2023 The Festival Bratislava Day 4

Wednesday was the biggest day thus far at Banco Casino at the 2023 The Festival Series Bratislava full of excitement with tons of events awarding personalized sketched framed trophies and huge cash prizes.

Gabriel Rymar became the first player during The Festival Series Bratislava to notch a five-figure prize after taking down the €250 Bratislava Deepstack for €14,400 via our live-streamed broadcast on TheFestivalOG Twitch channel. This record was broken a few hours later when two more players won five-figure prizes with Benedikt Hausmann winning the €17,800 top prize in the €1,100 PLO High Roller and Gunter Hanak banking €10,500 for second place.

Day 1b of the €500,000 guaranteed €550 Main Event witnessed 123 entries get into the mix to bring the total up to 196 entries when taking into account the 73 entries on Day 1a. Players still have plenty of time to get into the mix including two more of the six opening flights taking place on Thursday. Hungary’s Daniel Nagy leads the 59 survivors after turning his 30,000 opening stack into 207,000 on Day 1b. Former The Festival Series Bratislava Main Event champions Martin Mauthner (44,000) and Michel Molenaar (176,000) both advanced via Day 1b, albeit Molenaar did so with a much healthier stack.

The Cash Game Challenge also raged on Wednesday off the stream with Alexandrs Golubevs winning the most in the €2/€2 PLO Cash Game Challenge for 766 big blinds. While this was an impressive score, it doesn’t push him ahead of Danius Antanaitis who currently leads with 1,068 big blinds. Keito Kaljulaid still leads the Franke’s Flip Flop challenge with 11 flips won after winning one more yesterday. Both of these challenges award a free package to the next The Festival Series for the player finishing the highest on the respective leaderboards.

Read on to learn more about the completed events on Day 4 of the 2023 The Festival Series Bratislava:

Gabriel Rymar Wins Bratislava Deepstack

The 354 entries for a €75,665 prize pool was down to just 60 players in the two-day Event #3: €250 Bratislava Deepstack to start the final day with 44 players going home with at least a €450 min-cash.

The battle was long but eventually after more than 12 hours of play, Poland’s Gabriel Rymar defeated Greece’s Konstantinos Kertikidis heads-up to win the €14,400 top prize.

Check out who cashed at the final table below:

Benedikt Hausmann Wins PLO High Roller

Event #22: €1,100 PLO High Roller boasted a €25,000 guarantee. This proved to be no obstacle as the guarantee was nearly doubled with 47 entries generating a €46,550 prize pool with the top seven players collecting at least a €1,200 min-cash.

Benedikt Hausmann and Gunter Halak battled it out heads-up with already €10,500 in the bag. Hausmann took care of business to win the event for an impressive result of €17,800 to become the biggest tournament winner thus far at the 2023 The Festival Series Bratislava at Banco Casino.

In other news, Niklas Dehli won the €125 Blackjack tournament for €1,241. The event attracted 24 entries for a €2,508 prize pool.

Paf’s Ola Brandborn defeated poker streamer Scott “Pokerbrahs” Kenyon heads-up to win the €4,600 top prize in the €250 8-Game, which also continued its popularity with 84 entries.

The €250 Seniors 49+ ended when the 66-entry field was down to just five players. At that point, Mikael Doverklint, Bror Kiveiloe, the sharply dressed Kelly Kellner, Olav Snidal, and Anders Beckman. Doverklint was crowned the champion and won the biggest prize of €2,600 from the €14,107 prize pool.

To end the evening, Coolbet streamer Jonatan Wedde went on a run to remember as he was responsible for every player to hit the rail and collected their progressive bounties along the way from 10 players down to ship the €250 Texas Progressive Knockout. He also collected €3,450 from the prize pool generated by the 156 entries.

Today’s Schedule (Nov. 30)

Event #26: €250 Texas Progressive Knockout was a late-night affair kicking off at 10 p.m. with 156 entries adding €18,525 to the prize pool along with another €15,600 in progressive bounties.

Coolbet streamer Jonatan Wedde went on a run to remember with 10 players remaining to win the event at nearly 6 a.m. The €3,450 top prize is likely shadowed by what he collected in the bounties as he took out each and every player from the final table bubble until his eventual victory.

The event paid out at least €250 from the prize pool from each player with many others collecting a small piece along the way in the form of progressive bounties.

