Live Blog – Day 2

Table	Seat	Player	Chips	Big Blinds
3	1	Fabio Aprile	3,700,000	31
3	2	Lasse Jacobsen	1,060,000	9
3	3	La Sengphet	3,400,000	28
3	4	Martynas Brazdzionis	11,695,000	97
3	6	Raoul Van Wersch	4,035,000	34
3	7	Vlad Ardeleanu	3,785,000	32
4	1	Arnaud Cressent	2,510,000	21
4	2	Jozsef Hegyi	4,655,000	39
4	4	Chris Da Silva	1,100,000	9
4	6	Lewis Coffin	2,485,000	21
4	7	Oliver Said	2,800,000	23
4	8	Maik Buss	1,960,000	16
8	1	Tomasz Caba	2,500,000	21
8	3	Michal Gavurnik	1,080,000	9
8	5	Kjetil Hanstvedt	1,850,000	15
8	6	Paolo Aleo	4,125,000	34
8	7	Salvtore Ritrovato	2,765,000	23
8	8	Angelo Patane	5,915,000	49

Place	Player	Prize
1		€100,600
2		€75,690
3		€55,420
4		€37,400
5		€20,150
6		€14,850
7		€11,400
8		€9,050
9		€7,550
10		€6,150
11		€6,150
12		€5,050
13		€4,150
14		€4,150
15		€4,150
16		€3,350
17		€3,350
18		€3,350
19	Shaun Halliday	€3,350
20	Alessandro Furneri	€3,350
21	Lars Eriksson	€2,820
22	Serguei Skrypnikov Laviolle	€2,820
23	Humberto Galindo	€2,820
24	Bogdan Juc	€2,820
25	William McMurray	€2,820
26	Jostein Groedum	€2,820
27	Alex Montgomery	€2,470
28	Antonino Karman	€2,470
29	Michal Kulesza	€2,470
30	Marko Luksa	€2,470
31	Jonathan Therme	€2,470
32	Vincenzo Scarcella	€2,470
33	Scott Roberts	€2,470
34	Louis Le Boisselier	€2,470
35	Ulf Andersson	€2,470
36	Lucien Jouanneau	€2,170
37	Cedric Offner	€2,170
38	Christopher Collins	€2,170
39	Joaquim Ferriera	€2,170
40	Koen Meutstege	€2,170
41	Mikael Bjertrup	€2,170
42	Fabrizio Nobile	€2,170
43	Antonio Chille	€2,170
44	Erik Lindqwist	€2,170
45	Andrei Mjagkov	€1,920
46	Manoj Navani	€1,920
47	Paul Young	€1,920
48	Noel Studer	€1,920
49	Rauno Kiviloo	€1,920
50	Giovanni Nava	€1,920
51	Chen Keren	€1,920
52	Robert Boon	€1,920
53	Daniel Toffel	€1,920
54	Kerryjane Craigie	€1,720
55	Georgios Georgiou	€1,720
56	Ian Gascoigne	€1,720
57	Peter Kaspar	€1,720
58	Thomas Hofmann	€1,720
59	Damir Savio	€1,720
60	Thomas Petit	€1,720
61	Torben Krogh	€1,720
62	Olga Liscsinzky	€1,720
63	Presiyan Tsvetanov	€1,720
64	Kevin Houghton	€1,720
65	Salvatore Incardona	€1,720
66	Guiseppe Loreto	€1,720
67	Daniel Spavin-Haigh	€1,720
68	Simon Taylor	€1,720
69	Theo Schmitt	€1,720
70	Corentin Viaud	€1,720
71	Serdar Demircan	€1,720
72	Dost Ghrabie	€1,520
73	Johannes Grootelaar	€1,520
74	Edward Chun Ho Yam	€1,520
75	Paul Maguire	€1,520
76	Daro Berisa	€1,520
77	Jemery Bametz	€1,520
78	Emil Karhu	€1,520
79	Zaheer Zeb	€1,520
80	Stepan Brychta	€1,520
81	Roland Boothby	€1,520
82	Erik Ostergaard	€1,520
83	James Thody	€1,520
84	Attila Kassitzky	€1,520
85	Maciej Toma	€1,520
86	Daniele Staropoli	€1,520
87	Benjamin Rensen	€1,520
88	Ertan Cicekdemir	€1,520
89	David Ozmen	€1,520
90	Sjoerd Nikkels	€1,320
91	Santaluna Baldassare	€1,320
92	Daoud Abu	€1,320
93	Kaspar Schmid	€1,320
94	Liwei Wang	€1,320
95	Fabio Coppola	€1,320
96	Amber Glasby	€1,320
97	Per Moller	€1,320
98	Aurelien Giard	€1,320
99	Katie Swift	€1,320
100	Pieter Koedijk	€1,320
101	Philip Roberts	€1,320
102	Fabio Sturba	€1,320
103	Thomas Lowter	€1,320
104	Marian Ivanov	€1,320
105	Pavle Pecelj	€1,320
106	Yannick Rohrbach	€1,320
107	Eduardo Terrivel	€1,320
108	Leon Campbell	€1,320
109	Fabian Fleischmann	€1,320
110	Antonios Onourfriou	€1,320
111	Luke Pace	€1,320
112	Robert Teunissen	€1,320
113	Anastasios Apostolou	€1,320
114	Firat Cankaya	€1,320
115	Dejan Dabetic	€1,320
116	Grant Pirie	€1,120
117	Robrecht Winterink	€1,120
118	Arn Kungl	€1,120
119	Ashley Wilson	€1,120
120	Callum Gordon	€1,120
121	Torsten Riedl	€1,120
122	Kaloyan Kirov	€1,120
123	Anthony Whalley	€1,120
124	Massimo Bruno	€1,120
125	Mantas Petrauskas	€1,120
126	Michael Frost	€1,120
127	Fraser Mackenze	€1,120
128	Paolo Rando	€1,120
129	Andrew Cutajar	€1,120
130	Giulio Spaminato	€1,120
131	Rob van Embden	€1,120
132	Jonathan Schuman	€1,120
133	Anton Shroter	€1,120
134	Matthew Adams	€1,120
135	Ian Swan	€1,120
136	Boris Zismanov	€1,120
137	Julien Gadanho	€1,120
138	Nicky Molmans	€1,120
139	Thomas Steedman	€1,120
140	Giuseppe Signorelli	€1,120
141	Oscar Arezzo	€1,120
142	Samuel Biland	€1,120
143	Olav Kok	€1,120
144	Raimondo Marcello	€1,120
145	Thibault Branly	€1,120
146	Andrei Musat	€1,120
147	Nauseda Grazvydas	€1,120
148	Daniel Kuhlmann	€1,120
149	Lars Halkier	€1,120
150	Joseph East	€1,120
151	Ivan Picavet	€1,120

