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Malta Team Poker Casino di Venezia

The Malta Team Poker tournament was easily one of the most original concepts in the Maltese Poker scene that we’ve seen in a very long time.  Although a similar event had taken place at the Casino di Venezia during the Malta Madness tournament (Poker Idol), it only took the role of a side event.  That event was reasonably well attended, yet was largely overshadowed by the main event of €1,100. That was September 2010…fast-forward to May 2011 and the Team Poker tournament has taken on a life of its own!

Team Poker - Fabien Mezanger & Anna Colley

Largely anticipated by scores of Malta’s card sharks and poker fanatics, the tourney featured a very attractive buy-in at just €30 permitting players with all kinds of experience levels to participate.

At the tourney’s announcement approximately two months ago, numerous teams started to fill up the original 30 team places allocated to players.  Following its hugely positive response and numerous requests, this number of teams was eventually increased to 42 teams when the event kicked off on Saturday the 7th May, as 126 players got together at the waterside Casino di Venezia for the wackiest tournament of the year.

The concept for the tournament was nothing like most players have had time to get accustomed to so far…chip dumps, player time outs, seat changes, team captains….the Team Poker tourney made all this possible and more!  The instructions to the players were quite straightforward – Pick three members per team, choose similar clothing, colours, or accessories and most of all enjoy the team aspect in what is usually a very different kind of game, where traditionally, every player fends for himself.

Team Poker - Vodka JB UP

The casino floor was filled with many team players from different backgrounds each clad in their themed attire…and with team names like “Pink Piggies, Gallinari Prodigies, Kabocci, Vodka JB Up” the field was nothing short of colourful.  At €30, many amateur players were expected, however it didn’t detract the more experienced players from joining the action at the Casino di Venezia for this year’s most affectionately spoken about local tournament…The Casino di Venezia seems to have some tricks up its sleeve after all.

As far as the tourney progression went, 126 total participants from 42 teams took the prize pool up to €3,780 and the game officially begun at 8:30pm on Saturday the 7th May 2011. Read the rest of this entry →

Christine Sammut talks about her experience at the Irish Poker Open 2011

23 year old Christine Sammut, is a model example of an exceptional Poker Supervisor. She’s well spoken, incredibly talented, and very well respected by local players in the Maltese Poker community.  It was no surprise to us when we heard that Christine was invited to assist a world renowned Tournament Director ‘David O’Neill’ at the annual Irish Poker Open held at the Burlington Hotel, Dublin from the 21st till the 25th April 2011.

George Galea during the earlier stages of the Malta Poker Dream - battling for his share of the €400,000 prize-pool

35 players remain at the main event of the Malta Poker Dream day 4.  The tournament  which will continue at the 24th level later on today at 3pm.  The average stack is up to 582k and our Maltese ‘Poker Knight’, George Galea is going strong holding 617k.  He’s currently in 12th place as far as chip count is concerned, and the only remaining Maltese player at the main event.  Supported by his family and friends, both at the tournament venue as well as on the PokerMalta site and MaltaPokerEvents facebook page, George has gone through the first 3 days of the tournament with some mild swings managing to beat the majority of his opponents and holding onto his stack with very calculated decisions and well timed actions when they counted the most.

Well at this stage, some people might argue that poker is all about luck, with a very small element of skill involved.  If this were to be the case, it surely doesn’t apply for George Galea.  Just to give you some background on George – apart from his numerous wins already, he also won the Malta Poker Showdown anniversary tournament at the Casino di Venezia earlier on this week, showing that skill and perseverance give great results at the felt.  Apart from his own success this week-end, George seems to have spilt over success at the felt to his partner and frequent money finisher Graziella Vella, who also won €800 for placing 3rd at the Malta Poker Dream ladies tournament.  Graziella achieved her placing whilst she was over-seeing George’s progress at the main event.

We’ll have our fingers crossed today as we sit through with George at the Portomaso Casino.  The tournament kicks off at 3pm! Players, poker fans, and anyone who wants to follow George at the live tables is welcome to  join the action.  There’s only 35 players left, and Galea stands a very good chance of making it through the final stages, bringing the Malta Poker Dream trophy home this year

Here’s the chipcount of the Malta Poker Dream main event as players enter their fourth day. Read the rest of this entry →

Malta Team Poker

The Casino di Venezia have just announced the dates for the  Malta Team Poker tournament which will be taking place on the 7th and the 8th May 2011.

