Andreas Chalkiadakis Leads IPT7 Malta2 Main Event into Day 2

Last season, the Greek flag was waving at the end of the IPT Malta Main Event and now it's time to put up the blue-and-white banner again.

Andreas Chalkiadakis is leading for Day 2 of the €1,100 tourney and - just like defending champion Georgios Zisimopoulos - Chalkiadis also hails from Athens. The 34-year-old. who has been playing professionally for six years, said his tournament got off to shaky start today as he kept doubling up short stacks. However after the first break, things started improving and continued that way for the rest of the day; he was never all in and managed to win most of his pots post flop and without a showdown, building his stack up to 337,400 to seize the overall chip lead.

There are 270 players coming back for Day 2 including Team PokerStars Pros Pier Paolo Fabretti (163,100) and Andre Akkari (24,200). Other notables who survived Day 1b were Daniel Stacey (150,600), Ben Heath (113,100), Salvatore Bonavena (77,100) and Tom Hall (43,700).

A massive Day 1b today brought final numbers for the event up to 947 participants from 57 countries. The €918,590 prize pool will shared amongst 135 players with the eventual champ securing €170,030 and a min cash worth €1,810.

In March, Greek pro Georgios "ZISIMO7" Zisimopoulos scooped €142,205 along with the title and trophy. The 27-year-old from Athens, who qualified on PokerStars for his title-defending campaign, also competed today but departed after the dinner break.

IPT MALTA MAIN EVENT HISTORY:

IPT2 Malta1 - 385 players, Michal Pochlopek from Poland for €190,000

IPT2 Malta2 - 237 players, Giacomo Loccarini from Italy for €122,000

IPT3 Malta - 131 players, Marco Figuccia from Italy for €82,000

IPT7 Malta1 - 1,285 players, Georgios Zisimopoulos from Greece for €142,205

IPT7 Malta2 - 947 players, €170,030 for the winner