May 31, 2026
Mary Galvin
There was barely a spare chair in the house at Casino Malta on Day 3 of the Battle of Malta 2026 Summer Edition, as hordes of players arrived for another packed schedule of tournaments.
Chips flew in all directions, with the Ladies Event and Days 1e and 1f of the Main Event taking center stage. Irish eyes were smiling, as Mary Galvin emerged as the Ladies Champion, banking €1,970, and a €555 ticket to the OlyBet Queens of Tallinn Event in August, in the process.
In the Main Event, Marian Klitchev of Bulgaria (1,520,000) topped almost 1,000 runners in Day 1e, while Dimitrios Sarris of Greece (603,000) bagged biggest in Day 1f, as the €700,000 guarantee was comfortably exceeded. The final starting flight kicked at 10 a.m. today, May 31, and the prize pool has just topped the seven-figure mark, currently standing at a huge €1,031,523. Day 2 qualifiers will return at 7 p.m., when the final figures and payouts will be known.
There were also side event victories for Richard Burke in the H.O.R.S.E event, and there was a chop between Italian Fabiano Montanaro and Christos Thomas of Greece in the Hyper Turbo.
Another extensive menu of tournaments awaits, and players who do not find a bag for Day 2 of the Main Event can get their teeth into a slate of side events, including a PokerHouse NLH tournament, PLO 4/5 card, and netwin Bounty event. Meanwhile, the €1,100 buy-in Star Yes High Roller event features a huge €200,000 guarantee.
€600 Main Event Days 1e-1f Recap
Battle of Malta Tournament Room
As expected, Day 1e drew the biggest crowd thus far, and the tournament room was a sea of heads, with every table occupied. A total of 991 entries were logged, which meant 149 players qualified for Day 2.
Lithuanian Ugnius Vestertas bagged a seven-figure stack of 1,010,000 to take the overall tournament lead, and he was followed by Ugnius Vestertas of Lithuania (1,010,000) and Brit Robert McAdam (973,000). McAdam has been in hot form in 2026, racking up a string of top-three finishes in major mid-stakes events, and is a name to watch.
In Day 1f, a further 288 entries were collected, and Dimitrios Sarris (603,000) ended up at the front of the queue of 22 qualifiers, followed by Veaceslaw Jumir of Moldova (577,000) and Fabrizio Pillitteri (486,000). Vestertas and Sarris, as with all Day 1 chip leaders, also earned themselves a package to the Battle of Malta Slovakia Edition.
Defending champion Adrian Ziemichod of Poland (462,000) and former champion Dario Barone of Italy (153,000) are in the running for a historic double, while plenty of other notables are in the mix, including Latvian Matiss Celmins (531,000) and Mihai Nistor of Romania (452,000). With the final starting flight still to be completed, 288 players have now qualified for Day 2.
Battle of Malta Spring Edition Champion Adrian Ziemichod
The full counts of the qualifiers from both flights is below:-
End of Day 1e Counts
| Position | Player | Country | Chips |
| 1 | Ugnius Vestertas | Lithuania | 1‚010‚000 |
