The partypoker Grand Prix with a reasonable buy-in of €550, and a guaranteed prize pool of an epic €1,000,000 would come to an end on Day 4 of the Main Event. Nine players came back to Portomaso Casino to try and take this coveted title back home. Like the whole live poker tournament, the Italians were strongly dominating in terms of the number of entrants.

For most of the tournament play and the PokerListings live blog, they were highly present as well. But to take down the title, they had to deal with players from Cyprus, Argentina, and Finland. Eros Nastasi was in the lead when we kicked off the penultimate day, where one player had to bust before we could start with the official final table. PokerListings had been present all week and was a witness of the great apotheose that the day would bring. The live stream would also be prepared once again, so family, friends, and other poker fanatics could enjoy all the action from their own heroes.

Borghetti Cannot Overcome Disappointment the Previous Day

Luciano Borghetti, who already has ten years of experience with live tournament poker, got extremely unlucky in the last hand of the previous day, where he was obliged to make the call pre-flop due to a moment where seemed to want to open up the action with a raise, but was ruled to be a call only. Due to this, the big blind was able to join the ride for free and became fortunate with hit three-of-a-kind preflop.

While Borghetti had made top-pair on the river, the action went out of hand and had to give away most of his chips. On the final day, he couldn’t turn it around and finished in 9^th place by a classic coinflip with his Queens against the Ace-King of Massimiliano Ferro. Time to say ‘Ciao’, before the final table would be prepared to be streamed live on Twitch and Youtube.

With over half a million in career earnings, and being well-known in the Italian poker circuit, everyone knew from the get-go that Nastasi would be the one to look out for. From the end of Day 2 onwards, we have seen him applying tons of pressure and getting himself into situations where he would just leave every opponent gobsmacked, by always having the best of it. At the final table, he would be involved in the most deciding pot of the tournament, busting Juusto Keskitola:

‘’Nastasi opened the action and raised it up to 900,000. Keskitola found a monster hand and made a 3-bet to 2,700,000. Nastasi didn’t think for a bit how he would want to approach this situation, before announcing the 4-bet to 4,400,000. Keskitola was for the rough decision and shoved all-in and got an Insta call from Nastasi. Two massive stacks colliding with each other!

Nastasi: K K

Keskitalo: A K

The board ran out J 8 3 , and the 9 on the turn, and the 6 completed the board. Juuso is out!’’

Nastasi would possess almost half of the chips in play at that point, with six players remaining in the contest, as prior to this key hand, the most fearsome player of them all, Andrea Benelli, would have to leave the stage when his pocket 10’s were not able to win from the pocket Queens of Favaloro.

Benelli is known for his 4^th place finishes in the EPT Main Events of Deauville and San-Remo, where Victoria Cohen won the EPT title as the first female player ever, but couldn’t give those results a continuation.

In 7^th place, good for another personal high score, it was fans’ favourite Juusto Keskitola who hit the rail. For a little less than a year, he has been playing most of the grand events of Malta, but never made it further as a casual min-cash. His rail, consisting of fellow Maltese residents and icons such as Clint Sammut, all felt the pain after having to leave the final table in pure disillusion. After he had calmed down from the disappointment, he mentioned to us that he really felt comfortable at the table and was feeling he had an edge on the remaining felt. Driven by his experience in home/online, and cash games, he hoped to finish the job in this unique position. We will have a more detailed interview with him post-mortem.

Italian Party is Over

With Borghetti (9^th), Benelli (8^th), Ritrovato (5^th), and Ferro (4^th) having left the tournament. It was Argentinian poker live blogger Jacques Blit who would take charge of the tournament. After winning a massive all-in against Nastasi, where he flopped the nuts and Nastasi’s bottom two-pair, he was simply unstoppable. When Nastasi, the previous reigning chip leader, went out in 3^rd place, it was one-way traffic all the way towards the Argentinian. Not once he would find himself in trouble at the whole final table where he needed to chase cards to be able to win a pot and with Marcello Favaloro as the heads-up opponent, he was in an ideal situation to take home yet another trophy for the Argentinians. Favaloro, who just like any other Italian poker player is very passionate , showed a couple of unorthodox moves during the tournament but managed to play himself easily towards the final battle of the tournament.

In less than an hour, the heads-up play would end, when Favaloro tried to make a hero call but failed in doing as Jacques Blit had the goods:

‘’With the blinds on 800k/1600k, and Favaloro looking up against a 3:1 disadvantage in chips, Blit opened up the action and Favaloro decided to make the call. With the flop coming 2 Q 4 , it was Blit who led the action once again with a raise, which got called as well by Favaloro. The 8 on the turn made Blit fire again and again got called by the Italian. The 7 on the river was the sign for Blit to go All-In on the river to try and finish the heads-up match, Favaloro thought for a while and then made the hero call, which didn’t turn out well as Blit had a nice top-pair, top-kicker.

Blit showed the winning hand in the showdown with A Q , while Favaloro only could show J 2 for a missed flush draw and bottom-pair.’’

It would mean the end of a fantastic poker series, organized by partypoker and Portomaso Casino, powered by Hydra Entertainment. Another great homage to poker on the island of Malta, which got flooded by Italians the past week, but eventually left with complete agony, as they couldn’t finish the job.

We want to make use of this article, to thank all the readers of the live blog, recap articles, and the players on location who took time and patience to provide feedback out the tournament. From PokerListings’ perspective, a big thank you to all of you, and a huge congratulations to Jacques Blit from Argentina, who takes home a massive first prize and the coveted partypoker trophy by winning the Grand Prix Malta! We will fly to yet another destination in Europe for another great game of poker!

