for anyone wanting to describe somewhere remote and barren. But when Kazakhstan’s “010101777” went heads-up for the title in Event #7 of the Bounty Builder series, he was able to look across the virtual table and really learn what remote means. “010101777”‘s opponent, and the eventual champion of this event, was “Jackways”, from the Faroe Islands.
Only around 52,000 people live on the Faroe Islands, which is a rugged archipelago in the North Sea, about halfway between Norway and Iceland. It’s not exactly a poker hotspot, but “Jackways” has now put it on the map, with victory from a tournament with 16,412 entries — more than a quarter of his/her country’s population. That was worth $26,146.65, including bounties. “010101777” won $14,957.34 after the pair struck a heads-up deal. (That wasn’t all for “Jackways”. He or she also came third in Event #8 at the same time.)
TODAY’S RESULTS
Name | Entries | Prize pool | Winner | Country | Bounties | Prize | Total |
Event #001: $1.10 NLHE [6-Max] | 13,671 | $13,398 | RMLeao | Brazil | $309.91 | $825.39 | $1,135.30 |
Event #002: $11 NLHE [6-Max] | 13,470 | $132,006 | toccini76 | Russia | $3,042.24 | $8,085.48 | $11,127.72 |
Event #003: $109 NLHE [6-Max] | 2,813 | $281,300 | GeRbARIYI | Russia | $14,410.70 | $20,455.88 | $34,866.58 |
Event #004: $55 NLHE [Turbo] | 4,734 | $236,700 | robtinnion | UK | $9,196.54 | $16,853.73 | $26,050.27 |
Event #005: $2,100 NLHE [8-Max] | 265 | $530,000 | Kovalski1 | Brazil | $38,435.54 | $50,582.32 | $89,017.86 |
Event #006: $215 NLHE [8-Max] | 3,102 | $620,400 | diesanser | Mexico | $28,647.64 | $44,785.88 | $73,433.52 |
Event #007: $22 NLHE [8-Max] | 16,412 | $328,240 | Jackways | Faroe Islands | $9,066.31 | $17,080.34 | $26,146.65 |
Event #008: $109 NLHE [Turbo] | 3,664 | $366,400 | SammyMagroum | Belgium | $21,527.71 | $26,212.62 | $47,740.33 |
Event #009: $530 NLHE | 1,066 | $533,000 | Th3hook4h | UK | $38,454.97 | $42,739.47 | $81,194.44 |
Event #010: $55 NLHE | 6,713 | $335,650 | HITRII999 | Russia | $6,512.48 | $23,847.76 | $30,360.24 |
Event #011: $5.50 NLHE | 14,888 | $75,000 | glnas | Brazil | $2,170.19 | $4,426.49 | $6,596.68 |
Event #012: $1,050 NLHE | 282 | $282,000 | ale6ka | Belarus | $29,437.48 | $26,913.71 | $56,351.19 |
81,080 | $3,734,094 | $201,212 | $282,809 | $484,021 |
STAT TRACKER
Tournaments completed: 12
Entries: 81,080
Total prize pools: 3,734,094
First prizes: 484,021
SATELLITE STORIES
As mentioned in the news round-up above, “toccini76″‘s extraordinary victory in Event #2, from a 22-cent satellite, is going to take some beating. But that was not the only rags to riches tale of the first day. At least 10 other players made the final table of main events after qualifying in satellites, with “Aspirinsan” winning $335.55 for fourth in Event #1 having paid only 15 cents to play. (That’s an ROI of 223,700 percent.) Congratulations too to Canada’s “12u55”, who paid $74 to enter a satellite to Event #6 and finished second for $34,574.70.
Top ROI:
5,058,050%
Toccini76 (Russia) – 1st: Event #2
$0.22 into $11,127.72
Top cash:
$36,765.19
Anjeyyy (Uruguay) – 4th: Event #5
Qualified for $109
BOUNTY RACE
We have all kinds of leader boards from this Bounty Builder series, and we’ll be keeping track of them here on PokerStars Blog. We’ll start off with probably the most obvious: number of bounties won. Fabiano “Kovalski1” Kovalski’s excellent start in six events has put him at the very top. He’s knocked out 30 players already.
Name | Country | Entries | KOs | Â Cashed ($)Â |
Kovalski1 | Brazil | 6 | 30 | 110,713.20 |
SammyMagroum | Belgium | 4 | 29 | 47,836.58 |
GeRbARIYI | Russia | 2 | 29 | 34,940.98 |
DLLRTX | Russia | 4 | 28 | 123.64 |
Igrok222 | Russia | 6 | 26 | 25,540.12 |
toccini76 | Russia | 2 | 26 | 11,127.97 |
RMLeao | Brazil | 2 | 26 | 1,140.30 |
TbI4KAK | Russia | 4 | 25 | 2,982.79 |
sslazio904 | Russia | 7 | 24 | 2,347.10 |
K.Nielsen88 | Denmark | 5 | 24 | 2,269.19 |
TODAY’S SCHEDULE
Here are the events starting today:
10:00 – Event #013: $2.20 PLO [6-Max], $7.5K Gtd
10:15 – Event #014: $22 PLO [6-Max], $35K Gtd
10:30 – Event #015: $215 PLO [6-Max], $75K Gtd
11:30 – Event #016: $215 NLHE [Turbo], $100K Gtd
13:00 – Event #017: $530 NLHE [8-Max], $150K Gtd
13:15 – Event #018: $55 NLHE [8-Max], $175K Gtd
13:30 – Event #019: $5.50 NLHE [8-Max], $50K Gtd
14:30 – Event #020: $109 NLHE [Turbo], $100K Gtd
16:00 – Event #021: $215 NLHE, $150K Gtd
16:15 – Event #022: $22 NLHE, $75K Gtd
16:30 – Event #023: $2.20 NLHE, $7.5K Gtd
17:30 – Event #024: $55 NLHE [6-Max, Turbo], $75K Gtd