Day 4

Level 35: 200,000/400,000 (400,000)
Entries: 8/3,342

The unofficial final table of nine didn’t last very long tonight as just a few hands in, Gerald Gradwohl shoved early and Szymon Kuczerski reshoved more from the middle. It was a classic race between pocket queens for Kuczerski and ace-king for Gradwohl. The board of 4♥T♥2♣9♣J♣ ran clean for the queens and Gradwohl hit the cage for 9th place money as the final elimination of Day 4.

Gerald Gradwohl – 0
Szymon Kuczerski – 9,200,000

Gerald Gradwohl

Level 35: 200,000/400,000 (400,000)
Entries: 9/3,342

The unofficial final table has been set after Ivan Picavet lost his stack to Raoul van Wersch as follows. Picavet jammed for about 10 big blinds from the small blind and was called by van Wersch from the big blind.

Ivan Picavet: AXTX
Raoul van Wersch: 5X5X

The board ran dry for Picavet and his impressive run in the Main Event ended in 10th place.

Ivan Picavet

Level 35: 200,000/400,000 (400,000)
Entries: 10/3,342

Daniele Grasso jammed a short stack from the small blind and was called Marko Luksa.

Marko Luksa: AX8X
Daniele Grasso: K♣2♣

A king came on the flop and that is all it took for Grasso to claim Luksa’s stack to eliminate him in 11th place.

Daniele Grasso – 9 million
Marko Luksa – 0

Marko Luksa eliminated in 11th place

Level 34: 150,000/300,000 (300,000)
Entries: 11/3,432

Level 34 is winding down now and in one of the final hands of the level, Raoul Van Wersch raised the cutoff to 600,000 and got a call from big blind Gabriele Re, Action checked through the 3♠T♦4♠T♥ flop and turn, but Re fired out 2,150,000 on the T♠ river. Van Wersch hit the tank for more than a minute then said “I’m a nit” before putting in the flat call.

Both players hit the riverboat with the tripped tens on board, but Van Wersch was way ahead with pocket aces for tens full of aces over Re’s tens full of nines.

Raoul Van Wersch

Level 34: 150,000/300,000 (300,000)
Entries: 11/3,432

Raoul Van Wersch just chipped up a bit more in another blind-on-blind hand against Xavier Zuczkowski. Van Wersch raised the small blind to 775,000 and got a call from Zuczkowski in the big. Van Wersch fired 450,000 on the Q♦3♦8♥ flop and got the call to see 6♠ on the turn.

Van Wersch checked this time, calling after Zuczkowski bet 2,100,000. Both players checked the 6♥ river and Zuczkowski mucked after Van Wersch rolled over 8♦2♦ for a pair of eights and the busted flush draw.

Xavier Zuczkowski – 8,000,000
Raoul Van Wersch – 15,800,000

Raoul Van Wersch

Level 34: 150,000/300,000 (300,000)
Entries: 11/3,432

It was blind on blind when Raoul Van Wersch shoved the small blind and Xavier Zuczkowski called from the big to put Van Wersch at risk. Van Wersch needed help with ace-five into ace-ten, but he found it on the flop of the 5♦K♥Q♣4♦9♣ board to hold for the double with a pair of fives.

Xavier Zuczkowski – 10,000,000
Raoul Van Wersch – 11,400,000

Raoul van Wersch

The final 11 players are on a 20-minute break. Blinds will increase to 150,000/300,000 with a 300,000 big blind ante when the action resumes.

Level 33: 100,000/250,000 (250,000)
Entries: 12/3,432

Marko Luksa just got a double as the end of Level 33 nears. Herli Olap raised the cutoff to 500k, then called off when Luksa shoved from the blinds. It was a race between the sevens of Olop and queen-jack for Luksa, and Luksa smashed it on a board of 4♥3♥Q♦J♠3♣ for two pair to stay alive.

Marko Luksa – 6,100,000
Herli Olop – 7,600,000

Marko Luksa

Level 33: 100,000/250,000 (250,000)
Entries: 11/3,432

Gabriele Re was displaying some aggression before he slowed it down with a limp from the small blind. Dawid Szopinski jammed for 10 big blinds from the small blind and Re called.

Dawid Szopinski: A♦6♥
Gabriele Re: Q♣Q♠

Szopinski had tons of outs on the 3♦K♦J♦ flop with a flush draw and overcard but bricked the 2♥ turn and J♥ river to hit the rail in 12th place.

