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So! You've heard about MyPokerBlog, one of the main collaborators for the Malta Poker Open 2010, and you want to know more. Malta Poker Events had a 'sit-down' with Jonathan Vincentz, CEO of MyPokerBlog and Pokernet.DK - Denmark's biggest poker forum - to tell it like it is! Kepe reading to find out more about poker coaching, 'handpicked scandinavian models', the Malta Poker Open 2010 and MyPokerBlog, the freshest poker site launched this Autumn! Read more...
The first live super satellite for the Malta Poker Open – Powered by XLBet.com kicked off at 4:30pm on Sunday the 5th September 2010 at the Portomaso Casino. 66 players participated in the €110+€10 freeze-out tournament each competing for a €1,100 main event seat for the Malta Poker Open.
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![Jason Degaura [Left]](http://www.maltapokerevents.com/Portals/4/images/events/Malta Poker Open 2010/Satellites/Super Satellite 1/Super Satellite 01 - Poker Malta (9).jpg)
![Gordon Mifsud [Left] & Jacques Balzan Demajo [Right]](http://www.maltapokerevents.com/Portals/4/images/events/Malta Poker Open 2010/Satellites/Super Satellite 1/Super Satellite 01 - Poker Malta (37).jpg)
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Malta Poker Events and the Dragonara Casino, hosted their 3rd live satellite tournament, last night, Wedensday 5th May 2010 in attendance of the €300 + €30 Summer Face/Off Poker tournament which is taking place between the 28th and the 30th May 2010, at the Dragonara Casino. A group of poker players gathered up at the Dragaonra Casino for the 3rd week of poker action offered by Malta Poker Events at the centrally located Dragonara along the coast of St. Julians. The live No Limit Hold’em freezout started at 20:00Hrs and featured a €37+ €3 buy-in which presented players with a chance of winning their seat to the Summer face/off tourney. Additional prizes included live satellite seats for next week’s tournament and as part of the Summer Face/Off promo all participants enjoyed a €40 refund of their buy-in which is being generously provided by XLBet.com Needless to say, 1st prize winner Steve Caruana also gave a very strong performance which began right from the start of the tourney when he tripled up taking out Ray Bonnici and Christopher Sammut about 45 minutes after the game kicked off. Following the deal of the flop, Steve started out the hand by betting a 3x bet which Chris Sammut called with his K7. Ray Bonnici, who held a KJ pushed all in following Chris’s bet, only to be called by Steve holding KQ, who had hit a straight on the flop, taking out both players at once snatching the chiplead while dong so. Steve progressed to maintaining a strong chip position throughout the tourney with a series of well placed calls, raises, and calculated folds, seemingly taking risks only when he felt them absolutely necessary, and guarded his position all throughout the tourney. The final hand came about when Steve Caruana raised 3,600 whilst on the button and holding Q10 vs. Andrew who re-raised all-in with his K5. Steve Caruana called Andrew’s bet and keenly watched the dealer as she uncovered 9 4 J 2 Q giving Steve a pair of Queens and the 1st prize for his performance throughout the event and sending out Andrew Cutajar in 2nd place. Andrew Cutajar’s placing also entitled him to a prize consisting of a seat to another live event in the upcming weeks. Following the freeze-out satellite, some players joined in on a cash game table which had been set-up midway throughout the night for players who exited the tournament prematurely. The current schedule for the Summer Face/Off is Wednesday nights at the Dragonara Casino. Tournaments start at 20:00hrs sharp and usually last till 23:30 – 00:00 hrs. The next edition of the live satellites will take place on the 12th May and will feature a Buy-in of €37+3. Cash tables are also scheduled for ring players.
Summer Face/Off Satellite Week 3
Players were given 5,000 chips as their starting stacks which they slowly started exchanging throughout the 20 minute blind intervals and 3 prizes were given out at the end of the event. The tournament came to a close by 23:45Hrs and was led by Steve Caruana who took out runner up Andrew Cutajar in the late hours of the game. Cutajar, a regular player in the local Poker scene, gave a reasonably solid performance, but was relatively short-stacked in the last few hands of the tourney, when the chip ratio was about 5:1 in favour of his final opponent, Steve Caruana. 
At the final stages of the game, with just two players left, and the blind levels at the 600/1200 level, underdog Andrew Cutajar started to show an increased aggression in his playing style with which he managed to win various pots by causing his final opponent to fold several times. Andrew’s aggression was appropriate too, as Steve Caruana was sitting with a stack of around 50K giving him a great deal of comfort compared to Andrew who only held around 10K.
Prize Winners:
1st Steve Caruana - €300 + €30 seat for the Summer Face/Off Main event
2nd Andrew Cutajar - €37 + €3 seat for the Summer Face/Off live Satellite
3rd Nicholas Joaquin - €37 + €3 seat for the Summer Face/Off live Satellite
The action picked up yet again on Thursday the 19th November with Malta Poker Events at the Portomaso Casino, St. Julians. 4 Seats were given out as prizes for the €220 freeze-out taking place on Sunday the 29th November. Winners of the €27+3 freezeout satellite event included previous satellite frontrunners Thomas Harvey, and Tanya Apap.
The tournament structure featured a starting stack of 3,000 chips and a blind structure which increased every 18 minutes. Players were at their seats at 20:30 hrs, and were split up into two separate tournaments according to their indicated preference whilst registering at the Portomaso cash desk - A 10 player tourney in the smoking area and a 24 player multi table tournament at the smoke-free tables of the Centrally-located casino.
Players who busted out early or made it late to the event had the chance of joining in on a 3rd tournament which started at 21:00Hrs. The event was made up of 7 players, and resulted in a win for Ryan Seguna, taking home €132 and Marthese Azzopardi, who won herself €57.
A fourth tournament started at 23:00hrs which was set up as a €20+2 sit’n’go with 3,000 chips and blinds increasing every 10 minutes. The freeze-out tournament which lasted approximately two hours paid out three players who each received €110 [1st], €66 [2nd], and €44 [3rd]. for their efforts.
Last night’s list of €220 ticket winners:
- Thomas Harvey
- Etienne Roe
- Tanya Apap
- Denoudin Gijsbertus
Satellite ticket winner:
- Giovanni Totsolino
Photos may be viewed in the Gallery section of http://www.maltapokerevents.com
The next and final episode of the November satellite tournaments will be taking place on Thursday the 26th November 2009 at the Portomaso Casino, Malta. The event is set to start at 20:30Hrs and is structured as
a re-buy tournament. Players will be limited to just one re-buy for the first hour and one top-up before the break, helping increase the pot size, and giving poker players a second chance if they get unlucky in the first stages of the game. The re-buy limit is in place to discourage players from resorting to ‘maniac play’ [constant all-ins] to make it into the money.
Previous editions of the monthly tournament reached an average prize-pool of around €13,000, with €4000 going out to the player who made it into the first place in the money. Last month’s tournament was led by Beatriz Bernal from Spain, in her first ever live tournament at such a buy-in.
Malta Poker Events
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:
Photos of last night’s event may be viewed at the Gallery on Maltapokerevents.com
Join us for the next edition of the Monthly tournaments with the October Edition Satellites starting on Thursday the 1st October at the Portomaso Casino. Entry is a low €27+3.
