A total of five players will return to Day 4 of the EPT Malta Main Event with over 1 million in chips each, and Poland's Jaroslaw Sikora out in front with 1,457,000! Sikora and his two closets competitors, Alexander Ivarsson and Faraz Jaka, have been among the top stacks since Day 1 and now they and the other remaining 37 players are guaranteed to take home at least €11,840 each.
In case you didn't watch the live stream yesterday, we can inform you that the hand-for-hand period lasted for 90 minutes or an entire level of play! There were several short stacks during the hand-for-hand period but the money bubble didn't burst until a player was forced all in with his final chips in order cover the blind and ante.
Englishman Andrew Atkinson (picture belowt) was relieved and happy to see a fellow super short stack get eliminated as he himself was forced all in the following hand with a single 500 chip. Atkinson, who won his Main Event entry through a €32.40 satellite on PokerStars, lost the hand but locked up a payday of €9,320 (his biggest cash prior to this event was £425). He seemed pretty satisfied when he headed towards the payout desk!