The 2024 Battle of Malta Spring Edition is off to a scorching start at the Eden Arena located at the luxurious Intercontinental Hotel and at the Casino Malta. Thursday witnessed not only the start of the Main Event but also three side event winners. Many players are still flying in from a variety of countries with expectations the festival will only grow from there as the weekend approaches.

The weather has been even better than expected in early April with players having the option to head to the beach during their breaks or enjoy sitting outdoors in between events or during longer breaks at the wide variety of restaurants and bars that Malta is well-known for.

Check out some of the highlights from Thursday at the 2024 Battle of Malta Spring Edition.

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Vidar Oie Leads Main Event

Vidar Oie

The crown jewel of the Battle of Malta in the €600 Main Event is well on its way to crushing its guarantee with 201 entries already in the mix on the first of five opening days. It is expected that both today’s Day 1b and tomorrow’s Day 1c will decimate these figures for what promises to be a monstrous prize pool in the 2024 Battle of Malta Main Event.

After more than 14 hours of play, just 30 players bagged up stacks already in the money for Sunday’s Day 2.

Norway’s Vidar Oie was the star of the day after transforming his 30,000 opening stack into a whopping stack of 556,000 in chips. While no other player bagged more than 500,000 or even 400,000 several players advanced from Day 1a with at least 300,000 in chips including Michal Janczarski (389,000), Luke Pace (343,000), Marko Luksa (331,000), and Toni Ravnak (307,000).

• Read more about Day 1a in our dedicated live blog at the BattleofMalta.com.

Day 1a Top 10 Chip Counts

Fouad Bjaoui Wins the €150 Enjoy and Win (€3,220)

We interviewed Carina Voncken during the event and she parlayed her decent stack near the money bubble to a runner-up performance worth €2,210. However, it was Fouad Bjaoui who was the first star of the day after defeating Voncken heads-up to win the title.

€150 Enjoy and Win Results

Ville-Oskari Turja Wins the €330 PLO 4 Card (€4,100)

The €330 PLO 4 Card attracted an enthusiastic field of 39 entries for a €11,100 prize pool with the top five players guaranteed at least a €1,060 payout for more than triple the buy-in.

It took slightly more than nine hours before Ville-Oskari Turja defeated Mikka Mustonen heads-up to win the €4,100 top prize with Dwayne Sluis, Kaloyan Kirov, and the formidable Marcin Puczylowski all cashing in the event after Gaspar Perasovic bubbled the tournament.

€330 PLO 4 Card Results

Timothy Chung Wins the €220 Dark Knight (€3,660)

The €220 Dark Knight was the final tournament to crown a champion on Thursday evening. It was actually early Friday morning when Timothy Chung defeated Hongxiang Li heads-up to win the €3,660 top prize after nearly seven hours of play.

Marc Hunter, Florian Ahlmer, Andrea Atzeni, Emmanouil Chalkiotis, Eleftherios Eleftherakis, Max Gerritsen, and Marco Leonzio all found their way to the payout desk.

The event attracted 90 entries to create a €13,300 prize pool.

€220 Dark Knight Results

Meanwhile, the €450 Mystery Siege of Malta attracted 178 entries on Day 1a with 27 players advancing into Friday’s Day 2. Friday will also feature Day 1b with cards in the air at Noon. Ivars Bareika advanced with the chip lead with David Lappin in the middle of the pack.

Friday’s Battle of Malta Schedule

There is no shortage of cash games or events to play on Friday at the Battle of Malta. Check out the schedule below and watch the preview of events by Battle of Malta Host Valeria Tamburin.