Sunday, October 9, the XL Retro Series kicked off on 888poker. The latest edition of the XL Series will run through October 25 and offer more than $1.7 million in guaranteed prize pools.

On the first day alone, three tournaments catered to 1,920 entries while awarding $198,670 in prize money. The trio of winners, who are all highlighted below, hailed from different countries – Germany, Malta, and Canada.

The series will culminate in a multi-flight $250 buy-in Main Event that boasts a massive $500,000 guarantee. There will also be a $200K GTD Mystery Bounty, a $2,100 buy-in and a $150K GTD Super High Roller.

For a look at the full schedule, please click here.

Germany’s ZackSteffen Takes Down $120K Opener

The series kicked off with the $109 buy-in, $120K GTD Event #1: Mega Deep Opening Event, which attracted 909 players who rebought 253 times. The 1,162-entry field meant the $120,000 prize pool was reserved for the top 180 finishers.

Among those to make relatively deep runs were the following –

• “NumberOne” (63^rd place - $312)
• “LadyNombeko” (45^th place - $360)
• “pires1015” (25^th place - $468)
• “Modernus” (21^st place - $564)
• “nlfreddie” (15^th place - $996)
• Final table bubble “FonMax” (10^th place - $1,284

The top nine players went on an overnight hiatus before returning on Monday to duke it out at the final table. Germany’s “Whosbad” came in as the chip leader with 7,767,507, while Peru’s “Diegoavc” sat in second with just over 6 million. On the other end of the spectrum, England’s “GGWP888” was the short stack with 919,024.

Expectedly, the short stack was the first to bow out, while “Whosbad” only managed to make their way to fourth place for $6,924. “Diegoavc” made it to heads-up play against Germany’s “ZackSteffen”, who had begun the final table fourth in chips with 5,129,406.

The German ultimately emerged victorious to win the tournament for $17,532.

XL Retro Event #1 Final Table Results

1^st – “ZackSteffen” (Germany) … $17,532

2^nd – “Diegoavc” (Peru) … $12,816

3^rd – “manel9595” (Brazil) … $9,420

4^th – “Whosbad” (Germany) … $6,924

5^th – “AGGROAREK” (Germany) … $5,124

6^th – “Yzw42_” (Romania) … $3,816

7^th – “r4ndomr4gs” (Sweden) … $2,868

8^th – “SobolAmnesia” (United Kingdom) … $2,172

9^th – “GGWP888” (England) … $1,656

Pair of Maltese Players Battle in Whale Opening Event

Sunday also hosted the $525 buy-in, $45K GTD Event #2: Whale Opening Event, which surpassed its guarantee. Ninety-one players rebought 28 times to create a $59,500 prize pool reserved for the top 18 finishers.

Among those to cash but fall short of the final table were the following players –

• 2014 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champ Martin “MJacobson888” Jacobson (17^th place - $1,130.50)
• “MAMACITAAAAA” (14^th place - $1,154.30), and “wellyxx” (10^th place - $1,190)

The title came down to a pair of players from Malta. After nearly six hours of play, “PotofGreed” defeated fellow countryman “Le_Piaf” in heads-up play to claim the title and $14,660.80 in prize money.

XL Retro Event #2 Final Table Results

1^st – “PotofGreed” (Malta) … $14,660.80

2^nd – “Le_Piaf” (Malta) … $10,466.05

3^rd – “raw_dawg” (N/A) … $7,473.20

4^th – “richrash93” (N/A) … $5,343.10

5^th – “kellerassel0” (Germany) … $3,813.95

6^th – “Kabosu69” (Malta) … $2,725.10

7^th – “limpjam” (New Zealand) … $1,945.65

8^th – “lysy69666” (United Kingdom) … $1,386.35

9^th – “BetBetFck” (Ukraine) … $1,261.40

Canadian Victorious in Mini Mega Deep Opening Event

The final tournament on Sunday was the $33 buy-in, $15K GTD Event #3: Mini Mega Deep Opening Event, which saw 501 players rebuy 138 times, generating a $19,170 prize pool.

The top 96 finishers got a piece of it, including the following –

• “Brunsonskid” (61^st place - $72.84)
• “SpokenMagic” (40^th place - $76.68)
• “Spreewa” (31^st place - $78.59)
• “nlfreddie” (24^th place - $101.60)
• “jackalrob” (15^th place - $168.69)
• Final table bubble boy “Kun4dichT” (10^th place - $220.45)

Once Romania’s “REC.infect” bowed out in third place for $1,767.47, the title came down to Canada’s “kerkerian” and Brazil’s “leozintw”. After 7 hours and 48 minutes of play, the former came out on top to win the tournament outright for $3,316.88.

XL Retro Event #3 Final Table Results

1^st – “kerkerian” (Canada) … $3,316.88

2^nd – “leozintw” (Brazil) … $2,419.25

3^rd – “REC.infect” (Romania) … $1,767.47

4^th – “tdnatella” (Brazil) … $1,290.14

5^th – “7universes95” (Malta) … $948.91

6^th – “kojoru” (Mauritius) … $703.53

7^th – “bAsKobAKovic” (Denmark) … $521.42

8^th – “xxBanioNxx” (Ireland) … $389.15

9^th – “The_Hoff_Man” (United Kingdom) … $291.38

XL Retro Live Streams and Giveaways!

On Tuesday, October 25, we will live stream the Main Event final table on our Twitch 888pokerTV. The stream will feature giveaways and a special freeroll.

Here's the remaining live-streaming schedule: 

• Oct 17 – 20:00 GMT - $200,000 XL Retro #13 - Mystery Bounty + Giveaways
• Oct 25 – 20:00 GMT - $500,000 XL Retro #27 - Main Event Final Table + Freeroll + Giveaways

You can also check out the 888pooker StreamTeam and ambassador Twitch channels, where they will play events throughout the series. They will be giving away free tickets on top!

See the full line-up here: StreamTeam and Ambassador Twitch Streams.

Early 2022 XL Retro Series Winners