Live Blog Autumn 2024

Spaniard Cosme Gomez Martinez has won the Autumn Edition of the Battle of Malta to claim the €255,800 first prize. The online pro entered the tournament via a live satellite, which he max late registered for and sat down with just 5.5 big blinds. He secured his seat and just scraped through his starting day, but with a below average 141,000. 

The battle of Malta is one of the biggest tournaments in the world at this price range. Now in its 12th year it has grown most years but some more than others. The Autumn Edition of the Battle of Malta set a new standard for the event, attracting a record field of 5,799 entries and generating a prize pool of over €2.5 million!

Short Stacked Throughout!

Gomez Martinez was short stacked for the majority of the tournament, but proved that if you’re still in it, you can still win it. His stack of 8.6m was the second smallest going into the final, but he saved the best for last, surging in the latter stages of the final table to get heads up against defending Champion Vasileios Zisis.

Zisis held the chip lead going into the final and at first it looked like he was on course to complete a remarkable title defence. However, Gomez Martinez, who comes from Teruel in Aragon fought back, won a crucial all-in and then took down a series of sizeable pots to assume a 3-1 chip lead. 

Cosme Gomez Martinez, Battle of Malta Champion

The Final Hand

In the final hand Cosme Martinez picked up J♠J♦ on the button and raised to 12,000,000. Vasileios Zisis made a brief inspection of his chip stack before moving all-in with A♦8♥, and Martinez insta-called. With 170 million chips in the pot, this hand would probably decide the tournament, regardless of the outcome.

The flop K♣6♦9♥ didn’t connect with Zisis, and only an ace could keep his back-to-back dreams alive.

A blank 4♠ on the turn kept Martinez in the lead, and the river 3♣ sealed the win. The Spanish rail erupted once again as Martinez completed a stunning comeback from a short stack to a champion, capturing the 2024 Battle of Malta Autumn title and €255,800 first-place prize.

Celebrating with the Spanish Rail

Zisis Falls Short of Historic Double

It’s been a remarkable week at Casino Malta and the Eden Arena at the Intercontinental Hotel, with the record breaking event creating more amazing storylines. Zisis’s feat is quite remarkable, even though he did not manage to seal the deal for the second time in a row. 

The spring edition earlier this year had a smaller field of 1814 and was won by Vasileios Zisis. When the Greek player returned to defend his title, he declared I’m the very first day that he felt he would go on and win it again and on each day of the tournament when asked the same question, he repeated his statement. Going into the fourth day of the tournament he was even more confident, but stated that securing the victory would have to wait another day and that his only goal on Tuesday was to secure a seat on the final table.

Throughout the tournament Zisis played his usual, strong, and aggressive game. This was the same approach that had been so successful for him earlier in the year, but this time he has looked even more determined to achieve his goal.

Just to put this into perspective, in April Zisis defeated 1,813 other players and this time he went past a further 5,797 players, making it to the heads up stage once again. He was obviously disappointed with the end result, but was philosophical afterwards and will be smiling quietly to himself for quite some time. Close, no cigar, but a remarkable performance all the same.

How The Final Table Unfolded

The final began very slowly, with no exits for almost the first three hours of play. There were several double ups before the first player busted. Sicilian Pasquale Gregorio was the unlucky player to be the first to lose his tournament life when his pocket jacks couldn’t hold against Farcasanu’s AQ.

It was not long before another player busted out and this time if was Bulgarian Ivaylo Eftimov’s turn to take the walk of shame to the cash desk. He was ahead in the hand against Zisis, but the Greek player spiked trips to send him to the rail. But to be fair, there isn’t much shame in heading to the cash desk to collect over €30,000 as Eftimov also secured a €10,000 bonus for being the end of day chip leader in his starting day.

While busting out of final table had been extremely unpopular during the first two levels of the day, it soon became a trend, as Greek Kyriakos Papadopoulos departed just a few hands later. His A♣5♣ was dominated by Farcasanu’s A♥Q♠. The board not only provided no help, but slapped a queen down on the flop to all-but seal Papadopoulos’s fate. 

Kyriakos Papadopoulos

After these three quick-fire eliminations there was an extended period of play without further losses. By this time Farcasanu had almost caught Zisis, but these two were well ahead of the chasing pack. Italian Davide Iannaco became the 6th place finisher in a similar hand to Papadopoulos’s exit, with the Maltese resident’s A♠5♥ this time finding itself up against A♣J♥, with the board missing both players.

Vasileios Zisis then pulled away form the pack once again after knocking out Dubai resident Shervin Ghasselmou from the UK. He had gone into the final with the second largest stack, but had to set for 5th when his dominated A♣3♠ failed to get there against A♥9♣.

This was another period of turbo bust outs and soon after, Cosme Gomez Martinez claimed his first scalp of the final, dropping Alessandro Siena (another Italian who lives in Malta) in 4th place. Siena’s pocket sevens were beaten when the Spanish player, who held A♥9♥ spiked the 9♦ on the river. Ouch!

These last three exits all happened shortly before the dinner break, at which point the Greek had almost twice the chips of both his rivals.After the dinner break, with three players left, Gomez Martinez won a series of pots from both opponents, reducing Farcasanu to just 32m and closing the gap on chip leader Zisis. But Zisis extended his lead again when his Q♦T♠ outdrew Farcasanu’s A♣T♦ to take the tournament to the heads up stage, holding a chip lead of 123m to the Spaniard’s 81m.

Cosme Gomez Martinez, Battle of Malta Champion

The Final Table Result

The Battle of Malta is now over for 2024 and its been a huge event overall. Can it grow any further? Join us again in 2025 to find out!

Level 46:  2,000,000/4,000,000 (4,000,000)
Entries: 2/5,799

Cosme Martinez picked up J♠J♦ on the button and raised to 12,000,000. Vasileios Zisis made a brief inspection of his chip stack before moving all-in with A♦8♥, and Martinez insta-called. With 170 million chips in the pot, this hand would probably decide the tournament, regardless of the outcome.

The flop K♣6♦9♥ didn’t connect with Zisis, and only an ace could keep his back-to-back dreams alive.

A blank 4♠ on the turn kept Martinez in the lead, and the river 3♣ sealed the win. The Spanish rail erupted once again as Martinez completed a stunning comeback from a short stack to a champion, capturing the 2024 Battle of Malta Autumn title and €255,800 first-place prize.

Despite narrowly missing out on a back-to-back BoM victory, Zisis adds €160,800 to his resume with an incredible runner-up finish, adding to his €100,000 win from the Spring edition.

Cosme Martinez – 205,000,000
Vasileios Zisis – 0

Level 46:  2,000,000/4,000,000 (4,000,000)
Entries: 2/5,799

With only 11 big blinds left, Vasileios Zisis looked down at A♠K♦ and opted for a trap call on the button. It worked flawlessly as Cosme Martinez pushed all-in with A♣2♠, and Zisis snap-called before Martinez even touched the chips.

The board 9♦9♥T♠3♠J♥ was clean for Zisis, keeping his hopes for a back-to-back Battle of Malta win alive and putting him within five big blinds of Martinez.

Vasileios Zisis

Cosme Martinez – 110,000,000
Vasileios Zisis – 95,000,000

Level 45:  1,000,000/3,000,000 (3,000,000)
Entries: 2/5,799

Soon after, Vasileios Zisis regained the lead, but it didn’t last long. Cosme Martinez opened the pot with K♠Q♥ to 8,000,000, and Zisis quickly called with Q♣J♥.

Martinez flopped the world again with a full house on a K♦Q♦K♥, while Zisis got a piece of it as well and called Martinez’s 5,000,000 continuation bet.

Both checked the 7♥ turn, but on the 3♥ river Zisis led out with an 11,000,000 bet. We knew there was another lead change brewing, the only question was just how much more Martinez could extract. Spaniard decided to raise to 36,000,000, and Zisis reluctantly called, only to see the bad news.

Cosme Martinez – 130,000,000
Vasileios Zisis – 75,000,000

Cosme Martinez

Level 44:  1,000,000/2,500,000 (2,500,000)
Entries: 2/5,799

Cosme Martinez completed with 9♦8♥ from the button, and Vasileios Zisis checked to see a flop with T♣8♣.

The script flipped this time around as Martinez saw a dream flop of J♦T♦7♣, giving him the nut straight, prompting a 4,250,000 bet. Zisis made a call with a top pair, a gutshot, and a backdoor flush draw.

The turn 2♣ was a spicy one, giving Zisis a flush draw, who check-raised all-in over Martinez’s bet of 12,000,000. Martinez couldn’t call fast enough.

A club on the river would end Martinez’s run, but the K♦ kept his straight safe, doubling him up to take the chip lead for the first time in the tournament after spending most of the day as the short stack.

Cosme Martinez – 106,000,000
Vasileios Zisis – 99,000,000

Cosme Martinez

Level 44:  1,000,000/2,500,000 (2,500,000)
Entries: 2/5,799

Action already hot and heavy in the first hand of the heads-up play as Cosme Martinez completed with Q♣8♣ and Vasileios Zisis checked his option with T♥9♦.

Zisis led out for 4,500,000, flopping big on a 8♠T♦7♣ board, and Martinez called with middle pair. The turn 6♣ completed a straight Greek’s and gave Spaniard a flush draw, but led to both players to check and see the river for free.

On the A♥ river, Zisis bet 18,000,000 into a 17 million pot. Martinez tanked for a minute but made the call, only to see Zisis’s straight, giving him a commanding chip lead after just one hand.

Vasileios Zisis – 148,000,000
Cosme Martinez – 57,000,000

Vasileios Zisis

With Farcasanu hitting the rail, we are now heads up for the title. Who will win the €255,800 first prize? Will we have a truly astonishing back-to-back champion in Vasileios Zisis, or will short stack ninja Gomez Martinez, relinquish the title from the defending champion?

Level 44:  1,000,000/2,500,000 (2,500,000)
Entries: 3/5,799

Soon after the restart, Farcasanu, who had been chipped down during the previous session found himself chipless.

Cosme Martinez raised 5,000,000 with A♠5♠ on the button, Vasileios Zisis called the initial open in the small blind holding Q♦T♠, but then Alexandru Farcasanu went over the top with A♣T♦ for 30,000,000 chips. Martinez folded, but Zisis quickly called.

The flop T♣Q♠K♠ gave Zisis top two pair, though Farcasanu was still live with an ace or a jack. The turn 9♥ and river 6♠ brought no miracles, and all of a sudden, there were two, sending Farcasanu out in third with €115,800.

Romanian Farcasanu has been one of the stars of the Battle of Malta Autumn Edition and this is his best very live result. He is usually an online pro, but made an exception to visit Malta this week. We are quietly confident that we will see the Bucharest resident once again in the future.

