After five days of thrilling poker action, ten players will return to Portomaso Casino at 1 p.m. today, Monday, 5 May, to do battle for the title of Malta Poker Festival Grand Event champion.
The players have outlasted an astonishing total of 1,202 entrants for the €550 buy-in event, which created a €555,940 prize pool, smashing the €300,000 guarantee.
All remaining players have secured a minimum payday of €6,550, but will surely have their sights firmly locked on the €100,000 first-place prize.
Day 2 finished on the final table bubble. Antonio Scala of Italy comes into the final day as chip leader, with a 46 big blind stack of 11,500,000. He is followed by fellow countrymen Matteo Ferrara (8,840,000) and Aurelio Vallone (6,750,000). In a tightly-packed field, anyone could make a charge at the title today.
This is certainly the biggest spot of Scala's tournament career - with recorded cashes of under $5,000, he has already locked up a career-best result, and will be hoping to secure a first major title.
Ferrara's biggest score amongst recorded cashes of $67,628 is a minimum cash in the 2023 WSOP Main Event, and for a period yesterday he looked like he might run away with it after being on the right end of a cooler against Gustav Andersson. He came back towards the field at the end of the day, and will be hoping to regain that previous momentum.
Vallone is a slightly unknown quantity, but on the evidence of this week looks to be a talented and composed young player. He will certainly be a dangerman.
Domenico Lando (6,645,000) will be seeking to write a story for the ages, as he aims to capture successive Malta Poker Festival Grand Event titles, having lifted the trophy in October 2024 for a $140,000 payday.
Macedonian Dragan Ignjatovski (1,700,000) comes into the final day as the short-stack, nursing six big blinds, and will be aiming to spin it up, with Egon Holdhus of Norway (2,830,000) also slightly cut adrift from the rest of the field.
Alexander Maskell (5,645,000) is a WSOP-C winner, having triumphed in a £340 event for £16,000.
Start of Day 3 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Antonio Scala | Italy | 11,500,000 | 46 |
| 2 | Matteo Ferrara | Italy | 8,840,000 | 35 |
| 3 | Aurelio Vallone | Italy | 6,750,000 | 27 |
| 4 | Domenico Lando | Italy | 6,645,000 | 26 |
| 5 | Carsten Mawick | Germany | 6,455,000 | 25 |
| 6 | Alexander Maskell | United Kingdom | 5,645,000 | 22 |
| 7 | Vincenzo Popolo | Italy | 5,520,000 | 22 |
| 8 | Angelo Vietti | Italy | 4,780,000 | 19 |
| 9 | Egon Holdhus | Norway | 2,830,000 | 11 |
| 10 | Dragan Ignjatovski | North Macedonia | 1,700,000 | 6 |
The prizes the players are playing for are set out below.
Remaining Payouts
| Place | Prize | Place | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | €100,000 | 6 | €18,450 |
| 2 | €63,000 | 7 | €12,950 |
| 3 | €43,500 | 8 | €10,850 |
| 4 | €32,150 | 9 | €8,550 |
| 5 | €25,050 | 10 | €6,550 |
The players will return at 1 p.m. to 50-minute levels at Level 28, with blinds of 125,000/250,000, with a 250,000 big blind ante.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for all your coverage of the action, as we see who will lift the coveted Grand Event trophy and secure a six-figure payday.
