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€5,300 Main Event
Day 2 Completed
2025 PokerStars EPT Malta
€5,300 Main Event
Day: 2
Event Info
2025 PokerStars EPT Malta
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Players Info - Day 2
Buy-in
€5,300
Prize Pool
€4,355,300
Total Entries
898
Level
35
Blinds
200,000 / 400,000
Ante
400,000
Entries
337
Players Left
108
Players Left 1 / 898
Filter
Level 15
: Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
The PokerStars European Poker Tour Malta €5,300 Main Event is shaping up to be one for the record books. A total of 898 entries created a prize pool of €4,355,300, the largest in EPT Malta history, with the winner set to receive €760,000.
Roman Stoica ended Day 2 as the chip leader with 928,000, more than 100,000 ahead of Mykhailo Ostash, who climbed the counts after winning a big pot against 2024 EPT Cyprus Main Event champion Ognyan Dimov. Aliaksei Boika (672,000) and Giuseppe Spitale (663,000) also finished among the top stacks.
Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Roman Stoica | Moldova, Republic of | 928,000 | 186 |
| 2 | Mykhailo Ostash | Ukraine | 765,000 | 153 |
| 3 | Aliaksei Boika | Belarus | 672,000 | 134 |
| 4 | Giuseppe Spitale | Italy | 663,000 | 132 |
| 5 | Evaldas Aniulis | Lithuania | 647,000 | 129 |
| 6 | Tom Vogelsang | Netherlands | 569,000 | 113 |
| 7 | Maxime Chilaud | France | 559,000 | 111 |
| 8 | Ilija Savevski | North Macedonia | 555,000 | 111 |
| 9 | Davide Marchi | Italy | 548,000 | 109 |
| 10 | Jiaming Zhao | China | 497,000 | 99 |
Day 2 Action
Day 2 saw 46 late registrations, bringing the starting field to 337 players. By the end of play, 135 players had made the money for a guaranteed €8,400 payout, while 108 bagged chips for Day 3.
Early eliminations included Lars Kamphues, Hannes Jeschka, Jacob Amsellem, Jamie Flynn, and Mateusz Wozniak.
The tournament reached the bubble just before the dinner break. With only one player needing to bust to enter the money, play switched to hand-for-hand mode. The bubble burst soon after dinner when Ole Schemion shoved with an overpair, but ran into Evaldas Aniulis’ flopped two pair, securing the remaining players a spot in the money.
Several former EPT champions remain in contention, including defending champion Aliaksei Boika (672,000), Adrian Mateos (401,000), Ognyan Dimov (194,00) Tom Middleton (185,000) and Dominik Panka (117,000).
After early exits from Julien Dupré and Fintan Hand, Kenny Hallaert is the last PokerStars ambassador standing with a short stack of 50,000.
Other notable stacks include Ilija Savevski (555,000), EPT Malta €100K Super High Roller third-place finisher Ben Heath (280,000), Felix Schneiders (191,000), and Enrico Camosci (102,000).
Play resumes on Day 3, Thursday, October 9, at 12 p.m. local time, with blinds at 2,000/5,000 and likely four 90-minute levels will be played. The feature table will be streamed on YouTube and Twitch from 12:30 p.m. local time.
Be sure to follow PokerNews tomorrow for live updates from Day 3 of the Main Event as the field battles to reach Day 4.
Level 15
: Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
928,000
2,000
|
2,000 |
|
||
|
765,000
68,000
|
68,000 |
|
||
|
672,000
231,000
|
231,000 |
|
||
|
663,000
133,000
|
133,000 |
|
647,000
73,000
|
73,000 |
|
569,000
16,000
|
16,000 |
|
559,000
359,000
|
359,000 |
|
555,000
138,000
|
138,000 |
|
||
|
548,000
12,000
|
12,000 |
|
497,000
3,000
|
3,000 |
|
487,000
147,000
|
147,000 |
|
||
|
462,000
234,000
|
234,000 |
|
|
||
|
444,000
159,000
|
159,000 |
|
435,000
130,000
|
130,000 |
|
434,000
24,000
|
24,000 |
|
432,000
72,000
|
72,000 |
|
410,000
1,000
|
1,000 |
|
409,000
36,000
|
36,000 |
|
407,000
174,000
|
174,000 |
|
401,000
181,000
|
181,000 |
|
||
|
401,000
29,000
|
29,000 |
|
|
||
|
378,000
42,000
|
42,000 |
|
365,000
138,000
|
138,000 |
|
364,000
77,000
|
77,000 |
![Profile photo of [Removed:564]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
|
361,000
36,000
|
36,000 |
Level 15
: Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
Day 2 of the Main Event is over with 108 players bagging and tagging stacks.
Level 15
: Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
The flop came 3♠K♥J♥Q♣ with around 30,000 in the pot. Mykhailo Ostash in the big blind checked to Ognyan Dimov on the button, who fired an overbet of 40,000. Ostash took his time before raising to 91,000, and Dimov called.
On the 5♣ river, Ostash led out with a hefty bet of 200,000. Dimov thought it over but eventually let the pot go, mucking his hand to give Ostash the win.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
697,000
159,000
|
159,000 |
|
|
||
|
134,000
81,000
|
81,000 |
|
|
||
Level 15
: Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
The action was picked up on a board of 9♥6♠4♦Q♠9♣ with 54,000 in the pot and Luis Faria in the big blind betting 47,000 with 5,000 behind.
David Salamanca, in the cutoff, went into the tank for several minutes until the clock was called. Before the end of the countdown, he called, but lost to Faria's K♠Q♣.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
160,000
80,000
|
80,000 |
|
|
45,000
160,000
|
160,000 |
Level 15
: Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
Seeing a raise from middle position to 8,000 ahead of him, Matthew Davenport moved all in for roughly 85,000 from the small blind. Clement Lafon then followed suit, moving all in from the big blind for around 150,000.
The original raiser folded, and the players revealed their cards.
Matthew Davenport: A♣3♣ 
Clement Lafon: A♥K♣
Davenport had renewed hope when he flopped a flush draw on J♣6♠8♣. Alas, the turn 9♥ and river 7♦ were unable to save him, seeing his run at EPT Malta come to an end.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
250,000
100,000
|
100,000 |
|
Busted |
Level 15
: Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
Daniel Rezaei raised to 8,000 and Evaldas Aniulis defended his big blind.
Aniulis check-called for 6,000 on the J♠10♠5♠ flop before the 2♥ turn checked through to the J♥ river. Aniulis led out for 25,000 and was called. He tabled K♣J♦ for trip jacks, which was good for the pot.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
720,000
50,000
|
50,000 |
|
98,000
39,000
|
39,000 |
Level 15
: Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
Alessandro Barone opened to 11,000 from early position and called when Rui Bouquet jammed for 39,000 from the button.
Barone remained ahead following the Q♥8♥2♠ flop and 8♣ turn. However, the J♠ river ensured Bouquet's survival.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
88,000
11,000
|
11,000 |
|
55,000
75,000
|
75,000 |
Level 15
: Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
The tournament clock has been paused, and the dealers have been directed to deal three more hands.
Once these hands are complete, the remaining players will bag their chips and progress to Day 3.
