After 11 days, the XL Blizzard wrapped up its 34-tournament schedule on Sunday culminating with the $1,050 buy-in, $1,000,000 GTD Main Event. That tournament was won by Argentina’s “Pepepepepe.”, who not only won $183,867, but also became one of the few people to hold both XL Inferno and Blizzard titles. You can read more about his win below.
While the regular schedule is in the books, two more special XL Blizzard tournaments are forthcoming. That includes the “Bubble of Bubbles” tournament, which will be comprised solely of those players who bubbled an XL Blizzard event. That event will take place on Tuesday, January 30 at 14:00.
Both the winner and bubble boy of that event will get a $3,000 Crazy 8 WSOP package. In addition, 2nd-4th will get a $160 tournament ticket, and 5th-9th a $55 tournament ticket.
Likewise, the Champion of Champions, which will also take place on Tuesday, January 30 but at 13:00, is open to those who finished in the top 50 in points on the XL Blizzard leaderboard. The winner of that tournament will win a $12,000 WSOP Vegas package, while the runner-up will get a $3,000 Crazy 8 WSOP package plus a $1,050 tournament ticket.
Furthermore, third place is set to get a $3,000 Crazy 8 WSOP package, fourth and fifth places a $1,050 tournament ticket, sixth through tenth a $600 tournament ticket, and everyone else a $55 tournament ticket.
The XL Blizzard also offered a new promotion awarding big cash prizes to anyone who won multiple events, including $1,000,000 if anyone managed to win five of them. Unfortunately, there were no repeat winners during the XL Blizzard.
Also, here’s a quick recap of what happened in the XL Blizzard leading up to the final day:
Day 1 – The Netherlands’ Jans “Graftekkel” Arends won the Opening Event for more than $17K. “bygavuga” and “scellone94” capture titles.
Day 2 – “Jamasutra” and “Pasha813” notch “Twin Wins” in Events #4 & #5 Respectively.
Day 3 – Norway’s “Rekrutt1” won Event #6: Crazy 8 for more than $10K; former XL Eclipse winners “NeveGiveUp” and “msksevart” both claimed XL Blizzard titles.
Day 4 – In Event #9: $120,000 Mega Deep, “23NoraB” found redemption from his second-place XL Inferno Mega Deep finish. Meanwhile, three 888poker Ambassadors made deep runs in the Whale and Niklas “tutten7” Åstedt came up short of winning a XL Blizzard not once but twice.
Day 5 – “DeltaSpider” becomes fourth Russian to win XL Blizzard title, “yarik1903” nabs Ukraine’s second.
Day 6 – “Tonkaaaa” final tables $250K High Roller but “SteveyBG” claims title; big day for “OINKOinkOink”.
Day 7 – “CR1TCHZ” captured second title of the series. Malta’s “PazzoRJ” and the UK’s “JohnJones34” both won titles.
Day 8 – Kuwait’s “sayqmyqname” wins Quarterback, “bujalabujala” scores for Lithuania, and Super XL Champ “petrofv5501” books a win.
Day 9 – “LucySagara70” claims second title for the Netherlands, “grigorq77” wins Mini Knockout.
Day 10 – “KellerA” cashes three times and makes two final tables, a pair of Swedish victories, and “yrkkk” wins one for Lithuania.
Argentina’s “Pepepepepe.”, an XL Inferno Champ, Wins XL Blizzard Main Event for $183,867!
Without a doubt, the highlight of the day – in fact the culmination of the entire XL Blizzard – was the $1,050 buy-in Event #32: $1,000,000 GTD Main Event, which cleared its guarantee by $2K after drawing 730 players who rebought 272 times.
Some of the big names to play but fall short of the money were Robin “Inho” Ylitalo, Niklas “tutten7” Åstedt, Adrian “ADRI_ATM” Mateos, Ole “olekonjole” Schemion, Steven “Kale333” Van Zadelhoff, Artem “veeea” Vezhenkov, and XL Blizzard Opening Event winner Jans “Graftekkel” Arends.
Likewise, 888poker Ambassadors Chris “888Moorman” Moorman, Martin “MJacobson888” Jacobson, Sofia “sofialovgren” Lövgren, and Dominik “888Dominik” Nitsche
Nitsche fell in Level 15 when he got his stack all in preflop holding the Q♣J♥ and failed to win a race against 7♥7♦ after a 6♣10♣3♥6♥K♣ run out. Similarly, 888poker Ambassador Parker “888tonkaaaa” Talbot fell just two spots shy of the money when he lost a flip holding the A♦J♣ against an opponent’s 8♥8♠.
