Tomasz Brzezinski Wins Rollercoaster Heads-Up to Capture 2025 EPT Malta Main Event Title
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For Tomasz Brzezinski, 2025 has been nothing short of extraordinary. Just weeks after finishing fourth in the EPT Barcelona Main Event, the 37-year-old from Poland completed his dream run on home soil in Malta by capturing the 2025 PokerStars EPT Malta €5,300 Main Event at Casino Malta.
Brzezinski, who has lived in Malta for the past decade working in the sports betting industry, outlasted a record-breaking 898 entries and defeated Ukrainian debutant Mykhailo Ostash in a rollercoaster heads-up battle to secure the trophy and €631,632 from the €4,355,300 prize pool after a heads-up deal.
He also became just the 11th player in EPT history to reach back-to-back Main Event final tables, and his victory adds a career-defining title to the breakout year of his poker journey.
“It was wild,” Brzezinski told PokerNews moments after his win. “At some point, yes, I thought it might slip away. I’m not the luckiest in heads-up. I’ve been second six or seven times at festivals before, so it almost felt like I was cursed. Especially after losing so many flips in a row and watching the stacks even out again. But in the end, it went my way, and I’m very happy.”
Despite his recent hot streak, poker remains more of a passion project than a full-time profession for the Polish champion.
“I used to play poker years ago,” he said. “Then came the choice to continue with poker or start a regular job. I decided to go the safe route, but I’ve always played on the side. I enjoy live poker much more than my actual work sometimes,” he laughed. “I’ve got a lot of friends who are great players, and I try to be a sponge, learn from them, and analyze spots. Somehow, it’s paying off.”
2025 PokerStars EPT Malta €5,300 Main Event Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Payout |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tomasz Brzezinski | Poland | €631,632* |
| 2 | Mykhailo Ostash | Ukraine | €603,058* |
| 3 | Adria Calonge | Spain | €339,000 |
| 4 | Aliaksei Boika | Belarus | €260,750 |
| 5 | Tom-Aksel Bedell | Norway | €200,550 |
| 6 | Toni Kaukua | Finland | €154,250 |
| 7 | Ben Heath | United Kingdom | €118,650 |
| 8 | Juan Pardo | Spain | €91,250 |
| 9 | Joao Tomas | Portugal | €70,250 |
*denotes heads-up deal
Boika Falls Short in Title Defense
Tom-Aksel Bedell spent Days 3 and 4 at the top of the chip counts, but his Day 5 run took a different turn as he entered the finale as the short stack. Despite a brief early rally, the Norwegian businessman and high roller was the first to bow out. On the first hand back from the opening break, Bedell went with deuces, but couldn’t leapfrog Ostash’s pocket threes.
Aliaksei Boika was chasing history, aiming to become just the fifth player to win two EPT Main Event titles and defend the crown he claimed nine years ago in Malta. Only Victoria Coren Mitchell, Mikalai Pobal, Mike Watson, and Anton “WhatIfGod” Bergstrom (with two online EPT victories) have managed the feat.
Boika’s run ended in fourth place. He pulled off a brilliant ace-high hero call that briefly vaulted him up the counts, but the momentum didn’t last. In his final hand, Boika’s kings were cracked by Ostash’s pocket fives, with the Ukrainian flopping a set and extracting maximum value with a 2.5x pot river shove.
In the final three, Brzezinski surged into the chip lead, picking off a bluff, getting paid with quads, and going runner-runner to make a full house against Ostash’s flopped flush. This left Adria Calonge firmly rooted to the bottom of the counts, and he was gone in third after his king-five couldn’t get there against Brzezinski’s pocket tens.
Ostash Refuses to Lay Down
Stacks got close to even just after the duel for the title began, so the finalists agreed to an even split of the remaining prize pool. They shook hands on a deal that locked up €603,098 each, leaving €28,534 and the EPT trophy still to play for.
Brzezinski came out the aggressor in heads-up play, but Ostash proved almost impossible to finish. The Ukrainian rattled off a series of escapes that defied belief: first winning a flip with king-jack against tens, then spiking trips with queen-ten to beat ace-eight. He survived again with pocket fours against ten-nine before coolly picking off a river bluff to haul himself back into contention.
The momentum swung wildly. Ostash even surged into the lead at one point, but Brzezinski responded with a runner-runner flush that earned a 5 million river call to restore a commanding 2:1 edge. Still, Ostash wouldn’t go quietly, doubling for a fifth time with a flush of his own to drag the contest into deep waters.
From there, it became survival poker of the highest order. Ostash clung on with a sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth double-up, each more improbable than the last. When Brzezinski finally found himself all-in and at risk, his pocket eights held against ace-jack to leave Ostash nearly out of gas. But the Ukrainian wasn’t done yet. They say a cat only has nine lives, but Ostash seemed to have at least ten, spiking yet another flip with king-queen to stay alive, and even finding an eleventh double-up to briefly take the driver’s seat.
The miracle run, however, couldn’t last forever. Brzezinski’s ace-jack bested Ostash’s ace-ten to leave him on a single big blind. On Ostash’s 12th all-in — and the 14th of the heads-up match — the comeback finally collapsed, and Brzezinski scooped the last of the chips to seal one of the most chaotic finales in EPT history.