Lithuania’s Martynas Brazdzionis will be in the captain’s chair on the final day of the 2023 Malta Poker Festival Spring Edition Grand Event with more than double the chips of his nearest competitor. Here is a look at the chip counts for the players that advanced to the final day:

Place	Player	Chips	Big Blinds
1	Martynas Brazdzionis	11,695,000	97
2	Angelo Patane	5,915,000	49
3	Jozsef Hegyi	4,655,000	39
4	Paolo Aleo	4,125,000	34
5	Raoul Van Wersch	4,035,000	34
6	Vlad Ardeleanu	3,785,000	32
7	Fabio Aprile	3,700,000	31
8	La Sengphet	3,400,000	28
9	Oliver Said	2,800,000	23
10	Salvtore Ritrovato	2,765,000	23
11	Arnaud Cressent	2,510,000	21
12	Tomasz Caba	2,500,000	21
13	Lewis Coffin	2,485,000	21
14	Maik Buss	1,960,000	16
15	Kjetil Hanstvedt	1,850,000	15
16	Chris Da Silva	1,100,000	9
17	Michal Gavurnik	1,080,000	9
18	Lasse Jacobsen	1,060,000	9

Level 26: 50,000/100,000 (100,000)
Entries: 18/1,226

Martynas Brazdzionis opened for 325,000 from the small blind. Lars Eriksson three-bet jammed from the big blind for about 2 million and Brazdzionis snap-called.

Lars Eriksson: 8♠8♣
Martynas Brazdzionis: K♥K♦

Eriksson was unable to get a miracle with his snowmen on the A♥J♣J♥2♠3♥ board and hit the rail near the end of the evening.

Meanwhile, it seems like hands are loosening players up as both Shaun Halliday and Alessandro Furneri also hit the rail to leave just 18 players remaining.

Martynas Bradzionis – 11 million
Lars Eriksson – 0

Level 26: 50,000/100,000 (100,000)
Entries: 21/1,226

The floor just announced that there will be four more hands played on Day 2 before players bag chips into tomorrow’s final day.

Level 26: 50,000/100,000 (100,000)
Entries: 21/1,226

Alessandro Furneri opened for 200,000. Martynas Brazdzionis three-bet to 750,000 and Furneri jammed for about 4 million. Brazdzionis snap-called his stack of 3.2 million and the cards were turned over.

Martynas Brazdzionis: K♥K♠
Alessandro Furneri: Q♠Q♦

Furneri just got done rebuilding his stack after being down to a handful of big blinds. He will have to try again as his queens didn’t pull ahead of cowboys on the 4♥8♥6♥A♠3♠ board. Meanwhile, Brazdionis won the biggest pot of the tournament thus far.

Shortly after, Brazdionis extended his chip lead after he eliminated Serguei Skrypnikov Laviolle to leave just 21 players remaining.

Martynas Brazdzionis – 9 million
Alessandro Furneri – 700,000
Serguei Skrypnikov Laviolle – 0

Level 26: 50,000/100,000 (100,000)
Entries: 22/1,226

Humberto Galindo jammed his short stack of around six big blinds from the lojack and was called by Alessandro Furneri from the big blind.

Humberto Galindo: Q♥J♦
Alessandro Furneri: A♥8♥

Galindo got nowhere on the double-paired 7♦K♠K♥7♣3♥ board and hit the rail with his queen kicker not beating an ace kicker.

Alessandro Furneri – 4 million
Humberto Galindo – 0

Level 26: 50,000/100,000 (100,000)
Entries: 23/1,226

Kjetil Hanstvedt jammed for 1 million from the cutoff and was called by Martynas Brazdzionis from the small blind.

Kjetil Hanstvedt: Q♠9♦
Martynas Brazdzionis: 6♥6♣

Hanstvedt fist-pumped in the air after his queen connected on the turn with the 5♦3♣A♥Q♦5♠ running out on the board to win the hand with a better two pair.

Martynas Brazdzionis – 3.3 million
Kjetil Hanstvedt – 2.2 million

Place	Player	Prize
27	Alex Montgomery	€2,470
28	Antonino Karman	€2,470
29	Michal Kulesza	€2,470
30	Marko Luksa	€2,470
31	Jonathan Therme	€2,470
32	Vincenzo Scarcella	€2,470
33	Scott Roberts	€2,470
34	Louis Le Boisselier	€2,470
35	Ulf Andersson	€2,470

Players are on their final break of Day 2 and will play one more blind level after the players return from break with blinds at 50,000/100,000 with a 100,000 big blind ante.

Level 25: 40,000/80,000 (80,000)
Entries: 26/1,226

Alessandro Furneri was short after losing a bulk of his stack to Paolo Aleo. He doubled up once on a flip with nines against ace-ten before just winning another flip as follows:

Furneri jammed for 1.4 million from the lojack.

“How much?” asked Humberto Galindo from the button.

Galindo called sooner after getting a count.

Alessandro Furneri: 5♥5♣
Humberto Galindo: A♣9♣

Furneri’s fives were good on the 6♠J♦K♦2♣J♥ board to double through Galindo.

Alessandro Furneri – 3 million
Humberto Galindo – 1 million

Level 25: 40,000/80,000 (80,000)
Entries: 27/1,226

Alessandro Furneri opened the button for 175,000 before Paolo Aleo jammed for 1,640,000 from the small blind. Furneri tanked for less than a minute before he called.

Paolo Aleo: K♥K♠
Alessandro Furneri: J♥J♣

Aleo’s cowboys not only held but he even improved to a set on the 8♣7♥4♥K♣Q♦ to double through Furneri.

Aleo left his seat for a moment in excitement and ran over to his friend who happened to be by railing the hand.

Paolo Aleo – 3.4 million
Alessandro Furneri – 800,000

Level 25: 40,000/80,000 (80,000)
Entries: 27/1,226

Alex Montgomery jammed for slightly less than 1 million from middle position before Arnaud Cressent called off his stack of 725,000 from the big blind.

Arnaud Cressent: 6♦6♥
Alex Montgomery: 5♥5♦

Cressent was far ahead but that all changed after Montgomery flopped the goods with the 10♠10♥5♠ flop improving him to a full house

However, the 10♦ turn put trips on the board and improved Cressent to a better full house. Cressent doubled through Montgomery after the J♠ river completed the board.

