If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again is how the old adage goes, and it appears “d5t6y7” received that particular memo. The 888poker grinder bought into the $109 Opening Event of the PokerNews Online Championships on November 17 and busted. Their second bullet was also a dud, but the third time was indeed a charm because they rode that one all the way to the finish and became a poker champion.
On Day 1, the 1,092-strong field was reduced to the eight-handed final table. Those finalists returned to their seats on November 18 under the watchful eyes of the 888poker Twitch channel. By this stage, all the big mystery bounty payments had already been won, including a cool $12,000 that Romania’s “CatalinZ11” found before busting in 22nd place. That bounty haul ensured the Romanian was this event’s biggest winner.
$120,000 Opening Event Mystery Bounty Final Table Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CaHk1H | Belarus | 5,154,608 | 103 |
| 2 | yaewn | Canada | 2,609,238 | 52 |
| 3 | BlueWalleye | Belarus | 1,946,532 | 39 |
| 4 | POTITOOOOOOOO | Malta | 1,939,759 | 39 |
| 5 | d5t6y7 | United Kingdom | 1,470,048 | 29 |
| 6 | AzaAzaAza | Costa Rica | 1,469,694 | 29 |
| 7 | samuelwallac | Brazil | 1,305,490 | 26 |
| 8 | Male3vich | Sweden | 484,631 | 10 |
Most 888poker Twitch viewers thought “Male3vich” would be the first player heading for the exits because they sat down with only ten big blinds. However, the Swede refused to be the first eliminated finalist. After doubling up, “Male3vich” open-shoved for a little less than 14 big blinds with ace-king from early position. “samuelwallac,” whose stack had dwindled to five big blinds, called all-in with ace-jack. A jack on the flop looked perfect for “samuelwallac” but “Male3vich” turned a Broadway straight to send their opponent to the showers.
“Male3vich” couldn’t put those chips to good use, and they fell in seventh. “d5t6y7” min-raised to 160,000 on the button with pocket nines and called the 15 big blind shove from “Male3vich,” made from the small blind with ace-queen. The nines held, and the final table was down to six players.
Those six became five when “yaewn” committed their last three big blinds with ace-jack and couldn’t get there against the dominating ace-king in the hands of “d5t6y7.”
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“AzaAzaAza” crashed and burned a few hands later. An hour into the action, start-of-the-day chip leader “CaHk1H” min-raised to 200,000 on the button, and “AzaAzaAza” defended his big blind with king-jack of spades. The flop fell ten-nine-four with two spades, and the chips were destined to go into the middle. “AzaAzaAza” check-raised on the flop and was called. The turn was an offsuit three, and “AzaAzaAza” shoved for around a pot-sized bet; “CaHk1H” instantly called. A four on the river improved “CaHk1H” to a full house and sent “AzaAzaAza” to the cashier’s desk.
Four-handed play only lasted a couple of hands, ending when “POITITOOOOOOOO” open-shoved 11 big blinds with ace-eight of hearts, and “d5t6y7” called the all-in with pocket sevens. The board flirted with coming to “POTITOOOOOOOO”‘s rescue, but the sevens ultimately held.
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Heads-up was determined when “d5t6y7,” who has been relentless since three-handed play began, busted “BlueWalleye” in a relative cooler of a hand. “BlueWalleye”‘s last 17 big blinds went into the middle with them holding ace-ten, but that hand was in a world of trouble against the chip leader’s ace-jack. The jack kicker played, and “d5t6y7” took a 10,583,271 to 5,796,729 chip lead into heads-up against “CaHk1H.”
Five minutes is all it took for the champion to be crowned. “CaHk1H” min-raised with jack-nine, “d5t6y7” called with king-nine of clubs, and the flop came out nine-high. “d5t6y7 check-raised on the flop before calling a jam from their opponent. “CaHk1H” needed running diamonds or a jack to double-up, but neither of those scenarios panned out. “d5t6y7” had all 16,380,000 chips in their stack, meaning they were this event’s champion, an accolade that came with $10,358 in prize money.
$120,000 Opening Event Mystery Bounty Final Table Results
| Rank | Player | Country | Bounties | Prize | Total Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | d5t6y7 | United Kingdom | $1,592 | $8,766 | $10,358 |
| 2 | CaHk1H | Belarus | $1,788 | $6,408 | $8,196 |
| 3 | BlueWalleye | Belarus | $557 | $4,710 | $5,267 |
| 4 | POTITOOOOOOOO | Malta | $802 | $3,462 | $4,264 |
| 5 | AzaAzaAza | Costa Rica | $466 | $2,562 | $3,028 |
| 6 | yaewn | Canada | $1,008 | $1,908 | $2,916 |
| 7 | Male3vich | Sweden | $385 | $1,434 | $1,819 |
| 8 | samuelwallac | Brazil | $538 | $1,086 | $1,624 |
888poker PokerNews Online Championships Results So Far
Eight champions have been crowned so far in the 888poker PokerNews Online Championships, meaning there are another 30 to go before the end of this amazing series. Will you become one of them?
*includes bounty payments
Remaining 888poker PokerNews Online Championships Schedule
Another four events run on November 19, including a $320 buy-in, $15,000 guaranteed Super KO High Roller for those with deep pockets,
You’ll also find a brace of Mystery Bounty Main Event Day 1s running at 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. GMT. Each costs $215 to enter, with this tournament featuring a $300,000 guaranteed prize pool.
At the time of writing, 449 players have bought in, with 51 progressing to Day 2 on November 25. PokerNews‘ very own Lukas “RobinPoker.” Robinson has started the Main Event like a house on fire, bagging up 225,706 chips, enough for third place right now!