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Richard Koppel Snags Overall Chip Lead on Day 1d
Day 1d of the 2024 Malta Poker Festival Spring Edition €550 Grand Event was the biggest opening flight yet with 413 more entries getting into the mix to witness the prize pool already soar past €550,000 with still two opening flights to go.
Estonia’s Richard Koppel not only performed the best of the 62 Day 1d survivors that collected at least a €900 min-cash for their efforts but also was the first player to surpass 2 million in chips in the Grand Event. Koppel won a massive pot near the end of the day to eliminate a big-stacked Michael Stewart after barrelling away out of position on the turn and river with a flopped full house holding ace-jack only for Stewart left emptyhanded with trips holding big slick.
Roar Flotre, Kevin Rothlisberger, and Phillip Drayer all joined the chip millionaire club, while Simon Lauchernauer, Joel Happio, Sven Meschede, Grant Campbell, Marco Meisser, Jake Caldwell, and Vikram Digpal all found bags north of half a million.
While our reporting will resme tomorrow for Day 2, we will also share the final chip counts and crucial stats from the two turbo flights tonight and tomorrow morning.
In the meantime, check out the final Day 1e chip counts below:
Player | Chips | Big Blinds |
---|---|---|
Richard Koppel | 2,266,000 | 227 |
Roar Flotre | 1,300,000 | 130 |
Kevin Rothlisberger | 1,062,000 | 106 |
Philipp Drayer | 1,008,000 | 101 |
Simon Lauchenauer | 649,000 | 65 |
Joel Haapio | 630,000 | 63 |
Sven Meschede | 613,000 | 61 |
Grant Campbell | 569,000 | 57 |
Marco Meisser | 552,000 | 55 |
Jake Caldwell | 551,000 | 55 |
Vikram Digpal | 510,000 | 51 |
Fabio Berti | 490,000 | 49 |
Massimo Bruno | 486,000 | 49 |
Nial Mullally | 480,000 | 48 |
Marco Patane | 470,000 | 47 |
Koen Volckaert | 450,000 | 45 |
Bernardo Boria | 420,000 | 42 |
Dario Marinelli | 406,000 | 41 |
Rosario Saddemi | 389,000 | 39 |
Thomas Hardt | 383,000 | 38 |
Jari Hurri | 377,000 | 38 |
Evy Albrigtsen | 373,000 | 37 |
Mateusz Piwowarczyk | 329,000 | 33 |
Chuan Kim Ooi | 307,000 | 31 |
Roderick MacNeil | 302,000 | 30 |
Johann Telser | 258,000 | 26 |
Kathleen Padovani | 250,000 | 25 |
Stavros Andreadis | 226,000 | 23 |
Fabian Maser | 226,000 | 23 |
Jack Triggs | 213,000 | 21 |
Steven Penney | 206,000 | 21 |
Maxime Delhommeau | 198,000 | 20 |
Stephen Dishman | 190,000 | 19 |
Kenneth Bailey | 187,000 | 19 |
Stevan Gvozdenovic | 172,000 | 17 |
Nidal Dawoud | 171,000 | 17 |
Junyu Liu | 171,000 | 17 |
Benedetto Caruso | 158,000 | 16 |
Jarrad Fayez | 156,000 | 16 |
Peter Perceval | 156,000 | 16 |
Roy Trickett | 143,000 | 14 |
Flaviano Cammisuli | 142,000 | 14 |
Roberto Zuffo | 125,000 | 13 |
Yannick Rohrbach | 124,000 | 12 |
Lars Wandmaker | 124,000 | 12 |
Timothy Jones | 123,000 | 12 |
Svajunas Seduikis | 108,000 | 11 |
Marco Herman | 106,000 | 11 |
Tomasz Kokoszka | 90,000 | 9 |
Keith Smith | 87,000 | 9 |
Dario Filippelli | 84,000 | 8 |
Marco Siciliano | 82,000 | 8 |
Sander Ostlyngen | 77,000 | 8 |
Torsten Klingels | 73,000 | 7 |
Christian Ruopp | 67,000 | 7 |
Beverley Nicholson | 66,000 | 7 |
Sonia Padovani | 66,000 | 7 |
Martin Kirchbaumer | 60,000 | 6 |
Luigi Nucifora | 55,000 | 6 |
Daragh Davey | 48,000 | 5 |
Jasmin Scheiffele | 48,000 | 5 |
Marcello Favaloro | 37,500 | 4 |
Meschede Delivers Bad Beat to Bubble Thoni
Level 15: 6,000/12,000 (12,000)
Entries: 62/413
There were several short stacked players doubling up on the pure money bubble while getting it in good. Johannes Thoni also got it in good. He jammed for 95,000 from early position and was called by Sven Meschede from one seat over. The hands at the other tables were being finished out before the cards were tabled.
Johannes Thoni: Q♠Q♦
Sven Meschede: A♦Q♣
Thoni was ahead after the J♠8♥2♦ flop. However, that all changed in front of a big crowd around the table after Meschede improved to a better pair on the A♥ turn and was left with just a one outer on the river.
No miracle saved Thoni as the 5♣ river completed the board for Thoni to bubble Day 1d.
Stay tuned for the final chip counts of Day 1d.
Sven Meschede – 400,000
Johannes Thoni – 0
D’Urso Loses Short Stack to Lauchenauer
Level 15: 6,000/12,000 (12,000)
Entries: 63/413
The short stack of Salvatore D’Urso was in the middle with A♣6♠ and was up against the 9♦8♦ held by Simon Lauchenauer.
Lauchenauer’s nine connected on the 4♦6♥Q♠9♣K♠ runout to hit the rail and the clock was stopped in preparation for hand-for-hand during the money bubble.
Simon Lauchenauer – 700,000
Salvatore D’Urso – 0
Koppel Ousts Stewart in a Nearly 2 Million Pot
Level 14: 5,000/10,000 (10,000)
Entries: 65/413
Fireworks erupted on Table 8 and it all started simply enough with Richard Koppel calling an open by Michael Stewart. Both players checked the J♦A♦A♠ flop before Koppel bet 200,000 on the 5♦ turn.
Stewart called before Koppel jammed for more than around 500,000 his opponent had behind on the 4♦ river. Stewart made the call and instantly shouted “I’m out” to his friends on the rail after the cards were turned over.
Koppel flopped the goods with a full house holding A♣J♥. This was more than enough to beat the trip aces held by Stewart with A♥K♦ to hit the rail, while Koppel was the first player climbing over the 2 million chip mark.
Richard Koppel – 2.1 million
Michael Stewart – 0
Cowboys Good for Liu to Oust Jeffery
Level 14: 5,000/10,000 (10,000)
Entries: 67/413
Junyu Liu opened for 21,000 from middle position. Clint Jeffery three-bet shoved for about 80,000 from the small blind and Liu snap-called.
Clint Jeffery: 7♠7♥
Junyu Liu: K♣K♥
Cowboys were good enough for Liu to felt Jeffery a few players away from the money bubble after the 9♦Q♠10♣10♠4♣ ran out on the board.
Junyu Liu – 300,000
Clint Jeffery – 0
Flotre Continues to Roar Sending Houghton to the Rail
Level 14: 5,000/10,000 (10,000)
Entries: 68/413
Kevin Houghton got his stack of around 170,000 in on the a nine-six-four flop with top pair holding nine-seven and was up against the pocket rockets of newly minted chip millionaire Roar Flotre.
Things went from bad to worse for Houghton after a six paired the turn and a needling seven came on the river for Roar to win the hand with a better two pair than Houghton.
Roar Flotre – 1.3 million
Kevin Houghton – 0