Live Blog – Final Day

Lewis Coffin Wins 2023 MPF Spring Edition Grand Event (€100,600)

By Jason Glatzer | May 2, 2023 12:06 am

Lewis Coffin Wins 2023 MPF Spring Edition Grand Event

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

PlacePlayerCountryPrize
1Lewis CoffinUnited Kingdom€100,600
2Martynas BrazdzionisLithuania€75,690
3Oliver SaidMalta€55,420
4Angelo PataneItaly€37,400
5Kjetil HanstvedtNorway€20,150
6La SengphetUnited States€14,850
7Tomasz CabaPoland€11,400
8Fabio AprileItaly€9,050
9Joszef HegyiHungary€7,550
2023 MPF Spring Edition Grand Event Final Table

Final Day Action

Martynas Brazdzionis

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.

La Sengphet

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.

Oliver Said wins the third-place 2023 MPF Spring Edition Grand Event trophy

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!


Photos of the Final Three

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 11:17 pm

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


Full 2023 MPF Spring Edition Grand Event Payouts

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 10:38 pm

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

Martynas Brazdzionis Eliminated in 2nd Place (€75,690)

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 10:37 pm

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: J10
Lewis Coffin: K6

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

Coffin was ahead on the 287 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.

Martynas Brazdzionis

Oliver Said Eliminated in 3rd Place (€55,420)

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 10:18 pm

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 2910 flop and Coffin snap-called.

“Aces?” asked Said.

He was close but one pair off.

Oliver Said: KQ
Lewis Coffin: KK

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


Coffin Takes Lead With Better Flush

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 10:06 pm

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 J44 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 A5 for the nut flush. Brazdzionis also had a flush but it wasn’t good enough after showing the 63.

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

Lewis Coffin

Brazdzionis Back in the Lead

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 9:49 pm

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 10K6 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 K4 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


Action Resumes

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 9:42 pm

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.


Updated Chip Counts at Break

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 9:40 pm

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:

SeatPlayerCountryChipsBig Blinds
3Martynas BrazdzionisLithuania19,475,00039
4Oliver SaidMalta22,250,00045
9Lewis CoffinUnited Kingdom19,300,00039

More Final Day Photos

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 9:36 pm


Short Break

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 9:25 pm

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


Ten-Seven Gets There for Said

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 9:02 pm

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: 107
Martynas Brazdzionis: A9

Said connected with a ten on the flop and never looked back to double up with the 510227 rolling onto the board.

Martynas Brazdzionis – 27 million
Oliver Said – 16 million


Coffin Wins Massive Flip Against Said

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 9:00 pm

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: 55
Oliver Said: AJ

There was no nail in the coffin for Coffin as he won the flip in style with a set after the 539J8 ran out on the board.

Lewis Coffin – 18 million
Oliver Said – 8 million


No Deal

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 8:48 pm

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.


Angelo Patane Eliminated in 4th Place (€37,400)

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 8:41 pm

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: Q8
Martynas Brazdzionis: QJ

“Eight!” shouted Patane’s rail.

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

The A10768 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.

Angelo Patane

Kjetil Hanstvedt Eliminated in 5th Place (€20,150)

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 8:31 pm

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 67J flop and Hanstvedt called off for about 4 million in total.

Kjetil Hanstvedt: 99
Oliver Said: 103

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

Kjetil Hanstvedt

Quads Beat Aces Full for Said

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 8:27 pm

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: JJ
Kjetil Hanstvedt: AA

“Jack!” pleaded Said.

The room erupted when not one jack but two jacks came on the 2JJ 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

Oliver Said

Action Slowed

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 8:19 pm

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.


Fours Win a Flip for Hanstvedt

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 7:57 pm

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: 44
Martynas Brazdzionis: AK

Brazdzionis didn’t connect with the 8223Q board and Hanstvedt doubled his stack.

Martynas Brazdzionis – 27 million
Kjetil Hanstvedt – 10 million

Kjetil Hanstvedt

La Sengphet Eliminated in 6th Place (€14,850)

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 7:39 pm

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: 54
Lewis Coffin: Q3

Sengphet’s cards were live but the AJ6Q6 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

La Sengphet

Said Survives; Sengphet Returns

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 7:23 pm

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: A7
Lewis Coffin: A10

Said was behind and it wasn’t looking good on either the JQ6 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


Final Table Resumes

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 7:20 pm

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.


