Congratulations to "resilience32" on Winning XL Blizzard #1 - $50,000 Opening Event for $11,994
The first event of the XL Blizzard series attracted 625 total entries and has now come to an end after almost ten hours of play. It was Germany's "resilience32" taking down XL Blizzard #1 - $50,000 Opening Event for a cool $11,994.
resilience32 has over $181,000 in cashes on 888poker and just added another five-figure score tonight here in hits event. The German was the most consistent player throughout the final few tables of the event and seemed to always be trending upward with very few hiccups en route to victory.
resilience32 stuck by their name when it came to the heads up portion of this tournament, staying resilient as they overcame a large chip lead that was held by ahjaa to be crowned the victor of the opening event.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | resilience32 | Germany | $11,994 |
| 2 | ahjaa | Unknown | $8,906 |
| 3 | omgjefmonier | Canada | $6,563 |
| 4 | Lucky_Frutti | Russia | $5,000 |
| 5 | ZDamian | Poland | $3,500 |
| 6 | Drozd676 | Belarus | $2,656 |
| 7 | joaof6 | Malta | $2,031 |
| 8 | Psykee86 | Unknown | $1,406 |
| 9 | dpjnr04 | United Kingdom | $1,038 |
Final Table Action
dpjnr04 busted almost instantly after the official final table merged, getting their ace-jack of heart all-in versus the pocket queens of Psykee86. The flop came jack-high but the rest of the board came out clean, sending dpjnr04 out the door in ninth. Psykee86 quickly spiraled downward, taking an exit next with a pair of nines against the queens of omgjefmonier.
The next person to bust the final table was joaof6 when they flopped a set of queens, only to run into the flopped straight of omgjefmonier. joaof6 failed to fill up and was eliminated in seventh place. resilience32 was on the shorter side of things and elected to shove with king-queen in the cutoff, Drozd676 called on the button with their ace-ten of diamonds. The board came down queen-high, sending the pot to resilience32 as Drozd676 took an exit in sixth place.
Five-handed play saw Poland's ZDamian leading the way but a cooler brough an end to their day. ZDamien three-bet from the small blind and omgjefmonier then four-bet all of their chips from the big blind. ZDamien called with their pair of kings but found themselves on the bad end of a cooler when omgjefmonier tabled rockets, shipping ZDamien out in fourth. Lucky_Frutti was the next person to be eliminated after they shoved ace-three and ahjaa called with king-nine. Lucky_Frutti was ahead with a pair of treys until the river where ahjaa caught a straight, sending the Russian out the door.
Canada's omgjefmonier brought a lot of action to the final table right up until being eliminated in third by ahjaa. omgjefmonier opened from button, ahjaa shoved and omjefmonier instantly called, tabling a pair of nines. ahjaa turned over ace-jack and the two were racing. A jack on the flop was all that was needed for ahjaa, sending omgjefmonier out in third place for $6,563.
Heads up play saw ahjaa leading by almost three-to-one and resilience32 instantly drew first blood, doubling up. The German continued the aggressive pressure, pushing down on the short stack until ahjaa decided to shove all-in with a pair of fives. resilience32 called with their queen-nine and turned a lady, cementing a victory in the opening event as ahjaa was eliminated in second for a respectable $8,906.
That wraps it up for the PokerNews live coverage of this event, but tune in on February 09, 2020, for XL Blizzard #10 - $100,000 Tune Up as all of the action unfolds.
and ahjaa's pair of nickels were still ahead. A devastating 
landed on the turn for ahjaa, shifting the lead to resilience32 with their pair of queens.
river changed not a thing as resilience32 took down the pot, eliminating ahjaa from the tournament in second for a respectable $8,906.
and ahjaa's flopped jack scooped the pot, eliminating omgjefmonier from the tournament in third.
board spread out on the table, pairing resilience32 with a queen and Drozd676 was eliminated from the tournament.
. omgjefmonier check-called a bet of 107,500 and the 
for a straight, taking down the pot and joaof6 was eliminated.
and Psykee86's pair of queens held on for the pot, eliminating dpjnr04 from the tournament.