Place	Prize	Player Name
# 1	€                           145,000.00	BLIT JACQUES AMMIEL
# 2	€                             86,000.00	MARCELLO FAVALORO
# 3	€                             61,000.00	EROS NASTASI
# 4	€                             45,000.00	FERRO MASSIMILIANO
# 5	€                             31,000.00	RITROVATO SALVATORE
# 6	€                             20,500.00	MANSOUR MARIOS
# 7	€                             14,500.00	KESKITALO JUUSO MATIAS
# 8	€                             11,700.00	BENELLI ANDREA
# 9	€                               10,100.00	BORGHETTI LUCIANO

Would you like to review the whole final table? Check out the stream on the YouTube channel of partypoker, where Matt Staples is providing his take on the gameplay throughout the conclusion of the Grand Prix Malta 2023:

A total of 67 players were to return for Day 3 of the Grand Prix Malta here at Portomaso Casino, powered by partypoker LIVE. Everyone already secured themselves a min-cash and were all ready to hunt for the glorious first prize of €144,000. An amazing first prize, thanks to the prize pool which surpassed the €1M mark. We were fully prepared again for yet another long day at the office, where the players would start their live poker grind from 16:00 CET local time. In the poker room on the ground floor, the always professional Portomaso Casino staff made sure that the area for the Grand Prix event was not accessible for players to come to watch directly near the tables.

Set names in the poker community such as Adam Owen, Andrea Benelli, and Nastasi Eros would all try and find compatible stacks to apply plenty of pressure to the remaining field. There would be also the conclusion of the €1,100 Mystery Bounty and a couple of other side events such as 8-Game and the live version of the online poker tournament ‘The Predator‘.

Day 3 Grand Prix

Due to the great structure in terms of days of poker here in Malta, we would have a total of four days full of poker at the partypoker Grand Prix event. Of course, the opening flights were multiple days, but throughout the second day, into day three, it would all go very smoothly. The remaining 67 players were all focused on trying to reach the final day of the event, and to have a clear shot at the glorious title of this Grand Prix event and the €144,000 that comes with it. Nine players would remain in the contest for the final day, of which the last eight would eventually reach the official final table. It will all be streamed with a delay of 30 minutes on various channels, and we are live blogging until the very end with our PokerListings live blog. Make sure to tune in on our website to not miss any of the action!

Adam Owen was perhaps the most fearsome player left in the field of 67 remaining players. Even though he has quite some resume build up through his poker career, it is definitely not a given fact that he would be here just to win the event like it was nothing. We already saw many big names biting the dust throughout the event. Names such as Luca Pagano would not make it far into the tournament. Speaking of which, Italians are dominating this whole event from top to bottom, and throughout Day 3 it would be no different.

Eros Nastasi tops the remaining pack of players at the end of the gameplay, having shown true poker skills throughout the whole day. Not once he was at risk for his whole tournament life, and he chose very calculated all the right spots to chip up. Juuso Keskitalo, a friendly giant from Finland, and mainly a cash game and online player, also made it through to the final nine players. The Fin, who resides in Malta, created a great spot to get his name in the history books here at Portomaso Casino, and for sure the enthusiastic Maltese poker fans will be chanting his name throughout the final day of the event.

Adam Owen, which we followed closely during the days, just didn’t make it till the end. Going out in absolute fashion when his A K was not good against the A 6 of his opponent. The board would run out with five clubs, leaving him a single outer on the river with the 9 for a straight flush. Unfortunately, that didn’t appear, so we lost him just prior to the end of the day.

Players of the final day of the event will be playing for the following prizes:

# 1	144,100.00	
# 2	85,100.00	
# 3	60,100.00	
# 4	44,100.00	
# 5	30,100.00	
# 6	19,600.00	
# 7	13,600.00	
# 8	10,800.00	
# 9	9,200.00

Italian Passion

All week long, the Italian poker players were highly present in the tournament. Just like with football, the Italian culture pops up at the poker tables as well. They just have this tiny bit more passion than others, which resulted in a lot of encouraging shouting at the tables when they won a hand, and the visible disappointment when they dropped out of the tournament. Luciano Borghetti came in tough spot in the last hand, where he doubled up Salvatore Ritrovato. Ritrovato, another player who is as furniture here at the poker rooms in Malta, was immersed with luck as Borghetti was forced to call the big blind pre-flop due to a handling matter when he placed a couple of chips over the line while playing with his chips. Borghetti lost half of his stack due to this error, but he is still in the mix for the apotheose of this Grand Prix event.

We got informed that three of the nine remaining players are from Messina in Italy. A big rail is expected for the final table, and when you are following the stream, you might often hear the passion of the Italians for the sport that poker is.

Live Blog Information

If you want to relive Day 3 of the event, make sure to check out the PokerListings live blog from Day 2. It gives you some great insights into the event and will ramp up to the moment supreme, which kicks off today at 14:00 CET local time. With the live blog, we will take note of the delay of the live stream as well, so all poker action in the blog will be with a delay of 30 minutes compared to the real time.

Rank	Country	Player Name	Chip Count	Table	Seat
#1		EROS NASTASI	23,125,000	1	4
#2		BLIT JACQUES AMMIEL	18,150,000	2	7
#3		KESKITALO JUUSO MATIAS	17,900,000	2	6
#4		MARCELLO FAVALORO	15,675,000	1	8
#5		BENELLI ANDREA	8,000,000	2	8
#6		FERRO MASSIMILIANO	7,050,000	1	6
#7		RITROVATO SALVATORE	6,975,000	1	7
#8		Mansour Marios	6,550,000	2	3
#9		Borghetti Luciano	2,900,000	1	2

It is October 1^st, 2023. The partypoker Grand Prix event with a guaranteed prize pool of €1,000,000 would have its second day of the live poker tournament, but not before Day 1H was being played out prior to that. From the early hours, it was possible for players to try for the last time to build up a stack. Day 2 was scheduled for 19:00 CET but had to be shortly delayed as the last opening flight was a great success. With 290 entries on the list, the guaranteed prize pool would be surpassed with just €11,000!

The structure made it happen that the end of the opening flight would have a real apotheose. The fact that 15% would remain, and taking into account that players would be in the money when reaching that goal, made it all look a bit unusual. The final blind level would be so huge, that the roll-back of the blind levels for day 2, was extraordinary. Luca Pagano, a living poker legend from Italy, came to have a cheeky look at the remaining field of 339 players as well. PokerListings was present, providing players and their friends, families, and companions, with the partypoker MILLIONS live blog. 

