€550 Grand Event Day 1c | 2022 Malta Poker Festival Spring

04-28-2022 13:54 UTC+3

Welcome to Day 1c of the 2022 Malta Poker Festival Spring €550 Grand Event!

Calum Grant

Day 1c of the 2022 Malta Poker Festival Spring €550 Grand Event kicks off at 2 p.m. CEST at the wonderful Portomaso Casino and is expected to be biggest starting flight yet.

After Day 1b finished, a total of €127,000 is in the prizepool, meaning the event is just shy of half of the €300,000 guarantee. That number is expected to swell when the dust settles on Day 1c.

From Day 1a and 1b, a combined 66 players have booked their place into Sunday's Day 2 and that number is likely to hit triple figures following today's action.

Day 1b was dominated by a host of French players, with five of the biggest stacks being French nationals. Nemo Israel was the player who bagged best, finishing the day with a tournament leading 667,000 chip stack.

Unibet Poker ambassador David Lappin also made it through the first stage with a stack of 92,000.

Day 1c gets underway at 2 p.m. local time and players receive a starting stack of 50,000. Starting flights will close after 13 levels of action, all of which last 40-minutes. Late registration is open until the end of the break that follows Level 8 and each participant is permitted two re-entries per flight.

The first side event of the MPF also gets underway today, the €220 buy-in Bounty Hunter Days Malta event kicks off at 6 p.m. CEST and is expected to be well attended.

MPF Grand Event Day 1 Structure

LEVEL	Duration	Small Blind	Big blind	ANTE
1	40	100	100	100
2	40	100	200	200
3	40	200	300	300
		15 minute break
4	40	200	400	400
5	40	300	600	600
6	40	400	800	800
		15 minute break
7	40	500	1000	1000
8	40	600	1200	1200
		75 minute dinner break
9	40	1000	1500	1500
10	40	1000	2000	2000
11	40	1500	2500	2500
		15 minute break
12	40	1500	3000	3000
13	40	2000	4000	4000

Malta Poker Festival Spring Grand Event Schedule

DATE	TIME (CET)	BUY-IN	EVENT	Entries	Advanced
Tue, 26 Apr	2 p.m.	€ 550	MPF Grand Event Day 1A	118	31
Wed, 27 Apr	2 p.m.	€ 550	MPF Grand Event Day 1B	136	35
Thurs, 28 Apr	2 p.m.	€ 550	MPF Grand Event Day 1C
Fri, 29 Apr	2 p.m.	€ 550	MPF Grand Event Day 1D
Sat, 30 Apr	2 p.m.	€ 550	MPF Grand Event Day 1E
Sat, 30 Apr	9 p.m.	€ 550	MPF Grand Event Day 1F
Sun, 1 May	2 p.m.	-	MPF Grand Event Day 2
Mon, 2 May	2 p.m.	-	MPF Grand Event Day 3

As always, keep it locked in with the PokerNews live reporting team to get all the action from the MPF.

04-28-2022 15:20 UTC+3

Pujol Flops Straight

Calum Grant

Level 1 : 100/100, 100 ante

Gary Whitehead opened to 300 from the cutoff and was called by Alain Pujol on the button and Didier Petry from the big blind.

Whitehead continued for 500 on the flop and Pujol called. Petry clicked it up to 2,500 and Whitehead called. Pujol then three-bet to 26,000.

Petry quickly folded while Whitehead agonised over his option before deciding to fold.

Pujol exposed his to show he had flopped the nuts.

Player	Chips	Progress
Alain Pujol	55,000 55,000	55,000
Gary Whitehead	45,000 -5,000	-5,000

04-28-2022 16:10 UTC+3

Lim Chipping Down Early On

Calum Grant

Level 2 : 100/100, 200 ante

Karl Skolin opened to 500 from the cutoff and then called Robert Lim's button raise to 1,300.

Skolin check-called for 1,800 on the flop and then led for 2,500 on the turn. Lim called to see the turn. Skolin bet 8,000 and Lim called,

Skolin turned over his for a straight however, Lim turned over his thinking his opponent just had a flush draw.

"Oh you have a straight, how? I block that hand!" Lim quizzed his opponent.

Player	Chips	Progress
Karl Skolin	67,000
Robert Lim	32,000 -18,000	-18,000

04-28-2022 16:25 UTC+3

Azulay First Player Eliminated...Again!

