The fifth day of the XL Blizzard, an 11-day series that will run through January 28, offered two more events. That means we’re nearing the halfway point of the series as 15 events from the 34-tournament schedule are complete.
The XL Blizzard, which will award more than $2.8 million, offers events as low as $5 and as high as $2,100. There are several exciting events on this year’s schedule including Tuesday’s $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 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.
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.
Get all the details on the XL Blizzard here.
“yarik1903” Claims Ukraine’s Second Title of XL Blizzard
The $55 buy-in Event #14: $40,000 R&A attracted 414 players who rebought 308 times and added-on 252 times to create a total prize pool of $48,700. That was paid to the top 54 players, meaning the Netherlands’ “BobLeeSwagga,” who busted in 55th place, earned a spot in the “Bubble of Bubbles” tournament.
Among those to make the money were “Sr.Penes” (34th for $292.20), “vanPingelen” (24th for $340.90), “gkap13” (14th for $535.70), Niklas “tutten7” Åstedt (6th for $2,069.75), and “emreey90” (3rd for $5,113.50).
After 6 hours and 48 minutes, the title came down to Germany’s “hale_bop123” and Ukraine’s “yarik1903.” Eventually, the Ukrainian won to capture the $9,345.53 first-place prize and his country’s second XL Blizzard title.
According to PocketFives, “yarik1903” has won more than $2 million lifetime playing online. On 888poker, that includes winning the October 22 $2,500 SHOT for $1,247, the May 4 $10,000 Swordfish for $2,502.77, and a November 2018 $5,000 Hurricane for $1,960.
“DeltaSpider” Becomes 4th Russian to Win XL Blizzard Title
Event #15: $10,000 Mini R&A, which cost just $5 to enter, drew 1,477 players who rebought 1,638 times and accounted for 829 add-ons. That created a total prize pool of $17,945.20 that was distributed to the top 162 spots. Coming up one shy and winning his way into the “Bubble of Bubbles” tournament was Russia’s “SMVD1.”
Some familiar names to cash the tournament were “moosebadger” (80th for $41.27), “Am44nda” (53rd for $50.24), “ZakkSabbath” (25th for $71.78), current XL Blizzard leaderboard frontrunner “Ao1ing” (15th for $122.02), and “Kubiszek” (5th for $888.28).
After “luckypaanch75” and “moonm1969” fell in fourth and third place for $1,220.27 and $1,702.99 respectively, the final two players struck a heads-up deal. Ukraine’s “Agelesss1” locked up $2,676.23 while Russia’s “DeltaSpider” got $2,618.41. The two then played it out and the Russian came out on top to win the title, thus becoming the fourth Russian to win a XL Blizzard title.
Coming Up on Tuesday
Tuesday is our high roller day! The $2,100 buy-in Event #16: $250,000 High Roller will get underway at 19:00, while at the same time the $215 buy-in Event #17: $100,000 Mini High Roller will play out. Then at 21:00, the $160 buy-in Event #18: $30,000 Late Night High Roller will round out the schedule.
