Niall Farrell opened the cutoff for 45,000 and Apostolos Bechrakis in the small blind three bet to 110,000. Farrell moved all in and Bechrakis called for 483,000 total.
Farrell:
Bechrakis:
The flop came , giving a set to Bechrakis but a gutshot to Farrell. The on the turn was a blank but the on the river sure wasn't. Bad beat for Bechrakis and he exited in 15th place.
Spain's Nabil Cardoso opened for 45,000 from the hijack and was met by a three-bet to 95,000 from Jaroslaw Sikora on the button. Both blinds folded, Cardoso called, and the flop came down . Both players promptly checked and the peeled off on the turn.
Cardoso checked, Sikora bet 55,000, and Cardoso check-raised to 125,000. Sikora made the call and then watched Cardoso fire out 200,000 on the river. Sikora thought long and hard before moving all in, and Cardoso called off for 681,000 total.
Sikora seemed to know his was no good, and indeed it wasn't as Cardoso held the .
Bilic first limp called from the small blind Kempe's 60,000 raise. He then check called 55,000 on and another 126,000 on the turn. Both players checked the on the river and Bilic could muck his as Kempe showed .
The next hand saw Alen Bilic min raise the button for 48,000. Nabil Cardoso in the big blind shoved all in and Bilic instantly called for his last 460,000.
Alen Bilic:
Nabil Cardoso:
The board came and Bilic made the nut flush, doubling up to just under a million.
Alen Bilic opened for 45,000 from the hijack and Darrell Goh responded with a three-bet to 117,000 from the small blind. Bilic then announced he was all in, and Goh snap-called off for approximately 600,000 total.
Goh:
Bilic:
It was a flip, but Goh needed to improve to stay alive. The flop didn't do it, and neither did the turn. Goh needed either an ace or king to extend his EPT12 Malta Main Event, but it wasn't in the cards as the blanked on the river.
Ivarsson made it 50,000 from the button and Geissert called from the big blind. The flop came and Geissert checked. Ivarsson made a continuation bet of 50,000 and Geissert raised to 125,000. Ivarsson three bet to 325,000 and after a long tank, Geissert shoved all in for 1.3 million. Ivarsson snap called.
Geissert:
Ivarsson:
Ivarsson needed to fade the three deuces and two queens to win the 2,777,000 pot. The on the turn was safe for him and so was the on the river. Exit for Geissert, monster chip lead for Ivarsson!
Three eliminations just happened in quick succession, that latest being France's Akim Aouine.
It happened when action folded to Jaroslaw Sikora in the small blind and he raised to 55,000. Aouine three-bet all in from the big for roughly 400,000, and Sikora snap-called.
Sikora:
Aouine:
The flop gave Sikora a full house, which meant Aouine needed to catch either running aces or threes to win the pot. The turn took away any chance of that happening, and Aouine's elimination became official once the was put out on the river.
Alen Bilic raised to 50,000 under the gun and Antonio Chemi defended from the big blind to see the flop. Chemi check-called a bet of 51,000 and then check-called one of 105,000 on the turn. When the completed the board on the river, Chemi checked for a third time, and this time he folded when Bilic bet 255,000.
According to PokerStars, after making Day 5 early last night, Italian Gianluca Escobar hadn’t had quite enough poker when Day 4 of the EPT Malta drew to a halt. Here's what they had to say:
Instead of taking a well-earned rest for making the penultimate day of the flagship Main Event, he jumped in to last night’s €1k NL Hyper Turbo. And boom for Escobar, he took it down.
Escobar originally hails from Naples but now lives in Sliema, just a few minutes away from Portomaso Casino. He has every reason to love his newly-adopted country: it is at this very casino that the 27-year-old scored his biggest live cash to date, winning the People’s Poker Tour Main Event in September for €41,090.
Escobar can now celebrate his first-ever EPT victory as well after defeating a 92-strong field in last night’s €1k NL Hyper Turbo for €23,700. He beat Mikko Turtiainen heads-up to seize the title and €23,700 first prize. The Finn meanwhile has already had his moment in the EPTLive sun. He was taking part in last night’s turbo after a long spell on the TV table yesterday; his dreams of winning the Main Event were brought to a halt however when both he and Team PokerStars Pro Johnny Lodden were eliminated in one hand by Jaroslaw Sikora. Turtiainen finished 28th place for €15,620 but was able to boost his bankroll by an additional €16,460 with his runner-up finish last night.
There were 13 players taking a share of the €89,240 prize pool in the popular turbo event including IPT7 Malta winner Georgios Zisimopoulos (fourth for €8,520), EPT Copenhagen champion Anton Wigg, who won the €500 PLO Turbo the other night, and EPT Dortmund runner-up Cristiano Blanco.