Thursday was a great day for tournament players. It marked the start of the latest edition of the 2018 XL Eclipse Series on the second largest online poker room, 888poker. On the first day of the series, three tournaments started. They kicked off with the $100,000 Opening Event.

XL Eclipse #1 - $100,000 Opening Event

After more than thirteen hours of play on 888poker, XL Eclipse #1: $100,000 Opening Event finally crowned a winner. It was "ChipsFool" from the United Kingdom who claimed the victory and the first prize of $18,788 after beating "resilience32" in the deciding heads-up.

The event, with a buy-in of $109, saw 707 players register and those players made 295 rebuys to get a total amount of 1,002 players. They created a total prize pool of $100,200 with 90 places paid. It took a while to get to the money but in the end, it was "HellChicKKen" from Belarus who was the last player finishing empty-handed.

After making the money it took a long time before the tournament was down to the last nine. After eleven hours, the remaining nine players made the final table and went on to play for an $18,788 first prize. Malaysia's "chrolloluc" left the final table pretty quick after losing a big coin flip and finished in ninth place for $1,413.

After that, the tournament said goodbye to "HomoDeus" (eight, $2,255), "viborgmand" (seventh, $3,257), "F_Uuu" (sixth, $5,261) and "Pepepepepe." (fifth, $5,261). With four players left, the shortest stack "rangichuj" held on for a while before busting in fourth place for $7,515.

Then, "Palmenwedler" was all in with pocket fives against the pocket tens of "ChipsFool" and didn't get any help from the board. The Austrian exited in third place for $10,020. The deciding heads-up didn't take too long after a straight versus set situation. "ChipsFool" won the final hand and took the first prize of $18,788 while "resilience32" had to settle for second.

XL Eclipse Event #1: $100,000 Opening Event Official Results

XL Eclipse #2 - $20,000 Mini Opening Event

XL Eclipse #3 - $25,000 Late Opening Event

2018 XL Eclipse Schedule

Bonus Offerings

Players can participate in free qualifiers or earn XL Eclipse entries through a number of satellites, which start at just $0.01. Free Eclipse Main Event qualifiers are running daily at 9 p.m. GMT with the top three players winning $1,050 seats, while 30 $12 seats into the Eclipse Mini Tune Up are awarded in free qualifiers that begin at 5 p.m. GMT daily.

Not only that, but 888 is offering bonuses to players who can make their way to the winner’s circle on more than one occasion, and for those who can consistently run deep during the series. Bonuses for multiple wins are available as follows:

In addition, players who manage to reach three or more final tables will earn a $600 tournament ticket. For those who consistently make the money and cash in eight or more events, a $215 tournament ticket will be awaiting them.