Sunday brought the biggest moment of the inaugural WSOP Circuit Malta so far at Casino Malta and the luxurious and spacious Eden Arena at the Intercontinental Malta. A total of 808 entries created a €197,475 prize pool in the €300 NLH Mini Main Event, and by the end of the night, Russia’s Ivan Botvinkin had claimed the first ring of the series.
Elsewhere, the €550 Senior Event bagged 15 survivors heading into Monday’s final day, the Mystery Bounty opened Flight B action, and the €300 Colossus got its first flight underway. The €300 Daily Knockout also wrapped up with a winner.
- Danesi Leads 120 Into Sunday Final Day at WSOP Circuit Malta Mini Main
- History Is Made as WSOP Circuit Malta Kicks Off With Two Mini Main Event Flights
- The Full Breakdown: Every WSOP Circuit Malta Ring Event (Sept. 25 – Oct. 5)
- The WSOP Circuit Is Coming to Malta for the First Time: Everything You Need to Know
Botvinkin Wins the €300 NLH Mini Main Event
Russia’s Ivan Botvinkin topped a field of 808 entries to win the €300 NLH Mini Main Event, Event #1 at the WSOP Circuit Malta at the InterContinental Malta in St. Julian’s, taking home €35,000 on Sunday, September 28.
The event generated a €197,475 prize pool with 120 players finishing in the money for a minimum cash of €600. Malta’s Andre Scerri began the final day as the chip leader before bailing out in 29th place for €1,080. Italy’s Edoardo Danesi, who bagged the Day 1A chip lead, finished as runner-up for €23,050. Arturo Piancaldini of Italy completed the podium in third for €16,000.
€300 buy-in | 808 entries | €197,475 prize pool
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Ivan Botvinkin | Russia | €35,000 |
| 2 |  Edoardo Danesi | Italy | €23,050 |
| 3 | Arturo Piancaldini | Italy | €16,000 |
| 4 | Matteo Ricco | Italy | €11,100 |
| 5 |  Daniel Mifsud | Malta | €7,925 |
| 6 | Neil Zammit | Malta | €5,800 |
| 7 |  Otto Guillanum Mathieu C | Belgium | €4,300 |
| 8 | Shaun Decesare | Malta | €3,250 |
| 9 |  Junyu Liu | China | €2,500 |
| 10 |  Benjamin Aouate | France | €1,975 |
| 11 |  Tiago Braisileiro | Brazil | €1,975 |
| 12 | Florian Bonnet Eymard | France | €1,560 |
| 13 |  Stanojevic Luka | Serbia | €1,560 |
| 14 | Alexandre Riera | France | €1,560 |
| 15 | Tony Arf | Brazil | €1,560 |
| 16 |  Ivelin Kolev | Bulgaria | €1,280 |
| 17 | Tommaso Maione | Italy | €1,280 |
| 18 | Christophe Buntinx | Belgium | €1,280 |
| 19 | Mark Vella | Malta | €1,280 |
| 20 | Andrea Zottola | Italy | €1,280 |
| 21 | Franck Bain | France | €1,280 |
| 22 |  Alon Huberman | Israel | €1,280 |
| 23 |  Nima Saken Shaft | Germany | €1,280 |
| 24 | Anthony Gos | France | €1,080 |
| 25 |  Shane O’Neill | Ireland | €1,080 |
| 26 |  Sarlikiotis Nikolaos | Greece | €1,080 |
| 27 | Alessandro Angotti | Italy | €1,080 |
| 28 | Dimitrios Koultoukis | Greece | €1,080 |
| 29 | Andre Scerri | Malta | €1,080 |
