2015 PokerStars.com EPT Season 11 Malta

€5,300 Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info

2015 PokerStars.com EPT Season 11 Malta

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
a10
Prize
€687,400
Event Info
Buy-in
€5,000
Prize Pool
€4,340,750
Entries
895
Level Info
Level
38
Blinds
300,000 / 600,000
Ante
100,000

€5,300 Main Event

Day 1a Completed

Greece's Evangelos Tsairis Bags Up the Chip Lead on Day 1a; Liviu & Torelli Not Far Behind

Level 8 : 300/600, 75 ante
Evangelos Tsairis
Evangelos Tsairis

While the final day of the inaugural Global Poker Masters was playing out at Portomaso Casino at the Hilton Hotel, the first-ever European Poker Tour stop in Malta was kicking off their €5,300 buy-in Main Event. Day 1a of the EPT Malta attracted 260 players, and after eight 75-minute levels of play only 142 would remain in contention.

Leading the pack with 180,300 is Greece's Evangelos Tsairis, who finished 18th in the EPT Deauville Main Event back in January for €22,160. Nipping at his heels are some accomplished players including online star Ignat "0Human0" Liviu (161,900), high-stakes pro Alec Torelli (133,100), and EPT10 Barcelona High Roller champ Thomas Muehloecker (121,200).

Day 1a got off to a fast start with former EPT champ Michael Tureniec bowing out in Level 1, making him the first elimination of the tournament. From there, the eliminations came at a steady pace and included EPT Vienna champ Oleksii Khoroshenin; last year's EPT Grand Final winner Antonio Buonanno; World Poker Tour champ Paul Klann; high rollers Stephen Chidwick, Paul Newey and Jeff Rossiter; Team PokerStars' Fatima Moreira De Melo and Liv Boeree; and Miss Finland, Sara Chafak.

Chafak actually fell in the last level of the night after she got her stack all in on a board reading {k-}{6-Hearts}{5-Hearts}{8-Hearts} holding the {q-Hearts}{10-Hearts}. Unfortunately for her, Thomas Berends held the {a-Hearts}{k-Hearts} for a better flush. Just like that Chafak was out while Berends went on to bag.

Others who survived Day 1a were John O'Shea (114,200), Simon Higgins (96,700), Fedor Holz (87,100), Jack Salter (73,600), Sam Chartier (67,000), Simon Ravnsbaek (47,000), Dimitar Danchev (40,600), and Ole Schemion (36,200), who jumped into the mix after Team Germany was eliminated from the Global Poker Masters. Likewise, Team PokerStars Pros Jan Heitmann (75,600), Marcin Horecki (66,400), and Theo Jorgensen (52,900), as well as PokerStars Sponsored Player Dominik Panka (66,700).

Day 1b will get underway at Noon local time on Monday. The plan is the same in that the field will play eight levels. Of course the PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be there every step of the way, so be sure to check back then. In the meantime, check out this video of Team Italy's victory in the Global Poker Masters:

Tags: Evangelos Tsairis

Official End-of-Day 1a Chip Counts (full)

Level 8 : 300/600, 75 ante
Player Chips Progress
Evangelos Tsairis gr
Evangelos Tsairis
180,300 80,300
Liviu Ignat ro
Liviu Ignat
161,900 -3,100
Thomas Berends nl
Thomas Berends
144,200 24,200
Alexander Ivarsson se
Alexander Ivarsson
138,300 -16,700
Alec Torelli us
Alec Torelli
133,100 25
Thomas Muehloecker at
Thomas Muehloecker
121,200 105,200
Ilkin Amirov az
Ilkin Amirov
116,000 79,800
John O'Shea ie
John O'Shea
114,200 6,200
Francois Billard ca
Francois Billard
110,000 20,000
Ryan Yu ca
Ryan Yu
106,900 8,900
Raphael Blouet fr
Raphael Blouet
106,000 -14,000
Antoine Vranken nl
Antoine Vranken
105,600 -34,400
Anton Astapau by
Anton Astapau
104,400 -8,600
Javier Rodriguez us
Javier Rodriguez
98,600 8,600
Andrei Nikonov ru
Andrei Nikonov
96,800 96,800
Simon Higgins gb
Simon Higgins
96,700 26,700
[Removed:40] it
[Removed:40]
89,300 89,300
Dennis Kaj Smit nl
Dennis Kaj Smit
88,500 88,500
Allan Udeajah de
Allan Udeajah
87,400 87,400
Fedor Holz de
Fedor Holz
87,100 22,100
Stefan Grunewald de
Stefan Grunewald
86,600 1,600
Atanas Malinov bg
Atanas Malinov
86,200 86,200
Dmitry Kataev ru
Dmitry Kataev
86,200 86,200
Gyorgy Moger hu
Gyorgy Moger
86,100 86,100
Bjorn Geissert de
Bjorn Geissert
84,400 84,400

Read full

Miss Finland Falls at End of Day 1a

Level 8 : 300/600, 75 ante
Sara Chafak
Sara Chafak

Just prior to players bagging for the night, Miss Finland, Sara Chafak, was eliminated from the EPT Malta Main Event.

Her elimination escaped us, but Alex Torelli was kind enough to fill us in on a few details. Thomas Berends had opened and received three callers to see a flop of {k-}{6-Hearts}{5-Hearts}, and after some bets and calls, three of them made it to the {8-Hearts} turn. Two checks saw Chafak shove her short stack in, and initial raiser Berends looked her up.

Chafak tabled the {q-Hearts}{10-Hearts} for a flush, but it was no good as the Dutchman held the {a-Hearts}{k-Hearts} for a better flush.

Player Chips Progress
Thomas Berends nl
Thomas Berends
120,000 10,000
Sara Chafak fi
Sara Chafak
Busted

Tags: Sara Chafak

Last Five Hands of the Night

Level 8 : 300/600, 75 ante

The tournament staff just announced that the remaining players will play five more hands before bagging and tagging for the night.

We're headed out to grab some notable chip counts. Stay tuned for those as well as a full recap of the Day 1a action.

Miss Finland Takes a Late Hit

Level 8 : 300/600, 75 ante

With 4,275 in the pot and a board reading {10-Diamonds}{3-Spades}{7-Clubs}{9-Hearts}, Simon Ravnsbaek bet 1,625 from the big blind only to have Miss Finland, Sara Chafak, raised to 3,300 from the under-the-gun position. Not to be outdone, Ravnsbaek three-bet to 7,250, Chafak called, and it was off to the {8-Diamonds} river.

Ravnsbaek was first to act and bet 8,175, which prompted Chafak to quickly fold her hand.

Player Chips Progress
Simon Ravnsbaek dk
Simon Ravnsbaek
50,000 25,000
Sara Chafak fi
Sara Chafak
19,100 -14,900

Tags: Simon RavnsbaekSara Chafak

No Day 2 for Nastasi

Level 8 : 300/600, 75 ante

Eros Nastasi moved all in for 7,500 chips from late position and Joao Ribeiro asked for a count out of the big blind. Once that was confirmed he pushed the stack forward and flipped over {4-Diamonds} {4-Hearts}. Nastasi had two over cards with {Q-Diamonds} {J-Hearts} but was drawing dead after the turn of a {8-Hearts} {3-Hearts} {4-Clubs} {5-Spades} {K-Diamonds} board.

Player Chips Progress
Joao Ribeiro pt
Joao Ribeiro
32,000 -22,000
Eros Nastasi it
Eros Nastasi
Busted

Tags: Joao RibeiroEros Nastasi