2024 The Festival Malta Live Blog

Victor den Houting is The Festival in Malta Main Event Champion! He defeated Canadian Haven Taylor after an hour long heads-up battle to take the title and the €55,000 first prize.

He went into the heads-up stage of the tournament with 10.675m chips versus Haven Taylor’s 6.3m. Taylor did manage to take the lead at one stage of the final session, however Victor who is usually a cash game player rallied and retook the lead and the final hand played out soon after.

In the final hand Haven moved all-in with K 6 on a flop of Q K 7 and after a brief delay Victor made the call, tabling K 7 for two pairs. This left Haven drawing thin, needing either running sixes to win the hand, or a queen to pair the board for a chop. The 4 on the turn and 9 on the river provided no help for the Canadian, who had been dutifully railed by her husband Tom Taylor throughout the final table.

Haven Taylor cashed for €32,800 for her runner-up finish while our champion Victor victoriously took down the €55,000 first place prize.

In his post tournament interview Victor revealed that he hasn’t played live for ten years and his journey here was the first time he has even been on an aeroplane in the same amount of time. Victor, originally from Spain plays cash online professionally and moved to Andorra six years ago, soon after the birth of his first child. He is now a proud father of three and has re-ignited his love of tournaments by securin this win.

Congratulations to The Festival in Malta Main Event Champion Victor den Houting! See you in Bratislava!

The Final Table Result

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Macedonian Oliver Mihajlovski has just been eliminated in 3rd place by Haven Taylor. He had K 4 but was dominated by Haven’s A 4 and the board provided no help. Oliver cashed for €23,300 for his 3rd place finish.

Heads Up play has now begun, with Victor holding the chip lead on 10.675m versus Haven’s 6.3m. May the best man or woman win! Let Battle commence!

Follow the heads-up action on the live stream on Instagram.

There hasn’t been another bust out and there are still three players left in, but Victor den Houting is making a strong claim for the title, building a significant chip lead. He is now in possession of 11m of the 17m chips in play. There hasn’t been an all-in or any really huge pots, he’s been grinding it out. Haven now has around 3.5m with Oliver Mihajlovski from Macedonia on 2.5m.

Congratulations to Joakim Olin from Sweden, who is ecstatic, having won back-to-back Seniors events on The Festival Series this year. In Rozvadov he beat a field of 68 players and he has now repeated the feat in Malta, defeating compatriot Totti Lind heads up to claim his second title and the first prize of €3,750.

A few days ago Franke got heads up in the €250 Open Face Chinese, but missed out on the title, losing to Siarhei Narohzny in an intense three-hour heads up encounter.

Today is the High Roller version on the OFC, which had 15 entries, to create a prize pool of €14,250. It pays just the top two, so there’s €8,550 up top for the winner. This time Franke is heads up again, but wait, it’s just his head, not him. 

Earlier in the week Totti Lind showed up in a specially made shirt that was a montage of Franke’s head. At some point during the week Totti sold this shirt to Wouter Schuurbiers and now Wouter (and Franke’s head) is heads up against Tomasz Walkowiak from Poland as they play out for the title.

The remaining three players have now gone on a short break. During the last session of play we lost Mathias Jordi from Switzerland, who departed with €17,800 for his 4th place finish. His exit came at the hands of Victor den Houting, who’s K 10 made two pairs against Mathias’s A 6 .

Since the double-double 3-way all-ins, Haven has lost quite a few pots and now has the shortest stack of the last three. These are the current chip counts.

Just a few hands after delivering a fatal blow to two of her final table opponents, Canadian Haven Taylor repeated the feat, sending another two players to the payout desk.

On this occasion the victims were Mario Eder from Austria and Bart Dil from Netherlands. Again, it was an all-in pre-flop situation:

Mario: 9 5

Bart: K K

Haven: 7 7

Board: 10 7 A 4 2

Mario had been down to four big blinds, hence the reason he was all-in with such a holding and the crowd watching gasped in surprise as the seven on the flop put Haven into a great situation. With no further help from the board, both Mario and Bart saw their tournament lives fizzle out.

Mario Eder has had a good Festival in Malta and was going for his second victory of the week, having won the €250 PLO 4/5/6 Card for €4,950. He added a further €10,600 to his winnings from the week, exiting in 6th place

Bart Dil cashed for €13,800 for his 5th place finish.

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Dragan Ignjatovski and Kystian Nalepka have both been eliminated by Haven Taylor in a three-way all-in during level 34 of the Main Event. 

Krystian: K 10

Dragan: Q 10

Haven:K K

Board: 3 7 5 5 3

Macedonian Dragan Ignjatovski is our 8th place finisher, collecting €6,300

Polish Kystian Nalepka finished in 7th place, for €8,300

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Incredible scenes here on the final table. Haven has just busted four players in the space of a few hands. Both were three-way all-ins and we are now down to four. Full details coming soon…

The main event has just gone on its first break of the day with eight players left. these are the updated chip counts.

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It has taken almost two hours since the start of the final table for the first player to be eliminated. That dubious honour went to Spaniard Jordi Ruiz, whose AT off-suit was not good enough to get past Dragan’s pocket Kings. Jordi exits the tournament in ninth place winning €4,800.

As it often the case, the final table has started rather slowly, as players become comfortable with their new playing environment and begin to size up the tasty €55,000 first prize. While they get settled in, here’s a quick update about what else is going on in the room here today at Portomaso Casino in Saint Julians.

€250 Mystery Bounty Final Table

Day two of the mystery bounty has five players left and remarkably both of the top bounty prices of €5,000 and €2,500 are still to be pulled. Open face Chinese winner Siarhei Narohzny is still in and potentially could put himself in contention for the Player of the Series award, if he has enough time to win this and jump from this into the Open Face Chinese High Roller…and then go on to score another victory in that format.

€250 Festival Seniors

The Festival seniors which is a tournament for players age 50 and above currently has 23 players competing out of the 47 who started. Joe Grech who won last night’s Saturday Madness tournament  exited early from this one, in a full house over a full house situation, but is still considering re-entering. Joakim Olin, who was the Rozvadov Seniors Champion is still in and looking for back-to-back old codgers wins.*

*Disclaimer, I’m also an old codger, so I’m allowed to get away with saying this 😉

Open Face Chinese High Roller

The €1,100 Open Face Chinese high roller is now in its fourth level of the day with 10 players having entered so far. Amusingly, Franke is on a table with Belgium’s Wouter Schuurbiers, who is wearing a shirt which is made up completely of images with Franke‘s face. 

You Take The High Road

The Festival Lowroller is the cheapest tournament on the schedule this week and it started at midday today. There were 52 entries in total and it is now approaching its final table with 11 players left.

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The final table of The Festival in Malta Main Event has now begun with the first few hands now being played out. To watch the action check out the live stream on the festivals Instagram page.

Will Haven Taylor become our first female winner of a festival series, main event, or will another player in the chasing pack emerge to challenge her and overcome her massive chip lead?

The unfortunate player to just miss out on a seat at the top table was casinotogether’s Milan Ljubisic, who takes home €4,200 as the tenth place finisher. Milan won the Deepstack Championship on Friday, but won’t be repeating that feat here today. Unlucky Milan, but well played, you’ve certainly impressed a lot of people with your prowess at the tables this week!

The final table of the Festival in Malta is now set and the remaining nine players have now gone on a short break before play resumes. Canadian Haven Taylor is the huge chip leader, after taking out several of her opponents during the opening session of the day.

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We are now one elimination away from the bubble, with ten players left in with a chance of becoming the Festival in Malta Main Event Champion and walking away with a year-changing €55,000.

Recent Eliminations

The first player to depart was Bulgarian Ivo Petkov, who busted soon after the start of the day in 16th place. He also made the money in the Rozvadov Main Event, finishing in 24th place. Congratulations to Ivo on back-to-back cashes, but commiserations  for not progressing further today.

Soon after he was joined on the rail by Stefanos Michalidis from Greece, whose last 240,000 chips went to Dragan Ignjatovski from Macedonia. Stefanos’s K 9 was torched by Dragan’s J 10 on a A 6 9 3 J board. It’s just a game, let’s hope this doesn’t spark further local conflicts in their region of Europe.

Julie Whitworth was the last player to bust at the end of Day 2. This leaves Haven Taylor as the last remaining woman in the field. She’s in second place in chips and has a great chance to progress to the business end of the tournament. But anything can (and probably will) happen today.

The remaining 16 players in the Main Event are now taking their seats ahead of the 2pm restart. Who will be first to bust out today, who will just miss out on the final table and who will be our Festival in Malta Main Event champion?

Both tables are being lived streamed from the start of play, with one table on our Instagram page and the other on our Twitch Channel.

The Last Sixteen

The time has flown by so quickly this week, for me anyway. But its not over yet and there is one more day of The Festival in Malta for us all to enjoy before it becomes a thing of the past. Check out the article on the news page about what to expect on Day 8 of the series. The blog coverage today will mostly focus on the conclusion of the Main Event, but I’ll try to keep you updated on what else is going down here at Portomaso Casino in St Julians. Here’s today’s schedule of play.

