Hand #40: From the cutoff, Mats Karlsson raised to 130,000 with and Peter Ockenden called with on the button.
The flop promised fireworks and Karlsson continued with 200,000. Ockenden raised to 550,000, Karlsson thought for the better part of a minute before moving all in. Ockenden removed his sunglasses, sighed, and called it off.
With 48% equity, Ockenden was racing for his tournament life in a 3 million chip pot.
The on the turn gave Karlsson a better top pair, and Ockenden needed an ace or nine on the river to stay alive. The river was neither, ending Ockenden's deep run in 5th place.
The PokerStars qualifier, who won his seat for the EPT Main Event for just €27, turned his small investment into €104,340, by far the biggest score of his poker career.
Hand #46: On the button, Elie Saad open-shoved 950,000 with . Aliaksei Boika immediately called with from the small blind to put Saad at risk.
The Lebanese amateur took a huge lead in the hand on the flop. The on the turn was safe for Saad, meaning he needed to just fade the two remaining tens to double up.
The dealer quickly dealt the river to not keep the players in tension for too long. It was the , one of the remaining tens, which gave Boika a rivered set to knock out Saad.
Elie Saad saw the run of his poker life come to a halt in fourth place, The Lebanese businessman banked a massive €141,780 for his accomplishment.
Hand #59: Mats Karlsson limped in with in the small blind and Dmitry Yurasov checked . On the flop, Karlsson overbet 300,000 and Yurasov folded.
Hand #60: Dmitry Yurasov completed the small blind with and Aliaksei Boika checked . Yurasov quickly picked it up with a bet on the flop.
Hand #61: Aliaksei Boika raised to 225,000 with and Mats Karlsson folded his big blind.
Hand #62: Aliaksei Boika picked up on the button and raised to 180,000. Dmitry Yurasov defended his big blind with .
The flop gave Boika a mortal lock on the hand. Yurasov had no intention of getting involved and quickly folded to a 100,000 bet.
Hand #63: On the button, Mats Karlsson raised to 200,000 with and Aliaskei Boika defended with . Boika fould a pair on and checekd. Karlsson bet 300,000 and Boika called.
Boika improved to two pair on the turn. He checked, prompting Karlsson to fire a second barrel of 650,000. Boika wasn't going anywhere and called.
The on the river gave Boika the checkmark, but it counterfeited his two pair. Boika checked, which prompted Karlsson to empty the clip with a bet of 900,000.
Boika quickly called and dragged down the massive pot with his pair of kings. With that, Karlsson had to surrender the chiplead for the first time in two days.
Hand #67: Dmitry Yurasov open-shoved 1,140,000 on the button with , a little over 13 big blinds.
"All in? Wow!", exclaimed Mats Karlsson in the big blind, who then looked at his holecards to find .
"I call," said Karlsson after twenty seconds of thought, putting Yurasov in a great spot to double up to a playable stack.
The flop kept Yurasov in the lead, but the on the turn dramatically changed everything. Yurasov needed to find an ace or a diamond on the river or his dreams of winning EPT Malta would be over.
"One time," begged Yurasov.
It wasn't meant to be when the landed on the river, sealing it for Karlsson.
Yurasov's fantastic run in this tournament ended in third place, and the Russian high roller collected the third six-figure score of his career by winning €192,650.
Hand #92: Mats Karlsson picked up and raised to 200,000. Aliaksei Boika had him dominated with and threw in a big three-bet to 625,000. Karlsson wasn't planning on going anywhere and made the call.
Nobody got a piece of the flop. Boika slowed down and checked to Karlsson. The Swede picked up a stack of green 25,000-chips and moved it over the line for a bet of 550,000. Boika didn't gave up so easily and made the call.
He checked again on the turn and Karlsson checked as well. The river was the and Boika checked for the third time.
Karlsson made a huge bluff by moving all in for 2,555,000 in total. Boika, with nothing more than ace-jack-high, went in the tank for minutes and minutes. After five minutes he made a very brave call and Karlsson immediately waved the white flag.
"Nice call, you win", Karlsson said. "Wow, nice call", he continued.
Although Karlsson got hero called in the end, he wasn't sad about his second place finish. "That was a good call, I have to say. Well I'm happy anyway."
"I may have played bad heads up, but I'm happy. The heads up I played very bad but I'm not used to it. Up until the heads up I'm very pleased."
The Swedish amateur was the start-of-the-day chipleader and was in command during most of the final day. He had a huge lead when play got three handed but then got more and more resistance from Boika.
By eliminating Dmitry Yurasov, Karlsson gained himself a nice chip advantage moving into the heads-up battle but from there on it went downwards. Boika crushed him in the one-on-one fight and eventually Karlsson found himself in second place in the final ranking.
