Jonathan Bowers Leads After Day 1b in MPN Poker Tour Malta Main Event
The United Kingdom's Jonathan Bowers ended Day 1b of the MPN Poker Tour Main Event at Casino Malta as the overall chip leader with 278,000 in chips.
Closely behind Bowers were Valerio Marino (265,000), Adlan Bachayev (203,700) and Jacob Nielsen (198,800). All three of these players finished well ahead of Day 1a chip leader Alan Carr (185,600).
Many well-known players also amassed six-figure stacks on Day 1b, including Dara O��Kearney, Ben Middleton, Tobias Andersen and Manuel Lopes.
The second opening day attracted 265 entrants. This, along with the 99 entrants who ponied up the �550 entry fee on Day 1a, enabled the tournament to smash its �150,000 guaranteed prize pool.
A total of 131 players bagged chips on the two opening days. A good portion of players who advanced to Day 2 were online qualifiers from dozens of countries. Anyone who won their MPNPT Malta Main Event seat on Betsson, betsafe, NordicBet, Triobet or bets10 is automatically part of a special ��Last Longer King�� competition. The winner of the competition will be awarded a free package valued at �1,500 to MPNPT Manchester in July.
Day 2 resumes Saturday, April 29, at 1 p.m. local time. Surviving players will play for one more day on April 30 until a winner is crowned.
Two �150 buy-in side events are also on Saturday's schedule. The �150 MPNPT Casino Malta Poker Cup begins at 3 p.m. local time, and the Omaha Cup gets underway at 6 p.m. local time. Both events feature 30-minute blind levels and a starting stack of 15,000 chips.