Are You Ready for Day 1c?
Welcome back to the coverage of the 2024 Malta Poker Festival Spring Edition at the luxurious Portomaso Casino from April 22-29. The festival boasts many amazing events with deep structures across a variety of games and buy-ins along with cash games running around the clock and the fun off-the-felt activities to showcase a bit of what the beautiful island of Malta has to offer.
Our coverage will resume on Friday, April 26 at 1 p.m. when cards are in the air for Day 1c of the €300,000 guaranteed Malta Poker Festival €550 Grand Event powered by the Unibet Deepstack Open. The guarantee is on track to be smashed already 468 entries attracted during the first two opening flights including 291 entries during yesterday’s Day 1a.
Finland’s Matte Karjalainen set the bar high when taking the overall chip lead after parlaying his 50,000 opening chips into a massive pile of 1,269,000. Norway’s Ronny Albrigtsen also became a chip millionaire assisted by accumulating chips all day and then putting a cherry on top after delivering a bad beat that resulted in two players losing their stacks on the final hand of the day. United Kingdom’s Indre Stanaityte impressively bagged 858,000 in chips to lead the 27 survivors on Day 1a while Latvia’s Elvijs Kuceruks wasn’t too far behind with 807,000.
The MPF Grand Event is a deep-stacked affair with players starting each of the six opening flights from April 24-28 with 50,000 in chips. The first four opening flights boast 40-minute blind levels including today’s Day 1c with Day 1e and Day 1f speeding along with a turbo-structure of 20-minute blind levels.
Players can re-enter up to two times per flight during the first 10 levels of any opening flight providing players plenty of opportunities to bag a big stack. Each opening flight will conclude when the field is trimmed down to 15 percent with all surviving players already in the money for at least a €900 min-cash heading into Sunday’s Day 2.
Day 1c Structure
| Level | Small Blind | Big Blind | Ante |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 100 | 300 | 300 |
| 2 | 200 | 400 | 400 |
| 3 | 300 | 600 | 600 |
| 15-Minute Break | |||
| 4 | 400 | 800 | 800 |
| 5 | 500 | 1,000 | 1,000 |
| 6 | 600 | 1,200 | 1,200 |
| 15-Minute Break | |||
| 7 | 1,000 | 1,500 | 1,500 |
| 8 | 1,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 |
| 9 | 1,500 | 3,000 | 3,000 |
| 10 | 2,000 | 4,000 | 4,000 |
| 60-Minute Break (Late Registration Closes) | |||
| 11 | 3,000 | 5,000 | 5,000 |
| 12 | 3,000 | 6,000 | 6,000 |
| 13 | 4,000 | 8,000 | 8,000 |
| 15-Minute Break | |||
| 14 | 5,000 | 10,000 | 10,000 |
| 15 | 6,000 | 12,000 | 12,000 |
| 16 | 8,000 | 16,000 | 16,000 |
Friday Schedule at the 2024 Malta Poker Festival Spring Edition
Friday is a busy day for side events with plenty on tap for players who already bagged a stack in the Grand Event or want to test their skills in other poker formats. The first side event will likely attract the largest attendance with many players eager to play the €230 Mystery Bounty boasting long 30-minute blind levels at 4 p.m.
Those looking for four-card action will battle in the €300 PLO Knights Crusader at 6 p.m. with a 25-minute clock.
Shortly after, the largest buy-in event in Malta Poker Festival history will kick off at 7 p.m. in the €2,500 Super High Roller. Players will duke it out for 10 levels of 40-minutes each with late registration still open during the first blind level of tomorrow’s final day. Expect some fun with already 11 players qualifying last night via a €300 satellite.
The Malta Poker Festival is also giving back to a good cause as the two-day €230 Friday 2 Stack hosted by Rolf Arne Bechstrom starting tonight at 7 p.m. will donate a portion of its fee to cancer research.
Finally, at 9 p.m. another €70 satellite will take place qualifying dozens of players to tomorrow’s Day 1d of the Grand Event. Last night’s satellite attracted 239 entries and awarded 26 seats into today’s Day 1c.
Check out our blog throughout the week for all of your updates and stories about the Grand Event, side event winners, and more.