Cosimo Dambra - Malta Poker Dream

Cosimo Dambra had an up and down ride all throughout the day.  After qualifying for the Malta Poker Dream satellite main event of €1,100 earlier this week, he made it to Day 2 of the main event starting with around 75K.  Unluckily, he just finished the tournament in 88th place, and he’s here to fill us in with the details of his final hand.

“From 140K on I made a double up, I was BB and SB raised, I re-raised and he called. He raised 12k, blinds were 2.5k/5k. I raised to 31k and he called. TT2 came on the flop.  I had AT and he held 99.  He raised 25K, I raised all in but he called so I won this one… I arrived to over 300K with that”

“The hand I went out went like this – UTG raised around 12k, I called and the BB called…the cards on the flop are AQJ, and BB makes  a 50k bet, the raiser folds, and I had A8 so I pushed all in because he was bluffing a lot prior to this hand.  He called instantly, and he covered me by about 1k, he had AJ and the turn and river TT, so he dominated my hand”

“The organisation was very nice.  Competition was very high – At least this was true with the players I played against.  I would say that this is the tourney of the ’3x bet’….. every time I raised my opponents re-raise me three times….every table I went to.  This was definitely the biggest tourney I ever  played in.  A fantastic experience!”

Malta Poker Dream

As the blinds take their toll on the remaining participants, here’s the chip update of the players we’re following at the Malta Poker Dream tourney.  We’re at the 16th level of blinds which reached 2,000/4,000 and 500 antes. 107 players are left in the game and the average stack has risen to 190,654 chips.

George Galea managed to shoot up to 224,000 chips giving him a much needed gasp of breath as the levels put more pressure on the players stacks.  Keith Boniface who has enjoyed the least volatility in the tournament is sitting slightly below average at 170k.  Paukstys Vytautas went up from 120k t0 around 140k, and is followed by Cosimo Dambra, who has been having his ups and downs, but is now at 120k.  Gordon Mifsud’s stack has increased slightly as he now holds 65k.

Here are the chip counts of the more familiar faces from the local Poker scene! We’re at the 15th level, 1,600 / 3,200 blinds and 400 antes.  132 players from the original starting count of 408 remain in the tourney.  Average stack is up to 154,545!

Paukstys-Vytautas - 120,000 chips

Keith Boniface - 139,000 chips

Cosimo Dambra - 63,000 chips

George Galea - 68,000 chips

Gordon Mifsud - 61,000 chips

Martin Kjaer – 30,000 chips

Malta Poker Dream 2011 – Day 2

As the tournament moves into its second phase, the blind levels will be extended by to 1 hour compared to 50 minutes on Day 1.  As 73 players have survived from Day 1A, together with another 204 from Day 1B,  day two will be starting with 277 players at 2pm at the Portomaso Casino, St. Julians Malta.

After the first day, average stack has risen to 73K at the deep structured tourney.  We’ll wait and see who of our local regulars will take the lead of their Italian counterparts.

Here’s quick reminder of the local’s chip stacks with Martin Kjaer in the Lead of the local pack of players.

Jackie Cachia & Martin Kjaer - Malta Poker Dream

Martin Kjaer – 152,300
Keith Boniface – 140,200
Mark Attard  – 104,800
Cosimo Dambra – 75,000
George Galea – 47,200
Mario Sciberras – 44,700
Gordon Mifsud – 38,200
Jackie Cachia – 23,600
Andrew Cutajar – 23,000

Martin Kjaer and Keith Boniface will be starting the Day with around twice the starting stack, giving them more ‘fuel’ with which to approach the tourney today.

Maltese ‘born and bred’ Mark Attard will be starting the day with 104,800 later this afternoon at approximately 50% over the a.stack, giving him a comfy entry at this determining stage of the poker tournament. Read the rest of this entry →

Malta Poker Dream Day 1B

Malta Poker Dream Day 1B – Update

The exact count for the participants today is 292 which means that a total of 404 players have entered the event.

This is officially the biggest ever recorded number of participants in any poker tournament held in Maltese Poker history!  Hats off to Betpro and the Portomaso Casino for pulling it off!

From the local poker crew we only spotted Andrew Cutajar and Andrea Stellato in a field of almost 300 players.  We will be following these player’s progress for our readers and visitors at home!

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