Day 1ef

Level 8: 6,000/1,200 (1,200)
Entries: 1,096/1,876

Seated UTG, Mauro Pugliesi attempted to limp. Domenico Persico wouldn’t allow it, though, as he raised to 3,500. The tricky Pugliesi then moved all in for 33,000 in total, and Persico made the call.

Mauro Pugliesi: A♥K♠
Domenico Persico: A♣K♦

“Booooring,” I thought to myself as the board spelled out Q♠2♠5♥Q♥T♣. In the end, though, I’m happy the two gentlemen are still both in it.

Domenico Persico: 47,500
Mauro Pugliesi: 33,000

Day 1e of the €600 Main Event attracted 922 entries. Below are the chip counts for those 138 who made it through to Day 2.

A new attendance record has been set for the Mystery Siege of Malta, with a total of 1,313 entries in the €450 Mystery Bounty Event. The final starting flight saw 647 players take their seat for the morning starting final flight of the event, resulting in a total prize pool of over half a million Euros.

Main Event Climbs to over 2,500 Entries

Friday’s Day 1e of the Main Event saw 923 players take their seats, 138 of whom made it through to Day 2. A further 330 entered the evening’s half price flight. With three of the biggest starting days still to come, it remains in the balance as to whether a new participation record will be set at the Battle of Malta Spring Edition.

Unfortunately, a technical issue affecting the tournament cloak occurred in the early hours of Saturday morning, which prevents us from publishing the names and chip counts of the survivors from Friday’s Main Event, or the full results of the Mystery Siege and the other tournaments that were still running when the fault occurred.

Further details of Main Event survivors and side event winners will be published as soon as the issues have been resolved.

Dimitrios Amplianitis Wins Second Trophy of the Festival

It’s not even half way through the 2025 Battle of Malta Autumn edition and already we have a contender for the fantasy player of the series title. It’s a fantasy title because there is no such POS race, however if there was one, he’d be the front runner.

Dimitrios Amplianitis won the first outing of the Dark Knight on Wednesday, becoming one of the first recipients of a Mdina Glass warrior trophy. That simply made him hungry for more and on Friday he quenched that thirst, taking down the title in Friday’s White Knight, after a heads up deal with Swiss Adrian Vogt.

It was reported that the deal took place after Dimitrios Amplianitis had won a huge double up to take a massive chip lead, but was so determined to get a second trophy that he offered his opponent an almost 50/50 deal, which one presumes was snap agreed to.

Amplianitis cashed for €3,578.50 in the Dark Knight and added a further €4,260 to his running total for the week in the White Knight. There’s no other versions of the Knight tournaments for him to win next, but we’re pretty sure he will take a stab at acquiring a third trophy.

Dimitrios Amplianits

Friday’s €330 PLO tournament had a 4/5 card round of each format. It was almost as busy as Thursday’s four card PLO offering, with 99 players taking part. This event took place within Casino Malta, in the basement of the hotel and it’s expected that this is where Saturday’s PLO will also be staged.

The Dark Knight also ran, with 214 entries. Due to the technical issue with the tournament clock, we are still awaiting the full results of these events.

The Redtooth Malta 52 also took place on Friday, with Glenn Brown hosting the pub league’s annual overseas jaunt to escape the miserable October UK weather. It was a good natured event, as it always is and was won by Edward Cherrie.

Satellite Battle Light

Thursday’s two satellites had 1,303 entries between them and that seemed big, but Friday was even bigger, with over 1,500 buy-ins. The morning satellite saw 688 players have a breakfast time bash at winning a Main Event, meanwhile the evening version roused a further 820 souls to have a go. In total 140 seats for the Main Event were awarded and Saturday’s final Main Event qualifier at 11am is expected to be the biggest yet!

Saturday’s Schedule at the Battle of Malta

Saturday at Casino Malta will be the single busiest day of the festival. With the Siege of Malta now concluded, the focus of the day will be fully on the Main Event. There’s two further Main Event starting days, at 1pm and 8pm. There are expected to be 900+ in the satellite and maybe a similar number at the start of Day 1g of the Main Event.

There are three other side events scheduled, the sponsored €260+€40 NLH MAS event, the final €300+€30 Omaha event of the festival and another €170+€30 Dark Knight.

