The Battle of Malta first moved to Casino Malta in 2018. Since then, it has grown from 3,816 entries to 6,039, increased its prize pool from €1.85 million to €2.73 million, and established itself as Europe’s premier low buy-in live festival. With the 2026 Autumn Edition now less than four weeks away at Casino Malta, here is how the Casino Malta era unfolded and every Main Event winner across it.
- Read more: The 2026 Battle of Malta Autumn Edition: Full Schedule and €2,000,000 in Guarantees
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The Move to Casino Malta: Growing Into the Ballroom
For its first six editions, Battle of Malta called Portomaso Casino home. By 2015, the event had already outgrown the space, spilling into the adjacent Hilton Malta for additional table capacity. By 2017, with 2,074 entries and Malta’s first seven-figure poker prize pool (€1,005,890), it was clear the basement casino had given Battle of Malta everything it could. It was time to move.
In 2018, the tournament relocated to Casino Malta, housed within the InterContinental Malta hotel complex in St. Julian’s. Casino Malta had opened on January 17, 2016, built with an investment of over €12 million and developed as the largest casino on the island. With roughly 3,000 square meters of casino space alone, plus the ample space at the Eden Arena at the InterContinental Malta, with capacity for hundreds of tables, it could accommodate a poker festival on a scale Portomaso never could.
The results were immediate. The 2018 Main Event drew 3,816 entries, nearly double the record set the year before. The prize pool hit €1,850,760. Festival-wide, over 13,000 total entries were logged across all events, earning the festival the title of the largest poker event ever held in Malta.
COVID, GGPoker, and the Online Years
The 2019 edition, still branded as MPNPT at the Battle of Malta in partnership with the Microgaming Poker Network, pushed the Casino Malta live record to 4,657 entries and a prize pool of €2,258,645. It was the pre-pandemic peak. Moldova’s Serghei Lisii took the title for €247,167 in a heads-up match against the Netherlands’ Steven van Zadelhoff. This was one of the more memorable heads-up matches in poker history, with a vivid memory commentating with The Tower until a winner was crowned. The heads-up affair was a marathon, lasting nearly seven hours, with both players having each other on crumbs at various times before eventually agreeing to a deal.
The pandemic ended in-person play in 2020, but Battle of Malta found a way. Moving online to GGPoker on a $550 buy-in with a $3 million guarantee, the 2020 event delivered the largest field in the tournament’s history: 8,789 entries, a $4,592,252 prize pool, and a winner in Brazil’s Rodrigo Selouan, who took $636,477 after roughly five minutes of heads-up play. The 2021 online edition ran similarly, attracting 6,591 entries. An anonymous New Zealand player known only as “Raggaz” won €378,285, declined a heads-up deal, and finished the job with pocket sevens against king-deuce.
The online editions did something the live festival could not have achieved as quickly: they pulled in players from markets Battle of Malta had never reached before. That exposure, and the GGPoker relationship that came with it, set the stage for what the event would become when live poker returned.
The Two-Per-Year Era and Back-to-Back Records
When the live festival returned in 2022, it came back with a new structure: two editions per year, Spring and Autumn. The Spring edition targets a smaller but dedicated audience; the Autumn edition is the flagship. This format has allowed the event to serve different player demographics without cannibalizing either edition.
The numbers since 2022 have been remarkable. Autumn 2022 drew 4,342 entries and Greece’s Dimitrios Anastasakis won €285,900. Autumn 2023 drew 3,432, and Italy’s Gabriele Re won €209,500. Autumn 2024 set a new live record with 5,799 entries, Spain’s Cosme Gomez Martinez taking home €255,800 after navigating a remarkable run as the short stack for much of the final table. Then came Autumn 2025.
Vasileios Zisis, part of the strong Greek contingent thanks to the Battle of Malta’s partnership with Novibet Poker, put his own stamp on the 2024 Battle of Malta. He shipped the 2024 Battle of Malta Spring Edition Main Event for a cool €100,000, and it looked possible he would sweep the year. Instead, he took second in the larger 2024 Battle of Malta Autumn Edition Main Event for €160,800, defining a memorable year in Malta.
