Steven Hoek has pillaged all in his wake enroute to victory in the WPT Prime Gold Coast Mystery Bounty after one of the purest runs ever witnessed in Australian poker history.
Having started with the overall chip lead in Day 2 of the $1,000 buy-in tournament, the 29-year-old eliminated three players in the first level before pulling a $9,525 prize from the Mystery Bounty Treasure Chest.
It was the first of 15 bounties that Hoek plundered throughout the course of the day, including a $7,525 Bounty after eliminating final table chip leader Alex Lee.
From there, Hoek went on to take out all six remaining players to end the tournament $75,466 richer, comprised of $48,916 in first-place prize money and a total bounty haul worth $26,550.
The only downside to the day was that Hoek missed the official final table portrait, but as PokerMedia Australia discovered during his post-match interview, there was good reason.
“I had to go and see my daughter!” Hoek said. “My partner and family all came down during the break, so I went out of the room to visit them. They knew that I was up $14K at the time, but [after they] hear about this, they’re gonna be ecstatic!”
WPT PRIME GOLD COAST MYSTERY BOUNTY ($1,000 buy-in, 395 entries, 50 players paid)*
| Place | Name | Country | Amount | Bounties |
| 1st | Steven Hoek | Australia | $48,916 | $26,550 |
| 2nd | Matt Radcliffe | Australia | $34,625 | $900 |
| 3rd | Matt Bevin | Australia | $22,027 | $2,550 |
| 4th | Romain Morvan | France | $14,611 | $1,150 |
| 5th | Alex Lee | Singapore | $11,246 | $5,325 |
| 6th | Wayde Rickhuss | Australia | $9,314 | $600 |
| 7th | Charles Tsai | Australia | $7,809 | $1,200 |
| 8th | Martin Ward | Australia | $6,349 | $1,275 |
| 9th | Yor Ecobiza | Australia | $4,892 | $31,875 |
The Mystery Bounty format, which has been all the rage overseas and first introduced at the Poker Palace in Sydney during last months’ Winter Championships, proved an instant hit with players and provided plenty of swashbuckling action and entertainment both on and off the felt.
It also brought one of the feel-good stories of the tournament in Yor Ecobiza; having been as low as six big blinds, his fortunes changed for the better after cashing his one and only Bounty Chip for the Grand Bounty worth $31,875, then running his stack up to make it to the finale before finishing in ninth place.
PokerMedia Australia‘s coverage of the WPT Prime Gold Coast continues today with special social media and feature article updates for the duration of the $1,500 Main Event, before our Live Reporting resumes on Monday with Day 2 of the $5K Challenge.
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