Timotic, Mountford Top 639-Strong Field on Battle of Malta Day 1b

The 2015 PokerListings Battle of Malta is edging closer and closer to the biggest prize pool in the history of the tournament.

Day 1b garnered a total of 639 entries as the overall number grew to 944 over both starting days with one more to come.

Big-name pros Maria Ho, Thor Hansen and Luca Moschitta all hit the felt with the goal of grabbing a chunk of a potentially massive prize pool.

Instead it was Ivan Timotic and Daniel Mountford who stole the headlines with massive stacks of 317,200 and 285,000 respectively.

Here’s a look at the top 10 chip counts at the end of play:

1. Ivan Timotic 317,200 2. Daniel Moutnford 285,000 3. Andrea Iengo 226600 4. Nicolas Proust 221000 5. Carlo van Ravenswoud 212400 6. Vincenzo Gagliano 207000 7. Tommi Hirvonen 195300 8. Iilre Howard 194400 9. Giuseppe Vaiasicca 173000 10. Petri Pietila 168400

Former Champs Survive to Day 2

You never know who’s going to show up to play the Battle of Malta and Day 1b was no exception with former American Idol star William Hung, Finnish model/song writer Kim Herold and even a player wearing a pigeon mask hitting the tables.

Front and center were former champions Antoan Katsarov (2014) and Louis Cartarius (2013).

The only champ that’s missing is our inaugural winner Nicodemo Piccolo who won in 2012 and still has one more day to register for the tournament.

Some of the other notable figures to join in the action were Anatoly Filatov, Andreas Hoivold and Ken Lennaárd.

At the end of play a total of 214 survived to see Day 2. Ho, Hung, Herold and Thor Hansen were among the notables who busted.

Day 1c of the 2015 Battle of Malta kicks off at 2 p.m. local time tomorrow. It’s the final starting day of the tournament so it’s almost assured to be packed. If you’re playing you’ll want to get here early.

The tournament only needs to draw 492 to break last year’s record-setting 1,447 so there’s a good chance we see records fall tomorrow.

Keep it locked on PokerListings for complete live coverage of tournament.

Watch Maria Ho Recap Huge Day 1B

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