It was another fast and furious day of poker action at Casino Malta on May 31, as the Battle of Malta 2026 Summer Edition completed its final weekend. After the conclusion of the final flight of the €600 Main Event, the prize pool was finalized at €1,186,962, with €176,070 awaiting the champion, and the field was then reduced to 75 players after the conclusion of Day 2.

Kristian Holmgren of Norway (3,760,000) leads from Greek duo, Dimitrios Stampoultzis (3,450,000) and Konstantinos Asgoudakis (3,050,000), with the players returning today, June 1, at 4 p.m. for Day 3.

In the other action, Wiktor Weiner of Poland proved himself to be a four-card master, as he secured his second PLO trophy of the week in the €250 PLO 4/5 card, after his earlier victory in the €250 PLO Masters (4,5,6 card), while David Elliot of the United Kingdom emerged as the last player standing in the €200 Casino Malta PokerHouse NLH.

Another Brit, Peter Brackley, took the end of Day 1 chip lead in the €300 NLH Bounty event, while the €1,100 Star Yes High Roller completed its sole opening flight. Offering a huge €200,000 guarantee, Krenar Dervishi of Albania (236,250) leads 68 qualifiers for Day 2, with late registration open for two further one-hour levels at the start of play.

Another massive sheet of tournaments is on the slate today, as Day 2’s of the High Roller and €300 Bounty Hunter take place, while the Beer Poker Tour and Novibet Cuatro PKO events kick off.

€600 Main Event Recap

After the completion of the final flight, it transpired the Main Event had attracted a huge total of 2,667 entries, pushing the prize pool well over the seven-figure mark. It was confirmed the life-changing sum of €176,070 awaits the champion, and 358 Day 2 qualifiers were at the start line, led by Ugnius Vestertas of Lithuania.

After the completion of six one-hour levels, the field was reduced to 75 hopefuls, with Holmgren, Stampoultzis and Asgoudakis comprising the podium places. Players such as Rasmus Lundstroem, Florian Henck and Hanna Heinlo suffered an early exit, while Aleksandrs Krumins, Jaroslaw Falkowski and Junyu Liu fell at the end of play. Defending champion Adrian Ziemichod and former champion Dario Barone both failed to make the Day 3 cut.

Quality players in the mix include Vestertas (2,120,000), Czech Tomas Major (1,380,0000), Dane Sebastian Mortensen (1,090,000) and Latvian Matiss Celmins (815,000).

