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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.