Friday, 29th March 2024 15:20
Home / News / Half a million entries, $18m in prize pools: the latest from a busy Bounty Builder Series

A bumper update from the middle weekend in Bounty Builder Series, taking entries past half a million. Read on to learn who has won what, and how…


BOUNTY BUILDER SERIES NEWS BULLETIN

More money in the bank for Speranza: Whatever Gianluca “Tankanza” Speranza does in his poker career, he’s never likely to outstrip his incredible achievement of 2018 and 2019, when he won back-to-back SCOOP Main Events. It’s arguably the most extraordinary feat in online poker history. In that context, a solitary victory in a Bounty Builder Series event is not exactly something to write home about, but clearly Speranza still sees some merit in playing this series — and will no doubt also be delighted to have closed out Event #85 on Friday night. His victory came over a field of 546 entries in a tournament costing $215 to buy in and Speranza, an Italian based in Austria, picked up a total haul of $19,556.63, including about $11,000 in bounties. They all count, and this is more money in the bank for the brilliant Speranza.

Don’t mess with Gianluca “Tankanza” Speranza

Costa keeps accumulating: Only last month, we were talking to Silvio “silskyer” Costa, who was telling us about his journey from playing freerolls to wins during WCOOP. Costa has two of them, from 2019 and 2020. Costa is back on our radar again after taking down Event #111 of Bounty Builder Series, banking the lion’s share of a $437,000 prize pool. In total, Costa’s latest victory earned him $61,978.91, including $30,433 in bounties, which is more than anyone else won on a hectic night of play Sunday.

Brazilians are back!

Brazilians are back! After flying out of the blocks in this Bounty Builder Series, Brazilians went through a few fallow days, allowing Russia to build a healthy lead in the countries leader board. Sunday night was different, however, with Brazilians coming back and winning three events. Julio “17neffetS_BR” Steffen was first to do his bit for the Latin American cause when he won the $215 buy-in 8-Ma Turbo, for $44,281.21, including $18,936.54 in bounties. Steffen beat a field of 1,978 entries in a little over five hours and added Bounty Builder triumph to his two SCOOP titles, one each from 2014 and 2020. Soon after, Brazilians managed to pull off the first 1-2-3 of this Bounty Builder Series, in Event #112. This $55 buy-in tournament was won by “hoffmaann“, ahead of countrymen “BrunoLSR1986” and “rmpkrbr”, with Brazilians actually occupying five of the nine final table seats. hoffmaann earned $31,977.52, including $10,841.96 in bounties. Finally, “AlSaHim97” won the $5.50 NLHE, beating a 13,072 entry field and taking $4,781.18 after a three-way deal.

“Kohlrabi7” eclipses superstars: The $530 NLHE 8-Max on Sunday drew a field of 791 entries, which pushed the prize pool up to $395,500, $170K more than its guarantee. Its final table line-up was equally impressive, featuring the double SCOOP champion “$w4g4l1c10u$”, the Sunday Million winner “APonakov”, the EPT Sochi final table finisher Lavrentiy “Lavrik-mastr” Nee, all-round online crusher Bert “girafganger7” Stevens, one of Japan’s best Akira “Clutch Hero” Ohyama, Argentina’s formidable Ramiro “ramastar88” Petrone, who has SCOOP and WCOOP triumphs to his name, and Bryan “bparis” Paris, whose lifetime total cashes currently sits at $12 million. But they all finished in eight through second, respectively, as the table’s only unknown, “Kohlrabi7” of Austria, cast them all aside. Kohlrabi7 won $28,737.13 from the main prize pool and $26,951.10 in bounties for a total $55,688.23 haul. If he or she can beat a final table line-up like that, it’s the least Kohlrabi7 deserves.

Maybe it’s not just luck:luckyman147” has probably got a fair amount of skill to back up his luck, and added further evidence on Sunday night in the $109 NLHE Hyper-Turbo. The player from Poland won a SCOOP title in spring and a Bounty Builder title in August, as well as a second place in the Turbo Series. In this latest victory, luckyman147 needed less than three hours to beat a field of 1,850 entries to a prize of $21,758.52. More than $9,000 came in bounties, with Sweden’s “AceZalot” defeated heads-up.


