It sometimes feels strange to speak about myself in the third person, but here we go. Poker media veteran Jason Glatzer checked out some of the action live on video at the Malta Poker Festival.
While we were unable to visit the ever-growing APAT Mediterranean event, we did speak with people battling it out on Day 1e of the Grand Event, the Ladies First!, and the Bounty Hunter Days Mystery Bounty. Check out the action for yourself below:
Level 7: 500/1,000 (1,000)
Entries: 326/412
Just before the break, Senior Product Poker Marketing Manager Sebastian Rebhan was at 170,000 in chips. He gave some back also before the break in a hand he recapped with us and confirmed with the table as he decided to take an early dinner break.
Rebhan said that his opponent Vito Romei got his stack in with 9♠8♠ for a straight flush on a 7♠6♠5♠ flop. Rebhan was more than happy to play a big pot with the A♠4♠ as not only did an ace-high flop usually get there, he also had both straight flush draws and blockers.
The turn and river weren’t important as Rebhan was already drawing dead despite such a strong hand.
We shouldn’t feel too bad for Rebhan for two reasons. One, he still has a massive pile of chips. The second is that he won the Unibet DeepStack Open trivia contest hosted by Alex Henry. This awarded him a €70 satellite seat. He binked that and might go from €70 to the next MPF Grand Event champion if he can make a good run.
Sebastian Rebhan – 130,000
Vito Romei – 110,000
Players are on their second break of Day 1e. The blinds will increase to 500/1,000 with a 1,000 big blind ante when the action resumes in 15 minutes.
Level 6: 400/800 (800)
Entries: 330/396
Giovanni Trimarchi and Federico Bileddo checked with more than 20,000 in the pot after the 2♦4♣2♥ flop.
Trimarchi fired out for 9,200 on the 3♦ turn and Bileddo called before both players checked the 2♣ river.
Bileddo turned over the J♥J♣ for a full house and won the pot after Trimarchi turned over the A♥K♦.
Portomaso Casino is one of the most luxurious venues in the world and is the perfect home for the Malta Poker Festival.
The venue boasts two floors for tournament action alongside the main casino floor where countless cash game tables run day and night.
While there are many perks of the venue, one that is worth exploring is heading to the top floor where there is no poker action. OK, this might sound strange but it not only has a massive outdoor balcony with tons of views but also has an entrance with more than 100 seats where players and poker fans can view the poker action.
So, if you are in Malta, go and check out the top floor during the break! In the meantime, best of luck at the tables.
Level 5: 300/600 (600)
Entries: 340/381
Calero Salamanca checked with the 9♥5♣Q♥K♥ on the board after the turn before Gerald Mcsorney fired out for 6,000 into a pot of around 15,000.
Salamanca called before he jammed after the 9♣ river paired the board. Mcsorney snap-called off for less than 20,000 only to get the bad news. Salamanca turned over the 5♣5♥ for a flopped set and a rivered full house.
Mcsorney subsequently tabled the J♦10♦ for the straight and headed out of the room after his cooler.
It has become a tradition that the APAT visits during the Malta Poker Festival and this festival was no exception.
The €120 buy-in event has an amazing price point. Think it must be a turbo? Think again as this event offers 200 big blinds to start and blinds increase slowly at every 30 minutes giving players a chance to steadily build up their stack.
Not only that, this is a two-day affair with players bagging chips once the money bubble breaks to come back to compete for what promises to be a huge prize for a low buy-in.
The event attracted 226 entries early in Level 1 already. This figure will grow as late registration remains open during the first eight blind levels. Players that have a little bad luck at first can try again with one re-entry permitted during this event.
Best of luck to all in becoming the latest APAT champion here at the Malta Poker Festival.
The €230 Mystery Bounty by the Bounty Hunter Days attracted 620 entries during yesterday’s Day 1. The action has progressed down to a final table of nine hopefuls competing for the €8,270 top prize.
This is not all they are competing for. In fact, they are competing for something even bigger as the top €10,000 Mystery Bounty is still in the box ready to be chosen.
Excitement is generated every time a player has been choosing an envelope but it will be one of the final tablists in Robert Sampat, Skipp van den Assem, Erik Hamre, Marcin Puczylowski, Christian Kempf, Stavros Markovis-Tsakas, Federico Bildeeo, Theodoros Konstantinids, and Adam Diamond who will be the lucky player to go home with a five-figure mystery bounty prize on top of whatever they win in the prize pool and other bounties.
Best of luck to the final nine!
The €150 Ladies First! is one of the most fun events at the Malta Poker Festival and something that is dear and near to MPF founder Ivonne Montealegre as she doubles as the International VP of the WPA.
This time around, it is Norwegian Coolbet streamer Ylva Thorsrud who is hosting the event and it already looks like the ladies had some fun with a welcome lunch at 1 p.m.
Already 42 ladies got into the mix in the early moments including Montealegre, Thorsrud, Main Event Travel’s Kelly Saxby, Globetrotting Poker’s Maureen Bloechlinger, Natalie Bromley, poker mind coach Ilze Zolte, Ingvill Nilsen, Naomi Pazol, Christina Read, Linda Suhr, and Vanessa Webley to name a few.
We will chat with some of the ladies in a video on Facebook in the near future. In the meantime, best of luck to all the women battling it out to become the latest MPF Ladies First! champion.
Level 4: 200/400 (400)
Entries: 316/331
Sylvain Mirrione opened for 900 from under the gun before John Madden (not the NFL broadcaster, but a player from Ireland) called from middle position. Nikolas Metaxas jammed for more than 10,000 from the hijack before Yves Farges four-bet jammed for more than 20,000 from the button. Both Mirrione and Madden folded and the cards were turned over.
Nikolas Metaxas: A♠J♦
Yves Farges: A♦K♥
Big slick held for Farges after both players failed to improve on the 7♦6♦4♣10♥Q♣ board.
“Good game and good luck,” Metaxas told the table on his way out the door.
Yves Farges – 40,000
Nikolas Metaxas – 0
