The fourth day of the 2025 Greek Poker Odyssea didn’t disappoint. Not only was it time for Day 1a of the €600 Main Event, but also the conclusion of the thrilling €450 Mystery Bounty. There’s no doubt that Mystery Bounty is a spendid format for a live poker tournament; the thrill of pulling an envelope can’t be matched, especially is this case when there was a €10,000 paycheck in one of the 20 envelopes.
All expectations for Day 2 were exceeded; the action resembled a wild western movie, and players went to great lengths competing for top bounties. In the end, the one player who entered Day 2 as the chip leader would also prove to become the winner, while another warrior turned the most profit, as he turned the two biggest bounties.
Unparallelled Action
Again, mystery bounty is arguably one of the most underrated formats for live poker tournaments, and it is no surprise that the tournament recorded a whopping 169 entries. This created a €67,600 prize pool, €23,800 of which was dedicated to the bounty prize pool. The trophy and the €8,957 was, of course, on all the players mind, but also, the €10,000 top mystery bounty.
The Day 2 action started with 25 players returning after Day 1, which was played on Wednesday, June 25. Leading the field going into Day 2 was Andreas Paliogiannis; would he be able to convert his lead to a place at the podium?
It didn’t take long before the number of players was down to 26, and hand-by-hand play commenced on the bubble. Eventually, it would burst with two people going out on the same hand. Such, the remaining 19 players were in the money, and that’s really when play reached a new level of insanity.
Being aware that players would be tempted to re-shove to isolate themselves with short stacks and compete for bounties, Konstantinos Daskalou did a nice play when he only smooth-called with pocket kings pre-flop. This resulted in two eliminations and a monster stack for Daskalou.
Of course, ranges are expected to be loosened somewhat in a (mystery) bounty, and that would prove to be the case. Even though holding the worst hand pre-flop, Anass Chergui managed to knock out three players in the same hand, earning himself a handful of envelopes doing so. Chergui displayed aggressive poker skills throughout the tournament and even managed to snag himself the chip lead at one point.
Final Table Time
Eventually, Vasileios Gkogkos was eliminated in tenth place, and only nine players remained in the tournament. The big winner at this point was Mihail Hristov; he didn’t enter the final table with the biggest stack, but moments earlier, he had pulled the €5,000 mystery bounty, which was the second largest prize. Presumably, he was walking on clouds, beginning play at the final stage of the tournament.
The final table kicked off with Georgios Mylonas eliminating Ioannis Mantonanakis and Stavros Melanitis in the same hand. Shortly thereafter, Kolev Ivelin came up short against Kristov, who had a superior kicker. Perhaps 10♥7♥ now is Kristov’s new favorite hand; as he sent Ivelin to the rail, he received the €10,000 envelope, meaning he had claimed the two biggest bounties of the tournament. Could he top it all off with a tournament win?
The most impressive play of the final table most likely belonged to Daskalou. He called a massive shove from Chergui with the second-to-bottom pair, and doing so, he sent Chergui to the rail in sixth place. Less than three hands later, he was all in against Paliogiannis, the latter being the player at risk. Queens held up against ace-king, though, and Paliogiannis climbed back to the top of the rankings where he had started the day.
Perhaps shaken by the big hand, Paliogiannis accidentally revealed his hole cards too early against Nikolaos Valtatzis in a hand that followed shortly thereafter. By some help from Lady Luck, though, he still managed to win the hand and knock out Valtatzis in the process. With four players left, Paliogiannis now had roughly 50 % of the chips in play.
He extended his lead even further when he terminated Daskalou in fourth place. He didn’t stop there, and moments later, he ended Hristov’s dream of topping his two big bounty wins off with the trophy. Thus, the table was set for a heads-up duel between Paliogiannis and Mylonas.
Going into the heads-up, Paliogiannis had more than 80 % of the chips in play. Mylonas managed to double up at one point thanks to a rivered flush, but, in the end, he would fall to the mountain of chips that belonged to Paliogiannis. That settled it: the player who started Day 2 as the chip leader finished as the winner.
€450 Monsterstack Mystery Bounty – Final Table Payouts
| Place | Player | Country | Prize | Bounty | Total Payout |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Andreas Paliogiannis | Greece | €8,957 | €5,450 | €14,407 |
| 2 | Georgios Mylonas | Greece | €5,830 | €600 | €6,430 |
| 3 |  Mihail Hristov | Bulgaria | €4,310 | €15,750 | €20,060 |
| 4 | Konstantinos Daskalou | Greece | €3,008 | €2,800 | €5,808 |
| 5 | Nikolaos Valtatzis | Greece | €2,079 | €1,750 | €3,829 |
| 6 |  Anass Chergui | Netherlands | €1,284 | €6,250 | €7,534 |
| 7 | Kolev Ivelin | Bulgaria | €1,065 | N/A | €1,065 |
| 8 | Stavros Melanitis | Greece | €896 | N/A | €896 |
| 9 | Ioannis Mantonanakis | Greece | €761 | N/A | €761 |
Paliogiannis may have missed out on the two biggest bounties in terms of raw dough, but he did manage to snag the most special one. A €600 Main Event ticket for the 2025 Autumn Battle of Malta and a four-night hotel stay were added to the prize pool as a special bounty, which Paliogiannis claimed on the final table. He must now make sure he has a wardrobe fitting the tropical climate of Malta.
Before that, though, perhaps he’ll take his chances in the €600 Main Event here at Regency Casino Thessaloniki? Day 1a is being played on Thursday night, while Day 1b (June 27) and Day 1c (June 28) are still to come. The poker.pro live coverage team will catch all the action from Day 1a, before reloading for Day 2.