Start in the Early Hours

Cards were in the air from 11:00 CET onwards here at the lovely Portomaso Casino in St. Julians, Malta. Guided by the pure excellence of its staff, partypoker representatives, and dealers of Ludo’s Acadamy, players could once again enjoy the game of poker to all their expectations. A total of 290 entries were made in the penultimate opening flight of the partypoker Grand Prix event.

Many players already qualified for the second day of the tournament, but 44 players were to be added with this last flight. It would turn out to be a wonderful show, which felt like a hyper turbo at the end, where players would do anything to survive. Take Michele Chite for example, who had left 2,000 chips to play with. Fausto Tantillo on the other hand, would become the overall chip leader with 1,498,000 chips. Day 2 would have a blind level rolled back to 3,000/6,000/6,000.

Day 2 to Start With 339 Remaining Players

Players from all opening flights of this week, together with the players who qualified through earlier online flights, came together on Day 2 here in Malta. The main poker room of Portomaso Casino was almost completely filled up, and it would become a real homage to the game of poker. Many players would surprise friends and enemies, by showcasing true determination to succeed.

Michele Chite had no hopes for playing for a long time, but eventually kept it going for four hours of play, finishing as 209^th in the tournament. Fausto Tantillo and Massimiliano Ferro colluded several times with each other throughout the tournament as they were for a long time at the same table positioned, resulting in top-3 stacks for both. Argentinian Jacques Blit, who had been a familiar face at the poker tables this week, also remained in the top 10 of the chip counts throughout the day.

Seasoned poker professionals such as Alessio Isaia, Eran Boren, and Dario Barone, started with reasonable chip counts but did not all manage to be one of the remaining players of this day. Adam Owen did make it through, being at the top of the chip counts. The expectations are set high for him on Day 3. The same counts for local hero Mark Vella, who yet made another great run in a grand event. Head of Poker from PokerListings, Mauritz Altikardes, also saw with his own eyes how cruel the game can become sometimes by losing with Queens versus Jacks left the room in 148^th place.

Play would end around 3:30 in the night, and 67 players would be remaining for a shot at one of the most prestigious titles in Maltese poker history. All eyes are set on the grand first prize of € 144,000, where all players are locked up € 2,500 already. Make sure to follow the live blog, provided to you by PokerListings, and keep an eye on our social media channels as well for exclusive insights!

Place	Country	Player Name	Chip Count	Table #	Seat #
#1		PATANE’ MARCO	5,550,000	8	2
#2		FERRO MASSIMILIANO	4,845,000	10	1
#3		TANTILLO FAUSTO	4,555,000	10	6
#4		OWEN ADAM JOHN	3,520,000	11	5
#5		BENELLI ANDREA	3,405,000	9	2
#6		BLIT JACQUES AMMIEL	3,260,000	11	1
#7		SPOSATO GASPARE	3,095,000	12	1
#8		Santambrogio Giordano	2,900,000	9	6
#9		CLARK BHAJA NELSON BERNARD	2,635,000	14	4
#10		EROS NASTASI	2,600,000	7	1
#11		CARAVAGLIO LUCA	2,545,000	8	5
#12		THEVENET THIBAUT MAEL	2,510,000	7	5
#13		PLANISCIG MARTIN EMMANUEL	2,370,000	9	8
#14		ANTONIN HAYS	2,200,000	11	4
#15		AZZOPARDI PIERRE	2,105,000	9	7
#16		CROBU ANDREA PASQUALE	2,050,000	9	3
#17		Benakis Pavlos	1,995,000	11	2
#18		HOPPER PAUL DARCY	1,960,000	12	2
#19		CALLEJA BRIAN	1,780,000	13	6
#20		PORTO DARIO	1,775,000	12	7
#21		SERRAINO VINCENZO	1,765,000	8	1
#22		PECELJ PAVLE	1,740,000	11	7
#23		LIMONTA WALTER	1,705,000	7	7
#24		SUTERA GIOVANNI	1,690,000	13	1
#25		TREDICI GIUSEPPE	1,655,000	16	5
#26		BELLANGER THOMAS GEORGES CHRISTOPHER	1,645,000	8	4
#27		HANSEN OLE	1,620,000	12	3
#28		KHAZARADZE IVANE	1,575,000	14	3
#29		RITROVATO SALVATORE	1,565,000	12	5
#30		KESKITALO JUUSO MATIAS	1,525,000	10	2
#31		ANDERSON GRANT	1,515,000	14	2
#32		CHORIANOPOULOS IOANNIS	1,480,000	12	6
#33		GABRIELE GIACOMO	1,435,000	10	7
#34		Cavandoli Federico	1,400,000	16	1
#35		MONTAGNOLLI DANIEL ROBERT	1,365,000	10	5
#36		PELLERIN TANGUY NATHANAEL JACQUES	1,345,000	13	5
#37		MARCELLO FAVALORO	1,275,000	16	3
#38		CAMPOCHIARO CLAUDIO	1,225,000	14	1
#39		OLAVE QUESADA SAMUEL	1,175,000	13	2
#40		WONG JONATHAN WUN SHING	1,155,000	7	2
#41		SANTORO ALBERTO	1,070,000	7	8
#42		RAVAIOLI ROMANO	1,045,000	8	8
#43		DODY YOAN	1,010,000	8	7
#44		Borghetti Luciano	990,000	14	5
#45		GIOVANNI LA rosa	980,000	14	6
#46		KUCERUKS ELVIJS	980,000	12	8
#47		SCUDERI ANTONIO	945,000	9	5
#48		ZACHARAKIS EMMANOUIL	935,000	8	3
#49		MASCIARELLI MARCO	930,000	11	6
#50		CHRISTOFOROU ANDREW	850,000	16	8
#51		VIETTI ANGELO	845,000	7	4
#52		MAIORCA ERNESTO	840,000	16	7
#53		CARUSO FRANCESCO	830,000	14	8
#54		COLLI STEFANO	825,000	7	3
#55		ASSENNATO FABIO	815,000	13	7
#56		LACIS DZINTARS	800,000	10	4
#57		Mansour Marios	790,000	7	6
#58		PILLONI LUCA	775,000	13	3
#59		PATANE ANGELO	745,000	16	2
#60		SERAFIN LUIGI	710,000	14	7
#61		LEOTTA ANTONINO	610,000	16	6
#62		RODRIQUENZ MARCO LUIS	550,000	13	4
#63		FORSTER SIMON ANTHONY	530,000	16	4
#64		RIBATALLADA RUIZ JORDI	530,000	8	6
#65		BODEA RARES-AURELIAN	520,000	11	3
#66		BERTI FABIO	485,000	9	1
#67		ALLEGRA NATALE	360,000	10	3

