Since its inception in 2012, the Battle of Malta festival has been a go-to event for recreational live poker in Europe. Due to the current events, especially the Covid-19 pandemic, the festival is holding online for the first time. The event kicked off on November 1 and ran through to Nov. 22. 73,240 entries were made across 14 ring events making up a prize pool of $15,623,000, smashing the $11.1 million in guarantees.

Battle Of Malta Poker Tournament

The Battle of Malta Main Event was the highlight of the festival as it attracted 8,789 entrants. The $550 buy-in event had a $3 million guarantee but was smashed as entrants generated a massive $4,592,252 prize pool. All other event has been completed except the Main Event that is yet to play down to a winner.

• The tournament will run from November 1st until November 22, 2020. With a debut in 2012, the Malta poker series has become one of the most popular poker tournaments in Europe. Drafted keeping in mind low-mid range players, the Battle of Malta has beaten its prize pool every year and is all set to do the same for this online poker tournament.
• The Alpha is the first tournament on the 2021 calendar for the Malta-based tournaments, scheduled to take place Feb. In addition, the dates of next year's Malta Poker Championships (May 9-15), as well as the Malta Poker Festival itself (November 3-9), have been announced. 25 Update: Battle of Malta Moved Online.
• The Battle of Malta festival has been a staple of recreational live poker in Europe since its inception in 2012. This year, the festival was hosted for the first time online at GGPoker from Nov.

The nine finalists were given a week to prepare as the final table was set on Sunday, November 22. The ninth-placed player is guaranteed a prize of $30,925, but all players will slug it out to be the winner of this iconic festival and go home with the massive reward of $636,478.

Battle Of Malta Poker Tournaments

The 2020 GGPoker Battle of Malta played to a finish Nov. 28, with the nine remaining players in the Main Event returning to determine a champion. Brazilian player ‘Eureka!!’ emerged victorious, taking home a $636,478 payday as the online festival came to a close.

On Saturday, November 28, action will resume by 6:30 pm. GMT. GGPoker.Tv will air the action, as part of the Saturday Sessions hosted by Kevin Martin and Randy “nanonoko” Lew with a 30-minute delay.

WSOP bracelet winner, Joseph Cheong is part of the nine finalists to compete on Saturday but has a lot of work to do if he is to add the Battle of Malta to his title list. He has gathered a total of $1,716,343 in tournament winnings. His previous tournament-high was $187,463. If he seeks to beat his last cash figure, he will need to finish in this event in at least the fourth position.

He comes into the final table with 9,995,654 in chips, the second shortest stack among all players on the table. “UnknoWholam” comes into the game with the shortest stack of 8,414,969 in chips. He, however, has an impressive total tournament win of $6,289,088, with $478,383 being his highest mark in a single tournament. To surpass that, he will have to win the Battle of Malta title.

“HORN3T” comes into the final table in a very comfortable position with a cheap leading stack of 62,460,806. That is almost a 20 big blind cushion compared to his nearest opponent who has 43,977,901 in chips. Patrick “Egyption” Tardiff, GGPoker Squad member comes into the finals table placed third with regards to chip size. He has a stack of 22,446,704. If he can manage to finish 8th he will beat his previous biggest high score of $42,400 that he won a few weeks ago at the $100 Global MILLION$. With an eighth-place finish, he will head home with $45,133.

Out of all nine players, six are guaranteed their biggest cash in the career if they are placed ninth. Whoever wins this Main Event is guaranteed their biggest score ever.

The final table payouts are:

Place Prize

1. $636,478
2. $436,111
3. $298,823
4. $204,753
5. $104,296
6. $96,131
7. $65, 869
8. $45,133
9. $30,925