"Raggaz" Wins the GGPoker Battle of Malta Online Main Event (€378,286); Urbanovich Takes Third
New Zealand's "Raggaz" defeated a huge field of 6,591 entries including eliminated Dzmitry Urbanovich in the final three to win the 2021 Battle of Malta Online at GGPoker for €378,286.
Although winning the Battle of Malta was the biggest prize on record at GGPoker for "Raggaz", this wasn't the first rodeo for them winning a big prize in a big field event at GGPoker as back in May they won the WSOP Super Circuit Online Series Event #7: Big 25 for $133,180.
The Main Event was yet another success story for GGPoker and something that the Battle of Malta should be proud about as well with 6,591 entries creating a €3,443,798 prize pool via dozens of opening flights to smash the event's €3,000,000 guarantee.
2021 Battle of Malta Online Main Event Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Raggaz | New Zealand | €378,286 |
| 2 | petiperi | Turkey | €283,672 |
| 3 | Dzmitry Urbanovich | Poland | €212,724 |
| 4 | Gabriel "Gabsdrogba" Medeiros | Brazil | €159,521 |
| 5 | Brandon "TryLSD" Sheils | United Kingdom | €119,624 |
| 6 | allini | Japan | €89,705 |
| 7 | Georgios Sotiropoulos | Greece | €67,269 |
| 8 | Joao "Wim Hof" Ferreira | Portugal | €50,445 |
| 9 | NetWizards | Hong Kong | €37,828 |
Action of the Day
A total of 989 players advanced to Day 2 with the top 700 players set to receive at least a min-cash of €1,368. The money bubble broke when a bunch of players went out at once including 2020 WSOP Main Event Champion Damian Salas who finished in 702nd place after running his jacks into aces.
A few hours later when the final table was reached after Sergei "Graf Tekkel" Koliakov went out in 10th place for €20,519 when his nines didn't hold against the ace-trey held by Georgios Sotiropoulos.
Final Table Action
Gabriel "Gabsdrogba" Medeiros entered the final table with the chip lead with "Raggaz" in the middle of the pack. "NetWizards" (ninth - €37,828) was the first to go when they ran their tens into Medeiros' jacks.
Meanwhile, Urbanovich, who came into the final table as the short stack, began picking up steam with two double-ups before eliminating Joao "Wim Hof" Ferreira (eighth - €50,445) with a dominating ace-jack against ace-eight suited.
Shortly after, two more eliminations quickly took place. First, "Raggaz" eliminated Sotiropoulos (seventh - €67,269) when their queens won a flip against a suited big slick. A few hands later, Urbanovich temporarily snagged the chip lead while sending "allini" (sixth - €89,705) to the rail when his cowboys held against big slick.
"Raggaz" snagged the chip lead and Brandon "TryLSD" Sheils found himself short on chips. Sheils had to settle for the fifth-place prize of €119,624 when his queen-jack didn't improve against Urbanovich's king-ten suited.
Lucky Sevens & Two Declined Deals
The final four players all clicked on the deal button but Medeiros didn't like what he saw and the action resumed. This decision didn't work out for Medeiros as he was the next to go in fourth place for €159,521 when his ace-six didn't get there against the sevens held by "Raggaz".
The same pattern emerged when there were just three left. All three players had the deal button clicked but Dzmitry Urbanovich declined this time and was soon after eliminated in third place for €212,724 in a similar spot to the hand before where "Raggaz" sevens held against king-deuce.
Quick Heads-Up Battle
"Raggaz" began heads-up play with double the stack of "petiperi". This is about where the stacks were as well when the final hand took place.
"petiperi" committed more than 20 big blinds with ace-six suited and finished in second place for €283,672 after no magic came against the queens held by "Raggaz".
Meanwhile, a huge congrats to "Raggaz" for adding a Battle of Malta Online trophy to his WSOP Circuit ring he won months ago.