The action is heating up in the €500,000 guaranteed PPC Malta €550 Main Event at Portomaso Casino with Day 2 set to kick off today at 3:30 p.m.
The starting time was pushed back an hour to give enough time for the final turbo opening flight to complete. Speaking of which, the turbo flight has exceeded most expectations with 111 entries getting into the mix when late registration closed with 17 players eventually qualifying through this last chance affair.
This brings the total field size to 848 entries, or 152 short of the €500,000 guarantee. In other words, the generous guarantee is providing huge value for those that go deep in this event with €76,000 in added value to the prize pool.
Plan for Day 2
A total of 128 entries have bagged stacks into Day 2 already with at least a min-cash valued at €1,000 secured. This doesn't mean there will be 128 players in their seats and we will update this at the start of Day 2 as players were allowed to play multiple opening flights even if they already bagged a stack with their biggest stack moving forward to Day 2.
Players will have more time to make their moves with blind levels increasing every 40 minutes instead of the 30-minute blind levels featured during all of the live opening flights outside of today's turbo flight where blinds increased every 15 minutes. Blind levels should be rolled back to 2,000/4,000 with a 4,000 big blind ante as this was the earliest a flight finished online but we will confirm this at the start of play.
The day will conclude when there are nine hopefuls remaining with the final table to be played out on Monday at 1 p.m. at the partypokerTV Twitch channel with long 60-minute blind levels. The stream will also be live today with a feature table from Day 2 of the Main Event.
Online qualifier Christoph Erbler kicks off the action with the chip lead unless someone manages to bag more than the 700,596 he advanced with at partypoker in March. Closest on Erbler's tail are Day 1d chip leader Simone Lombardo (584,000), Day 1b chip leader Nicolas Maillaud (553,500), Day 1c chip leader Claudio Gangemi (479,000), and Day 1a chip leader Victor Allain (452,000).
Also kicking off today is the PPC Malta €340 Portomaso Cup at 3 p.m. and the PPC Malta €225 Sunday Smash at 8 p.m. Sunday night will also be hopping away from the felt with partypoker hosting its Players' Party.
In addition to reporting the biggest hands and bad beats, PokerListings will also share the cool ambiance that partypoker LIVE and the Portomaso Casino are both well-known for. In addition, we will sprinkle in news about the side events and how you can get involved in some amazing promotions at partypoker.
Follow along with the action at PokerListings when cards are in the air at 3:30 p.m. CET.
2022 PPC Malta Schedule
| Date | Time | Event | Buy-In |
| March 17 | 20:05 | Main Event Online Day 1: €500K Gtd | € 550 |
| March 20 | 20:05 | Main Event Online Day 1: €500K Gtd | € 550 |
| March 24 | 20:05 | Main Event Online Day 1: €500K Gtd | € 550 |
| March 27 | 20:05 | Main Event Online Day 1: €500K Gtd | € 550 |
| March 31 | 12:00 | Live Main Event Satellite | € 60 |
| March 31 | 14:00 | Live High Roller Satellite | € 220 |
| March 31 | 16:00 | Main Event Live Day 1: €500K Gtd | € 550 |
| March 31 | 18:00 | Live High Roller Satellite | € 220 |
| March 31 | 20:00 | Live High Roller Day 1 | € 2,200 |
| March 31 | 21:00 | Live Main Event Satellite | € 60 |
| April 1 | 12:00 | Live Turbo Bounty Day 1a | € 250 |
| April 1 | 13:00 | Live Main Event Satellite | € 60 |
| April 1 | 13:00 | Live High Roller Day 2 | € 2,200 |
| April 1 | 15:00 | Live Main Event Satellite | € 60 |
| April 1 | 16:00 | Main Event Live Day 1b: €500K Gtd | € 550 |
| April 1 | 18:00 | Live Main Event Satellite | € 60 |
| April 1 | 21:00 | Live Main Event Satellite | € 60 |
| April 2 | 12:00 | Live Main Event Day 1c: €500K Gtd | € 550 |
| April 2 | 17:00 | Live Main Event Day 1d: €500K Gtd | € 550 |
| April 2 | 20:00 | Win the Button | € 225 |
| April 3 | 10:00 | Live Main Event Day 1e: €500K Gtd | € 550 |
| April 3 | 14:30 | Live Main Event Day 2: €500K Gtd | – |
| April 3 | 15:00 | Portomaso Cup | € 340 |
| April 3 | 20:00 | Sunday Smash | € 225 |
| April 4 | 12:00 | Deepstack | € 250 |
| April 4 | 13:00 | Live Main Event Day 3: €500K Gtd | – |
| April 4 | 17:00 | Live Turbo Finale | € 165 |
