The PokerStars festival liner has sailed back into Saint Julian's Bay, Malta for a second time this year. The stop proved so popular back in March that there was very little chance of leaving it off the schedule, this time around.

The European Poker Tour Main Event kicks off in few days time leaving all eyes gazing upon the penultimate leg of Season 7 of the Italian Poker Tour and the plethora of side events on offer today, as well as over the next few days.

Casino Barcelona is probably still recovering from the record-breaking numbers that tested their foundations to the limit back in August and the Portomaso Casino - host for the 11-day poker festival - will be hoping for the same rigidity, or we'll all be sliding into the Mediterranean sea

There are seven tournaments proper, and two satellite tournaments taking place today, with the main focus being on the IPT Main Event Day 1A. The tournament has two starting flights and a very good chance of attracting more than the 1,285 entries who participated back in March (still Season 7 on the IPT).

Georgios Zisimopoulos took down that title and the €142,200 that came with it. He deserved every cent of that prize as he had to navigate his way past so many players and sharks during the latter stages of the tournament.

Day 1A's field is expected to include Team Pros Mickey Petersen, Luca Pagano and Matthias De Meulder along with notables such as Kenny Hallaert, Joao Simao, Morten Mortensen, Rupert Elder, Tom Hall and Jason Wheeler. There's a couple of EPT title-holders to be found amongst that lot.

Cards are due to be in the air at 12pm CET. Keep an eye on the blog for all goings-on from the IPT Main Event, and we'll be sure to bring you news from any major happenings in the side events..

For full details of the festival, click here.

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