2015 PokerStars.com EPT Season 11 Malta

At the start of Day 4, just 56 players remained in the European Poker Tour Malta Main Event, but after five 90-minute levels of play, the field was culled down to the final 23. The man best positioned to make a run at the €810,400 first-place prize is Antonin Duda, who bagged up the chip leader with 3,476,000.

The 28-year-old poker pro hails from the Czech town Jablonec nad Nisou. To date, his biggest cash was €125,950 for a seventh-place finish in the EPT9 Barcelona. Duda, who qualified for the EPT Malta on PokerStars, has a decent March so far having won two major tournaments on Full Tilt Poker for over a combined $62,000.

Others who've navigated the 895-player field to make it through to the penultimate day are 2014 WCOOP Main Event champ Fedor "CrownUpGuy" Holz (3,146,000), EPT10 London champ Robin Ylitalo (972,000), and 2014 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure winner and PokerStars-Sponsored Player Dominik Panka (391,000).

The plan for the day was to play down to the final 16 players, but action didn't allow for it. Still, plenty of players saw their hopes of becoming the first-ever EPT Malta champion come to an end including Steven Watts (€14,750), Mortiz Dietrich (46th - €14,750), Yann Dion (43rd - €14,750), JC Alvarado (38th - €17,100), and Liviu "0Human0" Ignat, who was the center of a great name debate at the beginning of the day.

Another player to fall was Sam Chartier, who fell in the last level of the night when Mateusz Moolhuizen, who qualified via the very last EPT Malta Main Event satellite, opened for 55,000 under the gun and was met by a three-bet to 120,000 from Valentin Messina, who was to his direct left. Chartier then four-bet jammed for 358,000 from the hijack. Moolhuizen looked him up and Messina got out of the way.

Moolhuizen:
Chartier:

It was a cooler of a hand, but Chartier was on the good end. The tables were turned when the flop delivered Moolhuizen a set, though Chartier at least picked up a flush draw. The turn was no help to Chartier, and neither was the river. With that, Chartier bowed out in 26th place while Moolhuizen chipped up to 1.2 million.

George Danzer won Poker Ambassador of the Year at the 14th Annual European Poker Awards. Check out what he had to say about it by clicking here.

Others joining Moolhuizen on Day 5 are Hossein Ensan (2,639,000), Sergio Aido (1,187,000), and Jorma Nuutinen (870,000), just to name a few. Here's a look at the remaining players:

Action will recommence at Noon local time on Friday, and the plan is to play down to the final six players. Of course the PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be there every step of the way. While you wait, check out this comprehensive video of the 14th Annual European Poker Awards:

The final 23 players are now bagging and tagging for the night. We're heading down to grab official chip counts, so stay tuned for those as well as a full recap of the Day 4 action.

Alexander Ivarsson will probably not sleep well tonight after a miss-timed bluff cost him his tournament on the last hand of the night.

Antonin Duda raised to 52,000 from the second seat and was called by Ivarsson (cutoff) and Sergio Aido (Small blind). The flop came and Duda continued for 105,000 and was only called by Ivarsson. Duda slowed to a check on the and called after Ivarsson bet 130,000.

The board completed with the and Ivarsson quickly went all in for his last 500,000 or so after he was checked to once more. Duda flicked in one chip to call and Ivarsson opened for king high and was quickly out of his seat with a look of despair on his face. Duda opened and raked in the pot that confirmed his status of overnight chip leader.

A bigger pot emerged between Antonin Duda and start-of-the-day chip leader Javier Gomez Zapatero. It all started rather innocent with a raise from the button by the Czech and Gomez Zapatero was sitting in the big blind. It culminated in a check-raise by the Spaniard after the river of a      board.

Duda had bet 104,000 and Gomez Zapatero check-raised to 269,000, revealing the   for trips nines once he got called.

A lot of raises, squeezes and bets later, Fedor Holz has added another another 300,000 chips to his stack and is making a run for the over-night chip lead.

With two all ins in a row, Jacek Ladny increased his stack slightly The first hand was an open shove and the second one came after a raise of Antonin Duda to 53,000.

Koray Aldemir opened to 53,000 from under the gun and Rudolf Wilhelm Zintel defended his big blind to see a flop of   . Zintel check-called a bet of 74,000 and the turn was checked through. Zintel also checked the river and reluctantly paid off the 150,000 bet of Aldemir to muck when shown   for top pair.

In a battle of Spain, Javier Gomez Zapatero fired a continuation bet of 58,000 on the    flop and Sergio Aido called on the button. The action on the turn is unknown, but Gomez Zapatero took down the pot without showdown by betting the river for 180,000.