Roman "Romeopro33" Romanovskyi Wins 888poker XL Eclipse Main Event for $187,500

September 24, 2018 Brandyn Trenholm

A total of 710 entries were gathered in 888poker's XL Eclipse #32 - $1,000,000 Main Event. The tournament fell short of the guarantee with Roman "Romeopro33" Romanovskyi (lead photo) being the main benefactor as he took down the tournament for an outstanding $187,500 and was crowned the champion.

The Ukranian had a heated and bad beat filled heads-up battle with Simon "Isildur1337x" Mattsson, who was the chip leader for most of the final table. After a few chip lead changes between the two, it was Romeopro33 who would come out on top, sending Isildur1337x out in second place, getting a respectable $135,000 for his efforts.

Position Player Country Prize 1 Roman "Romeopro33" Romanovskyi Ukraine $187,500 2 Simon "Isildur1337x" Mattsson Sweden $135,000 3 Rafael "nitGMmator" Moraes Brazil $100,000 4 StuntSoHard Netherlands $75,000 5 Felipe "mr.salgado" Salgado Brazil $52,500 6 wisimaki United Kingdom $42,500 7 varonislv Austria $32,500 8 Kamcumir Austria $22,500 9 NumbeeerONE Kazakstan $14,100

Many well-known 888poker ambassadors came to play the Main Event such as Chris "888Moorman" Moorman (247th Place), Dominik "888Dominik" Nitsche (118th Place), Sofia "sofialovgren" Lovgren (40th Place - $4,000), and fan favorite Parker "888tonkaaaa" Talbot (37th Place - $4,000).

Parker Talbot

Once the late registration period had ended, there were 90 places being paid. Around six hours into the day, on level 21, it was "pullztrigger" who would be dubbed the bubble boy. All of the remaining players were now guaranteed a min-cash of $2,600.

The play, as per usual, opened up heavily after the bubble had popped and players dropped rapidly. The play tightened up once the tournament had reached five tables and it would not be until level 32 that the final table was set.

Final Table Action

The first person to exit the final table was NumbeeerONE who lost almost all of their chips to Isildur1337x, running ace-queen into aces. It was just a few hands later that NumbeeerONE would take an exit when they moved all in with king-nine against the ace-king of wisimaki.

A couple of hands after the first elimination of the final table, it was Kamcumir that fell victim to Isildur1337x, after pushing the nut flush draw all in against Isildur1337x's top pair of queens. Kamcumir failed to hit and was sent home in eighth place.

varonislv grinded as long as he or she could before pushing their stack all in from the small blind with pocket tens. They found a caller in Isildur1337x, who was holding big slick. The flop came down in varonislv's favor, but a king on the turn would seal their fate as the next to exit from the tournament in seventh.

It was just one level after the final table had started when Isildur1337x opened from the cutoff, wisimaki moved all in, and Isildur1337x called. wisimaki had pocket fives against Isildur1337x's ten-seven. The flop came down with a ten, giving Isildur1337x the lead and he would keep it as the board ran out dry, eliminating wisimaki from the tournament in sixth place.

The fifth-place finisher would be Felipe "mr.salgado" Salgado who pushed all in with ace-seven and found a caller in nitGMmator holding ace-queen. The flop came down with a queen, and the board ran out clean for Rafael "nitGMmator" Moraes, giving him the pot and eliminating Salgado from the tournament in fifth place.

StuntSoHard would be the next to take an exit after they had moved all with a great hand in ace-jack, but was unfortunate to be called by Isildur1337x, who was holding ace-queen. The board did not improve StuntSoHard's hand, and he or she was eliminated from the tournament in fourth.

nitGMmator was waiting patiently, picking up nice pots when he needed to and making the correct folds. When he moved all in with his ace-queen, he found himself in a cooler situation, with Isildur1337x waking up with pocket aces. nitGMmator did not improve and would take an exit in third place.

The heads-up match lasted almost three blind levels before someone was crowned the victor. Both players took turns as the chip leader until finally, it was Romeopro33 ending the tournament with none other than pocket aces, sending Isildur1337x out in second place.

Runner up Simon Mattsson