The 10th Anniversary edition of Battle of Malta in October 2025 drew 6,039 entries from more than 70 countries, crossing 6,000 for the first time in the event’s live history. A single Day 1G flight drew 1,990 players alone. Italy’s Candido Cappiello won €225,770 after a deal with compatriot Luigi Shehadeh, who took second for € 181,750. Side events across the festival also set year-over-year records: the Mystery Siege was up 27%, the High Roller up 32%, the Super High Roller up 36%, the Ladies Event up 29%. By almost any measure, it was the tournament’s finest live edition.
Battle of Malta Main Event Winners: The Casino Malta Era
| Year | Edition | Winner | Country | Prize | Entries | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | MPNPT |  Julien Stropoli | France | €168,500* | 3,816 | €1,850,760 |
| 2019 | MPNPT |  Serghei Lisii | Moldova | €247,167* | 4,657 | €2,258,645 |
| 2022 | Spring |  Giuseppe Rosa | Italy | €200,340 | 2,592 | €1,245,600 |
| 2022 | Autumn |  Dimitrios Anastasakis | Greece | €285,900* | 4,342 | €2,101,368 |
| 2023 | Spring | Dario Barone | Italy | €156,500 | 1,992 | €954,720 |
| 2023 | Autumn | Gabriele Re | Italy | €209,500* | 3,432 | €1,647,360 |
| 2024 | Spring | Vasileios Zisis | Greece | €100,000 | 1,814 | €870,720 |
| 2024 | Autumn |  Cosme Gomez Martinez | Spain | €255,800* | 5,799 | €2,783,520 |
| 2025 | Spring |  Adrian Ziemichod | Poland | €120,000 | 1,542 | €740,160 |
| 2025 | Autumn (10th Anniv.) | Candido Cappiello | Italy | €225,770* | 6,039 | €2,728,270 |
| 2026 | Summer | Alejandro Asenjo | Spain | €94,520* | 2,667 | €1,280,160 |
* Deal at the final table
What the 2026 Autumn Edition Looks Like
The 2026 Battle of Malta Autumn Edition runs October 27 through November 4 at Casino Malta. Total guarantees across the festival sit at €2,000,000. The Main Event carries a €1,500,000 guarantee, the largest single Main Event guarantee in the tournament’s history, with nine starting flights, a €600/€300 split buy-in structure, and a final table on November 4. poker.pro will be on site providing live coverage throughout the week.
However, before the official Battle of Malta begins, the Road to BOM on Oct. 23-26 will feature a handful of warm-up tournaments and satellites, including the two-day €330 SUPER Double Bounty.
Alongside the Main Event, the popular €450 Mystery Siege will boast five opening flights on October 27-30, with a winner crowned on Day 2 on Oct. 30.
Bigger games include the €300K guaranteed €1,100 High Roller runs November 1-2, and the Teddy.poker €5,200 Mega High Roller (€5,200) on November 2. In addition to Teddy.poker, the PLO Masters, the Bounty Hunter Days, IPC, the Beer Poker Tour, and others are also back with sponsored events.
Eight editions at Casino Malta, 3,816 entries grown to 6,039, and a festival that now carries €2,000,000 in guarantees. The Battle of Malta has stayed exactly what it set out to be: a serious poker tournament at a price anyone can reach. Everything else around it just got bigger.
