The 2024 Battle of Malta Autumn Edition, the 14th iteration of this beloved poker festival, was one for the books. Hosted by Casino Malta in St. Julian’s, this year’s event shattered records with an astounding 5,799 entries in the Main Event, creating a prize pool that soared to €2,578,172, crushing all guarantees. However, it was not just the number that made this edition so special, but also with remarkable stories developing at the tables.
The heads-up battle was a special one between Greece’s Vasileios Zisis, who captured the 2024 Battle of Malta Spring Edition in April, and was on the brink of an unprecedented back-to-back BoM Main Event win. And Cosme Gomez Martinez, a Spanish online poker pro, who qualified for the event through a live satellite, and despite being the shortest stack for most of the final table, managed to survive pay jump after pay jump and came into position for a win.
In the end, Gomez Martinez’s tenacity paid off as he triumphed in an exciting heads-up fight behind his loud Spanish rail for his first-ever live tournament title along with €255,800. Zisis, on the other hand, had an incredible performance of his own, walking away as the runner-up, pocketing €160,800, adding to his €100,000 win in the spring edition.
The final day’s coverage was expertly handled by PokerPro, with our own CEO Jason Glatzer providing commentary for the final table livestream, while Luka Kovač and Jonathan Raab managed the live blog, bringing the updates of the event to fans around the world. The great atmosphere was captured through amazing photos by Igor Bezborodov, including those featured in this article.
2024 Battle of Malta Autumn Edition Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Payout |
| 1 |  Cosme Gomez Martinez | Spain | €255,800 |
| 2 |  Vasileios Zisis | Greece | €160,800 |
| 3 |  Alexandru Farcasanu | Romania | €115,800 |
| 4 |  Alessandro Siena | Italy | €91,170 |
| 5 |  Shervin Ghassemlou | England | €66,600 |
| 6 | Davide Iannaco | Italy | €50,650 |
| 7 | Kyriakos Papadopoulos | Greece | €35,500 |
| 8 |  Ivaylo Eftimov | Bulgaria | €36,330 |
| 9 | Pasquale Gregorio | Italy | €22,240 |
2024 Battle of Malta Autumn Edition Final Table Recap
Nine hopefuls returned to Casino Malta for the final table of the 2024 Battle of Malta Autumn Edition. Vasileios Zisis came in with a massive chip lead, carrying more than double the stack of his closest competitor, Shervin Ghassemlou. For Zisis, a back-to-back victory in the Battle of Malta Main Event was within reach, while at the other end of the leaderboard, Davide Iannaco and Cosme Gomez Martinez entered as the short stacks, each with less than 20 big blinds.
Before play began, players agreed to a slightly adjusted prize structure, flattening the payouts. This guaranteed each finalist €22,240, with an eye-watering €255,800 reserved for the champion.
Sicilian Pasquale Gregorio was the first to exit, unable to hold with pocket jacks against Alexandru Farcasanu’s ace-queen in a massive pot. Shortly after, Ivaylo Eftimov’s tournament run came to an end when he called down Zisis’s bets, only to face a rivered set. Eftimov was the chip leader of his starting flight, which earned him an additional €10,000 on top of €26,330 for an eighth-place finish.
A seventh-place finisher and third elimination in quick succession was Kyriakos Papadopoulos, who tried to steal the pot with ace-five, but bumped into a dominating ace-queen of Alexandru Farcasanu. Then, Gomez Martinez caught a much-needed chip boost, sending Davide Iannaco to the rail with a weaker ace and moving up the money ladder.
Soon after, Shervin Ghassemlou and Alessandro Siena also departed in fifth and fourth place, respectively, as Zisis’ dominating ace-nine and ace-jack beat ace-three and jack-nine handily.
With just three players left, Zisis and Alexandru Farcasanu clashed in a pivotal hand where Zisis’ queen-ten was trailing Farcasanu’s ace-ten, but the Greek’s plot armor gave him two pair on the flop, sending Farcasanu out in third place with €115,800.
Zisis started the heads-up battle with a 1.5:1 chip lead over Gomez Martinez, whose stack has grown after crippling Siena’s stack earlier. The lead shifted back and forth a couple of times between the two until, in the final hand, when Gomez Martinez picked up pocket jacks on the button and raised. Zisis looked down at ace-eight and decided it was good enough to go all-in with, and Spaniard insta-called.
With no ace on the board to save the Greek champion’s back-to-back dream, Gomez Martinez secured the title with an incredible comeback from the short stack to claim the 2024 Battle of Malta Autumn Edition trophy and a grand prize of €255,800.
* Images and hands courtesy of Battle of Malta
