Nima Saken Shaft raised to 12,000 from the button and FIGHT4TEXAS shoved all in from the big blind for 65,000. Shaft made the call. Players flipped their cards, with FIGHT4TEXAS at risk.
FIGHT4TEXAS: 10♣10♥
Nima Saken Shaft: 4♣4♠
The flop ran out 7♦5♣3♣3♥K♠. Shaft had pocket fours and FIGHT4TEXAS had pocket tens. Neither player improved and so FIGHT4TEXAS held with his tens to double up.
Action folded around to Rauno Kiviloo, who pushed all in from the button with a short stack. He was called by Alexandru Stoian in the big blind. Players flipped their cards, with Kiviloo at risk.
Rauno Kiviloo: K♣J♥
Alexandru Stoian: Q♠Q♦
The board ran out Q♥9♦3♠7♦6♦. Stoian was already well ahead with his pocket queens. He further improved to make a set on the flop. Kiviloo was eliminated from the tournament with just moments to go on Day 2.
In one of the final hands of the day, Bruno Compagna was all in preflop and got called by Wooram Cho, with Compagna at risk. Players turned over their cards.
Bruno Compagna: 10♣10♠
Wooram Cho: A♣2♠
The board ran out 3♠J♦6♠9♣9♠. Compagna held up with his pocket tens to double up. He is one of 79 players who will return for Day 3.
Players have now bagged and tagged their chips for the end of Day 2. A total of 79 players made it through to Day 3. Standby for full chip counts and the end of day recap on PokerNews.
Day 2 of the PokerStars Summer Festival Malta Main Event, running at the InterContinental Hotel, has concluded. There are now just 77 players who remain in contention. The winner is set to take home €153,610.
At the end of Day 2, Florian Ahlmer of Germany emerged as the chip leader after eliminating Tom Arvaara to burst the bubble of the tournament. Ahlmer has 1,035,000 chips.
Close behind, and the only other player to have reached the one million mark, is Pedro Faustino of Portugal.
Jordi Ribatallada Ruiz, Sergio Grosso and Grzegorz Skawinski round out the top five.
End of Day 2 Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chips
Big Blinds
1
Florian Ahlmer
Germany
1035000
129
2
Pedro Faustino
Portugal
1000000
125
3
Jordi Ribatallada Ruiz
Spain
828000
103
4
Sergio Grosso
Italy
772000
96
5
Grzegorz Skawinski
Poland
675000
84
6
Ercan Atmaca
Germany
659000
82
7
Gal Bar
Israel
633000
79
8
Alessandro Sarro
Italy
632000
79
9
Maher Achour
Tunisia
611000
76
10
Marcin Lesniewski
Poland
609000
76
Felix Schneiders is among the other notable players who is still in contention. He took a relatively short stack and turned it into a playable one when he doubled up and then made a set of aces late in the day. Irish Open 2023 winner David Docherty is also still in the mix, as are WSOP bracelet winners Simone Andrian and Tommy Nguyen.
The Main Event attracted 916 entries, which made for a total prize pool of €879,360. This represents a 12 percent increase on the field size from last year. Players hailed from 57 countries, with Italy, France, Germany, Greece and the UK all well represented.
Summer Festival Nationalities
There are now just 77 players remaining. They are all guaranteed to take away at least €2,230.
Day 3 kicks off tomorrow at 12 p.m. local time. Blind will start at 4,000/8,000 with an 8,000 big blind ante. Levels will run for 60-minutes with a break every two levels.
Join PokerNews for live coverage of Day 3 straight from the floor as the tournament plays down deeper into the money and closer to the final table.