€5,300 Main Event
Day 6 Started
2015 PokerStars.com EPT Season 12 Malta
€5,300 Main Event
Day: 6
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2015 PokerStars.com EPT Season 12 Malta
Buy-in
€5,000
Prize Pool
€3,157,350
Entries
651
Level
30
Blinds
50,000 / 100,000
Ante
10,000
Seat 6: Jaroslaw "husajn54" Sikora, 27, Krakow, Poland
It’s been another memorable trip to Malta for Jaroslaw Sikora. His first EPT Malta last March wasn’t planned at all as he was supposed to be on holiday in Thailand. However, unable to get a visa in time, he decided to check out the debut EPT Malta stop instead. Good decision! He came second in the IPT Main Event for €97,975 - just a day after celebrating his 27th birthday.
Since his return here for the EPT12 festival, Sikora has had some big online scores as well. Playing as "husajn54" on PokerStars, he notched up another second place finish, this time in the SCOOP €2k NLH event for $256k. His first EPT Main Event cash came in Barcelona and now he's now reached the final six with 2,455,000 in chips.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
2,455,000 |
Seat 5: Alen Bilic, 26, Mostar, Bosnia & Herzegovina
Bilic has reached the the final table of the EPT Malta Main Event as the chip leader. With $91,704 in total live tournament winnings, the 26-year-old is already ranked #4 in the Bosnia & Herzegovina all time money list but his live achievements pale in comparison to his online results. PocketFives has Bilic ranked as his country’s #1 online tournament player with a string of amazing results on PokerStars and more than $2 million in lifetime cashes. His results include winning the Sunday 500 last year for nearly $80k, back-to-back wins in the Big $162, and winning the PokerStars Sunday 500 for $71,000 in March last year.
Now guaranteed at least €125,660 for making the final six, Alen Bilic has already exceeded his previous best live cash of €18,320 when he finished 69th at EPT Barcelona in August. Bilic’s other big live cashes have all come during World Series of Poker events including a deep run in the 2014 $3k NL event, finishing 15th for $19,547.
Bilic has been a poker pro since graduating in Business Management and Economics in 2010. He first start playing in online free-rolls but, after defeating a 7,000-strong field, started playing for real money (mainly heads-up Sit & Goes) while honing his knowledge via poker training sites and forums. He switched to MTTs in 2012.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
7,635,000 |
Seat 4: Giulio Spampinato, 34, Catania, Italy – live satellite winner
Spampinato hails from Italy but now lives with his wife Daniela in Malta. He works full-time as a sports trader plays poker for fun; he won his seat for the Main Event in a €500 live satellite at Portomaso Casino.
Online, he plays MTT and has had some good results, including winnng the Big $55 two years ago for $17k. The €125,660 he’s now guaranteed for making the final 6 table is ten times his total live tournament winnings to date. Because of his work, he can't make many poker plans so thinks it’s unlikely he’ll be able to go to EPT Prague. However if he wins, he says he and Daniela will use the money to buy a home and start planning a family.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
1,180,000 |
Seat 3: Sam "Str8$$$Homey" Greenwood, 27, Toronto, Canada
Greenwood, who turned 27 three weeks ago, is one of Canada’s best-known live players and – along with brother Max – a regular competitor on the European Poker Tour. Greenwood has well over $1.7m in live tournament winnings, $1.25m of that gained this year alone - and €110,590 in the last week after he finished sixth in the €25k High Roller.
His year began in style when he was sixth in the PCA $100k SHR for nearly $400,000, and enjoyed a spectacular visit to Vegas for the World Series, gaining his first bracelet in the $1k NL event for $318,977 and fifth in the $10k NL Six-Handed Championship for a further $126,745.
Greenwood also has stunning online credentials; with five €100k+ career cashes, all during 2015, he is over $1M in profit on PokerStars. Other accolades include winning the SCOOP $2k NL-H for $377,280 two years ago, runner-up in the WCOOP Super Tuesday for $221,760 last year and taking down the SCOOP $2k PLO 6-max Turbo Zoom for $141,960 this year. He came in to Day 5 as one of the shorter stacks but has made the final nine partly thanks to winning a 805,000 pot when he shoved on a four-betting Alexander Ivarsson forcing him to fold.
You can follow Greenwood via twitter - @samgreenwood14
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
1,605,000 |
Seat 2: Rainer Kempe, 26, Berlin, Germany, now UK – PokerStars qualifier
Rainer Kempe must be getting pretty used to the limelight at EPTs. He’s now made back-to-back Main Event finals, after finishing fifth in Barcelona for €320,400. He’s been thriving ever since the Season 12 debut event; not only did he qualify online for Malta (again in a €320 Deep Hyper-Turbo), he has also had time to nip up to Nottingham where he had a small cash in a £300 NL Deepstack.
