Sofia Lövgren shoved all in from the hijack for her last 9,300 in chips. Carlo Vitti over shoved from the cutoff for 10,500 and Brett Angell in the small blind cold called. The big blind folded and it was time for a showdown.
Brett Angell:
Sofia Lövgren:
Carlo Vitti:
The board ran out and Lövgren tripled up. Vitti made his exit, Angell got the 1,200 change.
Tomasz Wrobel just ended up all in before the flop for a total of 22,000 chips and as bad as it looked when George Phiniotis turned over his cards, as hopeful he was on the flop.
Wrobel:
Phiniotis:
The flop brought and Wrobel had about as good of a flop as he could've hoped for, but the turn, the , nor the river, the , made him beat pocket aces. Phiniotis won the hand and he's now sitting on 68,000 chips.
On the turn, both Olivier Busquet and Dominik Panka checked over on table 6. Busquet had registered before the start of Day 2 and already almost doubled up his stack. Panka then bet the river for 7,000 and Busquet eventually released his cards.
Dzmitry Urbanovich, who won the €25,000 High Roller and two other EPT Malta side events, was the last player to enter the field. Unfortunately for him, his stay was short and not so sweet. We didn't catch his elimination, and we couldn't ask as his table broke by the time we made our way down there. Whatever the case, the man from Poland won't be capturing his fourth title here in the Main Event.
When leaving the tournament area we stumbled over Sinem Melin and the charity event winner here in Malta quickly recalled her unfortunate Day 2 to us. First she lost two bigger pots with pocket kings and then called with a flush draw without hitting. That left the Brit down to eight big blinds and the chips vanished with versus .
Moments later, Vincent Gabel joined and also told his story. The Belgian had flopped a set of sixes on and found one opponent in Sergey Sergeev with both players investing 3,200 into a pot of 7,500. On the turn, Sergeev bet 6,300 and Gabel just called to see an on the river.
The Russian got it in with for a back door straight and Gabel's slow play backfired in cruel fashion.
There were 895 players in the first-ever EPT Malta Main Event from 64 countries. The festival has been held jointly with the Italian Poker Tour and, as Malta is only 180 km from the Italian island of Sicily, it’s no surprise that Italy accounts for the most players in the Main Event: 96 (11%), followed closely by Germany with 91 (10%). There are 75 Brits, 60 French and 42 Dutch. Five Maltese nationals also took part – although only Alan Brincat made it through to Day 2.
Only four tables remain in the secondary area downstairs as the table of Jonathan Duhamel, Gilbert Diaz and Alen Bilic just broke. Bilic was involved in a pot with Diaz that saw him bet 15,000 on the river. The Frenchman reluctantly folded and claimed to have had a flush. Bilic said so too and admitted he had the .
Fabian Quoss opened for 2,200 from early position and action folded to Glib Kovtunov on the button. The player from the Ukraine shoved all in for 13,100 and after both blinds folded, Kovtunov tossed his hand over the line, not touching the muck or chips.
Quoss still had a decision though, and the floor was called over to make a ruling. The floor ruled that since the cards were without a doubt retrievable, Kovtunov got his cards back and Quoss still had the option.
Quoss had to decide if he believed that Kovtunov hadn't seen his raise and thought he was open shoving the button, or that he thought Quoss had folded. Eventually Quoss made the call.
Glib Kovtunov:
Fabian Quoss:
The board ran out and Kovtunov double with a rivered flush. Quoss was left behind with just under 10,000 in chips.
and Lövgren tripled up. Vitti made his exit, Angell got the 1,200 change.
, nor the river, the 
, made him beat pocket aces. Phiniotis won the hand and he's now sitting on 68,000 chips.
turn, both Olivier Busquet and Dominik Panka checked over on table 6. Busquet had registered before the start of Day 2 and already almost doubled up his stack. Panka then bet the 
river for 7,000 and Busquet eventually released his cards.
. Salvatore Bonavena was the one going to battle with the German holding 
before the flop.
versus 
.
and found one opponent in Sergey Sergeev with both players investing 3,200 into a pot of 7,500. On the 
turn, Sergeev bet 6,300 and Gabel just called to see an 
river. The Frenchman reluctantly folded and claimed to have had a flush. Bilic said so too and admitted he had the 
and Kovtunov double with a rivered flush. Quoss was left behind with just under 10,000 in chips.