Despite the plethora of options on Wednesday, Event #22: €1,100 PLO High Roller nearly doubled its €25,000 guarantee with 47 entries creating a €46,550 prize pool shared by the top seven players from six different nationalities.

Benedikt Hausmann and Gunter Halak faced off during heads-up action with each player already locking in five-figure payouts. Hausmann had all the chips at the end to become the biggest tournament winner thus far at the 2023 The Festival Series Bratislava at Banco Casino with an impressive haul of €17,800.

A total of 66 entries of at least 49 years of age each battled it out yesterday in the one-day Event #20: €250 Seniors 49+ for a share of a €14,107 prize pool.

The Festival Series founder Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk and poker commentator Stig Moen were side-by-side deep in the event but weren’t able to advance to the final table where all the money was to be played for. The final five players in Doverklint, Bror Kiveiloe, the sharply dressed Kelly Kellner, Olav Snidal, and Anders Beckman discussed a deal after Anders Aashammer busted in sixth place. A deal was agreed and Doverklint went on to win the personalized sketched winner’s photo trophy and the €2,600 top prize.

*Reflects five-way deal at final table.

Event #19: €250 8-Game proved to be popular with 84 entries rotating between eight different flop, stud, and draw games in limit, pot-limit, and no-limit formats. A total of 14 players cashed for at least €350 in what turned into a nearly 14 hour marathon. WSOP Europe 8-Game bracelet winner Dainius Antanaitis hit the rail in ninth place before players began playing short-handed at the final table when The Festival Series Tallinn Main Event champion Eirik Kristiansen hit the rail in sixth place.

Eventually, it was Paf poker manager Ola Brandborn and Twitch streamer Scott “Pokerbrahs” Kenyon facing off head-to-head for the title with each player already locking up a healthy €3,100 payout. Kenyon shared he was hungry for a mixed-game title at The Festival Series Bratislava but he will have to try again. Eventually, Brandborn proudly won the title along with the €4,600 top prize.

Congrats to all of the players who cashed in the 8-Game event.

Event #2: €250 Bratislava Deepstack began on Sunday with the first of its three opening flights before eventually, 352 entries got into the mix to create a healthy €75,665 prize pool.

There were just 60 players to return on Wednesday for the second and final day with just 44 finishing in the money. Players continued their battle for more than 12 hours before Poland’s Gabriel Rymar earned the title and the €14,400 top prize after defeating Greece’s Konstantinos Kertikidis heads-up.

Day 1b of the €500,000 guaranteed €550 Main Event attracted 123 entries to bring the total up to 196 entries when taking into account the 73 entries that hopped into action on Tuesday’s Day 1a.

Exactly one-third of the field bagged chips with Daniel Nagy leading the 41 survivors with 207,000 to push him ahead of the 190,000 that Day 1a chip leader Bo Alm advanced with. So far, 59 players have bagged and tagged chips with many more to come with four more opening flights to go.

Martin Mauthner, who won the very first The Festival Series Main Event when it all began in Bratislava back in 2021, managed to bag a shorter stack of 44,000. Meanwhile, defending The Festival Series Bratislava Main Event champion Michel Molenaar was at his table for quite some time and will also head into Day 2 in much better shape with 176,000 in chips.

This brings an end to our blog for the evening, although we will update some of the side events if they end at a reasonable time. If not, expect to learn about all of the results in the morning.

For those still looking for some late-night action, the €250 Texas Progressive Knockout is about to kick off in a few minutes.

In the meantime, check out the final Day 1b chip counts of the Main Event below:

The €250 Seniors Event 49+ attracted a young field of 66 entries to create a €14,107 prize pool. The top eight players will go home with at least a €550 top prize with tonight’s winner taking home much more with a €4,780 top prize at stake.

Although The Festival Series founder Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk busted on his first bullet, he has done far better on his second bullet as he holds a decent stack with just 13 players remaining. He shared that he will win despite just doubling up the short-stacked poker commentator Stig Moen.

Meanwhile, Kelster Mania is alive once again, albeit a little tired. Kelly Kellner is sitting on a huge stack at a different table and gave us a wink.

“Kellster Mania is alive!” Kellner said.

“Alive but tired?” we asked.

Kellner confirmed this was the case but appeared focused on winning the framed sketch trophy instead of letting Franke walk away with it as he would like.

Check out the photos of the final two tables by Dominik Demcak.

