Saturday lived up to the hype as the most electric day yet of the 2025 Battle of Malta Spring Edition. The weekend rush brought out the masses, with over 850 players piling into the Eden Arena across Day 1c and Day 1d of the €600 Main Event.
As the last opening flight plays out today, the total field has ballooned to exactly 1,300 entries – easily eclipsing the €500,000 guarantee. Alongside the main, three side event winners were crowned including one near and dear to poker.pro. Also on the horizon later today is the BoM Player Party set to take place from 9:00 p.m. to 1:00 am. Poker.Pro will be on the scene for a mix or work and play as Eden celebrates the players that makes this series possible.
Read on to learn more about Friday’s action along with a preview of Saturday:
- Read More: Battle of Malta 2025: The Series Delivers a Week of Action Starting Today with Day 1a
- Read More: Battle of Malta 2025: Day 1b is Upon Us as Day 1a is filled with Surprises
- Read More: Battle of Malta 2025: Main Event Set to Smash Guarantee & Emmanouil Chalkiotis Takes Down MSoM
Day 1c: Biner Bags a Monster Stack, Guarantee Crushed
The day kicked off with a bang as the festival’s intro video played across the iconic 27-meter screen, followed by the daily “Shuffle up and deal” chant from Tournament Director Andy Tillman and Event Manager Telly Bartolo. While technically directed at dealers, the phrase seemed to energize players too – with many ready to steal the show.
By the first break, more than 430 players had joined the field, and when late registration finally closed, Day 1c had clocked in at a staggering 686 entries. From that crowd, 103 players advanced to Day 2.
It was a loaded lineup, with former BOM final tablists Alfredo Cuti, Claudio Barone, Fotios Ntamaris, and Ivaylo Eftimov all in the mix. One familiar face missing so far? Vasileios Zizis, who won last spring and was runner-up last autumn. His Sunday appearance is looking unlikely—but never say never.
The day ended in dramatic fashion with Francis Van Uden bubbling, while Israel’s Shai Biner soared to the top with a towering 931,000 in chips – the biggest stack of the event so far. Not only does he head into Day 2 as the man to beat, but he also pockets the €5,000 chip leader bonus.
Daniel Poluk (922,000) and Ceri Rees (845,000) round out the top three, while others sneaking through include Jonathan Wong, Joris Ruijs, and James “Grogsy” Grogan, who bagged just 34,000 but still has a chip and a chair.
Day 2 Top 10 Chip Stacks
| Position | Player | Chip Count | Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shai Biner | 931,000 | 116 |
| 2 | Daniel Poluk | 922,000 | 115 |
| 3 | Ceri Rees | 845,000 | 106 |
| 4 | Claus Spieckermann | 823,000 | 103 |
| 5 | Clement Kerrien | 815,000 | 102 |
| 6 | Antonino Scarpaci | 756,000 | 95 |
| 7 | Krzysztof Chmielowski | 741,000 | 93 |
| 8 | Nicolaj D’antoni | 697,000 | 87 |
| 9 | Benoit Kuhn | 675,000 | 84 |
| 10 | Ingird Vos | 662,000 | 83 |
Day 1d Turbo: Kuhn Climbs to the Top
While Day 1c battled on, the evening saw the turbo-paced Day 1d kick off upstairs. Running on a 20-minute clock, it drew 171 entries, with 26 players punching their tickets to Day 2.
At the top of the leaderboard was Benoit Kuhn, who bagged 675,000 and claimed the second €5,000 chip leader bonus of the day. He was followed closely by Angelo Vietti (594,000) and Federico Cirillo (565,000), while Autumn Edition finalist Ivaylo Eftimov secured another deep run with 550,000.
Rasmus Lundstroem – fresh off his €12,700 bounty haul – also advanced with 141,000, along with Poker.pro’s Fotios Ntamaris, who has fired at every flight so far.
Friday’s Side Events in Review
Three more side events lit up Friday’s schedule:
- €330 PLO 4-Card Knockout: 60 players joined the field of the non-NLH event. Hungarian Marton Lugosi emerged victorious, taking home €2,370 plus bounties. Local legend Joseph Grech and Friday’s H.O.R.S.E. runner-up Soner Vanelderen both made the money again, continuing their strong festival showings.
- €300 NLH Betwin360: A tidy €3,820 first-place prize was built after the 54 player strong field emerged. The lionshare prize went to Sergi Kapanadze of Georgia. Dutch grinder Nick Botman finished runner-up, and Andrei Roman-Tamaduianu took third. All three podium finishers earned €780 event packages for the upcoming Italia Play stop in Nova Gorica.
- €150 HyperTurbo: In the most shocking twist of the day, Poker.Pro’s own Jonathan Raab took home first place. Poker.Pro staff accounted for 10 total buy-ins to add to the 67 player field. BoM host Glenn Brown won the award for most bullets fired with 4 buy-ins and yours truly (Alek Gillies) took home the fastest elimination falling to Raab’s big slick three hands in. Raab shared laughs and a celebration with fellow media staff and it was a happy ending to an otherwise bleak tournament for Poker.Pro staff. With Raab’s win, the media team as a whole made a profit of €860. A full article on Raab’s hero’s journey will be posted shortly.
High Roller Satellites Underway
With the Main Event in full swing, satellites have now shifted focus to Sunday night’s €1,100 High Roller. Saturday’s satellite brought in 109 entries and awarded 10 seats. Another chance awaits on Sunday morning for those looking to get in on the action. Once again, I fired into another tournament and broke my own record only lasting one hand with a cooler.
| Saturday, April 5 | 10:00 | NLH BOM Day 1c ‘Let the battle begin’ (Chip Leader Bonus €5,000) | €600 |
| 11:00 | NLH Super Satellite for High Roller (one time) | €130 | |
| 14:00 | NoviBet UltraDeep | €240 | |
| 15:00 | PLO 4/5 Round Each | €220 | |
| 19:00 | NLH BOM Main Event Day 2 | N/A | |
| 19:00 | High Roller Amazing Bet Day 1 (12 Levels) | €1100 | |
| 21:00 | Hyper Turbo by Eplay | €150 | |
| 22:00 | NLH Super Satellite for High Roller (accumulator) | €130 |
Stay locked in for more highlights from the Battle of Malta Spring Edition – we’re just getting started. Also be prepared as the €130 Ladies Event Flip Poker tournament takes place with exclusive coverage at poker.pro.
