Live Blog – Final Day

After more than nine hours of play on the final day, Scotland’s Lewis Coffin defeated Lithuania’s Martynas Brazdzionis heads-up to win the 2023 Malta Poker Festival €550 Grand Event powered by Unibet DeepStack Open at the luxurious Portomaso Casino for €100,600.

Coffin began in the bottom third of the pack out of the 18 hopefuls to advance to the final day. He was even short at one point early on at the final table and could have easily been out the door but his queen-nine got there with his short stack against the ace-five to double through La Sengphet.

This was easily the largest cash for Coffin who came into the Malta Poker Festival with a shade over $33,000 in cashes as tracked by The Hendon Mob, of which more than $21,000 came in a tournament in London earlier this month.

The Grand Event (and the entire festival) lived up to its name as it was truly grand. The €300,000 guarantee slapped on this event was absolutely shattered by nearly double with 1,226 entries coming out in full force to create a huge €588,480 prize pool.

MPF Spring Edition Grand Event Final Table Payouts

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1	Lewis Coffin	United Kingdom	€100,600
2	Martynas Brazdzionis	Lithuania	€75,690
3	Oliver Said	Malta	€55,420
4	Angelo Patane	Italy	€37,400
5	Kjetil Hanstvedt	Norway	€20,150
6	La Sengphet	United States	€14,850
7	Tomasz Caba	Poland	€11,400
8	Fabio Aprile	Italy	€9,050
9	Joszef Hegyi	Hungary	€7,550

Final Day Action

The action was down to just 18 hopefuls on the final day in the hunt for the title, each locking up at least €3,350. Brazdzionis held a commanding chip lead to start the day and never looked back until there were just three players left.

His lead was maintained while Paolo Aleo, Arnaud Cressent, Michael Gavurnik, Chris Da Silva, Maik Buss, Salvatore Ritrovato, and Lasse Jacobsen all hit the rail.

Brazdzionis then ousted both Vlad Ardeneanu and Raoul van Wersch to extend his lead to one-third of the chips in play with the final table set to begin.

It continued to be all Brazdzionis early at the final table as well. His Lithuanian rail instantly grew and his lead grew as well as he sent both Fabio Aprile (eighth – €9,050) and Unibet Poker qualifier Joszef Hegyi (ninth – €7,550) to the rail in succession. Check out the interview below with Hegyi, who has qualified four times for UDSO packages at Unibet Poker by Unibet DeepStack Open founder Alex Henry.

Brazdzionis’ elimination streak came to an end with Oliver Said sending Tomasz Caba (seventh – €11,400) to the rail when his queen ten proved to be good again ace-deuce.

As we already mentioned, Coffin could have then easily been out against Sengphet, which took place the last hand before the dinner break. Sengphet was a little late coming back as the short-stack and nearly laddered up in the process but Said earned a chop with ace-seven against Coffin’s ace-ten suited to stay alive. Shortly after, Coffin continued to move up the ranks by eliminating the short-stack Sengphet in sixth place for €14,850 when his queen-trey held against five-four.

Kjetil Hanstvedt then took a small chink out of the armor of Brazdzionis to double his stack with fours against big slick. His survival actually created a viral hand shortly after.

Said got it in with jacks against Hanstvedt’s pocket rockets and asked for a jack. Instead of one jack, two jacks came on the flop but he wasn’t out of the woods yet as Hanstvedt improved to a full house when an ace came on the turn. The fourth ace didn’t show its face on the river and Handstvedt soon was eliminated by Said in fifth place for €20,150 when his nines were no good against ten-trey with the jack-seven-six flop. Said hit two runners for a straight and was close to the chip lead.

Meanwhile, Brazdzionis continued to accumulate chips and had two-thirds of the chips in play after he eliminated the short-stacked Angelo Patane (fourth – €37,400) when his queen-jack held against queen-eight.

The players then discussed a deal but nobody appeared to be happy with the numbers. So the action went on and no deal was discussed the rest of the way.

The tides turned, mostly in favor of Coffin, shortly after that. Coffin first won a flip for his tournament life when his fives were good against Said’s ace-jack. He then took the chip lead and never looked back. Coffin jammed the river with the nut flush with ace-jack suited and doubled through Brazdzionis after his opponent called with a lower flush with six-trey suited.