MORE ABOUT BOUNTY BUILDER SERIES:
SCHEDULE & RESULTS | BOUNTY MATHEMATICS | ALL BLOG REPORTS


Good for Grozzorg: Austria’s “Grozzorg” has won a documented $2.8 million in online tournament poker, according to Pocket Fives, the most recent $20,902.84 of which came from the Bounty Builder Series Event #74, which he or she won on Friday night. There were 573 entries of $215 apiece, and Grozzorg took the $8,642.71 first prize plus $12,260.13 in bounties. Grozzorg has also won the Galactic-73, the Sunday Supersonic, and at least two High Roller Club events. So here’s a player with plenty of pedigree in the major series. Oh, and Grozzorg also finished sixth in Event #82, from a field of 1,392, on the same night.

Angolans come close to first win: It’s fair to say that there isn’t exactly a rich poker-playing heritage in Angola, but the south-western African country very nearly found its first Bounty Builder Series winner on Saturday night when “vidanilo” went heads up for a title. vidanilo was the only representative from Angola in the 460-entry field of Event #90, and progressed all the way through to face Germany’s “marcel1810” for the title. On this occasion, the German player proved too strong for vidanilo and claimed the final bounty — marcel1810 took a combined $33,921, to vidanilo’s $29,563 — but that’s a fine showing from a much under-represented continent, let alone country.

Not-so mini: The so-called “Mini Sunday Million Special Edition”, which played out last night, attracted the biggest field of any tournament in Bounty Builder Series so far when 22,694 players, plus 13,181 re-entries, brought the total entries to 35,875. The buy-in was $11, so there was $351,575 in the pool — not bad for the cost of a couple of drinks. After 11 hours of play, the last two entrants were “ULTRAVERONA”, of Belgium, and the Czech Republic’s “whipEEr“, two mainly low-stakes recreational players. “whipEEr”, who was once at a WCOOP final table in 2014, got the win, which turned out to be worth $21,007.02, including $6,530.71 in bounties. Even better, he or she had had only one entry, for an ROI of close to 2,000 percent.

“nmi128” wins PLO Sunday: Finland’s “Erä_Koira” already has two Omaha titles to his name during this Bounty Builder Series, but could only finish ninth in the $530 PLO 6-Max, which played out on Sunday. Recent WCOOP Player of the Series Rinat “Zapahzamazki” Lyapin made it to fifth, from a field of 297 entries, but the winner was “nmi128” of the Netherlands, whose bounty haul of $19,710 was more than four times what anyone else managed, and comprised more than half of his total $31,886.17 winnings from the tournament.

Keep going for the bounties: If you’re ever in doubt of the value of bounties during this Bounty Builder Series, look at the final results of Event #72. It was a $2.20 buy-in event — so very much at the cheaper end — and the 7,536 players built a prize pool of $14,771. At the end of it, the Czech Republic’s “lukasse8” finished second, taking $877.76 from the prize pool plus $97.41. But “santjagoo88”, of Russia, won the event and in addition to the $882.06 he or she took from the prize pool, the bounty haul was $470.64. That’s close to five times as much as lukasse8. It pays to take those marginal spots and pick up the bounty.


STAT TRACKER

The first 113 tournaments are now in the books, with 101 still to play. That includes the Sunday Million Special Edition, which paused overnight. There have already been more than half a million entries and prize pools of more than $18 million. Here’s the latest Stat Attack:

Tournaments completed: 113
Entries: 531,801
Prize pools: $18,143,797
First-place prizes (inc. bounties): $2,139,405
Tournaments starting today: 15


LATEST RESULTS

(Scroll table left to right to see full results)

