Day 1D – MPF Spring 2024

Ladies Lead Coltman to the Exit

Level 1: 100/300 (300)
Entries: 176/177

Samuel Coltman was the first player to hit the rail on Day 1d. He immediately hopped back into action after heading to the registration desk after the following hand.

Coltman opened for 900 from under the gun and was called by Claudio Barone in middle position, Ronald Gijtenbeek from the button, and Christopher Collins from the big blind. Coltman led out for 2,500 on the ten-six-trey flop with two diamonds and was only called by Barone with the other two players folding.

Coltman was at it again with a bigger bet of 6,500 after a four hit the turn. Barone called before a six paired the board on the river. Coltman bet 5,000. Barone raised to 15,000. Coltman came in over the top for the rest of his stack and Barone called.

Barone turned over rivered trips with six-five suited. This did the job to take Coltman’s stack with Coltman turning over pocket queens.

Claudio Barone – 110,000
Samuel Coltman – 50,000

Super High Roller Seat Draw

The €2,500 Super High Roller resumes in under an hour for its second and final day. The field had already 38 entries last night with more to come with late registration open during the first blind level of Day 2 when the action resumes at 2 p.m.

Martin Olali and David Lappin amassed the biggest stacks thus far with still a full day of poker to go. Check out the initial seat draw for Day 2 of the Super High Roller below:

Table	Seat	Player	Chips	Big Blinds
1	1	Aidan Quinlan	33,500	17
1	3	Alessandro Crisafulli	21,000	11
1	4	Ernst Tries	97,000	49
1	5	Michael Strauch	30,000	15
2	1	Fabian Bartuschk	78,500	39
2	3	Samuel Goodman	103,500	52
2	4	David Lappin	183,500	92
2	5	Richard Kellett	102,500	51
3	1	Maurice McCarthy	126,000	63
3	2	John Forsman	88,000	44
3	3	Kai Vater	82,500	41
3	4	Martin Olali	201,000	101

Poker Mama in Battle

Level 1: 100/300 (300)
Entries: 129/129

Maltese poker legend Jackie Cachia, affectionately known as Poker Mama to many in the community, has joined Day 1d for her first bullet into the €550 Grand Event. Cachia is appearing at poker events less and less these days so we wish her the best of luck in her quest for the title. It all starts today on Day 1d.

Also joining Cachia are Rachel Ainsworth, Samuel Biland, Claudio Barone, Pontus Dargren, Yves Farges, Kelley Slay, Junyu Liu, Theo Schmitt, Gary Whitehead, and Anthony Swain.

Day 1d Begins

Level 1: 100/300 (300)
Entries: 120/120

Cards are in the air to start Day 1d 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 120 players and will grow quickly from there with more players already filing in. This brings the prize pool already past €417,000.

Best of luck to all of the Grand Event players on Day 1d.

Welcome to Day 1d

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 Saturday, April 27 at 1 p.m. when cards are in the air for Day 1d of the €300,000 guaranteed Malta Poker Festival €550 Grand Event powered by the Unibet Deepstack Open. The guarantee has already been smashed with 747 entries adding nearly €360,000 into the prize pool by the end of the third of six opening flights.

United Kingdom’s Ashley Harrison overtook the chip lead from Finland’s Matte Karjalainen (1,269,000) after parlaying his 50,000 opening stack into 1,648,000 in chips. Norway’s Ronny Albrigtsen and Canada’s Kelly Kellner also earned the status of a “chip millionaire” over the past two days.

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 tonight’s Day 1e at 9 p.m. and tomorrow’s final opening flight in Day 1f at 10 a.m. 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 1d 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

Saturday Schedule at the 2024 Malta Poker Festival Spring Edition

The weather has turned sunnier for the weekend both inside and outside the plush surroundings of Portomaso Casino with a full slate of events on Saturday.

The final day of the €230 Mystery Bounty kicks off at 2 p.m., where one player will compete for a top €10,000 mystery bounty prize alongside a tasty €7,512 top prize for today’s trophy winner.

Meanwhile, players can still late-register into the €2,500 Super High Roller for one full blind level after it kicks off at 3 p.m. The field attracted 38 entries, with just 12 players remaining with Martin Olali amassing the overnight chip lead with Unibet Ambassador and The Chip Race podcast co-host David Lappin not too far behind after a tasty run with cowboys.

Today is also a special day for the ladies as there is a full slate of activities planned highlighted by the €200 Ladies First! hosted by Kerryjane Craigie at 4 p.m.

Another amazing two-day event commences at 5 p.m. in the €120 APAT Maltese Championship. This is all on top of the two Grand Event flights, two satellites, and cash games running around the clock. In other words, it will be a super busy day at Portomaso Casino on Saturday.

Check out our blog throughout the week for all of your updates and stories about the Grand Event, side event winners, and more.