Schedule of Play

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It’s getting late, it’s now 2 AM here at PortoMaso Casino in Saint Julian’s. There are still 21 players left in the main event and they will play on until they reach the final 16 which may take them up to another hour or so. 

Remaining Main Event Players

• Andrei Mjagkov
• Bart Dil
• Dimitrios Katsikas
• Dragan Ignjatovski
• Haven Taylor
• Ivo Petkov
• Jesper Lucas
• Jordi Ruiz
• Julie Whitworth
• Krystian Nalepka
• Lucas Liljegren
• Mario Eder
• Mathias Jordi
• Milan Ljubisic
• Oliver Mihajlovski
• Pasquale Grimaldi
• Stefanos Michalidis
• Stuart Steven McNally
• Svensson Linus
• Victor den Houting

The only other tournament still running at this time is the €125 Saturday Madness, which drew or field of 67 players. They are now down to the final table of nine players and are fighting it out for first prize of €2450. They are also on the bubble now, as only eight will get paid.

Amongst the remaining contenders is Bulgarian Lachezar Tsenov, who has been playing aggressively and enjoying a few beers at the same time. Maltese Londoner Joe Grech is another player still left in.

The Deuce to Seven Triple Draw had 56 entries and played seven places. The Festival Series’ very own Karev Tralla made the final table once again, securing 4th place in an almost equally chopped four-way deal for €1,200. The win to Damien Michalski from Sweden, for just €50 more than Karev won.

This is going to be my last post of the evening, however I will update the chip counts for the Main Event at the end of play. The blog will resume in the early afternoon on Sunday and the Main Event resumes at 2pm. Goodnight all!

Eighteen players will return on Sunday for the Day 2 of the Mystery Bounty. All remaining players are now in the prize money and it’s only on Day 2 that bounties can be won. The chip overnight chip leader is Open Face Chinese champion Siarhei Narohzny, who has 600,000 and is almost 200,00 ahead of his nearest challenger Maria Koutsouki. In Rozvadov I nicknamed Siarhei ‘The Machine’ and he is still living up to that moniker with another impressive display this week.

Also still left in are Scotsmen Lewis Aikman and Stephen McCabe, however they are both relatively short-stacked. They’ll have their work cut out tomorrow if they want to emulate the feat of the High Rollerm where they finished in 1st and 2nd places.

Shortly before the last break there was a big hand on table 14. Giovanni Piccioni, the winner of the Vamos Poker Tour Main Event also made the prize money here in the Main Event at the Festival Series. He was taken out in three way all in, when holding A 3 for his last 185k. He found himself in bad shape, up against J J and A A .

A 3 on the flop gave him some hope, but he was not able to improve. Lucien Jouanneau’s pocket jacks did not improve either and Italian Pasquale Grimaldi who held the aces added a nice chunk to his growing stack.

Recent Exits

The players have gone on a short break and there are now 31 left in, with a further 15 eliminations required before the end of the night.

The chip leader at this point is casinotogether’s Milan Ljubisic, who has just over 1m chips, just ahead of Haven Taylor on 980,000, one of two women left in the tournament. The other lady still left in is Julie Whitworth from the UK, who qualified via Betfred.

Chip Leaders

• Milan Ljubisic – 1,010,000
• Haven Taylor – 980,000
• Dragan Ignjatovski- 900,000
• Kystian Nalepka – 900,000
• Mathias Jordi – 890,000
• Lucas Liljegren – 880,000
• Pasquale Grimaldi – 855,000
• Stuart McInally – 800,000
• Jesper Lucas – 790,000

Play has progressed at a steady pace since they resumed play after the dinner break. There are now 40 players left in, as 31 have busted since the bubble burst. Here are the payouts of the players who exited in 41st – 71st places.

Sometimes things happen in such a way that we feel like we’ve experienced it before. This is quite common in poker because let’s face it with all lost with Ace-King versus Queens multiple times, however this isn’t really déjà vu because it’s such a common occurrence.

Something happened here today at The Festival in Malta was much more unusual. Today’s Pot Limit Omaha offering was a €250 buy-in Freezeout, which had 27 entrants. But it’s not the first €250 Pot Limit Omaha tournament has taken place during the week as there was also the €250 PLO Masters, which was won by Jacco Hester from the Netherlands, beating Irishman David K Lappin heads up.

In today’s tournament the same two players remarkably got heads up once again and in a repeat of what happened earlier in the week Jacco won for the second time. This is uncommon, but not unheard of and there are probably numerous examples of the same two players getting heads up in tournaments. However, there was one additional coincidence that makes today’s result even more unique, as the third place finisher Daniel Orlowski was also the third place finisher in the PLO Masters.

Congratulations to Jacco, who took the title, the first prize of €2,550 and becomes the first double winner of The Festival Malta.

It was a short bubble, only lasting for two hands. There were in fact two all-ins at the same time on separate tables. The first of these was played out on table 8 between Krystian Nalepka from Poland who had Q Q versus the A 10 of Milan Ljubisic. 

The queens held, so we moved on to table 16, where Ron Lemmens had A Q versus the 8 8 of Macedonian Dragan Ignjatovski. Ron failed to connect with the board and just for good measure, the 8 sent a bitter Lemmens to the rail with nothing to show for his efforts.

All the remaining players are now in the money and they will soon be going on dinner break. If I post this quickly, I should get to the buffet before there’s a queue.

We’ve now arrived at the first really serious point in the tournament, as with only 78 players left in and 71 places getting paid, the bubble is now approaching. This means that seven unfortunate souls are gonna leave empty-handed.  They are now on level 20, which has blinds of 3,000/6,000 and a 6,000 big blind ante. The average stack is now 217,000 and there’s now a good chance that the bubble will burst before the dinner break.

A quick scout around the room, suggests that the current chip leaders is Spanish player Jordi Ruiz, who has 725,000. In second place is casinotogether’s Milan Ljubisic, who was last night’s DeepStack winner. He has now built a chip stack of 610,000.

Earlier today I lent my jumper to a freezing Shaun Decesare, who had forgotten his hoodie. The jumper started off being a lucky one, enabling Shaun to climb to over 130,000, however it was at this point that things started to go wrong. 

After losing 50k with nines against tens, he got into a great spot with aces against nines. The AQ8 flop was delightful, giving Shuan a 98.2% chance of winning the hand. The turn was a ten and yes, you guessed it, a jack on the river sent Shaun to the rail.

I’ll never wear that jumper again when I play poker. Come to think of it, it has never been lucky for me, I wore it during the WPT World Championship last year and suffered a nasty cooler. The damn thing will now be burned.

Main Course

The Main Event players have just returned from their third break of the day and there are 93 players now left, but still over twenty places away from the prize money. Still in contention is Festival Queens Co-winner Noelia Rico from Sweden. She is sharing a table with Bulgarian Martin Tsvetanov, who was one of the chip leaders at the start of the day. There are also still a few British players who still have chips, such as Neil Rawnsley, David Gee and Julie Whitworth.

Sides

Three of today’s side events are in play now, with one more to come this evening. 

The €250 PLO had 27 entries and is now down to the last ten, with four getting paid and the winner taking home €2,550. Still in this one are recent Main Event bustees Thomas Gugerbauer and David K Lappin.

The €250 Mystery Bounty is now in its eighth level with late registration open until the end of level 10 anjd has 121 entries so farm including many other who exited the Main Event today, such as High Rolller winner Lewis Aikman and Open Face Chinese winner Siarhei Narohzny.

The €125 2-7 Triple Draw was an extra tournament that was added onto the schedule and it has recently begun, with 24 players participating so far. Playing today are both Gia Carnestrom and Scott Kenyon, who chopped the Big O last night.

Dessert

Let’s not forget to mention that there’s also the Saturday Madness taking place today. Its a €125 Turbo No Limit Hold’em tournament and will start at 8pm.

Sadly for the following players the Main Event is now over.

• David Lappin (AJ v Aces)
• Lachezar Tsvenov
• Karev Tralla
• Joe Grech
• Stephen McCabe
• Thomas Gugerbauer
• Joris Ruijs
• Mauritz Altikardes
• Kenny Burke

Another fantastic highlights video from our extraordinarily talented production team Nekit, Aleks and front man Andreas ‘Wiseguy’ Hoglund. To view the rest of the highlights videos and interviews, check out The Festival’s YouTube Channel

Enjoy!

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The main event is moving fast today with almost half the players who started now eliminated at the second break of the day. But 160 of the 307 who began today have their tournament lives intact and are still fighting it out for a place on tomorrow’s final table plus a shot at the €55,000 1st prize. 

This situation won’t last for long however, as with 71 players being paid, play is expected to tighten up once another 30 or 40 players hit the rail. After a brief consultation with the tournament director, we expect the bubble will be burst sometime close to the dinner break, which is not until 9 PM this evening. It’s looking like this could be a late one and the plan is to play till they are down until 16 players.

Big Stacks

The chip leader at this point in the proceedings is Mario Eder from Austria who has close to 390,000. In second place is Mario Keskel from Estonia, who won the Blackjack tournament earlier this week. He has a stack of 328,500 and is 30k ahead of Jesper Lucas, who is hovering just below 300,000.

