Battle of Malta 2026: Wolf and Birnbacher Bag Big Main Event Stacks as Three Side Events Find Winners

• Main Event (€1.5M GTD, €530 + €70): 144 players are through to Day 2 from 1,168 entries after four flights. Five starting days remain.
• Day 1C: 520 entries, 78 survivors. Leader: Fabian Wolf (Germany) with 729,000.
• Day 1D: 168 entries, 13 survivors. Leader: Christof Birnbacher (Austria) with 683,000.
• €450 Siege of Malta Mystery Bounty, Day 1C: 314 entries, 47 advance. Leader: Henrik Veldhoen (Austria) with 461,000.
• Side event champions: Wai Tang (€6,150), Stephen Kennedy (€2,755) and Robert Schiller (€5,645).

Three days into the autumn edition of the Battle of Malta, the festival at Casino Malta has settled into a rhythm. The tournament room has been full since October 27. The Main Event has finished two more starting flights, and the Mystery Siege of Malta is heading into its last opening day. Three side events also crowned champions on Thursday night.

Maybe you’re following from home, or maybe you plan to play one of the remaining flights. Either way, this report has every chip count and payout from October 29. It also explains what the numbers mean for the rest of the week.

Main Event Snapshot: Where the €1.5 Million Guarantee Stands

The headline event is the €600 (€530 + €70) Battle of Malta Main Event. It carries a €1,500,000 guarantee, up from the €1,000,000 promised at last year’s autumn stop. That is an ambitious target, and the running entry count shows how the organisers are tracking toward it.

Flight	Entries	Advanced	Survival Rate	Chip Leader	Average Stack
Day 1A + 1B (combined)	480	53	11.0%	—	—
Day 1C	520	78	15.0%	Fabian Wolf – 729,000	266,051
Day 1D	168	13	7.7%	Christof Birnbacher – 683,000	259,384
Total after 4 flights	1,168	144	12.3%	Five starting days to play

The Day 1A + 1B figures are not published separately. They are worked out from the running totals: 1,168 entries and 144 qualifiers overall.

Here is the practical math. At roughly €600 per entry, the event needs around 2,500 full-price entries to meet the guarantee without an overlay. An overlay is the shortfall the organiser pays when entries don’t cover the guarantee. If some players come in through the cheaper flights, the event needs even more entries.

So far 1,168 entries are in, with five Day 1s left, so the event needs a strong weekend. There is a good comparison point. The summer edition in May and June 2026 drew 2,667 entries and a €1,186,962 prize pool, so the Battle of Malta crowd can reach these numbers. Weekend flights usually draw the biggest turnouts, so don’t read too much into a midweek count yet.

Why Day 1D Was So Brutal

Only 13 of 168 players survived Day 1D. That is under 8%, roughly half the survival rate of Day 1C.

This is normal for an evening flight or a lower-cost flight. Players there know they can come back on a later starting day, so they gamble more, and the field shrinks fast. The survivors still bagged healthy stacks: their average was close to Day 1C’s. They also get to rest while others keep firing in later flights.

Practical tip for players still to enter: in a Main Event with several flights, a short stack is not a failure. Day 2 combines everyone, and a stack of 50,000 to 100,000 is still playable at the early Day 2 levels. Many players buy into a second flight just to replace a below-average bag, and that habit can get expensive.

Day 1C: Fabian Wolf Tops a Big Field

Day 1C was the busiest flight reported so far, with 520 entries. Germany’s Fabian Wolf finished on top with 729,000, but the leaderboard is tight. Alvaro Sahertian (704,000) and Jacobo Montoya (697,000) are within a couple of big pots.

Further down the list, Greece’s Stavros Passias (340,000) stands out. He made the final table at the summer Main Event and took the largest payout there after a four-handed deal.

The flight had a very Mediterranean feel. By country, the 78 survivors break down as: Italy (14), Greece (12), Romania (7), Germany (5), Netherlands (5), United Kingdom (3).

