Day 1cd

The action was hot at the Eden Arena in St Julian’s on second day of the Battle of Malta Autumn Edition. While Wednesday’s first full

day was a little down year-on-year, Thursday’s numbers put the event back on course to potentially set another attendance record in the €1.5m guaranteed Main Event. In total, 1,226 players have already participated, 172 booking their seats into Sunday’s Day 2.

Although it was a busier day, the key flight of the Main Event, Day 1c, finished three hours earlier than Wednesday’s Day 1a, as the bubble only lasted 40 minutes, compared to 180 on the opening starting day.

Charalampos Siakaras Books Day 1c Chip Lead

Only one player on Day 1a amassed a chip stack of over 1m and that was also the case for Day 1c. This seven-figure hero was Charalampos Siakaras from Greece, whose 1,162,000 pile is the biggest bagged stack so far. This distinction also ensured he collected one of the three bonus prizes in the flight, a €1,500 package to the 2026 Spring Edition of the Battle of Malta.

Siakaras’s nearest challenger in Day 1c was the familiar face of Krystian Nalepka, a regular visitor to poker events on the Maltese islands. The Polish player is almost a quarter of a million chips behind the chip leader, on 915,000 and also bagged himself a Spring package. It’s the second time that Nalepka has benefitted from the bonus prizes, as he was the Day 1b chip leader at the Spring Edition, banking a €5,000 bonus on that occasion.

The third player to secure the bonus prize was another Pole, Rafael Lubczynski, who will have 898,000 when Day 2 begins on Sunday.

One has to feel a little sorry for Michal Wesolowski, who had his aces cracked by the poker sevens of Wipat Udomkanjananan, to be the unfortunate 93rd placed finisher from the flight. He exited with nothing but a bad beat story about how a seven hit the flop, despite picking up a flag draw on the turn. Such is poker, you whip it out, you donk and jam and hope you run good.

Sally Stephens was the highest finishing female player, on exactly half a million chips.

Sally Stephens

BOM Regulars Progress to Day 2

In total 92 of the 612 players who entered Day 1c remain. Their number includes Emanouil Chalkiotis, whose 502,000 stack was the 16th biggest of the flight.

Shervin Ghasselmou from the UK finished 5th in last year’s Autumn edition for €66,600, which is still his biggest live cash. He also cashed in this year’s spring edition and now has a hat-trick of ITM finishes in the Main Event. His stack of 348,000 was the 26th biggest of the flight.

Alessandro Siena is another player who also made last year’s final, finishing in 4th place. This is also his third successive cash in the Main Event as went on to take 18th place in this year’s Spring Edition Main Event. He sits just behind Ghasselmou in 27th place with 338,000.

Emmanouil Chalkiotis

Top 10 Stacks from Day 1c

Full chip counts of all 92 survivors from Day 1c can be found here

Sixteen Progress from Day 1d

The second of the half-price starting days was almost twice as well attended as Wednesday’s Day 1b. Just 16 players out of the 216 who entered made it to the end of the day, with Sukru Arican from Turkey ending as the chip leader from the flight on 502,000. He wins the chip leader bonus prize. Norwegian Joachim Andersen hauled the second biggest catch of the day, having trawled his stack up to 487,000 by the time Alessandro Gardani took the walk of shame as the bubble boy.

Top 5 Stacks from Day 1d

Full chip counts of all 16 survivors from Day 1d can be found here

Field Bulks Up for Mystery Siege Day 1c

Attendance went north in all of Thursday’s tournaments at the Battle of Malta, including the Mystery Siege, which with 343 entries, was more than double the size of Day 1b. Despite that, no player managed to surpass Matthias Kribben’s pace setting Day 2b stack of 602,000. The player who got the closest was Frenchman Julien Stropoli, who ended the day on 589,000. He was one of 51 players who made it into today’s Day 2. The second biggest stack of 516,000 was bagged by China’s Gang Wang, who incidentally is not the same Gang Wang as his namesake, who styled a classy victory in the GUKPT Luton Main Event earlier this year.

There have been 664 entries made into the Mystery Siege so far, with one flight to go, starting at 11.30am, which is expected to be the busiest one yet!

UK Players Sweep Thursday Sides

Thursday’s side event schedule was also a jam packed one, with every event bursting at the seams and all were won by British players

First up was the €330 PLO, a repeat of the same tournament that ran on Wednesday. But this was more than double the size, as 106 players took their seats. It was won by Luke Tatum, who took the €7,800 first prize and one of the very distinctive Mdina Glass trophies. Michael Tastanis from Greece was the runner up, while Main Event Day 1a chip leader Anthony Hughes was third.

