The Amateur Poker Association & Tour (APAT) is gearing up for its second international stop of its 16th season. The APAT Mediterranean Championship takes place between April 29-30 at the Potomaso Casino in St. Julian’s, Malta, where it is part of the bustling 2023 Malta Poker Festival Spring Edition.

APAT Mediterranean is the fifth stop of the tour’s schedule, with the UK Team Event, UK & Ireland Amateur Poker Championship, Irish Amateur Poker Championship, and the English Amateur Poker Championships already in the bag. Each of those stops saw hundreds of budding poker players take to the felt, and the event in Malta should boast an even larger crowd due to the addition players in an around the casino for the Malta Poker Festival Spring Edition.

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The APAT Mediterranean Championship is made up of a single €120 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em event. Day 1 shuffles up and deals at 5:00 p.m. local time on April 29, and permits one re-entry during the first eight levels. Day 1 ends when only 15% of the field remains, with those top 15% of players progressing to Day 2 at 2:00 p.m. local time on April 30 having secured a min-cash for their efforts.

Day 2 starts on the level on which Day 1 concluded, or the tournament staff will roll back the levels to ensure that the average stack is at least 33 big blinds.

As always, there are prestigious APAT Championship Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals for the top three finishers.

Marian Dumitrache Wins the €250 APAT Irish Amateur Poker Championship

The APAT Irish Amateur Poker Championship was part of the 2023 Irish Open, and saw 214 unique players buy in for €250 and create a €45,903 prize pool. That €250 investment swelled to all but four figures for the nine finalists, with Darren McGuinness‘ ninth-place finish coming with €990.

The final table was a cosmopolitan affair with six countries represented. Greek grinder Stergios Alexandrakis (€1,200), Michael Mitrione (€1,640) of Australia, and Romanian Apostol Beg (€2,245) joined the aforementioned McGuinness on the rail.

Fifth place and €2,955 went to another Irishman in Kevin Duffy before American Oliver Gayko (€3,735) fell in fourth, bursting the medal bubble. The United Kingdom’s Shawn Morales busted in third, and collected €4,610 plus a bronze APAT medal, which left Marian Dumitrache heads-up against Ireland’s Mark Murphy.

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Dumitrache held a two-to-one chip lead over Murphy at the time the final hand occurred. Dumitrache moved all-in with jack-ten, Murphy called all-in with king-four, and Dumitrache flopped a jack-high straight; Murphy was drawing dead.

Jukes Fights His Way to English Amateur Title

The English Amateur Poker Championship was the most recent APAT event; it ran April 14-16 at the Grosvenor G Casino in the seaside town of Blackpool. The £120 buy-in event attracted 195 entrants, who fought it out for the lion’s share of the £19,500 prize pool.

Gregor Gillespie (£600), Thomas Hibbert (£700), and Liam Crawford (£800) were the early eliminations at the nine-handed final table, each seeing a healthy return on their £120 investment. The top six finishers each locked-in four-figure prizes.

Scottish duo Tom Clark and Ian Munro received £1,000 and £1,250 respectively, before Gareth Howard ran out of steam in fourth for a £1,500, narrowly missing out on a coveted APAT medal.

The first of those medals is now on the mantlepiece of Ricky Buckland, the third-place finisher, who also banked £1,800 for his troubles. Adam Jukes then defeated David Thompson in the one-on-one section of the tournament, capturing the gold medal and £3,200 in prize money, leaving Thompson to head into the night with £2,250 plus a silver medal.