Lucky Jumper?

It’s actually quite cold in the room today with the AC being turned up a bit due to the larger number of tables and play, and some players didn’t come prepared. One such player is Maltese Shaun Decesare, but he was fortune enough to borrow my lucky jumper and is now feeling a bit warmer. How lucky will it be for Shaun? Will update you later once we have some more news on that.

With late registration now closed, the prize pool has now been confirmed. Who will win the €55,000 first prize?

• Buy-In: €550
• Entries: 566
• Prize Pool: €268,850
• Places Paid: 71

Mystery Bounty Ready To Start

The €250 Mystery Bounty will start soon in the poker room on the lower floor of the conference centre. Its a two-day event with the mystery bounty prizes kicking-in on the second day. Today’s €250 PLO Freezeout is already underway and Franke is having a go at that one.

New Tournament Added to Schedule

There is also another event that has been added to the schedule on Sunday, which is another of the Madness tournaments that we have held each day since Tuesday. This one will have a KO format and costs €125 to enter, of which €50 goes towards the bounty (not a PKO).

Late registration has now closed and the total number of entries in the Main Event is 566, generating a prize pool of €268,850. The prize breakdown is being worked on now and the first prize amount will be revealed soon. 

There were additional 91 entries today, bringing the number of players who have participated in day 2 up to 307, but 67 of them have busted, leaving 240 players left with dreams of making the final table.

For some the tournament is now over, such as Siarhei Narohzny, winner of last night’s Open Face Chinese event. Her had bagged a below average stack for Day. He’s a mixed games specialist and will likely have his sights set on the 2-7 Triple Draw, which starts at 6.30pm.

Unibet Poker ambassador Dara O’Kearney started the day short stacked and ended it within a lap of the table, as one of the first players of the day to hit the rail. However, late registration was still open and he reloaded his gun and fired another bullet. His Chip Race podcast co-presenter David Lappin is still in.

High Roller winner Lewis Aikman has also hit the rail, just after late registration has closed, however his friend Stephen McCabe, whom he got heads up with still has chips.

Coolbet streamer Ylva Thorsrud was another casualty of the first two levels, as was Belgian player Wouter Schuurbiers. Local mixed games fanatic Antoine Degiorgio has made four final tables this week, but won’t be getting there in this one, as he also now an ex-participant of the Main Event.

Franke is now giving his start of Day 2 speech, which means that play will be starting soon. 216 players made it through the opening flights and more players are still buying-in, 31 so far today to take the number playing now up 247 and the total entries to over 500. We’ll confirm the final numbers at the end of the second level of play.

Shuffle Up and Steal….sorry I meant Deal!

Six days and six night have now passed since the festival in Malta began at Portomaso Casino in Saint Julian’s. But today is no rest day, as we have now reached Day 2 of the Festival in Malta Main Event.

Play resumes at 12pm, the blinds have been rolled back two levels and late registration is still open for the first to levels of play today.

There’s also plenty of other options on the schedule for those who are no longer involved in the Main Event and are not tempted to late register. 

Here’s the itinerary for the day! Keep Calm and Carry on Pokering!

This is the final post of the blog coverage for the sixth day of The Festival in Malta has arrived. Although  Day 1e of the main event is now over, there are still a few tournaments left in play.

The Festival Surprise is still going with 13 players left form the 92 who started. There’s a €550 Bratislava Main Event seat for the player who goes out on the bubble and with 11 getting paid, they will soon be at that juncture.

The Big O has a long way to go with 22 of the 54 players who started still in.

And finally, the Open Face Chinese is heads up, with Franke and Siarhei Narohzny battling away for the title.

Day two of the main event resumes at midday tomorrow and we will be back in the morning to do it all over again, following the action as the main event up and gets closer to the money.

Time for a cup of cocoa and bed for me. Goodnight Larry!

We’re doing an experiment today. We’re live streaming on The Festival’s Instagram channel. Currenty we are streaming the Festival Queens, which has six players left in from its 22 starters. Only three get paid so it’s getting close to the bubble now. 

Estonian Maili Tannbaum, Las Vegas resident Michelle Richey and Coolbet streamer Ylva Thorsrud from Norway are all still in at this stage.

To watch the action, visit the our Instagram page

The last three players in the OFC are Siarhei “The Machine” Narohzny, Scott “Pokerbrahs” Kenyon and Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk. They are all hoping for frequent trips to fantasyland and to scoop their opponents in pursuit of the €4,800 first prize.

Open Face Chinese is a really good game for spectators as you can follow the action easily and if you’re new to the game, can learn the rules while watching. Scott is streaming it on his Twitch channel, with crystal clear sound, so although the stream is only focused on Scott’s hand, the table chat add to the coverage. Let’s face it, when Scott and Franke are on the same table, its not going to be a silent one.

There have been 427 entries from the first four starting days combined and 191 have made it through to Day 2. The final turbo flight is now running with 36 entries so far and they have just started the fifth level of the day. Joe Grech is playing this one, as is local legend Lawrence Bonnici. Stephen McCabe, who finished second in the NLH High Roller last night is playing today. His friend Lewis Aikman, who won the High Roller and was runner-up in The Hendon Mob Championship is planning to take his seat before the end of the flight.

In other news, the Open Face Chinese is now in the money, with five players left. Siarhei Narohzny was the chip leader at the recent dinner break, with Scott ‘Pokerbrahs’ Kenyon in second place. Franke is also still in, having narrowly escaped elimination on the bubble and is now rebuilding his stack for a tilt at the title.

Play in the fourth starting day of The Festival in Malta has now finished and 70 of the 149 entries have progressed to Saturday’s second day. Rozvadov Main Event Champion Prisiyan Tsvetanov has gone through, with an above average stack of 114,000. The chip leader on 165,000 is another Tsvetanov, but with first name Martin. They’re not actually related, but did travel here together and are room mates.

One of the other big stacks from the day on 130,800 is Estonian Marko Keskel, who’s name should be familiar to anyone following the story of The Festival in Malta, as he was the winner of the Blackjack tournament. Player of the Series in Rozvadov Thomas Gugerbauer is another player to make it into Day 2 from this flight, bagging 61,400.

One player who had a roller coaster ride today was Englishman Kenny Burke. In the early exchanges of the day he was whitled down to just 300 chips after losing an unfortunate hand where he had turned a straight only for his opponent to river a better one. However Kenny then went on a tear, rebuilt huis stack, getting up to as high as 85,000 at one point and ended the day on 61,400, exactly the same stack as Gugerbauer.

The ‘surprise’ for today’s €125 NLH Texas Surprise tournament at 7pm has now been revealed. It’s a consolation prize for the player who misses the money by one place – the bubble boy, or bubble girl. That unlucky player will become lucky, as they will win a €550 Main Event seat for The Festival in Bratislava this November. Please note that this prize is is not transferable, postponable, exchangeable or sellable. Use it or lose it!

Friday Madness Start Pushed Back

Today’s €125 NKLH Friday Madness was due to start at 8.30pm, but this has now been pushed back to 9.30pm. This is to avoid a clash with the late registration period of the Texas Surprise. Click the image below to check out the content on The Festival’s facebook page.

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Let’s take a quick look at what’s going on right now at The Festival in Malta.

€550 Main event

Day 1d of the main event, which is the last starting flight to be played on a regular clock, is now in the seventh level of the day with 131 players registered so far. There are exactly 100 remaining in the seats at this point in time brings total of entrance in the main event across all starting days up to 375 with a further 5 1/2 levels to play in this one, plus the turbo fight tonight. Registration is also open for the first two levels of the Saturday’s Day 2.

Having a tilt at making day two today is JJ Hazan, who is on his first bullet of the tournament, but will this one be enough secure his continuation tomorrow?

Other players taking part today include the Vamos Poker Tour Main Event winner Giovanni Piccione, Bulgarian Lachezar Tsvetanov and exuberant Englishman Kenny Burke, a finalist in The Hendon Mob Championship, who is unusually quiet today, perhaps nursing a headache induced by the 15 pints he drank yesterday.

It’s eerily quiet in the main poker room today with almost no table banter anywhere in the room.  Do these players even know that they are at the festival series? It’s really very uncharacteristic, but perhaps they will loosen up as the day progresses.

€250 Deepstack Championship

The €250 Deepstack, which is a two day event is now in level 17 and when late registration closed there were a total of 133 entrants, generating a price pool of €28,428. The top 15 players will be paid and the winner will take home €7850/

There are now 42 players remaining including Vince Calenti, however his stack has recently taken a hit to leave him short. Perhaps the problem today is that he returned to multi-tasking to try and do his day job at the same time as playing. Should’ve left the tablet at home pal!

€250 Open Face Chinese

The Open Face Chinese tournament is now up to 60 entrants, on level 8 now and late registration still open, but closes soon. With 21 players left in the tournament the overwhelming Chip leader is once again Siarhei Narohzny, who is on a table with Scott Kenyon, which is being live streamed on his twitch channel. Sascha Manns, Franke, Eva ‘Chic’ Jiretorn, and Mati Pirn are among the remaining players in the field.

