Frankfurt, Germany-based online grinder Louis Cartarius emerged victorious in the Euro 550 buy-in 2013 Pokerlistings Battle of Malta tournament over the weekend, besting a field of 887 – three times the size of the event last year – to claim a main prize worth Euro 80,000 (US $108,000). It was his biggest live tournament win to date.
The large entry field made the event the biggest poker tournament yet to he held on Malta, stretching over three days at the Portomaso Casino.
Cartarius, who started second-lowest in chips at the final table, faced Konrad Abela, Ambjorn Haga, Arthur Popov, Lauri Pesonen, Alessandro de Loco, Sonny La, Guiseppe Polichetti and Daniel Lucasz.
The survivors were eventually whittled away to just Cartarius and local pro Konrad Abela in the heads up, which lasted just five hands. Abela’s runner up take-home was Euro 52,000.
Norway’s Ambjorn Haga was the player who looked most likely to win in the final stages – he had over half the total chips at one point – but he was eliminated at third when Cartarius won a major coin-flip, and had to be content with a third-placing pay check of Euro 32,000.