September 18 2012, Matthew Pitt

The World Poker Tour Malta Main Event reached the end of Day 2 after six 90-minute levels were played out at the Casino at Portomaso. By the time the tournament director called an end on the day’s proceedings, Jackson Genovesi, who began the day as chip leader ended as the chip leader.

Genovesi started the day with 147,500 chips and managed to turn them into an impressive stack of 767,500. A large percentage of these chips were won during a hand that Genovesi described to PokerNews as “sick.” It involved the elimination of the former World Series of Poker Main Event champion Jonathan Duhamel.

In the hand in question, a preflop raising war broke out that resulted in Duhamel six-bet shoving with a pair of tens. Genovesi made the call with a pair of jacks that held.

Yorane Kerignard (522,000), who has a fantastic record in major live poker tournaments within Europe, has also moved on to Day 3. Kerignard has four European Poker Tour final tables to his name, but has yet to cash in a WPT tournament. Francesco Favia (429,500), Ilan Boujenah (297,500) and Eros Nastasi (297,000) have also moved on.

One man who will not be in the field when play resumes is 12-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth. After Bastien Lebel opened to 4,000 in early position, Hellmuth made the call from middle position. The player on the button was Zeljko Krizan, who moved his short-stack into the middle with . The action moved back to Lebel, who decided the best play for his was to move all in for just over 100,000 chips. This was slightly more than Hellmuth had in front of him and after some deliberation Hellmuth decided to make the call with . The board ran out , and with that, Hellmuth was eliminated.

Although Hellmuth will not be in attendance on Day 3, there will be plenty of noise from at least one man still in the hunt for a WPT title. PartyPoker pro Tony G managed to make it through with 117,000 chips.

Play resumes at 1300 CET (0400 PDT) and will continue until the 26 players have been whittled down to a final table of six. The prize money will start being paid out when the 22nd place has been decided. A min-cash is worth “5,240 but by the time Day 3 comes to an end, each surviving player will have locked up a guaranteed “23,300.

Join the PokerNews Live Reporting team for all the action from the WPT Malta Main Event starting at 1300 CET (0400 PDT) Wednesday!

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