Brazdzionis was the short stack with under 15 big blinds when Said decided to make a move. He jammed with king-queen on a ten-nine-deuce flop. Coffin woke up with cowboys and Said won the third-place trophy along with a tasty €55,420 top prize.

The final duo went on a short break with Coffin holding a massive 8:1 chip advantage over Brazdzionis. The heads-up battle was over before it began lasting just one hand. Coffin jammed the button with king-six and eliminated Brazdzionis in second place for €75,690 after his hand held against jack-ten.

A massive congrats to Lewis Coffin on his amazing MPF Grand Event victory for €100,600!

It’s been an absolute pleasure reporting the MPF Grand Event all week and we look forward to seeing you again! À bientôt!

Check out the last batch of photos from the 2023 Malta Poker Festival Grand Event powered by Unibet DeepStack Open.

Place	Player	Prize
1	Lewis Coffin	€100,600
2	Martynas Brazdzionis	€75,690
3	Oliver Said	€55,420
4	Angelo Patane	€37,400
5	Kjetil Hanstvedt	€20,150
6	La Sengphet	€14,850
7	Tomasz Caba	€11,400
8	Fabio Aprile	€9,050
9	Joszef Hegyi	€7,550
10	Vlad Ardeleanu	€6,150
11	Raoul van Wersch	€6,150
12	Paolo Aleo	€5,050
13	Arnaud Cressent	€5,050
14	Michal Gavurnik	€4,150
15	Chris Da Silva	€4,150
16	Maik Buss	€3,350
17	Salvatore Ritrovato	€3,350
18	Lasse Jacobsen	€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

Level 34: 300,000/600,000 (600,000)
Entries: 1/1,226

Heads-up action lasted exactly one hand. Lewis Coffin jammed the button before Martynas Brazdzionis called off his stack of 12 big blinds.

Martynas Brazdzionis: J♣10♥
Lewis Coffin: K♣6♥

A crowd consisting of both players’ rails gathered around the table as soon as the cards were turned over.

Coffin was ahead on the 2♠8♦7♣ flop but Brazdzionis had both of his over-cards and the nine for a straight alive.

“Don’t look,” shouted the Lithuanian rail. “Nine, Nine, Nine, Nine!”

No nine came on either the 3♣ turn or the 5♠ river and neither of these cards helped in any other way for Brazdzilionis to fall one player shy of winning the title after having the chip lead most of the final day.

Congrats to Lewis Coffin for winning the 2023 MPF Spring Edition Grand Event powered by the Unibet DeepStack Open for €100,600!

Stay tuned for the full payouts and the recap of the final day.

Level 33: 250,000/500,000 (500,000)
Entries: 2/1,226

Martynas Brazdzionis opened for 1 million from the button. Oliver Said three-bet to 3 million from the small blind. Lewis Coffin cold-called from the big blind and Brazdzionis folded.

Said open-jammed for 12 million the 2♣9♠10♦ flop and Coffin snap-called.

“Aces?” asked Said.

He was close but one pair off.

Oliver Said: K♠Q♦
Lewis Coffin: K♦K♣

Said was unable to complete his straight or get a pair of runners on the 9♥ and 5♣ river to hit the rail in third place.

Meanwhile, Coffin will begin heads-up play with a massive chip-edge over Brazdzionis.

Lewis Coffin – 54 million
Martynas Brazdzionis – 7 million
Oliver Said – 0

Level 33: 250,000/500,000 (500,000)
Entries: 3/1,226

Martynas Brazdzionis min-raised the button before Lewis Coffin defended his big blind. Coffin check-called bets of 600,000 on the J♥4♣4♠ flop and for 3,700,000 on the 2♥ turn.

The K♥ river completed the board and Coffin jammed for 10 million. Brazdzionis quickly called only to get the bad news.

Coffin turned over the A♥5♥ for the nut flush. Brazdzionis also had a flush but it wasn’t good enough after showing the 6♥3♥.

Lewis Coffin – 34 million
Oliver Said – 18 million
Martynas Brazdzionis – 9 million

Level 33: 250,000/500,000 (500,000)
Entries: 3/1,226

It was a limped pot preflop when Lewis Coffin bet 900,000 on the 10♥K♦6♥ flop from the small blind. Martynas Brazdzionis called from the big blind before he called a bigger bet of 1,800,000 on the 6♠ turn.

