Hand #19: Niall Farrell raised to 125,000 from the button with the and Sam Greenwood looked down at the in the big blind. He thought for a bit and then moved all in for 760,000. It was 635,000 more for Farrell to call, and after pondering it for a but he did just that.
Greenwood was actually a slight 51% favorite given the cards that had been folded, but for all intents and purposes it was a flip. The flop was no help to Greenwood, and the turn locked up the hand for Farrell. The meaningless was put out on the river, and Greenwood became the first man eliminated from the six-handed final table.
Hand #14: Alen Bilic with made it 125,000 under the gun. Giulio Spampinato with flatted from the big blind. Both missed the flop of and Spampinato check folded to Bilic' 80,000 bet.
Hand #15: Jaroslaw Sikora now had and made it 125,000 under the gun. Alen Bilic defended from the big blind. The flop came pairing Bilic and giving Sikora a gutshot with two overs. Both players checked and they did so on the turn. The completed the board and Bilic check folded to Sikora's 325,000 bet.
Hand #16: Rainer Kempe opened for 125,000 and he picked up the blinds and antes.
Hand #17: Jaroslaw Sikora limped in from the small blind with . Farrell had in the big blind and checked. The flop saw Sikora check. Farrell, having flopped top pair, and made a motion of betting. Sikora instantly folded, Farrell took down the pot without actually making a bet.
Hand #18: Sam Greenwood with under the gun made it 150,000 with 770,000 behind. It folded around to Jaroslaw Sikora with on the button. Sikora three bet to 275,000. Niall Farrell asked how much Sikora was playing, and then cold four all in with . Kempe folded and so did Greenwood. Sikora wasn't too happy and leaned back in his chair to make his decision. He played around with his chips a bit and eventually folded with a look of despise.
Hand 11: Giulio Spampinato raised to 120,000 from the cutoff with the and swiped the blinds and antes.
Hand #12: Niall Farrell raised to 180,000 from the small blind with the and took down the pot.
Hand #13: Jaroslaw Sikora raised to 125,000 with the in the cutoff and Sam Greenwood defended from the big blind with the . The flop saw Greenwood checked, Sikora continued for 110,000, and Greenwood call to see the turn. Both players checked, and the completed the board on the river. Greenwood checked, Sikora bet 325,000, and Greenwood tanked for two minutes before releasing his hand.
Hand #6: Action folded around to Niall Farrell in the small blind. He found and made it 180,000. Kempe folded from the big blind.
Hand #7: Jaroslaw Sikora in the cutoff made it 125,000 with and he picked up the blinds and antes.
Hand #8: Niall Farrell in the cutoff opened 130,000 with and he picked up the blinds and antes.
Hand #9: Sam Greenwood with on the button limped in. Giulio Spampinato in the small blind with moved all in for 1,090,000. Alen Bilic in the big blind asked for a count with the same hand but the suits flip flopped: . Bilic moved in and Greenwood folded.
The flop came and a chop was inevitable. The on the turn and river were blanks and the two of 'em split the pot.
Hand #10: Niall Farrell found , the hand Spampinato had last pot and Farrell had himself in hand number 6, and he made it 125,000. All players folded and Farrell picked up the blinds and antes.
Day 5 of the 2015 PokerStars.com EPT Season 12 Malta Main Event saw the field of 16 get decimated to just 6. Those six players return at 1 pm this afternoon to battle it out for the €602,400 first place prize. Live coverage starts on an hour delay (2 pm) with hole cards up.
Alexander Ivarsson, the aggressive Swede who had been chip leader for quite some time, busted out in a set up of a spot with queens to Alen Bilic's ace king to go home in ninth place. With the official final table of 8 then reached, play continued till two more players busted out.
Two of the shorties busted out. Nabil Cardoso was first to go when he made his move holding queen-four in a blind battle. He walked into the king-ten of Jaroslaw Sikora in a blind battle and neither player improved. Daniel Dvoress exited in 7th place when he found himself short stacked and in the possession of ace-jack. Unfortunately for the Canadian high roller his neighbor Niall Farrell had ace-king and by the time the turn was out, Dvoress was already drawing dead.
Starting out as the massive chip leader is Alen Bilic, he brings 127 big blinds to the table this afternoon. Niall Farrell starts out in second place with 85 big blinds, Giulio Spampinato is the short stack going in with 19 big blinds. Rainer Kempe, who now has made back to back final tables at the EPT, needs to finish 2nd or 1st to best his EPT Barcelona cash (5th for €320,400). Here's how the final 6 stand:
Affable Scotsman Niall Farrell has reached the official final table at EPT Malta second in chips. Farrell already has more than $1.3M in live tournament winnings, with his biggest result being runner-up in the 2013 WSOP $3k NLH event for $366,815.
He has twice fallen shy of EPT Main Event finals however – he was tenth at EPT9 London and 15th at EPT Barcelona in Season 10.
He’s no slouch online either; PocketFives report he has more than $2.4 million in cashes, results that include becoming the FTOPS Main Event champion in 2014 for $266,232. He’s been an online pro since graduating in law from Dumfries University.
Rainer Kempe must be getting pretty used to the limelight at EPTs. He’s now made back-to-back Main Event finals, after finishing fifth in Barcelona for €320,400. He’s been thriving ever since the Season 12 debut event; not only did he qualify online for Malta (again in a €320 Deep Hyper-Turbo), he has also had time to nip up to Nottingham where he had a small cash in a £300 NL Deepstack.
His most recent cash came only a few days ago though when he finished 16th in the one-day EPT Malta €10k High Roller for €20.405. Kempe is one of numerous German players who have moved to the UK to play online. Most settle in London but Kempe has relocated to the seaside resort of Brighton on the South Coast, a city which is also home to EPT Berlin champion Robert Haigh and British pro James Dempsey. Kempe, who hails from Berlin but studied at the University of Potsdam, has live tournament winnings of $636,731, which include his seventh place finish in the $1,111 Little One for One Drop in Vegas for $90,189.
Greenwood, who turned 27 three weeks ago, is one of Canada’s best-known live players and – along with brother Max – a regular competitor on the European Poker Tour. Greenwood has well over $1.7m in live tournament winnings, $1.25m of that gained this year alone - and €110,590 in the last week after he finished sixth in the €25k High Roller.
His year began in style when he was sixth in the PCA $100k SHR for nearly $400,000, and enjoyed a spectacular visit to Vegas for the World Series, gaining his first bracelet in the $1k NL event for $318,977 and fifth in the $10k NL Six-Handed Championship for a further $126,745.
Greenwood also has stunning online credentials; with five €100k+ career cashes, all during 2015, he is over $1M in profit on PokerStars. Other accolades include winning the SCOOP $2k NL-H for $377,280 two years ago, runner-up in the WCOOP Super Tuesday for $221,760 last year and taking down the SCOOP $2k PLO 6-max Turbo Zoom for $141,960 this year. He came in to Day 5 as one of the shorter stacks but has made the final nine partly thanks to winning a 805,000 pot when he shoved on a four-betting Alexander Ivarsson forcing him to fold.