Giuseppe Rosa has won the Battle of Malta Main Event for €200,340. The spectacular prize has come as an early birthday present for the Italian who turns 39 at the end of this month.

Rosa, who hails from Colle Val d’Elsa in Tuscany, beat a huge field of 2,592 entries to snag the best live cash of his career. He was only the second Italian to win the prestigious Battle of Malta title; the first was Nicodemo Piccolo who took down the very first Battle of Malta ten years ago.

The Spring edition of Battle of Malta was hosted by Casino Malta at InterContinental Conference Centre in St Julian’s. The huge turnout for the €555 buy-in Main Event meant the event easily smashed its €500,000 guarantee with the eventual prize pool reaching a massive €1,244,160.

Rosa entered the final table with the chip lead and was near the top of the chip counts throughout the final table before finally seizing victory after a back-and-forth battle with Stan van Dijk from the Netherlands. Rosa’s huge win was easily his biggest live cash and dwarfs his previous live tournament winnings which totalled $133,135. Van Dijk also scored a massive €140,000 cash for his runner-up finish; his tournament winnings before the event amounted to just $14,621.

The Spring edition of Battle of Malta, which ran April 20 to 26, featured a total of 25 tournaments and was the first time that the event has been held in the Spring. A second Battle of Malta festival is scheduled for October 4-12 – more info will be announced soon.

Among others who cashed in the Main Event were three players from the 2019 final table: Steven van Zadelhoff – who was runner-up in 2019, Josef Gulas from the Czech Republic and Malta’s Shaun De Cesare. Media influencer Dehlia de Jong from the Netherlands finished in 59^th place for €2,240 – well ahead of her boyfriend Mateusz Moolhuizen who was 169^th for €1,370. Others who cashed included 2018 BOM champion Julien Stropoli along with well-known British players Joe Grech, Kevin Houghton, Paul Jux-Holderness, Grosvenor Ambassador Jamie Nixon and Kerryjane Craigie who is head of poker at London’s famous Hippodrome Casino. Also in the money were French pros Jonathan Therme and Sarah Herzali, Unibet Ambassador David Lappin, Italian pros Cristiano Blanco and Alessandro Longobardi and Unibet Malta Ladies Champion Ann-Roos Callens.

In addition to the Main Event, Battle of Malta also featured numerous other tournaments – ranging from €65 buy-in turbo satellites right up to the DomusBet.it €1,100 High Roller. Italians accounted for by far the biggest percentage of players in the Main Event with 750 taking part, compared to 130 Israelis and 111 Maltese nationals.

Main Event final table results:

Place	Name	Prize
1	Giuseppe Rosa	€200,340
2	Stan van Dijk	€140,000
3	Yossef Cohen	€100,000
4	Noam Gamara	€72,000
5	Federico Petruzelli	€54,120
6	Jeremy Soreau	€41,680
7	Karol Szyszko	€29,240
8	Valter Marchi	€18,040
9	Peep Kivistik	€10,580

History of Battle of Malta

2012: Winner Nicodemo Piccolo, €35,000, 349 entries, total prize pool of €169,265

2013: Winner Louis Cartarius, €68,000, 888 entries, prize pool was €430,680

2014: Winner Antoan Katsarov, €122,750, 1,447 entries, total prize pool €701,795

2015: Winner Nicolas Proust, €110,000, 1,804 entries, total prize pool €875,000

2016: Winner Robert Berglund, €160,000, 1,813 entries, total prize pool €879,305

2017: Winner Nadav Lipszyc, €200,000, 2,074 entries, total prize pool €1,005,890

2018: Winner Julien Stropoli, €168,500, 3,816 entries, total prize pool €1,850,760

2019: Winner Serghei Lisii, €247,167, 4,657 entries, total prize pool €2,258,645

2022: Winner Giuseppe Rosa, €200,340, 2,592 entries, total prize pool €1,244,160

A Battle of Malta spokesperson said: “Congratulations to our new champion Giuseppe Rosa and thanks to absolutely everyone who helped celebrate the return of Battle of Malta. This was the first time we have held the event in the Spring and we were thrilled with the turnout.

“Our online tournaments over the last two years have been a huge success – raising awareness of the Battle of Malta festival right across the globe – but nothing beats the thrill of a live event. The Intercontinental Hotel in St Julian’s is a fabulous location and we look forward to seeing even bigger numbers at our next event in October. The second BOM of 2022 is taking place in in our traditional Autumn slot from October 4-12!”