Ali Abdulzahra, Nino Pansier Among Biggest EPT Malta Side Event Winners

The PokerStars European Poker Tour Malta main event is rolling towards a potentially star-studded final table this weekend. While that has understandably captured much of the spotlight, plenty has been going on elsewhere at Casino Malta.

Over the course of the last few days, several players who weren’t fortunate enough to put together a main event run have racked up significant paydays in other events. Two additional high rollers each wound down to their conclusions, and two notable no-limit hold’em events produced serious paydays in their own right.

Before the EPT Malta festival comes to a close, let’s take another dive into the most significant side event action.

Pansier Breaks Through In €25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Win

Dutch pro Nino Pansier has had some close calls in big spots over the last few years of his career. In 2022, he finished runner-up in the WSOP Europe Colossus event. Earlier this year, Pansier set a new career-best in the €1 million guaranteed €5,200,pot-limit Omaha event in Tirana, Albania, placing third for $114,240.

But until this week, Pansier didn’t have a signature live victory to his name. That changed with his win in a €25,000 PLO high roller in Malta. Pansier earned a career-best $323,055, and banked 252 points in the Card Player Player of the Year race, presented by CoinPoker.

Pansier defeated Anton Suarez heads-up for the PokerStars spade trophy. Suarez settled for his second runner-up finish in a high roller in a matter of a few days, having also claimed second-place status in a €10,200 PLO earlier in the festival.

Laszlo Bujtas, from Hungary, finished third.

Furuse Continues Strong 2025 With €25,000 No-Limit Hold’em Victory

Back in April, Kazuomi Furuse burst onto the poker world’s radar inside the PokerGO Studio. Previously a relative unknown, the Japanese newcomer won event no. 2 of the 2025 U.S. Poker Open for a career-best $275,400, and his first major trophy.

Furuse struck again in a €25,000 no-limit hold’em high roller at EPT Malta, securing the spade trophy, $294,969, and 252 points in the Card Player POY race.

Pieter Aerts, a two-time Triton champion and WSOP bracelet winner from Belgium, finished third.

Abdulzahra Doubles Career Live Earnings In €2,700 No-Limit Hold’em Victory

At any given EPT stop, there’s a diverse menu of tournament offerings designed to accommodate as broad a spectrum of players as possible. The mixed game players and the high rollers have plenty to sink their teeth into, but so, too, do the no-limit hold’em grinders.

Many of them dream of the kind of outcome that Ali Abdulzahra had in a €2,700 buy-in event. Abdulzahra, from England, beat a field of 715 entrants to claim a first-place prize of $373,932. That single result represents nearly half of Abdulzahra’s total career live tournaments earnings. For beating out such a field at that buy-in level, Abdulzahra also netted a gaudy 1,368 CardPlayer POY points.

Other notable players who made that final table include Texan Adam Geyer, a multi-time WSOP and WPT final tablist, and Joris Ruijs, from the Netherlands, who has a long history of significant side event victories at major tournament festivals.

Wozniak, Damstra Strike Deal To Close Out €3,250 Mystery Bounty

Two other players enjoyed significant spin-ups at EPT Malta. Mateusz Wosniak of Poland more than doubled his previous career-best result, claiming the trophy, $201,930 and 1,260 Card Player POY points in a €3,250 Mystery Bounty event. Sil Damstra, from the Netherlands, walked away as the runner-up, but claimed the biggest payout after he and Wozniak made a deal heads-up.

In all, the mystery bounty tournament drew 504 entrants and generated a total prize pool of well over $1.5 million.

The biggest bounty winner of all was Ankit Ahuja of India, who pulled the largest mystery bounty prize on offer. He walked away with $76,050 in total bounties, dwarfing his $10,951 payout for 16th place.

Mathew Frankland, from England, finished in sixth place with a total payout of $56,909. Earlier this year, Frankland won a €2,200 side event at EPT Monte Carlo. He also recorded a fourth-place finish in a $25,000 no-limit hold’em high roller at the 2025 WSOP, for a career-best live cash of $626,823.

But Frankland’s most viral moment in the spotlight came when he was one of three players eliminated on the bubble of the 2025 WSOP main event, which netted him a $30,000 prize package to the 2025 WSOP Paradise festival, in addition to $10,000 that came from chopping two$15,000 min-cash payouts three ways.

Photo credits: Rational Intellectual Holdings Ltd. / Danny Maxwell, Manuel Kovsca.