Arnaud Cressent – 1.6 million
Alex Montgomery – 175,000

Level 25: 40,000/80,000 (80,000)
Entries: 28/1,226

Sengphet La opened for 160,000 from the lojack and was called by Jozsef Hegyi from the hijack. Michal Kulesza three-bet jammed for slightly less than 1 million. La folded and Hegyi called to bring a showdown between two players who qualified online at Unibet Poker for a MPF package.

I shared this information with Unibet DeepStack Open founder Alex Henry.

“Yes!” said Henry. “They both actually qualified in the same satellite.”

Michal Kulesza: A♠J♣
Jozsef Hegyi: A♣K♦

Hegyi’s big slick held on the 6♥9♣8♠Q♠6♥ board to eliminate fellow qualifier Kulesza.

Jozsef Hegyi – 3.8 million
Michal Kulesza – 0

Level 24: 30,000/60,000 (60,000)
Entries: 32/1,226

Scott Roberts is part of Team Roberts along with his wife Lisa. The couple is well-known, especially in the United States where they are from for traveling around to poker events and have even won some WSOP gold rings in the process.

Unfortunately, Team Roberts won’t be adding an MPF Grand Event trophy to go along with their other accolades.

During one of the opening flights, Roberts doubled through Serguei Skrypnikov Laviolle with king-jack against queens with four threes appearing on the board. Both Laviolle and Roberts separately reminded us of this hand we reported after Roberts was on the rail as follows:

Roberts jammed for about eight big blinds from the small blind with queen-jack and was up against the eight-seven held by Laviolle after he called. An eight spiked the river and that was it for Team Roberts.

It was lovely to see both Scott and Lisa once again after many years from meeting them for the first time. We hope they enjoyed their trip to Malta and we wish them luck in winning a trophy in a side event during the final day of our amazing festival tomorrow.

Serguei Skrypnikov Laviolle – 2.2 million
Scott Roberts – 0

Level 24: 30,000/60,000 (60,000)
Entries: 33/1,226

La Sengphet is the last woman standing in the Grand Event. She has made the most of her time since the dinner break and keeps piling on chips as we’ve watched her climb from 1 million to nearly 5 million in chips.

She just took down a three-bet pot against Vlad Ardeleanu as follows:

Ardeleanu continued for 275,000 on the A♠7♣6♥ flop and Sengphet called. The K♥ turn followed and Ardeleanu bet 425,000. Sengphet paused for about a minute before she raised to 1,125,000.

Ardeleanu went into the tank for about five minutes before he folded.

“Nice bluff,” Ardeleanu said to Sengphet after the hand.

“Show and tell time is over,” responded Sengphet.

La Sengphet – 4.8 million
Vlad Ardeleanu – 2.4 million

The following players cashed for €2,170 in the Grand Event. The final 35 players are now each guaranteed at least a €2,470 payout.

Place	Player	Prize
36	Lucien Jouanneau	€2,170
37	Cedric Offner	€2,170
38	Christopher Collins	€2,170
39	Joaquim Ferriera	€2,170
40	Koen Meutstege	€2,170
41	Mikael Bjertrup	€2,170
42	Fabrizio Nobile	€2,170
43	Antonio Chille	€2,170
44	Erik Lindqwist	€2,170

Level 24: 30,000/60,000 (60,000)
Entries: 35/1,226

Lucien Jouanneau got less than 1 million in chips in from late position and was up against Raoul van Wersche for a flip for his tournament life.

Lucien Jouanneau: 9♥9♣
Raoul van Wersch: A♠K♥

Van Wersch won the flip after the Q♣A♣10♦4♦5♠ board connected with his ace to send Jouanneau out of the Grand Event in 36th place.

Raoul van Wersch – 2.8 million
Lucien Jouanneau – 0

Level 23: 25,000/50,000 (50,000)
Entries: 36/1,226

Three players limped before Vlad Ardeleanu raised to 300,000 from the big blind. La Sengphet called while the other two players folded.

Ardeleanu fired out for 125,000 on the 8♣J♦J♣ flop and Sengphet called. The 8♦ double-paired the board on the turn. Ardeleanu jammed and La snap-called her stack of 1,020,000.

La Sengphet: K♦J♥
Vlad Ardeleanu: A♥K♥

Ardeleanu was drawing dead and La doubled up with a full house after the Q♣ river completed the board.

La Sengphet – 3.1 million
Vlad Ardeleanu – 2.3 million

Level 23: 25,000/50,000 (50,000)
Entries: 38/1,226

Joaquim Ferriera opened for 410,000 with just 320,000 behind from the lojack. The action paused on Koen Meutstege for a few minutes before he opted to jam for 1,045,000 from the hijack.

Angelo Patane paused for a few moments before he asked for a count of Meutstege’s stack. A couple of minutes later, he called. Ferriera tanked for a minute before he called off his stack as well.

Joaquim Ferriera: K♠Q♦
Koen Meutstege: 9♠9♥
Angelo Patane: A♦A♣

Patane’s rockets held to oust two players after the 6♦6♠5♣8♣8♥ ran out on the board.

Angelo Patane – 4.8 million
Koen Meutstege – 0
Joaquim Ferriera – 0

Level 23: 25,000/50,000 (50,000)
Entries: 41/1,226

Martynas Brazdzionis jammed from the small blind before Fabrizio Nobile called off his short stack of under 10 big blinds from the big blind.

Fabrizio Nobile: A♦Q♥
Martynas Brazdzionis: K♠10♦

Brazdzionis improved to trips on the K♦4♥9♥K♣3♦ runout to send the first player since the dinner break to the rail in Nobile.

Martynas Bradzionis – 4.3 million
Fabrizio Nobile – 0

We were just told by the floor that the plan for Day 2 (subject to change) is to play four more blind levels.

Players will battle for three blind 50-minute levels before a break before playing one final blind level. It is possible that the action will end earlier if the final two tables are reached before the end of the scheduled action.

Level 23: 25,000/50,000 (50,000)
Entries: 42/1,226

Players are back from dinner break with blinds at 25,000/50,000 with a big blind ante of 50,000.