| 2 | Robert McAdam | United Kingdom | 973‚000 |
| 3 | Konstantinos Asgoudakis | Greece | 786‚000 |
| 4 | Stefan-Claudiu Ianuszewicz | Romania | 740‚000 |
| 5 | Radoslaw Krosnowski | Poland | 710‚000 |
| 6 | Sergio Di Ruberto | Italy | 655‚000 |
| 7 | Aristeidis Aftias | Greece | 648‚000 |
| 8 | Marko Grujic | Serbia | 624‚000 |
| 9 | Erik Oestergaard | Denmark | 616‚000 |
| 10 | Ziga Klopcic | Slovenia | 601‚000 |
| 11 | Pinhas Belezada | Israel | 588‚000 |
| 12 | David Taborsky | Czech Republic | 558‚000 |
| 13 | Gareth Hamilton | United Kingdom | 550‚000 |
| 14 | Francesco Natale | Italy | 548‚000 |
| 15 | Houssem Meftahi | Tunisia | 541‚000 |
| 16 | Aleksandrs Krumins | Latvia | 535‚000 |
| 17 | Matiss Celmins | Latvia | 531‚000 |
| 18 | Adrian Ziemichod | Poland | 462‚000 |
| 19 | Sebastian Szychulski | Poland | 459‚000 |
| 20 | Mihai Nistor | Romania | 452‚000 |
| 21 | Masoud Fatollahy | Iran | 433‚000 |
| 22 | Andreas Hartl | Austria | 431‚000 |
| 23 | Grigorios Archontakis | Greece | 419‚000 |
| 24 | Renato Messina | Italy | 414‚000 |
| 25 | Dimitrios Anastasakis | Greece | 409‚000 |
| 26 | Robin Kruhai | Netherlands | 379‚000 |
| 27 | Andreas Leu | Switzerland | 376‚000 |
| 28 | Emmanouil Livanos | Greece | 376‚000 |
| 29 | Vincenzo Popolo | Italy | 373‚000 |
| 30 | Emanuele Amenta | Italy | 371‚000 |
| 31 | Christian Sykora | Austria | 366‚000 |
| 32 | Franco Scalise | Italy | 363‚000 |
| 33 | Gianluca Donini | Italy | 357‚000 |
| 34 | Oscar Rossi | Italy | 356‚000 |
| 35 | Alessandro Signoriello | Italy | 350‚000 |
| 36 | Szymon Politowski | Poland | 349‚000 |
| 37 | Andris Resevskis | Latvia | 345‚000 |
| 38 | Akser Osak | Poland | 343‚000 |
| 39 | Igor Bukowski | Poland | 341‚000 |
| 40 | Panteleimon Pontos | Greece | 341‚000 |
| 41 | Salvatrice D’Urso | Italy | 332‚000 |
| 42 | Dimitrios Stampoultzis | Greece | 326‚000 |
| 43 | Christos Tsamatsoulis | Greece | 323‚000 |
| 44 | Daniel Gumula | Poland | 322‚000 |
| 45 | Itay Barak | Israel | 316‚000 |
| 46 | Theodoros Ampelikiotis | Greece | 315‚000 |
| 47 | Maurizio Saieva | Italy | 312‚000 |
| 48 | Biagio Morciano | Italy | 306‚000 |
| 49 | Jiri Novak | Czech Republic | 304‚000 |
| 50 | Marjan Mitrovski | North Macedonia | 301‚000 |
| 51 | Evangelos Argyris | Greece | 298‚000 |
| 52 | Carmelo Capizzi | Italy | 296‚000 |
| 53 | Walter Lotter | Germany | 296‚000 |
| 54 | Joao Da Silva | Portugal | 294‚000 |
| 55 | Marcin Majcher | Poland | 288‚000 |
| 56 | Antoan Katsarov | Bulgaria | 279‚000 |
| 57 | Stanislav Bronshtein | Israel | 275‚000 |
| 58 | Marflene Cricchiola | Italy | 275‚000 |
| 59 | Liron Kroani | Israel | 275‚000 |
| 60 | Marcello Bona | Italy | 273‚000 |
| 61 | Sebastian Kotowicz | Poland | 271‚000 |
| 62 | Alberto Petite Alvarez | Spain | 270‚000 |
| 63 | Daniele Sacchi | Italy | 255‚000 |
| 64 | Fredrick Bratein | Norway | 254‚000 |
| 65 | Aljosa Kobale | Slovenia | 254‚000 |
| 66 | Joona Nyholm | Finland | 254‚000 |
| 67 | Idan Nagauker | Israel | 250‚000 |
| 68 | Gil Preter | Israel | 246‚000 |
| 69 | Andrew Cutajar | Malta | 245‚000 |