| 30 | Victoria Ailloud | France | €1,080 |
| 31 |  Elton Malaj | Albania | €1,080 |
| 32 |  Kevin Houghton | United Kingdom | €920 |
| 33 | Luigi D’altero | Italy | €920 |
| 34 | Alessio Assennato | Italy | €920 |
| 35 | Matteo Montanari | Italy | €920 |
| 36 | Romain Nardin | France | €920 |
| 37 |  Hans Walderstedt Jonson | Sweden | €920 |
| 38 |  Maksim Harbachou | Belarus | €920 |
| 39 | Gabi Livshitz | Israel | €920 |
| 40 |  Ferdinand Janssen | Netherlands | €810 |
| 41 | Matthew Micallef | Malta | €810 |
| 42 | Julien Ricard | France | €810 |
| 43 | Federico Fulciniti | Italy | €810 |
| 44 | Fausto Tantillo | Italy | €810 |
| 45 |  Hubert Michal Grotkowski | Poland | €810 |
| 46 | Eryk Bogdas | Poland | €810 |
| 47 | Yehoushua Kaynan | Israel | €810 |
| 48 | Joseph Grech | Ireland | €730 |
| 49 | Antonio Gramazio | Italy | €730 |
| 50 | Giovanni Magliari | Italy | €730 |
| 51 | Salvatore Senapa | Italy | €730 |
| 52 | Renzo Holling | Netherlands | €730 |
| 53 | Paul Blakesley | United Kingdom | €730 |
| 54 | Gang Wang | China | €730 |
| 55 | Christopher Agius | Malta | €730 |
| 56 | Alessandro Comi | Italy | €670 |
| 57 | Riccardo Galluzzo | Italy | €670 |
| 58 |  Zoltan Farkas | Romania | €670 |
| 59 | Alberto Galluzzo | Italy | €670 |
| 60 |  Hugo Gotuzzo Montes De Oca | Argentina | €670 |
| 61 | Cedrik Fritsch | France | €670 |
| 62 | Sharon Kersley | United Kingdom | €670 |
| 63 | Aleksandar Georgiev | Bulgaria | €670 |
| 64 | Alessandro D’amore | Italy | €630 |
| 65 | Stuart Greene | United Kingdom | €630 |
| 66 | Semih Retzep | Germany | €630 |
| 67 | Giulio Spampinato | Italy | €630 |
| 68 | Kenneth Aquilina | Malta | €630 |
| 69 |  Ylianttila Saara Susanna | Finland | €630 |
| 70 | Callum Gordon | United Kingdom | €630 |
| 71 | Lin Chen | United Kingdom | €630 |
| 72 | Anderson Nunez Corrales | Malta | €600 |
| 73 |  Claudio Muller | Switzerland | €600 |
| 74 |  Lam Ching Long | Hong Kong | €600 |
| 75 | Angelo Censabella | Italy | €600 |
| 76 | Philip Pearson | United Kingdom | €600 |
| 77 | Mark Johnston | United Kingdom | €600 |
| 78 | Erik Lindqwist | Sweden | €600 |
| 79 | Clement Bonnant | France | €600 |
| 80 | Moritz Felsing | Germany | €600 |
| 81 | Daniel Kuhlmann | Germany | €600 |
| 82 |  Abdellah Baali | Algeria | €600 |
| 83 | Matthew Adams | Malta | €600 |
| 84 |  Aitor Perez Pinol | Spain | €600 |
| 85 | Aceto Luca | Italy | €600 |
| 86 | Clement Manquat | France | €600 |
| 87 | Luke Pace | Malta | €600 |
| 88 | Degennaro Daniele | Italy | €600 |
| 89 | Emrah Ates | Switzerland | €600 |
| 90 | Thibaut Thevenet | France | €600 |
| 91 | Jordan Dumas | France | €600 |
| 92 | Rizzo Russell | Malta | €600 |
| 93 | Simon Bouaksa | France | €600 |
| 94 | Giuseppe Boussemart | France | €600 |
| 95 | Quentin Garnot | France | €600 |
| 96 | James Hart | United Kingdom | €600 |
| 97 | Salvatore Incadorna | Italy | €600 |
