However, the Battle of Malta got a head start in Italy on October 13 when the Full Tilt Catania hosted a €350 BoM Day 2 qualifier. This event mirrored in many ways the €300 nightly opening flights that will be held in Malta. The poker club charged €50 for the facilities, services, and hospitality, and the remaining €300 was contributed in an identical way as the €300 flights in Malta.
In Malta, the daytime flights boast a €600 buy-in with 40,000 in chips and 15% of the players advancing to Day 2 in the money, while the nightly €300 opening flights feature 20,000 in opening chips with 7.5% of the field advancing.
As players in Italy preferred to play with a bigger stack, a solution was implemented where in Italy they started with 40,000 in chips, and the final opening chips halved to be in line with those advancing in the nightly flights in Malta.
The field attracted 111 entries to add €27,944 to the prize pool. The action played down to just eight players, who will start Day 2 already in the money. Andrea Savasto bagged 1,242,000 in chips from his starting stack of 40,000 and will witness his stack cut in half to 621,000 when he resumes battle on Day 2 of the Main Event. He didn’t just bag the chip lead but will earn the €5,000 prize awarded to those that bag the chip lead in the €300 opening flights when he arrives to Malta for Day 2 in hopes of winning the title.
Meanwhile, Pasquale Gregorio will start with 528,000, and his second-place finish in Italy will result in a €3,000 bonus when he arrives in Malta. Alessandro Barone, BiagioTorrisi, Raffaele Casa, Marcello Montalbano, Angelo Tarallo, and Toni Strurzo also qualified to Day 2 with lower stacks.
Check out all of the chip counts below and see you soon in Malta!
Name | Chips | 50% Stack |
Andrea Savasto | 1,242,000 | 621,000 |
Pasquale Gregorio | 1,056,000 | 528,000 |
Alessando Barone | 766,000 | 383,000 |
BiagioTorrisi | 598,000 | 299,000 |
Raffaele Casa | 313,000 | 156,500 |
Marcello Montalbano | 199,000 | 99,500 |
Angelo Tarallo | 195,000 | 97,500 |
Toni Strurzo | 71,000 | 35,500 |

