Thursday, 28th March 2024 18:11
Home / Uncategorized / IPT Malta: Level 23-26 updates (20,000/40,000/5,000)

4.57pm: Break time
Players are now on a 15-minute break. The rest of the tournament update will take place on a new page here.

4.50pm: Huge turn for Abuladze
Georgi Abuladze had led for 165,000 on a 4♥ 3♠ 7♥ flop before Nandor Solyom made it 394,000. Abuladze moved all in and Solyom snap-called.

Abuladze: J♥ J♣
Solyom: 3♦ 3♥

The turn was the J♦ to gasps from the table and the 7♠ made both players a full house on the river. Abuladze moved up to 2.5 million and Solyom dropped to 750,000.

4.27pm: Salvatore Ritrovato eliminated in 21st place (€7,200)
Salvatore Ritrovato was all in preflop with A♥ Q♣ against Ezio Nisoli’s A♣ Jâ™  and although there was a queen on the flop, Nisoli made a straight on the river of the Q♦ 10♦ 7♦ 9♣ K♦ board.

4.23pm: Steve O’Dwyer eliminated in 22nd place (€7,200)
No luck this time for Steve O’Dwyer, his A♥ Kâ™  was beaten by Georgios Zisimopoulos’ K♥ Q♥ all in preflop with the board coming 9♣ Q♦ K♦ 9â™  6â™  .

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Steve O’Dwyer

4.18pm: Glenn Cymbaluk eliminated in 23rd place (€7,200)
After getting crippled by Ezio Nisoli when the latter’s flush draw beat his top pai. Glenn Cymbaluk was all in preflop and called in two spots.

Eventually Georgi Abuladze won the side pot with Kâ™  Qâ™  on a queen-high board and that was good enough to beat Cymbaluk’s A♥ 10â™  as well.

4.13pm: Guy Bachar eliminated in 24th place (€6,100)
Nicolino di Carlo opened to 85,000 preflop and was called by Flaviano Cammisuli before Guy Bachar moved all in for about 500,000 behind him. Di Carlo got a count but folded and Cammisuli made a quick call.

Cammisuli: A♣ Q♠
Bachar: Q♣ 10♠

The board ran out K♦ 8♥ A♦ 7♠ 4♠ and Bachar was knocked out in 24th.

4.02pm: Hiatullah busts in 25th place
Sabina Hiatullah shoved for her last 320,000 preflop from late position and Jaroslaw Sikora called in the small blind.

Hiatullah: 8♣ 7♣
Sikora: 10♦ 10♠

The board came K♥ K♦ J♦ 3♥ 3♣ and Hiatullah was knocked out in 25th place. There is now a redraw.

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Sabina Hiatullah

3.58pm: Track wins monster flip
A huge pot between Julian Track and Pierre Milan has ended with the elimination of the latter. The pot was for almost 3 milion in chips, all in preflop and the classic race.

Track: Q♠ Q♦
Milan: A♥ K♠

The board came 8♥ 9♥ J♥ 4â™  10♦ and Track made a straight, he’s got 4.3 million now. Martynas Miliasuskas has also been knocked out.

3.54pm: Botond bows out
Eureka4 Prague champion Balazs Botond shoved with 9♠ 7♠ only for JC Alverado to quickly call him with Q♣ Q♠ . The board came a scary 7♣ 10♦ 8♥ K♣ 8♣ to eliminate the Hungarian player while Alvarado moves back up to over a million.

3.50pm: Level 26 – 20,000/40,000 (5,000)
The fourth level of the day has begun.

3.40pm: Ritrovato tanks
Mauro Tarantini opened to 60,000 preflop before Salvatore Ritrovato made it 142,000 on the button. Tarantini quickly responded by moving all in putting Ritrovato to the test. Both players were stuck in the position of having to talk in English despite both being Italian. Eventually Jaroslaw Sikora called the clock. Ritrovato couldn’t release his hand but didn’t call, instead it became dead after a countdown.

