€5,300 Main Event
Day 1b Started
€5,300 Main Event
Day 1b Started
In two hours from now at 12 p.m. local time, the second starting day of the 2016 PokerStars.com EPT Season 13 Malta €5,300 Main Event gets underway at the Casino Portomaso. With plenty of sunshine outside and many of the online grinders returning to the felt after their Sunday sessions, a bigger field is expected than the 134 entries of yesterday's Day 1a, of which 61 bagged up chips last night.
The numbers to beat thus far for all hopefuls today are Dan Shak's 185,100 and Pasi Sormunen's 183,600, more than six times the starting stack over the course of eight 75-minute levels. All participants receive 30,000 in chips and there will be a break of 20 minutes every two levels and a 75-minute dinner break after level six, play will come to an end around midnight local time.
Last year, the EPT stopped twice on Malta. Jean Montury emerged victorious in the EPT11 Malta Main Event after outlasting a field of 895 players to claim a career-best payday of €687,400. And in October 2015, Niall Farrell defeated a 651-entry strong field in heads up against Alen Bilic to lift the trophy.
Many of the regular faces in the High Roller events took to the felt yesterday already with mixed success and as of 12.30 p.m. local time, the €10,300 Single-Day High Roller also kicks off as well. Who will make a big step towards history in the second-last EPT before the rebranding to the PokerStars Festivals next year? The PokerNews live reporting team will be on hand to cover the action for both tournaments, so stay tuned and check back regularly.
Level: 1
Blinds: 50/100
Ante: 0
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Jacek Pustula |
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
Benny Glaser |
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
|
||
Bart Kuiper |
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
Rasmus Agerskov |
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
Vicente Delgado |
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
Pierre Calamusa |
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
|
||
Jimmy Guerrero |
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
Jason Tompkins |
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
Andrea Cortellazzi |
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
Eugene Katchalov |
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
Andreas Hoivold |
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
|
||
Martin Staszko |
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
Andrey Andreev |
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
Yury Gulyy |
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
Johan Guilbert |
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
|
||
Antoine Saout |
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
Day 1b is just five minutes underway and there are already more players than yesterday on day 1a. At the moment 176 players registered for this second starting day, outnumbering yesterday's 134 runners.
We expect the field will continue to grow over the first few levels, so the hopes are high on a big turn out for day 1b.
Alexander Ivarsson bet the heads-up flop of for 700 and Sai Wu called in the cutoff. On the turn, Ivarsson bet 1,800 and Wu said "call" then asked "how much?" before tossing in the chips. On the river, Ivarsson checked and Wu bet 3,000. Ivarsson called after some consideration and Wu showed the , Ivarsson had that beat with .
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Alexander Ivarsson |
36,000
36,000
|
36,000 |
Sai Wu
|
24,000
24,000
|
24,000 |
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The reigning champion of EPT Malta, Niall Farrell just took his seat at table 7. Last year, in season 12 of the European Poker Tour, Farrell topped a field of 651 players. He banked €534,330 with his win and didn't do so bad in the events afterwards.
This summer he finished eighth in the $111,111 One Drop High Roller at the WSOP, ended second in a $1,500 No Limit Hold'em Shoot Out and sixth in a $2,500 No Limit Hold'em tournament.
Today, he started his quest to extend his reign here in Malta and score another big payday.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Niall Farrell | 30,000 | |
|
There were some gasps on the table still after the dealer had announced seat open on table 23. Jimmy Guerrero couldn't really believe it either, but apparently Sai Wu had sent over her remaining stack entirely to Alexander Ivarsson. The first seat open after 14 minutes! This is not a record for the EPT though, but surely one of the fastest exits ever.
As per Ivarsson, this is what happened. Wu limped in, the cutoff raised to 375 and Ivarsson three-bet to 1,000 on the button, only Wu called. On the flop, Wu checked, Ivarsson bet 1,200 and then faced a raise to 2,700. Ivarsson reraised to 6,700 and Wu called. After the turn, Ivarsson bet 6,000 and received a call before checking the river. Wu shoved for 13,000 with and Ivarsson more than happily called with for the full house.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Alexander Ivarsson |
60,000
24,000
|
24,000 |
Sai Wu
|
Busted |
Simon Amyot raised to 325 and received three callers in Michael Awad, Andrea Cortellazzi and Maxim Toldin. On the flop all three players checked. On the turn, Toldin bet 800 out of the big blind and Amot min-raised to 1,600. Awad called and Cortellazzi folded. Toldin then made it 4,500 to go and both opponents called.
The fell on the river and Toldin checked. Amyot bet 10,000 and Awad folded. Toldin asked for a count on the bet, then folded and the table was shown the .
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Simon Amyot
|
42,000
42,000
|
42,000 |
Andrea Cortellazzi |
29,000
-1,000
|
-1,000 |
Maxim Toldin
|
25,000
25,000
|
25,000 |
Michael Awad
|
25,000
25,000
|
25,000 |