Gabriele Re – 21 million
Dawid Szopinski – 0

Dawid Szopinski eliminated in 12th place

Level 33: 100,000/250,000 (250,000)
Entries: 12/3,432

Marko Luksa raised from the cutoff to 500,000 and Gabriele Re called from the big blind. The flop was 5♦6♦9♠ and Re check-called for 575,000. The J♣ turn was the same check-call action, this time for 1,550,000 and when the river paired J♠ and Re checked again, he faced down a bet of 3,500,000.

Re hit the tank for a bit, and looked to be going over the action in his head as he tried to make his decision. He finally put in the call and was rewarded as his 9♥3♥ was ahead of the busted straight draw for Luksa with Q♣T♥.

Marko Luksa – 4,100,000
Gabriele Re – 21,000,000

Gabriele Re

Level 33: 100,000/250,000 (250,000)
Entries: 12/3,432

Xavier Zuczkowski jammed the button before Renato Ribeira called off for around 15 big blinds from the small blind.

Renato Ribeira: A♥Q♠
Xavier Zuczkowski: 3♦3♣

Ribeira shook his head in frustration after a three was out of the window on the A♦5♠3♠ flop. The 8♠ turn gave some hope for a potential flush but the blank J♥ river completed the action and Ribeira was eliminated in 13th place.

Xavier Zuczkowski – 18 million
Renato Ribeira – 0

Renato Ribeiro eliminated in 13th place

Level 32: 100,000/200,000 (200,000)
Entries: 13/3,432

Pierluigi Melli shoved the small blind and Raoul Van Wersch called off from the big with more to put Melli at risk. Melli had the best of it with king-ten against queen-jack but Van Wersch flopped open-ended while Melli hit two pair, and Van Wersch got there on the river with the bottom end of his straight draw.

Pierluigi Melli – 0
Raoul Van Wersch – 11,500,000

Level 32: 100,000/200,000 (200,000)
Entries: 14/3,432

Joshua Stewart was down to a handful of big blinds when he jammed them in from early position. Renato Ribeiro three-bet shoved from the cutoff for 3.5 million and the rest of the table folded.

Joshua Stewart: A♣9♥
Renato Ribeiro: A♦K♥

Stewart was nearly dead out of the gate after his opponent’s king connected with the Q♦K♦8♣ flop. The 3♣ turn and [tts] river didn’t help and Stewart was eliminated in 15th place.

Joshua Stewart eliminated in 15th place

Level 32: 100,000/200,000 (200,000)
Entries: 15/3,432

It was all in before the flop blind on blind with Mitchell Hynam at risk but holding the best hand with ace-jack against queen-jack for Szymon Kuczerski. Re spiked a queen on the flop and another on the turn on the board of T♥8♦Q♣Q♥T♣ and ended up rivering the boat to send Hynam to the rail in 16th place.

Meanwhile, on the other table, Christoph de Meulder lost a cooler to Rafael Ribeiro when Ribeiro four-bet shoved and got the call. Ribeiro had kings against the queens of de Meulder and the kings held to double Ribeiro up.

Szymon Kuczerski – 13,000,000
Mitchell Hynam – 0
Rafael Ribeiro – 4,000,000
Christoph de Meulder – 12,500,000

Mitchell Hynam

Level 32: 100,000/200,000 (200,000)
Entries: 16/3,432

Ivan Picavet jammed for about a dozen big blinds from the small blind and was called by Giuseppe Dedoni from the big blind for slightly less.

Giuseppe Dedoni: Q♦T♦
Ivan Picavet: K♠4♦

Picavet won the hand with a full house after Dedoni bricked the 4♥9♣5♣5♥5♦ board to leave just 16 players remaining.

Ivan Picavet – 4.5 million
Giuseppe Dedoni – 0

Giuseppe Dedoni eliminated in 17th place

Level 32: 100,000/200,000 (200,000)
Entries: 17/3,432

The board was already out reading Q♣3♣2♥6♠J♥ and after a check from Gabriele Re, Alex Iannello grabbed his full stack and moved forward to make a bet. He made no verbal announcement, but with his whole stack moving forward, the dealer announced all in and tossed the triangle in front of Iannello. Re made a quick call, but Iannello complained that he hadn’t intended to go all in.

