Day 3

Marko Luska (7,060,000), Raoul van Wersch (7,040,000), Gabriele Re (6,230,000), and Renato Ribeiro (4,465,000) also bagged top five stacks.

Meanwhile, Joshua Stewart (4,150,000), Day 2 chip leader Mitchell Hynam (4,010,000), Florent Colin (2,440,000), Christophe De Meulder (2,130,000), Alex Iannello (2,010,000), Herli Olop (1,835,000), and Pavle Peclej (680,000) were among the players still in the running with two more days of action to come.

Check out all of the ending Day 3 chip counts below and best of luck to all of the players on Day 4 with the action resuming at 2 p.m. on Tuesday.

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Alberto Cigliano bags Day 3 chip lead

The final 27 players are bagging and tagging their chips into tomorrow’s penultimate day. The action will resume at 2 p.m. and play down to an official final table of eight players. The final table will be broadcasted across a variety of social media channels including YouTube, Facebook, and Twitch, and, of course, here at the Battle of Malta website.

Stay tuned for the payouts for Day 3 and the final Day 3 chip counts.

Level 29: 50,000/100,000 (100,000)
Entries: 27/3,432

Daniele Grasso just took down a nice pot on the river without showdown over Marko Luksa. It was blind on blind and the two players limped to a flop of A♠5♣9♠. Both players checked it to the J♦, where things started to get a little spicy. Luksa bet 125,000 but Grasso came over the top to 450,000. Luksa made the call to see Q♥ on the river. He checked, then tanked for several minutes after Grasso bet 775,000 before finally folding.

Meanwhile, the clock was paused waiting for the hand to play out so they could draw for the remaining hands in the night. Tebege Samuel was sitting on a short-ish stack and hoping not to have to play his big blind tonight. They were drawing between 3, 4, or 5 hands, and Samuel needed to find the three. Herli Orlap was given the honor of the draw, and he pulled the card Samuel was waiting for, resulting in high-fives between the two players.

Level 28: 40,000/80,000 (80,000)
Entries: 28/3,432

Herli Olop shared with us during the dinner break that he is keeping a good balance drinking exactly one beer per blind level. The strategy has been working as the Estonian has been patient most of the day and not going crazy during the frequent moments he has had a shorter stack.

Olop gained a little breathing room near the end of the day. Maciej Toma jammed from the small blind a short stack and was snap-called by Olop.

Maciej Toma: J♠T♦
Herli Olop: K♠K♥

Toma nailed a small piece of the 3♠6♠A♠A♣J♣ board but his two pair was not good enough for Olop to oust him in 29th place.

Herli Olop winning strategy of a beer per level

Level 28: 40,000/80,000 (80,000)
Entries: 29/3,432

Andrea Fazio opened for 225,000 from the hijack before Marko Luska jacked it up to 500,000 from the button. Fazio jammed for 3,400,000 and Luksa called.

Andrea Fazio: A♠K♥
Marko Luska: J♦J♣

Luska stood up and fist-bumped the air after improving to a set on the 2♥J♠6♠ flop. He immediately realized that he wasn’t completely out of the woods yet and sat down with his hands back in his lap.

He stood back up after further improving to a full house on the 2♦ turn and shook Fazio’s hand after the 6♦ river completed the board.

Andrea Fazio eliminated in 30th place

Level 29: 50,000/100,000 (100,000)
Entries: 34/3,432

The money was in the middle and cards were on their backs with Pierluigi Melli on ace-queen versus king-jack for Nikolaos Vouldis with Melli at risk. Melli hit the ace on the flop and never looked back with a board of A♥7♣2♣3♦5♠. Vouldis was left nearly felted after the hand whole Melli is closing in on 3 million.

Pierluigi Melli – 2,850,000
Nikolaos Vouldis – 300,000

Pierluigi Melli

Level 29: 50,000/100,000 (100,000)
Entries: 34/3,432

Victor Fryda fired out for 525,000 into a pot of less than a million with the K♦8♦4♦8♣K♣ on the board after the turn. Albert Cigliano raised to 1,125,000 and Fryda went into the tank for about two minutes before he called.

