Level 3: 300/600 (600)
Entries: 163/169
Fabian Maser bet 5,000 into a spread pot with the A♥8♥4♥A♦3♦ on the board. Verneri Hakkinen jacked it up to 20,000. Maser paused for a few moments before he called.
Hakkinen turned over the 4♣4♠ for the full house and won the hand after Maser tossed his cards into the muck.
Verneri Hakkinen – 110,000
Fabian Maser – 16,000
The Unibet Deepstack Open (UDSO), which powers the Malta Poker Festival Grand Event has stepped it up in a huge way as they will be hosting a satellite on Friday, April 26 at 8 p.m. CEST at Unibet Poker.
All it takes is €1 to enter with a €550 Grand Event ticket awaiting the winner with UDSO satellite tickets on tap for those that came close with no cigar.
When you think about the fact that you can’t really buy anything for €1 these days, this is an absolute bargain. Worst case, you lose a Euro while having fun. Best case is, that you are freerolling the Malta Poker Festival Grand Event compliments of the UDSO.
Special thanks to Alex Henry for adding more value to the Malta Poker Festival.
Level 1: 100/300 (300)
Entries: 125/126
We had the pleasure of meeting Jonathan Schuman last year and he is not only a fierce competitor at the poker tables but an all around nice guy. Sometimes, nice guys finish last and that was what happened to Schuman on Day 1c.
Schuman lost the majority of his stack after three-bet jamming his 5♠3♠ on a 6♣3♣3♦ flop and was up against the A♣2♣ held by Manfred Quint and the better trips held by Bjarke Matthiesen with A♦3♦.
Matthiesen’s hand held to give him a monster stack and then Quint shortly later eliminated Schulman to chip back up after his ace-high flush beat Schuman’s king-high flush.
Bjarke Matthiesen – 145,000
Manfred Quint – 25,000
Jonathan Schuman – 0
Level 1: 100/300 (300)
Entries: 106/106
The Day 1c field reached over 100 entries early on Day 1c.
Some of the players we noticed from around the room included Liutauras Armanavicius, Nikolaos Dafoulas, Tracey Dunn, Olivier Klat, Karl-Heinz Metz, Julian Micallef, John Mooney, and Thibaut Thevenet.
The field will just grow from here and the €300,000 guarantee is likely to be smashed sometime before late registration closes on Day 1c.
Level 1: 100/300 (300)
Entries: 85/85
We met Amanda Smith before the start of the day and learned that she won a seat through Poker Raffles to the MPF Grand Event. While Smith has enjoyed plenty of pub-league action over the years, this is just her second time playing outside of a pub environment. She didn’t appear nervous and we reassured her that she had one of the best poker dealers we know in Anna.
Meanwhile, some of the local flavor is in the event as well with two of the nicest poker players you will come across in Karl Gialanze and Matthew Micallef. Don’t let their friendly demeanor fool you as Gialanze and Micallef have both been deep in multi-day events before.
Also in the field are Gary Whitehead, Anne-Marie Yuen, Craig Smith, poker mind coach Ilze Zolte, Jonathan Schuman, and Kelly Slay.
Best of luck to all of these players and the rest of the field.
Level 1: 100/300 (300)
Entries: 83/83
Cards are in the air to start Day 1c after Malta Poker Festival founder Ivonne Montealegre and Ludos Academy CEO Danilo De Berardinis introduced players to the festival and shared the plan for the day.
The field began with 83 players and will grow quickly from there with more players already filing in.
Best of luck to all of the Grand Event players on 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.
| 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 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.
