English player Tomas Macnamara cashed in five previous EPT Main Events but he made it to his first final table here at EPT13 Malta. The 30-year-old from Manchester came close to the finale back at EPT12 Dublin. He was eliminated on the last two tables of the EPT12 Dublin Main Event, taking €32,870 for 13th place.
His EPT collection includes two Main Event cashes from EPT London and one from both Barcelona and Prague. Macnamara's best result was 285th place in the 2010 WSOP Main Event for a $41,967. He'll set his new personal best tomorrow, having already guaranteed a €76,790 payday. Macnamara has racked up $175k in live cashes and is shy of the top 500 in England's all-time money list. He'll ladder at least 130 places up after adding his EPT13 Malta winnings.
Elie Saad claims to be here as a tourist. The 41-year-old from Baadbat, Lebanon has his own trading and shipping company. Saad, who's married and has five daughters, is taking up poker as a hobby. He usually plays live tournaments in Lebanon and Cyprus, but found EPT Malta a great opportunity to visit the island and play poker.
Being here as a tourist may not have worked out for Saad but he certainly doesn't regret that he's been busy with the EPT Main Event for five full days, navigating his stack to the final day. Saad's guaranteed to pick up his biggest cash tomorrow. His previous best score was €20,625 for fourth place in the 2015 Russian Poker Tour in Famagusta.
He also won the 2011 Macau Poker Cup for a $12,354. The businessman would become the third Lebanese EPT champion, should he win tomorrow (following EPT4 London winner Joseph Mouawad and EPT6 Grand Final champ Nicolas Chouity).
It was five years ago on Thursday, the EPT crowned its last Russian Main Event champion (Andrey Pateychuk at EPT8 Sanremo). Dmitry Yurasov now has a chance to end that drought, should he triumph here at EPT13 Malta to win fourth title for Russia. The 26-year-old was born in Latvia, however, it was a year before the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Yurasov is a professional poker player, whose live tournament winnings are just shy of $850k. He's been successful mainly in the EPT High Rollers. He was third in the EPT10 Prague €10k High Roller for €177,500, then added €118,650 for fifth place in the EPT10 Vienna €10k High Roller and also cashed in the EPT10 Sanremo €10k High Roller. In the following season, Yurasov banked €60,850 for tenth place in the EPT11 Barcelona €10k High Roller.
Another notch on Yurasov's resumé comes from the EPT13 Barcelona €25k Single Day High Roller, from which he bust in ninth place, taking €93,790. Yurasov also has a trophy from the EPT10 Barcelona €1k Event. Yurasov is prolific online as well, using the screen-name "yurasov1990" on PokerStars. He was third in a Sunday Million for $139,121 back in October 2013 and also has a Sunday 500 title worth $69,930 under his belt.
Before EPT13 Malta:
EPT Main Event cashes: 2
EPT Main Event final tables: 0
EPT Main Event best finish: 62nd (EPT10 Barcelona)
Peter Ockenden won his EPT13 Malta Main Event seat online on PokerStars, spending just €27. The 46-year-old Englishman owns several companies in the UK and the Netherlands, and splits his time between both countries. He comes from Hastings, a town located on the southeast coast of England. His Dutch home city is Eindhoven.
Ockenden participated in two EPT Main Events before he qualified for EPT13 Malta but failed to cash. However, he'll pick up his first notch here at EPT13 Malta. The Englishman will enjoy a huge return on his little investment, having already secured at least €76,790. Ockenden is an amateur poker player but has already racked up nearly $130k in live tournaments. His biggest cash was €40,600 for first place in a €1k Event in Venlo.
Before EPT13 Malta:
EPT Main Event cashes: 0
EPT Main Event final tables: -
EPT Main Event best finish: -
EPT Main Event winnings: -
Previous results at EPT13 Malta:
€500 for 24th place in the €220 NLH Weekend Warrior Event
The oldest player among the final six is 59-year-old Mats Karlsson. Karlsson is playing on his home soil. He originally hails from Sweden but resides here in Malta. Karlsson has won nearly $180k in live tournaments and ranks 168th on the Swedish all-time money list. His biggest payday came at the 2009 Nordic Masters of Poker in Stockholm. Karlsson won that tournament, banking about $58k. Notably, it was also his only reported live cash in Sweden.
All of his other results came either in Malta or the USA. He finished 411th for $29,400 in the WSOP Main Events. Karlsson also came shy of the official WPT Malta final table five years ago when he finished eighth for €16,760. Another significant result on his resumé is €15,000 for third place in the Grand Live Malta Main Event, from March 2016. Karlsson will add cash from another tour to his collection, having secured his first EPT Main Event cash.
And it will be the biggest prize of his career as he's already guaranteed €76,790. Karlsson had a great start to the tournament, bagging up 150,200 on Day 1b to come back for Day 2 with the seventh biggest stack. He's the only player from Day 1's top ten who made it to the final table.
Belorussian poker pro Aliaksei Boika has made more than $300k profit in the PokerStars online tournaments. The 28-year-old is known as "ale6ka" in the online realm. His has a SCOOP title under his belt, and it's a juicy one. Last year, Boika took down the SCOOP 43-H: $2,100 NL Hold'em (6-Max, Progressive Super Knockout) for a $111,061 first-prize and another $40,213 in bounties.
Another Boika's huge score came in this year's SCOOP. He made it to the final table of the SCOOP-31-H: $2,100 NL Hold'em 4-Max Event to secure $88,777 in a four-way deal. However, his biggest payday came on the live scene. Boika was fifth in the EPT12 Barcelona €10k High Roller, taking €265,600.
He also made the money in both €10k Events at EPT13 Barcelona. Boika sits in ninth place on the Belarussian all-time money list with $672k in winnings. He will appear on the EPT Main Event final table for the first time tomorrow.
Before EPT13 Malta:
EPT Main Event cashes: 2
EPT Main Event final tables: 0
EPT Main Event best finish: 36th (EPT11 Deauville)