Anthony Ouillon Banks €10K After Bagging Day 1i Chip Lead 3 Nov 20:03 by Jason Glatzer

The final opening flight is in the books and it attracted another 849 runners to bring the grand total up to 5,799 smashing all records on the island and perhaps throughout all of Europe for this buy-in range. The prize pool reached a whopping €2,578,172 prize pool, also a new record for the Battle of Malta and creating one of the largest events in all of Europe in 2024.

The prize pool will be announced shortly after the start of play at 10 p.m. We will share on the blog if we get a sneak peak but can at least share that all 762 Day 2 qualifiers, including 126 on the final opening flight that just ended, earned at least an €800 min-cash and there will be six-figure digit prizes on the line.

Anthony Ouillon will head into Day 2 in a couple of hours €10,000 richer thanks to bagging the overall Day 1i chip lead with 1,077,000 in chips. Michael Howard may not be a chip millionaire with 999,000 but he also earned a healthy €5,000 bonus for the second most chips on Day 1i while Domenico Candido earned €3,000 for bagging up the third place stack of 879,000 in chips.

Day 2 will start at the earliest point the opening flights have finished with blinds at 4,000/8,000 along with an 8,000 big blind ante. It won’t be a long and tiring day even for those 126 souls that qualified through Day 1i as just four blind levels of one hour each are planned with blinds increasing to 75 minutes in length for Day 3.

Check out the full Day 1i chip counts below and we will post the starting Day 2 chip counts and the seat draw in approximately 30 minutes.

Player Chips Big Blinds
Anthony Ouillon 1,077,000 135
Michael Howard 999,000 125
Domenico Candido 879,000 110
Hendrik Blokdijk 808,000 101
Michal Grzegorz Procner 655,000 82
Adrien Di Grande 652,000 82
Richard Msall 632,000 79
Paul Michael Lyons 631,000 79
Salvatore Merendino 619,000 77
Michele Ditarano 577,000 72
Boban Stevanovic 539,000 67
Shaun Decesare 535,000 67
Massimo Vullo 525,000 66
Dan Sfarlea 522,000 65
Joshua Norvock 503,000 63
Francesco Blasio 501,000 63
Emmanouil Chalkiotis 498,000 62
Andrea Geraci 471,000 59
Angelo Onorato 466,000 58
Luca Sebastiani 462,000 58
Ionut Arvatu 440,000 55
Simon Davidson 439,000 55
Simon Hesserud Persson 437,000 55
Asiil Maye 437,000 55
Patrik Zidek 436,000 55
Frankie Chan 422,000 53
Rakesh Attuluri 410,000 51
Stephen Dallaire 391,000 49
Milan Dabic 365,000 46
Maurizio Saieva 361,000 45
Phedonas Phinicarides 341,000 43
Tomasz Kardas 338,000 42
Palina Mankevich 338,000 42
Alexandru Farcasanu 336,000 42
Laszlo Papai 336,000 42
Thomas Bolton 333,000 42
Ioannis Triantafyllakis 333,000 42
Sebastian Kos 330,000 41
Carmelo Villafranca 330,000 41
Juan Farre 328,000 41
Alessio Vanni 294,000 37
Stevan Gvozdenovic 281,000 35
Lukas Benkovic 276,000 35
Giuseppe Gallo 269,000 34
Ivan Kuziv 269,000 34
Cristian Mihu 268,000 34
Mark Wates 263,000 33
Dylan Petrecca 257,000 32
Salvatore Capra 253,000 32
Andrew Fleming 250,000 31
Cristiano Gatti 250,000 31
Luca Neri 247,000 31
Minh-Ho Tran 247,000 31
Johan Purbe 241,000 30
Fotios Ntamaris 236,000 30
Emanuele Cassibba 232,000 29
Tomislav Savov 228,000 29
Giuseppe Verderico 228,000 29
Paul Fisher 227,000 28
Martin Petkov 224,000 28
Stefano Boi 222,000 28
John Adderley 215,000 27
Adrien Bodenheimer 213,000 27
Tomasz Adamus 212,000 27
Itay Barak 211,000 26
George Demetriou 211,000 26
Dimitrios Stavaris 210,000 26
Yotam Yoffe 205,000 26
Gregory Campbell 196,000 25
Nour Dakhchoune 196,000 25
Max Wielander 195,000 24
Fabiano Montanaro 194,000 24
Danilo Ialacqua 192,000 24
Benedikt Brandl 191,000 24
Giovanni Logarzo 191,000 24
Gianfranco Picone 189,000 24
Nikolaos Vouldis 188,000 24
Erik Lindqwist 187,000 23
Cristoforo Pascale 184,000 23
Clement Kerrien 180,000 23
Danas Dambrauskas 176,000 22
Jason Shellum 173,000 22
Michael Yeo 168,000 21
Demos Demosthenous 166,000 21
Nicolai Ejstrud 166,000 21
Eljano Hysaj 164,000 21
Todor Petkov 164,000 21
Marko Jovanovic 163,000 20
Paul-Calin Ciaca 160,000 20
Ioannis Vlassis 160,000 20
Valerio Mascolo 158,000 20
Luigi Dell’utri 152,000 19
Valerie Bennet 144,000 18
Davide Iannaco 141,000 18
Tiziano Di Romualdo 140,000 18
Maurizio Fisicaro 138,000 17
Panagiotis Papastefanou 136,000 17
Przemyslaw Drab 133,000 17
Madis Ormisson 132,000 17
Fernando Amorelli 121,000 15
Patrick Wulf 121,000 15
Giuseppe D’agnese 112,000 14
Carlo Jia Jie Vitti 111,000 14
Sascha Manns 100,000 13
Stefano Stefanacci 100,000 13
Vasileios Zervas 98,000 12
Antonios Georgiou 97,000 12
Vincenzo Scarpitti 90,000 11
Terry Woods 85,000 11
Stig Rune Bjornli 82,000 10
Riccardo Saitta 80,000 10
Piersante Ferri 75,000 9
Zygintas Stasiulevicius 74,000 9
Alfredo Porcino 70,000 9
Dmitri Dudakov 69,000 9
Silvio Maggi 68,000 9
Danilo Scevola 66,000 8
Angelo Sidoti 61,000 8
Angelo Pediglieri 59,000 7
Halil Gecaj 56,000 7
Mauro Brecevic 38,000 5
Andrew Murphy 34,000 4
Andrea D’ambrogo 27,000 3
Wilhelm Isaak 16,000 2
Ulf Graehs 13,000 2
Mimikopoulos Konstantinos 12,000 2
Breaking News: Start of Day 2 Delayed Until 10pm 3 Nov 15:09 by Jonathan Raab

It has just been announced that the start of Day 2 of the Battle of Malta Main Event will be delayed until 10pm. Due to the late restart, Day 2 will be now be shortened. Four x 60 minute levels will be played.

5,799 Runners in Battle of Malta, Registration Closed! 3 Nov 14:22 by Jonathan Raab

Registration has now closed for the final starting day of the Battle of Malta Autumn Edition and the with 849 entries in the last chance Day 1i turbo flight, the total number of entries is a record setting 5,799 (to be confirmed). The €2,578,172 prize pool is also a new record for the event. The figures are now being checked and verified and will be confirmed when payouts are announced. 