3.30pm: D’ouble for D’Ursel
Igor D`Ursel keeps grinding his short stack, he’s just doubled up once more to 450,000. D’Ursel found A♥ A♦ against Nandor Solyom’s 9♥ 9♦ and the former held on a 3â™  Jâ™  5♥ 3♥ 10â™  board. Solyom dropped to 1.5 million.

3.14pm: Double-double
Bryan Paris has doubled up to 900,000 with A♦ Jâ™  against Georgi Abuladze’s Kâ™  5♦ in a blind on blind battle. Elsewhere Martynas Miliasuskas doubled with ace-ten against Mauro Tarantini’s threes, the Lithuanian player turned a straight to double to about 500,000.

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The final four tables of IPT Malta

3.09pm: Track takes the lead
I missed the action but Julian Track just took the chip lead. He won a sizeable pot from Georgios Zisimopoulos after the Greek player called on the river of a A♠ 6♠ 10♠ 8♦ A♣ board. Track showed 10♥ 10♦ and moved up to 2.9 million while Zisimopoulos dropped to 1.9 million.

3.04pm: Chip leaders
The top five stacks at the break were as follows:

Jarowslaw Sikora – 2,515,000
Julian Track – 2,500,000
Georgios Zisimopoulos – 2,400,000
Nicolino Di Carlo – 1,950,000
Pierre Milan – 1,800,000

2.57pm: Reusch wins a flip against Alvarado
Frederik Reusch has doubled up to around 450,000. He won a flip with 9♥ 9♦ against JC Alvarado’s A♥ Qâ™  on an 8♣ 4♥ 4♣ K♦ 6♥ board. Alvarado was left with around 900,000.

2.50pm: Level 25 – 15,000/30,000 (4,000)
Play has restarted

2.35pm: Break time
Players are on a 15-minute break.

2.30pm: Bust out; double-up
Ozgur Arda shoved his short stack in with J♣ 8♣ , Ezio Nisoli reshoved with A♠ 10♣ and won on a 6♠ 3♥ 5♣ A♥ 7♠ board.

Elsewhere Pierre Milan has doubled through Eshed Hadaya with A♦ A♠ against J♣ J♥ , all in on the flop of a 3♣ 5♣ 5♠ 3♣ 5♦ board. Haday has about 1.8 million, Milan has 1.5 million.

2.18pm: Hedaya doing even better
It’s been a fantastic first two levels for Eshed Hadaya, he’s just added even more to his stack with the elimination of Francesco Vitale. The Italian had three-bet all in with A♦ 9â™  and Hadaya quickly called with K♦ Kâ™  to knock out Vitale on a 3♦ 8♥ 3♣ 5â™  6â™  board. Just 30 players remain.

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Balazs Botond and Eshed Hadaya

2.04pm: You got the right tournament?
One of the players from the IPT Malta Cup just appeared on table 1, complete with a chair so he could sit down, much to the bemusement of the other players.

“Sir, you’re not in this tournament,” said the dealer.

Quickly realising his mistake, the player ran off to find his actual table and stack with laughs from the remaining IPT players following him.

1.57pm: On the right Track
Day 1b chip leader Do Chung Tran is out, pushing A♥ Q♦ into Julian Track’s Aâ™  K♦ . The board came Jâ™  9♦ K♥ 4â™  5â™  and Track now has around 2.3 million.

1.53pm: Lemaire out
It appears Eshed Hadaya has finished off Hugo Lemaire. I’m unsure where the money went in but Lemaire’s A♣ J♣ was no good against Hedaya’s 10♥ 10♦ on a J♦ 10â™  4♥ 2♥ A♥ board. Hadaya started off as one of the shorter stacks and now is one of the chip leaders with 1.85 million.

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Mauro Tarantini

1.45pm: Brutal for Sikora
On the river of a 6♥ 6♦ 10♠ 4♥ Q♠ board, Jaroslaw Sikora shoved all in and Mauro Tarantini called instantly for his last 500,000. Sikora showed 4♠ 4♦ for a turned full house but Tarantini showed 10♥ 10♦ for a bigger, flopped full house.