€125 Festival Queens

The Festival Queens ladies tournament got off to a slow start with just 4 players registered by the time play commence. However, that number has now risen to 14 with Gia Carnestrom,  Maili Tannbaum and Julie Whitworth  recently taking their seats in the tournament.

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Thursday was the fifth day of the series and several trophies were won. There’s a Day 5 winners report in the news section detailing news of the winners of the day. But for those of you who are too lazy to read, or if you simply have the attention span of a goldfish, check out this fantastic highlights reel.

Day 2 of the €250 buying DeepStack championship has now resumed and late registration remains open until the end of the second level of the day. They played 12 levels yesterday however blinds are rolled back to the start of level 10 today.

Over 30 players have already joined the tournament and received their 30,100 starting stack. Will update you further on how things are going a little bit later in the day.

The first of two events on The Festival and Malta schedule also began today, at 12:30 PM. After the first hour of play, the field has grown to 28 players, including festival series founder Franke, who absolutely loves the game and is sure to play the high-roller version of it on Sunday as well.

It’s actually not the first OFC to take place during the series, as on the final event on the Vamos Poker Tour on Sunday was also an Open Face Chinese event, which was won by Siarhei Narohzny, who is also playing today.

It will be no surprise The Festival mixed game regulars are taking part today such as Sascha Manns, and Scott Kenyan, who came second in last nights PLO/5/6 card event. This was his second runner-up finish in consecutive days following on from Thursdays, eight game. Congratulations Scott!

Scott won the OFC High Roller in Rozvadov and will be hoping to emulate that feat. If he does win, it will be a world first, as no player has ever won back-to-back OFC titles and live streamed both of them. Yes, Scott is once again streaming his play on his ‘Pokerbrahs’ Twitch Channel.

Also, the player of the series points will not be totalled up officially until after The Festival series ends , however a quick glance all the results suggest that Scott is certainly in pole position now to claim his second Player of the Series title. Will he keep the chasing pack at bay before the final lap of the track on Sunday?

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The sixth day of The Festival in Malta is now in play. The first of two flights of the €550 Main Event began at midday and there are now 70 entries as they approach the end of level two. There’s another turbo flight tonight and plenty of other action on the schedule, including OFC, Queens event (ladies), day two of the €250 Deepstack and more.

For further details, read this article in the news section of the site.

Blogging at live poker events a very enjoyable, but it’s also very exhausting as the days start as soon as you wake up and they don’t even end after you go to your bed. Your mind is still racing about everything that you’ve written that day and beginning to consider what you might have to write when you wake up in the morning.

You try to keep going for as long as you can, but when you start to forget your own name, it’s time to go home…if you can remember where that is. I’m almost at the point of the evening when it’s time for me to head out of the door and try and re-discover my true identity once again.

But before I go often search of answers that I don’t even know the questions to, here’s a round up what’s still going on here in the poker rooms at Portomaso Casino, Saint Julian’s.

High Rollers Rolling

The €1100 buying highroller is now down to 18 players spread across three tables because it’s an eight max event. They’re playing for first prize of 18,500 and still in is Scotland Lewis Aikman, who finished second in The Hendon Mob Championship yesterday. Also Still hanging on in there is Rozvadov Main Event winner Presiyan Tsvetanov,  however he’s now short-stacked.

Pace Slowing in the H.O.R.S.E

The H.O.R.S.E final table is now down to the last four players. The remaining foursome are Frank Visser, Timothee Marlin, William Lynch, and Antoine Degiorgio. It’s been a very good natured tournament, however the table chat has died by down in the last half hour, as things are beginning to get serious. They’re playing for a first prize of €3680 and have locked up a minimum of €980 each at this point.

Omaha Players Pot Limiting 

The third tournament still playing on the upper floor is the pot limit Omaha 4/5/6 card tournament which mustered a field of 69 players. There are currently 23 players left fighting out for the first prize of €4,950. Many festival series regulars are still in the tournament including Scott ‘Pokerbrahs’ Kenyon, but he’s not live streaming this one. Andre Sorm, who won the first of the Franke‘s Flip Flops competitions is still playing, as is Sviten Special champion Barrie Dear, who jumped straight in after bubbling the H.O.R.S.E. Players are still in include Bulgarian Lachezar Tsenov and Finnish player Sami Pulliainen.

Thursday Madness

The Thursday madness tournament is still running on the ground for and The Festival’s. Karev Tralla it’s still in with 37 players left from the 81 who started. Will Karev make it three final tables in three days or has his good run come to an end? 

Will be back on Friday for the sixth day of the festival and will provide the answer to this question and many more. That’s all folks, sleep well!

High Roller Returns Dinner Break

The NLH High Roller players have now returned dinner break and delete registration has closed. There were 61 entries and there are 32 who are still left in the tournament, with the chip leader being Dara O’Kearney from Ireland on just over 200,000. His Chip Race co-presenter David K Lappin is also still playing but has a below average stack .

The high or tournaments start with 100,000 chips, way more than the 30,100 that players receive for today’s DeepStack.

Double Bubble in the H.O.R.S.E.

Meanwhile, The Festival’s €250 H.O.R.S.E tournament which had 46 entries has now reached its final table. Frank Visser has been crushing this one since very near the beginning of the tournament and had held the lead until the bubble hand. 

It was a double bubble hand as both Barrie Dear and DJ Warrior Sound were busted  by Timothee Marlin in the same hand during the Stud Hi-Lo part of the rotation. That enabled him to leapfrog Frank to take the chip lead onto the final table. The remaining six players, include locals Antoine Degiorgio and Richard Burke and Scotsman William Lynch, happy to have secured his first cash of the week.

Chip Counts at the Start of The H.O.R.S.E. Final Table

€250 PLO 4/5/6 Card

The €250 pot limit Omaha 4/5/6 cards tournament is the third event taking place in the upper for poker room currently has 37 of the 57 players left in. There now in level eight, the final level for further players to join the tournament.

All of these tournaments will be completed today

Today was the start of the two-day €250 Deepstack tournament, which played 10 levels. It resumes on Friday with a further two levels for late registration. Today 92 players took their seats with 52 progressing to the second and final day, which resumes at 1pm.

Survivors Chip Counts

The third starting day of The Festival in Malta is now history. There were 108 hopefuls who entered and exactly half of them are still hoping, while the other half are now hopeless.

The chip leader from the day with 146,400 is Totti Lind from Sweden, a former Malta resident, who won last year’s Sviten Special at The Festival in Malta. Joakim Olin, Rozvadov Seniors Champion bagged the second biggest stack of the day, 139,900. 

They are well ahead of 3rd placed Marko Cosic from Serbia and 4th placed Dutch Ferdinand Janssen who both ended the day with just over 115,000. Joris Ruijs also survived the day, posting a stack of 51,200. 

Today’s €250 H.O.R.S.E. tournament ended up with 46 entries, 20 of whom are still in the tournament, which is currently on level 12. The top six players will be paid with the first prize amounting to €3680

Going strong today is Frank Visser, who at this point is totally destroying his table and is by far the chip leader of the entire tournament. Also still in is Mattia Rubenstrunk,  better known as DJ Warrior Sound.

Barry Dear is also still playing in the tournament as are Scotsman William Lynch and Antoine Degiorgio, the Maltese mixed game fanatic. There is still a long way to go in this one, we will update you more on it later.

It’s time now (long overdue, apologies for that) to update you on the events that came to their natural conclusions on Wednesday. We already reported on Fred “FriDiGiDi” winning The Hendon Mob Championship, but what about the other events that took place yesterday?

Sarharib Karatas Wins 8-Game 

Scott ‘Pokerbrahs’ Kenyon was in the zone yesterday in the €125 8-Game tournament. I spoke to him when there were 10 players left and he was feeling confident and rightly so, as he very nearly picked up his first trophy of the series. However, he didn’t quite get there, but I spared him the “Scott Falls Short Again” headline suggested by William Lynch and instead paid homage to the actual winner of the tournament, Sarharib Karatas from Germany who took the €1,870 first prize. Congratulations Sarharib!

Overlay in PLO High Roller

The PLO High Roller has a lower than expected turnout and ended up missing its guarantee by €2,000. This gave a nice bit of added value to the players who took part. There were 18 entries altogether, however three of them were made by Franke. His third and final bullet sadly only lasted one hand. It was won by Phil Grosg from Germany for €9,600

Karev’s Wednesday Madness Mayhem

Karev Tralla was going for back-to-back wins in the newly added Madness tournaments that take place at 8.30pm each night. These €125 NLH turbo tournaments have proved to be popular, with 96 entries this time. Karev didn’t have much luck at first, dusting off three bullets within the first hour of play, his third lasting only one hand.

His fourth pop wasn’t much better either, but his fifth was a lucky one and enabled him to make it onto the final table for the second day in a row. He exited in 7th place for €420, but made a loss of €330 overall as he had invested a total of €750 in buy-ins. He needed to finish in the top four to make a profit.

It was won by Norwegian Halvor Dahlberg for €2,580. Also putting in an appearance on the final table were Sami Pulliainen from Finland, a former Maltese resident and David K Lappin. They exited in 4th and 5th places respectively

Full Results will be posted shortly on the Malta results page.

