Event #5: $600 Mystery Bounty
Day 2 Completed
2022 The Lodge Championship Series
Event #5: $600 Mystery Bounty
Day: 2
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Players Info - Day 2
2022 The Lodge Championship Series
Buy-in
$600
Prize Pool
$300,000
Entries
528
Level
29
Blinds
150,000 / 300,000
Ante
300,000
Entries
64
Players Left
1
Level 29
: 150,000/300,000, 300,000 ante
Day 2 of 2022 The Lodge Championship Series Event 5: $600 Mystery Bounty $300,000 Guaranteed came to its zenith Tuesday night at The Lodge Poker Club in Round Rock, Texas after 13 hours of play. The day began with 64 hopefuls and ended with one champion after a lot of bounty suspense
Emerging as victor was Mohammad Bagheri, who won a $40,702 first-place prize. The Dallas native had just over $15,000 to his name in prior poker winnings from two cashes earlier this year, making this his best result thus far in a successful first half of the year.
Bagheri stayed steady in the chip counts for most of the day and started to emerge as the chip leader when four players remained.
Event #5: $600 Mystery Bounty Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize (USD) |
| 1 | Mohammad Bagheri | Dallas, TX | $40,702 |
| 2 | Michael Alvarez | Oak View, CA | $23,386 |
| 3 | Mahesh Rathi | Austin,TX | $16,194 |
| 4 | Michael Jozoff | New York, NY | $11,656 |
| 5 | Marc Lesitsky | Mohnton, PA | $8,573 |
| 6 | Daniel Zambrano | Venezeula | $6,945 |
| 7 | Chris Staats | Tuttle, OK | $5,283 |
| 8 | Blake Whittington | Cleveland, TN | $4,001 |
| 9 | Michael Noori | Tarzana, CA | $3,118 |
The real story of the day for Bagheri ended up being his heads-up duel against Michael Alvarez. Bagheri began with a chip lead heads up and quickly spun it up to a 3:1 chip advantage. He had the chance to finish it off after he was in the lead on a flop, but Alvarez turned a flush to stay alive. From that point, Alvarez took the reigns and the chip lead. It was then Bagheri who was the short stack and Alvarez had a chance to secure the win for himself in a preflop all-in flip, but Bagheri would take that one to swing the pendulum again.
The decisive hand ended up being when both players made a straight on the river, but Bagheri had the higher end of it. That’s when the dramatics were turned up as the dealer had to count down the stacks to determine how close the stacks were. The unique situation created a very tense couple of minutes where Bagheri was not sure if he had won or not. Eventually, it was counted that Alvarez had just one small blind remaining.
Alvarez then won a total of five consecutive all ins, four of which he was behind preflop. The spin-up started to make Bagheri nervous as the impossible started to seem like a real possibility.
However, on the sixth all in, Bagheri would finally finish the deal and take home the grand prize while Alvarez would settle for the second-place prize of $23,486 after a valiant effort.
Action of the Day
Play would begin with 64 players and the eliminations started off slowly as stacks were deep to start. Eventually, the blinds caught up to the stacks and the eliminations started to come. The fun part of the day was announcements when players drew their bounties to see which amount of money they would get for each one.
Collin Ball got the ball rolling when he drew the $20,000 bounty, the second-largest prize available.
The $40,000 top bounty loomed throughout the day and it became a driving point of the tournament. The dramatics really began when Awonke Phewa was eliminated in thirteenth place and had four bounties to draw, which he peeled slowly but disappointingly got the minimum with four $400s. Eliminations then continued until the final table was reached.
Michael Noori was the first victim of the final table and then drew his four bounties, which totaled $9,900.
Start-of-day chip leader Blake Whittington then hit the rail in eighth place and Chris Staats went out in seventh.
It was here where the six remaining players decided to ICM chop the bounty prize pool, with Mahesh Rathi taking home the lion’s share with $17,026.
With the drama bounty concluded, the play would continue six-handed. The field was quickly shaved down with Daniel Zambrano going out in sixth and Marc Lesitsky finishing in fifth place.
Michael Jozoff had a strong day as he was near the top of the chip counts including late at the final table, but eventually he would lose some key pots and bow out in fourth place.
Rathi had the commanding chip lead when six-handed play began and held it going into three-handed, he would however lose significant pots to Bagheri and go from chip leader to third place in a fairly quick manner to set up the aforementioned heads-up drama.