We are now heads up between Vasileios Zisis and Cosme Gomez Martinez.

Vasileios Zisis – 122m
Cosme Gomez Martinez – 83m
Alexandru Farcasanu – 0

Alexandru Farcasanu

The three remaining players returned from dinner break, but after 20-minutes of play, a technical issue with the stream forced a further 10-minute break. Farcasanu is now the short stack after losing a few small-medium sized pots.

Vasileios Zisis – 88m
Cosme Gomez Martinez – 83m
Alexandru Farcasanu – 32m

Soon after Alessandro Siena was taken out, the Battle of Malta Main Event has gone on a 75-minute dinner break. With three players left, the blinds will be reduced to 30-minutes after they return. At this stage Vasileios is still on track to go back-to-back. 

The last three remaining players are currently huddled together, perhaps discussing a deal. When the players return they will be on level 43, with blinds at 1m/2m with a 2m big blind ante. Here are the updated chip counts.As there are now three players left, the blinds levels has been reduced to 30-minutes.

Zisis Vasileios

Level 43:  1,000,000/1,500,000 (1,500,000)
Entries: 4/5,799

Soon after the demise of Ghasselmou, there was another departure from the final table. This one took place just before the dinner break, which means that when the last three return, the clock will be reduced to 30-minutes.

Alessandro Siena shoved the remaining of his chips with J♣9♣, only to be snap-called by Vasileios Zisis with a dominant A♠J♠.

The dealer revealed an 8♦8♠7♠ flop, keeping Zisis well ahead of Siena, who needed a ten or a nine to survive. The 3♣ turn and 2♦ river didn’t deliver, sending Siena out in fourth place with a well-earned €91,170.

Vasileios Zisis – 98,000,000
Alessandro Siena – 0

Alessandro Siena

Level 43:  1,000,000/1,500,000 (1,500,000)
Entries: 4/5,799

In a blind vs. blind clash, Cosme Martinez completed his small blind, and Alessandro Siena raised to 5,000,000 after looking down at 7♥7♦. Martinez took a minute before announcing an all-in, and Siena quickly called, putting Martinez at risk.

Siena was still ahead on the 3♦J♥3♠ flop and 8♦ turn, needing to dodge a six outer on the river to eliminate Martinez in fourth. But the river was a 9♦, and the Spanish rail went nuts as Martinez doubled up to 53 million, leaving Seina with only 9 big blinds.

Cosme Martinez – 53,000,000
Alessandro Siena – 14,000,000

Spanish Rail for Cosme Martinez

It’s been going since 1pm, when 36 players returned and there are still 11 players left, vying for a place on the final table and a shot at the €48,440. They have had their dinner break and reached the money when there were 13 players left. Fabio Peluso didn’t quite make it, exiting in 15th place. As expected, this will be the last event of the series to conclude, with the Main Event having now reached the business end of the equation.

Level 42:  1,000,000/1,500,000 (1,500,000)
Entries: 5/5,799

The field has been reduced to four, as we have now lost another competitor.

Looking down to A♣3♠ in the cutoff, Shervin Ghassemlou moved all-in for 8,750,000 and was quickly called by Vasileios Zisis with dominating A♥9♣.

The 6♥A♠4♦ flop played in Zisis’ favor as Ghassemlou’s kicker was no help here. The turn 7♦ gave the Brit four new outs with an added gutshot-straight draw, but the river missed, sending Ghassemlou to a payout table, collecting €66,600 for fifth place.

Shervin is originally from Tunbridge Wells in Kent, but now lives in Dubai, where he runs a recruitment agency. He loves life there, but it’s not possible to play poker there. This is his second trip to the Battle of Malta and it’s been a very profitable one for the only British player to make the final table. Well played sir!

Vasileios Zisis – 85,000,000
Shervin Ghassemlou – 0

Shervin Ghassemlou

Level 41:  600,000/1,200,000 (1,200,000)
Entries: 6/5,799

Fifteen minutes into level 41 another player’s participation in the tournament came to an end.

Cosme Martinez raised to 2,400,000 from the button with A♣J♥, and Davide Iannaco quickly pushed all the chips in from the big blind, holding A♠5♥. Martinez made a call and Iannaco was at risk.

The flop of 7♦K♥6♠ missed both players, keeping Martinez in the lead. Turn 2♥ didn’t change anything, and Iannaco needed one of three fives left in the deck for a double up. The river 8♠ provided no help, and Italian was out in sixth place, while Martinez got another pay jump, starting as the final table short stack.

Iannaco is originally from Tuscany, but was one of two Maltese residents to make the final table, receiving significant support on the Malta Poker Fish facebook group. Iannaco sneaked into Day 2 from the final turbo starting day, when he bagged a below average stack, but by the end of Day 3 he was in the top half of the field. He was short stacked throughout much of Day 2 and must be delighted to have departed over €50,000 richer.

Cosme Martinez – 33,000,000
Davide Iannaco – 0

With three exits in the last session of play, the final is now hotting up and the money is beginning to get serious. When play resumes they will be on level 41, with blinds of 600,000/1,200,000 and a 1,200,000 big blind ante. As we are now down to six players, the blinds levels will be reduced to 45-minutes.

Level 40:  500,000/1,000,000 (1,000,000)
Entries: 6/5,799

Vasileios Zisis opened the pot with a min-raise from under the gun holding Q♣T♦, Davide Iannaco completed his small blind with K♣J♣, and Shervin Ghassemlou came along with K♦5♦ from the big blind.

A flop of 7♦8♦6♣ was good for the Brit, giving him plenty of ways to win the pot, as he check-raised Zisis’ continuation bet of 3,500,000. It was only 6,400,000 more to call for the Greek, bringing the pot to 27 million.

Ghassemlou was a big favorite to take down the pot, especially after a K♠ on the turn, as Zisis was left with two outs only. The river 2♠ secured a double up for Ghassemlou, who had now moved out of the danger zone.

Vasileios Zisis – 61,000,000
Shervin Ghassemlou – 27,000,000

Shervin Ghassemlou

Level 40:  500,000/1,000,000 (1,000,000)
Entries: 6/5,799

Alessandro Siena could have been our fourth casualty at the final, calling an all-in from Alexandru Farcasanu, who was trying to steal the blinds with A♠7♦.

Siena’s A♣Q♣ held the lead, but a flop of 9♥8♣5♠ gave quite a sweat to Italian as Farcasanu had seven outs to kick him out in sixth place. The turn 9♦ brought some chopping outs, but a Q♥ on the river sealed the double up for Siena, bringing him to 32 million.

Alexandru Farcasanu – 58,000,000
Alessandro Siena – 32,000,000

Alessandro Siena

Level 40:  500,000/1,000,000 (1,000,000)
Entries: 7/5,799

Bust outs in poker tournaments are a little bit like buses, you wait at the stop for ages and then two turn up at the same time. In this case, three buses to the payout desk arrived almost at the same time, as we have now lost three players.

Alexandru Farcasanu raised to 2,200,000 from the cutoff holding A♥Q♠, and Kyriakos Papadopoulos tried to steal the pot with players’ favorite bluffing hand A♣5♣, three-betting to 10,000,000 from the small blind. Unfortunately for the Greek, Farcasanu had him dominated and all the chips went in quickly.

The flop 7♥A♦Q♥ left Papadopoulos nearly drawing dead, needing a miracle to survive. The turn brought one of the case fives, but Papadopoulos would need one more on the river. J♣ on the river wasn’t it, and we lost Papadopoulos in seventh place

Kyriakos from Thessaloniki in Greece is the most experienced player who graced this final table. He has over $1m in live cashes, including over $180,000 when he won a massive field $500 buy-in at the Aria in Las Vegas. He became very short stacked during Day 4, but played strongly, tussling with his compatriot Vasileios in many hands to rebuild his stack.

Alexandru Farcasanu – 69,000,000
Kyriakos Papadopoulos – 0

Level 40:  500,000/1,000,000 (1,000,000)
Entries: 8/5,799

Not long after Gregorio had hit the rail, another all-in took place. This time, it was Bulgarian Ivaylo Eftimov whose tournament life was on the line.

Vasileios Zisis opened the pot with Q♦9♠ to 2,000,000 from the highjack, and Ivaylo Eftimov cold-called behind with A♣J♦. Kyriakos Papadopoulos also joined the party, calling his big blind with 6♣5♣.

The A♠9♦3♦ flop saw Zisis bet his middle pair, and Eftimov called with top pair while Papadopoulos got out of the way. Zisis continued his story on the 6♥ turn, and Eftimov called once more.

The river brought a 9♣ and this time Zisis went all-in. Eftimov, down to only 11 million chips, didn’t think long and called one last time. Zisis flipped over trips, sending Bulgarian to the rail in disgust. With this pot, Zisis regained the lead over Alexandru Farcasanu.

Eftimov was the chip leader after Day 1c, which earned him a €10,000 bonus, resulting in a payday of over €36,000. Eftimov had a big stack almost all the way through the tournament and held the chip lead during the early stages of Day 4. We’d love to get a quote from him about his participation, but unfortunately he speaks no English and my Bulgarian is a little rusty.

Vasileios Zisis – 70,000,000
Ivaylo Eftimov – 0

Ivaylo Eftimov

Level 40:  500,000/1,000,000 (1,000,000)
Entries: 9/5,799

The first player to have their dreams of lifting the trophy shattered was Sicilian Pasquale Gregorio.

Vasileios Zisis started the action with A♠2♠ to 2,000,000 from the cutoff. Alexandru Farcasanu shoved 31,000,000 with A♦Q♠ from the small blind, while Pasquale Gregorio woke up with J♦J♣ in the big blind and quickly called. Zisis got out of the way, and Gregorio was at risk in a massive 37 million pot.

A flop of 3♣Q♦6♣ catapulted Farcasanu in front and Gregorio had slim chances to survive this hand. However, the turn brought a K♣ and a flush draw for the Italian, but the river was a blank 3♠, and Gregorio exited as the first elimination of the 2024 Battle of Malta Autumn final table.

Gregorio played a strong game throughout the tournament, having secured his passage into day 2 via the remote Day 1, which took place in Catania, not far from his hometown of Taormina, a beautiful town in the shadow of Mount Etna. He’s normally a cash game player but likes to play tournaments sometimes and will be happy to have entered this one, which has increased his bankroll by over €22,000!

Alexandru Farcasanu – 51,000,000
Pasquale Gregorio – 0

Pasquale Gregorio

Level 40:  500,000/1,000,000 (1,000,000)
Entries: 9/5,799

After Pasquale Gregorio opened the pot to 2,000,000 from the middle position with J♠9♠, Cosme Martinez looked down at J♥J♣ and put in a three-bet to 7,500,000, leaving just 2 million behind. Feeling priced in, Gregorio four-bet all-in, and Martinez made the call.