The Grand Prix event would get its big opening flights on Day 1F and 1G. The expectation would be just above 300 players, and with 1F ending on 308 entries, and 1G ending on 352 entries, that expectation became a reality. Among these entries, there were some big names in the mix such as all-time Italian poker legend Luca Pagano. Unfortunately, he didn’t make it until the end of the day, but perhaps he will try again on the last opening flight tomorrow.

The last flight, starting on 11:00 CET early in the morning, has got 20-minute blinds and will finish just prior to Day 2, which starts at 19:00 CET. Within that time frame, the MILLIONS event will play down from 16 remaining players to a winner.

During that day, we are going to try and catch up with one of these remaining players, Matt Staples, who is here with partypoker as a Team Pro. With over €400,000 in the prize pool and a first prize of €93,000, all eyes are set on who will become the new MILLIONS Malta Champion. 

Grand Prix Day 1F 

Our main focus was on Day 1F, and after a slow start, it would end with a true bang! A total of 308 entries were made throughout the first ten levels of play. Our online qualifier Asif ‘PokerTourist’ Warris, who won the satellite organized by PokerListings in collaboration with partypoker earlier this month, tried his luck on this flight.

Unfortunately for him, he would get knocked out in the early stages when he was all-in and at risk with A 10 and had hit the flush- and straight draw on the flop. He bricked the turn and river, so all his chips went to his opponent who had pocket Queens.  

When we got to know that All-time Italian poker legend Luca Pagano was playing during the 1F opening flight, he unfortunately immediately busted out of the tournament just when we wanted to check where he was seated. Hopefully, he will give acte de presence in some more tournaments here during the partypoker Millions Malta, so we can enjoy his elegant playing style like in the old days.

Imagine, the final tabling of so many European Poker Tours, of which 3 in one year including the grand final in Monaco. A true star of the game. With many of his fellow countrymen at this event, the chance of having an Italian victor in this event is extremely alive.

Day 1F eventually would last until blind level 15, where the bubble burst in great fashion. It was Valter Miceli who had opened up the action from the button with 4 6 , and Charalampos Televantou was practically all-in on the big blind with just a couple of chips behind.

He was at risk, holding [Qx][7x], but had high hopes when he saw where he was up against. The dealer, however, decided differently, showing 6 6 6 on the flop. It was an immediate goodbye to the player from Cyprus, who was the last player not receiving a minimum cash on this flight.  

If you want to read back all the action of this flight, check out our live blog for more in-depth information.  

Place	Country	Player	Chips
#1		KLEBIEKO BARTLOMIEJ	1,117,000
#2		BARONE CLAUDIO	824,000
#3		PORTO DARIO	767,000
#4		STACEY DANIEL	754,000
#5		CHISU DANUT FLORIN	583,000
#6		PATANE ANGELO	573,000
#7		FERRO MASSIMILIANO	565,000
#8		DELFOCO FRANCESCO	550,000
#9		SERAFIN LUIGI	465,000
#10		EFTHYMIADIS GEORGIOS	445,000
#11		RUSSO GIOVANNI	426,000
#12		MILAZZO ANTONINO	423,000
#13		THEVENET THIBAUT MAEL	399,000
#14		PECELJ PAVLE	365,000
#15		SAID OLIVER JOHN MOSES	358,000
#16		FISICARO MAURIZIO	357,000
#17		LEOTTA ANTONINO	355,000
#18		LISZKOVICS JOZSEF	341,000
#19		BERTI FABIO	338,000
#20		CONTI CORRADO	328,000
#21		MAGGIO MARCO EMANUELE	326,000
#22		JOURDAIN ALEXANDRE	310,000
#23		BODNAR GERGO	308,000
#24		YIANNAKIS PAPAPETROU	297,000
#25		PAVVLI ANDREAS	296,000
#26		GALATI GIORDANO FEDERICO	253,000
#27		CAVINA DEVIS	252,000
#28		MACRI’ PASQUALE	248,000
#29		CHRISTOFOROU ANDREW	233,000
#30		SFAKIANAKIS DIMITRIOS	229,000
#31		CARUSO FRANCESCO	228,000
#32		LEONZIO MARCO	215,000
#33		QUANG DAVID	212,000
#34		DE PASCUAL TORRENTE ANTONIO	208,000
#35		GRANIERI ALESSANDRO	195,000
#36		BRUNO MASSIMO	185,000
#37		LI PUMA MARIO	158,000
#38		DE LEO ALESSANDRO	143,000
#39		ETAU SYLVAIN JOSEPH LAPHETA	139,000
#40		RIBATALLADA RUIZ JORDI	137,000
#41		DEMETRI TRIANTAFYLLOI	127,000
#42		SERPE DAVIDE	114,000
#43		BARBERA ALESSANDRO	105,000
#44		BERTE FRANCESCO	105,000
#45		MICELI VALTER	86,000
#46		PHAM HONG THI MINH	75,000

Grand Prix Day 1G 

In the main poker room at Portomaso Casino, the evening flight of the Grand Prix Day 1G, would attract a stunning 354 entries. This was good news for the casino and partypoker, as the guarantee would not be far off any longer.