| 98 | Ninib Messo | Sweden | €600 |
| 99 | Felipe Morais | Brazil | €600 |
| 100 | Mike Laskar | France | €600 |
| 101 | Salvatore Patti | Italy | €600 |
| 102 | Pavle Pecelj | Serbia | €600 |
| 103 | Pascal Lardy | France | €600 |
| 104 | Antonini Marco | Italy | €600 |
| 105 | Hen Barak | Israel | €600 |
| 106 | Andrey Voropaev | Belarus | €600 |
| 107 | Dalton Bezzina | Malta | €600 |
| 108 | Foschini Domenico | Italy | €600 |
| 109 | Ivan Valentino | Italy | €600 |
| 110 | Marco Bognanni | Italy | €600 |
| 111 | Tommy Mokhtari | Sweden | €600 |
| 112 |  Brizeth Lomeli | United States | €600 |
| 113 | Federico Parisi | Italy | €600 |
| 114 | Mirko Fric | Serbia | €600 |
| 115 |  Tadej Mocnik | Slovenia | €600 |
| 116 | Marco Maggio | Italy | €600 |
| 117 | Johan Ekdahl | Sweden | €600 |
| 118 | Angelo Vietti | Italy | €600 |
| 119 | Riccardo Gubser | Switzerland | €600 |
| 120 | Federico Malleni | Italy | €600 |
Event #2: €550 Senior (50+) — 15 Survivors Advance to Monday Final Day
The €550 Senior Event (50+), Event #2 at WSOP Circuit Malta, drew 98 entries and finished Day 1 with 15 players in the money for Monday’s final day, with 15 places paid and a minimum cash of €1,130. The winner will take home €12,263. The final day restarts at 12 p.m. with blinds at 5,000/10,000 (10,000) and increasing every 40 minutes.
Five Italians are at the top of the board, led by Francesco Gasparro with 750,000 in chips. Meanwhile, poker.pro’s Terje Bremseth entered his first ring event and is guaranteed a min-cash with a ring within his reach if he is able to run up his shorter stack of 161,000, which is good for 16 big blinds.
€550 buy-in | 98 entries | 15 survivors advancing
| Position | Player | Country | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Francesco Gasparro | Italy | 750,000 |
| 2 | Salvatore Ritrovato | Italy | 602,000 |
| 3 | Angelo Censabella | Italy | 584,000 |
| 4 | Giovanni Pollini | Italy | 450,000 |
| 5 | Luciano Cutri | Italy | 421,000 |
| 6 | Simon Crowe | Netherlands | 314,000 |
| 7 | Marios Savvides | United States | 296,000 |
| 8 |  Jonas Lapinskas | Lithuania | 281,000 |
| 9 | Alon Huberman | Israel | 255,000 |
| 10 | Garry Spinks | United Kingdom | 222,000 |
| 11 | Michael Fryett | United States | 204,000 |
| 12 |  Terje Bremseth | Norway | 161,000 |
| 13 | Peter Hohn | Germany | 158,000 |
| 14 | Marina Mendy | France | 110,000 |
| 15 |  Norman Butterfield | Canada | 91,000 |
Event #3: €550 NLH Mystery Bounty Day 1A — 19 Advance
The €550 NLH Mystery Bounty opened its first flight on Sunday with 120 entries and 19 players surviving to advance. Leading the field is Gabi Livshitz of Israel, who had an impressive Sunday, running deep in both the Mini Main Event, finishing 39th for €920, and then racking up the top stack in Mystery Bounty Flight 1A.
Flight B continues Monday at 12:30 p.m., with the turbo Flight C following at 8 p.m.