Player	Chips	Big Blinds
Vlad Ardeleanu	3,695,000	74
Alessandro Furneri	3,580,000	72
Michal Gavurnik	3,450,000	69
Angelo Patane	3,140,000	63
Martynas Brazdzionis	2,910,000	58
Humberto Galindo	2,690,000	54
Lewis Coffin	2,650,000	53
Scott Roberts	1,955,000	39
Jostein Groedum	1,950,000	39
Arnaud Cressent	1,920,000	38
Shaun Halliday	1,895,000	38
Jozsef Hegyi	1,800,000	36
Maik Buss	1,710,000	34
Koen Meutstege	1,670,000	33
Serguei Skrypnikov	1,665,000	33
Raoul van Wersch	1,395,000	28
Oliver Said	1,370,000	27
Fabio Aprile	1,355,000	27
Chris Da Silva	1,315,000	26
Salvatore Ritrovato	1,250,000	25
Alex Montgomery	1,245,000	25
Antonino Karman	1,220,000	24
Mark Luksa	1,140,000	23
Ulf Andersson	1,140,000	23
Lars Eriksson	1,120,000	22
Vincenzo Scarcella	1,115,000	22
Lasse Jacobsen	1,030,000	21
Lucien Jouanneau	1,025,000	21
La Sengphet	1,015,000	20
Paolo Aleo	935,000	19
Christopher Collins	925,000	19
Joaquim Ferriera	730,000	15
Jonathan Therme	670,000	13
Kjetil Hanstvedt	635,000	13
Tomasz Caba	580,000	12
Michal Kulesza	580,000	12
Mikael Bjertrup	455,000	9
William McMurray	420,000	8
Cedric Offner	415,000	8
Bogdan Juc	410,000	8
Fabrizio Nobile	345,000	7
Louis Le Boisselier	300,000	6

The following players cashed for €1,920. The 42 players returning from dinner break have each locked up €250 more and are guaranteed at least a €2,170 payout.

Place	Player	Prize
45	Andrei Mjagkov	€1,920
46	Manoj Navani	€1,920
47	Paul Young	€1,920
48	Noel Studer	€1,920
49	Rauno Kiviloo	€1,920
50	Giovanni Nava	€1,920
51	Chen Keren	€1,920
52	Robert Boon	€1,920

Surviving players are on a 75-minute dinner break. We will update near the end of the dinner break with full chip counts of the players still in contention.

As my French friend and Unibet DeepStack Open founder Alex Henry would say, “Bon appétit!”

Level 22: 20,000/40,000 (40,000)
Entries: 44/1,226

Head of Poker at the Betsson Group Jostein Groedum is alive and well. In fact, he just doubled up to 2 million while leaving Erik Lindqwist with dust in his stack.

Lindqwest four-bet jammed for 940,000 from the hijack and Groedum called off his stack of 925,000 from the button.

Jostein Groedum: A♣K♣
Erik Lindqwist: 8♥8♦

Groedum won the flip after both his king and ace connected on the K♦J♥3♦A♣5♦ board to leave Lindqwist with just a few chips.

Jostein Groedum – 2,050,000
Erik Lindqwist – 15,000

Level 22: 20,000/40,000 (40,000)
Entries: 45/1,226

There wasn’t much in the pot when Michal Gavurnik checked the 4♥J♣3♦ flop from early position. Noel Studer bet 125,000. Gavurnik jammed and Studer called off for his stack of around 500,000.

Noel Studer: J♠2♠
Michal Gavurnik: 5♦4♣

Studer was ahead and his lead was even bigger after Gavurnik didn’t connect with the 9♦. The table gasped and Studer’s disappointment was visible when the 5♠ river completed the board to improve Gavurnik to two pair and eliminate Studer.

Michal Gavurnik – 2.5 million
Noel Studer – 0

The following players were eliminated for €1,720 leaving the final 53 players with at least a €1,920 payday.

The PokerStars at The Hippodrome Head of Poker Kerryjane Craigie was among the recent casualties leaving La Sengphet as the final female remaining in the Grand Event.

Place	Player	Prize
54	Kerryjane Craigie	€1,720
55	Georgios Georgiou	€1,720
56	Ian Gascoigne	€1,720
57	Peter Kaspar	€1,720
58	Thomas Hofmann	€1,720
59	Damir Savio	€1,720
60	Thomas Petit	€1,720
61	Torben Krogh	€1,720
62	Olga Liscsinzky	€1,720
63	Presiyan Tsvetanov	€1,720
64	Kevin Houghton	€1,720
65	Salvatore Incardona	€1,720
66	Guiseppe Loreto	€1,720
67	Daniel Spavin-Haigh	€1,720
68	Simon Taylor	€1,720
69	Theo Schmitt	€1,720
70	Corentin Viaud	€1,720
71	Serdar Demircan	€1,720

Level 22: 20,000/40,000 (40,000)
Entries: 49/1,226

Giovanni Nava open-jammed for about 600,000 from the cutoff. Angelo Patane three-bet shoved for a lot more from the cutoff and the rest of the table folded.

Giovanni Nava: A♦Q♥
Angelo Patane: A♥K♥

Both players nailed a pair on the 7♠6♠2♥K♦Q♠ board. Patane’s pair of kings were better than his opponent’s pair of queens to win the pot and eliminate Nava.

Angelo Patane – 2.4 million
Giovanni Nava – 0

Level 21: 15,000/30,000 (30,000)
Entries: 58/1,226

La Sengphet, who traveled to Malta from Dallas, Texas, is one of two ladies remaining in the Grand Event alongside Kerryjane Craigie. She was cruising along until the following blind vs. blind hand. Regardless of losing this hand, she still has some chips to her name.

Sengphet checked from the small blind with about 500,000 in the pot and the 5♠8♦4♦4♥3♥ on the board. Shaun Halliday bet 250,000 and Sengphet went into the tank before she called.

Halliday turned over 6♠6♣ and won the hand after Sengphet mucked.

Shaun Halliday – 2.8 million
La Sengphet – 1 million

Level 21: 15,000/30,000 (30,000)
Entries: 60/1,226

Presiyan Tsvetanov three-bet jammed for about 500,000 from the button and was called by Vlad Ardeleanu, who opened from the lojack.

Presiyan Tsvetanov: 7♣7♥
Vlad Ardeleanu: J♥J♠

Ardeleanu’s jacks held on the 9♥Q♠9♠A♦5♣ runout to increase his stack and eliminated Tsvetanov.

Vlad Ardeleanu – 1.9 million
Presiyan Tsvetanov – 0

The following players each cashed for €1,520. The remaining field has now locked up at least a €1,720 payout.