He still scores the biggest payday in his poker career. He heads home with €261,730 in his pocket.
Aliaksei Boika is the winner of the 2016 PokerStars.com EPT Malta Main Event! After six long days of poker in Casino Portomaso, the 28-year old Belarusian poker pro bested long-time tournament chip leader Mats Karlsson heads-up, making one of the best calls in EPT history to win it all.
Position
Player
Country
Prize
1
Aliaksei Boika
Belarus
€355,700
2
Mats Karlsson
Sweden
€261,730
3
Dmitry Yurasov
Russia
€192,650
4
Elie Saad
Lebanon
€141,780
5
Peter Ockenden
United Kingdom
€104,340
6
Tomas Macnamara
United Kingdom
€76,790
7
Bastian Dohler
Germany
€56,520
8
Xixiang Luo
China
€41,590
9
Dominik Panka
Poland
€41,590
The sixth and final day started with just six of the 468 runners remaining. Aliaksei Boika started the final table as the short stack but quickly moved up the pack by winning an all in with pocket jacks versus Tomas Macnamara's ace-king. Macnamara flopped a king but Boika rivered a straight to keep him in the tournament.
Tomas Macnamara was the first to, finishing in sixth place for €76,790. Macnamara shoved all in three times in a row after having doubled Boika. The first two shoves went unanswered, Peter Ockenden called with sixes the third time and Macnamara failed to catch up with ace-eight.
Despite busting Macnamara, Peter Ockenden would be the next to go. Ockenden, who resides in both England and The Netherlands, was sent to the rail when he got it all in with ace-nine against the jack-ten of Karlsson on a nine-high flop. The Swede paired his ten on the turn to sent Ockenden packing in fifth place, good for €104,340 - by far the biggest score of his career. An incredible payday for the online qualifier, who qualified online at PokerStars.com for only €27.
Elie Saad finished fourth, cashing €141,780. The 41-year old businessman from Lebanon couldn't get anything going at the final table and quickly fell down to a short stack. Holding king-jack, he moved all in versus Boika's pocket tens. A king on the flop gave Saad a huge lead, but the ten on the river ended his EPT Malta Main Event run in fourth place.
Russia's Dmitry Yurasov finished in third place. Yurasov, who was a constant presence in the top of the leaderboard throughout the tournament, started the final table second in chips. He didn't gain much traction on Day 6 but still reached the final three with relative ease. Three-handed, the experienced and feared online player shoved ace-king into Karlsson's king-queen, but a queen on the turn sent him to the rail. The high roller, who qualified on PokerStars under his moniker "yurasov1990", noted the third six-figure score of his career, banking €192,650.
The heads-up started off really deep but turned out to be a one-sided affair. Mats Karlsson started out with 8 million to Boika's 6 million in chips but it would be the latter dragging in the vast majority of pots. In just one level of 90 minutes, Boika managed to work down Karlsson's massive stack of 100 big blinds to zero, ending it with an amazing call to win the tournament. On a queen-eight-deuce-king-seven board, Boika held just ace-jack high and was facing an all-in shove from Karlsson. After spending five minutes in the tank, the Belarusian made the incredible call. Karlsson held just ace-four high and graciously admitted defeat. With that, Mats Karlsson of Sweden finished runner-up while Aliaksei Boika secured victory in the penultimate EPT, boosting his bankroll with a massive €355,700 out of the €2,269,800-prize pool.
That's it from EPT Malta, the second-to-last EPT is in the books. The European Poker Tour will be back early in December for the final stop in Prague, before transitioning into the PokerStars Championships and PokerStars Festivals.
and Peter Ockenden called with 
on the button.
promised fireworks and Karlsson continued with 200,000. Ockenden raised to 550,000, Karlsson thought for the better part of a minute before moving all in. Ockenden removed his sunglasses, sighed, and called it off.
on the turn gave Karlsson a better top pair, and Ockenden needed an ace or nine on the river to stay alive. The river 
was neither, ending Ockenden's deep run in 5th place.
flop. The 
on the turn was safe for Saad, meaning he needed to just fade the two remaining tens to double up.
in the small blind and Dmitry Yurasov checked 
. On the 
and Aliaksei Boika checked 
. Yurasov quickly picked it up with a bet on the 
and Mats Karlsson folded his big blind.
on the button and raised to 180,000. Dmitry Yurasov defended his big blind with 
. Boika fould a pair on 
on the river gave Boika the checkmark, but it counterfeited his two pair. Boika checked, which prompted Karlsson to empty the clip with a bet of 900,000.
, a little over 13 big blinds.
and threw in a big three-bet to 625,000. Karlsson wasn't planning on going anywhere and made the call.
