Mario Klaic Wins First Battle of Malta Title Outside Malta

Battle of Malta’s first trip beyond the island has produced its first international champion.

Austria’s Mario Klaic topped 1,510 entries in the €400 Battle of Malta Slovakia Main Event at Card Casino Šamorín, taking €46,900 after a heads-up deal with Slovakia’s Henrich Miculik. The turnout pushed the advertised €400,000 guarantee to a final prize pool of €402,840.

The September 7-14 festival marked the first time Battle of Malta had staged a full edition outside Malta, and Klaic closed it by securing the first live tournament title of his career.

Only 15 players returned for the Main Event finale, with Hassibullah Hafizi and Peter Kadlec holding the two largest stacks. Neither made the final three.

Kadlec briefly took control after finding pocket aces against two players holding pocket kings in the same hand, but his lead disappeared later at the final table. Klaic, meanwhile, moved through the pack as the field fell away and eventually reached three-handed play with Miculik and Markus Skalicky.

Skalicky was the last player eliminated before heads-up, collecting €23,000.

Miculik held roughly a 3:2 chip lead when he and Klaic agreed to split €80,000 evenly, leaving €6,900 and the trophy to play for.

Klaic quickly turned the stacks around and ended the tournament after flopping two pair against Miculik’s top pair. Miculik took €40,000 for second, while Klaic left with €46,900 and his first live title.

*Heads-up deal.

The top four also received €1,500 tickets for a WSOP Circuit event at Card Casino in February 2027, while fifth through ninth picked up packages for the €2 million guaranteed Battle of Malta festival later this year.

The first trophy of the Slovakia festival stayed with a home player.

Martin Bartos won the €1,000 High Roller after beating a 43-entry field, collecting €17,200 from the €50,000 prize pool as well as a €500 WSOP Circuit ticket.

Bartos entered the final table behind Hungarian chip leader Attila Koncz but ultimately reached heads-up play against Zdenek Svoboda of Czechia and finished the job.

Bartos was already among Slovakia’s top ten players on the country’s all-time money list before adding the Battle of Malta trophy.

Romania’s Silviu Nemes did not leave much for the rest of the €220 Mystery Bounty field.

The tournament attracted 178 entries and played for €40,000. Nemes entered Day 2 as chip leader, reached the final table with more than 100 big blinds and eventually won the title for €4,875.

Nemes knocked out 14 of the 23 Day 2 players, accumulating another €11,500 in bounties to take his total return to €16,375.

Denmark’s Tina Christensen finished second for €3,140 plus €700 in bounties, while China’s Junyu Liu took third for €2,130. The single largest bounty, worth €4,700, went to Bas De Laat despite his 17th-place finish.