The final event of the day, at 9pm, is a €110+€30 satellite into the €1,000+€100 Qui Gioco High Roller

Level 17: 5,000/10,000 (10,000)
Entries: 138/923

Some technical issues made the last hour of Day 1b hard to track properly; apologize for the blog going idle for a while. That being said, the bubble just burst, sending 138 players on to Day 2.

Soft hand-by-hand was introduced with 140 players remaining. There were perhaps seven players surviving the scare before there were four all-ins on four different tables. One by one, the floor walked around and resumed one hand at a time.

The first two hands saw the short stack doubling up. Then, at the third table, Pucci Niccolo was the player at risk, being all in on a 9♥7♣8♥K♦ board. Niccolo’s K♠9♠ were up against the opponent’s 7♥7♠, and the A♥ didn’t see Niccolo taking the driver’s seat. As such, he was eliminated in one hundred fortyth place.

The floor then went on to the fourth and final table. Christos Tsamatsoulis (Button) had called a 20,000 opening from the Hi-jack, and Bruno Massimo had made the call from the Small Blind. Massimo led out for 30,000 on the K♦3♦7♦ flop, and after the player in the Hi-jack folded, Tsamatsoulis forced Massimo all in for roughly 150,000.

Massimo made the call; his 3♠3♣ was up against the A♦J♦ of Tsamatsoulis. The board ran out Q♣T♠, and that settled it. Massimo was eliminated in one hundred thirty-ninth place, which meant that Day 1b came to an end.

Today’s live coverage also ended with this. We’ll try our best to get the chip counts up as fast as possible; that’s assuming we get to the bottom of the technical difficulties.

Thanks to everyone who’s been following today’s coverage. See you all tomorrow!

Level 16: 4,000/8,000 (8,000)
Entries: 158/923

Alessandro Furneri moved all in UTG for 85,000. Seated right next to him, Krzysztof Iszczuk re-shoved from UTG+1 for perhaps 280,000. There were no other takers.

Alessandro Furneri: A♦Q♠
Krzysztof Iszczuk: A♣A♠

An unfortunate scenario for Furneri, who didn’t crack aces as the board spelled out 8♥Q♣K♣4♣9♠.

Krzysztof Iszczuk: 365,000
Alessandro Furneri: 0

Level 15: 3,000/6,000 (6,000)
Entries: 271/923

My good friend Robin Wikemar told me he played what probably is the craziest hand of his live poker tournament career. He explained what went down, and one has to admit, it is quite astonishing.

His unknown opponent – let’s say “Mr. X” – opened to 10,000 (keep in mind this hand played out at Level 14) from the Button. Wikemar three-bet to 30,000 from the Big Blind, and Mr. X made the call.

First to act, Wikemar checked the 9♠J♣6♦ flop, and Mr. X dipped his toes in the water with an 18,000 bet. Wikemar made the call, and the dealer revealed the 7♥ on the turn. The Swede checked again, Mr. X sized up to 42,000; once again, Wikemar decided to stick around.

Wikemar completed the check trifecta on the 6♥ river. All gas, no breaks from Mr. X, who forced his opponent all in for roughly 90,000. Wikemar didn’t require more than five seconds before making the call.

Mr. X: K♠T♠
Robin Wikemar: A♠Q♣

In other words, a call with ace-high earned Wikemar the full double-up.

Robin Wikemar: 360,000
Mr. X: Unknown

Robin Wikemar

Level 15: 3,000/6,000 (6,000)
Entries: 271/923

I noticed a familiar name walking through the tournament tables, Leo Worthington-Leese. The Englishman might be mostly known for his third-place finish in the 2023 EPT Monte Carlo €5,300 Main Event. I had a small chat with the lad, who told me he arrived in Malta today. Time will tell what miracles he’ll be able to produce.

I witnessed the amateur squash player/van owner open to 8,000 from the Button, and Matiss Celmins decided to defend his Big Blind. Celmins check-called an 18,000 continuation bet from Worthington-Leese on the 4♣6♠5♦ flop. Another check from Celmins on the 6♥ turn, which was followed by Worthington-Leese moving all in for roughly 70,000. Celmins mucked his hand, and Worthington-Leese began his ascent.

Matiss Celmins: 195,000
Leo Worthington-Leese: 138,000

Level 14: 2,000/4,000 (4,000)
Entries: 271/923

The players have been back for a 20-minute break for roughly half an hour, and this live reporter just got back after rehydrating. It’s been confirmed that 138 players will make it to Day 2; that means roughly half the field has to be eliminated before play concludes for the day.

