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Rémi Rkh
Rémi Rkh

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Rémi Rkh
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Battle of Malta - Day 1A: Party time!

Wednesday 4 November. Battle of Malta - Day 1A.

 

Dear RankingHeroes,

We’ve known each other long enough for you to know the truth… This is my first live coverage.

As a consequence, I learnt a hard truth: the Day 1A of a tournament is a bit boring.

 

The structure of Battle of Malta is really great for players. Very deep stacks. 25,000 chips and 500 big blinds to begin with.

But to a reporter, nothing really happens. Of course, there are some busts. Sofia Lovgren, for example. But a little bird told me she may re-enter.

 

Fortunately, at 10pm, the action gets hotter.

But right now, the stacks are big and the action is slow.

So, around noon, crossing @Maria Ho in front of the casino, I ask her for an interview at 4. She tells me there will be a karaoke for Battle of Malta entrants, tonight, at 10pm.

As a coincidence, our blogger @Kat Arnsby just arrived, she loves to sing, needs to let off steam, and will reveal herself as a very good performer.

We stay in the tournament room to take pictures of the famous entrants that day: Sofia Lovgren, the 2014 November Niner Felix Stephensen, Sabina Hiatula and Gianluca Escobar...

 

   
@Sofia Lovgren and @Felix Vincent Stephensen 


@Sabina Hiatullah and @Gianluca Escobar 

 

At the bar, around 10:30pm, no one around yet.

Kat and I order lemonade on the terrace, waiting for Maria and her gang.

When the BoM hostess arrives, she tells us it will begin soon. The singing battle in Malta is on. The bar is now almost full of faces quickly crossed in the casino.

Kat gets up from her seat. She grabs her bag, heads to the bar and puts down “Dusty Springfield. Son of a preacher man” on a little piece of paper.

She’ll be the first one to sing tonight.

One beer… One lemonade later, Kat grabs the mic and neatly performs a song that my camera could unfortunately not catch.

 


Kat clearly has an edge on Maria Ho when it comes to singing!

 

After the usual applause and congratulations for our RankingHero, Maria Ho seems eager to show us who’s the star here.

Her voice is quite high and her flow is impressive - she churns out rhymes as fast as a dealer deals cards.

As she told me in the interview earlier, what’s great about Battle of Malta - besides the competition - is the fun ruling the place, during the tournament and outside of it too!

 

A bit later, Kat meets a player. “His face looks familiar but I’m not sure. Ok, he looks like my brother, but I’d recognize my own brother, right?. He says he’s a pro, but not really famous…

One google search later, we realize we’ve just met @Benny Glaser, a bracelet owner from the UK. Let’s hope she doesn’t meet him again tomorrow at her table.

 

One more lemonade and heading to the hotel. Tomorrow is a serious day with both our hostess Maria and our singing blogger Kat entering the game!

 

To be sure not to miss any update, follow the hashtag #BoMRKH2015