€5,300 Main Event Day 1a | 2025 PokerStars EPT Malta

10-06-2025 18:23 UTC+1

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Elijah Farrow

Level 6 : Blinds 300/600, 600 ante

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Level: 7

Blinds: 400/800

Ante: 800

10-06-2025 18:47 UTC+1

Play Resumes

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Calum Grant

Level 7 : Blinds 400/800, 800 ante

The dinner break is over and cards are back in the air. There are four more levels scheduled for Day 1a.

10-06-2025 18:55 UTC+1

Updated Chip Counts

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Maxime Taldir

Level 7 : Blinds 400/800, 800 ante

Player	Chips	Progress
Pavels Spirins	155,000 45,000	45,000
Mehdi Rebai	143,000 21,000	21,000
Thomas Haverstad	136,000 56,000	56,000
Kazuyuki Tanemura	134,500 134,500	134,500
Ognyan Dimov	124,000 62,000	62,000

Miguel Chaves	121,000 35,000	35,000
Marios Kapiris	117,000
Toni Kaukua	109,000 15,300	15,300
Martin Tsvetanov	108,500
Saar Wilf	100,100 100,100	100,100
Mykhailo Ostash	100,000 3,000	3,000

Kasjusz Zycinski	100,000 20,000	20,000

10-06-2025 19:08 UTC+1

Marxer Scores a Double Elimination

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Maxime Taldir

Level 7 : Blinds 400/800, 800 ante

Nicola Marxer opened from early position. Boris Vnuk on the button three-bet all in for 11,300, Vladimir Heinich in the big blind jammed for 11,500, and Marxer called.

Boris Vnuk: A♣K♠ All in
Vladimir Heinich: 9♥9♣ All in
Nicola Marxer: K♥Q♥

Heinich was on his way to scoop the pot on 10♠2♠3♦2♥, but the Q♦ river gave the best pair to Marxer, sending both Vnuk and Heinich to the rail.

Player	Chips	Progress
Nicola Marxer	66,000 16,000	16,000
Vladimir Heinich	Busted
Boris Vnuk	Busted

Tags: Boris Vnuk Nicola Marxer Vladimir Heinich

10-06-2025 19:13 UTC+1

Sheils Folds Aces

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Calum Grant

Level 7 : Blinds 400/800, 800 ante

Action was caught on the turn in a three-bet pot between Brandon Sheils and Antoine Saout.

There was 29,000 in the middle on the J♣10♥Q♦10♣ board. Sheils checked in the big blind before calling Saout's bet of 11,700 from the button.

Sheils, with 41,000 behind, checked when the 5♠ river came in. Saout put the Englishman to the test for his tournament life, and Sheils went deep into the tank.

"Shall I do what I what I did earlier?" asked Sheils, referencing a hand where he called his opponent light in the opening few levels. "That worked out well for you."

In the end, Sheils folded A♣A♥ and Saout took the pot.

"What did you have?" Sheils asked.

"A good hand," replied Saout.

Player	Chips	Progress
Antoine Saout	115,000 20,000	20,000
Alexandre Reard	78,000 46,000	46,000
Brandon Sheils	41,000 26,000	26,000
Aleksejs Ponakovs	24,000 4,000	4,000

Tags: Antoine Saout Brandon Sheils

10-06-2025 19:17 UTC+1

Ensan Folds Out Haverstad

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Calum Grant

Level 7 : Blinds 400/800, 800 ante

Kazuyuki Tanemura opened to 1,600 from early position before Thomas Haverstad made it 3,400 from the next seat over. Hossein Ensan four-bet to 8,7000 from the cutoff and was called by Haverstad.

Haverstad check-folded to a bet of 8,100 on the 10♥3♥3♣ flop to award the pot to the EPT & WSOP Main Event champion.

Player	Chips	Progress
Thomas Haverstad	130,000 6,000	6,000
Matthew Davenport	60,000 17,000	17,000
Hossein Ensan	42,000 12,000	12,000

Tags: Hossein Ensan Kazuyuki Tanemura Thomas Haverstad

10-06-2025 19:18 UTC+1

Flush for Da Silva

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Maxime Taldir

Level 7 : Blinds 400/800, 800 ante

Vitalijs Korhs opened to 1,600 from under the gun, and both Sergio Da Silva in the cutoff and Jon Kyte in the small blind called.

All three of them checked a flop of 4♥8♥4♦, leading to the 9♥ turn where Korhs bet 2,000. Da Silva called, and Kyte check-called.

After Kyte and Korhs checked the K♠ river, Da Silva bet 6,700. Kyte folded, but Korhs called with A♦A♣. However, he ran into Da Silva's flush with K♥J♥.

"If any of you had bet on the flop, I would have gone all-in," Kyte said after the hand.

Player	Chips	Progress
Sergio Da Silva	72,000 34,000	34,000
Vitalijs Korhs	35,500 35,500	35,500
Jon Kyte	18,500 31,800	31,800

Tags: Jon Kyte Sergio Da Silva

10-06-2025 19:30 UTC+1

Hajdari Applies Pressure on Sposato

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Maxime Taldir

Level 7 : Blinds 400/800, 800 ante

Heads-up on a flop of 3♦K♥10♥, Gaspare Sposato in the cutoff bet 1,500, but Fehim Hajdari on the button raised to 5,400.

Sposato called and check-called after Hajdari fired a second barrel of 4,000 on the 10♣ turn.

The Italian player checked again on the 9♠ river. Hajdari moved all in, and Sposato snap-folded. He was eliminated a few hands later.

Player	Chips	Progress
Fehim Hajdari	63,000 63,000	63,000
Gaspare Sposato	Busted

Tags: Fehim Hajdari Gaspare Sposato

10-06-2025 19:40 UTC+1

Is This the End of Poker Content on YouTube? | PokerNews Podcast #919

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Maxime Taldir

Level 7 : Blinds 400/800, 800 ante

In the 919th episode of the PokerNews Podcast, Chad Holloway and Mike Holtz are joined by Connor Richards to talk about the latest stories from the poker world, including a discussion about the current poker content landscape on YouTube. If Brad Owen's recent experience is any indication, things don't look good.

The trio then discusses Martin Kabrhel's gold bracelet win at the 2025 World Series of Poker Europe, Michael Mizrachi's "Grinder's Game" coming to Venetian Poker Live, and All In with Jason Koon slated to take place during November's NAPT (info on hotel rates here). Speaking of which, Chad reveals another code word for this year's NAPT Gold Pass giveaway valued at $10,000! There are not many up for grabs this year, so you won't want to miss out on this limited opportunity to win one just by listening to the PokerNews Podcast and MSPT Podcast Presented By PokerNews.

You will also get a behind-the-scenes look at the recent Charity Series of Poker (CSOP) St. Jude, learn about winners from the 2025 Poker Masters and WSOPE, a new poker room coming to Las Vegas, and Chad's personal adventures involving the Miami Dolphins and Mötley Crüe. It's a fun episode that you won't want to miss, so tune in now!

A new PokerNews Podcast drops every Thursday at 8a PT / 11a ET / 4p UK time. Remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel so you do not miss an episode!

Click here to listen to the new PN Podcast!