The Beer Poker Tour €180+€20 was by far the busiest side event of the day, with 366 players taking their seats, generating a prize pool of over €62,000, not including several thousand euros worth of free beers, as a drinks voucher was added to the pot of the first hand of every new level. It was won by Daniel Kothari for €12,265. He apparently used to be a dealer and a rather good one, by all accounts. One presumes he didn’t have to pay for a single drink either.

Daniel Kothari

It was also Beer Poker Tour founder Merivan Hassan’s birthday yesterday and he was hi-jacked during the first break with a surprise birthday cake, which was quite delicious. He was kind enough to share some slices with the media team.

Happy Birthday Merivan!

The final side event of the day was the €150 Hyperturbo, which was also a busy one, with 235 entries. Alex Todd took this one down, for €6,150. 

130 Satellite Tickets Awarded on Thursday

The level of participation in Thursday’s satellites was unprecedented, with 582 entries in the 11am qualifier, which produced 58 Main Event tickets. The evening’s €70 satellite was even busier with 725 entries, producing a further 72 qualifiers. Friday’s two satellites are likely to have similar this participation levels.

Friday at the Battle of Malta

Friday is set to be the busiest day yet at Casino Malta and the Eden Arena. Days 1e and 1f are on the schedule and the is one final flight for the  Mystery Siege of Malta, starting early, with Day two of the €100,000 guaranteed event set to begin later in the day.  As already mentioned, there are also two Main Event satellites.

Today’s PLO offering is a 4/5 Card Round of Each, which like the rest of the non-Hold’em tournaments, has a €300+€30 buy-in.

There are also two Hold’em side events, the Dark Knight and the White Knight, but there is no late night Hyper Turbo today.

Day 1c of the Main Event attracted 612 entries. Below are the chip counts of those 92 who made it through to Day 2.

Day 1d of the Main Event attracted 216 entries. Below are the chip counts of those 16 who made it through to Day 2.

Level 17: 5,000/10,000 (10,000)
Entries: 92/612

The Day 1c bubble lasted “only” about 40 minutes; a cakewalk compared to yesterday’s 1a marathon.

That being said, of course, it had to be in dramatic fashion. Hand-for-hand play was introduced with 94 players remaining, and Francesco Amendola became a victim in absolutely brutal fashion, as his full house with aces over sixes was no match against the quad sixes of Krystian Nalepka. Ouch!

With 93 players remaining, Table 12 would prove to be where it all would conclude. The flop read 7♠J♥Q♥, when Michal Wesolowski got his whole 215,000 stack in the middle against Wipat Udomkanjananan. Wesolowski turned over A♠A♥, but he was up against Udomkanjananan’s 7♣7♦. The 6♥ turn gave him some additional hope to beat the flopped set of Udomkanjananan, but the T♣ wasn’t one of his outs. As such, Wesolowski became the unfortunate bubble boy, and the 92 survivors all received a bag for their chips.

That concludes today’s live coverage, but before we sign off, the chip counts from Day 1c and 1d will be published. Thanks to everyone who’s been tuning into the live blog today, and see you all tomorrow.

Level 16: 4,000/8,000 (8,000)
Entries: 98/612

Kai Fuong opened to 16,000 from the Lo-jack. Seated in the Big Blind, Karol Szczawinski was the sole caller (leaving himself with 57,000 behind).

Szczawinski checked the 5♦T♥Q♥ flop, and Fuong bet a humble 8,000. Szczawinski wasted little to no time moving all in, and Fuong made the call in a heartbeat.

Karol Szczawinski: K♣J♠
Kai Fuong: A♠J♦

Fuong was ahead, but Szczawinski was the one with the draw. No dice on the 3♣4♠ runout, though, and yet another player hit the rail.

Kai Fuong: 700,000
Karol Szczawinski: 0

Level 15: 3,000/6,000 (6,000)
Entries: 119/612

If my calculations are correct, no female players have bagged for Day 2. However, that may change today, as there are four women left in Day 1b as the bubble is approaching.

Level 14: 2,000/4,000 (4,000)
Entries: 128/612

Georgios Karakousis fancied an opening to 8,000 UTG. Mariusz Zakowicz decided to see a flop from UTG+1, and Marko Cosic joined the party from the Big Blind.

