Gordon Mifsud at the Malta Poker Dream 2011

Gordon Mifsud, a popular tournament and cash game player at local card rooms was one of the 2 remaining Maltese players at the Malta Poker Dream main event.  In a frustrating turn of events, though, he found himself card dead for the duration of the second day.  Nonetheless, Gordon managed to maintain his stack, and experienced hardly any volatility thanks his masterful use of steals at the numerous tables he sat on.  We caught up with Gordon, and ever-supporting Tess,  as he exited the field with 77 players remaining, just 14 seats away from an in the money placing.

GM: “I’ve been card dead all day. Stealing every now and again.  The last steal was with Q7 spades when I pushed  50k and stole 22k which was about 50% of my stack.  We were running around from table to table because people were dropping out very quickly.  Even more so, since at one point there was a problem with the lighting which brought about an additional table change after just two rounds on one of the tables I sat on.”
Read the rest of this entry →

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!

Read the rest of this entry →

At 4pm, the Grandmaster hall at the Portomaso opened up its doors to the 115 players who registered themselves for Day 1 A of the Malta Poker Dream tournament.  A little after players took their seats, Melita Toniolo entered the stage, welcomed all of them to the tourney, and proceeded to introduce the organizers who expressed their warm welcome to all the players attending the 5 day event.

The tournament director proceeded to give players their instructions and reminded them the tournament structure for the day being 50,000 starting chips and 50 minute blinds.  The tournament is planned to reach the tenth level before players would cease play and get ready for day 2.  A dinner is taking place at the 6th level, which will give players a chance to relax, stretch their legs and re-fuel for the remaining 4 levels before the tournament pauses for the day.  The tourney will continue on Day 2, the 1st April 2011.

On our quick tour around the tables we saw a good number of Maltese participants for the €1,100 tournament, amongst these were:

Read the rest of this entry →