The final starting day will continue until 127 players remain. Full blog coverage will resume for the start of Day 2 at 10pm this evening.

Battle of Malta Prize Pool Exceeds €2.5m 3 Nov 12:52 by Jonathan Raab

The Battle of Malta prize pool has gone north of €2.5m for the first time in the event’s history. The milestone was hit during the seventh level of the final starting flight and is still rising. The final prize pool will be confirmed once late registration closes shortly before 2pm.

Final Turbo Flight On First Break 3 Nov 12:33 by Jonathan Raab

The final starting day of the Battle of Malta Autumn Edition is well underway and players are on their the first break of the day. The flight is a full price one (€600) and is being run on a 20-minute clock. They have just begun level seven and there are four levels left for late entrants to join the flight. The latest time it is possible to enter will be just before 2pm. 

So far there have been 676 entries in the flight, which brings the total number of entrants up to over 5,600 and the prize pool is now just a few players shy of €2.5m

Biggest Day Ever at The Battle of Malta! 3 Nov 11:34 by Jonathan Raab

Saturday 2nd November at Casino Malta & the Eden Arena at the Intercontinental Hotel was the biggest single day ever in Battle of Malta’s 12 year history!

With 1,759 entries Day 1g of the Battle of Malta Autumn Edition surpassed the previous record of 1,752, which has stood since 2019. Not only was it the biggest single starting day, but the record for the total number of entries in the event also fell, with two starting flights left to play.

During the half-price Day 1h, which began at 8pm, another milestone was reached, 5,000 entries in the Main Event. It’s not impossible that the final total could reach 6,000 entries during the final turbo structured starting day on Sunday morning. It started at 10am with over 300 players registered by the start of play. 

The popularity of the Main Event flights on Saturday did have some downside however, as most of the day’s scheduled side events had to be scrapped due to all available space being utilized for the Main Event. The Pot Limit Omaha and the morning satellite were the only other events that started on Saturday, plus the final day of the Winamax 6-Max. 

Iason Filipidis Bags Chip Lead on Bumper Day1g

By the time play ended on Day 1g of the Battle of Malta Main Event, 262 players remained, all progressing to Day 2, which begins at 8pm on Sunday. The chip leader from the flight is Iason Filipidis from Greece, who is also the overall chip leader, at this stage of the tournament. The Greek player’s 1,398,000 chip mountain is more than 250,000 in front of Humberto Galindo, who posted the largest stack from Day 1a. 

Filipidis secured the €10,000 high stack bonus for his chip building efforts. Alexander Luciani claimed €5,000 for posting the second biggest stack of the flight with 1,045,000. He is one of only four players to have bagged up a seven figure chip stack from the starting days that have been completed so far. 

The third biggest stack of the day was constructed by Konstantin Faerber, whose 974,000 was good enough for the €3,000 bonus prize.

Iason Filipidis

Petr Kubenka Scoops Day1h Bonus Prize

Day 1h was the final half price starting day of the Main Event and was marginally the largest of the four that took place. There were 418 entries, one more than the 417 who entered Friday’s half price flight. Just 32 of the starters made it to the end of the day, with Peter Kubenka’s 668,000 being good enough for him to claim the €5,000 big stack bonus. Giampiero Arena’s 536,000 was good for the €2,000 second prize.

Petr Kubenka

Daniel Heredi Ships Winamax 6-Max

The final day of the slow structured Winamax 6-Max took place on Saturday, with 28 players returning for a shot at the €13,318 first prize. It was won by Hungarian Daniel Heredi, who is a regular visitors to the Battle of Malta, having previously made a final table of the Mystery Siege in 2022. He’s an experienced player who has won two WSOPC ring events and this victory takes his lifetime winnings to close to $300,000.

Pot Limit Omaha won by Andreas Vlachos

The one side event that managed to get going was the €330 PLO, which was initially soft capped at 40 players, but ended up with 61 entries, creating a prize pool more than three times bigger than the €5,000 guarantee. It was won by Andreas Vlachos for €5,090. This was the last of the three Pot Limit Omaha tournaments taking place at the series, but there are still 8-Game and H.O.R.S.E events on the schedule.

Sunday’s Schedule of Play

The final Main Event Day 1 flight began at 10am, with a full price (€600) buy-in and a turbo structure. It runs on a 20 minute clock and late registration will close at roughly 1.50pm. This is the final chance for players to join the 636 players who have already secured their passage into Day 2, which begins at 8pm this evening.

There are also several side events scheduled today and unlike the last few days, there should be no reasons for any to be cancelled this time. However, there has been a small adjustment to the schedule, as the start time for the satellite to the Quigioco High Roller has been pushed back by one hour and will now start at noon.

Time Event Buy-In Fee Starting Stack Levels
10:00 TURBO – BOM €1,500,000 GTD Day1* €530 €70 40K 20 min
12:00 NLH Satellite Accumulator – QUIGIOCO – HIGH ROLLER €300,000 GTD €110 €20 10K 20 min
15:00 NLH REBET24 €260 €40 20K 20 min
16:00 8-Game €300 €30 30K 25 min
17:00 NLH HIGH ROLLER €300,000 GTD – QUIGIOCO (10 Levels) Day1 €1,000 €100 50K 30 min
18:00 NLH FULL TILT CATANIA Bounty €70,000 GTD regressive (12 Levels) €110 + €150 €40 30K 25 min
20:00 BOM Day2 €1,500,000 GTD 60 min
21:00 NLH Satellite Accumulator – QUIGIOCO – HIGH ROLLER €300,000 GTD €110 €20 10K 20 min
22:00 NLH HYPERTURBO €130 €20 20K 10 min

 

 

Petr Kubenka Bags Day 1h Chip Lead 3 Nov 10:59 by Jason Glatzer

Day 1h was the largest of the half-priced opening flights, with 422 entries and 32 players surviving. This flight also set the new Battle of Malta record, and with players entering early into Day 1i, it also passed 5,000 total entries for the Battle of Malta Main Event for the first time.

Petr Kubenka led the way after bagging 668,000 from his 20,000 starting stack to earn the €5,000 chip leader bonus, while Giampiero Arena earned €2,000 for bagging the second-place stack of 536,000.

