Since it first opened it’s doors in June 2006, the Casino at Portomaso has gained popularity especially during international poker events. As part of it’s dynamic strategy, the Casino started working on a project to extend the casino floor by 1000 m². The works have been going on for a couple of months, and finally the day of the inauguration is close by. On Saturday 23rd April, at 18:30, the casino will reopen for business after closing for three days due to the final stages of the extension project. The new area promises to impress and for the opening night, the Casino at Portomaso and the Oracle Casino are giving away a brand new KIA PROCEED Car. A lottery will be drawn at midnight and the lucky winner will drive away in his or her new car. Lottery tickets are being issued free to every player entering the casino on Monday 18th, Tuesday 19th and on the day of the opening.

The New Poker room at the Portomaso Casino

Poker players will benefit most out of the new extension, as it hosts a brand new spacious poker area. The new area has upgraded to 10 tables, to accommodate more poker players on a daily basis and guarantees that the weekly tournaments are continued during international poker events. To kick off the room, the casino is hosting a €35 Freezout starting at 20:00 on the 23rd April, complemented with delicious finger food and bubbly to add that extra spark to a grand night.

Malta Poker Dream Live Stream

If there is no video, stream has been interrupted, or the game is on break.  Enjoy!

Malta Poker Dream Stream

Graziella-Vella 3rd place at the Ladies event

Graziella Vella took the 3rd prize at the Malta Poker Dream ladies event.  The €160 freeze-out tourney attracted 37 players for a pool of around €5,500.  Many of the local Poker ladies took part in the event, including Iva Pavlova, Anna Colley, Sofia Edbom, Sharona Refalo, as well as some newcomers like Maureen Sultana.

Whilst waiting for her partner George Galea, as he progressed through the toughening levels of the main event, Graziella won €800 for her placing, after an 8 hour journey to the final table.  Starting at 6pm, with 10,000 starting chips, the levels progressed every 20 minutes, till they reached 4k/8k when Graziella entered her final hand.
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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.”
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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!”

Keith Boniface - Most consistent stack throughout, but exited moments ago!

At the 17th level of blinds, which now reached 2,500/5,000, Keith Boniface, just finished the tournament in 98th place.  Keith held a very consistent stack throughout the entire tournament, having started today with 141k.  He reached almost 200k at one point but had a hit or two that took him down to around 100k.  A few hands later he entered a hand that stalled his tourney progress, sending him out after losing a hand against his final opponent.

“I was on the BB which was 5,000, and the UTG +1 raised to 11k, which meant very little to me, as he’d been pretty active earlier on.  2 people flat call.  UTG +1  looks nervous so I thought he had a bad hand. I had 110k left so I shoved with K4 suited, confident that the last 2 limpers would fold, and he will fold but he called with A10.  He hit an Ace I hit a four.

“It was a good tourney which sped up far too much in the last few hours.  About 4 hours into the second day people started dropping like flies, and I started the day with 140k, I went up to 195k and then I was hugely card dead, hence the need to shove.” Read the rest of this entry →