Many of the most popular live poker tournaments and series took their action online last year due to the pandemic. The Battle of Malta was one of them. While organizers hoped that the dangers would pass by the planned 2020 series in October, the pandemic simply wouldn’t let up. With health and safety concerns at top of mind, in addition to the inability for many people to even travel to Malta, they took the action online with the help of GGPoker.
That 2020 Battle of Malta ran in November of last year. There were 15 events with $30M in guarantees over the course of 22 days. It seemed to be successful, though neither GGPoker nor Battle of Malta organizers released any results.
This year, with the pandemic still lurking and threatening more trouble, the Battle of Malta is going online again. Instead of November, though, the action will run July 11-25. There will be more tournaments – 18 of them on the schedule – but a lowered overall guarantee of $25M. But as with last year, the series will offer many satellites for entries and a series leaderboard for extra prizes.
And with fingers crossed, series organizers plan to host a live Battle of Malta in Malta later this year.
2021 Battle of Malta Online
This year’s series will be on GGPoker and GGNetwork skins, presented by Casino Malta by Olympic Casino. The full series will start on Sunday, July 11, and it will present its last event on July 25.
As mentioned, the series will feature 18 tournaments and $25M in guarantees. The three flagship events of the Battle of Malta will comprise $5M of those guarantees, $3M of which will be in the Main Event alone. Flagship event winners will receive special trophies, though all Battle of Malta winners receive winners’ rings.
The full schedule is as follows, with the flagship events highlighted:
-Event 1 (July 11): €110 buy-in King’s Landing Opener (€250K GTD)-Event 2 (July 11): €105 buy-in Siege of Malta Bounty MILLION$ (final stage) (€1M GTD)-Event 3 (July 12): €105 buy-in St. Julian’s Bounty Feast (€150K GTD)-Event 4 (July 13): €330 buy-in Three Cities Challenge 3-Stack (€250K GTD)-Event 5 (July 14): €110 buy-in Iron Throne Marathon (€150K GTD)-Event 6 (July 15): €210 buy-in Bounty for the Knight (€200K GTD)-Event 7 (July 16): €210 buy-in PLO-NL Crusaders Bounty Quest (€50K GTD)-Event 8 (July 17): €55 buy-in Tallinn Summer Showdown 6-Max (€125K GTD)-Event 9 (July 18): €220 buy-in Kings of Tallinn Main Event (€500K GTD)-Event 10 (July 18): €50 buy-in MILLION$ European Cup (final day) (€1M GTD)-Event 11 (July 19): €110 buy-in Grand Harbour Superstack (€150K GTD)-Event 12 (July 20): €330 buy-in Gladiator 6-Max (€200K GTD)-Event 13 (July 21): €52.50 buy-in Castle Siege Bounty Turbo Ultra Deep (€100K GTD)-Event 14 (July 22): €315 buy-in Bounty for the Queen (€250K GTD)-Event 15 (July 23): €220 buy-in PLO-NL Knight Crusaders (€50K GTD)-Event 16 (July 24): €210 buy-in Beat the Pros Special Edition (€200K GTD)-Event 17 (July 25): €525 buy-in Bounty for the King Royal Championship (€500K GTD)-Event 18 (July 25): €550 buy-in Main Event (final day) (€3M GTD)
Note that the three featured events offer numerous starting flights, all of which take place before the dates listed on the schedule. For example, Event 2 started on July 6 with Stage 1 tournaments with dozens of listings with Last Chance, Last Minute, and Last Call turbos happening on July 11 prior to the final stage. Event 10 flights begin on July 11 with umpteen flights running through July 18. As for the Main Event, its flights begin on July 18 and run multiple times per day. At current count, there are 60 starting flights for Event 18.
Also, note that the GGPoker schedule page lists the 18 Battle of Malta events in Euros but the side events in US dollars. Watch for necessary conversions.
BOM Leaderboard
The Player of the Series leaderboard is a side competition that will award more than €25K in Battle of Malta live prize packages. BOM organizers anticipate hosting a live series in Malta in October 2021, though they will honor any prize packages in the case of a postponement.
The top 20 players will cash in on the leaderboard challenge, though the winner will receive a €3.2K prize package, including tickets into the BOM Main Event and High Roller tournament in October. The second- and third-place finishers will receive packages worth €2.2K. All of the top 10 will receive five-star hotel accommodations, and all 20 will receive money for travel expenses and tickets to the BOM Main Event.
https://twitter.com/Barry_Carter/status/1412723024810459136?s=20
