Toni Kaukua made it 160,000 to go in the cutoff with K♦9♣. It folded to Adria Calonge in the big blind, who tossed in chips to defend 8♦4♦. Calonge checked the subsequent 5♥6♦5♣ flop to Kaukua, who continued for 120,000.
Calonge called to the 7♦ turn, where he saw Kaukua size up to 360,000. Deciding to fast-play, Calonge jammed in his straight, but Kaukua quickly folded his king-high, leaving himself with fewer than 10 big blinds.
Aliaksei Boika opened from the cutoff with 8♠7♠ and found a caller in Tomasz Brzezinski from the big blind holding A♦2♦.
Both players checked through the 3♣6♣10♠ flop.
The 9♣ turn gave Boika a straight, and he fired 300,000, which Brzezinski called.
The 9♦ completed the board, and after another check from Brzezinski, Boika pushed out a big bet worth 800,000. Brzezinski made the call but quickly mucked after Boika tabled his straight.
Mykhailo Ostash raised to 250,000 from the small blind and Aliaksei Boika defended his big blind to see the 8♦6♣4♣ flop. Both players checked, and the 5♦ arrived on the turn. Ostash bet 180,000 and Boika called.
The 7♣ completed the board with an eight-high straight showing. Ostash fired out 900,000 into a pot of 1,840,000, and Boika quickly called.
Ostash tabled Q♥5♠ and played the board, but Boika had 9♣8♥ for a nine-high straight to take in the final pot of Day 5.
With that, the five players are bagging and tagging their stacks. Recap and chip counts to follow.
Playing the Main Event of a PokerStars European Poker Tour series for the first time can be a daunting affair. Playing with some of the best players in the world for possible life-changing prize money, one can only try their best as they dream of making it to the final table. For Mykhailo Ostash, that dream has become a reality at the 2025 EPT Malta €5,300 Main Event.
In his debut at the EPT, previously only having played in his home country of Ukraine, Ostash battled his way through five days of poker to become one of the five players remaining in contention for the €760,000 top prize and the lustrous EPT trophy. What’s even more, he holds the chip lead over his four rivals, ending the penultimate day with 9,870,000 in chips, good for 123 big blinds when play resumes on the final day — the day where the biggest prizes of the €4,355,300 prize pool will be awarded.
Ostash’s debut is far from the only storyline from the final five players left from the 898 entries made at Casino Malta. Most notably, Aliaksei Boika is second in chips and only four eliminations away from defending his title, having won the Main Event when the EPT last took place in Malta in 2016. If Boika manages to hoist the trophy again, he would be added to a legendary list of two-time EPT champions and be the first to win their second trophy at the same location, let alone defend their title.
Aliaksei Boika
Meanwhile, Tomasz Brzezinski sits in third and has also achieved the incredible feat of making back-to-back final tables, coming fresh off of a fourth-place finish at EPT Barcelona just over a month ago. Adria Calonge cashed in that EPT Barcelona Main Event as well, picking up just over a min-cash on his first time ever doing so. The Spanish player's second in-the-money run has brought him much further, ending the penultimate day fourth in chips with over 44 big blinds in his stack.
The short stack of the bunch is experienced Norwegian high roller Tom-Aksel Bedell. Bedell will come into the final day with 1,140,000 chips and will try to spin up his stack and extend his stay at the first-ever final table of an EPT Main Event of his storied career.
End of Day 5 Chip Counts
Seat
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Mykhailo Ostash
Ukraine
9,870,000
123
2
Aliaksei Boika
Belarus
7,035,000
88
3
Adria Calonge
Spain
3,525,000
44
4
Tom-Aksel Bedell
Norway
1,140,000
14
5
Tomasz Brzezinski
Poland
5,380,000
67
Tom-Aksel Bedell
Day 5 Action
David Tous (15th - €38,950), Alessandro Barone (14th - €38,950), and Maxime Chilaud (12th - €46,750) started Day 5 fairly short, and all were eliminated in preflop confrontations during the first level of the day. Longmao Fan (13th - €46,750) unsuccessfully fired several big bluffs and joined them at the rail before the first break.
Spanish powerhouse and 2015 EPT Monte Carlo winner Adrian Mateos (11th - €56,050) had a double encounter with an unstoppable Brzezinski, first doubling him up when Brzezinski was at risk, and, not long after, being eliminated by him after an ill-timed squeeze play. Not much later, Luis Faria (10th - €56,050) bubbled the final table. First, Faria erroneously flipped his hand over preflop, thinking he was calling all in when he was not. Leaving himself a few chips behind, he busted a few hands later, and the final nine players converged on one table.
Adrian Mateos
The players at the final table battled for three and a half hours, passing chips back and forth, before Joao Tomas was the first to be eliminated in a massive cooler against Boika. After that point, Ostash had taken over the chiplead, and he increased his advantage over the remaining contenders when he sent home Juan Pardo, who four-bet jammed ace-jack into his ace-queen.
The remaining seven contenders then took a short dinner break, after which big action kicked off. First, Ben Heath doubled in a flip against Bedell, leaving the latter short. However, two hands later, Brzezinski flopped quad aces and doubled against Heath’s kings for a chiplead pot, leaving Heath with even fewer chips than Bedell. Not to be outdone, Ostash took back the lead swiftly, flopping top set against the top pair of Brzezinski.
Boika busted Heath in seventh, with Heath earning the first six-figure payout of the Main Event, taking home €118,650. After Bedell doubled, short stack ninja Toni Kaukua became the final elimination of the night, pay-jumping his way to sixth place, good for €154,250.
Toni Kaukua
The five remaining players battled for a little while longer before they bagged for the night. They will return tomorrow, Sunday, October 12, at 12:30 p.m. local time to crown the winner of the 2025 EPT Malta Main Event. There will be 15 hands left to play with blinds at 40,000/80,000 (80,000), after which every level will be played for 30 hands. They have locked up the eye-watering sum of €200,550 for their top-five appearance, but with four- and five-figure pay jumps coming up, there is everything left to play for.
Final Table Results & Remaining Payouts
Place
Player
Country
Payout
1
€760,000
2
€474,650
3
€339,000
4
€260,750
5
€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
PokerNews will be back on Day 6 for the thrilling finale of the 2025 EPT Malta Main Event, so be sure to tune back in to find out whose dream run will culminate in lifting the prestigious European Poker Tour trophy.
