'Out of nowhere!' — Faraz Jaka pulls $500K Venom mystery bounty

Faraz Jaka: Smart move from the WPT... but I'm going to the Bahamas

Posted on: August 19, 2024 15:11 PDT

Popular poker coach and WSOP bracelet winner Faraz Jaka pulled the lucky envelope for a $500K bonus on Day 2 of ACR Poker's Venom Mystery Bounty — a format he's never played before.

Jaka, founder of Jaka Coaching and member of PokerOrg's Player Advisory Board, was fresh off an eighth-place finish for $12K in the $400K Venom guarantee just a day before. He also cashed six times at this summer's WSOP, including a runner-up finish in the $25K Heads-up Championship for $300K.

The mystery bounty tournament featured five opening flights and an $8 million guarantee with a $2,650 buy-in. The total prize pool tipped just over $8 million, with $4 million set aside for bounties and a $500K top pull. Knocking out a player on Day 2 earned a minimum bounty of $5K, which seemed like a lot in a tweet from Jaka a few minutes before he pulled the big one.

Jaka updated his followers with a screenshot just prior to the big bounty pull.

Beginner's luck for Jaka

"1st mystery bounty I’ve played," Jaka said on Twitter/X. "Not gonna lie it’s pretty fun watching account balance go up $5k at a time after each KO."

Jaka had three KOs and 142 big blinds at the time of that tweet. His next update came a few moments later:

"Holy shit!" Jaka said in the video on Twitter/X. Twice. "That just happened!"

It is also his wife's birthday, Jaka revealed. "It must be lucky. It's going to be a nice surprise for her."

After another whoop, Jaka tried to settle down from the shock for what might be a long afternoon of poker. "That came out of nowhere. My first mystery bounty. It was meant to be."

Jaka's stack had just over 171 big blinds after the hand with around 180 players remaining. The top prize of $572K is still waiting for the winner at the end.