PokerNews Online Championship Main Events Smash Their Guarantees at 888poker

Matthew Pitt
Senior Editor
4 min read
PokerNews Online Championship

PokerNews and 888poker wanted two Main Events for the inaugural PokerNews Online Championship and settled on a $25 buy-in, $50,000 guaranteed, and $215 buy-in, $300,000 guaranteed mystery bounty affair. Both guarantees were on the ambitious side, yet both were obliterated thanks to your incredible support.

Some 1,627 players bought into the $215 edition, creating a guarantee-busting $325,400 prize pool while a field of 3,085 in the $25 buy-in tournament resulted in $70,955 being awarded!

Day 2 of the $300,000 Guaranteed Main Event Ends With Eight Players

Day 2 of the $300,000 guaranteed Mystery Bounty Main Event started with 264 players, each with a mystery bounty envelope on their heads. One of those bounties weighed in at an astonishing $30,000, with two others worth $12,000 each.

PokerNews' Lukas "RobinPoker." Robinson was one of the chip leaders going into the penultimate day's play, but it wasn't meant to be. Robinson eventually bowed out in 25th place but not before capturing a $1,500 bounty and $2,011 worth of scalps in total; Robinson's combined haul came to $2,695.

None of the five-figure mystery bounties are left unopened after being claimed during Day 2 proceedings. Brazilian "Dangerzinn" found the $30,000 bounty before busting in 16th place, while Finland's "enarGhO" opened $12,316 worth of mystery bounties before crashing out in 12th.

$300,000 Mystery Bounty Main Event Final Table Chip Counts

RankPlayerCountryChipsBig Blinds
1scheeescheeeMexico3,051,52051
2RazvyBRomania2,872,75948
3bucuresteanRomania2,665,88244
4aziz-ManchaBrazil2,536,06342
5betsoaresBrazil2,461,80441
6AKGambitGermany1,203,67420
7dainuciuksLithuania772,44613
8EstorilBlueLithuania705,85212

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Mexico's "scheeescheee" is the chip leader going into the live-streamed final table, and has already locked in $13,922 worth of bounties. Their 3,051,520 stack (51 big blinds) gives them every chance of getting their hands on the $25,625 top prize when play resumes at 7:00 p.m. GMT on March 5.

Romanian "bucurestean" returns in third place with 2,665,882 chips (44 big blinds) after firing 12 bullets across the various Day 1s. Their persistence paid off because they've scooped $15,984 worth of bounties and are still in with a legitimate shot at one of the regular prize pool's larger payouts.

The final table could go either way, with only ten big blinds separating the leader and "betsoares" in fifth place. Only Lithuanian duo "dainuciuks" and "EstorlBlue," with 12 and 10 big blinds at their disposal, are what you would consider short-stacked. "dainuciuks" won their seat via a freeroll at 888poker, meaning the Return On Investment is going to be huge even if they can't stage an impressive comeback.

Tune into the action here at PokerNews and on the 888poker Twitch channel on March 5.

Dane Demolishes $50,000 Guaranteed Mystery Bounty Mini Main Event

The only thing mini about the $25 buy-in, $50,000 guaranteed PokerNews Online Championship Mystery Bounty Mini Event was the word "mini" in its name, because $70,955 was paid out after 3,085 players bought in.

Denmark's "bagedag" was the last player standing, and they walked away with a total prize worth $6,805, plus bragging rights among their peers. Banking almost 250 buy-ins is a fantastic result in anyone's eyes.

The second biggest winner from this tournament was another Dane who busted in eighth place. "Taborlin" netted $684 for their eighth place finish. However, they pulled out $5,080 worth of mystery bounties, so they received the second-most prize money from this amazing tournament.

$50,000 Mystery Bounty Mini Main Event Final Table Results

RankPlayerCountryBountiesPrizeTotal Prize
1bagedagDenmark$811$5,994$6,805
2BTRossiBrazil$205$4,347$4,552
3arharris888United Kingdom$205$3,147$3,353
4AntrageMexico$506$2,297$2,803
5GulmamedovUkraine$599$1,691$2,290
6caioborges45Brazil$18$1,240$1,259
7MrEBearUkraine$80$919$1,000
8TaborlinDenmark$5,080$684$5,765

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PokerNews Online Championship Results So Far

Expand the table below to discover which 888poker players have excelled during the early stages of the inaugural PokerNews Online Championship.