Check out the full chip counts from Day 1h below:

Name Chips
Petr Kubenka 668,000
Giampiero Arena 536,000
Domenico De Francesco 498,000
Christian Kempf 494,000
Cosmin-Ionut Nica 492,000
Manuel Persico 470,000
Wojciech Radomski 411,000
Giuseppe Zuccarello 370,000
Tomi Arponen 352,000
Loris Fabbri 335,000
Jennifer Jordi 328,000
Davor Mudric 316,000
Malte Harff 289,000
Jakub Ojrzynski 271,000
Alfio Morello 266,000
Mohamed Bouzgarrou 256,000
Aristeidis Giannatos 247,000
Rain Moelderkivi 244,000
Romperto Koskidinis 229,000
Daniel Stancer 226,000
Robert Shearing 213,000
Daniele Staropoli 190,000
Santiago Gonzalez 160,000
Fabio Prinari 150,000
Fabio Motta 144,000
Gabriella Carollo 130,000
Abraham Berkovitch 128,000
Antonio Chemi 117,000
Michele Casaburi 96,000
Giuseppe Bossa 84,000
Stavros Tsakas 68,000
Dimitrios Karagkounis 59,000

 

Iason Filippidis Bags Overall Chip Lead During Record Breaking Day 1g 3 Nov 10:56 by Jason Glatzer

It was a record-breaking day at the 2024 Battle of Malta Autumn Edition Main Event with Day 1g attracting 1,759 entries to eclipse the old record of 1,752 entries established before the pandemic on Day 1d of the 2019 Battle of Malta Autumn Edition Main Event won by Serghi Lisii after he defeated Steven “The Viking” van Zadelhoff heads-up.

Iason Filippidis made the most of the day as he led the 262 Day 1g survivors and bagged the overall chip lead after ending the day with 1,398,000 in chips. This earned him a whopping €10,000 bonus for the day, while chip millionaire Alexander Luciani earned €5,000 for his second-place performance with 1,045,000, and Konstantin Faeber earned a €3,000 bonus for bagging the third-place stack of 974,000.

Check out the full chip counts below of Day 1g:

Name Chips
Iason Filippidis 1,398,000
Alexander Luciani 1,045,000
Konstantin Faerber 974,000
Yarin Matan 927,000
Enrico Perra 843,000
Luka Lerga 832,000
Marc Meden 815,000
Manuel Licata 787,000
Janos Pergel 720,000
Alexandros Papadopulos 715,000
Ashley Scott 694,000
Carl Frejd 692,000
Berend Hooijer 667,000
Georgian Georgescu 633,000
Marek Ohnisko 606,000
Stefan Gheorghe 602,000
Lucia Antunes 569,000
Domenico Ruggero 561,000
Panagiotis Petrou 545,000
Pawel Wakuluk 537,000
Gabriele Pischedda 533,000
Darko Svesko 533,000
Adrian Cazacu 530,000
Sergio Somma 526,000
Zhenghao Zhou 523,000
Jose Guerrero 522,000
Vincent Smith 521,000
Bartolomeo Selvaggi 519,000
John Sande 504,000
Kajetan Renke 487,000
Dalibor Mijic 472,000
Kestutis Jungevicius 468,000
Kevin Campbell 462,000
Ioannios Logothetis 462,000
Antonio Mirabile 462,000
Vincenzo Ruggiero 460,000
Hussein Abdulsamad 455,000
Thom Giesberts 453,000
Niko Petro 451,000
Francesco Vitale 443,000
Jozsef Harsing 442,000
Francesco Natale 436,000
Jussi  Julkunen 435,000
Konstantinos Karkanidis 434,000
Alfonso Amendola 430,000
Florian Dubrawski 427,000
Dario Marinelli 427,000
Timothee Rey 406,000
Marcus Borg 402,000
Marco Arcodia 387,000
Gaetano Cristaldi 384,000
Lorenzo Arduini 376,000
Dalibor Mijolovic 376,000
Dongyue Su 374,000
Emmanouil Zografakis 371,000
Alessio Scarano 368,000
Gustav Andersson 366,000
Gianluca Fichera 365,000
Philip Butt 357,000
Maurizio Cristaldi 357,000
Andreas Brendholt 354,000
Rinaldo Filho 352,000
Massimo Arigo’ 351,000
Parminder Kandola 351,000
Mirko Bellavia 349,000
Dushko Bogoevski 348,000
Aleksandar Sunjevaric 348,000
Cristian-Ilie Visoiu 348,000
Ioan Guramulta 335,000
Antonios Kandilas 333,000
Vitalii Shcherba 328,000
Christou Christos 327,000
Alberto Cucca 327,000
Prokopios Mountrichas 326,000
Daniel Prior 323,000
Idan Levy 320,000
Lukas Pazma 319,000
Michail Emmanoyha 315,000
Domenico Pediglieri 309,000
Tomas Dusanek 308,000
Iraklis Manikaros 308,000
Lieven Van Hoof 303,000
Rune Espedal 301,000
Milovan Dinovic 298,000
Domenico Fazio 295,000
Nico Frenn 294,000
Lin Wang 293,000
Dimitrios Anastasakis 291,000
Miguel Abad 290,000
Simone Sintucci 288,000
Silvio Giuliano 285,000
Davide Marabello 285,000
Giandomenico De Chiara 278,000
Francesco D’aspromonte 272,000
Michael Leng 265,000
Claudio Barone 264,000
Marco Leonzio 264,000
Haim Ofer 264,000
Giovanni D’alia 263,000
Sebastian Pabian 260,000
Ilie-Ionut Ababei 259,000
Stefan Fabian 259,000
Vaidas Siriunas 259,000
Marius Agica 258,000
Andrija Vujic 257,000
Igor Milutinovic 254,000
David Urban 254,000
Defrim Alia 253,000
Alkan Aydingoez 252,000
Oliver Kong 250,000
Richard Nicol 250,000
Ilija Savevski 249,000
Antonio Guido 248,000
Giuseppe Liotta 248,000
Flaviano Cammisuli 246,000
Andras Jakabfi 246,000
Salvatore La Vardera 246,000
Sebastiano Di Falco 245,000
Jake Caldwell 234,000
Nuredin Spaho 231,000
Vasileios Tsaknis 231,000
Andrew Salami 226,000
Luke Vinnicombe 226,000
Silvio La Rosa 225,000
Manuel Janas 224,000
Massimo Centola 222,000
Daniel Kugler 222,000
Giulio Serpillo 222,000
Itaco Voto 222,000
Niklas Aahlund 221,000
Giovanni La Rosa 221,000
Athanasios Kechagias 220,000
Rasmus Adjers 220,000
Milan Dondur 217,000
Ioannis Georgopoulos 217,000
Stylianos Kollatos 217,000
Danilo Bartone 214,000
Vladimir Cocis 214,000
Alexandros Tasoulis 213,000
Vittorio Bevilacqua 210,000
Mike Kuehl 210,000
Viktor Waal 210,000
Fraser Mackenzie 206,000
Nunzio Iandolo 201,000
Alfred Holzer 198,000
Francesco Onorato 197,000
Anthony Counsell 196,000
Tayfun Rodoplu 193,000
Michael Koran 191,000
Andrea Taffari 190,000
Phanishsarn Tanapatr 189,000
Karl Cooper 183,000
Josef Gulas 182,000
Daniel Lemanowski 182,000
Emanuele Giufre’ 180,000
Roberto Palmieri 180,000
Davide Campione 176,000
Loris Invito 176,000
Fabrizio Zucca 176,000
Paolo Chiatante 174,000
Alessio Scire’ 172,000
Roberto Barone 171,000
Andrei-Calenciuc 168,000
Dario Ivancevic 168,000
Christos Katis 168,000
Giuseppe Nacci 167,000
Kristian Dahl 163,000
David Hindley 163,000
Gian Marchesi 163,000
Silvio Atzeni 162,000
Samuel Consonni 162,000
Samuel Goodman 162,000
Georgios Bimperis 161,000
Antonello Ferraiuolo 161,000
Nicolaj D’antoni 159,000
Catello Cascone 156,000
Danilo Zaccagnini 152,000
Marios Georgiou 150,000
Nunzio Gambino 147,000
Davide Ingegnere 147,000
Francesco Viscomi 147,000
Jose Matos 146,000
Salvatore Santonocito 146,000
Rosario Saddemi 145,000
Alex Montgomery 144,000
Luca Piccirillo 144,000
Angelo Patane’ 142,000
Javier Moreno 140,000
Carlo Dell’uva 139,000
Stephen Brown 138,000
Jolanda Leverdingen 138,000
Luca Tonarelli 138,000
Alberto De Barberiis 137,000
James Parker 135,000
Hristo Stinov 134,000
Artur Kulanurk 133,000
Charalampos Siakaras 133,000
Patrick Koppitz 132,000
Rakesh Attuluri 131,000
Giuseppe Chiaia 128,000
Giorgio Arato 127,000
Alessio Vichi 126,000
Gianluca Cabitza 125,000
Guglielmo Susini 124,000
Milos Nedeljkovic 123,000
Miguel Aguilar 122,000
Vincenzo Alvino 121,000
Giovanni Bertuccio 119,000
Loukas Kioutsoukis 118,000
Massimo Bruno 116,000
Francesco Mastroianni 116,000
Maciej Szahaj 116,000
Marco Persico 113,000
Iulian Rautu 113,000
Pawel Michalek 112,000
Nicusor Matei 110,000
Claudio Mazza 110,000
Dimitrios Gkatzas 109,000
Johan Vallgren 108,000
Romone Gerald 106,000
Antonio Villadiego 104,000
Salvatore Di Dio 103,000
Salvatore Cundari 101,000
Carmelo Fangano 101,000
Aleksandar Zuberovski 101,000
Adrian Ziemichod 99,000
Giovanni Aleo 98,000
Sergidis Philippos 97,000
Falko Grath 96,000
Natale Chiocchetti 95,000
Emmanouil Fountoulakis 95,000
Joseph Grech 95,000
Dino Valzano 94,000
Cristian-Dinu Cirja 92,000
Bruno Pacelli 92,000
Marc Schulze 90,000
Jay Ronald Yerby 90,000
Anamaria Hemmert 89,000
Nazareno Calvo 88,000
Niccolo’ Cadoni 87,000
Claudio Pucci 86,000
Elia Iudici 84,000
Lino Loddo 84,000
Johan Olsson 82,000
Martin Ganchev 79,000
Emmanouil Kostakis 79,000
Mario Cocco 77,000
Christodoulou Giorgos 76,000
Eirini Kokoni 72,000
Andis Rozentals 72,000
Andreas Avgousti 69,000
Joost Van Waasdijk 63,000
Kenneth Boquera 62,000
Grigoris Kyriazi 62,000
Adrian Ionescu 53,000
Samuel Todisco 42,000
Salvatore Chillemi 40,000
Achilleas Pappas 39,000
Marton Lugosi 37,000
Kapalka Krystian 34,000
Fayez Jarrad 32,000
Frank Robotka 32,000

