EPT Malta 2025: Scott Margereson Makes All – Wins €1,650 PokerStars Open for €423,700

How It Started

Margereson came into Day 4 third of the 14 that returned in pursuit of their own coveted PokerStars Shard trophy, one that would look good on any mantlepiece or trophy cabinet. Martin Bartos and Merijn van Rooij came into the play on short stack duties, both with sub 10-big blind stacks. Bartos was the first elimination of the day, and van Rooij was the first to double.

Eventual runner-up Gerard Carbo scored a double up early into the day to take the chip lead, courtesy of a rivered full house to best the trips of Ioannis Oikonomidis, who put Carbo all in. van Rooij was next to depart, as his jacks were cracked across a montone club runout versus the ace-ten offsuit of Pierre Azzopardi, who made the nut flush. Azzopardi was then next to fall, as he lost with king-ten suited versus the ace-ten suited of Siarhei Sochneu. He flopped two pair and held against the flopped flush draw of Azzopardi. Ivan Martinez then lost a flip with sixes to Modar Alsoud, who had Big Slick.

There’s always one that has to fall to the dreaded final table bubble, and unfortunately for Vasyl Palandiuk, it was his turn to play that role. He turned two pair but was already behind to the superior two pair of Carbo, who flopped aces and sixes. Palandiuk had aces and threes and couldn’t get away from his hand, and his chips went to the Spaniard.

Final Table

Carbo came into the final table with the only stack exceeding 100 big blinds. Sochneu was second and there was a long way back to Evaldas Aniulis in third. Margereson, however, was in touching distance of the third podium spot. Oikonomidis departed fairly quickly from final table proceedings, and his stack went the way of Margereson. Margereson put Oikonomidis all in after the former led out on a jack-high flop. Oikonomidis called off with queen-jack offsuit andd was dominated by the ace-jack suited of Margereson. British poker icon Barny Boatman was next to depart, having shoved ace-five suited into the ace-jack offsuit of Carbo, who was really building a stack by this point.

Margereson then added a decent pot to his stack, having rivered the nut flush versus Sochneu. By this point, Carbo and Margereson had most of the chips in play between them and were the only two players with eight-figure stacks. The remaining lady of the field, Ana Marquez, fell to her countryman Carbo, as her pocket eights melted under the dominant holding of Carbo’s pocket tens. Carbo claimed yet another scalp, this time that of Alsoud. Alsoud was short, and committed his last big blind or so with pocket threes. Carbo had queen-deuce suited, and he flopped a pair and a flush draw to leave Alsoud drawing slim. Carbo made trips and the river changed nothing, other than the openness of Alsoud’s seat.

Carbo Claiming Chips

Carbo made it a hat-trick of eliminations when he sent Donato De Bonis to the rail with queen-eight offsuit versus ace-eight offsuit. They got it in pairless on a ten-high board, but the queen turn propelled Carbo into a dominant lead in the hand. The river changed nothing, and Carbo kept chipping up. Next it was the turn of Margereson, who called a short-stack shove from Aniulis who had jacks. Aniulis, the chip-leader coming into the final day, came up against Margereson, who had ace-eight offsuit. Margereson could afford to make the call, and he flopped two pair to leave Aniulis drawing to two direct outs, or the funner runner-runner way. He did turn a straight draw but couldn’t find the nine that would put him ahead.

Margereson then eliminated Sochneu, having made a queen-high straight to crack the pocket sevens of the Belaruisan, taking play heads-up in the process.

Heads-Up

Margereson won the first crucial pot, making two pair on an ace-high and paired board with ace-ten suited. Carbo showed down nine-eight suited for a weeker two pair. Margereson’s lead was then extended in this effective €159,000 Heads-Up match. Margereson rivered a pair of queens to best the pair of jacks that Carbo had flopped. Carbo check-called flop and turn, having raised preflop, the river was checked down.

Carbo did claw some back, but the momentum stayed with Margereson who eventually took down his opponent in a preflop all-in situation. Margereson jammed 7 6 and was called by the A 9 of Carbo. The 2 5 J changed nothing, but the 6 put Margereson in pole position for the trophy. The J sealed the deal, and Margereson claimed his fourth PokerStars title, and his second-largest career score. For Carbo, this cash is his largest by some margin, eclipsing his score of €70,790 for a third-place finish in the €2,200 Deep Stack at EPT Monte Carlo.

€1,650 PokerStars Open Payouts

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1	Scott Margereson	United Kingdom	€423,700
2	Gerard Carbo	Spain	€264,650
3	Siarhei Sochneu	Belarus	€188,900
4	Evaldas Aniulis	Lithuania	€145,350
5	Donato De Bonis	Italy	€111,850
6	Modar Alsoud	Germany	€86,500
7	Ana Marquez	Spain	€65,950
8	Barny Boatman	United Kingdom	€50,700
9	Ioannis Oikonomidis	Greece	€39,050

What’s Next?

EPT Malta and WSOPE Rozvadov are nearing their conclusions, and a winner will be crowned in the 10,300 Main Event will be crowned tonight in the Czech countryside. Stay tuned to pokerlistings.com for a rundown of the WSOPE action tomorrow to find out who will come away with a WSOP bracelet, and a massive first place prize of €1,140,000.

That’s all for now, folks. Until next time.