Battle of Malta 2026 Main Event – Day 1C Chip Counts

#	Player	Country	Chips
1	Fabian Wolf	Germany	729,000
2	Alvaro Sahertian	Netherlands	704,000
3	Jacobo Montoya	United States	697,000
4	Traianos-Alexandros Ntavoutis	Greece	608,000
5	Shervin Ghassemlou	United Kingdom	602,000
6	Dirk Schneider	Germany	567,000
7	Candido Cappiello	Italy	502,000
8	Danil Tretiak	Ukraine	500,000
9	Georgios Ampatzidis	Greece	471,000
10	Valentina Galeandro	Italy	457,000
11	Daniele Grasso	Italy	445,000
12	Yoram Ohana	Israel	437,000
13	Mario Moran	Spain	427,000
14	Merel Merdzhanov	Bulgaria	405,000
15	Kristian Dahl	Norway	403,000
16	Kaido Kuusemae	Estonia	390,000
17	Dimitrios Katsikas	Greece	380,000
18	Vincent Smith	Ireland	379,000
19	Giorgo Morreale	Italy	368,000
20	Giovanni Nava	Italy	365,000
21	Jeremy Bametz	France	360,000
22	Amer-Ali Dagdelen	Romania	340,000
23	Stavros Passias	Greece	340,000
24	Raoul Van Wersch	Netherlands	336,000
25	Victor Pinna	Spain	329,000
26	Imero Sendar	Netherlands	315,000
27	Dyon Vlaar	Netherlands	311,000
28	Georgios Karakousis	Greece	307,000
29	Paul-Vlad Craciunas	Romania	299,000
30	Cristian-Mugurel Tamas	Romania	299,000
31	Tibor Varga	Hungary	299,000
32	Maros Kral	Slovakia	283,000
33	Simon Forster	Malta	277,000
34	Tom Meiners	Germany	274,000
35	Josip Jakopec	Croatia	249,000
36	Andreas Christodoulou	Cyprus	246,000
37	Eirik Bjoerbaek	Norway	236,000
38	Robert McAdam	England	233,000
39	Haris Zambas	Cyprus	231,000
40	Jaime Diaz	Spain	225,000
41	Michele D’Amico	Italy	211,000
42	Edison Salobehaj	Albania	209,000
43	Massimo Caratelli	Italy	208,000
44	Szymon Kuczerski	Poland	207,000
45	Claus Spieckermann	Germany	204,000
46	Claudio Müller	Switzerland	202,000
47	Ariel Reidman	Israel	198,000
48	Andre Matthes	Germany	195,000
49	Davide Muccini	Italy	188,000
50	Donato De Bonis	Italy	187,000
51	27022033 (listed by player ID)	Croatia	186,000
52	Sebastian Dabrowski	Poland	180,000
53	Anastasios Vardalis	Greece	178,000
54	Adrian Vogt	Switzerland	159,000
55	Leon Narinsakchai	England	155,000
56	Doron Lahav	Israel	138,000
57	Efstthatios Kavoukis	Greece	137,000
58	Johannes Decher	Romania	133,000
59	Kamil Stanislawski	Poland	122,000
60	Alexandru Popa	Romania	121,000
61	Cristian-Florin Vornicu	Romania	121,000
62	Luka Sabo	Croatia	120,000
63	Raimondo Marcello	Italy	118,000
64	Marck Moret	Netherlands	108,000
65	Niccolò Messeri	Italy	103,000
66	Orestis Kanakopoulos	Greece	102,000
67	Alessio Piso	Italy	98,000
68	Igor Trajkovski	North Macedonia	97,000
69	Simone Montanari	Italy	95,000
70	Vikrum Mehta	United Kingdom	89,000
71	Dimitrios Kilintaris	Greece	86,000
72	Francesco Caramazza	Italy	84,000
73	Konstantinos Parasis	Greece	83,000
74	Emmanouil Chalkiotis	Greece	72,000
75	Clement Bonnant	France	68,000
76	Artemios Fournaris	Greece	67,000
77	Ovidiu-Dorin Barna	Romania	50,000
78	Stephen Devine	United Kingdom	48,000

Day 1D: Christof Birnbacher Leads a Small Group of Survivors

Austria’s Christof Birnbacher bagged 683,000, the biggest stack of Day 1D. That puts him just 46,000 behind Wolf’s Day 1C lead. Canada’s Jamie Thomson (484,000) and France’s Gaspard Querillacq (381,000) complete the top three. Italy again has the most survivors, with four of the 13.

