Tom-Aksel Bedell Leads EPT €5,300 Main Event with 36 Players Remaining

Seeing Aliaksei Boika win the 2025 PokerStars European Poker Tour Malta €5,300 Main Event nine years after his 2016 success seemed like an impossible dream when he first arrived at Casino Malta. But out of a field of 898 entries, this dream became increasingly plausible as the field narrowed.

The Belarusian player ended Day 3 second in chips with 1,987,000, as 36 players qualified for Day 4. Only Tom-Aksel Bedell managed to bag a bigger stack with 2,718,000 chips after spending the last levels at the feature table. Third in chips is the chip leader at the start of the day, Roman Stoica, who seemed to have a decent run to end the day with 1,734,000.

Day 3 Top Ten Chip Counts

Rank	Player	Country	Chip Count	Big Blinds
1	Tom-Aksel Bedell	Norway	2,718,000	272
2	Aliaksei Boika	Belarus	1,987,000	199
3	Roman Stoica	Moldova, Republic of	1,734,000	173
4	Jiaming Zhao	China	1,279,000	128
5	Juan Pardo	Spain	1,256,000	126
6	Maxime Chilaud	France	1,168,000	117
7	Luis Faria	Portugal	1,150,000	115
8	Joao Tomas	Portugal	1,057,000	106
9	Tom Vogelsang	Netherlands	1,051,000	105
10	Adrian Mateos	Spain	1,038,000	104

The two generals of the Spanish army, Juan Pardo (1,256,000) and Adrian Mateos (1,038,000), are both still in contention with more than a million chips. They are followed by lieutenants Adria Calonge (980,000) and Gerard Rubiralta, who sent PokerStars Team Pro Kenny Hallaert out as the first player eliminated of the day (108th - €9,650).

Among the other millionaires are Jiaming Zhao (1,279,000), Maxime Chilaud (1,168,000), Portugal’s Luis Faria (1,150,000), and Joao Tomas (1,057,000), as well as Tom Vogelsang (1,051,000), who hit a full house to eliminate Enrico Camosci (88th).

While Dominik Panka (106th), Monika Hrabec (101st), Cesar Garcia (95th), Tom Middleton (87th), Daniel Rezaei (81st), and Ognyan Dimov (37th) were all eliminated during Day 3, the tournament continues for players like Grzegorz Kozieja (1,033,000), Ben Heath (625,000), Petre Ionescu (492,000), and Toni Kaukua (226,000).

Italy’s Luca Guglielmoni (99,000) and Alessandro Barone (72,000) trail at the bottom as the only two players with fewer than ten big blinds.

Play is set to resume Friday, October 10, at 12 p.m. local time with the same plan as today, to play four 90-minute levels, which should bring the field close to the final two or three tables. Day 4 seating remains the same as it was at the end of the day, and all 36 remaining players have already secured a minimum cash prize of €16,800.

Remaining Payouts

Place	Prize	Place	Prize
1	€760,000	10-11	€56,050
2	€474,650	12-13	€46,750
3	€339,000	14-15	€38,950
4	€260,750	16-17	€33,850
5	€200,550	18-20	€29,450
6	€154,250	21-23	€25,600
7	€118,650	24-27	€22,250
8	€91,250	28-31	€19,350
9	€70,250	32-36	€16,800