Brian Altman, who made a deep run at the EPT 11 Prague Main Event, is having a bad day at the office thus far. On a three-way flop of 
he folded to a bet of 800 whereas Joseph Portelli check-raised to 2,400 and took down the pot. It was Portelli who had taken half the stack of Albert Daher previously and is almost up to 50,000 in chips.
With 800 in the pot and a flop of 
, Ivan Stokes checked from the big blind and Tomas Samol bet 500 from the under-the-gun position. Ignat "0Human0" Liviu bet called from the cutoff, Stokes folded, and it was heads-up action to the 
turn.
Samol bet again, this time 1,200, but he could shake the Romanian pro. When the 
completed the board on the river, Samol took another stab at it with a 3,500 bet, but Liviu made a relatively quick call.
"You win," Samol admitted before chucking his cards to the muck. Liviu was then pushed the pot without having to reveal his hand.
It's been a great hour for Canada's Ryan McEathron, who notched the first elimination of the day to pull out to an early chip lead, one that he just added to.
We picked up the action with approximately 1,000 in the pot and a board reading 
. Italy's Virgilio di Cicco checked from the big blind and McEathron bet 600 from the cutoff. The Italian made the call and then checked once again on the 
river.
McEathron kept the pressure on with a bet of 900, and his opponent made a quick call. McEathron tabled the 
for aces and deuces with a king kicker, and it was good as di Cicco flashed the 
before mucking his hand.
Stephen Chidwick opened to 400 and called the shove of Nikolay Prokhorskiy for 2,450 with 
. His short-stacked opponent was at risk with 
but improved on a board of 
.
After a raise to 250 and the call of Michael Tureniec, Ryan McEathron also flat-called out of the blinds and they saw a three-way flop of 
. The initial preflop aggressor bet 550 and Tureniec raised to 1,500, which was met by a check-raise to 4,300 from PokerStars qualifier McEathron for 4,300 in total.
Only Tureniec called and shoved the 
turn after his opponent from Canada had led for 8,500. McEathron called the 26,000 all in with pocket sevens and Tureniec's pocket threes didn't find the one remaining out in the deck anymore.
Paul Newey is a high roller. He literally travels around the world playing the the biggest buy-in events. He doesn't do it for money, nor fame, but simply for love of the game. As such, Newey isn't afraid to play tournaments outside of high rollers, like today's EPT Malta Main Event.
In a recent hand, the man from the UK raised to 250 under the gun and action folded all the way around to Lebanon's [Removed:2] in the big blind. He opted to defend and then check-called a bet of 325 on the 
flop. After the dealer burned and turned the 
, Maksoud checked and Newey bet again, this time 600. It did the trick as Maksoud wasted little time in releasing his hand.
After some preflop action already, Albert Daher led the 
flop for 1,500 out of the small blind and the player on the button called. The Lebanese also bet the turn for 4,200 and was called before making it 7,400 to go on the 
river.
His opponent quickly called and Daher sighed "you are good" before turning over his 
. The opponent rolled over and took half of Daher's stack.
Among those to have just appeared at the tables were EPT champions Jannick Wrang and Ruben Visser, Spanish wunderkind Adrian Mateos as well as former November Niner Marc Etienne McLaughlin.
About 10 minutes into the tournament, we happened upon a hand with around 7,650 already in the pot and a board reading 
. Finland's Sami Shetta had checked from the big blind and Joao Barbosa bet 5,000 from the button. Shetta then check-raised all in for 22,400, and Barbosa hit the tank.
Approximately two minutes ticked off the clock, and eventually Barbosa opted to lay down his hand. It was a big hand for Level 1 and could very well set the tone for this tournament.
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