Serghei Lisii Wins Record-Breaking MPNPT @ Battle of Malta Main Event and €247,167

October 22, 2019

Serghei Lisii has turned an online satellite win on 32Red into a payday of €247,167 after taking down the €555 Main Event at the Battle of Malta. The 25-year-old faced stiff competition from eventual runner-up Steven van Zadelhoff – and an enormous overall field of 4,657. The €1,000,000 guarantee was smashed with two starting flights left to run, and a total of €2,258,645 was paid out to 688 in-the-money finishers (the top 15% of each start day).

Click here for full payout information from the Main Event and visit the MPN Poker Tour Blog for a rundown of notable cashers and a recap of the final day’s highlights.

There were a total of 13,000 tournament entries over 35 events at the Battle of Malta, held in the capacious surroundings of the Intercontinental Arena, hosted by Casino Malta; the festival has now broken its own records for eight consecutive years.

After a hard-fought Main Event Day 3 had whittled the remaining field from 88 to just 11, the last two short-handed tables quickly shed Vincenzo Pinna and Valerii Firstenko (both pocketing €22,360), the latter busting to Colum Higgins. Higgins had started the day with just six big blinds (not enough, apparently, for his vocal and excitable friends to change their flights home in order to rail him) but suddenly found himself third in chips overall as they relocated to the TV table. Prior to making the final, Higgins had already secured a bonus €1,500 package to MPNPT Madrid courtesy of the MPNPT Last Longest competition – along with Johan Goslings and Babis Lappas.

Click here for profiles of all nine finalists.

Sharing the chip lead as the final began (livestreamed with commentary from Jason Glatzer and Phil Heald) were Josef Guláš and Steven van Zadelhoff with over 25 million apiece (10 million more than Higgins). Those further down the leaderboard wasted no time in getting their stacks in preflop, Flavio Laudani open-shoving twice in quick succession. Though the first all-in move was uncalled, the second found Higgins moving in behind with a dominating pair of jacks to Laudani’s nines. Laudani, who runs a Sicilian patisserie in Rome, collected €24,620 for 9th place, while Higgins’ newly ascendant stack was further boosted when he busted Shaun De Cesare soon afterwards (8th for €27,100).

It was Rune Moerk moving in as a short-stack in an open spot next, finding king-jack offsuit in a late position. Bruno Massimo called all-in with pocket jacks in the small blind and van Zadelhoff came along for the ride with king-nine suited, checking through the streets. Massimo’s jacks held and Moerk was down to dust, but in one of those unexpected twists that No Limit Hold’em tournaments provide, it was the former who hit the rail in 7th place. A classic ace-king vs. jacks match-up saw Massimo’s maximal unpaired starting hand stay behind; Moerk made an unexpected leap in the payouts and claimed 6th for €42,910.

Leo Worthington-Leese, a 27 year old professional player from Brighton, UK, lost his own crucial all-in preflop flip, fours vs. ace-queen, to Sergheii Lisii soon thereafter and departed in 5th (€42,910). The pace of elimination then slowed, with four-handed play continuing for almost two levels, during which Higgins lost ground and Guláš vied with van Zadelhoff for the chip lead. Higgins eventually succumbed to the latter after a series of coolers and finished in 4th for €74,540. This left van Zadelhoff in a strong position chip-wise, and even after Serghei Lisii busted Guláš (3rd for €102,050), the Dutchman held more than a 2:1 lead.

After almost a full level of heads up play, during which the chips see-sawed, a deal was struck – to take €30,000 off the top to play for and split the rest evenly. Guaranteed €217,167, a truly dramatic reversal of fortune saw van Zadelhoff first whittle his opponent down to the felt, then double him up four times, eventually losing the title but receiving a trophy (which he promptly and good-naturedly banged down on the table and broke; his Vikingspiration nutrition and fitness YouTube channel has clearly shown results).

Moldovan-born Lisii, who now lives in Sochi, Russia, displayed great tenacity and received a portion old-fashioned luck to bank the biggest win of his poker career.

2019 Battle of Malta Main Event Final Table Results

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2019 Battle of Malta Side Events

In side event news, Finnish player Hassan Sey won Battle of Malta’s first ever €5k Mega High Stack event this week for €43,050, also cashing in the Main Event. There were 24 entries creating a €116,400 prize pool with five players paid. The €1,320 High Roller event attracted 322 entries and was won by Chris Da-Silva, Ambassador for The Hippodrome Casino in London, for €73,070.

The penultimate event at this year’s festival was the €150 MPNPT Battle, a skirmish that ended up involving 552 players and paying out €72,285. So popular did this event prove that it sold out at start and queues formed the likes of which had not been seen since the Main Event kicked off. A late finish saw Mohamed Bouzgarrou take the trophy and €13,915 top prize, beating Rudy Fonseca heads up. A total of 79 players picked up a cash in this event, a mix of local and touring players, amateurs and pros, many having won their entry as part of an MPNPT package online.

More than €6,000 was raised for Pink October Malta over the course of the festival through raffle ticket sales and the donation of the €1,350 registration fee from the Ladies Event (which attracted 135 entries and was won by Monica Poggi for €3,145). Next year’s Ladies Event has been announced to boast an unprecedented €25,000 guarantee.

Click here for full side event results. There was, as always, plenty of entertainment away from the poker tables at this year’s festival. After the warm-up of the Aperol Spritz Welcome Drinks, MPNPT hosted its own VIP drinks party and kept qualifiers entertained with putting, air hockey, the eternally popular live Fish Party and drinks in the exclusive VIP Chill Out Room. Award-winning hit band Red Electrick made the official Battle of Malta Players’ Party at exclusive Paranga Beach a night to remember.

Wrapping up the MPN Poker Tour will be the Grand Finale in Madrid, February 6th - 9th 2020. The MPNPT’s mix of poker, parties, and socialising with opponents who have become friends that has made the tour so popular will fit perfectly in the beautiful Spanish capital, a fitting destination for the final stop. Satellites are running now on poker tour partner sites awarding €550 seats and €1,500 packages; details can be found here.

History of Battle of Malta

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