In the second hand after sitting down, Upeskha De Silva limped in from under the gun and Victor Teng on the button raised to 450, which only De Silva called. On the flop, De Silva checked and subsequently check-raised from 475 to 1,675 in order to force a fold.
Kitty Kuo has built a nice profit early on and was joined by Felipe Ramos, while Jan Suchanek is also off to a good start.
Matthew Wakeman bet about 3,000 on a board of and called a raise to 9,000 from an opponent on the button. The river was a and Wakeman checked. His opponent checked back and showed for a straight, which was a winner.
"Basically I had a flushdraw in a three-bet pot, got there and got paid," Stevan Chew said when asked how he was able to boost the stack early on. The player he took the chips from was no other than 2016 Aussie Millions champion Ari Engel, who soon after got involved into yet another big pot early on.
JC Alvarado raised to 300 on the button and Engel three-bet to 1,500 out of the small blind, which Alvarado called. On the flop, Engel continued for 1,500 and Alvarado called. Both players checked the turn and Engel checked the river. Alvarado bet 3,000 and Engel check-raised all in for 8,225.
After spending some two minutes in the think tank, Alvarado folded and Toby Joyce joked "show a bluff Ari."
A player opened to 600 and got three-bet to 2,100 by Jesse Sylvia. The player on the button cold-called and the opener made it three to . Sylvia bet 2,200 and got called by only his opponent on the button. Sylvia checked the turn and called a small bet of 2,500. Action went check-check on the river and the player on the button opened . Sylvia shook his head as if he maybe thought the pot should have been bigger and then showed down .
Joep Raemaekers is among the Dutch guys that have relocated to Malta in order to pursue an online poker career. Part of that group made the journey across half the world, with Steven van Zadelhoff as their most notable name. After chatting with Raemaekers a bit about jetlags, the Dutchman promised fireworks to keep everyone awake and subsequently raised to 500. On the button, Ludovic Geilich called and Xixiang Luo defended his big blind.
The flop was and Raemakers continued 1,000, with Geilich as the only caller. Both players checked the on the turn. On the river, Raemaekers bet 2,275 and Geilich snap-called.
Raemaekers flipped over for a straight flush, prompting some "oohs" from the table. Geilich flashed and mucked his hand.