EventBuy-inEntrantsPrize PoolChampionPrize
#1 – Opening Event Mystery Bounty$111,733$17,330mAteus.dAne$1,931*
#2 – Opening Event Mystery Bounty$55850$42,500brainiac1$4,334*
#3 – Opening Event Mystery Bounty$1091,118$120,000yriy3$15,389*
#4 – Opening Event Mystery Bounty$22795$15,900KovalevEvgen$1,827*
#5 – Opening Event High Roller$52592$46,000dariotoma$11,334
#6 – PKO Mini$111,111$11,110GemeValter$1,884*
#7 – PKO Mid$33497$14,910jetskii$2,232*
#8 – PKO$55283$14,150Sosiska$2,372*
#9 – PKO$109169$16,900michel.mica$3,526*
#10 – PKO 6-Max Mini$11928$10,000Fishmir$1,323*
#11 – PKO 6-Max High Roller$32058$17,400ingeruRO14$5,690*
#12 – PKO 6-Max Mid$55262$13,100888BIDO$3,068*
#13 – PKO 6-Max$109135$13,500algsxr$3,231*
#14 – Deep Stack Mini$8.80748$5,984smoky011$927 
#15 – Deep Stack Mid$33428$12,840Motik_13$2,348
#16 – Deep Stack$109129$12,900MikeyW94$2,999
#17 – Super KO Mini$111,147$11,470sumyfish$903*
#18 – Super KO High Roller$32063$18,900pincha73$3,846*
#19 – Super KO$109186$18,600Nowitzki_41$2,724*
#20 – SNAP PKO 6-Max$16.50143$2,145shaormastyle$509*
#21 – Mystery Bounty 6-Max Mini$111,334$13,340Trabuca$1,529*
#22 – Mystery Bounty 6-Max Micro$5.501,052$5,260Bazinga888$529*
#23 – Mystery Bounty 6-Max Mid$22690$13,800paitaon$2,059*
#24 – Mystery Bounty 6-Max$109192$19,200betsoares$3,658*
#25 – Cut to the Chase11168$2,000DOPABR$448
#26 – DeepStack PKO Mini$111,145$11,450Marcothx$1,614*
#27 – DeepStack PKO Mid$55348$17,400r1zzy$3,196*
#28 – PLO Mystery Bounty$11198$2,000Johnmylove$556*
#29 – DeepStack PKO$109169$16,900lovelydonk$4,183*
#30 – Mystery Bounty Mini$111,886$18,860vadimkobets$1,747*
#31 – Mystery Bounty$55824$41,200AAbestAAdo$4,800*
#32 – Mystery Bounty Mid$22932$18,640Nazar4ik51$1,867*
#33 – PKO Rumble$109349$34,900cups951$8,176*
#34 – PKO Rumble High Roller$52567$40,000casual_win$10,268*
#35 – Big Shot Mini$16.50648$10,000dd6111$1,633
#36 – Big Shot Mid$55247$12,350Competencia$2,503
#37 – Big Shot$109179$17,900amormori$4,013
#38 – Mystery Bounty Mini Main Event$253,085$70,955bagedag$6,805

*includes bounty payments

Remaining PokerNews Online Championship Schedule

The final day of the PokerNews Online Championship sees a quartet of PKO act as the closing events for what has been a scintillating series. The $11, $320, $55, and $109 buy-in Closing Event PKOs shuffle up and deal at 5:00 p.m., 6:00 p.m., 6:30 p.m., and 7:00 p.m. GMT respectively, and are your last chance to experience some PokerNews Online Championship glory.

The $215 buy-in, $300,000 guaranteed Mystery Bounty Main Event both crown their worthy winners today. Cards are in the air from 7:00 p.m. GMT, with live text coverage on PokerNews' live reporting pages and card-up video coverage via 888poker's Twitch channel.

DateTime (GMT)EventBuy-inGuarantee
Tue 5 Mar5:00 p.m.PokerNews #40 – Closing Event PKO Mini$11$10,000
 6:00 p.m.PokerNews #41 – Closing Event PKO High Roller$320$15,000
 6:30 p.m.PokerNews #42 – Closing Event PKO Mid$55$12,000
 7:00 p.m.PokerNews #43 – Closing Event PKO$109$12,000

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Matthew Pitt
Senior Editor

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.

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