Day 1C has played to a finish and it was Joubert Pierre-Yves who managed some hectic conditions to find himself skyrocketed up into first place on the leaderboard with a gargantuan 820,000 in chips at the close. 

Here's how we reached this point...

The Battle of Malta 2022 resumed today in the Intercontinental's sizeable internal chambers and once the fanfare, medieval knights and dizzying technicolour spotlight show had set the scene - cards were shuffled up and dealt and we were off for Day 1C.

The numbers of entrants for the €1 Million Gtd Battle of Malta had been steadily growing through the first two days, but the Friday Day 1 was always guaranteed to be the largest so far and so it proved with 1,014 entries in total once the rebuy period ended at level 10.

Matheusz Moolhuizen was one of the more recognisable names in the midst, following his breakout score at the WSOP this year (2nd in the WSOP $1,500 Monster Stack for $597,362) and he described the action as "a bloodbath" - an apt summary of the frenzy of chip movement we witnessed throughout the day. Moolhuizen would finish agonisingly short of passage to day 2 in 157th though even this pain was eclipsed by others during one of the craziest bubble periods we've ever witnessed.

With the landmark of 152 remaining players being the safety zone players needed to reach Day 2 (and therefore cash), we went hand for hand with 153 remaining and incredibly, on this precarious bubble inflection point, we had no less than FIVE all-ins on the same hand.

The watching rail, filled with friends and enthused onlookers, were sent into a late night frenzy as this critical set of hands played out - the tournament staff sweeping the area clean to ensure this vital juncture played out smoothly.

Ultimately three players at risk in these hands bubbled - Reigo Maar, Marco Fenaroli and Antonio Alba all missing out on a cash prize - while the remaining 150 players could breathe a sigh of great relief, knowing their 12 hour marathon poker stint would be rewarded come Sunday's Day 2.

A savage, but exciting day's poker and tomorrow should have plenty up its sleeve as well, with two further Day 1's, beginning with Day 1D at 13:00 along with a second (turbo-formatted) Day 1E, kicking off at 20:00. As well as these two events, players can also jump into the third of the "Mystery Siege of Malta" Day 1's at 17:00 - a mystery bounty event as well as a €170+30 NLHE event at 18:00 and the 888 "Made to Play" NLHE €180+20 Event that starts at 21:00.

We'll be returning to bring you news of how these pan out but for now, we're off for a few winks of R&R - much needed after such a dramatic day's play. Join us tomorrow as the race to win the Battle of Malta continues. See you then! 

In a shocking development, with one place from the money, no less than FIVE tables had an all-in on the same hand!

Crazy stuff, and it threw the rail into delerium, straining to see what was going on. We were collateral damage, ejected from the tournament area as the tournament staff engaged their "riot control" techniques of booting everyone not in a suit or at a table out of the tournament area (don't worry we escaped with only our pride wounded!) This made it tricky to ascertain the hands BUT we aren't so easily dismissed and we battled back in to watch THREE of those all-ins bubbling. Frothy times...

In normal circumstances this would mean all three chopped two prizes but the rules here at the Battle of Malta are that you have to bag chips for Day 2 to cash, so all three get nothing back. Harsh...

The three unlucky souls were Maar Reigo (whose AT lost out to 67 over a 9-2-2-5-7 board - cruel river), Marco Fenaroli, particularly unlucky to lose with KK v 99 to Giorgio Soceanu as the board ran out 8-3-3-7-9 (the pain!) and Alba Antonio, whose A-5 couldn't find a bullet vs QQ.

Bad luck to those three above but well done to the remaining 150 players who all make Day 2 and a cash! We'll have a wrap with news of the final chip leader& some full chip counts coming up but for now thanks for following and we'll be back for Day 1D tomorrow at 13:00.

Level 16 of the day... 18 off the finish... 152 is the cut off, where all players will make day 2 and the money.... 

Level 15 has just finished - with 170 players still hoping their stacks, skill and luck will prove the winning recipe to take them through to the final 152 players, Day 2 and the cash spots.

They'll be off for a 15 minute period to cool their jets & come back with robust strategies to make it past the last few obstacles between them and remuneration. See you shortly...

The Bounty My Day tournament has finished with Zacharia Asrag the proud winner of €1,630 plus bounties. Congratulations - you've already got a great story to bring back from your trip to Malta.

Here are the full payouts from the event.

More exits from the room as we get closer to the 152 needed to make day 2...

