After Making Day 5, Gianluca Escobar Wins €1k NL Hyper Turbo
According to PokerStars, after making Day 5 early last night, Italian Gianluca Escobar hadn’t had quite enough poker when Day 4 of the EPT Malta drew to a halt. Here's what they had to say:
Instead of taking a well-earned rest for making the penultimate day of the flagship Main Event, he jumped in to last night’s €1k NL Hyper Turbo. And boom for Escobar, he took it down.
Escobar originally hails from Naples but now lives in Sliema, just a few minutes away from Portomaso Casino. He has every reason to love his newly-adopted country: it is at this very casino that the 27-year-old scored his biggest live cash to date, winning the People’s Poker Tour Main Event in September for €41,090.
Escobar can now celebrate his first-ever EPT victory as well after defeating a 92-strong field in last night’s €1k NL Hyper Turbo for €23,700. He beat Mikko Turtiainen heads-up to seize the title and €23,700 first prize. The Finn meanwhile has already had his moment in the EPTLive sun. He was taking part in last night’s turbo after a long spell on the TV table yesterday; his dreams of winning the Main Event were brought to a halt however when both he and Team PokerStars Pro Johnny Lodden were eliminated in one hand by Jaroslaw Sikora. Turtiainen finished 28th place for €15,620 but was able to boost his bankroll by an additional €16,460 with his runner-up finish last night.
There were 13 players taking a share of the €89,240 prize pool in the popular turbo event including IPT7 Malta winner Georgios Zisimopoulos (fourth for €8,520), EPT Copenhagen champion Anton Wigg, who won the €500 PLO Turbo the other night, and EPT Dortmund runner-up Cristiano Blanco.