Cigliano turned over the A♦K♥ for a full house and took down a sizeable pot after Fryda mucked his cards.

Albert Cigliano – 7 million
Victor Fryda – 2.5 million

Alberto Cigliano with 7 million in chips

Level 28: 40,000/80,000 (80,000)
Entries: 34/3,432

Giuseppe Dedoni was down to less than 10 big blinds but he found a spot on the button to put it in. Big blind Ivan Picavet asked for a count and then called with K♠Q♣ and was roughly racing against the A♥6♥ for Dedoni. There were two aces on the flop for Dedoni to take a huge lead, and the turn and river paired jacks to give him the boat.

Ivan Picavet – 1,400,000
Giuseppe Dedoni – 1,640,000

Level 28: 40,000/80,000 (80,000)
Entries: 35/3,432

Salvatore Ritrovato battled strong throughout the day but just hit the rail on a flip. He jammed his short stack with T♦T♠ and was looking good for a while against the A♦J♦ held by Raoul van Wersch.

Everything was rosy for Ritrovato on the 8♠9♦2♠ flop as well as on the Q♠ turn. The T♠ river improved Ritrovato to a set. There was just one problem as their also improved van Wersch to a straight to send Ritrovato to the rail.

Raoul van Wersch – 4 million
Salvatore Ritrovato – 0

Raoul van Wersch sits at 4 million

Level 28: 40,000/80,000 (80,000)
Entries: 38/3,432

Marc Bougaret jammed for 11 big blinds from under the gun and was cold-called by Renato Ribeira from middle position.

Marc Bougaret: A♥Q♣
Renato Ribeira: K♠K♣

Bougaret connected with his queen on the 3♥Q♥J♠ flop but this still wasn’t enough to get ahead of Ribeira’s cowboys. Neither the 6♣ turn nor the 6♠ river saved Bougaret’s tournament life and his respectable run ended in 39th place. Meanwhile, start-of-Day 2 chip leader Tayfun Rodoplu also hit the rail just before this hand.

Renato Ribeira – 4 million
Marc Bougaret – 0
Tayfun Rodoplu – 0

Marc Bougare

Level 28: 40,000/80,000 (80,000)
Entries: 39/3,432

Szymon raised to 160,000 under the gun, and Panayiotis Patsalides called from the big blind. He check-called for 110,000 on the flop of [d]K♠K♣. Both players checked the 3♣ turn and Patsalides fired 430,000 on the 5♠ river, forcing a fold.

Szymon Kuczerski – 1,900,000
Panayiotis Patsalides – 3,700,000

Level 28: 40,000/80,000 (80,000)
Entries: 40/3,432

Toni Zengovski was the shortest stack coming from the break. He got a jam or two through but then ran into a funny spot when he jammed everything but 50,000 for around 10 big blinds from middle position. Marco Perra jammed over the top for more than 2 million from the small blind and immediately turned over his cards by accident showing Perra his aces after Samuel Tebege folded in the big blind not realizing Zengovski didn’t put all his stack in.

Zengovski was a bit confused about what was happening and the floor was called. They chatted for about 30 seconds before everyone was in agreement that the hand still plays on.

“Well, now you have free information,” the floor informed Zengovski.

“That’s true,” responded Zengovski who then tanked for close to five minutes before he called.

Toni Zengovski: Q♣T♣
Marco Perra: A♣A♣

It was a nice run for Zengovski but good things sometimes come to an end as he finished in 41st place after not improving on the 5♣8♠3♦6♥K♦ board.

Marco Perra – 3,200,000
Toni Zengovski – 0

Toni Zengovski eliminated in 41st place

Level 28: 40,000/80,000 (80,000)
Entries: 41/3,432

Gabriele Re now has 4.6 million as the final two levels of the night have begun. He open-raised to 160,000, then called when Giuseppe di Bella three-bet the button to 275,000. He check-called for 175,000 on the J♠7♠T♦ flop and both players checked the 4♠ turn. Re led out for 300,000 on the 3♦ river, and after a few seconds of thought, di Bella called. Re tabled J♥9♦ and di Bella dramatically tossed his cards into the muck.