The A♦ river completed the board and Coffin bet 4.5 million.

Brazdzionis’ eyebrows were raised before he went into the tank for a couple of minutes. He eventually called and turned over the K♥4♦ and won the hand to the delight of the Lithuanian rail after Coffin mucked.

Martynas Brazdzionis – 27 million
Oliver Said – 22 million
Lewis Coffin – 12 million

Level 33: 250,000/500,000 (500,000)
Entries: 3/1,226

The action has resumed in the Grand Event with the final three players battling for the title.

The stacks are fairly even at this point in time. Oliver Said was on the ropes but doubled through Martynas Brazdzionis in a hand we reported before winning another pot for a few million chips later on to take the chip lead. Here is a look at the chip counts at the break:

Seat	Player	Country	Chips	Big Blinds
3	Martynas Brazdzionis	Lithuania	19,475,000	39
4	Oliver Said	Malta	22,250,000	45
9	Lewis Coffin	United Kingdom	19,300,000	39

The final three players went on a short break. Blinds will speed up to 30 minutes in length when the action resumes.

Level 32: 200,000/400,000 (400,000)
Entries: 3/1,226

Oliver Said just got the chips back he lost but against a different player in Martynas Brazdzionis.

Said jammed the button for nearly 8 million and Brazdzionis called.

Oliver Said: 10♠7♣
Martynas Brazdzionis: A♥9♥

Said connected with a ten on the flop and never looked back to double up with the 5♠10♣2♠2♣7♦ rolling onto the board.

Martynas Brazdzionis – 27 million
Oliver Said – 16 million

Level 32: 200,000/400,000 (400,000)
Entries: 3/1,226

Oliver Said opened for 900,000 from the small blind. Lewis Coffin jammed for 9 million from the big blind and Said snap-called.

Lewis Coffin: 5♥5♦
Oliver Said: A♠J♥

There was no nail in the coffin for Coffin as he won the flip in style with a set after the 5♣3♠9♦J♠8♣ ran out on the board.

Lewis Coffin – 18 million
Oliver Said – 8 million

Level 32: 200,000/400,000 (400,000)
Entries: 3/1,226

No deal was agreed upon. There are still 40 minutes on the clock in Level 32. However, after this blind level, the clock will be 30 minutes per blind level.

Level 32: 200,000/400,000 (400,000)
Entries: 3/1,226

Martynas Brazdzionis min-raised the button. Angelo Patane got his last four big blinds in from the big blind and Brazdzionis called.

Angelo Patane: Q♠8♥
Martynas Brazdzionis: Q♣J♣

“Eight!” shouted Patane’s rail.

“No eight!” shouted one of the local players that was originally from Lithuania.

The A♠10♣7♣6♣8♠ board did have an eight but Patane was on the rail anyway.

“Finished,” said Patane to his rail. “Eight on the river anyway.”

Martynas Brazdzionis – 42 million
Angelo Patane – 0

Meanwhile, the final three took a short break to discuss a potential deal.

Level 32: 200,000/400,000 (400,000)
Entries: 4/1,226

Oliver Said delivered back-to-back bad beats to Kjetil Hanstvedt to send him to the rail in fifth place for €20,150.

In the final hand, Hanstvedt opened for 800,000 from the button and was called by Said from the big blind. Said jammed the 6♣7♣J♦ flop and Hanstvedt called off for about 4 million in total.

Kjetil Hanstvedt: 9♥9♦
Oliver Said: 10♦3♣

Hanstvedt was ahead again when the chips went into the pot. However, Said improved to a straight to send Hanstvedt to the rail in fifth place after the 4♥ turn and 5♣ river completed the board.

Oliver Said – 18 million
Kjetil Hanstvedt – 0

Level 32: 200,000/400,000 (400,000)
Entries: 5/1,226

We may have spoken too soon as fireworks just erupted. It all began when Oliver Said opened for 800,000 from under the gun. Kjetil Hanstvedt three-bet jammed for more than 10 million from the big blind and Said snap-called.

Oliver Said: J♦J♥
Kjetil Hanstvedt: A♣A♠

“Jack!” pleaded Said.

The room erupted when not one jack but two jacks came on the 2♠J♣J♠ flop. Said still had a small sweat after Hansdvedt improved to a full house on the A♦ turn. The blank 3♥ completed the board on the river to end a sick hand with Said doubling his stack.

