Poker World Reacts to Matt Glantz Drawing $1 Million Mystery Bounty

3 min read

Day 2 of the WSOP’s inaugural $1,000 Mystery Bounty Event promised to provide plenty of action. One player was going to draw the top mystery bounty of $1 million, and that player just happened to be Matt Glantz, a poker pro who never shies away from a Twitter debate or two. 

Matt Glantz
Somebody had to win it, and many assumed all along the top WSOP bounty prize would go to Matt Glantz. (Image: WSOP)

The WSOP first bought into the mystery bounty concept in 2020, with the introduction of a $1,500 event and the promise of a $250K top bounty prize. While players seemed excited about it, the 2020 Series got COVID-canceled, and the event was somehow left off the 2021 WSOP schedule.

Mystery Bounty Event format

For those who aren’t familiar with the mystery bounty format, here’s a quick breakdown. This event had four starting sessions with a $1,000 buy-in, that played out as a normal No-Limit Hold’em tournament. Everyone who advanced to Day 2 made the money.

From this point on, every time a player knocked someone out, they drew a bounty. Most bounties were worth $1,000, but there were also several worth six figures, and one for $1 million. 

Naturally, Glantz claiming the top bounty drew plenty of reaction from some of poker Twitter’s most consistent contributors, so we curated a list of some of the best and funniest comments found online. 

Glantz the luckiest guy in poker?

Poker pro David “ODB” Baker tweeted his reaction within seconds of the news breaking at Bally’s. Good friends with Glantz, Baker was quick to reveal a text chain with fellow poker pro Mark Gregorich, in which Baker jokingly called his shot. 

2004 Main Event runner-up and WSOP bracelet winner David Williams asked a question that was likely on many people’s minds when they too saw the news.

Funny enough, a tweet Glantz made on Day 1 of the event quickly picked up some traction in light of the recent million-dollar news. He called the event a “nonsense bounty circus event,” but likely feels a bit differently about it now.  

Regardless of the winner of the biggest bounty, most reviews of the event have been positive. Baker tweeted his approval of the new concept and certainly seems ready to see more at the WSOP. 

As for Glantz, he decided to pay it forward and share his good fortune, tweeting that he gave the player he knocked out, Justin Lett, $5,000. According to Glantz, he got it in bad against Lett, but ended up good by the end.

Just 33 players moved on to the final day of the event and Glantz isn’t one of them, as he busted in 42nd place. However, he’s likely doing just fine after yesterday’s madness went in his favor.



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