Malta Poker Open – Stage One Satellite, August: Ep. 1
This first edition of the Stage 1 satellites for the Malta Poker Open attracted 42 players who registered for the low entry No Hold’em re-buy tournament. Players competed for the €110 + €10 SUPER Satellite tickets which may gain them entry to the €1,100 Malta Poker Open being held between the 29th and the 31st October 2010 at the Portomaso Casino.
Players were at their seats by 20:15hrs and took up 4 tables at the Portomaso Casino poker hall. They were each given 5,000 chips as their starting stacks for the tourney, which featured 20 minute blind intervals.
The tournament structure for the €10 + €1 satellite tourney gave players the opportunity to purchase 2 re-buys before the break as well as one add-on at the first break. Some players took advantage of this structure by requesting a re-buy at tournament kick-off to give them a better positioning at the earlier stage of the tourney.
Andrew Cutajar, an ‘in the money’ player at the Summer Face/Off Poker tournament held in May 2010 – and the best placing Maltese Player at that event – was one of the more familiar faces at the Stage 1 satellite for the Malta Poker Open tournament. We stole a few minutes from Andrew’s break to get some valued feedback about the upcoming Malta Poker Openand the ongoing satellite qualifiers schedule.
“I rarely ever participate at tournaments with such low entries, because low entries usually result in less capable competitors, who don’t respect the ethics of poker. Malta Poker Events tournaments rarely ever attract such low skilled players though, so I willingly play at any of their events, regardless of the buy-in. Having said that, the Malta Poker Open main event ticket is slightly over my current bank-roll budget, at €1,100, but these low cost tourneys are a fantastic way to win myself a Malta Poker Open ticket for a fraction of the main event ticket cost!
Recently, I’ve been working on my multi table strategy, which is proving itself in my tournament placings and money finishes. A consistent practice schedule in both the live and the online field helps me maintain my edge and keeps me in the right mindset when I need it the most. Hopefully, my skills will get me through today’s tournament and help me win a super-satellite ticket for the Malta Poker Open – If it’s anything as good as last year’s event – and I’m pretty sure it will be – we’re in for one hell of a tourney!” – Andrew Cutajar.
At the end of the first break, 32 players were left in the game from the starting count of 42 participants. Apart from the initial buy-in, re-buys and add-ons pushed the total prize pool up to €1030, guaranteeing 8 Super Satellites to the remaining 8 players in the game and six ‘Stage 1’ satellite tickets for the 6 runners up.
By 23:45 hrs players were at the 8th level of the tournament with blinds at the 500/1,000 level. 21 players were left in the tournament at that stage with 15 players to go for the tournament completion. Oleksande Feshchenko was in the lead with approximately 60,000 chips maintaining a gap of around 30,000 chips over his closest opponent. Oleksande was still in the chip lead when he paired a King from his Big Slick [AK] vs his opponents QQ, breaking down the tables to the final two.
One hour later, the increase in blinds started to take it’s toll on many of the lower stacked players, which resulted in 13 remaining players. The chip-leader, Feshchenko, temporarily lost his lead to Jason Deguara, who became the new chip leader by the 1000/2000 level of blinds. Oleksande kept in close pursuit sitting closely in Jason’s rearview and eventually caught up, after Jason lost a series of sizeable pots to some hyper-aggressive tactics played out by his opponents.
The two remaining tables finally broke up to the final table with just two players to go for the tournament completion. Gabor Kispeter was the first player out, and was followed by Jason Deguara, once chip-leader at the event. Deguara lost to a full house against French opponent Adrien Bonnaud whose pocket 8’s brought the tournament to a close.
A total of 8 SUPER satellite tickets were given out at the end of the ‘Stage 1’ satellite tourney. Winners included:
€110 + €10 Super Satellite Winners
Oleksande Feshchenko
Andrew Cutajar
Maude Smith
Ruben Vellden
S. Cutajar
Carmel Chircop
Adrien Bonnaud
Kristofer Strubbe
The tournament entries left some extra prizes for runners up who placed between the 9thand 14th place. Winners gained themselves entry to the Malta Poker Open Stage 1 satellite tournaments taking place every Tuesday at the Portomaso Casino.
Runners up included
9th Jason Deguara
10th Gabor Kispeter
11th Anton Abela
12th Josef Bartolo
13th Richter Claus
14th Federico Oddenino
The next ‘Stage 1’ satellite event for the Malta Poker Open will take place at the Portomaso Casino on Tuesday the 17th August 2010. Players are advised to register for the event as soon as possible to ensure that they find a seat for the successful popular tournament.
The next €110+€10 SUPER Satellite tournament will take place on the 5th September 2010 at the Portomaso Casino. Players who pass through the Super satellite will win themselves a €1,100 seat to the Malta Poker Open.
The Malta Poker Open 2010 – powered by XLBet.com, will take place between the 29thand 31st October 2010 at the Portomaso Casino. The tournament’s main event will feature a buy-in of €1,100 and is expected to attract several poker players from around Europe to compete for a potential prize-pool in excess of €150,000. For more details about the Malta Poker Open event as well as satellite schedules and qualifying options, visit Malta Poker Events at http://www.maltapokerevents.com