On Wednesday, May 23, the 2018 XL Inferno Champion of Champions played out. The tournament was only open to those who won XL Inferno titles, and 21 of them participated. By doing so, each guaranteed themselves a $55 tournament ticket just for playing, but of course, everyone was looking to win their way to Las Vegas by finishing in the top three.
The tournament took just 2 hours and 51 minutes to play out, and Sweden’s “Sluuut123,” the only two-time winner of the series, claimed the title of Champion of Champions. By doing so, he won a $12,600 package to the 2018 World Series of Poker Main Event.
“Sluuut123” first made his mark on the XL Inferno by topping a field of 622 entries to win the $55 buy-in Event #5: $20,000 Twins Flush for $5,663. Two days later, he was back at it by navigating a 706-entry field to win the $215 buy-in Event #9: $120,000 Mega Deep for $26,828.
For winning two XL Inferno events, “Sluuut123” was awarded a $1,000 cash bonus.
Finishing runner-up for a $2,700 WSOP Crazy 8s package and a $1,050 ticket was Sweden’s “LivinThDream,” who topped a 662-entry field to win the $109 buy-in Event #19: $50,000 8-Max for $12,578.
The third and final player to win his way to Vegas was Canada’s “PBD03,” who placed third for a $2,700 WSOP Crazy 8s package. He qualified for the Champion of Champions by besting a 600-entry field in the $215 buy-n Event #22: $75,000 Quarterback for just shy of $15K.
Champion of Champions Results
1 – “Sluuut123” (Sweden) … $12,600 WSOP Main Event Package
2 – “LivinThDream” (Sweden) … $2,700 WSOP Crazy 8s Package + $1,050 Ticket
3 – “PBD03” (Canada) … $2,700 WSOP Crazy 8s Package
4 – “Justtaduck” (Switzerland) … $1,050 tournament ticket
5 – “germaxii” (Argentina) … $1,050 tournament ticket
6 – “psyhoagromor” (Ukraine) … $215 tournament ticket
7 – “Silenzi0” (Malta) … $215 tournament ticket
8 – “GoFighTer” (Belarus) … $215 tournament ticket
9 – “kassigor” (Russia) … $215 tournament ticket
XL Inferno Big Success
Over the course of the XL Inferno, which was comprised of 34 tournaments over 11 days, the series catered to a total of 32,201 entries. As a result, $3,404,919 in prize money was awarded including $657,176 in first-place prizes.
In addition, players were provided with great promotions and had the opportunity to win their way to this summer’s World Series of Poker.
Here are some other fun stats from the 2018 XL Inferno:
- Event #11: $50,000 Mini Tune Up drew the largest field with 4,091 entries (2,898 unique + 1,193 rebuys)
- Outside of the Main Events and High Roller, the $1,050 buy-in Event #12: $150,000 Whale offered the biggest prize pool with $186,000.
- The biggest prize awarded outside the Main Event and High Roller was $37,632 to “Emveer” for winning the $1,050 buy-in Event #12: $150,000 Whale.
- A dozen XL Inferno tournaments awarded five-figure of more top prizes.
- The series awarded titles to players from 18 different countries including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Uruguay, just to name a few.
- Russia won the most titles with five, while players from Sweden won four titles.
- Not surprisingly, the $5 buy-in Event #15: $15,000 Mini R&A had the most rebuys. In fact, the number of rebuys (1,247) was more than players in the tournament (1,159). That doesn’t even take into account the 517 add-ons.
- Of the 34 events on the schedule, 27 met their GTDs, meaning players benefitted from moderate Overlays in seven tournaments.
What to Watch for on 888poker
We’ve listened to you, the players, and are proud to offer more tournaments with lower buy-ins and bigger guarantees.
As a result, we recently introduced our new daily six-tournament series called Big Fish.
With $100,000 in guarantees DAILY and buy-ins starting as low as $5.50, this poker tournament series should appeal to all levels of poker players.