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The fifth day of The Festival Series is now well and truly underway. Here’s a roundup of what’s going on right now at Portomaso Casino in the heart of St Julians, Malta.

Main Event

The Main Event is now in the 8th level of the day, with 76 of the 103 entries (so far) still in. This brings the total entries so far up to 373 with two more flights to go. Players are allowed two bullets per starting day and start with a 30,000 chips stack.

Joris Ruijs of training site PokerAmbition, who has over $3m in cashes on his HendonMob is playing in the Main Event today.

€250 Deepstack 

Speaking of starting stacks, there were some confused looks by some of the players at the start of the €250 Deepstack as to why the starting stack was 30,100, equivalent to one extra big blind on level 1. It is of course a Festival Series in-joke, to ensure that the event has a bigger starting stack than the Main Event. 

Multi-tasking maestro Vince Calenti, a Maltese Scot and local resident is in the house today, but this time he’s ditched the day job and is fully concentrating on taking down the Deepstack.

€250 H.O.R.S.E.S

The players in the €250 H.O.R.S.E.S have just resumed play after their second break of the day and the field has now grown to 46 entries, 31 of whom are still in. Rolf Bechstrom isn’t having a great start to this one, as he’s currently riding his third steer, having been unseated twice already in this Portomaso Steeplechase.

€1,100 High Roller

The NLH High roller has recently started and has 20 players during level 1. It has a €30,000 guarantee and eight levels for late registration.

I’ve said it before and I’m saying it again now, The Festival Series is about more than poker and more than casino games too. It doesn’t always involve gambling and there is a rich schedule of off-the table activities taking place this week.

Yesterday there was a pool party and today a busload of players headed off for a morning at Riviera Beach in the north of Malta. Its one of the island’s best beaches and the Maltese name for it is Ghajn Tuffieha, which translates into English as ‘Eye of the Apple.”

It looks like they enjoyed themselves…

There were 18 runners assembled at the starting line at 1pm for the orders to start the race. They have now been joined by a further 13 late starters, who are galloping hard to catch up with the main pack during the opening lap of the track in the €250 H.O.R.S.E tournament.

Many of the core Festival Series stalwarts have saddled up for this one, which drops Sviten Special in favour of the more traditional version of this mixed poker game. Barrie Dear is there searching for another title, so that when we get the next winners pic of him done, we can leave out his middle name, which was erroneously included on his first trophy.

Also playing today is Richard Burke, a local player (originally from the UK) who has a strong track record in mixed game tournaments. Rozvadov Mixed Games Champion Sascha Manns from Germany is also in the field today and although he no longe lives in Malta, his flag on the casino’s reporting system is still the red and white of the Maltese flag.

Another local, Antoine Degiorgio is not yet entered the tournament, as he got distracted when he tried to leave the casino at 1am last night and ended up not getting home until after 5am.

They’s shuffled up and they’s started dealing in the third of five starting days of the €550 Main Event. There were 170 entries from the first two starting days combined and 67 of these made it into Saturday’s Day 2. They play 12 x 40 minute levels and start with 30,000 chips. 

Today is the first day of the second half of The Festival Series in Malta, or Day 5, as its more commonly known. As ever, there’s plenty on for poker players to get stuck into, with options on the fifth day including the third of five starting days of the Main Event and a H.O.R.S.E tournament for the mixed game specialists.

Pot Limit Omaha is also on the menu today, with a €250 4/5/6 card version at 7pm and today is also the day of the €1,100 No Limit Hold’em High Roller. There are also two further heats of the cash game challenge and today’s casino games event is a slots tournament. Who will be the best Book of Ra player? It’s definitely not the Festival’s video editor Aleks Pljuw, based on last night’s warm up attempt.

Here’s today’s schedule.

At Portomaso Casino in St Julian’s, Malta, a man has won a poker tournament . We can’t tell you his name, because he legally is allowed to withhold it and we respect that right, regardless of the reason for his desire for anonymity. Congratulations to that man! You played a blinder!

We’ll be back in the morning with a more polished report on the event in question.

The end of the night is approaching, not for the players, as there’s still several tournaments still in play, but this blogger is heading home to rest his weary head, before getting up and doing to all again tomorrow.

But before I head off to get the free bus home (yes Maltese residents get free bus travel) here’s a glance at what’s happening on the tournament floor.

The Hendon Mob Championship

THMC is now down to three players, with Frederic Max and Stewart Kirby having very similar sized stacks, with Scotsman Lewis Aikman still plugging away as the short stack, doubling up when required. They have not yet discussed a deal, but one is likely if Lewis fails to win his next all-in.

8-Game

Today’s mixed games offering is the €125 8-Game tournament, which ended up as a busy one with 85  entries. It pays 12 places and they are now down to 8 players and are on a break. Scott ‘Pokerbrahs’ Kenyon is still in and is streaming. You can watch the stream via his Twitch channel.

PLO High Roller

The €1,100 Pot Limit Omaha is also now on a break, with eight of the 16 players who began the day still in. It has a €20,000 guarantee and is still €4,000 short. Late registration closes after this break.

Wednesday Madness

Late registration is still open in the newly added Wednesday Madness event, with 81 players, 49 of whom are still in. 

Satellites

There are still two satellites still going also, one for the Main Event and one for the €1,100 NLH High Roller.

By the time the day ends, we’ll be at the half-way point of the series. Stay lucky folks!

Today’s blackjack tournament was won by Marko Keskel from Estonia, who took the €1,280 first prize, topping a field of 20 players.

In the first round, Franke and JP McCann found themselves on the same table, but neither managed to progress further in the tournament.

There were three rounds in total and Alex Henry unfortunately bubbled from his semi-final, however his friend, another Frenchman Simon Legouge did make it the final. He was outnumbered on the final table by three Estonians, who’s presence attracted quite a crowd. Simon was not quite able to better all his Baltic opponents, but did finish as the runner up.

Marko’s win means that the Blackjack Champion remains in Estonian hands, as the Rozvadov winner Maili Tannbaum is also from the same Baltic country.

The second starting day of the Festival in Malta has concluded and a further 52 players have joined the 15 who progressed from Day 1a. It was a much busier day with 130 entrants, which brings the running total up to 170, with three starting flights left to go.

The chip leader from this flight is Jon Persent from Norway who bagged up 256,000 chips, the largest stack from the first two starting days. The Chip Race podcast presenters both bagged up stacks, although they are well off the pace with Lappin on 64,700 while O’Kearney has just 1k more than the 30,000 starting stack.

Day 1b Survivors Chip Counts

The final table of THMC has now begun in the poker room on the lower floor of the Portomaso conference centre. Rozvadov Main Event champion Presiyan Tsvetanov didn’t quite make to this final, exiting in 13th place, despite having held the lead with 30 players left.

The chip leader going into the final was German player Frederic Max, who has now increased his lead and has 2.2m of the 10m chips in play. All the other eight players have less than 1m each and Frederic is rolling the table like a boss at the moment, dictating proceedings in every hand he plays.

The nine players who made the final table are:

• Seat 1 – Kenny Burke
• Seat 3 – Scott Boyle
• Seat 4 – Stewart Kirby
• Seat 5 – Lewis Aikman
• Seat 6 – Edvin Strom
• Seat 7 – Joona Koivisto
• Seat 8 – Nikolaos Tsitos
• Seat 9 – Frederic Max

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As new events have been added the Festival Schedule has now been updated.

Yesterday’s roulette tournament was an exciting and lively event, which was enjoyable both to participate in and as an onlooker.

Today’s casino games tournament is blackjack and many of the usual degens are now sitting down to participate in the first round.

Franke made it back from today’s pool party just in time to take his seat. Also playing today is Unibet Deepstack Open operator Alex Henry, who simply couldn’t resist a bit of a gamble. Irish Open Operator JP McCann is also here, sharing a lively table with Franke.

The Rozvadov blackjack tournament champion is also playing Maili Tannbaum, as is runner up Matti Pirn. Will she go back-to-back?

To be fair, if I wasn’t writing this blog, i’d be playing this too. I’m no stranger to blackjack tournaments, having finished as runner up in the European Masters or Blackjack way back in 2010.

Meanwhile, today’s flight of the Main Event now has 110 entries, bringing the total up to 150, including the 40 who participated in yesterday’s first starting day.

A clash of Festival Series Titans has just occurred in the Hendon Mob Championship (THMC) between Presiyan Tsvetanov and Siarhei Narohzny.

The two clashed in consecutive hands, resulting in elimination for the Belorussian player. In the first of these, Prisiyan made a river bet of 165,000 on a 9 5 A A Q board. Both had an ace but Narohzny was out kicked, sending a huge pot of over 500,000 to the Bulgarian’s side of the table. 

In the very next hand they got it all in with Narohzny’s KJ dominated by Prisiyan’s AK. the board brought no face cards and Narohzny exited the tournament in 31st place. Narohzny was down to his last 188,000 at this point and these wins pushed his stack just over the 1m mark.

Narohzny wasted no time and jumped straight into the 8-Game, which now has 78 entrants and is in its final level for late registration.

