Over the weekend, we wrapped up our God of the Arena series, which offered a dozen Progressive Knockout (PKO) tournaments from October 11-14.
PKO tournaments divide the prize pool into two sections, one for the prizes given out to players who finish in the traditional ‘money’ positions, and one for player bounties. When each player is eliminated, the player who busted them is awarded part of their victim’s bounty, while their own bounty increases. Therefore, the longer the tournament goes on, the size of each player’s bounty increases.
Here’s a full recap of the series action.
God of the Arena - Day 1
The first event of the series was the $109 buy-in, $30K GD God of the Arena 8-Max, a tournament that drew 223 players who rebought 117 times. That meant $17,000 went in the main prize pool and $17,000 in the bounty prize pool.
The top 32 players got paid including Arseniy “josef_shvejk” Karamatski (32nd for $127.50 + $225 in bounties), “iBustYa888” (18th for $170 + $200 in bounties), “Jovellii” (6th for $765 + $829.68 in bounties), and “WarrnerBrosss” (3rd for $1,955 + $359.38 in bounties).
After 8 hours and 36 minutes, Malta’s “dmnln” defeated Lithuania’s “FoldToNuts” in heads-up play to win the title for a $3,442.50 top prize plus the $3,430.81 top progressive bounty.
In the $16.50 buy-in, $20K GTD God of the Arena Mini 8-Max, 868 players rebought 417 times. As a result, the regular prize pool grew to $10,362.50 and the bounty pool to $9,637.50. After 8 hours and 12 minutes, Brazil’s “keyhell” defeated Russia’s “A_Legkaya” in heads-up play to win the $1,917.53 top prize plus $1,307.51 in bounties.
The final event on Thursday was the $215 buy-in, $50K GTD God of the Arena 6-Max, a tournament that attracted 162 players who rebought 76 times. There was a total prize pool of $50,000 split with $26,200 going into the regular prize pool and $23,800 in the bounty pool.
The top 24 spots got paid including “jadedjason” (21st for $248.90), “PulledPorker” (11th for $458.50 + $525 in bounties), Arseniy “josef_shvejk” Karamatski (5th for $1,703 + $1,002.54 in bounties), and “N33dCoaching” (3rd for $3,275 + $987.50 in bounties).
After just under seven hours, Sweden’s Simon “Isildur1337x” Mattsson bested “mountrixas” in heads-up play to win a $6,288 top prize plus $6,079.38 in bounties. The win came just a few weeks after Mattsson finished runner-up to Roman “romeopro33” Romanovsky in the XL Eclipse Main Event, for $135,000.
God of the Arena - Day 2
On Friday, the $109 buy-in, $30,000 GTD God of the Arena 8-Max saw 215 players rebuy 83 times, which meant $15,100 went into the regular prize pool and $14,900 into the bounty pool. Among the 32 players to earn a piece of it were “surprisefirm” (24th for $151 + $125 in bounties), “jadedjason” (11th for $302 + $281.25 in bounties), “Pepepepepe.” (4th for $1,283.50 + $681.06 in bounties), and “dyonvlaar12” (3rd for $1,736.50 + $350 in bounties).
After 8 hours and 22 minutes, Germany’s “LvckyLvke” defeated Malta’s “wh4tishat3” in heads-up play to win a $3,057.75 top prize plus $2,499.11 in bounties.
Th e$16.50 buy-in, $20K GTD God of the Arena Mini 8-Max surpassed its guarantee by drawing 963 runners who rebought 419 times. The $20,730 prize pool ($10,365 in regular prize pool, $10,365 in bounty pool) was paid out to the top 128 players, but only three of them notched four-figure scores.
Mexico’s “maxie0905” received $1,36.50 + $66.11 in bounties for finishing in third place, while the title came down to Russia’s “RecedevusT” and Ireland’s “tenterjjooks.” After 8 hours and 12 minutes, the former prevailed to win a $1,910.91 top prize + $1,664.27 in bounties, while the latter had to settle for second place and $1,347.45 + $333.82 in bounties.
The $55 buy-in, $15K GTD God of the Arena 6-Max had 241 players account for 83 rebuys, which generated a $16,200 total prize pool ($8,100 in to both the regular and bounty prize pools). Among the 36 players to earn a piece of it were “DoobieFish” (25th for $60.75 + $150 in bounties), “ruttz” (12th for $125.55 + $112.50 in bounties), “Holdababy” (6th for $324 + $142.97), and “in2in” (4th for $648 + $274.61 in bounties).