Cosic checked it over to Karakousis on the J♦T♥4♣ flop, and Karakousis put out a 25,000 continuation-bet. Within a split second, Zakowicz moved all in for what looked to be 55,000. Cosic folded swiftly before Karakousis confidently made the call.

Mariusz Zakowicz: K♦T♣
Georgios Karakousis: 4♥4♠

“Of course,” Zakowicz’s facial expression read, and no miracle was provided on the 8♣9♥ runout.

Georgios Karakousis: 310,000
Mariusz Zakowicz: 0

Level 14: 2,000/4,000 (4,000)
Entries: 132/612

Players are busting left and right; it feels like the bubble is approaching at a rapid speed.

Scott Majorino opened to 8,000 UTG. Seated in the Cut-off, Aristotelis Karanasios was the sole caller.

Majorino continued the pre-flop aggression with a 10,000 continuation-bet on the 2♣9♣A♦ flop. Quickly, Karanasios moved all in for 33,000. Majorino felt obligated to make the call.

Aristotelis Karanasios: A♥4♥
Scott Majorino: K♠K♥

Unlike the last hand I reported on, this one would have a fairytale ending for the pocket kings, seeing as the board completed K♣J♥. As such, all Karanasios’ chips now belonged to Majorino.

Scott Majorino: 200,000
Aristotelis Karanasios: 0

Level 13: 1,000/3,000 (3,000)
Entries: 148/612

Seated UTG, Danilo Bartone min-raised to 6,000. Nicholas Katovsky then three-bet to 18,000 from the Lo-jack. When it came back to Bartone, he announced all in for perhaps 80,000 in total. Bartone nodded and snap-called.

Danilo Bartone: K♥K♦
Nicholas Katovsky: A♣A♥

What a brutal scenario, and the disappointment in Bartone’s eyes could not be mistaken for anything else. The 9♥4♠5♥J♥5♦ runout offered zero conzellation, and he hit the rail as Katovsky added to his already impressive stack.

Nicholas Katovsky: 370,000
Danilo Bartone: 0

Level 13: 1,000/3,000 (3,000)
Entries: 154/612

Thomas Woodman opened to 7,000 UTG. Merel Merdzhanov made the call from the Lo-jack before Ib Djervil moved all in for 61,000 from the Button. After receiving the count, Woodman re-shoved, and Merdzhanov folded faster than the speed of light.

Ib Djervil: Q♠J♦
Thomas Woodman: A♥J♥

Djervil was way behind, but he took a solid lead on the Q♥9♠3♣ flop. He still looked good to survive on the 3♣ turn, but no euphoria as the A♣ river shattered his dreams.

Thomas Woodman: 264,000
Ib Djervil: 0

The second episode of the Battle of Malta Podcast is now live on YouTube. Watch it below; in today’s episode, Jason Glatzer and Glenn Brown are interviewing the ACR Stormers Team.

Below follows a fresh state of play. It’s worth mentioning that the Beer Poker Tour tournament is on the bubble.

Level 13: 1,000/3,000 (3,000)
Entries: 178/612

The remaining 178 players have just returned from a 20-minute break, and they are ready to continue the battle. Roughly half the field has to be eliminated before the top 92 players can bag for Day 2.

Below are three of the biggest stacks in the room at this current moment.

Missing out on this autumn’s Battle of Malta? Fear not; we’ve got you covered! Join Jason Glatzer as he walks around the venue and sucking the atmosphere in.

Level 11: 1,000/2,000 (2,000)
Entries: 255/612

Late registration closed at the end of Level 10, and as such, the numbers are now confirmed. 612 entries were registered, and considering the flight is playing down to 15 %, 92 players will move on to Day 2.

It’s an educated guess that this flight won’t take as long as yesterday’s 1a marathon.

Level 11: 1,000/2,000 (2,000)
Entries: 255/612

Right off the bat, Luca Micalef opened to 7,000 UTG. Michal Wesolowski (UTG+1), Francesco Amendola (Hi-jack), and Pavlos Benakis (Big Blind) all made the call.

The dealer was just about to deal the flop, but he accidentally pulled four cards from the top of the deck instead of the customary three. Mistakes happen to the best of us, and he called the floor over who did a casino shuffle of the four cards, and discarded one of them as the next burn card. As such, the flop read 5♠K♦6♥, and all four players checked. Benakis then bet 5,000 on the 4♦; Wesolowski and Amendola both made the call.

Benakis and Wesolowski both checked the 9♣ river before Amendola fired a hefty 18,000 bet. Benakis made the call without too much hesitation, prior to Wesolowski quickly mucking his hand.

