The race for the Festival in Malta Player of the Series is heating up, with four further qualifying events concluding on Tuesday at Portomaso Casino. However Oliver Kubalek, the overnight leader after Monday was not involved in any of these and he has now been usurped as the front-runner to take down the €1,600 Bratislava package.
Mixed Main Event winner Barrie Dear laid down a challenge to the other glory hunters by winning the TORSES Mixed Games Main Event, which earned him 49 leaderboard points. He also took part in both the Sviten and the 2-7 Double Draw, however he failed to cash in either, but closed out the day with a total of 54 ranking points.
But 54 points was not enough to put Barrie in pole position in the leaderboard race, as the TORSES runner up Benjamin Sweetman has claimed that honour. In addition to the 41 points he received for that, Sweetman also notched up an additional 20 points when finishing in 3rd place in the 2-7 Double Draw and now has the highest total so far, on 61 points.
Sviten winner Martin Schamaun is not far behind in 3rd on 51 points, but was one place away from topping the leaderboard, as he was the bubble boy in the TORSES. If he finished just one place higher, he would have been on 69 points.
Player of the Series Top 25
| Position | Player | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Benjamin Sweetman | 61 |
| 2 | Barrie Dear | 54 |
| 3 | Martin Schamaun | 51 |
| 4 | Lars Johansson | 48 |
| 5 | Ville Hakala | 45 |
| 6 | Frank Visser | 40 |
| 7 | Oliver Kubalek | 39 |
| 7 | Martin "Franke" von Zweigbergk | 39 |
| 9 | Matteo Crapanzano | 37 |
| 9 | Quinten Spyckerelle | 37 |
| 11 | Kare Hallamaa | 36 |
| 12 | Benedict Kaiser | 35 |
| 12 | Yurii Rassamakin | 35 |
| 14 | Antoine Degiorgio | 33 |
| 14 | Karl Gialanze | 33 |
| 14 | Scott Kenyon | 33 |
| 17 | Mika Hautakangas | 30 |
| 18 | Andreas Sanden | 29 |
| 18 | David Mccoy | 29 |
| 18 | Jordan Dumas | 29 |
| 19 | William Mace | 29 |
| 22 | Gert Orav | 27 |
| 23 | Luca Micalef | 26 |
| 24 | Emil Ulleberg | 25 |
| 25 | Eva Jiretorn | 24 |
| 25 | Lukas Adamec | 24 |
Read More: Full details on how the leaderboard points are awarded for the Festival in Malta
The Rozvadov Player of the Series top two Kare Hallamaa and Ville Hakala are also prominent on the leaderboard at this early stage in the proceedings. Hallamaa sits just outside the top ten in 11th place and once again seems to be employing the volume tactic of playing in as many events as he can, to rack up the participation points. His third place in Tuesday’s roulette tournament helped him to add 20 points to the 16 participation points he has racked up so far, bringing his total score up to 36.
Hakala is doing slightly better, currently in 5th place with 45 points, earning most of his points so far from his 3rd place finish in the TORSES, but he is also playing the volume game and has participation points from three other events.
Frank Visser is in 6th place on 40 points, one point ahead of Oliver Kubalek and Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk, who both have 39 points. Franke earned most of his points thanks to his 5th place finish in the TORSES, but he has also made Day 2 of TheHendonMob Championship, so will be sure to have further points to add after Wednesday’s action has been completed. Other POS hopefuls Scott Kenyon and Antoine Degiorgio also both cashed yesterday and lie in joint 14th place with 33 points.
It’s already shaping up to be quite a competitive race and there’s bound to be further changes at the top over the course of the next few days. No flicking, stay tuned to the Festival Series blog to follow all the action!
Read More: The Festival in Malta Player of the Series Leaderboard Standings After Day 2
