Romanian Main Event One-Two Brings Curtain Down on 888poker XL Autumn Series

The curtain came down on another successful XL Autumn Series at 888poker on September 30, after the crowning of the Main Event champion. The $250 buy-in RAKELESS Mystery Bounty Main Event drew in 2,319 entrants who ensure the $500,000 guarantee was surpassed by $79,750.

Day 2 ended with only eight players in contention for the $54,432 top prize. The huge $50,000 jackpot mystery bounty had already been pulled. It was in the 888poker account of Romanian grinder “afflegit,” who also happened to be the chip leader at the start of the final table’s action.

$500,000 Mystery Bounty Main Event Final Table Chip Counts

The United Kingdom’s “Pirsis” sat down at the final table as the shortest stack and was the first player to be eliminated. “afflegit” was aggressively wielding their big stack and min-raised from middle position with ten-six of hearts. The action folded to “Pirsis”in the small blind, and they jammed all-in for 11 big blinds with ace-king; the initial raiser called. A ten on the flop proved enough to send a disappointed “Pirsis” to the rail, and a $5,000 mystery bounty payment to their executioner.

A battle of the blinds didn’t go to plan for Denmark’s “Dvingminator”, who busted in seventh. They open-shoved for 12 big blinds from the small blind with king-five and lost to the ace-six of diamonds of “vireiadulto7” in the big blind.

The final six became five shortly after the first scheduled break. 888poker regular “CPU0r” moved all-in with pocket threes from the small blind for 8.5 big blinds, and received a call in the shape of “vireiadulto7” in the big blind with ace-eight. The race was all but over on the flop courtesy of an eight appearing. Blanks on the turn and river confirmed the demise of “CPU0r.”

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Approximately ten minutes after that last elimination, a huge hand went down that saw Brazilian “vireiadulto7” fall by the wayside. The Brazil national min-raised with ace-king of diamonds before four-betting all-in for 26 big blinds after “afflegit” clicked it back with pocket queens in the big blind. “afflegit” called the shove and saw their stack swell to almost 84 big blinds after winning that coinflip.

“Malyjj” was second in chips at the start of four-handed play, but they ultimately finished in fourth. First, they lost a substantial pot with ace-jack against the pocket kings of “amormori”, which left them with less than 15 big blinds. They then open-shoved from the small blind for 11.5 big blinds with king-deuce of diamonds, and lost to the ace-ten in the hand of big blind “01tdr.”

Three-handed play spanned almost an hour, ending with the once dominant “afflegit” heading to the rail in third, their willingness to splash around in pots coming back to bite them. Their final participation in this Main Event was to call off their last 8.5 big blinds from the big blind with ten-three and lose to the eight-six of spades that “01tdr” had jammed from the small blind.

“amormori,” who found themselves fifth in chips at the start of play, was now heads-up against “01tdr” holding a 69.7 to 23 big blind lead. Such a gap proved too much for “01tdr” to bridge.

Around 20 minutes into the heads-up battle, “amormori” limped with eight-deuce and “01tdr” checked their jack-ten. “01tdr” check called a one big blind bet on the nine-ace-queen flop, leaving themselves with less than ten big blinds while holding an open-ended straight draw. The ten of spades on the turn put three spades on the board, and “amormori” was the only player with a spade in their hand; the action went check, bet, call.

The river put an offsuit jack into play, improving “01tdr” to two pair, but “amormori” to a straight. “01tdr” checked, “amormori” moved all-in, and “01tdr” called off their last 7 big blinds. The hole cards were revealed, the final pot of the $500,000 RAKELESS Mystery Bounty Main Event slid to “amormori” and their 888poker account swelled by an impressive $55,782.

$500,000 Mystery Bounty Main Event Final Table Results

Full 888poker XL Autumn Series Results

Expand the table to see all of the results from the 888poker XL Autumn Series.

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Events 32 and 36 are not showing in the 888poker lobby}

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.