 

Until Next Time, Goodnight and Good Luck! 3 Nov 00:35 by Jonathan Raab

It’s that time again, when the blogging team is preparing to make a sharp exit before the end of the night. But before we head off into the night, here’s an update on what’s going on here at Casino Malta and the Eden Arena at the Continental Hotel.

Main Event Day 1g

  • Level 12: 1,000/1,500 (1,500)
  • Entries: 817/1,759 

Officially the biggest starting day in Battle of Malta history, it’s now in level 12 and play will continue there are 264 players left.

Main Event Day 1h Half Price

  • Level 8: 400/800 (800)
  • Entries: 218/408

The final half price starting day is now in level 8 and is shaping up to be the biggest of the new format flights with 385 entries. It needs to get to 418 entries to achieve this feat.

Winamax 6-Max

The Winamax 6-Max is now on the final table and there are still five players left fighting it out for the €13,318 first prize. 

Pot Limit Omaha

Tonight’s PLO has 13 players left, having attracted 61 entries and will pay first place €5,090, €90 more than the €5,000 guarantee on the prize pool, which ended up over €17,000.

The Magical 5,000! 3 Nov 00:30 by Jason Glatzer

The 2024 Battle of Malta Main Event just hit its magically 5,000th entry for a new gold standard and the largest in Malta poker history for this level of buy-in. The new record will continue to grow with tomorrow’s turbo Day 1i €600 opening flight expected to attract another 1,000 entries. Today’s Day 1g alone with 1,759 entries would already be a success elsewhere, but the Battle of Malta wanted to break its own record and here we are!

We will update the final chip counts from Day 1g and Day 1i in the morning with play expected to go on for approximately four more hours. Starting tomorrow, we will be posting more hands from the Main Event with the intensity of reporting of hands increasing even more during Day 3 and Day 4.

Meanwhile, a massive congrats to all of the players and staff for making this event a massive success. Jonathan and I both wish all the players (especially our friends, but officially play no favorites) the best of luck to find a bag and advance to the final table on Day 5 on Wednesday.

High Roller Satellite on Sunday Morning Start Delayed Until Noon 2 Nov 23:05 by Jonathan Raab

Breaking News…the €130 satellite to the €1,100 Quigioco High Roller on Sunday morning has had its start time pushed back by one hour. Originally scheduled to start at 11am, it will now start at 12pm.

Battle of Malta Record Broken in Day 1g 2 Nov 22:57 by Jonathan Raab

Level 11: 600/1,200 (1,200)
Entries: 882/1,759
Total Entries: 4,885

Late registration has now closed in the Main Event Day 1g and it has broken the record for the biggest starting day in the history of the Battle of Malta with 1,759 entries. That record has stood until 2019. 

Day 1h Half Price

The half price starting day which began at 8pm is now in level 6 and is still accepting registration until the end of level 10. There are already over 340 players registered. Combined, over 2,000 players have so far entered the Main Event today alone.

With one starting day left, the full price turbo leg at 10am on Sunday morning could push into uncharted territory when it comes to the final total number of entries.

New Attendance Record! 2 Nov 21:46 by Jason Glatzer

It was always a goal to break the pre-pandemic record for the most number of entries in the Battle of Malta Main Event of 4,657 entries established in the autumn of 2019.

Great success has been achieved as the 1,685 entries in the full-priced Day 1g and the 278 entries in the half-priced Day 1h brings the grand total of entries up to 4,741 entries and counting with both flights still open for late registration along with tomorrow’s turbo Day 1h starting at 10 a.m., which also already has nine players ahead of the curve registered.

The prize pool record of €2,258,645 will be the next to crack as it is already close with €2,081,721 already in the prize pool.