Rake-free fun is about to return with Franke’s Flip Flop competition set to resume at 9 p.m. until 11 p.m. Players have been enjoying the thrill of the flips in a +EV environment as the player that wins the most flips during the week will not only receive a framed pair of Franke’s actual flip flops but also a free package to the next The Festival Series stop.

Both leaderboard captain Keito Kaljulaid and Erik Hamre won four flips yesterday giving them 10 flips and 7 flips won to lead the action heading into Wednesday after 45 flips during the first two days.

Although we expect to see both of these players flipping away, we won’t be surprised to see other flip regulars including Joseph Jackson, Sturla Hiller, and Erik Hamre return to action. It is open to anyone and you don’t have to play for the leaderboard lead to have fun. So see you outside the tournament registration desk if you want to flip away and check out the leaderboard below heading into today:

The Cash Game Challenge is set to resume in a few minutes. Tonight’s line-up will include a €2/€2 no-limit hold’em affair at 8 p.m. followed by a €2/€2 pot-limit Omaha line-up at 10:30 p.m.

The player that wins the most big blinds during any designated Cash Game Challenge table during the week will be crowned the Cash Game Challenge champion and be awarded a free package to the next The Festival Series in February 2024.

WSOP Europe 8-Game champion Dainius Antanaitis was one of the early eliminations on Day 2 of the inaugural €550 Mixed Main Event HORSES. However, he made the most of this and instead a short while later won 1,068 big blinds in a €2/€2 pot-limit Omaha Cash Game Challenge session to take a commanding lead on the Cash Game Challenge leaderboard.

Check out the leaders from each Cash Game Challenge session thus far at the 2023 The Festival Series Bratislava at Banco Casino and we wish all the Cash Game Challenge players the best of luck in unseating Antanaitis as the contest’s captain.

The €1,100 PLO High Roller boasts a €25,000 guarantee. This was already blown out of the water with 34 entries in the mix with still more than two hours remaining in late registration.

Allan Arjut, Zoltan Gal, and Frank Visser are among the newer faces. Visser shared during the break that he hopped in this event after no love came his way in the €250 8-Game.

Check out some photos from the PLO High Roller by Dominik Demcak.

Nicklas Dehli navigated through a field of 24 casino enthusiasts to win the €125 Blackjack Championship for €1,258. In the processed he denied two Dutch players a chance at Blackjack glory but at least they got to share in the prize pool for finishing on the podium with Alexander van Dijk collecting €750 for second place and Sandeep Nene banking €500 for third place.

Congrats to Dehli for shipping the event and to van Dijk and Nene for finishing in the money.

The €60 Super Satellite just kicked off with 60 players. It seems like it will be a lock that there will be more than the 10 guaranteed seats for the €500,000 guaranteed €550 Main Event.

It appears JJ Hazan busted the Seniors Event as he was one of the players in the Super Satellite along Knut Groenli, Vanessa Wembly, and American Matthew Deller are among those in the field.

Both defending The Festival Series Bratislava Main Event champion Michel Molenaar and the first-ever The Festival Series Bratislava Main Event Champion Martin Mauthner are in the field on Day 1b of the 2023 The Festival Series €500,000 guaranteed Main Event hoping to become the first two-time champs. Check out some photos from Day 1b of the Main Event.

The €125 Blackjack event attracted 24 entries to create a €2,508 prize pool. Just eight players remain for the title with just three players paid out as follows:

• First Place – €1,258
• Second Place – €750
• Third Place – €500

Although Domagoj Kuterovac won’t add a Blackjack title to his Roulette title he earned yesterday, other players are eager to join him as the second casino winner during this festival with Nicklas Dehli, Indrek Eiche, Robert Kontkanen, Georgios Livanos, Milan Ljubisic, Sandeep Nene, Alexander van Dijk, and Guillaume Font are all still in contention for the four-figure top prize.

Check out the photos below as we await to see who wins one of the premier casino events at The Festival Series Bratislava.

The €1,100 PLO High Roller just kicked off and has some value with a €25,000 guarantee and just 10 players thus far in their seats. If we are being honest, however, we don’t believe there will be any overlay by the time late registration closes.

Tone Fester, Dominik Desset, Benedikt Hausmann, Georgi Voomets, and Rinatas Suleimanovas were all among the early players in their seats. Late registration will be open for 10 blind levels of 30 minutes each, so there is still plenty of time for players to get into the battle.

Day 1b of the €500,000 guaranteed €550 Main Event eclipsed the 73 entries coming in on Day 1a with already 103 entries during Level 7. Players can re-enter twice during each opening flight and late registration won’t close until after the second blind level of Day 2.