Tournament Entries Prize pool Winner Country Bounties Prize Total
BBS-072: $2.20 NLHE [8-Max] 7,536 $14,771 santjagoo88 Russia $470.64 $882.06 $1,352.70
BBS-073: $22 NLHE [8-Max] 4,466 $89,320 Ice B UK $3,812.07 $4,807.64 $8,619.71*
BBS-074: $215 NLHE [8-Max] 573 $114,600 Grozzorg Austria $12,260.13 $8,642.71 $20,902.84
BBS-075: $55 NLHE [8-Max, Turbo] 1,839 $91,950 Wunschkind9 Germany $3,677.05 $5,931.48 $9,608.53
BBS-076: $109 NLHE 2,628 $262,800 Lifesucksyah Sweden $10,756.52 $10,248.38 $21,004.90*
BBS-077: $11 NLHE 16,159 $158,358 VonLidl123 Sweden $3,447.87 $6,838.03 $10,285.90*
BBS-078: $11 8-Game [8-Max] 1,900 $20,000 BanditoSs007 Czech Republic $731.45 $1,339.46 $2,070.91
BBS-079: $530 NLHE [8-Max] 308 $154,000 vanEs2k11 Netherlands $20,796.83 $12,665.89 $33,462.72
BBS-080: $55 NLHE [8-Max] 4,972 $248,600 potwinner070 Netherlands $11,342.11 $15,153.35 $26,495.46
BBS-081: $22 NLHE [6-Max, Hyper-Turbo] 4,018 $84,177 Savidis Sweden $2,987.92 $5,335.21 $8,323.13
BBS-082: $109 NLHE [8-Max, Total KO] 1,392 $150,000 VadroU Russia $20,646.79 $5,400.00 $26,046.79
BBS-083: $11 NLHE [8-Max, Total KO] 9,628 $94,354 Ic€Rink Russia $5,371.61 $5,371.61
BBS-084: $1.10 NLHE [8-Max, Total KO] 10,489 $10,279 KaLiBrR Russia $776.14 $776.14
BBS-085: $215 NLHE [8-Max, Turbo] 546 $109,200 Tankanza Austria $11,289.02 $8,267.61 $19,556.63
BBS-086: $1.10 NLHE [8-Max] 9,002 $8,822 leobosss0406 Brazil $240.74 $522.91 $763.65
BBS-087: $11 NLHE [8-Max] 8,330 $81,634 Ovidiush Romania $2,854.57 $4,814.90 $7,669.47
BBS-088: $109 NLHE [8-Max] 1,350 $135,000 Onkelpepper Germany $9,868.96 $8,960.94 $18,829.90
BBS-089: $215 NLHE [Turbo] 567 $113,400 FrankTaylor3 Russia $12,109.35 $8,626.90 $20,736.25
BBS-090: $530 NLHE [Bounty Builder HR SE] 460 $230,000 marcel1810 Germany $16,091.75 $17,830.04 $33,921.79
BBS-091: $55 NLHE 6,409 $320,450 Flyawayfraca Uruguay $12,567.52 $19,217.53 $31,785.05
BBS-092: $22 PLO [8-Max] 2,968 $59,360 urmito83 Estonia $3,250.54 $2,707.67 $5,958.21
BBS-093: $109 NLHE [6-Max, Turbo, Shootout] 763 $76,300 uda4u Russia $5,187.99 $5,342.09 $10,530.08
BBS-094: $11 NLHE [6-Max, Turbo, Shootout] 5,241 $51,362 Kvothe’s Lute Malta $1,461.01 $2,838.14 $4,299.15
BBS-095: $55 NLHE [6-Max, Turbo] 2,415 $120,750 YOLOBETS Netherlands $5,614.89 $7,523.39 $13,138.28
BBS-096: $215 NLHE [8-Max, Turbo] 780 $156,000 Ebaaa11 Russia $13,511.26 $11,335.38 $24,846.64
BBS-097: $22 NLHE [8-Max, Turbo] 6,843 $136,860 Godmodeplayer Uzbekistan $4,311.98 $8,330.64 $12,642.62
BBS-098: $2.20 NLHE [8-Max, Turbo] 9,658 $18,930 EnuriF Brazil $637.31 $1,086.29 $1,723.60
BBS-099: $55 NLHE [6-Max, Hyper-Turbo] 2,793 $146,297 shani200 Gibraltar $7,681.33 $9,437.25 $17,118.58
BBS-100: $22 NLO8 [6-Max] 1,525 $30,500 FaraChef Romania $2,055.12 $1,974.39 $4,029.51
BBS-101: $5.50 NLHE [8-Max] 12,322 $60,378 BoryaBojan Russia $1,537.21 $3,267.39 $4,804.60
BBS-102: $55 NLHE [8-Max] 4,907 $245,350 Sararauj Latvia $8,088.94 $11,242.98 $19,331.92*
BBS-103: $530 NLHE [8-Max] 791 $395,500 Kohlrabi7 Austria $26,951.10 $28,737.13 $55,688.23
BBS-104: $22 NLHE [Turbo] 7,619 $152,380 Gunz4Hire94 Netherlands $6,046.79 $9,140.87 $15,187.66
BBS-106: $11 NLHE [Mini Sunday Million SE] 35,875 $351,575 whipEEr Czech Republic $6,530.71 $14,476.31 $21,007.02
BBS-107: $530 PLO [6-Max] 297 $148,500 nmi128 Netherlands $19,710.90 $12,175.27 $31,886.17
BBS-108: $215 NLHE [8-Max, Turbo] 1,978 $395,600 17neffetS_BR Brazil $18,936.54 $25,344.67 $44,281.21
BBS-109: $22 NLHE [8-Max, Turbo] 11,170 $223,400 B.B.M.C.P. Romania $5,906.60 $12,537.02 $18,443.62*
BBS-110: $109 NLHE [6-Max, Hyper-Turbo] 1,850 $192,049 luckyman147 Poland $9,076.25 $12,682.27 $21,758.52
BBS-111: $530 NLHE 874 $437,000 silskyer Netherlands $30,433.51 $31,545.40 $61,978.91
BBS-112: $55 NLHE 7,052 $352,600 hoffmaann Brazil $10,841.96 $21,135.56 $31,977.52
BBS-113: $5.50 NLHE 13,072 $64,053 AlSaHim97 Brazil $1,558.62 $3,222.56 $4,781.18*
BBS-114: $109 NLHE [8-Max, Turbo] 2,407 $240,700 garibaldi282 Russia $13,322.82 $15,168.36 $28,491.18

