Malta Poker Festival 2018
Over my time at the 2018 Malta Poker Festival, I took a number of pictures to help me remember the great times I had there. I've curated them through multiple Tweets and pictures, highlighting what was so special, to help capture what the entire experience was like.
- Malta Poker Festival 2018 Schedule
- Malta Poker Festival 2018 Results
- Malta Poker Festival 2018 Results
The Malta Poker Festival is held at the Portamaso Casino, right in the heart of Malta's vibrant night life. The local poker community (ex-pats that have fallen in love with the island vibe) looks forward to welcoming players from around the world to the monster No Limit Hold'em Grand Event and its guaranteed €500,000 prize pool. The Malta Poker Festival 2018 Grand Event - Heads Up. The Malta Poker Festival. 2.3K views November 6, 2018. Related Pages See All. Portomaso Casino. Like its predecessor, the Malta Poker Festival Main Event will have a buy-in of €550 with a guaranteed prize pool of €500,000. The event takes place in the Portomaso Casino in Malta, running November 1-6, 2018. Besides the €550 Main Event with the half million guarantee, the festival will have several side-events. One of them is a second.
| Current season, competition or edition: Battle of Malta 2019 | |
| Sport | Poker |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2012 |
| Owner(s) | casinomalta.com |
| Motto | Let the battle begin! |
| Country | Malta |
| Venue(s) | Casino Malta, St Julian's, Malta |
| Most recent champion(s) | Julien Stropoli, France (2018 Main Event) |
| Official website | www.battleofmalta.com |
The Battle of Malta is an annual no-limithold'empokertournament in Malta.[1]
The event was founded by PokerListings.com in 2012 and is now run by Casino Malta by Olympic Casino, part of the Eden Leisure Group. Designed for low- to mid-stakes poker players, the event has gone from strength to strength since its launch and is now one of the most popular stand-alone events in Europe. Battle of Malta won the 2014 European Poker Awards “Event of the Year” title in the category for buy-ins up to €2,000.
In 2018, the Main Event was given a €1 million guarantee for the first time but massively exceeded the expected turnout. The event was staged in the Eden Arena at the InterContinental Conference Centre in St Julian’s and smashed records with 3,816 entries for the Main Event and a €1,850,760 prize pool that was nearly double the €1 million guarantee. Battle of Malta 2018 was by far the biggest poker tournament ever held in Malta. Nearly €2.56 million was awarded in prize money across 15 different tournaments during the festival with a total of 13,000+ entries.
History[edit]
Battle of Malta 2012[edit]
In the inaugural 2012 tournament, there were a total of 349 entries paying the entry fee of €550 to the main event, creating a total prize pool of €169,265.
A retired doctor, Nicodemo Piccolo took home the first-ever Battle of Malta title, trophy and €35,000 first prize.[2]
Battle of Malta 2013[edit]
The 2013 Battle of Malta main event took place from September 26 to 29 featuring the return of Kara Scott as host and appearances by pro playersDaniel Cates and Andreas Hoivold. Battle of Malta 2013, turned out to be the largest Poker tournament ever to take place in Malta. With a record 888 entrants at €550 each, the prize pool was €430,680. The first place prize of €68,000 was won by Louis Cartarius, a Frankfurt based online player.[3]
Battle of Malta 2014[edit]
The 2014 Battle of Malta took place from November 6–9 and broke its own record for the biggest poker tournament ever held in Malta with 1,447 entries. The €550 buy-in main event easily smashed the €500,000 guarantee with a total prize pool crof €701,795. A record €140,000 was set aside for the winner and €90,000 for second place. Bulgarian Antoan Katsarov was the eventual winner with Malta local Alan Brincat finishing in second place.
In an unusual turn of events Katsarov actually won the tournament without busting Brincat. When play reached nine players and action was expected to run into the Casino’s hard cutoff time of 5 a.m., players were given the option of stopping and returning the following day or continuing play. Players unanimously agreed to play on and play did reach the hard stop with just Katsarov and Brincat left.
As per the rules set down by the Tournament Director and agreed to by the players, Katsarov was declared the winner and the final prize money was allocated according to chip counts.Katsarov collected €122,750 and the Battle of Malta trophy and Brincat collected €107,250.
