Generally poker actually does really feel like a merciless joke. Simply ask Ben Heath.
Deep within the 2025 PokerStars EPT Malta Fundamental Occasion, the British professional had simply discovered the right spot. He picked up queens, and held in opposition to the ace-king of start-of-day chip chief Tom-Aksel Bedell to attain a vital double. Lastly, he was again within the combine.
After which moments later, Heath peeled pocket kings and possibly felt he was on prime of the world. However throughout the desk, Tomasz Brzezinski had aces. And as if that wasn’t brutal sufficient, the flop ran out giving Brzezinski quad aces.
The pot was price a whole bunch of hundreds and shattered Heath’s run. He was left with a handful of chips and shortly after turned the seventh-place finisher, taking dwelling €118,650, but in addition leaving with one of many hardest beats of the match burned into reminiscence.
When the penultimate day ended, 5 gamers bagged chips and booked their seats for Sunday’s remaining day. On the prime is Ukraine’s Mykhailo Ostash, who’s on the journey of his life in his very first EPT. He’ll return with 9,870,000 chips (123 large blinds).
Proper behind him sits 2016 champion Aliaksei Boika, who now has a shot at doing one thing by no means achieved earlier than, successful the identical EPT Fundamental Occasion twice, practically a decade aside, in the very same metropolis.
Brzezinski, the person who delivered the hand of the match, returns in third and has now reached back-to-back EPT Fundamental Occasion remaining tables after ending fourth in Barcelona. Spain’s Adria Calonge is fourth, whereas Bedell, who started Day 5 with the chip lead, comes again short-stacked however nonetheless swinging.
Finish of Day 5 Chip Counts
Day 5 Motion
David Tous (fifteenth – €38,950), Alessandro Barone (14th – €38,950), and Maxime Chilaud (twelfth – €46,750) began Day 5 pretty quick, and all have been eradicated in preflop confrontations throughout the first degree of the day. Longmao Fan (thirteenth – €46,750) unsuccessfully fired a number of large bluffs and joined them on the rail earlier than the primary break.
Spanish powerhouse and 2015 EPT Monte Carlo winner Adrian Mateos (eleventh – €56,050) had a double encounter with an unstoppable Brzezinski, first doubling him up when Brzezinski was in danger, and, not lengthy after, being eradicated by him after an ill-timed squeeze play. Not a lot later, Luis Faria (tenth – €56,050) bubbled the ultimate desk. First, Faria erroneously flipped his hand over preflop, pondering he was calling all in when he was not. Leaving himself just a few chips behind, he busted just a few arms later, and the ultimate 9 gamers converged on one desk.
The gamers on the remaining desk battled for 3 and a half hours, passing chips forwards and backwards, earlier than Joao Tomas was the primary to be eradicated in a large cooler in opposition to Boika. After that time, Ostash had taken over the chiplead, and he elevated his benefit over the remaining contenders when he despatched dwelling Juan Pardo, who four-bet jammed ace-jack into his ace-queen.
The remaining seven contenders then took a brief dinner break, after which large motion kicked off. First, Ben Heath doubled in a flip in opposition to Bedell, leaving the latter quick. Nonetheless, two arms later, Brzezinski flopped quad aces and doubled in opposition to Heath’s kings for a chiplead pot, leaving Heath with even fewer chips than Bedell. To not be outdone, Ostash took again the lead swiftly, flopping prime set in opposition to the highest pair of Brzezinski.
Boika busted Heath in seventh, with Heath incomes the primary six-figure payout of the Fundamental Occasion, taking dwelling €118,650. After Bedell doubled, quick stack ninja Toni Kaukua turned the ultimate elimination of the evening, pay-jumping his option to sixth place, good for €154,250.
The 5 remaining gamers battled for a short time longer earlier than they bagged for the evening. They’ll return tomorrow, Sunday, October 12, at 12:30 p.m. native time to crown the winner of the 2025 EPT Malta Fundamental Occasion. There can be 15 arms left to play with blinds at 40,000/80,000 (80,000), after which each and every degree can be performed for 30 arms. They’ve locked up the eye-watering sum of €200,550 for his or her top-five look, however with four- and five-figure pay jumps arising, there’s all the pieces left to play for.
