The live wire that is Ilan Boujenah has bought into Day 1b of WPT Malta, has have Jesper Hougaard and Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Selbst. They are bound to be a pain in the backside for anyone who they are sat with!
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 |
Aladin Mrkaljevic has just had his fingers burned sligtly after a clash with Mustapha Kanit.
It was Kanit who opened the betting with a raise to 300 from middle position and the action then folded to Mrkaljevic on the button. He paused before announcing a raise to 900 and placing a pink 1,000 chip over the betting line.
Both blinds folded, putting the action back onto Kanit and after 30 seconds of thinking time Kanit decided to four-bet to 2,525 and Mrkaljevic quickly got out of the way.
As he was mucking Kanit showed the 
much the amusement of the rest of the table.
Here's a selection of chip counts from around the room.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
44,800
14,800
|
14,800 |
|
||
|
39,300
9,300
|
9,300 |
|
34,200
4,200
|
4,200 |
|
33,600
3,600
|
3,600 |
|
33,575
3,575
|
3,575 |
|
||
|
33,000 | |
|
31,250
2,650
|
2,650 |
|
31,000
1,000
|
1,000 |
|
||
|
|
29,600
-400
|
-400 |
|
29,250
-750
|
-750 |
|
28,900
-1,100
|
-1,100 |
|
24,500 | |
|
|
||
|
22,300
-7,700
|
-7,700 |
|
21,250
-8,750
|
-8,750 |
|
|
21,000
-9,000
|
-9,000 |
Fresh from the disappointment of bubbling the $10,300 Heads-Up High Roller WCOOP event last night, Jason Mercier has decided to come and take his frustration out here in Malta.
Should Mercier go all the way and take down this tournament, he would become the latest player to win the coveted live Triple Crown having alrady won a WSOP bracelet and an EPT main event.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
30,000 |
Jesper Hougaard opened in early position, Giovanni Rizzo three-bet from the small blind and Hougaard decided to call.
The first three cards onto the board read 
. Rizzo must like what he saw because he fired a continuation bet of 900 into Hougaard and Hougaard called.
Fourth street was the 
, and Rizzo bet again, this time 1,700. Once again Hougaard called. The 
landed ont he river and now Rizzo checked. Hougaard bet 4,000 and Rizzo was not prepared to pay that and he folded, showing 
as he did so.
Recent World Series of Poker bracelet winner Ronnie Bardah was the first player to show any aggression, open-raising from the cutoff seat to 350. Jackson Genovesi was the small blind and he called; Steven van Zadelhoff tossed in the extra chips from the big blind.
The trio shared the 
flop but nobody wanted to bet and the action was checked around. The 
on the turn saw Genovesi lead out with a 500 bet but van Zadelhoff either had a strong hand or didn't believe Genovesi's story (or both) and promptly raised to 1,625 using a pink, yellow, red and black chip to do so.
"Is that a rainbow?" asked Bardah
"Not suite It is missing this blue (5,000) one!" replied van Zadelhoff.
Bardah folded. Genovesi leaned over to get a better view of van Zadelhoff and must have picked up on something because as soon as he leaned back into a normal sitting position he flicked his cards into the muck.
Level 2 has come to an end and we are now on a 15-minute break. Rejoin us in, well, 15-minutes!
Level: 3
Blinds: 100/200
Ante: 0
The dangerous Mustapha Kanit opened the preflop betting round with a min-raise to 400 from middle position and nobody want to tangle with him. That was until the action was on Ilan Boujenah on the button who three-bet to 1,100. Both blinds folded but Kanit called.
The 
flop was initially checked by Kanit, Boujenah continued to 1,625 and Kanit called. The on the turn completed a potential flush and Kanit possibly tried to represent it by leading out for 3,525 but Boujenah was having none of it and he quickly called.
Kanit continued his assault on the pot when the landed on the river, firing a bet of 10,650. Boujenah snap-called and was shown 
by Kanit but the Israeli could beat him as he had flopped top set with 
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
42,300
12,300
|
12,300 |
|
|
10,000
-21,000
|
-21,000 |
|
|
||
The action folded around to Ilan Boujenah on the button and he set the price to play at 400. Both Morten Klein and Jason Mercier, seated in the small blind and big blind respectively, called making it three-handed to the flop.
Nobody wanted to take a stab at the pot on the flop or on the 
turn but when the 
showed up on the river Klein took a 800 chance and it was enough to scoop the pot.