With one more opening flight on Saturday, just prior to Day 2, it is almost sure the guarantee will be reached and the prize pool will start rising to higher grounds. We did not blog this event, but we want to definitely share with you the overall chip counts of the remaining players of this opening flight.  

Place	Country	Player	Chips
#1		FAILLA VALERIO GIUSEPPE	1,332,000
#2		PILLONI LUCA	910,000
#3		KARADAGLIS STYLIANOS	805,000
#4		KAMPF PHILIPP	757,000
#5		ABBATE DAVIDE	738,000
#6		RIDI MATTIA	645,000
#7		TREDICI GIUSEPPE	576,000
#8		PATANE’ MARCO	497,000
#9		BARI ANTONIO	494,000
#10		PASHKOVA MARYNA	480,000
#11		ANZELO JULIO	462,000
#12		ULHAQ USMAN	438,000
#13		CRISCIO ROCCO	431,000
#14		KASPRZYK MATEUSZ	425,000
#15		D’ARDIA CIRO	402,000
#16		POLIMENI CARMELO	396,000
#17		MOTTA SALVATORE	377,000
#18		SPARZA DURAN SANTIAGO	372,000
#19		GEORGESCU GEORGIAN	364,000
#20		COZZULLA FRANCO	362,000
#21		CHORIANOPOULOS IOANNIS	347,000
#22		SANTINI ALESSANDRO	334,000
#23		RODRIQUENZ MARCO LUIS	320,000
#24		TERSIGNI MATTEO GIOSUE	320,000
#25		CROBU ANDREA PASQUALE	319,000
#26		CSERNUS DAVID GYORGY	318,000
#27		ZANGONE SAVERIO	318,000
#28		HANSEN OLE	310,000
#29		VERMEULEN TOM	310,000
#30		KOULOPOULOS IOANNIS	304,000
#31		BARTH MARTIN	302,000
#32		CUSMANO RAFFAELE	259,000
#33		VESCIO GIOVANNI	252,000
#34		HOUAYEK JOSEPH	220,000
#35		STEVANATO LUCA	213,000
#36		CIMA PAOLO	212,000
#37		SAFRANEK LUDEK	189,000
#38		GEORGIOU EFTYCHIOS	172,000
#39		FAGES BERTRAND JEAN ELIE	164,000
#40		SPIZZIRRI ROS LUIS RAFAEL	160,000
#41		PECORARIO AGOSTINO	136,000
#42		JUNG KEVIN DENNIS	115,000
#43		CLODOMIRO DAVIDE	111,000
#44		CUTI ALFREDO	104,000
#45		D’URSO SALVATRICE	77,000
#46		GUGLIELMINO SALVATORE	77,000
#47		KIS KRISZTIAN MARK	70,000
#48		ZANDI MILO	52,000
#49		KOZUCH MATEUSZ	44,000
#50		TERRAFINO AMATORE	26,000
#51		D’angelo Ignazio	25,000
#52		FERRO PASQUALE	25,000

€3,000 Millions Malta event down to 16 players 

The second day of the Millions High Roller event would start eventually with 92 players, as several players decided to late register just prior to the start. They still would have plenty of space to build up some stacks, as they would enter the tournament with more than 30 big blinds. Taco De Goede was one of them, securing himself from an eventual min-cash.  

The top prize of €93,000 is promising for lots of high-level poker action, and hopefully, Matt Staples will be able to battle through the remaining 16 players.  

The event will be live-streamed on Sunday, so make sure to turn on your mobile device or laptop to follow all the action! 

Place	Country	Player	Chips	Table	Seat
#1		PELUSO FABIO	1,490,000	1	6
#2		MEUNIER CLEMENT	710,000	2	2
#3		CAMINITA DEMETRIO	475,000	1	3
#4		STAPLES MATTHEW JORDAN	455,000	2	7
#5		WOJTAS JABUK ZBIHNIEW	420,000	2	6
#6		TRATTOU MARIOS	320,000	2	3
#7		BOELLIS GIULIANO	280,000	1	4
#8		CLACK THOMAS PAUL	275,000	1	5
#9		HARI ADAM	265,000	2	4
#10		DE LA ROSA MORAN RICARDO	260,000	2	1
#11		LINDQWIST ERIK LARS ALLAN	260,000	2	5
#12		BOUETTE RICHARD STEPHANE	240,000	2	8
#13		ANGELOU KONSTAS IOANNIS	210,000	1	2
#14		CIGLIANO ALBERTO	185,000	1	8
#15		MATAR MICHAEL NAGY	180,000	1	1
#16		GALA DOMENICO	140,000	1	7
#17		DE GOEDE TACO	€ 7,210		
#18		BOI PAOLO	€ 7,210		
#19		STRAKOVICH RAMAN	€ 7,210		
#20		BLIT JACQUES	€ 7,210

What’s Coming Next

Start Time	Event #	Event	Buy-In
11:00	#3	Grand Prix $1m GTD Day 1H Turbo	€500+€50
15:00	#27	Omaha Single Day	€1000+€100
15:00	#3	MILLIONS FINAL DAY	N/A
19:00	#3	Grand Prix $1m GTD Day 2	N/A
20:00	#28	Mystery Bounty Day 1	€500+€500+€100
20:00	Online #1	MILLIONS Malta LIVE Twitch Freeroll	Freeroll
22:00	#29	Sunday Party	€200+€20

It would be the first day of this partypoker Millions series, where the cards would go in the air at 12:00 CET. The Italians came in big numbers to Portomaso Casino, where Day 1d of the Grand Prix would eventually have 208 entries, of which 31 players would proceed to Day 2. Another flight, Day 1e, kicked off at 18:00 CET, giving players an option to register for any of these tournaments for a minimum of 12 hours straight.

The second and last flight of the € 3,000 Millions High Roller also was part of the schedule, starting at 21:00 CET. The assumption was that many online regulars who reside in Malta would come down to play some live poker, and it worked out pretty well. Tomorrow the second day is planned for the Millions event, which has been rescheduled to 17:00 CET, so that players would not end up playing late in the night time.  

