Every year since its inception the Battle of Malta has set a new record for biggest poker tournament held on Malta. This year it’s already leaving those past records in the dust – and it’s only in the second day.
Kicking off yesterday for the first time in the spectacular Eden Arena in the Hotel InterContinental, the 2018 Battle of Malta drew 451 players on Day 1A – a record for the first day of play. Today the number of entrants surpassed 1,400 – 1,404 to be exact – a record for biggest ever single day at the BoM. That means a couple of things:
- With 1,855 entries this is already the second biggest Battle of Malta ever.
- The Main Event has almost already topped its €1m guarantee.
- And we’ve still got two more starting flights to come. With Day 1c tomorrow set to be the biggest day of them all, it’s a given the 2018 Battle of Malta Main Event will smash all records.
- This year’s winner should walk away with nearly €250,000 which, for a €550 buy-in is, well, astounding.
The Battle of Malta has become a truly international affair and a “must-play” for poker players the world over.
As we saw in the gargantuan field today players from dozens of nations have converged on Malta this week. Players from as far away as the United States, Canada, China and Australia were in the field alongside dozens of nationalities from across Europe.
Emerging from that giant field with the Day 1B chip lead is Nikolajs Jalulins of the Netherlands with 683,000 chips.
Here’s the rest of the top 10:
1. Nikolajs Jalulins 683,000
2. Anders Jonsson 629,000
3. Anders Hagen 574,000
4. Avihai Benshoham 564,000
5. Joseph Portelli 514,000
6. Hendrik Koops 513,000
7. Andrew Hills 510,000
8. Johan Goslings 490,000
9. Giuseppe Spitale 459,000
10. Jerome Mangum 454,000
With a field that big and a reputation so strong (Battle of Malta won Best Low Buy-in Tournament at the 2015 European Poker Awards), it’s no surprise major talent both within and outside of poker have been drawn to the island.
Boris Becker Among A-Listers for Pink October Charity Event
While past years have seen dozens of top flight poker pros hit the tables 2018 has taken things to the next level with Finnish high-stakes poker legend Patrik Antonius here to play alongside German tennis icon Boris Becker.
The tennis Hall of Famer, who became the youngest ever Wimbledon champion at 17, played the Pink October Charity tournament tonight and nearly won it, finishing runner-up to Paul Jux-Holderness. Holderness won the first seat for the 2019 BoM Main Event while €20,000 was raised for charity.
Antonius jumped into the SnG alongside Becker when the first player busted but will again hit the tables in the BoM main event tomorrow.
Things Get Even Wilder Tomorrow!
As mentioned tomorrow’s Day 1C will be as crazy as we’ve ever seen here at BoM with up to 1,500 players expected. A turbo Day 1D is also on tap to pump the prize pool up even more.
Is a 3,500-entry field out of the question? We wouldn’t count it out.
Also still to come in the 6-day festival are 7 more side tournaments (including a Ladies Event), 2 player parties, ongoing cash game tables running alongside all the action in the Casino Malta and more impromptu social gatherings and bad beat stories than you can keep count of.
To follow along with the daily live stream, hand updates from the tables and more, check out BattleofMalta.com until Tuesday, Oct 30 when the 2018 Battle of Malta champion will be crowned!