Giuseppe Gridella was the chip leader coming back after the break with 399,000. Flynn Meichtry also had more than 300,000, as his stack read 345,000.

Level 12: 1,000/2,500 (2,500)
Entries: 307/923

Seated UTG, Giovanni Mangiaracina opened to 7,000. Feliciano Rosano then raised to 17,000 from the Cut-off, and Guido Giandon smooth-called from the Small Blind. Things would get even more spicy, though, as Mangiaracina four-bet all in for 99,500. Rosano considered his options for a minute before folding, but Giandon snap-called.

Giovanni Mangiaracina: A♣A♦
Guido Giandon: J♦8♣

This reporter did not put Giandon on that specific hand. No aces were cracked as the board spelled out 3♣K♣7♠Q♦T♦, and Giandon hit the rail.

Feliciano Rosano: 320,000
Giovanni Mangiaracina: 195,000
Guido Giandon: 0

Level 12: 1,000/2,500 (2,500)
Entries: 332/923

Rosario Saddemi min-raised to 5,000 UTG. Anargyros Loizos – whom I met earlier this year in Thessaloniki during the 2025 Greek Poker Odyssea – made the call from UTG+1, before Kostantinos Grigoriadis bumped it up to 23,000 from the Button. Moritz Nedden then moved all in for what had to be around 30,000 from the Small Blind. Saddemi and Loizos both folded before Grigoriadis, naturally, made the call.

Moritz Nedden: K♠Q♠
Kostantinos Grigoriadis: A♥A♠

Nedden had a beautiful hand, but bad timing for him as Grigoriadis had picked up the goods. No dice for Nedden on the J♦6♥2♥6♦5♠ board, and he became one of the first victims after late registration closed.

How many players will bag for Day 2 has not yet been announced, but we know it will be 15 %.

Konstantinos Grigoriadis: 230,000
Moritz Nedden: 0

Level 11: 1,000/2,000 (2,000)
Entries: 379/923

Walking through the arena, I heard voices from Table 14. I went over there and saw that the chatty Kristian Pervisic had opened to 7,500 UTG. He got one caller in the form of Karlo Finka from the Small Blind.

Finka check-called a 7,000 bet from Pervisic on the Q♥4♦6♣ flop. Finka checked again on the A♣ turn, and with a lot of confidence, Pervisic now bet 13,000. Finka folded, prior to Pervisic saying to his fellow countryman, “I’ll show you, because you are from Croatia.” He revealed his A♠J♥ holdings, and as the dealer pushed the chips his way, he noticed my presence and said, “I know you’re waiting for good content, but I can’t.” I didn’t understand what he meant; he’s quite the character, and on top of that, a jolly good fellow!

Kristian Presivic: 280,000
Karlo Finka: 172,000

Current State of Play

Its 10pm, not the usual witching hour, but when your other half works night shifts that start at 11pm adn there’s an eleven-year old kid at home, you become a pumpkin long before midnight, if you’re still not home. Luckily, she’s off work for the rest of the event, so this is the last day that I’ll have a curfew imposed upon me.

But while I am about to head off into the night, to try and hitchhike a ride home, my esteemed colleague Christoffer Karlen will be holding the fort until the end of play in the Main Event.

The Mystery Bounty is now deep into Day 2, with 116 of the 196 who made it into the money. They’ll be pulling the Mystery Bounties at the first break.

Level 10: 1,000/1,500 (1,500)
Entries: 401/923

Giuseppe Gridella made it 5,500 to go UTG, and he got two callers in the form of Petros Zatphe (Button) and Angel Popov (Small Blind).

Action was checked to pre-flop aggressor Gridella on Q♥8♦3♣, who continued for 15,000. Zatphe made the call, while Popov decided to get out of the way. Gridella sized up to 20,000 on the 9♣ turn, and, again, Zatphe made the call. Both players opted to check the 6♥ river.

Gridella revealed his K♣K♠, and even though Zatphe had another premium hand, J♥J♣, that simply wasn’t enough.

Giuseppe Gridella: 255,000
Petros Zatphe: 174,000

Earlier today, Jason Glatzer interviewed ACR Pro Ana Marquez.

