Live Blog Spring 2025

The 2025 Battle of Malta Spring Edition has been won by Adrian Ziemchod from Poland, scooping the €120,000 first prize. The 30-year old Krakow resident has graced many final tables in the two years since he started playing live mtts. He has been a cash game player for many years, but in 2023 he began to take an interest in tournament strategy.

Ziemichod’s victory in the 1,542 player event is the biggest of his career to date. He’s now cashed for over $300,000 and doesn’t intend to stop winning any time soon. He played steadily in the early stages of the final table, with selective aggression, when required. At no point did he look uncomfortable and from a viewer’s perspective, he did indeed look like he would be the eventual winner from a long way out.

By the time Ziemichod had busted Giovanni Caggia in third place, he had a 9-1 chip lead over Rob Perelman when the heads up battle began. It was always going to be a tough task for Perelman to come back, especially against such a finely tuned opponent as Adrian, who barely put a foot wrong during the last two days of the championship.

The Final Hand

The heads up encounter was short, lasting less than twenty hands. After an exchange of cagily played hands, they got it all in for Rob’s last 3.4m chips. Adrian put his American opponent all-in holding Q♣9♥ and Perelman made the call, flipping over J♦9♦.

The flop of J♠4♣Q♠ hit both players, but left Perelman drawing pretty thin, with just two outs left in the deck.

The A♣ on the turn didn’t help give Rob any more outs and by the time the 3♠ fell on the river, Ziemichod had already made his way to the other side of the table to shake hands with vanquished opponent, who left with a very consoling €70,000 to take back to Texas.

The winning hand

After Ziemichod had been awarded the trophy, his serious demeanour cracked, to be replaced with joy, cracking a few smiles and affording himself a moment of indulgence by lifting the trophy aloft in celebration.

Adrian Ziemichod Celebrates Victory in the Battle of Malta Spring Edition

In the post event interview with Glenn Brown Ziemichod said that getting a lot of good cards helped, but having such a good chip lead he had to play aggressively against his smaller stacked opponents, When asked whether he will be back in the autumn to defend his title he gave a wry smile and simply said:

“yes of course, back to back!”

Rob Perelman, 2nd place finisher for €70,000

How The Final Table Panned Out

Ziemichod had gone into the final with almost a third of the chips in play and although it took almost two hours of play before the first exit of the day, the champion-to-be was already quietly increasing his stack.

The most active player in the early exchanges of the final table was Rasmus Lundström. The 25-year old Finn had a rollercoaster tournament throughout and his final table experience was much the same. He accounted for the first two exits, busting Luca Tonarelli with kings versus queens. Not long after he sent another Italian, Oscar Arezzo, to the rail. However Lundström’s rollercoaster wasn’t ready to slow down and he didn’t hold his new found chips for long, losing a chunk to a resurgent Giovanni Caggia.

Attila Szucs had been the short stack going into the day and did double up early, however he exited in 6th, at the hands of Flaviano Cammisuli. The €22,500 prize, which is by far the biggest cash of his life will be some consolation.

Cammisuli himself was the next player to see his tournament life cut short. The unofficial best dressed man in the tournament became Lundström’s third victim of the final when his K♠J♠ failed to improve against the Sicilian’s pocket queens.

It was then the Finn’s turn to be on the rough side of an all-in when his pocket sevens were bested by Caggia’s Aces. This left Lundström with under 2m in chips and Caggia completed the execution a few hands later, sending Rasmus back to Finland with €35,000 for his considerable efforts.

Rasmus Lundström, 4th place finisher for €35,000

But the last standing Italian would be the next to hit the rail when his dominated 9♦8♦ remained dominated against Ziemichod’s J♣9♠. Caggia’s third place finish earned him a cool €50,000.

The Result

Festival Overview

It’s been another great week of poker at Casino Malta and the Intercontinental Hotel. Although the event did not set any attendance records, it was a busy week overall with 617 entries in the Mystery Siege of Malta and 261 in the Amazingbet High Roller.

The event’s everlasting theme is fun and if the event had a catchphrase, it might emulate the iconic words of the legendary Spinal Tap drummer, namely “Have a good time, all the time.” A good time was indeed had by all, not just on the poker tables, but at the players party as well.

Another new feature that was rolled out at this edition was a daily talk show, hosted by Glenn Brown and Jason Glatzer, with different guests each day. It was named the Battle Booth and is fully expected to make a return at the Autumn Edition, which takes place from 28th October – 5th November later this year.

To view all episodes of the Battle Booth, visit the Battle of Malta’s YouTube channel.

Battle Booth Being Recorded

The results of all events at Battle of Malta Spring Edition can be found in the results section of the blog, where there are also galleries to view.

Social Media Coverage

Social media coverage of the Battle of Malta Spring Edition reached new levels in 2025, with a stream of informative and entertaining content flowing throughout the event. Glenn Brown fronts the coverage with his energetic brand of infectious enthusiasm, which can be found on the Battle of Malta’s Instagram and Facebook pages.

Online Battle of Malta Announced

It was also revealed during the week that the Battle of Malta will be going online in 2025, with an online series and online day 1s for the Autumn Edition taking place at online poker site ACR. More details about this are expected to follow in the coming weeks.

That’s all folks, the Battle of Malta Spring Edition is now done and dusted and is now consigned to the history books. But it’s only temporary as the iconic event will return for the Autumn Edition, which is being held frokm 28th October to 5th November, with a €2m Guarantee.

There’s also an Online Battle of Malta due to take place in July on ACR and more details will be revealed about that by Casino Malta in the coming weeks.

Well done to all our finalists and an especially big congratulations to our new champion XX. Thank you also to all the dealers, floor staff, waitresses, cleaners, security guards and everyone at Casino Malta who helps keep the show running behind the scenes. Thanks to Andrii, Diane and Telly, who after months of sleepless nights, might just find time to rest now, or maybe once all the post event clear up and bureaucracy is completed.

Thanks as well to everyone in the Media Team who helped deliver the content over the last week. The coverage on social media has been buzzing and there’s plenty to watch to relive the moments for those who attended, or to see what they’re missing by not coming here.

YouTube              Facebook             Instagram

This show was brought to you by…

Glenn Brown
Jason Glatzer
Lorena Castanho
Chris Karlen
Alek Gillies
Andrii O
Jonathan Raab

Until next time, may your aces never lose and your draws always get there!

Battle of Malta Spring Edition Trophy

Adrian Ziemichod; Winner of BoM Main Event 2025

After nearly 7 hours of play,  Adrian Ziemichod has bested the rest to take down the 2025 BoM Main Event. A full payout for the final table is posted below with a full article by Jonathan Raab to shortly follow.

Name: Adrian Ziemichod
Age: 30
Nationality: Polish
Hometown: Krakow
Chips: 21,300,000
Lifetime HendonMob Cashes: $219,072

This is Adrian’s third BOM Main Event cash in a row, having made small cashes in both of the 2024 editions. His biggest cash to date was a €55,000 score for 5th place in the CAPT Million in Baden last November. Adrian has played dominantly so far in this event and takes an overwhelming chip lead into the final, where he is commanding over a third of the chips in play. He has only been playing live for a couple of years, but has an impressive resume so far, making many final tables, including with two separate cashes for over €50,000. At the 2024 WSOPE Adrian cashed six times.

As the balance of chips was heavily in his favour, Adrian Ziemichod Q♣9♥ moved all in (58,300,000) from the button. Robert Perelman J♦9♦ called off his shorter stack (2,400,000).

Much like the rest of the day’s action, Ziemichod took the lead. The board ran out J♠4♣Q♠A♣3♠ to send Perelman out as the runner-up (€70,000). 

Name: Robert Perelman
Age: 46
Nationality: American
Hometown: Austin, Texas
Chips: 10,100,000
Lifetime HendonMob Cashes: $406,352

Robert is the only non-European on the final table and has lifetime cashes of over $400,000. His best ever live result was way back in 2011 when he claimed victory in the Heartland Poker Tour in Las Vegas for $158,755. He’s been playing for a long time and has results stretching as far back as 2007. He has played in Malta before, but this is the first time he has cashed in a Battle of Malta tournament.

Giovanni Caggia

With action 3-handed, Giovanni Caggia called from the small blind with 9♦8♦. Adrian Ziemichod was quick to check his J♣9♠ from the big blind.

Both players picked up a piece as the flop came J♠6♥T♣. Caggia led out for 400,000 and Ziemichod took no time to call behind.

An action inducing 9♣ came on the turn to give both improve both players. Caggia check-raised to 2,000,000 leaving just 3,300,000 behind. Zeimichod called and the 4♠ completed the board to leave Adrian with the checkmark. Caggia fired all in for his remaining chips and was called instantly. He saw the bad news Italian native took home the bronze podium for (€50,000).

Name: Giovanni Caggia
Age: 37
Nationality: Italian
Hometown: vittoria
Chips: 4,725,000
Lifetime HendonMob Cashes: Unknown

Giovanni is one of three Sicilians on the final table. He doesn’t speak any English at all and we haven’t been able to find out much about him so far, as he has no records on TheHendonMob, but we hope to find out more about him during the final table.

Lundström had been reduced to under 2m. He moved all in from the small blind for his last 1.35m and Giovanni Caggia in the big blind made the call.

Rasmus turned over 8♠6♥ but found himself dominated by the Sicilian’s T♠8♥.

The flop of 6♦3♣7♥ rapidly changed the situation as Rasmus took the lead in the hand. The 7♣ on the turn made no difference, but when the T♥ fell on the river it was lights out for the Finn.

Caggia: 13.37m
Lundström: 0

Rasmus Lundström has been one of the star performers of the Battle of Malta Spring Edition, but his rollercoaster ride at the festival is now over. He first caught our attention during Day 2 of the Mystery Siege of Malta when he banked the most bounties. He became one of the big stacks by the end of Day 2 and remained in contention all the way to the final table.

He was involved in some major hands that were covered on the blog and has been a significant presence on the final table. He was one of the most active of the remaining players and his departure may now change the dynamic of the final table.

Rasmus Lundström, 4th place finisher for €35,000

Rasmus Lundström is now on life support in the Main Event after his pocket sevens failed to improve versus Giovanni Caggia’s pocket Aces. It was a 17m pot and the lively Finn is now down to just under 2m chips and will need to get busy to continue his rollercoaster ride.

The Last Four Horses of the Apokerlypse

Level 33: 100,000/250,000 (250,000)
Entries: 4/1,542

“Sharp Dressed Man” Flaviano Cammisuli

Rasmus Lundstroem opened to 600,000 from the small blind with Q♦Q♣. Sharp dressed man, Flaviano Cammisuli, moved all in from the big blind for 3,425,000 with K♠J♠. 

Flaviano found hope on the 7♠5♥2♠ flop as he picked up a spade draw. However, the board completed with the T♥T♦ to send Cammisuli to the rail.

Rasmus Lundstroem: 15,425,000
Flaviano Cammisuli: 0

Sicilan Flaviano has had a lively tournament and has been amongst the chip leaders for much of the last two day. He has cashed for more than any of the other contestants, with over $400,000 in live earnings. Flaviano is the only player in the Grateful Eight to have previously made it onto a Battle of Malta final table. His previous visit was in 2016, when he took 6th place for €37,500, but his best cash to-date was a second place finish in a WSOPC event in Sanremo in 2023, where he earned €76,036. This is his third BOM cash in a row.

Level 33: 100,000/250,000 (250,000)
Entries: 5/1,542

Attila Szucs (6th Place €22,500)

Adrian Ziemichod raised to 500,000 from under the gun and Attila Szucs moved all in for 2,300,000 from the middle position. Flaviano Cammisuli rejammed for 2,700,000 from the small blind. Ziemichod took some time but settled on a fold.

Attila Szucs: A♥T♠
Flaviano Cammisuli: A♣Q♣

Both players caught a piece on the 7♠9♣Q♦T♦J♦ for board. Unfortunate for him, it was Szucs who hit the rail. For his deep run he was rewarded with €22,500.

Flaviano Cammisuli: 6,100,000
Attila Szucs: 0

Sicilian Oscar Arezzo became Rasmus Lundström’s second victim of the final table. The action was folded round to Oscar in the hi-jack, who open shoved with his last 10 big blinds with A♥J♠. It was folded round to Rasmus in the big blind, who woke up with A♦K♣.

The flop of 3♥8♣Q♦ provided no help for Oscar, nor did the 5♦ on the turn…and the K♦ on the river was completely unnecessary, as Arezza headed out the door.

Lundström: 15.95m
Arezzo: 0

Oscar, from Pozzallo in southern Sicily was a recent winner on the Vamos Poker Tour when he won a side event in Milan, but his €16,670 score here dwarfs his previous best cash of €3,469, achieved in San Marino back in 2000. This is the third Maltese flag he has earned and we expect it won’t be his last. Well played fella!

