That was a quick one!
As we all know in poker tournaments hard bubbles can take hours. Or seconds.
The Battle of Malta 2018 bubble was a matter of seconds. It took exactly one hand to find the unfortunate bubble boy and it was Stephen Borg.
He didn’t have too many chips left and on a K♦ 7♠ 5♦ 8♣ turn he found himself all-in against Georgios Kitsios.
We had to wait until all other tables were finished and then we could see a showdown:
Stephen Borg: K♥ T♦ (Top Pair)
Georgios Kitsios: 7♣ 7♥ (Set)
Borg had no out, no draw, no nothing, so the 4♥ on the river didn’t help. This meant that after only one hand the bubble on Day 1A of the Battle of Malta was finished.
All 68 remaining players collect €500 right now before returning on Sunday for Day 2. They can also choose to buy-in again another day and pick which stack they’d like to continue with on Day 2
The overall chip leader for Day 1A is Alexander Koops with 497,000. Here are the top 10 counts:
1. Alexander Koops 497,000
2. Luigi D’alterio 461,000
3. Fabrizio Privitera 454,000
4. Stanislav Zegal 434,000
5. Nir Amar 362,000
6. Per Steinar Sele 339,000
7. Stefano Terziani 330,000
8. Shlomo Yaakov Ben 313,000
9. Fredrik Karl Ellingsson 310,000
10. Pierre-Yves Joubert 306,000
Check the PokerListings news section for a recap of the action on Day 1A and watch our recap video below. Full chip counts below the video. We’ll be back tomorrow for Day 1B and an even larger field than today – hope you join us then!
Battle of Malta Day 1a Full Chip Counts
Player
Chips
Koops Alexander Klass Mathias
497,000
D’alterio Luigi
461,000
Privitera Fabrizio
454,000
Zegal Stanislav
434,000
Amar Nir
362,000
Sele Per Steinar
339,000
Terziani Stefano
330,000
Ben Shlomo Yaakov
313,000
Fredrik Ellingsson Karl
310,000
Pierre-Yves Joubert
306,000
Cutri Luciano
285,000
Neukirch Jonas
279,000
Hudson Thomas James
276,000
Stanevicius Auris
269,000
Jukka-Pekka Peltoniemi
264,000
Romano Maurizio
242,000
Nicolas Yan Proust
218,000
Lappas Charalampos
217,000
Evans Lena Ngoc
198,000
Richnau Alexander Robin Erik
190,000
Meller Guy
176,000
Kambov Viktor Vasilev
164,000
Adam Milewski
157,000
Benta Sebastian
155,000
Samuele Lo Presti
154,000
Rafal Skrzypnik
152,000
Even Soensterudbraaten
141,000
Fenech Philip
141,000
Sammut Clint
140,000
Valter Proia
140,000
Geci Endrit
138,000
Lovelock Colin Eric
133,000
Ghosh Kingshuk
130,000
Filatov Mikhail
129,000
Castillo Antonio Maria Iniesta
129,000
Sahlstroem Robert Marcus Martin
129,000
Mazet Florence
128,000
Netzer Shai
125,000
Guarnuto Dario
124,000
Verrina Carmine
124,000
Puchol Vina Alvaro Fernando
123,000
Kitsios Georgios
119,000
Mr Cezar Iustinian Laurentiu
117,000
Baccassino Mattia
113,000
Bahar Yitshak Zah
112,000
Guimond Florin Nico
102,000
Caplau Joanny
100,000
Aki Paveli Vartinen
93,000
Stropoli Julien
93,000
Formica Salvatore
91,000
Riskevicius Vytautas
82,000
Toledo Rafael
78,000
Stachyra Artur Piotr
71,000
Appleyard James
69,000
Comesana Pedro Vidal
66,000
Gabriele Re
63,000
Scalia Marco Paolo
60,000
Zapf Manuel
59,000
Ioannou Ioannis
58,000
Hosia Akseli Veli Johannes
55,000
Jorstad Espen Uhlen
49,000
Broden Jonas Gunnar
46,000
Ho Ting
44,000
Della Ventura Sergio Domenico
40,000
Kasten Per Thorben
39,000
Cormack Francis Harold
34,000
Vadenbring Nils Gustav
27,000
Penney Steven John
25,000
