The Battle of Malta Main Event kicked off in style at the InterContinental Conference Center and the Casino Malta by Olympic Casino with 324 entries getting in on the first of the five opening flights.

To put this into perspective, the last time the Battle of Malta Main Event was held in a live format, the event attracted just a few players more with 333 players entering the field. That event had a €1,000,000 guarantee and eventually attracted 4,657 entries to generate a €2,495,795 prize pool, whereas this year the guarantee was €500,000, and appears to be simply a placeholder with the guarantee almost certainly to be smashed.

The field was trimmed down to just 49 hopefuls, each already in the money to start Day 2 as each opening day plays down to just 15 percent of the field.

Thus far, Raoul Van Wersch (pictured above) is in the best spot after Day 1a after bagging a monstrous stack of 744,000 in chips. Van Wersch had a big stack throughout most of the day but it appeared that either Brian Calleja or Federico Petruzzelli would be the Day 1a chip leader before Van Wersch soared ahead near the end of the day.

Petruzzelli still managed to bag a top three stack with 321,000 in chips, only behind Van Wersch and Mariano D'aquilla, while Calleja dropped two pots near the end of the day to Van Wersch to finish at 210,000.

Other players finding a bag into Day 2 via Day 1a included Dominik French (317,500), Koen Meustege (245,500), Kevin Malone (199,000), Fang Shiyan (182,500), Mateusz Moolhuizen (148,000), The Chip Race co-host David Lappin (112,000), Nico Jaemstroem (91,000), and Tarmo Tammel (53,000).

Final Day 1a Chip Counts

Day 1b will kick off at 1 p.m. CEST with blog coverage beginning as soon as cards are in the air. Stay tuned to see what happens next at the 2022 Battle of Malta Main Event.

Raoul van Wersch.

Raoul was really succesful during the last hour. He won two big pots against Brian Calleja, and collected nice stack, 744.000.

The long day ended to  a quite short bubble, which took about 15 minutes. Manfred Sierke decided to use an aggressive strategy and moved in with and the opponent called behind with

The board did not help Manfred, so he was the bubble boy. 

"I come back tomorrow and collect a decent stack", decided Manfred. 

Other players were happy after a long starting day and bagged their chips, knowing that they have earned some money of this years tournament already. 

Federico Petruzelli moved all in from the small blind with and Domenico Gala did not hesitate with and moved his chips to the middle as well.

The board did not help Petruzelli, and Gala doubled up.

Two stacks are right now a bit bigger than the others.

Federico Petruzelli, chipleader right now.

Federico Petruzzelli bet 28,500 into a pot of approximately 50,000 with the on the board after the turn. Andrea Stellata jammed over the top and Petruzzelli asked for a count. The dealer confirmed it was for 216,000 and shortly after, Petruzzelli, who barely had his opponent covered, made the call.

Andrea Stellata:

Federico Petruzzelli:

"What did I do?" said Stellata in frustration.

Stellata still had some hope to get a miracle double but instead hit the felt after not hitting his two outer with the completing the board.

Fortunes were different for Petruzzelli, who spoke in Italian to his neighbor while piling up his 500,000 in chips to give him the chip lead late on Day 1a.

Brian Calleja, who has been on the uptick most of the tday, isn't too far behind with 489,000.

Three players saw a flop, which was Raoul Van Wersch bet 12000, and Massimo de Georgi and Carmelo Fangano both called. Turn brought and now everybody decided to check.

River was and now Massimo decided to bet 17000, Carmelo took his time and called, Raoul folded quickly.

Massimo showed which was enough to win the pot, when Carmelo was a bit shocked to see this legendary hand.

Feliciano Montalbetti opened from cutoff, Fang Shiyn reraised from the button, Feliciano called.

Flop was Fang made a continuation bet, Feliciano called.

Turn brought and Fang did not hesitate, she moved all her chips to the middle.

Feliciano pondered the situation some time, but decided to fold.

Leonardo Burdino and Jonathan Seiler moved all in preflop.

Leonardos were in the lead against Jonathans

Board was favorable for Leonardo, who doubled up.

Phillip Huxley went all in from middle position with 8000, one opponent called behind.

Phillip Huxley:

Opponent:

The board ran out and Phillip hit the felt.

"See you tomorrow", said Phillip to us when he left.

We are losing players very quickly now. 

Here are some updated chip counts of bigger stacks.

Players are on a quick 15-minute break. The black 100-dominated chips will be runoff during the break.

We found Ant Gokcek leaving his table, he looked to be a bit sad. "I had a set, my opponent had a two pair, aces and sixes when we moved in on the turn. The river was an ace and he made a bigger full house", reported Ant.

We naturally wait for Ant to show up tomorrow to play day 1B.

Dominykas Janauskas jammed for 22,600 with and was called by Velin Velinov with .