Oscar Arezzo, 7th pkace finisher for €16,670

The Grateful Eight were reduced by one during the last level of play and the Magnificent Seven have now gone off on a short break. But who will end up as the most significant of these magnificent competitors? Watch the live stream below with English commentary hosted by Jason Glatzer with guests.

These are the chip counts at the break.

Chip Counts at the 1st Break on Final Table

Level 32: 100,000/200,000 (200,000)
Entries: 7/1,542

Battle of Malta Spring Edition Final Table

Chip leader Rasmus Lundstroem opened under the gun to a standard size 400,000. Giovanni Caggia moved all in for his 1,375,000 stack (7 big blinds). Lundstroem made the call and both players revealed their holdings.

Giovanni Caggia: K♦K♠
Rasmus Lundstroem: A♣6♥

The board ran out 8♦Q♣9♠6♣K♠ as Caggia was relieved to hold. Lundstroem could afford the small hit with his large stack.

Level 32: 100,000/200,000 (200,000)
Entries: 7/1,542

Luca Tonarelli (8th Place)

Rasmus Lundstroem opened to 400,000 from early position with K♠K♦. Luca Tonarelli three-bet to 1,075,000 with Q♥Q♠ as tension rose with the amount of chips in the pot. A standard four-bet (2,475,000) and five-bet all in jam (6,525,000) took place. Lundström’s chips were immediately in the middle for a call as the two players revealed their hands to the table.

The board ran 9♦A♣J♦K♥4♠ to send the the Florence local home. For his efforts Tonarelli was rewarded with €12,760.

Luca had been active in the early stages of the final table and had built his stack up to almost 5.5m, more than double the stack he started with. It will have been a very disappointing moment for Luca, however he was upbeat in his exit interview with Glenn Brown.

Despite just losing out in the biggest tournament of his life. He said that he has thoroughly enjoyed the event, which he attended along with his number one fan, girlfriend Victoria. We feel confident that he’ll be back and having cashed in both of this and the 2024 Autumn edition, he’ll be going for a hat-trick next time. Well played sir!

In what seems like a deja vu of the Autumn Edition final table, there have been no early exits. All eight are still installed in their seats on the final table and none seem keen to be first to depart. Who would blame them, with €120,000 smackeroos up top.

Battle of Malta Spring Edition Final Table

Level 31: 100,000/150,000 (150,000)
Entries: 8/1,542

Adrian Ziemichod (FT Chip Leader)

All reporting will be done based on the live final table Youtube stream.

Adrian Ziemichod looked down at A♣T♠. He opened to 300,000 and action folded around with ICM pressure very live with eight players remaining.

A 20 second shot clock is in action for all hands preflop and it lengthens to 30 seconds post flop. Time banks tokens will give players who use them another 30 seconds for each one cashed in.

The final eight contenders for the Battle of Malta title have now gathered in the conference centre at the Intercontinental Hotel. Casino Malta staff are currently preparing to get things underway. The live stream will be on a 30-minute delay and our coverage on the blog will be in sync with the stream, to avoid any spoilers.

There’s an English Commentary Stream

and an Italian Commentary Stream

Coverage is due to start in both at 15.50pm (CET)

Battle of Malta Spring Edition Final Table

Let’s find out a little bit about the 2025 Battle of Malta Spring Edition’s Grateful Eight

Seat: 1
Name: Giovanni Caggia
Age: 37
Nationality: Italian
Hometown: vittoria
Chips: 4,725,000
Lifetime HendonMob Cashes: Unknown

Giovanni is one of three Sicilians on the final table. He doesn’t speak any English at all and we haven’t been able to find out much about him so far, as he has no records on TheHendonMob, but we hope to find out more about him during the final table.

Giovanni Caggia

Seat: 2
Name: Luca Tonarelli
Age: 32
Nationality: Italian
Hometown: Florence
Chips: 2,150,000
Lifetime HendonMob Cashes: $2,776

Luca is one of the least experienced players on the final table, with only two previous live results to his name. However one of those was the 2024 Autumn Edition of the Battle of Malta, when he finished in 329th for €1,840. Whatever happens at this event will be by far the biggest cash of his life and he has enjoyed every single minute of it. When play ended on Day 4, he was overjoyed, wearing the biggest smile in the world.

Luca Torelli

Seat: 3
Name: Adrian Ziemichod
Age: 30
Nationality: Polish
Hometown: Krakow
Chips: 21,300,000
Lifetime HendonMob Cashes: $219,072

This is Adrian’s third BOM Main Event cash in a row, having made small cashes in both of the 2024 editions. His biggest cash to date was a €55,000 score for 5th place in the CAPT Million in Baden last November. Adrian has played dominantly so far in this event and takes an overwhelming chip lead into the final, where he is commanding over a third of the chips in play. He has only been playing live for a couple of years, but has an impressive resume so far, making many final tables, including with two separate cashes for over €50,000. At the 2024 WSOPE Adrian cashed six times.

Adrian Ziemichod

Seat: 4
Name: Oscar Arezzo
Age: 45
Nationality: Italian
Hometown: Pozzallo, Sicilian
Chips: 5,600,000
Lifetime HendonMob Cashes: $19,852

Oscar has live poker results stretching as far back as 2016, but his first tournament victory came earlier this year when he won the closer event at the Vamos Poker Tour in Milan for €1,500. This final table will be by far his biggest cash to date and may even be more than his entire lifetime earnings combined. This is the first time he has cashed in a Battle of Malta event.

Oscar Arezzo

Seat: 6
Name: Attila Szucs
Age: 24
Nationality: Hungarian
Hometown: Szolnok
Chips: 1,450,000
Lifetime HendonMob Cashes: $4,442

For Attila the Hungarian, this final table is by far the best live result of his life, so far. All his previous cashes were in Bratislava, but he will now have a Maltese flag to accompany the Slovakian ones. He has the shortest stack of the finalists, but he’s a survivor, as he was also the shortie with 12 players left. Will he be the surprise package on today’s final table and vanquish his opponents?

Attila Szucs

Seat: 7
Name: Robert Perelman
Age: 46
Nationality: American
Hometown: Austin, Texas
Chips: 10,100,000
Lifetime HendonMob Cashes: $406,352

Robert is the only non-European on the final table and has lifetime cashes of over $400,000. His best ever live result was way back in 2011 when he claimed victory in the Heartland Poker Tour in Las Vegas for $158,755. He’s been playing for a long time and has results stretching as far back as 2007. He has played in Malta before, but this is the first time he has cashed in a Battle of Malta tournament.

Robert Perelman

Seat: 8
Name: Rasmus Lundström
Age: 25
Nationality: Finland
Hometown: Kauniainen
Chips: 9,625,000
Lifetime HendonMob Cashes: $131,457 (prior to this festival)

This is Rasmus’s first visit to the Battle of Malta and its been a successful first trip, as he was the biggest winner of bounties in the Mystery Siege of Malta, where he claimed €12,700, pulling the second biggest prize of €7,500 and a share of the third biggest, €5,000. Most of Rasmus’s live results have been obtained in Tallinn, where he won a WSOPC Gold Ring last July, In fact, he very nearly made it two rings in a row, finishing as runner up in another WSOPC event just two days later.

Rasmus Lundström

Seat: 9
Name: Flaviano Cammisuli
Age: 33
Nationality: Italian
Hometown: Pacino, Sicily
Chips: 7,250,000
Lifetime HendonMob Cashes: $408,303

Sicilan Flaviano has had a lively tournament and has been amongst the chip leaders for much of the last two day. He has cashed for more than any of the other contestants, with over $400,000 in live earnings. Flaviano is the only player in the Grateful Eight to have previously made it onto a Battle of Malta final table. His previous visit was in 2016, when he took 6th place for €37,500, but his best cash to-date was a second place finish in a WSOPC event in Sanremo in 2023, where he earned €76,036. This is his third BOM cash in a row.

Flaviano Cammisuli

The 2025 Battle of Malta Spring Edition has now reached its final table. It will be played out to a finish at Intercontinental Hotel, adjoined to Casino Malta, with play commencing at 2pm. There are now just eight players left out of the 1,542 who began the quest for ultimate triumph, the €120,000 top prize and a very unique trophy.

The big stack going into the final is Adrian Ziemichod from Poland, who commands over a third of the chips in play. American Robert Perelman lies in second with just under half the stack of the chip leader, with Finnish Rasmus Lundström just a pip behind in 3rd.

With the exception of Attila Szucs from Hungary who is the short stack, the rest of the chasing pack are from Italy. Three of the poker azzurri are Oscar Arezzo, Giovanni Caggia and Luca Tonarelli and all will be walking away with their biggest cashes of their poker lives, wherever they finish on the final table.

The largest stacked of three Sicilians to have made it this far is the flamboyant Flaviano Cammisuli. The 33-year old from Pacino is an experienced player who has been coming to the Battle of Malta for many years. It’s also not his first final table, as he was 6th in the 2016 Battle of Malta Main Event.

Flaviano Cammisuli

Chip Counts Going Into The Final

The Grateful Eight: Battle of Malta Main Event Final Table, Spring Edition

How to Watch the Battle of Malta Final Table

The live stream of the final table (on a 30-minute delay) will be broadcast on the Battle of Malta’s YouTube Channel. There will also be a blog following the action and a wide variety of multi-media coverage across the event’s social media platforms.

YouTube

Facebook

Instagram

Blog Coverage

From 24 Down to Eight

The penultimate day of the Main Event began with quick fire slaughter, as six players hit the rail within the first 40 minutes of play. The pace then slowed down and with 18 left there were still two players in contention looking for back-to-back final tables. Alessandro Siena, who finished 4th in the 2024 Autumn Edition was very unfortunate not to go deeper, but lost out in 18th place when his Q♣Q♠ was defeated by Adrian Ziemichod’s A♣9♣ after a second nine hit on the river.

Ziechimod already had a large stack at this point and his streak continued, hitting a royal flush at one point and getting paid off. He’s a strong player and with such a big stack going into the final, he may be hard to peg back. He only has two years worth of results in TheHendonMob database, however he has already amassed over $200,000 in live cashes and has made deep runs in many events. At last year’s WSOPE, he cashed no less than six times.

Adrian Ziemichod

The other former finalist was Bulgarian Ivaylo Eftimov, one of the most aggressive players left in the tournament. However he also lost the majority of his stack in the hand in which Ziechimod made his Royal Flush, and eventually busted in 10th, just short of securing back-to-back final tables.

The most experienced player on the final is American Robert Perelman. While his style of play may not have been as aggressive as some, he quietly crept up the chip chart throughout the day to bag the second largest stack of just over 10m. His previous best result was a win on the Heartland Poker Tour in Las Vegas in 2011 for over $150,000 and he will be hoping to go close to matching that with a win here on Wednesday.

Robert Perelman

The player who experienced the biggest rollercoaster ride of the day must have been Rasmus Lundström. The 25-year old Finnish player saw his chip stack yo-yo several times, frequently trading chips with both Flaviano Cammisuli and Gabriele Carro.

With ten players left Rasmus was on the low point of his fairground poker ride, but ended the day on a high after busting Carro with a rivered straight versus the Italian’s pocket aces. Rasmus had made a risky call on the turn, which paid off when he hit his straight and managed to lure Carro to make a call with aces after going all-in on the river. He is certainly one to watch on the final table.

Rasmus Lundström

Side Events

Tuesday was the last day in which side events were running, as Wednesday will focus solely on the final table of the Main Event. There were four tournaments that took place, starting with the €300 MAS NLH, in which 131 players entered, creating a prize pool of €32,357, with €7,750 up top for the winner. That honour went to Salvatore Patti from Italy, who beat Battle of Malta legend Fotios Ntamaris from Greece heads up.

The €200 Dark Knight also had its second running of the series, which also had 131 entries and in this one Greek player Anargryos Loizos managed to avenge his compatriot Fotios’s defeat by taking top honours and the €5,060 first prize. Graham Price and Keane Stevenson, both from England finished 2nd and 3rd respectively.

Twenty players contested the final €200 PLO of the week, with Denilson Gutierez Chacon from Spain claiming the victory for €1,900.

The final €150 Hyperturbo didn’t have an official sponsor, however Battle of Malta host Glenn Brown might has well have claimed it, given how much he’s donated in some of these events throughout the week. However on this occasion, he recouped at least some of his buy-ins back by finishing 4th for €570. The event had 42 entrants and was won by the UK’s Victoria McClurg for €1,630, with Poland’s Blazej Przgorzewski runner up and Emzy Oliver in 3rd.

Battle of Malta reporter Alek Gillies (right) with Hyperturbo Finalist Glenn Brown

The Battle Booth

The Battle of Malta’s daily talk show is a newly introduced element to the coverage at this edition and there have been several episodes so far, the most amusing of which is the extended show shot at the player party. It can be viewed along with all the other shows on the Battle of Malta’s YouTube Channel. Yesterday’s edition, “Behind the Scenes” is now available to view, in which Jason Glatzer and Glenn Brown are joined by Lorena and Jonathan from the media team.

