Malta

iPoker Network Recap: 5 New Players Can Start Packing For Malta!

iPoker Network Recap: 5 New Players Can Start Packing For Malta!

Melvin Schroen

The Festival Author

July 27, 2026 · 5 minutes to read

iPoker Network Recap: 5 New Players Can Start Packing For Malta!

With the third week (out of eight weeks total) now officially completed, we have five new winners that got their hands on a full package for The Festival Malta 2026. Where we saw the previous week one additional package besides the guarantee, the momentum kept raising as last week we saw another package being added, so that once more, the guarantee got surpassed.

It's a great grind every single day of the week, where players can qualify for the Weekly Final that is being played every Sunday. One thing that caught our attention is the amount of chips for the top stacks who qualify for the final: Where we've seen previous campaigns with chip leaders that bagged themselves a stack of 80,000 to 100,000+ chips, this time it's different. The top stacks of the past three weeks got to around 60,000 - 80,000 chips.

Now, what does this mean? It means that the chips distribution is more evenly shared, and with the blinds starting on 1,500/3,000 during the final (compared to 1,750/3,500 in previous campaigns), players have more playability. And that's superb when you consider The Festival stands for accessibility and fairness.

Road to Malta - Where are We?

Week	Guaranteed	Awarded
Week 1	3	3
Week 2	4	5
Week 3	4	5
Week 4	5	-
Week 5	5	-
Week 6	5	-
Week 7	4	-
Week 8	3	-
Total	33	13

Heads Up playing the Main Event Day 3 at The Festival Malta — Heads Up during the NLH Main Event

Mix Simeon Todorov playing the 10 Game at The Festival Malta — Heads Up during the NLH Main Event

Think of it this way: if the current pace holds, the Road to Malta could end up awarding well beyond its 33-package guarantee. Players who get into the rhythm early, treating the €0.25 and €3 qualifiers as a regular weekly habit rather than a one-off try, are the ones stacking up the best odds of being one of those extra names on the list.

The qualification route remains exactly as accessible as it's always been:

Step	Buy-in	Prize	Advances To
1	Centroll	Entry to €0.25 Satellite	€0.25 Satellite
2	€0.25	€3 Ticket	€3 Qualifier
3	€3	€15 Ticket	€15 Qualifier
4	€15	€100 Ticket	€100 Day 1 Satellite
5	€100	Seat to Weekly Final	Sunday Package Final
6	Sunday Final	€1,850 Malta Package	The Festival Malta

Missions: The Shortcut Worth Opting Into

The Mission on iPoker Network are truly valuable. There are weekly missions, as well as campaign-long missions. The tip here is that you have to opt-in for those, giving you eventually extra satellite tickets, while you just play your tournaments as usual. It's an 'extra rakeback' essentially.

For The Festival, you can get your hands on free tickets for the €15 and €100 satellites, letting you skup the earlier levels of the satellite tree. It costs nothing to opt-in, so if you have the possibility to do it, then you might just want to go for it. Just be aware that not all operators have such Missions available, so check it out in your lobby if such Missions are available for you.

Why Should You Qualify For The Festival Malta 2026?

For the past five years, we have been offering events all over Europe. With The Festival, we aim to provide a full poker holiday for players. During the events, hospitality events are key for the atmosphere at the event off the tables, and all online qualifiers that got their hands on package in this iPoker campaign, are eligible to participate in these events.

But that's not all what we aim for. When you will ask a friend that has been to an event of us, will mostlikely recommend it to give it a try. Any of the events, and especially in Malta, the mix of nationalities is truly insane, and it gives you the opportunity to meet new people at, and off, the tables. Of course, getting in results in poker is a wicked ambition, but what if you can lift a. trophy and look back on the tournament as truly epic? That you have met new players from the other side of the world, had good fun with all your table mates, and perhaps spent some breaks together talking about the bits and the bees of poker?

Portomaso Casino is hosting our event for the 4th consecutive year, and the tournament schedule includes nearly 20 hold'em tournaments, casino games tournames, as well as a big variety of mixed games and PLO action. You coming for the Main Event? No problem! We have two Main Events!

€550 NLH Main Event
€550 TORSES Mixed Main Event

You prefer perhaps tournaments with a similar structure as the Main Event, but with a lower buy-in?

€250 The Hendon Mob Championship
€350 NLH Mystery Bounty

Or your prefer side events?

€350 Sviten Special
€350 8-Game
€125 NLH Pineapple PKO
€125 NLH PKO with live straddle
€125 NLH 7-2 Estonian Special (Incl. INES rules)

Want to take a shot on higher buy-in levels?

€1,100 NLH High Roller (€30,000 GTD)
€1,100 PLO High Roller (€20,000 GTD)
€1,100 10-Game High Roller (€15,000 GTD)

>> Full Tournament Schedule

And then there's everything around the poker. Late-summer sunshine, the beach a short walk from the venue, restaurants worth planning your evening around, and hospitality events built specifically to pull players away from the tables and into the room with everyone else, pool parties, wine tastings, casual drinks in The Avenue or the Irish/British pub. The people you meet during a chess game in the hallway or a round of drinks after your last bustout are often the reason players come back year after year.

If you've never seen Malta for yourself, a quick image search will do more convincing than any paragraph here can.

What Every €1,850 Malta Package Includes

€550 Main Event buy-in
Six nights' accommodation
€250 spending money
Official Festival merchandise
Full Hospitality package

Five weeks remain. Thirteen players are already counting down the days to September, the only question left is who joins them next.

See you at the tables, online or at Portomaso!