Katsarov also had the rare opportunity of choosing the winning hand of the tournament. He picked the Jack-Ten of hearts to display for the winner photos.
The event's success saw it awarded “Event of the Year' in the €2,000+ buy-in category in the European Poker Awards in 2015.
2014: Over 30 Professional Players in Attendance
The 2014 BOM attracted more professional poker players than ever before. American Maria Ho took over hosting duties from ESPN host Kara Scott.
Johnny Lodden, Thor Hansen, Fabrice Soulier, Gaëlle Garcia Diaz, Leo Margets, Luca Moschitta, Sofia Lovgren, Dominik Panka, Luca Pagano, Rupert Elder, Dominik Nitsche, Marcin Horecki, Hugo Lemaire, Andreas Hoivold and Konstantin Puchkov were all in attendance.
Norwegian actor Fridtjov Såheim, from the Netflix Tv series Lilyhammer also played. Eight different countries were represented at the 10-man final table. Sweden, the Netherlands, Bulgaria, France, Ireland, Poland and Italy all had players while Alan Brincat represented his home country of Malta.
2014 Spirit of Poker Awards
The 2014 PokerListings Spirit of Poker Awards were also handed out at the Battle of Malta. Accepting awards in person were Rising Star Dominik Panka and Living Legend Thor Hansen.Accepting his award via submitted video was 2014 Most Inspiring Player Shannon Shorr.
Battle of Malta 2015[edit]
The 2015 Battle of Malta again broke its own record for biggest poker tournament ever held on Malta. The €550 Main Event attracted 1,804 entries and generated a prize pool of over €875,000. The three top finishers all earned over €100,000 after a three-way deal. France’s Nicolas Proust was the champion after he defeated Norwegian Henrik Jacobsen heads-up. Third-place finisher Hendrik Koops, of the Netherlands, actually took the biggest prize of €125,000 because of the deal. Because of the size of the field the final table was played on the Monday. Celebrities and poker pros in attendance included American Idol star William Hung, Olympic Field Hockey Gold Medallist Fatima Moreira de Melo, former tennis professional Raemon Sluiter, Italian reality TV performer Sabina Hiatullah, Norwegian TV star Tone Damli, Finnish singer/model Kim Herold and Costa Rican poker legend Humberto Brenes.
Poker pros Anatoly Filatov, Charlie Carrel and Brenes received the 2015 PokerListings Spirit of Poker Awards.
Amazing Race 15 contestant Maria Ho returned for her second year as host.
Battle of Malta 2016[edit]
The 2016 Battle of Malta once again broke its own record for biggest poker tournament ever held on Malta for the fifth consecutive year. The main event saw 1,813 entries this time around and a record prize pool of €879,305.
The winner, Robert Berglund from Falun, Sweden, took home the biggest Battle of Malta payout to date €160,000. A deal was briefly discussed when play was six-handed but eventual runner-up, John Finnighan Linkins from Ireland, wasn’t happy with the terms and said no. He ended up taking home the second-place prize of €110,000. Incredibly Berglund’s best friend from Falun, Rasmus Eriksson, also made the final table and finished third for €67,000.
Six nationalities were represented at the final table with 3 players from Sweden, one from Norway, two from Italy, one from Spain, one from Ireland and one player, Lawrence Brandt, all the way from the USA.
For the first-time ever the final table (and feature table from the day before) was live streamed for viewers on PokerListings.com and Twitch. The live stream was sponsored by Betsafe, NordicBet and Betsson. Global Poker League host Roland Boothby, Rikard Åberg, NordicBet poker manager Jostein Grødum and PokerListings’ Matt Showell, Dirk Oetzmann and Maria Ho commentated
All of the 2016 Battle of Malta festival side events shattered records as well with €1,295,853.15 in total prize pools paid out across all events.
The fourth annual PokerListings Spirit of Poker Awards were also handed out. Brazil’s Felipe ‘Mojave’ Ramos was named Most Inspiring Player. Norway’s Silje Nilsen was named Rising Star and Russia’s Konstantin Puchkov won the Living Legend award.
Amazing Race 15 contestant Maria Ho returned for her third year as host.
