Ben Ector raised to 40,000 from under the gun and Qing Lu three-bet shoved from the next seat over. A player in middle position re-shoved and Ector got out of the way. Action was heads-up with Lu at risk.
Qing Lu:
Opponent:
The board ran out and Lu found an ace on the river to crack pocket kings for a double.
Last fall, the final 255 players from a 2,333-entry field returned for Day 2 action in the highly-anticipated Wynn Fall Classic $2,200 Mystery Bounty Event. All of those players were in the money and eligible for the “Mystery Bounty” portion of the tournament, which meant every time they eliminated an opponent they’d get a chance to draw an envelope from a spinning drum.
Inside were 255 sealed envelopes under constant supervision and surveillance. Each contained a card with a prize ranging from $500-$250,000. There was only a single quarter-million top bounty followed by three $100,000 prizes, six $50,000 envelopes, and a dozen $25,000 slips.
It didn’t take long for the big prize to be selected, just 40 minutes in fact. It happened after 43-year-old Omaha trucker driver Donald Nimneh used ace-queen to eliminate an opponent holding an inferior ace-jack.
“For some reason I just felt something. You know, I felt something,” he told PokerNews. “When I moved my seat because my table broke, they moved me over to that table, when I stuck my hand in and won the bounty I was on the button, so I said I was just gonna go draw. I stuck my eye on this envelope and I just picked it.”
He continued: “It was unbelievable. I mean it still hasn’t sunk in yet. I thought it was $25,000 at first because I saw the two-five, but then the more I kept looking I kept seeing zeros. When I opened it, I just went crazy, man.”
Originally from Liberia, Nimneh is a family man who wasn’t even going to play the tournament. It was only because of his young son altered some plans that it all came together.
“My son was the one that made this happen. He’s a boy scout and I was supposed to be at his camp today, but he decided because his sister was coming home, he was going to skip camp and spend the time with his sister. So, he told there was no need to come home, which is why I got into this.”
Prior to the six-figure score, Nimneh had a little over $20,000 in lifetime tournament earnings according to The Hendon Mob. That included some small wins in daily South Point tournaments and a February 2020 RunGood Poker Series (RGPS) Council Bluffs $160 NLH Closer victory for $3,569.
“I just play poker on the side because I like it,” he said with a smile. “I have a passion for it and it’s working well so far.”
Nimneh’s good luck with the bounty didn’t translate to the tournament itself as he lost most of his chips when his pocket aces were cracked by ace-king suited. A short time later, he was eliminated from the tournament in 122nd place for $5,284. On top of that, he had one other bounty for $5,000, meaning he left the Wynn a happy man with $260,284 in his bank account.
The mini series features five high-stakes no-limit hold'em poker tournaments with buy-ins ranging from $10,000 (plus $500 fee) to $15,000 (plus $700 fee). A $300 discount is available for the $10k's for players who register prior to the 2 p.m. start time, and $400 discount for the $15k's.
PokerGO recently wrapped up its second annual PokerGO Cup series where Jeremy Ausmus was the overall series champion and Sean Perry won multiple events. The tour rolls on in Las Vegas early next month over at Wynn.
The full schedule is as follows:
Date
Buy-In
Starting Stack
3/1
$10,000 + $500
100,000
3/2
$15,000 + $700
100,000
3/6
$10,000 + $500
100,000
3/7
$10,000 + $500
100,000
3/8
$15,000 + $700
100,000
Ali Imsirovic won the first-ever PokerGO Tour last year. The second season is just getting under way in 2022 and Nick Petrangelo holds an early lead while Perry is in second place, right where he finished in 2021. However, it's far too early in the year to start making projections on who will sit atop the standings at the end of December when it counts the most.
The Wynn Mystery Bounty tournament brought out a plethora of big name poker pros. Among those stars is Matt Affleck, a long-time pro who has over $3.3 million in live tournament cashes according to the Hendon Mob.
The Washington native infamously lost one of the most memorable bad beats in World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event history in 2010. With 15 players remaining in poker's most prestigious annual event, he got his money in with pocket aces preflop against the eventual champion, Jonathan Duhamel, who was holding pocket jacks.
Duhamel would receive some help from the first four cards on the board — — and could win the hand on the river if he hit his open-ended straight draw or a set. The river in the 41 million chip pot, the largest pot of the tournament up to that point, was the and Affleck's dreams of becoming a world champion were shattered on a cruel bad beat.
He still took home $500,000, but ESPN viewers witnessed the raw emotions of a poker player suffering a rough bad beat late in the WSOP Main Event. Instead of having the chip lead, he was out in 15th place.
Affleck, a respected pro within the poker community, has bounced back from the bad beat quite nicely over the past 12 years. He now has 49 cashes in WSOP bracelet events and has put together an impressive poker career.
The Seattle sports enthusiast is chasing another large cash in the $1,600 buy-in Wynn Mystery Bounty tournament. With 50 players remaining, he has an above average stack.
The 2021 Wynn Fall Classic ran from late September through November 21. During that time, more than 21,000 entrants competed and in excess of $25 million in prize money was awarded.
PokerNews was on-site to provide live updates from some of the marquee events including:
There was a slew of big side event winners throughout the series, which included Argentina’s Federico Castaine, who became the first six-figure winner of the 2021 Wynn Fall Classic after topping a 1,790-entry field to win the $1,600 buy-in, $1,000,000 GTD NLH event for $361,180.
Another big winner was poker veteran Shawn Rice, who bested a 786-entry field to win the $1,100 NLH Seniors tournament, which nearly doubled its $400,000 guarantee by creating a $766,350 prize pool. Rice, who hails from Texas, took down $116,039 for his victory. It marked the second-largest score of his career, which dates back to 1994.
Meanwhile, players like David Brookshire ($550 H.O.R.S.E. $50K GTD for $29,110), David Jackson ($550 NLH $100K GTD for $46,033), Eric Mizrahi ($500 NLH $100K GTD for $41,025), and Fabio Freitas ($400 NLH for $21,182) all claimed titles.
David Yokoyama, moments after losing a big chuck of his stack, moved all-in for 1,550,000 from early position, and the player he lost most of his stack to — Chris Vickery — made the call.
David Yokoyama:
Chris Vickery:
The board ran out and Yokoyama won a race to double back into a decent sized stack.
Harrison Ashdown shared details of the hand and proudly stated that he got his money in well behind with against the of Christopher McFarland. Ashdown spiked a deuce after calling off about 13 big blinds and won the hand. He was at first hesitant to share the hand and initially attempted to trick PokerNews into thinking he made a great play before spilling the beans about the real hand history.
McFarland was noticeably upset at the call made by his opponent following his bust-out hand. He received $14,152 for 18th place.
Players at the table shared the bust-out hand of Hyung Kim, who went all-in for around 2.3 million with but ran into the of Eric Ward, and the best hand held up.
and Lu found an ace on the river to crack pocket kings for a double.
— and could win the hand on the river if he hit his open-ended straight draw or a set. The river in the 41 million chip pot, the largest pot of the tournament up to that point, was the 
and Affleck's dreams of becoming a world champion were shattered on a cruel bad beat.
against the 
and Mowad was out in 17th place, which paid $16,246.
