Day 4

while the final table of the Main Event is still going, it’s not too early to look forward. Of course, the Battle of Malta will return in 2026, ready to bring all the action to the paradise island. The spring edition will take place May 27 – June 3, and if it’ll be anything like we’ve experienced this week, all players are in for a treat.

Level 34: 250,000/500,000 (500,000)
Entries: 8/6,039
Prize pool: €2,728,970

Action folded to Candido Cappiello, who limped from the Small Blind. Rafal Lubczynski decided to check his Big Blind.

After an initial check from Cappiello, Lubczynski bet 600,000. Little did he know Cappiello would raise to 1,850,000. That being said, Lubczynski made the call.

Cappiello continued the aggressive path on the 8♣ turn, as he bet 4,450,000. Without too much hesitation, Lubczynski mucked his hand.

Candido Cappiello: 50,000,000
Rafal Lubczynski: 17,700,000

The 2025 Battle of Malta Autumn Edition Main Event has now reached its final table. Over 6,000 entries were made, resulting in a final prize pool of almost €2.75m. There are now just eight players left with a chance of taking down the €254,070 first prize and etching their name into the event’s history book.

They will return to Casino Malta on Wednesday for one final day of play, which will be live streamed on the Battle of Malta’s YouTube channel. The blog coverage that has been running throughout the festival will also continue on the final day.

The Main Event final table was scheduled to be the only event taking place on Wednesday, but it will now be accompanied by the final table of the ACR Poker Super High Roller, which did not complete on Tuesday and had nine players left.

Main Event Day 4

The day began with 39 players still in possession of chip stacks, but only 38 returned to take their seats for the penultimate day. Northern Irish Darren Harbinson was the absentee, having been struck down with food poisoning that forced him to quit playing before the end of Day 3.

He was the only competitor in the tournament not to fall on the battlefield, succumbing to less than friendly fire in a hospital bed, with suspected salmonella poisoning. Harbinbson’s stack continued without him on Day 4 and he eventually finished in 28th place for €6,800. Best wishes are extended to Darren from everyone at the Battle of Malta. Get well soon!

Gabriele Re, the last remaining former champion did not make it onto another final table. He returned with one of the biggest stacks of the field, but busted in 20th for €9,300.

Overnight chip leader Ioannis Daskalis fared somewhat better, but he fell with 10 players left, just missing the final table. But that was not the final exit of the day, as there are only eight seats available on the live streamed final table. Soon after Daskalis had departed the scene, his compatriot Emmanouil Fountoulakis, the last Greek player left, became the TV table bubble boy.

Gabriele Re

Strong Italian Presence on Main Event Final Table

Latvian Davis Modans takes a slim chip lead onto Wednesday’s final table. His stack of 48.15m is less than one big blind ahead of Italian Candido Cappiello on 47.62m. The final table includes no less than five Italian players, including Luigi Shehadeh, who with over $1.4m in lifetime cashes, is the most experienced of the remaining contenders. But he returns as the short-stack, with less than 14 big blinds.

Luigi Shehadeh

Marco D’Amico sits in third place with 30.72m, just ahead of Polish Rafal Lubczynski on 30.07m. Romanian Cristian-Marius Campan has the fifth latest stack of 23.12m. Giuseppe Ciancio on 16.37m and Leonardo Romeo on 13.95m complete the final table line up.

Who will win? Tune in from 2pm onwards to follow the action and find out who will emerge victorious  in the Battle of Malta.

Three-Way Chop in High Roller

The record breaking €1,100 High Roller returned for its third day with 24 players left in contention for the title. Included in the final day field was Dimitrios Ampliantis, who had won both Dark Knight and White Knight trophies earlier in the festival. He made the final table, but was denied a third trophy, finishing in 9th place.

With three players left, an ICM deal was done and they played on for the trophy only. Latvian Arturs Daugis, who took €96,900 in the chop, went on to secure the title. Norwegian Gunnar Lie was second for €91,400, while Ludovic Morda took €73,050 for third place.

Heads Up in the High Roller

Super High Roller Extended to Third Day

The €2,200 ACR Poker Super High Roller began on Monday, but allowed late entry for the first three levels of Day 2. More than half of the 131 who took part entered during the second day, but at 4.30am play was suspended when it got down to the final nine. The UK’s Alex Whitenstall takes the chip lead onto the final table, which will resume at 2pm and play down to a finish.

