Category Malta Poker Festival 2024

The €200 Texas Classic attracted 133 entries on Tuesday evening to create a €22,982 prize pool. After Israel’s Uri Hartuv and The Chip Race cohost David Lappin hit the rail in third and fourth places respectively after nearly 7 1/2 hours of play, the British duo in Kleber Chapon and Teresa Newton were left with €4,440 locked up and much more on the line.

It didn’t take long for Chapon to defeat Newton to claim the €6,150 top prize and earn the second side event trophy of the 2024 Malta Poker Festival Spring Edition. Congrats to Kleber and all of the 15 players who cashed in this event.

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1	Kleber Chapon	United Kingdom	€6,150
2	Teresa Newton	United Kingdom	€4,440
3	Uri Hartuv	Israel	€3,082
4	David Lappin	Ireland	€2,130
5	Cristian Mole	Italy	€1,530
6	Kelly Kellner	Canada	€1,030
7	Andrzej Marczykowski	Poland	€770
8	Karl Gialanze	Malta	€620
9	Andrew Leathem	United Kingdom	€530
10	Alfredo Cuti	Italy	€470
11	Mary Kerr	United Kingdom	€470
12	Erik Kjell	Sweden	€470
13	Matthias Kribben	Germany	€430
14	Sebastian Rebhan	Germany	€430
15	Ackan Bircan	United States	€430

Level 2: 200/400 (400)
Entries: 99/101

The Day 1a field is already north of 100 entries, meaning that the €300,000 guarantee will likely be merely a placeholder thanks to the enthusiasm from the players for this well-structured event and amazing atmosphere.

Kelly Kellner, Torsten Ridel, Sergio Gandolfo, Oliver Said, and Billy Silvertsson were among the recent players to join the action.

Level 2: 200/400 (400)
Entries: 96/98

James Ablott maybe didn’t get the best table draw with both Dara O’Kearney and David Lappin at his table but he is off to a hot start after ousting Matthias Kribben.

Ablott shared that his opponent committed his stack with six-five on the river with the eight-nine-ten-five-nine on the board and Kribben was out of chips as Ablott held pocket jacks to win a big pot.

Meanwhile, John Forsman hit the rail not too much later but immediately re-entered whereas Kribben has yet to resurface at least for now in the Grand Event.

James Ablott – 90,000
John Forsman – 50,000
Matthias Kribben – 0

Level 2: 200/400 (400)
Entries: 94/94

Michal Kulesza checked before Paolo Rando bet 3,400 into a pot of near 10,000 on the turn with the 4♦J♠8♣10♣ on the board. Dieter Aebi jacked it up to 11,000.

Kulesza quickly folded before Rando called after tanking for a minute. Rando checked after the 4♥ river completed the board. Aebi fired out for 20,000. Rando tanked for a short time before he called.

Aebi turned over the 10♥10♦ for the full house to win a big early pot.

Dieter Aebi – 90,000
Michal Kulesza – 50,000
Paolo Rando – 30,000

Level 1: 100/300 (300)
Entries: 88/88

Unibet Poker Ambassadors David Lappin and Dara O’Kearney dropped by to say hi before we wished them good luck in the Grand Event. As fate would have it, the duo, which also produces the GPI Award Winning The Chip Race Podcast, are seated together at Table 10.

Alex O’Brien just arrived and although she won’t be playing in the Grand Event today as she wants to be on her “A-game” which can be difficult straight after travel but did have some advice.

“Perhaps you can ask them to switch tables for you,” said O’Brien.

As the table draw was random, The Chip Race co-hosts will be left battling it out at least for now. Also at the table are British poker influencer James Ablott, Bartilomiej Grabowski, Matthis Kribben, Eugen Zogu, and Daan Hoeben.

Good luck to all the players on Table 10 in what promises to be an interesting dynamic for the opening day.

The €230 Sviten Special was the first side event to award a trophy with Belgium’s Soner Vanelderen and American Andrew Studley agreeing to a heads-up deal awarding both players €2,780 before Vanelderen cruised on to win the first title of the 2024 Malta Poker Festival Spring Edition.

