It’s Italy on top! After a five-day event at the InterContinental Hotel in Malta, Simone Andrian has become the champion of the PokerStars Summer Festival Malta Main Event for €153,610. It was a classic showcase of power poker from Andrian, who turned his overnight chip lead into an eventual victory.

Andrian recently won the WPT Sanremo title for €147,020, making the win his second six-figure payday in a month. Tommy Nguyen of Norway finished the event in second place for €95,850, and Marcin Lesniewski of Poland came third for €68,470. The Main Event attracted 916 entries for a total prize pool of €879,000.

Andrian mentioned that he studied a lot in the last few months, which gave him confidence at the tables. “I still make a lot of mistakes, of course, but I think my game has improved,” he said in a first response.

2023 PokerStars Summer Festival Malta Main Event Final Table Results

Final Day Action

Despite his early lead, it didn’t always look like the Main Event was Andrian’s for the taking. With eight players remaining, Lesniewski hit a set of jacks in a three-way all-in to bust both Nastasi and Talvard. Minutes later, he turned an ace to eliminate Larsen and take a dominant chip lead.

It was a lead that he couldn’t hold on to for long. Docherty doubled up through him, and then Andrian called down Lesniewski’s triple barrel bluff to slip in front. Nguyen had also been chipping up and by this point, was jostling for the chip lead.

Docherty had been gaining momentum, too, only to be knocked out by Andrian in fourth place. The following hand, Nguyen made two pair against Lesniewski’s pair of aces to bust his opponent and take the game to heads-up.

Andrian chipped away at Nguyen throughout the match before pairing his hand in an all-in confrontation on the flop to win the event.