The 888poker XL Winter Series is just a few days away and players are hoping they can be there Guaranteed $2 million festival in hot form. Montenegro “Svarozhits” is doing just that after coming out on top in the recent $109 Mystery Bounty Main Event before the XL Winter Series gets underway in earnest next weekend.
Including re-entries, 1,172 players bought into the recent Mystery Bounty Main Event, ensuring the $100,000 guarantee was exceeded by an impressive $117,200. Day 1 ended with just eight players in the hunt for the title and the biggest mystery bounties having found a new home.
“c0rbl1meguv” eliminated in 95th place, but not before claiming a $3,000 bounty. Denmark “Baking day” fell one spot later after he also opened an envelope with a $3,000 prize. However, it was 14th place, “ingeruRO14” from Romania, who collected the largest mystery bounty, one worth $10,000! Adding that to the other rewards and the regular prize pool, “ingeruRO14” won $11,676, more than any other player.
Chip counting at the final table of the $100,000 Mystery Bounty Main Event
| rank | player | country | crisps | Big blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | philbert32 | Great Britain | 5,145,710 | 129 |
| 2 | DelPieroooo | 3,138,401 | 79 | |
| 3 | dedect888 | Brazil | 2,663,226 | 67 |
| 4 | gremistaAAKs | Brazil | 2,452,518 | 61 |
| 5 | Svarozhits | Montenegro | 2,185,550 | 55 |
| 6 | I want a job | Sweden | 729,428 | 18 |
| 7 | Yamaha1311 | Ukraine | 634,508 | 16 |
| 8th | edtastylez92 | 630,659 | 16 |
The final table lost its first player ten minutes into play. “YAMAHA1311” opened with a raise of nine big blinds, with pocket sixes under pressure, leaving them 1.1 big blinds behind. The lawsuit was noticed “DelPieroooo!” in the small blind and they pushed; “YAMAHA1311” called and was dealt ace-king. Pocket sixes stayed good on the flop, but an ace on the turn was enough to send “YAMAHA1311” crashing.
A short stack “edtastlez92” was the next player on the way to the exits. They folded in the cutoff and put up 6.1 big blinds with pocket queens. “DelPieroooo” called on the button with ace-seven. As in the previous elimination hand, an ace landed on the turn and the number of players was reduced by one.
The final six became five with the surprise elimination of “philbert32.” Their demise was a shock as they had over 80 big blinds and were chip leaders at the start of the six-handed game. They lost more than half of their stack with Ace-King against the Ace-King of the same color from “gremistaAAKs” because all the diamonds fell on the flop and the chips came in before the flop. They brought the rest of their deck into the middle with Ace-Jack and ironically lost to Ace-King of Diamonds in the hands of “DelPieroooo”.
Over $2 million guaranteed in the 888poker XL Winter Series starting January 14th
Sweden “willjob” bowed before “philbert32”’s seat had gotten cold. “gremistaAAKs” He opened on the button, “iwantjob” 3-bet all-in from the small blind for 9.4 big blinds with a matching king-jack and “gremistaAAKs” called with a matching ace-four. None of the players paired their hole cards and “gremistaAAKs” took the pot thanks to their ace-kicker.
The four-handed game lasted almost 40 minutes and ended with the demise of “detect888.” They had less than a big blind left after losing with ace-queen to the pocket sixes of “gremistaAAKs” and were eliminated the very next hand.
Five minutes after “gremistaAAKs” were eliminated, the final three players discussed the possibility of a deal. After some consideration, a deal was agreed upon and the game continued to determine the eventual champion and final bounties.
Third place went to “gremistaAAKs” after losing an ace-ten coin toss to the pocket sevens of “Svarozhits”. This hand gave “Svarozhits” a four to one chip advantage over their last opponent.
It took less than ten minutes for “Svarozhits” to take advantage. In the final hand, “DelPieroooo” couldn’t find a fold with the second pair after “Svarozhits” put them all-in on the river after rolling a heart flush.
$100,000 Mystery Bounty Main Event Final Table Results
| rank | player | country | Bounties | Price | total price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Svarozhits | Montenegro | $657 | $7,525 | $8,183* |
| 2 | DelPieroooo | $578 | $7,428 | $8,006* | |
| 3 | gremistaAAKs | Brazil | $1,197 | $7,315 | $8,513* |
| 4 | dedect888 | Brazil | $578 | $3,877 | $4,455 |
| 5 | I want a job | Sweden | $459 | $2,869 | $3,328 |
| 6 | philbert32 | Great Britain | $1,159 | $2,136 | $3,296 |
| 7 | edtastylez92 | $238 | $1,606 | $1,844 | |
| 8th | Yamaha1311 | Ukraine | $779 | $1,216 | $1,995 |
*reflects a three player deal
The XL winter series starts on January 14th
The highly anticipated one 888poker XL Winter Series begins this Sunday, January 14th, with the first three of 35 numbered events. These events are the Mini Opening with a buy-in of $40,000 and a buy-in of $55 guaranteed, the Opening with a buy-in of $120,000 and a High Roller Opening with a buy-in of $5 525 and a $50,000 guarantee.
In addition to this trio of tournaments, there will be three side events as well as Day 1 Buy-in: $25 Mystery Bounty Mini Main Event that has a $100,000 guarantee and that Buy-in: $888 Mystery Bounty Main Event with its juicy Guaranteed prize pool of $1 million.
