MPT News

Jansson takes down Event #2

After less than one hour of play, Johan Jansson takes the first place of the second Event of MPT.

Lacey will take to Ireland €20.000 for the second place, while Jansson took €30.000 for a great day of play.

We will be back on Sunday, with a full coverage of the last event of Malta Poker Tour. Stay tuned!

Heads-up!

After 14 hours of play and lots of laughs on the final table, Johan Jansson and Robin Lacey are facing each other.

Both have almost the same amount of chips, something close to 500k chips. The last three bust outs were:

• 3. Jonas Gutteck - €12,500
• 4. Thomas Wolff - €9,500
• 5. Renato Almeida - €7,500

Action Slows Down

With only 5 players left on the field, the pace of the game is really slow. Flops almost never are shown, with blinds being stolen all the time.

The last five bust outs were:

• 6. Martin Klaeser - €6,000
• 7. Manfred Rohrer - €5,000
• 8. Sascha Firth - €4,000
• 9. Alexandre Andermatt - €3,000
• 10. Anders Jorgensen - €2,000

Event #2 - Final Table

We have ten players left for today's event, after 10 hours of play and a lot os stories to tell.

Germans and swedes are the majority and Martin Klaser tops them with one fourth of the chips in play. Right behind, the portuguese Renato Almeida is eager to get points to be in good shape for the race for the bracelet.

Below, the chip counts:

• 1. Martin Klaeser - 254 000
• 2. Johan Janson - 12 000
• 3. Sascha Firth - 86 000
• 4. Jonas Guteck - 112 000
• 5.Thomas Wolff - 48 000
• 6. Anders Jorgensen - 82 000
• 7. Manfred Rohrer - 114 000
• 8. Renato Almeida - 194 000
• 9. Alexandre Andermatt - 48 000
• 10. Robin Lacey - 47 000

Klaeser's Good Run Makes the Bubble Burst

Table 13 just saw an incredible run by Martin Klaeser. After being short stacked and doubling up twice, he managed to bust the bubble guy.

After raising from the cutoff, the big blind, a short stacked Jamie Lennox goes all-in and after some consideration, Klaeser calls.

While Klaeser shows 95 off suited, Lennox tables queens and is ahead. But a flop that brings 956 rainbow ends Lennox dreams to reach the money. The final table is set.

Monster Pot for Portugal

Renato Almeida raises from cutoff to be reraised all-in by Johan Jansson on the button. Small and big blind fold.

Almeida thinks for a while and then makes the call tabling JJ. Jansson needs to improve his pocket threes. The board brings no help and he is left with a short stack.

That hand made Renato the new chip leader of the tournament with one fifth of the chips in play.

Firth eliminates an yesterday's final tablelist

Teemu Lahtinen (on the left receiving the prize) who finished 7th yesterday and took down €5,000 was eliminated by Sascha Firth.

Lahtinen was short stack with 22k when the blinds were 2000/4000 with 400 antes, when he got K7 off suited UTG+1 and decided to make an all-in move. Firth found KJ off suited and thought it was good enough against Teemu.

The flop came an awful 7xx for Firth, and A on the turn did not help either. Sascha was drawing three outer until river came J as Justice.

Aleksey Zlobin Interviewed

This is for the russians that are following with us from the big country.

Our Russian country manager, Nick, just got an interview with the big cash gamer Aleksey Zlobin.

For those that are interested (it is in russian), visit: http://forum.cgm.ru/msg?goto=512123&#msg_512123

Sun and Fun in Malta

Busting out is not that bad here in Malta. Players are finding many ways how to enjoy this great island.

Either getting entertained somewhere in Paceville, an area filled with restaurants, bars and clubs or at the casino's poker room with some friends, players are having a blast here in Malta.

Pictured on the left, the portuguese crew, having a sip of beer once in a while.

New Chip Leader

After two players ahead of him going all-in, Sascha Firth reraises from the small blind to take the big blind out of the play.

Pavlicek, who went all-in from cutoff shows 75 off suited and Aleksey Milyushin that was on the button shows KT off suited. Both are in bad shape against Firth's queens.

None of them improve and both players that cashed yesterday are out and now Firth is the new chip leader of this event.