Place	Player	Prize
72	Dost Ghrabie	€1,520
73	Johannes Grootelaar	€1,520
74	Edward Chun Ho Yam	€1,520
75	Paul Maguire	€1,520
76	Daro Berisa	€1,520
77	Jemery Bametz	€1,520
78	Emil Karhu	€1,520
79	Zaheer Zeb	€1,520
80	Stepan Brychta	€1,520
81	Roland Boothby	€1,520
82	Erik Ostergaard	€1,520
83	James Thody	€1,520
84	Attila Kassitzky	€1,520
85	Maciej Toma	€1,520
86	Daniele Staropoli	€1,520
87	Benjamin Rensen	€1,520
88	Ertan Cicekdemir	€1,520
89	David Ozmen	€1,520

Level 20: 10,000/20,000 (20,000)
Entries: 70/1,226

Laviolle Skrypnikov opened for 55,000 from early position before Edward Chun Ho Yam three-bet jammed for about 20 big blinds from middle position. Skrypnikov snap-called and the cards were turned over.

Edward Chun Ho Yam: J♣J♠
Laviolle Skrypnikov: K♦K♠

Yam was on the rail after his jacks were unable to get ahead of kings on the 7♦5♣9♦9♥10♦ board.

Laviolle Skrypnikov – 1.6 million
Edward Chun Ho Yam – 0

Level 20: 10,000/20,000 (20,000)
Entries: 82/1,226

Alex Montgomery opened for 45,000 from middle position and was called by Antonio Chille from the hijack and Lucien Jouanneau from the button before James Thody ripped it in for 230,000.

Montgomery asked for a count before four-bet jamming. Chille asked for a count before he folded and Jouanneau folded as well.

“I hope I have one over,” said Thody before the cards were flipped over.

James Thody: A♠3♣
Alex Montgomery: A♥K♣

“Well, I have one under,” Thody said. “Spades, please.”

The 2♦K♦8♠7♦10♥ board didn’t provide the spades Thody was looking for. Nor did it provide any other love and he was on the rail.

Alex Montgomery – 900K
James Thody – 0

Level 19: 8,000/16,000
Entries: 87/1,226

Ertan Cicekdemir three-bet squeezed for 20 big blinds from the big blind. One player folded before Lucien Jouanneau found a call.

Ertan Cicekdemir: 10♥9♥
Lucien Jouanneau: K♦Q♥

Both players bricked the 8♥J♠5♠2♥4♠ runout and Cicekdemir was eliminated by Jouanneau with king-high.

“Nice hand,” said a couple of players at the table. “Nice call.”

“It was because I saw him do the same thing not too long ago with king-jack,” replied Jouanneau.

Lucien Jouanneau – 1 million
Ertan Cicekdemir – 0

The following players cashed for €1,320 in the Grand Event. The final 89 players have each locked up at least a €1,520 payout.

Place	Player	Prize
90	Sjoerd Nikkels	€1,320
91	Santaluna Baldassare	€1,320
92	Daoud Abu	€1,320
93	Kaspar Schmid	€1,320
94	Liwei Wang	€1,320
95	Fabio Coppola	€1,320
96	Amber Glasby	€1,320
97	Per Moller	€1,320
98	Aurelien Giard	€1,320
99	Katie Swift	€1,320
100	Pieter Koedijk	€1,320
101	Philip Roberts	€1,320
102	Fabio Sturba	€1,320
103	Thomas Lowter	€1,320
104	Marian Ivanov	€1,320
105	Pavle Pecelj	€1,320
106	Yannick Rohrbach	€1,320
107	Eduardo Terrivel	€1,320
108	Leon Campbell	€1,320
109	Fabian Fleischmann	€1,320
110	Antonios Onourfriou	€1,320
111	Luke Pace	€1,320
112	Robert Teunissen	€1,320
113	Anastasios Apostolou	€1,320
114	Firat Cankaya	€1,320
115	Dejan Dabetic	€1,320

Level 19: 8,000/16,000
Entries: 94/1,226

David Ozmen opened from early position before Corentin Viaud three-bet to 135,000 from middle position. Ozmen jammed for 505,000 and Viaud called off his stack of 495,000.

Corentin Viaud: A♦A♠
David Ozmen: A♥K♠

Viaud’s rockets were the clear favorite and he doubled through Ozmen after the 9♥K♠5♠2♦8♦ ran out on the board.

Meanwhile, Ozmen was left with just half a big blind and his table broke after the hand.

Corentin Viaud – 1,040,000
David Ozmen – 10,000

Player	Chips	Big Blinds
Humberto Galindo	2,000,000	100
Noel Studer	1,900,000	95
Martynas Brazdzionis	1,900,000	95
Shaun Halliday	1,800,000	90
Maik Buss	1,800,000	90
Thomas Hofmann	1,300,000	65
Serdar Demircan	1,300,000	65
Raoul van Wersch	1,200,000	60
Salvatore Ritrovato	1,150,000	58
Dost Ghrabie	1,100,000	55
Fabrizio Nobile	1,000,000	50
Joaquim Ferriera	1,000,000	50
Peter Kaspar	1,000,000	50

The final 95 players are on a 15-minute break. Blinds will increase to 10,000/20,000 with a 20,000 big blind ante when the action resumes.

Level 19: 8,000/16,000
Entries: 106/1,226

Simon Taylor jammed for 175,000 from the cutoff and was called by Baldassare Santaluna from the big blind.

Simon Taylor: 10♣10♠
Baldassare Santaluna: K♦J♦

Taylor was at risk of losing his stack if he couldn’t win this flip. The tens held on the 2♣A♠4♥2♦Q♣ runout to survive and double his stack through Santaluna.

Baldassare Santaluna – 500K
Simon Taylor – 400K

The following players min-cashed the MPF Grand Event. The remaining 115 players each locked up a €200 pay jump and are guaranteed at least a €1,320 payout.

Place	Player	Prize
116	Grant Pirie	€1,120
117	Robrecht Winterink	€1,120
118	Arn Kungl	€1,120
119	Ashley Wilson	€1,120
120	Callum Gordon	€1,120
121	Torsten Riedl	€1,120
122	Kaloyan Kirov	€1,120
123	Anthony Whalley	€1,120
124	Massimo Bruno	€1,120
125	Mantas Petrauskas	€1,120
126	Michael Frost	€1,120
127	Fraser Mackenze	€1,120
128	Paolo Rando	€1,120
129	Andrew Cutajar	€1,120
130	Giulio Spaminato	€1,120
131	Rob van Embden	€1,120
132	Jonathan Schuman	€1,120
133	Anton Shroter	€1,120
134	Matthew Adams	€1,120
135	Ian Swan	€1,120
136	Boris Zismanov	€1,120
137	Julien Gadanho	€1,120
138	Nicky Molmans	€1,120
139	Thomas Steedman	€1,120
140	Giuseppe Signorelli	€1,120
141	Oscar Arezzo	€1,120
142	Samuel Biland	€1,120
143	Olav Kok	€1,120
144	Raimondo Marcello	€1,120
145	Thibault Branly	€1,120
146	Andrei Musat	€1,120
147	Nauseda Grazvydas	€1,120
148	Daniel Kuhlmann	€1,120
149	Lars Halkier	€1,120
150	Joseph East	€1,120
151	Ivan Picavet	€1,120

Level 19: 8,000/16,000 (16,000)
Entries: 116/1,226

Arno Kungl open-jammed for 65,000 from early position and was called by Dost Ghrabie from the hijack and Angelo Patane from the cutoff before Andrei Mjagokov jammed for close to 1,000,000. Ghrabie quickly called off his stack of 475,000 when the action came back around to him while Patane opted to fold.

