Finland’s “wellyxx” Takes Down 888poker XL Winter Series Main Event For $108,020

The $1 million guaranteed XL Winter Series Mystery Bounty Main Event drew in a crowd of 1,145 players to 888poker, and Finland’s “wellyxx” outlasted them all. The Finn sat down at the final table second in chips before navigating to heads-up, where they defeated Romania’s “Hxs87” for the title and a total prize worth $108,020.

Surprisingly, “wellyxx” wasn’t the biggest winner from this tournament, thanks to the mystery bounty format. That honor went to third-place finisher “Slikkelade,” who received $146,081 after they pulled the $100,000 jackpot mystery bounty payment during their Day 2 endeavors.

The eight-handed final table started at 7:00 p.m. GMT on January 28, with “Kellerrr69” holding a commanding chip lead. Their 3,763,872 chips were worth 108 big blinds. “wellyxx” sat down in second place with 1,916,067 chips (55 big blinds), almost half the chips of the leader.

$1,000,000 XL Winter #46: Mystery Bounty Main Event Final Table Chip Counts

Sweden’s “Kzzzon” was the shortest stack at the start of the final day’s action, but they doubled through “Kellerrr69” when their pocket sevens held against king-seven. It was a welcomed shot in the arm for “Kzzzon” but a sign of things to come for “Kellerrr69.”

Quads for the Jackpot Bounty Winner

“Kellerrr69” lost a huge shortly after doubling up “Kzzzon.” “Slikkelade” min-raised from early position with pocket sixes, “Kellerrr69” called on the button with jack-seven of hearts, and both blinds folded. A six-four-nine flop gave “Slikkelade” a set and they initially checked before check-raising a small stab at the pot from “Kellerrr69,” who called.

The turn was the ten of hearts, giving “Kellerrr69” outs to a flush and an inside straight draw. “Slikkelade” led out for around half-pot only to see “Kellerrr69” raise all-in. “Slikkelade” called and was a 77% favorite to win a 3.4 million pot. A six on the river improved the at-risk player to quads, and “Kellerrr69” had gone from being the chip leader to the middle of the pack.

Brazil’s “GodBleefe7” was sent to the showers soon after that monster pot. “Hxs87” opened from under the gun with ace-queen of clubs, the action folded to “GodBleefe7” on the button, and they three-bet all but three big blinds with pocket jacks. The initial raiser set “GodBleefe7” all-in, and they called. An ace on the flop was enough to eliminate “GodBleefe7.”

“Armeniashka”‘s impressive run ended in a seventh-place finish after a battle of the blinds didn’t go their way. “Kzzzon” open-shoved for nine big blinds effective from the small blind with seven-four of spades, and “Armeniashka” called off their stack with ace-six of hearts. A seven on the flop put “Kzzzon” in front, and they stayed there through to the showdown. GG, “Armeniashka.”

Start of Day Chip Leader Bows Out in Sixth

The once dominant “Kellerrr69” had been resigned to shoving or folding for the best part of 30 minutes as their stack had dwindled. They looked down at ace-king on the button and three-bet all-in for 5.4 big blinds after “Hxs87” had min-raised from a couple of seats over. “Hxs87” instantly called and showed pocket queens, which held on a double-paired board.

Another blind-on-blind clash saw “hardc0reee” heading for the exits. “hardc0reee” moved all-in for 10.9 big blinds with pocket sixes only for “Kzzzon” to wake up in the big blind with a pair of queens in the hole. “Kzzzon” only just covered the all-in player, but they need not worry because the five community cards ran out ten-high, sending “hardc0reee” to the sidelines and all but doubling “Kzzzon”‘s stack.

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“Kzzzon” was the next player to bust despite that timely double. Two hours into the final table action, “Kzzzon” jammed all-in for 7.3 big blinds from the button with ace-six, and can count themselves unfortunate to run into the pocket jacks of “Slikkelade” in the small blind. “Kzzzon” hit a six on the paired flop but was drawing dead when a jack on the turn improved “Slikkelade” to an unbeatable full house.

Heads-up was set a few hands later. “wellyxx” raised first in from the small blind before snap-calling the 15.4 big blind jam from “Slikkelade.” It was ace-deuce for the all-in Dane against the dominating ace-queen of the Finn. The queen-kicker of “wellyxx” played, and “Slikkelade” headed for the exits.

“wellyxx” went into the one-on-one battle against “Hxs87” holding a substantial 50.1 to 21.4 big blind advantage; it took only two minutes for them to get their hands on the title. “wellyxx” min-raised with ace-seven of spade, “Hxs87” responded with a three-bet holding pocket queens, and “wellyxx” moved all-in. “Hxs87″ called off the 11 big blinds they had behind and their fate was in the hands of the Poker Gods. An ace on the flop left Hxs87” drawing to the three remaining queens, none of which appeared on the turn or river.

“Hxs87” busted in second place for a $79,362 score, leaving “wellyxx” to bank a cool $108,020 and the title of 888poker XL Winter Series Mystery Bounty Main Event champion.

$1,000,000 XL Winter #46: Mystery Bounty Main Event Final Table Results

Full 2025 888poker XL Winter Series Results

The crowning of the XL Winter Series Main Event champion brought the curtain down on the series. Expanding the table below reveals the full results of every numbered event. Check them out and extend your congratulations to each and every 888poker champion.

_{All prizes included bounty payments where applicable}

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.