€25,750 High Roller
Day 1 Started
2016 PokerStars.com EPT Season 13 Malta
€25,750 High Roller
Day: 1
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Players Info - Day 1
2016 PokerStars.com EPT Season 13 Malta
Buy-in
€25,000
Prize Pool
€1,592,500
Entries
65
Level
22
Blinds
12,000 / 24,000
Ante
4,000
Dietrich Fast Wins the PokerStars EPT Malta €10,300 High Roller (€174,600)
He was chip leader after Day 1, his name was on top of the list after Day 2, he predicted it before the final table began, and last night he lifted the trophy and posed for winner photos. German bracelet winner Dietrich Fast has won the 3-day opening High Roller event in the last ever PokerStars EPT Malta, banking €174,600 and taking home his seventh career trophy.
| Position | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dietrich Fast | Germany | €174,600 |
| 2 | Viacheslav Buldygin | Russia | €126,300 |
| 3 | Dario Sammartino | Italy | €81,480 |
| 4 | Pratyush Buddiga | United States | €61,690 |
| 5 | Ramin Hajiyev | Azerbaijan | €47,720 |
| 6 | Davidi Kitai | Belgium | €37,250 |
| 7 | Vladimir Troyanovskiy | Russia | €29,680 |
| 8 | Orpen Kisacikoglu | Turkey | €23,280 |
The final day of play started with just 6 players remaining from the field of 60 entries, including 12 re-entries. With Orpen Kisacikoglu and Vladimir Troyanovskiy already gone on the penultimate day and probably registered in other tournaments, the remaining 6 players were guaranteed €37,250. All of them, of course, were gunning for that first place prize of €174,600.
Things got off to a good start for Viacheslav Buldygin as he busted Davidi Kitai and Ramin Hajiyev. Kitai ran ace-jack into Buldygin's queens and the Belgian Triple Crown champion made his way to the exit in 6th place (€37,250). Buldygin found queens again and once more a player pushed all-in. This time it was Ramin Hajiyev with ace-queen. Hajiyev did not improve and a 5th-place finish was what he had to settle for (€47,720).
While the two knockouts had propelled Buldygin to the role of big stack, he still had Fast in front of him at this point. That would change soon as the German bracelet winner lost lots of chips to Italian high roller Dario Sammartino.
Pratyush Buddiga was next to go, hitting the rail in 4th place (€61,690). Again it was Buldygin doing the dirty work, eliminating the American high roller with king-queen suited against pocket sevens.
With just 3 players remaining, Fast battled back and now Buldygin was slipping while Dario Sammartino had plenty. The Italian, however, was the next one to go. A set up of kings versus the aces of Fast set Sammartino back tremendously and he departed soon after losing the flip with pocket fours to Fast's ace-seven suited (€81,480).
Fast started with a 7-to-1 chip lead but found a tough opponent in online heads-up specialist Viacheslav Buldygin. The latter doubled to get a shot at the title, but would eventually have to leave the honors to his German opponent. In the last hand, Fast moved in to put Buldygin to the test for his last 12 big blinds. Buldygin had an easy decision with pocket sixes and was well in front against the ace-three suited of Fast. The ace on the flop, however, favored Fast and the tournament ended with a bad beat for Buldygin.
Dietrich Fast didn't go out partying, he had been multi-tabling the High Roller final table with the IPT Main Event, which he eventually busted just before play wrapped up. With now over $2 million in earnings, we imagine the disappointment was soon forgotten. Fast has the option to enter the €25,750 High Roller that kicks off at 12:30pm local time. PokerNews will be on site to cover that event, and all the other big buy-ins from Malta this week.
feels like its a really good day https://t.co/2Hnx5G5NlG
— Dietrich Fast (@2pacnrw16)
High Roller Time in Malta, Cards in the Air at 12:30!
The PokerStars EPT Malta is in full swing, with several events already in the books and multiple trophies already lifted. The biggest one so far, was a cheque worth €174,600, going to Dietrich Fast who won the €10,300 high roller.
