"leblond1996" Wins the 888poker XL Spring High Roller ($11,718)

Jason Glatzer
Lyle Bateman
Live Reporter
4 min read
888poker XL Spring Series

The $1 million guaranteed XL Spring Series at 888poker progressed onto its third day of the festival with three more exciting events.

PokerNews live reported the biggest of them all in the XL Spring Series #7: $50,000 High Roller. Canada's"leblond1996" won the title for $11,718 but that might not be the biggest news of the day as two players from Belarus appeared on two big final tables each yesterday during the XL Spring Series.

"Broten" took fourth place in both the High Roller and the Mini High Roller while "SmartestCat" was runner-up in the Mini High Roller before going on to win the Late High Roller.

Check out the results from the first day of the XL Spring Series at 888poker.

Play in the XL Spring Series at 888poker!

Satellites to the XL Spring Series now running at 888poker


XL Spring #8 - $50,000 High Roller

Buy-inDateEntriesPrize pool
$320June 2168$50,400

Canada's"leblond1996" defeated"saudades123" in a quick heads-up battle to win the XL Spring #8 - $50,000 High Roller for $11,718 The tournament attracted 168 entries to crack the guarantee, with $50,400 in the prize pool.

"leblond1996" was one of the small stacks coming to the final table, but fund a huge spot with jacks to triple up and get into the top three. They chipped up to the lead later after flopping two pair with king-jack against the king-queen of third place finisher Adam "IT5PAYDAY" Neal.

They stayed at or near the top of the chip counts from there out. Both "saudades123" and Neal briefly took the lead at various points, but "leblond1996" jumped back into the lead after eliminating "Broten" in fourth and sailed to the win from there.

The 888pokerTV Twitch channel also broadcast this event with Nick Wealthall and David Tuchman announcing the action while also entertaining the masses.

XL Spring #8 - $50,000 High Roller Final Table Results

PlacePlayerCountryPrize
1leblond1996Canada$11,718
2saudades123 $8,392
3Adam "IT5PAYDAY" NealUnited Kingdom$6,048
4BrotenBelarus$4,329
5POK_33_TATOORomania$3,044
6supari69Canada$2,192
7FoldestJaEh $1,593
8ankapupuFinland$1,164
9andrew_flashGermany$852

Head to our Live Reporting Hub to read more about this event.


XL Spring #9 - $25,000 Mini High Roller

Buy-inDateEntriesPrize pool
$55June 2538$26,900

The XL Spring #9 - $25,000 Mini High Roller was another popular event at 888poker with 538 entries generating a $26,900 to crush the $25,000 guarantee.

The final table featured three players from Belarus. "Dallmaa" was the first of the trio to hit the rail in eighth place for $532. Meanwhile, "Broten", who took fourth place in Event #8 also took fourth place in this event as well for $1,889 to bring their total haul between the two events up to $6,218.

"SmartestCat" went the further among those from Belarus as they advanced to heads-up play against Canada's "Pat14" with both players having $3,567 locked up with $4,920 slated for the winner.

"Pat14" denied Belarus a championship after they beat their opponent heads-up to win the title.

XL Spring #9 - $25,000 Mini High Roller Final Table Results

PlacePlayerCountryPrize
1Pat14Canada$4,920
2SmartestCatBelarus$3,567
3mogyo_10Romania$2,585
4BrotenBelarus$1,889
5JackOfHe4rtUnknown$1,391
6dreamerwinsNigeria$1,022
7toshapiter86Russia$756
8DallmaaBelarus$562
9Ceff123Finland$420

XL Spring #10 - $20,000 Late High Roller

Buy-inDateEntriesPrize pool
$109June 2185$20,000

The XL Spring #10 - $20,000 Late High Roller was the final event of the day and provided tons of value to those that cashed thanks to the 185 entires coming 15 entries short of meeting the $20,000 guarantee.

"SmartestCat", who finished runner-up in Event #10 was heads-up again in this event. This time they got the job done to win the event for $4,650 after defeating United Kingdom's "RED_WINE" in heads-up play.

Spain's Mario "THEKIDM8" Sanchez, who waves an Irish flag at 888poker, was also on the podium with a third-place performance worth $2,400 while Andorra's Soraya "railerita" Estrada Gonzalez wasn't too far behind with a fifth-place finish for $1,208.

XL Spring #3 - $10,000 Micro Opening Final Table Results

PlacePlayerCountryPrize
1SmartestCatBelarus$4,650
2RED_WINEUnited Kingdom$3,330
3Mario "THEKIDM8" SanchezIreland$2,400
4dozent44Germany$1,718
5Soraya "railerita" Estrada GonzalezAndorra$1,208
6NastyKatoCanada$870
7888poker19Ukraine$632
8marllonsantiBelarus$462
9jimsmithwistUnited Kingdom$338

2021 888poker XL Spring Schedule

DateTime (GMT)EventBuy-inGuarantee
May 306 p.m.XL Spring #1 - $50,000 Opening Event$55$50,000
 6 p.m.XL Spring #2 - $25,000 Mini Opening$16.50$25,000
 6:30 p.m.XL Spring #3 - $10,000 Micro Opening$5.50$10,000
 8 p.m.XL Spring #4 - $15,000 Late Opening$33$15,000
May 316 p.m.XL Spring #5 - $20,000 R&A Event$33$20,000
 6 p.m.XL Spring #6 - $8,000 Mini R&A$5.50$8,000
 8 p.m.XL Spring #7 - $8,000 Late R&A$11$8,000
June 16 p.m.XL Spring #8 - $50,000 High Roller$320$50,000
 6 p.m.XL Spring #9 - $25,000 Mini High Roller$55$25,000
 8 p.m.XL Spring #10 - $20,000 Late High Roller$109$20,000
June 26 p.m.XL Spring #11 - $30,000 PKO$109$30,000
 6 p.m.XL Spring #12 - $15,000 Mini PKO$16.50$15,000
 8 p.m.XL Spring #13 - $10,000 Late PKO$33$10,000
June 36 p.m.XL Spring #14 - $40,000 PKO 8-Max$160$40,000
 6 p.m.XL Spring #15 - $15,000 Mini PKO 8-Max$22$15,000
 8 p.m.XL Spring #16 - $15,000 Late PKO 8-Max$55$15,000
June 45 p.m.XL Spring #17 - $30,000 DeepStack$55$30,000
 5 p.m.XL Spring #18 - $15,000 Mini DeepStack$16.50$15,000
 7 p.m.XL Spring #19 - $10,000 Late DeepStack$33$10,000
June 56 p.m.XL Spring #20 - $30,000 6-Max$109$30,000
 6 p.m.XL Spring #21 - $15,000 Mini 6-Max$16.50$15,000
 8 p.m.XL Spring #22 - $15,000 Late 6-Max$55$15,000
June 65 p.m.XL Spring #23 - $500,000 Main Event$250$500,000
 5:30 p.m.XL Spring #24 - $50,000 Mini Main Event$33$50,000
 6 p.m.XL Spring #25 - $15,000 Micro Main Event$5.50$15,000

Claim Your $888 Welcome Bonus Today

Head to 888poker between May 30 to June 6 if you want to get your teeth into the XL Spring events.

If you don’t have an account simply download 888poker through PokerNews and you will be awarded an $88 bonus (£20 in the UK) without making a deposit.

Once you are ready to make your first deposit, it will be matched in the form of a bonus of up to $888, or more than twice as much advertised on the site.

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Jason Glatzer
Lyle Bateman
Live Reporter

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