The final ‘Stage 1 satellite’ for the month of September was held at the Portomaso Casino on Tuesday the 28th September 2010 and from the 49 players who registered for the event, a total of 11 prizes were given out to the skilled players who made it to the final 11.
Players who haven’t visited the Portomaso Casino in the last 2 weeks can come to expect a new setting at the Poker room which has recently undergone a welcome refurbishment. All the poker tables have now been moved to the no smoking section which has been extended to accommodate a further 4 tables taking up capacity to 60 players. With the tables all organised in one section, players will come to enjoy a more secluded experience at the felt, away from the table games.
The players at the ‘Stage 1 satellite’ were competing to win themselves a ticket for the Malta Poker Open 2010 Super satellite, worth €120. These ‘qualifier/satellite’ tournaments have been setup purposely to give everyone a chance at winning their €1,100 main event seat for the Malta Poker Open 2010 – Powered by XLBet.
The live satellite structure includes 2 progressive ‘satellite’ tournaments which lead to the main event, meaning that players can win a €1,100 seat with just €10. Players may also buy-in to the super satellite, or into the main event directly, by paying up the buy-in fee at the Portomaso Casino registration desk. Check out the event details below for more information about the satellite tournament schedule being used for this year’s Malta Poker Open – Powered by XLBet
MaltaPoker Open 2010 – Powered by XLBet: Stage 1 Satellite
Days: Every Tuesday
Venue: Portomaso Casino
Buy-in – €10 + €1
Tournament style: Re-buy tournament
Prizes: €120 Super Satellite
Malta Poker Open 2010 – Powered by XLBet: Stage 2 / Super Satellite
Dates: 3/10 [MTT], 28/10 [MTT], 29/10 [SNG]
Venue: Portomaso Casino
Buy-in – €10 + €1
Tournament style: Freeze-out tournament
Prizes: €1,100 main event seat to the Malta Poker Open 2010 – Powered by XLBet
Malta Poker Open 2010 – Powered by XLBet: €1,100 Main Event
Dates: 30th & 31st October 2010
Venue: Portomaso Casino
Buy-in – €1,100
Tournament style: Re-buy tournament
Prizes: Cash prizes from the prize-pool
Expected prize-pool: €150,000
Players have been encouraged to participate in as many ‘Stage 1’ satellites as possible, since they may use their prizes for any and as many of the ‘Super Satellite’ tournaments – increasing their chances to win a main event seat for the MPO2010. This month, another 45 ‘Super satellite’ seats have been given out, taking up the total to almost 100 players so far.
Tuesday’s tournament kicked off at 8pm with 49 registered players gathered up in the new poker area at the Portomaso Casino. The game progressed utilising the usual structure with 15 minute blinds and 5,000 chips as a starting stack. Players were also permitted to make 2 re-buys before the break as well as an add-on before the first break, giving them an extra boost with which to reach the final table.
By around 10pm Renzo Bonnici was in the lead of the tournament with 27,000 chips and was followed by Giuseppe Cali who held 22,000 at the time. All 49 players were still at their seats at that stage of the night.
A couple of hours later, at around mid-night, the tables had turned and a new player took the lead, Joesphine Mc Kay, with 139,900 chips. Ms. Mc Kay held almost twice as many chips as her closest opponent, Giuseppe Cali, with his 76,000, who was in turn followed by Clare Vella with 65,000 chips.
By approximately 12:15am Julian Gatt, entered a heads up battle against chip-leader Josephine Mc Kay. Holding 13,000 chips Julian pushed all in with a suited 89 and got called by McKay’s K6. The flop showed Q5633, which paired McKay’s 6 sending Julian out in 14thposition, practically minutes before the game came to an end.
Julian had been featured in the ‘Malta Poker Players section’ of the Malta Poker Events site, for the numerous ‘in the money finishes’ which he achieved playing online multi-table tournaments late in 2009.
We took 5 minutes of Julian’s time, after he exited the tournament to find out what this poker player was up to, as we hadn’t seen him at the felt in a while.
”I took a short break from Poker this Summer. I had a very good year in 2009 and kept it up all the way up till February / March this year, but as the warmer months got closer, I welcomed Summer as I usually do – Parties, Social activities, travels around Europe….and more parties!
“Now it’s time to get back into the action! It’s Autumn already, and today I got the buzz to start playing again. I’m going to need a few games to warm up and go back to my comfort zone, so you’ll be seeing a lot of me in the coming weeks, getting back in competition shape.”
“Although I didn’t make it in the money today, I got pretty close. I noticed that the player level is getting better compared to the last live games I played. I also prefer this new ambient with all the poker tables in the no-smoking area, It’s well laid out, and promotes a more positive poker experience. The Portomaso is definitely no. 1 on my list of local casinos – staff are friendly and efficient, service is great, and the place had a good vibe to it.”
Today I messed up on two big hands. I made a re-buy and add-on, but I was never higher than average stack. I didn’t catch that many good cards tonight, which obviously restricted my play slightly. Not that I only play premium hands, that’s not possible with tournament poker. I trained myself to play the player and not the hand, in fact today I could almost say that I bluffed myself to the 14th place, but sometimes the bigger stacked players just call, and that spelled disaster in my case today. I showed confidence all the way, but unluckily it wasn’t enough to win me a seat for this week-end.”
“I’m really looking forward to the Malta Poker Open 2010. Last year I had played but busted out early with AK when I ran into aces held by my opponent. I won’t forget that hand…AK of hearts. I was out amongst the first 30 players so I didn’t even make it to the second day, but this year, I’m going for number 1. “I’ll do what it takes to win the title and first prize of the Malta Poker Open 2010…watch me!”
“I have a sort of love hate relationship with poker, sometimes it reminds me of a certain saying about spouses/partners etc…’You can’t live with them, You can’t live without them’. It might sound odd, but I’m sure that many players share my view. Sometimes you give it your best and you run like you’re on fire, trapping your opponents and pushing them around like you’re controlling their every move. That usually happens when you get good reads on them, and it comes with experience. The downside however, is that sometimes, if you loosen up too much, the element of luck kicks you down so hard that it might be impossible to get back up, especially in a freeze-out tourney. Mind you, whenever I get slammed, it gives me an even stronger drive to play….in the long run, good consistent players are the winners…that is how I played in 2009, and I’ll use the same strategy at the Malta Poker Open 2010’
We cut our interview a bit short as we heard someone push all-in at the bubble stage while there were 12 players left – At which point Josephine McKay knocked out the final player when her A9 went up against his 99. McKay hit a pair of aces on the turn and trips on the river, bringing the tournament to a close at around 12:30am.
The winners included:
Clare Vella
Josephine McKay
Massimo Casadei
Maude Smith
Adrian Zammit
Hubert Micallef
Sean Bullard
Ilya Reshetin
Joseph Camilleri
Giuseppe Cali
Giovanni Tozzolino
The much awaited super satellite for the Malta Poker Open 2010 – powered by XLBet is taking place at the Portomaso Casino on Sunday 3rd, October 2010. The tournament will kick off at 4:30pm and players who haven’t got their tickets yet, may register directly at the Portomaso Casino cash desk. Tournament buy-in is €110 + €10 and will give the winners entry to the €1,100 main event of the Malta Poker Open 2010 – Powered by XLBet.
Note:
The blind structure for the Super Satellite tournament has recently been revised [based on satellite winners feedback] to feature 30 minute levels with a 10,000 starting stack. This will give way for a more balanced tournament with gradually increasing levels. The same levels used in the ‘Stage 1’ satellites will be maintained throughout the Super satellite giving players a structure which they’re already familiar with.
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