€550 Grand Event Day 1b | 2022 Malta Poker Festival Spring

€550 Grand Event

Day 1b Completed

04-28-2022 01:25 UTC+2

French Players Dominate Day 1b of the €550 Grand Event

Calum Grant

Level 13 : 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante

Day 1b of the 2022 Malta Poker Festival Spring €550 Grand Event has finished, with 35 players bagging and tagging after the dust settled.

The event saw 136 entries, which was 18 more than the previous starting flight. A further €68,000 has entered the prize pool as the tournament edges closer to hitting its €300,000 guarantee.

Nemo Israel ended today’s flight with the chip lead, amassing a tournament best stack of 667,000. Alexis Bouvier's late surge allowed him to finish with a stack of 397,000 while also knocking out Florian Guertler. Antoine Stackowiak is hot on his heels, ending the day with 391,000 in chips. Overall, the top five chip stacks all belong to players who hail from France.

Notable names who also made it over the first hurdle include Unibet Poker ambassador David Lappin, Dominick French and Daniel Stancer. However, players such as Steven Smith, Marek Ohnisko and Germany's Michael Strauch will have to try their luck in one of the four upcoming Day 1’s.

David Ash, who ran Kings into Aces in Day 1a, suffered another cruel exit after being on the wrong end of a set over set scenario. Cyprien Chassagne made one of the hero calls of the day against Corel Theuma but was also a late Day 1b casualty.

Ann-Roos Callens was another player to fall in the tail end of Day 1b after her ace-jack was unable to leapfrog her opponent’s pocket queens.

Day 1b Top Ten Chip Stacks

Place	Name	Country	Chip Count	Big Blinds
1	Nemo Israel	France	667,000	133
2	Alexis Bouvier	France	397,000	79
3	Antoine Stackowiak	France	391,000	78
4	Tanguy Pellerin	France	389,000	78
5	Olivier Acquart	France	315,000	63
6	Pavel Heger	Czech Republic	315,000	63
7	Clement Kerrien	Malta	306,000	61
8	Christian Westermark	Sweden	278,000	56
9	Dov Friedland	Estonia	276,000	55
10	Marko Cosic	Serbia	260,000	52

Malta Poker Festival Spring Grand Event Schedule

DATE	TIME (CET)	BUY-IN	EVENT	Entries	Advanced
Tue, 26 Apr	2 p.m.	€ 550	MPF Grand Event Day 1A	118	31
Wed, 27 Apr	2 p.m.	€ 550	MPF Grand Event Day 1B	136	35
Thurs, 28 Apr	2 p.m.	€ 550	MPF Grand Event Day 1C
Fri, 29 Apr	2 p.m.	€ 550	MPF Grand Event Day 1D
Sat, 30 Apr	2 p.m.	€ 550	MPF Grand Event Day 1E
Sat, 30 Apr	9 p.m.	€ 550	MPF Grand Event Day 1F
Sun, 1 May	2 p.m.	-	MPF Grand Event Day 2
Mon, 2 May	2 p.m.	-	MPF Grand Event Day 3

The PokerNews live reporting team will be back to cover Day 1c on Thursday, April 28 at 2 p.m. local time.

04-28-2022 01:18 UTC+2

End of Day Chip Counts (full)

Chris Bean

Level 13 : 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante

Player	Chips	Progress
Nemo Israel	667,000 367,000	367,000

Alexis Bouvier	397,000 46,000	46,000
Antoine Stackowiak	391,000 191,000	191,000
Tanguy Pellerin	389,000 101,500	101,500
Olivier Acquart	315,000 79,000	79,000
Pavel Heger	315,000 55,000	55,000
Clement Kerrien	306,000 -34,000	-34,000
Christian Westermark	278,000
Dov Friedland	276,000 -91,000	-91,000
Marko Cosic	260,000 -40,000	-40,000
Chen Keren	252,000 252,000	252,000
Jason Shellum	242,000 42,000	42,000
Giovanni Nava	185,000 -55,000	-55,000
Ian Morris	184,000 -31,000	-31,000
Jon Persent	180,000 180,000	180,000
Florian Bock	175,000 -51,000	-51,000
Yohann Girondin	172,000 -13,500	-13,500
Wouter Schuurbiers	171,000 6,000	6,000
Victor Allain	170,000 77,000	77,000
Tommy Lievens	168,000 115,000	115,000
Dominick French	165,000 35,000	35,000
Sylvere Paillot	158,000 -2,000	-2,000
Thomas Schaeven	158,000 70,000	70,000
Henriques Pereira	126,000 -20,000	-20,000
Daniel Stancer	122,000 -64,500	-64,500

Read full

04-28-2022 00:50 UTC+2

Day 1b Closes

Calum Grant

Level 13 : 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante

Day 1b has closed with 35/136 players making it through to Day 2. Full chip counts and a recap of today's action will follow shortly.

04-28-2022 00:41 UTC+2

Final Three Hands Called

Calum Grant

Level 13 : 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante

Day 1b has entered it's final three hands.

04-28-2022 00:39 UTC+2

Level 13 Eliminations

Calum Grant

Level 13 : 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante

Player	Chips	Progress
Mickael Thomas	Busted
Cyprien Chassagne	Busted
Hugo Menant	Busted
Steven Smith	Busted

04-28-2022 00:35 UTC+2

Lubczynski Doubles Through Whitehead

Calum Grant

Level 13 : 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante

Piotr Lubczynski moved all-in from middle position for 17,000 and was called by Jordan Whitehead in the big blind.

Piotr Lubczynski:
Jordan Whitehead:

The flop was exactly what the at risk player needed, however the gave Whitehead four outs to the straight. The river gave Lubczynski a full house and he raked in the much needed double.

Player	Chips	Progress
Jordan Whitehead	120,000 -27,000	-27,000
Piotr Lubczynski	44,000 -60,000	-60,000

04-28-2022 00:31 UTC+2

Broadway for Bouvier

Calum Grant

Level 13 : 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante

Florian Guertler was all-in again but this time he was the player at risk. He moved in from the hijack for around 50,000 before Alexis Bouvier re-jammed as the table big stack.

Florian Guertler:
Alexis Bouvier:

Guertler made two pair on the flop but Bouvier made Broadway on the turn. The river completed the board and Guertler exited the Grand Event.

Player	Chips	Progress
Alexis Bouvier	351,000 124,000	124,000
Florian Guertler	Busted

04-28-2022 00:26 UTC+2

Schaeven Rises and Falls

Chris Bean

Level 13 : 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante

On a flop of , Thomas Schaeven bet 11,000 and was called by Florian Bock. The on the turn gave impetuous to Schaeven to move all in. Bock stared down Schaeven and said "I'm sure you have Ace-King." and eventually folded. Schaeven rolled over and raked in the pot.

A couple of hands later Schaeven was in action again. With 50,000 in the pot on a [10c7h5d4d2nh] board. Schaeven bet 11,000. This time he faced resistance from Sylvere Paillot who moved all-in for 90,000 chips. Schaeven folded without hesitation.