The Portomaso Casino in sunny St Julian's was a hive of activity today, as the Malta Poker Festival started to get into full swing.
Along with Day 2 of the PokerNews Championship, Day 1b of the €550 Grand Event was the main attraction. After a two-hour bubble, 12 players progressed from the 82 entrants, with play concluding with 17 minutes left in Level 16. They join 24 qualifiers from Day 1a.
Frenchman Ludovic Uzan bagged a huge stack of 1,412,000 to take the overall chip lead - over double that of his closest challengers in Day 1b, Boban Stevanovic of Serbia (674,000) and Brit Alexander Maskell (477,000).
Uzan was among the chip leaders for the entire day, and started to gather real momentum after going runner-runner for quads to bust Yvonne Fuge. From there he only added to his stack, leveraging it expertly on the bubble to rake in pots.
Uzan boasts recorded cashes of $138,541, and clearly enjoys the Malta Poker Festival, finishing seventh in the Grand Event in April last year for $16,000 - his third biggest score.
Johannes-Herald Stephan was the unfortunate player to exit on the bubble, his pocket eights being usurped on the turn by Maskell.
PokerNews ambassador Lukas Robinson was also among the players to hit the rail in Day 1b, and he'll be sure to be on the hunt for a bag for Day 2 in the five remaining flights.
End of Day 1b Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ludovic Uzan | France | 1,412,000 |
| 2 | Boban Stevanovic | Serbia | 674,000 |
| 3 | Alexander Maskell | United Kingdom | 477,000 |
| 4 | Jason Shellum | United Kingdom | 350,000 |
| 5 | Uwe Behrendt | Germany | 322,000 |
| 6 | David Leger | France | 303,000 |
| 7 | Steven Penney | United Kingdom | 202,000 |
| 8 | Bob Jansen | Netherlands | 119,000 |
| 9 | Francisco Jimenez | Colombia | 114,000 |
| 10 | Andrew Fleming | United Kingdom | 92,000 |
| 11 | Ferry Janssen | Netherlands | 76,000 |
| 12 | Mihai Norocel | Romania | 47,000 |
The next opportunity for players to qualify for Day 2 arises Thursday, May 1 at 1 p.m, when Day 1c of the €300,000 guaranteed MPF Grand Event will see further hordes of players descend on Portomaso Casino.
Day 1c will feature 40-minute levels, with late registration open until the start of Level 11. Players will start with 50,000 chips at blind level 100/200, with a 200 big blind ante. Players are permitted two reentries per flight, with play concluding when 15% of the field remains, all of whom will be in the money.
PokerNews will be on the floor from the start of the day, so stay tuned for all your coverage of the MPF Grand Event.
