Alberto Arbiol moved all in from under the gun for 22,900 and the action folded around to Dominik Nitsche, who announced the call. Arbiol had a flip with the and one player at the table said he folded a deuce. Nitsche's found an ace on the flop but that also provided the case deuce for Arbiol as well. The rest of the board ran out with the turn and the river to give Arbiol a double up. The player in seat seven smiled over and said "you deserved that one."
In a battle of the blinds, Mamouni Smain moved all in for 35,100 from the small blind and Christoph Vogelsang called from one seat over. Smain only held the but got there against the of his opponent thanks to a board of .
Antonio Mitrotta opened for 6,500 from the hijack and was soon met by an all-in three-bet to 45,700 from the small blind. The player in the big folded, and Mitrotta asked for a count before making the call.
Mitrotta:
Kempe:
It was a race, but not after the flop came down to pair Kempe. Neither the turn nor river helped Mitrotta, and he sent a large portion of his chips over to Kempe.
Darie Vlad has yet to turn up to claim his 208,000-chip stack.
This might be optimal strategy considering Team PokerStars Pro Ike Haxton and the EPT's all time money leader Steve O'Dwyer are on his direct left.
All joking aside, the situation prompted Haxton to recall the time when Stratosphere owner Bob Stupak failed to turn up deep in the 2008 WPT Bellagio Cup. Stupak had lukemia, and a had been taken to hospital overnight with the worse expected.
Haxton described the scene as a bit eerie with Stupak's stack still in the tournament after the news of his health had broken. In the end, Stupak blinded out on the stone bubble. He died a little over a year later during the 2009 WPT Festa al Lago.
In addition to being a casino owner, Stupack was an accomplished poker player with a World Series of Poker bracelet and almost $900,000 in career tournament earnings. He will always be remembered as a great friend and student of the game.
Vlad, a young Romanian coming off a six-figure score in an EPT Barcelona prelim, may now be remembered for the time he looked at his table draw and thought the best way to play against the lineup on his left is simply not to.
Chris Hunichen opened to 7,000 and Giulio Spampinato three-bet to 15,000 before Daniel Dvoress in the big blind four-bet to 45,000. Only Spamginato called and they saw the heads-up flop of . Dvoress continued for 50,000 and Spamginato min-clicked to enforce a fold.
We saw 90,000 in front of Matthias De Meulder and asked the Belgian Team Pro what had happened. He told us about his double up through Jeff Rossiter.
Rossiter opened to 6,500 under the gun. Narutoshi Otsuka in the cutoff announced raise, but hadn't seen Rossiter's open. He was forced to make it the minimum and action was on De Meulder on the button. He looked down on and shoved for 38,000. Both blinds folded and Rossiter shoved. Otsuka folded. De Meulder was up against with his jacks, and doubled up after the board came .
Up at the feature table, Italy's Antonio Scalzi shoved his last 26,300 from early position and cleared the field all the way to Dan Smith, who woke up with a big hand in the big blind.
Smith:
Scalzi:
The flop provided little hope for Scalzi, but the turn made things interesting by delivering him an open-ended straight draw to go along with his ace. Unfortunately for him, the river was a blank and he was sent to the rail.
On the three-way flop of , Kevin Lee Sharp and Mihails Morozovs checked and then called a bet worth 12,000 by Niall Farrell. Sharp and Morozovs also checked the turn and Farrell fired a bet of 35,000, which just Morozovs called. The fell on the river and Morozovs checked to face the all in of the Scotsman.
After quite some consideration, Morozovs folded and the pot was shipped to Farrell.
Jaroslaw 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. A disappointed Adam shook hands with a couple of players and then took his leave from the EPT12 Malta Main Event.
"Oh man so close, just 30 off the money." Ilan Boujenah said outside of the tournament area. According to him, Patrick Jann had raised to 6,000 and Boujenah three-bet to 14,000 from the button to receive a call. On the flop with two hearts, Yann bet 16,000 and Boujenah raised to 35,000 to get a call. Jann also bet the turn for 50,000 and Boujenah had little more than that remaining to shove with .
Jann made the call with and a river gave him the straight to score the knockout.