The €500,000 guaranteed Malta Poker Festival (MPF) Autumn Edition €550 Grand Event Powered by partypoker kicked off in style with 205 entries hopping into action on Day 1a at the luxurious Portomaso Casino. This crushed the 118 entries attracted during Day 1a of the MPF Grand Event Spring Edition which eventually attracted 1,014 entries.
Daniel Taylor was the star of the day after bagging the biggest stack among the 47 Day 1a survivors and will head to Sunday's Day 2 with a massive stack of 519,000 in chips. Just behind Taylor was Johannes Erfurth who will enter Day 2 with 500,000 in chips with Steffan Lind (497,000), James Clarke (489,000), and Stavros Tsakas (450,000) also parlaying their opening stacks of 50,000 in chips to huge stacks.
In other big news, the defending MPF Grand Event champion Marthijn Lakerveld finds himself in a great position to become the first two-time MPF Grand Event champion after collecting a healthy stack of 364,000 in chips.
| Place | Player | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Daniel Taylor | 519,000 | 104 |
| 2 | Johannes Erfurth | 500,000 | 100 |
| 3 | Staffan Lind | 497,000 | 99 |
| 4 | James Clarke | 489,000 | 98 |
| 5 | Stavros Tsakas | 450,000 | 90 |
| 6 | Timothe Busso | 422,000 | 84 |
| 7 | Davide Iannaco | 387,000 | 77 |
| 8 | Marthijn Lakerveld | 364,000 | 73 |
| 9 | Bruce Shannon | 341,000 | 68 |
| 10 | Ted Johansson | 294,000 | 59 |
The Grand Event is all for the players and is limited to two re-entries per flight. In addition, late registration closes after Level 8 meaning that anyone getting into the action will start with a workable stack and not need to shove straight off the bat in order to gain some breathing room.
Today also boasted a €60 satellite for players looking to get into the Grand Event for pennies on the dollar along with the €150 MPF Freezeout. The Freezeout turned out to be a popular event as many players liked the idea of a poker tournament with no re-entries and we promise to update you tomorrow with the outcome.
PokerListings will be back live reporting at the MPF at the start of Day 1b of the MPF Grand Event at 2 p.m. CEST. Tomorrow's schedule also boasts the €230 Bounty Hunter Days Malta at 5 p.m. and a €60 Grand Event satellite at 8 p.m. Stay tuned at PokerListings for all of your Malta Poker Festival Grand Event updates until a winner is crowned.