The floor was called, and after a lengthy consultation with the dealer and several floor staff, the ruling was made that forward motion with the full stack was a defacto all-in move and so Iannello’s chips were committed to the pot. The cards were flipped and his king-jack for a rivered pair of jacks was behind the flopped pair of queens with queen-ten for Re and Iannello hit the rail in 18th place.

Alex Iannello – 0
Gabriele Re – 13,000,000

Alex Iannello

Level 32: 100,000/200,000 (200,000)
Entries: 18/3,432

Florent Colin jammed for less than ten big blinds and was called by Xavier Zuczkowski.

Florent Colin: A♠6♣
Xavier Zuczkowski: A♣K♦

Colin didn’t get a big enough pair on the 6♠3♣J♥K♣7♦ runout and was on the rail in 19th place.

Xavier Zuczkowski – 10 million
Florent Colin – 0

Florent Colin eliminated in 19th place

Level 32: 100,000/200,000 (200,000)
Entries: 19/3,432

Mitchell Hynam got his 2.475 million stack in the middle from the button and was up against Dawid Szopinski from the hijack.

Mitchell Hynam: Q♦Q♠
Dawid Szopinski: 7♠7♦

Hynam’s ladies held strong and he doubled his stack after the J♠4♥4♣T♦2♣ ran out on the board.

Michell Hynam – 5.2 million
Dawid Szopinski – 1.6 millin

Mitchell Hynam

Players are on a 20-minute break during which time there will be a chip race for the 5,000-denominated chips. The blinds will be 100,000/200,000 with a 200,000 big blind ante when the action resumes.

We will update all of the chip counts during the break.

Level 31: 100,000/150,000 (150,000)
Entries: 19/3,432

Gerald Gradwohl shoved from the hijack, and Szymon Kuczerski called from the big blind. Initially, it looked like Gradwohl was in rough shape with a dominated queen, but the board ran out to four spades and he had the king of spades versus the queen for Kuczerski. As he collected his chips, he stroked his snail card protector to thank it for the good luck.

Gerald Gradwohl – 4,250,000
Szymon Kuczerski – 4,300,000

Gerald Gradwohl

Level 31: 100,000/150,000 (150,000)
Entries: 19/3,432

Xavier Zuczkowski jammed from the small blind and Joshua Stewart snapped him off. Zuczkowski had six-nine offsuit but ran into the ace-king for Stewart. The board ran out 2♠8♦2♣4♣2♥ and the ace-king held to give Stewart another double putting him at more than 2 million now, after being nearly felted with barely a blind and ante remaining.

Joshua Stewart – 2,300,000
Xavier Zuczkowski – 7,000,000

Level 31: 100,000/150,000 (150,000)
Entries: 19/3,432

Mitchell Hyman got his stack of more than 4 million in from the button and was up against Florent Colin from the cutoff for his stack of 2.4 million.

Florent Colin: A♠K♠
Mitchell Hyman: K♥J♦

Colin doubled his stack after staying ahead on the A♥2♦6♥T♣J♥ board.

Around the same time, Max Wielander hit the rail at another table.

Florent Colin – 5 million
Mitchell Hyman – 2.1 million
Max Wielander – 0

Florent Colin

Level 31: 100,000/150,000 (150,000)
Entries: 20/3,432

Daniele Grasso jammed for 1.1 million. Giuseppe Dedoni came in for much more from the button and the rest of the table folded.

Daniele Grasso: 6♦6♥
Giusppe Dedoni: J♣J♦

Grasso was in for a world of hurt. That is until he flopped a set on the 5♠4♦6♠ flop. He doubled up after Dedoni didn’t push past a set with the 2♥ turn and 9♦ river completing the board.

Giuseppe Dedoni – 3 million
Daniele Grasso – 2.5 million

Level 31: 100,000/150,000 (150,000)
Entries: 20/3,432

Xavier Zuczkowski jammed his big stack from the button. Joshua Stewart folded his short stack from the small blind. However, Panayiotis Patsalides found a call from the big blind.

Panaytiotis Patsalidis: A♠9♣
Xavier Zuczkowski: K♦T♦

Zuczkowski improved to two pair on the K♠T♥3♣J♥4♦ board to eliminate Patsalidis in 21st place.

