Back in March, when the EPT stopped in Malta for the first time, Sikora was originally supposed to be in Thailand but, thanks to being unable to get a visa in time, he had to cancel that holiday and decided to visit a friend in Malta. He's had no regrets later, as he made the IPT Malta Main Event final table back then. Sikora came close to win the title, finishing second for €97,975, his career's biggest cash. He took up poker around nine years ago - after seeing a Full Tilt advertisement online - and has been playing professionally for the last seven years.
The 35-year-old Frenchman Ludovic Riehl will return with 150,000 for Day 2. So far, Riehl has cashed in three EPT Main Events with his best result coming in Sanremo back in Season 10 when he took €22,575 for 17th place. He's followed by mixed games specialist Jens Lakemeier, who has 138,000. Known as “Fresh_oO_D” on PokerStars, the German had a great online Monday session last month, triumphing in both the $530 Monday PLO and WCOOP 2nd Chance $215 NLH events for $53k combined. Back at EPT12 Barcelona, he snagged a EPT trophy taking down the €5k PL Omaha 5 Card Hi/Lo event for €56,070.
Team PokerStars Pros Johnny Lodden (87,200), Theo Jorgensen (83,100), Marcin Horecki (76,500), Matthias De Meulder (20,100) and Liv Boeree (16,900) will come back tomorrow as well as Team Online's Mickey Petersen (43,700) and Giada Fang (26,500).
The starting flights attracted 644 players but this number might grow yet tomorrow as the late registration remains opened until the start of Day 2. Camelo Crucitti is the overall chip leader with 163,000 bagged on Day 1a.
Jaroslaw Sikora
EPT12 Malta Main Event Day 1b top five chip counts:
1st - Jaroslaw Sikora, Poland, PokerStars player, 153,700
2nd - Ludovic Riehl, France, 150,000
3rd - Jens Lakemeier, Germany, PokerStars qualifier, 138,000
4th - Przemyslaw Piotrowski, Poland, PokerStars qualifier, 136,000
5th - Mikael Jean, Lebanon, Live satellite winner, 123,200
