Malta Poker Events - €220 Monthly Tournament: September Edition [27.09.09]
Buy-in: €220
Style: Freeze-out
Satellite entries: 26
Total players registered: 67
Venue: Portomaso Casino, St.Julians, Malta
67 poker players registered for the first episode of our ‘Monthly €220 Poker Tournaments’ with their eyes set on the first prize of €4000 out of a pool which reached over €13,000 this month.
The September Edition was hosted in the larger, smoke-free poker hall at the Portomaso Casino; the same hall which was utilized for the internationally broadcast Malta Chili Poker Open 2009. The well-lit open space featured an area stacked with savoury snacks and refreshments for players to enjoy through the eight hour tournament.
Among the players present, there was a large part of Maltese poker players, and many Scandinavian players from the local igaming community. The tournament also attracted a few players from neighbouring Italy, and players from countries like Russia, Portugal and France. There were also a few EMOP participants present, who played at the international poker tournament held at the Casino di Venezia, Vittoriosa, earlier last week.
The first hand of the night was dealt at 18:45, and players quickly started their road to the final table of this months edition at the Portomaso Casino, holding a chip stack of 6000 with blinds increasing every 25 minutes.
By the first break the player count was down to 46 players taking the average stack to about 8500. Here, players started getting a feel for each other’s plays and taking advantage of the information at hand to take more calculated decisions at the felt.
Players kept up a steady pace with very active plays throughout the tournament and at around 12:30Am 9 players were left at the final table.
Towards the final hands with only 5 players left in the game, the blinds were now at 5k/10k and Therese Harvey [Malta] pushed with her 20K stack. She got called by Arthur Voskanyan [Russia] and Stefan Eric Johnson [Sweden] who then checked their way to the river holding Q6 and QT respectively. Therese’s Q9 paired a nine on the flop and kept its strength all the way to the river, tripling up and taking her stack up to 60,000 chips.
A few hands later, Stefan Eric Johnson, weakened from his previous loss, was all-in with 76 and got called by Georg Westin who was holding AT. Georg hit two pairs when the dealer showed AJT99 on the felt and sent out Stefan in fifth place taking home €1000.
With 4 remaming players at the table, Arthur Voskanyan from Russia, pushed his stack from under the gun while holding A10. What seemed like a steal turned into a successful play by Arthur as he got called by Therese’s K6. The flop gave Arthur a trips aces winning him the pot and sending out Therese in a highly respectable 4th place, taking home €1300. Therese gained entry to the €220 event through a €27+3 satellite tournament held earlier last week at the Portomaso Casino.
With 3 players left in the game and around €8000 to be won, Stefan Lundberg pushed all in holding Q9. Arthur called Stefan’s push and uncovered a stronger starting hand, AQ. The community cards came out showing 5T24A giving Arthur a pair of aces on the river. Stefan lundberg finished in third position and took home €1530 in his final hand before returning home to Sweden after his poker holiday in Malta.
Around seven and a half hours into the game, Arthur Voskanyan and Georg Westin went heads up in the final hand of the September edition of the monthly Malta Poker Events tournaments at the Portomaso Casino. With the blinds at 6k/12k, Arthur pushed all in holding Q10 and waited for Georg to act. Georg called this push right away while holding KQ and proceeded to watch the dealer uncover 96A32 giving him the advantage with his K high. Arthur won €2600 in second position and Georg took home the biggest share of the pot for his placing first - €4000.
9 players [of which two Maltese players – Antoine DeGiorgio and Therese Harvey] made it in the money and shared the chunky prize-pool, with €4000 going to 1st place, Georg Westin from Sweden. The top five players in last night’s tournaments were:
- Georg Westin [Sweden]- €4000
- Arthur Voskanyan [Russia]- €2600
- Stefan Lundberg [Sweden] - €1530
- Therese Harvey [Malta] - €1300
- Steffan Eric Johnson [Sweden] – €1000
Photos of this event may be viewed at the
Gallery on Maltapokerevents.com