It’s a cliche, but the Battle of Malta Main Event final table was a marathon. It took almost four hours for the first player to bust and about the same again for the tournament to reach its conclusion. Candido Cappiello is a very skilful player and his win was even predicted on Day 3 by former Battle of Malta champion Gabriele Re.

Battle of Malta reporter Christoffer Karlen posted this during blog coverage of the third day of the event.

“As I was writing up the finishing details of the hand, player Gabriele Re came up to me and said, ”When you write the article, make sure to mention that guy will win,” referring to Cappiello. ”He’s by far the best player in the field.” Time will tell if Re’s prediction is right or wrong”

Re’s prophecy turned out to true, as Cappiello dominated the final table from start to finish and from a bystanders point of view, looked like an inevitability from quite early on in the 8-man final table.

Cappiello was one of five Italians who made it to the final day of the tournament, joined by a Latvian, a Romanian and a Pole. He was not quite the chip leader at the start of the day, but less than a big blind behind Latvian Davis Modans. Candido quickly established himself as the chip leader and kept chipping away to increase his lead during the first two levels of play.

By the first break he had a stack equivalent to over 70 big blinds, while his nearest challenger had less than half that. As players began to fall, Cappiello maintained his advantage and at no point was his chip lead challenged during the rest of the final table.

The final four were all Italian players, but it was the most experienced of his opponents, Luigi Shehadeh, that Candido found himself pitted against heads-up. After playing just one hand heads-up, the two made a deal and it didn’t take long for the tournament to come to a halt. Candido took €225,770 in the deal, while Luigi heads back to his mansion with €181,750.

Candido Cappiello celebrates with friends