Francesco Amendola: A♠7♠
Pavlos Benakis: K♥2♥

Not the best kicker in the world, but Benakis’ read was correct, and he had no problem trumfing the ace-high of Amendola. We’ll never know if the intended flop would have been different.

Luca Micalef: 240,000
Michael Wesolowski: 170,000
Pavlos Benakis: 170,000
Franceso Amendola: 54,000

Level 11: 1,000/2,000 (2,000)
Entries: 234/612

A short-stacked Spase Stojanovski moved all in for 16,500 from UTG+1. Eugenio De Marco re-shoved from the Button, and the two were heads-up to the flop.

Spase Stojanovski: K♣J♥
Eugenio De Marco: A♣J♣

Stojanovski was dominated, and the 2♥T♦A♦ meant that his best chance to win the pot was by hitting a straight. The A♣5♠ runout didn’t benefit him, though, and De Marco stacked him off.

Eugenio De Marco: 103,000
Spase Stojanovski: 0

Level 11: 1,000/2,000 (2,000)
Entries: 246/612

Clement Brunet-Manquat min-raised to 4,000 UTG. Action folded all the way to Alexandr Resko, who clicked it to 8,000 from the Big Blind. “Do misclicks still exist in 2025?” Brunet-Manquat joked before making the call.

Brunet-Manquat check-called a 6,000 bet from Resko on the T♣Q♥8♣ flop. The action repeated itself on the T♠ turn, the only difference being that Resko now sized up to 9,500. Both players decided to check the 2♠ river.

Clement Brunet-Manquat: J♣J♠
Alexandr Resko: A♥K♥

Jacks were good for Brunet-Manquat, who currently plays a quite decent stack.

Clement Brunet-Manquat: 150,000
Alexandr Resko: 71,000

The final side event of the day has just begun, the €150 Hyperturbo. Last night 100 players rocked up for this one, but its a much busier day and by the time the first hand was played, over 60 players had ponied up the buy-in and were ready to rock ’n’ slowroll.

With this final tournament being in play, there are now seven tournaments running concurrently at Casino Malta!

Registration has closed in Day 1c of the Main Event, which did get past the 600 barrier, closing with 612 entries. It will soon be confirmed how many they will play down to tonight.

The Mystery Siege has 70 players left and they will play until 51 remain.

Registration has also closed in the Beer Poker Tour event, with a whopping 366 entries, 160 of whom are still in, many supping a free beer.

Current State of Play

And although play will continue for many more hours, its the end of the shift for this lonesome cowboy. It’s time for me to put on my jodhpurs, saddle up my steer and ride on home. But fear not, as Doc Karlen will be holding the fort for the rest of the night and will not yield until the final warrior has fallen in Day 1c of the Main Event. See ya tomorrow, guys and gals!

Level 10: 1,000/1,500 (1,500)
Entries: 255/612

I strolled by Table 11 to greet an acquaintance of mine, Jannik Bengtsen. Bengtsen finished eleventh in the 2025 Battle of Malta Spring Edition €600 Main Event, and now, he’s back for more.

Bengtsen was only playing 10,000 when I visited him. Shervin Ghassemlou opened to 3,000 from UTG+2, and Emmanouil Zacharakis made the call from the Hi-jack. Bengtsen peeked at his hand, put his lucky Gengar card protector on his cards, and moved all in. Action folded back to Ghassemlou, who made the call, before Zacharakis moved all in. His attempt to isolate himself with Bengtsen was successful, seeing as Ghassemlou folded.

Jannik Bengtsen: K♥Q♠
Emmanouil Zacharakis: A♠T♣

The Gengar brought good luck, as Bengtsen had the best hand after the K♣6♣7♦6♦5♥ runout. Last year, the Dane did an impressive comeback under similar presumptions; time will tell if there’s another deep run coming his way.

For those wondering, Gastly evolves to Haunter at level 25, and Haunter then has to be link-traded with another Gameboy device in order for it to evolve to Gengar. I could talk about Pokémon for days, but from now on, let’s focus on the poker, shall we?

Emmanouil Zacharakis: 163,000
Jannik Bengtsen: 34,000

Jannik Bengtsen

Whether it’s the half-price flight or a satellite into the regular flights, a lot of people have an aversion to buying-in for the full price. In fact, 346 such people who would much rather only pay €70 for a shot at getting into the Main Event are currently engaged in the second satellite of the day. Heck, if I wasn’t blogging, that’s what I’d be doing too.