After roughly eight hours of play, Day 4 of the 2025 Battle of Malta Main Event came to an end. It was an absolutely thrilling day, which started with a few short stacks busting during the earlier stages, followed by some thrilling hands that saw many chips trading owners. Let’s take a look at what played out during play today.

Ziemichod did Great

Emanuele Pandetta was the first player to bust out from Day 4, and from that moment, the action escalated quickly. One of the players who was very active today was Adrian Ziemichod. He eliminated Alessandro Siena in brutal fashion, and from there on, he was on a mission to collect as many chips as humanly possible. He booked the chip lead during the first break and never looked back; perhaps the highlight of his day was when he turned a royal straight flush and even got value from it.

Adrian Ziemichod will enter the final table as the chipleader with 21,300,000 in chips.

Another player who won some crucial pots during the day was Finland’s Rasmus Lundström. Hitting a straight on the river, he won one of the biggest pots of the tournament and earned himself great presumptions maneuvering the table. Lundström was also the one to put an end to Day 4 when his rivered straight cracked Gabriele Carro’s aces and brought the number of players down to eight.

Rasmus Lundström.

Grande Finale

Tomorrow at 14:00, the remaining eight players will return to the Eden Arena at the Intercontinental Hotel in St. Julians and continue the fight for eternal poker glory and a €120,000 first-place payout. They will resume play at Level 31 (Blinds 100,000/150,000 with a 150,000 Ante); the seat draw and chip counts look as follows:

Once again, tomorrow’s final table will begin at 14:00, and the whole shebang will be live-streamed on the Battle of Malta YouTube channel, FaceBook page, and website. Jason Glatzer and guests will provide great commentary on the 30-minute delayed broadcast, and the live reporting will follow the delay.

Good luck to all the players, and let’s end the 2025 Battle of Malta with a bang!

Even though the Main Event has long since ended for the day, three of today’s four side events are still ongoing at Casino Malta and the Intercontinental Hotel in St Julians.

The one event that has been completed was the final Pot Limit Omaha event, with a €220 buy-in. It attracted a field of 20 runners, paying the top three only. It was won by Spaniard Denilson Gutierez Chacon for €1,900 with Estonian Rait Kaimer taking second and Thomas Mosler third.

The first side event of the day to start was the MAS NLH with a €300 buy-in and it is now on the final table with six players left. It had 131 Greek legend Fotios Ntamaris is one of those still in contention, vying for the €7,750 first prize.

The Dark Knight also had 131 entries and is now down to the last 11, with €5,060 up top for the eventual winner. The final €150 Hyperturbo of the festival has 17 of 42 entrants left , including both Jason Glatzer and Glenn Brown. Will either of them follow in my footsteps and emerge as a Spring Edition champion? Its possible.

We’ll report on the outcomes of these events in the morning.

Fotios Ntamaris

Day 4 of the Battle of Malta is now history. After Gabriele Carro’s exit, courtesy of Rasmus Lundstroem, play was adjourned. The final table will begin at 2pm on Wednesday 9th April, when the Grateful Eight will return for the final skirmish of the Spring Edition. Grateful, not hateful, there’s only positive vibes at this table.

Level 31: 100,000/150,000 (150,000)
Entries: 8/1,542

Gabriele Carro eliminated in 9th place for €10,200

Roughly 15 minutes into the 9-handed unofficial final table, Gabriele Carro opened to 300,000 from the Cut-off. Seated in the Big Blind, Rasmus Lundström decided to call.

The flop came 3♥Q♠4♦. Lundström checked to Carro, who continued for 325,000. Lundström made the call, and the dealer dealt the 8♥ on the turn. Lundström checked again, and Carro now bet 600,000. Lundström threw in five 100,000 chips and made the call.

The river was the 5♠. Lundström completed the check trifecta, and Carro bet 1,100,000. Then, Lundström forced Carro all in for 3,000,000 in total.

Carro leaned back in his chair and sighed heavily. He threw in two timebank chips and was visibly agonized by Lundström’s move. After some time, Carro eventually made the call.

Lundström turned over A♠2♠ for a rivered straight. Carro couldn’t believe it as he showed the table his A♥A♦ holdings.

Rasmus Lundström: 9,625,000
Gabriele Carro: 0

With that, Carro was eliminated in 9th place. For his feat, he was awarded €10,200. As he headed over to the payout desk, the rest of the players celebrated as the tournament director brought eight plastic bags to the table.

The remaining players will nog bag their chips and return tomorrow, April 9, at 14:00, to battle it out for the 2025 Battle of Malta Main Event title and the first-place payout of €120,000.

That concludes our live coverage for Day 4 of the Main Event. Stay tuned for a recap of the day, as well as chip counts for tomorrow’s official 8-handed final table.

The final table of nine has now been reached, but play will continue until one more player falls by the wayside, as tomorrow’s TV final table is eight-handed. Here  are the chip counts and the seat draw. Play is about to resume, with 64 minutes left in the level.

Chip Leader Adrian Ziemichod

Level 30: 100,000/150,000 (150,000)
Entries: 9/1,542

Having lost the majority of his stack against Adrian Zeimichod, Eftimov was left with just 650,000. He moved all-in under the gun and was called by Robert Perelman in the big blnd.

Eftimov: T♥8♠

Perelman: A♥K♠

It was all but over on a flop of

T♠J♦Q♣

and the 4♥ on the turn made the J♥ on the river an irrelevancy.

Eftimov from Bulgaria was chasing back-to-back final tables, as he had finished 8th at the Autumn Edition, but it was not to be.

Ivaylo Eftimov, 10th place for €8,100

Level 30: 100,000/150,000 (150,000)
Entries: 10/1,542

Adrian Ziemichod

Adrian Ziemichod opened to 300,000 from UTG, and Big Blind-player Ivaylo Eftimov was the sole caller. On the flop 4♣A♦K♦, Eftimov checked to Ziemichod, who continued for 300,000. Eftimov snap-raised to 1,100,000 and Ziemichod decided to call.

Action went check-check on the Q♦ turn. The river was the A♣, and after Eftimov checked, Ziemichod bet 3,300,000. After a minute’s worth of consideration, Eftimov made the call.

Ziemichod turned over J♦T♦ for the stone-cold nuts. As his stack reached new highs, Eftimov was left with crumbs.

Adrian Ziemichod: 19,600,000
Ivaylo Eftimov: 650,000

It seems to becoming a two tier event, with a gap beginning to grow between the chip rich and the chip poor. While Adrian Ziemichod and Rasmus Lundstroem are chip aristocrats, Azerro and Szucs are paupers and the rest occupy a burgeoned middle class. Will this chip imbalance bring the day to end in the next level? We’ll find out soon when play resumes.

The final ten players in the Battle of Malta Spring Edition have now gone on a 15-minute break. Meanwhile the tournament staff are colouring up and updating the chip counts, which are coming shortly.

Level 30: 60,000/120,000 (120,000)
Entries: 10/1,542

Jannik Bengtsen out in 11th for €8,100

Action folded to Jannik Bengtsen, who opened to 240,000 from the Button. Adrian Ziemichod, seated next to Bengtsen in the Big Blind, forced Bengtsen all in for 2,040,000. Bengtsen snap-called.

Adrian Ziemichod: J♥T♥
Jannik Bengtsen: Q♥Q♦

Two ladies on the hand, but no lady luck on the board for Bengtsen, as it ran out J♣6♠J♦3♣8♠. He busted in 11th and cashed for €8,100, as Ziemichod’s already big stack grew even taller.

Adrian Ziemichod: 14,200,000
Jannik Bengtsen: 0

Level 30: 60,000/120,000 (120,000)
Entries: 11/1,542

Attila Szucs

Adrian Ziemichod opened to 240,000 from the Button. Short-stacked Attila Szucs raised to 620,000, leaving only 150,000 behind. Ziemichod forced Zsucs all in, and naturally, he made the call.

Adrian Ziemichod: 4♦4♣
Attila Szucs: A♠9♠

went all in for 770,000

The runout 5♥8♥5♠A♣K♣ secured a crucial double up for Szucs.

Adrian Ziemichod: 12,800,000
Attila Szucs: 1,600,000

Level 30: 60,000/120,000 (120,000)
Entries: 11/1,542

Christoph Tanner, 12th for €7,210

A short-stacked Christoph Tanner went all in from the Cut-off for 1,150,000. Action folded to Jannik Bengtsen in the Big Blind, who called immediately after he took at look at his cards.

Christoph Tanner: T♥9♥
Jannik Bengtsen: A♠J♥

Tanner didn’t connect on the 3♦5♠2♦6♥K♦ board, and such, he was eliminated in 12th place, earning himself €7,210.

Jannik Bengtsen: 2,300,000
Christoph Tanner: 0

Level 30: 60,000/120,000 (120,000)
Entries: 12/1,542

Rasmus Lundström

The flop read Q♦3♣9♥ at Table 116 with roughly 850,000 in the middle. Flaviano Cammisuli and Oscar Arezzo both checked to Rasmus Lundström who bet 325,000. Back on Cammisuli who now raised to 900,000. Arezzo folded, prior to Lundström making the call.

The turn was the 7♣, and Cammisuli fired a big 2,300,000 bet. After some pondering and a timebank chip, Lundström made the call.

On the river 8♣, Cammisuli forced Lundström all in for 4,600,000. Lundström didn’t look too comfortable, but, in the end, he made the call.

Flaviano Cammisuli: 3♠3♥
Rasmus Lundström: J♠T♠

Cammisuli was not pleased with the outcome. The same can’t be said about Lundström, though, who shipped what must’ve been the biggest pot of the tournament so far.

Rasmus Lundström: 17,000,000
Flaviano Cammisuli: 2,100,000

Just two hands before this one took place, Rasmus was lamenting the fact that Flaviano had such a big stack, encouraging anyone to take chips off him. In the end he did the job himself.

Play has tightened up significantly since play resumed and there are still 12 players left. However a huge hand has just gone down between two of the chip leaders. Details coming shortly…

The Main Event is now on the second break of the day and the chips have been totalled up by the floor staff and this is the current state of play for the Tremendous Twelve.

Two of today’s side events are now well in progress and the Dark Knight has just begun. It’s been a regular fixture at the Battle of Malta for many years and this is the second running of the caped hero’s favourite poker tournament at the Spring Edition.

There were 17 players in their seats at the start and late registration is open until 8.35pm for latecomers.

Today’s PLO has 16 runners so far and is now in the 6th level, with two levels left for late entry.

The earlier starting MAS NLH is now up to 125 entrants with 25 minutes left for late registration and 64 players still in.

There is just one more side event left to begin, the €150 Hyperturbo at 9pm.

Live updates by Snoopy

Level 29: 50,000/100,000 (100,000)
Entries: 12/1,542

Adrian Ziemichod during the 2025 Battle of Malta.

Adrian Ziemichod opened to 200,000 from the Button. Christoph Tanner was the sole caller as he decided to defend his Big Blind.

Tanner check-called a 225,000 bet from Ziemichod on the J♦K♠5♥ flop. Action repeated itself on the T♦ turn, the only difference being Ziemichod’s bet now was 625,000. Action went check-check on the A♥ river.

Christoph Tanner: J♣9♠
Adrian Ziemichod: K♦T♣

Two pairs were good for Ziemichod as he collected the pot.

Adrian Ziemichod: 9,300,000
Christoph Tanner: 2,200,000

Level 29: 50,000/100,000 (100,000)
Entries: 14/1,542

Start of day chip leader Benoit Kuhn is the latest player to see his tournament life fizzle out of existence. Shortly before the hand in question he was telling the table that he’s still on tilt from a big pot he lost seven hands earlier.

In the hand in question Rob Perelman has opened to 200,000 from the lo-jack. It folded round to Benoit who shoved from the small blind for 1.585m. Attila Suzcs in the big blind tanked for some time, using one of his three remaining time banks in the process before making the call.

Rob Perelman got out of the way pretty quickly.

Benoit Kuhn: 8♥8♣
Attila Szucs: A♠A♣

The board was

Q♣3♥6♦3♣Q♥

This sent Benoit to the rail in 13th place for €7,210.

Attila’s tank was interesting here. He was clearly never folding, but what message was he trying to send to Perelman? Did he want another caller and risk the chances of his bullets holding up?

Attila Szucs: 3,815,000
Benoit Kuhn: 0

Benoit Kuhn, 13th for €7,210

Level 29: 50,000/100,000 (100,000)
Entries: 13/1,542

Giovanna Dimartino was the last woman standing (technically sitting but hey) in the tournament, seated at the Big Blind at Table 116. Facing a 200,000 raise from Rasmus Lundström (Cut-off), Dimartino went all in for 930,000. Lundström determined he was priced in to make the call.

Giovanna Dimartino: A♠A♣
Rasmus Lundström: Q♠8♦

Brutal scenes for Dimartino as she saw the board run out 5♥7♣Q♥2♥8♥. She busted in 14th place for €6,430.