Arno Kungl: A♥6♦
Dost Ghrabie: Q♠Q♣
Andrei Mjagkov: A♦K♠

Ghrabie won the hand with his ladies to eliminate Kungl and double through Mjagkov after both players failed to improve on the 9♠2♥9♦6♣2♠ board.

Dost Ghrabie – 1.2 million
Andrei Mjagkov – 500,000
Arno Kungl – 0

Level 18: 6,000/12,000 (12,000)
Entries: 126/1,226

Louis Le Boisselier bet 120,000 into a pot of around triple that with the K♠10♠J♦Q♣ on the board after the turn. Arnaud Cressent tanked for a couple of minutes before he called.

The 6♥ river completed the board. About two minutes later, Le Boisselier jammed for more than the 420,000 or so Cressent had behind.

Cressent tanked for close to five minutes. During which, he asked for a count only to learn that he was well-covered. Eventually, Cressent folded.

“Did you have it?” Cressent asked.

“Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t,” responded Le Boisselier. “It is 50/50.”

Louis Le Boisselier – 1.3 million
Arnaud Cressent – 420,000

The clock was paused after the money bubble broke and dozens of players headed over to Table 21 for a big flip taking place between the players that hit the rail close to the bubble.

Nikolaj D’Antoni won the flip after his K♦5♠ hit two pair on the 5♦K♠J♥10♣2♠ board and will head to the “can’t miss” Winamax Open Marrakech compliments of a package valued at around €2,500 by Winamax.

Tons of players were thrilled for D’Antoni and kudos for Winamax for adding this excitement to the Malta Poker Festival Grand Event.

In other news, we will not have a repeat champion in the MPF Grand Event as Mirko Mostaccio, who won this event in the autumn, hit the rail just short of the money.

Best of luck to the remaining players in the field.

Level 18: 6,000/12,000 (12,000)
Entries: 151/1,226

Former footballer Regilio Vrede just bubbled the Grand Event on a cooler. Vrede jammed for 90,000 into a pot of around the same with the 4♥Q♥J♣ on the flop and was called by Michal Gavurnik.

The action paused for about three minutes while hands at other tables played out. After that, a big crowd surround the table and the cards were turned over.

Regilio Vrede: A♥Q♣
Michal Gavurnik: K♠10♠

Vrede was ahead but Gavurnik had many outs to a better pair or to complete an open-ended straight draw. The 10♣ added more possible outs for Gavurnik with one card to come.

The tournament arena erupted with applause after the 9♠ river completed the board to complete a straight for Gavurnik.

Unlucky for Vrede but he will have a chance to make up for it with the last nine players to hit the rail before the bubble flipping for a Winamax Marrakech package valued at approximately €2,500.

This author has attended Winamax events in the past at Marrakech, and that isn’t one to miss.

Michal Gavurnik – 1 million
Regilio Vrede – 0

**We will update with a bubble photo shortly.**

Level 17: 5,000/10,000 (10,000)
Entries: 152/1,226

While we are waiting for the bubble to break, here is a funny hand from earlier involved Serdar Demircan.

Demircan opened for 25,000 and was called by Fabrizio Nobile from the big blind.

“Strike one,” said Demircan. “You should have folded.”

Nobile checked in the dark before the five-eight-nine came on the flop.

“That’s strike two,” Demircan said. “You gave me a free card.

Demircan checked and Nobile checked again on the king turn.

“That’s strike three,” Demircan said. “Another free card.”

Dermircan, who is on around 1.3 million in chips, would up betting 50,000 this time around and Nobile folded.

Serdar Demircan – 1,300,000
Fabrizio Nobile – 400,000

Level 17: 5,000/10,000 (10,000)
Entries: 152/1,226

Players are hand-for-hand on the money bubble with 152 players remaining.

Level 17: 5,000/10,000 (10,000)
Entries: 160/1,226

We caught up with Humberto Galindo, who is quietly grinding a big stack. He shared with us that he got a good amount of his nearly 1.2 million in chips in a big pot where a player ran their stack with ace-nine suited into his rockets.

Also on his table with big stacks were Leon Campbell, Stepan Brychta, and Kevin Houghton.

Humberto Galindo – 1,150,000
Kevin Houghton – 600,000
Leon Campbell – 500,000
Stepan Brychta – 500,000

Level 17: 5,000/10,000 (10,000)
Entries: 167/1,226

Marko Luksa began today with the chip lead and now has it once again after winning a massive pot of around 900,000 in chips against Maxime Chilaud near the money bubble.

Luksa opened for 20,000 from late position. Chilaud three-bet to 83,000 from the blinds. Luksa four-bet to 150,000 before Chilaud five-bet shoved for more than 400,000. Luksa called and the cards were turned over.

Maxime Chilaud: Q♠Q♥
Marko Luksa: K♦K♣

Luksa’s cowboys got the job done on the A♠4♥5♣J♠J♦ board to eliminate Chilaud and win the biggest pot of the tournament thus far.

Marko Luksa – 1.1 million
Maxime Chilaud – 0

Player	Chips	Big Blinds
Alex Montgomery	1,050,000	105
Chris Da Silva	890,000	89
Martynas Brazdzions	770,000	77
Manoj Navini	760,000	76
David Ozmen	745,000	75
Alessandro Furneri	710,000	71
Marko Luksa	700,000	70
Chen Keren	690,000	69
Anthony Whalley	660,000	66
Louis Le Boisselier	592,000	59

Level 17: 5,000/10,000 (10,000)
Entries: 173/1,226

Players are on their first break. The money bubble will approach soon after the action resumes with 151 players guaranteed at least a €1,120 min-cash.

Blinds will increase to 5,000/10,000 with a 10,000 big blind ante when the action resumes in 15 minutes.

