The 2nd Edition of the Malta Poker Festival �550 Grand Event is Set to Start at 2 PM at Portomaso Casino
Welcome back to the second edition of The Malta Poker Festival at the Portomaso Casino where the PokerNews live reporting team will be covering the entire �550 Grand Event which features an amazing guaranteed prize pool of �500,000. The first of four starting flights is Day 1a which is set to kick off at 2 p.m. local time.
The 2018 edition was won by Emanuele Onnis who took home �150,000, the inaugural title, and the first every MPF Grand Event trophy. Onnis defeated a 1,366-strong field and had to best Fabian Gumz heads-up. Onnis has already confirmed that he will be back to defend his title but Gumz will be missing in action.
Last year��s final table also featured Nicolaj D��Antoni, Henning Andre, Giovanni Salvatore, Espen Jorstad, Borge Dypvik, and Steven Iglesias. Other notable players who made it into the money were players like Jona Wilmsmann, Eyal Bensimhon, Colin Lovelock, Clint Sammut, Serdar Demircan, Mark Vella, Katharine Arnsby, Andy Hills, Muhamet Perati, and Daragh Davey as a whopping 151 players cashed.
Who knows how many players will flock to the poker tables this year as the format has changed a bit compared to last year. Players will start with 30,000 chips in their stack, fourteen levels of 40 minutes each have been scheduled for each day 1 with Day 1d being a turbo flight. A 15-minute break has been scheduled after every three levels with a 75-minute dinner break after Level 6. Players can only reenter once per flight with registration open for the first eight levels.
Keep following along with the updates right here from the first shuffle up and deal!
Day 1 Structure
| *Level | Duration | Small Blind | Big Blind | Button Ante |
| 1 | 45 | 100 | 100 | |
| 2 | 45 | 100 | 200 | |
| 3 | 45 | 100 | 200 | 200 |
| 15-minute Break | ||||
| 4 | 45 | 200 | 300 | 300 |
| 5 | 45 | 200 | 400 | 400 |
| 6 | 45 | 300 | 500 | 500 |
| 75-minute Dinner Break | ||||
| 7 | 45 | 300 | 600 | 600 |
| 8 | 45 | 400 | 800 | 800 |
| 9 | 45 | 500 | 1,000 | 1,000 |
| 15-minute Break | ||||
| 10 | 45 | 600 | 1,200 | 1,200 |
| 11 | 45 | 800 | 1,600 | 1,600 |
| 12 | 45 | 1,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 |
| 15-minute Break | ||||
| 13 | 45 | 1,500 | 2,500 | 2,500 |
| 14 | 45 | 1,500 | 3,000 | 3,000 |