Rasmus Lundström: 9,000,000
Giovanna Dimartino: 0

Giovanna Dimartino, 14th for €6,430

Level 29: 50,000/100,000 (100,000)
Entries: 13/1,542

Adrian Ziemichod

Adrian Ziemichod opened to 200,000 from the cutoff and Attila Szucs three bet to 600,000.

Ziemichod took his time before he announced “all in.” for a total of 7,600,000.

The shorter stacked Szucs looked for a live read and eventually relented as he mucked his two cards

Adrian Ziemichod: 8,200,000
Attila Szucs: 345,000

Level 29: 50,000/100,000 (100,000)
Entries: 14/1,542

Benoit Kuhn opened to 200,000 from UTG. When action came to Clement Kerrien, he went all in for 1,125,000 from the Hi-jack. From the Small Blind, Jannik Bengtsen re-shoved; Adrian Ziemichod folded his Big Blind, and Kuhn also got out of the way. Kerrien VS Bengtsen: it was time for showdown.

Clement Kerrien: 9♣9♥
Jannik Bengtsen: A♥A♣

Aces held up for Bengtsen on the 3♥8♥T♣6♣2♣ runout, and with that, Kerrien was eliminated in 15th place for €6,430. Worth to mention, though, is that Kerrien also collected €5,000 for his chipleader bonus from his Day 1 flight.

Jannik Bengtsen: 3,900,000
Clement Kerrien: 0

Clement Kerrien, 15th place for €6,430

Level 29: 50,000/100,000 (100,000)
Entries: 16/1,542

One of the first hands after the first break, Benoit Kuhn raised to 225,000 from the Hi-jack. Action folded to Clement Kerrien in the Small Blind, who went all in for 750,000. After Robert Perelman folded his Big Blind, Kuhn made the call.

Clement Kerrien: A♦T♠
Benoit Kuhn: A♠7♠

The board T♦2♥2♣5♥9♠ secured a double up for Kerrien.

Benoit Kuhn: 3,000,000
Clement Kerrien: 1,700,000

Level 29: 50,000/100,000 (100,000)
Entries: 15/1,542

Giovanni Caggia opened to 200,000 from UTG. Action folded to Dimitar Syarov in the Small Blind, who went all in for 865,000. Caggia made the call.

Dimitar Syarov: 7♦7♣
Giovanni Caggia: A♠K♣

A classic coinflip situation that went the way of Caggia, as the board spelled out 5♦T♠3♠A♣K♦. Such, Syarov became the first casualty after the break, sent to collect a €5,820 paycheck.

Giovanni Caggia: 4,000,000
Dimitar Syarov: 0

Dmitar Syarov, 16th place for €5,820

Adrian Ziemichod has assumed the chip lead at the break with just over 9m. The top of the chip charts is now occupied by some of the more experienced players to have made the penultimate day. Flavio Cammisuli site in second, Rasmus Lundstroem in 3rd and Ivaylo Eftimoiv is 4th.

Here are the full counts for all 16 remaining players.

Adrian Ziemichod during the 2025 Battle of Malta.

The 16 remaining players in the Main Event are now on their first break of the day. Full chip counts to follow…

Level 28: 40,000/80,000 (80,000)
Entries: 16/1,542

Miletiev Eftimov opened to 160,000 from the Lo-jack. Jannik Bengtsen (Hi-jack) and Adrian Ziemichod (Cut-off) both made the call, prior to Benoit Kuhn raising to 1,000,000. Action folded to Eftimov, who snap-shoved for 2,500,000. Bengtsen and Ziemichod both folded, but Kuhn made the call.

Miletiev Eftimov: J♦J♣
Benoit Kuhn: 9♥9♦

No nine or any other help for Kuhn on the 2♦2♠A♣5♠K♣ runout, which secured a double-up for Eftimov.

Miletiev Eftimov: 5,800,000
Benoit Kuhn: 3,700,000

Ivaylo Eftimov at Battle of Malta Autumn Edition, 2024

With the recent eliminations of Alessandro Siena and Giuseppe Tredici, the Main Event has now been reduced to two tables, with 16 players left in contention. Here is the new seat draw. Full chip counts of the remaining players will be gathered at the first break of the day, in 28 minutes time.

Level 28: 40,000/80,000 (80,000)
Entries: 16/1,542

Flaviano Cammisuli opened to 160,000, and Giuseppe Tredici made the call.

On the 8♣2♥9♣ flop, Cammisuli check-called a 225,000 bet from Tredici, which brought the 4♠ turn. Cammisuli checked once again, and Tredici then went all in for a pot-sized bet. Cammisuli made the call.

Giuseppe Tredici: A♥8♥
Flaviano Cammisuli: Q♥Q♣

The full board would read 8♣2♥9♣4♠5♦. No improvement for Tredici and he busted in 16th place for €5,820.

With Tredici eliminated, 16 players are now remaining and a seat draw for the final two tables is currently being made.

Flaviano Cammisuli: 9,000,000
Giuseppe Tredici: 0

Giuseppe Tredici, 17th place for €5,820

Level 28: 40,000/80,000 (80,000)
Entries: 17/1,542

Gabriel Carro opened from UTG to 160,000. Seated in the Cut-off, Adrian Ziemichod 3-bet to 480,000. Action the folded to Alessandro Siena 4-bet, committing 960,000 of his total 965,000. Carro folded and Ziemichod, naturally, raised Siena all in.

Siena threw in all of his timebank chips; if there was action on any of the other two tables, he wanted to stall for the pay jump. Eventually, he made the call.

Adrian Ziemichod: A♣9♣
Alessandro Siena: Q♠Q♣

An absolutely brutal river card for Siena as the board ran out T♦5♠9♠T♠9♥. He busted in 18th place for €5,060.

Adrian Ziemichod: 11,000,000
Alessandro Siena: 0

Alessandro has had a very tiring 26 hours, as he jumped straight into the High Roller yesterday, where he exited in 8th place. He was still upset when he returned today after just 3 hours of sleep, as he had been the chip leader with 12 players left and was hoping to go further than he did. Nevertheless, he’s had a good week with over €11,000 in cashes.

The moment when Alessandro Siena’s Main Event ended, 18th place for €5,060

Level 28: 40,000/80,000 (80,000)
Entries: 18/1,542

Benoit Kuhn during the 2025 Battle of Malta.

There were roughly 720,000 in the middle when the board read J♣4♠7♦. Benoit Kuhn, Flaviano Cammisuli, and Ivaylo Eftimov all checked, which brought the Q♠ on the turn. Once again checked around and the river was the 6♠.

Kuhn was first to act and checked to Cammisuli who bet 280,000. Eftimov folded rather quickly, but Kuhn pondered a call. Eventually, he called in a somewhat humoristic fashion as he threw his chips directly to Cammisuli.

Cammisuli turned over A♥J♠ and just like Kuhn expected, he couldn’t beat it.

Benoit Kuhn: 7,200,000
Flaviano Cammisuli: 6,800,000

Level 28: 40,000/80,000 (80,000)
Entries: 18/1,542

Flaviano Cammisuli during the 2025 Battle of Malta.

Flaviano Cammisuli opened to 160,000 from UTG. Ivaylo Eftimov (Hi-jack) and Giuseppe Tredici (Button) both made the call.

Action was checked to Tredici on the 7♦T♣Q♥ flop, and he then bet 225,000. Cammisuli called, prior to Eftimov folding.

Cammisuli checked once again on the 7♥ turn. Tredici bet 350,000, and Cammisuli decided to call once more. Action went check-check on the 3♦ river.

Cammisuli turned over Q♣J♣ for two pair. Tredici took a second look at his hand before it hit the muck.

Flaviano Cammisuli: 5,500,000
Giuseppe Tredici: 3,700,000

The first of today’s four side events, the MAS NLH is now off and running, with 35 players registered during the first level of play. Amongst those spotted in the €300 (€260+€40) buy-in event is the UK’s Kenny Burke and Joe Grech.

Kenny Burke (the one in the shades obviously)

Level 28: 40,000/80,000 (80,000)
Entries: 18/1,542

Gatis Reigass moved all in from the Hi-jack for 855,000. Gabriele Carro made the call from the Big Blind.

Gatis Reigass: A♥J♣
Gabriele Carro: K♣Q♣

Not a fortunate river card for Reigass as the board spelled out 8♦9♦7♠6♣Q♥. He was eliminated in position 19 and earned €5,060 for his accomplishments in the tournament.

Gabriele Carro: 6,300,000
Gatis Reigass: 0

Level 27: 30,000/60,000 (60,000)
Entries: 19/1,542

Juan Martinez raised to 135,000 from the Cut-off. Seated in the Big Blind, Rasmus Lundström forced Martinez all in for 2,300,000. Martinez made the call.

Rasmus Lundström: A♥A♦
Juan Martinez: 8♠8♥

No miracle for Martinez on the 7♥Q♣7♣J♦9♦ board. He was sent to the rail, and for his finish in position 20, he earned €5,060.

Rasmus Lundström: 9,410,000
Juan Martinez: 0

Juan Martinez (right) 20th place finisher for €5,060

Level 27: 30,000/60,000 (60,000)
Entries: 20/1,542

Seated in the Hi-jack, Stylianos Kollatos went all in for 700,000. Giuseppe Tredici then put in a large chunk of 100,000 chips in an attempt to isolate him and Kollatos. Flaviano Cammisuli thought about calling for a while from the Big Blind, but eventually, he folded. Kollatos and Tredici turned over their cards.

Stylianos Kollatos: A♠Q♦
Giuseppe Tredici: K♣Q♣

Kollatos was looking good, but, a king was apparent on the 8♦6♦K♦J♠3♥ flop, giving Tredici the winning hand. Kollatos bid farewell as he went to collect a €4,310 paycheck.

Giuseppe Tredici: 3,150,000
Stylianos Kollatos: 0

Stylianos Kollatos, 21st for €4,310

Level 27: 30,000/60,000 (60,000)
Entries: 21/1,542

Shai Biner, winner of €5,000 big stack bonus on Day 1c

Rasmus Lundstroem opened to 120,000 from under the gun. Shai Biner made the call from the button and Christoph Tanner defended his big blind.

The flop came 3♥4♥Q♦ and both early players checked. Biner moved all in for approximately 800,000 and Tanner was quick to muck. Lunstroem quickly called and both players revealed their hands.

Shai Biner: K♦J♦
Rasmus Lundstroem: K♠Q♠

The board completed with the T♦J♠ for Biner to hit the rail. Along with his placement cash, Biner received an additional €5,000 for being the Day 1a Chip Leader.

Level 27: 30,000/60,000 (60,000)
Entries: 22/1,542

The second elimination of the day was German Konstantin Faerber, who had moved all in for his last 1.265m on a board of

4♣6♠A♥7♦5♦

Ivalyo Eftimov used one of his time banks before making the call.

Konstantin: A♣T♠ for top pair

however it was not good enough

Ivaylo: 5♠5♥ for a set.

We missed the rest of the action in this hand due to there being a flurry of exits right at the start of the day, but one presumes that Eftimov didn’t believe his opponent had the straight when he made the call.

Ivaylo Eftimov: 5,200,000 (estimated)
Konstantin Faerber: 0

Faerber was upbeat about his exit, consoling himself by saying

“oh well, at least I won’t miss my flight (home) now.”

Luckily for Konstantin, the €4,310 he collected for this 23rd place finish is less than the amount required to have to declare it for international travel. No further documentation is required for his imminent departure from Malta International Airport.

Konstantin Faerber, 23rd place finisher (€4,310)

Level 27: 30,000/60,000 (60,000)
Entries: 23/1,542

Christoph Tanner opened to 120,000 from UTG+1. Action folded to small-stack Emanuele Pandetta who went all in for 475,000. Tanner made the call.

Emanuele Pandetta: A♠J♥
Christoph Tanner: Q♠J♠

Pandetta was the favorite pre-flop, but the board 9♠K♥Q♥2♠2♣ had other plans. Such, Pandetta became the first player to bust during Day 4. For his achievement, he was awarded €3,600.

Christoph Tanner: 2,700,000
Emanuele Pandetta: 0

Emanuele Pandetta, 24th place for €3,600

Play has now resumed for the penultimate day of the Battle of Malta Spring Edition. The 24 remaining contenders. will all have their sights firmly on a securing a seat in Wednesday’s eight player final table. With €120,000 in the line for the victor of the event, there’s still everything to play for. A shot clock is being introduced into play for today, which will be 20 seconds pre-flop and 30-seconds post flop. Each player has four 30 second time banks.

TD Andy Tillman has now instructed the dealers to “shuffle up and deal” and the event is in play.

The penultimate day of the Main Event is the last full day of the Battle of Malta Spring Edition. Its the last day that side events will be played on, as on Wednesday the only course on the menu is the final table of the Main Event.

