The first-ever WSOP Circuit Malta Main Event ring has been awarded. Italy’s Luca Topazio claimed the title at Casino Malta, outlasting a field of 879 entries to take home €200,000 from a €1,115,451 prize pool, along with the gold WSOP Circuit ring. He will also be flying to the Bahamas in December for the WSOP Paradise with a $5,000 package in his pocket, where he can one-up the ring by playing for a bracelet.
The Main Event wasn’t the only winner crowned at Casino Malta on Sunday. Two other final decisions were made: France’s Maxime Chilaud won the €1,000 NLH Deepstack for €53,350, while the €550 Pot-Limit Omaha went to Ukraine’s Oleksandr Sadovyi, who pocketed €17,500. Both also earned a $5,000 WSOP Paradise package.
Meanwhile, the €400 Superstack got underway with its Day 1, and the Colossus saw another 190 entries on its last starting day.
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Topazio Beats Kopec Heads-Up to Win the Main Event
The €1,500 Main Event ran four starting flights, drawing 879 entries and building the €1,115,451 prize pool. Nine players returned for the last day, with Poland’s Radoslaw Kopec arriving in pole position. It didn’t stay that way for long. Luca Topazio quickly took charge of the table and played an aggressive game, and by the end it was the Italian and the Pole battling heads-up.
Topazio delivered another heartbreak to Kopec, whose runner-up finish is now the second of his career in a Circuit Main Event, following his second-place finish at the 2025 WSOP Circuit Middelkerke Main Event in Belgium. Kopec collected €125,000 as a consolation prize.
For Topazio, it’s the second major win of his career. His first came back in 2010, when he won the Italian Poker Tour Main Event in Nova Gorica, Slovenia, for €190,000. Sixteen years later, he topped that score with €200,000 and added a gold WSOP Circuit ring to his collection.
2026 WSOP Circuit Malta Event #8: €1,500 Main Event Final Table Recap
It was a deep final table. Even the shortest stack, Nicola Bordignon, started with 22 big blinds, while Kopec led the way with 82 big blinds, ahead of two Italians, Matteo Ricco with 69 and Luca Topazio with 67.
Bordignon was the first to go. After Christoffer Jensen opened from early position, Bordignon three-bet shoved 5♥5♦ and Jensen called with A♦K♣. A king on the 3♠K♦10♠ flop gave Jensen top pair, and the J♠ turn and 2♦ river changed nothing. Bordignon was out in ninth place for €14,191.
By the time the livestream picked up with eight players left, Topazio had already moved one chip ahead of Kopec, with the two practically even at the top of the counts.
Jensen, who had just eliminated Bordignon, soon found himself on the other side of a big pot. He opened from the cutoff, Kopec three-bet from the button with K♠7♣, and Lucas van den Belt jammed from the big blind. Jensen shoved with A♣K♦ and Kopec folded. Van den Belt showed J♠J♦ and stayed ahead on 2♦4♠10♠3♣2♠, eliminating the Dane in eighth for €17,300.
Vitali Bibik was next out. Ricco opened from the cutoff and Bibik shoved the big blind with Q♠10♥. Ricco called with A♦7♣. Both paired up on A♠Q♦K♦8♠9♠, but Ricco’s aces held, and Bibik collected €23,000 for seventh.
Ricco then doubled through Kopec. Kopec raised from the button, Ricco three-bet from the small blind, and Kopec shoved with 8♠8♥. Ricco called with K♥Q♣ and paired his queen on Q♦3♥10♣A♦3♦ to double up.
The second Italian to leave was Alberto Cigliano, who jammed K♣Q♠ from under the gun. Ricco called on the button with 9♦9♣, but van den Belt woke up with A♠A♦ in the small blind and shoved, which got Ricco to fold. Cigliano had a straight draw on the 8♥J♥10♣ flop, but the 7♥ turn and Q♦ river missed, and he was out in sixth for €31,000.
Topazio kept adding to his stack. He raised from under the gun, and Aleksandar Georgiev, a past winner of a poker.pro event, shoved the cutoff with K♠10♦. Topazio called with J♠J♦, and the 8♥9♣A♣A♦5♠ board never helped Georgiev, who went out in fifth for €43,000.
Kopec then looked to be on the brink of elimination. He opened from under the gun, Topazio three-bet from the big blind with J♠J♣, and Kopec fired back with a four-bet shove of A♣2♣. Topazio called, and the jacks were well ahead on 8♥7♥K♦4♦, but the A♦ river rescued Kopec and doubled him into a big chip lead.
