Current season, competition or edition: Battle of Malta 2016 |
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Official logo
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Sport | Poker |
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Founded | 2012 |
Owner(s) | PokerListings.com |
Motto | Let the battle begin! |
Country | Malta |
Venue(s) | Portomaso Casino, St Julian's, Malta |
Most recent champion(s) |
Robert Berglund (2016 Main Event) |
Official website | http://www.pokerlistings.com/battle-of-malta |
The Battle of Malta is a no-limit hold'em poker tournament held at the Portomaso Casino in Malta.
The debut event took place in November 2012. After the success of the first event, PokerListings decided to make the Battle of Malta an annual event.[2] Designed for the low- to mid-stakes poker player, the 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 edition had the same low buy-in (€550) and a larger prize pool.
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.
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 players Daniel 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.
The 2014 Battle of Malta took place from Nov. 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.