Level 10: 1,000/1,500 (1,500)
Entries: 426/906

Feliciano Rosano opened to 6,000 UTG on the nine-handed table, and Francesco Cortorillo decided to call from the Small Blind.

Both players opted to check the Q♥A♥5♥ flop. Cortorillo then check-called a bet from Rosano on the 2♣ turn. Cortorillo completed the check trifecta on the Q♦ river, prior to Rosano firing a hefty 25,000 bet. Cortorillo decided to make the call.

The look on Cortorillo’s face when Rosano tabled 4♠3♠ for a runner-runner straight could not be mistaken for anything other than confusion.

Feliciano Rosano: 227,000
Francesco Cortorillo: 27,500

It’s such a busy day today, that it’s hard to keep up with everything going on. So here’s a quick snapshot of what’s happening right now at Casino Malta and the Eden Arena.

Main Event Day 1e

Registration is still open in this flight for another 45 minutes and so far 880 entries have been made, with over half of them already sent to the rail. They’re currently on dinner break, but will be resuming play in a few minutes.

Main Event Day 1f

The day’s half-price flight bean while Day 1e was on dinner break. It has 20-minute blinds levels and they are now in the third level, with 186 players having joined the flight so far.

Mystery Siege of Malta

The final flight has concluded and day 2 has now begun, with 194 players progressing to the second day, when the mystery prizes come into play. Vasileios Zizis did make it into Day 2, with an above average stack of 364k. Sascha Manns also made in, with 181.6, as did Daragh Davey, who progressed with 94k.

The chip leader from the flight was Chinese player Lulei Hu, whose 686k stack was 10k ahead of Francesco Montagna’s 676k.

The mystery bounties will be pulled during the breaks in play, the first of which will be at 9.45pm.

The White Knight

Fifty-one players joined this €400 NLH one-dayer and rthey are already on the final table, with eight players remaining.

The Dark Knight

This began at 6pm and registration will close in about 30 minutes. So far 186 entries have been made, with exactly half the field remaining.

Pot Limit Omaha

Today’s 4/5 Card PLO is in level 9, with registration closed and 43 of the 99 who entered stilk four and five carding away. This one is being played in the poker room within Casino Malta.

Main Event Satellite

The evenings €70 satellite is getting ready to begin, with almost 300 players registered already.

Redtooth Event

The private Red Tooth event has now concluded, with a win Edward Cherry.

Level 10: 1,000/1,500 (1,500)
Entries: 424/878

The players are roughly halfway into the 75-minute dinner break, and the floor managed to identify two of the biggest stacks in the room. Is it a coincidence that they’re both repping the Swedish flag?

Level 9: 1,000/1,500 (1,500)
Entries: 438/877

Being a Swede, I couldn’t help myself but taking a look how my fellow Scandinavians are doing in Day 1e.

Robin Wikemar

Level 9: 1,000/1,500 (1,500)
Entries: 488/870

Vincent De Luca opened to 2,500 UTG. Ovidiu-Dorin Barna (Button) and Ran Shahar (Big Blind) both made the call.

After an initial check from Shahar on the 3♦K♥T♣ flop. De Luca fired a 4,000 continuation bet. Both of his opponents made the call, and the dealer revealed the K♦ on the turn. All three players checked, and on the 9♠ river, Shahar put out a white 25,000 chip. De Luca made the call before Barna folded.

Shahar turned over Q♥J♦ for a rivered straight, something De Luca couldn’t beat.

Ran Shahar: 98,000
Ovidiu-Dorin Barna: 67,000
Vincent De Luca: 60,000

Only eleven more exits to go before the end of the final starting day of the record breaking Mystery Siege of Malta. Late entrant Vasileios Zizis is still in contention as is Sascha Manns and Daragh Davey.

Depending on how long it takes for the remaining 11 players to bust, we might not get chip counts from the flight, due to the tight turnaround before them start of Day 2, at 9pm.

Current State of Play

Vasileios Zizis

Today’s Omaha was due to take place in the downstairs poker room in the Intercontinental Hotel. However, due to the huge turnout that is expected in the 9pm satellite, it’s been moved to the poker room within the Casino, situated in the basement of the hotel.

It’s a 4-5 card round of each format today and they’re currently in the 5th level, with 72 entries and 57 still playing.

