Before the first card on Day 2 of the inaugural €800 Mega Poker Series Malta Main Event was dealt, 15 players opted to enter the competition and thus the field was increased to 262 entries in total. That includes 45 re-entries and 217 unique players, generating a prize pool of €181,095. Only the first 31 spots will be rewarded with at least €1,600 whereas the winner takes home the €40,000 first-place payout and important points towards the seasonal leader board on Sunday.
After nine 60-minute levels the competition has been reduced to its last 35 hopefuls to create a bubble atmosphere for the restart of Day 3 on Saturday at 14:00 local time, just four eliminations shy away the money. Chip leader is World Series of Poker bracelet winner Michael Gathy from Belgium with 1,539,000 in chips. He is followed by start-of-the-day chip leader Salvatore Ritrovato (1,232,000) and Mats Karlsson (1,164,000), a Swede that has been living on the rock for quite some time already and considers himself half Maltese.
Six players bagged up more than one million in chips and that list includes Day 1a chip leader Daniel Jarosch with 1,030,000 whereas MPS Vienna 2015 runner-up Thomas fell in the last two levels of the day. Three women are still in: Natascha Siepmann (859,000, 10th), American expat and Malta resident Elena Stover (370,000, 27th) as well as the local “poker mama” Jackie Cachia (240,000, 29th). Further notables include online qualifier Dennis Frankenberger (880,000), MPS Season 3 leader board winner and MPS Madrid 2014 champion Aristotelis Tavris (652,000), Aleksandar Spadijer (504,000), Team Poker Royale Qualifier Markus Ganglbauer (446,000) and Tillmann Raschke (398,000).
Other regular faces of the Deep Stack Festival were less fortunate: Ronan Monfort, Jari Hurri, Theo Steimer (set under set), Dieter Aebi, Daniel Burkart, Michael Huber, Andris Resevskis, Julian Herold and Erwin Hammer all failed to bag up chips. Adem Marjanovic tried a move against Marcin Barwinski but his opponent called with the higher flush draw and held up. Gathy kept knocking out players left and right, MPS serial qualifier Jacek Pustula was among the victims after losing a coin flip.
The third and penultimate day of the Main Event will recommence at 14:00 local time and reaching not only the money but the nine-handed final table becomes the ultimate goal. With blinds at 8,000-16,000 and a running ante of 2,000 upon return, there is still some room for moves and the average is just under 40 big blinds. The level duration as of Day 3 increases to 75 minutes to provide further leverage to all short stacks.
There was also Day 1 of the €300+30 NLHE Freezeout Side Event with a total of 78 entries and prize pool of €21,890. Aforementioned Huber jumped into the tournament after his Main Event exit and bagged up the lead with the completion of twelve 30-minute levels. The top 8 spots will get paid and 32 players remain for Day 2 as of 15:00 local time on Saturday.
MPS Malta 2015 Day 2 final chip counts
MPS Malta 2015 Day 3 redraw by tables
MPS Malta 2015 Main Event Payouts
MPS Malta 2015 €330 NLHE Side Event Chip Counts Day 1
MPS Malta 2015 €330 NLHE Side Event Redraw Day 2 by Tables
Main Event chip leader Michael Gathy:
