Andre Moreira Hits Big Amidst Late EPT Malta Side Event Action

All of the trophies have been claimed, the room’s being packed up, and all of the action at Casino Malta is officially wrapped for the 2025 European Poker Malta. But before Tomasz Brzezinski won the main event to close out the festival, a few more players managed to claim hefty side event prizes before they split town.

The biggest winner of that bunch was Andre Moreira, who claimed one of the largest top prizes on offer at EPT Malta. His victory in a €10,300 no-limit hold’em event came at arguably the toughest final table of the festival.

Ole Schemion also managed a strong closing week, with two final tables and a spade trophy.

Here’s what you might have missed over the last week of action at EPT Malta.

Moreira Makes Waves In €10,300 EPT Malta High Roller

Prior to EPT Malta, Moreira had recorded just one six-figure live tournament result. That ninth-place finish at Triton Jeju in September in South Korea marked a major step forward.

Exactly one month later, Moreira leveled up yet again. The Portuguese pro took down the €10,300 EPT Malta high roller, which drew 237 entrants. The victory netted Moreira $567,801 and 960 Card Player Player of the Year points, in a race presented by CoinPoker.

What’s more, Moreira outlasted a stacked final table of opponents on his way to an outright victory. Klemens Roiter, a 2025 WSOP bracelet winner and high roller standout, was the runner-up for $355,095.

With his finish in this event, Roiter climbed to fifth in the POY standings.

Alejandro Lococo of Argentina, the $12 million 2024 WSOP Paradise Triton Million Invitational champion, took third for $253,656.

Japanese streamer extraordinaire Masato Yokosawa, a WPT champion, went out in eighth place ($81,432).

Bull Charges To Victory In €1,650 Mystery Bounty

Back in August, Robert Bull set a career-best live result with a third-place finish in a €1,650 mystery bounty event at EPT Barcelona. Two months later, it was deja vu all over again.

Bull, who hails from Scotland, made the trip to EPT Malta. And in the last few days of that festival, in another €1,650 mystery bounty tournament, Bull put together another massive run.

This time, Bull won the tournament outright. He claimed his first ever spade trophy, a $96,502 first-place payout, and $22,230 in bounties for a total payday of $118,732. For his victory, Bull also earned 720 POY points.

The following day, in a €330 no-limit hold’em event on the final day of the festival, Bull tacked on another final table and a third-place finish.

Chenxiang Miao, the second-place finisher, recorded his second runner-up finish in three days. Daniel Lakerveld of the Netherlands, who finished third, actually had the second-largest payout of the tournament after claiming the largest mystery bounty prize.

2023 WSOP Paradise main event winner Stanislav Zegal of Germany finished fifth.

Schwaederle Strikes With Win In €2,200 Deep Stack Event

In the last multi-day event of the EPT Malta festival, Cedric Schwaederle of France walked away with his first career PokerStars spade trophy. He took down a €2,200 no-limit hold’em event for $116,298, the third-largest result of his career behind a victory in Cyprus earlier this year and a deep run in the 2023 WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas.

Schwaederle also earned 408 points in the POY race, elevating him to 250th in the overall standings.

2019 WSOP Europe main event winner Alexandros Kolonias finished third. Ole Schemion, the two-time WPT champion, WSOP bracelet winner, and online tournament legend, finished in fifth place. He promptly shuffled over to a single-day €5,150 event on the final day of the festival, but more on that in a moment.

Schemion Claims Trophy On Final Day In €5,150 6-Max No-Limit Hold’em

The final day of any major tournament festival carries a unique vibe. Typically, the final table of the signature event plays out in one corner of the main ballroom, or perhaps elsewhere in the complex. The tables grow emptier, and staff often start to break down sections of the room while the action shrinks down over the course of the night.

It was in that environment that Schemion, freshly eliminated from another event, sat down in a €5,150 six-max no-limit hold’em tournament with one final chance at posting a big result.

Schemion went on to close out the win for a first-place payout of $88,452.

2024 WSOP bracelet winner Paolo Boi of Italy finished third, as he managed to cash in three separate tournaments on the final day of the EPT Malta festival. Roman Hrabec, a multi-time Triton champion and a WSOP bracelet winner in his own right, finished fifth.

Photo credits: Rational Intellectual Holdings Ltd. / Jules Pochy, Manual Kovsca, and Danny Maxwell.