Instinctym Wins the 888poker XL Spring Series Main Event ($65,608)
The 888poker XL Spring Series Main Event has crowned its champion and that champion is none other than "Instinctym." The Andorra-based grinder sat down at the nine-handed final table as the chip leader and while they did not keep hold of that lead throughout the finale, they finished with all the chips in play, which is what ultimately matters.
The tournament drew in 2,173 players including re-entries over several starting flights, which meant a $510,655 prize pool. Some 329 of those starters made it through to Day 2. Only nine of those players progressed to Day 3's final table.
888poker XL Spring Series Main Event Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Instinctym | Andorra | $65,608* |
| 2 | alanchi | Montenegro | $56,387* |
| 3 | iNFOsHOVE | Sweden | $37,839 |
| 4 | Why_a_King | Sweden | $28,034 |
| 5 | KostenBerguz | Ukraine | $20,732 |
| 6 | overbet13 | Malta | $15,472 |
| 7 | makichinho | Belarus | $11,591 |
| 8 | youler | United Kingdom | $8,783 |
| 9 | Tcheleee | Brazil | $6,689 |
*relfects a heads-up deal
The average stack sized was under 16 big blinds, so the pace of the final table was always going to be frantic. Indeed, this proved true with less then 90 minutes between the first cards being pitched and the champion being crowned.
"Tcheleee" was the first to fall, their short-stack shove with king-seven losing out to the dominating king-ten of "KostenBurguz." Almost immediately after "Tcheleee's" demise, "youler" lost a battle of the blinds with "makichinho" and was left with less than half a big blind; they busted during the next hand.
Seventh-place and the first five-figure prize went to "makichinho" wh called all-in with ace-trey of diamonds only to lose to the ten-eight of "KostenBerguz" who flopped trip eights and turned a full house.
Everything pointed towards "KostenBerguz" walking away with the title because they then eliminated "overbet13" when their ace-queen held against the lesser ace-seven. However, they failed to rein in their aggression, lost a couple of all-in confrontations, and ultimately finished in fifth when their queen-ten could not stay in front of the eight-seven of "Why_a_king."
"Why_a_King" committed their stack with the best hand, ace-king, but lost to the king-seven of the start-of-the-day chip leader "Instinctym." That hand proved to be the catalyst for "Instinctym" because they always looked like winning from that moment on.
They eliminated "iNFOsHOVE" with ace-ten versus pocket sevens to send the tournament into the heads-up stage. Once there, "Instinctym" and "alanchi" traded blows for a couple of hands before striking a deal to lessen the substantial pay-jump. Immediately after the deal, "Instinctym" doubled through "alanchi" and left their opponent with less than two big blinds. That micro-stack went into the middle of the felt on the every next hand, and "Instinctym's" ten-eight won against nine-deuce.
That concludes the 888poker XL Spring Series Main Event and the series as a whole. PokerNews cannot wait for the next 888poker festival. We bet neither can "Instinctym".