Gabriele Re – 4,600,000
Giuseppe di Bella – 950,000

Gabriele Re

Players are on a 75-minute dinner break. We will shortly update the full chip counts along with all of the eliminations from Level 27.

Blinds will increase to 40,000/80,000 with an 80,000 big blind ante before moving ahead to 50,000/100,000 with a 100,000 big blind ante. The day will conclude after both of these blind levels.

Level 27: 30,000/60,000 (60,000
Entries: 43/3,432

Alberto Cigliano is up over 4 million after a hand that ended on the flop. Cigliano raised the cutoff to 125,000 and he was called by Dawid Szopinski from the button and Domenico Cancro from the big blind. Cancro checked to Cigliano and he fired 150,000 to take it down.

Alberto Cigliano – 4,300,000
Domenico Cancro – 1,900,000
Dawid Szopinski – 1,140,000

Alberto Cigliano has more than 4 million chips

Level 27: 30,000/60,000 (60,000)
Entries: 43/3,432

Milan Dondur three-bet most of his dozen big blind stack from the cutoff before Victor Fryda came in for much more with a four-bet jam. Alex Iannello, who opened the action from early position quickly folded.

Milan Dondur: 3♥3♠
Victor Fryda: 6♦6♠

Fryda’s sixes were not only good but he won the hand with a full house on the 6♥9♥7♣5♠7♠ runout to eliminate Dondur in 44th place,

Victor Fryda – 3,200,000
Milan Dondur – 0

Victor Fryda

Level 27: 30,000/60,000 (60,000)
Entries: 45/3,432

The action was on the flop with the board reading 8♠2♣A♣ and both Marco Perra and Maciej Toma checked to the 6♠ turn. Perra checked again from the small blind and Toma fired 250,000 from the cutoff. Perra called and they went back to checks on the Q♥ river. Both players hit the ace, but Toma’s jack kicker was best and got him up to about 3 million.

Maciej Toma – 3,000,000
Marco Perra – 1,100,000

Marco Perra

Level 27: 30,000/60,000 (60,000)
Entries: 49/3,432

Gabriele Re raised to 120,000 from the middle and Szymon Kuczerski put in the three-bet to 375,000 from the button. Re called to the 4♥9♣2♦ flop, then checked. Kuczerski announced all in with the bigger stack. but Re snapped him off with pocket rockets. Kuczerski had tens and couldn’t find help on the K♠6♥ runout.

Szymon Kuczerski – 1,800,000
Gabriele Re – 2,400,000

Gabriele Re

Level 26: 25,000/50,000 (50,000)
Entries: 50/3,432

Federico Petruzzelli jammed for 455,000 from the hijack. Florent Colin asked for a count before he called a few moments later from the small blind.

Federico Petruzzelli: A♦J♠
Florent Colin: A♠T♦

Petruzzelli was ahead but fell far behind after Colin’s ten connected on the 6♣8♥T♥ flop. The 4♠ turn and 7♥ river didn’t add any more drama and Colin claimed Petruzzelii’s stack.

“Sorry,” Colin said to Petruzzelli after the hand.

“That’s OK,” Petruzzelli said like a true gentleman. “It’s a game, it’s a game.”

Florent Colin – 2,200,000
Federico Petruzzelli – 0

Florent Colin

Level 26: 25,000/50,000 (50,000)
Entries: 51/3,432

Marco Chiappetta Sabatino raised early to 110,000 and Florent Colin called from the big blind. Colin check-called for 80,000 on the 2♠4♥2♣ flop and again for 180,000 on the T♣ turn.

When he checked again on the 3♠ river, Sabatino counted out a big bet of 700,000, sending Colin into the tank. He counted out the call, then counted and recounted his stack but eventually, after apologizing to the table for taking so long, his cards found the muck to leave him about 1 million behind while Sabatino chipped up to about 2.8 million.

