Freeroll Spotlight: Battle of Malta Satellites on Party Poker, Titan Poker

With the inaugural €150k PokerListings Battle of Malta barely one month away the time to qualify for a seat in the epic tournament is now.
You can buy in directly for €550 using the BOM homepage but all this month partners Titan Poker and Party Poker will be offering satellites into the exclusive live tournament.
Set to take place Nov. 22-25, 2012, at the Portomaso Casino in St. Julian’s the Battle of Malta will give every entrant the chance to experience the Mediterranean in style.
Noted poker pros Kara Scott, Gaëlle Baumann, Johannes Strassmann and Andrea Dato will all be along for the ride as will famed online high-stakes pro Dan “jungleman12” Cates, who recently confirmed he'll play the value-packed tournament.
If you don't have time to play marked poker satellites you can also purchase a €1,400 package that includes accommodation and meals in Malta.
Check below for details on how to try and qualify for considerably less on Party Poker and Titan Poker:

Titan Poker BOM Freerolls

Weekly freerolls run until October 20 with five seats available in the PokerListings Battle of Malta final in each.

• Dates: October 13, 20
• Time:  19:00 GMT
• Buyin:  Free!
• Prize Pool: Top 5 players get a ticket to PokerListings BOM Final

One $2,500 package will then be awarded in the ultimate Battle of Malta No-Limit Hold'em final:

• Date: October 24
• Time: 19:00 GMT
• Buy-in: $10+$1
• Winner earns package for PokerListings – Battle of Malta

Players can also buy in to the $10+$1 final at any time.
Sign up for a Titan Poker account to be eligible for the freerolls (plus our exclusive $2,000 sign-up bonus) via our Titan Poker review page.

Party Poker Battle of Malta Finals

Party Poker is offering PokerListings juice cards players two $2,500 packages in October for the Battle of Malta:

• Dates: October 13, October 27
• Time: 8:00 pm GMT / 2:00 pm ET
• Name of tournament: PokerListings BOM Buy-in Event
• Buy-in: $5+$0.50
• Restriction: For any PokerListings players (old and new depositors).
• Winner: $2,500 BOM package

Winning packages includes Battle of Malta main event buy-in, flights and hotel accommodation up to an aggregate value of $2,500.
Players who finish in positions 2-10 will also receive a cash payout based on the amount of buy-ins.
Note: A minimum of 10 players must be registered for the event to run. Travel money will be paid out once details of the trip have been worked out with a PokerListings tournament representative.

Mike “Timex” McDonald Moves to #1 in GPI Player of the Year Rankings

With four final tables and over $4.3 million in live tournament earnings in 2014, Mike “Timex” McDonald has taken over top spot on the Global Poker Index Player of the Year leaderboard.
After the PCA in January Poland’s Dominik Panka, who beat McDonald for the PCA Main Event title, stood atop the leaderboard with 397 points.
Panka couldn’t hold off a surging McDonald, however, who finished second in the Aussie Millions $100k Challenge for $1.3 million and then picked up $1.7 million for coming third in the $250k Challenge.
McDonald also finished eighth in the PCA $100k Super High Roller to throw another $217,320 on the massive pile of marked cards cash he’s earned so far in 2014.

Nobody better than Timex in 2014.

 

The Waterloo, Ontario, Canada native now has 496.14 points in the GPI POY rankings, which puts him 99 past Panka.
Thanks to his incredible start to 2014 McDonald is now in a very select group of poker players who have earned over $10 million in their lifetime playing live poker tournaments.
The current top 10 in the POY race:

• 1. Mike McDonald CAN 496.14
• 2. Dominik Panka POL 397.13
• 3. Dan Smith USA 385.81
• 4. Vanessa Selbst USA 383.14
• 5. Davidi Kitai BEL 348.20
• 6. Jason Mercier USA 343.20
• 7. Alex Denisov RUS 337.94
• 8. Liv Boeree UK 326.19
• 9. Fabian Quoss GER 305.70
• 10. Amichai Barer CAN 304.33

Negreanu Retakes Spot as Overall GPI #1

Negreanu gives Canadians #1 spot on both GPI charts.

 

In other GPI news Daniel Negreanu has returned to GPI’s overall #1 after several significant cashes at the Aussie Millions. Negreanu’s GPI score is a lofty 4,093 while German Ole Schemion sits in second place with 3,883.
Marvin Rettenmaier, Dan Smith and Jason Mercier are also in the top five. Current hot-hand Mike McDonald sits in seventh infrared contactlenses place overall with a score of 3,444.
Check the GPI website for a complete break down of the movers and shakers on the GPI over the last week. The current top 10 in the GPI rankings:

• 1. Daniel Negreanu CAN 4093.60
• 2. Ole Schemion GER 3883.97
• 3. Marvin Rettenmaier GER 3665.16
• 4. Dan Smith USA 3640.86
• 5. Jason Mercier USA 3516.36
• 6. Philipp Gruissem GER 3478.73
• 7. Mike McDonald CAN 3444.73
• 8. Vanessa Selbst USA 3426.44
• 9. Erik Seidel USA 3318.49
• 10. Ravi Raghavan USA 3299.15