�550 Grand Event
Day 4 Completed
2018 Malta Poker Festival
�550 Grand Event
Day: 4
Event Info
Level 34
: 150,000/300,000, 40,000 ante
The �550 Grand Event of the Malta Poker Festival has come to an end after less than six hours on the final day and Italy��s Emanuele Onnis was crowned as the winner. Onnis walked away with the first-place prize of �150,000, the inaugural title, and the pretty MPF Grand Event trophy after defeating Fabian Gumz heads-up.
The Grand Event attracted 1,366 entries in total which crushed the �500,000 guaranteed prize pool and actually created a total prize pool of �662,510. And the biggest chunk of that went to Onnis for what is his biggest live cash ever as his previous highest live tournament cash before this was �5,800. Onnis was overjoyed with the win as he was interviewed in Italian but the emotion could clearly be read from his face.
The final table also included Nicolaj D��Antoni, Henning Andre, Giovanni Salvatore, Espen Uhlen Jorstad, Borge Dypvik, and Steven Iglesias.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize in EUR | Prize in USD |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Emanuele Onnis | Italy | 150,000 | 170,798 |
| 2 | Fabian Gumz | Germany | 85,000 | 96,785 |
| 3 | Nicolaj D'Antoni | Italy | 50,000 | 56,933 |
| 4 | Henning Andre | Sweden | 40,000 | 45,546 |
| 5 | Giovanni Salvatore | Italy | 34,000 | 38,714 |
| 6 | Espen Uhlen Jorstad | Norway | 28,000 | 31,882 |
| 7 | Borge Dypvik | Norway | 20,600 | 23,456 |
| 8 | Steven Iglesias | Norway | 14,710 | 16,750 |
Final Table Action
At around 2:15 PM local time, the final table kicked off with the live stream on a 30-minute delay as the hole cards would be shown. After a mere fifteen minutes, the short stack Iglesias, and Daniel Grytten who helped him out throughout the tournament, were eliminated by D��Antoni when D��Antoni put Iglesias all-in from the small blind and Iglesias called in the big blind with nine-eight. D��Antoni��s ace-ten of diamonds found a flush on the flop immediately to leave Iglesias drawing dead.
Almost 30 minutes later, the Day 2 chip leader, Dypvik, fell victim to Gumz when he ran his pocket sixes into the jacks of Gumz and got no help of the board at all. The hand after, Jorstad crashed with pocket nines against the pocket aces of D��Antoni for �28,000. Salvatore shoved from under the gun with ace-queen and got called by Onnis who held ace-king. The board ran out low for Onnis�� kicker to come into play to eliminate Salvatore in fifth place.
The remaining players then went for a break with 47 minutes left in the level and Gumz with more than half of all the chips in play. Shortly after the players restarted, Andre who came into the final table as the second lowest stack managed to pick up a few pay jumps but had to leave the stage in fourth place for �40,000. Andre shoved his last ten big blinds with ace-seven into the ace-eight of Gumz. Twenty minutes later, the player with the biggest rail, D��Antoni failed to win his all-in with ace-king against the ace-queen of Gumz who flopped the queen to eliminate D��Antoni to go heads-up against Onnis.
But before they continued to play, Gumz and Onnis went for an unscheduled break with Gumz holding a 3 to 1 chip lead. After about half an hour, they resumed the heads-up battle. Onnis shoved with jack-eight on the king-ten-nine flop as he had a straight and was called by Gumz who had top pair with kind-queen. Gumz turned two pair but couldn��t find another king or queen to put an end to the tournament.
Gumz then doubled up with queens against the king-nine of Onnis. It all went in on the six-jack-nine-four board and Gumz held on. Onnis managed to double up after that to take the chip lead back again with king-jack while Gumz had ace-queen. Gumz hit top pair on the ten-ace-seven flop but Onnis hit runner-runner jacks on the turn and river to score. Shortly after, Onnis dealt Gumz the final blow when Onnis put Gumz at risk with pocket tens and Gumz called with ace-jack. The flop came ten-jack-ace which meant Gumz hit two pair but Onnis the set. The ace or jack Gumz was looking for didn��t come on the turn or river as he was eliminated in 2nd place.