| 70 | Craig Lauder | United Kingdom | 244‚000 |
| 71 | Marius Negrescu | Romania | 241‚000 |
| 72 | Shervin Ghassemlou | Iran | 240‚000 |
| 73 | Dimitrios Marmagkiolis | Greece | 240‚000 |
| 74 | Jakub Riska | Slovakia | 239‚000 |
| 75 | Mihai Cismaru | Romania | 228‚000 |
| 76 | Nicola D’Aquaro | Italy | 226‚000 |
| 77 | Christou Christos | Cyprus | 220‚000 |
| 78 | Andre Haakestad | Norway | 219‚000 |
| 79 | Jakub Wujcikowski | Poland | 217‚000 |
| 80 | Igor Pasierbek | Poland | 216‚000 |
| 81 | Daniel Yerin | Israel | 207‚000 |
| 82 | Karen Cohen Kalif | Israel | 205‚000 |
| 83 | Giorgio Bellanca | Italy | 200‚000 |
| 84 | Maximilian Golle | Germany | 198‚000 |
| 85 | Daniela Busmachiu-Constantinescu | Romania | 195‚000 |
| 86 | Angelo Vietti | Italy | 194‚000 |
| 87 | Gakuto Horiuchi | Japan | 193‚000 |
| 88 | Lorian Bellu | Romania | 192‚000 |
| 89 | Vito Pizzitola | Italy | 191‚000 |
| 90 | Constantin Chincisan | Romania | 189‚000 |
| 91 | Sergio Parrinello | Italy | 186‚000 |
| 92 | Gianluca Perino | Italy | 185‚000 |
| 93 | Armando Picozzi | Italy | 184‚000 |
| 94 | Gianmarco Grande | Italy | 181‚000 |
| 95 | Sebastiano Belligammi | Italy | 177‚000 |
| 96 | Caomhan McLaughlin | Ireland | 177‚000 |
| 97 | Gabriel Rymar | Poland | 177‚000 |
| 98 | Adam Lawniczak | Poland | 173‚000 |
| 99 | Raul Suceava | Romania | 169‚000 |
| 100 | Paulo Rorigues | Portugal | 167‚000 |
| 101 | David Skoloud | Czech Republic | 165‚000 |
| 102 | Marco Maggio | Italy | 157‚000 |
| 103 | Edvinas Gruzdas | Lithuania | 155‚000 |
| 104 | William Gilbert | United Kingdom | 154‚000 |
| 105 | Joseph Jouayek | Lebanon | 152‚000 |
| 106 | Paulo Pinheiro | Portugal | 151‚000 |
| 107 | Giuseppe Milone | Italy | 151‚000 |
| 108 | Simone Quadrini | Italy | 149‚000 |
| 109 | Andrea Maiolino | Italy | 146‚000 |
| 110 | Patryk Szysz | Poland | 146‚000 |
| 111 | Alessandro Cannizzaro | Italy | 142‚000 |
| 112 | Tiberiu Florescu | Romania | 142‚000 |
| 113 | Lukasz Sen | Poland | 142‚000 |
| 114 | Giulio Spampinato | Italy | 139‚000 |
| 115 | Carmelo Fangano | Italy | 133‚000 |
| 116 | Srdan Milijas | Serbia | 127‚000 |
| 117 | Francesco Munafo’ | Italy | 123‚000 |
| 118 | Maria Koutsouki | Greece | 119‚000 |
| 119 | Mario Fiordelisi | Italy | 118‚000 |
| 120 | Marian Klitchev | Bulgaria | 115‚200 |
| 121 | Carina Voncken | Germany | 116‚000 |
| 122 | Umberto De Cunto | Italy | 109‚000 |
| 123 | Oreste Faga | Italy | 108‚000 |
| 124 | Jon Alemany | Spain | 103‚000 |
| 125 | Giuseppe Ognisanto | Italy | 101‚000 |
| 126 | Giovanna Dimartino | Italy | 97‚000 |
| 127 | Loreto Enea | Italy | 92‚000 |
| 128 | Ioannis Koulopoulos | Greece | 92‚000 |
| 129 | Diego Romei | Italy | 91‚000 |
| 130 | Markus Dahl | Norway | 90‚000 |
| 131 | Jose-Luis Rodriguez | Spain | 90‚000 |
| 132 | Vedran Sujkovic | Croatia | 89‚000 |
| 133 | Antoine Talvard | France | 89‚000 |
| 134 | Luka Urosevic | Serbia | 81‚000 |
| 135 | Alexios Messalas | Greece | 79‚000 |
| 136 | Krystian Nalepka | Poland | 78‚000 |