Oliver Said – 13 million
Kjetil Hanstvedt – 5 million

Level 31: 150,000/300,000 (300,000)
Entries: 5/1,226

After a busy early part of the final table, the action has slowed down at least for the time being with most pots being taken down preflop.

Level 31: 150,000/300,000 (300,000)
Entries: 5/1,226

Kjetil Hanstvedt jammed from under the gun for 4,925,000.

“How much?” asked the table captain Martynas Brazdzionis asked.

Brazdzionis jammed moments later and the cards were turned over.

Kjetil Hanstvedt: 4♠4♦
Martynas Brazdzionis: A♣K♥

Brazdzionis didn’t connect with the 8♥2♣2♠3♣Q♣ board and Hanstvedt doubled his stack.

Martynas Brazdzionis – 27 million
Kjetil Hanstvedt – 10 million

Level 31: 150,000/300,000 (300,000)
Entries: 5/1,226

We lost both our last remaining American and final female player in the field. La Sengphit was unable to find a spot and was down to 1,425,000 in chips. She pushed 1,400,000 of this forward from the button. Lewis Coffin put her in for the rest and the cards were turned over.

La Sengphet: 5♣4♠
Lewis Coffin: Q♥3♦

Sengphet’s cards were live but the A♥J♥6♦Q♣6♠ board didn’t cooperate. It was an incredible run for Sengphet as she wished everyone a good game on the way to the cashier.

Lewis Coffin – 12.8 million
La Sengphet – 0

Level 31: 150,000/300,000 (300,000)
Entries: 6/1,226

La Senghet nearly laddered up despite missing the first hand. She came back at the end of the following hand:

Lewis Coffin opened for a min-raise from under the gun. Oliver Said jammed for nearly 4 million from the big blind and Coffin called.

Oliver Said: A♠7♣
Lewis Coffin: A♦10♠

Said was behind and it wasn’t looking good on either the J♠Q♣6♦ flop. He was only drawing to a chop after Coffin paired his ten on the 10♣ turn.

“King,” pleaded Said.

Said got his wish and the players chopped the pot after both improving to Broadway on the K♦ river.

Lewis Coffin – 12 million
Oliver Said – 4 million

Level 31: 150,000/300,000 (300,000)
Entries: 6/1,226

The final table has resumed with blinds at 150,000/300,000 with a 300,000 big blind ante.

La Sengphet hasn’t made it back from the break when the cards went in the air and will at least miss the first hand if not more depending on when she arrives.

Lithuania’s Martynas Brazdzionis came into today with the lead and has never given it up. He had more than half the chips in play at the dinner break.

Meanwhile, La Sengphet will resume with the shortest stack. She lost a good chunk of her stack on the last hand before the dinner break after her pocket fives didn’t hold against the ace-deuce held by Kjetil Hanstvedt.

Here is a look at all of the chip counts:

Seat	Player	County	Chips	Big Blinds
2	Kjetil Hanstvedt	Norway	4,675,000	16
3	Martynas Brazdzionis	Lithuania	32,250,000	108
4	Oliver Said	Malta	4,000,000	13
5	La Sengphe	United States	2,625,000	9
7	Angelo Patane	Italy	6,175,000	21
9	Lewis Coffin	United Kingdom	11,300,000	38

The final six players are on an hour-long dinner break. Blinds will increase to 150,000/300,000 along with a 300,000 big blind ante when the action resumes.

Level 30: 125,000/250,000 (250,000)
Entries: 6/1,226

Martynas Brazdzionis opened for 500,000 from under the gun. Oliver Said called from one seat over before Lewis Coffin jammed from the small blind for 5,500,000. Brazdzionis folded and Said asked for about.

“Sorry everyone,” Said said to the table after tanking for about five minutes.

Said found a call a minute later.

Lewis Coffin: J♣J♦
Oliver Said: 10♦10♥

Coffin’s jacks held to double just before the dinner break with the safe 3♠K♥7♣9♠2♠ running out on the board.

Lewis Coffin – 12 million
Oliver Said – 3 million

Level 30: 125,000/250,000 (250,000)
Entries: 6/1,226

La Sengphet opened the button for 550,000 before she called a three-bet jam by Lewis Coffin from the big blind to 1,850,000.

