888poker is celebrating 20 years of online poker in 2022, and as part of the celebrations, the operator is taking players back to the basics. The XL Retro Series is scheduled to run through the middle of October, promising “old school tournaments in a Retro Series with a twist — XL guarantees!”
With the 20th anniversary celebrations in full swing this year, one of the online events to commemorate 20 years is a retro-themed series billed as old-school poker with modern guarantees. Running from October 9 through October 25, the XL Retro Series has more than $1.5 million guaranteed across over 60 tournaments.
The penultimate event for the series will, as always, be the Main Event. There will be $500k guaranteed for the Main Event alone, and players will have 19 chances to bag a Day 1 stack, with the first opportunity coming on Thursday, October 20.
Each day through October 23 features three regular flights plus one hyper-turbo flight, while October 24 offers two regular flights plus a hyper-turbo one. Day 2 of the Main also plays out on October 24, with the final table running on the ultimate day, October 25.
Retro Games with XL Guarantees
There will be a lot of poker action on 888poker in October as the operator runs the XL Retro Series. 27 numbered events will take place over two weeks, with many other side events running along the way.
2022 XL Retro Series Summary
| Total Guarantees | $1,751,500 |
| Tournaments | 62 |
| Average Buy-In | $139.59 |
| Min Buy-In | $11 |
| Max Buy-In | $2,100 |
| Median Buy-In | $33 |
As always, the biggest game will be the Main Event. The $250 buy-in offers the highest guarantee of the series at $500,000 and multiple Day 1 chances to make it through to the endgame. The Main Event will be the biggest guarantee and the best value game in the series, with $2000 in guaranteed value for every $1 of buy-in.
This is not the only big tournament on offer, though. The opening game of the series, XL Retro #01: Mega Deep Opening Event, has $120k guaranteed for just $109. That means there is over $1,100 in guaranteed value per dollar of buy-in for the very first tournament.
While the series is billed as the “XL Retro,” not all the games are old-school poker — one of the highest-value events on the schedule will feature the newest rage in poker, the mystery bounty format.
XL Retro #13: Mystery Bounty plays out on October 16 with a $215 buy-in and $200k guaranteed. This is the second-biggest guarantee of the series behind the Main Event and the third-best value, with $930.23 guaranteed per dollar of buy-in.
Battle of Malta on the Live Felt
The XL Retro Series will begin just as the latest 888poker Live festival is wrapping up on the Mediterranean island nation of Malta. The 2022 Battle of Malta runs from October 5 through October 12, and Day 2 of the Battle of Malta Main Event runs on October 9, the starting day of the XL Retro series.
The series also follows on the heels of a hugely successful ChampionChip Games Series that saw the guarantees crushed across the board. There is a ton of retro action for October on 888po,ker and satellites to XL Retro events are running on the 888poker client daily, starting as low as 1 penny.
2022 XL Retro Series Main Event Day 1 Flights
| Oct 20 | 17:00 | $500,000 XL Retro #27 – $500,000 Main Event (day 1) |
| Oct 20 | 19:00 | $500,000 XL Retro #27 – $500,000 Main Event (day 1) |
| Oct 20 | 21:00 | $500,000 XL Retro #27 – $500,000 Main Event (day 1) |
| Oct 20 | 23:00 | $500,000 XL Retro #27 – $500,000 Hyper Turbo Main Event (day 1) |
| Oct 21 | 17:00 | $500,000 XL Retro #27 – $500,000 Main Event (day 1) |
| Oct 21 | 19:00 | $500,000 XL Retro #27 – $500,000 Main Event (day 1) |
| Oct 21 | 21:00 | $500,000 XL Retro #27 – $500,000 Main Event (day 1) |
| Oct 21 | 23:00 | $500,000 XL Retro #27 – $500,000 Hyper Turbo Main Event (day 1) |
| Oct 22 | 17:00 | $500,000 XL Retro #27 – $500,000 Main Event (day 1) |
| Oct 22 | 19:00 | $500,000 XL Retro #27 – $500,000 Main Event (day 1) |
| Oct 22 | 21:00 | $500,000 XL Retro #27 – $500,000 Main Event (day 1) |
| Oct 22 | 23:00 | $500,000 XL Retro #27 – $500,000 Hyper Turbo Main Event (day 1) |
| Oct 23 | 18:00 | $500,000 XL Retro #27 – $500,000 Main Event (day 1) |
| Oct 23 | 20:00 | $500,000 XL Retro #27 – $500,000 Main Event (day 1) |
| Oct 23 | 22:00 | $500,000 XL Retro #27 – $500,000 Main Event (day 1) |
| Oct 23 | 0:00 | $500,000 XL Retro #27 – $500,000 Hyper Turbo Main Event (day 1) |
| Oct 24 | 14:00 | $500,000 XL Retro #27 – $500,000 Turbo Main Event (day 1) |
| Oct 24 | 16:00 | $500,000 XL Retro #27 – $500,000 Turbo Main Event (day 1) |
| Oct 24 | 17:30 | $500,000 XL Retro #27 – $500,000 Hyper Turbo Main Event (day 1) |