Dennis Stemmler Wins Mystery Siege of Malta 2 Nov 20:33 by Jonathan Raab

As reported earlier, yesterday’s Mystery Siege of Malta was won by Dennis Stemmler, who scooped the €41,200 first prize. What we were not able to report on earlier was who took down the big three bounties, but we have now tracked down that info.

Day 2 started at 9pm, later than planned due to the huge turnout in Day 1d, which pushed the total entries over 1,000 mark. In total 154 players began Day 2 and by the first break at 11pm, over 100 of them had been eliminated. 

During the first break players who had taken scalps drew their bounties in a spectacular show compered by Telly Bartolo, with understudy Jason Glatzer taking over as the bonus prize master of ceremonies. None of the big bountied were claimed during the first break, but they all tumbled during the second.

Bounty Payouts

The player who lucked out and drew the largest bounty of €40,000 was Emmanouil Chalkiotis. Ruggero Magri plucked the second biggest of €20,000 while Emiel Kroese took the €10,000 prize.

Here are the payouts from the final table, which include bounty prizes.

 

Pos Player Name Prize
1 Dennis Stemmler €41,200
2 Richard Koppel €34,100
3 Emiel Kroese €28,130
4 Daniel Jackson €12,940
5 Nikola Minovic €10,750
6 Emmanouil Chalkiotis €52,460
7 Giuseppe Milone €10,040
8 Michael Stewart €7,430
9 Nicolai Ejstrud €10,020

 

The full payouts list is posted in the results section

75 Dinner Break 2 Nov 20:22 by Jason Glatzer

It’s get up and stretch time for players in the massive Day 1g opening flight as they set to embark on a 75-minute dinner break. As a point of comedy, it was initially announced as a 75 dinner break. We were instantly curious to see if one player could eat 75 dinners before the floor quickly corrected and said it was a 75-minute dinner break. Perhaps that is for the best as setting new food records can be saved for a different type of festival.

Blinds will continue to be 500/1,000 with a 1,000 big blind ante when the action resumes. Late registration will close after the first level is completed after the dinner break.

€2 Million and Growing! 2 Nov 20:13 by Jason Glatzer

Level 9: 500/1,000 (1,000)
Day 1g Entries: 1,005/1,614
Total Entries: 4,514

The Day 1g flight has grown to 1,614 and for the first time we are seeing some tables being broken which is great news for those that want to play in the Day 1h half-priced €300 opening flight of the 2024 Battle of Malta Autumn Edition Main Event.

This brings the total number of entries up to 4,514 or just 143 entries away from the record of 4,657 in the autumn of 2019 when Serghii Lisii defeated Steven “The Viking” Van Zadelhoff. These figures include the 135 entries registered to Day 1h, which will begin momentarily.

Congratulations are in order as the prize pool just exceeded €2 million and will continue to grow with plenty of more players expected to hop into the final moments of late registration of Day 1g, the half-priced Day 1h, and the full-priced, last chance saloon turbo Day 1i taking place tomorrow at 10 a.m. before the start of Day 2 at 8 p.m.

The record €2,258,645 prize pool established just before the pandemic is within reach and seems almost a certainty to be broken tomorrow if not later today.

Good luck to all of the players in this epic Battle of Malta Autumn Edition at Casino Malta and the Eden Arena at the Intercontinental Hotel Malta.

Battle of Malta Introduction

 

Rockets Good for Pipitone 2 Nov 19:09 by Jason Glatzer

Level 7: 300/600 (600)
Day 1g Entries: 1,099/1,534
Total Entries: 4,367

Michele Pipitone was low on chips but found an amazing spot with the best hand at poker. Pepitone four-bet jammed for 10,900. Mimikopoulos Konstantinos, who opened for 2,000, folded. Meanwhile, Anthony Counsell, who three-bet to 4,000, called.

Michele Pipitone: AA
Anthony Counsell: A5

Aces were good for Pipitone to gain some breathing room during the final hand of Level 7 after Counsell bricked the 7J924 runout.

Anthony Counsell – 40,000
Michele Pipitone – 25,000

Michele Pipitone

Records Look Set To Tumble 2 Nov 19:08 by Jonathan Raab

Jason Glatzer has just been on his nightly walkabout as this is being published. Check out our facebook page for this one his and previous Martin Brundle-esque floor walks. Its 7pm here are the Battle of Malta on this extraordinary day, which looks poised to set a new record for a starting day field in the event’s 12-year history.

Let’s take our own blog based grid walk to see what’s going on at Casino Malta and the Eden Arena at this stage of proceedings on the busiest day of the event. 

Battle of Malta Main Event Day 1g

  • Current Level: 8
  • Players Left/Entries: 1,099/1,536

The massive starting day continues to grow and the single starting day record of 1,752 that was set in 2019 looks like it could be toppled. 

Winamax 6-Max Day 2

  • Current Level: 22
  • Players Left/Entries: 12/186

Twelve players remain in the Winamax sponsored 6-Max event, which will conclude this evening, but not for some time, due to its very slow structure. Simon Persson had assumed the chip lead at the last break, with 874,000, narrowly ahead of Mari Nitteberg on 839,000. 

Pot Limit Omaha

  • Current Level: 5
  • Players Left/Entries: 36/50

Sadly Chris Da Silva’s inaugural PLO tournament didn’t go too well, as he exited in 38th place and has opted not to re-enter. Its up to 50 entries now and is about to go on its first break of the day.

What’s On the Menu for Later?

Unfortunately the two €300 side events that were due to take place at 4pm and 6pm have fallen victim to the success of the Main Event. They have been cancelled and there is a possibility that the satellite and side event that is on tonight’s tournament schedule may go the same way. That won’t be determined until it’s clear how many players have rocked up at the start of Day 1h at 8pm, the last remaining half price flight.

Over 1,400 In Day 1g by the Second Break of the Day 2 Nov 17:54 by Jonathan Raab

Level 7: 300/600 (600)
Entries: 1,122/1,411
Total Entries: 4,185

Main Event Day 1g is about to go on its second break of the day, which will be another extended 30 minute pause in play. We are now beginning to think that the single flight record of 1,752 entries which was set in 2019 might be under threat today. 

Chris Da Silva Playing Pot-Limit Omaha For the First Time 2 Nov 17:31 by Jason Glatzer

We have had tons of firsts during the 2024 Battle of Malta Autumn Edition including a wedding proposal yesterday during the live-streamed Redtooth Poker Malta 52 invitational.

Today, we ran into Chris Da Silva, who has had tons of success on the island of Malta in the past. He already bagged 121,000 in the Main Event two days ago on Day 1c and now will venture into a new game he has never played in the €330 Pot Limit Omaha after learning that the €300 NLH MAS Event was canceled due to the impressive turnout on Day 1g.

Da Silva, who this author considers a friend, arrived to Malta on Wednesday and immediately headed to Casino Malta. He asked this author as soon as he arrived how deep the Main Event was.

“It’s on Level 4,” we shared on Wednesday. Blinds are 100/300 and you start this Main Event with 40,000 instead of 30,000 as it was in the past.”

“That’s too early,” said Da Silva. “I will wait a bit.”

This author thought that he meant he would wait until after the next break when ti was Level 7 with blinds at 300/600 with a 600 big blind ante. However, instead we witnessed Da Silva battling it out already on Level 5 with more chips than he started with.”

He ran that bullet up and shared that he would have 20 big blinds to start Day 2 to make a run. However, we just learned from the tournament director that as of now the action will roll back to 4,000/8,000 with an 8,000 big blind ante which would equate to around 15 big blinds. Either way, Da Silva has proved in the past that 15 big blinds can be plenty to work with.

Before the pandemic, Da Silva late-entered the 2019 Battle of Malta Autumn Edition €1,320 High Roller at the very last second with just 15 big blinds. He ran that up to defeat a talented field of 322 players to win the massive €73,070 top prize. This author was busy commentating the final table of the Main Event at that time (which was epic in itself) and has vivid memories of Da Silva taking in his success.

We quickly explained the rules to pot-limit Omaha and how tournament strategy can vary especially early on with a higher importance of post-flop intelligence.

“I know where to find you,” Da Silva shared. “I may come back for some basic tips during the first break.”

We wish Da Silva the best of luck playing four-card poker for the first time. He is quite good at game theory, so I wouldn’t discount him from finding his way to the winner’s circle despite this being his first attempt at the game.

Over 4,000 entries in the Main Event 2 Nov 17:26 by Jonathan Raab

Level 6: 200/500 (500)
Entries: 1,112/1,375
Total Entries: 4,141

With Main Event registrations flying in faster than bots get deployed to meet guarantees on disreputable online poker sites, the total number of entries has jacked up past the 4,000 barrier with incredible ease. We are now up to over 4,100 players and the pace of entry is only slowing slightly. How much further will this beanstalk grow and who will climb to the top to tame the giant that is the Battle of Malta Autumn Edition! Stay tuned to find out.

Pot Limit Omaha In Level 1 2 Nov 17:15 by Jonathan Raab

Today’s Pot Limit Omaha tournament is capped at 4 tables and is now in play with 28 players registered so far. It will fill up quickly and anyone who wants to play is advised to register soon. One player who has done just that is Chris Da Silva from London.

  • Buy-In: €330 (€300+€30)
  • Tournament Began: 5pm
  • Starting Stack: 30,000
  • Blind levels: 25 mins
  • Play Ends: When we have a winner!

Winamax 6-Max Down to Last Three Tables 2 Nov 16:39 by Jonathan Raab

The 28 players who made it into Day 2 of the €400 Winamax 6-Max returned today for a 3pm restart and they are now down to the last three tables, with 18 players left in. It’s a very slow structured tournament and still has a lot of play left in it, with more than €13,000 up top for the eventual winner.

Side Event Cancelled as Main Event Surpasses 1,200 2 Nov 16:27 by Jonathan Raab

Level 4: 100/300 (300)
Entries: 1,093/1,218

 

Today’s €400 NLH MAS side event has had to be cancelled as the numbers in he Main Event just keep on growing. Over 100 new players have joined the tournament in the last 30 minutes, taking the total to up to 1,218. Where will it stop?

Tonight’s Pot Limit Omaha, which starts at 5pm will have a 40 player cap again, as per yesterday.

Queuing Up To Enter the Main Event

Friday’s Side Event Results 2 Nov 16:08 by Jonathan Raab

Friday’s Omaha was capped at five tables and that filled up, to produce a field of 40 runners. It was won by Akos Palhazi.

  • Buy-In: Invitation Only
  • Entries: 49
  • Prize Pool: £12,500
Pos Player Name Prize
1 Akos Palhazi £3,870
2 Wai Lam £2,680
3 Miko Maennistoe £1,710
4 Miha Pirsic £1,310
5 Matteo Pistillo £1,030
6 Jaan Vaabel £800

 

The Redtooth Private Event was won by Frankie Chan

  • Buy-In: Invitation Only
  • Entries: 49
  • Prize Pool: £12,500
Pos Player Name Prize
1 Frankie Chan €5,000
2 Colin Broadhead €2,500
3 Benjamin Wilkins €1,500
4 Richard Sharpe €1,000
5 Scott Hattersley €700
6 Martin Branscombe €500
7 Stewart Rooney €400
8 Garry Webb €350
9 Jonathan Hankins €300
10 Michael Yeo €250

 

1,100 Now In As Play Resumes in Main Event 2 Nov 15:58 by Jonathan Raab

Today’s huge field led to an extended first break of 30 minutes, but play has now resumed in Day 1e of the Battle of Malta Main Event. Lots of additional players have joined during the break and we have now hit the 1,100 marker in this gargantuan starting flight.

Over 1,000 Entries by the First Break 2 Nov 15:26 by Jonathan Raab

Level 4: 100/300 (300)
Entries: 969/1,043

The Main Event has just gone on its first break of the day and the field has now reached four figures, with 1,043 entries so far in the flight. With hours and hours to go until registration closes, this is sure going to be a big one! Play will resume in 30 minutes.

 

 

More Than 900 Day 1g Entries Grow Prize Pool Past €1.6 Million 2 Nov 14:40 by Jason Glatzer

Level 2: 100/100 (100)
Entries: 870/903

Day 1g is booming and is nearly past the 939 entries attracted on Day 1e with 903 entries already in the field and 33 players hitting the rail during the first two blind levels.

The prize pool is already at €1,613,466 and growing as players continue to file in.

Level 3 is about to kick off with blinds at 100/200 along with a 200 big blind, providing new players a huge stack of 200 big blinds. A short 20-minute break will take place after Level 3 before three more blind levels will be played.

Telly Bartolo

Parker Parks on a 6-Way Pot to the Flop 2 Nov 14:26 by Jason Glatzer

Level 2: 100/100 (100)
Entries: 845/862

Vicenzo Messina three-bet the button to 1,300 and was called by James Parker in the small blind, Giacomo Scarpaci from the big blind, Andrea Mazza from under the gun, Marc Schulz from early position, and Hans Nyberg from the cutoff.

Parker checked the T2J flop before Scarpaci led out for 3,000. Mazza folded before Schulze went into the tank before calling. Nyberg then folded while Messina and Parker both found a call.

The four players all checked after the 7 turn before three players checked the Q river. Messina bet 7,200. Parker tanked for about 30 seconds before he called. Scarpaci quickly folded before Schulze tanked for about 30 seconds as well. Schulze eventually folded but not before he showed the table he made a big lay down that he will soon regret with him flashing the QJ for the top two pair.

Messina tabled the 87 which didn’t get the job done against Parker who tabled the AQ to win the hand with the top pair.

James Parker – 75,000
Vicenzo Messina – 40,000
Giacomo Scarpaci – 25,000
Marc Schulze – 25,000

James Parker

More Than 800 Day 1g Entries 2 Nov 14:02 by Jason Glatzer

Level 2: 100/100 (100)
Entries: 792/802

Level 2 just kicked off on Day 1g and the field has already surpassed 800 entries. The action is fast and furious at some tables with ten players thus far losing their 400 big blind stacks in the opening moments. At least thus far, no player has yet hit the rail twice, but that would have been quite the feat and required some serious coolers in Level 1.

