Battle of Malta 2026 Main Event: Tereza Vernerova Makes History With €162,635 Win

The Battle of Malta 2026 Main Event has its champion, and it’s a historic one. Tereza Vernerova of the Czech Republic won the €600 Autumn Edition Main Event at Casino Malta on November 4, taking home €162,635 and the Knight Trophy. She is the first woman ever to win the Battle of Malta Main Event.

She reached the final table with a huge chip lead, lost most of it during the afternoon, and then took control again after the dinner break. Her win also came after a three-way ICM deal, which is worth understanding if you play big-field live events yourself.

Battle of Malta 2026 Main Event at a Glance

Detail	Information
Event	€600 Battle of Malta Main Event, 2026 Autumn Edition
Buy-in	€600 (€530 + €70)
Venue	Casino Malta, St. Julian’s, Malta
Starting flights	9
Total entries	5,368
Guarantee	€1,500,000
Final prize pool	€2,413,281
Places paid	726
Original first-place prize	€227,835
Winner	Tereza Vernerova (Czech Republic)
Winner’s payout	€162,635 (after a three-way ICM deal)
Final table date	November 4, 2026

How Big Was the Battle of Malta 2026 Main Event Field?

The Battle of Malta 2026 Main Event drew 5,368 entries across nine starting flights. That pushed the prize pool to €2,413,281, beating the €1.5 million guarantee by more than €913,000, or about 61%.

That makes this Autumn Edition roughly twice the size of the Summer Edition held earlier in 2026. Here’s how it compares with other Battle of Malta Main Events:

Edition	Entries	Prize Pool	Winner	First Prize
2026 Autumn	5,368	€2,413,281	Tereza Vernerova	€162,635 (deal)
2026 Summer	2,667	€1,186,962	Alejandro Asenjo	€94,520 (deal)
2025 Spring	1,542	€776,397	Adrian Ziemichod	€120,000
2018	3,816	€1,850,760	Julien Stropoli	€168,500
2012 (first edition)	349	€169,265	Nicodemo Piccolo	€35,000

The series has grown from 349 entries in 2012 into one of Europe’s biggest mid-stakes tournaments. Total festival prize money rose from about €4.78 million in 2024 to €6.06 million in 2025, and the 2025 10th Anniversary Main Event reportedly drew more than 6,000 entries.

Organisers have also announced that the Battle of Malta brand will expand in 2027, with stops in Barcelona, Slovakia and Tallinn as well as Malta.

Battle of Malta 2026 Final Table Results and Payouts

Place	Player	Country	Prize Money
1	Tereza Vernerova	Czech Republic	€162,635*
2	Ofer Tadmor	Israel	€175,000*
3	James Malatynski	United Kingdom	€124,000*
4	Lulei Hu	China	€62,150
5	Marios Kapiris	Greece	€43,400
6	Rosario Saddemi	Italy	€32,000
7	Ivane Khazaradze	Georgia	€25,150
8	Marco Lopez Coronado	Spain	€21,150

*Prize amounts after a three-way ICM deal. Some reports list Vernerova’s total as €162,630; the deal breakdown (€140,000 + €22,635) adds up to €162,635.

The final table was truly international, with eight players from eight different countries.

Tereza Vernerova’s Road to the Title

Vernerova’s run was not a smooth climb. It had a short-stack scare, a big cooler win and a final-day comeback.

Stage	What Happened	Chips
End of Day 1e	Bagged a modest stack	206,000
Day 2	Moved into the top half of the field	1,410,000
Day 3	Down to 300,000, she doubled with A♦J♣ against A♥9♦ to survive	12,050,000 (4th of 24)
Day 4	Early on, her 9♠9♦ beat Ryan Sweeney’s A♣A♦, starting a huge run	68,750,000 (chip leader, final 8)
Final Day	Lost her lead in the afternoon, then doubled with pocket kings after dinner	Winner

The Day 3 double-up was the turning point. Without that hand she would have been eliminated well before the final table. Instead she bagged fourth place with 24 players left, and then had the tournament’s biggest day on Day 4.

Going into the final day, she held well over twice the chips of second-placed Ofer Tadmor. Final tables rarely go to plan, though. She lost a few medium pots, and her lead was gone by mid-afternoon. A refreshed Vernerova came back after the dinner break, won a key double with pocket kings, and put herself back in the race.

The ICM Deal Explained

With three players left, Vernerova, Tadmor and James Malatynski agreed to an ICM deal.

ICM stands for Independent Chip Model. It is a standard way to divide the remaining prize money based on chip stacks, instead of playing every remaining place out for the full payouts. The player with the most chips gets the most money, but everyone locks up a big amount right away.

Player	Chip Position at Deal	Deal Money	Played For	Final Total
Ofer Tadmor	Chip leader	€175,000	—	€175,000
Tereza Vernerova	Second or third	€140,000	€22,635 + trophy	€162,635
James Malatynski	Second or third	€124,000	—	€124,000

This is why the winner earned less than the runner-up. Tadmor had the most chips when the deal was made, so the model gave him the largest share. The €22,635 left over was kept back for whoever won, along with the trophy and title.

Practical insight: a full first-place prize of €227,835 sounds great, but the gap between first and third without a deal was huge. A deal removes that risk. For most players, including professionals, locking in six figures with three players left is a sensible decision rather than a soft one.

The Final Hand

Heads-up, Vernerova quickly doubled through Tadmor and took the chip lead. The last hand went like this:

Player	Hand	Result
Ofer Tadmor	J♥ 7♥	Pair of sevens
Tereza Vernerova	10♦ 4♣	Three of a kind, tens

The board ran 10♣ 7♣ 10♥ K♠ 3♣. Vernerova made trip tens on the flop, Tadmor found a pair of sevens, and the turn and river did not help him.

Why Vernerova’s Win Matters

Vernerova told organisers she was very nervous going into the final day because she had never played a final table of this size before. According to TheHendonMob, making this final table was already her biggest live tournament result.

Her win matters for a few reasons:

• A first for the event. No woman had won the Battle of Malta Main Event in its history.
• Proof that the field is beatable. She outlasted 5,367 other entries at a €600 buy-in, the kind of event many recreational players can afford.
• A reminder about resilience. She survived being down to 300,000 chips on Day 3, and later lost a big final-day lead without letting it end her run.

Lessons for Players Planning a Battle of Malta Trip

Lesson	Why It Helps
Expect a huge field	With 5,000+ entries, survival and patience matter as much as aggression
Use the multiple Day 1 flights	Nine flights let you choose your schedule and re-enter if needed
Understand ICM before a deal	Know how deals work so you can accept or negotiate with confidence
Plan for a long event	The Main Event runs over several days; budget time and money accordingly
Short stacks aren’t dead	Vernerova’s comeback from 300,000 chips shows a single double can change everything

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