IOwnU888 Denies Aaron Barone to Win 888’s PNOC Mystery Main Event
The 1,091-entry finale generated a $254,203 prize pool as Barone’s deep run of the series ended heads-up.
- IOwnU888 won the PokerNews Online Championship Mystery Main Event for $25,522 after defeating Aaron Barone heads-up.
- The $250,000-guaranteed event drew 1,091 entries and generated a $254,203 prize pool.
- Barone began heads-up play with 19.2 big blinds against IOwnU888’s 71.7 big blinds.
- The series ran 40 events with more than $780,000 in guarantees.
IOwnU888 won the $250,000-guaranteed PokerNews Online Championship Mystery Main Event at 888 on Oct. 27, defeating 888 ambassador Aaron “abarone68” Barone heads-up. The victory ended the 10-day, 40-event series and paid IOwnU888 $25,522, while Barone received $17,211 for second.
PokerNews reported that 1,091 entries across several starting flights produced a $254,203 prize pool, narrowly clearing the event’s guarantee. The tournament played out over three days and brought 141 players to Day 2 before the final eight returned for the cards-up Twitch broadcast.
Barone had already opened his series with a win in the $16.50 Mystery Bounty, as we reported Oct. 18. He reached this final table fourth in chips with 37 big blinds, while LookAround and for_science began ahead of the field.
Nick “eastyyy22” Eastwood handled the 888 Twitch commentary alone because his regular co-commentator, Barone, was among the finalists. UrExNewBF, the shortest stack at the restart, was eliminated alongside Iperenoei13 in an early double knockout.
Romania’s 01tdr exited soon afterward when for_science made a river full house with pocket eights against ace-king. Once five players remained, every survivor had secured a five-figure total including bounties; Lithuania’s sankovski was the first to collect one, receiving $13,685.
Barone fell to seven big blinds four-handed after his ace-king lost to LookAround’s pocket tens, but survived through three-handed play. He survived when the board counterfeited IOwnU888’s ace-jack against his ace-nine, then rivered trip jacks with ace-jack to beat LookAround’s ace-king.
IOwnU888 eliminated for_science with ace-king against pocket fives, then knocked out LookAround to set up the heads-up match. Barone began it severely behind, with 19.2 big blinds to IOwnU888’s 71.7, and made his final stand with ace-queen of hearts for 15.3 big blinds after limp-calling. IOwnU888 held jack-ten and completed a straight across the turn and river to take the title.
The championship offered more than $780,000 in guaranteed prize pools, with buy-ins from $8.80 to $525 and formats including traditional tournaments, deep stacks, progressive knockouts and mystery bounties.
