Category 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

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

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

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

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

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

The final 75 players are on their final 15-minute break of the day. The action will conclude after 13 more players hit the rail with each player remaining in the money for at least a €900 min-cash before resuming during tomorrow’s Day 2 at 5 p.m.

Level 13: 4,000/8,000 (8,000)
Entries: 77/413

Torsten Klingels min-raised the button before Pavle Pecelj three-bet jammed from the small blind for about 15 big blinds. Klingels called and the cards were turned over.

Pavle Pecelj: A♠K♠
Torsten Klingels: Q♣Q♥

The ladies won the flip to eliminate Pecelj short of the money after the 5♣9♠J♣7♥7♦ ran out on the board.

“Nice hand,” Pecelj gentlemanly said.

Torsten Klingels – 420,000
Pavel Pecelj – 0

Level 12: 3,000/6,000 (6,000)
Entries: 97/413

Roar Flotre opened for 13,000 from under the gun and got three callers including Luigi Nucifora from the big blind.

Flotre continued for 20,000 on the 10♣K♥Q♣ flop and got one caller in Nucifora. Nucifora check-jammed a bet by Flotre from 45,000 to about 100,000 after the 3♠ followed on the turn and Flotre called.

Luigi Nucifora: K♦5♦
Roar Flotre: A♠J♥

Nucifora was drawing dead and was officially on the rail after the Q♠ river paired the board. Meanwhile, Flotre had one of the bigger stacks from around the room just before the start of Level 13.

Roar Flotre – 770,000
Luigi Nucifora – 0

Level 12: 3,000/6,000 (6,000)
Entries: 110/413

Daragh Davey opened for a min-raise from middle position before Makan Rabiian jammed for more than 20 big blinds. Tomasz Kokoszka four-bet jammed for a bit more from the button and Davey got out of the way.

Makan Rabiian: 9♥9♦
Tomasz Kokoszka: A♣K♠

Rabiian got out of his chair after Kokoszka connected with his ace on the 2♦4♥A♦ flop and was eliminated before the money on Day 1d after the 10♥ turn and 3♥ river completed the board.

Meanwhile, Evy Albrigtsen has chipped up nicely since the break at the same table and was at around 470,000.

Evy Albrigtsen – 470,000
Tomasz Kokoszka – 350,000
Daragh Davey – 100,000
Makan Rabiian – 0