Level 16: 4,000/8,000 (8,000)
Entries: 181/1,226

Alex Montgomery, who entered today with a top 10 stack of 499,000 in chips is the first player we noticed over 1 million in chips. Montgomery recapped an earlier hand which got him on his way.

A player opened from under the gun before three players called including Montgomery from the big blind.

The players in the blinds checked the 10♦5♠3♦ flop before the under-the-gun player bet 26,000. Another player flat-called before the player in the small blind jammed for 126,000. Montgomery came in over the top for his table-leading chip stack and the under-the-gun player went into the tank before he called.

Small Blind Player: K♦2♦
UTG Player: Q♠Q♣
Alex Montgomery: 3♠3♥

Montgomery was ahead with his set of treys and remained ahead after the 9♣ turn. The 5♦ river improved the small blind player to a flush but Montgomery won the hand with a full house.

“Boom!” said the player in the small blind prematurely before realizing he lost his chip stack.

We will update some of the other bigger stacks from around the room on the first break.

Alex Montgomery – 1.1 million

Level 16: 4,000/8,000 (8,000)
Entries: 190/1,226

Moreno Ferrari jammed for 81,000 from the small blind. Mantas Petrauskas went into the tank for a few minutes before he found a call for more than half of his stack.

Moreno Ferrari: 8♠7♦
Mantas Petrauskas: K♠6♠

“Wow!” said Ferrari seemingly in shock before the Q♥4♥K♥ flop improved Petrauskas to top pair.

“What’s happening?” Ferrari said still in a little shock.

The J♠ turn and 6♠ river completed the board for Petrauskas to win the hand and felt Ferrari.

“Nice hand,” Ferrari said before leaving.

Mantas Petrauskas – 230,000
Moreno Ferrari – 0

Level 16: 4,000/8,000 (8,000)
Entries: 197/1,226

Daniel Spavin-Haigh open-jammed for 93,000 from under the gun. Katie Swift asked for a count from the button before she called.

Daniel Spavin-Haigh: K♥K♦
Katie Swift: 8♥8♦

“Nice hand,” Swift said to Spavin-Haigh when she saw how dominated her snowmen were.

Spavin-Haigh improved further to a set of cowboys on the K♣2♠9♠ flop.

“Nice hand,” Swift said to her opponent again.

Neither the A♥ tur nor the 4♣ river made any difference in the hand and Spavin-Haigh doubled through Swift.

Kaite Swift – 235,000
Daniel Spavin-Haigh – 205,000

Level 15: 3,000/6,000 (6,000)
Entries: 208/1,226

Michael Pinto began today with one of the bigger stacks in play with 374,000 in chips. He was down to about 15 big blinds when he lost the rest on a roller coaster of a hand against Scott Roberts.

Roberts opened for 13,000 before Pinto jammed for about 80,000. Roberts called and the cards were turned over.

Michael Pinto: A♣K♠
Scott Roberts: Q♣Q♥

It was looking good for Pinto to double after he pulled out ahead with trips on the A♠A♦2♣ flop. Pinto was still ahead on 5♠ turn. However, the Q♠ came raining down on the river to destroy the rest of Pinto’s stack.

Meanwhile, Roberts was north of half a million chips after the hand.

Scott Roberts – 525,000
Michael Pinto – 0

Level 15: 3,000/6,000 (6,000)
Entries: 219/1,226

There was a little bit already in the pot when Luke Pace checked the 8♦6♥Q♣ flop. John Oldfield bet 30,000 and Presiyan Tsvetanov called before Luke Pace jammed for 301,000. Oldfield called the big shove and Tsvetanov opted to fold.

Luke Pace: Q♠8♣
John Oldfield: A♠A♣

Pace was ahead with his two pair but Oldfield still had a bit of hope. Neither the 4♣ turn nor the K♣ river improved Oldfield from his pocket rockets for Pace to win the massive pot. Meanwhile, Oldfield had his work cut out for him as he was below a starting stack after the hand.

Luke Pace – 700,000
Presiyan Tsvetanov – 290,000
John Oldfield – 40,000

Level 15: 3,000/6,000 (6,000)
Entries: 227/1,226

Thomas Petit jammed for a little more than 10 big blinds from the hijack and was looked up by Jonathan Pastore from the button.

Thomas Petit: 7♦7♣
Jonathan Pastore: A♣K♦

It was looking like Petit would be heading to the showers after Pastore connected with his ace on the A♠J♥J♠ flop. However, Petit moved far ahead after hitting a two outer on the 7♠ turn to improve to a full house.

Petit wasn’t out of the woods yet as Pastore had a potential four-outer to complete for a better full house. The blank 3♠ river wasn’t one of those four outs and Petit doubled through Pastore.

Thomas Petit – 140,000
Jonathan Pastore – 65,000

Level 15: 3,000/6,000 (6,000)
Entries: 242/1,226

Tina Bandyle opened from the hijack. Nauseda Grazyvydas three-bet shoved for just under 15 big blinds and Bandyle called.

Nauseda Grazyvydas: A♣K♦
Tina Bandyle: A♦J♦

Grazyvydas’s big slick held on the 4♠K♠2♠5♣10♠ board. The stacks of the two players appeared to be very close. Bandyle, however, ran away from the table and temporarily out of the poker room. This reporter chased after her when we saw she still had 3,000 chips left. Someone else told her first and she got back to the table in an attempt to go from zero to hero..

Nauseda Grazyvydas – 200,000
Tina Bandyle – 3,000

Level 15: 3,000/6,000 (6,000)
Entries: 252/1,226

Dror Krici opened for 13,000 from the button. Zaheer Zeb three-bet to 35,000 from the small blind before Louis Cartarius four-bet jammed for 172,000 from the big blind. Krici got out of the way and Krici went into the tank before asking for a chip count.

Zeb found a call about three minutes later and the cards were turned over with Cartarius at risk.

Louis Cartarius: A♣K♥
Zaheer Zeb: 10♦10♠

Zeb’s tens won the flip to eliminate Cartarius after his opponent was unable to find any love on the 8♠6♠9♠3♣9♦ board.

Zaheer Zeb – 400,000
Louis Cartarius – 0

Level 14: 3,000/5,000 (5,000)
Entries: 273/1,226

Sirin Ongorur three-bet jammed the button and was called by Nicolaj D’Antoni, who originally opened from middle position.

Nicolaj D’Antoni: 10♥10♠
Sirin Ongorur: A♣6♠

We were hoping to catch Ongorur on the winning end of a hand and hopefully, we will later as he created the technical aspects of the blog and website we are using.