Battle of Malta 2026 Main Event – Day 1D Chip Counts

#	Player	Country	Chips
1	Christof Birnbacher	Austria	683,000
2	Jamie Thomson	Canada	484,000
3	Gaspard Querillacq	France	381,000
4	Alex Iannello	Italy	364,000
5	Matheo Fabre	France	245,000
6	Niculina Borcos	Netherlands	244,000
7	Lin Chen	China	237,000
8	Marco Deidda	Italy	223,000
9	Yordan Domuvchiyski	Bulgaria	161,000
10	Garrett Boyle	Ireland	140,000
11	Peter Habelitz	Germany	80,000
12	Mario Fiordelisi	Italy	73,000
13	Giovanni Stefanelli	Italy	57,000

€450 Siege of Malta Mystery Bounty: Veldhoen Edges Day 1C

The Mystery Siege of Malta costs €450 in total: €210 goes to the prize pool, €200 to bounties and €40 is the fee. The event has a €150,000 guarantee.

If you’re new to the format, a mystery bounty works like this. Almost half of your buy-in goes into a pool of hidden bounty prizes. When you knock someone out during the bounty phase, you draw an envelope, and you don’t know what it’s worth until you open it. The bounty phase usually starts late on Day 2, which is why short stacks often stay surprisingly active at that stage.

Day 1C was the second-to-last flight. It drew 314 entries, and 47 players bagged chips. Austria’s Henrik Veldhoen finished on top with 461,000, just 1,000 chips ahead of Greece’s Vasileios Tsaknis. Ukraine’s Ihor Popyk had 454,000, so only 7,000 chips separate the top three. The average stack was about 200,659.

By country: Greece (9), Italy (7), United Kingdom (5), Germany (4), Norway (4).

€450 Siege of Malta Mystery Bounty – Day 1C Chip Counts

#	Player	Country	Chips
1	Henrik Veldhoen	Austria	461,000
2	Vasileios Tsaknis	Greece	460,000
3	Ihor Popyk	Ukraine	454,000
4	Marek Ohnisko	Czech Republic	429,000
5	Mauricio Rodrigues Da Silva Junior	Brazil	429,000
6	Genzo Vlaemynck	Belgium	420,000
7	Helder Correia	Portugal	364,000
8	Jakub Szczotka	Poland	361,000
9	Tobias Benes	Austria	350,000
10	Andreas Putz	Germany	347,000
11	Shai Arbel	Israel	312,000
12	Hans Werge	Malta	255,000
13	Andreas Andriopoulos	Greece	253,000
14	Antonio Costanzo	Italy	252,000
15	Anargyros Loizos	Greece	244,000
16	Ugo Gasparini	Italy	235,000
17	Kieron Coward	United Kingdom	223,000
18	Oliver Mihajlovski	North Macedonia	213,000
19	Malcolm McKinlay	United Kingdom	205,000
20	Manuel Reuter	Germany	201,000
21	Eduard Burd	Israel	199,000
22	Fabio Meloni	Italy	195,000
23	Mario Crastullo	Italy	171,000
24	Patrick Roksvaag	Norway	168,000
25	Kyriakos Papastefanou	Greece	155,000
26	Yoav Ktorza	France	150,000
27	Virginijus Lapenas	Lithuania	142,000
28	Ioannis Gantsidis	Greece	126,000
29	Mikael Samuelsen	Norway	125,000
30	Matthew Hill	United Kingdom	117,000
31	Antonino Cariniti	Italy	116,000
32	Anders Helland	Norway	116,000
33	Nuno Cabete	Portugal	107,000
34	Tor Nesse	Norway	106,000
35	Artur Spiewak	Germany	106,000
36	Mohammed Rahman	United Kingdom	105,000
37	Dario Quattrucci	Italy	104,000
38	Jose Briseno Jr	United States	96,000
39	Krzysztof Bialecki	Poland	87,000
40	Peter Thomas	Germany	79,000
41	Theodoros Ampelikiotis	Greece	70,000
42	Athanasios Skapetis	Greece	68,000
43	Giacomo Staropoli	Italy	66,000
44	Seth Holmstrom	United States	64,000
45	Marios Almpanopoulos	Greece	53,000
46	Karl Cooper	United Kingdom	49,000
47	Georgios Kostakis	Greece	23,000