Current State of Play

Level 10: 1,000/1,500 (1,500)
Entries: 281/574

Table 17 was given the honor of being the first table from which I caught a hand today. Upon my arrival, Merel Merdzhanov opened to 3,000 from the Lo-jack. The somewhat short-stacked Romeo Leonardo decided to defend his Big Blind.

First to act, Leonardo checked the Q♦T♣2♦ flop. Merdzhanov did a visual count of his opponent’s stack before checking back. Leonardo checked again on the 9♥ turn; perhaps Merdzhanov sensed his opponent was weak, as he forced Leonardo all in. Leonardo pondered for perhaps one minute before making the call.

Merel Merdzhanov: Q♣6♣
Romeo Leonardo: K♦9♠

It was unfortunate for Leonardo to hit a nine on the turn. The 8♥ river didn’t help him, and all his chips went the way of Merdzhanov.

Merel Merdzhanov: 72,000
Romeo Leonardo: 0

The dinner break is now over for Day 1c and the remaining 280 of the 586 entrants (so far) have now retaken their seats for the next session of play. They are now on the final level for late entries and there’s an outside chance they will make it to 600 entries. Day 1d is now up to 139 entries and is in the 4th level of the flight.

Today’s Del Boy style half-price Main Event is now in play, with 88 players having entered by the start of level 2. Registration is now open in both Main Event flights, giving players a choice, pay €300 or €600 to try and book a seat in Day 2. Which would you choose?

Meanwhile, the loudest tournament in the room is obviously the Beer Poker Tour event, which has just had its 300th registrant.  During the last break a cake was wheeled out for the BPTs head Honcho, Merivan Hassan, who is 21 years old today. Must have been a tough paper round Merv!

Current State of Play

Merivan Hassan’s Birthday Surprise

Level 10: 1,000/1,500 (1,500)
Entries: 281/574

It’s time for the 75-minute dinner break, and this Swedish live reporter has joined Jonathan Raab in the live coverage booth. The action will resume on Level 10 around 21:00; below are some of the biggest stacks in the room.

BOM Trophies

As was recently predicted, Day 1c of the Main Event is indeed now on its dinner break. We’ll have some updated chop counts coming shortly, but meanwhile, here’e the latest state of play at Casino Malta.

The Mystery Siege of Malta is already on a 60-minute dinner break, with 159 out of 343 players still in with a chance of joining the 48 who are already through from the first two starting days.

The Main Event will be going on a 75-minute dinner break soon, at 7.50pm. It now has 568 entries, with 290 still commanding chip stacks.

Meanwhile, what do you make of this headwear?

Headwear of the Day

It’s that time of day when there’s a lot going on, so here’s a quick 360 on everything that’s going on right now at the Battle of Malta

Main Event Day 1c

This flight is now bigger than the corresponding flight in 2024k which had 533 entrants. So far Day 1c is up to 552 entries, with three hours left for more players to join the flight. Day 1d begins at 8pm and registration is already open.

Mystery Siege Day 1c

Registration has now closed for Day 1c, with 343 entrants and 187 players still left in contention for a berth in tomorrow’s Day 2.

Pot Limit Omaha

This has now edged up to 67 entries and is mid-way through the fifth level. There’s almost two hours left for anyone who wishes to join the action.

Beer Poker Tour

The Beer Poker Tour is swimming along nicely, with 172 entries and its only on level 3, with over three hours of late registration to go.

Today’s €330 PLO tournament is taking place downstairs, with 60 entrants so far and still the best part of five levels for late entries.

Quite a few old school Brits have shown up for the is one. Spotted in the field today are GUKPT legend Robert Boon, David Lloyd, Bernie Litman and Joe Grech.

Joe now flies the Maltese flag on his profile, having moved back from London  permanently a few years ago. Upon switching his flag on The Hendon Mob database he instantly went to the top of the Maltese all-time money list. He’s sitting next to Matthias Kribben, who is seeking out his 67th cash of 2025.

Matthias Kribben and Joe Grech

Day 1c of the Main Event has just returned form its second break of the flight. The field has grown to over 500 entries and is still climbing. They will have their dinner break after the next two-hour session of play.

Massimo Rizzoglio is the chip leader at the break on 220k, with Sally Stephens not far behind on 216.5k Luca Micalef, who held the lead at the last break has also increased his holding to 208.6k.

Chip Leaders

Current State of Play

The Beer Poker Tour is getting ready to start, at 6pm. It’s a new addition to the Battle of Malta side event schedule and it’s a bit different to most poker events, in a good way. Not only does it have the lowest rake of any event on the schedule, costing €180+€20 to play, but there’s also lots of free prizes to be won. There’s no prize however if you’ve already guessed that those additional prizes are in liquid form and are very drinkable.