The counts of the remaining players are as follows:-

Position	Name	Country	Chip Count	Blinds
1	Kristian Holmgren	Norway	3,760,000	94
2	Dimitrios Stampoultzis	Greece	3,450,000	86
3	Konstantinos Asgoudakis	Greece	3,050,000	76
4	Erlend Kalstad	Norway	2,840,000	71
5	Angelo Censabella	Italy	2,580,000	64
6	Daniele Renzi	Italy	2,310,000	57
7	Mark Vella	Malta	2,310,000	57
8	Fredrick Bratein	Norway	2,230,000	55
9	Ugnius Vestertas	Lithuania	2,120,000	53
10	Jiri Novak	Czech Republic	2,060,000	51
11	Constantin Chincisan	Romania	2,000,000	50
12	Stavros Passias	Greece	1,930,000	48
13	Igor Pasierbek	Poland	1,870,000	46
14	Audrius Daugvilavicius	Lithuania	1,740,000	43
15	Georgios Papakonstantinou	Greece	1,740,000	43
16	Antonino Karman	Hungary	1,720,000	43
17	Giuseppe Rosa	Italy	1,610,000	40
18	Luigi D’alterio	Italy	1,580,000	39
19	Gianluca Donini	Italy	1,580,000	39
20	Paolo Di Girolamo	Italy	1,570,000	39
21	Michal Procner	Poland	1,570,000	39
22	Dimitrios Asgoudakis	Greece	1,500,000	37
23	Daniel Yerin	Germany	1,490,000	37
24	Ahmet Canatan	Turkey	1,480,000	37
25	Christian Sykora	Austria	1,450,000	36
26	Tomas Major	Czech Republic	1,380,000	34
27	Joao Da Silva	Portugal	1,360,000	34
28	Erik Oestergaard	Denmark	1,350,000	33
29	Doron Lahav	Israel	1,320,000	33
30	Anthony Ouillon	France	1,310,000	32
31	Karen Kalif	Israel	1,280,000	32
32	Mario Fiordelisi	Italy	1,260,000	31
33	Gianmarco Grande	Italy	1,250,000	31
34	Mihai Cismaru	Romania	1,200,000	30
35	Dimitrios Sarris	Greece	1,190,000	29
36	Houssem Meftahi	Tunisia	1,180,000	29
37	Evangelos Argyris	Greece	1,160,000	29
38	Giorgio Bellanca	Italy	1,140,000	28
39	Robin Kruhai	Netherlands	1,130,000	28
40	Jorge Geraldes	Germany	1,110,000	27
41	Arnaud Boudet	France	1,110,000	27
42	Alejandro Asenjo	Spain	1,100,000	27
43	Sebastian Mortensen	Malta	1,090,000	27
44	Florence Mazet	France	1,030,000	25
45	Zonglei Zhao	China	1,020,000	25
46	Rami Amuri	Latvia	1,010,000	25
47	Danilo Scevola	Italy	965,000	24
48	Igor Bukowski	Poland	945,000	23
49	Marko Cosic	Serbia	910,000	22
50	Gareth Hamilton	England	875,000	21
51	Tiberiu Florescu	Romania	860,000	21
52	Matiss Celmins	Latvia	815,000	20
53	Marian Ciupeiu	Romania	765,000	19
54	Andrew Cutajar	Malta	740,000	18
55	Idan Nagauker	Israel	730,000	18
56	Aljosa Kobale	Slovenia	725,000	18
57	Ronen Avraham	Israel	700,000	17
58	Damian Wojtas	Poland	700,000	17
59	Piotr Wasilewski	Poland	695,000	17
60	Veaceslav Jumir	Moldova	685,000	17
61	Carina Voncken	Netherlands	685,000	17
62	Giuseppe Milone	Italy	645,000	16
63	Nico Marraffa	Italy	640,000	16
64	Theodoros Ampelikiotis	Greece	635,000	15
65	Robert Baker	England	625,000	15
66	Marko Grujic	Serbia	600,000	15
67	Laurentiu Avram	Romania	575,000	14
68	Yujun Kim	South Korea	555,000	13
69	Franco Scalise	Italy	510,000	12
70	Panteleimon Pontos	Greece	480,000	12
71	Alessandro Nocerino	Italy	445,000	11
72	Daniele Maldonato	Italy	310,000	7
73	Roar Aspas	Norway	275,000	6
74	Andrej Duplancic	Croatia	265,000	6
75	Szymon Politowski	Poland	66,000	1

 