| Player | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|
| Antonio Brancati | 460,000 | 92 |
| Samuel Tebege | 376,000 | 75 |
| Tomas Flanagan | 375,000 | 75 |
| Vytautas Rubeziu | 337,000 | 67 |
| Kjell Hernstrom | 327,000 | 65 |
| Congliang Lyu | 320,000 | 64 |
| Thomas Harnes | 311,000 | 62 |
| Jonathan Briscoe White | 308,000 | 62 |
| Miriam Hellwig | 308,000 | 62 |
| Samuele Lo Presti | 308,000 | 62 |
| Istvan Krizsan | 291,000 | 58 |
| Anthony Farthing | 289,000 | 58 |
| Dylan Cechowski | 286,000 | 57 |
| Henrik Torstensson | 278,000 | 56 |
| Tomasz Brzezinski | 276,000 | 55 |
| Jeongmin Lee | 268,000 | 54 |
| Martinez Furniet | 265,000 | 53 |
| Allan Arjut | 244,000 | 49 |
| Anders Karlsen | 240,000 | 48 |
| Boban Stevanovic | 232,000 | 46 |
| Nicolas Bigham | 230,000 | 46 |
| Lars-Magne Johansen | 226,000 | 45 |
| Garry Woods | 225,000 | 45 |
| Karl Linder | 222,000 | 44 |
| Georgios Zachmanidis | 214,000 | 43 |
| Eros Nastasi | 209,000 | 42 |
| Kevin Berkhout | 206,000 | 41 |
| Samuel Biland | 206,000 | 41 |
| Igor Bukowsi | 203,000 | 41 |
| Lawrence Bonnici | 199,000 | 40 |
| Skipp van den Assem | 197,000 | 39 |
| Ronnie Cohen | 190,000 | 38 |
| Proenca Oliveira | 190,000 | 38 |
| Miguel Martinez Marti | 185,000 | 37 |
| Kevin Quinlan | 182,000 | 36 |
| Jonathan Stoll | 179,000 | 36 |
| Bjarke Matthiesen | 173,000 | 35 |
| Ruiz Ribatallada | 168,000 | 34 |
| Francesco Biribao | 165,000 | 33 |
| Soren Dalgaard | 163,000 | 33 |
| Petrus Berkhout | 156,000 | 31 |
| Angelo Monachino | 154,000 | 31 |
| Jonas Nordquist | 153,000 | 31 |
| Stig Eketrapp | 149,000 | 30 |
| Gaetano Brignone | 148,000 | 30 |
| George Waud | 147,000 | 29 |
| Giuseppe Marrone | 140,000 | 28 |
| Vincenzo Scarpitti | 139,000 | 28 |
| Maciej Toma | 138,000 | 28 |
| Giuseppe Partinico | 121,000 | 24 |
| Sascha Manns | 118,000 | 24 |
| Adam Bromley | 112,000 | 22 |
| Mathias Petit | 110,000 | 22 |
| Niel Adams | 109,000 | 22 |
| Christophe Cambier | 108,000 | 22 |
| Johan Hermansson | 91,000 | 18 |
| Gunnar Fenes | 85,000 | 17 |
| Emil Langeland | 84,000 | 17 |
| Candido Cappiello | 82,000 | 16 |
| Daniele Grasso | 80,000 | 16 |
| Richard Sambron | 80,000 | 16 |
| Elsje Vansteenkiste | 73,000 | 15 |
| Jonathan Butters | 72,000 | 14 |
| Jeoffrey Duytschaever | 68,000 | 14 |
| Chris Da Silva | 60,000 | 12 |
| Dan Larsson | 60,000 | 12 |
| Benjamin Kett | 57,000 | 11 |
| Alexandra Grasu | 55,000 | 11 |
| Paolo Di Girolamo | 48,000 | 10 |
The floor stopped the clock with a little more than six minutes left on Day 1c to announce the final three hands of the evening.
After three more hands are dealt at each table, surviving players will bag and tag their stacks into Sunday’s Day 2.
Stay tuned for the final chip counts of Day 1c of the 2023 Malta Poker Festival Autumn Edition €550 Main Event powered by the Unibet DeepStack Open at Portomaso Casino.
Level 13: 2,000/4,000 (4,000)
Entries: 77/260
Roar Florte opened for 10,000 before Istvan Krizsan three-bet jammed for a chunk of chips. Jonathan Stoll called off his short-stack before Florte also called off his stack as well.
Jonathan Stoll: A♦Q♦
Roar Florte: K♣K♥
Istvan Krizsan: [invalid notations] flop, however Florte slammed the table either out of anger or frustration or both after a miracle two outer for his opponents came on the A♥ turn. No alternative miracle came on the 4♦ river. Florte was less than happy about his bad luck, but who could blame him?
“The same thing happened at the Norwegians!” Florte said before quickly leaving the table.
Although Krizsan won the side pot, his stack soon went into the back into the pot after shoving the very next hand his K♣9♦ into Emil Langeveld’s Q♦Q♠.
The table was laughing about the last two hands before Sascha Manns, who was also at the table, piped up.
“Now you are just getting cute,” Manns said with a smile.
Nothing miracle happened for Krizsan on the 5♠A♠J♦7♣6♦ board and Krizsan’s stack went over to Langeveld.
Emil Langeveld – 200,000
Jonathan Stoll – 100,000
Istvan Krizsan – 0
Roar Florte – 0