Florent Colin – 1,600,000
Marco Chiappetta Sabatino – 2,800,000

Women’s poker advocate Davia Byrne, who founded the FLIP Facebook poker community, hosted the Ladies Only event earlier this week before finishing in sixth place. Next up for Byrne will be heading to Olympic Park Casino in the majestic Estonian capital of Tallinn for the Queens of Tallinn on Nov. 30 to Dec. 3. Check out her interview with BoM hostess Patrisha Rimfire below:

Level 26: 25,000/50,000 (50,000)
Entries: 52/3,432

Guiseppe Di Bella bet 125,000 into a pot north of 300,000 after the K♥Q♦7♦ landed on the flop and was called by Samuel Goodman.

Goodman called another bet of 240,000 on the 4♦ turn before going into the tank for several minutes after Di Bella fired out again for 425,000 on the 8♥ river. Eventually,

Samuel Goodman

Goodman found a call only to muck his hand after Di Bella exposed the A♥K♣ for top pair and top kicker.

Guiseppe Di Bella – 3,000,000
Samuel Goodman – 1,200,000

Level 26: 25,000/50,000 (50,000)
Entries: 55/3,432

After a raised to 100k from Aleksi Naski early, Antoine Talvard shoved next to act. Szymon Kuczerski called from the small blind while Naski’s hand hit the muck. Talvard was ahead and dominating with ace-queen over king-queen but Kuczerski turned his king on 3♠J♣5♥K♥8♣.

Szymon Kuczerski – 2,400,000
Antoine Talvard – 0

Antoine Talvard

The two-day €1,100 High Roller “The Dark Night by DomusBet” boasts a tasty €300,000 guarantee. The field already grew to 75 entries before the start including the likes of Ori Hasson, Dario Marinelli, Fotios Ntamaris, and Albert Sapiano.

Today’s action boasts 10 levels of 30-minutes each. Players can not only re-enter the entire day but can still hop into the action or re-enter before the start of tomorrow’s final day at 1 p.m.

Best of luck to all the high rollers for what promises to be a huge prize pool.

Level 26: 25,000/50,000 (50,000)
Entries: 57/3,432

Aleksi Naski opened for 100,000 from the cutoff before Antoine Talvard jammed for more than 900,000 from the button. Christophe De Meulder called off his stack of 720,000 from the big blind and was at risk against Talvard after Naski got out of the way.

Christophe De Meulder: K♥K♠
Antoine Talvard: A♣T♥

Talvard was unable to connect with the 5♣J♥9♥K♦6♣ board and was left with crumbs in his stack. Meanwhile, De Meulder doubled his stack in a glorious fashion with a set of cowboys.

Antoine Talvard

Level 26: 25,000/50,000 (50,000)
Entries: 57/3,432

Players are on their second short break of Day 3. The blinds will increase to 25,000/50,000 with a 50,000 big blind ante when the action resumes.

We will update some of the bigger stacks from around the room at the break.

Level 25: 20,000/40,000 (40,000)
Entries: 60/3,432

I arrived at the table on the turn with the board reading T♣J♠2♠ and Zvezdan Tadic was counting out a bet of 475k. Herli Orlap shoved with the biggest stack, and Tadic snapped him off. Both players were on king-queen, however, and they chopped it up with both players holding the king-high straight.

Zvezdan Tadic – 1,040,000
Herli Orlap – 1,650,000

Zvezdan Tadic

Level 25: 20,000/40,000 (40,000)
Entries: 60/3,432

Salvatore Ritrovato limped from under the gun before Salvatore Caruso raised to 85,000 from one seat over. Davide Campione three-bet to 215,000 from the small blind and Ritrovato folded. Meanwhile, Caruso went into the tank for about 30 seconds before he called.

Campione fired out for 200,000 on the T♣3♠6♣ flop. Caruso tanked again for close to a minute. He counted out first his chips for the bet size before counting the rest of his stack. Eventually, he jammed for about 900,000 and won the pot after Campione snap-folded.

