The World Series of Poker debuted an exciting new tournament in 2022: the $1,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em ‘Million Dollar Bounty’ event. The tournament follows in the footsteps of the mystery bounty events pioneered at the Wynn Las Vegas Poker Room, with $300 from each buy-in going to a bounty prize pool, which would be split into various bounty payouts of between $1,000 and $1,000,000. The event attracted 14,112 entries, building a total prize pool of $12,559,680. Of that money, $8,326,080 was earmarked for the traditional prize pool, while the remaining $4,233,600 was paid out in the aforementioned mystery bounties.
After four starting flights and two more days of action, the last player standing was Quincy Borland. The Minnesota native earned $750,120 and his first gold bracelet as the champion. Borland’s payout was by far the largest of his tournament career, but it not the largest awarded in this event. That distinction belonged to poker pro Matt Glantz, who drew the single $1,000,000 bounty up for grabs that gave this event its name.
Glantz, an accomplished poker pro with nearly $7.5 million in prior tournament scores to his name, drew the proverbial golden ticket in dramatic fashion. He also went on to finish 40th in the poker tournament, adding another $20,730 to his haul. Check out a video of his winning bounty pull below:
May I present to you, the NEW most hated guy in poker!! @MattGlantz I love you buddy! Can I borrow some $ please pic.twitter.com/Q5g8K8ln8S
— Joshua Arieh (@golferjosh) July 5, 2022
There were six total bounties of $100,000 or higher. Here is a list of those prizes and their eventual winners :
There were also 64 bounties awarded with payouts of between $5,000 and $50,000, and another 756 with $1,000 or $2,500 awards.
Only players who made day 2 in this event were eligible for the mystery bounties. When a player earned a ticket for knocking out an opponent on day 2, they then would be able to go up to designated areas to draw their random bounty payout. If they drew a golden chest, that meant that they would have to go up to the main stage to receive their prize, with PokerGO commentator Jeff Platt on the mic calling the action as they sweated their pull.
Plenty of big names madedeep runs in this event, including bracelet winner Leo Margets (63rd), recent Colossus champion Paul Hizer (60th), Melanie Weisner (48th), and two-time bracelet winner, Nathan Gamble (43rd).
After the bounty-fueled drama of day 2, just 33 contenders remained with a shot at the bracelet and the top prize of three-quarters of a million dollars. Michael Smith was in the lead, with Natalie Hof in second and Borland just outside the top five. Hof, fresh off an eighth-place finish in the Ladies event, went on to finish 13th for $48,180.
By the time the field combined onto one table, Wojciech Barzantny had moved into the lead while Borland had fallen towards the bottom of the chip counts. Borland earned an early double-up by winning a preflop race to begin his climb up the standings.
Ramon Kropmanns, who pulled one of three $100,000 bounty tickets, also finished ninth for $76,316. Barzantny scored a double knockout, with pocket kings making a winning full house to bust Daniel De Almeida Eliminated (8th – $96,940) and Arash Asadabadi (7th – $123,910).
Nellie Park’s run in this event came to an end in sixth place when her Q-9 ran into the A-K of Smith and was unable to come from behind. Park took home $159,380 for her strong showing in the event.
Borland doubled through $100,000 bounty winner David Timmons, with K-J suited making a full house to beat pocket queens after the chips went in preflop. Michael Smith was then sent home in brutal fashion, with his pocket aces losing to the pocket kings of Kevin Hong after the chips went in on a king-high flop. Smith had the nut flush draw, but failed to improve and was eliminated in fifth place ($206,250).
Barzantny was the next to go, with his K-4 suited running into the pocket queens of Borland. A clean runout for queens saw Barzantny sent to the rail with $268,550 for his fourth-place showing.
Timmons soon followed when his A-3 was unable to beat out the pocket sixes of Hong. Neither player improved and Timmons was awarded $351,800 as the third-place finisher.
Heads-up play began with Hong holding 366 million to Borland’s 198.5 million. Borland got off to a quick start and soon had pulled into the lead. In the final hand, Hong raised from the button with A
J
. Bprlamnd three-bet shopved with A
Q and Hong made the call. The board ran out AK108
5 and Hong was eliminated in second place ($463,610).
Here is a look at the payouts and rankings points awarded at the final table:
| Place | Player | Earnings | POY Points |
| 1 | Quincy Borland | $750,120 | 1440 |
| 2 | Kevin Hong | $463,610 | 1200 |
| 3 | David Timmons | $351,800 | 960 |
| 4 | Wojciech Barzantny | $268,550 | 720 |
| 5 | Michael Smith | $206,250 | 600 |
| 6 | Nellie Park | $159,380 | 480 |
| 7 | Arash Asadabadi | $123,910 | 360 |
| 8 | Daniel De Almeida | $96,940 | 240 |
| 9 | Ramon Kropmanns | $76,316 | 120 |
Winner photo credit: WSOP / Rachel Kay Miller.
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