Moolhuizen in the Hunt for Second Major PokerStars Title
A bite-sized Day 2 of the €1,650 PokerStars Open Main Event at the 2025 PokerStars European Poker Tour Malta at Casino Malta saw 277 players return, out of 1,845 total entrants, in pursuit of the €423,700 top prize from a €2,656,800 prize pool, along with the PokerStars Open Main Event trophy.
Just seven levels were played in the second stage, but that was enough to trim the field to 79 players. Claudio Coelho (1,775,000) leads the way, narrowly ahead of online crusher Thomas Muehloecker (1,765,000) and Mateusz Moolhuizen (1,535,000), a player who’s no stranger to PokerStars glory.
Last year at EPT Paris, Moolhuizen conquered the €1,100 FPS Main Event—the predecessor to the PSO Main Event—turning his buy-in into €470,830 after topping a 4,149-entry field. The Dutchman is now eyeing another deep run on the PokerStars stage, though it almost ended early on Day 2.
Facing Akira Takasugi, Moolhuizen found himself all in with a pair of jacks against his opponent’s pair of aces. The chips were in on the turn, and Moolhuizen was down to just five outs, until one of them hit the felt to give him trips and keep his title hopes alive. From there, he rarely looked back.
Moolhuizen carried that momentum into a huge clash with Daniele Degennaro, flopping a set of deuces on an ace-high board while Degennaro held ace-king. The resulting raising war sent a 1,470,000-chip pot to the Dutchman and vaulted him to the upper echelons of the chip counts.
Day 2 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Claudio Coelho | Portugal | 1,775,000 | 118 |
| 2 | Thomas Muehloecker | Austria | 1,765,000 | 118 |
| 3 | Mateusz Moolhuizen | Netherlands | 1,535,000 | 102 |
| 4 | Modar Alsoud | Germany | 1,410,000 | 94 |
| 5 | Siarhei Sochneu | Belarus | 1,405,000 | 94 |
| 6 | Ioannis Oikonomidis | Greece | 1,380,000 | 92 |
| 7 | Fabian Bernhauser | Austria | 1,380,000 | 92 |
| 8 | Dario Pieruzzini | Italy | 1,320,000 | 88 |
| 9 | Marius Pertea | Romania | 1,280,000 | 85 |
| 10 | Ivan Martinez | Spain | 1,180,000 |
Among those joining the chip leaders for Day 3 are a trio of PokerStars Ambassadors. Kenny Hallaert continued his fine form, bagging 845,000, while French duo Julien Brecard (345,000) and Benjamin Bruneteaux (230,000) will also return with hopes of a deep run.
2024 EPT Paris Main Event champion Barny Boatman has also made it through to the penultimate day, alongside Ana Marquez and Yelizaveta Aktas, the last two women standing in the field.
However, not all stars survived. Ambassadors Fintan Hand, Julien Dupre, and Sebastien Huber all fell short of advancing, as did former EPT Main Event champions Tom Middleton and Aliaksei Boika, who won the last-ever EPT Malta Main Event in 2016.
Day 3 will get underway at 11 a.m. on Sunday, October 5, with blinds resuming at 10,000/20,000 (20,000 big blind ante) on Level 22. Each of the 79 remaining players has secured at least €4,950, with the payouts jumping into five figures once just 27 contenders remain.
The plan for Day 3 is to play down until the final table is set, though the exact endpoint will be confirmed once cards are back in the air.
As always, stick with PokerNews for live updates, chip counts, and all the action from the PSO Main Event at EPT Malta.