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Until a week ago, Mukul Pahuja hadn't had even ever cashed on European soil but soon after his arrival here, he finished 17th in the One-Day €10k High Roller for €20,405.
Now the 29-year-old from American is guaranteed another substantial payday in Malta, this time in the regular €10k High Roller. It has to be said that, at the moment, Pahuja stands to do rather better than just a mere cash and has a €430,800 first prize in his sights. He is currently leading the 19 players who will be back for the final day after bagging 1,499,000 chips.
The absence of any European flags on Pahuja's Hendon Mob page might be misleading however as he already has more than $3.8 million in live tournament winnings, however all of them have been accrued on the other side of the Atlantic, in North America. The best result of his career was in his home state of Florida two years ago where he won $872,625 for third place.
Pahuja seized the EPT12 Malta €10k High Roller lead in one of the last hands of the day, leaping over Russia's Vladimir Dobrovolskiy who has now finished the night in second place with 1,389,000 in chips. Mikita Badziakouski bubbled the One-Day High Roller earlier in the festival but has managed to avoid a repeat of that scenario and will be back, in third place, with 698,000 in chips. The title defender David Peters is still in contention as well, although short stacked.
Team PokerStars Pros Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier and Jason Mercier made it to the money, finishing 19th and 30th respectively.
With 210 entries in the EPT12 Malta €10k High Roller (168 unique players plus 42 re-entries), the total prize pool amounts to €2,037,000. Tomorrow's champion will get €430,800 while a min-cash is worth €17,930; 31 players will get paid.
