It was back-to-back nights for the 888poker bounty hunters as Thursday night’s XL Eclipse schedule once again featured a trio of PKO tournaments.

Proving the continued popularity of Progressive Knockouts, all three tournaments more than handily bested their posted guarantee including the $50,000 PKO 8-Max spotlight tournament which crushed its guarantee by more than $20,000.

The only major difference between Wednesday’s and Thursday’s schedule was that all three Thursday tournaments came in at a slightly higher price point, resulting in more money up for grabs. Also, all of the events were eight-handed, letting play flow a little faster.

A note: due to a technical problem, the bounty payouts in the tournament lobbies were not displaying properly.

XL Eclipse #23 – $50,000 PKO 8-Max
Buy-in: $160
Entries: 368
Prize pool: $70,200

It finally happened – Finland’s ‘dmg34’ became the first two-time XL Eclipse title winner in 2019 after outlasting the 368 players in the $50,000 PKO 8-Max. The Finnish grinder took home the lion’s share of the guarantee-shattering $70,200 prize pool and walked away with $6,756.75 for first plus the bulk of the $35,100 bounty prize pool.

PocketFiver Jonathan ‘nutcracker95’ Matthewman nearly picked up his second career XL Eclipse title but instead finished as the runner up, good for a $5,001.75 payday. The UK grinder will be adding his nice four-figure score to his career online lifetime total of $558,000.

Canada’s ‘sasasa137’ finished the tournament in third place, turning their $160 buy-in into a $3,773.25 score.

Event #23 Final Table

1. dmg34 – $6,756.75 + $35,100.00
2. nutcracker95 – $5,001.75
3. sasasa137 – $3,773.25
4. illcinnnnn – $2,720.25
5. casual_win – $1,842.75
6. opapro – $1,316.25
7. RaiseOnceAli – $965.25
8. Vomani – $789.75

XL Eclipse #24 – $20,000 Mini PKO 8-Max
Buy-in: $22
Entries: 1,023
Prize pool: $27,980

When you put the words “Mini” and “PKO” in the same tournament title, the players are sure to show up. Players registered early and often creating a grand total of 1,023 entries and a total prize pool of $27,980 on a $22 buy-in.

‘mateuszek115’ ended up on top taking home the top prize of $2,578.89, the bulk of the bounties and the XL Eclipse title. Right behind him, Lithuania took the second and third place spots as ‘RiLucas’ finished as the runner up for $1,818.70 and ‘Edikas07’ grabbed $1,399.00 in third.

Event #24 Final Table

1. mateuszek115 – $2,578.89
2. RiLucas – $1,818.70
3. Edikas07 – $1,399.00
4. Nilly95 – $1,049.25
5. MorayEEEEEL – $699.50
6. Ganjamannnn – $489.65
7. batai1234 – $314.77
8. NSP14 – $212.64

XL Eclipse #25 – $20,000 Late PKO 8-Max
Buy-in: $55
Entries: 397
Prize pool: $26,650

It took just a few minutes over seven hours for Russia’s ‘Roma3Pari’ to take down the $20,000 Late PKO 8-Max for a first-place haul of $2,531.97 and the XL Eclipse title. The tournament saw 397 runners bolster the prize pool to $26,650, half of which was dedicated to the bounties.

Brazil’s ‘Rose Gambit’ took home her largest score ever on 888poker with her runner-up finish worth $1,865.50 plus her share of the bounties. The Brazilian, who just last year cracked the top 1000 players in the world, sees her lifetime online total jump to over $335,000 with the score.

Finally, Germany’s ‘weh_chr’ took home the bronze, earning $1,399.12 for their efforts.

Event #25 Final Table

1. Roma3Pari – $2,531.97
2. RoseGambit – $1,865.50
3. weh_chr – $1,399.12
4. ehbaron68 – $999.37
5. chinpola – $666.25
6. wh4ishat3 – $466.37
7. AGelinski – $333.12
8. ElGradiente – $266.50