Lewis Coffin: Q♥9♣
La Sengphet: A♥5♠

Coffin took out his phone to film the hand. But it went back into his pocket after his nine connected on the 9♦7♣K♦4♠8♣ board to double his stack.

La Sengphet – 6.3 million
Lewis Coffin – 4.1 million

Level 30: 125,000/250,000 (250,000)
Entries: 6/1,226

Tomasz Caba jammed his short stack of 1,350,000 from the cutoff. Oliver Said asked for a count from the big blind before he called.

Tomasz Caba: A♣2♣
Oliver Said: Q♦10♣

Caba was ahead on the 8♣J♦3♥ flop but fell behind after Said improved to a straight on the 9♣ turn.

A couple of the players were already wishing Caba a good game not seeing he was still alive with a flush draw. The J♥ river didn’t save Caba and this time the “good game” comments were real.

Oliver Said – 8 million
Tomasz Caba – 0

Level 30: 125,000/250,000 (250,000)
Entries: 7/1,226

Tomasz Caba jammed for 575,000 from the cutoff and was called by Martynas Brazdzionis from the small blind and Oliver Said from the big blind.

Brazdzionis and Said checked down the entire Q♦2♦9♥6♠8♦ board.

Caba turned over the Q♥9♣ for the top two pair and tripled up with Brazdzionis holding 7♣6♥ and Said showing the J♦8♠.

Martynas Brazdzionis – 30 milion
Oliver Said – 6 million
Tomasz Caba – 2 million

Level 30: 125,000/250,000 (250,000)
Entries: 7/1,226

There wasn’t much in the pot when Angelo Patane bet 300,000 on the J♠Q♦7♥4♥Q♥ board from the small blind. Lewis Coffin raised to 750,000 from the big blind and Patane called.

Coffin turned over the Q♣6♣ for trips. Patane also had trips with Q♠10♦ to win the pot with a better kicker.

“I was thinking of shoving,” Patane said after the hand.

“I would have folded,” responded Coffin.

Angelo Patane – 7.2 million
Lewis Coffin – 3.6 million

Special thanks to Unibet DeepStack Open founder Alex Henry for the following photos of the final table. We plan to share more photos to share later from our usual photographers when they are available.

Level 29: 100,000/200,000 (200,000)
Entries: 7/1,226

Fabio Aprile opened for 500,000 from middle position. Martynas Brazdzionis three-bet to 1,350,000 and Aprile called.

Aprile check-called a bet of 700,000 on the Q♦5♦2♥ flop before jammed the 7♦ turn for a little less than 4 million. Brazdzionis snap-called and the cards were turned over.

Fabio Aprile: 6♥6♣
Martynas Brazdzionis: A♥Q♠

Brazdzionis ousted his fourth player in a row after the A♦ river completed the board.

Aprile was frustrated after he was called and stormed off quickly to the cashier as soon as the river card was dealt.

Martynas Brazdzionis – 30 million
Fabio Aprile – 0

Level 29: 100,000/200,000 (200,000)
Entries: 8/1,226

La Sengphet opened for 450,000 from early position. Martynas Brazdzionis three-bet to 1,050,000 from the big blind. Sengphet jammed for 7 million and Brazdzionis snap-called.

La Sengphet: K♥K♠
Martynas Brazdzionis: K♦K♣

“Maybe a flush is coming again,” joked Lewis Coffin.

“No!!!!” responded Sengphet before she asked for some hearts.

The drama was over from here with a rainbow flop and both players chopped up the pot.

Martynas Brazdzionis – 24 million
La Sengphet – 7.5 million

Level 29: 100,000/200,000 (200,000)
Entries: 8/1,226

Martynas Brazdzionis min-raised from the lojack before Joszef Hegyi defended his big blind.

Hegyi checked the 9♠7♥J♣ flop. Brazdzionis bet 550,000 and Hegyi jammed for nearly 4 million. Brazdzionis snap-called and the cards were turned over.

Jozsef Hegyi: Q♣J♠
Martynas Brazdzionis: Q♥J♥

Normally, players would chop in this spot despite Brazdionis having a backdoor to the flush. His flush draw completely to oust Hegyi on a cooler after the 9♥ turn and 3♥ river completed the board.

“Good game,” several of the players said to Hegyi as they shook hands.

“Good game,” Hegyi said in stride as he left the table.

