Welcome to Day 5 of the 2016 EPT Malta €5,300 Main Event
After four days of playing at the 2016 PokerStars.com EPT Malta Main Event, a field of 468 players has been whittled down to just 14. Each of the remaining players is already guaranteed a share of at least €25,030 out of the €2,269,800 prize pool, but the sights are set on the first place price of €355,700, which will be handed out to one of them on Saturday in Casino Portomaso. It's a diverse field that's left, with eleven different countries represented among the final fourteen.
Today, a short day is expected as the field will play down from 14 to 6. Chipleader is Sweden's Mats Karlsson, who resides here in Malta. Karlsson will start the day with 2,033,000 in chips. Yesterday, on his way to the chiplead, Karlsson clashed multiple times with with former chipleader Ole Schemion, coming out on top each time.
In the hunt are familiar names, as Dmitry Yurasov (1,709,000), 2014 PCA winner Dominik Panka (1,411,000) and Aliaksei Boika (1,195,000) are having big stacks to work with. Two PokerStars qualifiers are also on incredible runs, as Peter Ockenden (1,059,000) and Bastian Dohler (1,033,000) turned their investments of respectively €27 and €10 into already massive paydays.
The field is rounded out by Elie Saad (1,089,000), Tomas Macnamara (943,000), Louis Cartarius (879,000), Daniele Colautti (697,000), Benjamin Pollak (605,000), Xixiang Luo (572,000), Marco Bartolini (550,000) and Ole Schemion (214,000), who will need to spin it up from nine big blinds.
Play will resume at 12 P.M. local time. The blinds will start as 12,000/24,000 with a 4,000 ante and will feature a maximum of five 90-minute levels. Play will presumably be halted earlier as we reach our final six, but plans are subject to change. Follow all the action live on PokerNews.com throughout the day.
Day 5 Seating and Chip Counts
| Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chip count |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Daniele Colautti | Italy | 697,000 |
| 1 | 2 | Benjamin Pollak | France | 605,000 |
| 1 | 3 | Xixiang Luo | China | 572,000 |
| 1 | 4 | Tomas Macnamara | United Kingdom | 943,000 |
| 1 | 5 | Dmitry Yurasov | Russia | 1,709,000 |
| 1 | 6 | Peter Ockenden | Netherlands | 1,059,000 |
| 1 | 7 | Marco Bartolini | Italy | 550,000 |
| 2 | 1 | Bastian Dohler | Germany | 1,033,000 |
| 2 | 2 | Louis Cartarius | Germany | 879,000 |
| 2 | 3 | Dominik Panka | Poland | 1,411,000 |
| 2 | 4 | Aliaksei Boika | Belarus | 1,195,000 |
| 2 | 5 | Mats Karlsson | Sweden | 2,033,000 |
| 2 | 6 | Ole Schemion | Germany | 214,000 |
| 2 | 7 | Elie Saad | Lebanon | 1,089,000 |