The action folded to Joakim Andersson on the button. He open-jammed, covering both Rayan Chamas in the small blind and Joao Vieira in the big blind.
Chamas then made the call for his stack of 56,000, after which Vieira asked for a count. Once he received it, he made the call as well, putting his own stack of 66,000 at risk but having a shot at taking Chamas' bounty chip.
Vieira flopped a pair on 9♦3♣6♥, but could not improve further on the 10♣2♥ runout. Chamas was left with ace-high, which meant that Andersson's sevens held on and scooped the pot alongside two bounty tokens.
Steve O'Dwyer moved all in for 50,000 in the cutoff, Stephen Chidwick reshoved for 256,000 in the small blind, and Daniel Rezaei snap-called in the big blind having both players well covered.
Steve O'Dwyer: J♠10♦
Stephen Chidwick: A♣10♥
Daniel Rezaei: A♦8♦
O'Dwyer took the lead on the J♣6♦3♠ flop, while the K♣ turn gave Chidwick a straight draw. The Q♠ river completed Chidwick's Broadway straight and he sent O'Dwyer to the rail while also doubling up off Rezaei.
Sam Grafton moved all in for 140,000 in the cutoff as action folded to small blind jean-Noel Thorel, who asked for a count before folding. Duco ten Haven in the big blind also tanked for a moment. "We await the verdict. The jury is out," Grafton said, flashing his cards to a PokerStars media member. Ten Haven eventually called.
Sam Grafton: J♠8♠
Duco ten Haven: A♠4♣
"You have to call. Punish the slowroller," Grafton said upon seeing ten Haven's cards. The board ran out Q♠3♣5♣Q♣A♣ and ten Haven finished with a flush to send the PokerStars Team Pro to the rail right at the start of the mystery bounty portion of the event.
Nikita Kuznetsov raised to 10,000 from early position, after which Sirzat Hissou three-bet to 28,000 from the next seat over. Daisuke Ogita then jammed all in for 92,000 from the hijack, and the action folded back to Hissou.
He asked for a count before committing to a call, and the cards went face-up.
Daisuke Ogita: A♣Q♥
Sirzat Hissou: 2♠2♦
Hissou's twos remained strong on the 3♠K♣8♠5♠ board, and they even made a flush on the 7♠ river to secure the pot and send Ogita home, joining many others in doing so.
Antoine Saout and Mike Watson had created a pot of 65,000 when they arrived on the turn on 6♥4♠2♦9♣. Saout checked from the small blind and Watson followed suit in the big blind.
The 9♦ river completed the board and Saout led out for 44,000 chips. Watson did not take long before making the call, and won the pot when Saout could only show K♦8♦ for king-high.
Watson tabled 8♥6♦ for two pair, and a big pot was sent his way, seeing him climb over the 300,000-chip mark.
On Day 1 of the €10,200 Mystery Bounty at the 2024 PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) Paris, 71 entries were made, creating a provisional cash prize pool of €333,700 and bounty prize pool of €355,000. Of them, 46 will return to Le Palais des Congrès today to battle it out on Day 2. However, when the cards go in the air at 12:30 p.m. local time, late registration will still be open for two more 30-minute levels, leaving plenty of opportunity for that number to grow.
Sitting down with the most chips at the start of play is Joris Ruijs, who used his Day 1 to the fullest and grinded his way to a stack of 405,500, worth 135 big blinds when play recommences. Fellow crusher Sergi Reixach also knew a tremendous Day 1, resulting in him starting with 375,000 on Day 2. Meanwhile, hometown hero Jeremie Zouari completes the top three with 358,000 in chips.
Joris Ruijs
€10,200 Mystery Bounty Start of Day 2 Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Day 2 Big Blinds
1
Joris Ruijs
Netherlands
405,500
135
2
Sergi Reixach
Spain
375,000
125
3
Jeremie Zouari
France
358,000
119
4
Mario Navarro
Spain
353,500
118
5
Michel Molenaar
Netherlands
324,500
108
6
Daisuke Ogita
Japan
273,500
91
7
Joakim Andersson
Sweden
266,000
89
8
Quan Zhou
China
251,000
84
9
Jean-Noel Thorel
France
235,000
78
10
Boris Kolev
Bulgaria
233,000
78
Meanwhile, some new players have already registered to sit down with a fresh stack on Day 2, including Aliaksei Boika and Jon Ander Vallinas, who both fired one bullet on Day 1 without any success. With only one reentry available to the competitors, they will have to make sure to make the most out of their second one.
All players who hop in during late registration on Day 2 will receive the starting stack of 100,000 chips. With blinds recommencing at Level 9:1,500/3,000 with a 3,000 big blind ante, this leaves plenty of room to play with. When late registration closes at the start of Level 11, the starting stack will be worth 20 big blinds, and it will take two more levels before the mystery bounty element comes into play. After that, the tournament will play as many 30-minute levels as needed to play down to a winner.
At the start of Level 13, all remaining players will receive a bounty token. When a player knocks another competitor out of the tournament, they receive their bounty token. The token can then be traded at the mystery bounty desk for an envelope containing an unknown prize. With €5,000 of each buy-in going to the bounty prize pool, these prizes usually range from high four-figure to high five-figure or even low six-figure amounts.
So stay tuned to PokerNews to find out who becomes the hunters and who the hunted in the thrilling conclusion of the €10,200 Mystery Bounty event at EPT Paris, and check out the coverage hub to not miss any of the other tournaments taking place in the heart of France.
