Saturday was the penultimate day of the 888poker XL Eclipse schedule with $65,000 worth of guarantees to be fought over. And players did fight for it – six-handed. Three tournaments, all Six Max, surpassed their guarantees and provided players one last chance to get in the game before the start of Sunday’s $1,000,000 guaranteed Main Event. Here’s all of the Six Max action that kicked off the final XL Eclipse weekend.

‘Kannwas’ Chops With Arsenii ‘josef_shevjk’ Karmatskiy

In the spotlight tournament of the day, Event #28: $30,000 6-Max, Austria’s ‘Kannwas’ made a heads-up deal with Russian crusher Arsenii ‘josef_shevjk’ Karmatskiy to take home $8,242.28 and the title of XL Eclipse champion.

For his part, the #26-ranked Karmatskiy, took home mere pennies less, $8,241.37, and settled for second place. Karmatskiy ranked as high as #4 in 2018 and accumulated over $2.6 million in career earnings. It marks his third cash of the series, qualifying him for the $600 tournament ticket bonus, and puts him as one to watch in Sunday’s Main Event.

In Event #29: $20,000 Mini 6-Max 528 players posted their $33 to help push the prize pool to $22,290. Mexico’s ‘gaingrapes’ brought home the win for $4,313.29, besting Romania’s ‘KeepTrying05’ heads up. The Romanian also take home a four-figure score of $3,198.61.

In the late contest, Event #30: $15,000 Late 6-Max, for the second time during the day, the final two made a heads-up deal. Sweden’s ‘Feeding6’ would take home the title and $3,052.55 while ‘hotizzle’ settled for second and earned slightly more at $3,070.45.

Saturday’s Results

Gearing Up For Sunday

One look at the registration list for Event #28 showed that some of online poker’s top players were grinding for the weekend.

2017 XL Eclipse champion ‘_Lord_Xenu_’ picked up yet another 2018 cash finishing just outside the final table in ninth for $1,219.50. Just two spots behind him, finishing in 11th for $711.37, was #9-ranked Roman ‘Romeopro’ Romanovsky.

Team Sweden was also out in full force. Jonathan ‘Pot4teUS’ Hellman cashed in 13th place. Finishing just outside the money was Andreas ‘r4ndomr4gs’ Berggren, Niklas ‘Clay_Born’ Kley, #32-ranked ‘Sheater’ and the current #1-ranked player in the world, ‘tutten7’.

PocketFivers Make It Six

Despite the final tables only being six players, plenty of PocketFivers found their way to battle for the big bucks.

In addition to ‘josef_shvejk’, Rocco ‘sephir0t’ Palumbo from Italy busted in third place for $5,081.25, one of the largest prizes of the day. Taking sixth at the same final table was Argentina’s Ivan ‘ivanascasubi’ Vilchez. Vilchez, the #431-ranked player in the world, earned $1,829.25 for his third cash of the series.

In Event #29 the UK’s ‘R1CHKING’ added some cash to his coffers by taking the bronze for $2,396.17. The score will put him just over $660,000 for a career.

Sunday’s Schedule

It’s here, the final day of 888poker’s 2018 XL Eclipse. It brings four events with massive guarantees, including the $1,000,000 Main Event. In total 888poker is promising $1.3 million in prize pools on Sunday. It’s sure to bring out online poker players from all over the planet looking to grab a piece of one of 888poker’s biggest days of the year.

In addition, there’s a 50 seat guaranteed Mega Satellite. Win your way into the Main Event for a little as $215.

XL Eclipse #31 – $100,000 Mega Deep – $215
XL Eclipse #32 – $1,000,000 Main Event – $1,050
XL Eclipse #33 – $150,000 Mini Main – $55
XL Eclipse #34 – $50,000 Micro Main – $55