Super High Roller Final Table Chip Counts

Nezhoda Steers HORSE To Victory

Rene Nezhoda began the day with a second bullet in Day 2 of the ACR Poker High Roller. That didn’t work out for him, but later entered the €330 H.O.R.S.E, from which he emerged victorious, ensuring his trip to Malta resulted in a trophy after all. He defeated Andrew Fleming from the UK heads up, with a large crowd cheering him on to the victory. The €4,670 first prize did at least help cover the cost of his Super High Roller bullets.

Rene Nezhoda on HORSE Final Table

Jeff Boski Experiences Win at Battle of Malta

Jeff Sluzinski is one of ACR Poker’s sponsored streamers. Better known by his online moniker Jeff Boski, he was one of several Stormers who visited the Battle of Malta Autumn Edition. Yesterday he made his first final table of the festival, taking fourth place in the Shark Bay EuroRounders Bounty, claiming fourth place for €3,395.

On Tuesday he entered the €150 Poker Experience Tour Hyper Turbo. Event operator Glenn Brown also played this and scraped into the money, but it was Boski who blew away the field, defeating Nuno de Sales heads up to take down the final trophy of the festival.

Jeff “JeffBoski” Sluzinski

White Knight/Dark Knight

The final Yin and Yang Knight events of the festival both ran on Tuesday. The first to begin was the €400 White Knight, which was won by Italian Mark Redli for €11,950. He topped a field of 167 entrants, defeating English Nigel Hartwell for the trophy.

The €200 Dark Knight had a huge turnout of 627, with 95 players making the money in the biggest saver on the schedule. Norwegian Johannes Valla won the trophy and €14,350 after an ICM chip with Romanian  Ionut, but the Romanian took the most in the deal (€17,070).

IPC Returns to Battle of Malta

The €300 Turbo Deepstack was the first Israeli Poker Championship to take place at the Battle of Malta for three years. It attracted a sizable field of 352, resulting in a prize pool that was twelve times bigger than its €10,000 guarantee. This one also resulted in a heads-up deal, with Italian Davide Raschella’ taking the title and €18,345, while German Rami Awad took €17,535 for second place.

The final table will begin at 2pm tomorrow and will be live streamed on the Battle of Malta’s YouTube channel. These are the chip counts of the grateful eight, who will all be dreaming about their potential routes to the €254,070 first prize, the title and the trophy.

Davis Modans

Level 34: 250,000/500,000 (500,000)
Entris: 9/6,039
Prize pool: €2,728,970

Candido Cappiello opened to 1,000,000 from the Cut-off. Emmanouil Fountoulakis (Big Blind) was the sole caller.

Fountoulakis check-called a 700,000 bet from Cappiello on the J♠K♦5♠ flop. Fountoulakis checked again on the 4♦, and Cappiello now sized up to 3,200,000. Fountoulakis then announced all in for 12,000,000, and Cappiello made the call without hesitation.

Emmanouil Fountoulakis: J♥T♥
Candido Cappiello: J♣J♦

As Fountoulakis was drawing dead, the 4♦9♥ runout didn’t change a thing. With Fountoulakis being eliminated in ninth place for €21,300, play has now concluded for the day, and the remaining eight players are bagging their chips. They will return to the official final table tomorrow (November 5) at 14:00.

That concludes today’s live coverage. It’s been a thrilling marathon day; thanks to everyone who’ve been tuning into the live blog today. My colleague Jonathan Raab will soon post the final table chip counts as a goodnight post. See you all tomorrow for the exciting conclusion.

Candido Cappiello: 47,625,000
Emmanouil Fountoulakis: 0

Emmanouil Fountoulakis

The players have now been reseated on one table and play will continue until another player has their chip stack reduced to nil. We do not have chip updates at this time, but here is the seating draw.

Level 34: 250,000/500,000 (500,000)
Entris: 9/6,039
Prize pool: €2,728,970

Action folded to Ioannis Daskalis, who raised to 11,000,000 from the Big Blind (leaving himself with 1,200,000 behind). When it came around to Marco D’Amico, he raised Daskalis all in. Naturally, Daskalis made the call.

Marco D’Amico: J♥J♠
Ioannis Daskalis: K♣9♦

Daskalis was looking primarily for a king, but instead, D’Amico improved to a full house for good measure on the 2♥3♣5♣5♥J♣ runout. As such, Daskalis – who entered Day 4 as the chip leader – went out in tenth place, and the nine-handed unofficial final table is now set. Play will not conclude for the day until only eight players remain, though.

Marco D’Amico: 32,050,000
Ioannis Daskalis: 0

Ioannis Daskalis

With the Main Event now back from its break, here’s snapshot of what’s going on in the other tournaments that are being played today.

Chip Counts at the end of level 33.