Beerpot Bonus Hands

At the start of every  new level, a beer voucher is added to the pot, making it a beerpot. The winner of the pot also gets a free drink, on the house! The fun also continues during the breaks, with a beer poing challenge for players to win additional beer vouchers, or a Beer Poker Tour cap.

And a special mention has to go to Merivan Hassan, the mastermind behind and operator of the Beer Poker Tour, as its his birthday today. Hopefully he has time for a beer or two while he hosts the tournament.

Happy Birthday Merivan!

Today’s non-Hold’em offering is another €300+€30 Pot Limit Omaha tournament has just begun, with twenty players registered at the start of play. There’s eight levels for late registration and it is taking place in the downstairs conference space, where the satellites also happen.

Current State of Play

Level 5: 300/600 (600)
Entries: 357/432

2024 Spring Champion and last Autumn’s runner-up Vasileios Zizis has not yet been spotted in Malta and he was not here for the 2025 Spring edition either. We don’t know whether he’s coming but we’d love to see ZZ top chip charts once again. Oh wait, is this him? Maybe not.

SmokeStack Frightening

Day 1c is filling up nicely and the 400th entry has just been made into the flight. This same flight one year ago had 533 entries and with still over 5 hours until late registration closes, today’s field coulr easily surpass that number.

The morning satellite is still in play, with 48 players left from 582 starters, chasing the last 25 tickets that remain into the Main Event. In total 58 seats will be awarded from this mega satellite.

Current State of Play

Luca Micalef, Chip Leader at the First Beeak

As the day begins to fill up, a few more familiar players have been spotted in the field. One such player is Frankie Boyle look-and-soundalike Andrew Hedley, who was intrigued about the half-price flight when I passed by his table.

Another player was explaining the concept, while Mr Picasso Churmasco (he has a lot of nicknames), the self-styled “most churming” man in poker (whatever that means) listened carefully, exclaiming “I’ve never heard of that before” in his distinctive Scottish accent.

If he doesn’t make it though on this bullet, I wonder if we’ll see him in tonight’s half-price Day 1d? Maybe, but maybe not, as he’s also here with his family for a short holiday. By the looks of it, he may have forgotten to pack his sunscreen*.

Andrew “Factor 50 Please” Hedley

*It’s probably just the red filter of the lighting making Andrew look even more Scottish than he already is.

The early chip leader in Day 1c is Luca Micalef, who has already swollen his 40k starting stack into 156.6k. he’s almost 20k ahead of 2nd placed Michael Wargin, who has 137.3k. Here’s the top eleven chip stacks. Top eleven? Why not top ten? This one goes to eleven!

On Break
Entries: 303/344

The Main Event is now on its first break, with 344 entries so far, 304 of whom still have chips. Matthias Kribben, who was reported on earlier today has now hit the rail, but is likely to have another go. Chip counts of the top three players coming soon!

Meanwhile the third starting day of the €210+€200+€40 Mystery Siege of Malta in now in play, with 90 players joining at the start of the flight and has now grown to over 130.

The third starting day of the €210+€200+€40 Mystery Siege of Malta starts soon, as more players will attempt to join the 48 who have already secured their participation in Day 2. Here’s the chip counts from the first two flights.

Mystery Siege of Malta Day 1a Chip Counts

23/154 made into Day 2

Mystery Siege of Malta Day 1a Chip Counts

25/167 made into Day 2

Level 1: 100/300 (300)
Entries: 276/303

Matthias “The Maestro” Kribben is one of today’s Day 1c participants. He’s already bagged the chip lead in the Mystery Siege of Malta and today he’s attempting to take charge of the Main Event as well.

In case you’re not aware of who this silent destroyer is, his Hendon Mob profile is quite remarkable. He’s already cashed in 65 tournaments in 2025 alone and that doesn’t event count the Siege, which is sure to earn him another flag. But he’s not a flag hunter, he’s a chip getter and we’ll keep an eye on him today to see just how big his stack gets this time. So far it’s not looking too great for him, but we are only at the beginning of level 3.

Matthias “The Maestro” Kribben

Throughout the day, I’ll be posting status updates about each of today’s events. Usually I’ll tag this on to a post, every hour or two, for a snapshot of what’s going on at the Battle of Malta. But I’ve devoted a whole post just to it this time, just for the heck of it.