All satellites are now done, but there are four side events to accompany the Main Event on Tuesday. The first of these is the €300 (€260+€40) NLH MAS Event at 2pm. Then at 3pm there is a €220 (€200+€20) 4 Card PLO. At 5pm the second and final running of the €200 (€170+€30) Dark Knight takes place. To round off the day, the €150 (€130+€20) Hyperturbo is in its usual 9pm spot on the schedule.

Please also note that all events on Tuesday, including Day 4 of the Main Event will take place in the poker room on the lower floor of the conference centre. The Eden Arena has been a fantastic venue as always, but the more intimate setting of the lower floor poker room will be perfect for the final two days of the Main Event.

Here’s today’s full schedule:

Tuesday’s Tournament Schedule at the Battle of Malta Spring Edition

On Monday the Battle of Malta Spring Edition  continued at the Eden Arena and Casino Malta, at the Intercontinental Hotel. Although the busiest part of the iconic festival has now passed, there was still plenty of action, with another full schedule of tournaments scheduled.

Benoit Kuhn Bags Chip Lead in Main Event

While many nursed hangovers and creaky vocal chords from Sunday evening’s player party, for the 58 players who returned for Day 4 of the Main Event, the goal was to keep a clear head and make it through the day. Play resumed at 1pm in the Eden Arena in what turned out to be a short session of play, lasting for only four hours.

As expected the chips were flying in a fast and furious manner and four players busted within the first 10 minutes of the day. The pace of eliminations did not slow down much after that and by the first break of the day, just 31 competitors remained with their tournament lives intact.

Kuhn played strongly and confidently throughout the day and by the time Terry Jordan was eliminated in 25th place, his stack had grown to almost 7.5m, which would be almost the average stack for the final table. Adrian Ziemichod lies in second place with 6.635m and the effervescent Rasmus Lundstroem is still bubbling alonh nicely with 5.535m. He owes his ongoing continuation in the championship to a great call he made in during level 23 when he busted a bluffing Aristeidi Aftias to win a 7m pot.

There are still two players left in who graced the 2024 Autumn Edition final table and both will be looking to go back-to-back and secure a seat in the final eight. Bulgarian Ivaylo Eftimov who was 8th in November’s final table goes into Day 4 with a stack of 2.29m, while Alessandro Siena takes 1.725m into the last 24.

Remarkably there are still three starting day chip leaders left in the event. Benoit Kuhn is one of those, the others are Clement Kerrien and Shai Biner.

Only five players have above average stacks and there are quite a few shorties still in, Although Day 4 is typically quite a long day, the chip distribution could result in some early fireworks when play recommences.

Top 10 Chip Counts

To view the full chip counts and Day 4 seating draw for all 24 remaining players, click here.

Benoit Kuhn, Day 3 Chip Leader

Vito Burgio Wins High Roller

The Amazingbet High Roller returned for its second and final day with 49 players who had survived Sunday’s Day 1. It featured a regressive structure, which meant that the clock was rolled back five levels at the start of Day 2 and late registration re-opened until the end of level 12.

Another 139 players chose to pay the €1,100 buy-in, bringing the total entries up to 261, building a prize pool of just under €250,000 and a top prize of €45,000!

It was an extremely late finishing event, with play continuing until after 9am, when Italian Vito Burgio emerged victorious after the longest sessions of play ever witnessed at the series. He defeated local James Paris to claim the victory.

One of the players who made the final table in the High Roller is still in the Main Event. Along with several other players in the final 24 of the Main, Alessandro Siena decided to jump into the HR soon after the early finish of Day 3. The other Main Event survivors who also registered for the High Roller all busted fairly quickly and will have had the opportunity to get some good sleep before play restarts. However Alessandro eventually busted in 8th place and will have had reduced slumber time to recover before he’s back in action once again.

Alessandro Siena

Flavia Guedes Wins FLIP Ladies Event for the Third Time

Four side events also ran on Monday, including the FLIP (Fantastic Ladies In Poker) Ladies event, in which Gia Carnestrom was trying to defend the title she won at the 2024 Autumn Edition. Before play began there was an afternoon tea party for all FLIP participants, which looked very tasty indeed.

Gia was not able to repeat the feat this time, but there were other former winners of the event who were also looking to increase their title tally. One of these was Emzy Oliver, a two-time BOM Ladies winner, but she did not make it deep o to the event this time.

The victory went to another double BOM Ladies champion, Flavia Guedes, who becomes the event’s very first 3-time winner! It’s actually her fourth FLIP title, as she has won one at another festival also. Congratulations to Flavia, who took home the €1,650 first prize. She defeated Estonian Maili Tannbaum heads up, who was also the runner up in the same event last year.

There was live blog coverage throughout the Ladies event on PokerPro, covered masterfully by Alek Gillies. It’s well worth a read to see how the full story of the tournament unfolded.

3-Time FLIP Ladies Champion Flavia Guedes

The Poker Fever Tour Event

The €170 (€150+€20) Poker Fever Tour was the busiest side event of the festival, with 353 entries. It was another late finishing event and was won by Italian Rosario Saddemi for €9,580. Compatriot Roberto Cilia was the runner up for €6,490 while Claudio Di Lorenzo (€4,710) completed an Italian 1-2-3 on the metaphorical poker podium. The UK’s Colin Lovelock was 4th for €3,660.

The other side events of the day were the €200 Novibet Road to Greece and the €150 Hyperturbo. The Novibet event was won by Mikael Riku for €2,020, while Gianluca Sardella claimed the nightly Hyperturbo for €2,350. Daily show host Jason Glatzer also made the final in the Hyperturbo, busting in 9th place.

Daily Talk Show Named

The new Battle of Malta talk show ran for four episodes without a name, but it has now been revealed that it has been named The Battle Booth. Originally there were no plans to continue the show until the very end of the series, but due to popular demand, there will be further episodes recorded throughout the last two days of the festival.

Yesterday there were two editions that dropped. The second of these was a bumper edition filmed during Saturday’s players party at The Eden leisure complex. You can watch this entertaining edition below. Look out for the shark and a fine display of bowling from one of the media team members…who could that be? Hit play to find out.

The daily talk show is a new feature for this edition of the Battle of Malta and has been a roaring success. It began with no name and suffered four episodes of identity crisis and has finally got a name it will be known by for the remaining episodes. That name is The Battle Booth.

In episode 5 of The Battle Booth, Jason and Glenn were joined by FLIP (Fantastic Ladies In Poker) founder Daiva Byrne and defending FLIP Ladies Event champion Gia Carnestroem. Enjoy!

Yes, it’s Loony Tunes time here. There’s still five events taking place, but the media team is saving most of its energy for Day 4 of the Main Event, so we won’t be covering the conclusion of the High Roller, although we will deliver news tomorrow of how it panned out.

The chip leader at the dinner break is Phil Pearson, who has amassed 606,000, just ahead of Gustav Soederholm on 592,000. They are the only two stacks that have broached the half a million mark. Alessandro Siena, the only Main Event player left in is one of the short stacks, on just 41,000.

The FLIP Ladies event is now on the final table with seven players left and all in the prize money. Coverage continues on PokerPro.

The busiest side event of the festival is also still in play. It’s the Poker Fever Tour €170 (€150+€20) NLH and attracted a field of 353, 107 of whom are still playing. The winner will collect just short of €10,000 and 53 will be in the money.

The other event still in play is the Novibet Road to Greece NLH, which is a quiet affair with just 14 runners so far, but still has some time before late registration closes. The €150 Hyperturbo has just begun.

We’ll be back in the morning with a roundup of everything that happened on this day, Monday 7th April. Until then, sleep tight and don’t let the poker bugs bite.

The €1,100 Amazingbet High Roller is now on its dinner break, with 67 of the 261 entries that it reached when late registration finally closed. The prize pool ended up just shy of a quarter of a million, with the top 40 players making it into the payouts.  The winner will depart €45,000 richer.

As Day 3 of the Main Event ended early today, several of the players who had secured their seats into Day 4 decided to make late entries to the High Roller. Most of them have now busted, but Alessandro Siena is still in. This is likely to be a very late finishing event, so he might not get much sleep before the Main Event restarts.

The FLIP Ladies Event is now on the final table of nine players. Only seven will be paid and the winner will pocket €1,650. The tournament has been played in the Eden Arena up until now, but is now being relocated to the poker room on the lower floor of the Intercontinental Hotel.

Rebecca Rivoli has the chip lead as they go into the final, with former double champion Flavioa Guedes still in. To follow the action on the final table, check out the live blog on PokerPro.

FLIP Ladies Event

The First Ladies In Poker €170 Ladies Event has now gone on a 75-minute dinner break with 12 of the 41 players who entered still in. Defending champion Gia Carnestroem won’t be repeating the feat this time, as she has already hit the rail. FLIP founder Daiva Byrne has also been eliminated, as has double champion Emzy Oliver. The Battle of Malta’s Instagram genius Lorena Antunes has just exited in14th, having been short stacked for some time.

However two time champion Flavia Guedes is also still in and is one of the chip leaders at this stage. Maili Tannbum and Rebecca Rivoli are also still there. For in depth coverage of this event, check Alek Gillies’ blog on PokerPro.

Lorena Antunes

The Novibet €200 (€180+€20) Road to Greece event was originally scheduled for 5pm, but has now been rescheduled for a later start at 7pm.

Below are the seat draws for Day 4. Please note that the table number may change, but the table seating is set.

After yesterday’s Day 2 flight in the 2025 Battle of Malta Main Event, 58 players returned today to resume the battle. Cards were in the air by 13:00, and the goal was to play until 24 players remained.

Kuhn Can Compete

Demetrio Polimeno came into Day 3 as the short stack, bagging a sole 5,000 chip from Day 2. Logically, he was the first one to bust on Day 3. From this moment on, Day 3 was an absolute blockbuster of a flight. Many players entering fairly short-stacked, there were bust-outs left and right, mixed in with some sick hands. In fact, during the first level of the day, Rasmus Lundström hit a crucial one-outer on the river, which gave him great presumptions for the rest of the day.

Benoit Kuhn, who is the chip leader going into Day 4, displayed some great poker Day 3 throughout and won some crucial all-ins as well.

Benoit Kuhn during the 2025 Battle of Malta.

When Terrence Jordon busted against Clement Kerrien, Day 3 ended, and the 24 survivors bagged their chips. Alongside the aforementioned chip leader Kuhn, players such as Kerrien and Shai Biner are still in the mix; all three of these players ended their respective Day 1 flights as chip leaders.

The chip counts for Day 4 indicate that there’ll be heavy action from the get-go tomorrow, and we can’t wait to see Day 4 unfold. The live coverage will go live around 13:00, and we’ll see you then.

With the day now over let’s take a look at the credentials of some of those who’ve made it through the day.

Day 1 Chip Leaders

Three of the five starting day chip leaders are still battling away and one of them is the chip leader. Benoit Kuhn ended Day 1d with 675,000, which earned him a €5,000 bonus prize and he has now parlayed that up to 7.45m and is in good shape to fire for a place on Wednesday’s final table.

Clement Kerrien, who topped the Day 1e chip chart sits in mid-division with a slightly below average stack of 1.9m. Shai Biner, the Day 1c chip leader is also still in, but is at the lower end of the table, currently in 21st place with 1.215m cookies to his name.

2024 Autumn Edition Final Table Players

Two players left are still chasing back-to-back final tables. Bulgarian Ivaylo Eftimov is a very lively player and it’s no surprise to see him go deep again. He dominated proceedings for much of the penultimate day of that event, eventually finishing in 8th place for €26,300.

Alessandro Siena was the fourth place finisher in the Autumn Edition, for a very cool €91,170 payday. He managed to come back from being a short stack at the end of the day and goes into Tuesday lying in 18th place with 1.725m chips.

Mystery Siege of Malta Bounty Scooper

Rasmus Lundstroem made BOM headlines earlier in the week in the Mystery Siege of Malta, where he won the most in bounties, despite not making the final table. His haul of €12,700 in bounties included the second biggest prize of €7,500 and a chop of the third biggest €5,000 ticket. Her also bagged one worth €2,000. He is now in a strong position to exceed his Mystery Siege earnings, which he will achieve if he makes it to the final and get 7th place or higher. He is in 3rd place with 5.535m chips.

Big Casher on TheHendonMob

There’s also a player with some good previous results in other worldwide events. American Rob Perelman, who has over $400,000 in lifetime cashes. His best ever score was a victory in the Heartland Poker Tour way back in 2011, where he banked $158,755.

Robert Perelman during the 2025 Battle of Malta.

These were the final eliminations from Day 3. The players in positions 28-31 cashed for €3,060, while those who exited 25-27th received €3,600. These last unfortunates included Terry Jordan from the UK, who had been third in chips going to the day.

Terence Jordon during the 2025 Battle of Malta.

Below are the chip counts from Day 3. The 24 players will return tomorrow for Day 4. The first Level of day 4 will be Level 26: 25,000/50,000 (50,000).