Davis Modans

Level 34: 250,000/500,000 (500,000)
Entries: 10/6,093
Prize pool: €2,728,970

Its been a slow session of play since Killian O’Brien’s 11th place exit and now the remaining players are going on a break. We have to lose two more players before the day ends, let’s see what happens in the next session. Chip counts to follow.

Level 33: 200,000/400,000 (400,000)
Entries: 10/6,093
Prize pool: €2,728,970

Candido Cappiello opened to 800,000 from the Cut-off. Killian O’Brien (Button) then put his lucky squirrel card protector on his hand, before moving all in for 2,125,000. Luigi Shehadeh contemplated his decision for 30 seconds before folding. Back to Cappiello, then, who made the call.

Killian O’Brien: A♥2♥
Candido Cappiello: 9♥9♠

The 6♥5♦T♣ flop didn’t bring much help to O’Brien. He picked up the nut flush draw on the J♥ turn, but the 4♣ sealed his fate. He was eliminated in eleventh place for €16,250, and now, only one more player has to bust before the 9-handed final table is set.

Candido Cappiello: 34,300,000
Killian O’Brien: 0

Killian O’Brien

Level 32: 200,000/400,000 (400,000)
Entries : 11/6,039
Prize Pool: €2,728,970

Seated in the Cut-off, Luigi Shehadeh put in a 6,000,000 raise, leaving himself with a mere 950,000 behind. Davis Modans made the call from the Small Blind.

First to act, Modans checked the T♣6♣7♠ flop. Shehadeh utilized his last timebank chips before moving all in. Of course, Modans fancied the price he was getting and called without any hesitation.

Luigi Shehadeh: 4♥4♠
Davis Modans: A♦Q♣

Modans didn’t connect on the runout, and as such, Shehadeh doubled up.

Davis Modans: 34,500,000
Luigi Shehadeh: 13,600,000

Luigi Shehadeh

Level 33: 200,000/400,000 (400,000)
Entries : 11/6,039
Prize Pool: €2,728,970

Leonardo Romeo opened to 650k from the cut-off, but was raised to 1.8m by Rafal Lubczynski. But when Montenegrin Veljko Glavicic moved all in for 3.3m, Romeo quickly got out of the way and the Polish player made the call.

Glavicic held A♠Q♥ but was dominated by A♦K♦

Board: 4♠A♦6♥7♠4♦

Veljko Glavicic departed the scene in 12th place for €13,700.

Rafal Lubczynski – 23m

Glavicic – 0

The 11 remaining players have now gone on a short break, when they return, the blinds will be 200,000/400,000 with a 400,000 big blind ante.

Veljko Glavicic

Level 32: 150,000/300,000 (300,000)
Entries : 12/6,039
Prize Pool: €2,728,970

Ioannis Daskalis made it 600,000 from the Hi-jack. Seated in the Cut-off, Luigi Shehadeh was the sole caller.

Daskalis continued on the aggressive path with a 1,050,000 continuation bet on the A♥4♦3♥ flop. Shehadeh made the call, which brought the T♣ on the turn. All gas, no breaks from Daskalis who sized up to 2,400,000. Shehadeh decided to stick around.

Daskalis fired a third barrel on the 4♠ river, as he forced Shehadeh all in for 10,400,000. Shehadeh’s reaction his opponent’s bet said it all; he leaned back in his chair, relieved a heavy sigh, and threw in all his six 30-second timebank chips to the dealer. One after one, the dealer discarded the timebank chips as the Shehadeh brain was spinning. Eventually, all his time came to an end, and he mucked his hand. A big pot went the way of Daskalis.

Ioannis Daskalis: 24,300,000
Luigi Shehadeh: 10,400,400

Level 32: 150,000/300,000 (300,000)
Entries : 12/6,039
Prize Pool: €2,728,970

Sometimes you’re watching one table, awaiting a call from an all-in on a short stack, but it doesn’t happen. And when the fold on that table finally comes and you look over to the other table and see another players collecting thir belongings and exiting stage left, you know you missed a bust out.

The only details we can bring you about the exit of Andro Scarpa in 13th was that he shoved all-in with T-7 off-suit and was called by A-4 held by Italian compatriot Marco D’amico. The board missed both players and Scarpa, who had been short-stacked was scuppered in an unlucky 13th place finish, cashing for €13,700.

Amica – 14m
Scarpa – 0

Andro Scarpa

Level 32: 150,000/300,000 (300,000)
Entries : 13/6,039
Prize Pool: €2,728,970

Action folded all the way to Cristian-Marius Campan in the Small Blind, who limped the 300,000 Big Blind. Mikel Calo, who was down to his last 800,000, decided to check.