Back to the Felt

Tournament restarts. As soon as the action begins, one more table breaks and now we have only 40 players left.

Everyone looks more "electric", with the voice of players adding some decibels to casino's poker room.

For player profiles and interviews, visit our blog clicking the blog link on the top menu of this page.

Dinner Break

Players are heading for the one hour and half long dinner break, and just before that we had a change on the leader of the tourney.

Tommy Pavlicek was again dominating today's event with good moves and a good help of luck when needed. He was facing a raise from portuguese Pedro Demeyere and decided to reraise.

Demeyere automaticaly raised all-in and Pavlicek called. Pedro showed queens while Tommy was holding AK suited. The board did not improved the canadian's hand and Demeyere claimed the chip lead.

Lady unLucky

Viktoria Angelova, that had just doubled up twice, made it all-in from late position and was called by Tommy Pavlicek.

Pavlicek tables AT off suited and is drawing to the other three aces when Angelova shows tens.

After not improving on the first four cards, Tommy hits an ace on the river and busts Angelova.

Pace is faster!

With blinds increasing comes the urge to make moves. Players are getting more aggressive and blinds are being stolen more often.

Shouts of "all-in" and "Player out" are becoming more common on Portomaso's poker room.

On the last bust outs, two came from the same hand, in a courtesy of yesterday's eigth place, Philipp Oehmke. He is building up his stack in his way to another final table.

Agressive Girls

There are some flowers making our field more beautiful. Martina Stichter (pictured on the left), Dilbahar Demirbag and Viktoria Angelova played extremely agressive, but cards are not helping the ladies today.

Martina was busted on the first levels, Viktoria is playing on a short stack after having a big bluff called on the river and Dilbahar is still holding herself with a stack near to the starting one.

With Dilbahar still playing, we hope she can get better luck on the next levels and be the first woman to reach the final table of a MPT event.

Early Bust Out

The runner-up from day 1, Jose Quintas, was just busted out of the tournament when his KQ did not improve against his oppenents aces.

He had a promising start doubling up on the beginning of today's event, but ended spewing his chips away, like he said.

Being the current second place on the leaderboard, he still has the chance to grab the golden bracelet placing well on the last event.

Action Restarts

After a small pause for refreshments and relaxing, players are back to the felt.

While some players order a massage to chill out, others are taking sips from energy drinks to help them to wake up.

Players on a Break

The bell rang and now the play is paused for a 15 minutes break.

So far we do not have any outstanding stack and the pace of play has been a lot slower than yesterday.

Four Levels and Only One Table Broke

While we get close to the first break, the first table break of the day just happened. Some interesting redraws came to place.

On table number 1, three of the six portuguese on the field are sitting next to each other, with our yesterday's runner up, Jose Quintas, having the best position on his compatriots.

Players will head for a break after this level.

First Busted Already Got His Watch!

After only 4 minutes of play, Lasse Saari calls a raise from Aaron Schumacher after limping on early position. Flop comes 47K rainbow and Lasse fires out. Schumacher raises and Saari pushes over the top.

Schumacher instacalls and shows the nuts, pocket kings, for Saari's disappointment. Saari tables 44 and is drawing to one card only. He fails to improve and ends winning the NoiQ Poker watch for being the first one to bust out on day 2.

Shuffle up and Deal!

Players got their new seats, with the same 100 players on the field.

After the first day of play, most of the tables have players that already played against each other yesterday. This is expected to make things interesting on the first levels of play.

The tournment director just reminded the participants that the first one to bust out will win a watch from NoiQPoker. Stay tuned!

Day 2 About to Begin

It is a sunny Friday here in St. Julians, the heart of Malta's nightlife. After a night of fun at the restaurants and clubs in the area, players are starting to gather outside the poker room of Portomaso Casino.

The first day of the event was full of joy. Players got to know the casino and after the cards were dealt, they played it fast. Our winner from last day, Tommy Pavlicek, dominated the event after about 4 hours of play. He held the chip lead until the final table, when Alexander Digholm busted Arash Hafezi to burst the bubble.

Eventually, Pavlicek, reclaimed his place and didn't let it go until he took the first prize. Today, the play is set to begin at 14:00 (CET time) with the hope of another day of good poker. Stay with us for more updates.