5+5 = Bubble Time! Better luck next time Glenn!

This year’s trophies have been attracting quite a lot of attention. They’re arranged on a wedding cake styled open display right in the centre of the Eden Arena. Their coloured glass statues made by Mdina Glass, the most famous glasswork brand on the island.

These unique pieces have been affixed to special bases that bear the names of the events on the schedule. Its a shame they didn’t have such trophies at the Spring Edition, or mine (I luck-boxed a Hyper-Turbo) would already have been on e-bay in my trophy cabinet.

BOM Trophies

Level 1: 100/100
Entries: 151/151

You know, if actual wartime battles had late entry, I’m sure most people would turn up at the last possible moment. But that’s not always strategically the best approach in a deep stack poker tournament, as you can easily end up as cannon fodder on your first charge.

But you can also end up vanquished early-on even if you enter right at the start; and that’s exactly what happened to Ioannis Theodoropoulos and Michael Isiguzo, within the first 15 minutes of the kick-off. RIP, but it’s very likely they will rise again and have another go.

Chip Stack

Level 1: 100/100
Entries: 151/151

Day 1c, the third starting day of the Battle of Malta 10 Main Event has now begun. Before play commenced, a short video welcome was shown to 140 players who took their seats for the first hand of the day. Its now up to over 150 and climbing steadily.

There were double the number of players at the start of the flight than there were yesterday and it turned out be a long one, with a 3-hour soul crushing bubble and one has to feel bad for Johan Sundgren, the unfortunate who went home to the sound of dawn birds chirping with nothing but a sore head.

The knights are back again today and doing a great job ensuring nobody manages to pilfer one of the glass trophies that bear their likeness. I do feel a bit sorry for the guy in the Ned Kelly style mask, he really doesn’t look that comfortable, but at least he won’t be recognised afterwards.

Once hosts Glenn Brown and Valeria had made their introductions, the words “shuffle up and deal” uttered by Rudy, the BOM Tournament Director, got the flight started.

Day 1b of Main Event

Wednesday was the first full day of the Battle of Malta Autumn Edition. The opening two starting days of the €1.5m guaranteed Main Event took place, alongside a busy schedule of side events at the Eden Arena and Casino Malta in St Julian’s.

Swords Drawn

At the Spring Edition, the BOM pivoted away from the walk on ceremonies that had traditionally kicked-off the proceedings at the start of each day. A rousing welcome video replaced it and this time we’re sticking with this approach. While the video was playing, four armoured up warriors symbolically defended the trophies.

Once the pomp was out of the way, the circumstance of Day 1a began, with over 70 players fully installed in their seats, fully charged and ready to embark upon a marathon first day. By the time late registration had closed at the end of level 10, 285 players had taken their seats.

BOM Autumn Edition Knights

Defending Champ Ziemichod into Day 2

One of the players who entered during the first level of the day was defending champion Adrian Ziemichod. The Polish player won the Spring Edition for €120,000, defeating American Rob Perlman heads-up. Ziemichod required only one bullet, starting well and by the second break of the day, had one of the ten largest stacks. He made it through the day, bagging the 17th biggest stack (249,000) of the 43 players who have progressed to Day 2.

Daniel Maunders, who finished runner-up to Vasileios Zizis in the Spring 2023 edition also played, requiring two bullets to book his place in Day 2. However he only just squeezed in and with a mere 9,000 chips to his name, he’s the shortest stacked of those who made it to the end of the day.  He will now be faced with the choice of relinquishing these last few chips and playing another flight to try and improve his Day 2 stack. It seems likely he will do this.

Battle of Malta Spring Edition Champion Adrian Ziemichod

Late Finish to Day 1a

The full price starting days (1a, 1b, 1c and 1d) play down to 15% of the field rather than a set number of levels. Some flights take longer than others to complete and Day 1a was one of those marathon sessions, that did not end until 6.20am!  Much of the delay was caused by the three-hour long bubble situation, when an astonishing 18 double ups were achieved before Johan Sundgren became the unfortunate player to just miss out on a seat in Sunday’s Day 2.

Herli Bird Gets the Worm

Estonian Herli Orlop, who came here with a large group of compatriots, won a couple of huge pots early on in the day to become one of the big stacks. He was then reduced to just above his starting stack, but mounted a recovery and got a huge double up on the bubble, to end the day on 913,000, with the third biggest stack of the day.

That earned him a big stack bonus of a €1,500 package to the 2026 Spring Edition of the BOM, as these are being awarded to the top three finishers in each regular starting flight. German Nikola Karl, on 965,000 bagged up the second biggest stack of the flight, also scooping a 2026 package.

