button in SafariCalo Leads Rayssiguier and 17 Survivors After Day 1a of WSOPC Malta Main Event
The bubble burst unexpectedly early this Wednesday, September 30, on Day 1a of the €1,500 World Series of Poker Circuit Main Event at Casino Malta. From a field of 107 entries, which generated a €135,000 prize pool, 17 players made it through to Day 2 and secured a spot in the money before midnight, whereas it normally takes one or two more levels to get down to the remaining 15% of the field.
This number was reached in large part thanks to Mikel Calo, who went from an average stack to 940,000 by scoring two eliminations during the final hands. He first found aces against queens to nearly double, then hit a runner-runner flush to beat Robert Binek's two pair and send him to the rail on the bubble.
Thanks to these hands, the Italian player bagged the chip lead ahead of Thomas Rayssiguier (534,000) and local player Matthew Micallef (480,000).
Day 1a Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mikel Calo | Italy | 940,000 | 157 |
| 2 | Thomas Rayssiguier | France | 534,000 | 89 |
| 3 | Matthew Micallef | Malta | 480,000 | 80 |
| 4 | Carlo van Ravenswoud | Netherlands | 443,000 | 74 |
| 5 | Gabriele Paone | Italy | 430,000 | 72 |
| 6 | Gabriele Re | Italy | 358,000 | 60 |
| 7 | Riccardo Trevisani | Italy | 309,000 | 52 |
| 8 | Evangelos Charalampous | Cyprus | 276,000 | 46 |
| 9 | Koen Meutsege | Netherlands | 260,000 | 43 |
| 10 | Birger Larsen | Norway | 237,000 | 40 |
Carlo van Ravenswoud (443,000), Gabriele Paone (430,000) and Gabriele Re (358,000) follow, while Evangelos Charalampous, who held the chip lead for most of the day, finished with 276,000.
Birger Larsen ended the day with 237,000, slightly more than Georgios Tsouloftas (221,000) and Mario Llapi (190,000), while David Ledden (158,000), Filip Barczak (101,000) and Andrea Dal Bo (82,000) bagged the shortest stacks of the day.
After this first flight, the second of four flights, Day 1b, will kick off this Thursday, October 1, at 12:30 p.m. local time. It will follow the exact same structure as Day 1a, with 40-minute levels and unlimited reentries allowed during the first 12 levels of the day.
Stay tuned for exclusive PokerNews live updates from Malta as we follow the rest of the 2026 WSOP Circuit Malta Main Event!