2015 PokerStars.com EPT Season 11 Malta

€5,300 Main Event
Day: 1b
Event Info

2015 PokerStars.com EPT Season 11 Malta

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
a10
Prize
€687,400
Event Info
Buy-in
€5,000
Prize Pool
€4,340,750
Entries
895
Level Info
Level
38
Blinds
300,000 / 600,000
Ante
100,000

Ziiiiiiigmund!

Level 8 : 300/600, 75 ante

We're not sure if Ilari Sahamies has been playing all day and we just missed him, or that he just bought in. We are sure he's in the field right now.

Sahamies, the biggest winner online on PokerStars so far this year, has taken his seat on table 32. He's sharing the table with Austrian Gerald Karlic and Dutchman Bram Haenraets.

Sahamies sat down, looked us straight in the face, and then replicated what he did 1.5 years ago in Barcelona when Negreanu bursted into our interview.

Player Chips Progress
Ilari Sahamies fi
Ilari Sahamies
30,000

Tags: Ilari Sahamies

Big Three-Way Clash Sends Diaz out of his Chair

Level 8 : 300/600, 75 ante
Antonio Luft no Longer Big Stack
Antonio Luft no Longer Big Stack

A loud shout from Gilbert Diaz alerted the bloggers and he celebrated, having {A-Clubs} {A-Hearts} laying in front of him. What had happened?

Diaz opened to 1,600 and Lee Taylor raised to 4,000 from one seat over before Antonio Luft flat-called from the button. Diaz now shoved for 50,000 and Taylor had about as much and moved all in as well. Luft tanked for quite some time and called off with {Q-Spades} {Q-Clubs}.

Taylor had the third premium pocket pair in {K-Diamonds} {K-Clubs} but was sent to the rail after a {4-Hearts} {10-Clubs} {7-Hearts} {9-Clubs} {6-Hearts} board.

Player Chips Progress
Gilbert Diaz fr
Gilbert Diaz
150,000
150,000
150,000
Antonio Luft br
Antonio Luft
68,000
-86,000
-86,000
Lee Taylor gb
Lee Taylor
Busted

Tags: Antonio LuftGilbert DiazLee Taylor

Eliminated

Level 8 : 300/600, 75 ante

Julian Track, who shared his intention to never ever play live poker again right after he won EPT Prague for €725,000 back in 2013 but cashed in tournaments all over the world ever since nonetheless, has been eliminated. He wasn't the only one by the way, a battalion of familiar faces have been eliminated.

Player Chips Progress
Niall Farrell gb
Niall Farrell
Busted
EPT 1X Winner
Eugene Katchalov ua
Eugene Katchalov
Busted
Mustapha Kanit it
Mustapha Kanit
Busted
Winamax
Pratyush Buddiga us
Pratyush Buddiga
Busted
Juha Helppi fi
Juha Helppi
Busted
Ognjen Sekularac rs
Ognjen Sekularac
Busted
Jens Lakemeier at
Jens Lakemeier
Busted
Julian Track de
Julian Track
Busted
EPT 1X Winner
Georgios Sotiropoulos gr
Georgios Sotiropoulos
Busted
Lasse Frost dk
Lasse Frost
Busted
Norbert Szecsi hu
Norbert Szecsi
Busted
Pieter van Gils nl
Pieter van Gils
Busted

Tedeschi Busts to Miller

Level 8 : 300/600, 75 ante

Ori Miller just found himself in a nice spot holding pocket queens, as he had Paul Tedeschi all in for his tournament life before the flop holding a small pocket pair.

Miller: {Q-Clubs}{Q-Diamonds}
Tedeschi: {6-Clubs}{6-Diamonds}

The board ran out {Q-Hearts}{J-Hearts}{6-Hearts}{2-Hearts}{3-Clubs} and Tedeschi hit the rail after having flopped a set as well. On the turn the Frenchman had chop outs with a flush draw on the board, but the river brought no such thing.

Player Chips Progress
Ori Miller il
Ori Miller
130,000
70,000
70,000
Paul Tedeschi fr
Paul Tedeschi
Busted

Tags: Paul TedeschiOri Miller

Gnatenko Bows Out After Epic Tank

Level 8 : 300/600, 75 ante
Heinz Kamutzki & Oleksandr Gnatenko
Heinz Kamutzki & Oleksandr Gnatenko

Oleksandr Gnatenko informed PokerNews after yesterday's Global Poker Masters shenanigans that he would be retiring from tournament poker after the EPT Malta Main Event. He just busted to Heinz Kamutzki in a hand where the German tanked for 10 minutes on the turn. If this was his last tournament he went out on a great hand.

Kamutzki opened to 1,400 from the cutoff before Gnatenko three-bet to 3,100 from the next seat along. Patrick Leonard was in the big blind and called along with Kamutzki.

The flop spread {2-Clubs}{9-Diamonds}{j-Hearts} and Gnatenko's 3,700 bet was only called by Kamutzki. The turn came as the {3-Hearts} and Kamutzki checked to face an all in in bet of 20,575. Ten minutes later, Leonard called the clock on Kamutzki but what happened before then was a joy for the table and the small crowd that gathered as the minutes wore on.

Basically the two talked on-and-off about what Gnatenko could have in that spot and what Kamutzki could call with. Obviously, Gnatenko never revealed his hand but Kamutzki admitted he had a jack, in an attempt to extract vital information.

It was hard to make out exactly what Gnatenko was saying but he had some table mates highly amused. Kamutzki came out with some of the following lines:

"Why all in my friend?"

"Sure you want to go out like that?"

"With the king of hearts I'd already be calling!"

"Even if I'm wrong I can still suck out right?"