His most recent cash came only a few days ago though when he finished 16th in the one-day EPT Malta €10k High Roller for €20.405. Kempe is one of numerous German players who have moved to the UK to play online. Most settle in London but Kempe has relocated to the seaside resort of Brighton on the South Coast, a city which is also home to EPT Berlin champion Robert Haigh and British pro James Dempsey. Kempe, who hails from Berlin but studied at the University of Potsdam, has live tournament winnings of $636,731, which include his seventh place finish in the $1,111 Little One for One Drop in Vegas for $90,189.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
1,515,000 |
Seat 1: Niall "firaldo87" Farrell, 28, Glasgow, UK
Affable Scotsman Niall Farrell has reached the official final table at EPT Malta second in chips. Farrell already has more than $1.3M in live tournament winnings, with his biggest result being runner-up in the 2013 WSOP $3k NLH event for $366,815.
He has twice fallen shy of EPT Main Event finals however – he was tenth at EPT9 London and 15th at EPT Barcelona in Season 10.
He’s no slouch online either; PocketFives report he has more than $2.4 million in cashes, results that include becoming the FTOPS Main Event champion in 2014 for $266,232. He’s been an online pro since graduating in law from Dumfries University.
You can follow Farrell on twitter - @Firaldo87poker
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
5,115,000 |
The Final Six Battle It Out at 2 p.m.
Day 5 of the 2015 PokerStars.com EPT Season 12 Malta Main Event saw the field of 16 get decimated to just 6. Those six players return at 1 pm this afternoon to battle it out for the €602,400 first place prize. Live coverage starts on an hour delay (2 pm) with hole cards up.
Alexander Ivarsson, the aggressive Swede who had been chip leader for quite some time, busted out in a set up of a spot with queens to Alen Bilic's ace king to go home in ninth place. With the official final table of 8 then reached, play continued till two more players busted out.
Two of the shorties busted out. Nabil Cardoso was first to go when he made his move holding queen-four in a blind battle. He walked into the king-ten of Jaroslaw Sikora in a blind battle and neither player improved. Daniel Dvoress exited in 7th place when he found himself short stacked and in the possession of ace-jack. Unfortunately for the Canadian high roller his neighbor Niall Farrell had ace-king and by the time the turn was out, Dvoress was already drawing dead.
Starting out as the massive chip leader is Alen Bilic, he brings 127 big blinds to the table this afternoon. Niall Farrell starts out in second place with 85 big blinds, Giulio Spampinato is the short stack going in with 19 big blinds. Rainer Kempe, who now has made back to back final tables at the EPT, needs to finish 2nd or 1st to best his EPT Barcelona cash (5th for €320,400). Here's how the final 6 stand:
| Seat | Player | Country | Count | BBs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Niall Farrell | United Kingdom | 5,115,000 | 85 |
| 2 | Rainer Kempe | Germany | 1,515,000 | 25 |
| 3 | Sam Greenwood | Canada | 1,605,000 | 26 |
| 4 | Giulio Spampinato | Italy | 1,180,000 | 19 |
| 5 | Alen Bilic | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 7,635,000 | 127 |
| 6 | Jaroslaw Sikora | Poland | 2,455,000 | 40 |
| Position | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | €602,400 | ||
| 2 | €371,930 | ||
| 3 | €265,840 | ||
| 4 | €203,640 | ||
| 5 | €161,340 | ||
| 6 | €125,660 | ||
| 7 | Daniel Dvoress | Canada | €91,550 |
| 8 | Nabil Cardoso | Spain | €62,570 |
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
7,635,000 | |
|
|
5,115,000 | |
|
|
2,455,000 | |
|
|
1,605,000 | |
|
|
1,515,000 | |
|
|
1,180,000 |
Level: 28
Blinds: 30,000/60,000
Ante: 10,000
Hands #1-5: Spampinato Fails to Get Action with Pocket Kings
Level 28
: 30,000/60,000, 10,000 ante
Hand #1: Niall Farrell raised to 130,000 from the button with the 
and took down the blinds and antes.
Hand #2: Farrell raised to 130,000 from the cutoff and once again took down the blinds and antes.
Hand #3: Farrell once again raised to 130,000 but this time Rainer Kempe three-bet. Farrell folded.
Hand #4: Alen Bilic looked down at the 
and raised to 130,000 from the small blind, which one the pot.
Hand #5: Giulio Spampinato picked up the 
in the cutoff and raised to 125,000. Unfortunately for him, he didn't get any action.