However, this wasn’t the time as D’Antoni immediately improved to a set and never looked back after the 10♦8♥5♥2♦Q♠ ran out on the board.

Level 14: 3,000/5,000 (5,000)
Entries: 280/1,226

Oliver Said opened from the button before David Berdis jammed for 130,000 from the small blind. Said called and the two players were flipping for a big pot with Berdis at risk.

David Berdis: 2♦2♣
Oliver Said: A♣J♠

Berdis was ahead in the flip after both the 4♦7♥8♣ flop and the 8♣ turn.

“Yes!”said Said after the J♥ river completed the board to improve him to a better pair.

Berdis got out of his seat and we wish him better luck if he plays in any of the side events today.

Level 14: 3,000/5,000 (5,000)
Entries: 300/1,226

Kerryjane Craigie jammed from middle position for 83,000 and was looked up by Flaviano Cammisuli from the button.

Kerryjane Craigie: Q♦Q♣
Flaviano Cammisuli: A♦K♥

Craigie pulled miles ahead after the Q♠6♠K♦ improved her to a set. She appeared nervous despite improving to a full house on the K♠ turn with Cammisuli holding a handful of outs for a better full house or four kings.

The blank J♣ river completed the board and Craigie breathed a huge sigh of relief after winning the hand.

Kerryjane Craigie – 180,000
Flaviano Cammisuli – 40,000

Level 14: 3,000/5,000 (5,000)
Entries: 305/1,226

Georgios Georgiou had his stack of 75,000 in the middle on the 5♦3♦4♠ flop and was up against Julian Capone.

Georgios Georgiou: 7♦6♦
Julian Capone: K♠K♦

Georgiou already had the nuts with a straight to pull ahead of cowboys and even had a flush draw to boot. Capone needed a pair of runners to win the hand but was drawing to just a three-outer to a chop after the 6♥ turn. The J♠ river completed the board for Georgiou to double through Capone.

Georgios Georgiou – 170,000
Julian Capone – 25,000

Level 14: 3,000/5,000 (5,000)
Entries: 309/1,226

“Player out,” is something that can be frequently heard in the poker arena early on Day 2 with more than 20 players already on the rail including Antonin Hays as follows.

Hays jammed for 75,000 from the button.

“How much?” asked Fabio Coppola from the small blind.

The dealer counted Hays’ stack and Coppola announced a call shortly after.

Antonin Hays: K♥9♥
Fabio Coppola: Q♠Q♣

Hays wasn’t able to get there on the 7♣A♥2♣5♦8♦ and was eliminated by Coppola early on Day 2.

Fabio Coppola – 300,000
Antonin Hays – 0

Level 14: 3,000/5,000 (5,000)
Entries: 324/1,226

Several players have already hit the rail early on Day 2 including Hassan Nima as follows.

Nima jammed for about 12 big blinds from the small blind. Calum Bagnall had Nima covered and snap-called from the big blind.

Hassan Nima: 10♣9♣
Calum Bagnall: K♠Q♣

Bagnall barely had Nima covered and snagged all of his chips with a full house after the 2♥2♦Q♠2♣A♣ ran out on the board.

Calum Bagnall – 125,000
Hassan Nima – 0

The payouts have been announced for the MPF Grand Event. The top 151 players will go home with at least a €1,120 min-cash for more than double the €550 buy-in.

Tomorrow’s winner is slated to walk away with much more with a €100,600 top prize on the line! Here is a look at all of the payouts of the 2023 Malta Poker Festival Spring Edition €550 Grand Event.

Place	Prize
1	€100,600
2	€75,690
3	€55,420
4	€37,400
5	€20,150
6	€14,850
7	€11,400
8	€9,050
9	€7,550
10-11	€6,150
12-13	€5,050
14-15	€4,150
16-20	€3,350
21-26	€2,820
27-35	€2,470
36-44	€2,170
45-53	€1,920
54-71	€1,720
72-89	€1,520
90-115	€1,320
116-151	€1,120

Level 14: 3,000/5,000 (5,000)
Entries: 330/1,226

Ludos Academy CEO Danilo de Berardinis and MPF founder Ivonne Montealegre welcomed the players and provided some information about Day 2 of the MPF Grand Event.

One player was disqualified from the event, so we start today with 330 hopefuls in the hunt for the title.

Best of luck to all of the Day 2 players.

The Malta Poker Festival (MPF) Spring Edition €550 Grand Event powered by the Unibet DeepStack Open has been a massive success with 1,226 entries coming out in full force during the five opening flights to generate a huge €588,480 prize pool. This not only smashed the €300,000 guarantee but also nearly doubled it.

A total of 331 entries or 27% of the field survived and are ready to battle for the next two days until the latest MPF champion is crowned.

Day 1a chip leader Marko Luksa bagged the biggest stack of 687,000 with Day 1b chip leader Shaun Halliday (656,000) and Day 1c chip leader Malik Buss (618,000). Here is a look at the top 10 chip counts on Day 2.

Place	Player	Chips	Big Blinds
1	Marko Luksa	687,000	137
2	Shaun Halliday	656,000	131
3	Maik Buss	618,000	124
4	Michal Gavurnik	577,000	115
5	Ertan Cicekdemir	523,000	105
6	Chris Da Silva	500,000	100
7	Alex Montgomery	499,000	100
8	Kaloyan Kirov	472,000	94
9	Paul Young	459,000	92
10	Noel Studer	447,000	89

Players will have a little more time on Day 2 than the opening flights with 50-minute blind levels throughout Day 2. In addition, players will enjoy a smooth 8-max format the rest of the tournament.

The payouts will be announced shortly after cards are in the air. Day 2 is scheduled to conclude the sooner of 14 blind levels or when a final table of nine players is reached.

Head to the Seat Draw post to check out the Day 2 seat draw for the final 331 players.

Meanwhile, the €120 APAT Maltese Championship will crown a winner on its second and final day with cards in the air at 2 p.m.

Several new side events kickoff today as well including the €250 Sunday Deep Stack powered by Stanleybet at 5 p.m., the first of two days of the €1,100 MPF High Roller at 6 p.m., the €200 PLO Knights Crusaders at 7 p.m., and the €150 Win the Button at 8 p.m. Additionally, there is a €150 turbo satellite to the High Roller at 2 p.m. for those looking for a chance to get in for a fraction of the cost.

We will be back on the floor when cards are in the air at 1 p.m. for Day 2. Stay tuned to the Malta Poker Festival blog for all of your updates.