Updated Chip Counts at Break

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 7:11 pm

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:

SeatPlayerCountyChipsBig Blinds
2Kjetil HanstvedtNorway4,675,00016
3Martynas BrazdzionisLithuania32,250,000108
4Oliver SaidMalta4,000,00013
5La SengpheUnited States2,625,0009
7Angelo PataneItaly6,175,00021
9Lewis CoffinUnited Kingdom11,300,00038

Dinner Break

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 6:15 pm

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.


Said Doubles Coffin

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 6:14 pm

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: JJ
Oliver Said: 1010

Coffin’s jacks held to double just before the dinner break with the safe 3K792 running out on the board.

Lewis Coffin – 12 million
Oliver Said – 3 million


Coffin Doubles to Stay Alive

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 5:56 pm

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: Q9
La Sengphet: A5

Coffin took out his phone to film the hand. But it went back into his pocket after his nine connected on the 97K48 board to double his stack.

La Sengphet – 6.3 million
Lewis Coffin – 4.1 million

Lewis Coffin

Tomasz Caba Eliminated in 7th Place (€11,400)

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 5:51 pm

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: A2
Oliver Said: Q10

Caba was ahead on the 8J3 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

Tomasz Caba

Caba Triples Short Stack

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 5:36 pm

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 Q2968 board.

Caba turned over the Q9 for the top two pair and tripled up with Brazdzionis holding 76 and Said showing the J8.

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


Kicker Issues for Coffin

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 5:26 pm

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 JQ74Q board from the small blind. Lewis Coffin raised to 750,000 from the big blind and Patane called.

Coffin turned over the Q6 for trips. Patane also had trips with Q10 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


Final Table Photos

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 5:20 pm

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.


Fabio Aprile Eliminated in 8th Place (€9,050)

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 4:52 pm

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 Q52 flop before jammed the 7 turn for a little less than 4 million. Brazdzionis snap-called and the cards were turned over.

Fabio Aprile: 66
Martynas Brazdzionis: AQ

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

Fabio Aprile

“Maybe Another Flush?”

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 4:46 pm

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: KK
Martynas Brazdzionis: KK

“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


Jozsef Hegyi Eliminated in 9th Place (€7,550)

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 4:36 pm

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 97J flop. Brazdzionis bet 550,000 and Hegyi jammed for nearly 4 million. Brazdzionis snap-called and the cards were turned over.

Jozsef Hegyi: QJ
Martynas Brazdzionis: QJ

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

Jozsef Hegyi

Final Table Begins

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 4:23 pm

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!

2023 MPF Spring Edition Grand Event Final Table

Final Table Seat Draw

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 4:14 pm

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:

SeatPlayerCountryChipsBig Blinds
1Tomasz CabaPoland2,200,00011
2Kjetil HanstvedtNorway3,900,00020
3Martynas BrazdzionisLithuania18,575,00093
4Oliver SaidMalta6,700,00034
5La SengpheUnited States6,925,00035
6Fabio AprileItaly6,825,00034
7Angelo PataneItaly6,250,00031
8Jozsef HegyiHungary4,350,00022
9Lewis CoffinUnited Kingdom5,300,00027

Brazdzionis Felts Ardeleanu

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 3:35 pm

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: KJ
Martynas Brazdzionis: AQ

Ardeleanu was unable to get there on the 72243 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


Brazdzionis Wins Massive Pot With Big Slick to Felt van Wersch

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 3:33 pm

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 4A5 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 AQ was no good against Brazdzionis’ AK.

Martynas Brazdzionis – 15 million
Raoul van Wersch – 0


Chip Counts at Break

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 3:23 pm

PlacePlayerCountryChipsBig Blinds
1Martynas BrazdzionisLithuania8,825,00044
2Fabio AprileItaly7,325,00037
3La SengphetUnited States7,325,00037
4Raoul van WerschNetherlands6,925,00035
5Oliver SaidMalta6,700,00034
6Angelo PataneItaly6,250,00031
7Lewis CoffinUnited Kingdom4,750,00024
8Kjetil HanstvedtNorway4,400,00022
9Jozsef HegyiHungary3,900,00020
10Tomasz CabaPoland2,700,00014
11Vlad ArdeleanuRomania1,925,00010

Final Day Payouts

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 3:18 pm

PlacePlayerPrize
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
12Paolo Aleo€5,050
13Arnaud Cressent€5,050
14Michal Gavurnik€4,150
15Chris Da Silva€4,150
16Maik Buss€3,350
17Salvatore Ritrovato€3,350
18Lasse Jacobsen€3,350

First Break

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 3:06 pm

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.


