Last Sunday the 5th September, XLBet.com ran their first online qualifiers for the Malta Poker Open holiday package. Amongst the players present, were several Danish players as well as Italian ‘S4NGU1NOSOLD1’ and 2 Maltese players going by the aliases ‘AttardFrank’ and ‘Fishpeterg’ who both made it through the free-roll and the €44 Sub-Satellite which took place prior to Sunday’s ‘Online Super Satellite’
The structure offered players ten minute blinds giving players plenty of space to place some quality online poker, yet by the first break, the tournament had already lost AttardFrank, maxludo and Zeus90x. The chip leaders at that stage, would eventually be the finalists who eventually would take on each other in a heated heads-up battle for theMalta Poker Open holiday package!
The heads–up between the finalists started at the end of the second break. ‘79Fjorden’ was in a good position in possession of 2/3 of the chips at the table, but one hand quickly changed the situation around, when ‘79Fjorden’ opened with AK for 1,000 on ‘matros12’s 400 big blind, who easily called with 10 7 suited.
The flop came out as an ace high, and ‘79Fjorden’ decided to slow play and check after, should the turn be too be expensive. It started well as the turn was a 10, which put ‘matros12’ in a prefect position to call ‘79Fjorden´s 1,250 bet on turn. The river came out as a miraculous 7 for matros12, and gave him the confidence to push all in, with an additional 5,410 chips. ‘79Fjorden’ called, but only to see ‘matros12’ take over the chip lead.
The heads up battle carried on for another seemingly endless 35 minutes, before the final hand was played out. ‘79Fjorden’ limped in for another 300 chips from small blind with J9, whilst ‘matros12’ – on the big blind – checked after with K9 of clubs.
The flop came 8J5 with two clubs, and matros12 leaded out with a bet of 700, ‘79Fjorden’ raised to 2000, and ‘matros12’ called only to see the Flush arrive on turn. Once a gain, ‘matros12’ decided to lead out, this time with a bet of 2700. ‘79Fjorden’ went into the box before deciding to go all in with top pair and a Jack high flush draw, but when matros12 turned around his card he could himself drawing dead, as matros12 already had hit the flush king high.
2 hours and 35 minutes from the start of the tournament, ‘matros12’ was the first player to qualify for the holiday package on XLBet.com. ‘matros12’ will be joining us in Malta between the 29th and 31st October 2010 to participate at the Malta Poker Open 2010 – Powered by XLBet.com. €100€ went out to 79Fjorden for coming in second.
All players are welcome to join XLBet.com and participate for their chance at winning a Malta Poker Open holiday package. Satellites starting from €8 are running daily and the big Super Satellite is running every Sunday at 21:00 CET.
The €1,700 poker holiday package information may be viewed at Malta Poker Open [at MyPokerBlog]
Apart from the full online schedule, XLBet satellites for the gold package are running weekly and follow the shcedule below:
Weekly (running from Sunday the 29/8 to Sunday the 17/10)
Sunday – 21.00 (CET) 200+15€ Super Satellite
One gold package for every 1700€ in the price pool.
1 seat gtd, minimum 6 players , Blind Levels 10 min, starting stack 2500 chips
Tuesday – 20.00 (CET) 15+1€ free rebuy + add on Sub satellite, stage 2
One 215€ ticket for every 215€ in the price pool – 1 seat guaranteed, minimum 6 players, Blind Levels 5 min, starting stack 1500 chips
Thursday – 20.00 (CET) 8+0,5€ Pre satellite, stage 1
One 44€ Ticket to Sunday Sub satellite, for every 44€ in the price pool – 1 seat guaranteed, minimum 5 players, Blind Levels 5 min, starting stack 1500 chips
Sunday – 16.00 (CET) 40+4€ Sub satellite, stage 2
One 215€ ticket for every 215€ in the price pool – 1 seat guaranteed, minimum 6 players, Blind Levels 5 min, starting stack 1500 chips
For more online qualifier schedules visit the Malta Poker Open page by XLBet.com &MyPokerblog.com