*denotes deal


COUNTRIES LEADER BOARD

A remarkable 31 countries have now won titles during this Bounty Builder Series, with Gibraltar, Mongolia and Uzbekistan now also on the board alongside the more established nations. Russians still lead, but Brazil is pulling back into contention.

18 — Russia
15 — Brazil
9 — Germany, Netherlands
8 — UK
6 — Austria
5 — Romania, Sweden
4 — Argentina
3 — Canada, Czech Republic, Poland
2 — Belarus, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Uruguay
1 — Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Gibraltar, Japan, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Malta, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Uzbekistan


COMING UP

The Sunday Million Special Edition is paused overnight with 212 players left from the field of 16,052 entries. They’re all chasing a $75K first prize (plus bounties, of course) with the prize pool standing at $1.605 million. It’s too late to enter that one, but here’s what’s coming up on Monday and Tuesday. (We’ll have our next report on Wednesday):

Monday:
BBS-115: $1.10 NLHE [8-Max], $7.5K Gtd
BBS-116: $11 NLHE [8-Max], $60K Gtd
BBS-117: $109 NLHE [8-Max], $100K Gtd
BBS-118: $55 NLHE [Heads-Up, Turbo, Zoom Total KO], $80K Gtd
BBS-119: $215 NLHE [8-Max], $225K Gtd
BBS-120: $22 NLHE [8-Max], $150K Gtd
BBS-121: $55 NLO8 [8-Max], $35K Gtd
BBS-122: $109 NLHE [Turbo], $175K Gtd
BBS-123: $11 NLHE [Turbo], $85K Gtd
BBS-124: $22 NLHE [6-Max, Turbo], $50K Gtd
BBS-125: $530 NLHE [8-Max, Turbo], $115K Gtd
BBS-126: $55 NLHE [8-Max, Turbo], $85K Gtd
BBS-127: $5.50 NLHE [8-Max, Turbo], $25K Gtd
BBS-128: $215 NLHE [6-Max, Hyper-Turbo], $75K Gtd

Tuesday:
BBS-129: $2.20 NLHE [6-Max], $10K Gtd
BBS-130: $22 NLHE [6-Max], $75K Gtd
BBS-131: $215 NLHE [6-Max], $100K Gtd
BBS-132: $109 NLHE [8-Max, Turbo], $80K Gtd
BBS-133: $530 NLHE [Bounty Builder HR SE], $200K Gtd
BBS-134: $55 NLHE, $250K Gtd
BBS-135: $109 HORSE, $40K Gtd
BBS-136: $215 NLHE [8-Max, Turbo], $150K Gtd
BBS-137: $22 NLHE [8-Max, Turbo], $75K Gtd
BBS-138: $55 PLO [6-Max, Turbo], $30K Gtd
BBS-139: $1,050 NLHE, $175K Gtd
BBS-140: $109 NLHE, $115K Gtd
BBS-141: $11 NLHE, $50K Gtd
BBS-142: $530 NLHE [Turbo], $100K Gtd

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