The Autumn edition of the 2022 Malta Poker Festival (MPF) has wrapped up, after playing out at the fantastic Portomaso Casino in St Julian's, Malta. The series ran from October 24-31 and was headlined by the MPF Grand Event, which was powered by online poker giant partypoker.
partypoker, who ran satellites to the event in their client, sent a host of qualifiers to the 1,326-entry tournament. Those players generated the €636,450 prize pool and they duked it over several days on the Mediterranean coast.
When the dust settled, Italy's Mirko Mostaccio walked away as the victor and bagged the €136,670 first-place prize after a deal was agreed with runner-up Thomas Harnes (€97,330). At heads-up play, the two players agreed that Mostaccio would lock up €133,270 while Harnes would bank €97,330. They then played for the trophy and the remaining €23,400 of the prize pool.
The final hand of the night saw Mostaccio and Harnes get in their stacks preflop. The winner held ace-queen while the latter had king-jack. An ace-high flop had Mostaccio with one hand on the title and the clean runout confirmed his biggest and only recorded result to date.
“I am so happy to see MPF grow every year. The schedule for this autumn edition was full of amazing events hosted by our sponsors. From partypoker LIVE to Bounty Hunter Days, APAT, The Hendon Mob, FullTilt Catania, and CasinoCoin. Each bringing a special flavor," said event founder Ivonne Montealegre.
"But, mostly our incredible community makes a simple poker festival into an epic one. Portomaso Casino once again shines as the best poker location on the island," she added.
MPF Grand Event powered by partypoker Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mirko Mostaccio | Italy | €136,670* |
| 2 | Thomas Harnes | Norway | €97,330* |
| 3 | Luigi D'Alterio | Italy | €57,000 |
| 4 | Andrew Cutajar | Malta | €35,000 |
| 5 | Glen Gaines | United Kingdom | €25,000 |
| 6 | Tobias Aljoscha | Germany | €18,000 |
| 7 | Alessandro La Cava | Italy | €13,000 |
| 8 | Steven Smith | United Kingdom | €9,000 |
| 9 | Karl-Heinz Metz | Germany | €5,990 |
*indicates heads-up deal
MPF Grand Event Past Champions; MPF Returns in Spring 2023
Italy's Emanuele Onnis was the inaugural MPF Main Event winner, outlasting 1,365 other entries. He took home the €150,000 top prize after despatching Fabian Gumz at heads-up.
Tomas Sujeta was the Grand Event champion in 2019 and collected the €150,000 up top. The 2019 field attracted a healthy 1,324 entries with Israel's Dmitri Dan finishing as the runner-up.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the MPF was put on pause until Spring 2022. The series came back with a bang as 1,014 entries were recorded for the first MPF Grand Event of the year which saw Daniel Lakerveld walk away as the champion and collected the €71,000 up top.
The MPF will also return again in 2023 for another spring edition and will once again take place at the Portomaso casino from April 24 through to May 1.
| Year | Name | Country | Entries | Event | Prize (EUR) | Prizepool |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Emanuele Onnis | Italy | 1,366 | MPF Grand Event 2018 | €150,000 | €662,510 |
| 2019 | Tomas Sujeta | Lithuania | 1,324 | MPF Grand Event 2019 | €150,000 | €642,140 |
| 2022 | Daniel Lakerveld | Netherlands | 1,014 | Spring MPF Grand Event | €71,000 | €486,720 |
| 2022 | Mirko Mostaccio | Italy | 1,326 | MPF Grand Event | €136,670 | €636,450 |
Imagery courtesy of The Hendon Mob
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