Matthew Adams, Jimmy Dewerdt, Kristo Erala, Richard Koppel, and Jonatan Wedde were all noticed in the Day 1b field of 79 remaining players battling it out in hopes of advancing with a big stack.

Last night, Jon Kyte had a massive chip lead with nearly 90 percent of chips in play when a deal was being discussed deep on Day 2 of the first-ever €550 Mixed Main Event HORSES with three players left. Originally the payouts were slated as follows:

• First Place – €8,675
• Second Place – €5,875
• Third Place – €4,175

“I will only make a deal if it is for more than first place,” Kyte recalled saying to Dimitris Giannakou and Robin Panholzer.

As both of his opponents were merely on crumbs, they agreed to a deal that would have paid more than first-place money to Kyte. However, the floor put a temporary wrench in the plans as they informed the trio that they had to still play for 10 percent of what was remaining or in this case €1,825.

Kyte was guaranteed €7,000 with Giannakou locking up $4,800 and Panholzer banking $4,600. The Norwegian then went on to quickly dispatch his opponents to win the extra money on the line along with the honor of becoming the inaugural Mixed Main Event HORSES champ in poker history to bring his total up to $8,825 for $150 more than first place was originally scheduled to get.

Meanwhile, Kyte will try to become the first two-time champion during this The Festival Series as he late-entered the €250 8-Game which is up to 70 entries with 64 players remaining.

The €250 Seniors Event 49+ has proven to be popular with already 56 entries in the field with 10 players hitting the rail during the early action. Stig Moen and Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk got back into action as did JJ Hazan for his first bullet.

We checked up on Moen and Franke and both are well north above starting stack so it has gone well for both of them after hitting the rail barely after the clock stopped. Meanwhile, Mairo Toom was busy grabbing some snaps from around the room. So check them out below:

The Festival Series isn’t only about poker as there are other types of casino-related tournaments on tap. Yesterday boasted the €125 Roulette tournament won by Domagoj Kuterovac for €941. Kuterovac is back in action today in hopes of winning the second casino event on tap in the €125 Blackjack which just kicked off with 15 entries across three tables.

Players will play 30 hands across three tables while the button moves for the order in which players place their bets. The top two stacks from each table will progress to the final table where stacks will be reset.

There is some skill involved when playing blackjack in this format instead of against the house. There will be times to bet more and times to bet less. More advanced players may employ +EV strategies of occasionally splitting 10s, doubling on 12, etc. that wouldn’t normally be part of basic blackjack strategy that one should use to reduce the casino edge when playing against the house.

Best of luck to all of the Blackjack players in their question in joining Kuterovac as the latest casino tournament winner at The Festival Series Bratislava.

Norway’s Ailo Hegge headed to the rail during hand-for-hand play to bubble the €250 Bratislava Deepstack with the remaining 44 players locking up at least a €450 min-cash. Players including Phillip Huxley, who is parlaying his min-cash into a late registration into the €125 8-Game, headed to the cashier desk at a fast and furious pace after the bubble broke with just 32 players remaining competing for the title.

Check out some of the Day 2 photos by The Festival Series photographer Mairo Toom.

While we aren’t really reporting hands until the final day of the Main Event, we did witness some mayhem in the first hand of the Seniors Event. Kellner rivered a flush to triple up and send both Stig Moen and Biniam Mesfin to the rail on the river first hand. Mesfin got back in before we heard a shout from a different table from The Festival Series founder Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk.

“So unfair!” Franke said as he briefly walked by.

“What happened?” we asked.

“I bluffed it off and now I have to re-enter,” Franke replied. “So unfair!”

Meanwhile, the Seniors Event already has 35 young players in heart battling it out. They began with a 25,000 starting stack and blinds increase slowly at every 25 minutes.

As if the juicy cash games weren’t good enough on their own (and they are), Banco Casino hosts promotions for its cash game players including a progressive bad beat jackpot and high hand jackpots. Games are available at stakes low and high across a variety of formats from hold’em all the way to super dealer’s choice.

If you like playing different variants of poker, the €250 8-Game that just kicked off with an impressive starting field of 32 entries is right up your alley.

The event rotates through all of the limit games including Hold’em, Omaha hi/lo, Razz, Stud, and Stud hi/lo. In addition, limit Deuce-to-Seven Triple Draw, no-limit Hold’em, and pot-limit Omaha are all part of the mix as well.