The flop of A♦4♦7♠ offered little hope for Gregorio, and the J♦ on the turn sealed Martinez’s third double-up, who finally climbed out of short stack territory to a healthier 22 big blind stack.

Cosme Martinez – 22,000,000
Pasquale Gregorio – 16,000,000

Cosme Martinez

Level 40:  500,000/1,000,000 (1,000,000)
Entries: 9/5,799

It seemed that Kyriakos Papadopoulos’ three-bet all-in with 6♦6♣ might get through when he pushed 8,250,000 from the small blind, but his fellow countryman, Vasileios Zisis, who had opened with K♦5♦, decided to call for 6,250,000 more, putting Papadopoulos at risk.

Papadopoulos flopped a top set on a 4♥2♠6♠ boar, leaving Zisis drawing slim. The turn was 4♠, sealing the deal, and Papadopoulos doubled up to 19 million, while Zisis still holds a slight chip lead over the rest of the table.

Vasileios Zisis – 45,000,000
Kyriakos Papadopoulos – 19,000,000

Kyriakos Papadopoulos

Lots of all-in and calls, but still no exits by the second break of the day.  After the break they will be on level 40, with blinds of 500,000/1,000,000 and a 1,000,000 big blind ante. Here are the updated chip counts.

Level 39:  400,000/800,000 (800,000)
Entries: 9/5,799

Cosme Gomez Martinez looked down to 7♥7♦ and raised the pot to 3,150,000, leaving himself with just over 2 million behind. Kyriakos Papadopoulos found A♠T♥ in the big blind and after a short pause, decided to put Martinez all-in, who called the three-bet.

The 5♦9♥J♠ flop kept Gomez Martinez in front, but the K♥ turn added some tension with additional outs for Papadopoulos. The river was a blank 4♥, allowing Martinez to double, leaving Papadopoulos as a short stack.

Cosme Gomez Martinez – 12,000,000
Kyriakos Papadopoulos – 8,200,000

Cosme Gomez Martinez

Level 39:  400,000/800,000 (800,000)
Entries: 9/5,799

Vasileios Zisis opened the action with a 1,700,000 raise from the button holding A♥K♣, and Ivaylo Eftimov called behind with 8♥8♦ in the small blind. Both players checked on the flop of 9♣4♣7♥.

Bolgarian then made a min-bet on the blank turn of 2♠, and Zisis quickly called. The river brought a Q♦, and this time Eftimov sized up his bet to 1,100,000, which tempted Zisis into a hero call with an ace-high, only to find the bad news.

Vasileios Zisis – 55,000,000
Ivaylo Eftimov – 27,000,000

Ivaylo Eftimov

Level 39:  400,000/800,000 (800,000)
Entries: 9/5,799

Action folded to Davide Iannaco in the small blind, who completed with 7♦7♣, possibly setting a trap for Shervin Ghassemlou in the big blind, who checked his option with J♠8♥.

On a 4♣K♣4♠ flop, Iannaco checked to Ghassemlou, who decided to take a stab at the pot with an 800,000 bet into a small pot of 2,400,000, which Iannaco called.

The turn 5♦ didn’t change Iannaco’s plan. He checked-call again after Ghassemlou bet 1,800,000.

The river was a dream 7♠ for the Italian, completing a full house. Iannaco set one final trap, snap-calling Ghassemlou’s third barrel bluff with jack-high.

Davide Iannaco – 20,000,000
Shervin Ghassemlou – 18,000,000

Davide Iannaco

Level 39:  400,000/800,000 (800,000)
Entries: 9/5,799

Davide Iannaco found A♥K♦ in the early position and jammed his 6,300,000 stack into the middle. Kyriakos Papadopoulos peeled 9♠9♣ in the big blind and made a quick call, risking a quarter of his stack.

The A♦7♣J♥ flop gave Iannaco a commanding lead with the top pair, but in poker it’s never easy, as Papadopoulos picked up four more outs on the 8♠ turn. The river is a blank 5♥, and Iannaco doubled up to 14 million, pulling him out of the shortest stack spot.

Davide Iannaco – 14,000,000
Kyriakos Papadopoulos – 13,000,000

Davide Iannaco

Level 39:  400,000/800,000 (800,000)
Entries: 9/5,799

Vasileios Zisis opened the action with a 1,600,000 raise from the cut off holding A♣2♠. Ivaylo Eftimov looked down at A♥Q♣ on the button and pushed all-in for 9,450,000. The action got back to Zisis, who asked for a count and, after thinking for a couple of minutes, made a surprising call.

Eftimov was at risk of being the first player hitting the rail, but the flop of 6♣T♣5♠ kept him in front, while 4♠ on the turn brought four more outs for Zisis. However, the river Q♠ paired Eftimov, who doubled up to a more comfortable 26 big blinds, while Zisis made a first misstep at the final table.

Vasileios Zisis – 54,000,000
Ivaylo Eftimov – 21,000,000

Ivaylo Eftimov

There were ten starting days for the Autumn Edition of the Battle of Malta Main Event, five of them full price, five of them half price. Only one of the BOM November Nine made their way into Day 2 via a half price flight. The rest all paid the full €600. Here are details of which flight each player came through and where they finished in the chip counts.

Level 39:  400,000/800,000 (800,000)
Entries: 9/5,799

Action folded around to Shervin Ghassemlou, who completed his small blind with 7♣4♠, and Vasileios Zisis checked his option with J♣5♣.

The flop of K♣A♠3♠ missed both, Ghassemlou took a stab with 800,000, and Zisis called with J-high and some backdoor draws.

With the 9♦ on the turn, Ghassemlou opted to check to Zisis, giving the chip leader a chance to bet 2,600,000 into a 4,000,000 pot. Ghassemlou let it go, probably regretting coming into the pot in the first place.

Vasileios Zisis – 60,000,000
Shervin Ghassemlou – 27,000,000

Vasileios Zisis

The players have now gone on a 15-minute break. Vasileios Zisis remains the chip leader.

Level 38:  300,000/600,000 (600,000)
Entries: 9/5,799

Chip leader Vasileios Zisis raised to 1,200,000 from the middle position with Q♦8♠. Cosme Martinez, the shortest stack at the final table, defended his big blind with 9♣4♣, leaving less than a pot bet behind.

Martinez flopped trips on a board of 9♠2♣9♦ and elected to just check-call a 600,000 bet from Zisis. The 8♥ on the turn sealed the deal and brought the rest of the chips in the middle, and Martinez doubled up to 14 big blinds.

Cosme Martinez – 8,600,000
Vasileios Zisis – 60,000,000

Cosme Martinez

Level 38:  300,000/600,000 (600,000)
Entries: 9/5,799

Kyriakos Papadopoulos raised the pot to 1,200,000 with A♥J♠ from the early position, and Ivaylo Eftimov, one of the shortest stacks, defended his big blind with A♣8♥.

The dealer revealed a flop of 8♣Q♦2♣, putting Eftimov ahead, who quickly called Papadopoulos’ 800,000 continuation bet. The turn brought a 7♥, and after thinking for a minute, Papadopoulos fired another bet of 2,300,000 into a 4,900,000 pot, enough to make Eftimov lay down the best hand.

Kyriakos Papadopoulos – 22,000,000
Ivaylo Eftimov – 9,100,000

Kyriakos Papadopoulos

The Main Event final table is not the only event taking place today. There is also day two of the slow structured €2,200 Super High Roller, in which 36 players returned for a pop at the €48,440 first prize.

There are currently 25 players left and they are paying 13 places. The enigmatic Italian Fabio Peluso is still in, as is Dutch maestro Joris Ruijs. 

It’s very slow structured tournament, which has a 50-minute clock and we don’t expect it to wrap up any time soon. This one has the capacity to go well past the end of the Main Event.

When they return, the blinds will be 2,000/4,000 with a 4,000 big blind ante.

Chip Counts at First Break

Position	Name	Table/Seat	Chips
1	Lorenzo Arduini	2/8	385,000
2	Ettore Esposito	5/1	349,000
3	Kristian Dahl	2/6	320,000
4	Frank Pepe	5/6	300,000
5	Luigi D’alterio	4/6	286,000
6	Wilhelm Isaak	2/7	267,000
7	Nils Jall	4/1	265,000
8	Philip Pearson	5/8	261,000
9	Fabio Peluso	3/2	250,000
10	Joris Ruijs	3/3	216,000
11	Gregory Campbell	5/2	200,000
12	Sokratis Papavramidis	3/7	193,000
13	Ioannis Oikonomidis	2/1	176,000
14	Romain Nardin	2/4	175,000
15	Martin Piik	4/3	165,000
16	Andrea Crobu	4/8	151,000
17	Ernst Tries	5/5	147,000
18	Leslie Lamnea	5/4	128,000
19	Toni Ravnak	4/5	124,000
20	Alexandros Michas	3/5	105,000
21	Alessio La Francesca	2/2	92,000
22	Vikentios Fisentzou	4/2	71,000
23	Domenico de Francesco	5/7	68,000
24	Gaspare Sposato	3/6	67,000
25	Rolands Norietis	3/4	54,000

 

Fabio Peluso

Level 38:  300,000/600,000 (600,000)
Entries: 9/5,799

The day kicked off with Ivaylo Eftimov opening the pot to 1,300,000 with Q♦9♦ from the early position and getting a call from Shervin Ghassemlou in the big blind holding A♣Q♥.

A flop of 5♣Q♠T♥ gave both players top pair with Ghassemlou being ahead with an ace kicker. He checked-called the 900,000 bet from Eftimov and repeated with another check-call on the 1,300,000 turn bet when 6♥ fell.

The river was a blank 2♣, both players checked, and Ghassemlou raked in the first pot of the day.

Shervin Ghassemlou – 36,000,000
Ivaylo Eftimov – 10,000,000

Shervin Ghassemlou

It’s the final table of the Battle of Malta Main Event Autumn Edition and after 5,790 eliminations, just nine players remain. It’s November and there are nine of them left, it would be rude not call them the November Nine. The WSOP abandoned the concept that created the original November Nine name, which was to delay its final for several months. But there is no truth in the rumour that the Battle of Malta is going to play down to eight today and then ask everyone to come back next year for an April Eight. November Nine it is.

Seat 1: Alexandru Farcasanu, Romania, 25,250,000

Alexandru Farcasanu

Seat 2: Pasquale Gregorio, Italy, 13,800,000

Psaquale Gregorio

Seat 3:Kyriakos Papadopoulos, Greece, 20,200,000

Kyriakos Papadopoulos

Seat 4: Cosme Gomez Martinez, Spain, 9,550,000

Cosme Gomez Martinez

Seat 5: Alessandro Siena, Italy, 18,400,000

Alessandro Siena

Seat 6: Davide Iannacou, Italy, 10,075,000

Davide Iannaco

Seat 7: Shervin Ghassemlou, England, 32,150,000

Shervin Ghassemlou

Seat 8: Vasileios Zisis, Greece, 65,3000,000

Vasileios Zisis

Seat 9: Ivaylo Eftimov, Bulgaria, 13,650,000

Ivaylo Eftimov

Play has now begun on the final table. Before play started, the players all agreed to an adjusted prize pool, which was proposed by the tournament director after feedback at the end of Tuesday’s play in the Main Event. This is what they are now playing for:

The nine remaining players have now returned to Casino Malta and the Eden Arena at the Intercontinental Hotel and they are currently opening their chip bags and preparing to commence play. Today we have a live stream of the final table, commentary hosted by Jason Glatzer, with guests. Its being broadcast on a 30-minute delay and can be found on the homepage of the Battle of Malta website and on YouTube and Facebook. There are both English and Italian language commentary versions available.

YouTube English Commentary

YouTube Italian Commentary

Facebook English Commentary

When play begins there will be 55 minutes left on the clock in level 38, with the blinds at 300,000/600,000 with a 600,000 big blind ante.

The fourth day of the record breaking Battle of Malta Main Event Autumn Edition began with 36 hopefuls still in the hunt for a seat on the final table of nine players. It was a long day for both players and staff at Casino Malta and the Eden Arena at the Intercontinental Hotel, although it began quickly, with a spate of early exits. By the time the field had been whittled down to three tables, the pace began to slow, which is hardly surprising, given the slow structure and serious money up to top to play for.

Miguel Branco, who had gone into the day as chip leader will be disappointed with his 23rd place finish, however for defending champion Vasileios Zisis, it was bliss.  He was at or near the top of the chip counts for most of the day and ended up taking a massive chip lead by the time they had reached the final table of nine. It must have been both an awesome and surreal experience for the Greek cash game pro, as he has now put himself in pole position to do the unthinkable and win back-to-back Battle of Malta Main Event titles. 

Zasileios Zisis and Pasquale Gregorio

Sporting a sponsored Novibet hoodie, Zisis dominated every table he was on throughout the day, never scared to tussle with his opponents and frequently testing them in tricky spots for their entire stacks. He had his fair share of luck also, including delivering a cooler to Marco Arcodia, to send the Sicilian to the rail on the final table bubble. Zisis has been there before and held his composure in the spring to win the €100,000 top prize. Now he could potentially triple his last win, with a €300,800 top prize on the line.

Zisis has more than double the chips of his nearest competitor in the United Kingdom’s Shervin Ghassemlou who ended the day with 32.15m. Ghassemlou had been quite short stacked throughout much of the day, but in the final few levels, when a lot of players were dodging action, he was getting involved in a lot of pots, taking significant chunks from Alessandro Siena, who had been vying with Zisis for the chip lead throughout most of the day. The last level of the day saw Siena, an Italian who resides in Malta drop back, finishing the day on 18.4mm despite having grown his stack to over 50m at one point.

Alessandro Siena

Romanian Alexandru Fracasanu, who had gone into the day second in chips maintained his position near the top, bagging the third biggest stack of 25.25m. Kyriacos Papdopoulos is the most experienced player to make the final and the only one to have over $1m in lifetime live cashes (according to TheHendonMob database). He played a solid game, frequently getting involved in big hands with Zisis and finished the day on over 20m.

Ivaylo Eftimiov was one of the players who had already secured a decent payout on his starting day, when he picked up the €10,000 bonus prize for bagging the largest stack of his flight. He started the day as one of the chip leaders and in the early exchanges he briefly held the chip lead. He takes 13.65m onto the final, just less than Italian Pasquale Gregorio on 13.8m. Gregorio also got involved in a lot of pots with Zisis and at one point it looked like he might get the better of his Greek adversary, but the defending champ’s resilience prevailed in a number of key hands. Davide Iannaco on just over 10m and Cosme Gomez Martinez on just under 10m chips complete the final table line up. They were both short stacked throughout most of the day, but won some key double ups to remain in contention.

Kyriakos Papadopoulos

The televised final table starts at 2pm on Wednesday, Nov. 6. It will be streamed on a 30-minute delay, which means that coverage will begin at 2.30pm for those tuning in to follow the action. Jason Glatzer will host the commentary, which can be viewed on the Battle of Malta’s social media channels.

Blinds will begin on Wednesday with the conclusion of level 38, at 300,000/600,000 with a 600,000 big blind ante. 

Now let’s take a brief look at the side event action that took place on Tuesday 5th November.

Luxon Pay Super High Roller

The Luxon Pay €2,200 (€2,000+€200) Super High Roller was the final multi-day tournament of series to begin. Play began with only 14 players registered, but ten x 50 minute levels later, the field had grown to 96, creating a prize pool of €182,400. By the end of the day, 35 players remained, with Norwegian Kristian Dahl bagging the chip lead with 307,500. Greek Ioannis Oikonomidid lies in second with 296,500 and Italian Ettore Esposito’s 270,000 rounds up the top three. 

Other players still in with a chance of winning the €48,440 first prize include Humberto Galindo and Joris Ruijs. Play resumes at 1pm on Wednesday.

Quigioco High Roller

The Quigioco High Roller was originally intended to be a two-day event, but having had 540 entries, this was an impossibility, as 29 players were left at the end of play on Monday. They returned on Tuesday afternoon and after a further hard fought day of play, it was Italian Candiso Cappiello who emerged victorious to claim the €100,000 first prize. He defeated Frederik Brink heads-up, who had to settle for a €66,770 payday, while Bulgarian Martin Tsvetanov took third for €43,720.

IPC 10K GTD

The first side event of the day on Tuesday was the €350 NLH IPC with a €10k guarantee. There was never any danger that this would create an overlay and in fact the total prize pool was almost twelve times bigger than the guarantee at €119,700. It could have been even bigger, but capacity was restricted to 400 entries and that is exactly the number of players who took part. It was win by Greek player Ammanouil Chalkiotis for €23,000. Carl Sahl from Seweden was second (€14,720) while Swiss Samuel Biland completed the podium (€10,640).

H.O.R.S.E

Tuesday’s €330 H.O.R.S.E saw many familiar faces saddle up for the equestrian sounding H.O.R.S.E mixed game tournament. Antoine Degiorgio, Sascha Manns, Richard Burke, Daragh Davey, Eirik Presttun and Eva Jiretorn were amongst the riders. Cowgirl Gia Carnestrom was also in the field, fresh from her victory in the Ladies event and she went close, but finished in 4th place, in the money. It was won by Bosnian Milos Vaskovic for €3,050. Serbia’s Predrag Kontrec was second (€2,110) and the UK’s Andrew Fleming finished third for €1,340.

White Knight

The final outing for the €150 (€130+€20) White Knight also took place on Wednesday, with 290 entries, to create a €356,815 prize pool. Norwegian Stein Naerland booked the win for €7,131. Andrzej Kepka took second (€4,770) and Axel Karlen was third (€3,490).

Dark Knight

It was also the last of the €200 (€170+€30) Dark Knight tournament on Tuesday. It was another busy one with 283 entries, creating a prize pool of €45,705. Sarah Chan from the UK secured tghe victory for €9,120. Marcin Milde was the runner-up (€6,090) and Eskil Kvanvold was third (€4,460).

Hyper Turbo

The final side event was the €150 (€130+€20) NLH Hyper Turbo. It had 102 entries and was wion by German Oliver Briesemeister for €3,260. Albanian Alen Riven was second (€2,230) and Greek Dimitrios Karagkounis exited in third for €1,460.

Full Results from all events can be found on the soon-to-be updated results page.

Vasileios Zisis

What it day it has been. The action began with 36 hopefuls hunting to join the final table of nine players from the field of 5,799 entries in the record-breaking 2024 Battle of Malta Autumn Edition Main Event.

The defending champion Vasileios Zisis from Greece was at or near the top of the chip counts and ended the day in a position to do the unthinkable in winning back-to-back. Sporting a sponsored Novibet shirt, Zisis’s dominations seemed to have no bounds, and, of course, it didn’t hurt to win a coin flip or two including delivering a cooler to Marco Arcodia to send his opponent to the rail on the final table bubble. It was a long day lasting more than 13 hours, but Zisis has been there before and held his composure in the spring to win the €100,000 top prize. Now he is in line to win triple his last win with a €300,800 top prize on the line.

Zisis has more than double the chips of his nearest competitor in the United Kingdom’s Shervin Ghassemlou who ended the day with 32,150,000. Alexandru Fracasanu, Kyriakos Papadopoulos, Alessandro Siena, Pasquale Gregorio, Ivaylo Eftimov, Davide Iannaco, and Cosme Gomez Martinez all had their ups and downs throughout the day before earning their spot on the televised final table starting on Wednesday, Nov. 6 at 2 p.m. with the broadcast beginning 30 minutes later across a variety of The Battle of Malta channels hosted by this author Jason Glatzer.

Blinds will begin on Wednesday with the conclusion of blinds at 300,000/600,000 with a 600,000 big blind ante. We will share more about the Main Event in the morning.

End-of-Day 4 Chip Counts

Final Table Seat Draw

Final Table Payouts

The final nine players will earn at least €9,290 with Wednesday’s 2024 Battle of Malta Main Event champion securing a whopping €300,800 top prize. Check out all of the payouts below:

The final elimination of the day has just been delivered. Arcodia and Zisis got it all in on a flop of K♠5♠3♠. Arcodia held 5♥5♦ to Zisis J♦6♠.

The J♦ on the turn changed nothing, but when the 6♠ fell on the river, it was celebration time for Zisis and commiseration time for Arcodia.

Play has now been suspended and the remaining nine players will return at 2pm on Wednesday for the business end of the tournament, which is more traditionally referred to as the final table. Chip counts of the final nine to follow.

Marco Arcodia, out in 10th

Play is now resuming in the main event and stacks of the remaining players have been counted and verified. These are the chip counts of the final ten.

Vasileios Zisis

Level 38: 300,000/600,000 (600,000)
Entries: 10/5,799

Apologies for the lack of updates. Recently things have been moving quite slowly in the Main Event. There have been a few all-ins recently, but in all cases, the short stack has either doubled up or split the pot.

In other news has recently been confirmed that we will be playing down to eight players tonight, there is still potentially quite a lot of police to go. The players are now on a 20-minute break. Updated chip counts coming soon.

Level 37: 250,000/500,000 (500,000)
Entries: 10/5,799

Soon after Blokdijk was taken out on the feature table, another all-in took place on the other table. In this hand, Greek Panagiotis Petrou lost out to Alessandro Siena. We didn’t catch the entire hand, but his A♥5♦ was not good enough to beat Siena’a 9♠7♥ on a 9♦7♦2♣9♣A♣ board.

Alessandro Siena – 50 million
Panagiotis Petrou – 0

Level 37: 250,000/500,000 (500,000)
Entries: 11/5,799

Another player has now hit the rail. Daniel Mendoza moved all-in for his remaining 4..85m with K♦9♦. Zisis made the call with A♥6♦ and it was all over for the Venezuelan wen the biard ran out 2♣7♣6♣A♠Q♦. 

He leaves with €8,080 for his marathon effort to claim his first ever live cash. Zisis now has over 40m and is closing in on the chip lead held by Alessandro Siena.

Daniel Mendoza

Level 37: 250,000/500,000 (500,000)
Entries: 11/5,799

Panagiotis Petrou opened the button before he called a three-bet jam by Shervin Ghassemlou from the small blind to 5 million.

Shervin Ghassemlou: A♥K♥
Panagiotis Petrou: A♣A♦

The A♠J♣T♥2♣Q♥ runout improved Ghassemlou to Broadway to crack Petrou’s aces and stay alive.

Shervin Ghassemlou – 11 million
Panagiotis Petrou – 2 million

Shervin Ghassemlou

Level 37: 250,000/500,000 (500,000)
Entries: 12/5,799

Alessandro Siena leads the way with 42,150,000 at the break. The defending champion Vasileios Zisis has slightly more than he had at the previous break with 36,000,000 after recovering from an early double of Pasquale Gregorio.

Check out the chip counts of the final 12 players at the break.

Alessandro Siena

Level 36: 200,000/400,000 (400,000)
Entries: 12/5,799

In the last hand before the break Hendrik Blokdijk pushed all-in for his remaining 4.5m with A♦K♣ versus A♥T♥ of Pasquale Gregorio, who was still steaming from having the clock called on him in the previous hand with Zisis. It was all over for Hendrik when the board ran out 7♠4♣T♠9♠6♥. He exits in 13th for €8,080. Unlucky fella!

Hendrik Blokdijk

The players have now gone on a 20-minute break. Only one player fell during the last level. In one of the last hands before the break, Zisis won a sizeable pot from Gregorio to move north of 30m once again. Updated chip counts coming soon.

Breaking News

Just as the players were going on break, we lost another player, details coming soon.

Level 36: 200,000/400,000 (400,000)
Entries: 13/5,799

Ivaylo Eftimov opened for 800,000 under the gun. Maruen Zormati, who got a pair of three-bet jams through this orbit, three-bet shoved for 6.1 million from the small blind. Eftimov asked for a count before he called.

Maruen Zormati: A♠Q♥
Ivaylo Eftimov: A♥3♥

It was looking like another short-stacked double until a trey came on the K♠6♦3♣4♠9♣ runout for Eftimov to eliminate Zormati in 14th place for €7,280.

Ivaylo Eftimov – 20 million
Maruen Zormati – 0

Maruen Zormati

Level 36: 200,000/400,000 (400,000)
Entries: 14/5,799

The clock was paused on all of the tournaments so the dealers, floor, and directors could be honored. While this amazing event couldn’t have happened with all of the enthusiastic players, the same is true for the staff, many of which have worked more than 16 hours a day this week.

Everyone was in good spirits celebrating and the action will resume in all tournaments in about 5 minutes.

Level 36: 200,000/400,000 (400,000)
Entries: 14/5,799

Shervin Ghassemlou three-bet jammed from the small blind for 4 million over the min-raise by Alexandru Farcasanu from the small blind.

Shervin Ghassemlou: A♣K♠
Alexandru Farcasanu: A♦Q♣

Ace-king was good with Ghassemlou doubling with top pair after the J♣K♣7♦2♦3♣ ran out on the board.

Alexandru Farcasanu – 21 million
Shervin Ghassemlou – 9 million

Shervin Ghassemlou

Level 36: 200,000/400,000 (400,000)
Entries: 14/5,799

Ivaylo Eftimov jammed for around a dozen big blinds from the button and was called by Davide Iannaco from the small blind.

Ivaylo Eftimov: 7♠7♦
Davide Iannaco: K♦Q♠

This time it was Eftimov’s turn to celebrate as his sevens won the flip on the J♠6♥2♦6♦6♠ runout to double his stack instead of hitting the rail.

Davide Iannaco – 12 million
Ivaylo Eftimov – 10 million

Ivaylo Eftimov

Level 36: 200,000/400,000 (400,000)
Entries: 14/5,799

Ivaylo Eftimov fired out for 1,700,000 into a pot of around 5 million with the Q♦3♥A♥5♦ on the board after the turn. Davide Iannaco tanked before he called.

Eftimov jammed the 5♥ river. Iannaco snap-called and celebrated when his A♠A♦ for a full house got paid with Eftimov tabling the Q♥7♥ for the losing hand with a flush.

David Iannaco – 17 million
Ivaylo Eftimov – 5 million

Davide Iannaco

Level 36: 200,000/400,000 (400,000)
Entries: 14/5,799

Hendrik Blokdijk jammed for 3.9 million from the hijack. Cosme Gomez Martinez came in for a bit more with a three-bet shove of his own from the small blind and the cards were tabled after Kyriakos Papadopoulos folded from the big blind.

Hendrik Blokdijk: A♠K♣
Cosme Gomez Martinez: A♣T♣

Ace-king held on the 2♠9♦8♥5♣A♥ runout for Blokdijk to stay alive and double his stack.

Hendrik Blokdijk – 8.5 million
Cosme Gomez Martinez – 7 million

Hendrik Blokdijk

Level 36: 200,000/400,000 (400,000)
Entries: 14/5,799

Players are back from break and there were already fireworks at the feature table. Cosme Gomez Martinez opened the button for 800,000. Vasileios Zisis three-bet to 2 million from the small blind.

Martinez went into the tank for more than a minute before he jammed for 4.9 million and Zisis quickly called.

Cosme Gomez Martinez: J♣J♠
Vasileios Zisis: A♦J♥

Martinez’s jacks held throughout the 3♦T♣T♠8♠K♥ runout to double his stack. Meanwhile, Alessandro Siena has taken the lead back from the defending champion Zisis by default.

Alessandro Siena – 35 million
Vasileios Zisis – 30 million
Cosme Gomez Martinez – 11 million

Cosme Gomez Martinez

With the main event now on a 75-minute dinner break, it’s a good time to update you about what else is going on today here at Casino Malta and the Eden Arena at the Intercontinental Hotel. So far all the scheduled side events have gone off like clockwork. Despite this being the last full day of the event, it’s a pretty busy room.

Luxon Pay Super High Roller

• Level 7: 300/600 (600)
• Entries: 55/71

Quigioco High Roller

• Level 32: 60,000/120,000 (120,000)
• Entries: 7/540

IPC 10K GTD

• On Dinner Break
• Level 16: 400/800 (800)
• Entfries: 55/400

H.O.R.S.E

• Level 9: 800/1,500 
• Entries: 25/29

White Knight

• Level 9: 800/1,600 (1,600)
• Entries: 92/282

Dark Knight

• Level 7: 599/1,000 (1,000)
• Entries: 167/266

Hyper Turbo

• Level 1: 100/100 (100)
• Entries: 33/34

Level 36: 200,000/400,000 (400,000)
Entries: 14/5,799

It’s déjà vu at the Battle of Malta Main Event as the defending champion Vasileios Zisis is cruising along once again and held the chip lead over the final 14 players at the dinner break.

Meanwhile, Alessandro Siena has also been red hot and is just 100,000 behind Zisis. Pasquale Gregorio and Alexandru Farcasanu each have more than 20 million, placing them in excellent shape to reach tomorrow’s final table as well.

Check out the full chip counts at the break and best of luck to the final 14 when the action resumes in about 45 minutes.

Level 35: 150,000/300,000 (300,000)
Entries: 14/5,799

Romanian Ionut Arvatu has busted in 15th for €7,280. He lost two hands in succession just before the break. In the first of these he called the all-in of Kyriacos Papdopoulos, who had moved all-in on a 4♠6♥5♥ flop. Ionut held 9♠9♣ versus the Greek player’s K♠7♠. The 8♣ on the turn gave Kyriacos the straight. Ionut could still take the pot if a seven fell on the river, but it was not to be as the J♠ hit the board.

Ionut was down to 5m and got it all in on the very next hand, perhaps tilt calling the open shove by Marco Arcodia. This time the Romanian held K♣J♠, but was up against J♥J♦. The board ran out Q♣4♣2♥3♥T♦ and he was covered by his Italian opponent, who now moves up to 14m chips.

Ionut Arvatu

The Battle of Malta Main Event is now on a 75-minute dinner break.  Full chip counts of the 14 remaining players will be updated shortly.

When they return, the blinds will be 200,000/400,000 with a 400,000 big blind ante.

Breaking News…

In the very last hand before the break, Ionut Arvatu was eliminated in 15th. News of his bust out coming shortly…

Level 35: 150,000/300,000 (300,000)
Entries: 15/5,799

Cristian Mihu jammed the river in what turned out to be a pivotal pot with the T♦6♠5♣J♠J♥ on the board. Alessandro Siena snap-called.

Mihu was bluffing with 9X8X and got his hand caught in the cookie jar with Siena taking the chip lead after tabling the J♣6♣ for a full house.

Meanwhile, Mihu’s deep run awarded him a whopping €7,280. There is just 16 minutes left on the clock before the final 15 players (or less) go on a 75-minute dinner break.

Alessandro Siena – 36 million
Cristian Mihu – 0

Cristian Mihu

Level 35: 150,000/300,000 (300,000)
Entries: 16/5,799

Hendrik Blokdijk jammed for 1.7 million under the gun. Ionut Arvatu looked down at his cards from the big blind before he announced a call.

Hendrik Blokdijk: A♥6♣
Ionut Arvatu: Q♦T♥

The J♣K♣4♦ flop gave Arvatu tons of outs to a straight and with outs for a pair or better. The 4♣ turn and 3♥ river didn’t connect with Arvatu as he doubled the short-stacked Blokdijk.

Iount Arvatu – 12 million
Henrdik Blokdijk – 4 million

Hendrik Blokdijk

Level 35: 150,000/300,000 (300,000)
Entries: 16/5,799

Alessandro Siena min-raised from under the gun before Ivaylo Eftimov three-bet to 1.25 million from the small blind. Siena four-bet to 3.5 million and Eftimov called.

