888poker’s 2019 XL Eclipse championship online poker series has officially hit the halfway mark as players begin to get hyped up for Sunday’s $250 buy-in $500,000 guaranteed Main Event.

That’s not to say that there aren’t still big-time tournaments to be played and Tuesday’s XL Eclipse schedule was proof of that as players, including the current #1-ranked player on the All-Time Online Money List, battled for over $150,000 in prize pools across three different ‘High Roller’ tournaments.

XL Eclipse #17 – $100,000 High Roller
Buy-in: $320
Entries: 223
Prize pool: $100,000

For the players that could afford an entry to XL Eclipse’s highest buy-in tournament on the schedule, it was a very good day.

The string of tournaments breaking their guarantee came to an end as 888poker’s $100,000 High Roller had 223 entries register in hopes to take home a five-figure score.

There was an unexpected bonus for the players: with 223 entries, including the rake, the prize pool totaled just over $71,000. That meant for the first time in the entire series, there was an overlay. A lot of overlay.

A total of $28,640 in pure overlay meant that players were getting maximum value which drove plenty of players to fire multiple shells to try and get a piece. Players who took multiple shots include well-known poker names like Former #1-ranked PocketFiver Andreas ‘r4ndomr4gs’ Berggren, current worldwide #2-ranked ‘tutten7’ (aka ‘lena900’) and World Series of Poker Main Event champ and current 888poker ambassador Martin Jacobson who managed to finish in 13th place for $1,350.

The UK’s ‘Kroat.’ found himself heads up for the High Roller title, a situation he was very familiar with. In April, he battled 888poker ambassador Chris ‘moorman1’ Moorman in the XL Blizzard $100,000 Tune Up. Moorman, who was the reigning All-Time Online Money List Leader at the time, bested ‘Kroat.’ who settled for second place and just over $15,000.

Here ‘Kroat.’ was again, locked in a see-saw heads up battle, for a hefty five-figure payday and the situation was even more similar than he could have anticipated. His opponent was Hungary’s ‘kiskutya23’ (aka ‘Belabacsi’) the NEW All-Time Online Money List leader. Earlier this year, ‘kiskutya23’, a ten-time PocketFives Triple Crown winner, finally entered all of his online screen names. The result catapulted him past Moorman into the lifetime #1 spot with $16.875 million in career scores.

Unfortunately for the UK’s ‘Kroat.’ history repeated itself and he fell to yet another online earnings list leader. ‘Kroat.’ was forced to settle for $15,000 as the runner up, while ‘kiskutya23’ added $20,450 to his enormous lifetime sum putting him just shy of $16.9 million.

‘joaobarb’ finished in third place, still taking home a five-figure score of $11,300 for his $320 investment.

XL Eclipse #17 Final Table

1. kiskutya23 – $20,450.00
2. Kroay. – $15,000.00
3. joaobarb – $11,300.00
4. sweet_dr34ms – $8,500.00
5. 01tdr – $5,800.00
6. F3nix35 – $4,500.00
7. Imrunningh0t – $3,500.00
8. sikosomatik – $2,500.00
9. chazcombes – $1,900.0

XL Eclipse #18 – $30,000 Mini High Roller
Buy-in: $55
Entries: 648
Prize pool: $45,950

Perhaps the $320 buy-in of the spotlight tournament was a little rich for some grinders, but the Mini High Roller seemed to hit the sweet spot. The $30,000 guarantee was more than crushed as 648 players pushed the prize pool to $45,950 assuring that eight of the nine  players at the final table would turn their $55 buy-in into four-figure scores.

Brazil’s ‘Dred_Rednose’ emerged from the pack to take home the XL Eclipse title and a nice payday of $8,679.95.

Just missing out was Canada’s Jason ‘JayMow30’ Maurer. The PocketFiver settled for runner up but still took home a healthy $6,295.15 score to add to his lifetime online total of over $424,379. The payday is Maurer’s best-ever result, in terms of money, on 888poker.

Malta’s ’SouTheMan’ finished in third place, picking up $4,640.95.

XL Eclipse #18 Final Table

1.Dred_Rednose – $8,680.15
2. JayMow30 – $6,295.15
3. SouTheMan – $4,640.95
4. steamraise1 – $3,492.20
5. RAGATTACK – $2,453.73
6. bLEENk7 – $1,952.87
7. bluffing420s – $1,493.37
8. RejamSam – $1,033.87
9. chipchipnuts – $689.25

XL Eclipse #19 – $20,000 Late High Roller
Buy-in: $109
Entries: 215
Prize pool: $28,900

The $20,000 Late High Roller sped to a conclusion as the 215-entry field crowned a winner in just over six-and-a-half hours.

‘IHaveNoBoss’ from Costa Rica fired the $109 entry fee twice only to see it pay off with an XL Eclipse title and a $6,213.50 payday.

Right behind him was Ukraine’s ‘fakery’ who banked $4,479.50 as the runner up and Russia’s ‘opapro’ took home the bronze for $3,395.75.

XL Eclipse #19 Final Table

1. IHaveNoBoss – $6,213.50
2. fakery – $4,479.50
3. opapro – $3,395.75
4. pactamah23 – $2,528.75
5. Ilikepugs – $1,734.00
6. pokanuktus – $1,445.00
7. Clay_Born – $1,156.00
8. Mamba_black – $867.00
9. sunkenluck – $578.00