Metsla Mark 
Ganev Iliya 
Karakousis Georgios 
Berberovic Bojan 
Saieva Maurizio 
Moses Sid Oliver John 
Van Leeuwen Bianca 
Russo Antonio 
Pichierri Alessandro 
Zinic Luka 
Mccann Paul 
Al-Labani Hael 
Nughes Davide 
Flamma Gerardo 
Agica Marius 
Claudi Cristiano 
MEIGHAN Avid
Mr Gianluca Modenese 
Douna Robert 
Van Ravenswoud Carlo Stefano 
Vella Mark Anthony

Gabriele Re......(Below).... 280k

Constantin Negura.... 310k

Simon Lindell......290k

Luca Quilichini.....325k

Gheorghe-Adrian David......330k

Alejandro Gambin.....275k

No one wants to walk down a street of broken dreams. It's a sad, lonely walk & a lot of those shattered dreams have sharp edges. Ouch!

Well that's the path that leads to this band of unfortunate players - their tournament coming to a close within tantalising distance of the finishing line, or at least the cashing line.

Poker tests your mettle and these players have just had a test of theirs. Bad luck all! That leaves just 199 remaining as the blinds rise...

Exits from the room, meaning it's a re-entry tomorrow if they want to be part of the huge prize pool that is building up nicely...

Vieira Cyril Antonine Mathieu 
Rosenwasser Jonathan 
Tortomasi Domenico 
BRUNS BJOERN 
Parcetic Aleksandar 
Boi Paolo 
Balestra David 
Mitson James Edward 
Matrai Andras 
Montalbetti Feliciano 
Ben Azuz Nawfal 
Del Buono Vittorio 
Magg Raphael 
Parmiggiani Leonardo  
Elvis-Nikolaos Chatzi 
Valenta Ales 
Rosa Giuseppe 
Saraniero Riccardo 

That pivotal number of 152 is drawing ever closer with 234 players remaining.  Although there are enough players left to make it tricky to ascertain the chip leader, Diola Valentinos is certainly in the reckoning - his 390,000 head and shoulders above most as we home in on the last few levels.

Remember yesterday Domenico Gala was the man who topped the counts with 506,000. It's likely that will be toppled over the next few hours as blind pressure causes some seismic confrontations with players battling tooth and nail to win those vital chips in the middle...

Hayley Goss is having a great day so far... Just north of 200k and 70 players to be eliminated to make day 2... Hayley from the UK is going along nicely as she's near double average atm...  Let's hope it continues..

Exits from the last hour .....

PIGNATELLI GIUSEPPE 
Campan Cristian 
Hougaard Kresten 
Penev Zlatin Nedyalkov 
Tammel Tarmo 
Bastow Frank  
KASI RANEL 
Autiero Giuseppe 
VICIDOMINI GIUSEPPE 
Emmi Lara Alexa 
Karakannas Giannakis 
Ragauskas Jurgis 
Zehetleitner Paul 
Ioannis Chorianopoulos 
Pekka Ikone
Maimon Amir 
Crupi Paolo 
Voto Itaco

The end of level 12 means the players are taking a breather to plan their attack on the latter levels. There's much to play for, that 152 mark is their goal (283 currently remaining), which will mean they have made it through to Sunday evening's Day 2 - one step closer to the Battle of Malta trophy. Glory and riches await across that significant threshold.

Here are the players in pole position at the moment, holding large stacks that captained well could see them home.

So, a 15 minute break for the players and we'll be back for level 13 shortly.

More exits from the room as the only way to be in the BoM is to try again tomorrow!!

SINATRA SEBASTIANO 
Thiemer Frederik Paul Caspar 
Chillemi Salvatore 
LO CARBO FABRIZIO 
Meusburger Reinhard 
Haverkamp Ronald 
Goose Steven 
Nocerino Pasquale 
VOIDOC FRANCISC 
Pancani Massimo 
Degennaro Daniele 
Negura Vlad Gabriel 
Rawal Manish Anilkumar 
Ruggero Domenico 
Linker Alan John 
Bracchi Nicola 
Field Joseph James 
SUOKAS JARKKO 
Spozio Matteo 
Yichuam Ye

One of the big stacks in the room is Gheorghe Adrian David. Who is sat with around 260k.. (Below)

Other decent stacks around the room are....

Romano Ravailoli... 125k

Michelle Pelligrino... 195k

Mario Virtuoso...145k

Giovani le Rosa.......115k

Nicholas Osthus..... 140k

Simon Lindell....150k

Nikoli Barjaktarevic.....120k

Jovan Kenjic.....145k

There's just 376/1,014 players remaining in contention now. It looks like that 1,014 will be our final entries for the day given rebuys are now over but we'll confirm this officially shortly.

If so, that means we'll play until there's 152 left - at which point the day will end and all survivors will have made it to Day 2 (and cashed.)

