We just saw a flop of on which two players checked to the player in the cutoff. This player bet 2,600 and the small blind called. Austrian star Thomas Muehloecker was seated in the big blind and he check-raised to 9,300.
Both Muehloecker's opponents folded and the Austrian took down this pot.
Jorryt van Hoof started out short today with just 15,100 in chips. He lost most of those in the first hand of the day.
Van Hoof told us that Ayaz Manji opened from middle position and Brazilian Elcio Luiz Romao made the call on the button. Van Hoof over called from the big blind with and a flop of with two diamonds appeared. Van Hoof checked and Manji made a bet of 3,600. Romao shoved all in and Van Hoof did the same. Romao folded.
Van Hoof told us he was up against but his opponent would win the hand. Romao was somewhat irritated by Van Hoof telling us the hand, thinking the Dutchman told it like it was a bad beat. Van Hoof in fact wasn't phased by the hand at all and was still smiling, despite the fact he only had 2,300 left after the hand.
Those few chips he lost not much later. The Dutch WSOP November Niner shoved his last couple of blinds in with and got called by Michaĺ Starzec in the big blind with . The flop came eight-high but Starzec made runner runner flush to send Van Hoof to the rail.
Viktor Lavi raised from the button to 2,000 and Mike Watson three-bet from the small blind to 5,000. The big blind folded and Lavi moved all in for 14,700 and Watson made the call.
Lavi:
Watson:
The flop brought and Watson hit a pair to take the lead in this hand. On the turn the hit to give Watson two pair, but it also opened up a flush draw for Lavi. The river was the and with four hearts on the board Lavi hit his flush. Watson was left behind with 9,000 chips.
Diego Zeiter opened from early position and action folded to Marvin Rettenmaier in the small blind. Rettenmaier three bet to 6,500. Zeiter four bet to 14,000 and Rettenmaier shoved all in. Zeiter did a double check of his cards and called right after.
Diego Zeiter:
Marvin Rettenmaier:
The board ran out and Rettenmaier's and Zeiter's chips were counted. It turned out Zeiter had about 10,000 more than Rettenmaier, and the German super star made his exit.
Anton Wigg was the initial preflop aggressor and made a continuation bet of 2,800 on the flop. Joseph El Khoury check-called out of the blinds and the turn was checked through. On the river, El Khoury bet 4,200 and Wigg called by tossing in a blue T-5,000 chip.
The Lebanese showed for a busted straight draw and Wigg took down the pot with .
EPT London winner Ruben Visser's seated to the direct left of Team PokerStars Pro Theo Jorgensen on Day 2, but we just saw him lose some chips against the player in seat 9, Antonin Duda.
The flop showed when Visser bet 2,600 and Duda made the call from the button.
On the turn the hit and Visser bet 4,400 after which Duda went into the tank. About 45 seconds later Duda raised it up to 17,100 and Visser threw his cards into the muck.
Three players have been eliminated in the secondary tournament area right away and among them was [Removed:414]. Antoine Vranken had opened to 2,100 and was called by Tobias Matuschek from one seat over before Beumers shoved for around 18,000 in chips. Vranken tanked for a bit and then shoved as well, forcing Matuschek out of the way.
"I would have snap-called if you fold," Matuschek said and told in table chat he had pocket sevens. "Really, in the first hand?" Beumers sighed as he spotted the of Vranken, as his own was crushed.
So far the EPT Malta has belonged to 19-year-old Polish player Dzmitry Urbanovich, who took down the €25,000 High Roller last week for €572,300, and then followed that up with two side event titles.
Here's how the PokerStars crew describes Urbanovich's feat:
"After official EPT photographer Neil Stoddart had finished taking Dzmitry Urbanovich’s second winner pic of the festival, the 19-year-old Pole said: 'See you soon!' Well 'soon' has turned out to be the very next day as Urbanovich has just beaten Jack Salter heads-up to win today’s €5k NL Turbo unlimited rebuy for €110,000. This is now the third EPT trophy that Urbanovich has picked up at the EPT Malta Poker Festival and it’s still only Day 1b!
"Urbanovich started his incredible performance by defeating some of the best players in the world in the special €25k High Roller for €572,300. A relatively early finish in that last on Friday meant he had to time to enter the €500 Midnight Turbo – he made the final. Yesterday he won the €1k NL Deepstack Turbo Big Ante for €35,200 and just now he banked another €110,000 for winning the €5k NL Turbo. You might think it was about time Urbanovich thought about entering the Main Event – but no, he’s going to play the €2k NL Turbo first – that started a couple of hours ago and he was impatient to get in to it."
Urbanovich, who has earned more money playing poker in Malta than anyone else in history (at least for now), officially became the last player to register the EPT Malta Main Event. What a story it'd be if he could somehow capture his fourth title in this event!
After a short delay cards are officially in the air here on Day 2 of the EPT Malta Main Event. The plan for the day is to play six 75-minutes levels with a breaks after every two. There will be no dinner break, meaning things will wrap up around 8:30 p.m. local time.
Who will thrive and who will fail to survive? We'll soon find out, so stay tuned.
on which two players checked to the player in the cutoff. This player bet 2,600 and the small blind called. Austrian star Thomas Muehloecker was seated in the big blind and he check-raised to 9,300.
and a flop of 
with two diamonds appeared. Van Hoof checked and Manji made a bet of 3,600. Romao shoved all in and Van Hoof did the same. Romao folded.
but his opponent would win the hand. Romao was somewhat irritated by Van Hoof telling us the hand, thinking the Dutchman told it like it was a bad beat. Van Hoof in fact wasn't phased by the hand at all and was still smiling, despite the fact he only had 2,300 left after the hand.
. The flop came eight-high but Starzec made runner runner flush to send Van Hoof to the rail.
and Watson hit a pair to take the lead in this hand. On the turn the 
hit to give Watson two pair, but it also opened up a flush draw for Lavi. The river was the 
and with four hearts on the board Lavi hit his flush. Watson was left behind with 9,000 chips.
flop. Joseph El Khoury check-called out of the blinds and the 
turn was checked through. On the 
river, El Khoury bet 4,200 and Wigg called by tossing in a blue T-5,000 chip.
for a busted straight draw and Wigg took down the pot with 
when Visser bet 2,600 and Duda made the call from the button.
was crushed.
and Beumers was gone.