Full chip counts after day 1B
(number of entries per player in parentheses)
| #1 | Jalulins Nikolajs | Latvia | 683,000 |
| #2 | Jonsson Anders Lars Ove | 629,000 | |
| #3 | Hagen Anders Flem | Norway | 574,000 |
| #4 | Benshoham Avihai Hai | Israel | 564,000 |
| #5 | Portelli Joseph | Malta | 514,000 |
| #6 | Koops Hendrik Sierd Christiaan | Netherlands | 513,000 |
| #7 | Hills Andrew Christopher | United Kingdom | 510,000 |
| #1 | Koops Alexander Klass Mathias | Netherlands | 497,000 |
| #8 | Goslings Johan | Netherlands | 490,000 |
| #2 | D’alterio Luigi | Italy | 461,000 |
| #9 | Spitale Guiseppe | Italy | 459,000 |
| #3 | Privitera Fabrizio | Italy | 454,000 |
| #10 | Mangum Jerome Steven | 454,000 | |
| #11 | Chmura Dawid | Poland | 452,000 |
| #12 | Laprik Sander | Estonia | 452,000 |
| #4 | Zegal Stanislav | Germany | 434,000 |
| #13 | Forsland Raymond Sevje | Norway | 415,000 |
| #14 | Wozniak Mr Michal | Poland | 411,000 |
| #15 | Diaz Rojo Alberto | Spain | 401,000 |
| #5 | Amar Nir | Italy | 362,000 |
| #16 | Siciliano Marco | 361,000 | |
| #17 | Allsalu Taavi | Estonia | 348,000 |
| #6 | Sele Per Steinar | Norway | 339,000 |
| #18 | Zo Eretz Moshe | Israel | 333,000 |
| #7 | Terziani Stefano | Italy | 330,000 |
| #19 | Gunnarsson Bjorn Patrik | Sweden | 327,000 |
| #20 | Skolem Kristoffer | 325,000 | |
| #21 | Aspestrand Kenneth | Norway | 322,000 |
| #22 | Preter Gil | Israel | 314,000 |
| #8 | Ben Shlomo Yaakov | Israel | 313,000 |
| #23 | Pontos Panteleimon | Greece | 311,000 |
| #9 | Fredrik Ellingsson Karl | Sweden | 310,000 |
| #10 | Pierreyves Jean Francis Joubert | France | 306,000 |
| #24 | Arizon Din | Israel | 302,000 |
| #25 | Boeller Line | Switzerland | 299,000 |
| #11 | Cutri’ Luciano | Italy | 285,000 |
| #12 | Neukirch Jonas | Germany | 279,000 |
| #13 | Hudson Thomas James | England | 276,000 |
| #26 | Vist Carmen-Elina | Estonia | 274,000 |
| #27 | Guzman Pons Javier | Spain | 273,000 |
| #28 | Hoyesveen Daniel Andre | Norway | 270,000 |
| #14 | Stanevicius Auris | Lithuania | 269,000 |
| #29 | Sidoti Santo | Italy | 267,000 |
| #30 | Mjagkov Andrei | Estonia | 266,000 |
| #15 | Jukka-Pekka Peltoniemi | Finland | 264,000 |
| #31 | Hallay Axel Leopold Baldie | France | 258,000 |
| #32 | Shtayerman Noam | Israel | 256,000 |
| #33 | Austli Lars Erik | Norway | 254,000 |
| #34 | Goncalves De Brito Joao Manuel | Portugal | 254,000 |
| #35 | Regalbuto Sergio Vincenzo | Italy | 253,000 |
| #36 | Salvatore Motta | Italy | 251,000 |
| #37 | Perez Daniel Cervan | Spain | 250,000 |
| #38 | Falar Michal | Czech Republic | 249,000 |
| #39 | Foli Mix Michael | Denmark | 247,000 |
| #16 | Romano Maurizio | Italy | 242,000 |
| #40 | Zakod Daniel Yair | Israel | 242,000 |
| #41 | Glaner Przemyslaw | Poland | 238,000 |
| #42 | Giuliano Giovanni | Italy | 236,000 |
| #43 | Hurwitz Ben | Israel | 236,000 |
| #44 | Szabo Levente | 236,000 | |
| #45 | Moolhuizen Mateusz | Finland | 235,000 |
| #46 | Aline Sylvie Israel Jenny | 230,000 | |
| #47 | Gardner Anthony Derek | England | 230,000 |
| #48 | Gruszczynski Sebastian Adam | Poland | 226,000 |
| #49 | Mueller Peter | Germany | 225,000 |
| #50 | Dypvik Boerge | Norway | 220,000 |
| #51 | Sateroy Linn Katrin | Norway | 220,000 |
| #17 | Nicolas Yan Proust | France | 218,000 |
| #52 | Pizzuti Stefano | Italy | 218,000 |