€400 6-Max by Winamax Final Day Seat Draw 2 Nov 13:58 by Jason Glatzer

The €400 6-Max by Winamax concluded its opening flights yesterday. The event attracted a short-handed field of 186 entries to create a €60,078 prize pool. Just 28 players survived with the payouts to be posted later in the day with the action starting at 3 p.m.

Pasquale Gregorio will kick off the action with the chip lead with 555,000 in chips. This represents a massive stack of 139 big blinds with blinds starting at 2,000/4,000 with a 4,000 big blind ante and blinds increasing every 30 minutes until a champion is crowned this beautiful Saturday evening.

We decided to share the seat draw early, but there will be another reminder before the start of play about this fun event held in a cozy environment next to Casino Malta one floor below the lobby of the luxurious Intercontinental Hotel Malta.

Table Seat Name Chips Big Blinds
158 1 Daniel Kugler 52,500 13
158 2 Palina Mankevich 117,000 29
158 3 Mattia Ridi 105,500 26
158 4 Tiziano Colona 78,500 20
158 5 Ioannis Oikonomidis 93,500 23
158 6 Kyriakos Papadopoulos 59,500 15
159 1 Kristine Helveit 180,000 45
159 2 Luca Delrio 460,500 115
159 3 Siddharth Sudunagunta 28,500 7
159 4 Pasquale Gregorio 555,000 139
159 5 Valentin Imperatore 320,000 80
159 6 Nikolaos Valtatzis 135,000 34
160 1 Victor Fryda 502,000 126
160 2 Mari Nitteberg 488,500 122
160 3 Janos Kuertoesi 37,000 9
160 4 Daniel Heredi 311,000 78
160 5 Nicolas Belhair 49,500 12
160 6 Alexander Swieton-Barnes 47,000 12
161 1 Pierre Claverie 210,000 53
161 2 Christian Pedersen 149,000 37
161 3 Michael Kim Falcon 300,000 75
161 5 Pablo Garcia Alba 246,500 62
161 6 Roar Floetre 251,000 63
162 1 Vasyl Laba 91,500 23
162 2 Simon Persson 425,000 106
162 3 Patrick Frew 102,000 26
162 4 Hugo De La Fouchardiere 89,000 22
162 5 Adrian Panko 113,000 28

 

Main Event Stats After Day 1f 2 Nov 13:47 by Jonathan Raab

With Day 1g now in play, let’s take a look at the full stats for the completed starting days of the Main Event so far. With three very busy flights left, the final tally is going to be much higher and some records may be broken. Stay tuned to the blog for news of every milestone that get reached throughout the day.

 

Flight Entries Survivors Prizes Chip Leader Chips
Catania 111 8 €27,944 Andrea Savasto 621,000
Day 1a 362 54 €182,267 Humberto Lopes Galindo 1,146,000
Day 1b 133 10 €33,483 Krystian Nalepka 599,000
Day 1c 533 80 €268,366 Ivaylo Eftimov 817,000
Day 1d 274 21 €68,980 Jorris Neron 762,000
Day 1e 940 141 €473,290 Cecilia Pascaglini 889,000
Day 1f 417 31 €104,980 Anthony Loots 716,000
Total Before Day 1g 2770 345 €1,159,309 Humberto Lopes Galindo 1,146,000

 

Idan Levy First Out on Day 1g 2 Nov 13:44 by Jason Glatzer

Level 1: 100/100
Entries: 723/724

One player has already busted their opening stack and re-entered in Israel’s Idan Levy. This isn’t the first time Levy has been witnessed at the Battle of Malta as he had a deep run in the 2022 Battle of Malta Main Event before bowing out in 109th place for €1,740.

Levy is hoping for a better run this week, or at least a better run on his second bullet of the day.

Idan Levy

Satellite News 2 Nov 13:41 by Jonathan Raab

The final satellite for the Main Event began at 11am today and had a cap of 500 players put on it, which is reached pretty quickly. The cap was necessary due to the huge demand for seats into Day 1g of the Main Event, which began with 640 players and has new players entering at a steady rate.

They are down to 200 left in that satellite, which will produce 50 seats, most of whom will jump straight into Day 1g, which looks set to smash well past the 1,000 mark.

In total, the Main Event satellites at this edition of the Battle of Malta have generated 324 seats. For stats junkies, here’s the breakdown:

  • Satellite 1 (Tue): 251 entries, 25 seats won
  • Satellite 2 (Tue):182 entries, 18 seats won
  • Satellite 3 (Wed): 256 entries, 25 seats won
  • Satellite 4 (Wed): 424 entries, 42 seats won
  • Satellite 5 (Thu): 508 entries, 50 seats won
  • Satellite 6 (Thu): 459 entries, 45 seats won
  • Satellite 7 (Fri): 409 entries, 40 seats won
  • Satellite 8 (Fri): 299 entries 29 seats won
  • Satellite 9 (Fri): 500 entries, 50 seats won

€1.5 Million BoM Main Event GTD Smashed in Opening Day 1g Moments 2 Nov 13:33 by Jason Glatzer

Level 1: 100/100
Entries: 680/680

The lofty €1.5 million guarantee at the 2024 Battle of Malta Autumn Edition Main Event has already been smashed seven minutes into Day 1g. The 680 early entrants have brought the total field size up to 3,450 including players from the half-priced flights to create a €1,501,185 prize pool and growing.

The prize pool will grow considerably from here with a full €600 Day 1g, half-priced €300 Day 1h tonight, and tomorrow morning’s turbo-charged €600 Day 1i.

Congrats to all of the players and staff for making this event yet another success story in everlasting story of Battle of Malta folklore. Best of luck to everyone battling today as we look forward to the next five days until a champion is crowned.

Day 1f of The Battle of Malta Begins 2 Nov 13:15 by Jonathan Raab

Day 1f of the Battle of Malta Main Event is now in play at Casino Malta and the Eden Arena at the Intercontinental Hotel in St Julians. Yesterday’s afternoon starting flight ended up with 940 participants, 141 of whom will be returning on Sunday evening once the last of the Day 1s has concluded.

When play commenced there were already over 640 players seated eager to begin their campaigns for a place in Day 2. This flight will be the major focus of our blog coverage today and rightly so, as its shaping up to be the mother-of-all flights at this edition of the Battle of Malta.

Already registered and doing battle are several familiar faces, such as Greek Fotios Ntamaris, the ninth place finisher in this year’s Spring Edition of the Battle of Malta. Also installed in the traps early today is a player who’s legendary status is currently trending on social media, the UK’s Paul Romain. Fingers crossed he has a better start to the day than he did in yesterday’s Redtooth event, where he had to settle for a very early bath.

Fotios Ntamaris

Busy Friday at the Battle of Malta 2 Nov 12:21 by Jonathan Raab

The action stepped up another notch on Friday at the Battle of Malta Autumn Edition, with a seam bursting day that saw a total of 1,317 entries combined across both starting days of the €1.5m Main Event. In total there have now been 2,770 entries with three starting days to go. All in all, its shaping up to be one of the biggest in Battle of Malta history and could potentially become the biggest of all-time.

