The 20th numbered event of the 888poker XL Winter Series was the biggest tournament yet, with a $200,000 prize pool up for grabs. After numerous Day 1s, an action packed Day 2, and a thrilling final table, “doga10” emerged victoriously and banked an impressive $17,159, which includes bounty payments.
A field of 1,114 entrants over several starting flights left a substantial overlay of $32,900 on the guarantee, adding more value for those competing. Only 273 of those hopefuls progressed to Day 2, with 144 of those players receiving a slice of the regular prize pool.
888poker ambassador Aaron “abarone68” Barone put together a deep run that ended in a 33rd-place finish. Barone walked away with $1,091 for his efforts. Barone’s teammate Josh “Josh_Manley” Manley added some star quality to the field but came up short of the money places.
Montenegro’s “Savchecnko1.” Navigated their way to the final table with the chip lead, their 71 big blinds keeping them top of the pile. The chip leader sat down having already collected $7,782 worth of mystery bounties, so they were freerolling their way toward the largest regular prize pool prizes.
The biggest mystery bounty went to Germany’s “mysoad,” who crashed out in 58th place. They won a $290 prize but also a $20,000 mystery bounty, plus a couple of other smaller amounts. The German netted $20,665 in total.
XL Winter #20 – Mystery Bounty Final Table Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Savchenko1. | Montenegro | 4,228,581 | 71 |
| 2 | doga10 | Brazil | 3,493,742 | 58 |
| 3 | T.Mckenna | 2,041,128 | 34 | |
| 4 | HecticMulk | United Kingdom | 1,496,609 | 25 |
| 5 | _WOLVES_ | United Kingdom | 1,347,705 | 23 |
| 6 | CARRAMROD | Moldova | 851,644 | 14 |
| 7 | marauder1801 | Denmark | 799,051 | 13 |
| 8 | Mborsoe | Brazil | 777,540 | 13 |
The final table got off to an explosive start with an elimination on the first hand of play. Chip leader “Savchenko1.” Raised 2.1 big blinds from under the gun, “marauder1801” called from a couple of seats across, only for “T.Mckenna” to rip in their near 40 big blind stack from the small blind. The initial raiser folded, but “marauder1801” called off the 11.1 big blinds they had behind. “marauder1801” turned over pocket nines, which “T.Mckenna” had crushed to dust with pocket aces. Those aces flopped a boat, and it was game over for “marauder1801.”
British player “_WOLVES_” was the next to bust after losing a flip against “doga10.” The action folded to “doga10” in the cutoff, and they min-raised with pocket sevens. “_WOLVES_” three-bet shoved for exactly 20 big blinds from the big blind with king-queen, and their Brazilian opponent called. “doga10” turned an unnecessary straight to send “_WOLVES_” to the rail. It wasn’t the result “_WOLVES_” wanted because they fired 12 bullets, each costing $162, to reach the final table!
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Sixth place went to “CARRAMROD” of Moldova, who ran jacks into aces. “CARRAMROD” min-raised from late position with a pair of jacks in the hole, “doga10” three-bet to 5.5 big blinds with pocket aces on the button, and then snap-called when “CARRAMROD” shipped in their 33.4 big blind stack. It was a risky shove considering there were two very short stacks at the time, and the risk failed to pay off as the aces held.
“Mborsoe” only had three big blinds but managed to double with jacks versus fellow short stack “Savchecnko1.” who held ace-king. However, any hopes of an epic comeback were dashed when they committed their last 5.7 big blinds with ace-ten only to run into the ace-jack of “HecticMulk.” Both players paired their ace, but the jack-kicker of “HecticMulk” played, and the final table was down to four players.
Those four became three with the untimely demise of “Savchenko1.” They chose to open-shove with suited queen-deuce from the button for 5.6 big blinds but did not count on “HecticMulk” calling in the big blind with king-jack. King-high was enough to bust the start-of-the-day chip leader.
The final table progressed to the heads-up stage when “T. McKenna” crashed out in third, almost 30 minutes after the last elimination. As is often the case late in tournaments, it was a coinflip that sent another player to the showers. “T.Mckenna” completed the small blind with suited ace-king, “doga10” raised three big blinds with pocket nines, leading to “T.Mckenna” to move all-in for 24.1 big blinds in total. “doga10” called. A ten-high board left the pocket nines as the best hand, and heads-up was set.
“doga10” went to war with “HecticMulk” holding a colossal 78.9 to 15.1 big blind advantage. With the blinds and antes nipping at the players’ heels, it did not take long for the champion to be crowned.
A couple of hands into one-on-one play, doga10″ min-raised with king-jack, and “HecticMulk” defended their big blind with six-four. The flop fell jack-ten-six all hearts, with “HecticMulk” the only player with a heart in their hand. “HecticMulk” checked, “doga10” bet 1.4 big blinds, which was check-raised to 4.8 big blinds. “HecticMulk” only had 8.2 big blinds behind, and “doga10” set them all in and was called. Another jack on the turn was followed by the nine of clubs, which busted “HecticMulk” in second place, and left “doga10” to clinch the title and a top prize worth $17,159 with bounties included.
XL Winter #20 – Mystery Bounty Final Table Results
| Rank | Player | Country | Bounties | Prize | Total Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | doga10 | Brazil | $1,679 | $15,480 | $17,159 |
| 2 | HecticMulk | United Kingdom | $1,655 | $11,290 | $12,945 |
| 3 | T.Mckenna | $3,758 | $8,300 | $12,058 | |
| 4 | Savchenko1. | Montenegro | $7,782 | $6,150 | $13,932 |
| 5 | Mborsoe | Brazil | $879 | $4,550 | $5,429 |
| 6 | CARRAMROD | Moldova | $2,351 | $3,400 | $5,751 |
| 7 | _WOLVES_ | United Kingdom | $351 | $2,560 | $2,911 |
| 8 | marauder1801 | Denmark | $351 | $1,940 | $2,291 |
888poker XL Winter Series Results So Far
*includes bounty payments
Remaining 888poker XL Winter Series Events
The 888poker XL Winter Series concludes on January 30, so time is running out if you want to follow in “doga10″‘s footsteps and become a poker champion.
Each of the remaining XL Winter Series events looks like incredible fun, but Event #35 is teeming with value. It is a $25 buy-in Mystery Bounty Mini Main Event that has $100,000 guaranteed. That means it required 4,347 entrants to hit the guarantee, and only 2,355 players have bought in so far. Could another juicy overlay be on the cards?
There are also plenty of Day 1s for Event #34, the XL Series Mystery Bounty Main Event. This tournament costs $888 to enter unless you win your seat via one of the many satellites and boasts a $1 million guaranteed prize pool. Seven more flights remain, and 430 more players are required to hit the seven-figure guarantee. When you consider the completed Day 1s have averaged 62 runners, it will be a close call regarding hitting this ambitious guaranteed amount. Check out the 888poker lobby for the remaining $1 million guaranteed flights.