Campan picked up a handful of orange 100,000 chips and forced Calo all in on the 2♥5♣J♠ flop. Calo decided to commit his last 500,000 to make the call.

Cristian-Marius Campan: 5♦3♣
Mikel Calo: 6♥4♠

Two ladies made up the Q♦Q♥ runout, and as such, Calo was sent to the rail in fourteenth place. He cashed for €11,600, and all the remaining players are now guaranteed €13,700.

Cristian-Marius Campan: 11,300,000
Mikel Calo: 0

Mikel Calo

Level 32: 150,000/300,000 (300,000)
Entries : 14/6,039
Prize Pool: €2,728,970

Moving all-in from the button for his last 7m chips, Jorge Geraldes found a call from the Leonardo Romeo in the small blind. Geraldes from Germany held 3♠3♦ but he was drawing thin against the J♣J♠ held by his Italian opponent.

A board of 7♠K♦8♣4♣A♥ was dealt out, after which Geraldes made the walk of shame to the payout desk to collect his €11,600 prize for 15th place.

Leonardo Romeo – 17m
Jorge Geraldes – 0

Jorge Geraldes

Level 32: 150,000/300,000 (300,000)
Entries : 15/6,039
Prize Pool: €2,728,970

The 15 poker warriors left in the Main Event have now resumed the fight for a place on tomorrow’s final table, which will be 8-handed.

Current State of Play

There are 16 15* players in the Main Event and they have been offered a dinner break now that its down to two tables, which they readily accepted. Full chip counts will be compiled during the break and we will report back on them shortly.

*Charalampos Siakaras was eliminated just before the end of the level, more details coming shortly…

Afternoon Tea before the FLIP Ladies Event

Level 31: 100,000/250,000 (250,000)
Entries : 16/6,039
Prize Pool: €2,728,970

Action folded all the way to Leonidas Georgopoulos, who clicked it to 500,000 from the Button. Seated in the Small Blind, Candido Cappiello raised to 1,750,000. Georgopoulos wasn’t imtimidated, and he four-bet to 5,600,000. After a minute’s worth of consideration, Cappiello forced his opponent all in for roughly 7,500,000 in total. Georgopoulos also took a minute before making the call.

Candido Cappiello: T♠T♣
Leonidas Georgopoulos: A♥Q♠

I’ve seen many flips today, and the feeling is that the pair has pulled the longest straw. That was at least the case this time, as Georgopoulos failed to connect on the K♣9♠7♥8♥6♦ board. Georgopoulos was eliminated in seventeenth place for €9,300, and that meant that the tournament now is down to two eight-handed tables.

Candido Cappiello: 14,500,000
Leonidas Georgopoulos: 0

Level 31: 100,000/250,000 (250,000)
Entries : 17/6,039
Prize Pool: €2,728,970

After an initial min-raise to 500,000 from Giuseppe Ciancio from the Cut-off, Jorge Geraldes made the call from the Small Blind. “Now’s my chance,” Piotr Przybylski must’ve thought, as he moved all in for 3,150,000. Ciancio made the call, before Geraldes mucked.

Piotr Przybylski: 6♠6♥
Giuseppe Ciancio: 9♥9♦

Przybylski was trailing, and he wasn’t able to produce a miracle on the 3♦2♦5♠K♥5♣ board. All his chips went the way of Giancio; Przybylski was awarded €9,300 for his achievement. Shortly before him, Ruggero Magri bid farewell in nineteenth place for the same prize.

Giuseppe Ciancio: 13,700,000
Piotr Przybylski: 0

Giuseppe Ciancio

Level 31: 100,000/250,000 (250,000)
Entries : 19/6,039
Prize Pool: €2,728,970

Leonardo Romeo opened to 550,000 from the Hi-jack. Davis Modans made the call from the Cut-off, and and former champion Gabriele Re also joined the party from the Big Blind.

Action was checked to Modans on the 3♥T♦J♥ flop, and he fired a 700,000 bet. Re made the call, before Romeo decided to get out of the way. Re then check-called a 1,500,000 bet from Modans on the K♠ turn. Re completed the check trifecta on the 7♣ river, and Modans now bet a hefty 3,450,000 bet. Re leaned back in his chair, contemplating his decision, before, ultimately, making the call. Much to his displeasure, Modans tabled K♣K♥, a hand that Re couldn’t beat as he mucked his hand.

Re was now down to 3,725,000, and after an initial opening from Rafal Lubczynski to 500,000 from the Button, Re moved all in from the Small Blind. Seated in the Big Blind, Cristian-Marius Campan utilized three 30-second timebank chips, before folding his hand. Lubczynski, though, made the call.