Anthony Hughes, Millionaire

The only player to post a seven figure chip stack was Anthony Hughes. The British player ended up with a towering 1,160,000 and is the only chip millionaire that has been created so far. He can’t cash that in, but he did bank a 2026 package for his efforts. Will his be the largest stack going into Day 2? We’ve still got seven more starting days before we know the answer to that one!

Top 5 Stacks from Day 1a

Full chip counts of all 43 survivors from Day 1a can be found here

Alexander Regler Bags Day1b Chip Lead

Day 1b, the first of the half-price starting days began at 8pm, but was finished long before Day 1a had reached its conclusion. There were 113 entrants, however none of them managed to amass stacks anywhere close to that of Anthony Hughes. In fact, the chip leader from Day 1b has less than half the stack of the Day 1a front runner.

The biggest stack of the flight was accumulated by German Alexander Regler, who bagged up 452,000 and wins the chip leader bonus prize of a €1,500 2026 BOM package. Only the biggest stack from the half-price flight is awarded this prize, so there was nothing extra for second placed Pantelis Charalampous, who was not far behind Regler on 430,000. Only eight players survived Day 1b.

All Eight Survivors from Day 1b

Matthias Kribben Chip Leads Mystery Siege Day 1b

The second starting day of four in the €450 Mystery Siege of Malta also took place on Wednesday, with a further 167 players taking their seats in pursuit of a place in Sunday’s Day 2. Just 25 of these made it into the second stage, joining the 23 who progressed from Day 1a.  German Matthias Kribben secured the chip lead on 602k, well in front of the 522k posted by Day 1a chip leader Werge Malmborg.

Matthias is one of the most consistent performers of 2025, having cashed an incredible 65 times so far this year, including ten final tables and three wins. He’s an allrounder, playing mixed games and Hold’em to a very high standard and is the man to catch, with two starting days left in the Siege. There’s a further flight today, at 3pm and a final one on Friday morning.

Wednesday’s Side Events Roundup

There were three side events on Wednesday and for the first time at this edition, all side-event winners will receive trophies, beautifully crafted glass statues depicting a medieval knight, dressed for battle (of course).

The first recipient of a trophy was Irishman Shane Keary, who won the first €300 PLO of the week, taking €3,775. He outlasted a field of 39 runners defeating Fabio Miraglia heads-up. Mystery Siege Day 1a chip leader Werge Malmborg also made the podium, taking third place.

Wednesday’s €200 Dark Knight had 85 entrants and was won by Dimitrios Ampliantis, for a first prize of €3,657.50, plus a very nice trophy. WSOPC Tallinn Ring winner Jenny Westerlund was the unfortunate bubble girl and won’t be adding a further trophy to her cabinet just yet, but it’s still early days and there’s still plenty of time for her to rise to the top in another event. Another player who sneaked into the money is GUKPT Luton winner Gang Wang, who couldn’t quite style another victory, just missing the final table, taking 10th place.

The final side event of the day was the €150 Hyperturbo. BOM host Glenn Brown played this one, but just missed out on making the money, busting in 17th place. Fifteen of the 100 who entered received prizes, with Mateusz Gut claiming the first win of the week for the Polish contingent, taking the trophy and €3,180 prize money.

Jenny Westerlund

Satellite Mayhem

A total of 66 seats were won in the two Main Event satellites that took place on Wednesday. The early satellite had 285 entrants, producing 26 seat winners, while 402 contested the evening version, generating a further 40 seat winners. There are two further satellites on Thursday, at 11am and 9pm. Both will be played in the downstairs poker room, where players can also register.

Thursday at the Battle of Malta

Thursday’s tournament schedule is very similar to Wednesday’s. There are a further two starting days for the Main Event and one for the Mystery Siege. There is another PLO at and a late night Hyperturbo. In fact the only difference between Wednesday and Thursday is that instead of the Dark Knight, we have a €200 buy-in (€180+€20) Beer Poker Tour tournament.

What is the Beer Poker Tour?

The Beer Poker Tour is a quirky live poker brand that combined the game we love so much with a much loved tipple, beer. In fact the hops based drink plays an integral part in the event, as the winner of the first hand of every new level, on every table, gets a free drink. The fun also continues during the breaks, when players can win more free drinks and Beer Poker Tour merchandise via a game of…yes, you guessed it correctly, beer pong!

Beer Poker Tour Trophy at Battle of Malta