Grand Prix Day 1d 

Straight from the start, you could see that Italy was presented with a huge amount of players. ‘The Italian Grind’ was real and ended up with a total of 208 entries. 31 Of them would go through to the next day, and would already lock up a min cash.

Plenty of recognizable names would be in the mix such as Michel Molenaar, Alessio Isaia, and local hero Mark Vella. The day kicked off at noon and took eventually around eleven hours of play until the end of this starting flight would be concluded.  

Place	Country	Player Name	Chip Count
#1		FRYDA VICTOR MACEO	1,060,000
#2		PEFFLY ALEX STEVEN ALLEN	1,000,000
#3		ISAIA ALESSIO	935,000
#4		AZZOPARDI PIERRE	649,000
#5		FURNERI ALESSANDRO GIUSEPPE	536,000
#6		NEVANO GENNARO	508,000
#7		PAILLOT SYLVERE FELIX	490,000
#8		BURKE RICHARD IAN J	418,000
#9		LA CAVA ALESSANDRO	407,000
#10		ALONSO MIKE GEORGES	360,000
#11		HOPPER PAUL DARCY	360,000
#12		GELARDI DAVIDE	327,000
#13		TARSIA GIUSEPPE	310,000
#14		GALLO GIULIO	290,000
#15		SUTERA GIOVANNI	290,000
#16		DI SALVO GIULIO	281,000
#17		SMITH MICHAEL GORDON	254,000
#18		PIERUZZINI DARIO	235,000
#19		MEEUWISSE WILLIAM ADRIAN	213,000
#20		DILENA TOMMASO	204,000
#21		RAMETTA NICHOLAS	200,000
#22		KLAT OLIVIER	192,000
#23		VELLA MARK ANTHONY	174,000
#24		RAGONE FILIPPO	160,000
#25		LOMBARDO SIMONE	157,000
#26		ZOGRAFAKIS EMMANOUIL	130,000
#27		PALOMINO REBOLLEDA JORGE	111,000
#28		DAVID ANA MARIA	110,000
#29		FORSTER SIMON ANTHONY	98,000
#30		VIRDE ANGELO	91,000
#31		PELLEGRINI AGOSTINO	84,000

Grand Prix Day 1e 

As you can read in the liveblog, we were not present at the starting flight Day 1e. What we do know is that there were 180 entries made, and it would be once again an Italian party. Andrea D’Elia topped the field and put himself at the top of the chip counts for Day 2. It would be a long day for the players, as the flight kicked off at 18:00 CET. By the end, they were playing the blind level 6,000/12,000/12,000, which was mostly the last level of the opening flight throughout the previous flights as well.  

Today, however, they can rest up and enjoy the weather in sunny Malta. Day 2 will be played out on Sunday. There are three more opening flights on the schedule, which we will blog live here at PokerListings.  

Place	Country	Player Name	Chip Count
#1		D’ELIA ANDREA	1,058,000
#2		CARAVAGLIO LUCA	775,000
#3		CLARK BHAJA NELSON BERNARD	763,000
#4		CAMMISULI FLAVIANO	614,000
#5		ROMME JEROEN PETER	585,000
#6		Cavandoli Federico	518,000
#7		VIETTI ANGELO	443,000
#8		CAMPOCHIARO CLAUDIO	428,000
#9		KYROU KYROS	374,000
#10		ROPERTI GUIDO	371,000
#11		MEUNIER CLEMENT	310,000
#12		ALLEGRA NATALE	252,000
#13		DALL’OGLIO CLAUDIO	229,000
#14		MOLINA ROBERTO	228,000
#15		JUSAJ MUSA	226,000
#16		TOSI CRISTIANO	215,000
#17		PETRUZZELLI FEDERICO	205,000
#18		FRANCISTY FILIP	200,000
#19		AVENI GABRIELE	184,000
#20		NORAN SEEIAR	178,000
#21		MELONI SIMONE	172,000
#22		BARRILE GIANPIERO	164,000
#23		PALMA GIOVANNI EMANUELE	145,000
#24		SKAWINSKI GRZEGORZ	145,000
#25		VENEZIANO MATTEO	123,000
#26		BASILE FABRIZIO	101,000
#27		LEKKAKOS GEORGIOS	28,000

Millions High Roller 

The Millions High Roller knew its second and last starting flight today, which promised to be a huge success when talking about the number of entries. With 47 entries done on Day 1a, it could only get better on the second opening day. It would rise up high, as a stunning 74 players will come back today for Day 2 of the Millions event.

A fantastic number of entries for a High Roller event here in Malta, giving a massive payout to the winner of the tournament and perhaps one of the most prestigious partypoker trophies. Players will resume the tournament at 17:00 today. We will share the chip counts with you in today’s live blog.  

Photo credits to Jean Marc Zerafa

We write Thursday 28^th of September, where day 1c of the € 1M guaranteed Grand Prix event was on the schedule. Eventually, 151 entries were added to the 430 entries done on days 1a and 1b, bringing the total of the live opening flights to 581. Eventually, Italian player Daniel Montagnolli (1,063,000) bagged most of the chips at the end of the day, followed by Israeli player Eran Cohen (763,000).

Only 15% of the field was about to get qualified for the second day of the event, so players could expect a long day of live poker ahead. For the high-roller players in Europe and beyond, busy times are approaching with online events going on all over the place, but here at the partypoker MILLIONS they would have their chance to shine as well with the Hydra High Roller being played out to a winner. Registration was still open until the start of the second day of that event, and a handful of players including Dzmitry Urbanovich made use of that option. Teun Mulder from The Netherlands had taken the chip lead after the first day, being one of the players here in Malta with astonishing results throughout his career.

Grand Prix Day 1c

Where the first two opening flights were discounted for a buy-in of € 400 instead of the usual € 550, day 1c could be considered the first real opening flight of this event. With an amazing prize pool of € 1M, players worldwide would want to be part of it as it is one of the biggest valued tournaments in this category. 151 of these players, found their way to Portomaso Casino for day 1c and were all aiming to bag and tag their chips by the end of the day.