| 137 | Itzhak Zenati | Israel | 78‚000 |
| 138 | Florian Henck | Germany | 75‚000 |
| 139 | Ivane Khazaradze | Georgia | 73‚000 |
| 140 | Emmanouil Kostakis | Greece | 68‚000 |
| 141 | Alexandre Bermon | France | 53‚000 |
| 142 | Nigel Stentiford | United Kingdom | 48‚000 |
| 143 | Mark McKenzie | United Kingdom | 41‚000 |
| 144 | Miguel Sanchez Hernandez | Spain | 40‚000 |
| 145 | Francesco Della Sala | Italy | 30‚000 |
| 146 | Rasmus Lundstroem | Sweden | 17‚000 |
| 147 | Turgay Akin | Turkey | 15‚000 |
| 148 | Cristiano Zambonelli | Italy | 14‚600 |
| 149 | Antonio Privitera | Italy | 8‚000 |
End of Day 1f Counts
| Position | Player | Country | Chips |
| 1 | Dimitrios Sarris | Greece | 603‚000 |
| 2 | Veaceslav Jumir | Moldova | 577‚000 |
| 3 | Fabrizio Pillitteri | Italy | 486‚000 |
| 4 | Erlend Kalstad | Norway | 479‚000 |
| 5 | Antonio Leanza | Italy | 450‚000 |
| 6 | David Kozma | Hungary | 422‚000 |
| 7 | Kaspars Mallons | Latvia | 309‚000 |
| 8 | Leandro Cataldo | Italy | 262‚000 |
| 9 | Carlo Solazzo | Italy | 245‚000 |
| 10 | Kleber Chapon | Brazil | 204‚000 |
| 11 | Alfredo Brancia | Italy | 186‚000 |
| 12 | Gianfranco Casaluce | Italy | 179‚000 |
| 13 | Nestoras Kakoyiannis | Cyprus | 178‚000 |
| 14 | Lorenzo Di Blasi | Italy | 175‚000 |
| 15 | Francesco Tuzzolino | Italy | 173‚000 |
| 16 | Dario Barone | Italy | 153‚000 |
| 17 | Daniele Maldonato | Italy | 146‚000 |
| 18 | Gennaro Loffredo | Italy | 142‚000 |
| 19 | Michal Procner | Poland | 125‚000 |
| 20 | Daniele Intilisano | Italy | 119‚000 |
| 21 | Aleksi Heikkinen | Finland | 94‚000 |
| 22 | Arci Mattia | Italy | 51‚000 |
Mary Galvin Wins €150 Ladies Event (€1,970)
Battle of Malta 2026 Summer Edition Ladies Event Final Table
The Ladies Event was a big hit as always, and 49 runners created a €6,218 prize pool, with seven places to be paid.
Mary Galvin of Ireland stormed to the trophy, defeating Tania Alparone of Italy heads-up.
The full results are below:-
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
| 1 | Mary Galvin | Ireland | €1‚970 |
| 2 | Tania Alparone | Italy | €1‚400 |
| 3 | Yena Park | South Korea | €900 |
| 4 | Pia Fransson | Sweden | €680 |
| 5 | Santina Spedalieri | Italy | €535 |
| 6 | Michelle Bricknell | England | €400 |
| 7 | Kristine Helveit | Norway | €330 |
Richard Burke Saddles €250 H.O.R.S.E. Trophy (€1,760)
Richard Burke
The H.O.R.S.E event gathered 17 entries, creating a €3,516 prize pool, to be split between the podium finishers.
Richard Burke of the United Kingdom defeated Germany’s Sascha Mann heads-up, with Fabio Miraglia of Italy the other player to cash.
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
| 1 | Richard Burke | United Kingdom | € 1‚760 |
| 2 | Sascha Manns | Germany | € 1‚055 |
| 3 | Fabio Miraglia | Italy | €700 |
Fabiano Montanaro and Christos Thomas Chop €150 Hyper Turbo (€3,930)
A big field of 164 entries gathered for the final side-event of the day, and Fabiano Montanaro of Italy and Christos Thomas of Greece agreed a heads-up chop, both banking €3,930, with 23 places paid.