Side Event Results from October 29

Event	Buy-in	Entries	Prize Pool	Winner	First Prize	1st as % of Pool
Sviten Special by PLO Masters	€300	97	€24,163	Wai Tang (UK)	€6,150	25.5%
Bounty Hunter Days Crazy Pineapple	€175	226	Not published	Stephen Kennedy (UK)	€2,755	—
Dark Night NLH	€130	275	€28,435	Robert Schiller (Germany)	€5,645	19.9%

€300 Sviten Special by PLO Masters

Sviten is a high-action mixed format that is popular in the Nordic poker scene. It plays like a five-card Omaha variant, so it rewards waiting for the strongest possible hands.

The event drew 97 players, a strong turnout for a niche game, and built a €24,163 prize pool. Britain’s Wai Tang beat Estonia’s Argo Garamaga heads-up to win the trophy and €6,150. Norway had four players among the 14 paid places, which shows where this game’s player base is.

#	Player	Country	Prize
1	Wai Tang	United Kingdom	€6,150
2	Argo Garamaga	Estonia	€4,250
3	Carlo Braccini	Italy	€2,900
4	Mika Hautakangas	Sweden	€2,300
5	Timo Brammer	Germany	€1,860
6	Salvatore Zito	Belgium	€1,450
7	Jeraint Hazan	United Kingdom	€1,150
8	Daniel Stensrud	Norway	€890
9	Jon Kyte	Norway	€675
10	Jesper Kennheder	Sweden	€550
11	Simen Lampe	Norway	€550
12	Arne Devik	Norway	€480
13	Marcin Matula	Poland	€480
14	Harald Redl	Austria	€480

€175 Bounty Hunter Days Crazy Pineapple

Crazy Pineapple is Hold’em with a twist. You get three hole cards and discard one after the flop. That changes which starting hands are good: draws and connected cards gain value.

The event drew 226 entries, and British players dominated. Stephen Kennedy beat fellow Brit Ryan Goffe heads-up for €2,755.

The payouts near the top were unusually close. Second through fourth place were separated by only €95. That suggests a fairly flat payout structure, with bounties shaping how the final table played out.

#	Player	Country	Prize
1	Stephen Kennedy	United Kingdom	€2,755
2	Ryan Goffe	United Kingdom	€2,165
3	Linus Englund	Sweden	€2,150
4	Aschraf Khader	Germany	€2,070
5	Suk Yee Ng	Netherlands	€1,750
6	Christian Kempf	Switzerland	€1,610
7	Stephen Dwyer	Ireland	€1,590
8	Wayne McGregor	United States	€540
9	Alexis Bosman	Belgium	€440
10	Chelsie Glynn	United Kingdom	€380
11	Michael Bludau	Germany	€380
12	José Sánchez Guerrero	Spain	€340
13	Grzegorz Skarzynski	Poland	€340
14	Remco Stoeltjes	Netherlands	€300
15	Emmanouil Konstantopoulos	Greece	€300
16	Aleksandr Olickij	Lithuania	€280
17	Bernhard Brida	Austria	€280
18	Shaun Percival	United Kingdom	€240
19	Michael James-Cardi	United Kingdom	€240
20	Victor Segura Azanon	Spain	€240
21	Jörg-Volker Gruneke	Germany	€220
22	Anastasios Mouratidis	Greece	€220
23	Bohdan Sobol	Ukraine	€220
24	Jorge Martinez Agudo	Spain	€200
25	Garry Woods	United Kingdom	€200
26	Amanda Stock	United Kingdom	€200
27	Anthony Thornhill	United Kingdom	€200
28	Jakob Gerrijts	Netherlands	€180
29	Erik Van Hulst	Netherlands	€180
30	Servatius Keerssemeeckers	Netherlands	€180
31	Mike Maas	Germany	€180

