Georgios Papakonstantinou has secured the €600 Main Event chip lead going into Day 5.

The 2026 Battle of Malta Summer Edition is on its last stretch. What a week of poker this has been, and the penultimate day surely didn’t disappoint. Tuesday’s action was headlined by Day 4 of the prestigious €600 Main Event.

Twenty-four players returned to the tables at 16:00, ready to resume the fight for eternal glory and the €176,070 first-place payout. Leading the field was Greece’s Stavros Passias, who had the only eight-digit stack (10,760,000) as play resumed on Blinds 50,000/100,000. He would extend this lead after seeing off opponents such as Gareth Hamilton and Igor Pasierbek as the day progressed. At the second break (at which point nine players in total had been eliminated), he was still the chip leader. That being said, France’s Arnaud Boudet and Serbia’s Marko Cosic were close, as they had also surpassed 10,000,000 in chips.

It was then time for Level 33, featuring Blinds 100,000/250,000. Many players were short; they bid their time well, but one after one, they fell. Roughly half past nine, poker media icon Florence Mazet (last woman standing) bid farewell in tenth place for €12,340. As such, the final table of nine players was set. Well, let’s call it the “unofficial” final table, seeing as one more player would go out, before the final eight would bag their chips for tomorrow’s finale.

Nine-handed play lasted for roughly one hour before Boudet shoved his last 14 Big Blinds from the Lo-jack with A♦T♣. Georgios Papakonstantinou made the call from the Small Blind with A♠Q♥, and no ten or any other help were available for Boudet on the board. He went out in ninth place for €14,690, and the survivors bagged their chips.

The chip counts of the final eight players areas follows:-

Tomorrow’s eight-handed final table will kick off at 14:00, June 3. It will be live-streamed on the Battle of Malta YouTube channel; the live coverage on the blog will follow the 30-minute delay. Papakonstantinou will begin the final stage of the Main Event as the chip leader, but he’ll have his work cut out for him. Meanwhile, pressure’s on the shortest stack, Gianluca Donini, to come from behind if he wants to win the title.

Thanks to everyone who’s been following along with today’s coverage. See you all tomorrow at 14:30. Until then, enjoy the full results from today below.