2016 PokerStars.com EPT Season 13 Malta

€5,300 Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info

2016 PokerStars.com EPT Season 13 Malta

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
aj
Prize
€355,700
Event Info
Buy-in
€5,000
Prize Pool
€2,269,800
Entries
468
Level Info
Level
28
Blinds
40,000 / 80,000
Ante
10,000

Boika's Two Pair Are Good

Level 6 : 250/500, 75 ante

On the three-way flop of {K-Spades}{10-Diamonds}{7-Clubs}, Aliaksei Boika checked in the small blind and Yigit Aktulga in the big blind checked. Ghassan Bitar bet 3,800 on the button and just Boika called. After the {A-Clubs} turn both players checked and the {3-Spades} fell on the river.

Boika bet 4,000 and Bitar called after brief consideration, then mucked when Boika flashed the {K-Hearts}{10-Hearts} for two pair.

Player Chips Progress
Aliaksei Boika by
Aliaksei Boika
73,000
73,000
73,000
EPT Main Event Champion
EPT 1X Winner

Tags: Aliaksei BoikaGhassan Bitar

Pagano Busts to Khoroshenin

Level 6 : 250/500, 75 ante
Luca Pagano
Luca Pagano

Luca Pagano was spotted leaving the tournament area and a quick glance at the previous table revealed a big stack for Oleksii Khoroshenin. It was indeed the Ukrainian that had knocked out Pagano, and Khoroshenin explained what happened.

After an under-the-gun raise, Pagano three-bet to 2,500 and Khoroshenin called from one seat over on the button, the initial raiser also called. On the {Q-Spades}{9-Spades}{3-Clubs} flop, Pagano bet 4,500 and Khoroshenin moved all in, the third player in the hand folded. Pagano called with the {A-}{Q-} for top pair and Khoroshenin had a huge draw with {K-Spades}{10-Spades}. It was no spade but a king on the river that sent Pagano out.

Player Chips Progress
Oleksii Khoroshenin ua
Oleksii Khoroshenin
58,000
23,000
23,000
EPT 1X Winner
Luca Pagano it
Luca Pagano
Busted

Tags: Luca PaganoOleksii Khoroshenin

Petrangelo Flops Well; Busts

Level 6 : 250/500, 75 ante

According to Dan Shak, Roman Ermakov had accidently posted the big blind while being under the gun and Nick Petrangelo was in the big blind. Petrangelo checked, Ermakov raised and Petrangelo called to see the flop come {5-Spades}{4-Spades}{3-Spades}. Petrangelo shoved for his last 5,750 with the {4-Hearts}{3-Hearts} and Ermakov called with {K-Diamonds}{K-Hearts}.

The {A-Spades} turn gave some chops odds, but the {K-Clubs} on the river improved Ermakov and sent Petrangelo out of the tournament.

Player Chips Progress
Roman Ermakov ru
Roman Ermakov
45,000
Nick Petrangelo us
Nick Petrangelo
Busted

Tags: Dan ShakNick PetrangeloRoman Ermakov

Larquemin Crippled; then Doubles and Triples

Level 6 : 250/500, 75 ante

First, Christophe Larquemin doubled up Ben Heath. The Brit was all in for 11,900 and the board ran out {10-Hearts}{3-Hearts}{9-Diamonds}{A-Clubs}{8-Spades}. Heath tabled {10-Diamonds}{8-Diamonds} for two pair. Larquemin had {8-}{J-} and was left with only 2,500 chips.

Two hands later, he moved all in from the button for 2,100. From the big blind Karzan Hamarash made the call and Larquemin was in big trouble.

His {10-Diamonds}{9-Hearts} was way behind the {10-Spades}{10-Clubs} of his opponent. The {9-Spades}{5-Hearts}{Q-Spades} at least gave him some outs. The {3-Clubs} turn wasn't the help he wanted but the {9-Diamonds} fell on the river and gave him the lucky double up.

A couple of hands later, Ben Heath raised to 1,300 and Larquemin maid the call with 3,600 behind. Hamarash called as did Thomas Mjeldheim and Pratyush Buddiga.

All checked the {3-Diamonds}{8-Hearts}{K-Clubs} flop. The turn was the {6-Hearts} and Heath slid out a bet of 850. Larquemin moved all in and Hamarash called. Mjeldheim and Buddiga folded but Heath made the call as well.

The two active players checked the {K-Diamonds} that fell on the river. Larquemin stood up and had his cigarettes in his hand but had to sit down after he tabled his {A-Hearts}{8-Spades}.

To his own surprise, he won the hand against Heath's {7-Clubs}{7-Hearts} and Hamarash's {5-Diamonds}{4-Spades}.

Player Chips Progress
Ben Heath gb
Ben Heath
24,000
-32,000
-32,000
Christophe Larquemin fr
Christophe Larquemin
16,000
2,500
2,500

Tags: Ben HeathChristophe LarqueminPratyush Buddiga

Sormunen is Leading

Level 6 : 250/500, 75 ante

Another round in the tournament area revealed an even bigger stack for Pasi Sormunen. When asked, the Finn smiled and said "I just lost a pot, I am tilting." A look at his chips shows a stack of almost four times the current average, more than enough for a comfortable lead.

Player Chips Progress
Pasi Sormunen fi
Pasi Sormunen
158,000
24,000
24,000

Tags: Pasi Sormunen

Big Setback for Marsh as Shak Doubles

Level 6 : 250/500, 75 ante
Dan Shak
Dan Shak

Dan Shak opened quite big to 2,000 from the button and Luke Marsh three-bet to 4,800 out of the big blind. On the flop {7-Hearts}{3-Diamonds}{2-Hearts}, Marsh bet 3,600 and Shak raised to 15,000 only for Marsh to quickly move all in. Shak called to put his last 41,900 in total on the line and the cards were tabled.

