888poker Welcomes Russian Pro and Preps for XL Eclipse
The latest news from 888poker involves a new ambassador, Russian poker pro Daria Feshchenko, and its upcoming XL Eclipse online poker series.
Feshchenko is the first new ambassador in the 888poker pro lineup in more than a year. The last addition to the roster was Ana Marquez, who joined during the World Series of Poker in 2018.
She is in place just in time for the latest edition of XL Eclipse, one of 888poker’s online poker series. It will be competing against big series from PartyPoker and PokerStars next month. XL Eclipse will also offer only 34 tournaments and $1.4 million in total guarantees, a fraction of its competitors’ offerings and smaller in comparison to some of its past series.
Even so, 888poker offers an alternative and is likely to start promoting XL Eclipse more extensively as the series will begin on September 12.
New Pro Feshchenko
Born in Moscow, Daria Feshchenko is 26 years old. She attended the University of Moscow, where she studied philology, which is the study of language in written history. She specialized in the Indonesian language, but her multilingual skills are obvious in her solid grasp of the English language as well.
BIG NEWS: We are so excited to welcome a brand new #888poker ambassador! We’ve added #DariaFeshchenko to #Team888, making it official with a live announcement at #888pokerLIVESochi. Follow Daria on https://t.co/meAq5sFCrI and show her some #poker love! pic.twitter.com/dyZaqX0yJ0
— 888poker (@888poker) August 13, 2019
While modeling has been one career path for Feshchenko, poker has been the one for which she had the most passion. She started playing about 10 years ago with friends in an underground poker club.
“I fell in love with this game immediately,” she told 888poker. “I never heard about forums and online poker, so I just went to the biggest book shop and bought all the books about poker.”
Cash games were her forte for many years, but Feshchenko decided to become a pro four years ago, traveling and playing more poker, including tournaments. She also began playing more online poker as “Scarlett,” which she took from the Gone with the Wind character Scarlett O’Hara. Feshchenko identified with a girl who grew into a powerful woman but “always kept her spontaneity and spirit.”
Speaking of growth, Feshchenko went from small buy-in cash games to $50/$100 NLHE online, even playing $300/$600 in Las Vegas.
The young pro also began dabbling in poker tournaments in 2015 around Europe but played more from 2017 going forward. She made several final tables in 2017 and 2018. In 2019, she did more traveling for poker in the United States, final tabling an event at the L.A. Poker Classic and the DeepStack Championship Poker Series in Vegas.
To date, Feshchenko has accumulated more than $236,500 in live tournaments alone.
As a single mother of a seven-year-old son, Feshchenko was happy to join the 888poker team. “First of all, their content is very warm and personal. I feel that it is a great opportunity to do something good for the poker industry, to share my life and story, and to try to inspire some people.”
It is important to note that 888poker has the most gender-diverse team of ambassadors in the game, as Feshchenko joins Marquez, Vivian Saliba, Kara Scott, and Sofia Lovgren. Feshchenko noted, “I like the fact that there are lots of girls on the team, but this fact is not exploited in a typical feminine way.”
Players can compete against Feshchenko on 888poker, where she plays as “Scarlett_D.”
XL Eclipse Details Revealed
Just this week, 888poker announced the details of its XL Eclipse tournament, which is set for September 12-22, 2019.
The 34 tournaments will offer a range of buy-ins, from mini and micro stakes to a $320 high-roller tournament. Most tournaments will also offer a late buy-in version of each event.
For example, the opening events on September 12 will be as follows:
Event 1 at 7pm: $109 buy-in NLHE ($50K GTD)
Event 2 at 7pm: $16.50 buy-in NLHE ($20K GTD)
Event 3 at 9pm: $55 buy-in NLHE ($20K GTD)
And when the action gets to the final day on Sunday, September 22, there will be three closing events:
Event 32 at 5pm: $250 buy-in NLHE Main Event ($500K GTD)
Event 33 at 5:30pm: $33 NLHE Mini Main Event ($50K GTD)
Event 34 at 6pm: $5.50 NLHE Micro Main Event ($15K GTD)
Of course, there are satellites running in the weeks leading up to the series for all of the tournaments, and they start as low as $0.01.
There are a similar number of tournaments in this year’s XL Eclipse, but the guarantees are set lower. That may be due to last year’s overlays in numerous events. For example, last year’s XL Eclipse Main Event was a $1,050 buy-in but offered a $1 million guarantee, which was not met. Roman “romeopro33” Romanovskyi did win $187,500 for his victory.
The full schedule is on the 888poker blog.
It's back and better than ever! #XLEclipse returns to #888poker 12-22 September… https://t.co/mPui8v02BN pic.twitter.com/tMz1G2yQJV
— 888poker (@888poker) August 22, 2019