Many of the usual suspects are already in action including WSOP Europe 8-Game bracelet winner Dainius Antanaitis, Scott “PokerBrahs” Kenyon, Barrie Dear, Frank Visser, Bas de Laat, Jonas Jurksaitis, and the Norwegian poker power couple Oskar Wedde and Marthe Lyngvaer.

Slovenia’s Blaz Zerjav was waiting at the tournament registration desk and mentioned he was about to hop in and there is still plenty of time for others to do so as well as late registration which features unlimited re-entries is open for the first six blind levels of 30 minutes each.

We expect to see others such as Martin Smith, Franke, Allan Arjut, and Wouter Schuurbiers enter after previously expressing interest to play and their love of mixed games in general. Perhaps at least in Schuurbiers’s is taking a break from the tournament action and switching to the cash games he is known to love. He shared last night that he bubbled the €550 Mixed Main Event HORSES after bubbling the €250 Sviten Special event the day before.

Every day, The Festival Series hospitality host Anastasia invites everyone with the hospitality package to different events. Today, players enjoyed a visit to a vintage arcade playing 80’s and 90’s classics. Check out the photos below:

The Main Event action on Day 1b picked up with 60 entries already in the field during Level 3. As will become tradition we will name and shame honor the first player to hit the rail during each opening flight. The honor this time around goes to our resident flip master Joseph Jackson who also has been seen streaming satellites at TheFestivalOG Twitch channel.

Meanwhile, Gani Weiss also hit the rail but unlike Jackson he opted to immediately re-enter and get back into the action.

Meanwhile, we noticed the first-ever Main Event champion Martin Mauthner back in action in hopes of becoming the first two-time champion. Mauthner, who is a former poker dealer, famously won the event by keeping his opponents on their toes while keeping calm with an unlit cigarette hanging out of his mouth.

Cards are in the air for Day 2 of Event #3: €250 Bratislava Deepstack at Banco Casino. Four of the 60 players already hit the rail including Richard Koppel, Tarmo Tammel, Kyle Kronin, and Linus Elmes. Another dozen players will need to hit the rail before the rest of the field is in the money.

Best of luck to all of the Deepstack players.

Players have been asking all week how they can get involved with the Cash Game Challenge for a chance at winning big money in cash games while also potentially winning a package to the next The Festival Series in February if they are the player that wins the most big blinds during any of the Cash Game Challenge sessions.

This is open to anyone, and, if interested, registration just opened on the casino floor for today’s €2/€2 NLH affair at 8 p.m. and the later €2/€2 PLO table at 10:30 p.m.

Good luck to all of the cash game players. Currently, Lithuanian WSOP champion Dainius Antanaitis holds the lead after winning a whopping 1,068 big blinds during last night’s €2/€2 PLO Cash Game Challenge broadcasted live at TheFestivalOG Twitch channel.

Event #3: €250 Bratislava Deepstack will kick off its second and final day in about 30 minutes time at 1 p.m. The event attracted 354 entries to create a tasty €75,665 prize pool.

Just 60 players remain with only 44 of them going home with at least a €450 min-cash. However, all players have their eyes on the €14,400 top prize with Lithuania’s Matas Kubilius sitting on top of the pack when the action resumes.

Check out all of the payouts for the €250 Bratislava Deepstack:

Day 1b of the Main Event just kicked off with 15 players making it on time. This number will grow as not only is late registration open for all 12 blind levels of each of the six opening flights but also during the first two blind levels of Day 2.

Lithuania’s Vytautas Kacerauskas dropped by for a quick chat and he appeared confident that today would be a good day.

“I came prepared,” Kacerauskas shared. “Look down.”

It wasn’t quite Franke-style with the flip flops but Kacerauskas was sporting comfortable sandals that should take him through the at least nine-hour day today’s Day 1b will require for those starting off from the beginning.

Joining Kacerauskas are 14 other players including the likes of flips expert Joseph Jackson, Knut Groenli, two-time TFS Bratislava runner-up in the Crazy Pineapple and Heads-Up events Matthew Adams, Arne Alnes, and Georgios Angelinas.

A total of 60 players will return to battle it out on Day 2 of the €250 Bratislava Deepstack from a field of 354 entries. The payouts will be announced later with cards in the air at 1 p.m. on Wednesday.

The action will play down to a winner today. Check out the opening seat draw below: