Another fantastic event at this week’s Malta Poker Events satellite tournament. The event was held on Thursday the 9th April at the Portomaso Casino. With two weeks to go, players are definitely giving the Malta ChiliPoker Open its due importance as one of Malta’s most anticipated Poker events. The satellite tournament attracted 43 Players who competed for 6 prizes which included 4 Malta ChiliPoker Main event Tickets [€330 Buy-in] and 2 tickets for the Malta Poker Seminar, headlined by Poker pro, Ron Rose.
The 5 tables allotted to the satellite were filled with poker players from different walks of life and different nationalities like Malta, Germany, Uk, France, Czech Republic and Austria. The majority of players were male, yet we noticed a positive increase in the number of female players compared to the previous weeks.
The tournament lasted around four and a half hours with almost half the players out of their seats by the first 90 minutes play. Early hands seen in the first stage of the tournament included Anthony Deguara holding AK where he went up against Lina Theuma holding an AQ. Tony pushed with 5900 chips and hit a King on the river sending Lina out of the tournament with her dominated Queen.
Karsten Busch’s all in and final hand got called by Kevin O’neill who held a better hand and a greater than average chip stack at this time. The flop uncovered a queen that gave Kevin a pair of queens which remained the highest valued cards on the felt by the river. This gave Kevin an even stronger position than he held before, turning him into chip leader on his table. O’neill knocked out another player, Andrea Stellato holding AK in his final hand when he went up against Kevin, holding pocket tens, and all in. The players hands didn’t get stronger when combined with the community cards. The deal won Kevin all of Andrea’s chips.
Trevor Borg, a new face at the Malta Poker Events tournaments, pulled a flush on the river against his opponent who held a respectable QQ. Trevor pushed all in as his final last move in the hand which got called winning him his opponent’s pot. Trevor kicked out another player when his AA went up against 88. None of the player’s hands improved and Trevor won yet another sizeable pot, giving him a favourable position at this stage of the tournament.
Trevor Caruana, a regular at the Malta Poker Events games, who won his ticket to this week’s satellite by placing fifth in last week’s game, got trapped by Matthew Barry’s Flush which dominated Trevor’s KJ. Barry claimed all of Trevor’s chips with his move.
Kevin O’neill who was still on a good run so far, encountered a setback when he caught a KQ. Three players were in on this hand, with bets being called by Adrian Sciberras [A7] and Stefan Kaindlstorfer [KJ] who was on two pairs as the flop was showing K2J. A king on the river made the waters more dangerous for Kevin who was now holding a set of Kings against Steffan’s full house. Kevin pushed all in only to be called by Steffan who won the hand beating both players and giving him a much greater advantage as the tournament was halfway through.
Matthew Barry came out victorious in yet another hand when he called Mario Magri’s all in. Mario pushed all in holding a K10, and Barry called with his AJ. Mario, holding a flush draw and gut shot lost the hand as Barry hit two pairs. The paired AJ held their strength, finishing off Mario’s chances to enter the top six positions.
Down to the final table, the average stack was around 11,000 chips with the chip leader holding around 25k. Here, Luke Galea, one of the more focused players throughout the tournament held pocket 10’s as he gave his final push. He got called by Anthony Deguara holding KQ who paired a Queen on the turn, thus eliminating Luke.
Anthony’s hand strength was forced once again onto Chris Sammut, low stacked at the time. Chris went all in holding 97 yet he got called by Anthony Deguara, holding K6. Anthony’s King paired up on the felt winning him all of Chris’s chips
As the action started getting tougher, Anthony Deguara went all in with an A7 and got called by Etienne Do’s A6. None of the players hit on the flop turn or river, yet a pair of Kings and 2 over cards surfaced on the table which saved Etienne Do as the hand resulted in a split pot between the two players.
By this time the blinds had reached 800/1600 and 6 players were left in the game. The game slowed down considerably with far fewer hands being called. All the remaining players were eligible to prizes at this point as the tourney paid out 4 main event tickets as well as 2 Malta Poker Seminar tickets. Two players out at this stage would result in the end of the tourney, so players were playing very carefully in order to secure their seat in the Malta Chili Poker Open.
An all-in by Etienne Do, holding A10 got called by Barry who, also holding A10 called Etienne’s bet. There was the possibility for a flush, yet the pot ended up split between the two players. This was the second time Etienne showed his cards, and his second split pot on the final table.
The next hand saw the table going down to five players when Daniel Briffa went all in with 6400 chips while holding A10. He got called by Etienne Do whose 77 kept their strength when the community cards showed 45K96.
Anthony Deguara, now grinding his way through, came to a turning point in the tournament when he went all in with 3,200 chips. He got called by Etienne Do and Matthew Barry holding KJ and QJ respectively. The felt was Queen High, but Anthony’s pocket Kings held up against the other player’s cards by the river which allowed him to triple up turning him into the second biggest stack on the table.
After several more tight plays on the table, Anthony Deguara went all in with his Hooks [JJ] and got called by Stefan Kaindlstorfer, the chip leader at the time. Stefan was holding JQ which gave him two pairs as there were a J and Q on the felt, yet Anthony’s trips gave him the advantage here giving him chip leader position, now holding over 17000 chips.
Another heads up between Anthony and Stefan saw Stefan go all in with AJ against Anthony’s K6 which hit a King on the flop. Stefan won this hand though as he also paired his Ace on the flop when the table showed a K5A77
The tournament came to a close at the 13th level, with the blinds at 1400/2800. The final hand saw Anthony push all-in when he hit the nuts on the river with a full house holding 45 in big blind position. To his misfortune, Barry [K8] was drawing a dead straight which he hit on the turn as the 4 on the river sent Barry out in 5th place. The final deal showed 54764 on the table.
The Satellite Winners 1st through 4th:
Malta ChiliPoker Open Main Event Tickets [Final 4 positions]
Anthony Deguara
Stefan Kaindlstorfer
Matthew Calascione
Etienne Do
Malta Poker Seminar Tickets [5th and 6th]
Matthew Barry
Daniel Briffa
2 more satellite tournaments will be held next week on Thursday the 16th April at the Portomaso Casino and the Oracle Casino. The events are scheduled to start at 20:30Hrs
Winners wil get the chance to win tickets to the Malta Chilipoker Open, and the Malta Poker Seminar. The Malta Poker Seminar is being held at the Mediterranean Conference Centre on the 18th & 19th April 2009. Professional Poker player Ron Rose will be headlining the event.
The remaining tickets for the Malta Poker Seminar are available from the Portomaso Casino, the Mediterranean Conference Centre and may also be booked throughinfo@maltapokerevents.com