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.
Huge congrats to Mirko Mostaccio ## on winning the ## Malta Poker Festival Main Event for €136,970, not bad for a f… https://t.co/ckGOT7MdGK
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 with 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 that 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
Get a Satellite Ticket and a Free Gift for the Grand Prix UK Main Event on partypoker
Malta Poker Festival Grand Event Past Champions
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.
| 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
Now Is The Perfect Time to Join PartyPoker
Thinking about joining PartyPoker? Now is the time to get off the fence and join the fun at PartyPoker. Download PartyPoker via PokerNews, create your free account and make your first deposit safe in the knowledge that your deposit amount is matched 100% up to $600, plus you receive $30 worth of free tickets if you deposit at least $20!
- Day 1: 1x $5 SPINS ticket + 1x $3.30 MTT ticket
- Day 2: 2x $1 SPINS ticket + 1x $5.50 MTT ticket
- Day 4: 1x $5.50 MTT ticket
- Day 6: 2x $3 SPINS tickets + 1x$3.30 MTT ticket
Editor & Live Reporter
Calum has been a part of the PokerNews team since September 2021 after working in the UK energy sector. He played his first hand of poker in 2017 and immediately fell in love with the game. Calum’s proudest poker achievement is winning the only tournament he has ever played in Las Vegas, the prestigious $60 Flamingo evening event.