The XL Spring Series kicked off on May 22 and wrapped up on June 7. The 37-event series was jampacked with affordable buy-in tournaments and catered to a combined 20,017 entrants while awarding $1,538,695 in prize money!

• Brazilian players did the best by claiming five titles.
• Germany was right behind with four victories.
• Canada, Argentina, Montenegro, and Lithuania all won three titles apiece.
• Players from Ukraine, Malta, Moldova, and the United Kingdom all got two.
• Single titles went to the likes of Romania, New Zealand, Azerbaijan, Andorra, Sweden, and Denmark.

Below is a look at some of the big winners and stories from the 2022 XL Spring Series on 888poker.

Andorra’s Instinctym Victorious in XL Spring $500K ME

The highlight of the series was the $250 buy-in, $500K GTD Multiflight Main Event, which hosted Day 1s throughout the series. It attracted a combined 1,978 players who rebought 195 times.

The 2,173-entry field resulted in a $510,655 prize pool, with 329 players making it to Day 2.

After “minat2211” bubbled in 241^st place, the top 240 finishers made the money including the following players –

• “EZ.PZ” (217^th place for $765.98)
• “GOGOslowroll” (180^th place for $817.04)
• 888poker Ambassador Vivian “Vivi.888.” Saliba (164^th place for $817.04)
• “Ilovepickles” (123^rd place for $868.11)
• “Limitfisher” (76^th place for $1,072.37)
• “mylly8” (50^th place for $1,225.57)
• “Hodor83” (31^st place for $1,531.96)
• “RipCheader” (17^th place for $2,961.79)
• Final table bubble “viinig” (10^th place for $5,208.68).

The final table of nine players took a day-break before returning for the finale. At the time “Instinctym” was the chip leader, albeit with the average stack being just 16 big blinds.

As such, it didn’t take long, 90 minutes in fact, for a winner to emerge on the Twitch 888pokerTV channel live stream.

“Instinctym” used their chip advantage to make it to heads-up play against Montenegro’s “alanchi”. The two opted to strike a deal and then played it out for the title.

In the first half after the deal, “alanchi” jammed with the 4♥3♥ and “Instinctym” called with the K♦7♣. The board ran out 7♠K♠2♠7♥Q♥ and the latter doubled into a massive lead.

In the very next hand, “alanchi” got their last two bigs in with the 9♣2♦ and was up against the 10♣8♥ of “Instinctym”.

The 8♦Q♣K♣J♥7♣ runout was no help to “alanchi” and they had to settle for second place and $56,387 in prize money.

XL Spring $500,000 Main Event Final Table Results

1^st – “Instinctym” (Andorra) … $65,608

2^nd – “alanchi” (Montenegro) … $56,387

3^rd – “iNFOsHOVE” (Sweden) … $37,839

4^th – “Why_a_King” (Sweden) … $28,034

5^th – “KostenBerguz” (Ukraine) … $20,732

6^th – “overbet13” (Malta) … $15,472

7^th – “makinchinho” (Belarus) … $11,591

8^th – “youlet” (United Kingdom) … $8,783

9^th – “Tcheleee” (Brazil) … $6,689

Brazil’s Bet4funAA Wins High Roller (Big Shot 525)

On Saturday, June 4, the United Kingdom’s Feargus “EZ.PZ” Murphy topped a 311-entry field to win the $109 buy-in Event #33: $30,000 Knockout for $5,028.20.

The following day, he nearly claimed a second title but came up one spot short in the $525 buy-in Event #36: $50,000 High Roller, a tournament that saw 81 players rebuy 33 times.

The 114-entry field resulted in a $57,000 prize pool that was paid out to the top 15 finishers including the following –

• “VincentMX” (14^th place for $1,282.50)
• “Jan.14” (12^th place for $1,339.50)
• “Destroyer300” (9^th place for $1,453.50)
• “kiskutya23” (8^th place for $1,681.50)
• “BetBetFck” (4^th place for $4,873.50)
• “paulinhoo00” (3^rd place for $6,697.50)

Murphy wound up squaring off against Brazil’s “Bet4funAA” in heads-up play. It took 6 hours and 18 minutes y for things to come to a head as reported on PokerNews:

“Murphy started heads-up as the short stack and managed to fight back to close to even but had to settle for 2nd place in the 2022 888poker XL Spring Series $525 High Roller. Murphey got short again after running into a flush by winner ‘Bet4funAA’.

“A few hands later Murphey ran into a rivered straight for a big pot to leave him with less than 60,000 chips, and the rest went in a few hands later.”

The win by “Bet4funAA” marked the fifth title of the series for a player from Brazil.