Amongst these players, we got interesting names passing by such as the founder of the Malta Poker Festival; Ivonne Montealegre. Another grand name in the mix, Dario Barone, who had won the Battle of Malta earlier this year, was trying to build himself momentum on this day for yet another great run in a Main Event. One name which we didn’t particularly expect here, was Adam Owen. Mainly because of his speciality being mixed games of course.

Austrian Daniel Montagnolli had one of the runs that all players are hoping for throughout a poker tournament, resulting in the chip lead of day 1c. Halfway through the day, it didn’t look like that, especially when his Kings could not with from King-Queen, bringing the board eventually a split pot.

Here Are the Chip Counts of Day 1c:

Place	Country	Player Name	Chip Count
#1		MONTAGNOLLI DANIEL	1,063,000
#2		COHEN ERAN	763,000
#3		GRISA LUIGI MARIO	715,000
#4		BRUCE DILLAN LEE	644,000
#5		KATHRI BHAVIN	606,000
#6		SQUILLACI FRANCESCO	522,000
#7		KHAZARADZE IVANE	401,000
#8		BARONE DARIO	269,000
#9		ZACHARAKIS EMMANOUIL	269,000
#10		SUNJEVARAIC ALEKSANDAR	258,000
#11		TARANTINI MAURO	235,000
#12		PETRONI GIOVANNI	221,000
#13		MATAR MICHAEL NAGY	215,000
#14		ASSENNATO FABIO	192,000
#15		SIMONE ALFONSO	190,000
#16		LEVENE NICKY	174,000
#17		GIUFRE EMANUELE	138,000
#18		SCHULTZ RICO	136,000
#19		MERENDINO SALVATORE	117,000
#20		SALOBEHAJ EDISON	116,000
#21		MARANO ALESSANDRO	102,000
#22		BARRON NEIL	101,000
#23		OWEN ADAM	64,000

Hydra High Roller

One of the High Roller events here at the partypoker MILLIONS was the € 5,300 Hydra High Roller event, which attracted 40 players on the first day of the event. With late registration open until the start of Day 2, another 4 players would be added to the list, all looking to capture the first prize of € 72,864.

Only six players would make it to the money, and chip leader Teun Mulder was in for two bullets already. Throughout the whole day, another Dutchman, Michel Molenaar, would find himself at the top of the chip counts. Bart Lybaert, perhaps one of the best-known players of Belgium, also came down to Malta to show his skills at the tables, and eventually would overpower all of them to take home this glorious event, defeating Molenaar heads-up.

Other notable names who attended this event were Dzmitry Urbanovich, Dominik Nitsche, Matt Staples, and Jonathan Abdellatif. Unfortunately for them, they would not make it to the money. With another high roller on the schedule with the €3,000 partypoker MILLIONS Tournament, we will perhaps see them back tomorrow. 

Place	Country	Player Name	Prize
#1		LYBAERT BART	€72,864
#2		MOLENAAR MICHEL	€49,632
#3		GRISA LUIGI MARIO	€31,680
#4		MULDER TEUN	€24,288
#5		JATTIN FARRID	€17,952
#6		MARGETZ PEREZ LEONOR	€14,784

Friday Schedule

The schedule includes two opening flights for the Grand Prix event, with the first one starting at 12:00 CET, and the second one starting at 18:00 CET. Besides two satellite tournaments being included on Friday as well, there is also Day 1B of the MILLIONS event and a €300 Single-Day turbo NLH event. Make sure to follow all the action on our partypoker MILLIONS live blog, which gives you exclusive insights into this majestic event, and will keep you informed about the results of many great names out here in Malta.

From September 23 to October 3, players will fly to Malta from all over the globe to participate in one of the major events of this year in Europe’s live poker tournament scene. The Grand Prix Main Event with a buy-in of only €550, and a whopping guaranteed prize pool of €1,000,000, it is destined to attract a great number of players. PokerListings will be present from September 28^th until the very end, to take care of the live blog right from the action.

With insights into the whole event, chip counts and detailed action posts, player interviews, daily recaps, and much more, we will make sure that you won’t miss anything from this grand event! The Grand Prix event returns once again to Malta, after its previous stop in Bratislava, which had an eventual prize pool of €542,690. The Greek Alexandros Dimogiorgis took home the title and €102,000. In Malta, the prize pool will be doubled, presumably giving a first prize of around €150k-€200k!

PokerListings Live Blog

The PokerListings live reporting team will be on the rocky island of Malta from the 28^th of September onwards for this partypoker live event. This time we are sending Melvin Schroen from The Netherlands to provide you with all updates about the action of this partypoker MILLIONS event at Portomaso Casino in St. Julians. With several years of experience in the poker industry on- and off-the-tables, we are positive the live blog will be a great read for you all.

It is being promised to be a blast of an event, where the first couple of days are decisive for the rest of the tournament series. Every early bird registering on Day 1A and 1B, does not register for the usual €550 buy-in, but gets a discounted price of €400! The time schedule of the opening flights is absolutely wonderful, as many poker players either travel throughout the day or have their professional careers going on. So to have it kicked off at 16:00 and 18:00 CET the majority of the days gives plenty of opportunities for all poker players out there.

Other Notable Events of the Schedule

Besides the Grand Prix event, the MILLIONS Malta event with a buy-in of €3,000, and the Hydra High-Roller with a buy-in of €5,300 are events that are available to anyone as well, giving opportunities to get a big score! We will try to keep you informed about all the actions of these events, while the focus remains on the Grand Prix event.

Alongside these iconic live poker events, there are plenty of satellite events towards these events on the schedule. A tournament schedule would not be complete if there weren’t other poker formats available as well, resulting in Omaha events, a Mystery Bounty event, and an No Limit Texas Hold’em Deepstack event.

Online Satellites

For players already residing in Malta, plenty of satellites are available already in Portomaso Casino for the Grand Prix event. Poker in Malta has been booming already for several years now, which makes this stop of partypoker live, one of the greatest in its history. The MILLIONS Malta event is not only reachable via satellites through live poker but most definitely also through online tournament qualifiers on the poker client of partypoker itself.