It’s quite apt that on All Hallow’s Eve, there’s a tournament called The Dark Knight. It’s one of the Battle of Malta traditions and it began at 6pm. It’s €170+€30 to enter and so far 132 players have done just that!

Muhahahaha

Level 8: 600/1,200 (1,200)
Entries: 537/848

Andrei Piatrushchanka opened to 2,500 from UTG+1. Then, Francisco Ares put in a raise to 7,000 from the Hi-jack. Action folded back to Piatrushchanka, who four-bet to 18,000. After a minute’s worth of consideration, Ares moved all in for just shy of 50,000. Piatrushchanka made the call faster than the speed of lightning.

Francisco Ares: T♠T♣
Andrei Piatrushchanka: J♥J♦

Ares was visibly disappointed to see what he was up against, and he rose from his chair on the 4♣2♥7♦. The old trick didn’t work as the runout spelled out Q♦A♣, and Ares’ tournament life came to an end.

Andrei Piatrushchanka: 211,000
Francisco Ares: 0

Level 7: 500/1,000 (1,000)
Entries: 561/831

Sweden’s Robin Wikemar opened to 2,200 UTG. Andreas Mavromoustakis made the call from UTG+1, before Raul Ganea moved all in for 11,300 from the Lo-jack. Wikemar and Mavromoustakis both made the call.

Wikemar and Mavromoustakis both checked the 2♥K♥7♠ flop, and they did the same moves on the 9♦ turn. Wikemarn bet 7,000 on the 3♦ river, and after Mavromoustakis mucked his hand, the Swede went to showdown against Ganea.

Raul Ganea: A♦K♠
Robin Wikemar: A♠J♠

In other words, a nice triple-up for Ganea.

Andreas Mavromoustakis: 51,000
Raul Ganea: 42,400
Robin Wikemar: 39,000

We reported earlier about the special Halloween themed opening ceremony today, but words don’t do it justice. Take a look for yourself!

The popularity of Mystery Siege’s Day 1d is the reason that the Day 2 has been delayed to a 9pm start. They still have 222 players left in the field and play will continue until 97 remain. Vasileios Zizis was one of the last players to take his seat before late registration closed and he still has chips.

Also still playing is another Greek former BOM Main Event champion, Emmanouil Chalkiotis. Irish get-it-quietly maestro Daragh Davey is also still attempting to book a seat into Day 2. Shervin Ghasselmou, another of last Autumn’s finalists is also still in, as is former King of Malta winner Sascha Manns.

Emmanouil Chalkiotis

Level 6: 400/800 (800)
Entries: 576/781

Seated UTG, Salvatore Penzera min-raised to 1,600. Action folded all the way to Lior Sahar, who was the sole caller.

Both players decided to check the J♠7♦8♦ flop. Sahar then check-called a 2,500 bet from Penzera on the 8♣ turn. It was then Sahar who took the aggression on the A♣ river; he bet 6,000, and Penzera made the call.

Lior Sahar: 8♥3♥
Salvatore Penzera: A♥9♥

Penzera chuckled when he saw Sahar’s hand; what an annoying river card.

Salvatore Penzera: 100,000
Lior Sahar: 84,000

Level 6: 400/800 (800)
Entries: 589/763

I took a stroll through the arena and noticed Rasmus Lundström seated at Table 47. Lundström finished fourth in the 2025 Battle of Malta Spring Edition, and now, he’s hunting back at the paradise island, hunting for glory.

After an initial opening to 2,000 from Petros Zatphe, Lundström made the call from the Hi-jack, and Cristian Moldovan also joined the party from the Small Blind. Action then went check-check to Lundström on the 4♠3♣9♦ flop, and the Finn decided to bet 2,300. Moldovan swiftly folded before Zatphe made the call.

Zatphe then forced Lundström all in for 10,400 on the 7♣ turn, and Lundström called in a heartbeat.

Petros Zatphe: A♣6♣
Rasmus Lundström: 5♣5♦

A correct call from Lundström, and the 9♥ river didn’t help Zatphe. Lundström doubled up, nodded to me, and said, “You should come here more often.” Perhaps this Swede can bring some luck to all players.

Petros Zatphe: 126,000
Rasmus Lundström: 22,000

Rasmus Lundström

Today’s €330 PLO offering has a 4 card/5 card round of each format and it has just begun, in the downstairs poker room. At the start there were 26 players in their seats including Scott ‘Pokerbrahs’ Kenyon, Anthony Hughes and Joe Grech. Its sure to get much busier in the next few levels.

