Adrian Lopez Bests Two POYs to Win Wynn Millions Mystery Bounty ($190,950)
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After more than 14 hours of exciting bounty action, San Diego's Adrian Lopez won the $1,600 Mystery Bounty at the 2024 Wynn Millions Festival for a career-best $190,950 and the golden Wynn trophy. Lopez, a business owner and longtime recreational grinder, won more than four times his previous career earnings as he triumphed in a back-and-forth heads-up battle with runner-up Chad Wassmuth.
“It’s my biggest win yet so far, so it feels pretty good," Lopez told PokerNews in a winner's interview. "I have a full-time job, I’m a business owner, so whenever I get the chance I try to come out here and play a couple events. It feels good to win it.”
It was a final table made for the Wynn that included reigning GPI Player of the Year Bin Weng and 2022 Female POY Cherish Andrews, both of whom are known for crushing in this venue. Weng wound up in sixth place for $44,950 before Andrews fell in third for $101,650, her second six-figure score of the series after taking down the $2,200 6-Max for $182,927 earlier.
Wynn Millions Mystery Bounty Final Table Results
Place | Player | Country | Prize (USD) |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Adrian Lopez | United States | $190,950 |
2 | Chad Wassmuth | United States | $131,925 |
3 | Cherish Andrews | United States | $101,650 |
4 | Bariz Sudhanshu | United States | $77,105 |
5 | Jay Chaudhary | United States | $59,025 |
6 | Bin Weng | United States | $44,950 |
7 | Craig Mason | United States | $34,750 |
8 | Robert French | United States | $26,125 |
9 | [Removed:456] | Spain | $19,425 |
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The bounty barrel outside the Wynn Poker Room was the place to be on Sunday afternoon as dozens of players gathered eagerly for a chance to draw one of two $100,000 bounties. The first six-figure bounty went fairly quickly as Craig Mason pulled the lucky slip during Level 20.
In the same hour, Mitch Garshofsky pulled the first $50,000 bounty before Britton Purvis followed suit by pulling the second one. Meanwhile, the first three $25,000 bounties went to Jerod Smith, Colin Robinson and Stephen Le Peau while Matt Dodd and Hesam Alagha picked up $10,000 bounties.
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Wynn Crushers Weng & Andrews Headline Final Table
The second $100,000 bounty went unclaimed for hours on end as anxious, jittery, and sometimes superstitious players thoughtfully selected envelopes and ripped them open before slowly peeling or pulling out the slips that revealed fortune or tribulation.
It took until the final table for the $100,000 to be claimed as [Removed:456] pulled the lucky envelope after falling in ninth place. Fellow six-figure bounty-puller Mason was out shortly after in seventh.
Weng was next to go as the reigning POY three-bet jammed with ace-jack and couldn't win a flip against the eights of Wassmuth. Jay Chaudhary and Bariz Sudhanshu respectively fell in fourth and fifth before Andrews jammed her short stack with ace-three, only to run into the queens of Wassmuth before failing to improve and falling in third.
Lopez held the chip lead for most of the final table after a pivotal hand against 10th-place finisher Greg Orlick where he flopped a set against Orlick's top pair top kicker.
“That was the biggest hand right there; it gave me the big chip lead," he said. "I tried to keep the chip lead the whole way. I had it for most of the final table, but the heads-up battle kept taking some of my chips."
Lopez and Wassmuth exchanged doubles and chip leads before a final confrontation where Lopez limp-jammed with pocket nines, and Wassmuth called with the inferior pocket sevens.
"It just went back and forth until finally a cooler, nines versus sevens," he said. "Got lucky.”
While Wassmuth walked off to lay claim to the final $25,000 bounty, Lopez FaceTimed his wife to show her the trophy.
“I don’t play as often as I want to, and everytime I get out she’s always like ‘you’re always so close.’ … And it just felt good to actually prove that you can win it.”