Brazilian Bulldozes Their Way to 888poker XL Spring Series Glory

The XL Spring Series exploded into life online at 888poker on May 3 with eight events running at one point. Another five concluded on May 4, including the $109 Opening Event RAKELESS Mystery Edition. Every cent of the $109 buy-in went into the prize pool, yet there was still an overlay because only 885 players bought in. Overlays are bad for the online poker site but great for players because they are essentially free money, and who doesn’t like free money?

Day 1 ended with only eight players in the hunt for the title of champion. All of the big mystery bounty payments had been opened and collected before the final table was set. Argentina’s “calabaza014” and the United Kingdom’s “danmoran1” both opened a $3,000 bounty envelope.

Another Brit, “Missyp,” was the fortunate recipient of a mystery bounty envelope worth a cool $10,000. That haul, combined with 81st-place prize money and a handful of other bonuses, meant they took home $10,699, a shade more than the eventual champion.

Brazil’s “marcelowo14” sat down with 89 big blinds, which were enough for the chip lead. Fellow Brazilian “DantonGomes” was second with 80 big blinds, while another Samba star, “AAdiniz” brought up the rear with only seven big blinds.

XL Spring #06 – $100,000 RAKELESS Mystery Bounty Opening Event Final Table Chip Counts

Almost 20 minutes passed before the first elimination was confirmed. “Jonna6756” opened from an early position with king-jack of diamonds, and they called a three-bet from “marcelowo14” from a couple of seats along, which they made with king-ten. “Jonna6756” led on the king-high flop and called a raise, leading to a nine on the turn, which put two diamonds in view.

The Finn led again before calling off the 13.5 big blinds they had behind when “marcelowo14” moved all-in. “jonna6756” was an 88% favourite to win the hand, but a jack on the river gifted “marcelowo14” a straight, and sent the Finn home in eighth.

Seventh place went to “Aadiniz” around 10 minutes after “Jonna6756” busted. The action folded to “BoyGoesWild” in the small blind, and they moved all-in with ten-trey of hearts. “Aadiniz” snap-called off their 6.2 big blinds with ace-nine and looked set for a double-up, especially because they flopped a nine. However, a ten landed on the turn, and it held to reduce the player count again.

Nothing went the way of “Shoobydoobop” at the final table, and they were put out of their misery in sixth place. They raised to six big blinds preflop, leaving 0.4 big blinds behind, with ace-nine of diamonds. “BoyGoesWild” clicked it back with ace-seven in the big blind, and “Shoobydoobop” called all-in. “Shoobydoobop” paired their nine, but “BoyGoesWild” improved to a jack-high straight, and it was game over for the Brazilian.

A huge pot in the 40th minute of the action saw “DantonGomes” bow out and “marcelowo14” ascend to an almost unbeatable position. “marcelowo14” min-raised with pocket jacks from under the gun, “DantonGomes” three-bet with ace-queen of spades, and the action folded back to “marcelowo14” who ripped in their stack. “DantonGomes” called off 40.2 big blinds, and it was off to the races. An eight-high board sent “DantonGomes” to the rail in fifth, and “marcelowo14” climbed to almost 145 big blinds!

“marcelowo14” wielded their big stack like a table bully, but were pegged back somewhat when they ran into “picimatyi”‘s pocket kings when they held ace-eight. That hand put “marcelowo14” into second place, and the player with the Cowboys to the top of the chip counts.

They ran into the kings of “TreeTeeAga” a few hands later when they were overly aggressive with middle pair.

“picimatyi” found pocket kings again 90 minutes into the final table, and they resulted in “TreeTeeAga” all but busting. The chips of “picimatyi” and “TreeTeeAga” went into the middle, the former with kings and the latter with pocket eights. The kings held, and “TreeTeeAga” was left with fewer than three big blinds. Unsurprisingly, they didn’t recover and crashed out soon after.

The $100,000 RAKELESS Mystery Bounty Opening Event reached the heads-up stage when “boyGoesWild” came unstuck in third. “marcelwo14” opened on the button with pocket sixed and called when “BoyGoesWild” three bet from the big blind with pocket jacks. A nine-high board looked safe for those jacks, but it wasn’t because “marcelowo14” had flopped a set of sixes. “BoyGoesWild” fired a continuation bet, which was called.

Another nine on the turn strengthened “marcelowo14″‘s hand further. “BoyGoesWild” moved all-in for 12.1 big blinds into the 18.1 big blind pot, and was snapped off. The river bricked, and heads-up was set.

The stacks of the heads-up players were almost even, but they didn’t discuss a deal. Although first blood went to “picimatyi,” “marcelowo14” seemed to be making hands at the right time. By the time the final hand occurred, “marcelowo14” had a nearly five-to-one chip advantage.

That final hand saw “picimatyi” complete the small blind with queen-ten, then call a raise from their aggressive opponent, which they made with ace-nine. “marcelowo14” led on the king-trey-ace flop and was called. They bet again on a queen turn, but couldn’t shake off “picimatyi.” A six on the river saw “marcelowo14” set “picimatyi” all-in for their last 13.6 big blinds. After some deliberation, “picimatyi” called all-in and was shown the bad news.

Second place came with a total prize of $8,383, while the champion took home $10,643.

XL Spring #06 – $100,000 RAKELESS Mystery Bounty Opening Event Final Table Results

888poker XL Spring Series Results

Thirteen XL Spring Series events have crowned their champions s far. Aside from the $100,000 RAKELESS Mystery Bounty Opening Event, “yogibear1971” is the biggest single winner, courtesy of banking $8,736 when they finished on top in the $525 Big Shot High Roller.

888poker XL Spring Series 2026 Schedule

Don’t worry if you missed the chance to play in an XL Spring Series at 888poker over the weekend because another 47 events are waiting in the wings. Expand the table below to view the full remaining schedule.

Matthew Pitt hails from Leeds, West Yorkshire, in the United Kingdom, and has worked in the poker industry since 2008, and worked for PokerNews since 2010. In September 2010, he became the editor of PokerNews. Matthew stepped away from live reporting duties in 2015, and now concentrates on his role of Senior Editor for the PokerNews.