Daily there are several opportunities to get your package sorted out, resulting in much less headache arranging hotels, tournament buy-ins and so on. Make sure to have a look in the poker client for this, as the value is spot on!

See you in Malta!

Full Tournament Schedule partypoker MILLIONS Malta

Date	Time	Event
Fri 22 Sep	20:00	€60 Grand Prix Satellite
Sat 23 Sep	14:00	€60 Grand Prix Satellite
	16:00	€400 Grand Prix Day 1A
Sun 24 Sep	14:00	€60 Grand Prix Satellite
	16:00	€400 Grand Prix Day 1B
	18:00	€60 Step Satellite to MILLIONS
Mon 25 Sep	19:00	€250 NLHE Deepstack Day 1
	21:00	€60 Grand Prix Satellite
Tue 26 Sep	18:00	€60 Grand Prix Satellite
	19:00	NLHE Deepstack Day 2
	21:00	€330 Satellite to MILLIONS
Wed 27 Sep	15:00	€550 Satellite to Hydra High Roller
	17:00	€5,300 NLHE Hydra High Roller Day 1
	19:00	€150 NLHE Italian Party
	21:00	€330 Satellite to MILLIONS
	22:00	€60 Grand Prix Satellite
Thu 28 Sep	15:00	€60 Grand Prix Satellite
	15:00	€5,300 NLHE Hydra High Roller Day 2
	18:00	€550 Grand Prix Day 1C*
	18:00	€330 Pot-Limit Omaha
	21:00	€3,000 NLHE MILLIONS Day 1A
	21:00	€60 Grand Prix Satellite
Fri 29 Sep	12:00	€550 Grand Prix Day 1D*
	15:00	€60 Grand Prix Satellite
	18:00	€550 Grand Prix Day 1E*
	21:00	€3,000 NLHE MILLIONS Day 1B
	21:00	€300 NLHE Turbo Millions Single Day Event
	22:00	€60 Grand Prix Satellite
Sat 30 Sep	12:00	€550 Grand Prix Day 1F*
	15:00	€60 Grand Prix Satellite
	18:00	€550 Grand Prix Day 1G*
	21:00	€330 NLHE Headhunter
	21:00	€3,000 NLHE MILLIONS Day 2
	22:00	€60 Grand Prix Satellite
Sun 1 Oct	11:00	€550 Grand Prix Day 1H Turbo*
	15:00	€1,100 Pot-Limit Omaha Single Day
	15:00	€3,000 NLHE MILLIONS Final Table
	19:00	€550 Grand Prix Day 2*
	20:00	€1,100 NLHE Mystery Bounty Day 1
	22:00	€220 NLHE Sunday Party
Mon 2 Oct	16:00	€550 Grand Prix Day 3*
	17:00	€1,100 NLHE Mystery Bounty Day 2
	19:00	€225 8-Game Mix
	21:00	€220 NLHE The Predator
Tue 3 Oct	14:00	€550 Grand Prix Day 4*
	16:00	€70 Last Turbo
	18:00	€220 NLHE Goodbye Party

*Will be blogged live by PokerListings

Partypoker has joined the qualifiers army of The Festival Series, which gives players of partypoker the opportunity to get their hands on a package worth €1,350 for the next stop of The Festival Series at the Banco Casino in Bratislava. The event, being held from the 26^th of November until the 3^rd of December, is without a doubt one of the headliners of the live poker circuit this year.

Especially the fans of mixed games are checking out all the news standing on the top of their toes, as the first ever Mixed Games Main Event will be part of the tournament schedule. The partypoker satellites are not a stranger to The Festival Series, as previous events were all available to qualify at partypoker, including the step satellites. The Festival Series Bratislava has got an NLHE Main Event with €500,000 guaranteed, and a Mixed Games Main Event called H.O.R.S.E.S. There is no time to be wasted here, two months left for the event, and qualifying on partypoker will start today!

Daily- and Weekly Satellites

It is the story of today’s poker, qualifying yourself for great live poker events around the globe. A great opportunity for all sorts of players to take a shot for a bigger buy-in event, having all things around the poker itself like hotels fully arranged. Partypoker is a poker client which is party of the online poker industry from the very beginning, and perfectly understands what is required for poker players to feel comfortable playing at their online poker client.

For The Festival Series, partypoker has revealed a great step satellite schedule in which you can theoretically get yourself qualified for as little as €0,01! Every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, there are satellites available in which you can get yourself qualified for the weekly final, held at 21:30 CET on every Sunday.

The ticket prize pools and package prize pools are guaranteed, making it extremely valuable for players to take part in it. Below you will find the full schedule of all satellites available through the partypoker client for The Festival Series Bratislava 2023.

Package Details: €1,350 Festival Series partypoker

• 6 Nights Single/Double/Twin at Crown Plaza (or similar).
• Check-in on November 27, 2023. Check-out at December 3, 2023.
• Breakfast for up to two people.
• 1x €550 Festival Series Main Event entry
• 1x Official Festival Series Cap (Merchandise)

The Festival Bratislava – Mixed Games Galore

The Festival Bratislava will be held from November 26^th until December 3^rd in the heart of Bratislava at the beloved Banco Casino. The location is known for hosting great live poker events, and The Festival Series can basically call in their home ground as they will return for the third time, offering a great variety of poker tournaments for all poker enthusiasts in Europe and beyond.

The Festival Series, which offers live tournaments in all sorts of poker formats, recently published its brand new schedule for Bratislava 2023, which doesn’t leave any stones unturned!

Highlights:

Date	Tournament Name	Buy-in	Guaranteed Prize Pool
November 26	Mixed Games Main Event H.O.R.S.E.S	€550	x
November 28	NLHE Main Event	€550	€500,000
November 29	PLO High Roller	€1,100	€25,000
November 29	8-Game	€250	x
December 2	NLHE Mystery Bounty	€250	€50,000