€5,300 Main Event
Day 3 Completed
2015 PokerStars.com EPT Season 12 Malta
€5,300 Main Event
Day: 3
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
Sikora Leads Final 40; McDonald, Jaka & Shorr Still in the Field
Level 19
: 4,000/8,000, 1,000 ante
Day 3 of the European Poker Tour Malta Main Event – a tournament that attracted 651 players and created a prize pool of €3,157,350 – saw 131 hopefuls return to battle for five 90-minute levels. By the end of that time, the money bubble had burst, and just 40 players bagged and tagged chips.
Leading the pack with 1.457 million is Poland's Jaroslaw Sikora, though he faces some stiff competition that includes Alexander Ivarsson (1.306 million), Faraz Jaka (1.2 million), Niall Farrell (1.16 million), and Sam Greenwood (1.16 million), who are the only other players over a million in chips. Also in contention with 689,000 in chips is Mike "Timex" McDonald, who is just days removed from winning the €25K High Roller, is the last remaining EPT champ in the field.
In regards to Sikora, his good run started with a bit of luck. In the first level of the day, Sikora opened for 6,000 and received a call from Charles Chattha on the button. Alfie Adam then three-bet to 21,000 from the big blind, and Sikora pushed back with a four-bet to 47,000. Chattha got out of the way, Adam five-bet shoved for roughly 220,000, and Sikora snap-called.
Sikora: 
Adam: 
It was a cooler for Sikora, but his fortune turned around when the 
flop delivered him a set. The 
turn have Adam some Broadway outs, but he was left wanting as the 
paired the board on the river. With that, Sikora began his ascent of the counts.
The day started out with money on everybody's mind. With 95 players slated to make the money, 36 were destined to leave empty handed. Among those to fall early were Adrian Mateos, Ilan Boujenah, Lauri Varonen, Dylan Linde, Farid Jattin, and 2013 PokerStars UKIPT Marbella Main Event champ Ludovic Geilich, who had his aces cracked to fall in 97th place.
Prior to Geilich's elimination, tournament officials were forced to instituted hand-for-hand play earlier than usual. That's because of a stalling epidemic that unfolded when numerous players were taking extreme amounts of time to act on their hand. One of these players was Christopher Andler, who was hit with a reduced clock for his actions.
Unfortunately for him, his tactics didn't work as he ultimately finished as the bubble boy when he was all in from the big blind for his last 1,500. Giulio Spampinato and Daniel Dvoress created a side pot, and when the dust settled Dvoress was pushed the pot after flopping a pair of aces.
From there the in-the-money finishes came quick. Among those to make their way to the payout desk were Team PokerStars Pro Matthias De Meulder (79th - €9,320), Australia's Jeff Rossiter (75th - €9,320), Team Online's Ike Haxton (67th - €10,580), Christoph "Tight-Man1" Vogelsang (59th - €10,580), Dominik Nitsche (58th - €10,580), and the EPT's all-time money winner Steve O'Dwyer (57th - €10,580), who was just two days removed from winning the €10K High Roller.
While dozens fell, many punched their ticket to Day 4 including Kitty Kuo (574,000), Alen Bilic (745,000), Shannon Shorr (407,000), the last Team PokerStars Pro standing Johnny Lodden (399,000), Ivan Luca (349,000), Natasha Barbour (280,000), and Bryn Kenney (172,000).
Day 4 will kick off at Noon local time on Thursday with the plan to play five more 90-minute levels. In addition, the €10,000 High Roller will kick off at 12:30 p.m. local time. Of course the PokerNews Live Reporting Team will bring you updates from both events. Until then, check out this video where Shorr gives his take on the stalling situation that occurred near the bubble:
Day 4 Seat Draw
Level 19
: 4,000/8,000, 1,000 ante
| Table | Seat | Name | Country | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Ezequiel Kleinman | Argentina | 301,000 |
| 1 | 2 | Johnny Lodden | Norway | 399,000 |
| 1 | 3 | Gianluca Escobar | Italy | 447,000 |
| 1 | 4 | Jaroslaw Sikora | Poland | 1,457,000 |
| 1 | 5 | Kevin Lee Sharp | Canada | 176,000 |
| 1 | 6 | Sam Greenwood | Canada | 1,160,000 |
| 1 | 7 | Faraz Jaka | USA | 1,200,000 |
| 1 | 8 | Mikko Turtiainen | Finland | 282,000 |
| 2 | 1 | Nabil Mohamed Abdien Cardoso | Spain | 285,000 |
| 2 | 2 | Apostolos Bechrakis | Greece | 720,000 |
| 2 | 3 | Antonio Chemi | Italy | 164,000 |
| 2 | 4 | Erik Scheidt | Germany | 283,000 |
| 2 | 5 | Bryn Kenney | USA | 172,000 |
| 2 | 6 | Pierre Chevalier | France | 240,000 |