The Amazingbet High Roller did indeed make it above 200 entries. Well above in fact, as there have now been 231 pay the €1,100 entry. There are still two more levels to play and the next target is 250, will it get there?

Level 24: 30,000/60,000 (60,000)
Entries: 26/1,542

Clement Kerrien during the 2025 Battle of Malta.

Clement Kerrien raised from the Hi-jack to 120,000. From the Button, Terence Jordon decided to go all in for 650,000. Kerrien made the call.

Terence Jordon: Q♥4♦
Clement Kerrien: Q♦Q♠

“Bollocks”, Jordon said as he saw Kerrien’s hand*. No miracle on the J♥8♥8♣5♠4♠ runout and as Jordon busted in place 25, the remaining 24 players will bag their chips for Day 4, which will be played tomorrow at 13:00.

We will soon be back with chip counts, seat draw, and a recap of the day.

*He didn’t say “Bollocks”.

Level 24: 30,000/60,000 (60,000)
Entries: 26/1,542

Giovanni Caggia during the 2025 Battle of Malta.

Vedran Sujkovic went all in from the Cut-off for roughly 750,000. From the Button, Giovanni Caggia made the call.

Vedran Sujkovic: A♣K♠
Giovanni Caggia: 8♥8♦

The board ran out 7♦5♠Q♠J♦Q♦. No dice for Sujkovic and he was sent to collect his €3,600 payout.

Giovanni Caggia: 2,655,000
Vedran Sujkovic: 0

Level 24: 30,000/60,000 (60,000)
Entries: 27/1,542

Benoit Kuhn during the 2025 Battle of Malta.

Benoit Kuhn opened to 125,000 from the Lo-jack. Massimo Centola went all in for roughly 1,200,000 from the Button. After a minute’s worth of consideration, Kuhn made the call.

Massimo Centola: A♣2♠
Benoit Kuhn:  A♠T♥

2♦ appeared in the window, but the full 2♦T♠T♣ flop was then revealed. No miracle for Centola on the 2♦T♠T♣J♠5♠ runout, and he busted in place 28 for €3,060.

Benoit Kuhn: 5,500,000
Massimo Centola: 0

The exits are coming thick and fast and at this rate it doesn’t look like it will be a late finish, with just seven more players to go before the day will draw to a close. This next batch of foot soldiers were felled during the last level of play, each cashing for €2,640.

One of the unfortunates to see their tournament life fizzle out was Antoine Talvard. He’s a regular attendee of the Battle of Malta and has cashed many times in the main event and side events. He notched up another flag, but doesn’t yet get the really deep run he’s been grinding for.

Level 23: 20,000/40,000 (40,000)
Entries: 31/1,542

Dimitar Syarov during the 2025 Battle of Malta.

From the Cut-Off, Fedran Sujkovic opened to 80,000. Dimitar Syarov then went all in from the Small Blind for 575,000. Sujkovic made the call.

Dimitar Syarov: A♥J♦
Fedran Sujkovic: 8♥8♦

Saved by the river, Syarov hit a straight on the Q♦7♠K♥7♦T♦ board. Such, he doubled up during the last hand before the first break of the day.

Full chip counts of all 31 players will be shared as soon as possible.

More players are now ex-participants, however they have €2,220 to console themselves with.

Level 23: 20,000/40,000 (40,000)
Entries: 32/1,542

Robert Perelman during the 2025 Battle of Malta.

Marco Venturi opened to 80,000 from the Cut-off, and Gabriele Carro called from the Button. When action was on Robert Perelman, he went all in for 930,000. Venturi made the call, prior to Carro folding.

Robert Perelman: A♦J♣
Marco Venturi: A♠Q♣

Venturi looked good all the way up ’til the river. The full board 8♥2♣6♠8♦J♦ saw Perelman hitting a 3-outer on the river. He doubled up as Venturi was left somewhat short.

Robert Perelman: 2,000,000
Marco Venturi: 600,000

Level 23: 20,000/40,000 (40,000)
Entries: 34/1,542

Rasmus Lundström during the 2025 Battle of Malta.

There were 1,400,000 in the middle when the board read Q♣8♣9♠7♠4♦. Aristeidis Aftias moved all in for 1,185,000. After receiving a count, Rasmus Lundström made the call.

Aristeidis Aftias: K♥T♣
Rasmus Lundström: Q♠5♥

A huge call at a crucial moment. Lundström won a big pot and sent Aftias to the rail, who went to collect his €2,640 paycheck.

Rasmus Lundström: 7,000,000
Aristeidis Aftias: 0

The clock is now running for Day 2 of the €1,100 High Roller, however it has been rolled back five levels and they begin today on level 8 once again, despite having made it to the end of level 12 when play was adjourned on Sunday.

The 49 players who bagged up on Day 1 have already been joined by 38 new entrants, but there will be many more, as there are three levels plus a break for more players to join the tournament. In total there have now been 160 entries, but will it breach the 200 mark?

These are the chip counts of the Day 1 Survivors:

Amazingbet High Roller Day 2

Level 23: 20,000/40,000 (40,000)
Entries: 40/1,542

Terence Jordon during the 2025 Battle of Malta.

Shai Biner opened to 80,000. Artur Gjoka made the call, and so did Terence Jordon.

The flop came 5♠4♠A♥. Biner continued for 80,000, and Gjoka and Jordon both made the call. Biner bet 150,000 on the 3♣ turn, Gjoka called, Jordon went all in for 850,000, and both players called.

Terence Jordon: Q♠2♥
Shai Biner: 3♠3♦
Artur Djoka: A♠J♠

The river Q♣ completed the full 5♠4♠A♥3♣Q♣ board, resulting in a huge pot for Jordon. Biner survived with five Big Blinds, and Djoka busted in place 41 for €2,220.

Terence Jordon: 3,500,000
Shai Biner: 210,000
Artur Djoka: 0

The Fantastic Ladies In Poker €170 (€150+€20) event has now begun and in a change to the original logistical plan, it is now being held in the Eden Arena upstairs rather than in the downstairs conference space.

Before play began, there was an afternoon tea party in the stylish lobby of the Intercontinental Hotel, with some rather good looking sandwiches and snacks to go with.

There are 19 fantastic ladies already competing, including defending champ Gia Carnestrom. Danica Byrne, Emzy Oliver, Valeria Tamburin and Lisa McNamara are amongst the early entrants.

We will keep a regular glance at what’s going on, but for in depth coverage, check out the live blog on PokerPro, being covered by Alek Gillies.

Afternoon Tea before the FLIP Ladies Event

Level 23: 20,000/40,000 (40,000)
Entries: 41/1,542

Wayne Thomas during the 2025 Battle of Malta.

Artur Gjoka opened to 80,000, prior to Wayne Thomas moving all in for 355,000 from the Hi-jack. Attila Szucs then re-shoved a monster stack. 13-7 folded and it was time for showdown.

Wayne Thomas: 5♥5♦
Attila Szucs: A♦Q♠

The board 7♠J♣K♥4♣9♠ secured a double-up for Thomas.

Attila Szucs: 4,900,000
Wayne Thomas: 810,000

These players will sadly (for them) play no further part in the tournament, as they were eliminated in positions 56-71, collecting €1,800 each. Most of these hot the rail late in the day on Sunday.

Level 22: 15,000/30,000 (30,000)
Entries: 45/1,542

Sokratis Oikonomou during the 2025 Battle of Malta.

Sokratis Oikonomou raised to 60,000 from the Lo-jack. Seated in the Cut-off, Danilo Scevola went all in for 240,000 and Oikonomou made the call.

Danilo Scevola: T♦T♠
Sokratis Oikonomou: A♣J♥

The board ran out A♠2♥3♠9♥Q♠ and such, Scevola busted in place 46 and earned €2,220 for his feat.

Sokratis Oikonomou:
Danilo Scevola: 0

Level 22: 15,000/30,000 (30,000)
Entries: 47/1,542

Adrian Ziemichod during the 2025 Battle of Malta.

Clement Kerrien opened to 60,000 from the Button. Adrian Ziemichod raised to 200,000 from the Small Blind, and Kerrien made the call.

Ziemichod checked the 2♠9♠7♣ flop, and Kerrien bet 160,000. Presumably, Ziemichod’s plan was a check-raise from the get-go as he put in a 470,000 bet. After a minute’s worth of consideration, Kerrien folded.

Adrian Ziemichod: 3,200,000
Clement Kerrien: 1,600,000

Level 22: 15,000/30,000 (30,000)
Entries: 50/1,542

Play has now been underway for 45 minutes on Day 3 of the Main Event of the Battle of Malta Spring Edition. The levels are now 75 minutes long, but despite the slowness of the structure, eight players have already gone AWOL from the Battlefield, leaving 50 poker warriors to contest the final stages of this Battle Royale.

I’ve just been for a wander through the tournament floor to see who I recognise and the first face I saw was that of Alessandro Siena, who took 4th place in the 2024 Autumn edition. When I saw him he was getting fairly short stacked. He told me that I’m lucky for him, remembering some epic hands he won at the Autumn Edition when I had been observing his table.

I wandered off to see who else I could spot and when I returned a few minutes later, he wore a beaming smile, saying

“it worked already, after only 3 minutes.”

While no details of the hand emerged, it was a standard flip situation and Alessandro and although still under the average, Alessandro is no longer nursing a critical stack and his dream of a back-to-back final table is still alive.

Alessandro Siena

Level 22: 15,000/30,000 (30,000)
Entries: 50/1,542

Rasmus Lundström during the 2025 Battle of Malta.

Absolutely astonishing scenes at Table 13 as we might have witnessed the cooler of the tournament.

Rasmus Lundström limped from the Small Blind. Christopher Rogers checked in the Big Blind, and the flop came A♣2♥T♦. Lundström bet 30,000, and Rogers made the call. On the turn 4♦, Lundström bet 250,000 into the 150,000 pot. Rogers wasted little time going all in for 700,000, and Lundström made the call instantly.

Christopher Rogers: 2♠2♣
Rasmus Lundström: 4♣2♦

Rogers was a 97,62 % favorite to win the hand, but the 4♥ came on the river, giving Lundström a superior full house. If table mate Oskari Piira is to be believed, Lundström had one out to hit his miracle. Rogers, disappointed by the runout, was sent to collect his €2,220 payout.

Rasmus Lundström: 2,400,000
Christopher Rogers: 0

Level 22: 15,000/30,000 (30,000)
Entries: 57/1,542

Demetrio Polimeno during the 2025 Battle of Malta.

Demetrio Polimeno began Day 3 with only 5,000. During the very last hand of Day 2, he was all in for 410,000 with A♠Q♥. He got called by a player who held A♦4♣ with a 405,000 stack, and the runout was not in Polimeno’s favor as a four was apparent on the queen-less board.

He tried to surrender his sole 5,000 chip before leaving yesterday, but this wasn’t allowed by the floor. He returned to Day 3 with a mission to do the comeback of the tournament.

During the first hand of Day 3, he went all in from UTG+1. Ingird Vos raised to 85,000 from the Lo-jack. Federico Cirillo (Hi-jack) and Clement Kerrien (Button) both made the call.

VOs continued for 80,000 on the K♦7♥9♠ flop, and Cirillo made the call before Kerrien folded. Turn was the K♠, and Cirillo folded to a 250,000 bet from Vos. Such, Polimeno and Vos went to showdown.

Demetrio Polimeno: 9♦4♦
Ingird Vos: A♣3♣

The river completed the K♦7♥9♠K♠8♥ board, and Polimeno took down the main pot and his 5,000 grew to 60,000.

On the very next hand, he went all in from UTG. Joseba Gonzalez re-shoved from the Small Blind for 315,000 and after Christoph Tanner folded his Big Blind, it was time for the players to reveal their holdings.

Demetrio Polimeno: K♥Q♥
Joseba Gonzalez: A♥J♠

Polimeno took the lead on the K♠4♦Q♦ flop, but the full board K♠4♦Q♦6♠T♣ gave Gonzalez a straight. Polimeno’s “chip and a chair”-mission came to an end, and he went to collect his €1,800 payout.

Ingird Vos: 2,200,000
Joseba Gonzalez: 450,000
Demetrio Polimeno: 0

The Battle of Malta Spring Edition has now progressed to its third full day of play. There are 58 players left, all with a glint of hope that they might become the next champion of the famous event, which awards €120,000 to the victor.

There was not supposed to be another showing of the intro video on the 27m video wall that looms over the tournament floor, however I for one am very glad they changed their mind on this, as it’s a sight to behold. and that’s how it went down, if you missed it on the day ones, too bad!

It’s not expected to be a long day of play, as it is scheduled to go down to the last 24, but we will closely follow the action as it unfolds. The rate of exits will slow down soon after the start, however there is one shortie who will immediately have his tournaments tested, Demetrio Polimeno. He has just one 5,000 chip, equivalent to half a big blind. We’ll find out soon how he fared.