€550 buy-in | Day 1A: 120 entries | 19 survivors advancing
| Position | Player | Country | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gabi Livshitz | Israel | 651,000 |
| 2 | Giuseppe Boussemart | France | 648,000 |
| 3 | Zoltan Farkas | Romania | 539,000 |
| 4 | Julien Ricard | France | 405,000 |
| 5 | Anthony Gos | France | 388,000 |
| 6 | Salvatore Senapa | Italy | 342,000 |
| 7 | Claudio Muller | Switzerland | 290,000 |
| 8 | Angelo Vietti | Italy | 236,000 |
| 9 | Wang Gang | China | 213,000 |
| 10 | Elodie Noel | France | 189,000 |
| 11 | Ronen Avraham | Israel | 174,000 |
| 12 | Alexander Davies | Ireland | 165,000 |
| 13 | Lam Ching Long | Hong Kong | 134,000 |
| 14 |  Mathias Jensen | Denmark | 115,000 |
| 15 | Giuseppe Tredici | Italy | 111,000 |
| 16 | Alessandro Di Girolamo | Italy | 103,000 |
| 17 | Jerker Bergfeldt | Sweden | 93,000 |
| 18 | Oliver Kathriner | Switzerland | 76,000 |
| 19 | Michel Chambredier | France | 59,000 |
Event #4: €300 Colossus Day 1A — 7 Survivors in First of Six Flights
The €300 Colossus, Event #4 at WSOP Circuit Malta, opened its first of six flights Sunday with 44 entries. Seven players bagged chips at the end of Day 1A to advance to the Day 2 field. Leading the way is France’s Franck Bain, who also cashed the Mini Main Event earlier in the day, finishing 21st for €1,280.
Five additional opening flights remain, with the Colossus running until Wednesday.
€300 buy-in | Day 1A: 44 entries | 7 survivors advancing
| Position | Player | Country | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Franck Bain | France | 466,500 |
| 2 | Muhamet Perati | Italy | 332,500 |
| 3 | Adrian Ziemichod | Poland | 173,000 |
| 4 | Ivelin Kolev | Bulgaria | 136,000 |
| 5 | Marco Bognanni | Italy | 87,500 |
| 6 | Jorn Olsen | Norway | 76,000 |
| 7 | Maria Koutsokuki | Greece | 38,500 |
Foschini Mario Wins the €300 Daily Knockout
Foschini Mario of Italy took down the €300 Daily Knockout on Sunday at WSOP Circuit Malta for the top cash prize. No ring is awarded in the Daily Knockout. The event generated an €8,519 prize pool for nine cash finishers, with an additional €5,900 in bounty prizes distributed throughout the day. Bounties are not included in the prize column below.
€300 buy-in | €8,519 prize pool (bounties not included)
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Foschini Mario | Italy | €2,659 |
| 2 | Aleksandar Georgiev | Bulgaria | €1,685 |
| 3 | Salvatore Benivegna | Italy | €1,130 |
| 4 | Salvatore Cioffi | Italy | €800 |
| 5 |  Eduardo De Mello Schneider | Portugal | €600 |
| 6 |  Serhii Ivanenko | Ukraine | €480 |
| 7 | Valerii Mishchuk | Ukraine | €410 |
| 8 | Wilhelm Isaak | Germany | €380 |
| 9 | Jacopo Giacomazzi | Italy | €375 |
WSOP Circuit Malta Monday Schedule
Monday’s action at the WSOP Circuit Malta at the InterContinental Malta in St. Julian’s kicks off at noon with the final day of the €550 Senior Event, followed by Flight B of the €550 NLH Mystery Bounty at 12:30 p.m.
The €300 NLH Ladies Event starts at 1 p.m., the €300 Daily Deepstack fires at 5 p.m., and the turbo Mystery Bounty Flight C closes entries at 8 p.m. A €300 Landmark Satellite to the High Roller wraps the night at 9 p.m.
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
| 12:00 | Event #2: €550 Seniors Final Day |
| 12:00 | €70 Landmark Satellite to Mystery Bounty |
| 12:30 | Event #3: €550 NLH Mystery Bounty Flight B |
| 13:00 | Event #5: €300 NLH Ladies Event Day 1 |
| 17:00 | €300 Daily Deepstack |
| 20:00 | Event #3: €550 NLH Mystery Bounty Flight C (Turbo) |
| 21:00 | €300 Landmark Satellite to High Roller |
FAQ
- Photos courtesy of TexaPoker. Payouts courtesy of WSOP.com.