After just over seven hours, Brazil’s “LendaFlavo” defeated Russia’s “sreutov” to win the title for $1,782 + $1,445.03 in bounties.
God of the Arena - Day 3
On Saturday, the $109 buy-in $30,000 God of the Arena 8-Max
drew 209 players who rebought 75 times. That meant of the $30,000 total prize pool, $15,800 went into the regular prize pool and $14,200 into the bounty pool.
Among the top 32 players to cash were “IHaveAsthma” (24th for $158 + $75 in bounties), “Jovellii” (12th for $316 + $100 in bounties), “Donnert888” (4th for $1,343 + $565.63 in bounties), and “MWC1976” (3rd for $1,817 + $312.50 in bounties).
After 8 hours and 33 minutes, the UK’s “youler” defeated Germany’s “RockBlake” in heads-up play to win the title, $3,199.50 top prize, and $3,517.16 in bounties. The latter received $2,449 + $959.38 in bounties for finishing as runner-up.
The $16.50 buy-in $20,000 God of the Arena Mini 8-Max drew 919 players who rebought 405 times, which meant the $20K prize pool was broken down into $10,070 going into the main prize pool and $9,930 into the bounty pool.
After 8 hours and 38 minutes, Russia’s “Svetlana_vv” bested Germany’s “LucaTon8” in heads-up play to win a $1,863.43 top prize plus $1,546.28 in bounties. Others to do well were “GALLIANO” (6th for $352.45 + $146.37 in bounties), “bigbird366” (15th for $85.59 + $123.75 in bounties), and “selfrazer” (29th for $45.31 + $41.25 in bounties)
The $5.50 buy-in God of the Arena Micro 8-Max was a big one with 1,518 players who rebought 1,041 times. It took 9 hours and 39 minutes for the tournament to play out, and when the dust settled it was “Deeagie” who emerged victorious to win a $1,506.36 top prize plus $694.42 in bounties.
God of the Arena - Day 4
The $320 buy-in God of the Arena 8-Max offered up a $100,000 GTD, which it blew by with 295 players who rebought 99 times. That created a $118,200 total prize pool ($59,100 in regular prize pool, $59,100 in the bounty pool) paid out to the top 40 finishers including Fabricio “DrMiKee” Gonzalez (27th for $395.97 + $300 in bounties), “Imyurfriend” (10th for $1,182 + $1,776.57 in bounties), and “allesrigged” (5th for $3,250.50 + $2,264.07 in bounties).
After 8 hours and 24 minutes, the tournament came down to “easylimp888” and Charlie “chazcombes” Combes, both from the UK. The former wound up the winner and took home a $11,524.50 top prize plus $10,034.73 in bounties.
The $22 buy-in $30,000 God of the Area Mini 8-Max crushed its guarantee by drawing 1,930 players who rebought 513 times. The $48,860 total prize pool saw $24,430 go to both the regular and bounty pools.
The top 200 got paid, but no one more so than Ukraine’s “Aces2fold,” who finished as the last player standing after more than 13 hours in the tournament. For the feat, he won a $4,276.19 top prize plus $2,430.92 in bounties.
UK’s “Sysinho33” Knocks Out Competition to Become God of the Arena
Sunday’s premiere online tournament on 888poker was the $55 buy-in $1,000,000 GTD God of the Arena Main Event, which was a progressive knockout tournament.
With 12,087 players rebuying 3,066 times, the field enjoyed a healthy overlay. The top 2,000 players got a piece of either the $621,175 regular prize pool or $378,825 bounty pool. Among those to finish in the top 100 were “MrSweets23” (62nd for $621.17 + $422.07 in bounties), “mikeunger” (27th for $1,118.11 + $393.12 in bounties), “wannagamble1” (11th for $2,360.46 + $466.11 in bounties), and “popsnpoker” (3rd for $22,672.88 + $6,278.29 in bounties).
After 12 hours and 48 minutes, the tournament came to an end when the UK’s “Sysinho33” defeated Ireland’s “sully4428” to win the title, $51,815.64 in prize money, and an additional $12,421.17 in bounties.
