The 63-event 888poker Super XL Series VII has hit the halfway mark and, if you've missed it so far, you've missed out on some scintillating action.
All the tournaments so far have easily surpassed their guarantees and the majority have even doubled them.
There's been a double winner, double final tables, a WSOP champion making his mark and the best online poker tournament player ever doing what he does best.
In short: it's been a hit. And there's still a week to go.
Moorman Does Moorman
This header feels like a déjà-vu. 888poker Ambassador Chris Moorman isn’t just very good at online poker; he’s the most successful online tournament player ever.
Make moves on me? Sure.
With over 20 Triple Crowns and $13m+ in earnings it’s not if but when he'll win his next major crown.
He's already made the final table of the Super XL Series’ opening event, a $109 NLHE tournament with 1,033 players and almost $160k in the prize pool - double the $80k guarantee.
“I felt surprisingly good considering I haven't played that much online poker lately," Moorman said afterwards.
"This was my first real session back at the tables and to make a final table is a great start.
“The players were making a lot of moves against me and I was fortunate enough to have good hands in those situations.
“With the tournament being a re-entry one I felt like the average player was more willing to gamble so it was important to adjust to that.”
Adrian Mateos Wins Mega Deep
Moorman wasn't the only big name circulating in the upper echelons of the Super XL Series.
Mateos: Just wins.
Former WSOP Europe Main Event and EPT Grand Final Champion Adrian Mateos is already #2 on the Spanish all-time money list for live poker.
Now he’s also a Super XL champion as he won Event #13, $215 NLHE, which had $150,000 guaranteed but eventually paid out more than $190k.
It took more than 14 hours but ADRI_ATM got all the chips of all 959 original players to claim the main prize of $34,524.
Said Mateos: “I feel really good about this victory. It was my first session online after some months of live poker and I’m really happy."
Make it a Double
The Opening Event set the tone for the series and it looks like it’s going to give us a couple of amazing achievements.
Look at trojanmouse, for example. The Czech player final-tabled both Event #1 and the Super Turbo Event #3 before eventually settling for 3rd and 5th place, respectively.
These results gave trojanmouse, who’s been a successful player on 888poker for a while, a payday of close to $20,000 and second place on the tournament series leaderboard.
Even more impressive was the performance of curioso24. This player registered for the twin events on Sunday – two identical $55 events running simultaneously.
He not only managed to make it into the money in both events, he reached the final tables in both, finishing in 4th and 8th place! An astounding achievement, particularly if you consider that the tournaments had around 750 players.
888poker had promised a special $100k prize if someone was able to win both events and Curioso24 came very close; as a reward he'll receive tickets to both the Main and High Roller events.
That equals a value of $3,150, which almost equals his payouts last Sunday night.
Leaderboard Battle Heated, Action Builds to Sunday
As curioso24 also made the money in the opening event he climbed to 6th on the series leaderboard, which would earn him the right to play for a 2017 WSOP package in the Champion of Champions event.
Action goes and goes.
Canadian player Mindcrushers has also delivered an astonishing performance as he won the opening event with Chris Moorman at the table and then won a second event – a $75 Super Turbo tournament that lasted just 107 minutes.
First prize was $4,096, which means that Mindcrushers was “working” for about $38 per minute.
The Super XL series VII runs right until Sunday with a the 888poker steps system a great shortcut to getting your tickets for any of the main events.
Deposit at least $10 using the promo code SUPER10 and you’ll also get three tickets for 888poker’s daily qualifiers.
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