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Whilst it might not be a Triple Crown, tonight Anthony Zinno added an EPT side event title (and trophy) to go with his three WPT titles and WSOP bracelet.

His bracelet, won this past summer, was in the $25,000 pot-limit Omaha High Roller event. He's obviously got a knack for the four-card format as he's just emerged victorious in the €5,000 pot-limit Omaha Eight-handed event here at EPT Malta. "I'm super happy," he said of his win, "Tournament PLO is my favourite game."

This event, which is effectively the pot-limit Omaha High Roller, attracted 41 runners and he had to overcome a tough field to end up in the winner's circle. The likes of Scott Seiver, Jason Mercier, Dzmitry Urbanovich, Theo Jorgensen, Davidi Kitai, Ole Schemion and Ilari Sahamies were vanquished before the payouts began. Only the top six would get some return on their investment and after Lucaas Van den Belt (6th, €13,920), Jerzy Slaby (5th, €17,895), Lauri Varonen (4th, €22,870) and Corey Hochman (2nd, €29,825) departed Zinno faced off heads-up against Tom-Aksel Bedell.

The Norwegian was after his third EPT trophy having previously won side events at EPT8 Madrid (€2,000 NLHE 8-max turbo) and EPT11 Barcelona (€1,000 NLHE) and began with a slight chip lead of 440,000 to Zinno's 380,000. The two battled for around a hour and a quarter and Zinno told us about the big pot that swung the match his way.

"Pre-flop I potted it out of position with [As][4s][7][10] and he called. I bet 90,000 on a 7-5-2 two spade flop and Tom called. The turn was the [9c] I bet, he moved in and I called. The turn had put a club flush draw out there and he had [Ac][Kc][5][X]. So we both had a nut flush draw and a pair but thankfully the river bricked."

The American was full of praise for the runner-up saying. "He's a complete gentleman, a very polite man." Prior to this victory Zinno has finished second on two occasions and third once on the EPT but finally has his trophy and €67,610 other reasons to be happy. For his runner-up finish Bedell collected €46,730.

As we reported earlier plenty of big names had made Day 2 of Event#47 a €2,000 no-limit Hold'em event. Leading the way overnight was Fedor Holz whilst Justin Bonomo was well placed. Now, they're heads-up for the title, with Bonomo with a roughly 2,000,000 to 900,000 advantage, although with blinds at 12,000/24,000 ante 3,000 this one could go a while, or there could be a cooler and it be done in 10 minutes. You just never know in heads-up.

Edit: And just like that it's over! The final hand was all-in pre-flop with Holz holding [Kc][Qc] and Bonomo [9c][9s], the [9h][As][Ks][7h][Ah] board giving Bonomo the win and €96,410, whilst Fedor Holz collected €64,920 for finishing runner-up. This win made it a hat-trick of EPT titles for Bonomo as he can put this trophy next to those won in the EPT8 Grand Final Super High Roller and a PLO title won at the PCA earlier this year.

Other to cash in this event include: ElkY (27th), Georgios Zisimopoulos (25th), Shola Akindele Deadman (21st) and Dominik Panka (14th).

Many of those who crashed out of the big pot-limit Omaha event decided to enter the second €5,000 that was on today's schedule. That being a €5,000 Hyper-Turbo that started at 11pm local time. Whilst this event attracted a lot of the players you'll see in the high rollers it was played in a noticeably relaxed atmosphere with plenty of chat, friendly needles and late night drinks.

Among the 55 runners were some who still retain an interest in the EPT Main Event as Mike McDonald, Bryn Kenney and Ivan Luca all decided to play this one too. As did: Theo Jorgensen, Byron Kaverman, Dominik Nitsche, Adrian Mateos, Connor Drinan, Andrew Chen, David Peters, Igor Kurganov, Sylvain Loosli, Nick Petrangelo, Ilari Sahamies, Chris Hunichen, Juha Helppi, Martin Finger, Liv Boeree, Steve O'Dwyer, Ole Schemion, Stephen Chidwick, Scott Seiver and Benjamin Pollak.

The top seven will make the money, with prizes ranging from €14,000 to €84,090, 14 players currently retain an interest in challenging the scoreboard and they include: Liv Boeree, Ole Schemion, Scott Seiver, Steve O'Dwyer, Stephen Chidwick, Adrian Mateos and Jason Mericer.

