2023 The Festival Bratislava Day 6

The €125 The Festival Queens attracted 35 female entries to create a €3,657 prize pool. Valerie Slavickova was awarded a bubble prize of €122 while Gia Carnestroem took home €400 for fourth place before the final three ladies agreed to a deal. Jade Walker went on to win the event for €1,180, while the Norwegian duo in Siv Vekseth and Catherine Snildan took home €970 and €985 respectively.

The €125 NLH proved to be popular with 238 entries creating a €27,027 prize pool to nearly double the €15,000 guarantee.

Greece’s Theordoros Ampelikiotis made the most of the event by defeating Denmark’s Michel Petersen to win the €5,950 top prize. Check out the list of all 31 players who cashed in this event:

The €125 Friday Turbo Midnight Madness attracted 88 late-night runners to create a €9,196 prize pool. Giovanni Capitano defeated Robin Olsen to win the €2,245 top prize.

While congratulations are in order for all of the players that cashed, we will give an even more special one to our friend in The Hendon Mob’s Hans Kleinsman who min-cashed this event.

For many years, Kleinsman was joked around with about his lack of The Hendon Mob cashes considering he works at The Hendon Mob. He resolved this issue with a few cashes over the past few years but all those cashes have had someone else’s money at least partially involved. However, his min-cash in this event was the first The Hendon Mob recorded cash for Kleinsman where he put up the entire buy-in himself. Congrats to Kleinsman for unlocking your latest achievement!

Event #42: €125 PLO/PLO8 rotated between regular PLO and PLO h/l Eight or Better throughout the event which attracted 79 entries for a €8,255 prize pool.

Michal Janczarski was the star of the show after defeating Niklas Nyman heads-up to win the title and the €2,405 top prize. Nyman arrived with a small crew including Antoine Degiorgio early Friday morning from Malta to provide fresh reinforcements to the existing crew and their lack of results thus far. He made the most of his day and nearly won the title. Instead, he will have to settle for the €1,550 runner-up prize.

Scott Kenyon, also known as Pokerbrahs at Twitch, came into the Player of the Series leaderboard competition only behind Paf’s Ola Brandborn. Brandborn went home leaving it up to Kenyon to take charge.

Kenyon did just that as he took yet another runner-up spot in an event this festival after he was eliminated by Vangelis Kaimakamis in second place for €3,600 in the €250 PLO Masters, while Kaimakamis won the trophy and the €5,828 top prize. Lithuania’s Rinatas Suleimanovas also moved up the rankings to second place thanks to a fourth-place performance in this event for €2,100.

The €250 Masters attracted 101 entries to create a €21,588 prize pool. It was an international affair, especially at the end with the final 12 players boasting 12 different nationalities.

On Friday evening, Tomasz Walkowiak defeated OFC beast Risto Ponnio heads-up in Event #37: €250 OFC Pineapple for €4,300. The event attracted 54 entries to create a €11,542 prize pool and paid out the following eight players at least a €450 min-cash.

The two-day €250 The Hendon Mob Championship attracted 172 on its opening day on Thursday to create a €36,765. A total of 22 players returned Friday evening already in the money for at least a €450 min-cash.

Slovenia’s Mitja Rudolf achieved the max result in this event by defeating Germany’s Frederic Max heads-up en route to the title and the €9,100 top prize. Check out the payouts below from The Hendon Mob Championship:

Event organizers decided to roll back blind levels for a repeat of the 1,000/2,000 (2,000) blind level for the start of Day 2 with late registration closing at the end of Level 14 with blinds at 1,000/3,000 (3,000). After these two blind levels, the floor will announce the total prize pool and payouts of the €500,000 guaranteed €550 Main Event.

Players will continue to battle with longer 45-minute blind levels until just two tables remaining before returning on Sunday for even deeper 50-minute blind levels.

The final opening flight is in the books with 120 more entries getting into the mix for a total of 935 entries with still two blind levels of late registration permitted on Saturday’s Day 2 with cards in the air at 12 p.m.

Markus Cerny and Daniel Paluk each managed to bag 180,000 from their 30,000 starting stack to end the day on top of the 52 survivors, meaning a total of 308 unique players found a bag into Day 2 when taking account all the player that survived the first five opening flights.

Canada’s Kelly Kellner still leads the way after bagging up 349,000 on Day 1c. Check out all of the Day 1e chip counts below and stay tuned for the Day 2 seat draw.

