The XL Autumn Series at 888poker is now in the books with a bounty of prizes for players. Nearly $1.4 million was guaranteed in the numbered events, with more than $2 million promised overall, including side events.
In the end, XL Autumn, which ran from September 17 to October 3, cracked the guarantees in most events with some $1.454 million in prizes awarded in total.
The fall season is now in full swing, and the leaves are changing across most of the northern hemisphere. With 34 numbered events plus numerous branded side events, XL Autumn from 888poker was an excellent way to wind down summer and start getting into the fall and winter online poker grind.
The main games had guarantees just shy of $1.4 million going into the series, with more than $2 million guaranteed, including side events. While the numbers for side events are not compiled, the numbered events came in with nearly 5% more in prizes awarded over the guarantees and more than 20 events blowing past the promised prize pools.
With the final games in the books now, 888poker will no doubt be happy with the results. In the end, only 33 of the 34 scheduled events ran, but 21 games beat their guarantees for extra juice in the prize pools.
XL Autumn in a Nutshell
- Dates: Sep 17 – Oct 3
- Total Scheduled: 34
- Total Played: 33
- Total Gtd.: $1,390,000
- Total Prizes: $1,453,690
- Total Collected: $1,395,953
- Total Fees: $107,295
- Total Entries: 16,618,
$500k Main Event Was the Biggest Miss
As is usually the case with big poker series, whether online or live, the Main Event for the 2023 XL Autumn Series was “The Big Show.” It was among the highest buy-ins of the series and, at $500,000, had the biggest guarantee by a long shot. The next biggest guarantee was $200k, so the Main was 2.5x the next largest promised pot.
That promise proved somewhat optimistic, but the difference was negligible in the grand scheme of things. With a bit more than 2,000 entries, the Main was the biggest field of the whole series but ended up collecting slightly over $470k in buy-ins and a bit more than $30k in fees for the game.
So, in the final analysis, the fees covered the minimal overlay which, while the largest of the series in terms of dollar value, was among the smallest overlays in terms of percentage of guarantee.
Four other games in the series hit four-digit fields, but the closest competitor to the Main Event was more than 700 entries back with 1289. However, all the four-digit fields did better than 1,100.
Biggest Prize Pools Miss by Inches
The three biggest prize pools of the series all missed their guarantees this time around, but it was only by a hair. The Main came within 6% of its guarantee, while the $200k guaranteed XL Autumn #20 and the $120k guaranteed XL Autumn #02 were within 5% of their goals.
That was obviously close enough to break the overall guarantees, and games still like the $20,000 XL Autumn #26 and $20,000 XL Autumn #07, both collecting more than 45% extra in bounty, certainly helped shore up the numbers from the bigger events. #26 was the best performer by % over guarantee with 63.5%, while #07 got a healthy 45.5% extra.
Honorable mention goes to Event #05, a $12k guarantee for $109 — it was 42.5% over the goal, with the next highest at just over 27%. That 27% game, $35,000 XL Autumn #03, was also the fourth-biggest prize pool of the series and the biggest one to break its guarantee.
The next 14 biggest prize pools all broke their guarantees, which also went a long way toward making up the losses on the bigger games.
With the XL Autumn leaves now on the ground, the final rake-up is a positive one with players competing for guarantee-breaking prize pools most of the time and collecting some juicy overlays in a few instances, while the operator still made a decent profit.
Even though XL Autumn is done and dusted, the crew is ramping up for 888poker LIVE Coventry, so check out the 888 online poker app lobby for details on satellites for a chance to play for 888poker LIVE glory at the end of October.