TD Andy Tillman has now instructed the dealers to “shuffle up and deal”

The Top Ten Chip Counts

Day 3 of the Main Event begins at 1pm when the 58 remaining players will return to maintain their challenge for the €120,000 top prize. The €1,100 Amazingbet High Roller Day resumes at 3pm and players can still enter for the first three levels of the day.

Today is the FLIP (Fantastic Ladies in Poker) Ladies Event, with a €170 (€150+€20) buy-in. It begins at 2pm and although we won’t be covering the womano a womano action, Alek Gillies is reporting on it over at PokerPro.

Today’s non-Hold’em event is Sviten Special, which is a favourite of the Maltese mixed games community. This drawmaha variant originated in Sweden, so we are expecting a Scandinavian flavour for this one.

Here’s today’s full schedule:

Monday 7th April at the Battle of Malta

On Sunday at the Battle 2025 Battle of Malta Spring Edition another busy day of poker action played out. The Eden Arena was the setting for both the final flight and the second day proper of the €500k guaranteed Main Event.

There were multiple event taking place once again at Casino Malta and it was also the day of the players party, which took place at The Eden leisure complex, where fun and games topped the bill.

The early starting Day 1e turbo began super early in the day, at 10 am. A further 37 players out of the 242 who joined the flight, made it into the money. Clement Kerrien bagged the largest stack of 815,000, capturing the €5,000 bonus prize in the process.

Gaetano Moribundo posted the second largest stack (609,000), with Aristeidis Aftias in third (533,000). The UK’s Terry Jordan had only just arrived in Malta, but safely booked his spot in Day 2 with a stack of 373,000.

2025 Battle of Malta Spring Edition Day 1e chip leader Clement Kerrien

Flaviano Cammisuli Takes Huge Overnight Lead Day 2 of the Main Event

With a towering 4.4m in chips, Italian Flaviano Cammisuli commands a massive lead over Jannik Bentsen on 2.675m. The UK’s Terry Jordan sits in third with 2.6m. Four of the five starting day chip leaders also progressed into Day 3, with only Chmielowski failing to secure his continuation.

The day began as expected, with a period of rapid machine gun fire that quickly cut the field down in size. By the first break of the day almost 100 of the 233 who began the day had fallen and many jumped straight into the High Roller.

By the end of play just 58 players remained in the hunt for the €120,000 top prize.The full chip counts of all Day 2 survivors can be found here.

There were some big hands reported on, details of which can be found in Saturday’s blog coverage. Play resumes at 1pm on Monday, when they will play down to 27 players.

Amazingbet High Roller Day 1

The third of the three marquis events at the Battle of Malta Spring Edition is the Amazingbet High Roller with a €1,100 buy-in. It has a regressive structure, which requires a little explanation. What this means is that the clock gets rolled back several levels at the start of Day 2, effectively re-opening registration, allowing more players to join for the first 2 hours of play.

By the time level 12 had been completed, 49 of the 122 entrants had safely negotiated their passage into Day 2, which resumes on Monday at 3pm. The chip leader on 372,000 is Fabio Fatone, who is over 100,000 ahead of Thomas Simmons, who bagged 268,000. James Paris (194,700) and the UK’s Alex Todd (69,000) and Daniel Samson (65,200) also guaranteed their continuation on Monday.

There’s a further satellite taking place at 11am on Monday morning for anyone who fancies joining the event on Day 2.

Side Events

The Novibet Ultradeep is the slowest structured and best value side event of the festival and great value with a €220+€20 buy-in. Mark Selgeveer took the top prize of €8,420, after a relatively lengthy heads up battle against Piers Furnace, who banked €5,730 for his efforts. With 190 entries, this was one of the busiest side events of the week.

Sunday’s Omaha offering was a 4/5 Card version with a €220(€200+€20) buy-in. It was won by Andre Matthes for €2,850. Local resident and Belgian national Soner Vanelderen’s 4th place finish was his third of the festival in non-Hold’em events.

The €150 Hyperturbo was won by Milad Gami for €2,250 after he defeated Yavor Yankov heads up.

Mark Selgeveer (left), winner of Novibet Ultradeep, with runner up Piers Furnace, who looks much happier than the winner

Party Time!

Sunday was also party day at the Battle of Malta and a very fun evening of bowling, darts and karaoke was had by all. OK, so not everyone participated in the Karaoke, which is probably a good thing, judging by the tone deafness of some of those who entered the sing-a-long booth. The drinks were in free flow all night and there was even a cameo appearance by Telly Bartolo, in a shark costume.

As we know that poker players are competitive, a little competition was held, where teams of six players participated in bowling and darts competitions. I was lucky enough to be on the winning team and contributed three strikes to the team effort. I had already returned to continue reporting on the Main Event when the winning team was announced and didn’t even find out until after I had made it home.

Player Party at The Eden

Presumably, all players in Day 2 of the €600 Battle of Malta Main Event 2025 arrived to the venue today with a good feeling; they were all in the money, and now, the fight would continue.

After all the Day 1 flights, the numbers reveals that the 2025 Battle of Malta has been – and still is – a very appreciated live poker event. 1,542 entries created a €776,397 prize pool, with the first-place payout being €120,000. Without a doubt, there’s both a lot of money and prestige on the line.

Cammisuli Leads the Field

233 players entered Day 2, all of them being guaranteed a €1,000 min-cash. Many players were short-stacked and right from the get-go, player started busting out from the tournament like dominoes fall.

Out of the five players who finished each Day 1 flight as the chip leaders – Nicolaj D’Antoni, Krzysztof Chmielowski, Shai Biner, Benoit Kuhn, and Clement Kerrien – it’s only Chmielowski who didn’t survive and make it through to Day 3.

The overwhelming chipleader going into tomorrow’s Day 3, however, is Flaviano Cammisuli. Bagging an impressive 4,400,000, the captain will resume play with 147 Big Blinds.

Day 3 will set afoot at 13:00 local time, and play will not stop until the 58 players still alive have been reduced to 27. The first level of the day will be Level 22: 15,000/30,000 (30,000). It’s also worth mentioning that the levels now will be 75 minutes long.

We’re eager to follow tomorrow’s action from the Main Event, and we’ll hope to see you there!

Level 21: 10,000/25,000 (25,000)
Entries: 59/1,542

Day 2 has concluded. 59 players are bagging their chips and will return to Day 3, tomorrow at 13:00.

We will soon be back as soon as possible with chip counts.

Level 21: 10,000/25,000 (25,000)
Entries: 62/1,542

Adrian Ziemichod during the 2025 Battle of Malta.

From the Cut-off, Ole Roed went all in for 210,000. Giovanna Dimartino only called from the Button, before Adrian Ziemichod went all in from the Big Blind for roughly 1,500,000. Dimartino folded; Roed and Ziemichod turned over their hands.

Ole Roed: Q♦T♥
Adrian Ziemichod: A♣K♣

The board was Q♠K♦A♦4♦7♠. As Ziemichod collected the pot, Roed bid farewell and went to collect his €1,800 paycheck.

Adrian Ziemichod: 2,300,000
Ole Roed: 0

Level 21: 10,000/25,000 (25,000)
Entries: 69/1,542

Oscar Arezzo during the 2025 Battle of Malta.

From UTG+1, Oscar Arezzo went all in for 245,000. The current chip leader, Terence Jordon, made the call from the Small Blind.

Oscar Arezzo: K♦T♦
Terence Jordon: J♥J♣

The flop 7♣J♦5♦ guaranteed excitement, and the full board spelled out 7♣J♦5♦9♦8♣ which secured Arezzo a crucial double-up.

Terence Jordon: 4,300,000
Oscar Arezzo: 520,000

The rate of bust outs has now slowed down, with the remaining 71 players all eyeing up a place in Day 3, as they are now on the final level of the evening. This is the latest batch of former participants:

The fourth episode of the Battle of Malta’s daily talk show dropped on Saturday. In this show Glenn and Jason are joined by Alex Todd and his girlfriend Becky for some poker chit chat, a beer and a game of Jenga. Enjoy!

Level 20: 10,000/20,000 (20,000)
Entries: 71/1,542

Agostino Catanese during the 2025 Battle of Malta.

Emmanouil Asgoudakis made it 50,000 from the Hi-jack. Agostino Catanese raised to 105,000 from the Button, before Antonio Gregorio went all in for 290,000 from the Small Blind. Asgoudakis folded, but Catanese made the call.

Antonio Gregorio: T♦T♣
Agostino Catanese: A♥J♥

The board 7♠A♦J♠6♠7♥ favored Catanese and as such, Gregorio was sent to the rail and collected his €1,550 paycheck.

Agostino Catanese: 1,500,000
Antonio Gregorio: 0

Watch the third episode of the Battle of Malta’s daily talk show. In this show Glenn Brown is joined by Telly Bartolo and Casino Malta’s General Manager Slawomir Switalski. News about the Battle of Malta Online Series is revealed in this episode.

With most of our focus being on the Day 2 of the Main Event and the additional distraction of the players party, we’ve barely had a chance to catch up with what else is going on at Casino Malta and the Eden Arena at the Intercontinental Hotel in St Julians. Here’s a brief look around at what else is going on at the midnight hour.

Amazingbet High Roller

The €1,100 Amazingbet High Roller is now on level 10 with 62/119 players remaining. Registration will close at the end of this level and they will play two more before bagging up for the night. However the twist in this format, which is known as a regressive one, is that when play restarts on Sunday, the clock will be rolled back to the beginning of level 8, which will then re-open registration for the first 2 hours of Day 2.

For those who’s still like to join this event, there’s currently a satellite running for it, which has 84 entries so far and is still taking entries until 1.50am. It should generate at least 11 seats into the High Roller.

Novibet Ultradeep

The slowest structured and best value tournament of the festival was well supported today with 190 entries in the €220+€20 event. There are still seven players left on the final table and they’re battling away for the €8,420 first prize.

PLO 4/5 Card

Today’s PLO was a 4/5 Card version with a €220 (€200+€20) buy-in, which attracted 50 entrants. It was won by Andre Matthes for €2,850. Congratulations sir! Anthony Napolitano finished second for €2,060 and a very honourable mention goes to Soner Vanelderen whose 4th place finish was his third of the festival in non-Hold’em events.

Hyperturbo

Sadly I’m still working right now and unable to defend the title I scooped last night in this event. It is still running with 10 of the 64 who began left in and all in the money. It won’t take long for this one to conclude.

The player party is currently underway at The Eden (across the road from the Casino Malta) with a team competition still ongoing. Teams of six players compete to see which team can post the highest score in 10-pin bowling, followed by the lowest number of darts to get from 301 to 0.

Player Party at The Eden

Needless to say, poker players largely seem more skilled at bowling than darts. But both are a lot of fun and the free bar is still flowing. Yes, if you want a free drink now is the time to make your way over, as the soiree will end at 1pm (maybe).

Although there are no prizes for it, there is also a karaoke machine, for those brave enough to give their vocals a limber. Ear protectors are also available on request.

Today’s talk show was also recorded at the venue today. Rumour has it that a certain luck-box joined them for a chat about his Hyperturbo victory last night.

Talk Show Recording at the Player Party

Another pay jump has come and gone and these latest departees all leave with €1,360.

Level 19: 10,000/15,000 (15,000)
Entries: 87/1,542

Federico Cirillo during the 2025 Battle of Malta.

Gabriele Callo limped from UTG, prior to Federico Cirillo raising to 70,000. Then, from the Button, Massimo Rizzoglio went all in for 122,000. Callo folded, but Cirillo made the call.

Massimo Rizzoglio: 8♠8♣
Federico Cirillo: 7♥7♣

Things looked good for Rizzoglio, but, Cirillo hit quads on the 2♦3♣7♦T♥7♠ board. Unfortunate for Rizzoglio who busted and was sent to collect €1,550.

The remaining 87 players are now enjoying a 20-minute break. While they grab a cup of joe, we’ll identify some of the biggest stacks in the room and come back to you as soon as possible.

Federico Cirillo: 1,800,000
Massimo Rizzoglio: 0

Level 19: 10,000/15,000 (15,000)
Entries: 92/1,542

Emanuele Pandetta during the 2025 Battle of Malta.

Aristeidis Aftias raised to 30,000 from the Lo-jack, prior to Michael Snelders moving all in for 150,000 from the Hi-jack. When action came to Emanuele Pandetta on the Small Blind, he decided to only call Snelders. Aftias folded and it was showdown time.

Michael Snelders: A♥8♥
Emanuele Pandetta: J♦J♠

The board 2♥9♦8♣K♣Q♠ wasn’t helpful enough from Snelders perspective. He busted in place 93 and received €1,550 for his feat.

Emanuela Pandetta: 905,000
Michael Snelders: 0

Level 19: 10,000/15,000 (15,000)
Entries: 95/1,542

Adrian Ziemichod during the 2025 Battle of Malta.

After an initial opening from Adrian Ziemichod for 30,000 from early position, Peter Jaksland went all in for roughly 200,000 seated on the Button. Ziemichod made the call.