Caruso showed he had at least top pair, flashing the T♦ before tossing the rest of his hand into the muck.

Salvatore Caruso – 1,550,000
Davide Campione – 725,000

Salvatore Caruso

Level 25: 20,000/40,000 (40,000)
Entries: 62/3,432

Christophe De Meulder bet 90,000 from the button and Giuseppe Di Bella called from the small blind. Action checked through the7♠A♥6♠4♥ flop and turn, but after a check from Di Bella on the 7♥ De Meulder made a near-pot bet of 180k and took it down.

Christophe De Meulder – 1,025,000
Giuseppe Di Bella – 1,090,000

The €350 HORSE has attracted an initial field of 20 entries. Players start off with 20,000 in chips with blinds increasing slowly at every 30 minutes between five limit games in hold’em (H), Omaha (O), razz (R), stud (S), and stud eight or better (E).

The field will continue to grow with late registration open for eight levels, during which time players can re-enter.

Norwegian WSOP Circuit Tallinn PLO ring winner Jon Kyte, Malta Poker Fish Facebook group founder Antoine Degiorgio, Cory Desmond, Kaidar Viikman, Theo Schmitt, Eve Jiretom, and Espen Ringstad are among the players already in battle.

Best of luck to all of the HORSE players!

Level 25: 20,000/40,000 (40,000)
Entries: 65/3,432

Matteo Tranchina jammed for around five big blinds from early position and was called by Raoul van Wersch from the button.

Matteo Tranchina: A♥3♣
Raoul van Wersch: A♣Q♦

Tranchina stood up and was looking ready to leave the table even after he pulled ahead on the 3♥9♦4♦ flop. Van Wersch connected with the A♠ turn but this further improved Tranchina to two pair. The blank 2♠ river completed the board for Tranchina to stay alive and double his short stack.

Raoul van Wersch – 2,000,000
Matteo Tranchina – 400,000

Level 25: 20,000/40,000 (40,000)
Entries: 67/3,432

Erik Bjoerbaek shoved early with fumes, having only about 60k behind and facing 80k in the big blind in two hands. It folded to the big blind, MIlan Dondur, who had no choice but to put in the extra 20k, given the pot odds. Dondur was best with ace-ten over ace-five, and the best kicker held on a board of A♠Q♠2♥9♣3♦ and Bjoerbaek hit the cage for 67th place worth €4,690.

MIlan Dondur – 2,000,000
Erik Bjoerbaek – 0

The blinds just increased to Level 25 with blinds at 20,000/40,000 with a 40,000 big blind ante. Check out all the eliminations below from Level 24:

Nico Frenn Begging to the Poker Gods

Level 24: 15,000/30,000 (30,000)
Entries: 77/3,432

It was blind on blind when Szymon Kuczerski limped the small blind and Salvatore Buremi checked from the big. The all heart flop came 9♥T♥A♥ and Kuczerski bet 40k. Buremi flat-called to the A♣ turn where he flatted again for 65,000. Kuczerski slowed down on the 7♠ river with a check, then called when Buremi fired 225,000. Buremi showed A♦9♦ for the turned boat and Kuczerski mucked his hand.

Szymon Kuczerski – 2,000,000
Salvatore Buremi – 1,300,000

Level 23: 15,000/30,000 (30,000)
Entries: 79/3,432

Maciej Kala jammed for about a dozen big blinds from the cutoff and was called by the start-of-the-day chip leader Mitchell Hynam.

Maciej Kala: A♦K♠
Mitchell Hynam: 9♠9♦

Kala’s big slick bricked the 2♠7♣T♦7♥J♣ board and he hit the rail in 80th place after losing the flip. Joseph Grech also hit the rail around the same time in 81st place at a different table.

Mitchell Hynam – 1,800,000
Maciej Kala – 0

Level 24: 15,000/30,000 (30,000)
Entries: 81/3,432

Players are on a 20-minute break. Blinds will increase to 15,000/30,000 with a 30,000 big blind ante when the action resumes. We will update some of the bigger stacks from around the room along with the eliminations that took place during Level 23 very soon.