The Lithuanian's sevens held with the running out on the board, while Velinov lost a small portion of his big stack.

Anne Bezdek was on the rail but in good spirits. She shared with us the action which was confirmed by David Lappin.

A player opened before Anne Bezdek jammed for about 10,000. David Lappin cold-called and the original opener came along for the ride to see the flop. Lappin bet 7,000 which was good enough to get the other player to fold.

Bezdek turned over and still had some hope against Lappin's . Blanks hit the turn and river and Bezdek's Day 1a was over.

Mathis Bouledin open-jammed for about 20 big blinds from under the gun and was called by Oliver Said from the hijack.

Mathis Bouledin:

Oliver Said:

Said's queens held after the ran out on the board to effectively double his stack while sending his opponent packing.

In big event you do not find all players at once. Here are couple of faces we should have found a bit earlier.

Anne Bezdek.

David Lappin.

Nico Jarnstrom.

Robert Lim.

Late registration is closed with the start of Level 11. A total of 49 players will advance to Day 2 from the Day 1a field with at least a min-cash locked up. The amount of the min-cash will be revealed on Sunday after all the opening flights have been played.

Unfortunately, Jackie Cachia, also known as Poker Mama around Malta, was not one of those players. She shared that she busted just before the dinner break after running her nines against aces against what she perceived to be a very aggressive player.

Dominykas Janauskas committed his stack with on the turn with the board holding both the nut straight and a flush draw and had his opponent in Alessandro Siena drawing dead with .

The inconsequential paired the board and Janauskas doubled his stack.

Straight after the dinner break, Brian Calleja bet 3,800 into a pot of around 10,000 with the on the board and got a call.

Calleja turned over with a big smile on his face for a straight flush and is up to 145,000 in chips.

Players are on a 75-minute dinner break. We will update some of the bigger stacks around the room during the break.

Francesco Squillaci jammed for 13,300 from under the gun. The action folded around to Thibault Letort on the button who asked for a count before coming in over the top for 16,500. The players in the blinds folded and players were asked to show their hands.

Francesco Squillaci:

Thibault Letort:

Squillaci was behind when the chips went in but that didn't last for long after his ten paired up on the flop. Neither the turn nor the river helped Letort get back into the hand and he was left on fumes while doubling his opponent.

Players on the rail have been chatting about an upcoming event in the €120 Bounty the Night event at 9 p.m.

The action begins with players starting with 15,000 in chips. The event is a turbo-charged affair with 15-minute blind levels. Among those already registered are Tony Bedford, Paolo Bucci, Robert Boon, and Robert Aigro.

Raoul Van Wersch four-bet from late position to 16,200. Lasse Lien five-bet jammed for 53,000 and Van Wersch asked for a count.

The dealer initially counted 46,600 before Lien said it was more. The dealer recounted twice more before the jam was confirmed to be 53,000. Van Wersch tanked for about another minute before he found a call.

Lasse Lien:

Raoul Van Wersch:

Lien said "nice hand" to his opponent after he bricked the board and at least for now ran out of chips.

Meanwhile, Van Wersch won a huge pot to catapult his stack into one of the biggest in the room.

Emmi Juutilainen is well known finnish poker blogger, who this time decided to try her luck at the tables. "My day was really difficult, I did not hit any flops, so I kept myself alive with couple of small bluffs. The structure is quite quick so good hands are also needed, but today was not my day. So decided to move all in from cutoff with my 7000 chips stack, when I got

My opponent in big blind woke up with and my 3-outer did not make any progress", reported Emmi.

Phillip Huxley called a bet of 2,300 by Paul Amsellem with the on the board with 8,000 already in the pot.

Amsellem checked the river and Huxley tanked for about 30 seconds before checking back. Amsellem turned over which wasn't good enough to beat Huxley who held .

"Would you have called a small bet?" Huxley asked his opponent.

His opponent shared that he wasn't sure as the dealer began to deal the next hand.

Three players checked the  flop with 6,000 in the pot before Kfir Zohar checked the  turn. Patrick Rudau, who already had a big stack in front of him, fired out for 3,600. Pinchas Yechezkel folded and Zohar called.

The  completed the board and Zohar check-called a bet of 4,500. We will likely never know whether Rudau's bet was for thin value or to scare away hands ahead of him as he showed . This was good enough to beat the ace-high hero called made by Zohar to win the hand.

The Day 1a field has already peaked above 300 entries. It is possible that this will be bigger than the record-breaking 2019 Battle of Malta Main Event when Day 1a attracted 333 entries.

Day 1a is on its second 15-minute break of the day. 

The €220 Pot-Limit Omaha side event has kicked off with 69 entries and counting.

Dehlia De Jong three-bet jammed the button for 5,000 over an opener and a couple of callers. Brian Calleja cold-called from the small blind before Alfredo Pagliaro called off his stack of around 4,500. The rest of the table folded and the three players turned over their cards.