1.35pm: Level 24 – 12,000/24,000 (3,000)
The second level of the day has begun. 35 players remain.

1.32pm: Vitale left short
On the turn of a 2♣ 10♥ 6♥ 3♥ board, there was a bet of 290,000 in front of Francesco Vitale and a bet of 143,000 next to EPT winner Julian Track. More importantly there was a little ‘all-in’ triangle next to Track’s stack with the onus on Vitale. The Italian had the clock called him and ended up folding for his last 260,000 while Track moved up to around 1.6 million.

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Hugo Lemaire

1.22pm: Lemaire bluff fails
On the turn of a J♦ A♥ 6♣ 7♦ board, Eshed Hadaya led out for 50,000 only for Hugo Lemaire to raiser to 165,000. Hedaya called and both players checked the 7♠ river. Hedaya showed Q♦ J♠ and moved up to 800,000 while Lemaire dropped to 600,000.

1.14pm: The end for Rosi
Massimiliano Rosi has been knocked out after losing a flip with K♦ J♦ to Jaroslaw Sikora’s 10♣ 10â™  . The board coming 9♦ 3â™  8♣ Aâ™  5♣ . Sikora is well over 1.5 million now.

1.07pm: Confusion for Vitale
Pierre Milan opened to 42,000 preflop and Francesco Vitale put out a bet of 65,000 but the dealer made it a call. A Jâ™  Aâ™  K♥ flop was dealt and Milan had bet 45,000, at which point the floor was called. The problem was that the 65,000 bet was in fact 50% more than the initial raise of Milan and Vitale should’ve been forced to make a minimum reraise. However, with action now on the flop, the floor ruled that the hand had to play out despite it being an error from the dealer.

As it stood, Vitale called the flop bet before folding to another bet from the Frenchman on the 8♣ turn.

12.59pm: Raviv makes a big move
Idan Raviv has been knocked out, he four-bet all in with [A][7] against Klevis Pali’s A♦ J♣ and the board helped neither player coming 9♦ 5♦ 8♦ 10♣ 2â™  . Pali now has about 850,000.

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Wondered what an all-in physically looks like? Now you know

12.55pm: Maryska doubles through O’Dwyer
Michal Maryska just got very lucky against Steve O’Dwyer, the Czech player was all in with 10♥ 10♣ against the Irishman’s K♥ Kâ™  and cracked the cowboys on a 10♦ 4♥ 8â™  5♣ A♦ board. Maryska moved to over a million in chips and O’Dwyer dropped to 800,000.

12.46pm: Koops eliminated
Hendrik Koops, who briefly held the chip lead yesterday, has been knocked out after he lost a flip to PokerStars qualifier Sabina Hiatullah. Hiatullah held A♦ K♣ to Koops’ 8â™  8♣ and the board came 9♦ 6â™  10♥ A♥ 2♥ . Hiatullah is now over a million in chips. Fraser Macintyre has also been knocked out.

12.43pm: Hadaya flips well
Eshed Esh Hadaya has doubled up, he pushed with 3♣ 3♦ over an initial raise from Flaviano Cammisuli. The chip leader called with A♦ Q♥ but bricked out on an 8♥ 2♣ 4♠ 7♣ 2♥ board. Hadaya moved up to 600,000 while Cammisuli dropped to 2 million.

12.30pm: Level 23 – 10,000/20,000 (3,000)
The tournament is under way.

12.17pm: Welcome to Day 4 of IPT Malta
With just 43 players remaining, it’s time for the penultimate day of IPT Malta. Flaviano Cammisuli still leads with 2,362,000 ahead of Balazs Botond, Steve O’Dwyer and Hugo Lemaire ahead of others. Today the tournament will play down to the final table of eight players and I’ll be following the action all the way to finish.

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Second in chips, Balazs Botond

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