Battle of Malta Returns with €1 Million GTD Main Event, New Venue

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Battle of Malta Returns with €1 Million GTD Main Event, New Venue

One of Europe’s most exciting poker festivals, Battle of Malta, is returning for its seventh season, promising poker players a €1,000,000 guarantee for its Main Event. This year, the festival takes place at Casino Malta, while 888poker was chosen as one of its major sponsors.

Following a change of ownership, the annual Battle of Malta arrives this week with plenty of new surprises to those who decide to spend a few days in the Mediterranian island of Malta while playing live poker. Along with the seventh edition of series that runs from October 25 to October 30, we will also have the brand-new Malta Poker Festival which starts November 1. This year, the Battle of Malta is hosted by the largest casino in the country, Casino Malta, which is located inside the five-star InterContinental Malta Hotel.

Some players might get confused by the two poker festivals held in Malta this fall. The original series, Battle of Malta, started in 2012 but earlier this year, its operator PokerListings sold it to the Eden Leisure Group (ELG), which also owns the new Casino Malta, the Holiday Inn Express and the InterContinental Arena Conference Centre, as well as Malta’s largest 5-star hotel Hotel InterContinental.

After the acquisition, PokerListings decided to launch another festival, so the inaugural Malta Poker Festival was created and will now run November 1-6 at the Portomaso Casino. Its Grand Event will have an entry fee of €550 and a €500,000 guarantee. Still, comparing the two, the Battle of Malta offers bigger prizes and more side events.

Battle of Malta 2018 Schedule

The series kicks off Thursday, October 25, and features nine events with buy-ins from €88 to €1,320. The headline tournament is, of course, the Main Event which offers a guaranteed prize pool of €1 million. In comparison, the buy-in of €550 seems quite low, which is why the event is expected to attract a huge entry field. Last year, there were a total of 2,074 registrations and a prize pool of €1,005,890, while the guarantee was only €500,000.

The first flight for the Battle of Malta Main Event runs on Thursday, with three following events allowing players to qualify. Each of the starting flights has a good deepstack structure, initial 25,000 chips, and 40-minute levels. Day 2 and 3 on Sunday and Monday will have 60-minute levels, as will the play on the Final Table on Tuesday.

There are also plenty of side events on the schedule with guarantees from €15,000 to €100,000. One of them is the single-day €150 MPNPT Battle, which will be held on Monday as the fourth stop of the MPN (Microgaming Poker Network) Poker Tour. This year, 888poker is also joining forces with the Battle of Malta for the €88 Crazy 888s Battle on Friday. The tournament will be played in a “Win the Button” format, but there will also be a Pot Limit Omaha and a turbo event.

Another two interesting tournaments will take place during this year’s series. One of them is the Battle of Malta Ladies Event, organized in partnership with the Poker League of Nations, and along with the cash prize, the winner will take home a sterling silver bracelet from luxury jewelers Tiffany & Co. The other notable tournament is the two-day €330 EPS Battle, which is sponsored by the European Poker Tour. Participants will get a starting stack of 30,000 and will play through 25-minute blind levels.

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