Celebrity and pro guests included 2016 WSOP November Niner Fernando Pons, Fabrice Soulier, Leo Margets, Claire Renaut, Sofia Lovgren, Andreas Hoivold, Konstantin Puchkov, Finnish DJ Amanda Harkimo and Norwegian rapper and TV star Petter Katastrofe.
The 2014 Battle of Malta won the European Poker Award for Best Poker Event Under €2,000 Buy-In. The 2015 Battle of Malta was also nominated for the award.
Battle of Malta 2017[edit]
The 2017 Battle of Malta once again broke its own record for largest poker tournament ever held on the island of Malta. French TV presenter and model Gaelle Garcia Diaz took over the hosting duties from Maria Ho.
The €550 buy-in Main Event drew 2,074 entries – the first time the field crossed the 2,000-entry mark – and created a prize pool of €1,005,890.
Israeli farmer Nadav Lipszyc won the Main Event over a final table with four Israelis, three Norwegians and two Swedes and collected €200,000 for first place – more than the entire prize pool of the first Battle of Malta back in 2012. It was Lipsyzc’s first live tournament other than the satellite he played in Israel to win his seat in the BoM main event.
“I think that Daniel Negreanu entered my body and played for me,' said Lipszyc after his win. “I can’t believe this was my own performance. All I did was play my instincts. I don’t read books on poker. I don’t study. When I play online, I play for one or two Euro. I came here with basically no money in my pocket. I barely had money for breakfast. You might not believe it but this is the first live event I’ve ever played except for the satellite. I’ve never known what I was really good at. I think I know it now.”
Fellow Israeli Yaron Borenstein finished second for €132,000. Norway’s Asbjorn Elvevold finished third for €98,000
Sweden’s Jonas Hähnert, who finished in 8th place, also made the final table of the Battle of Malta Main Event in 2016 when he finished 9th. He’s the only player ever to make two BoM main event final tables.
| Places | Player | Payout |
| 1 | Nadav Patrick Lipszyc | €200,000 |
| 2 | Yaron Borenstein | €132,000 |
| 3 | Asbjorn Elvevold | €98,000 |
| 4 | Joakim Mats Thomas Wickstrom | €74,000 |
| 5 | Avihai Benshoham | €52,000 |
| 6 | Per-Eirik Koi | €34,000 |
| 7 | Dor Adda | €24,000 |
| 8 | Jonas Hähnert | €16,300 |
| 9 | Fredrik Akerholt | €12,240 |
Live Stream[edit]
The Battle of Malta main event final table was once again live streamed on PokerListings.com and on Twitch and hole cards shown for the first time.
The entire final table lasted 5 hours and the stream was hosted once again by Roland Boothby with a revolving group of guest commentators including Garcia Diaz and Andreas Hoivold.
Side Event Results[edit]
All side events at the 2017 Battle of Malta poker festival also hit record levels with just under €400,000 paid out in side event prize pools. A look at the side event numbers below:
€220 + €25 Siege of Malta Second Chance—560 entries - Prize Pool €119,504
€1,200 + €120 Grandmaster High Roller—135 Entries - Prize Pool €157,140
€90 + €10 BOM Ladies - 75 entries - Prize Pool €6,548
Malta Poker Festival 2018 Schedule
€100 + €10 Win the Cross—177 entries - Prize Pool €17,169
€200 + €25 PLO Knight Crusaders—133 entries - Prize Pool €25,802
€200 + €20 Turbo IPC After Battle—225 entries - Prize Pool €43,650
€300 + €30 Deepstack Turbo—259 entries - Prize Pool €75,369
€150 + €15 Play2Care Charity Crazy Pineapple - 160 entries - Prize Pool €23,280
PokerListings Spirit of Poker Awards 2017[edit]
The 2017 Spirit of Poker Award winners were also presented at the 2017 Battle of Malta. Over 3 months of fan voting online the following players were named the winners:
Most Inspiring Player - Liv Boeree
Rising Star - Espen Uhlen Jørstad
Living Legend - Per Hildebrand
Battle of Malta 2018[edit]
In 2018, Battle of Malta changed hands and was hosted by Casino Malta, part of the Eden Leisure Group. The event took place October 25–30 in a brand new venue – the spacious Eden Arena at the InterContinental Arena Conference Centre and was hosted by presenter Laura Cornelius. The €550 buy-in Main Event was given a €1,000,000 guarantee for the first time. With 3,816 entries for the Main Event – nearly double the expected number – and 13,000 tournament entries overall, the tournament venue was packed throughout the six-day festival making the 2018 Battle of Malta a spectacular success.
