The XL Retro Series kicked off on 888poker back on October 9 and wrapped up on Tuesday after more than two weeks of intense action. The 27-event series catered to a combined 10,951 entrants and awarded $1,497,135 in prize money.

Players from Brazil have performed the best having captured an astounding seven titles, while Canadian players had six. The only other country to win multiple titles was Sweden with two.

 Players from Germany, Malta, Finland, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Lithuania, Mexico, the Netherlands, Montenegro, Ireland, and the United Kingdom all had one apiece.

The series awarded seven different five-figure first-place prizes, with the largest coming in the XL Retro Main Event.

raw_dawg Wins XL Retro Main Event for $70,164

Throughout the series, multiple flights were held for the $250 buy-in Main Event, which boasted a massive $500,000 guarantee. The tournament wound up attracting 2,162 entries (1,969 players with 193 rebuys), which surpassed the guarantee with a $508,070 prize pool.

On Monday, the 415 surviving players from each starting flight returned for Day 2 action. But with only 240 slated to pay out, 175 of them would leave empty handed.

Among those to fall before the money were the following –

• Tom “sheeeeeeeeet” Hal
• SOP bracelet winner Jerry “Perrymejsen” Odeen
• 888poker StreamTeam member David “New_Dave” Gibson
• Justin “LappyPoker” Lapka

After “beroduain” bubbled in 241^st place, the in-the-money finishes mounted, including the following players –

• “HyperX.” (194^th place for $762.10)
• 888poker Ambassador Vivi “Vivi.888.” Saliba (164^th place for $812.91)
• 888 StreamTeam members Nick “eastyyy22” Eastwood (94^th place for $1,066.94) and Josh “Josh_Manley” Manley (57^th place for $1,219.36)
• Niklas “tutten7” Åstedt (92^nd place for $1,066.94)
• Nicolas “PKaiser” Fierro (49^th place for $1,219.36)
• “nlfreddie” (27^th place for $1,829.05)
• “Slovnyk” (14^th place for $3,962.94)
• Final table bubble boy “pereira132” (10^th place for $5,182.31)

When the final table of nine was reached, play went on an overnight break. At the time, “raw_dawg” sat with the chip lead holding 4,523,512. Finalnd’s “mylly8” was in second with 3,945,831.

Brazil’s “Rochinh2011” was also over the three-million-chip mark with 3,157,162. Their fellow countryman “crizelda” was the only player under seven figures sitting on the short stack of 905,736.

On Tuesday, the final nine players returned to battle on a live-stream final table. Straight out of the gate, it was Brazil’s “kryingkid” who got off to a hot start, scoring two of the first four eliminations to vault into the chip lead.

With five players remaining, “DragoDanzig” got it in with ace-ten and was primed to double against the king-ten suited of “raw_dawg”. But the latter made a flush to score their first elimination of the day. They’d notch the next two as well to set up a “raw_dawg” versus “kryingkid” heads-up match.

It was a back-and-forth affair before things came to a head in Level 44 (200,000/400,000/50,000). That is when “raw_dawg” shoved with the 3♦3♠ and “kryingkid” called off holding the Q♦10♦.

It was a flip, but the at-risk player failed to connect as the board ran out K♠2♦4♠5♥5♣.

 “kryingkid” had to settle for second place and $51,213 in prize money. “raw_dawg” became the XL Retro Main Event champ and laid claim to the $70,164 first-place prize.

XL Retro Main Event Final Table Results

1^st – “raw_dawg” (N/A) … $70,164

2^nd – “kryingkid” (Brazil) … $51,213

3^rd – “mylly8” (Finland) … $37,648

4^th – “crizelda” (Brazil) … $27,893

5^th – “DragoDanzig” (Finland) … $20,628

6^th – “brubsb” (Brazil) … $15,395

7^th – “Rochinh2011” (Brazil) … $11,533

8^th – “Illraise8” (Canada) … $8,739

9^th – “INFOsHOVE” (Sweden) … $6,656

StreamTeam’s Jordan BanfieldJ Banfield Wins Event 18

On Tuesday, October 18, the $320 buy-in, $20K GTD Event #18: Crocodile KO saw 75 players rebuy 11 times, resulting in a $25,800 prize pool. Each player featured a $75 bounty on their head, while the regular prize pool was reserved for the top dozen finishers.

Among those to compete but fail to cash were 888poker ambassador Ian “Simpioni” Simpson, “cherrywine”, and bubble boy “LHollanda”.

Those who cashed for $483.75 apiece but fell short of the final table were “vigge1111” (10^th place), “Inflaatio” (11^th place), and “la.creme” (12^th place).

Not only was 888poker StreamTeam Member Jordan “BanfieldJ” Banfield at the final table, but he also made his way to heads-up play against Germany’s “DrAyip”.

After 6 hours and 13 minutes of play, Banfield got the job done to capture a $5,418.01 top prize plus $375 in bounties for a total payout of $5,793.01.