That wraps it up for this mystery bounty event. PokerNews will be back at it Wednesday with Day 1 of the $1,600 Mystery Bounty which gets underway at 11 a.m. with full coverage beginning around 1 p.m. local time.
Level 29
: 150,000/300,000, 300,000 ante
Michael Alvarez moved all in and was called by Mohammad Bagheri.
Alvarez was looking to double for a sixth time as he held the 
, Bagheri was pleading for the board to finish the night as he held the 
.
The flop came 
to give Alvarez two pair. The turn was the 
and the river the 
to give Bagheri the straight and finally give him the winner as he reacted with relief as much as anything as the comeback was stopped in its tracks.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
13,200,000
2,500,000
|
2,500,000 |
|
Busted |
Level: 29
Blinds: 150,000/300,000
Ante: 300,000
Level 28
: 100,000/200,000, 200,000 ante
With just one small blind remaining, Michael Alvarez was practically forced all in on four consecutive hands, winning each one and coming from behind on three of the four.
Hand #1:
Michael Alvarez: 
Mohammad Bagheri: 
The board: 
Hand #2:
Michael Alvarez: 
Mohammad Bagheri: 
The board: 
Hand #3:
Michael Alvarez:
Mohammad Bagheri:
The board: 
Hand #4:
Michael Alvarez:
Mohammad Bagheri: 
The board: 
Hand #4 was the most brutal as Alvarez flopped two-pair to overcome the dominated king.
Alvarez then had a stack that was not just an auto-shove and he would then double for a fifth time a couple of hands later as he got it in with 
against the 
of Mohammad Bagheri, again behind. The flop came 
to pair the four. The turn was the 
and the river came the to give Alvarez more and start to make the improbable comeback start to seem possible.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
10,700,000
-2,300,000
|
-2,300,000 |
|
|
2,400,000
2,295,000
|
2,295,000 |
Level 28
: 100,000/200,000, 200,000 ante
The action was tepid until the river as it read 
. Mohammad Bagheri bet 650,000, Michael Alvarez moved all in and Bagheri snap-called.
Alvarez tabled the straight with the 
but Bagheri had the high ground with the for the higher straight. For a moment Bagheri had thought he had won but the stacks were so close that an exact count was needed.
The dealer counted out both stacks which took over a minute, the tension palpable as neither player was sure if it was over or not as the watching rail crowded the table. Eventually, it was determined that Alvarez had 105,000, about one small blind remaining as Bagheri was not yet the winner.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
13,000,000
6,400,000
|
6,400,000 |
|
|
105,000
-6,995,000
|
-6,995,000 |
Level 28
: 100,000/200,000, 200,000 ante
Michael Alvarez jammed from the button and Mohammad Bagheri called.
Mohammad Bagheri: 
Michael Alvarez:
Alvarez would need to wrap up the trophy. The flop came 
. The turn was the and the river the to stay safe for the sevens as the counts got back close to even again after Bagheri had been short.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
7,100,000
-1,100,000
|
-1,100,000 |
|
|
6,600,000
1,650,000
|
1,650,000 |
Level: 28
Blinds: 100,000/200,000
Ante: 200,000
Level 27
: 80,000/160,000, 160,000 ante
Mohammad Bagheri opened to 480,000 from the button and Michael Alvarez defended his big blind to see the 
flop. Bagheri continued with a bet of 400,000 and Alvarez check-called.
The 
turn saw both tap to the river where Bagheri bet 650,000 and Alvarez check-called once more. Bagheri showed for ace-high and Alvarez then tabled 
for a pair of johnnies to take down the pot.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
8,200,000
1,150,000
|
1,150,000 |
|
|
4,950,000
-1,150,000
|
-1,150,000 |
Level 27
: 80,000/160,000, 160,000 ante
Michael Alvarez was on the brink of taking the lead and achieved that in an honorable fashion.
The board showed 
and Alvarez bet 400,000 into a pot that had around 600,00 in it. Mohammad Bagheri called and Alvarez announced "Straight flush," tabling .
Alvarez took down the pot, earning him the lead of this heads up bout.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
7,050,000
1,975,000
|
1,975,000 |
|
|
6,100,000
-1,950,000
|
-1,950,000 |