We expected big things for the start of the 2018 Battle of Malta, and we were not disappointed.
Moving to the spacious InterContinental Hotel and Casino Malta for the first-time this year, the Eden Arena was decked out in its Sunday best to greet the players on Day 1a today. Not only was there plenty of elbow room (and registration points) for everyone to breathe easy, the room was awash in red and blue balloons. They weren’t there just to help set the festive mood – they were actually used to highlight the table numbers!
And that was only the beginning.
Laura Cornelius, Live Stream Ease BoM Into Action
New host Laura Cornelius was on hand to kick off the shuffle up and deal and when the chips settled into play we found some familiar faces around the tables. Sofia Lovgren, Ana Marquez, Espen Uhlen Jorstad, and two-time final-tablist Jonas Hähnert were all here.
So were former Premier League footballer Anthony Gardner, WSOP November Niner Fernando Pons and Austrian chess wiz Ivo Donev.
Did we mention former Battle of Malta Main Event champion Nicolas Proust?
By the end of the day 451 entries had made it into the prize pool to make it the biggest Day 1A since the BoM moved to more than two Day 1 flights in 2015. For reference, last year’s Day 1a had 320 entries. Play ran through 16 levels and ended the night in the money with 68 players left. Those players have all been paid out €500 but they can also choose to forfeit their stack and come back again tomorrow.
Any difference in prize money will be paid out when we starting busting people on Day 2.
Koops There It Is!
The chip leader for Day 1A is Alexander Koops with 497,000. Here are the counts:
| #1 | Koops Alexander Klass Mathias | Netherlands | 497,000 |
| #2 | D’alterio Luigi | Italy | 461,000 |
| #3 | Privitera Fabrizio | Italy | 454,000 |
| #4 | Zegal Stanislav | Germany | 434,000 |
| #5 | Amar Nir | Italy | 362,000 |
| #6 | Sele Per Steinar | Norway | 339,000 |
| #7 | Terziani Stefano | Italy | 330,000 |
| #8 | Ben Shlomo Yaakov | Israel | 313,000 |
| #9 | Fredrik Ellingsson Karl | Sweden | 310,000 |
| #10 | Pierreyves Jean Francis Joubert | France | 306,000 |
| #11 | Cutri’ Luciano | Italy | 285,000 |
| #12 | Neukirch Jonas | Germany | 279,000 |
| #13 | Hudson Thomas James | England | 276,000 |
| #14 | Stanevicius Auris | Lithuania | 269,000 |
| #15 | Jukka-Pekka Peltoniemi | Finland | 264,000 |
| #16 | Romano Maurizio | Italy | 242,000 |
| #17 | Nicolas Yan Proust | France | 218,000 |
| #18 | Lappas Charalampos | Greece | 217,000 |
| #19 | Evans Lena Ngoc | 198,000 | |
| #20 | Richnau Alexander Robin Erik | Sweden | 190,000 |
| #21 | Meller Guy | Germany | 176,000 |
| #22 | Kambov Viktor Vasilev | Bulgaria | 164,000 |
| #23 | Adam Milewski | Poland | 157,000 |
| #24 | Benta Sebastian | 155,000 | |
| #25 | Samuele Lo Presti | Italy | 154,000 |
| #26 | Rafal Skrzypnik | Poland | 152,000 |
| #27 | Even Soensterudbraaten | Norway | 141,000 |
| #28 | Fenech Philip | 141,000 | |
| #29 | Sammut Clint | Malta | 140,000 |
| #30 | Valter Proia | Italy | 140,000 |
| #31 | Geci Endrit | England | 138,000 |
| #32 | Lovelock Colin Eric | United Kingdom | 133,000 |
| #33 | Ghosh Kingshuk | United Kingdom | 130,000 |
| #34 | Filatov Mikhail | Czech Republic | 129,000 |
| #35 | Castillo Antonio Maria Iniesta | Spain | 129,000 |
| #36 | Sahlstroem Robert Marcus Martin | Malta | 129,000 |
| #37 | Mazet Florence Yvette Suzanne | France | 128,000 |
| #38 | Netzer Shai | 125,000 | |
| #39 | Guarnuto Dario | Italy | 124,000 |
| #40 | Verrina Carmine | Italy | 124,000 |
| #41 | Puchol Vina Alvaro Fernando | Spain | 123,000 |
| #42 | Kitsios Georgios | Greece | 119,000 |
| #43 | Mr Cezar Iustinian Laurentiu | Romania | 117,000 |
| #44 | Baccassino Mattia | Italy | 113,000 |
| #45 | Bahar Yitshak Zah | 112,000 | |
| #46 | Guimond Florin Nico | France | 102,000 |
| #47 | Caplau Joanny | France | 100,000 |
| #48 | Aki Paveli Vartinen | Finland | 93,000 |
| #49 | Stropoli Julien | France | 93,000 |
| #50 | Formica Salvatore | Italy | 91,000 |
| #51 | Riskevicius Vytautas | Lithuania | 82,000 |
| #52 | Toledo Rafael | Malta | 78,000 |
| #53 | Stachyra Artur Piotr | 71,000 | |
| #54 | Appleyard James | England | 69,000 |
| #55 | Comesana Pedro Vidal | Spain | 66,000 |
| #56 | Gabriele Re | Italy | 63,000 |
| #57 | Scalia Marco Paolo | Italy | 60,000 |
| #58 | Zapf Manuel | Germany | 59,000 |
| #59 | Ioannou Ioannis | Cyprus | 58,000 |
| #60 | Hosia Akseli Veli Johannes | 55,000 | |
| #61 | Jorstad Espen Uhlen | Malta | 49,000 |
| #62 | Broden Jonas Gunnar | Sweden | 46,000 |
| #63 | Ho Ting | United States | 44,000 |
| #64 | Della Ventura Sergio Domenico | Italy | 40,000 |
| #65 | Kasten Per Thorben | 39,000 | |
| #66 | Cormack Francis Harold | Ireland | 34,000 |
| #67 | Vadenbring Nils Gustav | Malta | 27,000 |
| #68 | Penney Steven John | England | 25,000 |
