After 34 events and more than $1 million in total prizes won, 888poker’s XL Winter Series wrapped up on Sunday with ‘Kazi070486’ winning the $500,000 GTD Main Event PKO for $34,685 plus an additional $26,178 in bounties for a total score of $60,863.

The final event in the nearly two-week-long series drew a total of 1,824 entries, which provided players some extra value to the tune of $44,000 in overlay. After eleven and a half hours, Russia’s ‘Kazi07086’ walked away with the outright win, besting Denmark’s ‘Acp0lle’ in heads-up play. As the runner-up, ‘Acp0ll3’ took home $34,683 as well as an extra $3,568 in bounties. Brazil’s ‘M.Flush.N’ took the final spot on the podium, finishing in third place for $21,506.78 plus $8,431 in bounties.

The XL Winter Series Main Event was one of the biggest tournaments 888poker held all year and as such provided some of their largest paydays to their players. Six players turned their $250 buy-in into five-figure scores including Romania’s ‘Mr.Crusher’ (4th, $17,364), former top-50 worldwide ranked ‘peledazmogis’ (5th, $12,577), and ‘rivadeep’ (7th, $10,880) who despite finishing in seventh place, cashed for more than 6th place ‘Jarmoausalt’ (6th, $9,210), thanks to racking up $4,321 in bounties along the way.

XL Winter Series Main Event Final Table

XL Winter Event Series Highlights

The $500K GTD Main Event was by no means the only tournament in the series that provided players an opportunity to build a healthy bankroll. There were plenty of highlights to be had, in which 888poker players turned smaller buy-ins into big-time scores.

Right off the bat in XL Winter Event #1 ($50,000 Opening Event), the 511-player field bested the guarantee with a $51,100 prize pool. India’s ‘arucia’ and the UK’s ‘barrybarry15’ ended up making a heads-up deal, that awarded ‘arucia’ a first-place prize of $9,039 and ‘barrybarry15’ $8,048 as the runner up. Sweden’s ‘TrollKnost8’ also turned the $109 buy-in into a nice payday, grabbing $5,365 for third place.

It’s tough to say what the highest value tournament of the series was, but Event #10 ($50,000 Tune Up) with its $55 buy-in might just be it. Players saw it the same way as 1,085 entries pushed the prize pool to over $54,000 giving the top eight players four-figure payouts. ‘pereleman’ ended up taking it down for $9,819 and the XL Winter title. Right behind him was Russia’s ‘Thundy100’ who locked up $7,052 as the runner up. ‘FlushJeZus’ also picked up nearly 100x the buy-in, taking the bronze for $5,289.

Some of the biggest paydays came in Event #17 ($50,000 High Roller). The $320 buy-in was the biggest of the series, but that didn’t stop 154 entries from taking their shot at the $11,500 first-place prize. Previous XL Eclipse champ ‘Kannwas’ added another title to their poker resume when they defeated the UK’s ‘oldskool555’ for the outright win. The UK grinder took home an even $8K as the runner up and Russia’s ‘mao042’ rounded out the top three with a $6,075 score.

In the end, it was the combination of value and the popularity of PKO’s that turned Event #33 ($50,000 Mini Main Event) into one of the most popular tournaments of the series. A total of 1,983 entries paid the $33 buy-in which crushed the guarantee to the tune of $59,490. Brazil took the top two spots with ‘afelipelli’ claiming the title and $3,555, plus an additional $3,338 in bounties, for first. His countryman, ‘JMBrotto’ settled for second place and a total score of $3,654. ‘heroes333’ almost got to the end, but finished in third place for a total haul of $3,083.

2020 XL Winter Series Winners

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