Dudakov Secures Historic Double
The Hendon Mob Championship with a €250 buy-in drew a total of 456 entries across the three starting flights, creating a prize pool of €95,304. Sixty-seven players advanced to the final day, with Dudakov starting as the chipleader, aiming to write his name into the history books. The Estonian player had already won the same tournament during The Festival's stop in Rozvadov this year. Until now, no player had managed to win two THMC titles.
Dudakov remained among the leaders throughout the final day, although he faced a challenge at the final table from Danish player Christian Clemens with the largest stack. The Estonian gradually took control of the tournament and entered heads-up against Germany's Alkan Aydingoz, known as “Spielomeister,” with nearly a 2-to-1 chip advantage.
Spielomeister briefly took the lead after a bold all-in with a low flush draw, but Dudakov managed to recover his lost chips. In the decisive hand, the German player went all-in with Qd Th, and Dudakov called with As 7d. The board 5h 4d 3d 8s 4h didn't change the outcome, and the Estonian could celebrate his historic second triumph. Along with the main prize of €15,470, Dudakov received the THMC trophy, The Festival trophy, and a €1,800 package for the next Hendon Mob Championship.
Final Table Results of The Hendon Mob Championship
| # | Name | Country | Prize |
| 1. | Dmitri Dudakov | Estonia | €15,470 |
| 2. | Alkan “Spielomeister” Aydingoz | Germany | €11,400 |
| 3. | Christian Clemens | Denmark | €8,530 |
| 4. | Lars Jensen | Denmark | €6,540 |
| 5. | Joel Fritz | Sweden | €5,020 |
| 6. | Henrik Kosonen | Finland | €4,010 |
| 7. | Lin Chen | China | €3,100 |
| 8. | Joakim Olin | Sweden | €2,309 |
| 9. | Dzianis Dubina | Poland | €1,900 |
Main Event at The Festival Opens in Grand Style
The Main Event of The Festival Malta 2026 with a €550 buy-in is already showing impressive numbers. The first two starting flights attracted a total of 252 entries, with players still having three more chances to advance. For comparison, last year's Main Event recorded 766 entries, while there were 666 in 2024. The current trend suggests the tournament might once again challenge record participation.
Day 1B alone attracted 165 entries, with 21 players securing their spot in Saturday's Day 2. The clear chipleader of the flight was Danish player Andreas Mai with a stack of 1,250,000 chips. Alessandro Siena bagged 870,000, and Estonian Argo Garamaga 865,000 chips.
The satellites also show enormous interest. One originally guaranteed just three tickets to the Main Event, but due to high attendance, as many as 16 tickets were awarded. Organizers are also reporting an exceptionally high number of online qualifiers traveling to Malta this year. One thing is clear as the weekend approaches – we're in for some great action!
Complete results, photos, and updated news directly from the Portomaso Casino can be found in the official live blog of The Festival Malta. Finally, we have a photo gallery of moments from this event, captured by event photographer Mairo Toom.