XL Spring Series Event #36: $50,000 High Roller Final Table Results

1^st – “Bet4funAA” (Brazil) … $15,703.50

2^nd – Feargus “EZ.PZ” Murphy (United Kingdom) … $10,260

3^rd – “paulinhoo00” (Brazil) … $6,697.50

4^th – “BetBetFck” (Ukraine) … $4,873.50

5^th – “carloshmz” (Brazil) … $3,591

6^th – “Andreip32” (United Kingdom) … $2,736

7^th – “Hvalavam” (Montenegro) … $2,137.50

8^th – “kiskutya23” (N/A) … $1,681.50

9^th – “Destroyer300” (Lithuania) … $1,453.50

Argentina’s leon_dies10 Becomes First Two-Time Winner

On Thursday, June 2, the $55 buy-in Event #28: $20,000 Mini PKO 6-Max attracted 333 players who rebought 84 times, generating a $20,850 prize pool. The prize was split between the regular and bounty pools with the top 42 finishers getting a piece of the former.

Among those to cash were the following players –

• “AcidAscorbic” (35^th place for $62.55 plus $192.19 in bounties)
• “billycadu14” (27^th place for $72.97 plus $18.75 in bounties)
• “CerealGorila” (13^th place for $109.46 plus $371.10 in bounties)
• “TimeToFold” (7^th place for $260.62 plus $122.66 in bounties)
• “lavittoria88” (3^rd place for $1,198.87 plus $457.43 in bounties)

The final two players – Argentina’s “leon_dies10” and the United Kingdom’s “Alboz83” – each locked up $1,892.13 in prize money by virtue of making it to heads-up play.

But awaiting the winner was a $2,159.65 PKO bounty. After 6 hours and 35 minutes of play, the Argentinean prevailed to claim a total payday of $4,051.92.

It marked the second title of the series for “leon_dies10”. He previously topped a 307-player field to win the $55 buy-in Event #6: $10,000 Mini Freezeout back on Tuesday, May 24 for $2,961.17.

XL Spring Series Event #28: $20,000 Mini PKO 6-Max Final Table Results

1^st – “leon_dies10” (Argentina) … $4,051.92

2^nd – “Alboz83” (United Kingdom) … $2,477.65

3^rd – “lavittoria88” (N/A) … $1,656.30

4^th – “Snake131” (United Kingdom) … $1,096.89

5^th – “callembluff” (Ireland) … $973.94

6^th – “Yzw42_” (Romania) … $688.11

In other Thursday news, Moldova’s “NecroJack” topped a 124-entry field to win the $215 buy-in Event #27: $25,000 PKO 6-Max for $5,832.12

Canada’s “DanielZgranu” navigated a 615-entry field to win the $22 buy-in Event #29: $10,000 Late PKO 6-Max.

New 888poker Ambassador Ian “Simpioni” Simpson Finishes Runner-Up in Event #21: $50,000 PKO

On Tuesday, May 31, the $320 buy-in Event #21: $50,000 PKO saw 137 players rebuy 38 times to squeak by the guarantee. The $52,500 prize money was split between the regular and bounty pools.

The top 24 finishers got a piece of the former including the following –

• “Tighterinho” (22^nd place for $372.75 plus $375 in bounties)
• “popsnpoker” (17^th place for $378 plus $150 in bounties)
• “billycadu14” (15^th place for $391.12 plus $393.75 in bounties)
• “AdrianoK222” (7^th place for $829.50 plus $600 in bounties)
• “RonaldSleasy” (3^rd place for $3,150 plus $1,584.38 in bounties)

The final two players – new 888poker Ambassador Ian “Simpioni” Simpson and Lithuania’s “MoKr93” – locked up $5,236.87 by virtue of making it to heads-up play.

But they battled it out for the $7,146.07 PKO bounty. After 7 hours and 14 minutes of play, the latter came out on top to claim the title and a total payday of $12,383.

XL Spring Series Event #21: $50,000 PKO Final Table Results

1^st – “MoKr93” (Lithuania) … $12,383

2^nd – Ian “Simpioni” Simpson (United Kingdom) … $8,323.59

3^rd – “RonaldSleasy” (United Kingdom) … $4,734.38

4^th – “AllanSheik” (Brazil) … $2,625.18

5^th – “algsxr” (Canada) … $2,279.25

6^th – “Reggie_Degen” (Canada) … $1,807.50

7^th – “AdrianoK222” (England) … $1,429.50

8^th – “Sly_81” (Germany) … $934.50

9^th – “pajaro.com” (Mexico) … $837.37

In other news from the last day of May, Sweden’s “kalix30” topped a 508-entry field to win the $55 buy-in Event #22: $20,000 Mini PKO for $4,557.41

Denmark’s “simoneblondi” bested 207 runners to win the $109 buy-in Event #23: $20,000 Late PKO for $4,040.99.

2022 XL Spring Series Winners

The Royal Quest Begins Here!

From 31 May through 31 August, 888poker is giving our players the royal treatment.

The newest promotion – The Royal Quest – is jampacked with freerolls awarding over $500,000 in prizes.

Here’s what’s on the regal table for our players:

• Three daily $500 freerolls
• One weekly $5,000 freeroll (running every Sunday)
• One monthly $50,000 freeroll (running once a month)

For full information click here