Xavier Zuczkowski – 9 million
Panaytiotis Patsalidis – 0

Xavier Zuczkowski

Level 31: 100,000/150,000 (150,000)
Entries: 21/3,432

On the main feature table, Joshua Stewart was down to about 300k, barely enough to cover big blind and ante but he managed to find a double under the gun when he shoved J♠T♥ and Florent Colin was priced in to call from the big blind with any two. He had 4♥3♦ and couldn’t find his cards, sending a double to Stewart. Stewart also picked up another pot of blinds and antes to bring him up to about 1 million.

On another table, Herli Olop shoved the cutoff and got a call Dawid Szopinski on the button. Orlap was dominated with K♦T♦ against king-queen offsuit, but Olop found his diamonds on the 4♥5♦6♦4♦ board to stay alive.

Florent Colin – 1,400,000
Joshua Stewart – 1,000,000
Herli Olop – 3,000,000

Level 31: 100,000/150,000 (150,000)
Entries: 21/3,432

Joshua Stewart called off most of his stack in good shape with A♠K♦ against Szymon Kuczerski, who jammed for 1.7 million with A♥T♣.

Kuczerski did a premature fist pump after improving to two pair on the A♣8♦T♠ flop. There was more reason for him to celebrate after he delivered a painful bad beat to Stewart after the 5♣ turn and Q♠ river completed the board.

Szymon Kuczerski – 4 million
Joshua Stewart – 1 million

Szymon Kuczerski

Level 31: 100,000/150,000 (150,000)
Entries: 21/3,432

Raoul van Wersch just won a pot with queens against Alberto Cigliano and was back it again a hand or two later. Samuel Tebege jammed for about 10 big blinds from the small blind. Van Wersch asked for a count before he called.

Samuel Tebege: 8♣6♣
Raoul van Wersch: A♦2♦

The 3♥3♣7♠J♥7♦ double-paired board wasn’t what Tebege needed to see and he hit the rail in 23rd place. Meanwhile, Sabatino Chiappetta also exited the tournament shortly after to leave just 21 players remaining.

Raoul van Wersch – 10 million
Samuel Tebege – 0

Samuel Tebege eliminated in 23rd place

Level 30: 60,000/120,000 (120,000)
Entries: 23/3,432

It was blind on blind when Florent Colin shoved the small blind with the big stack, and Gerald Gradwohl called from the big blind at risk. He was best with ace-nine into king-seven for Colin, and the ace held on a board of 4♠J♥2♣T♣8♠.

Gerald Gradwohl – 2,000,000
Florent Colin – 2,100,000

Florent Colin

Level 30: 60,000/120,000 (120,000)
Entries: 23/3,432

Alex Iannello bet most of his stack with a bet of 1.3 million into a pot of nearly 2 million on the 5♠4♥7♣ flop. Alberto Cigliano put him in for the rest and the cards were turned over.

Alex Iannello: A♥5♥
Alberto Cigliano: A♣K♣

Iannello celebrated after he doubled his stack with the T♥ turn and 7♠ river completing the board.

Albert Cigliano – 12 million
Alex Iannelo – 5.5 million

Level 30: 60,000/120,000 (120,000)
Entries: 23/3,432

Alan Vinnicombe jammed his short stack with AXTX from the cutoff and was called by Xavier Zuczkowski from the big blind with A♠J♣.

Zuczkowski dominating hand held to send Vinnicombe to the showers after the Q♠2♥5♦Q♣8♣ ran out on the board to leave just 23 players remaining.

Xavier Zuczkowski – 10 million
Alan Vinnicombe – 0

Xavier Zuczkowski

Level 30: 60,000/120,000 (120,000)
Entries: 24/3,432

Renato Ribeira opened for 245,000 from the cutoff before Christophe de Meulder three-bet jammed the button for 1,700,000. Ribeira asked for a count before calling shortly after.

Christophe de Meulder: K♠T♠
Renato Ribeira: 8♠8♥

De Meulder won the flip after connecting with his ten on the J♣T♥9♣4♦2♥ runout.

Renato Ribeira – 4 million
Christophe de Meulder – 3.5 million

Level 30: 60,000/120,000 (120,000)
Entries: 24/3,432

After a raise and a call from the hijack and cutoff, Marco Perra shoved from the button. That pushed off hijack Raoul Van Wersch but big stack Alberto Cigliano called off.

Cigliano had the best of it with jacks over nines, but Perra flopped a flush draw on the all-club flop before Cigliano turned a set of jacks. The river was actually a club to complete Perra’s club flush with the 9♣ but it was the J♣ that gave Cigliano quads and sent Perra to the rail in 26th place.

