It took next to no time after dinner for the remaining players to fall and leave us with our final tablists with Will Jarman atop the chip counts with nine players remaining.

Panayiotis Patsalides fell in 13th, winning €19,750 before Paul Zehetleitner took his chances with A-J and around 1.5M. He was called in two spots and couldn't overcome both AT and QQ - his bid ending in 12th place for €19,750.

Fabian Egger ran into the human chip juggernaut that has been Will Jarman today. We're not sure exactly where the chips went in but we know at showdown Jarman's had overtaken Egger's pocket Queens - 11th place his reward for €21,860.

The Final elimination saw Marcelo Da Silva go for a blind steal with - only for Claudio Barone to make the call with and put him at risk of elimination on the cusp of the final table. Da Silva was behind in equity terms, but picked up a straight draw and then a flush draw to raise his hopes - only to dash them, Da Silva letting out a sigh of disappointment at the brick that ended his Battle of Malta participation in 10th for €21,860.

And that left us with our nine final tablists!

They wil line-up as follows:

It's been an incredible journey to reach this stage and all these players will go to bed knowing they could be the next Battle of Malta champion. There's all the kudos and attention winning this tournament will entail but the prize money is nothing to sneeze at either. Here are the prizes that lie in store for them...

Play will start at 14:00 and be streamed on twitch here so make sure you don't miss the final moments as we crown a new Battle of Malta champion. We can't wait to see how this incredible tournament pans out. See you tomorrow!

Dimitrios Anastakis just dealt a double fatality at his table in an incredible hand that will give him every chance of reaching the final table in chip lead position.

Peter Brackley & Valentinos Diola(pictured) were his 2 victims. Brackley opened the hand, pushing all-in for around 5M from early position and Diola attempted to isolate, jamming for his 6M chips.

WIth this much action, it was a shock to see Anastakis reach for chips himself - and ALSO move all-in!

Incredible stuff & cards on their backs, Anastakis could hardly have been in a stronger position, holding v and in the hands of the two other players. Diola let out a groan once he saw the trouble he was in.

The flop of briefly threatened an upset but it failed to materialise and the two disappointed players fistbumped with Anastakis - who has a massive chip lead now - up to around 24.5 Million.

Meanwhile Brackley and Diola win €17,640 each for their 14th and 15th place finishes.

The last 16 players left in the Battle of Malta Main Event have reached the end of the level, meaning it's time for the dinner break. It's been fast and furtious action all day, the chips have been moving about briskly, with hardly a shrinking violet in the field.

These are the chip leaders as we head into this 75 minute break, during which the players can plan their strategy to attack the run in to the final table.

Meanwhile, here are the guys who have just missed out by a fraction from final tabling the Battle of Malta. Frustrating but at least they had a decent cash to show for their work over the last few days...

Chip Counts at the break are as follows, William Jarman preserving a slender chip lead we think over Gabriele Re, though it's tight at the top! Peter Brackley (pictured) is also well in the reckoning...

Claudio Barone just boosted his already booming stack a little further. Holding pocket fours, he raised to 270,000 - and was jammed on by either Gaetano Castagnolo or Francisco Moreno. Apologies we aren't sure which it was due to a slight mix-up (ok we split coffee on our notepad - don't mocha us.)

Anyway, the jam was for 1.2M, quick count from Barone and he called. for Moreno/ Castagnolo (or M/C as this unknown hybrid player shall now be known) and we were in a race. And it was a heck of a run-out.

- a flopped set for Barone but a flopped flush draw for M/C and on the - the flush came in!

M/C had eyes only for his flush and fist-pumped, turning away from the table with a celebratory yell. His attention was drawn back though as the hit the river, filling Barone up with a full house. Barone's congratulatory yell took over - a surprised M/C spinning round to see the bad news, the joy in his eyes melting away to disappointment.

That's the nature of poker for you! Fortunes are won and lost on the turn of a card and Barone's stack is now over the 8 million mark.

Meanwhile BOTH Moreno & Castagnolo have been eliminated. Here are the latest men to hit the sidelines.

The ebb and flow of tournament poker has seen some new faces bobbing to the surface - Will Jarman the latest name to find himself King of the Chip Throne.

He seems in great, relaxed spirits as well he might, chatting amiably with some friends on the rail - his dreams of winning the Battle of Malta gaining more credence with every moment.

Here are the rest of the counts as we stand:

Peter Brackley has turned his 2.3M starting stack into a 10.4M mega-stack over the course of the first two levels. Incredible.

We've seen him making some deft, aggressive moves and he's just taken out Andrea Fossati. We saw him tabling on a board versus Fossati's .

We didn't see where the chips went in but the flop is a strong candidate given the hands. Either way at showdown, ace-high was good and Brackley's stack gets ever more imposing...

Fossati exits in 29th for €7,100.

That brings us to the end of level 29 - and the players get their first 15 minute break of the day.  We're already down to 26 players - today is going to be extremely frenetic. Hold tight!

We'll be back in 15...

33 players remain in the Main Event but these are the players to see their hopes of BoM glory crumble to dust. No one's immune as former big stacks Sas Gusti and Domenico Gala have discovered.

They can console themselves with a nice cash from their initial entry & there's plenty of side events happening if they fancy taking a shot at another BoM tournament win. It's also a beautiful sunny day in Malta if the beach and a Hugo burger appeal.

Incidentally, if you come to Malta and you like burgers, try the Hugo burger. It's superb.

We just saw a tense hand play out between Marco Siciliano and Dimitrios Anastasakis.

Joining the hand on the turn of a board - Siciliano fired out 500,000 in position on the button - Anastasakis, seated two to his right, check-called.

The on the river was quickly checked by Anastasakis, leading Siciliano to fire out a whopping 1M bet in two big stacks of white 25k chips.

A long tank period followed - a very tough decision clearly for Dimitrios and eventually the clock was called. As the time elapsed and Thomas Kremser counted down 3...2....1, Anastasakis made the call at the last moment, picking up chips and putting them over the line.

Siciliano tapped the table in defeat instantly - showing for a failed bluff. Anastasakis though tabled pocket sevens for a really strong, tough call. Well played! He apologised to his table for taking so long but they were in forgiving mood - it was a big moment.

Siciliano looked a little shocked - down to 1.2M while Anastasakis rises to 3.7M!

Meanwhile tablemate William Jarman has had a flying start also - up to 6.6M.

Exciting times! It's Day 4 of the €1M Gtd Battle of Malta Main Event and there are just 45 players still in contention for the title. Leading the charge is Claudio Barone, who has a whopper of a stack - 7,220,000. No wonder he gave us a thumbs up!

Valentinos Diola (5,600,000) & Andrea Fossati (4,200,000) are lurking just behind though and a fair wind could see them catch Barone. With €302,000 the attractive first place prize, these players have every incentive to roll their sleeves up and go for the jugular.

The players will be playing down to the final table, which will take place tomorrow at 14:00pm.

It will be live streamed - and today you can also follow the action here in Malta via this link. https://www.twitch.tv/battleofmalta

Apart from the Main Event, the €1k High Roller Dark Knight of Domusbet is playing out - and previous 2019 champion Chris Da Silva is chipped up and looking to add another High Roller title to his impressive poker resumé.

The stakes are high today and we look forward to watching every captivating decision. Reputations will be forged, as the poker gods determine whose hopes will be dashed and who will write their name into Battle of Malta history.

Shuffle up and deal - day 4 is underway!