The Day 3 seating draw is below:-

Table	Seat	Name	Country	Chips	Blinds
5	1	Fredrick Bratein	Norway	2,230,000	55
5	2	Jiri Novak	Czech Republic	2,060,000	51
5	3	Kristian Holmgren	Norway	3,760,000	94
5	4	Stavros Passias	Greece	1,930,000	48
5	5	Veaceslav Jumir	Moldova	685,000	17
5	6	Ugnius Vestertas	Lithuania	2,125,000	53
5	7	Alejandro Asenjo	Spain	1,100,000	27
5	8	Michal Procner	Poland	1,575,000	39
6	1	Angelo Censabella	Italy	2,585,000	64
6	2	Giuseppe Rosa	Italy	1,610,000	40
6	3	Evangelos Argyris	Greece	1,165,000	29
6	4	Rami Amuri	Latvia	1,010,000	25
6	6	Giorgio Bellanca	Italy	1,150,000	28
6	7	Igor Pasierbek	Poland	1,875,000	46
6	8	Roar Aspas	Norway	275,000	6
7	1	Tiberiu Florescu	Romania	860,000	21
7	3	Daniele Renzi	Italy	2,320,000	58
7	4	Tomas Major	Czech Republic	1,380,000	34
7	5	Gareth Hamilton	Ireland	875,000	21
7	6	Yujun Kim	South Korea	555,000	13
7	7	Zonglei Zhao	China	1,025,000	25
7	8	Dimitrios Asgoudakis	Greece	1,500,000	37
8	1	Giuseppe Milone	Italy	645,000	16
8	2	Franco Scalise	Luxembourg	510,000	12
8	3	Carina Voncken	Netherlands	685,000	17
8	5	Mihai Cismaru	Romania	1,205,000	30
8	6	Piotr Wasilewski	Poland	695,000	17
8	7	Erlend Kalstad	Norway	2,840,000	71
8	8	Alessandro Nocerino	Italy	445,000	11
9	1	Karen Kalif	Israel	1,280,000	32
9	2	Robin Kruhai	Germany	1,140,000	28
9	3	Ronen Avraham	Israel	700,000	17
9	4	Andrej Duplancic	Croatia	265,000	6
9	5	Joao Da Silva	Portugal	1,365,000	34
9	6	Szymon Politowski	Poland	66,000	1
9	7	Antonino Karman	Hungary	1,725,000	43
10	2	Florence Mazet	France	1,030,000	25
10	3	Marko Grujic	Serbia	600,000	15
10	4	Anthony Ouillon	France	1,310,000	32
10	5	Konstantinos Asgoudakis	Greece	3,055,000	76
10	6	Arnaud Boudet	France	1,110,000	27
10	7	Nico Marraffa	Italy	640,000	16
10	8	Matiss Celmins	Latvia	815,000	20
12	1	Georgios Papakonstantinou	Greece	1,740,000	43
12	2	Doron Lahav	Israel	1,320,000	33
12	3	Paolo Di Girolamo	Italy	1,575,000	39
12	4	Constantin Chincisan	Romania	2,000,000	50
12	5	Gianluca Donini	Italy	1,580,000	39
12	6	Dimitrios Sarris	Greece	1,190,000	29
12	7	Danilo Scevola	Italy	965,000	24
12	8	Luigi D’alterio	Italy	1,580,000	39
13	1	Daniele Maldonato	Italy	310,000	7
13	2	Audrius Daugvilavicius	Lithuania	1,740,000	43
13	3	Sebastian Mortensen	Malta	1,090,000	27
13	4	Robert Baker	England	625,000	15
13	5	Christian Sykora	Austria	1,450,000	36
13	6	Theodoros Ampelikiotis	Greece	635,000	15
13	7	Houssem Meftahi	Tunisia	1,180,000	29
13	8	Marko Cosic	Serbia	910,000	22
14	1	Dimitrios Stampoultzis	Greece	3,455,000	86
14	2	Ahmet Canatan	Turkey	1,480,000	37
14	3	Gianmarco Grande	Italy	1,255,000	31
14	4	Idan Nagauker	Israel	730,000	18
14	5	Marian Ciupeiu	Romania	765,000	19
14	6	Aljosa Kobale	Malta	725,000	18
14	7	Mark Vella	Malta	2,310,000	57
14	8	Igor Bukowski	Poland	945,000	23
15	1	Damian Wojtas	Poland	700,000	17
15	2	Andrew Cutajar	Malta	740,000	18
15	3	Daniel Yerin	Germany	1,490,000	37
15	4	Mario Fiordelisi	Italy	1,266,000	31
15	5	Erik Oestergaard	Denmark	1,350,000	33
15	6	Laurentiu Avram	Romania	575,000	14
15	7	Jorge Geraldes	Germany	1,110,000	27
15	8	Panteleimon Pontos	Greece	480,000	12

 

The players will return at 4 p.m. for Day 3, where play will continue with 60-minute levels until the field is reduced to 24 players. The remaining payouts the players are competing for are as follows, with all players having secured a guaranteed €2,000 payday :-

Position	Payout
1	€176,070
2	€101,910
3	€69,480
4	€52,660
5	€43,900
6	€35,600
7	€27,050
8	€19,350
9	€14,690
10-11	€12,340
12-13	€111,10
14-15	€9,910
16-17	€8,720
18-20	€7,530
21-23	€6,340
24-27	€5,200
28-31	€4,430
32-39	€3,680
40-55	€3,000
56-71	€2,370
72-75	€2,000

€1,100 Star Yes High Roller Day 1 Recap

The €200,000 guaranteed, €1,100 buy-in tournament completed its sole starting flight, with 68 players qualifying from 130 entries, led by Dervishi, Austrian Alessandro Assaloni (227,800) and Cypriot Michael Angelos (225,000).