| 2 | 7 | Paul Berende | Netherlands | 108,000 |
| 2 | 8 | Mike McDonald | Canada | 684,000 |
| 3 | 1 | Natasha Barbour | USA | 28,0000 |
| 3 | 2 | Darrell Goh | Ireland | 633,000 |
| 3 | 3 | Akim Aouine | France | 310,000 |
| 3 | 4 | Ivan Luca | Argentina | 348,000 |
| 3 | 5 | Anton Bertilsson | Sweden | 216,000 |
| 3 | 6 | Alexander Ivarsson | Sweden | 1,306,000 |
| 3 | 7 | Daniel Dvoress | Canada | 278,000 |
| 3 | 8 | Shannon Shorr | USA | 407,000 |
| 4 | 1 | Hani Bahna | Canada | 344,000 |
| 4 | 2 | Alen Bilic | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 745,000 |
| 4 | 3 | Rainer Kempe | Germany | 490,000 |
| 4 | 4 | Thomas Muehloecker | Austria | 135,000 |
| 4 | 5 | Bjorn Geissert | Germany | 526,000 |
| 4 | 6 | Mikael Jean | Lebanon | 598,000 |
| 4 | 7 | Enrico Camosci | Italy | 162,000 |
| 4 | 8 | Giulio Spampinato | Italy | 785,000 |
| 5 | 1 | Kitty Kuo | Taiwan | 514,000 |
| 5 | 2 | Andreas Chalkiadakis | Greece | 482,000 |
| 5 | 3 | Jens Lakemeier | Germany | 336,000 |
| 5 | 4 | Ferdinand Le Pichon | France | 364,000 |
| 5 | 5 | Michael Ho | Canada | 680,000 |
| 5 | 6 | Niall Farrell | UK | 1,160,000 |
| 5 | 7 | Marcin Wydrowski | Poland | 257,000 |
| 5 | 8 | Antonio Mitrotta | Italy | 103,000 |
End of Day Chip Counts (full)
Level 19
: 4,000/8,000, 1,000 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
1,457,000 | |
|
1,306,000 | |
|
1,200,000 | |
|
1,160,000 | |
|
1,160,000 | |
|
785,000 | |
|
745,000 | |
|
720,000 | |
|
689,000 | |
|
680,000 | |
|
633,000 | |
|
598,000 | |
|
574,000 | |
|
526,000 | |
|
490,000 | |
|
482,000 | |
|
447,000 | |
|
407,000 | |
|
399,000 | |
|
364,000 | |
|
349,000 | |
|
344,000 | |
|
336,000 | |
|
308,000 | |
|
301,000 |
"You or Me, I am all in"
Level 19
: 4,000/8,000, 1,000 ante
Rainer Kempe raised to 16,000 and Gianluca Escobar moved all in for 201,000 from two seats over. The action folded around to Antonio Mitrotta in the big blind and he gave it some thought, then said "Ah well, you or me one will go get it. I am all in," and pushed his stack of around 300,000 forward. Kempe folded and it was a classic race:
Escobar: 
Mitrotta: 
The board ran out 
and Escobar won the battle of Italians.
Bahna Triples and Doubles Up
Level 19
: 4,000/8,000, 1,000 ante
Hani Bahna moved all in from the button for 49,000 and Jens Lakemeier as well as Alen Bilic in the blinds called. They checked down the flop 
flop and then Bilic bet the 
turn for 55,000. Lakemeier folded and Bilic turned over 
for top pair. Bahna needed a six or nine to stay in, flipping over the 
. Sure enough the 
river completed the straight for the Canadian and he tripled up.
Shortly after, he got it in again for 154,000 from the cutoff and Jens Lakemeier put him at risk with the . Bahna had the 
and made the nut flush on the board 
.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
300,000 | 215,000 |
Geissert Wins Big Flip
Level 19
: 4,000/8,000, 1,000 ante
Bjorn Geissert and Erik Scheidt previously clashed and the former doubled. Now they got into a raising war again from the cutoff (Geissert) and button (Scheidt) with Geissert at risk for 254,000.
Geissert: 
Scheidt:
The board ran out 
and Geissert doubled up again.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
510,000 | 280,000 |
Last Six Hands
Level 19
: 4,000/8,000, 1,000 ante
The clocks have been stopped and Johnny Lodden has drawn a six, thus six more hands will be played before bagging and tagging.
The Button Clickers are Back
Level 19
: 4,000/8,000, 1,000 ante
Mike McDonald raised to 18,000 from the cutoff and Natasha Barbour called. Niall Farrell in the small blind then fired it up to 70,000 and McDonald clicked it to 155,000. Barbour folded and Farrell shoved to enforce a fold. Upon being asked whether or not he hac a pocket pair, Farrell replied "It was only a pair, a pretty good one. Nines." McDonald laughed and said "I know you are crazy but not that crazy."
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
1,100,000 | -50,000 |
|
|
700,000 | 31,000 |
Baby, Hit Me One More Time
Level 19
: 4,000/8,000, 1,000 ante
Jens Lakemeier was just cut down to size a little, losing a flip for Mikael Jean's last 300,000 and tournament life.
The German held versus Jean's 
all-in preflop and took the lead on the flop, only to see Jean find a set on the turn.
"Yes, baby," shouted Jean as the magical turn card appeared.
The river filled up Jean and he now appears to have a bigger stack than Lakemeier with the end of the day in sight.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
600,000 | 240,000 |
|
|
515,000 | 35,000 |