The Battle of Malta Online was one of the flagship tournament festivals this year on CoinPoker. After multiple starting flights, a Day 2 grind, and a tense build-up to the final table on the last day of play, the tournament came down to ‘Hemingway‘ against ‘LelouchLamperouge.’ They were playing for a $250,000 first-place prize. Hemingway prevailed, taking down the trophy and the six-figure score.
Heads-up play is some of the volatile in tournament poker, but it’s also the most important, in some ways. After all, the biggest money jump is going from second to first, unless a deal has been made. Hemingway and LelouchLamperouge played a couple of interesting hands heads up, and Hemingway won them both, which was obviously key to their victory.
Hemingway Catches a Big Bluff
Playing 25 blinds deep with Hemingway covering at 5,000,000-10,000,000 with a 1,500,000 ante, Hemingway limped and LelouchLamperouge checked.
The flop came A♠7♦4♦, and LelouchLamperouge check-called 10 million. Action checked through on the J♦, bringing a Q♦ river. LelouchLamperouge potted for 43 million, and Hemingway called.
LelouchLamperouge had 5♠2♠ for a bluff, and Hemingway took down the pot with J♠3♦ for a flush.
Heads-up in the Battle Of Malta. pic.twitter.com/Mi0J9yOS6M
— CoinPokerAction (@CoinPokerAction) August 5, 2026
Hand Analysis
Hemingway has a fine hand to limp, though it’s also bad enough that raising would be okay, since raise-folding J-3 offsuit isn’t
sad at all. LelouchLamperouge also has a hand that does some raising. Typically, the worst suited hands mix raises at this depth, and 5-2 certainly qualifies. Checking was a fine option as well.
The flop favors the in-position player here, because they’re going to slowplay some of their strong A-X hands preflop, but the shorter-stacked big blind is supposed to be aggressive with many of their A-X hands. So, betting one big blind is a very frequent play for the small blind, and that’s what Hemingway correctly does here. They also have the best suits to block continues from the big blind.
LelouchLamperouge could raise or call the flop. A gutter with backdoors should check-raise at some frequency, but they opt to call and see a turn.
That turn brings second pair for Hemingway’s flop bluff, and the solver actually favors a big bet for value here. A jack will usually be the best hand here, Hemingway’s hand can get value from lower flopped pairs and draws.
As played, after both players check, the river brings the four-flush. LelouchLamperouge has a mandatory river bluff for a big size, since they are aiming to fold out one-pair hands that may have checked back the turn. A flush isn’t likely to muck, and Hemingway has the perfect bluff-catcher to extend their lead.
Backdoor Flush Seals the Deal for Hemingway
Playing 19 blinds deep at the same level, Hemingway limped and then called a raise to 30 million preflop.
On the 7♣7♥3♠ flop, LelouchLamperouge bet 20 million, and Hemingway called. LelouchLamperouge fired again for 41.2 million on the 8♣, and Hemingway called again. That left 98.3 million, about half the pot, on the J♣ river, and LelouchLamperouge put the rest in.
Hemingway called with K♣5♣ for a backdoor flush, and it was good against 9♦9♠ to win the tournament.
The final hand from the Battle of Malta! pic.twitter.com/l9i8TGBdz9
— CoinPokerAction (@CoinPokerAction) August 5, 2026
Hand Analysis
LelouchLamperouge should do some shoving against the limp, but nines is a good enough hand to raise non-all-in. Hemingway has a standard call with a suited king.
LelouchLamperouge finds a favorable flop, and they make a standard continuation-bet. The big blind is supposed to do some big betting with nines and eights, since those benefit the most from jamming money in and forcing folds from overcards, but betting small is fine, too.
Hemingway makes a seemingly loose flop peel, but it’s actually solver-approved. Their hand has backdoors and could be best against some bluffs.
On the turn, LelouchLamperouge fires again, and nines are a good enough hand to merit an even bigger bet. They could go as large as two-thirds of the pot here. Facing the smaller bet, Hemingway has a clear call since they can play the river in position.
That river brings a rather scary card, completing backdoor draws. The big blind loses a ton of equity on this card, going from about 57% to about 45%, range-versus-range. Therefore, pocket nines are simply too thin to jam on this river. It’s just going to be hard to get value from worse hands at this point. Unless the opponent is going to hero-call with a three frequently, it’s hard to see what hands are going to pay off here.
The thin jam gets punished to end the tournament, as LelouchLamperouge runs into the unlikely backdoor clubs.
Hungry for more high-stakes poker content? Check out the CoinPoker YouTube channel and Bobby James’ YouTube channel for more action.