Kopec put those chips to work right away. Ricco opened from under the gun, Kopec moved all in from the big blind, and Ricco snap-called with J♥J♣. Kopec had K♥Q♥, and after the 8♣10♥2♠ flop and 7♥ turn gave him a flush draw, he didn’t even need it as the K♦ river paired his king and sent Ricco home in fourth for €60,000.
With Kopec, Topazio, and the Netherlands’ Lucas van den Belt the last three standing, the Italian and the Pole tangled in pot after pot, and Topazio turned the momentum in one big hand. He limped the small blind with A♣5♦, Kopec raised from the big blind with 10♦10♣, and Topazio called. On the 3♥A♠5♠ flop, Kopec bet and Topazio check-raised, which Kopec called. Topazio bet again on the 3♠ turn, and Kopec called after a long think. When the 9♠ river came, Topazio checked, Kopec fired a big bet, and Topazio called, scooping the pot with two pair.
Van den Belt was the next to fall. He shoved the small blind with 3♦3♣, and Topazio called from the big blind with 5♥4♣. Topazio paired his five on the 8♣5♠10♦ flop, leaving van den Belt needing a three. The 9♣ turn and Q♠ river didn’t bring one, and he took third for €85,000.
Topazio began heads-up play with roughly a 5-to-1 chip lead, and it was all over in the second hand. After a short break, Topazio won the first hand, then jammed the button with 5♣3♣ on the second. Kopec called from the big blind with K♥J♦. The Q♠3♠Q♥ flop gave Topazio two pair, the 3♦ turn gave him a full house, and the 10♠ river sealed the win. Luca Topazio was the 2026 WSOP Circuit Malta Main Event champion.
2026 WSOP Circuit Malta Event #8: €1,500 Main Event Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Luca Topazio | Italy | €200,000 |
| 2 |  Radoslaw Kopec | Poland | €125,000 |
| 3 |  Lucas Van Den Belt | Netherlands | €85,000 |
| 4 | Matteo Ricco | Italy | €60,000 |
| 5 |  Aleksandar Georgiev | Bulgaria | €43,000 |
| 6 | Alberto Cigliano | Italy | €31,000 |
| 7 | Vitali Bibik | Poland | €23,000 |
| 8 |  Christoffer Jensen | Denmark | €17,300 |
| 9 | Nicola Bordignon | Italy | €14,191 |
Chilaud Turns Late Registration Into Gold
Late registration brought 26 new entries in before the Deepstack’s final day, bringing the final tally to 294 entries and a €248,724 prize pool. After a marathon 14 hours of play on the last day, France’s Maxime Chilaud topped the field, collecting €53,350, the gold ring, and a $5,000 WSOP Paradise package. Interestingly, Chilaud was one of the 26 players who entered late, and he managed to spin that late entry into a ring.
Chilaud is an accomplished player, with wins at major series such as WPT, Merit Poker, and EPT, and more than $2.6 million in live tournament winnings. But this was his first major title with a gold ring. He beat Vladimir Mihaylov heads-up, who settled for €35,550.
2026 WSOP Circuit Malta Event #9: €1,000 NLH Deepstack Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Maxime Chilaud | France | €53,350 |
| 2 | Vladimir Mihaylov | Bulgaria | €35,550 |
| 3 |  Louis Ho | United States | €24,239 |
| 4 | Nicolas Enzo | France | €16,950 |
| 5 | Nicola Cerini | Italy | €12,100 |
| 6 |  Paraskevas Armenakis | Greece | €8,865 |
| 7 |  Sergi Kapanadze | Georgia | €6,660 |
| 8 | Herve Gouzil | France | €5,140 |
| 9 | Giovanni Nava | Italy | €4,070 |
Midnight Ring for Sadovyi as the PLO Closes Out Sunday
Late registration remained open for two more levels on Day 2 of the PLO, and 51 additional players took advantage, bringing the field to 154 entries and pushing the prize pool to €70,932. Play wrapped up just as the clock struck midnight, and unlike Cinderella, Ukraine’s Oleksandr Sadovyi didn’t turn back into a pumpkin as he walked away with €17,500, a gold ring, and a Bahamas package.
Sadovyi was second in chips after Day 1 and kept the momentum going throughout the final day. In the heads-up, he beat Germany’s Kai Prigann, who collected €11,462 for second place.