It's not all hold'em and Omaha here in Malta as with 76 events in total there's something for everyone. For the mixed game players today's offering was a €500 Limit Stud Hi/Lo and Omaha Hi/Lo event. Simon Trumper and Team PokerStars Pro Marcin Horecki were among those still in when they reached the final table of nine a short time ago. Only 6 get paid though so no one's in the money yet. The winner will take home €7,090 when this one is done.

Two other events are currently playing out as the time ticks towards 01:30 local time. The €200 Turbo Win the Button event attracted 196 runners and 35 of those who entered still have chips, including PokerStars Mind Sports Ambassador Jen Shahade. The top 27 will make at least €380 whilst the winner will get €8,420.

That event definitely will finish tonight whereas Event #55 a €1,000 re-entry NLHE affair was never scheduled to. Day 1 is winding down now with Day 2 starting at noon tomorrow. There were 234 entrants in total with around 45 players still in. It won't take too long to make the money tomorrow as the top 31 will cash with a min-cash worth €2,000 and first taking home €48,000. Among those hoping to claim top spot are: Ben Heath, Charlie Carrel, Vladimir Troyanovskiy, Patrick Leonard and Giuliano Bendinelli.

Everything about EPT Malta is on the main EPT Malta page. More specifically, all the side event coverage can be found here.

Begin plotting your own bid for EPT glory by downloading the PokerStars client and having a crack. Follow this EPT event via the EPT app. There you will get all the latest news, chip counts and payouts. You can download it on Android or IOS

We're into the interesting bit. Sure, those early stages can produce some important moments, flagging up the early signs of a player in form. But Day 3 is where things are turned up a notch, for there is money involved now, and that's ball game.

But not everyone was entitled to a share when play began today. Some 131 players returned, but only 95 would have something to show for their efforts by the end of the day. But it felt like a long day, except perhaps for Jaroslaw Sikora, who leads with a stack of 1.65 million tonight.

Chip leader Jaroslaw Sikora

Sikora has been among the leaders since Day 1, and spent today in the same way, with his arms either side of an ever expanding stack. Behind him is Alexander Ivarsson who can claim an almost identical story.

Then things get familiar. Faraz Jaka is in third place, while Sam Greenwood is in fourth place. Both, along with Niall Farrell in fifth place, are within sight of the lead, and will be the principal challengers tomorrow.

Faraz Jaka

Elsewhere there was a new record for cashes on the EPT, set by Team Pro Johnny Lodden, who bags up 399,000 and is a guaranteed his 21st cash finish tonight.

Johnny Lodden

Here are the full chip counts at the end of Day 3:

But the day was dominated by the bubble, one which lasted longer than expected and included some short stack heroics.

As Nick Wright put it earlier, the bubble brings with it various degrees of relief:

"They're delighted to now have locked up a cash because... they've essentially achieved their goal. The mid-stacks are happy because now they can actually start playing some poker... and the big stacks are happy because well, they're a big stack."

While Christopher Adler is the unhappiest man in Malta tonight, going out on the bubble, the happiest is surely Andrew Atkinson, out in 95th place after having survived the bubble with less than a small blind.

Christopher Adler would go out on the bubble

The relief on his face will be one of the lasting images of the event, the scene of those at his table congratulating him, will prove the lasting meme. It was hard not to feel he'd earned every cent of his €9,320 min cash (shattering his previous best cash by nearly €9,000). Not bad given he qualified on PokerStars for €32.40.

It was a nail biter for Andrew Atkinson

Then the not so cheerful fallers made their way to the payout desk, among them Matthias de Meulder, Joni Jouhkimainen, Jeff Rossiter, Isaac Haxton, Govert Metaal, Christoph Vogelsang, Steve O'Dwyer and Dan Smith.

Isaac Haxton among the fallers today

While you can fill the rest of your evening with side event action, it leaves 40 players to return tomorrow for Day 4, when they'll play down to 16 and move a step closer to the final table on Saturday. Coverage will continue here on the PokerStars Blog, where you'll find live updates and live coverage every step of the way from 12pm.

Join us then.