Day 1b of the Battle of Malta Main Event has never been as busy as it was today.
A total of 659 entries packed their way into the Portomaso Casino, which made it the biggest Day 1b in the tournament’s five-year history.
It made up for a slightly smaller Day 1a which had 271 entries versus the 305 in 2015.
Overall there are 930 entries which puts the event on pace to absolutely shatter the €500,000 guarantee.
Alaska’s Zachary Reinbold took control of the chips counts in the last level of play and finished with 268,000.
Nilsen, Puchkov Claim SOP Awards
Day 1b of the 2016 BOM brought seasoned poker pros Maria Ho, Silje Nilsen, Fabrice Soulier and Konstantin Puchkov into the fray.
Nilsen and Puchkov were each honored as Spirit of Poker award winners in the Rising Star and Living Legend categories respectively.
Felipe “Mojave” Ramos who had prior obligations in New Jersey was also recognized as the Most Inspiring Player of the year.
By the end of play the field had been reduced to about 227 players.
Among the survivors were Maria Ho, Silje Nilsen and Finnish model Amanda Harkimo. They'll join the 89 remaining from Day 1a on Saturday for Day 2.
Meanwhile Day 1c of the 2016 Battle of Malta Main Event kicks off at 2 p.m. local time tomorrow giving players one last chance (two if they haven’t used their one re-entry) to get in on what will surely go down as one of the biggest tournaments ever held in Malta.
You can follow along via the official Battle of Malta live updates.
Here’s a rough look at the top 10 chip counts to end the day:
1. Zachary Reinbold - 268,000
2. Guiseppe Grimaldi - 234,100
3. Meree Medjounou - 227,500
4. Tony Rene Danielsen - 193,500
5. Ronald Haverkamp - 187,700
6. Ivaylo Panev - 180,600
7. Jimmy Olsson - 178,00
8. Gdish Manish - 173,700
9. Even Spelling - 164,000
10. Burt Kuiper - 163,200
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