Simone Andrian Crowned PokerStars Summer Festival Malta Champion (€153,610)
The PokerStars Summer Festival Malta Main Event, running at the InterContinental Hotel, has now wrapped up and a champion has been crowned.
The Main Event attracted 916 entries for a total prize pool of €879,000. Only 11 players returned to the felt for the Final Day.
Simone Andrian of Italy started out as chip leader and emerged as the outright winner. He won the top prize of €153,610.
Andrian recently won the WPT Sanremo title for €147,020. The victory in Malta is his second six figure payday within a month.
Tommy Nguyen of Norway finished the event in second place for €95,850, and Marcin Lesniewski of Poland came third for €68,470.
MAIN EVENT FINAL TABLE PAYOUTS
| Position | Player | Country | Payout |
|---|---|---|---|
| Winner | Simone Andrian | Italy | €153,610 |
| 2nd | Tommy Nguyen (Norway) | Norway | €95,850 |
| 3rd | Marcin Lesniewski | Poland | €68,470 |
| 4th | David Docherty | UK | €52,660 |
| 5th | Fotios Ntamaris | Greece | €40,510 |
| 6th | Biger Larsen | Norway | €31,160 |
| 7th | Antoine Talvard | France | €23,970 |
| 8th | Eros Nastasi | Italy | €18,440 |
| 9th | Marco Regonaschi | Italy | €14,180 |
FINAL DAY ACTION
Despite his early lead, it didn't always look like the Main Event was Andrian's for the taking. Here's how it happened on the day...
Within just 10 minutes of sitting down at the table, Emmanouil Asgoudakis, who started the day with a short stack, busted in 11th place. Next to go was Grzegorz Skawinski, his exit triggering the redraw for the final table.
Marco Regonaschiwas first to bust from the final table when ran into David Docherty's pocket kings.
Then, in a pivotal moment, Marcin Lesniewski hit a set of jacks in a three way all in to bust both Eros Nastasi and Antoine Talvard. Minutes later, he turned an ace to eliminate Biger Larsen and take a dominant chip lead.
It was a lead that he couldn't hold on to for long. David Docherty doubled up through him and then Andrian called down Lesniewski's triple barrel bluff to slip in front.
Tommy Nguyen had also been chipping up and by this point he was jostling for the chip lead.
Docherty had been gaining momentum too, only to be knocked out by Andrian in fourth place. The following hand, Nguyen made two pair against Lesniewski's pair of aces to bust his opponent and take the game to heads-up.
Andrian chipped away at Nguyen over the course of the match before pairing his hand in an all-in confrontation on the flop to win the event.
SIMONE ANDRIAN CROWNED CHAMPION
It's official then. Simone Andrian is the 2023 PokerStars Summer Festival Malta champion. He will take home €153,610 and the stunning festival trophy.
Andrian mentioned that he studied a lot in the last few months, which gave him confidence at the tables. "I still make a lot of mistakes, of course, but I think my game has improved," he said.
He's also happy not only with the prize money, but also the trophy.
"This is the most beautiful trophy," said Andrian. "When I saw it for the first time, I thought, 'I want it!'"
That's a wrap from the Main Event and from the coverage here at PokerNews.
