Another champion event took place last on Thursday 10th December at the Portomaso Casino, where 15 poker players gathered for their shot at winning a €330 ticket for the Special Edition tourney, taking place on the 29th and the 30th December 2009.
The two table tourney was attended by familiar faces, Andrea Stellato, Vanja Torbarov, Charles Sammut, Keith Boniface, Alexander Fenech and Reuben Vellden.
A total of 6 prizes were given out with Vanja Torbarov placing first and winning himself the €330 seat to the ‘Special Edition’ tourney after a roller coaster ride when the tourney was down to 5 players. Vanja was followed by Giovanni Tozzolino, who went home with a satellite ticket for another live event in addition to a monetary reward. 4 more satellite tickets were given out to runners up – Lorenzo Vella, Charles Sammut, Mario Mannara, and Reuben Vellden for their placing in the €37+3 satellite event.
Players were at their seats by 20:45 and started their journey onto eliminating their opponents in what turned out to be a 4 hour tournament. The 3,000 chips given to the players as their starting stack soon started fluctuating as they began shoving, calling and re-raising their opponents bets.
Some action from the felt –
The tournament was down to the final 3 players by 23:45hrs and blinds had reached the 600/1200 level. A strong entry by Lorenzo Vella who pushed all in when holding A Q got instantly called by Giovanni Tozzolino, the chip leader at the time. Giovanni was holding J T meaning that Lorenzo was at an advantage pre-flop. The flop didn’t favour Lorenzo’s stronger hand though, when a T came out giving Giovanni a pair of 10’s, a hand which maintained its strength throughout the turn and river cards. This was Lorenzo’s last hand as he finished the tourney in third place going home with a satellite ticket for one of the remaining satellite events this month.
Giovanni was now holding a monster stack as Vanjya Torbarov was the shortest stacked player at the felt before Lorenzo’s exit. Vanya, a respectable player in the local poker scene, who very recently placed 13th in the 260 player Goals Bet Poker tour was not discouraged with the state of the chip distribution. He maintained his focus which helped him increase his chip stack by taking over his final opponent’s resources in a series of re-raises, careful shoves and well placed folds.
With Vanya on the button, he re-raised the big blind to 7,000 and got re-raised all in by Giovanni who held K 7 of clubs. Vanya called Giovanni’s bet with his own suited hole cards, A 8 hearts, a stronger starting hand than Giovanni’s. Yari, the dealer at the final table uncovered the flop which showed a K 9 8 sending shivers down Vanya spine, and giving more confidence to Giovanni. Giovanni was now holding the top pair King Kong on the table versus Vanya’s pair of 8’s. Yari, uncovered the turn card which came out as an 8, giving Vanya a set and putting him in the lead of Giovanni’s Kings. The river card surfaced as a 3 which didn’t help Giovanni who lost this hand and transferred 13,800 of his chips to Vanya Torbarov, doubling up at a now crucial stage of the game.
The chip distribution at the table had now reversed, with Giovanni holding 17,400 and Vanya in the lead holding 27,600.
An all-in by Giovanni whilst holding 8 9 got insta-called by Vanya who was holding A4 at the time. The felt showed a 9 Q 3 Q 5 which favoured Giovanni’s weaker starting hand, giving him a quick double up with his pair of 9’s and the pair of Queens on the table.
A few hands later another all-in by Giovanni while on the button got called by Vanya. This time Giovanni held a stronger A5 vs. Vanya’s A4. The flop started out with what seemed to be a split pot up to the turn, yet a 4 on the river changed the dynamics around, giving Vanya a pair of 4’s doubling up his stack from 9,400 to 18,800.
The blinds were now at 1,000/2,000 and Vanya was on the button. Vanya, who held a pair of hooks [JJ] raised the big blind to 5,000 and Giovanni followed with an all-in re-raise with his 20,400 chips whilst holding K T. Vanya called this push by Giovanni, and the dealer then turned over the flop cards, a Q 9 2 with a 7 on the turn and an Ace on the river. Vanya held a marginally greater chip stack at this point and had the stronger hand from the flop to the river, putting him in the lead with his pocket Jacks, which sent out Giovanni in second place.
€330 ticket winner:
– Vanya Torbarov
Satellite Winners
– Giovanni Tozzolino [2nd]
– Lorenzo Vella [3rd]
– Charles Sammut [4th]
– Mario Mannara [5th]
– Rueben Vellden [6th]
All players who participated in last night’s tournament also benefited from the special promo organised by Malta Poker Events and XLBet.com, which gave the players a refund of their €40.00 live event buy-in which will be transferred to their XLBet account upon sign-up.
Join Malta Poker Events and XLBet.com at the Portomaso Casino in this month’s live satellites for your chance to win a €330 ticket for the December – Special edition tourney. The next satellite event is scheduled for Sunday the 13th December at the Portomaso Casino at 16:30Hrs. Make sure you’re there to claim your €40.00 refund on XLBet.com