888poker XL Blizzard: Russia's "ribamech15" Wins Main Event for $84,450!

Eric Mertens
Lyle Bateman
Live Reporter
4 min read
888poker XL Blizzard: Russia's "ribamech15" Wins Main Event for $84,450!

At just over 14 and a half hours, it lived up to the name Main Event. When the dust settled, all the chips were in front of Russia's "ribamech15" and they had an extra $84,450 in their bankroll.

888poker XL Blizzard #32 - $500,000 Main Event

Buy-inDatePlayersPrize pool
$250Feb. 162,077$500,000

There was a bit of extra value as they fell just short of the guarantee, with 1,557 entries plus 520 rebuys they came pretty close to the promised $500,000.

2020 XL Blizzard Main Event Final Table Results

PlacePlayerCountryPrize
1ribamech15Russia$84,450
2gtavares10Brazil$60,100
3fastfingersIreland$46,000
4daltonhbBrazil$32,500
5mikinadsRussia$23,750
6J0hnnyJ0hnMalta$19,000
7Agustin12389Argentina$14,250
8vezunchiksssUkraine$9,500
9noahdapittyCanada$5,400

Main Event Recap

The biggest event in the XL Blizzard kicked off at 5 PM GMT, but even with 5 hours of late registration, it started off strong with more than 700 players in their seats when the first hand was dealt. By the time the registration was over 5 hours later, 1,557 entries added 520 rebuys. That meant 207 players got paid, with minimum cash set at $550, and the $84,450 up top.

It took another 2 hours and 20 minutes to get into the money, and once that happened, things moved even faster. Just an hour later they were down to 109 players left and another hour later just 55 remained.

It started to slow down a bit at that point, with another 3 hours elapsing before the final table was set. Then they hit the gas again. Canadian "noahdapitty" was the first off the big stage, followed "vezunchiksss" of Ukraine a few minutes later. "Agustin12389", "J0hnnyJ0hn", "mikinads", and "daltonhb" then quickly exited as well bringing the total down to three.

They played three-handed for close to 40 minutes before Ireland's "fastfingers" took the 3rd place spot worth $46,000 after they got their short stack in with suited gappers and ran into ace-queen.

Heads-up took about 30 minutes, and while they started close to even, Russia's "ribamech15" build and held a lead. "gtavares10" of Brazil played the short stack well, doubling when they had to, and finding the right folds to stay alive. It wasn't to be though, and after about half an hour of heads up play, they finally got it in with ace-nine, only to run into big slick in the winner's hand. The second place was worth $60,100 for the Brazilian, while $84,450 went to the Russian winner.


888poker XL Blizzard #33 - $50,000 Mini Main Event

Buy-inDatePlayersPrize pool
$33Feb. 162,835$34,400

888poker XL Blizzard #33 - $50,000 Mini Main Event Final Table Results

PlacePlayerCountryPrize
1geringonsaUnited Kingdom$12,965
2brendowlucasBrazil$9,731
3weh_chrGermany$7,048
4mattmoney8Unknown$5,292
5GoodNicknameUnknown$3,889
6Showdown13Germany$3,101
7steamraise1United Kingdom$2,314
8tdnatellaBrazil$1,551
9clickityclicAustria$960

In the first 210 minutes of play, a total of 1,976 players and 759 rebuys made a total of 2,835 entries. They created a total prize pool of $34,400 which made for a first-place prize of $12,964. It took a while to get in the money, but in the end, it was South Korea's "NEONTIGER" who was the last player finishing empty-handed, bubbling the XL Blizzard #33 - $50,000 Mini Main Event.

After making the money, it took a long time before the tournament was down to the last nine. For "clickityclic" (ninth - $960), "tdnatella" (eighth - $1,1,551), and "steamraise1" (seventh - $2,314) it wasn't a big success on the final table as they left quite early on.

After that, the tournament saw "Showdown13" leave in sixth place ($3,101.) For "GoodNickname" the tournament ended in fifth place for $3,889 while "mattmoney8" ended in fourth place for $5,292.

With three players left, all remaining players got at least $7,048. That prize-money went to Germany's "weh_chr" after finishing in third place. After that elimination, United Kingdom's "geringonsa" defeated "brendowlucas" in the deciding heads-up to get the XL Blizzard Mini Main Event title and a prize of $12,965. The Brazilian runner-up settled for $9,731.


888poker XL Blizzard #34 - $15,000 Micro Main Event

Buy-inDatePlayersPrize pool
$5.50Feb. 164,221$21,105

The last event of the day started an hour after the Main Event and the XL Blizzard #34 - $15,000 Micro Main Event attracted a field of 4,221 players. They were all chasing the first place prize of $3,416 while every finalist would receive a minimum of $190. The final four players made it a four-figure score.

In the end, "MrMinistr" finished in fourth place, receiving the prize of $1,245. Before the final heads-up, "bigsky31" got eliminated in third place for $1,667.

The deciding battle for the victory was won by Ukraine's "Kaiman.O_O.", who defeated the United Kingdom's regular "thspace". The runner-up received $2,300 while the winner got $3,416 in their account.

888poker XL Blizzard #34 - $15,000 Micro Main Event Final Table Results

PlacePlayerCountryPrize
1Kaiman.O_O.Ukraine$3,416
2thspaceUnited Kingdom$2,300
3bigsky31United Kingdom$1,667
4MrMinistrUkraine$1,245
5BluffCatchBelarus$874
6TuckYouIn22Canada$633
7stefinel24Romania$422
8SeryIceGermany$253
9_FALCON_Ukraine$190
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Eric Mertens
Lyle Bateman
Live Reporter

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