2026 WSOP Circuit Malta Event #10: €550 Pot-Limit Omaha Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Oleksandr Sadovyi | Ukraine | €17,500 |
| 2 |  Kai Prigann | Germany | €11,462 |
| 3 |  Saulo Sabioni | Brazil | €7,750 |
| 4 |  Nohad Teliani | Canada | €5,335 |
| 5 | Raymond Montet | France | €3,830 |
| 6 |  Erik Dahlberg | Sweden | €2,845 |
| 7 |  Sinisa Radovanovic | Serbia | €2,195 |
| 8 | Adriaan Knulst | Netherlands | €1,755 |
| 9 |  Dean Hutchison | United Kingdom | €1,460 |
Colossus Closes Its Starting Flights With 659 Entries
Flight F, the sixth and last starting flight of the €300 Colossus, was also the biggest of the six, drawing 190 entries, well clear of the previous best, Flight C’s 118. That took the final tally to 659 entries and a €161,059 prize pool. A total of 101 players return for Monday’s Final Day.
| Starting Flight | Date | Entries |
|---|---|---|
| Flight A | Sunday, September 27 | 44 |
| Flight B | Tuesday, September 29 | 80 |
| Flight C | Wednesday, September 30 | 118 |
| Flight D | Thursday, October 1 | 115 |
| Flight E | Saturday, October 3 | 112 |
| Flight F | Sunday, October 4 | 190 |
| Total entries | 659 | |
| Prize pool | €161,059 |
France’s Gaspard Querillacq leads the way into the Final Day with 718,000 chips, ahead of Ireland’s Alexander Rhys Davies with 565,000 and Italy’s Roberto Barone with 538,000.
2026 WSOP Circuit Malta Event #4: €300 Colossus Top 10 Chip Count Final Day
| Position | Player | Country | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gaspard Querillacq | France | 718,000 |
| 2 |  Alexander Rhys Davies | Ireland | 565,000 |
| 3 | Roberto Barone | Italy | 538,000 |
| 4 | Franck Bain | France | 466,500 |
| 5 | Fausto Gravagna | Italy | 449,000 |
| 6 | Fabio Di Cosimo | Italy | 417,000 |
| 7 | Julien Ricard | France | 408,000 |
| 8 | Federico Caielli | Italy | 393,000 |
| 9 | Romain Lefebvre De Rieux | France | 365,000 |
| 10 | Philip Pearson | United Kingdom | 360,000 |
Superstack Gets Underway With 226 Entries
Event #11, the €400 NLH Superstack, will also crown a winner on Monday. Day 1 drew 226 entries for a €74,354 prize pool, and Hungary’s Vilmos Farkas is the chip leader among the 31 survivors.
Everyone left is already in the money with at least €790 guaranteed, but the first-place prize is the juiciest at €17,225, with the gold ring and a $5,000 WSOP Paradise package attached.
2026 WSOP Circuit Malta Event #11: €400 NLH Superstack Top 10 Chip Counts Final Day
| Position | Player | Country | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Vilmos Farkas | Hungary | 2,100,000 |
| 2 | Angelo Vietti | Italy | 1,700,000 |
| 3 | Alkan Aydingoez | Germany | 1,500,000 |
| 4 | Wiktor Marcinkowski | Italy | 1,200,000 |
| 5 | Tiago Souza Aguiar | Brazil | 1,200,000 |
| 6 | Antoine Talvard | France | 1,200,000 |
| 7 | Salvatore Incadorna | Italy | 1,100,000 |
| 8 | Thibaut Thevenet | France | 1,000,000 |
| 9 | Alessandro Siena | Italy | 810,000 |
| 10 | Aurelie Dassi | France | 790,000 |
Monday, October 5 at WSOP Circuit Malta
Monday, October 5, is the last day of the first-ever WSOP Circuit Malta. The Colossus Final Day and the Superstack Final Day both fire at 13:00, with two more rings to be awarded. At 15:00, the €400 NLH Bigstack, a turbo, gives the festival its closing ring event, and a €200 Nightly Knockout at 21:00 caps off the schedule.
| Date | Time | Event |
|---|---|---|
| Monday, Oct 5 | 13:00 | Event #4: Colossus: Final Day |
| 13:00 | Event #11: Superstack: Final Day | |
| 15:00 | Event #12: €400 NLH Bigstack (Turbo) | |
| 21:00 | €200 Nightly Knockout |
Photos and information courtesy of TexaPoker / WSOP.