We will start updating full chip counts from every remaining player at each break when the action is down to seven tables or less.

Level 23: 10,000/25,000 (25,000)
Entries: 85/3,432

It was blind on blind when Toni Zengovski limped then called when Gabriele Re raised the big to 90,000. On the flop of K♣5♥3♥ Zengovski check-raised from 55,000 to 155,000 and got the fold.

Gabriele Re – 1,750,000
Toni Zengovski – 900,000

Toni Zengovski

Level 23: 10,000/25,000 (25,000)
Entries: 93/3,432

Antoine Talvard opened from the button to 50,000 and Daniele Grasso defended his big blind with a call. Grasso check-called for 35k on the Q♦3♥T♥ and he checked again on the 7♥ turn that brought three hearts to the board. Talvard bet 55k and after some time in the tank Grasso shoved for 490k. It was Talvard’s turn to hit the tank for a bit, but he ultimately decided to fold.

Antoine Talvard – 2,800,000
Daniele Grasso – 660,000

Antoine Talvard

Level 23: 10,000/25,000 (25,000)
Entries: 93/3,432

Romain Nardin four-bet jammed for 745,000 from the small blind and was called by Enrico Grella, who initially three-bet to 250,000 from the button.

Romain Nardin: A♥K♠
Enrico Grella: K♦K♣

Grella began shaking his head in frustration after he was down to one out with Nardin’s ace finding a partner on the 3♦7♣A♦ flop. The 6♣ turn and 2♥ river didn’t push Grella back on top and he began counting out chips to pay off Nardin.

Romain Nardin – 1,600,000
Enrico Grella – 700,000

Enrico Grella & Romain Nardin

Blinds have increased to Level 23 with blinds at 10,000/25,000 along with a 25,000 big blind ante. Check out all of the players who were eliminated during Level 22.

Bogdan-Adrian Codreanu eliminated in 109th place

Level 22: 10,000/20,000 (20,000)
Entries: 102/3,432

After an early raise to 40k, Paul Craciunas shoved for about 250k from the button in one of the final hands of Level 22. Raoul Van Wersch, one of the big stacks in the room and the big blind, called before the initial raiser got out of the way. Craciunas had jack-ten of hearts against the ace-queen of spades for Van Wersch, but Craciunas got there with hearts on the 4♥8♥4♦K♣2♥ board to chip up to about 570k while Var Wersch is still playing about 1.85 million.

Raoul Van Wersch – 1,850,000
Paul Craciunas – 570,000

Paul-Vlad Craciunas

Level 22: 10,000/20,000 (20,000)
Entries: 102/3,432

There wasn’t much in the pot when Marko Luksa had his 710,000 stack in the middle on the 4♣K♠8♣ flop against Victor Fryda.

Marko Luksa: A♣6♣
Victor Fryda: 7♣5♣

Both players were on a draw but Luksa was ahead with his ace-high along with having the better flush draw. However, the 6♣ was the one club that would have been good for Fryda to improve him to a straight flush along with any five, six, or seven.

However, the 8♥ turn and 4♥ river double-paired the board for Luksa to double his stack.

Marko Luksa – 1,500,000
Victory Fryda – 350,000

Marko Luksa

Level 22: 10,000/20,000 (20,000)
Entries: 105/3,432

Gerald Gradwohl has been grinding it out with a snail as a chip protector. Slow and steady wins the race as you can build your stack with one-hour blinds levels with some patience.

However, when you were as short as Gradwohl was, it is helpful to win some quick races as he did below.

Gradwohl jammed for less than 10 big blinds from the small blind and was called by Raoul van Wersch.

Gerald Gradwohl: K♣J♦
Raoul van Wersch: A♦3♣

Van Wersch was still ahead after the blank 2♥4♦6♣ flop. However, Gradwohl got one of the cards he needed with his king connecting on the K♠ turn. The T♥ river didn’t change the outcome and Gradwohl gained some breathing room rather than hitting the rail.