Caba Felts Aleo

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 3:05 pm

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: 33
Tomasz Caba: AQ

Caba improved to trips on the AA9 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


Caba Doubles Short Stack

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 2:53 pm

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: Q6
Martynas Brazdzionis: KQ

Caba stood up and looked ready to go after the 1034 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


Sengphet Off to a Hot Start

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 2:44 pm

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 24QK3 on the board. Sengphet tanked for a few minutes before she called.

Caba turned over 108 for a bricked flush draw and was picked off by Sengphet after she turned over the 1010

La Sengphet – 7.8 million
Tomasz Caba – 1.2 million

La Sengphet

Cressent Loses Flip to Coffin

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 2:32 pm

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: AK
Lewis Coffin: 88

The 8610104 board improved Coffin to a full house to win the flip and oust Cressent.

Lewis Coffin – 3 million
Arnaud Cressent – 0


Said Felts Da Silva and Gavurnik with Queens

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 2:24 pm

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: A9
Michal Gavurnik: A10
Oliver Said: QQ

“Yes,” Said quietly said after he improved to a set on the 8QK 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

Chris Da Silva

Da Silva Doubles Hanstvedt

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 2:15 pm

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: AK
Chris Da Silva: A4

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

No four came on the 7AQ98 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


Gavurnik Doubles Through Hanstvedt

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 2:07 pm

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: KJ
Michal Gavurnik: A7

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


“No Shame in Folding”

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 2:01 pm

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: 98
Arnaud Cressent: 75

Buss was ahead but hit the rail anyway after Cressent nailed a straight on the 410683 runout to leave just 15 players remaining.

Arnaud Cressent – 2.2 million
Maik Buss – 0

Maik Buss
Maik Buss

Said Cracks Aces

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 1:48 pm

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

Oliver Said jammed his short stack with the K34 on the board after the flop and was looked up by Maik Buss.

Oliver Said: QJ
Maik Buss: AA

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


Retrovato Runs Into Patane’s Rockets

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 1:43 pm

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: A6
Angelo Patane: AA

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


Da Silva Leaves Buss on Crumbs

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 1:41 pm

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: QQ
Maik Buss: AK

Da Silva’s queens won the flip after the 83QJ7 ran out on the board and Buss was left with crumbs in his stack.

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

Chris Da Silva

Jacobsen First Out on Day 3

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 1:24 pm

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: KJ
Fabio Aprile: JJ

“Good game,” Jacobsen told the table after he bricked the 810AA9 board.

Fabio Aprile – 5.8 million
Lasse Jacobsen – 0


Hanstvedt Doubles Through Patane

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 1:19 pm

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 J47 flop from 125,000 to 500,000. Hanstvedt jammed for 1,550,000 and Patane snap-called.

Kjetil Hanstvedt: QJ
Angelo Patane: J8

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


Shuffle Up and Deal

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 1:09 pm

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!


Who Will Win the MPF Grand Event Today?

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 11:34 am

Martynas Brazdzionis

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.

La Sengphet

Final Day Payouts

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

Final Day Seat Draw

TableSeatPlayerChipsBig Blinds
11Fabio Aprile3,700,00031
12Lasse Jacobsen1,060,0009
13La Sengphet3,400,00028
14Martynas Brazdzionis11,695,00097
16Raoul Van Wersch4,035,00034
17Vlad Ardeleanu3,785,00032
21Arnaud Cressent2,510,00021
22Jozsef Hegyi4,655,00039
24Chris Da Silva1,100,0009
26Lewis Coffin2,485,00021
27Oliver Said2,800,00023
28Maik Buss1,960,00016
31Tomasz Caba2,500,00021
33Michal Gavurnik1,080,0009
35Kjetil Hanstvedt1,850,00015
36Paolo Aleo4,125,00034
37Salvtore Ritrovato2,765,00023
38Angelo Patane5,915,00049


Final Day Seat Draw

By Jason Glatzer | May 1, 2023 1:57 am

TableSeatPlayerChipsBig Blinds
31Fabio Aprile3,700,00031
32Lasse Jacobsen1,060,0009
33La Sengphet3,400,00028
34Martynas Brazdzionis11,695,00097
36Raoul Van Wersch4,035,00034
37Vlad Ardeleanu3,785,00032
41Arnaud Cressent2,510,00021
42Jozsef Hegyi4,655,00039
44Chris Da Silva1,100,0009
46Lewis Coffin2,485,00021
47Oliver Said2,800,00023
48Maik Buss1,960,00016
81Tomasz Caba2,500,00021
83Michal Gavurnik1,080,0009
85Kjetil Hanstvedt1,850,00015
86Paolo Aleo4,125,00034
87Salvtore Ritrovato2,765,00023
88Angelo Patane5,915,00049

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