EPT11 Malta – Day 2 of IPT, Connor Drinan Leads €25k High Roller

Two starting flights of the Italian Poker Tour event in Malta are now in the books. After all the cards have been dealt, we have the number of people returning today to keep battling it out for the money and the glory, and that number is 513.

These 513 have made it through the challenges of the first day, but they still have a long way ahead of them before reaching the money, as just 191 players will get paid. The minimum payment is €1,740, while the one who gets to be called a champion will take home a trophy and a sweet amount of €221,200.

Although it is still early days, the man looking best to go home with that title is the Italian Berardino Palmieri who bagged the chip lead on the Day 1A. He will be returning with the stack of 340,800, trailed by Do Chung Tran starting with 278k and Guy Bachar who accumulated 253,700.

The notables who will also be returning to the tables today include Griffin Benger, Ludovc Geilich and Leo McClean. They are amongst those who can count their blessings to still have a seat in the event, as more than half of the 1,285 starting field has been sent home.

The players will only play for six levels today, something that players will probably be happy about. This is due to the fact that this particular tournament has a day extra in comparison to other PokerStars tour tournaments, so there is no rush.

€25k High Roller final table led by Connor Drinan

The very first event of the inaugural EPT Malta event has reached its final table, as the last eight will be returning to battle it out for the title in the €25k High Roller event. Sitting on top of the chip counts is Connor Drinan, a great player and the man who we will always remember for losing Aces vs Aces in the $1m Big One for One Drop event. Ouch!

Drinan is coming back to a stack of 893k but he will have a high mountain to climb before claiming the title and the first place of €572,300. Those keeping him company in the remaining seven seats include the likes of Deni Stern, Sam Greenwood and the German high roller Martin Finger.

The minimum cash any player can walk away with today is €79,800.

The EPT11 Malta is slowly but surely picking up some speed, as more and more events get underway and the Main Event rapidly approaches. Before March runs out, we will, no doubt, have several big winners and a lot of smaller ones, all going back home not only with some extra cash, but also with a great experience that only big poker tournaments can provide.

Photo: Neil Stoddart, PokerStars Blog