2 PM Start for Day 1b of the €550 Grand Event at the MPF
At 2 p.m. local time, Day 1b is set to start at the Portmoaso Casino which is the second starting flight of the €550 Grand Event at The Malta Poker Festival. The 2nd edition of the festival sports a plethora of events but the Grand Event is the main attraction with a guaranteed prize pool of €500,000.
Day 1a took place yesterday and attracted 205 entries in total. Out of all those entries, 38 players have already made it through to Day 2 on Saturday, November 2. Eviatar Mor claimed the first chip lead of the festival with 441,500 in chips. He’s followed by Luca Sebastiani and Dario Marinelli
The defending champion, Emanuele Onnis has been spotted in Malta already but hasn’t taken his shot in the tournament yet. He’s expected to rock up either today or on Day 1c or 1d as there are three starting flights left. Onnis took €150,000 and the MPF trophy home and will be looking for another deep run or even a win!
Players like Clint Sammut, Colin Lovelock, Andreas Klatt, Serdar Demircan, Kat Arnsby, David Lappin, and Daragh Davey tried their luck on Day 1a but couldn’t find a bag at the end of the day. They might be back in one of the many available seats today as players can reenter every starting day and once per flight.
Players will get 30,000 chips for their buy-in, levels last 45 minutes each, fourteen levels of play have been scheduled with a 15-minute break after every three levels. After Level 6, a 75-minute dinner break will take place and registration will remain open during the first eight levels.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be roaming around from the first card of the deck until the final chip has been bagged today so make sure to follow along.
Day 1 Structure
| Level | Duration | Small Blind | Big Blind | Button Ante |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 45 | 100 | 100 | |
| 2 | 45 | 100 | 200 | |
| 3 | 45 | 100 | 200 | 200 |
| 15-minute Break | ||||
| 4 | 45 | 200 | 300 | 300 |
| 5 | 45 | 200 | 400 | 400 |
| 6 | 45 | 300 | 500 | 500 |
| 75-minute Dinner Break | ||||
| 7 | 45 | 300 | 600 | 600 |
| 8 | 45 | 400 | 800 | 800 |
| 9 | 45 | 500 | 1,000 | 1,000 |
| 15-minute Break | ||||
| 10 | 45 | 600 | 1,200 | 1,200 |
| 11 | 45 | 800 | 1,600 | 1,600 |
| 12 | 45 | 1,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 |
| 15-minute Break | ||||
| 13 | 45 | 1,500 | 2,500 | 2,500 |
| 14 | 45 | 1,500 | 3,000 | 3,000 |