| #18 | Lappas Charalampos | Greece | 217,000 |
| #53 | Mika Ramunas | Lithuania | 214,000 |
| #54 | Givony Tom | Israel | 213,000 |
| #55 | Castelluccio Sergio | Italy | 211,000 |
| #56 | Grochulski Grzegorz | Poland | 210,000 |
| #57 | Salvador Jaime Sanchez | Spain | 209,000 |
| #58 | Toninello Alessandro | Italy | 204,000 |
| #59 | Harestad Elisabeth Debora | Norway | 203,000 |
| #60 | Hansson Skommar Andreas | Sweden | 200,000 |
| #61 | Limonova Kelly | Estonia | 200,000 |
| #19 | Evans Lena Ngoc | 198,000 | |
| #62 | D’urso Salvatrice | Italy | 197,000 |
| #63 | Kuszczak Piotr Aleksander | Poland | 195,000 |
| #64 | Or-Paz Deddi | Israel | 194,000 |
| #65 | Shizaff Or | Israel | 192,000 |
| #66 | Grella Enrico | Italy | 191,000 |
| #67 | Bonnardot Benjamin Raymond | France | 191,000 |
| #20 | Richnau Alexander Robin Erik | Sweden | 190,000 |
| #68 | Inerud Jan Christopher | Sweden | 189,000 |
| #69 | Grasso Daniele | Italy | 187,000 |
| #70 | Censabella Angelo Gaetano | Italy | 183,000 |
| #71 | Giordano Alessandro | Italy | 183,000 |
| #72 | Glushcenko Nikolaso | Israel | 180,000 |
| #73 | Jean Rousset Pascal | France | 178,000 |
| #74 | Nseir George | Israel | 177,000 |
| #21 | Meller Guy | Germany | 176,000 |
| #75 | Gdaniec Konrad | 176,000 | |
| #76 | Gokcek Ant | Turkey | 176,000 |
| #77 | Kyriazi Grigoris | Cyprus | 176,000 |
| #78 | Flosvik Arild | Norway | 172,000 |
| #79 | Vikhtiuk Oleksandr | Ukraine | 172,000 |
| #80 | Haverkamp Ronald | Ireland | 171,000 |
| #81 | Banchi Massimo | Italy | 170,000 |
| #82 | Johansen Jan Einar | Norway | 170,000 |
| #83 | Fixmer Alexandros | Greece | 168,000 |
| #84 | Talon Alberto | Italy | 168,000 |
| #85 | Lieber Moshe | Israel | 165,000 |
| #22 | Kambov Viktor Vasilev | Bulgaria | 164,000 |
| #86 | Ghareeb Asjor | Sweden | 162,000 |
| #87 | Mcgeorge James Arthur | England | 162,000 |
| #88 | Fernando Pons Garcia | 161,000 | |
| #23 | Adam Milewski | Poland | 157,000 |
| #89 | Varanavicius Marius | Lithuania | 157,000 |
| #24 | Benta Sebastian | 155,000 | |
| #90 | Moyal Eliyahu | Israel | 155,000 |
| #25 | Samuele Lo Presti | Italy | 154,000 |
| #91 | Rafal Maciej Nikiel | Poland | 153,000 |
| #26 | Rafal Skrzypnik | Poland | 152,000 |
| #92 | Clinkscales Rex David | United States | 152,000 |
| #93 | Wartanian Vatche Pierre | Sweden | 151,000 |
| #94 | Dovzhenko Gali Galia | Israel | 150,000 |
| #95 | Falk Patrik | Sweden | 150,000 |
| #96 | Hernandez Christian Sargues | Spain | 146,000 |
| #97 | Aleo Giovanni | Italy | 145,000 |
| #98 | Christou Polys . | Cyprus | 142,000 |
| #27 | Even Soensterudbraaten | Norway | 141,000 |
| #28 | Fenech Philip | 141,000 | |
| #29 | Sammut Clint | Malta | 140,000 |
| #30 | Valter Proia | Italy | 140,000 |
| #99 | Geruzzi Vito | Italy | 140,000 |
| #31 | Geci Endrit | England | 138,000 |
| #100 | Gilbda Uri | Israel | 138,000 |
| #101 | Oncins Lluis Valis | Spain | 136,000 |
| #102 | Grujic Marko | Serbia | 134,000 |
| #32 | Lovelock Colin Eric | United Kingdom | 133,000 |
| #103 | Malinski Elad | Israel | 133,000 |
| #104 | Radgen Marc Martin | Germany | 133,000 |
| #105 | Ben Avi Yaron | Israel | 132,000 |
| #106 | Shehadeh Fares | Italy | 131,000 |
| #33 | Ghosh Kingshuk | United Kingdom | 130,000 |
| #107 | Hugo Marlon Charles Vasilda | Netherlands | 130,000 |
