April 7, 2024
The 2024 Battle of Malta Spring Edition saw two further starting days of the Main Event completed at the Eden Arena, within the Intercontinental Hotel, that also houses Casino Malta. There were also three side events that took place on what is traditionally the busiest day of the festival.
Telly Bartolo and Patrisha Rimfire Greet the Players at the Start of Day 1d
Outside the early arriving Maltese summer meant the weather was warm, but nowhere near as hot as the action taking place inside the Eden Arena, where the €500,000 guarantee on the Main Event was blown out of the water on Day 1c. There were 1,426 entries from the first four starting days. With the final turbo Day 1e already underway on Sunday morning and over 200 players registered within the first four levels, the final Battle of Malta entries are on course to exceed 1,700.
Highlights from Saturday April 6th at the 2024 Battle of Malta Spring Edition included
- 747 entries in Day 1c of the Battle of Malta Main event, with 112 bagging stacks for Day 2
- A further 160 players took to the felt for Day 1d, enabling another 24 competitors to keep their dreams of final table glory alive.
- Three side events, including the €250 MonteCarlo House Event, a €330 Sviten Special and another outing for the €220 Dark Knight.
- Full houses, flushes, bad beats and more, news of which is brought to you on the Battle of Malta Blog
- Jason Gatzer’s now traditional walkabout, videos, player interviews, photos and more on the Battle of Malta’s social channels Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
Nicola Ciraolo Leads the Main Event Day 1c Field
Second in Chip Itaco Voto
Italian Nicola Ciraolo ended the day as the chip leader from the Day 1c with 621,000, 40k ahead of second placed Itaco Voto on 581,000. Three players posted bigger chip stacks than day 1b chip leader (Chris Grech), with Poland’s Tomas Olszewski in third on 567,000. Many of the players at the top of the chip counts list are Italian with seven in the top ten for the day and all posting above 400,000.
Still just about in contention is defending champion Daniel Barone, however the Italian player only managed to take 52,000 chips with him into Day 2 and as one of the shortest survivors, will have a hard task to make it to the final table once again.
Fabio Peluso, one of the rising stars of Italian poker also navigated his way into the second day with 124,000. He would likely have bagged a bigger stack, but lost a chunk of his chips late on in the day, when doubling up Mehdi Rabai.
Fabio Peluso
The main event resumes at 7pm, when the 220 players who made it through the first four starting days will be joined by the survivors from Day 1e, which is expected to end shortly before Day 2 begins.
In case you missed the action, the full story of how the Day 1c unfolded can be read on event’s dedicated blog
Day 1c Top 10 Chip Counts
| Player | Chip Count |
| Nicola Ciraolo | 621,000 |
| Itaco Voto | 581,000 |
| Tomasz Olszewski | 567,000 |
| Crocifisso Turco | 542,000 |
| Vasileios Zisis | 534,000 |
| Alessandro D’Amore | 531,000 |
| Omar Nafti | 487,000 |
| Fabio Di Cosimo | 480,000 |
| Rosario Saddemi | 464,000 |
| Cristian Padula | 460,000 |
Day 1d (Turbo) Top 10 Chip Counts
Day 1d was the first of two turbo flights of the main event and took place side-by-side with Day 1c, starting later in the day and on a 20-minute clock. Inevitably in finished before Day 1c did, with 24 players securing their passage into Day 2. Unusually, the two biggest stacks at the end of the day both had exactly the same chip count.
| Player | Chip Count |
| Tor Andre Nesse | 410,000 |
| Graziano Orlando | 410,000 |
| Patrik Karabincik | 326,000 |
| Alberto Giacobbe | 303,000 |
| Marcello Favaloro | 290,000 |
| Tayfun Rodoplu | 279,000 |
| Paschalis Papadopoulos | 270,000 |
| Robertas Kleiva | 267,000 |
| Jianyi Lu | 260,000 |
| Massimo Degiorgi | 251,000 |
Modestas Kryzanauskas Wins the €250 Montecarlo Poker House Event (€4,600)
Modestas Kryzanauskas
Lithuanian Modestas Kryzanauskas picked up his first ever festival win, outlasting a field of 106 players. After Maltese Londoner Joe Grech hit the rail in 3rd place, Modestas went head-to head with Alessandro Raimondi for the title. Modestas had taken a huge lead in the event when there were six players left, but it took an hour before the final elimination secured him his first event title.
