Mystery Bounty events first made their appearance at the 2022 Irish Open and – as expected – were a huge hit. Ever since then, we’ve been boosting the offer on an annual basis and this year we went a bit bonkers for them.
The 2025 schedule featured no fewer than FIVE different Mystery Bounties including two €5k high rollers – PLO and No Limit – plus a brand new Luxon Pay-sponsored event that came with a mouth-watering €1,000,000 prize pool guarantee.
The Luxon event was the first tournament of the festival and, from the get-go, demonstrated we were in for a massive festival. An incredible turnout of 1,222 entries made the €1,150 buy-in tourney the biggest tournament of its kind in Ireland’s history. The dramatic final day started with eight players but, with five despatched in just 80 minutes, it was down to Austria’s Nils Pudel, Nikolaos Angelou from Greece and Swiss player Fabian Rolli to fight it out. At one point, Pudel was down to just seven big blinds and the stage was set for a deep-stacked heads-up. However, Pudel wasn’t giving up and, after doubling up three hands in a row, regained the lead. With fairly even stacks, the trio eventually agreed an ICM chop, flipping for the title and trophy. Pudel received €67,510 for his win, with runner-up Angelou getting €71,090 and third-placed Rolli scooping the biggest share of €73,480. The prize pool totalled €1,191,450 including €595,725 for the bounties – with 184 players making the money.
In the elite €5k NLHE High Roller Mystery Bounty, Germany’s Marcel Kessler took the title, claiming his maiden live trophy and a career-best score of €103,008 (including bounties) after a dominating final table performance. The event accrued a total of 39 entries, generating a €180,648 prize pool, to be split evenly in cash and bounty payouts.
In the €5k PLO High Roller Mystery Bounty, Shamil Patel – a PLO cash game specialist – secured €64,848 after outlasting the 28-entry field while Irish Open Ambassador Chris Dowling finished fourth for €7,600. Patel said: “It’s my first time at the Irish Open, and it’s been a great experience — the venue is excellent, and the Irish always make poker fun.” Commiserations to runner-up Klemens Roiter who had near-misses in two further major events; he was runner-up in the €5k PLO High Roller and then third in the €10k NLH Super High Roller. Along with his Main Event cash, Roilter still managed to snag more than €185,0000 at this year’s Irish Open.
Sweden’s Alexander Norden has had numerous cashes in Mystery Bounty events but victory in Event 51 at the Irish Open was his most lucrative yet: €26,500 for first place (after chopping with fellow Scandi Steven Årsnes from Norway) plus a mammoth €42,900 in bounties – including the top envelope of €33k. There were 557 entries in total, generating a €173,200 prize pool.
Germany’s Henning Wendlandt was crowned the €1,150 PLO 8-Max Mystery Bounty Champion, scooping €76,600 including bounties. He overcame a 243-entrant field to claim the lion’s share of the €248,832 prize pool. Players such as PokerStars Ambassador Barny Boatman, 2024 Irish Open Champion David Docherty and Mo Nuwwarah all cashed but exited before the final table.
In the NLHE version, 2022 EPT Barcelona champion Giuliano Bendinelli defeated the 441-entry field, claiming €9,500 in bounties and the title, trophy and €44k first prize.
