The live portion of the partypoker Championship (PPC) Malta kicked with the first of five opening flights in the €500,000 Guaranteed PPC Malta €550 Main Event attracting 92 entries.
Victor Allain was easily the chip leader after bagging a massive stack of 452,000 in chips. Allain isn't a well-known player having just two recorded cashes on his The Hendon Mob profile for a total of $3,144 entering the event but is in a prime position to increase this in a huge way thanks to his huge pile of chips.
The closest behind Allain were Brian Calleja (332,000), Wouters Schuurbiers (299,000), Lawrence Bonnici (262,000), and Jordi Ruiz (252,000). Meanwhile, Malta's Jackie Cachia, also known around the island as "Poker Mama" also found a bag and will enter Day 2 with a stack of 117,000.
End of Day 1a Chip Counts
| Player | Chips | Big Blinds |
| Victor Allain | 452,000 | 377 |
| Brian Calleja | 332,000 | 277 |
| Wouter Schuurbiers | 299,000 | 249 |
| Rikard Andersson | 262,000 | 218 |
| Lawrence Bonnici | 252,000 | 210 |
| Jordi Ruiz | 219,000 | 183 |
| Andrew Cutajar | 150,000 | 125 |
| Shanmugasundaram Jeyamohan | 149,500 | 125 |
| Jackie Cachia | 117,000 | 98 |
| Sebastian Rebhan | 111,500 | 93 |
| Nicola Cerini | 103,500 | 86 |
| Oliver Klat | 83,000 | 69 |
| Soner Vanelderen | 80,000 | 67 |
| Lukasz Winski | 75,000 | 63 |
Day 1a Action
Day 1a was the first of five opening flights of the PPC Malta Main Event. The field reached 92 entries by the time the late-registration window closed. A few hours later the field was down to just 17 players with 14 guaranteed at least a €1,000 min-cash for advancing to Day 2.
Allain was busy eliminating players all throughout the day. Guglielmo Susini was his final victim after Allain delivered a bad beat. Susini was committed with ace-jack on a jack-high flop and got it in good against Susini's jack-ten. A ten spiked the turn and Susini hit the rail shy of the money.
Brian Dingli jammed a short stack soon after with eight-seven suited and was up against Schuurbiers's ace-eight. Dingli thought he doubled after the board gave him a flush. However, Schuurbiers improved to a full house on the double-paired board to send Dingli packing in 16th place. Angelo Vietta hit the rail moments later on the bubble to end the day.
PokerListings will be back for Day 1b starting at 4 p.m. CEST on Friday. Stay tuned to follow along the action.
