The 2016 Battle of Malta is the biggest poker tournament ever held on the isle of Malta.
By the time the last player had been counted there were a total of 1,813 entries, which is the most ever in the five-year history of the event.
There will be exact numbers provided later tonight but for a tournament that carries a modest buy-in of €550 there will be a prize pool in excess of €870,000.
The numbers were boosted by the biggest starting day in BOM history.
There were a total of 883 entries on Day 1c, which is the highest ever Day 1 total and nearly triple the entire field of the inaugural BOM in 2012.
Leo Margets, Fernando Pons Join the Action
A couple of very well known Spanish poker pros helped push the field into record-setting territory.
Fernando Pons, hot off his ninth-place finish in the November Nine earlier this week, took a seat early on Day 1c.
Leo Margets, a BOM veteran, took a little longer but also made her presence felt in the Grandmaster Ballroom at Portomaso Casino.
Both players were still in the contest as of the dinner break.
There were plenty of other pros in the field, too, as Konstantin Puchkov, Luca Moschitta, Steven van Zadelhoff and Sofia Lovgren all played Day 1c.
The 2016 Battle of Malta edges the 2015 edition by a slim margin of nine entries but that was enough to set the record.
The prize pool won't be announced until later but since the numbers are very similar to last year first place could top €165,000 this year.
We’ll have a complete wrap later tonight. In the meantime you can follow the Battle of Malta live updates.
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