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The inaugural EPT 11 Malta Poker Festival, held in conjunction with Pagano Events and the Italian Poker Tour, is the largest EPT to date with a staggering 69 tournaments at Portomaso Casino from March 17-28, as well as 30+ EPT-run cash game tables running 24 hours a day.
INCREDIBLE URBANOVICH TAKES DOWN FOURTH TITLE While his fellow countryman, PCA champion Dominik Panka, was grinding his way to a second EPT Main Event final table, Dzmitry Urbanovich pulled off his own record-breaking achievement here in Malta by taking down a FOURTH SIDE event. The indefatigable Pole was heads-up against Team PokerStars Pro Marcin Horecki in the €220 NL Crazy Pineapple event (56 entries creating a €10,864 prize pool). The man is clearly on a mission to win everything he possibly has time for because immediately after snagging that victory, he jumped in another event. It seems that where there’s a trophy, then Urbanovich will be somewhere nearby. Urbanovich increased his EPT Malta earnings by another €3,260 but it’s not the sum that counts – it’s the fact that he is the first player ever to win four events during a single EPT festival. Without a question, the 19-year-old is the biggest highlight of this EPT stop.
"WIWAT POLSKA!" PIOTR FRANCZAK KEEPS UP POLAND’S FRENETIC PACE AT EPT MALTA Poland snagged itself yet another trophy – and headline today – after Piotr Franczak took down the stacked €2k NL Midnight Hyperturbo for €53,900 early this morning. Franczak had already cashed three times here in Malta, including two final tables, bringing his total haul so far close to €240,000. This includes sixth in the €25k special High Roller (for a lifetime best cash €129,400) and third in the €5k NL Turbo (for €50,600). Franczak beat Finland’s Jula Lauttamus heads-up to snag his first trophy of the festival but it isn’t his first EPT side event win – he also took down a €1k NL Turbo event at EPT Prague in December. There were 108 players in last night’s event creating a €209,520 prize pool with 15 paid. Others who cashed include Andras Nemeth, former EPT Player of the Year Fernando Brito, Tobias Reinkemeier, Joao Ribeiro, Timothy Adams and David Yan.
WINNER OF €200 MALTA MEGASTACK TO GET €12,100 The winner of the inaugural €200 Malta Megastack will receive €12,100. The event kicked off yesterday with 311 players creating a €60,334 prize pool with 39 players paid. Italian player Marco Levato is leading the 64 players back for Day 2 today with 320,000, closely followed by American pro Elena Stover (who has just moved to Malta) on 315,000. Others still in the running include Polish player Remi Wyrzykiewicz, who jumped in the event after busting the Main Event in eighth place yesterday, along with Sweden’s Karl Jansson who won the Juniors event and a clutch of Maltese players who would obviously love to win a Megastack named after their country!