Today, the real big action kicks off with the start of the €25,750 High Roller. PokerNews will be on the floor to cover the event, followed by coverage of all the other big events this last ever PokerStars EPT Malta has in store for us. The event starts at 12:30 pm local time (2.5 hours from now), and players will start with 50,000 in chips. The plan is to play 10 levels of 60 minutes each.
PokerStars EPT Malta History
In the year 2015, the European Poker Tour visited the little island of Malta not once but twice. One time as part of the second half of Season 11, once at the start of Season 12. This year, in Season 13, the EPT only visits once. So players better make the best of it, as there will be no second chance. In fact, the European Poker Tour is down to it's next to last event ever, as after the event in Prague the world's biggest poker tour will relinquish its name. Whether a stop on Malta will return as a PokerStars Championship or PokerStars Festival remains to be seen, while it should be noted the latter is the more obvious choice if one were a betting man.
Here are the results for the previous big EPT events at the island of Malta:
| Event | Entries | Winner | Prize in € | Prize in $ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EPT March 2015 | Main Event | 895 | Jean Montury | €687,400 | $743,585 |
| €10k High Roller | 304 | David Peters | €597,000 | $653,552 | |
| €25k High Roller | 88 | Dzmitry Urbanovich | €572,300 | $605,929 | |
| EPT October 2015 | Main Event | 651 | Niall Farrell | €534,330 | $588,592 |
| €10k Single Day High Roller | 134 | Steve O'Dwyer | €327,030 | $360,241 | |
| €10k High Roller | 210 | Byron Kaverman | €430,800 | $475,355 | |
| €25k High Roller | 74 | Mike McDonald | €498,575 | $561,623 |
PokerStars EPT Malta Stats
While there have been just 2 PokerStars EPT festivals on Malta so far, a look at the stats for this event can still be interesting.
There's no doubt who's the most successful player on the island as Dzmitry Urbanovich tops both the list with most cashes (7) and most money won (€745,605). Urbanovich shares the position of the most amount of cashes with 4 other players. His lead in the most money won category is not as big, but still impressive:
| Player | Cashes | Winnings |
|---|---|---|
| Dzmitry Urbanovich | 7 | €745,605 |
| Alessandro Borsa | 7 | €87,820 |
| Remi Wyrzykiewicz | 7 | €84,325 |
| Jose Quintas | 7 | €72,300 |
| [Removed:59] | 7 | €11,425 |
| Daniel Dvoress | 6 | €396,080 |
| Steve O'Dwyer | 6 | €394,095 |
| Georgios Zisimopoulos | 6 | €175,345 |
| Kiryl Radzivonau | 6 | €39,785 |
| 34 players | 5 |
| Player | Cashes | Winnings |
|---|---|---|
| Dzmitry Urbanovich | 7 | €745,605 |
| Jean Montury | 4 | €693,595 |
| David Peters | 2 | €624,090 |
| Valentin Messina | 2 | €617,920 |
| Byron Kaverman | 3 | €604,710 |
| Nick Petrangelo | 4 | €594,895 |
| Mike McDonald | 3 | €568,515 |
| Niall Farrell | 1 | €534,330 |
| Alen Bilic | 2 | €444,820 |
| Connor Drinan | 5 | €438,145 |
Italy, by far, has the most amount of cashes with 406 registered Italians walking to the payout desk in 2015. While the Italians have cashes the most amount of times, it has been players from the United States walking away with the most money from the island.
| Country | Cashes | Winnings |
|---|---|---|
| Italy | 406 | €1,988,945 |
| Germany | 199 | €2,636,422 |
| France | 176 | €2,489,987 |
| United Kingdom | 146 | €1,470,491 |
| Poland | 115 | €2,382,103 |
| United States | 114 | €4,845,631 |
| Russia | 100 | €948,273 |
| Canada | 95 | €2,100,517 |
| Netherlands | 92 | €617,003 |
| Sweden | 90 | €840,002 |
| Country | Cashes | Winnings |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 114 | €4,845,631 |
| Germany | 199 | €2,636,422 |
| France | 176 | €2,489,987 |
| Poland | 115 | €2,382,103 |
| Canada | 95 | €2,100,517 |
| Italy | 406 | €1,988,945 |
| United Kingdom | 146 | €1,470,491 |
| Finland | 67 | €1,274,142 |
| Russia | 100 | €948,273 |
| Sweden | 90 | €840,002 |
Seven Lucky Qualifiers
The €25,000 High Roller is about to start in half an hour and we already know the names of seven of the competitors.