Martynas Brazdzionis – 23 million
Jozsef Hegyi – 0

Level 29: 100,000/200,000 (200,000)
Entries: 9/1,226

The final table has been fully set-up and photos have been taken (which we will share as soon as they are available).

Best of luck to the final nine players!

Martynas Brazdzionis will kick off the 2023 MPF Spring Edition final table with a massive chip lead with nearly triple the chips of his nearest opponents in La Sengphet (6,925,000), Fabio Aprile (6,825,000), Oliver Said and Angelo Patane (6,250,000).

Best of luck to all the players and check out the final table seat draw below:

Seat	Player	Country	Chips	Big Blinds
1	Tomasz Caba	Poland	2,200,000	11
2	Kjetil Hanstvedt	Norway	3,900,000	20
3	Martynas Brazdzionis	Lithuania	18,575,000	93
4	Oliver Said	Malta	6,700,000	34
5	La Sengphe	United States	6,925,000	35
6	Fabio Aprile	Italy	6,825,000	34
7	Angelo Patane	Italy	6,250,000	31
8	Jozsef Hegyi	Hungary	4,350,000	22
9	Lewis Coffin	United Kingdom	5,300,000	27

Level 29: 100,000/200,000 (200,000)
Entries: 9/1,226

Vlad Ardeleanu three-bet jammed for about 10 big blinds from the button and was called by chip leader Martynas Brazdzionis who opened from under the gun for a min-raise.

Vlad Ardeleanu: K♠J♣
Martynas Brazdzionis: A♦Q♠

Ardeleanu was unable to get there on the 7♠2♥2♦4♥3♣ board and hit the rail in 10th place.

There is a 30-minute break for the final table to be set-up. We will post a final table seat draw with chip counts during this break.

Martynas Brazdzionis – 18.6 million
Vlad Ardeleanu – 0

Level 29: 100,000/200,000 (200,000)
Entries: 10/1,226

Martynas Brazdzionis opened for a min-raise from the cutoff and was called by Raoul van Wersch from the button.

Brazdzionis fired out for 300,000 on the 4♥A♦5♠ flop and van Wersch called. Van Wersch called a bigger bet of 1,550,000 on the 9♣ turn before Brazdzionis jammed for more than the about 4 million van Wersch had behind on the 9♦ river.

Van Wersch called and was out of the Grand Event in 11th place after his A♣Q♣ was no good against Brazdzionis’ A♥K♣.

Martynas Brazdzionis – 15 million
Raoul van Wersch – 0

Place	Player	Country	Chips	Big Blinds
1	Martynas Brazdzionis	Lithuania	8,825,000	44
2	Fabio Aprile	Italy	7,325,000	37
3	La Sengphet	United States	7,325,000	37
4	Raoul van Wersch	Netherlands	6,925,000	35
5	Oliver Said	Malta	6,700,000	34
6	Angelo Patane	Italy	6,250,000	31
7	Lewis Coffin	United Kingdom	4,750,000	24
8	Kjetil Hanstvedt	Norway	4,400,000	22
9	Jozsef Hegyi	Hungary	3,900,000	20
10	Tomasz Caba	Poland	2,700,000	14
11	Vlad Ardeleanu	Romania	1,925,000	10

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	Paolo Aleo	€5,050
13	Arnaud Cressent	€5,050
14	Michal Gavurnik	€4,150
15	Chris Da Silva	€4,150
16	Maik Buss	€3,350
17	Salvatore Ritrovato	€3,350
18	Lasse Jacobsen	€3,350

Players are on a 15-minute break. Blinds will increase to 100,000/200,000 with a 200,000 big blind ante when the action resumes.

The next break will take place when a final table of nine players is reached.

Level 28: 80,000/160,000 (160,000)
Entries: 11/1,226

Paolo Aleo jammed for about 700,000 from under the gun before Tomasz Caba came in from over the top for more than double that from the cutoff. The rest of the table folded and the cards were turned over.

Paolo Aleo: 3♥3♦
Tomasz Caba: A♥Q♣

Caba improved to trips on the A♣A♦9♥ flop and never looked back. Aleo was ousted in 12th place after the 4♦ turn and 10♦ river completed the board.

Tomasz Caba – 2.5 million
Paolo Aleo – 0

Level 28: 80,000/160,000 (160,000)
Entries: 12/1,226

Tomasz Caba jammed his short stack from the button and was called by Martynas Brazdzionis from the big blind.