Earning the “Bubble of Bubbles” tournament seat from the Main Event was the UK’s Charlie “chazcombes” Combes, who busted in 100th place when he ran his A♥Q♥ smack dab into pocket kings. He managed to pair his queen on the Q♦6♠J♥ flop, but neither the 3♦ turn nor 6♣ river saved him.
Among the top 99 players that cashed were “SalsaFiesta” (99th for $2,304.60), Nicolas “PKaiser” Fierro (90th for $2,505), “InJeBakkes” (63rd for $3,106.20), Simon "Isildur1337x" Mattsson (56th for $3,106.20), 2016 Super XL Main Event champ “Gr33nApples” (31st for $4,308), WSOP bracelet winner Chris “NigDawG” Brammer (21st for $5,010), Andreas “KURDEdersim” Samuelsson (16th for $7,014), “Kamphu94” (5th for $52,104), and “wellyxx” (3rd for $99,198).
After 12 hours and 41 minutes, Argentina’s “Pepepepepe.” defeated Lithuania’s “Vienas2” to become the XL Blizzard Main Event champ, which came with a $183,867 top prize. The Lithuanian had to settle for runner-up and a $131,262 consolation prize.
According to PokerNews live updates, heads-up play lasted approximately 15 minutes before “Vienas2” got it in with the 4♥4♦ and failed to hold against the A♦K♣ of “Pepepepepe.” after a K♠10♦2♦2♣3♠ run out.
“Pepepepepe.” picked up right where he left off in 2017 – winning! In May’s XL Inferno Event #45: $15,000 Swordfish, he topped a field of 822 players to win a $4,091 first-place prize.
Not long after in the XL Inferno Event #135: $15,000 Swordfish, he and “GunnersYa91” struck a heads-up deal out of a 745-player field. The Argentinean got $3,002 in prize money but had to settle for second place.
Then on July 7 of last year, he took down the $7,000 Breeze for $1,610, and a month later won the $60,000 Sunday Challenge for $11,400.
“TooMuchRake” Gets Long Awaited XL Title in Mega Deep
The $215 buy-in Event #31: $150,000 Mega Deep easily surpassed its advertised guarantee by attracting 680 runners who accounted for 331 rebuys. That generated a $202,200 prize pool distributed to the top 88 spots. Finishing in 89th and getting a seat into the “Bubble of Bubbles” tournament was Latvia’s “varonislv.”
Those who cashed include Russia’s “Ao1ing” (84th for $525.72), 888poker Ambassador and 2014 World Series of Poker Main Event champ Martin “MJacobson888” Jacobson (82nd for $525.72), Jerry “Perrymejsen” Ödeen (46th for $808.80), XL Eclipse champ “germaxii” (25th for $1,112.10), Bernardo “bsdias” Dias (12th for $2,426.40), “Sr.Penes” (7th for $4,549.50), and “Jagar_888” (4th for $15,165).
After 2016 Super XL High Roller champ “Eat1ngAndWIN” fell in third place, “Binkasaurus” and “TooMuchRake” squared off for the title. Just over 12 hours into the tournament, the former prevailed to take down the $37,811.40 top prize.
Back in September, “TooMuchRake” came close to winning a XL title on two occasions. In the XL Eclipse Event #102: $25,000 Sunday Tornado, he finished fifth for $1,500, and then just four days later placed third in the XL Eclipse Event #148: $15,000 Swordfish for $1,585.
Canada’s “jobrazeau” Wins Last Event of the XL Blizzard
The last tournament of the XL Blizzard was the $30 buy-in Event #34: $50,000 Micro Main, which attracted 1,931 players who rebought 701 times. That created a $72,390 prize pool that was paid out to the top 252 players. Finishing in 253rd place and earning the last seat into the “Bubble of Bubbles” tournament was Germany’s “kalololo1.”
Some players to earn a payday but fall short of the final table were “HammertimeAA” (187th for $72.39), “OPH1UCHUS” (135th for $101.33), “Ao1ing” (72nd for $151.99), Troy “S.Janowski” Qunneville (64th for $151.99), “summuNNN” (29th for $224.37), “freakshove2” (12th for $600.75), and “joaof6” (10th for $600.75).
The final table was comprised of all players from different countries except two Canadians. One of them, “Nordynordbrg,” fell in fourth place for $4,668.51, and after Brazil’s “grdpoker1” exited in third for $6,217.44, the other went on to heads-up play.
After 10 hours and 41 minutes, Canada’s “jobrazeau” defeated Germany’s “dnvz23,” a 2016 Super XL Series champ to win the title and $11,436.04 first-place prize.
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