The Main Event of The Festival Malta 2024 saw a total of 566 entries, bringing the prize pool to €268,850. These numbers were capped at the start of Day 2, which offered even more late registration, which was taken advantage of by a total of 91 players.
After the first break, all eyes were on the floormanager who revealed the details of the payout structure for this tournament. The prizepool worth €268,850 was to be distributed among 71 players, the mincash was worth €1,000, and there was still a €55,000 prize waiting for the champion of the entire tournament!
Quick bubble
The unpopular hand-for-hand bubble phase didn't last long, as everything was decided on the first hand, during which all-in/call occurred simultaneously on two tables. First, we watched table #8, where Polish short Krystian Nalepka was playing for his tournament life with a pair of . His opponent was Milan Ljubisic, who with needed help. The board didn't produce an ace or a flush and Nalepka was able to enjoy a double-up.
Together, we moved to table 16, where Dutchman Ronnie Lemmens was playing for his tournament life with a . His opponent was Macedonia's Dragan Ignjatovski, who turned over a pair of and the odds were about 50/50 at this point. Flop put Ignjatovsky in front a hitting eight, but Lemmens still had hope thanks to a club queen. Unfortunately the turn Neither the river club didn't bring any, and Ronnie Lemmens became the tournament's underdog.
The last 16 players in the game
It was a long and challenging day, but in the end the goal of making it to the last 16 players was met. They will meet today from 14:00 on the final day to play for the highest prize money. The last eliminated player of yesterday was Julie Whitworth, after whose elimination the other players could start counting and packing their stacks. The result is the following 16 finalists, led by Austrian player Mario Eder followed by Canadian player Haven Taylor:
| Pos. | Country | Player | Chips |
| #1 | AUT | MARIO EDER | 2 005 000 |
| #2 | CAN | HAVEN TAYLOR | 1 545 000 |
| #3 | GER | MILAN SIMO LJUBISIC | 1 430 000 |
| #4 | SWI | MATHIAS JORDI | 1 405 000 |
| #5 | NET | BART DIL | 1 400 000 |
| #6 | NET | JESPER FERDINAND LUCAS | 1 385 000 |
| #7 | MAC | DRAGAN IGNJATOVSKI | 1 145 000 |
| #8 | SPA | VICTOR EUGENIO GIL DEN HOUTING | 1 055 000 |
| #9 | ITA | PASQUALE GRIMALDI | 1 040 000 |
| #10 | MAC | OLIVER MIHAJLOVSKI | 1 035 000 |
| #11 | POL | KRYSTIAN PIOTR STICKER | 765 000 |
| #12 | SWE | LUCAS ERIK OLOF LILJEGREN | 730 000 |
| #13 | SPA | JORDI RIBATALLADA RUIZ | 650 000 |
| #14 | BUL | IVO PETKOV | 510 000 |
| #15 | SWE | SVENSSON LINUS | 440 000 |
| #16 | GER | STEFANOS MICHALIDIS | 320 000 |
The final day kicks off today at 14:00 and each of the participants has already secured a €2,700 payout. But a €55,000 bonus awaits the winner and we'll be keeping a close eye on who manages to get it!
- 1. 55,000€
- 2. 32,800€
- 3. 23,300€
- 4. 17,800€
- 5. 13,800€
- 6. 10,600€
- 7. 8,300€
- 8. 6,300€
- 9. 4,800€
- 10 - 11. 4,200€
- 12 - 13. 3,650€
- 14 - 15. 3,150€
- 16 - 17. 2,700€
Details, progress and photos from this event can be found in our Live Blog here