Edit: Thomas Kremser has just announced this as the official number. 152 is our magic number. Expect things to tighten & tense up considerably as we get close to this number.  The big stacks can have a party though!

Here are a few chip counts from around the arena :-

More eliminations from around the room....

Campbell Leon  
CEZARY KUPREWICZ 
GIAMMARIA VITO 
Kirby Stewart Anthony 
LUKOVIC NEMANJA 
Danesi Matteo
Evert Erki 
GOUTARD ANTOINE 
Pellegrino Vincenzo 
Manic Petar 
Agus Roberto 
VOIDOC FRANCISC 
D'amico Marco
Klatt Andreas 
Meusburger Reinhard 
PIOTR MALINOWSKI 
Canavesi Marco 
PAGLIARO GIANLUCA
STROFFEK STEFAN 
Mavromoustakis Andreas 
DOGGE MARTINUS 
Paillot Sylvere Felix 
Schifano Vincenzo 
Amato Ricardo
Johnson David

One of the contenders for chip leader in the room is Georgiou Georgios. He is sat with a nice stack of 270k, witht he average at 60k!!! 

Pretty decent stack as we head to the end of the buy in period..

More players heading to the re-entry tent!!

Hernandez Miguel 
Jakabfi Andras 
Spadaro Antonino 
Bivona Marco 
Hassankashani Arian 
La Polla Antonio 
Lisovskii Vitalii 
Lim Robert Jr Cabral 
Sammarco Francesco Paolo 
Heikkila Ilkka Elias 
Studer Daniel Otto 
Abela Konrad 
Impollonia Giovanni 
Ielpo Egidio 

We get to the table to see a board of

Sergi Ogansjan is thinking about caling the all in shove from Tiovo Ojasoo...

The dwell isn't too long as he calls his final 32k, which is just shy of the shove by Tiovo..

Sergi shows but is behind to the of Tiovo..

The river is the which means we lose Sergi from the Comp.. And takes a souvenir with him!!! 

Oliver Barrandon just shot a final bullet - jamming over what looked like an UTG raise from Lee Mulligan (though we missed the preflop action) for around 30,000 with pocket sevens.

Bad timing as Mulligan had the aces and made the call, which proved good over the board.

Barrandon headed quickly to the rail and Mulligan showed little emotion as he gathered the chips and re-organised his 85k ish stack - newly garnished with Barrandon's chips...

The last exits of level 9, just before the break, were:-

Maggi Silvio 
Fater Noam 
Sanchioni Eugenio 
Serbu Ionel 
Shimizu Takao 
RAVAIOLI Romano
Schifano Pietro 
Cannizzo Massimo
Pitre Salvatore
Negura Constantin 
Pogiatzeas Charalambos
Spata Alessandro 

This is the last level to buy in for day 1C... Over 1000 have so far.. How many will the final figure be in 40 minutes time?  ]

Here are some of the leading chip counts as the players break at the end of level 9:

There will be a 75 minute break for players to fill their bellies and we'll be back shortly afterward to catch the resumption and last level of rebuys - level 10. See you then!

The best Titfa in the room.. By a long chalk...And table 46 has plenty of chips on it too..  

Said Moses (Below) has around 110k. With the average around the 45k mark.

Michelle Pelligrino... 155k

Auturas Saulis...120k

Dave Harris... 90k

As the blinds take another rise into level 9 - it's getting tough to avoid scrapping it out for your stack. Just 545 players remain from the 985 entries we've seen so far...

These players are recent fallers who now have a difficult decision to make. Buy in again? You'll have to, either today or in the next two days if you still have designs on winning this trophy...

Marco Scalia just won a decent-sized pot, calling Tatjana Smakova's brave re-jam bluff on the river of a board with K-J for the nut straight. Only a flush would scupper him and when she showed down king-high - he was the beneficiary of most of her stack.

He moves to 45k and Tatjana was down to dust - 4k or so.

We passed her table shortly afterward and she had been replaced suggesting the rest of her chips had been gobbled up. Bad luck. Always time for another bullet - or one of the incoming side events. Or what about a mojito in a nearby bar to let off some steam?

Choices, choices...

All this week, the Battle of Malta will be showcasing a streamed feature table where you can watch the action and play along with the players, with the useful additional info of knowing their poker cards.

There's no commentary until the final but in some ways that allows you to make some predictions, without influence from commentary analysis.

Enjoy all the action by clicking here!

Still time to re-enter for the players below..

