Congratulations to Jacques Blit, winner of the €1m GTD Party Poker Grand Prix Malta

Jacques Blit has won the €1M GTD Grand Prix at the Party Poker MILLIONS Festival Malta, taking down a lifetime best payout of €145,000! Argentinian Jacques had won a Party Poker Live Passport in pre-COVID times but due to lockdown had been forced to postpone use of it until now.

Having finished his starting day and chip leader, he maintained his position as one of the largest stacks throughout the tournament and went into the final table inn second place, behind Italian Eros Nastasi. It was not his first cash at the festival, as he also bagged 20th place in the Party Poker MILLIONS main event, after securing his safe passage into day 2 of the Grand Prix.

Italian Luciano Borghetti was the first to be eliminated from the live streamed final table, taking home €10,100 in the first major tournament he has ever played in. Andrea Bonelli, the most experienced player to make the final was the next to be eliminated in eighth, followed by Finland’s Juuso Keskitalo, a Maltese resident who is known in the local poker community as “The Smiling Finn.”

When Marios Mansour from Cyprus was eliminated in sixth place, Jacques was the only non-Italian player left in the field. Local legend Salvatore Ritrovato scored €31,000 for fifth place while Massimiliano Ferro pocket €45,000 for fourth. Third place went to Eros Nastasi, another Italian player who visits so frequently that he is as good as considered to be a local player, despite not actually living in Malta.

By the time the heads up stage had been reached Blit held the chip lead with 58m versus Favaloro’s 44m. He began by extending his chip lead in the early exchanges but was then pegged back to where they started, before beginning to pull away again.

In the final hand, Blit opened with AQ of hearts and was called by Favaloro. Blit led out on a flop of 2h Qc 4c and after Favaloro called, an eight of spades fell on the turn. Blit fired again and his bet was matched by the Italian. The seven of hearts was the river card and Blit pushed all-in. Favaloro eventually made the call with J2 of clubs, but it was a hero to zero situation for him, as the Argentinians on the rail went wild as their man emerged victorious.

In the post match interview Jacques admitted to feeling like he is in heaven. He has only travelled to Malta to play because he had an unused passport package and decided to use it to play all the big events at the festival. If you missed the action, the replay can be watched on the PartyPokerTV Twitch channel.

Party Poker Grand Prix Final Day Payouts
Position | Player | Country | Payout
1 | Jacques Ammiel Blit | Argentina | 145,000
2 | Marcello Favaloro | Italy | 86,000
3 | Eros Nastasi | Italy | 61,000
4 | Massimiliano Ferro | Italy | 45,000
5 | Salvatore Ritrovato | Italy | 31,000
6 | Marios Mansour | Cyprus | 20,500
7 | Juuso Keskitalo | Finland | 14,500
8 | Andrea Benelli | Italy | 11,700
9 | Luciano Borghetti | Italy | 10,100

Photos from the event can be found here

Photography by Jean Marc Zerafa

Jonathan Raab

Party Poker MILLIONS Malta Media Coordinator