About the Battle of Malta 2018
The Battle of Malta was invented in 2012 by Ivonne Montealegre. What started 6 years ago with 349 players and a guaranteed prize pool of only €150,000 has grown massively since that boasting new records year after year.
2017 was the first time, where the magical 1-Million-Euro mark way cracked with 2,047 entries in the €550 Main Event.
In February PokerListings sold the Battle of Malta to Casino Malta giving it a new home in the Intercontinental and for the first time a 1 Million Euro Guarantee!
Also there were bigger names and celebrities than ever before with German tennis legend Boris Becker and poker legend Patrik Antonius in the first place.
Playing charity event with the legendary @patrikantonius #PinkOctober #cancerresearch #BattleOfMalta pic.twitter.com/VyR666G7e0
— Boris Becker (@TheBorisBecker) 26. Oktober 2018
Biggest poker tournament ever held in Europe!
The pressure on the Casino Malta Team being led by Telly Bartolo and Diane Fenech was immense, but the two developed a fantastic strategy of running an incredible number of live satellites, not only in Malta, but in the whole of Europe.
In addition to that, there were more packages sold for 2018 Battle of Malta than all years combined with countless online satellites running at 888poker, Betsson, Betsafe and NordicBet to name just a few.
Being based in Malta it was clear that VIP-Grinders.com has to be part of this, so we send out a team of our players led by VIP-Grinders.com chief editor Lars Liedtke to the felt. Read his tournament review here:
“One of the most epic poker tournaments I have ever seen“
“It was this time of the year again! The time, when the poker community comes together in Malta for one week to play live poker, exchange opinions and last but not least party.
The atmosphere in the weeks before and especially during the Battle of Malta is electrifying on the island with everybody trying to grab a seat in the must-play tournament of the year.
Excitement is high, if the organisors will meet the guarantee and if there will be a new record or if they have to pay an overlay for the first time ever.
It is my fifth Battle of Malta and after having sold more online packages than all the previous years combined, it was clear for me that we will see a new record, but nobody had dreamed of this outcome.
Unbelievable 3.816 players made the 2018 Battle of Malta the biggest poker tournament ever held in Europe and the island in the Mediterranean the poker mecca of the planet for six full days.
The 1 Million Euro Guarantee was almost doubled with €1,850,760 making the 2018 Battle of Malta one of the most epic poker tournaments I have ever seen!
A really cool change was also to have all players and tournaments on the same floor compared to previous years, where the tournament was played on two different floors with long ways for bloggers and services.
Being mainly a cash game player and having to work at the event on the site, I decided to play only one tournament the €250 Siege of Malta, which is a 2-Day tournament and has a Guarantee of €100,000 ans mainly focus on the cash games, which ran 24/7.
I made it into Day 2, which also meant that I was in the money. On the second day, I started as one of the short stacks, but was able to take some ladders. Then I found Pocket Queens in the small blind with 16bb and after a raise from the Cut-Off, I pushed all-in.
He called with AsKh and it was a classic coinflip, but after a king on the flop and two blanks on turn and river and I busted in 42nd place out of 501 players for €480. I am very happy with how I played as I didn’t make any big mistakes and my goal was to make the money.
On top of that, I was crushing it at the €5/€5 No-Limit Hold’em cash game tables, so I finished the event with a nice profit.
Although the event was a tremendous success, there are still things to consider/improve. The structures in all tournaments are much faster now and with unlimited re-entries favour the pros extremely, who can fire almost indefinite bullets and turn the tournaments into a bit of a crapshoot.
Also doubling the cap in the cash games from normally €10 to €20, which is a 100% increase and charging a lot of money for soft drinks, which are normally for free, is hurting the cash games and is everything else but player-friendly. This is something Casino Malta should look into and improve next year as are the hour long queues for cash games and tournament cashouts.
Apart from that the 2018 Battle of Malta was a fantastic event and I am already looking forward to next year. I would also like to thank VIP-Grinders.com for giving me this amazing opportunity and provide me with an unforgettable experience!
Check out the interviews with Patrik Antonius and Ana Marquez!
I did two very interesting interviews at the Battle of Malta with poker superstars Patrik Antonius and 888poker Ambassador Ana Marquez, make sure to check them out!”
The best pictures from the Battle of Malta 2018:
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