RE Gabriele
Oliva Giuseppe
VICIDOMINI Giuseppe
Salvino Salvatore 
Coughlan Paul 
Pipitone Alessio 
Nania Cristian 
Kamatakis Iliodoros 
Chalakov Toshko  
Bucar Blaz
Joshua Edward Beackon 
Romanyuk Andrei 
Salamov Adam 
Biondo Antonio 
Georgios Phiniotis
Zhang Honglei 
Campan Chistian 
Santelli Pierluigi 
Senes Salvatore 

A few of the UK players and chip counts as we hit level 8..

Andrew Morse.....34k

Maria Kastourides...30k

David Johnson.... 28k

Jason Shellum.... 21k

Hayley Goss... 40k

Ray Church....32k

Dan Smith.... 10k

Steven Smart... 30k (below)

Mateusz Moolhuizen and partner Dehlia De Jong are both navigating the first half of the day with panache. Moolhuizen holds the bragging rights at the moment - his stack around the 80k mark, but De Jong could yet vault him as she's not too far behind with around 60k.

Chip leaders from around the room as we start level 7.

Bianca Van Leeuwen....160k (Below)

Christos Econimides....110k

Georgiou Georgios.....95k

Antonio Borzi.... 94k

Davide Bellomonte....85k

Christopher Ekvall.....82k

Radek Castka.... 77k

15 minute break for the players to talk about bad beats....

Back Soon...

More re-entry possibilities..

Zuczkowski Xavier
De Riddere Bryan 
Delpiano Dario 
Liberia Pinkecivius Tomas
Peluso Fabio 
Dunevein Simon Andrew 
Anselmo Paolo 
Padovani Sonia Tara 
Enache Ionut 
Karmiris Georgios 
Pardini David 
Praks Hannes
Ndoj Elmir
Farcas Mugurel 
Studer Daniel Otto 
Donnini Danilo

Alessandro Vecchi just saw his Day 1C end barring a rebuy - running a bluff with a missed straight draw on a rivered ace - Andrea Secci made the call, having spiked the ace Vecchi was trying to represent...oops.

Vecchi out but Secci is doing very nicely thanks with 65,000 to his name. He had the look of a man who felt all those chips and perhaps more, totally belonged to him. For now at least, they do!

While we're on the subject of pocket eights, by chance, this was the hand that secured 1st prize for Italian Leonardo Romeo (pictured) in the OlyBet €300 NLHE event.

As well as the juicy €5.7K top prize - Mr Romeo also received €2.9K in additional prizes such as tournament tickets and other gifts, courtesy of  OlyBet. What a result. Congratulations Mr Romeo - Juliet will be over the moon with that.

Paul Coughlan treat himself to a trip to the Battle of Malta, after chopping the Senoirs event in the UK at the massive Goliath Tournament.. He did a 5 way deal for €5300 and decided this event was worthy of a venture... 

Steady start for Paul who is hovvering at starting stack..

Amir Maimon found himself in dire trouble with just about 6k or so and jammed preflop when he looked down at a pair of snowmen - pocket 8's.

He was called by two players with A-J and A-7, who were still active in the hand, so we didn't see these holdings until showdown.

Actually a pretty strong spot - Maimon was the favourite and held over the board, improving to a set on the river and sweeping up the chips.

"Lucky river," a tablemate commented, though the player with A-J was quick to point out (correctly) "It didn't matter, he was ahead even without it."

Maimon was hardly out of the woods with just 19,000 or so but he looked nonetheless happy at this, rubbing his hands together gleefully...

More potential re-entry players... Maybe! 

Klezeys Kasparas 
Pascaglini Cecilia 
Vinnicombe Alan 
NIANG MAME MACOUMBA 
Rinken Mart
Chillemi Salvatore 
Piccione Giuseppe 
Karmiris Georgios 
Kalac Sasa 
Dijkkamp Lennart A 
HUYST DAVY 
Andersson Lars Jakob 
Siligato Giuseppe 
Segatto Massimo 

Chris De Silva who won 2019 High Roller here at the Battle of Malta for €73,000 is back in the building for the main event.. Chris is a regular on the UK circuit and plays all around the world.. After a quick chat, he's in the mood for another decent showing, this time in the Main.

The field has swelled to 750 players, though there's a surprising scarcity of star names in the mix.

One player who is on a stellar trajectory however is Mateusz Moolhuizen - who's been carving out a name for himself as a tough, seasoned tournament pro in recent years, regularly finding himself at final tables around the world.

Most recently he picked up his biggest score - a runner-up berth at the 2022 WSOP $1,500 NLHE Monster stack. He finished just shy of the bracelet but the $597,362 score represented his biggest tournament result and pushed his overall winnings into the six-figure mark.

