Welcome to 888poker’s XL Blizzard Daily Recap
Yesterday: April 9, 2019
Tuesday High Rolling Day on the 888poker XL Blizzard
The XL Blizzard, which will offer more than $1.7 million in guaranteed prize pools over 34 events, has its first two-time winner as “69Gronk87” followed up his Sunday Mega Deep win by laying claim to a high roller title. More on that below.
After Tuesday’s tournaments – which marked Day 6 of the 11-day series – 18 events are in the books and have catered to 19,915 entrants and awarded $783,364 in prize money!
nearing its halfway point as on Monday the fifth day of the 11-day series wrapped up. Right now 15 tournaments have completed and 18,683 entrants have been awarded $623,214 in prize money.
Remember, all you have to do is play in five XL Blizzard events and you’ll receive a qualifier ticket into a freeroll at the end of the series. That freeroll will not only award a $12,600 package for the 2019 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, but also three – that’s right THREE – $2,700 packages to the 2019 WSOP Event #64: $888 Crazy 8’s tournament.
Here’s a look at all those who won XL Blizzard titles on Tuesday.
“bybababy” Wins XL Blizzard High Roller for Canada’s 5th Title of Series
The biggest buy-in of the XL Blizzard took place on Tuesday. The $320 buy-in Event #16: $100,000 High Roller attracted 192 players who rebought 89 times. That meant a $100K prize pool was paid out amongst the top 27 player including Event 9: $100,000 Mega Deep champ “69Gronk87” (17th - $1,250), 888poker Ambassador Martin “MJacobson888” Jacobson (11th - $1,750), Roman “Romeopro33” Romanovskyi (6th - $5,000), and “Fukuruku” (4th - $8,750).
After “varonislv” exited in third place for $11,750, the final two players struck a deal at the eight-hour mark of the tournament. As a result, Malta’s “jmsantos” finished as runner-up for $17,441.44 while Canada’s “bybababy” took the title and $19,558.56 in prize money.
“69Gronk87” Takes Down Mini High Roller for Second XL Blizzard Title
The $55 buy-in Event #17: $30,000 Mini High Roller saw 501 players rebuy 198 times to create a $34,950 prize pool. Among the top 63 players to get a piece of it were “EyeofSkadi” (34th - $192.22), “CmonSadBoy” (23rd - $209.70), Event #16 winner “bybababy” (15th - $349.50), Fabricio “DrMiKee” Gonzalez (10th - $419.40), “Bestolo4” (5th - $1,922.25), and “n10s99” (3rd - $3,582.37).
After 9 hours and 17 minutes, Canada’s “69Gronk87” bested Germany’s “RasAIGhul” in heads-up play to win the tournament for $6,640.61 and his second XL Blizzard title. If you recall, he first topped a 534-entry field to win the $215 buy-in Event #9: $100,000 Mega Deep for $20,494.92.
Russia’s “Panzerfish” Wins Event #18: $20,000 Late High Roller
The $109 buy-in Event #18: $20,000 Late High Roller surpassed its guarantee by drawing 184 players who rebought 68 times. That generated a $25,200 prize pool that was paid out to the top 27 players including “1LevelAbove” (23rd - $252), 2014 World Series of Poker Main Event champ Martin Jacobson (15th - $378), “dmg34” (7th - $1,008), “GramNaKartke” (5th - $1,512), and “O_fenomeno9” (3rd - $2,961).
The title came down to Russia’s “Panzerfish” and Ukraine’s “Enthusiast99,” and after six hours and nine minutes the former came out on top to win a $5,418 first-place prize. Interestingly, “Panzerfish” was the first player in the 2019 XL Blizzard series to ship a double, which he did back Level 1 of Event #1: $100,000 Opening Event. That made him the early chip leader, but he’d have to wait 17 more events before he’d be a champion.
Here’s What is Coming Up on Wednesday
Three more events are on the schedule for Wednesday with both the $109 buy-in Event #19: $50,000 PKO and $16.50 buy-in Event #20: $20,000 Mini PKO getting underway at 18:00 GMT. Two hours later at 20:00 the $33 buy-in Event #21: $10,000 Late PKO will begin.
We’ll be brining you daily recaps throughout the entirety of the XL Blizzard, so be sure to check back again tomorrow!
