888poker has been celebrating its 20th birthday this year. One of the ways it marked the celebration was by offering retro-themed poker series for two weeks, giving around 1.4 million.
The XL Retro series featured 27 events with a guarantee of over $1.4 million. While no events managed to hit their guarantees, the overall prize pool broke with over $100,000. The tournaments collected around $50,000 and awarded almost $100,000 more than promised.
The Main Event was a top performer among several other events. With a guarantee of $500,000, the game needed 2,100 entries. Fortunately, 2,162 entries were registered, increasing the prize pool to $508,070.
This was more than a third of the total prize pool. Yet, the Main Event was not the only top performer. For example, Event No.11, featuring a $4,000 guarantee, recorded 487 entries increasing the prize pool to over $7,000. With as little as $16.50, players increased the guarantee by around 87 percent.
XL Retro Details
XL Retro series had almost 11k entries, shying away from $1.5 million with $3,000. While a significant number of entries were seen across events, the Main Event had the highest entries, 2,162. The Open Event also had 1,162 entries.
Only four events broke the guarantees, including Event No.11, which had an 87 percent increase. The other three exceeded the guarantee by around 50 percent.
Among the four events, Event No.17 had the biggest prize pool of $8k. With more entries than expected, the event`s final prize pool stood at $12,960. This is about a 61 percent boost.
The Whale Opening Event No.2 also did well. With a buy-in of $525, the event recorded 119 entries, creating a prize pool of $59,500. While this was only a 32 percent boost, the buy-in was quite above average.
Unfortunately, some guarantees were not hit. Three events with over $100,000 prize pools did not hit guarantees.
Most events had over 200 entries. However, some recorded as low as 34 entries.
For example, Event No.12 Volcano PKO had 34 entries. It had a guaranteed prize pool of $45,000 but only managed to collect $34,000.
Other events that recorded below 60 entries include Event No.23: $45,000 Volcano with 38 entries, Event No.20: $5,000 PLO 6-Max with 48 entries, and Event No.21: $1,500 Mini PLO 6-Max with 51 entries.
No American Won the Top Prices
While no American scoped the top titles, Latin Americans did. Brazilians took seven titles during the XL Retro series. This could result from the fact that the South American nation is at the center of the poker boom.
Canada came in second, winning six titles. This was quite a surprise because the 888poker Ontario player pool is segregated from the global pool.
Players from other countries, including Finland, United Kingdom, Ireland, Netherlands, Mexico, Ukraine, Montenegro, Sweden, Malta, Germany, Uzbekistan, Lithuania, and Ukraine, won one top prize each. While 888poker is a global poker room accepting American players, too, it did not record any winners for the top prize.
Overall, seven events failed to hit their guarantees. Three had guarantees exceeding $100,000, while the rest had guarantees below $100k. Generally, there was only $50,000 in overlay.
Fortunately, the poker operator covered this with over $100,000 in fees it collected throughout the series. Moreover, several other events exceeded the prize pools. This makes the XL Retro series a success.
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