October 31, 2023
Giuseppe Rosa has won the Battle of Malta Main Event for €200,340. The spectacular prize has come as an early birthday present for the Italian who turns 39 at the end of this month.
Rosa, who hails from Colle Val d’Elsa in Tuscany, beat a huge field of 2,592 entries to snag the best live cash of his career. He was only the second Italian to win the prestigious Battle of Malta title; the first was Nicodemo Piccolo who took down the very first Battle of Malta ten years ago.
The Spring edition of Battle of Malta was hosted by Casino Malta at InterContinental Conference Centre in St Julian’s. The huge turnout for the €555 buy-in Main Event meant the event easily smashed its €500,000 guarantee with the eventual prize pool reaching a massive €1,244,160.
Rosa entered the final table with the chip lead and was near the top of the chip counts throughout the final table before finally seizing victory after a back-and-forth battle with Stan van Dijk from the Netherlands. Rosa’s huge win was easily his biggest live cash and dwarfs his previous live tournament winnings which totalled $133,135. Van Dijk also scored a massive €140,000 cash for his runner-up finish; his tournament winnings before the event amounted to just $14,621.
The Spring edition of Battle of Malta, which ran April 20 to 26, featured a total of 25 tournaments and was the first time that the event has been held in the Spring. A second Battle of Malta festival is scheduled for October 4-12 – more info will be announced soon.
Among others who cashed in the Main Event were three players from the 2019 final table: Steven van Zadelhoff – who was runner-up in 2019, Josef Gulas from the Czech Republic and Malta’s Shaun De Cesare. Media influencer Dehlia de Jong from the Netherlands finished in 59th place for €2,240 – well ahead of her boyfriend Mateusz Moolhuizen who was 169th for €1,370. Others who cashed included 2018 BOM champion Julien Stropoli along with well-known British players Joe Grech, Kevin Houghton, Paul Jux-Holderness, Grosvenor Ambassador Jamie Nixon and Kerryjane Craigie who is head of poker at London’s famous Hippodrome Casino. Also in the money were French pros Jonathan Therme and Sarah Herzali, Unibet Ambassador David Lappin, Italian pros Cristiano Blanco and Alessandro Longobardi and Unibet Malta Ladies Champion Ann-Roos Callens.
In addition to the Main Event, Battle of Malta also featured numerous other tournaments – ranging from €65 buy-in turbo satellites right up to the DomusBet.it €1,100 High Roller. Italians accounted for by far the biggest percentage of players in the Main Event with 750 taking part, compared to 130 Israelis and 111 Maltese nationals.
GIUSEPPE ROSA WINS FIRST BATTLE OF MALTA OF 2022 FOR €200,340
