Montenegro's "la.creme" is the latest 888poker player to emerge victoriously from the $100,000 Mystery Bounty Main Event. The latest champion outlasted 933 opponents and saw $8,993 land in his 888poker account, the perfect end to 2024.
The 934 starters were reduced to only eight on Day 1 on December 15. All the big mystery bounty amounts had already been claimed. "Popoj33" of the United Kingdom pulled a $3,000 bounty before crashing out in 13th, as did "niilasson" who navigated to the final table. Tenth-place finisher, Brazil's "irineu530," was the tournament's biggest winner courtesy of finding a $10,000 mystery bounty before bowing out. The $10,866 they scooped was the largest payout of the event.
| Rank | Player | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SayPlease | 4,020,115 | 101 | |
| 2 | niilasson | Finland | 2,395,850 | 60 |
| 3 | la.creme | Montenegro | 2,181,686 | 55 |
| 4 | Kombogg | Sweden | 1,981,246 | 50 |
| 5 | Datschi1 | 1,385,531 | 35 | |
| 6 | VanessaCbet | Brazil | 1,297,206 | 32 |
| 7 | MenosehMais | Brazil | 516,285 | 13 |
| 8 | sheshhhhhhhh | Montenegro | 232,081 | 6 |
After sitting down at the final table with a mere six big blinds in their stack, it was not surprising to see "sheshhhhhhhh" become the first eliminated finalist. They managed to improve their chip count during the final table's early stages. "sheshhhhhhhh" busted after calling a min-raise and a call from the big blind with ten-seven diamonds and open-shoving with a flush draw on the flop. The initial raiser folded, but "SayPlease" called with a pair of fives in the hole, which held to send "sheshhhhhhhh" to the rail.
The first of two Brazilians, "VanessaCbet," saw their tournament end in a seventh-place finish. They lost more than half of their stack when their ace-king of spades couldn't get there against the pocket threes of "MenosehMais" then committed their last nine big blinds with ace-ten and lost to the dominating ace-queen of "la.creme."
"MenosehMais," also of Brazil, joined the ever-growing list of eliminated players as the 30-minute mark approached. "niilasson" opened from under the gun with ace-seven, "la.creme" flat-called from the next seat along, and "Kombogg" called with pocket deuces. "MenosehMais" squeezed on the button with a pair of aces in the hole. The action folded back to "la.creme" who moved all-in for 28 big blinds. The deuces folded, but "MenosehMais" instantly called all-in. An eight on the turn was a cruel way for "MenosehMais" to crash out to.
Five-handed play only lasted a few hands, ending with "Datschi1" being sent to the showers. "SatPlease" min-raised to 120,000 with ace-queen before calling the 455,781 jam from "Datschi1" made with pocket threes. A queen on the flop put the ace-queen ahead, where it stayed to reduce the player count by one.
The final four became three when "Kombogg" busted at the hands of "la.creme." The action folded to "le.creme" in the small blind, and they limped in for 80,000 with queen-jack. "Kombogg" raised to 320,000 with pocket sixes and was called. "la.creme" check-called a small bet on the ace-high flop before check-calling a pot-sized jam on the queen turn. It was an ill-timed move by "Kombogg" who couldn't find a six on the river and had to make do with a fourth-place finish.
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Third place went to Finland's "niilasson" who had collected a $3,000 mystery bounty before the final table. They crashed out one hand after "Kombogg" crashed out. "niilasson" min-raised with pocket aces, and "SayPlease" defended their big blind with queen-three of hearts. The flop fell seven-nine-ten with two hearts, and "SayPlease" check-raised enough to set "niilasson" all-in after they fired a near pot-sized continuation bet. "niilasson" called but went behind when another heart landed on the turn. The river had to be a heart for them to stay in the tournament, but it was the deuce of spades.
The chip stacks were almost even going into heads-up play, with "SayPlease" holding 7,068,872 chips to the 6,941,128 stack of "la.creme." The early clashes went "la.creme"'s way, and they soared into a substantial lead, but "SayPlease" refused to go down without a fight.
The final hand occurred during the 60,000/120,000/15,000a level. "la.creme" initially limped, "SayPlease" raised to 420,000 and "le.creme" raised to 720,000. "SayPlease" responded by pushing their last 1,667,556 chips into the middle, a move that was met with an insta-call. "SayPlease" flipped king-jack of diamonds onto their backs, and it needed some help against the ace-ten of "la.creme." That help never arrived as the board ran out seven-high, busting "SayPlease" in second place and crowning "la.creme" the champion.
| Rank | Player | Country | Bounties | Prize | Total Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | la.creme | Montenegro | $1,688 | $7,305 | $8,993 |
| 2 | SayPlease | $839 | $5,340 | $6,179 | |
| 3 | niilasson | Finland | $3,544 | $3,925 | $7,469 |
| 4 | Kombogg | Swedem | $1,435 | $2,885 | $4,320 |
| 5 | Datschi1 | $1,155 | $2,135 | $3,290 | |
| 6 | MenosehMais | Brazil | $153 | $1,590 | $1,743 |
| 7 | VanessaCbet | Brazil | $1,366 | $1,195 | $2,561 |
| 8 | sheshhhhhhhh | Montenegro | $1,391 | $905 | $2,296 |
