| Place | Player | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arthur Navellou | France | 9,825,000 | 49 |
| 2 | Leif Hetland | Norway | 17,725,000 | 89 |
| 3 | Nidal Dawoud | Denmark | 2,575,008 | 13 |
| 4 | Kamil Skawinski | Poland | 7,850,000 | 39 |
| 5 | Samuel Biland | Switzerland | 5,950,000 | 30 |
| 6 | Georgios Zachmanidis | Greece | 2,025,000 | 10 |
| 7 | William Kassouf | United Kingdom | 3,200,000 | 16 |
| 8 | Robert Kontkanen | Sweden | 4,675,000 | 23 |
| 9 | Kjetil Hanstvedt | Norway | 18,325,000 | 92 |
Level 29: 100,000/200,000 (200,000)
Entries: 9/1,444
Paul-Vlad Craciunas opened for 400,000 from under the gun before Leif Hetland three-bet to 800,000 from the cutoff. Craciunas four-bet to 1,750,000. Hetland five-bet to 3,100,000. Craciunas jammed for 7,500,000 and Skawinski called.
Paul-Vlad Craciunas: K♥K♦
Leif Heltand: A♠A♦
Aces held against kings with the 9♣5♣5♥8♦5♦ board and the final table of nine was set. We will post the seat draw and chip counts shorlty.
Leif Heltand- 17.7 million
Paul-Vlad Craciunas – 0
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 11 | Antonios Onoufriou | €6,970 |
| 12 | Patrick Schindler | €6,970 |
| 13 | Alessandro D’Amore | €4,960 |
| 14 | Paul Theeman | €4,960 |
Level 28: 75,000/150,000 (150,000)
Entries: 10/1,444
William Kassouf opened for 350,000 from the button before Antonios Onoufriou three-bet jammed for 850,000 from the big blind. Kassouf called an Onoufriou was in a bit of hot water.
Antonios Onoufriou: A♣5♣
William Kassouf: Q♣Q♦
The 8♦6♦8♠7♦8♠ board didn’t help Onoufriou and he was eliminated in 11th place.
William Kassouf – 4.2 million
Antonios Onoufriou – 0
Level 28: 75,000/150,000 (150,000)
Entries: 11/1,444
Arthur Navellou opened for a min-raise from early position before Patrick Schindler jammed for about 3 million from one seat over. The action folded around to Navellou who quickly found a call.
Patrick Schnidler: A♦A♥
Arthur Navellou: Q♠Q♥
It was looking like Schindler would have a decent stack but instead hit the rail in 12th place after an untimely two out on the river with the 5♦9♥6♣3♣Q♣ running out on the board.
Arthur Navellou – 12 million
Patrick Schindler – 0
Level 28: 75,000/150,000 (150,000)
Entries: 12/1,444
Samuel Biland opened for a min-raise from the hijack and was called by Kjetil Hanstvedt from the big blind.
Hanstvedt check-raised the 9♥4♦Q♣ flop from 250,000 to 750,000 and Biland called. A bigger bet of 1,250,000 was pushed out by Hanstvedt on the J♠ turn. Biland called and the 10♥ river completed the board.
Both players checked. Hanstvedt turned over the A♦7♥ before Biland turned over the Q♥J♣ for top two pair to win the hand.
“I should have pressed on the river,” Hanstvedt said after the hand.
“I am glad you didn’t,” responded Biland.
Kjetil Hanstvelt – 13 million
Samuel Biland – 8.5 million
Level 28: 75,000/150,000 (150,000)
Entries: 12/1,444
Alessandro D’Amore jammed for 825,000 from under the gun. Paul-Vlad Craciunas asked for a count before he called from the hijack.
Alessandro D’Amore: 8♣7♣
Paul-Vlad Craciunas: 9♥9♠
There was some hope for D’Amore to double and survive after his eight connected on the 3♥8♥Q♣ flop and he had even more outs with a flush draw on the A♣. However, a blank K♠ river completed the board and D’Amore was on the rail in 13th place.
Paul-Vlad Craciunas – 6 million
Alessandro D’Amore – 0
Level 28: 75,000/150,000 (150,000)
Entries: 13/1,444
Paul Theeman jammed for 1.6 million from the hijack and was called by Samuel Biland from the button.
Paul Theeman: K♣J♣
Samuel Biland: A♣Q♠
Biland improved to a full house straight out of the gate on the Q♥A♥A♣. Theeman improved to Broadway on the 10♥ turn but was drawing dead anyway. The inconsequential 6♣ river completed the board and Theeman was eliminated in 14th place for €4,960.
Samuel Biland – 6 million
Paul Theeman – 0
Norway’s Kjetil Hanstvedt continued to pad onto his lead and has a substantial gap over his nearest competitors in Kamil Skainski, Robert Kontkanen, Leif Hetland, and Paul-Vlad Craciunas.
Check out all the chip counts at the dinner break below:
| Place | Player | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kjetil Hanstvedt | 15,300,000 | 102 |
| 2 | Kamil Skawinski | 8,400,000 | 56 |
| 3 | Robert Kontkanen | 7,625,000 | 51 |
| 4 | Leif Hetland | 7,500,000 | 50 |
| 5 | Paul-Vlad Craciunas | 5,975,000 | 40 |
| 6 | Arthur Navellou | 5,225,000 | 35 |
| 7 | Samuel Biland | 4,125,000 | 28 |
| 8 | Georgios Zachmanidis | 3,775,000 | 25 |
| 9 | Patrick Schindler | 3,550,000 | 24 |
| 10 | William Kassouf | 3,100,000 | 21 |
| 11 | Nidal Dawoud | 2,575,000 | 17 |
| 12 | Antonios Onoufriou | 2,225,000 | 15 |
| 13 | Paul Theeman | 1,650,000 | 11 |
| 14 | Alessandro D’Amore | 825,000 | 6 |
Salvador Villaluz, affectionately known as “Bingo Buddy” across the poker world, came to the Malta Poker Festival from Canada for a second time and this time he will have a trophy to bring back with him as he defeated Dane Tallinn heads-up in the MPF €230 Seniors Event for a cool €6,500.
The Seniors Event was a huge success with 151 entries creating a €28,992 prize pool.
“Bingo Buddy” has been sharing the experience of both himself and other members in the Global Poker Community Facebook group and also, alongside Maureen Bloechlinger, runs the Global Poker Community Seniors 50+.
This won’t be the last we see of “Bingo Buddy” as he already plans to come back next year. In the meantime, it is a pleasant goodbye, and see you soon for one of poker’s true ambassadors to the game.