Malta-based French player Julien Stropoli took down the Main Event for €168,500 after cutting a five-way deal. He bested a tough final table featuring previous MPN Poker Tour finalist Mantas Urbonas, two-time Unibet Open champion Mateusz Moolhuizen and Grosvenor Ambassador Andy Hills, as well as fellow French pro Maxime Canevet (who was runner-up). The total prize pool was €1,850,760, shared by 570 players and nearly double the €1,000,000 guarantee.
Main Event final table results:
| Place | Name | Prize | Deal |
| 1 | Julien Stropoli | €300,000 | €168,500 |
| 2 | Maxime Canevet | €170,000 | €192,000 |
| 3 | Erik Ostergaard | €115,000 | €139,500 |
| 4 | Mantas Urbonas | €80,000 | €121,500 |
| 5 | Abdallah Fakhreddine | €65,000 | €108,500 |
| 6 | Andy Hills | €53,000 | |
| 7 | Gustav Vadenbring | €41,000 | |
| 8 | Mateusz Moolhuizen | €30,000 | |
| 9 | Jerry Mangum | €23,000 |
Side Events[edit]
There were a total of 15 side events at the 2018 Battle of Malta, including super satellites.
The €1,320 High Roller was won by Italy’s Simone Speranza for €60,000 in a high-speed final that included Estonian poker legend Henri Kasper. There were 240 entries generating a total prize pool of €279,360. The Poker League of Nations Ladies Event was won by Latvia’s Madara Sviksa for €2,533. Her prize also included a stunning iconic sterling silver bracelet from luxury jewellers Tiffany & Co. British player Paul Jux-Holderness won himself a seat for the 2019 Battle of Malta by beating tennis legend Boris Becker heads-up in the Pink October Malta charity event. The tournament raised a total of €20,000 including player donations, ticket sales and a hefty contribution from Casino Malta by Olympic Casino. The €88 Crazy 888s Battle was won by Daniel Sagians for €4,934 after he beat a 302-strong field. Norwegian player Erik Dallan beat Irish stalwart Annette O'Carroll to take down the €150 MPNPT Battle for €17,331. The €300 + €30 EPS Battle was won by Estonia's Mario Linno for €24,069 while Lukasz Fraczek from Poland took down the €200 + €20 IPC Battle, hosted by the Israeli Poker Championship.
Live stream[edit]
A cards-up live stream ran throughout the Main Event hosted by commentator Roy Brindley.
Battle of Malta 2019[edit]
The Battle of Malta 2019 is taking place October 25–30 and will again be held in the spacious Eden Arena at the InterContinental Conference Centre, adjacent to Casino Malta. Now heading into its eighth consecutive year, the event has built a solid reputation as the #1 destination No Limit tournament for low to mid-stakes poker players.
Main Event results 2012-2018[edit]
| Year | Winner | Winning hand | First place prize € | Entrants | Runner-up | Losing hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Nicodemo Piccolo | A♣Q♦ | 35,000 | 349 | Giulio Astarita | A♦9♦ |
| 2013 | Louis Cartarius | A♥Q♥ | 68,000 | 888 | Konrad Abela | A♠J♣ |
| 2014 | Antoan Katsarov | A♣8♥ | 122,750 | 1,447 | Alan Brincat | A♠5♠ |
| 2015 | Nicolas Proust | A♥K♠ | 110,000 | 1,804 | Henrik Jacobsen | A♦2♦ |
| 2016 | Robert Berglund | J♥10♦ | 160,000 | 1,813 | John Finnighan Linkins | A♦5♦ |
| 2017 | Nadav Lipszyc | 4♣4♦ | 200,000 | 2,074 | Yaron Borenstein | A♣4♥ |
| 2018 | Julien Stropoli | 5♣3♣ | 168,500 | 3,816 | Maxime Canevet | K♥K♣ |
References[edit]
- ^'Battle of Malta'.