Late registration remains open until the start of Level 13, with ten levels completed in Day 1, and players will receive a 50,000 starting stack at blind level 600/1,200/1,200, with the clock set to 30-minute levels.

The full end of Day 1 counts are below:-

Position	Name	Country	Chips	Blinds
1	Krenar Dervishi	Albania	236,250	196
2	Alessandro Assaloni	Italy	227,800	189
3	Michael Angelos	Greece	225,000	187
4	Jonas Lapinskas	Lithuania	216,600	180
5	Hugo De La Fouchardiere	France	212,300	176
6	Krystian Nalepka	Poland	207,200	172
7	Ioannis Polentas	Greece	200,300	166
8	Daniele Sacchi	Italy	164,000	136
9	Umberto De Cunto	Italy	158,300	131
10	Jon San Juan Alemany	Spain	157,500	131
11	Grigoris Kyriazi	Greece	154,690	128
12	Bachana Shengelia	Georgia	154,000	128
13	Akser Osak	Poland	147,690	123
14	Simone Pascucci	Italy	140,400	117
15	Fabian Wolf	Germany	138,600	115
16	Erik Lindqwist	Sweden	137,190	114
17	Emmanouil Asgoudakis	Greece	136,690	113
18	Ran Shahar	Israel	128,000	106
19	Federico Fulciniti	Italy	123,400	102
20	Gary Mcgaffney	Ireland	123,100	102
21	Vikram Digpal	India	116,000	96
22	Malcolm Mckinlay	Scotland	115,200	96
23	Malo Latinois	France	107,400	89
24	Joona Nyholm	Finland	106,100	88
25	Jamie Harding	England	104,300	86
26	Gary Fisher	England	100,100	83
27	Yoann Silva Rosa	France	99,700	83
28	Philip Pearson	England	99,500	82
29	Simone D’amico	Italy	98,600	82
30	Massimo Fata	Italy	98,400	82
31	Flaviano Cammisuli	Italy	97,000	80
32	Shaul Weinstein	Israel	91,200	76
33	Yamen Ghanem	Lebanon	88,300	73
34	Ivane Khazaradze	Georgia	85,700	71
35	Davide Caramia	Italy	79,800	66
36	Pawel Dudnik	Poland	73,900	61
37	Marc Clausin	France	72,000	60
38	Fotios Ntamaris	Greece	69,000	57
39	Erik Polluveer	Estonia	68,100	56
40	Matteo Ferrara	Italy	66,100	55
41	Masoud Fatollahy	Iran	65,700	54
42	Stanislav Bronshtein	Ukraine	64,700	53
43	Giuliano Puggioni	Italy	63,700	53
44	Sebastian Kotowicz	Poland	60,900	50
45	Yoram Atlan	Israel	55,600	46
46	Simone Quadrini	Italy	52,300	43
47	Min Guk Kim	South Korea	52,100	43
48	Clive Micallef	Malta	51,900	43
49	Luigi Pignataro	Italy	50,600	42
50	Sukru Arican	Turkey	50,000	41
51	Dominik Cybulski	Poland	50,000	41
52	Vincenzo Mangiapane	Italy	50,000	41
53	Adrian Ziemichod	Poland	50,000	41
54	Marcus Chatur	England	49,200	41
55	Mark Deacon	England	48,300	40
56	Shervin Ghassemlou	Iran	47,000	39
57	Abramo Marangio	Italy	45,600	38
58	Mattia Gentile	Italy	42,800	35
59	Ricardo Ferreira	Portugal	42,500	35
60	Alkan Aydingoez	Turkey	41,200	34
61	Federico Donnini	Italy	41,200	34
62	Piermaria Ferrante	Italy	40,800	34
63	Kyrylo Dzyha	Ukraine	38,900	32
64	Shaun Decesare	Malta	37,500	31
65	Achim Eisenbeis	Germany	29,500	24
66	Mergim Sulaj	Kosovo	27,800	23
67	Gabriele Santoro	Italy	26,000	21
68	Grigorios Archontakis	Greece	14,700	12

 

€300 Bounty Hunter Day 1 Recap

Peter Brackley (357,000) leads 70 Day 2 qualifiers after ten Day 1 levels, with 221 entries creating a current prize pool of €20,862, and Felice Bucci of Italy (334,000) and Croat Dominik Bencan (281,000), who pulled a €10,000 bounty in the Siege of Malta, leading the chasing pack.

