The sports lexicon is littered with clichés. Some work only for certain sports, like ‘on any given Sunday,’ or ‘he’s got a good touch for a big man’. Others such as ‘give 110%’ and ‘you’re only as good as your last game,’ transcend multiple sports.

Poker is a game that some consider a sport and if the last of those clichés was put through the poker translator it’d (probably) come out as ‘you’re only as good as your last tournament.’ Well, if that’s the case there’s a lot of poker players who’ve gone from hero to zero (enough with the clichés, Ed.) here in Malta today.

You can’t win them all CharlieAt the EPT11 Grand Final, which took place in May of this year, Adrian Mateos and Charlie Carrel won the Main Event and the €25,000 High Roller respectively, within minutes of each other for a combined €2,196,000. Here in Malta they were hit with the rough end of the stick, busting out a few hands apart (although Mateos has since re-entered).

First to feel the icy hand of lady variance on his shoulder was Carrel when he got involved in a pre-flop raising war with Nick Petrangelo which the American won. The cut off versus button battle ended with Carrel five-bet shoving with [A][9], for a shade under 60 big blinds, and Petrangelo snap calling with K♠ K♦ . No outdraw was forthcoming and Carrel was on his way.

Whilst Carrel’s exit was akin to ripping off a band-aid – swift and mostly painless – Mateos’ exit saw the plaster stretched off the skin a centimetre at a time. He, Scott Seiver and Mike McDonald were all involved when the A♣ 9♠ 6♥ flop hit the felt, but after a 5,000 bet from Seiver McDonald ducked out to leave the pot heads up. The 3♠ turn card didn’t look like it would cause the flurry of action that followed but after Seiver bet 13,200 Mateos responded by moving all-in for 46,500.

Seiver had earlier regaled the table with the hand history of the big Mateos versus Johnny Lodden hand from the EPT11 Grand Final so certainly knew what the Spaniard was capable of. He got a count, grimaced, weighed it all up, made the call and showed A♦ J♣ . His reticence was unfounded as Mateos opened Q♠ 10♠ for a flush draw which missed on the 8♥ river.

Mateos – sick as a parrotIn poker though there are always ‘plenty more where they came from’ all willing to take their shot at being the next hero, the next champion. Indeed, as Carrel and Mateos exited Piotr Franczak and Jose Carlos Garcia were buying in. The latter has already come mighty close to a major title on the EPT having finished fifth in the event that Mateos won and fourth in the Estrellas Main Event at EPT12 Barcelona. They’re both trying to keep this title in Poland as it was won last time out by some guy called Urbanovich. Whatever happened to him?

We’ve got all the usual coverage on the EPT Malta page on PokerStars Blog, including the IPT Main Event which is fast approaching the money and don’t forget you can follow this EPT event via the EPT app. There you will get all the latest news, chip counts and payouts. You can download it on Android or IOS

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