After the clock was called he made the call with {k-Hearts}{j-Diamonds} for top pair and was ahead of the semi-bluffing Gnatenko who opened {6-Hearts}{9-Hearts} for second pair and flush draw. The river was the {j-Spades} and Gnatenko left tournament poker, maybe.

Player Chips Progress
Heinz Kamutzki de
Heinz Kamutzki
64,000
43,000
43,000
Oleksandr Gnatenko ua
Oleksandr Gnatenko
Busted

Tags: Heinz KamutzkiOleksandr Gnatenko

Baker Doubles Through Kuo

Level 8 : 300/600, 75 ante
Kitty Kuo
Kitty Kuo

David "Bakes" Baker, now not needing the "Bakes" in our chip counts list since "ODB" didn't show up here in Malta, was down to just under 20,000 when he opened to 1,500 from early position.

Kitty Kuo, still Kitty because Hui Chen-Kuo doesn't look as sweet, three bet to 3,600 while sipping on a glass of red wine.

Action folded back to Baker who asked "3,600?" and when met with an affirmative nod from the dealer, announced all in. Kuo asked for a count (19,525) and made the call. Kuo showed {J-Clubs}{J-Hearts}, Baker had {A-Diamonds}{K-Diamonds}.

Kuo wished her opponent good luck but needed some luck herself after the turn; {9-Diamonds}{6-Spades}{7-Spades}{K-Clubs}. No help would come for Kuo with the {8-Diamonds} on the river and Baker doubled.

Player Chips Progress
David Baker us
David Baker
40,550
4,550
4,550
Kitty Kuo tw
Kitty Kuo
20,000
-20,000
-20,000

Tags: David "Bakes" BakerKitty Kuo

Six More Hands

Level 8 : 300/600, 75 ante

The tournament clock reached its last 13 minutes and was halted. Over on table 17 the dealer drew a 6 and so 6 more hands are to be played.

Parlafes Bows Out Before the End

Level 8 : 300/600, 75 ante
Dany Parlafes
Dany Parlafes

Artur Koren opened to 1,300 and EPT 11 Deauville runner-up Dany Parlafes moved all in for 12,075 in total. Koren pondered about his decision for quite some time and eventually talked himself into calling.

Parlafes said "thank you" and then flipped over the {10-Spades} {10-Diamonds}. It was a coin flip against the {K-Spades} {Q-Spades} of Koren with the better end for the German after a board of {A-Hearts} {Q-Clubs} {2-Diamonds} {7-Hearts} {3-Spades}.

Player Chips Progress
Artur Koren at
Artur Koren
60,000
30,000
30,000
Dany Parlafes ro
Dany Parlafes
Busted

Tags: Artur KorenDany Parlafes

Zintel Pays off Queens

Level 8 : 300/600, 75 ante

Vladislav Shunkov opened the action and found two caller in the blinds including big stack Rudolf Zintel. The German bet the {J-Clubs} {3-Hearts} {2-Diamonds} {8-Diamonds} turn for 3,625 and Shunkov called, the third player in the hand folded. On the {8-Hearts} river, Zintel paid off the 6,000 valuebet of his opponent and mucked his {K-Clubs} {J-Spades} when the Russian showed {Q-Hearts} {Q-Spades}.

Player Chips Progress
Rudolf Zintel de
Rudolf Zintel
135,000
-5,000
-5,000

Tags: Vladislav ShunkovRudolf Zintel

Various End-of-Day Chip Counts

Level 8 : 300/600, 75 ante

More to follow.

Player Chips Progress
Max Silver gb
Max Silver
176,100
6,100
6,100
Noah Vaillancourt ca
Noah Vaillancourt
146,100
28,100
28,100
Matthieu Rodriguez fr
Matthieu Rodriguez
139,700
27,700
27,700
Moritz Dietrich de
Moritz Dietrich
135,000
135,000
135,000
Rudolf Zintel de
Rudolf Zintel
135,000
Sam Trickett gb
Sam Trickett
134,900
44,900
44,900
Bernardo Dias br
Bernardo Dias
131,800
131,800
131,800
Gilbert Diaz fr
Gilbert Diaz
130,800
-19,200
-19,200
Andrea Cortellazzi it
Andrea Cortellazzi
129,000
129,000
129,000
Michael Poirier fr
Michael Poirier
121,500
121,500
121,500
Sylvain Loosli fr
Sylvain Loosli
112,000
112,000
112,000
Robin Ylitalo se
Robin Ylitalo
109,700
68,700
68,700
EPT Main Event Champion
EPT 1X Winner
Yury Gulyy ru
Yury Gulyy
108,800
28,800
28,800
Alexander Lakhov ru
Alexander Lakhov
105,400
-32,600
-32,600
Andrea Benelli it
Andrea Benelli
105,300
87,100
87,100
Anton Wigg se
Anton Wigg
97,500
46,500
46,500
EPT Main Event Champion
EPT 1X Winner
Yann Dion ca
Yann Dion
97,200
12,200
12,200
JC Alvarado mx
JC Alvarado
95,000
42,000
42,000
Bjorn Wiesler de
Bjorn Wiesler
93,700
15,700
15,700
Govert Metaal nl
Govert Metaal
90,700
Vladimir Troyanovskiy ru
Vladimir Troyanovskiy
89,900
24,900
24,900
Jonathan Little us
Jonathan Little
89,400
25,400
25,400
Mateusz Moolhuizen nl
Mateusz Moolhuizen
86,500
Jan Peter Jachtmann de
Jan Peter Jachtmann
85,100
25,100
25,100
Ariel Celestino br
Ariel Celestino
83,600
83,600
83,600

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