€130 Dark Night NLH

The cheapest of the three side events drew the biggest field. 275 players built a €28,435 prize pool, and Germany’s Robert Schiller beat Norway’s Freddy Rolland heads-up for €5,645.

That first prize is more than 43 times the €130 buy-in. Returns like that make evening side events the best entry point for budget players at a live festival. Greece had the most players in the money, with 10 of the 39 paid places.

#	Player	Country	Prize
1	Robert Schiller	Germany	€5,645
2	Freddy Rolland	Norway	€3,800
3	Thomas Weber	Germany	€2,780
4	Michail Tastanis	Greece	€2,240
5	Eirik Mallesvik	Norway	€1,760
6	Grigorios Archontakis	Greece	€1,320
7	David Harris	United Kingdom	€980
8	Alexander Jesinek	Czech Republic	€750
9	Torsten Mayer	Germany	€600
10	Michael Clayton	United Kingdom	€520
11	Georgios Garnelis	Greece	€520
12	Nizar Abu Daoud	Israel	€460
13	Marcel Hoppe	Germany	€460
14	Konstantinos Basinas	Greece	€400
15	Herli Olop	Estonia	€400
16	Christos Kleisiaris	Greece	€340
17	Guy Cox	United Kingdom	€340
18	Morgan Aagaard	Norway	€300
19	Tomi Arponen	Finland	€300
20	Taago Tamm	Estonia	€300
21	Robert Parmback	Sweden	€260
22	Emmanouil Livanos	Greece	€260
23	Marko Keskel	Estonia	€260
24	Perica Maric	Croatia	€240
25	Jerome Green	United Kingdom	€240
26	Bogdan-Alexandru Georgescu	Romania	€240
27	Theodoros Ampelikiotis	Greece	€240
28	Scott Ledingham	United Kingdom	€220
29	Dimitrios Karagkounis	Greece	€220
30	Jakub Fiala	Czech Republic	€220
31	Fernando Troisi	Italy	€220
32	Piotr Wiktor	Poland	€200
33	Yoav Ktorza	France	€200
34	Aristeidis Markantonakis	Greece	€200
35	Artur Gjoka	Albania	€200
36	Gleb Cherevati	Hungary	€200
37	Thomas Didden	Germany	€200
38	Nikolaos Skremmydas	Greece	€200
39	Russell Fulford	United Kingdom	€200

What This Means If You’re Planning to Play

• Lower-cost side events give the best value per euro. The €130 Dark Night paid nearly as much for first place as the €300 Sviten event, because field size matters more than buy-in.
• Variant events have smaller, softer fields. If you know Pineapple or Sviten well, a field of 97 to 226 players is a much easier route to a trophy than the main No-Limit Hold’em events.
• Expect international opponents. Across all six results lists, players came from 35 countries. Italy, Greece, the UK, Germany and the Nordic countries had the most players.
• Budget your entries. Five Main Event flights remain, so decide in advance how many times you’ll buy in. That way you won’t chase losses.

The festival runs until November 4. The PLO Masters Main Event, the high rollers and the remaining Main Event flights are still to come. Full schedules and registration details are on the official Battle of Malta website (battleofmalta.com).

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