button in SafariIOwnU888 Defeats Barone Heads-Up to Win the PNOC Main Event
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The 2026 PokerNews Online Championship came to a thrilling conclusion at 888 on October 27 with the crowning of the $250,000 guaranteed Mystery Main Event champion.
Some 1,091 entrants bought in across several flights, creating a $254,203 prize pool. After three days of intense mystery bounty action, 888 regular "IOwnU888" came out on top, defeating 888 Ambassador Aaron "abarone68" Barone heads-up, to claim a $25,522 prize.
$250,000 Mystery Main Event Final Table Results
| Rank | Player | Country | Bounties | Prize | Total Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | IOwnU888 | - | $4,423 | $21,099 | $25,522 |
| 2 | Aaron "abarone68" Barone | Canada | $1,836 | $15,375 | $17,211 |
| 3 | LookAround | Kazahkstan | $5,884 | $11,279 | $17,164 |
| 4 | for_science | Canada | $5,004 | $8,294 | $13,299 |
| 5 | sankovski | Lithuania | $7,548 | $6,137 | $13,685 |
| 6 | 01tdr | Romania | $1,586 | $4,547 | $6,134 |
| 7 | Iperenoei13 | Montenegro | $793 | $3,385 | $4,178 |
| 8 | UrExNewBF | United Kingdom | $168 | $2,519 | $2,687 |
The eight-handed final table got underway with card-up coverage on the popular 888 Twitch channel. Nick "eastyyy22" Eastwood was the sole commentator because Barone, his usual co-commentator, was seated at the final table.
"UrExNewBF" was the shortest stack at the start of the final table and was part of an early double elimination. "IOwnU888" min-raised with pocket jacks, "Iperenoei13" called with pocket tens in the cutoff, only for "UrExNewBF" to squeeze all-in with ace-king for six big blinds on the button. "IOWnU888" moved all-in, and "Iperenoei13" called off their 22 big blinds. A king on the flop looked to have saved "UrExNewBF" but a jack on the river sent them and "Iperenoei13" to the showers.
Romania's "01tdr" fell around 10 minutes later, doing so in cruel circumstances. They open-shoved for 6.4 big blinds in the cutoff with ace-king, and "for_science" called in the small blind with pocket eights. "01tdr" flopped an ace and turned trips only for an eight to peel off on the river to gift "for_science" a full house.
With bounties included, the surviving five players locked in five-figure scores. Lithuania's "sankovski" collected the first such prize, one worth $13,685.
The Lithuanian's last action was to open-shove for 11 big blinds under the gun with pocket tens. Barone three-bet all-in from the button with ace-jack and flopped a jack. The first four community cards were spades so there was the possibility of a chopped pot, but an offsuit non-ten river sent the pot to Barone.
After losing half of the finalists within the first 35 minutes, four-handed play spanned another half an hour. During four-handed play, Barone was left on the ropes with seven big blinds when his ace-king lost to the pocket tens of "LookAround."
The deadlock was broken when "for_science" moved all-in on the button with pocket fives fir just under 17.5 big blinds, and "IOwnU888" called in the big blind with ace-king. This time ace-king came out on top, flopping two pair to reduce the player count by one.
Barone was the shortest stack at the start of three-handed play, but Lady Luck shone on him. First, the board counterfeited "IOwnU888"'s ace-jack when Barone was all-in with ace-nine. Then, his ace-jack beat "LookAround"'s ace-king after hitting trip jacks on the river.
"IOwnU888" won a large pot from "LookAround" and then got their hands on the rest of their stack to send the PokerNews Online Championship Mystery Main Event into the heads-up stage.
It was a tall order for Barone to stage a comeback heads-up because he trailed "IOwnU888" by 19.2 biig blinds to 71.7 big blinds. Barone got his stack in good after limp-calling all-in for 15.3 big blinds with ace-queen of hearts after "IOwnU888" jammed with jack-ten. That jack-ten improved to a straight after hitting running cards on the turn and river. Barone fell in second and added $17,211 to his bankroll, leaving "IOwnU888" to become the champion and receive $25,522.
PokerNews Online Championship Results
All 40 PokerNews Online Championship events have crowned their champions. Check out the table below to see which players won which events and for how much.