There are now 30 players left i the tournament and other big stacks in the room include Lewis Aikman in 905k and Frederik Max with 795k.

THMC restarted at 1pm with 81 players returning for the final day, with 47 places paid. Joe Grech and David Lappin, who had been amongst the   big stacks at the start of the day both scraped into  the money, Joe exiting in 45th while the Unibet ambassador David hit the rail in 41st place.

Today’s non Hold’em offering is the €125 8-Game event, which began at 2pm. They are now in the fifth level of the day with 63 participants, creating a lively atmosphere in the poker room on the upper level of the venue.

All the usual suspects are getting involved in this one, including the very vocal JJ Hazan. I’m sitting a fee tables away and I can hear every word of his usually entertaining table jabber. Another contender for loudest player in the room is my fellow Scotsman William Lynch, who’s jovial laughter is frequently filling the room.

However, both JJ and William are far behind Eva Jiretorn in the volume stakes. She recently joined the tournament as a late registrant and has easily won the loudest player in the room award this afternoon.

This is not a complaint, in case anyone is wondering, boisterous table chat beautifully encapsulates the spirit of The Festival Series

The first of the new events that were added to the schedule took place on Tuesday evening, where 72 players contested the €125 Turbo NLH Tuesday Madness.

David K Lappin picked up his second cash of the day, departing in 6th place for €420. He exited in the very same hand as his Chip Race podcast co-host Dara O’Kearney, who took 5th for €555. Rafael de Asevedo Silva was 4th, with Koen Roos in 3rd place.

The top two players then did a deal and chopped the remaining prize pool, but played on for the trophy. It was won by The Festival Series’ Operations Chief Karev Tralla, who spiked a 2 outer on the river to take the title. 

It was nearly 4am by the time the final hand took place and Karev celebrated wildly, as captured in this clip on The Festival’s Facebook Page. Click on the pic of Karev below to view the final hand and Karev’s enigmatic celebration.

The Hendon Mob Championship has now started its second and final day. There were 334 entries across three starting days and the 81 who made it through are now pokering away, with the first goal of the day being to make the prize money. 

Presiyan Tsvetanov was the overwhelming chip leader at the beginning of the day with 425,000 but there are plenty of experienced players in the chasing pack, including Maltese all-time money leader Joe Grech and Unibet Poker ambassador David K Lappin.

This is What They’re Playing For

Yesterday we delivered the news that four additional €125 NLH Turbo Madness tournaments had been added to the schedule. Not long after that decision was made an additional two tournaments were added to this Festival Series Pop-Up Special.

An additional ‘Madness’ event was added for Thursday evening and on Saturday there will be a 2-7 Triple Draw event, also with a €125 buy-in, starting at 6.30pm.

Here is the full schedule of new events that were added. All events are being played on a 20 minute clock, with 8 levels for late registration, reducing to a 15 minute clock from level 9 onwards.

Eat, poker, sleep, repeat! Here we go again for another action packed day at The Festival in Malta. The Main Event is already in play and there are more players seated now during the first level of the day than there were in the entirety of Day 1a.

There are currently 44 players in their seats for Day 1b, including the runner up in the Mixed Games Main Event Ruud Alsemgeest from Netherlands. They play twelve x 40 minute levels today, starting with 30,000 chips and players are permitted to make a maximum of two entries (per flight).

This is the blinds structure that is being used.

Another day has dawned in Med’s hottest poker destination, but while the action is picking up in Portomaso Casino, the weather has taken a turn for the worse. There are high winds and partial cloud covering. But we won’t let that dampen our spirits, there’s a lot going on here today on the fourth day of The Festival in Malta.

This is today’s schedule and please note that there is an additional tournament that was not originally on the schedule, but was added yesterday. The ‘Madness’ €125 NLH Turbo tournaments are scheduled for 8.30pm every day up-to and including Saturday.

Please note that there is a time change for today’s Blackjack tournament, which will now start one hour later than originally scheduled, at 5pm.

Presiyan Tsvetanov, the winner of The Festival in Rozvadov Main Event has bagged a massive stack in Day 1c, the third and final starting day of The Hendon Mob Championship. The Bulgarian player accumulated a chip stack of 425,000, which is more than 50% more than that of his nearest challengers.

Luka Bulatovic on 282,000 and Stefan Gvozdenovic on 280,000 lie in second and third place respectively. Norwegian poker streamer Ylva Thorsrud made it into Day 2 with 133,000.

Also claiming a place in Day 2 is Belarusian Siarhei Narohzny, with a 131,000. He had made it to Day 2 of the Mixed Games Main Event, as he did last time in Rozvadov, but failed to make the money this time.

The flight had 160 entrants, bringing the total size of the field up to 334 players, of which 37 will join the 44 players who had already made it into Day 2 from Day 1a and 1b. Play resumes at 1pm on Wednesday.

Day 1c Survivor Chip Counts

The Mixed Games Main Event has been won by Eirik Presttun from Norway. The story of his victory has been posted in the news section of The Festival website.

Play is still ongoing in Day 1c of The Hendon Mob Championship. This third and final flight of the €250 event and was the biggest of the three flights with 160 entrants, bringing the total number of runners up to 334.

They are in the last level of the day, with 50 players still in. The survivors will join the 44 players who already made it through from the first two starting flights for Wednesday’s second and final day. The winner of the event also wins a package to The Hendon Mob Millions event in Cape Town later this year. Play resumes for Day 2 on Wednesday at 1pm

The Heads Up tournament is also still playing and still has some way to go until the champion is known. They have only just started the semi-final stage, so its likely to be a late finish.

The Tuesday Madness is also still playing, with 39 players from 72 entries. Not a bad turnout for an event that was only added to the schedule three hours before it started!

We’ll be back tomorrow with the results of the Heads Up and Tuesday Madness, until then it’s time to take a deep breath, have an end of the night cup of tea and rest our weary heads.

The first starting day of the Main Event is now over, with 15 of the 40 players who entered progressing to Day 2. The Day 1a chip leader is Jesper Lucas from Netherlands, who bagged just under 200,000 chips. 

Lying in second place with 169,100 ids Milan Ljubisic from Germany, who has a habit of bagging the second largest stack, as he also made it through to Day 2 of The Hendon Mob Championship after finishing in the same spot from his starting day.

Neil Rawnsley, who busted six players in the opening few levels finished in 4th place with 139,900. He had won four seats online into this via Grosvenor Poker, but only needed one to book his passage into Day 2.

It was really never in doubt, Rolf was always going to win something this week. I’d have bet my house on it (if I owned one).

Rolf very nearly won the roulette tournament in Rozvadov, leading for most of the competition, until Thomas Gugerbauer bested his score close to the end of play. The format of the tournament was different then and for this version here in Malta we reverted to the original format of the event.

He has now avenged that defeat in Rozvadov and proved that no matter the format, he will be a contender.

Rolf is also a two-time Franke’s Flip Flops Champion and is yet to book his seat in Sunday’s Final Flip, but we fully expect him to emerge victorious from one of the remaining four sessions.

Today’s €250 PLO Masters began at 1pm and its the first tournament of the day to finish. It was an intimate event with 33 entrants, in which five players made the money.

The winner was Dutch player Jacco Hester, who beat David Lappin to take the €2,800 first prize.

The Mixes Games Main Event is now on the final table, with seven players left battling it out for the title. They are now on dinner break and will resume play shortly. Eirik Presttun, who at one point was in possession of 40% of the chips in play has been pegged back and there are now four players wiuth very closely matched stacks.

Eirik still has the lead but he is now on 390,000 with Ruud Alsmegeest in second place on 350,000. Lachezar Tsenov sit in third place with 330,000 while Mattia Rubenstrunk is only a few lengths of the pace on 310,000. 

The other three players left are relatively short stacked and this group includes Frank Visser.

Barrie Dear, winner of last night’s Sviten Special narrowly missed out on recording his second cash of the week, bubbling in 8th place.

The Festival Series is designed for the players and it has to work for them. When players speak we listen and on this occasion there has been feedback that players would like some cheaper tournaments to play.

The Festival Series Team has taken this player feedback on board and as a result we’ve added an additional four tournaments to the schedule. It’s not always perfect, but The Festival Series does listen to the players and Franke is happy to admit that the schedule could have been better. We value all players feedback, encourage it and are happy to hear both positives and negatives about the Series.

The new tournaments are all €125 NLH side events, which will start at 8.30pm on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. They will be run on a 20-minute clock and players will start with a 20,000 chip stack. Late registration is open for eight levels, with unlimited re-entry.

Estonian Andre Sorm won his way into the Franke’s Flip Flop Grand Final on Monday, winning two of the three flips that took place. He talks to Andreas “Wiseguy” Hoglund, giving expert advice on what it takes to become a flips pro.

This is the busiest day of the Festival schedule, with 10 events plus Franke’s Flip Flops and right now six of them are in play simultaneously. With so many events, the fields in each a little smaller than usual, as players spread themselves out, choosing the events that suit them best.