The full results are as follows:-
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
| 1 | Fabiano Montanaro | Italy | *€ 3‚930 |
| 2 | Christos Thomas | Greece | *€ 3‚930 |
| 3 | Lazar Stanimirovic | Serbia | € 2‚100 |
| 4 | Dimitrios Asgoudakis | Greece | € 1‚720 |
| 5 | Samuele Luppino | Italy | € 1‚380 |
| 6 | Steven Thompson | United Kingdom | € 1‚070 |
| 7 | Paolo Aleo | Italy | €790 |
| 8 | Flaviano Cammisuli | Italy | €580 |
| 9 | Giuseppe Cusimano | Italy | €460 |
| 10 | Gianluca Mancuso | Italy | €390 |
| 11 | Ionut-Alexandru Toma | Romania | €390 |
| 12 | James Walker | United Kingdom | €340 |
| 13 | Jimmy Grenander | Sweden | €340 |
| 14 | Peter Buttner | Germany | €310 |
| 15 | Andrea Parisi | Italy | €310 |
| 16 | Filippos Kasidokostas | Greece | €280 |
| 17 | Nicola Dilluvio | Italy | €280 |
| 18 | Claudio Barone | Italy | €250 |
| 19 | Salvo Petralia | Italy | €250 |
| 20 | Lukasz Fraczek | Poland | €250 |
| 21 | Davor Mudric | Croatia | €230 |
| 22 | Michael Domke | Germany | €230 |
| 23 | Antonino Nobile | Italy | €230 |
*Denotes heads-up chop.
Battle of Malta 2026 Summer Edition Schedule – May 31 2026
Day 2 of the Main Event is the prime attraction today, kicking off at 7 p.m. local time, with six hour-long levels set to be played.
As mentioned, there is a full slate of side events for players to enjoy, with the full schedule listed below. The key events are the Star Yes €1,100 High Roller at 8 p.m., featuring a huge €200,000 guarantee and the €300 netwin Bounty. It is recommended players attend early if travelling from outside St Julian’s, as it is Election Day in Malta and travel obstructions are expected.
| Date | Time | Tournament | Buy-In | Stack | Levels | Late Registration |
| May 31 | 10:00 | NLH BOM ‘Let The Battle Begin’ – Day 1G TURBO – 15% Qualify – Chip Leader gets BOM Slovakia package | €530+€70 | 40‚000 | 20 min | Reg closes at Level 10 (play to 15%) |
| May 31 | 11:00 | NLH Super Satellite for High Roller (one time) | €110+€20 | 10‚000 | 20 min | Reg closes at Level 10 |
| May 31 | 14:00 | NLH Casino Malta PokerHouse | €170+€30 | 20‚000 | 20 min | Reg closes at Level 10 |
| May 31 | 15:00 | PLO 4/5 Round Each | €220+€30 | 20‚000 | 20 min | Reg closes at Level 8 |
| May 31 | 18:00 | netwin NLH Side Event Bounty | €110+€150+€40 | 30‚000 | 30 min | Play to Level 8 |
| May 31 | 19:00 | NLH BOM ‘Let The Battle Begin’ – Day 2 | — | — | 60 min | Play 6 levels |
| May 31 | 20:00 | Star Yes – High Roller Day 1 | €1000+€100 | 50‚000 | 30 min | Play 10 levels |
| May 31 | 22:00 | NLH Super Satellite for High Roller (accumulator) | €110+€20 | 10‚000 | 20 min | Reg closes at Level 10 |
Our coverage will start off in earnest from 7 p.m. for Day 2 of the Main Event, but general festival updates will be provided in the meantime, and chip counts of the final Main Event starting flight, and Day 2 seat draw, will be provided as soon as they are available.
The Battle of Malta’s YouTube, Facebook and Instagram channels will also be bringing you all the big moments from the event, so stay tuned for all your coverage as we see who can put themselves in prime position for a tilt at the Battle of Malta 2026 Summer Edition Main Event title.