| #108 | La Grutta Marco | Italy | 130,000 |
| #34 | Filatov Mikhail | Czech Republic | 129,000 |
| #35 | Castillo Antonio Maria Iniesta | Spain | 129,000 |
| #36 | Sahlstroem Robert Marcus Martin | Malta | 129,000 |
| #109 | Caradonna Consuelo Giuseppe | Italy | 129,000 |
| #37 | Mazet Florence Yvette Suzanne | France | 128,000 |
| #110 | Ahuja Ankit | India | 126,000 |
| #111 | Piton Maciej | Poland | 126,000 |
| #38 | Netzer Shai | 125,000 | |
| #39 | Guarnuto Dario | Italy | 124,000 |
| #40 | Verrina Carmine | Italy | 124,000 |
| #112 | Almog Haviv | Israel | 124,000 |
| #41 | Puchol Vina Alvaro Fernando | Spain | 123,000 |
| #113 | Hentunen Mr Risto | Finland | 123,000 |
| #114 | Johansson Erik Martin | Sweden | 123,000 |
| #115 | Weiss Shahar Israel | Israel | 122,000 |
| #116 | Padfield Matthew Terrance | England | 121,000 |
| #42 | Kitsios Georgios | Greece | 119,000 |
| #117 | Canevet Maxime Thien-Duc | 118,000 | |
| #43 | Mr Cezar Iustinian Laurentiu | Romania | 117,000 |
| #118 | Godelis Egidijus | Lithuania | 117,000 |
| #119 | Racinskas Martynas | Lithuania | 117,000 |
| #120 | Onorato Angelo | Italy | 115,000 |
| #44 | Baccassino Mattia | Italy | 113,000 |
| #121 | Luciano Capossela | Italy | 113,000 |
| #45 | Bahar Yitshak Zah | 112,000 | |
| #122 | Loane Stephen | England | 112,000 |
| #123 | Jimenez Vela Luis Rafael Jose | Spain | 111,000 |
| #124 | Ariel Bitton Cfir | Israel | 110,000 |
| #125 | Johnson Paul Stephen | United Kingdom | 109,000 |
| #126 | Nocerino Alessandro | Italy | 108,000 |
| #127 | Dempsey Shane | 106,000 | |
| #128 | Dosa Laszlo | Hungary | 105,000 |
| #129 | Andrzejewski Marcin | Poland | 105,000 |
| #130 | Travaglia Vincenzo | Italy | 105,000 |
| #131 | De Jong Dehlia Diana | 104,000 | |
| #132 | Hay Yizhaq | Israel | 103,000 |
| #133 | Nietrzebka Daniel Seweryn | Poland | 103,000 |
| #134 | Ricciardi Gaetano | Italy | 103,000 |
| #46 | Guimond Florin Nico | France | 102,000 |
| #135 | Ross Shane Jan | United Kingdom | 101,000 |
| #136 | Samoon Yakov | Israel | 101,000 |
| #47 | Caplau Joanny | France | 100,000 |
| #137 | Naylor Thomas Daniel | British Virgin Islands | 99,000 |
| #138 | Isaksen Lars Erik | 97,000 | |
| #139 | Hochstrasser Karl Heinz Rene | Switzerland | 97,000 |
| #140 | Piskunovas Vasilijus | Lithuania | 96,000 |
| #141 | Foskolos Evangelos | Greece | 94,000 |
| #48 | Aki Paveli Vartinen | Finland | 93,000 |
| #49 | Stropoli Julien | France | 93,000 |
| #142 | Sieber Stepha | Germany | 93,000 |
| #143 | Strengen Erling Wiig | Norway | 93,000 |
| #144 | Obrero Barbarroja Juan Jose | Spain | 92,000 |
| #145 | Rochberger Yotam | Israel | 92,000 |
| #146 | Tamsot Toram | Israel | 92,000 |
| #50 | Formica Salvatore | Italy | 91,000 |
| #147 | Forster Marco | Switzerland | 90,000 |
| #148 | Vasileva Pavlova Tsvetelina | 89,000 | |
| #149 | Ehman Meelis | Estonia | 87,000 |
| #150 | Di Mise Michele | 85,000 | |
| #151 | Gia Gunilla Ann-Sophie Carnestroem | Sweden | 85,000 |
| #152 | Nakash Shmuel | Israel | 85,000 |
| #153 | Nizar Abu Daoud | Israel | 84,000 |
| #51 | Riskevicius Vytautas | Lithuania | 82,000 |
| #154 | Celmins Matiss | Latvia | 81,000 |
| #155 | Hendler Eran | Israel | 81,000 |
| #156 | Ondrus Ondrus | Slovakia | 81,000 |
| #157 | Barclay Christopher Donald H | United Kingdom | 80,000 |
| #158 | Leotta Antonino | Italy | 80,000 |
