Phil Hellmuth, Alex Foxen and Kristen Foxen have $2,500 targets on their backs as the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star Championship begins in San Jose on Friday, October 23. The $5,300 World Poker Tour event runs through October 27, with knockout bounties for designated Shooting Stars and a $5,000 cash bonus to each opening-flight chip leader.
This is not just another big-buy-in no-limit hold’em tournament. The bounty format gives players a reason to hunt down invited professionals, while the main prize money, the Champions Cup and a WPT World Championship seat remain on the line. Bay 101 has been a WPT fixture since 2004, and the current event sits inside a 17-day festival running from October 16 to November 1.
WPT Bay 101 Championship schedule
| Day | Date | Start, San Jose time |
|---|---|---|
| 1A | Friday, October 23 | 10:00 a.m. |
| 1B | Saturday, October 24 | 10:00 a.m. |
| 2 | Sunday, October 25 | 11:15 a.m. |
| 3 | Monday, October 26 | 11:15 a.m. |
| 4 | Tuesday, October 27 | Noon |
The $5,300 entry consists of $4,800 into the prize pool and a $500 fee. Players begin with 50,000 chips and 60-minute levels, progressing to 90-minute levels once 36 remain. The action clock comes into use from Level 15 on Day 2, and the tournament uses a big-blind ante.
The tournament rules allow one optional re-entry for players registering on either Day 1A or Day 1B, and fresh registration is possible at the start of Day 2. Around one in eight entries will be paid. A $10,400 WPT World Championship entry will form part of the eventual winner’s prize. The full conditions appear in the official WPT Bay 101 schedule.
Hellmuth and the Foxens are not easy bounties
Phil Hellmuth is one of poker’s most recognizable characters, famous for his WSOP bracelet record and his reactions when a hand goes wrong. But the spectacle should not distract players from the fact that he has spent decades navigating tournament fields. Readers can revisit his record in our Phil Hellmuth profile.
Alex and Kristen Foxen give the roster a different sort of threat. Both regularly compete against strong high-stakes fields, and both know how to exploit players who chase a bounty too eagerly. Kristen’s career is covered in our Kristen Foxen profile. The WPT has been announcing additional Shooting Stars, so these three should not be mistaken for the complete field of bounty players.
The $2,500 reward is paid when someone eliminates a designated Shooting Star. In practice, the bounty may widen calling ranges when the target is short-stacked, particularly when the caller covers them and has little risk of going broke. It does not make every marginal call correct: tournament chips have value, and careless bounty hunting can destroy an otherwise good stack.
There’s another $10,000 for opening-day chip leaders
Each of the two starting flights awards a $5,000 bonus to its chip leader. That gives players an additional reason to accumulate chips late in the session, though taking a bad gamble for a cash bonus can still cost far more in tournament equity. The chip-leader awards are separate from the $2,500 Shooting Star knockouts.
For players trying to enter without paying the full $5,300, the schedule includes $1,150 satellites, including a Friday qualifier at 5:15 p.m. local time. The broader festival also includes lower-buy-in events, Omaha and a $1,100 Mystery Board Bounty. Anyone planning to play should check the posted schedule and eligibility before travelling.
What happened at Bay 101 in 2025?
The previous Championship attracted 672 entries and generated a prize pool above $3 million. Kharlin Sued beat Danny Wong heads-up at a delayed final table in Las Vegas, collecting $480,700 including the WPT World Championship entry. Chance Kornuth went deepest among the designated bounty players, finishing sixth.
That 672-entry mark is one number to watch when Day 1A and Day 1B close. The second is how many of the named Shooting Stars make it through to Day 2, because a late bounty knockout can change the story of the event without changing the eventual champion. The winner will earn a place on the Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup alongside the tour’s previous champions.
Which names and numbers should we watch?
Hellmuth will generate attention simply by taking a seat, but the Foxens can provide just as much tournament interest if they build stacks. The early storylines are the number of entries, the two $5,000 chip-leader winners, who collects the most named-player bounties and whether another Shooting Star goes deep. A complete final-table purse is not yet known because entry numbers are still being determined.
WPT Global’s preview confirms the three invited names and the bounty mechanics. The California stop also comes ahead of another familiar American tournament’s return, covered in Poker Type’s LA Poker Classic report. At Bay 101, though, the first question is simpler: which $2,500 target gets knocked out first?
