Spaniard Cosme Gomez Martinez has won the Autumn Edition of the Battle of Malta to claim the €255,800 first prize. The online pro entered the tournament via a live satellite, which he max late registered for and sat down with just 5.5 big blinds. He secured his seat and just scraped through his starting day, but with a below average 141,000. 

The battle of Malta is one of the biggest tournaments in the world at this price range. Now in its 12th year it has grown most years but some more than others. The Autumn Edition of the Battle of Malta set a new standard for the event, attracting a record field of 5,799 entries and generating a prize pool of over €2.5 million!

Short Stacked Throughout!

Gomez Martinez was short stacked for the majority of the tournament, but proved that if you’re still in it, you can still win it. His stack of 8.6m was the second smallest going into the final, but he saved the best for last, surging in the latter stages of the final table to get heads up against defending Champion Vasileios Zisis.

Zisis held the chip lead going into the final and at first it looked like he was on course to complete a remarkable title defence. However, Gomez Martinez, who comes from Teruel in Aragon fought back, won a crucial all-in and then took down a series of sizeable pots to assume a 3-1 chip lead. 

The Final Hand

In the final hand Cosme Martinez picked up J♠J♦ on the button and raised to 12,000,000. Vasileios Zisis made a brief inspection of his chip stack before moving all-in with A♦8♥, and Martinez insta-called. With 170 million chips in the pot, this hand would probably decide the tournament, regardless of the outcome.

The flop K♣6♦9♥ didn’t connect with Zisis, and only an ace could keep his back-to-back dreams alive.

A blank 4♠ on the turn kept Martinez in the lead, and the river 3♣ sealed the win. The Spanish rail erupted once again as Martinez completed a stunning comeback from a short stack to a champion, capturing the 2024 Battle of Malta Autumn title and €255,800 first-place prize.

Zisis Falls Short of Historic Double

It’s been a remarkable week at Casino Malta and the Eden Arena at the Intercontinental Hotel, with the record breaking event creating more amazing storylines. Zisis’s feat is quite remarkable, even though he did not manage to seal the deal for the second time in a row. 

The spring edition earlier this year had a smaller field of 1814 and was won by Vasileios Zisis. When the Greek player returned to defend his title, he declared I’m the very first day that he felt he would go on and win it again and on each day of the tournament when asked the same question, he repeated his statement. Going into the fourth day of the tournament he was even more confident, but stated that securing the victory would have to wait another day and that his only goal on Tuesday was to secure a seat on the final table.

Throughout the tournament Zisis played his usual, strong, and aggressive game. This was the same approach that had been so successful for him earlier in the year, but this time he has looked even more determined to achieve his goal.

Just to put this into perspective, in April Zisis defeated 1,813 other players and this time he went past a further 5,797 players, making it to the heads up stage once again. He was obviously disappointed with the end result, but was philosophical afterwards and will be smiling quietly to himself for quite some time. Close, no cigar, but a remarkable performance all the same.

How The Final Table Unfolded

The final began very slowly, with no exits for almost the first three hours of play. There were several double ups before the first player busted. Sicilian Pasquale Gregorio was the unlucky player to be the first to lose his tournament life when his pocket jacks couldn’t hold against Farcasanu’s AQ.

It was not long before another player busted out and this time if was Bulgarian Ivaylo Eftimov’s turn to take the walk of shame to the cash desk. He was ahead in the hand against Zisis, but the Greek player spiked trips to send him to the rail. But to be fair, there isn’t much shame in heading to the cash desk to collect over €30,000 as Eftimov also secured a €10,000 bonus for being the end of day chip leader in his starting day.

While busting out of final table had been extremely unpopular during the first two levels of the day, it soon became a trend, as Greek Kyriakos Papadopoulos departed just a few hands later. His A♣5♣ was dominated by Farcasanu’s A♥Q♠. The board not only provided no help, but slapped a queen down on the flop to all-but seal Papadopoulos’s fate. 

After these three quick-fire eliminations there was an extended period of play without further losses. By this time Farcasanu had almost caught Zisis, but these two were well ahead of the chasing pack. Italian Davide Iannaco became the 6th place finisher in a similar hand to Papadopoulos’s exit, with the Maltese resident’s A♠5♥ this time finding itself up against A♣J♥, with the board missing both players.

Vasileios Zisis then pulled away form the pack once again after knocking out Dubai resident Shervin Ghasselmou from the UK. He had gone into the final with the second largest stack, but had to set for 5th when his dominated A♣3♠ failed to get there against A♥9♣.

This was another period of turbo bust outs and soon after, Cosme Gomez Martinez claimed his first scalp of the final, dropping Alessandro Siena (another Italian who lives in Malta) in 4th place. Siena’s pocket sevens were beaten when the Spanish player, who held A♥9♥ spiked the 9♦ on the river. Ouch!

These last three exits all happened shortly before the dinner break, at which point the Greek had almost twice the chips of both his rivals.After the dinner break, with three players left, Gomez Martinez won a series of pots from both opponents, reducing Farcasanu to just 32m and closing the gap on chip leader Zisis. But Zisis extended his lead again when his Q♦T♠ outdrew Farcasanu’s A♣T♦ to take the tournament to the heads up stage, holding a chip lead of 123m to the Spaniard’s 81m.

The Final Table Result

Position	Player	Payout (€)
1	Cosme Gomez Martinez	€255,800
2	Vasileios Zisis	€160,800
3	Alexandru Farcasanu	€115,800
4	Alessandro Siena	€91,170
5	Shervin Ghassemlou	€66,600
6	Davide Iannaco	€50,650
7	Kyriakos Papadopoulos	€35,500
8	Ivaylo Eftimov	€36,330
9	Pasquale Gregorio	€22,240

 

The Battle of Malta is now over for 2024 and its been a huge event overall. Can it grow any further? Join us again in 2025 to find out!