A massive field of 629 runners entered Day 1B of the EPT Malta Main Event, which brings the total to 899 entries - with registration open until tomorrow at noon. This means that the tournament is already the second-largest debut for a new destination on the European Poker Tour.
Max Silver from London, England, made it through the second starting day (among approximately 375 players) with the chip lead (176,1000). Silver, who has over $1.8 million in tournament earnings, made the EPT Prague final table last season and then finished ninth at the PCA. He still hasn't won his first major title, though. Maybe this tournament will be it?
Other familiar names to make it through to Day 2 include:
Sam Trickett 134,900
Robin Ylitalo 109,700
Anton Wigg 97,500
Vladimir Troyanovskiy, 89,900
Jonathan Little 89,400
Martin Jacobson 81,200
Jake Cody 78,000
Jonathan Duhamel 46,200
Vitaly Lunkin, 43,500
Dominik Nitsche 22,900
Kevin MacPhee, 21,400
Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, 19,800
Philipp Gruissem 13,300