Peter Jaksland: A♦9♠
Adrian Ziemichod: A♣K♥

No help for Jaksland on the J♦8♦4♥T♥6♥ runout. As Ziemichod’s stack grew even bigger, Jaksland headed off to collect €1,360.

Adrian Ziemichod: 1,200,000
Peter Jaksland: 0

Level 19: 10,000/15,000 (15,000)
Entries: 108/1,542

Marco Coccone during the 2025 Battle of Malta.

Anargyros Loizos opened to 30,000 from UTG. S8 called from the Lo-jack, and so did Georgios Garnelis from the Button. Then, from the Big Blind, Marco Coccone went all in for 485,000. Action folded back to Garnelis who took his time, looking up to the big tournament information screen in order to make the correct decision. Eventually, Garnelis made the call being the player at risk.

Marco Coccone: K♠K♣
Georgios Garnelis: 7♥7♦

In an almost humoristic way, the dealer slapped down the flop on the table, only revealing the 7♣ in the window. He then spread the cards out revealing K♦A♥7♣. “Si”, Coccone said as the turn 6♠ was dealt. “Si si si si”, he continued and the river came 5♠. “Si”, Coccone ended his monologue as Garnelis went to collect his €1,360 payout.

Marco Coccone: 950,000
Georgios Garnelis: 0

The latest crew of unlucky hopefuls to exit stage left all left the Eden Arena with €1,180 for their efforts.

Fallers at this hurdle included Giulio Spampinato (143rd) and Joris Ruijs (128th).

Level 18: 6,000/12,000 (12,000)
Entries: 110/1,542

Attila Szucs during the 2025 Battle of Malta.

Vincenzo Pinna opened to 25,00 from the Lo-jack. Sebastian Gruszczynski decided to go all in for 232,000 from the Cut-off. Possibly, to Pinna’s surprise, Attila Szucs re-shoved from the Button. Pinna folded and Gruszczynski was the player at risk against Szucs.

Sebastian Gruszczynski: T♣T♥
Attila Szucs: A♣K♣

There are worse boards for ace-king than A♥J♦K♥7♦A♠; Szucs stacked Gruszczynski as the latter headed to the payout booth on a mission to collect €1,360.

Attila Szucs: 950,000
Sebastian Gruszczynski: 0

Level 18: 6,000/12,000 (12,000)
Entries: 121/1,542

Robert Perelman during the 2025 Battle of Malta.

Daniel Näsman opened to 24,000 from the Button, prior to Robert Perelman going all in for 199,000 from the Small Blind. Then, seated in the Big Blind, Giovanni Caggia decided to re-shove for roughly 1,000,000. Näsman folded and the two warriors went to showdown.

Robert Perelman: A♥Q♣
Giovanni Caggia: A♠K♥

“I’m gonna record, he’s gonna record, and you’re gonna record”, Perelman said to this live reporter who indeed opened up the camera on my phone. A miracle on fifth street for Perelman as the board ran out 6♠8♣6♥4♣Q♦. He lives to see another day in the Main Event.

Robert Perelman: 435,000
Giovanni Caggia: 683,000

Level 18: 6,000/12,000 (12,000)
Entries: 123/1,542

Ioannis Tsakiris during the 2025 Battle of Malta.

The board read J♦4♣8♥Q♥ with roughly 110,000 in the middle. After an initial check from Alessandro Amenta, Christopher Rogers bet 30,000. Ioannis Tsakiris called, and so did Amenta.

On the river 3♠, action was checked to Tsakiris, who bet 50,000. Amenta folded, and Rogers released a heavy sigh as he made the call.

Ioannis Tsakiris: A♠Q♦
Christopher Rogers: Q♠T♠

The superior kicker saw Tsakiris taking home the pot.

Christopher Rogers: 1,400,000
Ioannis Tsakiris: 750,000

Level 18: 6,000/12,000 (12,000)
Entries: 129/1,542

Terence Jordon during the 2025 Battle of Malta.

On the flop 4♦7♣6♥, Giuseppe Di Bella went all in for 110,000, contending for the 75,000 already in the middle. Terence Jordon decided to make the call.

Giuseppe Di Bella: 6♦6♣
Terence Jordon: 8♦T♠

To Di Bella’s misplease, the full board ran out 4♦7♣6♥9♣J♣, giving Jordon the straight. Hence, Di Bella was sent home with €1,180.

Terence Jordon: 1,200,000
Giuseppe Di Bella: 0

The 135 remaining players in the Battle of Malta Spring Edition are now on a 20-minute break, having completed two full levels of play. They will play six levels in total this evening. Chip counts of the leaders to follow shortly.

The next batch of former participants have now had their poker carcasses removed from the tournament floor. Meanwhile their souls have each collected €1,070 from the payout desk.

One of the first to depart once the money had edged up a little was James “Grogsy” Grogan, who fell in 181st place. He had returned with just over a starting stack, one of the shortest to make it into Day 2. Former Main Event Winner Daniel Barone saw his dreams of becoming a double champion shattered as he left the battlefield in 168th.

Jonathan Wong (167th), James Paris (151st) and Karina Ruiz (144th) also departed the tournament, just in time to hit the party!

Level 17: 5,000/10,000 (10,000)
Entries: 152/1,542

Sokratis Oikonomou during the 2025 Battle of Malta.

From the Hi-jack, Alastair David went all in for 119,000. Sokratis Oikonomou re-shoved from the Button and the two players turned over their cards.

Alastair David: A♣T♣
Sokratis Oikonomou: 5♥5♦

The flop K♦Q♣2♥ gave David additional outs. The 7♣ on the turn made his chances even better, but the 3♦ was a brick, and he was eliminated in place 153 for €1,070.

Sokratis Oikonomou: 700,000
Alastair David: 0

There’s Telly, he’s the boss, always dashing around like the most enthusiastic firefly that ever lived, Diane, the steady logistics guru, Marcello staff organiser extraordinaire, Andy legend of a TD, Jason, our media mogul of sorts and Andrii, fixing problems at record pace to keep the show ticking along.

But all of them, to a man (or woman) know first and foremost one of the most vital necessities in this poker life, is the know how to throw a party! Scatter!

We’ll see you at The Eden from 9pm until 1pm, where there’s a bowling and darts comp for all to enjoy. Karaoke for those who are brave enough to belt out a classic and food a drinks that will stream like the rivers of honey and gold that they say flow in heaven.

But watch out, you may think that attending the party is an escape from the sharks on the poker tables at Casino Malta, however there are rumours that some might gatecrash the party.

Level 17: 5,000/10,000 (10,000)
Entries: 163/1,542

Kevin Houghton during the 2025 Battle of Malta.

At Table 18, a three-way all in preflop between Daniel Poluk, Kevin Houghton, and Chasan Koula went down in dramatic fashion.

Daniel Poluk: A♦K♥
Kevin Houghton: A♥A♣
Chasan Koula: Q♣Q♦

“Hold”, Houghton instructed the flop as it introduced itself as J♣5♦3♠. “Hold”, he continued on the 4♣ turn. “We hold”, he announced as the board completed with 5♠.

Kevin Houghton: 800,000
Daniel Poluk: 500,000
Chasan Koula: 200,000

Level 17: 4,000/8,000 (8,000)
Entries: 174/1,542

Sokratis Oikonomou during the 2025 Battle of Malta.

From the Lo-jack, Krzysztof Chmielowski opened to 16,000. Sokratis Oikonomou (Hi-jack), Antoine Talvard (Small Blind), and Sebastian Mortensen (Big Blind) all called.

The four players checked on the 4♣2♦5♦ flop. The Q♥ fell on the turn, and when action came to Chmielowski, he bet 38,000. Oikonomou was the only one to make the call.

On the river 3♥, Chmielowski bet 16,000, and Oikonomou chips for a call reached the middle before Chmielowski’s did.

Krzysztof Chmielowski: 5♥5♣
Sokratis Oikonomou: A♠Q♦

The two of them exchanged some friendly banter as Oikonomou was awarded the pot thanks to his straight.

Krzysztof Chmielowski: 850,000
Sokratis Oikonomou: 470,000

As soon as “shuffle up and deal” been uttered, the machine guns began firing and the attrition rate started to ratchet upwards. Within a level of the restart, fifty poker corpses were littering the battlefield floor. Their €1,000 min cashes may help to bring them back to life again someday and try again, on another poker battlefield.

Palina Mankevich was the first player to hit the rail and one of 13 to be eliminated in the first five minutes of the day. It took less than an hour for the field to be reduced to 183, when the payout nudges up ever so slightly to €1,070.

Gary Fisher (210th), Mark Anthony Vella (208th) and James Stephens (193rd) were amongst those to see their tournament lives fizzle out.

As the high roller went underway, Philip Pearson had a side bet dedicated to charity going all in blind the first hand of the high roller. Not one to leave his friend hanging, Killian Desnos tagged along for the fun.

After two early players shoved all in, Desnos made the call and the three players revealed their hands.

Killian Desnos: J♣8♠
Under the Gun: A♦K♠
Big Blind: K♦K♥

The board ran out 7♣8♣8♦7♠Q♦ for Desno’s to send the two players to the rail

Killian Desnos: 120,000

Closely behind, Philip Pearson moved all in from early position and a late position player made the call. Both players revealed their holdings.

Philip Pearson: 7♠2♣
Late Position: J♣J♥

Pearson used one of his many lives as he caught the 2♦Q♠4♣K♠7♣ for a rivered two pair.

Philip Pearson: 80,000

Level 16: 4,000/8,000 (8,000)
Entries: 185/1,542

Salvatore Agliozzo during the 2025 Battle of Malta.

Egils Upitis moved all in for 121,000 from the Cut-off. Action folded to Salvatore Agliozzo in the Big Blind, who made the call comfortably.

Egils Upitis: K♠K♥
Salvatore Agliozzo: A♥K♣

Upitis Main Event dreams came to an end on the turn, as the board spelled out 6♠8♠4♣A♦6♥. He was sent to the rail, collecting €1,000.

Salvatore Agliozzo: 590,000
Egils Upitis: 0

Level 16: 4,000/8,000 (8,000)
Entries: 199/1,542

Indre Vos during the 2025 Battle of Malta.

From the Small Blind, Ingird Vos opened to 25,000. Daniel Heredi was seated in the Big Blind and raised to 75,000. Vos made the call.

Vos then proceeded by checking on the 3♦Q♣6♣ flop. Heredi bet 50,000, only to be forced all in by Vos for roughly 150,000. Heredi made the call fairly quickly.

Ingird Vos: Q♠6♠
Daniel Heredi: K♠K♥

Vos flopped big, and Heredi didn’t improve on the 3♦Q♣6♣9♠A♦ runout. He busted in 200 and headed to cash €1,000.

Ingird Vos: 1,100,000
Daniel Heredi: 0

Level 16: 4,000/8,000 (8,000)
Entries: 213/1,542

Marius Negrescu during the 2025 Battle of Malta.

Daniele Degennaro opened to 16,000 from the Cut-off, and Marius Negrescu, seated in the Big Blind, was the sole caller.

The flop came 5♠2♠J♠, and Negrescu checked to Degennaro, who continued for 20,000. Then, Negrescu went all in for 94,000.

Degennaro was visibly uncomfortable and contemplated his decision for a long time. “Do you want me to call?”, he asked Negrescu, who responded with an affirmative nod. Eventually, Degennaro threw in the chips for a call.

Marius Negrescu: Q♠8♠
Daniele Degennaro: T♣T♦

Negrescu had Degennaro in rough shape, and the full board 5♠2♠J♠A♠3♣ didn’t see Degennaro improving.

Marius Negrescu: 272,000
Daniele Degennaro: 110,000

The clock has now been restarted for Day 2, with all 233 remaining players now back in action. But it won’t stay that way for long, as they are expected to start hitting the rail right from the start.

Before play began there was another screening of the welcome video, after which Glenn Brown warmed up the crowd with a rousing speech, announcing that the winner of the Battle of Malta Spring Edition will collect €120,000 once its all done and dusted.

Tournament Director Andy Tillman then uttered the immortal “shuffle up and deal,”  after which the chips started flying.

The prize breakdown has now been confirmed and the winner of the Spring Edition will walk away with €120,000. Here are the splits of what they’re playing for.

Day 2 Begins at the Battle of Malta Spring Edition

The Battle of Malta Spring Edition is now set to move into Day 2 and all 233 remaining warriors are now preparing to face off once again on the poker battlefield. The total number of entries has been confirmed as 1,542. The prize pool is €776,397 and the breakdown will be revealed before Day 2 begins at 7pm.

Before play begins there will be another showing of the intro video on the 27m video wall that looms over the tournament floor. We’ll be following the action throughout the day, delivering the story of how the day unfolds.

We’re expecting a lot of early casualties, with up to a third of the field expected to lose their tournament lives during the first couple of levels. The exits will be fast and furious, but we’ll try to keep up.