There’s no guarantees on any of these events, so players can choose the events they genuinely want to play, rather than being influenced by which one will have the biggest overlay potential. From a recreational player perspective, if it keeps some overlay hunting sharks away, it’s a good thing.

Main Event Day 1a Update

The Main Event is now in level 7 with 25 players in their seats, with 33 having entered so far. Eight players have been eliminated so far and remarkably Neil Rawnsley has taken six of these scalps, Unluckily for Neil, this isn’t a bounty tournament, as he would already be free-rolling if it were. Unsurprisingly, he’s one of the early chip leaders.

Mixed Games Main Event (H.O.R.S.E.S)

The Mixed Games Main Event is now on the bubble, with ten players left and only nine getting paid. The winner will cash for €9,100 while the min cash is worth €1,025. Norwegian Eirik Presttun started the day as the overwhelming chip leader and has now extended it even further and is currently in possession of 40% of the chips in play. Lachezar Tsenov, who was second in chips is still in also, however Siarhei ‘The Machine’ Narohzny has been eliminated.

Roulette Tournament

The roulette tournament is now taking place on the stage of the upstairs tournament area. The 31 players who entered seem to be enjoying themselves, based on the amount of laughter emanating from that part of the room.

The first starting day of THMC had 54 entries, yesterday’s day 1b had 120, but how many will there be today for the third and final flight?

Play has just begun with 34 players seated at the start, including Rozvadov Main Event Champion Presiyan Tsvetanov from Bulgaria.

So far 44 players have advanced into tomorrow’s Day 2, with Ivonne Montealeagre commanding the biggest stack on 276k, just ahead of Maltese Joe Grech on 275k.

It’s taking place in the ground floor poker room, where the Heads Up is also running. The first round of the Heads Up has now been completed and one-half of the Chip Race podcast presenting team is now on the cutting room floor (David), while other half is locked into Day 2 (Dara).

If you haven’t checked out our social channels you are missing out. Here’s yesterday’s highlights video. For more video content, check out The Festival’s YouTube Channel.

The €550 Mixed Games Main Event H.O.R.S.E.S. has its second and final day today, with play will resuming at 3pm. There are 22 players left and we will have a new champion this time, as previous champions Jon Kyte and Sascha Manns are not in this one.

We’ll be keeping a close eye on proceedings of this one and will update further on this as the day progresses. These are the chip counts of the remaining players.

The first Pot Limit Omaha tournament of the festival series in Malta has also now started today and is taking place in the Poker room on the upper floor.

The event has a €250 buying has been run on a 20-minute clock and will be completed before the end of the day.

they have just started the fourth level of the day and there are currently 25 players who have entered the tournament. 

Perhaps the loudest player in the field is JJ Hazan who arrived in Malta yesterday, but I had a very late night as he was doing commentary on a live poker stream from Bratislava which only ended at 5 AM, after eight hours of play.  

JJ is an extremely talented man with many feathers in his cap. For example, one of his previous career paths it was that of a stand-up comedian however, but nowadays when he stands up, it’s usually because he’s been knocked out of the tournament. Boom boom! Ok, I’ll get me coat… (for non-native English speakers, this is an expression that people sometimes use when they tell a bad joke).

At previous editions of The Festival Series, JJ has run masterclasses to teach people intricacies about the great game of Pot Limit Omaha, however this week the only masterclasses he will be giving are at the tables themselves. JJ has graced many Festival final tables over the years and has one victory to his name, winning the PokerListings Deepstack in Bratislava in 2021.

Streamer Scott Kenyon is also playing this one and streaming it live on his Pokerbrahs Twitch channel. Please note that to comply with casino rules, no chat is available on this stream, or any other stream while play is in progress.

One of the highlights of the varied tournament schedule is a rare Heads Up tournament with a €250 buy-in. It’s capped at 32 players left and so far there are 30 entries, leaving just 2 places left for any late-comers to join the tournament.

1st round matches are already in progress, with just three completed so far. Sadly Rolf Arne Bechstrom is one of the early casualties.

Both of the Irish Unibet Pros David Lappin and Dara O’Kearney are have a pop at this tournament today. David bagged one of the biggest stacks in yesterday’s Day 1b of The Hendon Mob Championship, however Dara busted in the latter stages of the day.

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Good afternoon everybody, I hope you all slept well. The day is now underway with the first of five starting days for the Main Event. 

There are just nineteen players so far in this opening flight, but its early days and is sure to pick up as the day progresses. They will play 12 x 40 minute levels today and registration is open throughout the day. Players are permitted to have a maximum of two bullets per flight.

We’ll fill you in later on who’s playing, but a few players have already been spotted, including Kenny Burke and Neil Rawnsley from the UK.

Kenny posted one of the biggest stacks on Day 1a of The Hendon Mob Championship and will be looking to book a place in Day 2 of this one as well. When I ran the GUKPT many years ago, I once described Kenny as a ‘professional drinker’ in his walk-on introduction in the Manchester GUKPT in 2009, in which he finished 4th.

He reminded me of this and reassured me that he took it as the joke it was intended to be. Well, he’s in good company here this week, there’s several players who are at least pro-am drinker status and many other professionals too.

Neil Rawnsley is another player I know from my PokerStars day, he was a regular satellite qualifier on the tours I used to run, such as the Eureka Poker Tour, UKIPT, Estrellas Poker Tour and even a few short-lived gems like the Portugal Poker Series. Neil is still a serial qualifier and this week he has four bullets that he won in iPoker satellites via Grosvenor Poker. He’s using the first of these today.

Who will follow in Rozvadov Main Event winner Presiyan Tsvetanov’s footsteps and become The Festival in Malta Main Event Champion?

Good luck to all!

Welcome to Day 3 of the Festival in Malta live blog. Only one event has concluded at the series so far and congratulations go to Barrie Dear from the UK, who won the Sviten Special, emerging victorious in the early hours on Tuesday morning to claim the €4,950 first prize. Congratulations Barrie, your winners drawing will be on the way soon.

Today is the busiest day of the Festival in Malta, with 10 events on the schedule, but make that 11 as there’s also Franke’s Flip Flop. By the end of the day, three more winners will be known, as the Mixed Games Main Event, the €250 Heads Up and the €250 PLO Masters will all conclude today.

For a more in depth look at today’s schedule, check out the Day 3 welcome post in the news section.

In addition to this liveblog, you can also follow coverage of the event via The Festival’s social media channels. Use the icons below to access for video montages, interviews, shorts and more.

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Just over a quarter of the 120 entrants on Day 1b of The Hendon Mob Championship made it through to the second day of the tournament. In total there are now 44 players who will be returning on Wednesday for Day 2, 31 from today and 13 from Day 1a. There is still one more starting day for others to have a shot at joining them.

David Lappin did make it to the end of the day this time, posting the fourth largest stack of the flight on 258,000. Maltese all-time money leader Joe Grech has bagged the second biggest stack of the day on 275,000. However the chip leader with 276,000 is Malta Poker Festival supremo Ivonne Montealegre, originally from Costa Rica, but now a Maltese resident.

olumn:

The H.O.R.S.E.S have returned to the stables now. Well, the eight who made it through to the end of Day 1b have gone back to their stables, while the other ten entrants who failed to progress are on their way to the glue factory.

Only one player managed to build a three-figure stack in this starting day. That honour went to Swede Mats Karlsson, who bagged up 105,000 and will be in third place when play resumes for the final day of the event on Tuesday. Ruud Alsemgeest from Netherlands posted the second biggest stack on 96,500. Siarhei Narohzny ended the day in 3rd place with 90,000.

Scott Kenyon didn’t quite make it, exiting in 11th place, however Eva Jiretorn secured her place in Day 2 with 30,500 and so did Franke, who will resume tomorrow with 42,500.

The second day of The Festival in Malta is drawing to a close. Both The Hendon Mob Championship and Mixed Games Main Event are in their penultimate levels of the day.

The H.O.R.S.E.S Mixed Game Main Event has eleven players still in from a field of 18 starters. Still left in the tournament is Eva “Chic” Jiretorn, who is an accomplished chess player as well as an astute poker player. She’s on her second bullet of the day right now.

Sharing a table with Eva is Scott Kenyon and Franke, making for a lively environment when it comes to table talk. One thing seems a little different about Franke today and its taken me most of the day to realise, but I honestly don’t think I’ve seen Franke with a cup of tea in his hand all day. This must be a coffee day instead.

Meanwhile on the other table, Siarhei ‘The Machine’ Narohzny has built a sizeable stack. Play will resume on Tuesday at 3pm.

The Hendon Mob Championship ended up with 120 entries today and there are 41 players left with 45 minutes left to play for the day. There were 42 players, but I just spotted Dara O’Kearney heading sharply out the door while simultaneously hearing a dealer shout ‘seat open’. His Unibet Poker colleague David Lappin is still in, but the large stack he built earlier in the day has now suffered some erosion.

Other players still in the field include Scotsman William Lynch, Maltese Joe Grech and Barry Reitmeijer from Netherlands. 

The Sviten Special still has eleven players left and is going to be a late finish. Gia Carnestrom is the overwhelming chip leader at this point, with local Antoine Degiorgio still in the hunt.