Here’s a roundup of Friday’s action from Casino Malta and the Eden Arena at the Intercontinental Hotel.

Day 1e of the Main Event 

Friday’s daytime Day 1e, a full price €600 buy-in flight was the largest so far, with 940 entries getting into the mix. The day ended with 141 players finding a bag into Sunday’s Day 2 and saw three players finish with over 800,000 in chips to earn the flight’s leaderboard bonuses. 

All the players that advanced will already be in the money for at least an €800 min-cash.

Italy’s Cecilia Pascaglini proudly bagged 889,000 to earn the honors of the Day 1e chip lead. This awarded her a whopping €10,000 bonus for an amazing return already on the Main Event. 

Cecilia Pascaglini

Fellow Italian Francesco Tino earned €5,000 for ending the day with 822,000 in chips, while Greece’s Ioannis Diamantopoulos earned €3,000 for his third-place finish in the opening flight with 802,000 in chips.

The top 10 chip counts from the flight.

Player Chips
Cecilia Pascaglini 889,000
Francesco Tino 822,000
Ioannis Diamantopoulos 802,000
Bogdan Jontulovic 686,000
Maria Koutsouki 682,000
Pavel Heger 675,000
Nicola Sasso 595,000
Dimitrios Manekas 590,000
Ugo Gasparini 557,000
Adrian Siewiera 556,000

 

Check out the full chip from Day 1e in this blog post

Day 1f Half Price

Day 1f was a half-price €300 opening flight in which the rules were different, to create parity with the regular €600 opening flight. The 40,000 opening stack was halved to 20,000, as were the blind levels from 40 to 20 minutes. 

Also, instead of 15 percent advancing, just 7.5 percent get through from these flights. Additionally, the end-of-day bonuses are awarded to the top two players (instead of the top three), with a total of €7,000 in bonuses instead of €18,000.

Day 1f witnessed 417 entries getting into the mix, with just 31 players finding a bag. On Sunday’s Day 2, they will start the day with at least a minimum amount of cash in hand worth €800.

Anthony Loots bagged the Day 1f chip lead after catapulting his 20,000 stack into 716,000. This was good enough for him to earn the €5,000 bonus, while Vladyslav Sikikhin earned an extra €2,000 for bagging the runner-up stack with 561,000.

These are the top ten finishers for the flight.

Player Chips
Anthony Loots 716,000
Vladyslav Sidikhin 561,000
Gabriele Nuzzo 543,000
Gino Tolone 498,000
Raffaele Caputo 443,000
Alan Vinnicombe 382,000
Valentin Imperatore 369,000
Alessandro Acampora 345,000
Paolo Nicolo’ 335,000
Sven Reimaa 333,000

 

The full list of chip counts for all 31 Day 1f survivors can be found here.

Mystery Siege Won By Dennis Stemmler for €41,200

The Mystery Siege of Malta also had a huge final starting flight and it could have been even bigger, however it reached its operational capacity and registration had to be capped earlier than expected. 354 players managed to get in before registration was closed, bringing the total number of entries up to 1,034. The final prize pool was quadruple the €100,000 guarantee.

The victor was Dennis Stemmler for €41,200 with Richard Koppel in second (€34,100). It was a late finishing event and we will deliver further details about how it unfolded and who won the big bounties in a dedicated post during today’s blog coverage.

Winamax 6-Max Day 1b

The €400 Winamax 6-Max saw a further 106 players join the 80 who played in Thursday’s opening flight, 16 of whom made it into Day 2 and guaranteed themselves a payday. In total 28 players will return at 3pm, when the prize prizes will be confirmed. The chip leader going into the final day is Italian Pasquale Gregorio, who has 555,500 chips. Check the blog later this afternoon for the full list of chip counts and the final day seating draw.

Satellites News

Friday’s satellites produced a further 69 Main Event seat winners. It would have been much more, but the evening satellite had to be capped due to the high attendance in both of the day’s Main Event flights. There is one further Main Event satellite on Saturday morning and this evening the satellite slot at 9pm switches focus to the Quigioco High Roller, which begins on Sunday afternoon.

Friday’s Side Event Results

In addition to the Mystery Siege of Malta, two other tournaments produced winners on Friday. 

Frankie Chan won the Redtooth private event to take the £5,000 first prize, defeating a field of 49 players in a good natured event, which served as the seasonal final for the UK Pub Poker organization. Colin Broadbent was the runner up for £2,500 while Benjamin Wilkins claimed third for £1,500. One of the other finalists, Scott Hattersley even proposed to his girlfriend on the event’s final table live stream, which host Glenn Brown provided a running commentary for. She said yes!

Congratulations to Akos Palhazi, who won the evening’s €330 Pot Limit Omaha, which was contested by 40 players. He took the €3,870 first prize, defeating Wai Lun Lam heads up. Estonia’s Jaan Vaabel sneaked into the money in this one, finishing in 6th place.

Full results of these and all other completed events can be found on the results page.

Saturday’s Action At The Battle of Malta

Saturday is traditionally the biggest day for the Main Event at the Battle of Malta and if yesterday was anything to go by, we could be in for an absolute behemoth of day. With two further Main Event starting days taking place and already over €1m collected in the prize pool, the €1.5m guarantee is sure to be surpassed in Day 1g, which begins at 1pm.

Day 1g, the final half price (€300) flight begins at 8pm and is also likely to be busier than any of its previous sibling flights, the biggest of which so far was Friday’s Day 1f, which had 417 entries.

The only remaining Main Event satellite is the first event of the day. It begins at 11am and has 10 x 20 min levels for late registration.

The Winamax 6-Max event has reached its final day and resumes at 3pm

Two sponsored €300 No Limit Hold’em tournaments are taking place today, the first of which is the NLH MAS event at 4pm, with the NLH Netwin360 at 6pm.

There is another  €330(€300+€30) Pot Limit Omaha today at 5pm and the first satellite for the Quigioco High Roller is scheduled for 9pm. There is also a €150 Hyper Turbo on the plan for 10pm.

Unfortunately due to just how much demand there was for players to play in both the full price and half price Main Event starting days, two of the tournaments on Friday had to be cancelled, the Dark Knight and the Hyper Turbo. Caps may be required to be placed on some events on Saturday and players are advised to buy-in early.

 

Time Event Buy-In Fee Starting Stack Levels
11:00 Satellite One Shot to BOM €1,500,000 GTD €60 €10 10K 20 min
13:00 BOM €1,500,000 GTD Day1G* €530 €70 40K 40 min
15:00 6max by Winamax (Day2) 30 min
16:00 NLH MAS event 260 €40 20K 20 min
17:00 Pot Limit Omaha €5,000 GTD €300 €30 30K 25 min
18:00 NLH BETWIN360 event €260 €40 20K 20 min
20:00 BOM €1,500,000 GTD Day1H** €265 €35 20K 20 min
21:00 NLH Satellite Accumulator – QUIGIOCO – HIGH ROLLER €300,000 GTD €110 €20 10K 20 min
22:00 NLH HYPERTURBO €130 €20 20K 10 min