XL Retro Event #18 Final Table Results

1^st – Jordan “BanfieldJ” Banfield (Canada) … $5,793.01

2^nd – “DrAyip” (Germany) … $4,293.45

3^rd – “sk8erisz” (Lithuania) … $3,079.20

4^th – “R2Rka” (Ukraine) … $2,232.60

5^th – “Svinth” (Denmark) … $1,729.50

6^th – “bettyordiane” (United Kingdom) … $1,240.87

7^th – “Ribaldo” (Monte Negro) … $1,197.37

8^th – “Korpisoturi2” (Finland) … $677.25

9^th – “Sue.1979” (United Kingdom) … $655.50

In other Tuesday news, the $33 buy-in, $8,000 GTD Event #19: Big Fish KO squeaked by its guarantee as 260 players rebought 27 times to generate a $8,610 prize pool.

After nearly six hours of play, Brazilian player “Th3PuDa” claimed the title for $13,84.22 and Brazil’s seventh title of the XL Retro series!

Canada’s leblond1996 Binks Crocodile PKO 8-Max

On Thursday, October 20, the $320 buy-in Event #22: $20,000 Crocodile PKO 8-Max had 79 players rebuy eight times, which meant a $26,100 prize pool was up for grabs. That was split between the regular and PKO pools, with the top dozen finishers getting a piece of the former.

Among those to make the money but fall short of the official final table were the following –

• “The_Hoff_Man” (12^th place for $358.87 + $637.50 in bounties)
• “dmg34” (11^th place for $358.87 + $412.50 in bounties)
• “IHaveNoBoss” (10^th place for $358.87 + $206.25 in bounties)
• “IlovePickles” (9^th place for $358.87 + $300 in bounties)

Canada’s “leblond1996” and Ukraine’s “Kostya_jock” each locked up $2,985.88 in prize money by making it to heads-up play. But awaiting the winner was an even-bigger $4,621.87 PKO bounty.

After 5 hours and 34 minutes, the Canadian prevailed for a total payday of $7,607.75.

XL Retro Event #22 Final Table Results

1^st – “leblond1996” (Canada) … $7,607.75

2^nd – “Kostya_jack” (Ukraine) … $4,072.03

3^rd – “R2Rka” (Ukraine) … $2,398.88

4^th – “GetInTheBin” (United Kingdom) … $1,671

5^th – “MAKKAPAKKK” (United Kingdom) … $1,344.75

6^th – “chrisfrimodt” (Denmark) … $835.12

7^th – “idkhtp” (N/A) … $892.12

8^th – “Limitfisher” (Ukraine) … $874.12

raisebot Claims Volcano Title for the Netherlands

On Saturday, October 22, the $1,050 buy-in, $45K GTD Event #23: Volcano attracted 35 players who accounted for three rebuys. The $45,000 prize pool was reserved for the top six finishers, and among those to compete but fall short of a cash were “Destroyer300”, Niklas “tutten7” Åstedt, and bubble boy “Inflaatio”, just to name a few.

It took ten minutes shy of the five-hour mark for a winner to emerge, and it happened when the Netherlands’ “raisebot” bested Ukraine’s “feerofeero” in heads-up play. Ther former received $16,650 for the victory, while the latter had to settle for a $11,250 consolation prize.

XL Retro Event #23 Final Table Results

1^st – “raisebot” (Netherlands) … $16,650

2^nd – “feerofeero” (Ukraine) … $11,250

3^rd – “Limitfisher” (Ukraine) … $6,750

4^th – “beebsterizer” (Canada) … $4,500

5^th – “DGrignon” (Netherlands) … $3,150

6^th – “3AHYDA” (Mexico) … $2,700

Ireland’s 9salute46 Takes Down Super High Roller

On Sunday, October 23, the biggest buy-in of the XL Retro Series took place. The $2,100 buy-in, $150K GTD Event #26: Super High Roller 8-Max attracted 59 players who rebought 14 time. So, the final table of eight players would each receive a portion of the $150,000 prize pool.

Among those to compete but fall short of cashing were the following –

• “Matas.C”, “sheeeeeeeeet”
• 888poker Ambassadors Ian “Simpioni” Simpson and Vivian “Vivi.888.” Saliba
• “SpielerKind”
• 888poker StreamTeam Member Jordan “BanfieldJ” Banfield

After “idkhtp” bubbled in ninth place, some familiar names cashed the tournament including,“bettyordiane” (7^th place for $6,750), “BetBetFck” (4^th place for $15,000), and “FranciscoAI” (3^rd place for $22,500).

In the end, Ireland’s “9salute46” defeated Ukraine’s “feerofeero” in heads-up play to win the tournament outright for $48,750. It was the second day in a row that the Ukrainian finished in second place.

On Saturday, “feerofeero” finished as runner-up in the $1,050 buy-in, $45K GTD Event #23: Volcano, good for $11,250.

XL Retro Event #26 Final Table Results

1^st – “9salute46” (Ireland) … $48,750

2^nd – “feerofeero” (Ukraine) … $31,500

3^rd – “FranciscoAI” (Brazil) … $22,500

4^th – “BetBetFck” (Ukraine) … $15,000

5^th – “sk8erisz” (Lithuania) … $11,250

6^th – “matokr” (N/A) … $8,250

7^th – “bettyordiane” (United Kingdom) … $6,750

8^th – “dadude50” (N/A) … $6,000

2022 XL Retro Series Winners