Malta Poker Events – Satellite Update
The fifth Malta Poker Events Satellite tournament attracted 30 players who all shared the same goal: To win a seat to the Malta Chilipoker Open being held at the Portomaso Casino from the 24th till the 26th April 2009.
Payouts for last night’s tournament included three seats to the €330 Malta Chilipoker Open event and three tickets to next week’s satellite.
The players were all seated by 20:30 when the tournament commenced. Various familiar faces plus a host of new ones graced the tables with their different styles and strategies. Some of who were sporting headphones, sunglasses and caps, mimicking their idols as they appear on televised events like the WSOP, WPT and other international events.
Most of the players were Maltese yet there were also some foreign players who participated in the satellite, from which players started dropping out after a few hands were dealt. The 3 table tournament was down to two tables by the beginning of the first break.
Following the intermission, the weakest players began to get blinded out and initiated a series of pushing tactics in order to double up and increase their chances of making it to the final six positions. The tactic worked for a few, yet the majority lost their chips to better stacked players who either trapped the weaker ones, or called, simply because of their relative stack size hitting pairs and trips by the turn or river.
Lawrence Galea bubbled in seventh position against Clive Tong, who paired his Ace [5 kicker] against the KQ held by Lawrence. He was followed by Hubert Micallef whose AQ didn’t hit develop into a stronger hand against Joseph Grech’s pocket 8’s. Hubert won a ticket to next week’s satellite. The next player out was Mario Magri, a 9 to 1 underdog with his Q8 against Trevor Caruana’s A8. Mario also made it into the top six and won himself a seat to next week’s satellite.
The remaining players at this stage were Trevor Caruana, Clive Tong, Joseph Grech and Joseph Camilleri. Here Trevor Caruana, who was relatively short stacked started pushing very aggressively which resulted in him quickly becoming chip leader.
Trevor did not maintain his position though, as Clive, who was the short stack a few hands before, managed to take some of Trevor blinds. In addition, Trevor also started to call several hands against other players, only to fold before the turn in most of them.
A match between Clive and Joseph Grech saw an all in from Clive who hit trips on the flop only to be called by Joe, who hit a full house with his 9,2. Luckily for Clive, the turn and river were 3 and 3 which resulted in a split pot between the two players, who also benefited from Trevor’s 3500 bet after Joe’s call. This was a deciding hand for Clive who luckily survived, giving him a slightly bigger stack than when he entered it.
The game started getting to a close as Trevor’s chip stack started deteriorating. The final hand saw Trevor push once again with his A7 only to be called by Clive. Trevor didn’t hit on the flop, or turn, and when the Ace surfaced on the river, it gave Trevor the higher pair, but it also resulted in a straight for Clive, who won the final hand of last night’s satellite.
Thanks to the great attendance last night, 6 prizes were given out to the players who made it in the top 6 positions.
Prizes were awarded as follows:
1st through 3rd – €330 Malta Chilipoker Main Event winners:
Clive Tong, Joseph Grech & Joseph Camilleri
4th through 6th – Satellite tickets for next week’s tournament:
Trevor Caruana, Mario Magri & Hubert Micallef
Next week’s satellite will be taking place at the Portomaso Casino on Thursday the 9thApril. The event is scheduled to start at 20:30Hrs. Early registration is recommended.
For photos of last night’s satellite please visit the Gallery at MaltaPokerEvents.com
You may contact us for more information on info@maltapokerevents.com