October Final Satellite – 29/10/09 – Malta Poker Events
The final episode of the weekly live satellite tournaments hosted by Malta Poker Events attracted 39 players on Thursday the 29th October at the Portomaso Casino St. Julians. Four tickets for the Halloween tournament were given out as prizes for the satellite winners with €173 went out to the player who placed in fifth.
Among the players present, were some of the regular Malta Poker Events fans and winners Gordon Mifsud [Malta Chilipoker Open 5th Prize winner], Andrew Camilleri [Malta Chilipoker Open 8th Prize winner], Georg Westin [September Edition 1st Prize Winner] and Ron Rose [Malta Poker seminar speaker, 2 time WPT winner and WSOP champion]
The event started at 20:30Hrs where 39 poker players had their final chance to win a seat to €220 Halloween Poker Tournament taking place at the Portomaso Casino, Malta, on Sunday the 1st November 2009.
The final table started at around 11:30Pm, with many familiar faces at the table, including Georg Westin, Andrew Tabone, Matthew Attard, Ron Rose and Alex Grima,
Andrew Tabone, one of the most consistent players in the local poker scene was chip leader at the time, following a series of aggressive plays and stone cold expressions giving his opponents a hard time getting a read on his hands. Ron Rose was also deep in the game with eight players left, yet was sitting at the bottom end of the scale with 800 chips, the lowest chip stack on the table at that stage of the night.
With the blinds at 600/1200 and Andrew Tabone on the Big Blind, Ron called the big blind and was All-in with his 800 chips. Veit Jan also called the Big Blind yet folded when Andrew re-raised after the flop showed 6K2. Ron’s A9 went up against Andrew’s JT diamonds at this point with Ron’s 800 in the pot. Ron was delighted when the turn showed an Ace which was further strengthened with another Ace on the river giving him a set of Aces, yet Andrew’s hand had grown much stronger in comparison by now as he hit his Flush of Diamonds, sending Ron out in 8th position.
The chip distribution was now as follows:
1. Andrew Tabone [Malta]
2. Sergei Cutajar [Malta]
3. Alex Grima [Malta]
4. Matthew Attard [Malta]
5. David Lindström [Sweden]
6. Veit Jan [Germany]
7. Georg Westin [Sweden]
Andrew Tabone was bullying the table around with his monumental stack eating away at other players blinds and forcing his opponents to rethink challenges he was offering them – Here, with Alex Grima on the small blind and Georg Westin on the Big Blind, Andrew called the BB and Alex retaliated by pushing All in whilst holding JT. Georg Westin folded his hand feeling that the time wasn’t right to place all his chips into play yet, and Andrew Tabone quickly called Alex’s push whilst holding AQ. The flop showed 53697 and this didn’t help Alex overpower Andrew’s hand, which sent Alex out in 7th position.
Georg took his chance in the next deciding hand for his placing when he went All-in against Sergei Cutajar [BB]. Georg put his 3,300 on the table whilst holding QQ against Sergei’s Q10. the flop showed KJ878 and Georg quickly doubled up to 6,600 with QQ in hands and a pair of snowmen on the table.
Georg was back in the game with his revitalized stack yet another challenge against Andrew Tabone was about to affect his game considerably. Holding a pair of 10’s Georg Westin put all his chips on the table against Andrew Tabone who was holding JQ [clubs]. The flop showed 4JQ66 giving Andrew the lead which sent Georg out in 6th Position in his final struggle to get an ‘in the money’ placing in the final stages of the tournament.
By 12:49AM the blinds were at 1,400/2,800 and Jan Veit pushed All-in holding K9 with 6,000 chips. Matthew Attard, the lowest stacked player at the table took his chance holding K5 and called Jan’s bet with his 4,600 chips. Jan had a slightly better starting hand with K9 and hit his K on the flop and followed by hitting a 9 on the turn paring both his hole cards, and sending out Matthew Attard out in fifth position winning €173.
€220 Halloween tournament ticket winners: From Left to right – [Sergei Cutajar, Jan Veit, David Lindström, Andrew Tabone]
Winner of the remaining pot [€173]:
– Matthew Attard
The Poker weekend action continues with Malta Poker Events at the Portomaso Casino on Saturday the 31st October [19:00Hrs] with the €45 Knockout and the €220 Halloween tournament on Sunday the 1st November [16:30Hrs]. Players are encouraged to dress up in Halloween Costumes for these events to blend with the theme of the ‘Spookiest tournaments of the year’.