Gabriele Re: A♠8♥
Rafal Lubczynski: 9♣9♠

No dice for Re on the J♦4♥7♦4♣2♦ board, and as such, his tournament life came to an end in twentieth place for €9,300.

Davis Modans: 36,000,000
Rafal Lubczynski: 33,000,000
Gabriele Re: 0

Gabriele Re

The majority of the Battle of Malta tournaments have been held in the Eden Arena, but this is the last day that we will be here. For tomorrow’s final table, the action will take place downstairs, in the conference centre on the level below, where satellites were held. The rig is being set up for tomorrow’s live streamed final table as we speak.

Battle of Malta Spring Edition Final Table

Level 31: 100,000/250,000 (250,000)
Entries : 20/6,039
Prize Pool: €2,728,970

Seated in the Lo-jack, Andro Scarpa min-raised to 500,000. When action came around to Killian O’Brien, he made it 1,200,000 from the Button. Scarpa then elected to move all in for 6,125,000, and O’Brien made the call.

Andro Scarpa: J♥J♠
Killian O’Brien: 9♥9♦

O’Brien was trailing, and he didn’t manage to suck out on the T♣8♠K♣T♥Q♦ board. As such, Scarpa doubled up, leaving O’Brien with crumbs.

Andro Scarpa: 12,850,000
Killian O’Brien: 2,850,000

Andro Scarpa

The High Roller has now reached its final tables and the nine remaining players have gone for a short break before it begins.  Their stacks have been counted and verified and the chip counts going into the final table can now be revealed.

Dimitrios Amplianitis, the unofficial “Player of the Series” with two victories under his belt in the Dark Knight and White Knight has made this final table, with the second largest stack. Has he saved the best for last? What an achievement it would be if he could scoop three trophies by winning the High Roller as well! Might as well give him the keys to the city!

Dimitrios Amplianitis

Level 31: 100,000/250,000 (250,000)
Entries : 20/6,039
Prize Pool: €2,728,970

Rafal Lubczynski min-raised to 500,000 UTG. Action folded all the way to Peter Kovacs in the Big Blind. Kovacs counted his 2,700,000, then announced all-in. Lubczynski made the call fairly quickly.

Peter Kovacs: A♣Q♠
Rafal Lubczynski: 8♠8♦

It was a classic coinflip scenario, and the pocket pair of Lubczynski still looked good on the K♦9♦9♥ flop. The 8♥ turn sealed the deal, and the 2♠ river was dealt as a pure formality. Kovacs went out in twenty-first place for €8,400, and Lubczynski’s tower of chips grew even higher.

Rafel Lubczynski: 30,000,000
Peter Kovacs: 0

Peter Kovacs

Level 31: 100,000/250,000 (250,000)
Entries : 22/6,039
Prize Pool: €2,728,970

The players have just returned from their second break of the day. Its getting tight at the top between Daskalis and Lubczynski.

Rafal-Lubczynski

Level 30: 100,000/200,000 (200,000)
Entries : 24/6,039
Prize Pool: €2,728,970

Jan Gompers opened to 400,000 from the Hi-jack. Leonardo Romeo fancied a call from the Button, before big-stacked Davis Modans decided to pump it up to 2,300,000 from the Small Blind. Gompers made the call, before Romeo decided to let his hand go.

First to act on the 9♠9♥A♣ flop, Modans decided to check. Gompers didn’t take too long before moving all in for 2,025,000; after receiving the count, Modans made the call.

Jan Gompers: T♥T♦
Davis Modans: A♥J♦

Gompers was drawing slim, and it was a dull 2♦7♣ runout. Gompers was eliminated in twenty-third place for €8,400; we will do chip counts at the upcoming break, but chances are good Modans is the new chip leader.

Davis Modans: 24,500,000
Jan Gompers: 0

Jan Gompers

Level 30: 100,000/200,000 (200,000)
Entries : 24/6,039
Prize Pool: €2,728,970

On a flop of 6♥3♦8♥ and facing a bet of 350,000 from Jan Gompers, Charalampos Siakaras pushed all-in for just over 3m. His German opponent asked for a count, but Siakaras misheard it as a call and exposed his hand 4♦4♠.

After the inevitable initial confusion, Gompers used a time bank, while Siakaras, not getting an insta call knew he must be ahead and try to encourage his opponent to put the rest in the pot. But Gompers folded A♥4♥ face up.

Siakaras: 4,200,000
Gompers: 4,050,000

Jan Gompers

Level 30: 100,000/200,000 (200,000)
Entries : 24/6,039
Prize Pool: €2,728,970

On a 9♦T♦2♣A♣ board with roughly X in the middle, Veljko Glavicic checked it over to Jorge Geraldes, who bet 400,000. Glavicic wasted little time before raising to 1,000,000, and Geraldes made the call.

