September 23 2011, Donnie Peters

Day 2 of the 2011 World Poker Tour Malta took place on Thursday with 154 players returning to action. At the end of the day, 30 of them remained and Cecilia Pescaglini was leading the way with a stack of 976,000. She’s well ahead of the rest of the field, including her closest competitor, Marvin Rettenmaier, who is in second place with 415,000.

The top 27 spots are set to be paid out, which means that the money bubble has yet to break. That will happen on Day 3, but Day 2 still saw plenty of action.

Dragan Galic, David Vamplew, Dominik Nitsche, David Peters, Steve O’Dwyer, William Thorson, Tobias Reinkemeier and Day 1b chip leader Tommy Vedes were all eliminated on the day. Phil Hellmuth was anther notable player to hit the rail, falling in Level 14 according to the WPT Live Update Team.

Hellmuth lost all of his chips in two quick pots. On the first hand, Salvatore Bianco raised to 5,000 with the blinds at 1,200/2,400 with a 400 ante and Hellmuth three-bet to 17,000 from the small blind. Bianco called and the flop came down . Hellmuth bet and Bianco called to see the fall on the turn. Again, Hellmuth bet and Bianco called. The river completed the board with the and Hellmuth bet 65,000 into a pot around 70,000. Bianco called holding for a pair of sevens. Hellmuth mucked his hand and Bianco scooped the chips.

Shortly thereafter, Hellmuth, who began the hand with around 20,000, raised to 7,200 in the cutoff seat. Andras Fekete made it 12,000 to go from the button. The two blinds folded and Fekete exposed his hand, revealing the . “Wow buddy, I still have chips left,” said Hellmuth.

“Sorry, I’ll understand if you fold,” responded Fekete.

“Well, I ain’t folding,” said Hellmuth.

Hellmuth then just called the raise and was left with about 8,000 behind. The flop came down and Hellmuth checked. Fekete moved all-in for Hellmuth quickly called. He held the to go against Fekete’s already-exposed . The turn brought the and the river the . Fekete made a spade flush on the river to send Hellmuth to the rail in bizarre fashion.

A few other notables bustouts included Sofia Lovgren, Julian Herold, John Eames and Nicolo Calia.

Of those advancing to Day 3, Giovanni Rizzo is the shortest stack left with 59,500 in chips, as well as Tristan Clemencon, Tony G and Isaac Haxton, who all have below-average stacks. Sitting above the mean is November Niner Matt Giannetti with 370,000 in chips. He has the fourth largest stack that will be returning for Day 3.

Day 3 will take place on Friday starting at 1630 CEST (1530 BST). The plan for the day is to grind it out until the final table of six is set. First place is over $273,000, but no one is guaranteed anything just yet. Be sue to stay tuned to PokerNews for the daily recap of the action after play is through.

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter for all your up-to-the-minute poker news.

*Photo courtesy of the World Poker Tour

Follow Donnie Peters on Twitter – @Donnie_Peters

September 22 2011, Donnie Peters

The World Poker Tour Malta resumed play on Wednesday with the second starting flight. Day 1b added 139 players to the field and brought the total entries to 240, which created a prize pool of “698,400. At the end of the day, Tommy Vedes finished on top, with a stack of 115,500.

Plenty of notables were in action, and some of them for the second time in this re-entry event, including John Eames, Sam El Sayed, Ivan Freitez, Steven Kelly, Dragan Galic, McLean Karr and Phil Hellmuth. Out of that bunch, only Eames, Galic and Hellmuth were able to advance, and all three did with relatively low numbers of chips. Hellmuth bagged up 34,075, Galic finished with 23,350 and Eames finished with the smallest stack moving to Day 2 with 17,100. They’ll all have plenty of work cut out for them on Thursday.

At the end of the day, 90 players remained from the 139 that started. Combining those survivors with the ones from Day 1a, the returning field for Day 2 will be 154 players. Everyone will be chasing Day 1a chip leader Fabien Sartoris, but there’s still plenty of firepower left in the field to provide some great poker action.

Among those advancing to Day 2 are Antoine Saout, Marvin Rettenmaier, Sofia Lovgren, Tobias Reinkemeier, Steve O’Dwyer and William Thorson. Some of the other players who fell on Day 1b in their last chance to move on were Davidi Kitai, Fabrice Soulier, Kara Scott and James Akenhead.

Day 2 will take place on Thursday, beginning at 1600 CEST (1500 BST). PokerNews will have the recap from the day’s action after it is complete, so be sure to stay tuned.

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter for all your up-to-the-minute poker news.

*Photo courtesy of the World Poker Tour

Follow Donnie Peters on Twitter – @Donnie_Peters