Current State of Play

Due to the large number of entries in Day 1d of the Mystery Bounty, a decision has been made to push the start of Day 2 back to 9pm. It had originally been scheduled to start at 9pm, but with 326 of he 649 entrants still in, the change of start time is required to allow Day 1d to be completed in time.

Level 5: 300/600 (600)
Entries: 597/673

During the last break, the biggest stacks of the day were identified, counted and verified by the tournament floor staff ands we can now reveal that chip leader at the last break was Dariusz Maniecki, who was on 140,000. Players are still buying in at a rapid rate, it will soon reach 700 entries. These are the top chip counts so far.

Level 4: 200/400 (400)
Entries: 542/589

Having returned from the 1st break of the day, there have now been 600 entries in Day 1e of the Main Event, with registration open for another six hours!

A player I’ve known for 20 years has shown up today, Ryan Fronda. He made the final table of GUKPT Manchester in the very first season of that tour. These days he plays for fun, having stepped away from the game to concentrate on his business. But he’s now sold that and has time to get back to the tables.

Ryan Fronda

The registration has now closed in the final starting day of the €210+€200+€40 Mystery Siege of Malta, with a total of 649 entries in the flight. Last year, 1,034 entries were made and the overall final number of  this year is 1,313, a new record for the Battle of Malta.

White Knight on Fright Night

The first outing for the White Knight coincides with Halloween. Its just started with an unlucky 13 entries in at the beginning of level 1.

The registration has now closed in the early Main Event satellite and 52 of the 68 tickets that will be awarded are still available to be won, with 138 players still left in. There was a huge turnout for this, 688 players, but if you missed it, fear not, there’s another starting at 9pm this evening.

Current State of Play

Level 3: 100/100
Entries: 418/444

Four hundred and forty-four players have now entered Day 1e of the Main Event. Spring 2024 champion Vasileios Zizis has arrived at the Battle of Malta. He finished as runner-up one year ago, going ever so close to an unprecedented double.

He was seen near the trophy display during the break, but hasn’t entered yet. I managed to catch a word with him, asking him, how he would feel if he made the final again, but only took 3rd place? His reply was exactly what I expected

“I’d be devastated, I’m only here for first place”

Vasileios Zisis

The €450 Mystery Siege of Malta Day 1d has just returned from its first break of the day and they are now on the seventh level of the flight, with still an hour for late comers to join the game. They’ve broached 600 entries in today’s flight, with 480 still possessing chips.

I just had a chat with Daniel Maunder, the player with the smallest Main Event chip stack going into Day 2. He bagged up only 9,000 chips and was keen to find out if players can sacrifice their stack and enter again. Well, it seems they can, but it also requires surrendering the min-cash, so Daniel will have try to spin up his pittance on Sunday afternoon.

…Just as long as you’ve got time, to P-L-A-Y, play away, play away, play away.

Unfortunately Brian can’t be here today to give us a rendition of this ditty (he’s dead), which seems very appropriate for those who like to play poker. Main Event Day 1e is filling up quickly, with another 100 players having already joined the flight during the first level of play.  The only player to have been eliminated so far is Laszlo Janoszki. Unlucky fella, the morning  satellite is still taking registrations.

The first starting day has now begun, with over 230 players in at the start of the session. That’s close to a hundred more than there were at the same stage yesterday. Last year this same flight ended up with over 900 entrants, could it be as big this year?

Trophy Stolen!

There is doubt however about whether the winner will actually receive the Main Event trophy next Wednesday, as it was audaciously stolen in a heist by a mysterious cloaked figure, who left a skull in its place. Whether this was a ghostly intervention or an inventive piece of performance art, we’re not quite sure, but there’s more to this story to be unfolded for sure…

Mulder

The Main Event is getting set up to begin the fifth of nine starting days, with already over 200 players registered, ten minutes before the start. But even before they sit down to play there have already been over 1,000 entries combined into the two events that stated this morning.

The 11am satellite into the Main Event already has 572 entries and the final flight of the Mystery Siege of Malta is up to 461. There’s over two hour of late registration left in both of them.

The opening ceremony today is rumoured to have a spooky theme to it today. That will begin in aboiut 5 minutes time and by 13.05pm, we can expect the cards to be in the air for Day 1e.

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.