Yesterday, Laszlo Bujtas, Martin Kozlov, Morten Mortensen, Marcin Chmielewski, Jakub Michalak and Oleksii Khoroshenin where the six players who won their seat for this tournament in the €3,200 Single Rebuy Qualifier.
The €2,600 Hyper Turbo Qualifier generated another ticket. Iran's Ali Reza Fatehi was the one who granted himself a seat in today's High Roller.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
50,000 | |
|
50,000 | |
|
50,000 | |
|
50,000 | |
|
50,000 | |
|
50,000 | |
|
50,000 |
Level: 1
Blinds: 100/200
Ante: 25
Who's Already here?
Level 1
: 100/200, 25 ante
The two Satellite winners Martin Kozlov and Ali Reza Fatehi were there right at the start and EPT12 Malta Main Event champion Niall Farrell joked "I feel so responsible to be here on time" before cards even got underway.
So far there are two tables running and the other early entrants include Satish Sanan, Behzad Ahadpour, Stephen Chidwick, Nick Petrangelo, Ben Heath, Charlie Carrel, Mikita Badziakouski, Alexandros Kolonias, Juha Helppi, Orpen Kisacikoglu and Paul Newey.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
50,000 | 50,000 |
|
50,000 | 50,000 |
|
50,000 | 50,000 |
|
50,000 | |
|
50,000 | 50,000 |
|
50,000 | 50,000 |
|
50,000 | 50,000 |
|
50,000 | 50,000 |
|
50,000 | 50,000 |
|
50,000 | 50,000 |
|
50,000 | 50,000 |
|
50,000 | 50,000 |
More Big Names Entering
Level 1
: 100/200, 25 ante
Steve O'Dwyer, Adrian Mateos, and [Removed:17] are the latest entrants in the €25,750 Super High Roller. At the previous EPT Malta, O'Dwyer took down the €10k Single Day High Roller, adding a score €327,030 to his poker resumé.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
50,000 | |
|
50,000 | |
|
50,000 |
Paying Attention
Level 1
: 100/200, 25 ante
Although it's a €25,000 High Roller, not everyone is paying full attention to the table. There's a lot of laughter and table talk early on in this tournament and maybe Nick Petrangelo is not fully awake yet. He just missed a raise by Stephen Chidwick, but it didn't cost him any chips.
Chidwick opened with a raise to 500 from the button and Petrangelo announced a raise. He threw in a 500-chip, but the dealer made him aware of Chidwick's raise. He had to make a minimum 3-bet to 800 and Chidwick called.
After his little mistake Petrangelo slowed down on the following streets. Both checked down 
board. Chidwick showed 
, but was outkicked by Petrangelo's 
.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
52,500 | 2,500 |
|
|
51,800 | 1,800 |
Helppi Takes from Farrell
Level 1
: 100/200, 25 ante
Joining the action on the heads up turn of 
, Juha Helppi checked out of the small blind and then called a bet worth 3,600 by Niall Farrell in the big blind. Helppi checked again the 
on the river and Farrell eventually checked behind. Helppi turned over the 
and that was good enough to win the pot.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
56,000 | 6,000 |
|
|
44,000 | -6,000 |
The Heath Is On Right Away
Level 1
: 100/200, 25 ante
On a flop of 
, Ali Fatehi led out 700 and Satish Sanan called. Ben Heath bumped it to 3,200 in late position, Fatehi called and Ahadpour folded. Fatehi checked the 
on the turn, Heath bet 7,400, and Fatehi called.
The river 
completed a spade flush, prompting Fatehi to lead out 6,500. Heath wasted no time in calling it off. Fatehi sheepishly showed for a pair of eights, Heath tabled 
for a pair of kings to take down the pot. Earlier, Heath took a couple of smaller pots as well and is already up to 85,000 in the early stages.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
85,000 | 35,000 |
|
|
35,000 | -15,000 |