| #159 | Yosifov Borislav | Bulgaria | 80,000 |
| #160 | Hanna Catherine | France | 79,000 |
| #161 | Cosic Marco | Serbia | 79,000 |
| #52 | Toledo Rafael | Malta | 78,000 |
| #162 | Difelice Andre | Canada | 78,000 |
| #163 | Canali Roberto | Italy | 77,000 |
| #164 | Capostagno Luca Giuseppe Sante | Italy | 77,000 |
| #165 | Di Toro Fabrice Jean Michel | France | 76,000 |
| #166 | Olali Martin Paul | Ireland | 73,000 |
| #167 | Dursel Igor Thomas | Belgium | 72,000 |
| #168 | Gatti Cristiano | Italy | 72,000 |
| #53 | Stachyra Artur Piotr | 71,000 | |
| #169 | Napolitano Emanuele | Italy | 71,000 |
| #170 | Elias Sergio Olof Sjoestroem | Sweden | 70,000 |
| #54 | Appleyard James | England | 69,000 |
| #171 | Duarte De Miranda Marques Maria Margarida | Portugal | 69,000 |
| #172 | Dahan Moshe | Israel | 68,000 |
| #173 | Fresher Omri | Israel | 68,000 |
| #174 | Pecheux Erwann Michel | France | 68,000 |
| #175 | Lerbrekk Ove | Norway | 67,000 |
| #176 | Maar Reigo | Estonia | 67,000 |
| #55 | Comesana Pedro Vidal | Spain | 66,000 |
| #177 | Guilbert Johan Francois | 66,000 | |
| #178 | Wakuluk Pawel Krzysztof | Poland | 66,000 |
| #179 | Donev Ivo | Austria | 64,000 |
| #56 | Gabriele Re | Italy | 63,000 |
| #180 | Ivanou Aliaksei | Belarus | 63,000 |
| #57 | Scalia Marco Paolo | Italy | 60,000 |
| #58 | Zapf Manuel | Germany | 59,000 |
| #59 | Ioannou Ioannis | Cyprus | 58,000 |
| #181 | Ciompi Alessandro | Italy | 58,000 |
| #182 | Lind Thomas Erik | Sweden | 58,000 |
| #183 | Kerkeni Mohamed | France | 57,000 |
| #184 | O’carrol Julia Annette | Ireland | 57,000 |
| #60 | Hosia Akseli Veli Johannes | 55,000 | |
| #185 | Brunet Manquat Clement | Malta | 54,000 |
| #186 | Sakhno Oleksandr | Italy | 54,000 |
| #187 | Gianluca Bernardini Benvenuto | Italy | 53,000 |
| #188 | Peters Erik Gerardus | Netherlands | 50,000 |
| #61 | Jorstad Espen Uhlen | Malta | 49,000 |
| #189 | Aleo Massimo | Italy | 49,000 |
| #190 | John Thornton Stephen | England | 48,000 |
| #191 | Carmi Eran Dov | Israel | 47,000 |
| #192 | Cerny Jan | Czech Republic | 47,000 |
| #193 | Naranjo Adrian Almagro | Spain | 47,000 |
| #62 | Broden Jonas Gunnar | Sweden | 46,000 |
| #194 | Mezei Antal | Hungary | 46,000 |
| #195 | Savio Damir | Italy | 45,000 |
| #196 | Soffrin Uri | Israel | 45,000 |
| #63 | Ho Ting | United States | 44,000 |
| #64 | Della Ventura Sergio Domenico | Italy | 40,000 |
| #197 | Lindholm Samuel | 40,000 | |
| #65 | Kasten Per Thorben | 39,000 | |
| #198 | Smith Vincent Patrick | United Kingdom | 38,000 |
| #199 | Dudek Waclaw Tomasz | Poland | 37,000 |
| #200 | Korhonen Niko Johannes | Finland | 37,000 |
| #66 | Cormack Francis Harold | Ireland | 34,000 |
| #201 | Emmanouil-Iason Tsourunaskis-Andrnikakis | Greece | 34,000 |
| #202 | Iacopetta Enrico | Romania | 34,000 |
| #203 | Ofer Herzel Makov | Israel | 34,000 |
| #204 | Destino Emanuele | Italy | 33,000 |
| #205 | Voisnis Aleksandras | Lithuania | 32,000 |
| #206 | Yantsevich Valery | Belarus | 31,000 |
| #207 | Di Salvo Giulio | Italy | 28,000 |
| #67 | Vadenbring Nils Gustav | Malta | 27,000 |
| #208 | Fierli Pietro | Italy | 27,000 |
| #209 | Montone Michele | Italy | 26,000 |
| #68 | Penney Steven John | England | 25,000 |
| #210 | Maiorana Rocco | Italy | 25,000 |
| #211 | Aanestad Trond | Norway | 16,000 |