Day 1e nearly doubled the size of the €500,000 guaranteed The Festival Series €550 Main Event on Friday with 405 new entries getting into the mix to grow the field up to 815 entries with still Day 1f and the entries coming in during the first two blind levels of Saturday’s Day 2.

A total of 129 players survived to more than double the previous total of 127 survivors to 256 Day 2 players thus far. Krisztian Kis with 311,000 and Christoforos Christoforou with 300,000 became the second and third players to advance with at least 300,000 in chips, albeit both players are behind Day 1c chip leader Kelly Kellner with 349,000.

The Festival Series regular JJ Hazan also had an impressive day showing he can do more than just play Omaha and mixed games with 256,000, while Raymond de Groot (168,000), Mats Orstad (108,000), Matiss Celmins (80,000), and Jon Kyte (39,000) were among some of the many other players to find a bag.

Day 1f is still ongoing and our next update will likely be either when that concludes to provide the final chip counts and hopefully the Day 2 seat draw as well if available or the results of an ending side event. In the meantime, feel free to say hello while this reporter is mingling around the casino floor.

United Kingdom’s Daniel Smith was the brightest star on Day 1 after bagging the chip lead among the 22 survivors after bagging the chip lead. He is back to battle along with 21 others including The Festival Series commentator Jacob Dideriksen-Nielsen and Sturla Hiller with the action just resuming in hopes of locking down the €9,100 top prize.

The €125 PLO/PLO8 kicked off with 16 runners at 9 p.m. Sascha Manns, birthday boy Allan Arjut, Craig McLuckie, Per Gjelten, and William Lynch are among the early players in action.

Tired of skill games? Why not give Franke’s Flip Flops a chance. It is the best “luck” game in the casino as these are rake-free €20 flips for tournament vouchers to be used at The Festival Series Bratislava. The vouchers are transferrable to friends, so don’t worry if you are leaving as this might be the perfect fun for you this evening.

To add a little more fun, The Festival Series juiced up the competition as the player that wins the most flips throughout the week will become the Franke’s Flip Flops champion and be awarded a framed pair of Franke’s actual flip flops that he wore all week at The Festival Series Bratislava. This player will also be awarded a package valued at €1,600 to the first stop of The Festival Series in 2024.

Keito Kaljulaid currently leads the way after winning 11 flips. But there is still time to catch up to him with two more nights of flips. Best of luck to all of the flippers in the Franke’s Flip Flops challenge.

The Cash Game Challenge will resume any minute with stakes at €5/€5 no-limit hold’em with a later session of €5/€5 pot-limit Omaha hosted by George Sandford and guests including Andreas “Wiseguy” Hoglund and perhaps also Jacob Dideriksen-Nielsen depending on whether he can run up his short stack on Day 2 of the €250 The Hendon Mob Championship which resumes with 22 players and a €9,100 top prize at 9 p.m.

The player that wins the most big blinds throughout the week during a single Cash Game Challenge will be crowned the contest’s winner and be awarded a free package valued at €1,600 to the next The Festival Series. The Festival Series founder Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk took the lead last night after winning 1,239 big blinds in a televised €5/€5 pot-limit Omaha affair.

You can check out the stream by clicking on the ‘Stream’ tab within our coverage or by heading to TheFestivalOG Twitch channel. Best of luck to all of the players in passing Franke in the dust to take the lead.

Cards are in the air with 41 players in their seats to start Day 1f. Blind levels will be 20 minutes instead of the 40 minutes during most of the opening flights. Players will still start with 30,000 in chips and be allowed to re-enter twice during the entire day of a dozen blind levels. In addition, players will be able to re-enter tomorrow for Day 2 with a short stack during the first two blind levels.

Dan Kothari, Andres Leppik, Mark Adams, Robert Kucma, Harald Redl, David Spacek, Martin Toth, and Paul Johnson are among the players in their seats from the start.

Best of luck to all of the Day 1f players in finding a big bag into tomorrow’s Day 2.

The €125 NL Texas €15,000 guarantee just kicked off with 63 entries. Late registration will remain open for eight blind levels of 20 minutes each.

Markus Ganglbauer, Brian Klindrup, Anu Lilja, Toni Sarkama, and Andre Sorm are among the early players in their seats after the welcome announcement by The Festival Series founder Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk.

