Andras Nemeth Tops Day 1b at PokerStars EPT Malta Main Event
The second and last starting day of the 2016 PokerStars.com EPT13 Malta €5,300 Main Event attracted 326 players.
After eight 75-minutes levels, it was Hungarian Andras Nemeth who came out on top of the 162 players that survived the day. Nemeth bagged up 192,400 in chips, slightly more than Day 1a chip leader Dan Shak who'll bring 185,100 to Day 2. After two starting days, the total number of runners adds up to 460, of which 223 will return to the Casino Portomaso tomorrow to continue play on Day 2. Here are the top five after Day 1b:
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Andras Nemeth | Hungary | 192,700 |
| 2 | Armin Mette | Austria | 183,700 |
| 3 | Anton Bertilsson | Sweden | 155,200 |
| 4 | Mats Karlsson | Sweden | 150,200 |
| 5 | Roberto Romanello | United Kingdom | 148,300 |
The story of the first level of Day 1b was the bust out of Sai Wu as she made her departure after just 14 minutes of play. Wu had lost some of her chips before, but still had more than two-thirds of the starting stack left when she shoved all in with ace-nine on an ace-ten-five-ten-seven board. Alexander Ivarsson was more than happy to call it down with ace-ten for a full house. Despite his good start, Ivarsson didn’t manage to survive the day.
Neither did Marcin Chmielewski, he was the second casualty of the day and hopped right into the €10,200 Single-Day High Roller, where he busted evenly fast. In the Main Event, it was Bastian Döhler who got his chips. Döhler also eliminated Lijo Lander but couldn’t hold on to his big stack for long. He ended the day with just 22,800 chips, slightly less than the 30,000 he started with.
Another notable who got off to a good start was Eugene Katchalov. He scored a double knockout when he busted Jamie Staples and short-stacked Adel Kabbei. Katchalov had queens and was up against Kabbani’s ace-ten suited and Staples' pocket jacks. None of them improved and they were sent to the rail. While Katchalov found his way up, Staples didn’t make it to the dinner break.
Besides Twitch star Staples, Andres Hoivold, Jan Bendik, Jason Wheeler, Patrick Leonard, Alex DiFelice and defending champion Niall Farrell all left before dinner as well.
Meanwhile, William Kassouf entered the event. The Brit was the talk of the week here in the casino because of his appearance in the World Series of Poker broadcast. Here in Malta, he was talking loud and clear as always, annoying some of the players and railbirds and entertaining others. He gained some chips but didn’t make it to the top of the leaderboard; Kassouf survived the day with 50,500 in chips.
Chipleader Nemeth got things moving the right way halfway through the day as he slowly chipped up and never looked back. By winning many pots without going to a showdown, he was able to build the biggest stack in the room and he'll come back as leader of the pack on Tuesday.
There are lots of notables in the top of the leaderboard, but there were many that didn’t survive. Most recent EPT champion Sebastian Malec was one of them as he busted in the second-to-last level of the day with eights against tens. Kitty Kuo, Antoine Saout and Miroslav Forman are some of the others that busted right before the end of play. Team PokerStars Pro Jake Cody even busted in the very last hand.
Some notables that did manage to make day 2 include: French pro Sarah Herzali (142,400), triple crown winner Davidi Kitai (128,000), Mikita Badziakouski (103,500), Ludovic Geilich (92,200), Dominik Panka (86,000), Dietrich Fast (80,700), Benny Spindler (70,300) and George Danzer (27,000).
Those are just some of the famous names that will return on Tuesday for Day 2 of this EPT Main Event. The action will resume at 12 p.m. local time with six 75-minute levels on the schedule. The PokerNews live reporting team will bring you all the action, so be sure to tune in to get the latest updates.
