IPT7 Malta2 Day 2: Matas Cimolas bubbles Main Event

Matas Cimbolas turned up on the live poker scene exactly two years ago but it feels like the Lithuanian had been around a lot longer. He’s tricked us into believing that due to the amount of times he goes deep in tournaments and the huge amount of cash (over $700k) he’s won in that short space of time.

As well as being a good player, he’s most probably found his fair share of luck during that period. That luck averted him today though as he busted the IPT Main Event on the bubble – a bubble that spanned 13 hands, three separate levels and a break. More on that bubble hand later. First to hand just before hand for hand play began, a hand that was one card away from everyone having to endure the lengthy period that followed.

Cimolas (seat 1) bubblingThe hand involved the recent UKIPT Isle of Man winner Dan Stacey, Day 1A big stack Henry Broens and Tomasz Wrobel. With the big blind at 5,000, Wrobel opened from under the gun to 11,000 before Stacey moved all in for 104,000 from the next seat. The action folded around to Broens in the small blind and he looked down at his cards and moved all in as well, for 269,000. Wrobel had around 400,000 total and took a couple of minutes before he flicked in a chip to call, putting both opponents at risk.

Wrobel: Q♠Q♥
Stacey: A♣K♠
Broens: A♦K♦

The board ran 10♦2♠8♥6♦Q♦.

Wrobel (left), Stacey (seat 1) & Broens (bottom) react to the huge handStacey knew he was a gonna and made his way from the table. Many watching thought that Wrobel had won the pot, and burst the bubble, with a rivered set but the reality soon set in for everyone. Broens had made a flush with that river card and raked in 662,000 chips as a result. He was one card from being out but, all of a sudden found himself as chip leader with 136 players remaining.

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Bubble time

As was written above, the bubble period lasted 13 hands. We won’t bore you by detailing all of them, instead, read on for a selection of the most interesting hands.

Hand 5. Ben Heath opened to 10,000 before Bela Toth three-bet to 29,000 from the cutoff. Heath sat still for a minute and then four-bet all in and saw Toth quickly call off his stack worth 128,500.

Heath (seat 1) & Toth (seat 3)Matteo (Floor man) came over to announce the action and said that Heath had called the all in of Toth. “I shoved,” corrected Heath and after the cards were revealed it’s understandable to see why he wanted it clarifying.

Heath: 3♦4♣
Toth: J♣J♥

The board ran 7♠2♠2♣A♣Q♦ to double up the Hungarian.

Hand 6. There were two all ins on this hand.

Firstly, Simon Sennhauser moved all in from the cutoff for his last 38,00 and was called by start of day chip leader, Andreas Chalkiadakis.

Sennhauser: K♠K♣
Chalkiadakis: J♦J♥

Before the board was dealt a positive Chalkiadakis said, “I’m feeling it. Loving it. Window card!”

He didn’t get the jack he craved in the window but the 3♦7♦A♦ flop certainly gave him a sweat. The board ran out K♥8♥ though to miss his flush draw.

Everyone then moved over to table one after that, where Vanni Desenzani had moved his short stack in preflop and had been called by Gediminas Uselis and Kaddouri Mounim. The Q♣Q♠J♣7♥9♣ board was checked down and Desenzani opened A♠Q♥ for trips. Neither Uselis (4♠6♠) or Mounim (A♥J♥) could match that and the bubble rolled on.

Hand 11. This hand was the last of level 16 and the last before the players went off on a break. Once more there were two all ins.

Alessandro Barone checked the river of a A♠A♦4♦2♥A♠ board and called all in for 28,000 when his opponent, Tomasz Chmiel, set him all in. The latter opened a bluffing J♣7♣ and doubled up Barone who revealed a full house with J♠J♥.

Mattias De Meulder (background) tries to burst the bubbleMeanwhile, a smiling Matthias De Meulder was waiting over on table 12. He’s got himself committed preflop versus Alberto Borsoi and, by the way he was talking, knew he had to come from behind to burst the bubble. Borsoi was all in for 30,000.

De Meulder: 10♥5♥
Borsoi: A♣K♣

The board ran 4♣3♥3♦3♠9♠ to send the chips the way of Borsoi.

Hand 13. The bubble finally burst on a hand where there were three all ins. The second and third player both doubled meaning Cimbolas, who’s hand was announced first, was the lone bubble boy.

He was all in, bar a ante, in the big blind and faced a 12,000 raise from Roi Milrad and a call from Timotheos Georgios. He gave it some thought and then slammed in his last 1,000-chip.

The board ran out 10♥9♦5♣7♣Q♣ and both Cimbolas’ opponents checked it all the way down. He opened 5♥4♥ for one pair but his elimination was confirmed when Milrad showed A♣A♦. Georgios chuckled as he showed a losing 10♣6♥.

That went on longer than everyone expected and hoped. A fair few big stacks around the room benefited from the longevity of the bubble and a lot of short stacks suffered badly. Therefore it came as no surprise to see a mass migration of players from the tournament after normal play resumed.

By the end of level 18, when the players went on their next break, 61 had made their way to the payout desk. Some of the fallers included:

Min cash for ChenJonathan Roy (132nd), Andrew Chen (131st), Mickey Petersen (130th) Mudasser Hussain (118th), Claudio Pagano (99th). Check out the results page where all the payouts will be updated as the day continues.

Min cash for MickeyFor the rest of the Main Event our coverage will switch to hand-for-hand style rather than feature pieces. Four more levels are scheduled for tonight with a 75-minute dinner break right in the middle of them.

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Updates provided by Marc Convey, with photos coming from René Velli and Tomáš Stacha.