- ^'PokerListings Battle of Malta Poker Tournament, No Limit Hold'em: Hendon Mob Poker Database'. Pokerdb.thehendonmob.com. 2012-11-25. Retrieved 2013-10-02.
- ^'2013 PokerListings Battle of Malta'.
External links[edit]
Malta Poker Festival is the brand new congregation heating up the field in the island country well-known for its gaming offerings. Portomaso Casino is the premium venue which saw the rich schedule of the poker festival in its entirety. The last event called €550 Grand Event is set to see its Final Table this Tuesday. For the time being, eight returning players are led by Fabian Gumz with a dominating chip count of 9,845,000.
This premium event comes as the logical conclusion to the entire poker festival with a generous buy-in and even more generous cash prizes. It featured a total of three starting flights attracting the needed player pool for the event. Day 1a brought as many as 302 participants willing to make it far in the structure of the poker tournament.
At the end of the day, the leading position on the daily rank list was taken by Ondrej Jakubcik from the Czech Republic who had some 462,000 to his name and reserved a spot among the leaders on Day 2.
Three Starting Flights Bring Many Entries
The daily chip leader is proficient in live poker tournaments, as he managed to climb all the way to the throne at the €550 No-Limit Hold’em The Poker One Main Event which took place at this very same casino venue. This feat guaranteed him a premium cash prize of €100,000 further motivating him to register in upcoming poker events. However, in the structure of this MPF Grand Event, he could not make it further than the 141st position eventually bagging €1,000.
This first day also drew poker pro Eyal Bensimhon coming straight from WSOP Europe in Rozvadov, the Czech Republic. Gumz also entered the run via Day 1a taking place on 1st November. Friday saw the second starting flight bringing the second batch of players to the overall player pool. A total of 451 players made it in through this second flight but at the end of the day, there were only 78 remaining. Domenico Gala was the player who climbed all the way to the top of the rank list with 329,000 in chips.
Day 1c managed to bring the largest pack of players adding 613 individuals to the overall number of tournament entries. A total of 13 hours were needed for them to make it to the other side, leaving only 118 of them still in the game. Laurens Can De Sype was in possession of the largest chip stack of 334,500. This is how Day 2 of the poker festival welcomed back a total of 260 participants, all aiming to showcase their poker skills to the fullest and potentially bag one of the top cash prizes of the Grand Event.
Malta Poker Festival 2018 Results
Final table time, baby! 🙏We have about €15k locked up right now, and if we climb to the top we will get to take home €150,000 + the 🏆! The final table will be streamed live on https://t.co/1AdEKnQrNY from 14.30 CET – link in bio! 📺@UnibetPoker@the_malta@UnibetNorgepic.twitter.com/elYUY4wRFp
— Espen Uhlen Jørstad (@UhlenPoker) November 6, 2018
Overall Prize Pool Reaches €662,510
The overall prize pool after 1,366 entries generated reached €662,510 which is the amount divided among the top 151 players. The chip leader at the end of Day 2 was none other than Borge Dypvik from Norway with a chip count of 3,120,000. Throughout the day Bensimhon managed to climb all the way to the runner-up position with 2,500,000 to his name.
Ladies and gents!
The stream of the final table of the #MPFGrand goes live in two hours at https://t.co/1RRgnQnGJd
Press “follow” and select to be notified when we go live!
Who will take that €150k top spot…?
❤️♣️♦️♠️
— The Malta Poker Festival (@the_malta) November 6, 2018
Poker action on Day 3 of the Grand Event was a heated battle among the 24 participants who claimed a spot at one of the last phases of the poker fight. Their ultimate goal was to reduce their number to 8 players only, as this is the number of seats available on the Final Table. Steven Iglesias from Norway is the player with the shortest chip stack at the moment, as he dropped to 975,000 in chips. Dypvik claimed the fourth position on the temporary leader board with some 3,645,000 in chips.
Malta Poker Festival 2018 Results
This first edition of the poker festival is definitely going to be a memorable one and players are further motivated by the prestige of claiming the trophy which has already been showcased. Whoever claims it will receive the title of Malta Poker Festival Grand Event Champion. First-place prize reaches €150,000 whereas the minimum cash payout of this Final Table reaches €14,710. Eight remaining players will return for Level 31 of the Grand Event which commences at 2 p.m. local time this Tuesday.