Level 9: 500/1,000 (1,000)
Entries: 110/266
This reporter traveled over from Vilnius, Lithuania, where he has called his home for the past 14 years. During this time, many in the Lithuanian poker community have shown me their love and I try to give my love back whenever possible.
There were literally about 40 Lithuanian poker players on my flight to Malta a couple of days ago. This is easily a record for me, despite traveling non-stop to report and commentate on events around Europe. We learned on the flight, that Gytis Lazauninkas was responsible for a lot of the crew traveling as we were told at the time that he brought 18 players.
“I actually brought 28 players from my stable,” Lazauninkas shared.
This explains why there are so many Lithuanian players in the field although we did notice a few others that definitely aren’t staked by Lazauninkas.
Lazauninkas thanked us for being around for the following hand where he said we gave him some luck. We would like to thank him instead for bringing many from the active Lithuanian community over to the majestic island of Malta for the iconic Battle of Malta.
Meanwhile, onto the poker action. Five players were still in the hand when the 5♥T♦8♥ hit the flop. Sergio Scalzo open-jammed for around a pot-sized bet of 17,000. Lazauninkas called and the rest of the table folded.
Sergio Scalzo: T♥9♥
Gytis Lazauninkas: 8♠8♦
Lazauninkas was ahead at this point but the table began to get a little noisy after Scalzo improved to a flush on the Q♥ turn.
However, the 5♦ paired the board on the river to improve Lazauninkas to a full house and send Scalzo out the door on a rollercoaster of a hand.
Gytis Lazauninkas – 60,000
Sergio Scalzo – 0