Chris Bean

Level 2 : 100/100, 200 ante

On a board of , Eden Azulay and Bradley Joyce had their chips in the middle.

Bradley Joyce
Eden Azulay

Bradley Joyce hit quad kings and Azulay revealed he had eights-full of kings which sent him to the rail. Azulay was also the first player to bust in Day 1b and today's cooler has seen him repeat the achievement.

Player	Chips	Progress
Bradley Joyce	70,000 70,000	70,000
Eden Azulay	Busted

Tags: Bradley Joyce Eden Azulay

04-28-2022 18:13 UTC+3

Pustula Shows the Bluff

Calum Grant

Level 5 : 300/600, 600 ante

With 5,000 in the middle on the board, Jacek Pustula check-raised to 9,000 from the small blind after Stephane Blasques bet 2,500 from the cutoff.

Blasques ended up and folding and Pustula immediately showed his for just ace-high.

Player	Chips	Progress
Jacek Pustula	44,000 -6,000	-6,000

04-28-2022 20:01 UTC+3

Lim Cracks Kings to Double

Calum Grant

Level 7 : 500/1,000, 1,000 ante

Karl Skolin opened to 2,100 from early position. Robert Lim jammed for 16,600 on Skolin's immediate left. Action folded back to the preflop raiser and he called.

Robert Lim:
Karl Skolin:

"Just my luck," exhaled Lim but he was soon jumping for joy after he outflopped the pocket kings on the runout.

On the opposite table, Miro Kaarna couldn't replicate Lim's performance and headed out of the door.

Player	Chips	Progress
Karl Skolin	40,000 -10,000	-10,000
Robert Lim	35,000 10,000	10,000
Miro Kaarna	Busted

04-28-2022 20:19 UTC+3

Gorosh Triples in Three-Way All-In

Calum Grant

Level 8 : 600/1,200, 1,200 ante

There was a huge commotion on table 12, with the entire table on their feet with their phones out. There was a huge preflop three-way all-in between Giovanni Palma (hijack - 50,000) Noah Gorosh (cutoff - 41,700) and Nico Jarnstrom (button - 71,000).

Noah Gorosh:
Giovanni Palma:
Nico Jarnstrom:

Gorosh would find a triple up, while Palma held to stay alive for the smaller side pot following the runout.

Just a few moments later, Palma would head towards the exit following his elimination.

Player	Chips	Progress
Noah Gorosh	130,000 130,000	130,000
Nico Jarnstrom	20,000 20,000	20,000
Giovanni Palma	Busted

04-28-2022 20:47 UTC+3

Kalifa Flops the World

Calum Grant

Level 8 : 600/1,200, 1,200 ante

Kevin Houghton opened to 2,600 in the cutoff and was called by Pierre Drochon on the button. Rodrigue Lampin made it 10,500 from the small blind before Jacques Kalifa moved all-in for 37,500 in the big blind.

Houghton called, Drochon mucked and Lampin went into the tank for several minutes. The clock was called and his had became dead as he could not decide what action to take in the allotted time.

Jacques Kalifa:
Kevin Houghton:

Kalifa moved into the lead following a dream flop of the , Kalifa just had one immediate out and he was unable to hit after the turn and river.

Player	Chips	Progress
Jacques Kalifa	100,000 100,000	100,000
Kevin Houghton	35,000 35,000	35,000

04-28-2022 22:25 UTC+3

Lim Calls Off His Stack

Calum Grant

Level 9 : 1,000/1,500, 1,500 ante

With 17,000 in the middle on the board, Herve Bajon check-jammed for 60,000 from the big blind after Robert Lim bet 9,000 from middle position. Lim was covered and would be at risk of elimination if he called.

Lim writhed in his seat and replayed the hand several times out loud.

"I beat nothing," he said.

He called anyway and saw the bad news as his opponent turned over the for a set of fours while Lim had top pair top kicker with his .

The river was just a formality and Lim left the event.

Player	Chips	Progress
Herve Brajon	110,000 82,000	82,000
Robert Lim	Busted

04-28-2022 22:40 UTC+3

Late Registration Closes in the Bounty Hunter Malta Event

Calum Grant

Level 9 : 1,000/1,500, 1,500 ante

The 114 surviving players are now on their dinner break in the €220 Bounty Hunter Malta Event. The tournament saw a total of 326 entries which generated a €31,300 prize pool.

The top 39 players get paid and receive a min-cash of €220 plus any bounties they claim while €6,500 is up top for the winner.