Malta's first WSOP Circuit delivers a €1.1m Main Event and a home-soil ring
The WSOP Circuit's debut Maltese stop finished at Casino Malta on 5 October 2026 with all twelve gold rings awarded. Luca Topazio of Italy won the €1,500 Main Event from 879 entries and a €1,115,451 prize pool, the only seven-figure pool of the festival, while Malta's own Shaun Decesare took the €550 Mystery Bounty. The €300 events carried the volume: the Mini Main drew 808 entries and the Colossus 659, between them more than the Main Event and High Roller combined.
The World Series of Poker Circuit went to Malta for the first time and got the numbers a debut needs. The festival ran at Casino Malta in St. Julian's from 25 September to 5 October 2026, awarded twelve gold rings, and finished with published prize pools totalling just over €2.6 million.
The €1,500 Main Event, Event #8, was the centrepiece: 879 entries, 134 paid, a €1,115,451 prize pool and the title to Luca Topazio of Italy. It was the only event of the week to build a seven-figure pool.
The cheap seats did the work
The two €300 tournaments were the story underneath the headline. The Mini Main opened the festival with 808 entries for €197,475, won by Ivan Botvinkin of Russia, and the €300 Colossus drew 659 for €161,059, won by Gaspard Yvon Rene Querillacq of France. Together those two events attracted 1,467 entries against the Main Event's 879 and the €2,500 High Roller's 187 — a reminder of what a Circuit stop is actually for. A gold ring counts the same whatever it cost to enter, and half the schedule cost €550 or less.
The High Roller still built the second-largest pool of the week, €395,505 from 187 entries, and went to Pablo Garcia of Austria. The €1,000 Deepstack was third at €248,724 from 294 entries, won by Maxime Chilaud of France.
A ring for the host nation
Shaun Decesare of Malta won the €550 Mystery Bounty, which drew 553 entries for a €121,991 pool — the host country's only ring of the festival, and the third-largest field of the week.
Winners came from eleven countries in all. France took three rings, Italy two, and Russia, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, Denmark, Austria and Ukraine one each. The smallest field was the €300 Ladies Event at 58 entries, won by Alcira Johanna of the Netherlands.
What happens next
No second Maltese date appears on the World Series of Poker's Circuit calendar as of 7 October 2026 — the stop came off the forward schedule once it finished, and no 2027 edition has been announced. The Circuit's European autumn continues at Casino Middelkerke in Belgium from 6 November, Dusk Till Dawn in Nottingham from 4 November, Casino Gran Vía in Madrid from 23 October and Casinò di Sanremo from 20 November.
One note on reading results tables of this kind: the money figures above are each event's total prize pool, not the winner's payout. A €300 tournament showing €197,475 is a pool shared across 120 paid places, not a first prize.
Read the original at WSOP.com — WSOP Circuit Casino Malta results →
Frequently asked questions
Who won the WSOP Circuit Malta Main Event?
Luca Topazio of Italy, from 879 entries and a €1,115,451 prize pool.
Did a Maltese player win a ring?
Yes. Shaun Decesare won the €550 Mystery Bounty, which drew 553 entries for a €121,991 pool.
Will the WSOP Circuit return to Malta in 2027?
Nothing has been announced. No Maltese date appears on the World Series of Poker's Circuit calendar as of 7 October 2026.