It's been a fast start over the first few levels - "a bloodbath" is how he described the action! He's seems pretty sanguine about it all though - relaxed and joking with his stack around the 65,000 mark. He'll definitely be a man to watch should he run deep...

More swift exits from the room...

De Riddere Bryan 
Georgios Phiniotis 
Losi Francesco 
Montanelli Mario 
Efe Levent 
Stagi Nicola 
Peri Paolo 
Dean Lee 
Ben Azuz Nawfal 
Cutajar Andrew 
Hemmert Udo Adrian 
Pascaglini Cecilia 
Ascari Fabrizio
Matrai Andras 
FEU GONZALEZ VICTOR 
PARNAT RISTO 

Chip leaders from around the room as we start level 4 of the day...

Marco Bartolini....78k
Stavros Markovis-Tsakas......77k
Kostadin Mihaylov....72k
Quentin Reaubourg...70k
Andrea Cardinali.....68k
Massimiliano Mauceri....65k
Dimitris Tsouvalis....63k

The poker room is bustling with activity - that background hiss of chip riffling filling the Intercontinental's large conference room. Much of that activity will halt for the first break of the day as we've reached the end of the first three levels.

The numbers continue to grow impressively - 680 entries now registered. Spectacular! We'll be back in 15 minutes to pick up from level 4. See you shortly.

Some or most will re-enter but here are a list of exits in the first session of the day...

Aprile Fabio 
Giannakopoulous Stefanos 
Affatato Valter 
Schneider Christian 
Serbu Ionel 
Tsarouchis Vasileios 
FILIP STOJANOWSKI 
Innella Paolo 
Kavouras Michail 
STANKOWSKI Filip
Evert Tanel
Stampe Michael Krogh 
Mavromoustakis Andreas 
Rinchiuso Antonio 
Ioakeim Pantelis 
David Ghoerghe-Adrian 
Tsaknis Vasileios 
Angelousis Konstantinos 
Farrell John 
Karakousis Georgios 

As we scour the room for notables, I see the cards on their backs and an empty seat!! 

Charalampos Chalkoutsakis is scooping in the pot and a quick double.. Both hitting trip Jacks on the flop.. All the chips end up in the middle.. But the Ace played for Charalampos and scoops a nice one..

The third of the €1 Mill Gtd BoM Day 1's is proving very popular but suppose you prefer a different type of poker or the €500+50 buy-in is a little steep for you...

Well, there's a feast of other options on the table for you to nibble at.

Bounty tournaments are all the rage at the moment and there's the:

• €80+100+20 "Bounty Your Day" starting at 15:00 as well as the
• "Mystery Siege of Malta" Day 1B (€210+200+40) starting at 19:00

There's also two standard NLHE Side Events:

• The €180+20 NLH Side at 18:00 &
• The €130+20 NLH Side at 21:00

Lots of options as you can see and if you would like to take a shot at a Main Event seat for the budget price of €55+15, jump in the 22:00 satellite accumulator and with a bit of patience, skill and luck, you could make that happen.

And if this smorgasbord of poker nibbles doesn't take your fancy, Malta's chock full of heaving bars, nightclubs and restaurants where you can relax with a cocktail or two.

There has definately been an influx of Brits making the journey over to Malta. A steady stream over the first few days, but now seems to be the day where they make Malta their own!! So many regular faces on so many tables... 

We'll keep an eye out during the day as we wish them well.. 532 so far in the mix.. A huge turn out for 1C!! Arian Hakkankashani and Toni Poulengeris are sat side by side, after travelling all this way! 

25k seems like an ample stack to feel your way in & take your time to adjust but you run kings into aces or set into set and it's still possible to lose all those chips. The following players have all seen their first shot at the Battle of Malta fall on stony ground:

Torgeman Elhanan Lior
Church Matthew 
Arezzo Oscar
Negucioiu Marius
Fater Noam
VOIDOC FRANCISC
Mr Maurizio Saieva 
Karakausis Georgios
Donnini Danilo
Tsouvalis Dimitrios

Bad luck for them but they have until the end of level 10 to sneak in another rebuy or two.

Meanwhile the number of entries continues to soar - now at a whopping 552!

Today should prove an exciting day of poker. There's already 460 players registered, meaning the numbers will smash those of Day 1A & B - especially since we'll see rebuys up until the end of level 10, as usual.

The players will be chasing the coattails of Day 1B's chipleader Domenico Gala - who reached 506,000 at the close of play yesterday. It's a handy total but we won't be surprised if that is smashed come the end of the day with so many players coming out to do battle. There are chips everywhere!

Play has just started on Day 1C.... 359 sat for the first hand.