Vanelderen shared this morning that the heads-up battle was unique as both players had just three big blinds before Vanelderen went on to hoist the trophy.

Sviten Special was a game invented in Sweden that combines both five-card draw and five-card Omaha in the same pot-limit game. Players start with five cards before a round of betting takes place. Like Omaha, a flop is dealt followed by another round of betting.

This is where it starts to get tricky with players having the option to exchange cards or stand pat. If they select to exchange just one card it is face up for the entire table to see. That player can choose whether to keep this card or get a fresh one face down. Cards are dealt face down in all other exchange situations.

A turn is dealt followed by a third round of betting followed by a river and the final round of betting. Half the pot is awarded to the best five-card draw hand a player has completed with the other half awarded to the player with the best five-card Omaha hand.

Vanelderen took some pride in beating the Swedish at their own game with Maltese local Mikael Viggander’s third-place run for €1,330 being the best the Swedish players could manage.

“The Swedish are getting too weak in their own game,” shared Vanelderen. “The best they could do was third. The Belgians are taking over – watch out for us.”

As a long-time Maltese resident, Vanelderen is hoping for deep runs and trophies for the Maltese poker community.

“I stood my ground keeping the first trophy in Malta I expect the others to do the same,” Vanelderen shared.

The €230 Sviten Special attracted 43 entries to create a €8,256 prize pool with the top five players earning at least a €556 min-cash. Check out the payouts below:

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1	Soner Vanelderen	Belgium	€2,780*
2	Andrew Studley	United States	€2,780*
3	Mikael Viggander	Sweden	€1,330
4	Marilyn Dimech	Malta	€810
5	Jacob Moss	United Kingdom	€556

Level 1: 100/300 (300)
Entries: 64/64

Lisa and Scott Roberts are both known for traveling the globe to play poker and explore new places. Malta isn’t that new for Lisa and Scott as they were both battling it out in the autumn at the Malta Poker Festival and are back in action during Day 1a of the Grand Event in the hopes of walking away with the title and a truckload of cash.

Dieter Aebi, Rimko Meijer, Anne-Marie Yuen, and Daniel Maunders are also among the mix hoping to find a bag into Sunday’s Day 2 already in the money.

The field will continue to grow throughout Day 1a as late registration will be open until the start of Level 11 during which time players have the option to re-enter up to two times.

Level 1: 100/300 (300)
Entries: 60/60

Cards are in the air for Day 1a of the €300,000 guaranteed €550 Malta Poker Festival Spring Edition Grand Event introductions by Malta Poker Festival founder Ivonne Montealegre, Ludos Academy CEO Danilo De Berardinis, and Unibet DSO founder Alex Henry.

Best of luck to all of the players in what promises to be an epic event.

Welcome 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 begin on Wednesday, April 24 at 1 p.m. when cards are in the air for the much-anticipated €300,000 guaranteed Malta Poker Festival €550 Grand Event powered by the Unibet Deepstack Open.

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 Wednesday’s Day 1a 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 heading into Sunday’s Day 2.

Those advancing to Day 2 and the final day will enjoy an even deeper structure with 50-minute blind levels.

Meanwhile, Monday boasted a €70 satellite which attracted a banner field of 179 entries and awarded 19 seats into the Grand Event along with 20th place collecting about half a buy-in.

Day 1a 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
60-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
15-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

Tuesday boasted the start of the side events with the €230 Sviten Special kicking off at 6 p.m. followed by another €70 satellite to the Grand Event at 7 p.m. that brought in another 17 entries into the Grand Event. Meanwhile, the €200 MPF Texas Classic wrapped things up and we will have updates later in our coverage about both of Tuesday’s side events.

Wednesday boasts two more side events in the €170 Betsson One Bullet at 5 p.m. and the €230 HORSE 6 Mix hosted by Jeanne David at 6 p.m. Another €70 satellite for the Grand Event will kick off shortly after at 8 p.m.

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