Late registration remains open until the start of Level 13, with players receiving a 30,000 starting stack, and a 30-minute clock in play. The full counts are as follows:-

Position	Name	Country	Chips	Blinds
1	Peter Brackley	England	357,000	119
2	Felice Bucci	Italy	334,000	111
3	Dominik Bencan	Czech Republic	281,000	93
4	Andrew Fleming	England	207,000	69
5	Antoine Talvard	France	192,000	64
6	Frederik Genzel	Germany	186,000	62
7	Antoni Dzhelaliev	Bulgaria	158,000	52
8	Fabian Wolf	Germany	158,000	52
9	Salvatore Cristiano	Italy	156,500	52
10	Regilio Vrede	Netherlands	156,500	52
11	Tormod Ludvigsen	Norway	155,500	51
12	Domenico Desimone	Italy	154,000	51
13	Christian Schneider	Germany	144,500	48
14	Antonio Parrella	Italy	130,000	43
15	Jens Schmidt	Denmark	129,500	43
16	Benjamin Gerlach	Germany	128,000	42
17	Ricardo De Abreu	Portugal	126,000	42
18	Paul Skingley	England	121,000	40
19	Barak Hen	Israel	118,000	39
20	Serhii Ivanenko	Ukraine	116,500	38
21	Michal Krzyminski	Poland	114,000	38
22	Arci Mattia	Italy	109,000	36
23	Majid Rostami	Iran	106,500	35
24	Lukasz Sajnog	Poland	104,500	34
25	Ivano Tellini	Italy	103,000	34
26	Paul Johnston	England	99,500	33
27	Oiva Laitinen	Finland	99,000	33
28	Armins Daugis	Latvia	98,500	32
29	Jeremie Dubois	France	93,000	31
30	Goran Salinovic	Croatia	92,500	30
31	Massimo Bernardi	Italy	89,000	29
32	Lampros Proimos	Greece	89,000	29
33	Alexander Soroka	Ukraine	82,500	27
34	Charalampos Siakaras	Greece	79,000	26
35	Pasquale Varano	Italy	78,500	26
36	Salvatore Anastasio	Italy	77,500	25
37	Alessio Langella	Italy	77,500	25
38	Gennaro Montuori	Italy	74,500	24
39	Matthew Madanat	Malta	72,000	24
40	Nicola Diana	Italy	69,000	23
41	Sturla Dyregrov	Norway	68,000	22
42	Brian Caffrey	Ireland	64,500	21
43	Tobias Benes	Germany	64,000	21
44	Danny Strange	England	63,000	21
45	Vincenzo Colacitti	Italy	62,500	20
46	Adis Sokolovic	Bosnia and Herzegovina	61,500	20
47	Vidar Solheim	Norway	58,000	19
48	Michal Modrzejewski	Poland	57,500	19
49	Jerome Martin	France	54,500	18
50	Michel Glink	Germany	48,000	16
51	Max Van Den Hurk	Netherlands	48,000	16
52	Giovanna Dimartino	Italy	46,500	15
53	Ohad Shamian	Israel	42,000	14
54	David Duggan	England	41,500	13
55	Salvatore Capra	Italy	41,000	13
56	Alba Sarasola	Spain	40,000	13
57	Giovanni Ferrigno	Italy	39,500	13
58	Max Crespo	Spain	37,000	12
59	Aleksandrs Golubevs	Latvia	37,000	12
60	Nicola Dilluvio	Italy	35,000	11
61	Gil Preter	Israel	33,000	11
62	Turgay Akin	Turkey	32,500	10
63	Mergim Sulaj	Kosovo	30,000	10
64	Claudio Di Lorenzo	Italy	27,000	9
65	Alexandru Boboc	Romania	23,000	7
66	Andrii Khatsevych	Ukraine	22,000	7
67	John Persen	Norway	20,500	6
68	Giovanni Ruta	Italy	19,500	6
69	Francesco Berte	Italy	15,000	5
70	Dimitrios Tsouvalis	Greece	12,000	4