2026 Battle of Malta Autumn Edition: Full Schedule
Road to BOM (Oct. 23-26)
| Date | Time | Event |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 23 | 16:00 | €120 Afternoon White Knight NLH |
| 18:00 | €330 SUPER Double Bounty Day 1A | |
| 21:00 | €70 Satellite Accumulator to BOM | |
| Oct 24 | 16:00 | €120 Afternoon White Knight NLH |
| 18:00 | €330 SUPER Double Bounty Day 1B | |
| 21:00 | €70 Satellite Accumulator to BOM | |
| Oct 25 | 16:00 | €120 Afternoon White Knight NLH |
| 18:00 | SUPER Double Bounty Final Day | |
| 21:00 | €70 Satellite Accumulator to BOM | |
| Oct 26 | 15:00 | €120 Afternoon White Knight NLH |
| 18:00 | Free Roll Road to Your Battle | |
| 21:00 | €70 Satellite Accumulator to BOM |
Main Festival (Oct. 27 – Nov. 4)
| Date | Time | Event |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 27 | 17:00 | €70 Satellite One Shot to BOM |
| 19:00 | €450 Mystery Siege of Malta Day 1A | |
| 21:00 | €70 Satellite Accumulator to BOM | |
| Oct 28 | 11:00 | €70 Satellite One Shot to BOM |
| 13:00 | €600 BOM €1,500,000 GTD Day 1A | |
| 15:00 | €450 Mystery Siege of Malta Day 1B | |
| 16:00 | €330 Tag Team Event | |
| 17:00 | €330 Pot Limit Omaha | |
| 20:00 | €600 BOM €1,500,000 GTD Day 1B | |
| 21:00 | €70 Satellite Accumulator to BOM | |
| 22:00 | €130 Dark Knight NLH | |
| Oct 29 | 11:00 | €70 Satellite One Shot to BOM |
| 13:00 | €600 BOM €1,500,000 GTD Day 1C | |
| 15:00 | €450 Mystery Siege of Malta Day 1C | |
| 17:00 | €300 Sviten by PLO Masters | |
| 18:00 | €170 Bounty Hunter Days Crazy Pineapple | |
| 20:00 | €600 BOM €1,500,000 GTD Day 1D | |
| 21:00 | €70 Satellite Accumulator to BOM | |
| 22:00 | €130 Dark Knight NLH | |
| Oct 30 | 11:00 | €70 Satellite One Shot to BOM |
| 11:30 | €450 Mystery Siege of Malta Day 1E | |
| 13:00 | €600 BOM €1,500,000 GTD Day 1E | |
| 17:00 | €175 Pot Limit Omaha 4-5c Round Each | |
| 18:00 | €130 Dark Knight NLH | |
| 19:00 | Mystery Siege of Malta Day 2 Final | |
| 20:00 | €600 BOM €1,500,000 GTD Day 1F | |
| 21:00 | €70 Satellite Accumulator to BOM | |
| Oct 31 | 11:00 | €70 Satellite One Shot to BOM |
| 13:00 | €600 BOM €1,500,000 GTD Day 1G | |
| 15:00 | €330 Bounty Hunter Days Bounty | |
| 17:00 | €330 Pot Limit Omaha €5,000 GTD | |
| 20:00 | €600 BOM €1,500,000 GTD Day 1H | |
| 21:00 | €70 NLH Satellite Accumulator to High Roller | |
| Nov 1 | 10:00 | €600 BOM €1,500,000 GTD Day 1I |
| 11:00 | €130 NLH Satellite One Shot to High Roller | |
| 15:00 | €220 IPC Side Event NLH | |
| 17:00 | €470 PLO Masters Main Event | |
| 19:00 | €130 Dark Knight NLH | |
| 20:00 | BOM €1,500,000 GTD Day 2 | |
| 21:00 | €1,100 High Roller €300,000 GTD Day 1 | |
| 22:00 | €70 NLH Satellite Accumulator to High Roller | |
| Nov 2 | 11:00 | €130 NLH Satellite One Shot to High Roller |
| 13:00 | BOM €1,500,000 GTD Day 3 | |
| 14:00 | €1,100 High Roller €300,000 GTD Day 2 Final | |
| 15:00 | €240 Bounty €50,000 GTD Final Day | |
| 16:00 | €5,200 Mega Teddy High Roller | |
| 17:00 | €200 Ladies Event | |
| 18:00 | Beer Poker Event | |
| 20:00 | €200 Satellite Casino Malta Royal High Roller | |
| Nov 3 | 14:00 | BOM €1,500,000 GTD Day 4 |
| 14:00 | Mega High Roller Final Table | |
| 15:00 | €150 IPC Turbo Deep Stack NLH | |
| 16:00 | €2,200 Casino Malta Royal High Roller | |
| 17:00 | €200 HORSE | |
| 18:00 | €240 PokerNews Open Event | |
| 22:00 | €130 Dark Knight NLH | |
| Nov 4 | 14:00 | BOM €1,500,000 GTD Final Table |
| 14:00 | €200 NETWIN NLH |
Battle of Malta FAQ
- Article originally produced at poker.pro.
