The 2014 Battle of Maltapoker tournament came to a memorable conclusion early yesterday with the crowning of the 2014 champion, Bulgaria's AntoanKatsarov.

Katsarov outlasted a field of 1,447 entries- the biggest in Maltese history - over three days of play to claim the €122,750 first-place prize.

Malta's own Alan Brincat battled him right to the very end to finish as the runner-up and keep €107,500 of the record-breaking€701,795 prize pool home on the island.

The 2014 Battle of Malta Main Event is now the biggest standalone tournament of its buy-in size (€550) in Europe and broke its own record, set last year, for biggest poker tournament ever held on Malta.

Eight countries represented at final table

In just its third year the Battle of Malta has become a poker festival with five total events and poker players from dozens of nations across Europe and the world in attendance.

The record 1,447 entries in the main event this year surpassed the 888 entries of last year's main event which held the previous record for biggest ever tournament on Malta.

Eight different countries were represented at the 10-man final table with Sweden (3), the Netherlands, Bulgaria, France, Ireland, Poland and Italy all having players at the table.

Second-place finisher Brincat represented his home country and was the second Maltese player to make the final table and finish as runner-up. Last year Konrad Abela finished second.

Combined the final 10 players split €424,895 between them - another record for the Battle of Malta.