Marco Perra – 0
Alberto Cigliano – 13,000,000

Marco Perra

Level 30: 60,000/120,000 (120,000)
Entries: 25/3,432

Szymon Kuczerski jammed for about 10 big blinds from the small blind and was called by Alan Vinnicombe from the big blind.

Szymon Kuczerski: Q♥2♥
Alan Vinnicombe: A♥T♠

Kuczerski celebrated after he improved to a straight on the 5♥A♠4♦3♣T♣ board, while Vinnicombe seemed less than pleased that despite improving to two pair, he didn’t beat a straight.

Szymon Kuczerski – 2.5 million
Alan Vinnicombe – 0.5 million

Szymon Kuczerski

Level 30: 60,000/120,000 (120,000)
Entries: 25/3,432

Enrico Grella jammed from the small blind for his short stack and was called by fellow short-stacked player Panayiotis Patsalides.

Enrico Grella: J♥T♥
Panayiotis Patsaides: K♣9♠

Grella was unable to improve on the 4♠7♥7♣8♥K♣ board and was eliminated by Patsaides in 26th place.

Panayiotis Patsaides – 1.5 million
Enrico Grella – 0

Enrico Grella eliminated in 26th place

Level 30: 60,000/120,000 (120,000)
Entries: 26/3,432

After a raise from Marko Luksa in the hijack, Giuseppe Dedoni shoved all in from the big blind. His ace-nine of diamonds was dominated by the ace-queen of clubs for Luksa, bur Dedoni found diamonds on the K♦4♦4♥K♣J♦ board to double up and stay alive. That put him at a bit more than 3 million now.

Shortly after that on another table, Xavier Zuczkowski got his stack in against Enrico Grella with aces into ace-king. Zuczkowski spiked an ace on the flop and held with the set to grab a double leaving Grella very short.

Level 30: 60,000/120,000 (120,000)
Entries: 26/3,432

There was fireworks straight off the bat after Pavle Pecelj, who came in as the short stack, jammed his stack of 680,000 on the first hand of Day 4 from middle position before Joshua Stewart came in from over the top with a three-bet shove for a lot more from the hijack.

Pavle Pecelj: K♥J♣
Joshua Stewart: A♣K♥

Both players improved to the same two pair on the 8♥K♣9♠9♦8♣ runout. Stewart had the better kicker to send Pecelj to the rail in 27th place.

Joshua Stewart – 5 million
Pavle Peclej – 0

Pavle Pecelj eliminated in 27th place

Level 30: 60,000/120,000 (120,000)
Entries: 27/3,432

Cards are in the air to start Day 4 of the Main Event with blinds at 60,000/120,000 along with a 120,000 big blind ante. There will be a table redraw once the action is down to 16 players.

Best of luck to all of the players!

Day 3 chip leader Alberto Cigliano

Welcome back to our coverage of the 2023 Battle of Malta Autumn Edition Main Event. The field has been trimmed down to just 27 hopefuls for the penultimate day.

Expect tons of excitement with one-hour blind levels and plenty of play as players battle their way to tomorrow’s eight-max official final table.

Italy’s Alberto Cigliano leads the way to start off the action with a massive stack of 10,225,000, good for 85 big blinds with the action beginning at 60,000/120,000 with a 120,000 big blind ante. Marko Luksa (7,060,000), Raoul van Wersch (7,040,000), Gabriele Re (6,230,000), and Renato Ribeiro (4,465,000).

Joshua Stewart (4,150,000), Day 2 chip leader Mitchell Hynam (4,010,000), Florent Colin (2,440,000), Herli Olop (1,835,000), and Pavle Peclej (680,000) are among the notable players in contention. Meanwhile, the biggest name remaining in Christophe de Meulder is also in the mix with 2,130,000.

Top 10 Chip Counts Entering Day 4

Remaining Payouts

The field of 27 remaining players each locked up €5,710 before even playing a hand on Day 4. Payouts jump up from there with all players advancing to tomorrow’s final table, which will appear on a live stream with hole cards exposed on a variety of channels including our website, Twitch, YouTube, and Facebook, laddering up to at least €11,240.

Tomorrow’s winner will be awarded tons more with a whopping €209,500 top prize!

Cards are in the air at 2 p.m. Best of luck to all of the Day 4 players in the Main Event in becoming the latest Battle of Malta legend!

Herli Olop