Day 1e of the Main Event has reached 400 entries with about half of them still in their seats to nearly double the size of the Main Event. The final opening flight in the Turbo Day 1f will kick off in an hour at 8 p.m. Check out some photos from Day 1e by The Festival Series photographer Mairo “EstonianWeirdo” Toom.

The €125 Festival Queens just went on dinner break. The field grew to 35 entries with late registration closing as soon as the players reconvene for action.

Anastasia Bukstynovic, Pia Jeppson, Slots Championship winner Marita Magi, Annette O’Carroll, Trang Le, Vanessa Webley, and Coolbet streamer Ylva Thorsrud are among the players returning for action with chips.

We wish all the ladies a good dinner and the best of luck when the action resumes.

The Festival Series hospitality host Anastasia hosted a bowling outing for those with the hospitality package. Check out the photos from The Festival Series photographer Mairo Toom below:

The Day 1e field of the 2023 The Festival Series €500,000 guaranteed €550 Main Event has reached 387 entries during the closing minutes of Level 8. It has a good chance to match the 410 entries attracted during the first four opening flights with the current field at 797 with one more opening flight and the first two blind levels of Day 2 to go before we know the final figures.

The €125 Festival Queens is up to 27 entries. Yesterday, some of the ladies joined The Festival Series for a hospitality lunch. Check out the photos below.

The fun €250 PLO Masters has kicked off with 27 entries. Birthday boy Allan Arjut kept his promise and entered this event as did Sviten Special guru Peter La Terra, Georgi Voomets, and the recently arrived Niklas Nyman.

Nyman flew in from Malta with Malta Poker Fish administrator Antoine Degiorgio to the delight of many here in Bratislava. Degiorgio is out with friends, but we wouldn’t be surprised to see him get into the action later. Meanwhile, Nyman went straight to business in hopes of securing a title in his first event of the 2023 The Festival Series Bratislava at Banco Casino.

The €250 OFC Pineapple attracted 54 entries to create a €11,542 prize pool. While notable players such as birthday boy Allan Arjut, Twitch streamer Scott “Pokerbrahs” Kenyon, and Wouter Schuurbiers, all hit the rail many others rage on including Morten Antonsen, Johnny Johansen, Sviten Special champion Harald Redl, and Mixed Main Event HORSES champion Jon Kyte.

Check out some photos from the event by Mairo Toom.

There were 410 entries entering the action of the €500,000 guaranteed €550 Main Event heading into Friday’s final two opening flights. Day 1e could double that figure by itself with already 338 entries midway through Level 6.

We expect a decent crowd coming in for the final opening flight this evening with the Turbo Day 1f kicking off at 8 p.m. In the meantime, check out some photos of Day 1e by The Festival Series photographer Mairo Toom.

Ladies alert! The €125 Festival Queens just kicked off with 13 ladies in their seat eager for the title including Vanessa Webley, Anu Lilja, Katre Kokk, Annette O’Carroll, Anastasija Bukstynovic, Gia Carnestroem, Malin Johansen, Drea Karlsen, Marthe Lyngvaer, Jill Mellstroem, Lisbeth Sunde, Siv Vekseth, and Jade Walker.

Late registration will be open for about two hours in this event that features 25 minute blind levels. Players that lose their stacks from Level 7 and beyond will be permanently eliminated from the event. Best of luck to all of the ladies in earning the Festival Queens title.

If you want to learn more about Open Face Chinese Poker or already know some about it and want to check out more, we recommend you check out the Pokerbrahs Twitch stream by Scott Kenyon who is battling it out live on his own stream in the €250 OFC Event.

• Head to Pokerbrahs on Twitch to check out the action.

It is a special day every day during The Festival Series but even more so for Estonia’s Allan Arjut.

“Should we sing?” asked Andreas “Wiseguy” Hoglund.

“Perhaps not,” we were thinking but keeping this to ourselves.

Instead, we will wish him a happy birthday in the blog. He is busy battling it out in the 35-entry field €250 Open Face Chinese in hopes of winning a title today.

“This is my birthday treat to myself,” Arjut shared. “It is my first time playing this in a tournament format and having fun.”

Arjut’s birthday poker run won’t necessarily end with the OFC event as he also shared he planned to play the €250 PLO Masters and/or the €125 PLO/PLO8 events. But let’s be clear, he did share he wouldn’t be playing them at the same time. We will leave that to the likes of Scott “Pokerbrahs” Kenyon who shared he will likely do this in the evening to earn Player of the Series leaderboard points where he resides in second place behind Paf Poker’s Ola Brandborn.

