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It's been an outstanding day for Alexander Ivarsson in the €5,300 EPT12 Malta Main Event. Starting second in chips today, Ivarsson managed to nearly double his stack to bring 2,418,000 for the penultimate day. The clock stopped after Ferdinand Le Pichon's elimination in 17th place with less than four levels played for the day.
Ivarsson is leading the last two tables in to Day 5. His EPT Malta run has been nearly perfect since Day 1. The 27-year-old Swede seized the lead at the end of Day 2 and regained the top position tonight. With sixteen players left, he's already guaranteed his fourth EPT Main Event cash, his career's best. All three Ivarsson's previous cahses came this year and until now, it had been the inaugural EPT Malta where he went farthest, finishing 24th for €22,900.
Alexander Ivarsson's EPT12 Malta Main Event run:
Start of Day 2: 64th out of 392 players left
Start of Day 3: 1st out of 131 players left
Start of Day 4: 2nd out of 40 players left
Start of Day 5: 1st out of 16 players left
Ivarsson is followed by Jaroslaw Sikora, who won a massive race to bust Faraz Jaka in 19th place. The IPT7 Malta1 runner-up has 2,300,000, entering Day 5 second in chips while Niall Farrell sits in third with 1,902,000.
Rainer Kempe from Germany is still chasing back-to-back final table appearances. He finished fifth at EPT12 Barcelona two months ago, taking €320,400. He's currently fourth in chips here in Malta, bagging 1,726,000 today.
Among others, the famous Canadians Daniel Dvoress and Sam Greenwood are still in contention for the title and €602,400 first prize, as well as Kitty Kuo and 2015 SCOOP-L Main Event winner Apostolos Bechrakis.
Today's action saw several well-known players bust - Faraz Jaka (19th), Natasha Barbour (20th), Jens Lakemeier (21st), Shannon Shorr (22nd), Anton Bertilsson (23rd), Mike McDonald (27th), Team PokerStars Pro Johnny Lodden (29th), Thomas Muehloecker (32nd), Ivan Luca (33rd), Bryn Kenney (34th) and Paul Berende (40th)
EPT12 Malta Main Event top five chip counts:
1st - Alexander Ivarsson, Sweden, PokerStars player, 2,418,000
2nd - Jaroslaw Sikora, Poland, PokerStars player, 2,300,000
3rd - Niall Farrell, UK, PokerStars player, 1,902,000
4th - Rainer Kempe, Germany, PokerStars qualifier, 1,726,000
5th - Giulio Spampinato, Malta, Live satellite winner, 1,725,000
There were 651 players in the starting field for the €5,300 EPT12 Malta Main Event, creating a €3,157,350 prize pool, with 95 paid. The eventual champion will take home €602,400 along with the title and coveted trophy.
Last season, it was an all-French heads-up as Jean Montury and Valentin Messina cut a deal and then battled long and hard for the first EPT Malta trophy. The former eventually scooped the title along with a €687,400 first prize after beating 895-strong field. Akim Aouine is the last remaining French player in the field this time around but very short-stacked on 250,000.
