September 17 2012, Matthew Pitt

Day 1b of the World Poker Tour Malta Main Event has drawn to a close after eight action-packed 60-minute levels were completed inside the vast Casino at Portomaso. A number of notables took to the felt during the course of Day 1b, but Jackson Genovesi had out-chipped everyone by the end of the night. In fact, he has more chips than anyone still in the tournament.

Genovesi didn’t have the easiest of tables when Day 1b began because Table 3 was home to Steve van Zadelhoff, World Series of Poker bracelet winner Ronnie Bardah, Fabrice Soulier, and PartyPoker Pro Kara Scott. Genovesi didn’t let the fact he was surrounded by stars faze him, though. If anything, quite the opposite was true.

During the fifth level of play, with blinds at 150/300/25, there was a raise to 700 and four callers before Scott stuck in a raise of her own and made it 2,300 to play from the small blind. Both Bardah and Genovesi made the call, and the dealer fanned out the flop. Scott continued her aggression and led out for 5,000 only to see Bardah raise to 18,000. Genovesi then flat-called Bardah’s raise, Scott also called, and action was three-handed to the turn.

“What is going on in this hand?” shouted Bardah as he looked up to the heavens, “You just flat 18k?” he motioned to Genovesi, “I have been in some tough spots before, but this is one of the toughest…I have put over 20,000 of my chips into this pot and I have to fold…I have outs too,” said Bardah before finally folding his hand. Genovesi then pretended to fold and the whole table burst into raptures and laughter at the reaction on Bardah’s face. Genovesi pulled his cards back and called.

Scott showed and needed a queen or a seven to survive because Genovesi held for the nut flush. The was not one of Scott’s outs and she headed to the sidelines while Genovesi became the new chip leader with 110,000 chips and from that moment, the young Italian never looked back.

For Bardah’s take on the hand, check out this video.

As mentioned, among the 105 entries were some of poker’s most familiar names and some of those who made it through with chip stacks intact included Giovanni Rizzo (95,800), Alessio Isaia (77,500), Erik Cajelais (74,800), Ilan Boujenah (62,100), Jason Mercier (56,600) and Fabrice Soulier (49,500). Vanessa Selbst (29,500), Tony G (17,600), Andrew Badecker (15,700), Marvin Rettenmaier (13,375) and Anton Wigg (12,700) also made it through but will have a little more work to do when play restarts.

Play resumes at 1300 CET (0400 PDT), and we are told the plan is to play between five and six 90-minute levels, depending on how quickly the field thins early on. The PokerNews Live Reporting team will be there to bring you all of the action as it unfolds.

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November 25 2011, Matthew Pitt

The excitement in the $15,000 Carbon Poker League is starting to heat up, so make sure you download Carbon Poker and don’t miss out on another moment of the action!

The Carbon League is still anyone’s game since the top of the leaderboard remains unchanged. A few players have managed to gain valuable points to begin making their way up the ladder.

The winner of last week’s weekly $5.00+$1.00 ($100 added) Friday was “venko1982″ who won all the cash and 30 Carbon League Points. The points “venko1982″ picked up were his first of the league so far and he now has a realistic chance of breaking through into the top 10.

“ZEXIME” also had an impressive result, finishing in fourth place for an additional 14 points, and he has now moved up two places in the overall standings from tenth to eight, swapping places with “basker2b3.”

“XxMTVxx” continues to sit atop the leaderboard after managing to win huge league points in the first of three VIP freerolls which took place during the league but the league is far from a done deal with plenty of points left to play for!

$15,000 Carbon Poker League Leaderboard

“XxMTVxx” may find himself at the top of the leaderboard with an impressive 120 points, but he will be continually looking over his shoulder if more players start taking part in each of the weekly league events. The weekly $3.00+$0.50 ($50 added) Tuesday event awards points as seen in the table below, while the Friday event awards double points!

League Point Payout Structure

If you would like to increase your chances of making it to the top of the leaderboard, be sure to take part in one of the two remaining VIP freerolls. The next VIP freeroll is set for Thursday, Dec. 1 and along with the free $1,000 added prize pool, it will also award a massive 120 Carbon league points to the eventual winner!

Below is a breakdown of the league points which will be paid in the VIP freerolls and see just how easy it is to make your way up the leaderboard.

With so many points still left to play for there is no excuse for not taking part in this added value league on Carbon Poker. If you start playing now it should be quite easy to finish in the top 30 players who will qualify to take part in the Big Final on Jan. 8 at 1800 GMT.

The Big Final is what all the players are trying their hardest to qualify for and you can see why, because thousands of dollars are awarded to the top 15 finishers in that event, including more than $2,000 for taking down The Big Final!

Big Final Payout Structure

Remember that the $15,000 Carbon Poker League is exclusive to PokerNews players, so if you don’t already have account through one of our links, make sure sign up to Carbon Poker through PokerNews. Also don’t forget our huge 150% up to $750 first deposit bonus!

For more information about the league visit the $15,000 Carbon Poker League page and prepare to start accumulating league points.

If you experience any problems with this or any of our promotions, please contact our Ticketed Promo Support System.