Brandborn has left the building, so the leaderboard is anyone’s game. We wouldn’t even be surprised to see the birthday boy Arjut climb his way up the ladder as he is putting in the volume and has shown he can get results to match.

The Franke’s Flip Flops have been a blast every night from 9 p.m. until 11 p.m. from Monday until Saturday. Players enjoy rake-free flips for €20 and if they win they not only get the full prize in tournament money for a The Festival Series event but also are part of a leaderboard competition.

The winner of the Franke’s Flip Flops leaderboard will be the player that wins the most flips throughout the week and will be awarded a free package valued at €1,600 to the first The Festival Series stop of 2024.

The top two spots on the leaderboard remained unchanged with Keito Kaljulaid still leading the way with 11 flips run out of the 82 that ran and Erik Hamre in second place with seven flips won.

Meanwhile, Allan Arjut won two flips for a third day in a row and moved up to third place on the leaderboard with six flips won. Check out the leaderboard of everyone who won at least two flips in the Franke’s Flip Flops this week so far:

Event #29: €250 The Hendon Mob Championship returns for its second and final day at 9 p.m. with just 22 players from the 174 entries remaining. All returning players are in the money for at least a €450 min-cash after battling it out hand-for-hand on the money bubble to end yesterday’s action.

Check out the seat draw for Day 2 of The Hendon Mob Championship below:

Day 1e is easily the biggest opening flight of them all with the field already at 221 entries midway through Level 3. Late registration is open all opening flight long and will stay open during the first two blind levels of Day 2, but as of now, the field is up to 631 entries and counting.

As has become tradition, we will ‘honor’ the first player out on Day 1e in Umut Bicakci. While he was the only player out on Level 1, eight others have joined him on the rail.

Meanwhile, Alexander van Dijk, Kaspar Valk, Thomas Udness, Franke Flip Flops leaderboard captain Keito Kaljulaid, Vytautas Kacerauskas, and Nunzio Lagana were among the players in the field on their first Day 1e bullets.

Paf’s Ola Brandborn came into Thursday on top of the leaderboard of the 2023 The Festival Series Bratislava Player of the Series. He is still on top, but thanks for the consistent cashing going on by Twitch streamer Scott “Pokerbrahs” Kenyon, the gap is narrowed with Kenyon knocking down his door in hopes of securing the honor.

The player that wins the Player of the Series will win a free package valued at €1,600 to the first The Festival Series in 2024. Kenyon shared he might multitable events this evening in hopes that he can push his name to the top of the leaderboard before Saturday’s action.

Check out the top 10 of the leaderboard below. Keep in mind that for now the bounty tournaments are not included but will be added later. Satellites, tournaments with buy-ins of less than €125, and tournaments not open to all including the Seniors 49+ and the Festival Queens are not part of the competition.

The €250 Open Face Chinese Poker began with players starting with 24 players including the likes of OFC beasts Johnny Johansen, Wouter Schuurbiers, and Risto Ponnio. Bas de Laat shared he was playing his first OFC tournament while Scott “Pokerbrahs” Kenyon, Allan Arjut, Sascha Manns, and Julius Jurksaitis were all noticed in the field.

Late registration is open for six blind levels of 30 minutes each. So expect the field to grow including The Festival Series founder Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk planning to get into the mix.

It is a friendly affair, so feel free to drop by to watch a hand or two as there is no bluffing and pure strategy. In the meantime, you can check out the rules of the game and how the OFC tournament works.

The Festival Series host Andreas “Wiseguy” Hoglund made some announcements to the Main Event crowd before cards were in the air for Day 1e of the €500,000 guaranteed €550 Main Event.

The action began with 80 entries in the mix including Andres Allsalu, Leonardo Burdino, Mikolaj Domanski, Sandor Mate, Stig Moen, Arthur Navellou, and Heidi Bekker.

Players can re-enter twice throughout the day with players bagging their stacks after 12 blind levels of 40 minutes each. Tonight’s last chance turbo Day 1f will move faster with 20-minute blind levels. In both cases, players start with 30,000 in chips and can re-enter twice each flight at any point during the day. Additionally, players advancing to Day 2 can also re-enter until the late registration closes after the second blind level of the day.

Best of luck to all of the Main Event players and check out the schedule of Friday, Dec. 1 below: