The 888poker XL Winter Series began back on December 10, 2020. This past Sunday it concluded its 34-event schedule. As a whole, the 11-day series catered to 29,765 entrants and awarded $1,332,200 in prize money.
Players from all across the world competed. No country did better than Belarus, which had seven victories. They captured more than 20 per cent of the titles up for grabs.
Russians and Romanians each accounted for four wins, while a trio of players from the UK also found victory.
Other countries to claim titles were Ireland, Serbia, Latvia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Malta, and Brazil.
Russia’s “Kazi070486” Wins XL Winter Main Event
The XL Winter culminated with the highly-anticipated $250 buy-in Event #32: $500,000 Main Event PKO. The tournament was live-streamed on 888poker’s YouTube channel and Facebook page. It attracted 1,464 players who rebought 360 times.
The 1,824-entry field meant the $500,000 prize pool was split with $290,240 into the main prize pool and $209,760 into the bounty pool.
After Argentina’s “Jarajajai” exited as the bubble boy in 241st place, the top 240 were in the money. One familiar face to cash was Ireland’s Dara “Doked” O’Kearney, who fell in Level 23 (4,000/8,000/1,000). He got his last eight big blinds with ace-five against both pocket kings and queens. The Irishman flopped the nut flush draw, but he failed to catch to fall in 172nd place for $494.
Others to earn a cash were –
- “KURDEdersim” (128th for $493.40 + $531.88 in bounties)
- “AUTISPOSTI” (106th for $551.45 + $57.50 in bounties)
- “ZDamian” (81st for $609.50 + $431.25 in bounties)
- “IlovePickles” (75th for $609.50 + $517.50 in bounties)
- “chazcombes” (47th for $754.62 + $977.51 in bounties)
- “AlwaysTimed” (27th for $1,044.86 + $553.44 in bounties)
- “Langolier86” (18th for $1,683.39 + $1,265.02 in bounties)
- Final table bubble boy “D3n1sk4PP” (10th for $2,960.44 + $1,703.44 in bounties).
The final table was an international affair. It only took approximately 90 minutes to go from the final nine players to a winner. One player at the final table was Lithuania’s Gytis “peledazmogis” Lazauninkas.
He met his demise in Level 41 (150,000/300,000/37,500) when he called a preflop raise from “Acp0lle”. The duo got the chips in on a J♠7♥8♥ flop. Lazauninkas had a straight draw holding queen-nine but failed to get there against the ace-seven of “Acp0lle”.
“Acp0lle” went on to make it to heads-up play against Russia’s “Kazi070486”, albeit at a more than 2:1 chip deficit. The final hand of the tournament took place in Level 42 (200,000/400,000/50,000).
It began with a preflop raising war with “Acp0lle”. He got his stack in with the A♠J♣ only to see “Kazi070486” tabled the far superior A♥Q♥. The board ran out 6♣9♠4♦3♣9♦ to end the tournament.
XL Winter Main Event Final Table Results
1st – “Kazi070486” (Russia) … $34,685 + $26,178 + PKO Bounty
2nd – “Acp0lle” (Denmark) … $34,685 + $3,569 in bounties
3rd – “M.Flush.N” (Brazil) … $21,507 + $8,431 in bounties
4th – “Mr.CRusher” (Romania) … $15,934 + $1,430 in bounties
5th – Gytis “peledazmogis” Lazauninkas (Lithuania) … $11,784 + $794 in bounties
6th – “Jarmoausalt” (Estonia) … $8,794 + $417 in bounties
7th – “rivadeep” (N/A) … $6,559 + $4,321 in bounties
8th – “Mute88” (Canada) … $4,992 + $2,542 in bounties
9th – “kojgysto888” (Denmark) … $3,802 + $956 in bounties
In other Main Event action on Sunday, Brazil’s “afelipelli” topped a 1,983-entry field to win the $33 buy-in Event #33: $50,000 Mini Main Event PLO for $6,894.29
Russia’s “_DENGER_” bested a 3,067-entry field to turn a $5.50 buy-in into a $1,738.86 payday in Event #34: $15,000 Micro Main Event PKO.
Players Turn Out in Force for Event #29: $25,000 6-Max
Many of the tournaments on the XL Winter schedule proved to be big hits. But one of the foremost among them was Saturday’s $109 buy-in Event #29: $25,000 6-Max.
The tournament crushed its guarantee by drawing 275 players who rebought 93 times to generate a $36,800 prize pool.
That was reserved for the top 42 finishers including –
“Sw33ney” (38th - $202.40)
“Nicotheking7” (32nd - $220.80)
“EZ.PZ” (26th - $257.60)
“PiktasVilkas” (20th - $312.80)
“Two.DV” (12th - $515.20)
“heroes333” (8th - $920)
“LzzonPoker” (5th - $2,208)
“ALLin_Ranger” (3rd - $4,232).
After 7 hours and 38 minutes of play, it was the UK’s “RevenirROI” besting Lithuania’s “triusis95” in heads-up play to win the title for $7,728.
Event #29: $25K 6-Max Final Table Results
1st – “RevenirROI” (UK) … $7,728
2nd – “triusis95” (Lithuania) … $5,630.40
3rd – “ALLin_Ranger” (Germany) … $4,232
4th – “futomaki123” (N/A) … $2,944
5th – “LzzonPoker” (Sweden) … $2,208
6th – “4cardz4sacha” (N/A) … $1,472
2020 XL Winter Winners
Date … Tournament … Buy-in … Total Entries … Prize Pool … Winner … Prize
December 10 Event #1: $50,000 Opening Event … $109 … 511 … $51,100 … arucia (Ireland) for $9,039.21
December 10 Event #2: $15,000 Mini Opening Event … $16.50 … 1,245 … $18,675 … costi.irim25 (Romania) for $3,362
December 10 Event #3: $15,000 Late Opening Event … $55 … 309 … $15,450 … sumpfin (UK) for $3,159.63
Friday, December 11 Event #4: $30,000 PKO … $55 … 660 … $33,000 … Undervit (Belarus) for $5,235.23
December 11 Event #5: $15,000 Mini PKO … $22 … 1,031 … $20,620 … MarshallMatt (Belarus) for $2,787.62
December 11 Event #6: $10,000 Late PKO … $33 … 525 … $15,750 … Ivanov259 (UK) for $2,744.47
December 12 Event #7: $30,000 8-Max … $109 … 340 … $34,000 … maestro1908 for $6,630
December 12 Event #8: $10,000 Mini 8-Max … $12 … 899 … $10,000 … Djolex91 (Serbia) for 1,870
December 12 Event #9: $15,000 Late 8-Max … $55 … 274 … $15,000 … RakDoll (Belarus) for $3,037.50
December 13 Event #10: $50,000 Tune Up … $55 … 1,085 … $54,250 … pereleman (Belarus) for $9,819.41
December 13 Event #11: $30,000 Mini Tune Up … $16.50 … 1,943 … $30,000 … SirHennie for $5,100
December 13 Event #12: $10,000 Micro Tune Up … $5.50 … 2221 … $11,105 … Comical_Life (Russia) for $1,876.72
December 13 Event #13: $20,000 Late Tune Up … $55 … 409 … $20,450 … 888recall for $3,957.19
December 14 Event #14: $20,000 R&A Event … $33 … 517 … $20,000 … toycegas (Latvia) for $3,870
December 14 Event #15: $10,000 Mini R&A … $5.50 … 1,287 … $10,000 … Slavvva12388 (Belarus) for $1,835
December 14 Event #16: $10,000 Late R&A … $12 … 570 … $10,000 … ingeruRO14 (Romania) for $1,935
December 15 Event #17: $50,000 High Roller … $320 … 154 … $50,000 … Kannwas for $11,500
December 15 Event #18: $25,000 Mini High Roller … $55 … 552 … $27,600 … InTheAnd (Ukraine) for $5,296.44
December 15 Event #19: $20,000 Late High Roller … $109 … 204 … $20,400 … altavistt (Belarus) for $4,386
December 16 Event #20: $30,000 PKO … $109 … 388 … $38,800 … Miroslavas (Lithuania) for $7,398.43
December 16 Event #21: $15,000 Mini PKO … $16.50 … 1,287 … $19,305 … 85bogdy (Romania) for $2,279.55
December 16 Event #22: $10,000 Late PKO … $33 … 506 … $15,180 … JustTrappedU for $2,628.09
December 17 Event #23: $40,000 PKO 8-Max … $160 … 263 … $40,000 … futomaki123 for $8,430.49
December 17 Event #24: $15,000 Mini PKO 8-Max … $22 … 820 … $16,400 … SayPlease for $2,491.04
December 17 Event #25: $15,000 Late PKO 8-Max … $55 … 291 … $15,000 … a88888a (Romania) for $3,265.71
December 18 Event #26: $25,000 DeepStack … $55 … 715 … $35,750 … MaratTash1 (Russia) for $6,756.91
December 18 Event #27: $15,000 Mini DeepStack … $16.50 … 1,361 … $20,415 … Ilsanarall (Belarus) for $3,675.24
December 18 Event #28: $12,000 Late DeepStack … $33 … 490 … $14,700 … gNOMO (Malta) for $2,820.93
December 19 Event #29: $25,000 6-Max … $109 … 368 … $36,800 … RevenirROI (UK) for $7,728
December 19 Event #30: $15,000 Mini 6-Max … $16.50 … 1,305 … $19,575 … ApenManier for $3,451.53
December 19 Event #31: $15,000 Late 6-Max … $55 … 361 … $18,050 … AGANYARA (Ukraine) for $3,683.72
December 20 Event #32: $500,000 Main Event PKO … $250 … 1,824 … $500,000 … Kazi070486 (Russia) for $60,862.22
December 20 Event #33: $50,000 Mini Main Event PKO … $33 … 1,983 … $59,490 … afelipelli (Brazil) for $6,894.29
December 20 Event #34: $15,000 Micro Main Event PKO … $5.50 … 3,067 … $15,335 … _DENGER_ (Russia) for $1,738.86