Eftimov checked the T♠9♣2♥ flop. Siena fired out for 3 million. Eftimov jammed for the more than 8,150,000 Siena had behind. Siena snap-called and the cards were tabled.

Alessandro Siena: K♣K♠
Ivaylo Eftimov: Q♥Q♠

“Nice hand,” Eftimov said to Siena.

Siena doubled up after the A♥ turn and 6♠ river completed the board to be among the chip leaders.

Alessandro Sienna – 22 million
Ivaylo Eftimov – 14 million

Alessandro Siena

Level 35: 150,000/300,000 (300,000)
Entries: 16/5,799

After Anthony Ouillon was eliminated in 17th place, table 23 was broken and there are now 16 players left in with a chance of scooping the €300,800 first prize. 

Sadly for those who exited in 17th-23rd their chance at a monster pay day is over and they will have to settle for €6,780. Maybe next time fellas! The payouts jump again now and 14th-16th place will cash for €7,280.

*Includes starting day big stack bonus.

Anthony Ouillon

Level 35: 150,000/300,000 (300,000)
Entries: 16/5,799

Daniel Mendoza opened from under the gun before he called a jam by Anthony Ouillon from the big blind to about 1.5 million.

Anthony Ouillon: J♣2♣
Daniel Mendoza: A♥J♦

Ouillon had a flush draw on the flop but was unable to complete it on the 6♦3♣A♣4♥3♥ board to hit the rail in 17th place for €6,780. Quillon also earned another €10,000 for being the final starting day chip leaders for a grand total of €16,780 for his efforts.

Daniel Mendoza – 11 million
Anthony Ouillon – 0

Day 1i chip leader Anthony Ouillon

Level 35: 150,000/300,000 (300,000)
Entries: 17/5,799

Daniel Mendoza three-bet jammed his stack of 4.8 million from the big blind and was called by the late-position opener Kyriakos Papadopoulos.

Daniel Mendoza: A♠8♦
Kyriakos Papadopoulos: A♥J♦

Papadopoulos was less than pleased that Mendoza sucked out on the 8♠2♠4♣6♥9♥ runout. Meanwhile, Mendoza was back in business with just below the average after the hand.

Daniel Mendoza – 10 million
Kyriakos Papadopoulos – 7 million

Daniel Mendoza

Level 35: 150,000/300,000 (300,000)
Entries: 17/5,799

Anthony Ouillen got his last 650,000 from the small blind and was called by Daniel Mendoza from the big blind.

Anthony Ouillen: A♠7♠
Daniel Mendoza: K♠Q♦

Ouillen doubled for the second time in the second match-up between the two since the break after holding the winning hand on the 4♦6♥5♥6♣4♥ double-paired board.

Daniel Mendoza – 4.8 million
Anthony Ouillen – 2 million

Anthony Ouillon

Level 35: 150,000/300,000 (300,000)
Entries: 17/5,799

Alessio Vanni opened from late position before he called off his 6 million chip stack facing a three-bet shove by Pasquale Gregorio.

Alessio Vanni: J♦J♣
Pasquale Gregorio: 8♥8♠

This one stings and likely will be a hand Vanni remembers for awhile as he was safe on the 5♠K♠K♦ flop and the 4♦ turn. However, the two-outer in the 8♦ river caused emotions for the entire table as even Gregorio, who improved to a full house to win the hand, consoled Vanni.

Pasquale Gregorio – 19.5 million
Alessio Vanni – 0

Alessio Vanni

Level 35: 150,000/300,000 (300,000)
Entries: 18/5,799

Anthony Ouillon jammed his 625,000 stack he came back from break with from the hijack and was called by Daniel Mendoza from the cutoff.

Anthony Ouillon: A♥J♦
Daniel Mendoza: Q♠T♠

Mendoza was ahead on the 2♥T♦5♥ flop and remained ahead on the 7♥ turn. Ouillon staved off elimination at least for now after the A♦ came raining down on the river to save the day.

Daniel Mendoza – 7.5 million
Anthony Ouillon – 2 million

Anthony Ouillon

The chips stacks have been counted and verified by the floor staff during the break and these are the current standings. Defending champion Zisis has been very busy during the last session of play, with a high pre-flop raise percentage. He’s was involved in close to half the hands during level 45 and has rocketed up the chip charts to the number one spot with 31,175,000, overtaking Ivalylo Eftimov, who remains in second place.

Anthony Ouillon is now the chip chump with 625k after losing most of his stack in the last hand before the break. He had A♠4♠ and made the call after Cosme Gomez Martinez shoved for 5.5m on a flop of 5♠4♦K♠. Cosme had K♣Q♣ and the board ran out 9♦2♥, which was no help to Anthony.

Vasileios Zisis

The 18 remaining players are now on the third break of the day. Full chip counts to follow shortly. When the players return after their 20-minute breather, they will be going into level 35, which has blinds of 150,000/300,000 (300,000).

Ivaylo Eftimov

Level 34: 125,000/250,000 (250,000)
Entries: 18/5,799

Alessandro Siena opened from late position before he called a three-bet shove by Maruen Zormati to 4.4 million.

Maruen Zormati: A♦8♦
Alessandro Siena: 8♠8♥

Siena nearly trimmed the field down to 17 players but instead Zormati improved to a full house on the A♠Q♦Q♠T♦A♥ runout.

Alessandro Siena – 11 million
Maruen Zormati – 9 million

Maruen Zormati

Level 34: 125,000/250,000 (250,000)
Entries: 18/5,799

Stephen Dallaire’s comeback didn’t last long as he just headed out with a coin flip. He got his sub 15 big blind stack in from the cutoff and was up against Cristian Mihu from the big blind.

Stephen Dallaire: K♣9♣
Cristian Mihu: 8♦8♣

“Come on, please,” begged Dellaire.

The pleading to the poker gods didn’t do the job as he was on the rail in 20th place for €6,780 after failing to connect with the 4♦T♠2♣T♥J♥ runout.

Dallaire was a true gentleman throughout the event, including the last break when we learned that he qualified on his first and only bullet with just six minutes left in late registration during the final opening flight on Sunday.

“I’ve already exceeded my expectations,” shared Dallaire on the break. “It’s been lots of fun.”

Cristian Mihu – 10 million
Stephen Dallaire – 0

Stephen Dallaire

Level 34: 125,000/250,000 (250,000)
Entries: 19/5,799

Alessandro Siena opened the small blind for 700,000. Stephen Dellaire three-bet jammed for 9 million from the big blind and Siena called off his stack of 7 million.

Alessandro Siena: A♦A♥
Stephen Dellaire: A♠K♦

It was a blind on blind cooler for Dellaire who was down to 1.6 million in chips after the 4♠K♠8♦J♠Q♥ ran out on the board. Meanwhile, Siena won one of the bigger pots of the day north of 14 million.

Dellaire doubled up after this hand to 3.5 million after his A♠3♦ was good against Shervin Ghassemlou’s K♣Q♥ in another blind vs. blind confrontation after the 9♥7♠5♣A♦A♣ improved him to trips.

Alessandro Siena – 17 million
Shervin Ghassemlou – 10 million
Stephen Dellaire – 3.5 million

Alessandro Siena

Level 34: 125,000/250,000 (250,000)
Entries: 19/5,799

There was raising and reraising preflop before Robert Shearing committed his 3.5 million stack against Ionut Arvatu.

Robert Shearing: 7♦7♥
Ionut Arvatu: 3♦3♥

A trey improved Arvatu to trips on the 9♦J♣3♦ flop. Shearing needed some help but none came on either the 4♠ turn or the blank K♠ river. It was a bit of bad luck for Shearing this blind level in two different hands but congrats on the impressive run in 20th place for €6,780.

Ionut Arvatu – 11 million
Robert Shearing – 0

Robert Shearing

Level 34: 125,000/250,000 (250,000)
Entries: 20/5,799

Marco Arcodia opened for 500,000 from the cutoff before he called a three-bet to 1 million by Robert Shearing from the button.

Arcodia checked the 9♣A♥4♣ flop. Shearing bet 800,000. Arcodia jammed for 2.8 million and Shearing called.

Marco Arcodia: 4♥4♦
Robert Shearing: A♣Q♣

The 5♣ turn left Shearing drawing dead and Arcodia officially doubled after the J♦ river completed the board.

Marco Arcodia – 8 million
Robert Shearing – 5 million

Marco Arcodia

Level 34: 125,000/250,000 (250,000)
Entries: 20/5,799

Ivaylo Eftimov opened from late position and was called by Clement Kerrien from the small blind and Kyriakos Papadopoulos from the big blind.

Kerrien jammed for around 2 million on the 2♥T♥5♦ flop. Papadopoulos quickly folded while Eftimov quickly called.

Clement Kerrien: T♣5♣
Ivaylo Eftimov: J♥9♥

Kerrien was safe on the 3♠ turn but the A♥ river improved Eftimov to a flush to eliminate Kerrien in 21st place for €6,780. Meanwhile, Eftimov took over the overall chip lead that he held at break from defending champion Vasileios Zisis after the hand.

Ivaylo Eftimov – 26 million
Clement Kerrien – 0

Clement Kerrien

Level 34: 125,000/250,000 (250,000)
Entries: 21/5,799

Two players gone in the opening moments of Level 34. Cyprus’s Christou Christos just hit the rail in 22nd place on a bad beat for €6,780.

Christos three-bet jammed from the small blind for 2.1 million and was called by Robert Shearing who opened from the hijack.

Christou Christos: Q♥Q♠
Robert Shearing: A♠J♣

Christos was frustrated after he fell behind on the A♣6♥5♠ flop and was on the rail after the 4♣ turn and 4♥ river completed the board.

Shearing went over to Christos after the hand to shake his hand and say good game. Christos said “good game” back before heading to the cashier.

Christou Christos

Level 34: 125,000/250,000 (250,000)
Entries: 22/5,799

A cooler right off the bat for Miguel Branco, who started the day with the chip lead only to hit the rail. Branco four-bet shoved 9 million from the small blind after Vasileios Zisis three-bet from the big blind to Branco’s open. Zisis called and the classic blind vs. blind coin flip was on.

Miguel Branco: Q♣Q♦
Vasileios Zisis: A♣K♣

The defending champion Zisis did it once again and was over 20 million in chips after the T♠A♥4♣7♦T♣ ran out on the board.

Vasileios Zisis – 20 million
Miguel Branco – 0

Miguel Branco

Level 34: 125,000/250,000 (250,000)
Entries: 23/5,799

Ivaylo Eftimov

While our main focus today is the Main Event, there’s also a bunch of sides going on. Here’;s a quick look at the state of play in each.