The innovative poker tournament has already received much interest amongst the Malta Poker community and many players have already started preparations by selecting their team members and team colours in attendance of the 2 day poker tournament.

The tournament concept is a very interesting one; The conditions are very simple:

1. Every team has to be made up of 3 members
2. Each team will be given 45,000 chips to distribute as they see fit amongst themselves.
3. The teams have to be clearly distinguished through the use of colours, clothing apparel, hats, or similar branded T-shirts (so players may feel free to get creative).

We expect this to be a ‘colourful’ tourney to say the least, providing hours of fun for all the participants.

The tournament buy-in has been kept very low, at just €30 + €3 per player, making this tournament one that’s hard to miss by beginners and the more seasoned players alike.  The tournament structure is spread out over two days and teams will be given 45,000 to distribute as they please amongst the team members, as they progress through the 30 minute blind levels. Read the rest of this entry →

Spanish Deepstack

Following up on Day 1 of the Spanish Deepstack tournament, day 2 kicked off with 21 players still in the game on Sunday the 19th March.  Leading the tourney was Nassim Bennacer with 152K, followed by Kevin Caruana with 144k and Jonathan Pyatt with 142k.  Mirko Porcaro with 127k stood in 4th place and Anna Colley was trailing close behind in 5th place with 125k.

Through the following 6 hours of the deep stack tourney, players started dropping out, as the blind levels increased, forcing the smaller stacks to go into hands that ended up costing them their prize prospect.  The more astute of the players and those with bigger stacks managed to maintain their positions, and in the winners cases, better their position entirely.

Anna Colley, winner of the Malta Madness tournament in September 2010 took the lead at the final table and made her way into 1st place winning €2,316.  Colley was already doing very well at the end of day 1 when she held a respectable 124,900 chips for the second day of the tourney.

Next up was Toni Halonen who took down 2nd place, winning €1,603 after starting day 2 with a below average 62k.

3rd place went out to Charlie Ciresi who won €1,069 for his placing

In 4th place, Jackie Cachia took home €594, after maintaining a large stack in the earlier levels of the tourney on day 2 but not managing to hold onto her strong lead all the way till the final levels.

French player Alexandre Henry, took 5th place and €356 for his efforts.
The Spanish Deepstack was well received by the participating players who enjoyed the depth of the structure giving them a highly playable tournament without the pressure associated with shorter stacks and quicker structures.  At €180 buy-in and 33 players, the prize pool hit a reasonable size giving decent prizes to the top 5 players who made it in the money.

The Casino di Venezia continue their Poker tournament schedule in the upcoming weeks with the Malta Poker Showdown which marks the 1st anniversary of the event which started off around this time last year.  The tournament will feature a €150 + 15 buy-in giving players a 25,000 chip stack and 25 minute blinds.   A satellite tournament for the main event will be taking place in the near future.  Interested players can contact the Casino di Venezia on their contact details below for further information:

Casino di Venezia – Contact details:
Phone: +356 2180 5580
Fax: +356 2166 7591
Email: info@casinodivenezia.com.mt

Spanish Deepstack

Here’s an update about the Spanish Deep Stack Tournament, at the end of Day 1.  The two day €180 + €20 freeze-out poker tournament held at the Casino di Venezia between the 18th & 19th March gave players a 50,000 starting stack and 30 minute blind levels.  33 players entered the tournament taking the prize-pool up to almost €6,000, where 1st place will probably take down about €2,000 (official payouts have not been published as yet)

French player, Nassim Bennacer is leading the pack of remaining 21 players at the tourney with 152k chips compared to the average stack of 78,500.  He is closely followed by Kevin Caruana and Jonathan Pyatt with 144k and 142k who are approximately 9,000 chips behind Bennacer.  September’s Malta Madness tourney winner – Anna Colley – is also rubbing shoulders with the big stacks, holding a very respectable 124,900 at the start of Day 2.

Tourney regulars and recent Unibet participants Keith Boniface and Franco Portelli are also present at the tourney and have made it into Day 2, although they’re entering Day 2 with below average stacks.

SPANISH DEEP STACK DAY 2

1. BENNACER NASSIM – 152,500
2. KEVIN CARUANA – 144,300
3. JONATHAN PYATT – 142,000
Read the rest of this entry →