Xixiang Luo had been the slayer of table 3 by busting both Darya Hulyk and Gianfranco Visalli. That information didn't scare Ismael Bojang as he tangled with Luo.
There was 37,000 in chips in the middle and the flop was . Bojang already made a bet of 17,000 and Luo had raised it up to 43,000. The decision was back on Bojang and he thought for a couple of minutes.
Eventually, he made a big three-bet to 120,000 and Luo folded after a minute or so.
EPT11 Malta champion Jean Montury just busted from this years Main Event. For most of the day he was riding the short stack but managed to grind his way up from time to time.
That grind came to an end when he busted to the hands of Aliaksei Boika.
It was Guillaume Valle that opened the pot with a raise to 15,000 and Bastian Dohler called. Montury shove all in for 64,000 and it was Boika who made a four-bet to 115,000. Everybody got out of the way and the cards were tabled.
Jean Montury:
Aliaksei Boika:
Montury was in big trouble against Boika's queens and needed an ace or another escape route.
The flop wasn't any help for the former champion and when the hit on the turn he was down to the aces as outs.
The river wasn't an ace, it was the and Montury was sent packing.
'Beautiful Badass' Darya Hulyk has been eliminated from the EPT Malta Main Event. From the button, Hulyk shoved her last 80,000 in the middle.
In the big blind, Xixiang Luo instantly called the shove with , Hulyk held just and failed to catch up on . The Ukrainian took home €12,390 for her 46th place.
Check out PokerNews.com's earlier interview with Hulyk on how she started in poker.
Zorlucan Er was blinded down to only 27,000 chips and just got them all in. From early position, he threw in his chips and it was folded around to Benjamin Pollak in the big blind.
Pollak asked for a count and then made the call.
Zorlucan Er:
Benjamin Pollak:
Er had Pollak dominated but there was still a good chance the hand would end in a chop. The flop came down and after the hit the turn there were several chop outs.
Pollak could still hit a three to bust Er but the on the river gave Er the double up.
Ismael Bojang raised to 14,000 from under the gun and Martin Staszko called in the hijack. Action folded to Marco Bartolini and he moved all in. Bojang asked for a count and the shove was for 102,000. Bojang folded, Staszko briefly asked for the amount again and called.
Marco Bartolini:
Martin Staszko:
The board came and Bartolini doubled up with a full house to almost swap stacks with Staszko.
Tournament staff has just announced that Day 3 will only play four levels in total, which means just one further level after the current one, before bagging and tagging. This brings us to approximately 7.15 p.m. local time.
Jean Montury, who won the first EPT here in Malta in March 2015, is still in contention for a second title. Guillaume Valle opened on the button and called Montury's 65,000 shove from the big blind.
Montury held and the board ran out , which let Montury's better kicker play.
Taran Parmar raised to 13,000 and Alexander Debus shoved from the cutoff for 123,000. Dong Zhao reshoved from the small blind and Parmar tanked for a long time. Eventually the clock was called on him and Parmar folded, flashed the .
In a massive clash between Gianfranco Visalli and Frederik Jensen, the latter came out as the winner after spending nearly ten minutes in the tank.
Preflop, Visalli opened to 13,000 from under the gun. Behind him, Jensen reraised and made it 42,000. The Italian made the call, and the two of them saw an innocuous flop of appear. Visalli checked, Jensen followed up with a bet of 28,000, Visalli check-raised to 68,000 and Jensen called.
After the dealer burned and turned the , Visalli wasted no time putting Jensen to the test, and put him all in for 156,000 in a pot of close to 200,000. Jensen thought long and hard, and the clock was eventually called on the Dane.
With just seven seconds left, Jensen slammed a tower of chips into the middle and turned over , much to Visalli's disbelief.
"Sick call", muttered Visalli as he turned over , looking for one of the only two remaining sevens on the river.
It wasn't. The dealer put out the , and Frederik Jensen surged to the top of the standings with more than half a million chips.
Just two hands later, Gianfranco Visalli's remaining chips disappeared as well. Visalli got it in holding on a flop of , but needed help against Xixiang Luo's . No help was found, as the board ran out ,
Visalli, who topped the leaderboard for nearly two days, is gone just like that in 47th place.
Guillaume Valle raised to 15,000 from the hijack and Bastian Dohler three-bet to 37,000 from the cutoff. Valle called and the flop came . Both players checked and the appeared on the turn. Valle bet 35,000 and Dohler called.
After the river, Valle moved all in and Dohler tanked with 120,000 behind. Ultimately, the German called and Valle briefly flashed , Dohler doubled with the .