Tomasz Caba: Q♣6♣
Martynas Brazdzionis: K♣Q♠

Caba stood up and looked ready to go after the 10♣3♣4♥ flop. He got closer to the table after the 6♦ turn paired up his six and was back in his seat with more than twice as many chips as he had after the blank 5♦ river completed the board.

Martynas Brazdzionis – 8.7 million
Tomasz Caba – 2.1 million

Level 28: 80,000/160,000 (160,000)
Entries: 12/1,226

La Sengphet is off to a good start and has about 7.8 million in chips.

Unibet Poker qualifier Tomasz Caba bet 875,000 into a pot of a bit more with the 2♥4♥Q♦K♠3♠ on the board. Sengphet tanked for a few minutes before she called.

Caba turned over 10♥8♥ for a bricked flush draw and was picked off by Sengphet after she turned over the 10♦10♠

La Sengphet – 7.8 million
Tomasz Caba – 1.2 million

Level 28: 80,000/160,000 (160,000)
Entries: 12/1,226

Lewis Coffin jammed for about 10 big blinds from the cutoff. Arnaud Cressent had a little less when he called off his stack from the small blind.

Arnaud Cressent: A♠K♣
Lewis Coffin: 8♥8♣

The 8♦6♠10♠10♥4♥ board improved Coffin to a full house to win the flip and oust Cressent.

Lewis Coffin – 3 million
Arnaud Cressent – 0

Level 28: 80,000/160,000 (160,000)
Entries: 13/1,226

Chris Da Silva opened for 1 million with about 100,000 behind from the cutoff. Michal Gavurnik jammed for about 2 million from the button. Oliver Said had both players covered and came in over the top.

Da Silva paused for a couple of minutes before he called off for the rest of his stack.

Chris Da Silva: A♥9♠
Michal Gavurnik: A♦10♠
Oliver Said: Q♠Q♥

“Yes,” Said quietly said after he improved to a set on the 8♠Q♣K♠ flop.

Said had both of his opponents drawing dead after further improving to a full house on the 8♦ turn and eliminated both players after the 8♣ river completed the board.

Oliver Said – 6 million
Chris Da Silva – 0
Michael Gavurnik – 0

Level 28: 80,000/160,000 (160,000)
Entries: 15/1,226

Kjetil Hanstvedt opened for 315,000 from the button. Chris Da Silva jammed for more than 3 million from the small blind. Hanstvedt called off his stack of 2,290,000 in chips.

Kjetil Hanstvedt: A♥K♠
Chris Da Silva: A♣4♦

“Four please,” Da Silva said. “Just one four is fine.”

No four came on the 7♠A♣Q♦9♦8♣ runout and Da Silva doubled Hanstvedt.

“Nice hand,” Da Silva told his opponent after the hand.

Kjetil Hanstvedt – 5 million
Chris Da Silva – 1 million

Level 27: 50,000/125,000 (125,000)
Entries: 15/1,226

Kjetil Hanstvedt jammed for 1 million from early position. It folded around to Michal Gavurnik, who tanked for a couple of minutes before he called.

Kjetil Hanstvedt: K♦J♣
Michal Gavurnik: A♥7♠

Gavurnik improved to two pair on the [invalid notations] board to double his stack instead of hitting the rail.

Kjetil Hanstvedt – 2.2 million
Michal Gavurnik – 2.1 million

Level 27: 50,000/125,000 (125,000)
Entries: 15/1,226

Maik Buss was down to under two big blinds from the small blind when he flicked them in.

“No shame in folded,” Buss told Arnaud Cressent in the big blind.

Cressent felt otherwise and called with his “any two.”

Maik Buss: 9♠8♣
Arnaud Cressent: 7♠5♥

Buss was ahead but hit the rail anyway after Cressent nailed a straight on the 4♥10♥6♣8♠3♦ runout to leave just 15 players remaining.

Arnaud Cressent – 2.2 million
Maik Buss – 0

Level 27: 50,000/125,000 (125,000)
Entries: 16/1,226

Oliver Said jammed his short stack with the K♥3♠4♥ on the board after the flop and was looked up by Maik Buss.

Oliver Said: Q♣J♥
Maik Buss: A♣A♠

The A♥ turn improved Buss to a set but the the 10♦ river sent Said to Broadway for a double up after cracking Buss’ pocket rockets.