Shak: {J-Hearts}{10-Hearts}
Marsh: {A-Clubs}{Q-Hearts}

The {9-Clubs} was a blank, but gave Shak an additional gutshot on top. It was then the {J-Diamonds} on the river that improved him and Marsh lost two third of his stack.

Player Chips Progress
Dan Shak us
Dan Shak
94,000
56,000
56,000
Luke Marsh gb
Luke Marsh
22,000
-36,000
-36,000

Tags: Dan ShakLuke Marsh

Nanos is Done for the Day

Level 6 : 250/500, 75 ante

Konstantinos Nanos started very well and quickly drove his stack all the way up to 65,000, but since then a lot has changed and he was on less than starting stack. Nanos got involved into a raising war with table neighbor James Akenhead and faced a three-bet to 3,700. Nanos four-bet to 7,650 and Akenhead shoved, Nanos called all in for 18,650.

Nanos: {9-Hearts}{9-Spades}
Akenhead: {K-Clubs}{K-Spades}

The board ran out {J-Hearts}{8-Hearts}{8-Spades}{7-Clubs}{A-Clubs} and that was it for Nanos, while Akenhead recovered from previous losses.

Player Chips Progress
James Akenhead gb
James Akenhead
43,000
23,000
23,000
Konstantinos Nanos gr
Konstantinos Nanos
Busted

Tags: James AkenheadKonstantinos Nanos

Chip Counts

Level 6 : 250/500, 75 ante
Player Chips Progress
Pasi Sormunen fi
Pasi Sormunen
174,000
16,000
16,000
Sergey Sergeev ru
Sergey Sergeev
130,000
25,000
25,000
Graydon Kowal ca
Graydon Kowal
102,000
27,000
27,000
Dan Shak us
Dan Shak
95,000
1,000
1,000
Paul McCartney gb
Paul McCartney
85,000
85,000
85,000
Thomas Mjeldheim no
Thomas Mjeldheim
78,000
78,000
78,000
Ole Schemion de
Ole Schemion
49,000
-15,000
-15,000
Adrian Mateos es
Adrian Mateos
45,000
26,700
26,700
EPT Main Event Champion
EPT 1X Winner
Winamax
Juha Helppi fi
Juha Helppi
42,000
-3,000
-3,000
Charlie Carrel gb
Charlie Carrel
33,000
9,000
9,000
Martin Kozlov au
Martin Kozlov
25,000
-2,000
-2,000
Connor Drinan us
Connor Drinan
19,000
1,500
1,500
Mahmood Rasheed ie
Mahmood Rasheed
Busted

Bitar Jams into Altman

Level 6 : 250/500, 75 ante

In the last hand before dinner, Brian Altman raised to 1,200. Ghassan Bitar three-bet to 4,300 on the button and Aliaksei Boika called in the small blind. Altman took his time before four-betting to 15,000 and Bitar checked his stack carefully before moving all in. Boika snap-folded, as did Altman.

"If you fold, I would have moved all in," Boika said to Bitar as they headed out of the tournament area.

Player Chips Progress
Ghassan Bitar lb
Ghassan Bitar
66,000
Brian Altman us
Brian Altman
66,000
-10,000
-10,000
Aliaksei Boika by
Aliaksei Boika
62,900
-10,100
-10,100
EPT Main Event Champion
EPT 1X Winner

Tags: Ghassan BitarBrian AltmanAliaksei Boika

Dinner Break on Day 1a with Sormunen in the Lead

Level 6 : 250/500, 75 ante
Pasi Sormunen
Pasi Sormunen

Six out of the eight scheduled 75-minute levels are done and the players have been sent into a 75-minute dinner break.

Day 1a started with an insane rush for Ireland's Mahmood Rasheed, as he first had a full house with eights over kings against an inferior full house, followed by quads kings and boosted his stack to more than 65,000. Soon after, Martin Kozlov made quads nines against his jacks and Rasheed was cut back down before eventually departing in level six. Kozlov himself has last been spotted with around 20,000 while Pasi Sormunen on the same table tore apart his opponents.

Sormunen sent Dario Sammartino and Rasheed to the rail and also took care of Max Silver and Stephan Zesiger. Silver shoved short with pocket fours, Zesiger just called with kings and Sormunen saw a flop with the {7-Diamonds}{5-Diamonds}. Ultimately, the open-ender of the Finn got there on the river to crack two sets and Sormunen went on to accumulate 174,000 by now.

Other big stacks include Sergey Sergeev (130,000), Graydon Kowal (102,000), Dan Shak (83,000), Paul McCartney (80,000), Dmitry Yurasov (80,000), Thomas Mjeldheim (78,000) and Jakub Michalak (74,000). Sergeev got lucky early on to crack the pocket kings of Jens Luebbe with pocket queens, then steam-rolled up his stack. Shak got it in with a jack-high flush draw against Luke Marsh's ace-queen and hit a jack on the river for a massive double.

Early casualties included Caitlin Hall, EPT12 Dublin 5th place finisher Iliodoros Kamatakis and Jorryt van Hoof. Fatima Moreira de Melo had her aces cracked when Anatoly Korochenskiy turned quads tens and the German High Roller regulars Philipp Gruissem and Martin Finger lasted less than half an hour each before also joining the rail.

Other notables still in include Ole Schemion (49,000), Adrian Mateos (45,000), Juha Helppi (42,000), Charlie Carrel (33,000) and Connor Drinan (19,000). They will all return at approximately 9.30 p.m. local time and play another two levels, bagging and tagging then takes place around midnight. In the meanwhile, you can also read up on [Removed:17]'s victory in the €25,750 Super High Roller.

Tags: Pasi Sormunen