| Place | Player | Prize |
| 1st | Modestas Kryzanauskas | € 4,600 |
| 2nd | Alessandro Raimondi | € 3,160 |
| 3rd | Joseph Grech | € 2,310 |
| 4th | Luca Tramaglino | € 1,810 |
| 5th | Andrea Agnoletto | € 1,400 |
| 6th | Jens Mielsan | € 1,070 |
| 7th | Artur Gjoka | € 830 |
| 8th | Alkan Aydingoez | € 640 |
| 9th | Ilias Fotopoulos | € 510 |
| 10th | Carlo De Paolis | € 430 |
| 11th | Erik Froyland | € 430 |
| 12th | Hugo Vasilda | € 360 |
| 13th | Fabio Berti | € 360 |
| 14th | Marko Luksa | € 340 |
| 15th | Eyal Saidof | € 340 |
Samuel Newsome Wins the €220 Dark Knight II (€4,230)
The Dark Night rode again on Saturday, with 81 uncaped crusaders taking their seats for the €220 buy-in side event. Finland’s Samuel Newsome emerged as the victor in the event to take the trophy and the largest chunk of the prize pool.
| Place | Player | Prize |
| 1st | Samuel Newsome | € 4,230 |
| 2nd | Egidijus Zube | € 3,010 |
| 3rd | Marcin Puczylowski | € 1,970 |
| 4th | Bartosz Brzezinski | € 1,520 |
| 5th | Srdjan Milicevic | € 1,200 |
| 6th | Mantas Ungulaitis | € 940 |
| 7th | Knut Rysstad | € 740 |
| 8th | Sukru Arican | € 580 |
| 9th | Michail Tastanis | € 440 |
| 10th | Egidijus Digrys | € 380 |
| 11th | Klaudijus Bajoras | € 380 |
Carlo Braccini Wins €330 Sviten (€3,230)
Non-Hold’em events are well liked within the Maltese poker community and as such they have a prominent place on the BOM schedule, with one taking place on most days. Saturday’s offering was the €330 Sviten Special. For those who are not familiar with this poker variant (which is especially popular in Nordic countries, as it was invented by a Swede) it is a split pot game, which is a mix of PLO and Five Card Draw. There were 27 entrants for yesterday’s tournament, which was won by Carlo Braccini for a €3,230 payday. This was Carlo’s second consecutive final table, as he also claimed 3rd place in Friday’s €330 H.O.R.S.E event.
| Place | Player | Prize |
| 1st | Carlo Braccini | € 3,230 |
| 2nd | Stefano Lagorio | € 2,150 |
| 3rd | Mateusz Stanielewicz | € 1,390 |
| 4th | Fabio Miraglia | € 920 |
Sunday’s Battle of Malta Schedule
While Saturday was the busiest day of the festival, Sunday is expected to run a close second. For the early risers, the final turbo starting day of the Battle of Malta Main Event began at 10am, with 20-minute blind levels. There’s 12 levels for late registration, closing at approximately 3.30pm, at the end of the break before level 13 begins. Today is also the day that the €150 FLIP (Fantastic Ladies In Poker) side event takes place and we’ve got a surprise for you today for this one. The live streaming for the final table of the event has now been extended and the event will feature a live streamed table right from the start. Coverage of the tournament, with commentary from Jason Glatzer and guests will begin at 4.30pm (it’s on a 30 minute delay) and can be followed on Facebook and YouTube.
| Time | Event |
| 10 a.m. | €600 Battle of Malta Day 1e (Turbo) |
| 11 a.m. | €100 NLH Satellte to the High Roller |
| 2 p.m. | €330 PLO 4/5 Round of Each |
| 4 p.m. | €150 NLH FLIP Ladies Event – Live Streamed |
| 5 p.m. | €250 NLH PKO Full Tilt Catania Regressive |
| 7 p.m. | Battle of Malta Day 2 |
| 9 p.m. | €220 Dark Knight III |
| 9:30 p.m. | €70 Satellite to the High Roller |
Cash games are also running every day within Casino Malta (two floors below the conference hall)
