The high-rollers were out in full force on Day 6 of 888poker’s online poker winter series, XL Blizzard. Three tournaments were on the schedule for the day including the biggest buy-in of the entire series, the $2,100 $250,000 GTD High Roller.

Overall, over $400,000 was in play on Tuesday as the XL Blizzard series hit the halfway point. Now, the series is in full swing with grinders jockying for position on the XL Blizzard leaderboard as the schedule barrels toward the $1,000,000 Main Event on Sunday.

Event #16 – $250,000 High Roller

Many of the top online MTT players in the world showed up to register for the $250,000 High Roller on Tuesday seeking to win one of the seven five-figure scores that were up for grabs. The field included 888poker ambassadors Dominik Nitsche, Parker ‘tonkaaaa’ Talbot, Sofia Lovgren and former World Series of Poker Champion Martin Jacobson. Also taking a shot at the guaranteed prize pool – the #1 and #3 ranked players in the world: Sweden’s ‘Isildur1337x’ (aka ‘C Darwin2’) and ‘tutten7’ (aka ‘lena900’). In total 84 elite players ponied up the $2,100 buy-in with 34 of them rebuying.

For only the second time all series a tournament provided a little bit of overlay, as the prize pool generated by the players come up $14,000 short of the posted guarantee. The extra value went right into the pockets of the 12 players that cashed including the duo that eventually agreed to a final-two deal.

Mexico’s ‘SteveyBG’, a previous XL Inferno champion, claimed his first XL Blizzard crown as well as the largest payout of the entire series. He takes home $63,697.19 for first place. Right behind him was runner-up ‘OINKoinkoink’ from Germany. In the deal, he secured himself over $5,000 better than the posted second place prize and walked away with $51,302.81.

PocketFiver Sebastian ‘p000cket000’ Sikorski, a consummate grinder and regular participant in the largest online tournaments, finished in third for $35,000. Sikorski is a former worldwide #1-ranked player and currently still sits in the top 100, sitting at #57.

Another player looking to make moves in the worldwide rankings is Ukraine’s ‘yarik1903’. He finished the High Roller in fifth place for $17,500 just one day after winning XL Blizzard Event #14 for over $9,000. The repeat trips to final tables have put him in the top 20 of the XL Blizzard leaderboard and in position to take a shot at the $12,000 World Series of Poker Main Event grand prize.

Ben ‘jenbizzIe’ Jones from the village of Lymm in the UK also cashed for a stack of high society when his seventh place put $10,625 in his bankroll. Jones, with over $2 million in lifetime scores, has notched two five-figure scores in the past week.

Fabrizio ’DrMiKee’ Gonzalez (aka ‘SixthSenSe19’), the #12 ranked player in the world hit the rail in eighth for $8,750 just one spot after Twitch sensation, the aforementioned Parker ’tonkaaaa’ Talbot departed the final table in ninth for $7,500.

Event #17 – $100,000 Mini High Roller

While the actual High Roller may have missed the mark on the guarantee, Event #17, the $100,000 Mini High Roller crushed its guarantee. In total, 417 players registered for the $215 tournament with 213 opting to rebuy. That meant that $126,000 was up for grabs.

The winner was none other than Germany’s ‘OINKoinkoink’, the same player who finished as the runner-up in the $2,100 event. This time, there was no chop and he booked an outright win adding $24,179.40 to his $51,302.81 making him far and away the day’s biggest winner. Fellow countryman ‘Charlymogo’ finished in second place and collected ‘$17,955 for his deep run.

PocketFivers were out in force at the final table of the Mini High Roller including Russian crusher ‘sweet_Dr34ms’ (aka ‘papan9_p$’, the #31-ranked player worldwide) who finished in third place for $13,230. ’sivvis’ marked the third German grinder who made it to the top four, also making five-figures with his $10,080 fourth place prize. Brazil’s Victor ‘WHATaDREAM’ Hugo picked up just over $4,000 for seventh and Ben ‘DoobieFish’ Kett reached his second XL Blizzard final table, hitting the rail in eighth for $2,835. Finally, former worldwide #1-ranked player from Mexico, ‘YoureMagical’ completed the top nine, earning $2,091.60 for ninth place.

Other notable players who made the money include ‘yarik1903’, Nicolas ’PKaiser’ Fierro, ‘tutten7’, Roman ‘Romeopro33’ Romanovskyi, Parker ‘tonkaaaa’ Talbot, Sebastian ‘p000cket000’ Sikorski, and a pair of Swedish superstars Andreas ’r4ndomr4gs’ Berggren and ‘inho’.

Event #18 – $30,000 Late High Roller

The Late High Roller was finished in a flash, with a heads-up deal being made at just over 6 hours into the contest. This guarantee was also smashed as 212 players (with 76 rebuys) posted a prize pool of $43,200.

First place finisher ’LovePorn69’ and cashed for $8,050.06 after making a deal with runner-up ‘P0vorachivay’, who won just slightly less at $7,933.94. ‘LovePorn69’ is also going to love that this cash puts him in striking distance to $900,000 in career earnings. Russian ‘P0vorachivay’ on the other hand, certainly eclipses $400,000 lifetime with the score.

Again, PocketFivers crushed the final table results taking six out of the top nine spots. In addition to both players who got heads-up, Nicklas ‘Clay_Born’ Kley took third for $5,076 and Brazil’s Rafael ‘rafitia’ Freitas cashed in fifth for $2,592. Joining them were  Sweden’s ’Klonkfisken’ (seventh place -$1,728) and Brazil’s Matheus ’MatheusCG’ Cunha (ninth place – $864).

XL Blizzard Day 6 Winners

* denotes Final Table deal