News: WSOP Mystery Millions to award the bracelet at random – pokerstrategy.com

A controversial change to the popular tournament as the winner's bracelet will be one of the random bounty prizes instead of going to the eventual champion.

More proof that the Mystery Bounty format is capturing the imagination of the poker world, with a surprise announcement from the WSOP.

The WSOP Mystery Millions event has been a big hit for the last two years, with three players winning $1 million from a single bounty pull so far. In every case, they won more money than the eventual champion.

Last night the World Series of Poker announced the bounty jackpots will have even more prestige. One random bounty this year in the Mystery Millions will not contain cash, but instead have the coveted WSOP bracelet at the end of it.

That means you could bust a short stack on Day 2 with 1,000 runners left, but still be the official champion and a bonafide WSOP bracelet winner, without taking down the event. After the bracelet is pulled, the rest of the players are just competing for money like a regular tournament, but with no title at the end.

This is not only the easiest way to win a WSOP bracelet but also very controversial. We spoke with leading WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, who said "This is worse than that Flip & Go thing".

The $1,000 Mystery Millions starts on May 30th with four starting flights and bounties starting on Day 2. The value of the bracelet is $1,500.

Do you like this new format? Let us know in the comments:

Barry Carter is the editor of PokerStrategy.com and the co-author of The Mental Game of Poker 1 & 2, Poker Satellite Strategy, PKO Poker Strategy, Endgame Poker Strategy, GTO Poker Simplified, Mystery Bounty Poker Strategy and Beyond GTO.

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News: WSOP Mystery Millions to award the bracelet at random - pokerstrategy.com