The third and final day of the €10,300 High Roller Event of the 2015 PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Season 12 Malta also marks the final day of the poker festival at the Casino Portomaso.
Only 19 hopefuls remain out of a 210-entry strong field and they are already in the money with €24,040 locked up for their efforts. The winner can look forward to the coveted EPT High Roller trophy and a stunning first place-payout of €430,800.
Mukul Pahuja is in the pole position after soaring into the top spot late last night and accumulating 1,488,000 in chips, ahead of Vladimir Dobrovolskiy (1,389,000) and Byron Kaverman (1,147,000).
The trio represents the only chip millionaires thus far, other notables include Bryn Kenney (690,000), EPT8 Prague champion and two time EPT High Roller champion Martin Finger (506,000), EPT6 Berlin winner Kevin MacPhee (332,000), welsh wizard and EPT7 Prague champion Roberto Romanello (316,000), David "MissOracle" Yan (265,000), Dominik Nitsche (258,000) and David Peters (216,000).
Action recommences at 12:30 local time with level 20 and blinds of 8,000-16,000 and a running ante of 2,000. The PokerNews team will provide all key hands until the last river card is dealt, so make sure to tune back in to find out who lifts the trophy. Also make sure to check into the live coverage and live stream of the EPT12 Malta Main Event final table as well.
Mikita Badziakouski open-shoved from the cutoff for 207,000 chips and the action folded around to Dominik Nitsche in the big blind. He peeked at his cards and then quickly announced "I call."
Badziakouski:
Nitsche:
The board ran out and the ace-kicker won the pot with barely any sweat.
Senh Ung got his last few chips in from the cutoff and Leslie Packer moved all in from the small blind, also on the short stack but with slightly more chips.
Ung:
Packer:
The board ran out and Ung headed to the rail at the very end of the level. There is now a quick break for the redraw of the last two tables.
Roberto Romanello open shoved for 285,000 and David Peters re-shoved for just a few chips less. The rest folded and the cards were tabled:
Peters:
Romanello:
It was a classic cooler and Peters kept the lead through the flop. The turn was a different story though, with Romanello taking the lead and Peters immediately dropping his head. The river brought no queen and when the fell instead, it took Peters with it.
One hand before, Patrick Uzan had raised to 50,000 from under the gun and claimed the blinds and antes. The very next hand the action folded around to Igor Yaroshevskyy and he shoved the small blind for 165,000. Uzan called and put his opponent at risk:
Uzan:
Yaroshevskyy:
The flop left Yaroshevskyy in desperate shape, though he picked up some outs on the turn. The river blanked and the Ukrainian headed to the rail.
The stack of Ezequiel Kleinman had been whittled down all the way to 160,000 and he moved all in from early position. From two seats over, Martin Finger announced all in himself and that got the rest of the table to fold their cards.
Kleinman:
Finger:
The flop was no good for the Argentinian and he was drawing to fives and aces only on the turn. The river was of no help and Kleinman headed to the rail in 13th place for €33,200.
Mukul Pahuja made it 55,000, Martin Finger bumped it to 135,000 on the button and after the blinds folded, Pahuja shipped it in.
Finger called off his 750,000-chip stack with and was up against Pahuja's .
The board came to the turn, but the river was not a good one for Finger. His kings were suddenly cracked and as Finger went to the cage to collect 11th-place money, Pahuja joined Byron Kaverman at the top of the counts.
Dominik Nitsche raised to 50,000 from the cutoff in the last hand of the level and the action folded to Mikalai Vaskaboinikau in the small blind. He moved all in for around 630,000 and had Nitsche covered. The German snap-called for just under 500,000 chips and they tabled the cards.
Nitsche:
Vaskaboinikau:
The flop fell and Nitsche immediately shook his head, fully aware of the additional outs through the flush draw. While the on the turn changed nothing whatsoever, the on the river completed the flush and Nitsche let out a short sign of disgust while Vaskaboinikau banged on the table in excitement.
and Winter needed help to survive with 
.
board only really improved Kaverman's edge and as he moves into the chip lead, Winter is over.
and the ace-kicker won the pot with barely any sweat.
and Ung headed to the rail at the very end of the level. There is now a quick break for the redraw of the last two tables.
turn was a different story though, with Romanello taking the lead and Peters immediately dropping his head. The river brought no queen and when the 
fell instead, it took Peters with it.
turn. The 
to the turn, but the 
river was not a good one for Finger. His kings were suddenly cracked and as Finger went to the cage to collect 11th-place money, Pahuja joined Byron Kaverman at the top of the counts.
and Nitsche immediately shook his head, fully aware of the additional outs through the flush draw. While the 