Alexander Ivarsson Fronts EPT Malta

Alexander Ivarsson Fronts EPT Malta

Friday, 30 October 2015

There’s a very familiar look to the upper echelons of the latest main event chip counts at the Malta stop of the European Poker Tour (EPT) from PokerStars.

Day-two leader Alexander Ivarsson from Sweden is now heading the field again with 2.4 million chips while yesterday’s foremost competitor, Pole Jaroslaw Sikora, is in second with 2.3 million.

Hard on their tails with 1.9 million chips is Niall Farrell with the Scot in sparkling form over the past few weeks thanks to a deep run at the EPT’s high-roller event in Barcelona alongside a runner-up finish in the Edinburgh leg of the Genting Poker Series.

Faraz Jaka led the list of high-profile exits on Thursday as the Californian departed in 19th after losing a classic flip with AK against Sikora's pocket queens. A king on the flop gave the American the lead but a queen on the river sent Jaka to the rail with a consolation prize of €23,960 ($26,379). This leaves Jaka just $8,000 short of topping the $5 million mark in live tournament earnings.

Other familiar faces to go away disappointed included Mike McDonald, Shannon Shorr and Johnny Lodden while the final 16 competitors are now set to return this lunchtime for a guaranteed pay-day of at least €27,110 ($29,854) before playing down to a final table of eight.

While the main event heads to its conclusion, the €10,000 ($11,013) buy-in high-roller competition in Malta is just getting started with a stellar field of 163 entrants. Of these, 99 survived the first day of play with former EPT Grand Final and World Series Of Poker Europe (WSOPE) main event champion Adrian Mateos in the lead with 340,400 chips.

Also riding high on the first day of high-roller action are the likes of Jason Mercier, Dominik Nitsche and 2014 World Series Of Poker (WSOP) main event runner-up Felix Stephensen.

Entry remains open for the first two hours of Friday's session so expect to see a number of new arrivals as well as plenty of players firing a second bullet.



Tags: European Poker Tour, EPT, Grand Final, World Series Of Poker Europe, WSOPE, World Series Of Poker, WSOP, PokerStars, Malta, Alexander Ivarsson, Jaroslaw Sikora, Niall Farrell, Genting Poker Series, Faraz Jaka, Mike McDonald, Shannon Shorr, Johnny Lodden, Adrian Mateos, Jason Mercier, Dominik Nitsche, Felix Stephensen