The rail erupted as they all shouted ��ITALY! ITALY! ITALY!�� and the applause could be heard all over the casino to show the respect they had for Onnis for coming back from such a huge chip deficit.
This concludes the PokerNews coverage of the first-ever Grand Event of the Malta Poker Festival here at the Portomaso Casino. Thank you for following the updates and see you at the next one!
Level 34
: 150,000/300,000, 40,000 ante
Emanuele Onnis raised to 1,150,000 from the button, Fabian Gumz three-bet to 3,600,000. Onnis took some time to consider his options and then decided to shove, having Gumz covered. Gumz counted out his stack and looked at the stack of Onnis and then decided to put his tournament life at risk.
Fabian Gumz: 
Emanuele Onnis: 
The flop came 
with the ten in the window to give Onnis a set of tens immediately but Gumz hit two pair. Gumz needed an ace or jack to double up.
The turn was the 
which didn't change the situation. The river completed the board with the 
to seal the deal for Onnis to claim the win and Gumz to be eliminated in 2nd place for �85,000.
A recap of today's action is to follow.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
34,150,000
14,150,000
|
14,150,000 |
|
Busted | |
|
||
Level 34
: 150,000/300,000, 40,000 ante
Emanuele Onnis raised to 2,150,000, Fabian Gumz shoved to put Onnis at risk and Onnis tanked for a while.
"Maybe it's a flip?" Gumz said to Onnis and Onnis looked back at his rail. "Let's go party!" Gumz tried again.
"OK, let's go!" Onnis said and then made the call for the 10,000,000 he had behind.
Emanuele Onnis: 
Fabian Gumz: 
The flop came 
for Gumz to hit a pair of aces and Onnis the gutshot straight draw.
The turn was the for Onnis to hit a pair of jacks and Gumz to stay ahead and pick up a gutshot to the straight draw too.
The river completed the board with the 
to provide Onnis with trip jacks to double up.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
20,000,000
9,000,000
|
9,000,000 |
|
|
14,000,000
-9,000,000
|
-9,000,000 |
|
|
||
Level 34
: 150,000/300,000, 40,000 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
23,000,000
7,000,000
|
7,000,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
11,000,000
-7,000,000
|
-7,000,000 |
Level: 34
Blinds: 150,000/300,000
Ante: 40,000
Level 33
: 120,000/240,000, 30,000 ante
Fabian Gumz raised to 550,000 from the button with 
and was called by Emanuele Onnis with 
The flop came 
, Onnis check-called the 450,000 continuation-bet of Gumz.
The turn was the 
to keep Gumz ahead with the pocket queens over the flopped pair of nines that Onnis had. Onnis checked again, Gumz bet 1,600,000, Onnis tanked and then decided to put Gumz all-in which Gumz called.
The 
on the river completed the board for Gumz to hold and double up for 8,200,000 in total.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
18,000,000
-6,000,000
|
-6,000,000 |
|
|
16,000,000
6,000,000
|
6,000,000 |
|
|
||
Level 33
: 120,000/240,000, 30,000 ante
Emanuele Onnis limped in on the button with 
, Fabian Gumz raised to 900,000 with 
.
The flop came 
for Onnis to flop the straight. Gumz bet 1,100,000, Onnis counted out Gumz's stack and his own and then decided to shove having Gumz covered. Gumz considered his options for a while and then decided to fold.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
24,000,000
2,000,000
|
2,000,000 |
|
|
10,000,000
-2,000,000
|
-2,000,000 |
|
|
||
Level 33
: 120,000/240,000, 30,000 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
22,000,000
3,000,000
|
3,000,000 |
|
|
12,000,000
-3,000,000
|
-3,000,000 |
|
|
||
Level 33
: 120,000/240,000, 30,000 ante
Emanuele Onnis raised to 600,000 from the button with , Fabian Gumz three-bet to 4,100,000 with 
, Onnis tanked and then decided to shove for around 15,000,0000. Gumz asked how much he had behind and then folded.
Gumz then admitted it was a misclick as he wanted to three-bet to 2,100,000.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
19,000,000
4,000,000
|
4,000,000 |
|
|
15,000,000
-4,000,000
|
-4,000,000 |
|
|
||