Oliver Said – 3.7 million
Maik Buss – 800,000

Level 27: 50,000/125,000 (125,000)
Entries: 16/1,226

Salvatore Retrovato jammed his short stack of under 15 big blinds from late position and was called by Angelo Patane.

Salvatore Retrovato: A♠6♣
Angelo Patane: A♥A♣

The board ran dry for Retrovato and the action was down to two tables of eight players each after he hit the rail. There wasn’t a redraw when the action hit two tables since there was a redraw to start the day with 18 players.

Angelo Patane – 6 million
Salvatore Retrovato – 0

Level 27: 50,000/125,000 (125,000)
Entries: 17/1,226

Chris Da Silva jammed for 1,550,000 from under the gun before Maik Buss came in for a few chips more from the button.

Chris Da Silva: Q♣Q♠
Maik Buss: A♥K♣

Da Silva’s queens won the flip after the 8♣3♥Q♥J♥7♥ ran out on the board and Buss was left with crumbs in his stack.

Chris Da Silva – 3.5 million
Maik Buss – 100,000

Level 27: 50,000/125,000 (125,000)
Entries: 17/1,226

Lasse Jacobsen came in with a short stack to the final day. He jammed for less than 10 big blinds from under the gun and was called by Fabio Aprile.

Lasse Jacobsen: K♦J♥
Fabio Aprile: J♣J♠

“Good game,” Jacobsen told the table after he bricked the 8♣10♥A♠A♣9♣ board.

Fabio Aprile – 5.8 million
Lasse Jacobsen – 0

Level 27: 50,000/125,000 (125,000)
Entries: 18/1,226

Kjetil Hanstvedt min-raised from the cutoff and was called by Angelo Patane from the big blind.

Patane check-raised the J♠4♠7♦ flop from 125,000 to 500,000. Hanstvedt jammed for 1,550,000 and Patane snap-called.

Kjetil Hanstvedt: Q♦J♥
Angelo Patane: J♣8♣

Hanstvedt was in good shape to double with Patane having some kicker issues. The 2♣ turn and K♣ river completed the board for Hanstvedt to double through Patane.

Kjetil Hanstvedt – 4.1 million
Angelo Patane – 3.8 million

Level 27: 50,000/125,000 (125,000)
Entries: 18/1,226

Cards are in the air after some announcements by MPF Founder Ivonne Montealegre and Ludos Academy CEO Danilo de Berardinis.

Best of luck to the final 18 hopefuls!

Welcome to the final day of the 2023 Malta Poker Festival (MPF) Spring Edition €550 Grand Event powered by Unibet DeepStack Open at the luxurious Portomaso Casino.

The event attracted 1,226 entries to generate a whopping €588,480 prize pool to absolutely shatter the €300,000 guaranteed tagged on this event. Yesterday’s penultimate day witnessed 331 hopefuls competing for a chance at MPF glory.

The action went well past the money bubble with the top 151 players guaranteed at least a €1,120 min-cash with just 18 players battling it out today for the title with at least €3,350 locked up. Of course, all the remaining players have their eyes on the €100,600 top prize which will be awarded to the winner also taking home the coveted trophy and championship belt.

Lithuania’s Martynas Brazdzionis (11,695,000) is currently in the driver’s seat to become the second Lithuanian to win the title. He hopes to follow Tomas Sujeta’s footsteps who shipped the 2019 MPF Grand Event for €150,000.

Brazdionis holds more than double the chips of his nearest competitor in Angelo Patane (5,915,000) with Unibet Poker qualifier Jozsef Hegyi (4,655,000), Paolo Aleo (4,125,000), and Raoul Van Wersch (4,035,000) rounding out the top five.

Meanwhile, The Hippodrome Ambassador Chris Da Silva is looking to improve on his third-place finish last year and is in the mix with one of the shorter stacks with 1,100,000. La Sengphet (3,400,000), who traveled to the Malta Poker Festival from Dallas, Texas, and local player Oliver Said (2,800,000) are among the players in the middle of the pack.

Blinds will increase every hour today with the day starting with Level 27 with blinds at 50,000/125,000 along with a 125,000 big blind ante. Our blog for today will begin when cards are in the air shortly after 2 p.m.

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
16-18	€3,350

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

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