Luca Topazio Wins First Ever WSOP Circuit Malta Main Event

Luca Topazio has become the first WSOP Circuit Malta Main Event champion after winning the €1,500 Main Event at Casino Malta.

The Italian topped a field of 879 entries, turning the debut Malta stop into a credible new addition to the European WSOP Circuit calendar.

Topazio collected €200,000, his first WSOP Circuit ring and a €5,000 WSOP Paradise package.

The Main Event generated a €1,115,451 prize pool and paid 134 players. Topazio defeated Poland’s Radoslaw Kopec heads up, while Lucas van den Belt finished third for €85,000.

Kopec once again came close to a major Circuit title, having also finished runner up in the WSOP Circuit Middelkerke Main Event last year. This time he earned €125,000, but the ring went to Topazio after a short heads up match.

The final table had a strong European mix, with players from Italy, Poland, the Netherlands, Bulgaria and Denmark. Matteo Ricco finished fourth, Aleksandar Georgiev fifth and Alberto Cigliano sixth.

The important point is not only that Topazio won. It is that the first WSOP Circuit Malta Main Event immediately attracted 879 entries.

That is a strong number for a debut stop.

It puts Malta in a useful position on the European Circuit map, especially because the island is already familiar to poker players through Battle of Malta, Malta Poker Festival and other destination events.

Casino Malta also benefits from location. St Julian’s is already one of Malta’s main nightlife and tourism hubs, and that matters for travelling players. Poker festivals work best when the destination is easy to sell beyond the tables.

But, there is a battle in Malta - which one of the two bigger casino's, Portomaso Casino and Casino Malta, will prevail and what will bigger events like this mean for the player liquidity in Italy and Israel that are the player bases that both casinos rely upon.