Luxon Pay Super High Roller

• Level 3: 100/200 (200)
• Entries: 42/43

Quigioco High Roller

• Level 28 :25,000/50,000 (50,000)
• Entries: 21/540

IPC 10K GTD

• Level 8: 400/800 (800)
• Entfries: 295/362

Please note that the capacity of this event has now been capped at 400.

H.O.R.S.E

• Level 2: 100/200 Ante 50
• Entries: 23/23

The €330 H.O.R.S.E is the latest side event to get going here today. Some familiar faces are in the field today, including Sascha Manns, Eirik Presttun and Antoine Degiorgio. Ladies champion Gia Carnestrom is also playing in this one. 

The €150 NLH White Knight will also be starting soon, at 5pm.

Gia Carnestrom

The players are now on the second break of the day. Full chip counts to follow…

As we are now down to 23 players, there is another pay jump and the players who bust in 17th-23rd will receive €6,780.

These are the payouts for the players who exited in 24th-31st.

Niccolo’ Cadoni

Level 33: 100,000/200,000 (200,000)
Entries: 23/5,799

Christou Christos jammed for 1.2 million from the cutoff and was called by Stephen Dallaire from the big blind.

Christou Christos: A♣4♦
Stephen Dellaire: A♠6♦

Both players improved to top pair on the A♥2♦5♥ flop and Christos’s fate was sealed after the 6♠ turn improved Dellaire to two pair. The cashout slip was handed to Christos after the K♣ river completed the board to exit in 24th place for €6,320.

Stephen Dellaire – 9 million
Christou Christos – 0

Christou Christos

After a lengthy spell with no bust-outs, but many double ups, another player has finally been sent to the rail. That reduced the field to 24 players left and a re-draw is took place. 

We will update chip counts at the next break, which is coming shortly, but this is the new seating plan.

Alessandro Siena

Level 33: 100,000/200,000 (200,000)
Entries: 24/5,799

Marco Arcodia min-raised from middle position before Niccolo’ Candoni three-bet jammed for more than 10 big blinds from the hijack. Arcodia snap-called and Candoni was in for a world of hurt.

Niccolo’ Candoni: A♣Q♥
Marco Arcodia: A♥A♠

Aces were good on the 7♥J♠2♠6♣5♦ runout for Candoni to exit in 25th place. The action was paused for a few minutes for the seat draw. The official chip counts will be updated on the break.

Marco Arcodia – 8 million
Niccolo’ Candoni – 0

Marco Arcodia

Level 33: 100,000/200,000 (200,000)
Entries: 25/5,799

Clement Kerrien opened for 550,000 from the small blind. Pasquale Gregorio went into the tank before he three-bet shoved for 5.55 million. Kerrien then tanked, asked for a count, and then called off more than most of his stack.

Pasquale Gregorio: A♥3♠
Clement Kerrien: 8♣8♥

Gregorio got there on the turn to double with a better two pair instead of hitting the rail after the K♠9♥Q♠A♠9♠ ran out on the board.

Pasquale Gregorio – 12 million
Clement Kerrien – 2 million

Pasquale Gregorio

Level 33: 100,000/200,000 (200,000)
Entries: 25/5,799

Daniel Mendoza opened for 400,000 from middle position before Miguel Branco jammed for around 15 million from the blinds. Mendoza called off his stack of 5.2 million and was flipping for his tournament life.

Daniel Mendoza: T♥T♦
Miguel Branco: A♣K♣

It was over before it began with the T♠T♣3♠ flop improving Mendoza to quads. Branco was already drawing dead but the 2♥ turn and 9♦ river made the hand official. Mendoza had a massive smile on his face as he collected the healthy pot with quads.

Daniel Mendoza – 11 million
Miguel Branco – 10 million

Daniel Jose Romero Mendoza

Level 33: 100,000/200,000 (200,000)
Entries: 25/5,799

Parminder Kandola got his chips in good with A♥J♥ and was up against the A♠7♠ held by Cristian Mihu. While we missed how the chips went in, we do know it was preflop for more than a 7 million pot.

The T♣6♦5♠4♠3♣ board improved Mihu to a straight to eliminate Kandola in 26th place.

Cristian Mihu – 7.5 million
Parminder Kandola – 0

Cristian Mihu

Level 33: 100,000/200,000 (200,000)
Entries: 26/5,799

Phanishsarn Tanapatr jammed his 2.6 million stack from under the gun. Ivaylo Eftimov called from the button before Davide Iannaco tanked for a couple of minutes from the big blind. Iannaco folded and the cards were tabled.

Phanishsarn Tanapatr: A♣T♥
Ivaylo Eftimov: A♠Q♣

Tanapatr was drawing dead on the turn and officially hit the rail after the 4♠Q♥4♦7♦3♣ hit the board.

Ivaylo Eftimov – 17 million
Phanishsarn Tanapatr – 0

Level 33: 100,000/200,000 (200,000)
Entries: 27/5,799

Christou Christos jammed for 1.3 million from under the gun. The action folded around to Kyriakos Papadopoulos in the big blind. Papadopoulos asked for a count and called a minute later.

Christou Christos: A♦K♥
Kyriakos Papadopoulos: A♣6♥

Ace-king was good on the J♥T♠4♦J♠2♠ paired board for Papadopoulos to double Christos.

Kyriakos Papadopoulos – 3 million
Christou Christos – 3 million

Kyriakos Papadopoulos

Level 33: 100,000/200,000 (200,000)
Entries: 27/5,799

Ivan Furniet Martinez three-bet jammed the for about five to six big blinds from the small blind and was called by Miguel Branco, who opened from the button.

Ivan Furniet Martinez: K♠Q♠
Miguel Branco: 9♠9♦

Nines won the flip to eliminate Martinez in 27th place after the A♠8♠A♣2♥6♦ ran out on the board.

Miguel Branco – 17 million
Ivan Furniet Martinez – 0

Ivan Furniet Martinez

Level 33: 100,000/200,000 (200,000)
Entries: 28/5,799

Ivan Furniet Martinez checked the 2♣3♣7♦ flop before Anthony Ouillon jammed for 1,550,000 into a pot of slightly less. Martinez asked for a count before he called.

Anthony Ouillon: Q♠Q♦
Ivan Furniet Martinez: 9♠2♠

Martinez’s bottom pair didn’t improve on either the 6♠ turn or the 5♠ river to double up Ouillon.

Anthony Ouillon – 4.3 million
Ivan Furniet Martinez – 1.3 million

Day 1i chip leader Anthony Ouillon

Level 33: 100,000/200,000 (200,000)
Entries: 28/5,799

Clement Kerrien jammed from the small blind before Pasquale Gregorio called off his stack of 1.8 million from the big blind.

Pasquale Gregorio: A♠T♥
Clement Kerrien: Q♠T♣

Gregorio had a sweat with his opponent flopping a flush draw but blanks came on the turn and river as the 2♣7♣J♣8♠5♥ rolled out on the board for Gregorio to double through Kerrien.

Clement Kerrien – 7 million
Pasquale Gregorio – 4 million

Pasquale Gregorio

An intriguing hand on table 20 took place just before the players went on break. Parminder Kandola had raised to 350k from under-the-gun, only for Daniel Mendoza in seat 6 to shove for his remaining 2.2m. Ivan Martinez in seat two went into the tank before declaring himself all-in Parminder seemed pained and thought for some time before folding.

The hands were flipped and Ivan had A♥A♦ versus Daniel’s optimistically shoved K♦Q♦.

The flop of T♥9♠2♦ left Ivan looking in a pretty strong but vulnerable situation as Daniel picked up a gutshot. The turn brought the Q♥ however the J♥ completed the gutter to bump Daniel up to to 5m chips.

Daniel Mendoza

The Main Event structure is extended to 90 minutes per level for today’s Day 4 and they will play down to 8 players, who will return for tomorrow’s final table. They will have a break at the end of each level and they have now gone off for a 15-minute freshener. A full chip count of all 28 remaining players will be conducted during the break.

Level 32: 75,000/150,000 (150,000)
Entries: 28/5,799

Alessandro Siena had his stack committed with 8♠8♥ while Davide Ingegnere had an even shorter stack committed with K♥J♠. Cosme Gomez Martinez also came into the hand hoping to bust two players with A♣Q♦

It was looking like Ingegnere might triple his stack after the 6♠K♠3♣ flop. The 2♦ turn was safe but he showed his frustration after the 8♣ river improved Siena to a set to eliminate Ingegnere and double through Gomez Martinez.

Cosme Gomez Martinez – 13 million
Alessandro Sienna – 7 million
Davide Ingegnere – 0

Davide Ingegnere

Level 32: 75,000/150,000 (150,000)
Entries: 29/5,799

On the feature table, Marius Iftimia limped the small blind. Vasileos Zisis raised from the big blind before Iftimia three-bet jammed for 4.5 million. Zisis called and a coin flip was on with Iftimia at risk.

Marius Iftimia: 5♥5♠
Vasileios Zisis: A♣T♣

The defending Main Event champion Zisis is in prime position to reach the final table once again after the A♦4♦7♠3♦Q♠ runout pushed him ahead of Iftimia to eliminate his opponent.

Vasileios Zisis – 14 million
Marius Iftimia – 0

Marius Iftimia

The first two side events of the day are now underway.

The €2,200 Luxon Pay Super High Roller had 14 players registered when the clock was started, but its a 50-minute clock with 10 levels of late registration, so plenty of time for more players enter. And as it is a 2-day event and players start with 50,000 chips, there’s likely to be many who want to get involved.

• Buy-In: €2,000 (€2,00+€200)
• Tournament Began: 2pm
• Starting Stack: 50,000
• Blind levels: 50 mins
• Day 1 Ends: After 12 x 50 mutes of play

The NLH IPC €10k Guaranteed, with a €350 buy-in started with a lot more players than the Super High Roller and the field has now grown to 119. The prize pool is already over 3.5x bigger than the €10k guarantee.

• Buy-In: €350 (€315+€35)
• Tournament Began: 2pm
• Starting Stack: 30,000
• Blind levels: 20 mins
• Play Ends: When we have a winner!

Level 32: 75,000/150,000 (150,000)
Entries: 30/5,799

Georgian Georgescu just hit the rail on the center stage where tomorrow’s televised final table will take place. He shared that he jammed his ace-nine suited into the ace-queen suited held by the start of the day chip leader Miguel Branco. The board didn’t help him push ahead and the Main Event was down to just 30 hopefuls.

Manuel Branco – 17 million
Georgian Georgescu – 0

Level 32: 75,000/150,000 (150,000)
Entries: 31/5,799

Pasquale Gregorio opened for 300,000 from under the gun. Cosme Gomez Martinez three-bet to 750,000 from the button and Gregorio called to see the 3♥6♦4♥ flop. Both players checked before the 6♥ paired the board on the turn.