The dealer revealed the 2♣ on the river. Glavicic now bet 1,500,000, and he was almost instantly faced with a 3,000,000 raise from Geraldes. Glavicic considered his options for quite some time, before making the call.

Jorge Geraldes: A♠J♠
Veljko Glavicic: A♦J♦

A decent call under pressure, and with the nut flush, Glavicic was awarded the pot.

Veljko Glavicic: 13,000,000
Jorge Geraldes: 10,700,000

Level 30: 100,000/200,000 (200,000)
Entries : 25/6,039
Prize Pool: €2,728,970

I arrived at Table 5 when the board read 4♥2♦J♥J♠3♠, with a whopping 10,000,000 in the middle. Charalampos Siakaras had checked it over to Rafal Lubczynski, who’d forced his opponent all in for just north of 5,000,000. Siakaras spent no less than 10 minutes in the tank, before folding. Lubczynski now joins the club of those with 20,000,000 or more.

After the hand, the floor introduced the 30-second shot clock.

Rafal Lubczynski: 23,300,000
Charalampos Siakaras: 5,000,000

There are now six tournaments running in the Eden conference space, as the final flung for the €400 White Knight has just begun and there are two further tournaments this evening. Here’s the current start of play.

Level 30: 100,000/200,000 (200,000)
Entries : 24/6,039
Prize Pool: €2,728,970

The Main Event has just gone down to three tables, with 24 players left. Absentee Darren Harbinson’s stack has now been felted, but he managed to ladder up one place on the payouts since the start of the day, finishing in 28th place. Other recent exits include Ben Miller and Richard Essex, leaving Gary Fisher as the last remaining player from the UK left in the field.

Level 30: 100,000/200,000 (200,000)
Entries : 25/6,039
Prize Pool: €2,728,970

Frank Koopman opened to 450,000 from the Hi-jack. Seated in the Big Blind, Davis Modans was the sole caller.

Modans check-called a 650,000 bet from Koopman on the 8♥9♦3♥ flop. After another check by Modans on the 7♦ turn, Koopman sized up to 1,300,000. Again, Modans made the call.

Modans decided to pull the trigger on the 6♠ river, he forced Koopman all in for roughly 4,000,000. Koopman made up his mind fairly quickly, and made the call.

Davis Modans: 8♣5♣
Frank Koopman: J♥9♠

Modans won one of the largest pots so far with a straight, and Koopman hit the rail in twenty-sixth place for €7,600.

Davis Modans: 20,000,000
Frank Koopman: 0

Today is the €300 H.O.R.S.E, which is now in-running with 31 riders at the start of the second lap of the course. One of the steadiest jockeys, Scott Kenyon, was the first to arrive at the starting line. We’ll update you more on this event later, when more mares and stallions have joined the canter.

Level 30: 100,000/200,000 (200,000)
Entries : 28/6,039
Prize Pool: €2,728,970

The current chip leader, Ioannis Daskalis, is rolling like a train. He was recently involved in quite an interesting hand. He opened to 400,000 from the Cut-off, and got one caller in form of Marco D’amico in the Big Blind. Action went check-check on the J♠K♥Q♥ flop, and Deja vu on the 8♦ turn. D’amico then bet 550,000 on the 3♦ river, only to be faced with an unexpected 1,600,000 raise from Daskalis.

”Really? Pocket threes?” D’amico asked his opponent. Daskalis was as silent as a tree, and eventually, D’amico mucked his hand. Daskalis extended his chip lead even further; he’ll be an interesting person to follow today.

Ioannis Daskalis: 25,850,000
Marco D’amico: 9,500,000

The €1,100 High Roller returned today for its unscheduled third day and is now down to 14 players on two tables, having returned with 24. They’re playing for a top prize of €127,950.

Level 30: 100,000/200,000 (200,000)
Entries : 29/6,039
Prize Pool: €2,728,970

Play has just resumed after the first break of the day and there are 29 players left in the Main Event. Overnight chip leader Ioannis Daskalis has extended his lead and is the first play to construct a stack of over 20m. Darren Harbinson’s unguided stack is now down to 575k and will only last another lap of the table.

Having been absent at the Battle of Malta for a while, the Israeli Poker Championship is holding its first event here in three years. It’s a €360+€40 Deepstack Turbo and has just begun its 4th level of the day, with 196 entries so far. Registration remains open for another two hours.

