The third day of the XL Blizzard, an 11-day series that will run through January 28, offered three more events from the 34-tournament schedule. By the end of our latest series, more than $2.8 million will be awarded to players, making it a truly remarkable way to kick off the New Year.
The XL Blizzard offers events as low as $5 and as high as $2,100. There are several exciting events on this year’s schedule including a $2,100 buy-in, $250,000 GTD High Roller, and $1,050 buy-in, $1,000,000 GTD Main Event on Jan. 28.
We’re also offering new promotions such as awarding big cash prizes to anyone who wins multiple events ($1,000,000 if you can win five of them), a “Bubble of Bubbles” tournament (gain entry if/when you bubble a tournament), and the return of the Champion of Champions event.
The Champion of Champions returns for the XL Blizzard series and one lucky 888poker player will win a $12,000 WSOP Vegas package. Each time you play in an XL Blizzard event, you earn leaderboard points. The top 50 players on the leaderboard receive a ticket to the Champion of Champions tournament to be held at 18:00 GMT on January 30.
Here’s a look at the current leaderboard:
Aalso, here’s a quick breakdown on what’s happened in the XL Blizzard thus far:
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.
Get all the details on the XL Blizzard here.
“Rekrutt1” Claims Crazy 8 Title
Event #6: $50,000 Crazy 8, which cost $88 to enter and started players with 8,888 in chips, attracted 465 players who rebought 203 times. That created a $53,440 prize pool that was paid out to the top 64 players. Finishing in 65th place, thus earning a seat into the “Bubble of Bubbles” tournament, was Canada’s “tcavallin.”
Among those to finish in the money were XL Inferno champ Guntis “luffEEE” Aleskins (36th for $283.23), “ASTRA333” (24th for $464.92), 888poker Ambassador Sofia Lovgren (20th for $464.92), Event #5 runner-up “Ao1ing” (9th for $796.25), XL Eclipse champ “CARRAMROD” (4th for $4,008), and Ben “DoobieFish” Kett (3rd for $5,482.94).
After 8 hours and 24 minutes, Russia’s “Ksuna” fell to Norway’s “Rekrutt1” to end the tournament. The Norwegian won $10,153.60 for the victory.
Finland’s “NeveGiveUp” Wins XL Blizzard Event #7 to Compliment XL Eclipse Title
Event #7: $15,000 Mini Crazy 8 cost just $8.80 to enter, so it was no surprise to see 1,665 players take to the virtual felt. With 880 rebuys, a total prize pool of $20,360 was created. One player who didn’t get any of it was 201st-place finisher “dankreas,” who bubbled for a seat into the “Bubble of Bubbles” tournament.
Finishing in the money in the top 200 were “FedorAV” (72nd for $48.86), “taran93” (41st for $57), “Makamaker” (23rd for $83.47), “IJustRunGood” (9th for $144.55), and “anper888” (3rd for $1,970.84).
After 8 hours and 48 minutes, Finland’s “NeveGiveUp” defeated Germany’s “bunder17” in heads-up play to win $3,563. Back in September, “NeveGiveUp” bested a massive field of 1,034 entries to win the XL Eclipse Event #150: $10,000 Mini R&A for $2,111. That made him the second player with a previous XL victory to capture a XL Blizzard title.
“msksevart” Continues Heater from 2017 with XL Blizzard Win
The $44 buy-in Event #8: $15,000 Late Crazy 8 drew 313 players who rebought 132 times. That created a $17,800 prize pool that was paid to the top 40 players. Just missing out on a piece of the pie was Russia’s “icf043,” who busted as the bubble boy in 41st place. That means he earned entry into the “Bubble of Bubbles” tournament as a consolation prize.
Some of the players to cash the tournament were “kl0nkrn89” (31st for $119.26), “Aoling” (24th for $178), “Pay_for_me” (13th for $267), “HappySh00ter” (9th for $356), and “KelevraJesus” (3rd for $1,958).
After 6 hours and 31 minutes, the tournament ended when a deal was struck. “Javierv10” officially finished in second place for $3,027.26, while Russia’s “msksevart” took the title and $3,024.74 in prize money.
Back in September, “msksevart” won the XL Eclipse Event #106: $10,000 super Turbo Tune Up for $2,636.76, meaning he became the third player with a previous XL victory to capture a XL Blizzard title.
According to PocketFives, “msksevart” won $282,936 on 888poker in 2017, including 64 tournament victories. That was slightly ahead of Roman ‘Romeopro’ Romanovsky, who won $264,007.
Sunday Funday
Sundays are the biggest day of the week for online poker players, and this is reflected on the XL Blizzard schedule. Five more events will take place, as well as a $160 buy-in Main Event Mega Satellite at 19:35. That satellite offers 15 seats guaranteed.
The day will kick off with the $215 buy-in XL Blizzard Event #9: $120,000 Mega Deep at 17:30 followed by the $160 buy-in Event #10: $200,000 Tune Up a half hour later.
Also at 18:00 is the $12 buy-in Event #11: $40,000 Mini Tune Up, and then at 19:00 we’ll host the $1,050 buy-in Event #12: $200,000 Whale.
Closing out the day at 21:00 is the $55 buy-in Event #13: $20,000 Late Tune Up.