Fireworks began to erupt but first Gregorio checked. Martinez bet 325,000. Gregorio raised to 1,850,000 and Martinez called.

Gregorio jammed the 2♠ river. Gomez Martinez snap-called his stack of 5,525,000 and Gregorio stormed off the table to vent off some frustration as his 9♥8♥ for a flush didn’t beat the nut-flush held by Gomez Martinez who tabled the A♥K♥

Cosme Gomez Martinez – 17 million
Pasquale Gregorio – 4.2 million

Cosme Gomez Martinez

As soon as play restarted players began to fall, barely passing go, but heading directly to the payout desk for their €5,880 payouts. The pay jumps again now and those who depart in 24th-31st places will cash for €6,320.

Sokratis Oikonomou, out in 33rd place

Level 32: 75,000/150,000 (150,000)
Entries: 31/5,799

Davide Iannaco had some chips out in front of him with the 7♥Q♥5♣J♥ on the board after the turn when Phanishsarn Tanapatr jammed for more than the 4.1 million Iannaco had at the time. Iannaco went into the tank before he called.

Davide Iannaco: 9♥5♥
Phanishsarn Tanapatr: K♥T♣

Iannaco just needed to fade a heart on the river and stood up to celebrate after his hand held on the 8♣ river. Meanwhile, Marton Lugosi, Sokratis Oikonomou, and Niklas Aahlund hit the rail to leave 31 players remaining.

lost their stacks at the other table.

Davide Iannaco – 10 million
Phanishsarn Tanapatr – 4.3 million
Marton Lugosi – 0
Sokratis Oikonomou – 0
Niklas Aahlund – 0

Davide Iannaco

Level 32: 75,000/150,000 (150,000)
Entries: 34/5,799

Viktor Waal jammed for 1,125,000 into a pot of a little more with the 3♣7♠9♦4♥ on the board after the turn. Ivaylo Eftimov went into the tank before he called.

Viktor Waal: Q♥9♠
Ivaylo Eftimov: 7♦6♦

Waal was ahead but Eftimov tapped the table in delight after the 6♠ river improved him to two pair to snag all of Waal’s stack.

Ivaylo Eftimov – 11.6 million
Viktor Wall – 0

Defending champion Vasileios Zisis is back and well in the mix, sitting in 4th place with 11.55m chips at the start of the day. Characteristically, he jumped into his seat jus as play was about to begin and I didn’t have much time to catch up with him before the cards were in the air. He did manage to say that his goal for today is to make the final table, but how far does he think he can win it?

“Of course (I can win it), but that will have to wait until tomorrow.”

Zisis entered three starting days, having a single bullet each time before negotiating his path into the money. He’s now set to earn a decent return, but just how decent remains to be seen…

Vasileios Zisis

Level 32: 75,000/150,000 (150,000)
Entries: 35/5,799

Christou Christos jammed for 2.2 million from early position before Berend Hooijer called off his short-stack of 775,000 from middle position.

Berend Hooijer: T♥T♣
Christou Christos: A♣Q♣

Hooiijer was flipping to get back into contention but instead said “good game” to the table after Christos connected with the 7♦A♦8♥7♣Q♦ board to win the hand with a better two pair.

Christou Christos – 3.4 million
Berend Hooijer – 0

Berend Hooijer

Level 32: 75,000/150,000 (150,000)
Entries: 36/5,799

Cards are in the air to start the penultimate day of the Main Event. Players will have a break after each 90-minute level today. The button will start on Seat 8.

Tonight’s action will conclude when the action is down to just eight players on the official final table, which will be live-streamed on Wednesday across Battle of Malta channels.

Best of luck to all of the players!

Clement Kerrien

Day 3 of the Battle of Malta Autumn Edition Main Event saw the field reduced from 290 to just 36 after a long day in which 9 x 75-minute levels were played. It’s a record breaking event, with both the 5,799 entries and the €2,578,172 prize pool setting new heights for the 12-year old event.

All 290 players who returned to the felt on Monday were already guaranteed at least €2,110, but aiming for a much higher score, such as the €300,800 first prize. When play resumed at 1pm, the rate of eliminations picked up where it had left off on Sunday, with many players put to the sword in the first few levels of the day. Antonis Poulengeris (28nd), James McPherson (242nd) and Jordi Ruiz Ribatallada (240th) among those to depart during the early exchanges. 

Humberto Galindo, who had been the Day 1a chip leader almost made it half-way though the day, but was ousted in 146th place. He will be consoled by the fact that he scooped an additional €10,000 for his Day 1a big stack, to secure a total prize of €12,460, which is worth more than the 8th placed player on the final table will receive.

As the day progressed the rate of eliminations slowed down and by the time the day ended, after level 31, it was Miguel Branco who had emerged as the leader, with a towering stack of 15,225,000 chips. Alexandru Farcasanu and Pasquale Gregorio followed closely behind Branco with stacks of 13,575,000 and 12,875,000 respectively. Meanwhile, defending champion Vasileios Zisis continued to make his presence felt with a stack of 11,550,000 chips, and is a serious contender to become the first two-time champion of the Battle of Malta Main Event. Will he go back-to-back? 

Day 4, the penultimate day of the event resumes at 1 p.m. Here are the full  chip counts of all 36 remaining players.

Payouts for all players who were eliminated on Day 3 can be found here.

Miguel Branco

It was also an extremely busy day for the rest of the schedule at Casino Malta and the Eden Arena at the Intercontinental Malta. There were multiple side events taking place simultaneously, all attracting sizeable fields. 

Gia Carnestrom Wins Ladies Event

The Battle of Malta ladies event took place on Monday and a lively field of 121 fillies lined up for the start of the FLIP (Fantastic Ladies In Poker) sponsored event. There were many recognizable faces in the €150 tournament, including several Battle of Malta regulars, such as Emzy Oliver and the event’s host, Patricia rimfire. However defending champion Champagne Peng Tang did not make the journey from China to Malta to defend her title.

The tournament was played in good spirits with players enjoying a glass of fizz during the first break. The TV table was used to stage the final in the middle of the Eden Arena. Unfortunately, the cameras were not rolling this time to witness a very competitive final table, but by the time they got three-handed, a deal was done, leaving €800 to play for, for the winner. The last three received entries into next years battle of Malta main event as as a prize added by Casino Malta.

Flavia Guedes finished in third place and FLIP founder Daiva Byrne took second, but the victory went to the very stylish Swedish poker matriarch Gia Carnestrom, sporting her trademark hat throughout. Gia is a regular at many European poker festivals and has had a good 2024 so far, with this being her second tournament victory in Malta this year.

Quigioco High Roller Extends To Third Day

The €1,100 High Roller, sponsored by Quigioco had begun on Sunday, but registration remained open for the first three levels on Monday, resulting in many more players entering the tournament to bring the final number of entries up to 540. Originally this tournament has been scheduled to be completed on Monday, however due to the large attendance this was not possible. By the time play was suspended, 29 players were left. They will return today at 2 PM to complete the tournament, chasing the €100,000 top prize. 

Here are the chip counts and Day 3 seating draw of the survivors.

Full Tilt Catania Bounty 

The €70,000 Guaranteed Full Tilt Catania Bounty also began its second day on Monday, also with a further three levels of late registration. The structure is described as regressive, which means that when day to become blinds were rolled back by three levels to the start of level eight. As per the Highroller, a large number of players exercised the right to enter the €300 buy-in event on day two, creating a total field of 535 entries. This tournament did managed to reach its natural conclusion and was won by Romanian Andrei Roman-Tamaduianu for €9,580. 

IPC Deepstack Won by Jakub Szczotka

The first event to come to a conclusion on Monday was the €400 NLH IPC Deepstack. There were a total of 96 entries and it was won by Jakub Szczotka from Poland for €8,430. This is the third victory by a Pole at the Battle of Malta Autumn edition. 

Jakub Szczotka

Saso Lipovsek Wins IPF €10k GTD

The €200 PF €10k Guaranteed event had 214 entries, creating a prize pool of €32,528, more than three times the €10,000 guarantee. It was won by Slovenian Saso Lipovsek, for €6,320, claiming his first ever live  tournament win.

Victor Gonzales Claims Novibet Ultradeep PKO Title

The Novibet Ultra deep was the final event of the evening to begin. Progressive knockout tournaments are rare to find live as it is more complicated to operate than online. As PKO’s are one of the most popular tournament formats, it was no surprise that this became the third side event of the day to exceed 500 entries. When registration closed, 523 players had paid the €330 (€150+€150+€30) buy-in. 

It was won by Spain’s Victor Gonzales who secured the €10,500 first prize, plus a further €9,825 in bounties. 

Full Results of all completed events can be found on the results page.

Tuesday’s Schedule

Tuesday is the last full day schedule at the Battle of Malta Autumn Edition. By the end of the day only the Super High Roller and the Main Event will still be unresolved. Even though the series is now drawing to a close, there’s still quite a lot on for any poker players who are staying until the very end. 

The Main Event resumes at 1pm and High Roller at returns at 3pm. At 2pm the €2,200 (€2,000+€200) Luxon Super High Begins, as does the €350 (€315+35) NLH 8-Max IPC sponsored event. 

Mixed Games are also back on the schedule today, with the €330 (€300+€30) H.O.R.S.E at 4pm.

The White and Dark Knights are also back for another double act today at 5pm & 7pm respectively and the final tournament on the schedule is the €150 Hyper Turbo at 9pm.

Day 3 of the 2024 Battle of Malta Autumn Edition Main Event was full of excitement as players battled for their share of the record-breaking €2,578,172 prize pool and hoped to position themselves to get to the final table on Day 4 and more. The day commenced with 290 players returning to the felt, all guaranteed at least €2,110 for their efforts. As the action heated up, it was Miguel Branco who emerged as the chip leader, boasting an impressive stack of 15,225,000 chips.

The atmosphere in Casino Malta and the Eden Arena at the Intercontinental Malta was electric as players not only battled in the Main Event but many side events including the €150 NLH Ladies Event hosted by FLIP and its founder Daiva Byrne. The €1,100 High Roller was so busy that it added a third day with a winner to be crowned tomorrow.

Alexandru Farcasanu and Pasquale Gregorio followed closely behind Branco with stacks of 13,575,000 and 12,875,000 respectively. Meanwhile, defending champion Vasileios Zisis continued to make his presence felt with a stack of 11,550,000 chips, and is on a serious sweat to become the first two-time champion of the Battle of Malta Main Event.

Meanwhile, Giuseppe Nacci hit the rail during the final moments and didn’t make the cut to the penultimate day with the action resuming for Day 4 at 1 p.m.

Check out the full ending chip counts of Day 3 below: