Welcome to 888poker’s XL Inferno Recap
Yesterday: May 16, 2019
The XL Inferno kicked off on 888poker on Thursday. The series will feature 34 tournaments with more than $1.4 million in guarantees up for grabs now through May 26. With buy-ins ranging from $5.50 up to $320 there’s something for everyone.
The XL Inferno will culminate with the $25 buy-in Event #32: $500,000 Main Event on May 25 at 5 p.m. GMT. Players will start with 50,000 in chips and play 20-minute levels, making it a must-play tournament for any online poker aficionado. Satellites for that event and more start at just 1¢.
Click here for a look at the full XL Inferno schedule.
https://www.888poker.com/poker-tourn...l-series/#sche
Here’s a look at what happened on the first day of the 2019 XL Inferno, which catered to 3,365 entries and awarded $23,582.89 in prize money;
“sh4xuR7” Wins XL Inferno Opening Event for Nearly $14K
The $109 buy-in XL Inferno Event #1: $50,000 Opening Event attracted 534 players who rebought 192, which meant the guarantee was surpassed with a $72,600 prize pool on tap. The top 72 players got paid including XL Blizzard champ “IlovePickles” (51st - $290.40), “CutinuaBR” (38th - $326.70), “HowardFolder” (27th - $435.60), and Sam “sammygrinder” Grafton (24th - $435.60).
Grafton actually fired four bullets (the max allowed) in the tournament, meaning he recouped his entire investment minus $1. Others to cash were “Paradigm21” (17th - $580.80), “exPROsjak” (9th - $1,110.78), “Farrugia_1” (6th - $3,085.50), “jmsantos10” (4th - $5,590.20), and “Alex_Vol” (3rd - $7,405.20).
It took just over nine hours for a winner to emerge and happened when Austria’s “sh4xuR7” defeated the UK’s “pokerdave128” in heads-up play to win the title and $13,721.40 first-place prize.
In the final hand of the tournament, “pokerdave128 jammed his last 12 big blinds with king-three suited and “sh4xuR7” called with ace-three offsuit. The former needed to get lucky but came up empty as the board ran out nine high to send him to the rail in second place for $10,055.
Malta’s “wh4ishat3” Claims Mini Opening Event Title
The $16.50 buy-in XL Inferno Event #2: $20,000 Mini Opening Event attracted 1,468 players who rebought 582 times. That easily surpassed the guarantee by creating a $30,750 prize pool paid out to the top 162 players.
Among those to make deep runs were “Melapika” (46th - $86.10), “managaa” (26th - $123), “N33dCoaching” (17th - $147.60), “lovelydonk” (11th - $270.60), “AMG_people” (5th - $1,522.12), and “F.Lupo” (5th - $2,091).
The final three players struck a deal and then played it out. After 8 hours and 38 minutes in the tournament, Malta’s “wh4ishat3” bested Belarus’s “k29mario” in heads-up play to win the title and $5,114.25 in prize money.
Late Opening Event Ends in Heads-Up Deal
The $55 buy-in XL Inferno Event #3: $20,000 Late Opening Event saw 434 players rebuy 145 times to create a $28,950 prize pool. Among the top 63 to get a piece of it were “ILovePickles” (46th - $136.06), “luisnrd” (24th - $173.70), “lagostim” (18th - $231.60), “jmsantos10” (10th - $347.40), “gibidon” (6th - $1,230.37), and “MorayEEEEEL” (3rd - $2,258.10).
The final two players struck a deal and played it out with the UK’s “elephant107” beating Finland’s “winlikefedor” after nearly seven hours of play. While he officially finished in second place, the latter actually took home more money thanks to the deal.
Be sure to check back on Thursday, May 23 for the next XL Inferno recap. We’ll also provided a recap on the final day of the series, Sunday, May 26, as well as an overall highlight article.