Alfredo Pagliaro:

Dehlia De Jong:

Brian Calleja:

Pagliaro had the least equity in the hand but that all changed after he spiked a set on the flop. De Jong fell behind in the side pot as well after the turn paired up Calleja's king. The river didn't save De Jong and she was one of the latest casualties on Day 1a.

Calleja shared with us after the hand that just before we got to the table he eliminated two players at once to become one of the bigger stacks in the room.

224/268 players in tables right now. Here some more familiar faces.

Lasse Lien Kleive

Hilel Nimrod

Kyriakos Papadopoulos

Mario Corso

Three players checked the flop with 8,000 in the pot. Brian Calleja checked the turn before Alfredo Pagliaro jammed for 6,000. Benjamin Harmann called and Calleja sighed before he folded.

Alfredo Pagliaro:

Benjamin Harmann:

Harmann had some outs to potentially bust his opponent with his open-ended straight draw. Pagliaro was able to hold and even improved to trip queens after the completed the board on the river.

The field continues to grow with late registration not closing until the end of Level 10. Here is a look at some of the familiar faces from around the room.

Philip Huxley

Dehlia de Jong

Emmi Juutilainen.

Rikard Andersson.

Ant Gökcek.

The Main Event is on its first 15-minute break.

The €110 Play to Win Event will kick off in just a few minutes at 4 p.m. There were already 47 entries with many more to come before late registration closes.

Marius Morel and David Lappin both checked after the turn with the on the board. Morel led out for 5,000 into a pot of 13,000 after the river completed the board.

Morel turned over but his rockets were no good despite flopping the nut flush draw as Lappin rivered a straight with to take down the pot.

Stavros Passias check-jammed the turn with the on the board for 13,100 and was called by Andrea LaMonica.

Stavros Passias:

Andrea LaMonica:

Passias was miles ahead and only had to sweat four outs that LaMonica could hit to improve to a full house. A blank completed the board on the river for Passias to double his stack while leaving LaMonica short on chips.

Francis McCormack jammed into a bloated pot with the on the board and was called by Brian Calleja.

McCormack turned over for trip aces. This didn't get the job done and McCormack will have to re-enter for a shot at advancing to Day 2 after Calleja turned over for a straight.

Meanwhile, the field has grown to 207 entries with 200 players remaining near the end of Level 2.

Karl Groendal was the first player eliminated at the 2022 Battle of Malta Main Event. Paolo Bucci and Piotr Rekawiecki also hit the rail soon after. All three players have plenty of chances to get back into the mix with unlimited re-entries allowed during the first 10 blind levels during each of the five starting days.

The field has already grown to 181 entries to start Level 2 with all players still in their seats.

Three players checked with more than 6,000 in the pot after the came on the flop. Bayram Nabit also checked the turn before Georgios-Angelos Tavoularis fired out for 4,000. Aleksandar Stojadinovic folded and Nabit called.

Nabit checked the river. Tavoularis jammed and won an early pot after Nabit folded.

Here are the nice trophies of the Battle of Malta events. Maybe one of these is yours after this week?

After a brilliant introduction, cards are in the air with a starting field of 102 entries for Day 1a of the Battle of Malta Main Event.

Here is a look at some of the players already in the field.

Welcome to the 2022 Battle of Malta at the Casino Malta by Olympic Casino and the InterContinental Hotel.

The festival features something for everyone with 25 action-packed events. Our coverage will focus on the highlight of the festival in the €500,000 guaranteed Battle of Malta €555 Main Event while sprinkling in updates about the side events. 

The Main Event boasts five opening flights from April 21-24 with players kicking off the action with a healthy stack of 25,000 in chips. The first three flights feature 40-minute blind levels with the final two flights playing faster with 20-minute blind levels. 

Players will have plenty of opportunities to build a monster stack with unlimited re-entries permitted during each of the five opening flights until the end of Level 10.

Each opening flight concludes when the field is trimmed down to 15 percent with all advancing players already in the money. Players can re-enter even if they bag a stack with the biggest stack moving forward.

Surviving opening flight players will then compete for three more days from April 24-26 until the 2022 winner is crowned.

The Main Event kicks off at 2 p.m. CEST. Stay tuned for updates, photos, and more throughout the 2022 Battle of Malta.

Brief History of the Battle of Malta

The festival has a long and storied tradition dating back to 2012 when Nicodemo Piccolo navigated through a field of 349 entries to win the first Battle of Malta Main Event title for €35,000.

The event grew each year until the COVID pandemic moved the event online at GGPoker in 2020 and 2021. Players are thrilled that the Battle of Malta has returned to its home to the majestic island of Malta for what promises to be another thrilling festival.

2022 Battle of Malta Schedule