 

Wiktor Weiner Claims Second PLO Trophy of Week in €250 PLO 4/5 Card (€4,530)

Wiktor Weiner of Poland has had quite the week so far, as he bested 76 runners in the PLO 4/5 card to bank €4,530, securing his second PLO trophy of the festival, after he also tasted victory in the PLO Masters at the start of the festival.

Weiner defeated Itzhak Zenati of Portugal heads-up, while Andreas Vlachos of Greece was in bronze. The full results are as follows:-

Place	Name	Country	Prize
1	Wiktor Weiner	Poland	€4,530
2	Itzhak Zenati	Israel	€3,210
3	Andreas Vlachos	Greece	€2,100
4	Yarin Matan	Israel	€1,620
5	Aristeidis Markantonakis	Greece	€1,280
6	Jimmy Grenander	Sweden	€1,000
7	Gianluca Trancanella	Italy	€705
8	Patrick Lebenbauer	Austria	€705
9	Jan Wojtkielewicz	Poland	€460
10	Joseph Sweeney	Ireland	€410
11	Antoni Dzhelaliev	Bulgaria	€410

David Elliot Wins €200 NLH Casino Malta PokerHouse (€4,670)

A 146-runner field created a €23,331 prize pool, and Brit David Elliot came out on top, defeating Stanislav Genev heads-up. The top 20 players split the prize pool, with the details as follows:-

Place	Name	Country	Prize
1	David Elliott	England	€4,670
2	Stanislav Genev	Bulgaria	€3,700
3	Alan Plavljanic	Croatia	€3,550
4	Naor Slotzky	Israel	€2,070
5	Mindaugas Satkauskas	Lithuania	€1,670
6	James Walker	England	€1,310
7	Marco Bartolini	Italy	€980
8	Yena Park	South Korea	€720
9	Christos Neofytou	Cyprus	€540
10	Giuseppe Di Marco	Italy	€470
11	Dino Borovina	Croatia	€470
12	Aleksandro Todorovski	North Macedonia	€420
13	William Oestroem	Sweden	€420
14	Masut Tugluk Yibulayin	Turkey	€380
15	Milos Stojkovic	Serbia	€380
16	Mark Berman	USA	€340
17	Gabriele Santoro	Italy	€340
18	Joao Sobral	Portugal	€300
19	Miro Sankala	Finland	€300
20	Jens Schmidt	Denmark	€300

 

Battle of Malta 2026 Summer Edition Schedule – June 1 2026

Another huge day of events lies in store, with the Beer Poker Tour and Novibet Cuatro PKO tournaments the primary attractions in terms of side-events, while the €300 Bounty Hunter and €1,100 High Roller will play down to a winner.

The full schedule is below:-

Date	Time	Tournament	Buy-In	Stack	Levels	Late Registration
June 1	13:00	NLH Star Yes High Roller Final Day	€1000+€100	50,000	30 min	Reg closes at Level 12
June 1	14:00	netwin NLH Side Event Bounty	€110+€150+€40	30,000	30 min	Reg closes at Level 12
June 1	16:00	Beer Poker Tour NLH (BPT Bratislava Package + Drinks in the Pot)	€170+€30	30,000	20 min	Reg closes at Level 10
June 1	16:00	NLH BOM Let The Battle Begin – Day 3	—	—	60 min
June 1	17:00	Road to Battle of Slovakia Satellite	€40+€10	20,000	20 min	Reg closes at Level 10
June 1	18:00	Novibet Cuatro PKO Day 1	€200+€200+€50	40,000	30 min	Reg closes at end of Level 11
June 1	21:00	Hyper Turbo	€130+€20	15,000	10 min	Reg closes at Level 10

 

Our coverage will start in earnest from 4 p.m., and 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 remain in the hunt for Main Event glory, and who takes the High Roller and Bounty Hunter crowns.