EPT Malta: Football fever hits as Dutch prosper and Yokosawa marches to victory
The streets around Casino Malta today have suddenly become orange. Everywhere you look, there are men and women dressed in vibrant orange shirts. Something is clearly going on. And it’s something orange.
Sitting inside the casino, on Day 3 of the European Poker Tour (EPT) Main Event, there’s a very high concentration of Dutch players still involved in this huge tournament. The Netherlands is the country of orange–the historical association dates from the 16th century–and it’s maybe possible that the Dutch have poured into Malta today to watch some of their finest poker players.
Tom Vogelsang, Jans Arends, Wouter Beltz, Ferdinand Janssen, Merijn van Rooij, Nicolaas Wolters and Johannes Straver all brought chips back to play today. That’s seven from a Day 3 field of 108, or 6.5% of the remaining field.
That’s nearly double the concentration of Dutch than there was at the start of play, where the 23 players represented only 3.6% of the field.
Tom Vogelsang, left, and Jans Arends lead the Dutch charge
But, of course, it’s unfortunately not the poker that has brought orange to the streets of Malta. It is instead the World Cup qualifying match taking place tonight at Ta’Qali National Stadium.
Malta are currently propping up the Group G table, having taken an 8-0 hiding at the hands of the Netherlands earlier in the campaign. And with a squad featuring leading stars including Virgil Van Dijk, Micky van de Ven, Ryan Gravenberch, Tijjani Reijnders, Cody Gakpo, Memphis Depay and Denzel Dumfries, those men clad in orange will be expecting another comfortable win.
EPT tournament organisers announced earlier today that play will finish at 7pm, which will give plenty of opportunity for those aforementioned Dutchmen to make their way from the casino to the match. It could be a good week to be Dutch in Malta.
Poker players? Soccer stars more like
Man of the match Masato Yokosawa
On the subject of soccer, the EPT Malta football tournament took place yesterday, giving numerous players and staff members the chance to stretch their legs in a friendly seven-a-side tournament.
This event is one of the full schedule of off-the-felt activities laid on by organisers to give players and their guests plenty of options for things to do while attending an EPT. This time there has been darts and bowling evenings, plus laser tag and padel — as well, of course, as the parties and meet-up drinks.
The Japanese poker superstar Masato Yokosawa led his team to a famous victory in this year’s football event, earning mini Spadie trophies for everyone. Yokosawa has more than $3.6 million in documented earnings from poker events, but this is the kind of success money can’t buy.
By all accounts, Yokosawa was the stand-out player, buying himself some goalkeeper gloves on the eve of the match, then putting on a man-of-the-match performance, keeping a clean sheet in the final game. Congratulations to all!
Check out what’s still remaining on the activities schedule from EPT Malta. And enjoy a selection of photos from the matches below.
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