By the end of Day 1, 55 players had entered the ACR Poker Super High Roller. More than that number again have already paid the €2,200 buy-in and there is just under an hour before registration closes. There have now been 114 entries in total, with new entrants including the site’s sponsored pros Jon Pardy, Ana Marquez and Conor O’Driscoll. Rene Nezhoda has also fired another bullet.

Rene Nezhoda

Level 29: 100,000/150,000 (150,000)
Entries : 30/6,039
Prize Pool: €2,728,970

Charalampos Siakaras opened to 325,000 from UTG+1. Seated right next to him, Dalibor Dula made the call, before Ben Miller raised to 1,400,000 from the Button, leaving himself with roughly 600,000 behind. Siakaras then re-shoved his massive stack: Dula quickly got out of the way, before Miller made the call.

Charalampos Siakaras: K♠J♥
Ben Miller: A♠A♣

The goods for Miller, who surely was expecting a double-up. Little did he know the Poker Gods would be on Siakaras’ side; the Greek hit a two-pair on the K♦T♥5♥8♣J♠ board to eliminate Miller in thirty-first place for €6,900.

Charalampos Siakaras: 13,400,000
Ben Miller: 0

Ben Miller

Level 29: 100,000/150,000 (150,000)
Entries : 31/6,039
Prize Pool: €2,728,970

When the chips were being bagged up last night we discovered that Darren Harbinson sadly had to abandon his stack, after becoming unwell during Day 3.

He had been up to 9m chips at one point during the day, but had 5m when he had to quit playing. By the end of the day, he had 2.7m left. He’s still absent today and his stack is now down to 1.5m. We wish Darren the best and hope he makes a speedy recovery.

Darren Harbinson’s Stack

Level 29: 100,000/150,000 (150,000)
Entries : 34/6,039
Prize Pool: €2,728,970

Ben Miller min-raised to 300,000 UTG. Frank Koopman made the call from the Hi-jack, and Samuel Todisco also joined the party from the Big Blind.

First to act, Todisco wasted little time before going all in for his last 500,000 on the 3♠6♦3♦ flop. Miller got out of the way, before Koopman made the call.

Samuel Todisco: 5♥4♠
Frank Koopman: 9♥9♠

Todisco had some outs in form of an open-ender straight draw (along with some runner-runners, of course), but he didn’t get there as the board completed with J♥Q♥. All Todisco’s chips went the way of Koopman, and Todisco received €6,200 for his thirty fifth-place finish.

Frank Koopman: 7,500,000
Samuel Todisco: 0

Reporting on an 8-day poker marathon can be tiring, but we wouldn’t do it if we didn’t enjoy it. This is the seventh day, and we’ll be creating some content for you, here on the blog and on social media.

Today the festival reaches a crescendo, with the three key events taking place simultaneously from the start of the day. The Main Event, the High Roller and the Super High Roller are all in play right now and we’ll be keeping you updated on the proceedings in each of them as the day progresses.

Level 29: 100,000/150,000 (150,000)
Entries: 38/6,039
Prize Pool: €2,728,970

Action folded to Min Kim, who opened to 275,000 UTG. Seated in UTG+1, Veljko Glavicic re-shoved for roughly 6,000,000. There were no takers prior to Kim, who committed his 1,900,000 stack to make the call in a heartbeat.

Veljko Glavicic: A♥K♦
Min Kim: Q♥Q♦

In other words, the first all-in and call situation of the day was a real classic. Kim was visibly disappointed to see an ace apparent on the J♠3♠A♣ flop, and the 2♦A♦ runout was just salt in the wounds. As such, Kim became the first victim on Day 4, busting out in thirty-ninth place for €6,200. Glavicic has had a pretty decent start, going from 2,755,000 to 8,000,000 in just eight minutes.

Veljko Glavicic: 8,000,000
Min Kim: 0

Day 4 of the €600 Main Event is just about to kick off, and that means that the blog is now going live for the day. I, Christoffer Karlen, and my dear colleague Jonathan Raab are beyond excited to bring you all the action for today.

The second day of the €2,200 ACR Poker Super High Roller also starts now at 14:00; Soon enough, a current state of play post will be uploaded, so you all will be able to get a full grasp of the current action.

It was another action packed day at Casino Malta and the Intercontinental Hotel in St Julian’s, as the third day of the Battle of Malta Main Event played down to the last five tables. With seven other tournaments taking place, there was a lot to choose from, with a variety of different formats on offer, at various different price points.

A new attendance record was set in the High Roller, which climbed to over 700 entries, forcing a third day to be added for the tournament to reach its conclusion. The ACR Ladies event was also the biggest one seen at the Battle of Malta, with 158 entrants.