Raoul van Wersch – 1,600,000
Gerald Gradwohl – 320,000

Level 22: 10,000/20,000 (20,000)
Entries: 109/3,432

Giuseppe Azzaro raised to 45,000 from early position and it folded around to Szymon Kuczerski in the big blind who defended with a call. Kuczerski check-called for 60k on the 5♠4♣7♣ flop and both players checked the K♠ turn. After Kuczerski checked again on the K♦ river, Azzaro looked like he might be counting out a value bet, but then elected to check with a hard tap of the table. Kuczerski showed seven-six for a pair od sevens and the busted straight draw, so the queens for Azzaro held for the win.

Giuseppe Azzaro – 800,000
Szymon Kuczerski – 750,000

Szymon Kuczerski

Level 22: 10,000/20,000 (20,000)
Entries: 113/3,432

Alex Iannello and Dawid Szopinski got involved in a raising war before Iannello four-bet jammed for 585,000 from under the gun. Szopinski asked for a count from one seat over before he called with Iannello at risk.

Alex Iannello: A♥K♣
Dawid Szopinski: A♦K♠

Both players had the same hand with different suits giving the table a quick laugh.

“Two-times?” Iannello joked to Szopinski.

While players can run it twice in cash games this isn’t possible in tournaments as everyone already knows.

Both players headed to Broadway and chopped up the pot after the J♦T♣Q♦9♣T♣ ran out on the board.

Level 22: 10,000/20,000 (20,000)
Entries: 116/3,432

The short stacks are attempting to run up their stacks with a few announcements of: “All-in and call.”

Kyle Jeffrey was among the short stacks to bust. He jammed his four big blind stack from early position and was looked up by Carmelo La Scala.

Kyle Jeffrey: A♦6♣
Carmelo La Scala: 4♦4♠

Jeffrey wasn’t in the worst of shape and although he didn’t directly connect with the 5♦K♥5♥ flop it did provide more outs as if the board double-paired it would counterfeit La Scala’s flopped two pair.

Neither the J♦ turn nor the Q♠ river got the job done for Jeffrey and he was the first player to hit the rail on Day 3. Shortly after, both Salvatore Terdossi and John Sande also lost their stacks at different tables.

Carmelo La Scala – 1,015,000
Jeffrey Kyle – 0
Salvatore Terdossi – 0
John Sande – 0

Level 22: 10,000/20,000 (20,000)
Entries: 119/3,432

Cards are in the air to start Day 3 of the Main Event. The stakes are high but players still more-or-less appear relaxed and ready for battle.

Best of luck to all of the Day 3 players.

Welcome back to the coverage of the 2023 Battle of Malta Autumn Edition Main Event. The field of 3,432 entries is down to just 119 hopefuls on the third of five days with already €3,690 locked up with much more on the line.

United Kingdom’s Mitchell Hynam enters the action with a chip-leading stack of 2,260,000, which is good for 113 big blinds with blinds starting at 10,000/20,000 (20,000) and increasing every hour.

Local hero Raoul van Wersch, who is from the Netherlands but calls Malta his home, is just behind with 1,965,000 with Portugal’s Renato Ribeiro (1,705,000), France’s Florent Guy (1,625,000), and Italy’s Davide Ferrone (1,615,000) just behind van Wersch.

A few other big names are in the mix with above-average stacks including United Kingdom’s Timothy Chung (1,555,000), France’s Victor Fryda (1,285,000), start-of-Day 2 chip leader Tayfun Rodoplu (1,275,000), Finland’s Aleksi Naski (1,175,000), and Norther Ireland’s Joshua Stewart (1,155,000).

Top 10 Chip Counts Entering Day 3

Day 3 begins at 1 p.m. and will end at around 11 p.m. with eight blind levels of one hour each planned for the day. Players will take 20-minute breaks every 2 hours except for the third break which instead will be a 75-minute dinner break.

Stay tuned to the Battle of Malta live updates to see who will advance to tomorrow’s penultimate day and beyond.

Raoul van Wersch