2012 World Poker Tour Malta › Main Event

Day 1b completed

Posted 2012-09-17 GMT+2

WPT Malta Day 1b: Jackson Genovesi Strolls Into The Lead

Posted 2012-09-17 GMT+2 • Level 8: 300-600, 75 ante

Jackson Genovesi

Day 1b of the World Poker Tour Malta Main Event has been completed after eight 60-minute levels were played out in the Casino at Portomaso. The player who ended the day as an overwhelming chip leader and leads everyone going into Tuesday's Day 2 is Jackson Genovesi.

Genovesi ended the day with a massive stack of 147,500 chips, over 50,000 more than his nearest rival Johan Guilbert on 96,100. Genovesi was propelled to the top of the counts midway through proceedings when he flopped the nuts in a massive pot that resulted in the PartyPoker Pro Kara Scott being eliminated. From that moment on Genovesi had to stack to make a real nuisance of himself and he certainly deserves the glory of being the overnight chip leader.

As expected a whole host of big names and familiar faces were among the 105 entries for today. Some of those who made it through with chip stacks intact include Giovanni Rizzo (95,800), Alessio Isaia (77,500), Erik Cajelais (74,800), Ilan Boujenah (62,100), Jason Mericer (56,600) and Fabrice Soulier (49,500) whilst the likes of Vanessa Selbst (29,500), Tony G (17,600), Andrew Badecker (15,700), Marvin Rettenmaier (13,375) and Anton Wigg (12,700) all made it through but will have a little more work to do when play restarts.

Play resumes at 13:00 CET and we are told the plan is to play between five and six 90-minute levels depending on how quickly the field thins. As soon as we know anything solid we will let you know.

Until play restarts, why not check out the sneak preview of the Tony G / Phil Hellmuth triathlon over on the PartyPoker Blog?

Tags: Jackson Genovesi.

Five More Hands

Posted 2012-09-17 GMT+2 • Level 8: 300-600, 75 ante

Tournament Director Christian Scalzi has said there will be five more hands played before we wrap up for tonight.

Benhalima Given One Round Penalty

Posted 2012-09-17 GMT+2 • Level 8: 300-600, 75 ante

There has been a little controversy in the room after Abdelkader Benhalima was accused of soft playing by agreeing to check down the hand.

Enver Abdulraimov opened with a raise from late position and Jesper Hougaard three-bet all in for 11,300 on the button. The small blind folded but Benhalima called in the big blind before saying, "check, check, check" to the only active player in the hand. Eventually Abdulraimov called and low and behold they checked down the board.

"All of you turn over your hands," instructed the tournament director and the active players obeyed.

Hougaard:
Abdulraimov:
Benhalima:

The players at the table could not believe Benhalima had checked his set and Abdulraimov had checked his top pair.

"That's collusion" said Jason Mercier who had walked over to see what all of the commotion was about.

After much discussion Benhalima was given a one-round penalty and nobody on his table is going to trust him for the rest of this tournament.

Tags: Abdelkader Benhalima, Enver Abdulraimov, Jesper Hougaard.

Pair Of Deuces Good For Ryynanen

Posted 2012-09-17 GMT+2 • Level 8: 300-600, 75 ante

The action folded around to Vanessa Selbst in the small blind and she opted to just complete her small blind. Sampo Ryynanen was the big blind and he raised to 1,800. Selbst queried how much the raise was for before making the call.

The flop saw Selbst check-call a 1,800 bet from her sole opponent. The turn saw Selbst go on the attack and make it 2,800 to play, a bet that Ryynanen quickly called. The river looked like it was going to see a bet from Selbst but she pulled back at the last second and checked. Ryynanen checked behind.

"I have seven-high," said Selbst.

An embarrassed looking Ryynanen flipped over and Selbst showed the . One thinks Ryynanen's image may now be tarnished somewhat.

Tags: Vanessa Selbst, Sampo Ryynanen.

More TonyLeaks Revealed

Posted 2012-09-17 GMT+2 • Level 8: 300-600, 75 ante

Earlier today Tony G and Phil Hellmuth completed the first two of their three triathlon events. Here is a sneak preview, in pictures, of those events!

Great Wall Of D'Errico

Posted 2012-09-17 GMT+2 • Level 8: 300-600, 75 ante

Riccard D'Errico was first to act in the hijack seat and he opened the betting with a raise. Two players folded, putting the action on Serkan Kurnar. He paused for a few moments before three-betting to 2,800 and it was up to D'Errico to act.

He sat completely motionless before springing into action with an all-in bet of 26,000 in total, which allowed the dealer to place the oversized comedy all-in button onto the felt. Kurnar looked baffled about what to do and after 90 seconds of looking baffled he mucked his hand.

Tags: Serkan Kurnar, Riccard D'Errico.

Level 8 started

Posted 2012-09-17 GMT+2

Official Payouts

Posted 2012-09-17 GMT+2 • Level 7: 250-500, 50 ante

With registration well and truly closed the official payouts have been announced.

Total number of entrants stands at 169 so 21 places will be paid and paid as follows:

Chips Galore

Posted 2012-09-17 GMT+2

Here are some chip counts for you to drool over.

Chip Counts
Jackson Genovesi			124,000	14,000
Giovanni Rizzo			86,000	30,300
Vincent Douchain			82,000
Johan Guilbert			71,000	1,200
Jason Mercier			64,000	16,700
Alessio Isaia			57,000	7,400
Vanessa Selbst			56,600	0
Erik Cajelais			46,000	19,500
Fabrice Soulier			37,000	11,800
Steven van Zadelhoff			35,200	0
Jesper Hougaard			35,000	-16,500
Marvin Rettenmaier			32,000	32,000
Roger Hairabedian			28,600	0
Ilan Boujenah			26,000	2,000
Aubin Cazals			21,000	0
Gordon Huntly			19,000	4,825
Andrew Badecker			17,000	-24,000
Jason Wheeler			16,200	0
Anton Wigg			16,000	-400
Ronnie Bardah			15,000	7,700