There were also huge fields for some of the side events, with over 600 entries in both the Novibet and Shark Bay EuroRounders tournaments.

Thirty-Nine Steps From Glory

Only 39 contenders for the Battle of Malta Main Event title remain after the 3rd day of the record breaking tournament. Ioannis Daskalis from Greece booked the chip lead with an impressive 15.95m, over 5m ahead of second placed Mikel Calo on 10.7m.

Gabriele Re, the only former winner of the Battle of Malta Main Event sits in 3rd place on 10.7m and only one other player, Dalibor Dula, bagged a stack of over 10m.

Angelos Michael took the chip lead into Day 3, but he busted before the first break of the day, to reshape the leaderboard. Another player who went into the day with a big stack, Herli Orlop, also saw his tilt at the title cut down, busting in 58th place, towards the end of the day.

Northern Irishman Darren Harbinson was sadly taken ill during the evening session. He had over 5m chips when he had to abandon play for the day, which was whittled down to 2.67m by the time the day ended. We hope he recovers in time to retake his seat in Day 4.

Day 3 Top 10 Chip Counts

Full chip counts of all 39 survivors can be found here.

Gabriele Re

High Roller Goes into Third Day

The biggest high roller event that has ever been held at the Battle of Malta has been extended into an unscheduled fourth day. A further 325 players entered on Day 2, taking the total field up to 714, generating a prize pool of €678,300.

By the time play was suspended, 24 players remained in the field, all in with a shot at the first prize of €127,950. Italian Luigi D’Alterio has the chip lead on just over 3.5m.

Top 10 Chip Counts from Day 2 of High Roller

Super High Roller Commences

The ACR Poker sponsored €2,200 Super High Roller had its first day on Monday, in which 55 players took their seats and eight levels were played. There’s a further three levels for more players to join the tournament when it restarts at 3pm. Both Rene Nezhoda and Casey Lloyd played this, but only Casey was among the 39 who bagged a stack for Day 2. Rene may well fire again, we shall see.

The overnight chip leader is Wang Yuhan from China, who more than tripled his starting stack of 50,000. Alex Todd, the 2023 Grosvenor Goliath champion is also still in, as is rising star Andreas Mavromoustakis from Cyprus.

Rene Nezhoda

Top 10 Chip Counts from Day 1 of ACR Super High Roller

Ladies Smash It Out of the Park

By far the biggest Ladies Event ever held at the Battle of Malta was won by Neena Patel after a three-way even chop with Melanie McHale and Fiorinda Sena. They each took €3,340 with the British player taking the trophy. A total of 158 ladies entered the ACR Poker sponsored tournament, including host Casey Lloyd, of Storage Wars fame, although she busted early and jumped into the Super High Roller.

Defending champion Flavia Guedes also took her  seat for this one, but only made it to the half-way point of the tournament. Maili Tannbaum, who was runner up at the last edition sneaked into the prize money, as did Ebony Kennedy.

Ladies Event Final Table

Three-Way Chop in Shark Bay EuroRounders Bounty

A further 95 players joined on the second and final day of the €300 Shark Bay EuroRounders Bounty for a total field of 649 entries, for a prize pool of almost €63k, not including bounties. After Jeff Sluzinski had been Boski’d out in 4th place, the remaining three did a deal. The tournament was won by Belgian Johan de Clerq, taking down €9,210 plus the trophy.

Side Event Roundup

Three other events were completed on Tuesday at the Battle of Malta, all with massive fields.

• The Novibet Ultradeep PKO, with 622 entries ended in an even 7-way chop, with all taking €9,925, with German Nico Benz taking the trophy and the extra €10 that was symbolically set aside for the winner.
• The Qui Goico €200 NLH had 315 entries and also resulted in a six-way deal, but this wasn’t an even chop. The players in positions 2-6 all took €4,000, but winner Edward Oakes from the UK, took more than double that, €8,280.
• Italian Manuel Persico won the final €330 Pot Limit Omaha of the week, defeating a field of 107 runners to trouser the €7,615 first prize.

Congratulations to all!

The full results of these and all other events at the Autumn Edition can be found in the results section.

Tuesday’s Schedule at the Battle of Malta

Tuesday is the last full day of tournaments at the 2025 Battle of Malta Autumn Edition. It’s also the day that the Main Event will play down to its final table of eight.

The High Roller, which set a new standard for the BOM, with 714 entries, resumes at 2pm for its third unscheduled day. Also at 2pm, the ACR Super High Roller begins its second day, with registration still open for the first three levels of play.

The non-Hold’em schedule completes today with the €330 H.O.R.S.E at 5pm and there are four further Hold’em tournaments taking place.