Pete Chen Takes Down $2,200 Wynn Mystery Bounty After Three-Way Deal ($289,193)
On Thursday, 255 players reconvened to play out Day 2 of the $2,200 Wynn Mystery Bounty at the Wynn Las Vegas. The event drew a total of 2,333 players across three starting flights — generating a total prize pool of $4,666,000 and smashing the $2 million guarantee.
When it was all said and done — Pete Chen emerged as the champion after making a three-way deal with Kevin Klunder and Ezequiel Waigel.
The tournament featured a special bounty format in which players would be assigned random cash-prize bounties ranging from $500 - $250,000. Chen also received eight mystery bounties during his path to victory — good for an additional $20,000.
Chen's victory comes as an unlikely story given that Chen joined Day 2 late as he was busy placing 20th in a WSOP event earlier in the day.
Chen, who qualified into Day 2 of the $2,200 Wynn Mystery Bounty during the first starting flight, said he decided to prioritize competing in the WSOP to earn Player-of-the-Year points.
According to Chen, by the time he took his seat in the Mystery Bounty Event, he had already blinded down from 471,000 in chips down to 315,000 but was able to run good and build his stack throughout the remainder of the day.
$2,200 Wynn Mystery Bounty Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pete Chen | Taiwan | $289,193* |
| 2 | Ezequiel Waigel | Argentina | $263,627* |
| 3 | Kevin Klunder | United States | $261,440* |
| 4 | Daniel Rezaei | Austria | $125,160 |
| 5 | Florian Duta | Romania | $96,404 |
| 6 | Onur Unsal | Cyprus | $73,778 |
| 7 | Matthew Zarcadoolas | Argentina | $60,131 |
| 8 | Ray Medlin | United States | $49,918 |
| 9 | Johan Martinet | France | $41,563 |
*denotes three-way deal
Final Table Action
Despite coming into the final table as chip leader, Chen found himself losing that position several times on his path to victory — particularly after losing a sizable pot to Onur Unsal early on.
Chen regained some ground after winning a race against Ray Medlin to knock him out in eighth place.
With rapidly escalating blinds, most of the eliminations came as a result of two players getting all-in preflop. Both Matthew Zarcadoolas and Onur Unsal were eliminated after finding themselves all-in with a dominated ace and failing to improve.
There were a plethora of double-ups when the final table reached five-handed — with the shorter stacks always seemingly finding a way to win as the night went on.
Florian Duta eventually fell in fifth place after running into the pocket aces of Kevin Klunder and Chen would claim the last knockout of the tournament after rivering a straight to send Daniel Rezaei home in 4th place.
It didn't take long for the final three players to discuss a deal and come to an agreement — having already played for over 14 hours since Day 2 started.
Chen, who also won his first WSOP bracelet, last week in an online event, said he intends to keep playing poker for the duration of the Wynn Fall Classic and World Series of Poker.
"I play 14 hours every day and post all my tournament receipts on Facebook," Chen said. "I think of poker as a hobby — not a job."
Mystery Bounty Winners
Donald Nimneh, a 43-year-old Omaha trucker driver, was able to draw the top mystery bounty prize of $250,000. You can learn about his story here.
Here's a look at who managed to snag the top mystery bounty prizes.
| Prize | Winner |
|---|---|
| $250,000 | Donald Nimneh |
| $100,000 | Keven Stammen |
| $100,000 | David Mzareulov |
| $100,000 | Raffaele Sorrentino |
| $50,000 | Katie Lindsay |
| $50,000 | John Leathart |
| $50,000 | Louis "AP" Garza |
| $50,000 | Vladimir Vasilyev |
| $50,000 | Julien Martini |
| $50,000 | Kevin Klunder |