There is also a Main Event satellite taking place which had 52 entries, generating five seats plus €370 for 6th. There are still 14 players battling it out.

This is the final post of the day from the floor, however I will update chip counts here later this evening. It’s still early days for this Festival Series event, but it’s shaping up nicely. Tomorrow the day starts with the first flight of the Main Event. See you tomorrow!

Both the bounties have now been won in The Hendon Mob Championship. The first to go was Hans Kleinsman, who exited in a fairly standard race with AT versus AQ. He was taken out by Emil Simonea, who wins a €250 seat into the next THMC event at The Festival in Bratislava.

Andreas ‘Wiseguy’ Hoglund was the second to go, in the latter stages of level 10. He had been whittled down to just 1.5 big blinds and went all in blind. He was called by Didier Darracq in the big blind and looked to be in good shape with 8-7 offsuit versus Didier’s 3-2 suited. A three on the turn sealed the deal, sending Wiseguy to the rail and Didier to the Slovakian capital.

The tournament is now in level 10 and late registration will close after the next break, which is coming up shortly. The field has grown to 119 players and at this stage the chip leader is David K Lappin. The Unibet Poker sponsored pro was going strongly yesterday, but it all went wrong in level 12 for him. Will he make it further on this bullet?

Joining David Lappin in the field today is fellow Unibet Poker ambassador and Chip Race podcast co-host Dara O’Kearney. Another player competing today is Joe Grech, a Maltese Londoner, who splits his time between the UK and Malta.

I’ve known Joe for as long as I’ve been playing poker, as he’s been a regular on the UK poker scene since the late 1990s, when I first encountered him in Saturday afternoon tournaments at the Vic. A few years later in 2006 he participated in a challenge that I ran while I was poker manager at Blue Square Poker (RIP), which was an experimental sponsorship challenge called ‘The Unusual Suspects‘. Joe didn’t win this challenge, but it was not long after this in 2007 that he took down the €5,000 Diamond Championship at the Euro Finals of Poker in Paris for €132,000. That’s not even his biggest score as he came 2nd in an event at the Belagio in 2005 for $244k.

With over $1.5m in live cashes, Joe is the number one ranked player on the Malta all-time money list on The Hendon Mob database.

There might not be a TV table here today, but we are doing a little experiment, set up by poker streamer and commentator Vaclav ‘Lemon’ Dusek. We are using the usual streaming set up that the live streamers here are using, which is simply a phone on a tripod, with Lemon providing commentary on the action.

There’s no hole cards, but there’s plenty of table talk. And when the players get quiet, rest assured Lemon will fill in the sound gaps with his unique brand of enthusiasm. He’d make a fortune if he could bottle that enthusiasm and resell it.

To watch the stream, check out The Festival’s Twitch Channel

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Despite the confidence of some locals, the Sviten Special did not end up as a record breaker. By the time late registration closed at the end of level 10, the field had grown to 68, but short of the 79 that played last year. The prize pool has now been locked and there is €4,950 up top for the winner and nine players will be paid.

Perhaps the fact that Franke only needed one bullet in this tournament was a contributing factor in the record not being broken. He is still in, but is now jumping back and forth between this and the Mixed Games Main Event, which he bought into at the start, but has only recently sat with a stack.

Frank Visser, Jason Glatzer, Gia Carnestrom, Carlo Braccini and Antoine Degiorgio are all still in contention to be the first event winner of the series.

The Mixed Games Main Event is a quieter heat today, no doubt because of the Sviten also being played at the same time. There are currently 15 players participating in level 7, with no eliminations yet.

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The first heat of the Cash Game challenge is scheduled to begin at 8pm. It’s a €2/€2 No Limit Hold’em session and will last for two hours. Then at 10.30pm there will be a further session at 10.30pm, also a €2/€2 game, but this one is Pot Limit Omaha.

The games will take place downstairs in the main casino, where a table has been reserved for the challenge. Interested players should venture down to the casino and head to the poker area near the buffet. There will be six seats in each game, available on a first come, first served basis.

The player who makes the biggest profit across both of today’s sessions will win a sear in the Grand Final on Sunday, where one player will win a €1,600 package to The Festival in Malta. Full details of the rules of the challenge can be found in Melvin Schroen’s Everything You Need to Know article.

Cash Game Challenge Schedule

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The second starting day of the H.O.R.S.E.S Mixed Games Main event is now in its second level of the day, with eleven players registered. One of these players is Franke, who is multi-tabling, also playing the Sviten Special, in which he now has a pretty big stack. In fact, Franke has yet to take his seat in the Mixed Games Main Event. Things could get interesting later If he maintains a big stack in the Sviten.

Amongst the eleven players currently in the H.O.R.S.E.S is streamer Scott ‘Pokerbrahs’ Kenyon, who is having another crack at the whip today, having been unseated mid way though Day 1a. He is also live streaming today, so if you’d like to follow the action, you can catch him on his Twitch stream.

Also playing today is Siarhei Narohzny, who won the Vamos Open Face Chinese last night.

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The Hendon Mob Championship has added value in the shape of a package worth to attend and take part in The Hendon Mob Cape Town event. However there are also additional prizes today as two of the players in the tournament have had bounties placed on their heads.

Whoever eliminated either of the bounty players will win a €250 entry to The Hendon Mob Championship event in Bratislava in November. So who are these bounty targets?

The first bounty is none other than The Festival Series’ very own Andreas ‘Wiseguy’ Hoglund

And the second is Hans Keinsman, the Head of Social Media at The Hendon Mob.

There are now over 80 players in the tournament, which is on its first break of the day.

Franke’s Flip Flops is a very special event here at The Festival. I might be repeating myself here, but worth mentioning again, as what other poker tour presents a framed pair of their founder’s used flip flops as a trophy? 

The competition got underway on Sunday evening and Andre Sõrm, who won two of the evenings three flips is the first player to book his seat in the 6-max Final Flip on Sunday. He’s used some of this credit to buy into today’s Sviten  Special.

Two hours have been set aside from 9pm this evening for further flips, which cost €25 to enter are rake free and award tournament credit as prizes, which can be used to buy-into events here at The Festival in Malta. Essentially they are rake free satellites, where players can choose which event to use them for.

The Festival Series is known for its atmosphere. There aren’t many rules here and its not a DQ’ing situation, but players are encouraged to be social, share some laughs at the table, perhaps with a cup of tea or two to keep the energy flowing. In his welcome speeches, Franke encourages players to leave their headphones in the hotel room and make the most of enjoy The Festival Series experience as it should be.

Perhaps the unusually peaceful few moments were just players getting settled in to the opening levels of their tournaments and perhaps quite a few of the Sviten Special players are new to the game and need to concentrate while they pick up on how to play.

A player was even overheard asking the dealer “so what exactly are the rules of this game?” as he sat down to take his place.

There are now 55 players who have entered the Sviten Special, with 45 still playing. They are in level 4 now , with still a long way to go until late registration ends. They’re not even had the first break of the day yet. There’s plenty of recognisable faces in the field today including a lot of the usual suspects.

In fact, even as I write this the noise level is returning to its usual level, with conversations sparking up and regular outbursts of laughter lifting the atmosphere in the room once again.

Whoever said that poker is unhealthy pastime? Today’s players are revving up their finely tuned engines for the second starting day of event #1, the €250 The Hendon Mob Championship; and will soon be starting the warm up laps before the race gets into full swing at 4pm.

Yesterday’s first-of-three starting flights had 54 entries, 13 of which have progressed into Day 2, which is not until Wednesday. Dutch player Smaling Kuner was the one who ended the day smelling like roses with a stack of 270,000, over 50,000 ahead of second placed Milan Ljubisic. Full chip counts of the survivors.

This will certainly be a busier starting day than yesterday’s opener, with 20 players already registered 10 minutes before the start of play. Yesterday’s flight started with 12 players.

The first tournament of the day is event #4, the €250 Sviten Special, which has just begun at Portomaso Casino in St Julians, on the main island of the Maltese archipelago, slap bang in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, where the sun shines for over 300 days per year. It’s shining here again now, but not before a brief nautical storm passed over the island, dumping 17m of rain in a short space of time.

In Rozvadov the Sviten Special had 46 entries and last year here in Malta the dame event mustered 79. There is a thriving mixed games community here in Malta and there has been much discussion amongst the local players about whether today’s field will break last year’s record.

This belief is supported by the fact that the casino has been running satellites to this very event and over a dozen players have won seats into it.

One player who firmly believes this one will be the biggest yet is Antoine Degiorgio, who thinks it could even get into treble figures. He’s relying on there being lots of Swedish players rebuying 😉

They are still in level one and already there have been 40 entries and two bust-outs. The player who busted both headed immediately to the registration desk to re-enter. Onwards!

Welcome to Day 2 of The Festival in Malta. After yesterday’s shared stage with the Vamos Poker Tour , the schedule is now fully focused on The Festival Series.

For a recap of what happened on the first day of the series, check out this article in the News section.

Here’s the plan for today:

Both the Cash Game Challenge and Franke’s Flip Flops have had their formats updated, as each will now conclude differently, with a final on Sunday.

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The Mixed Game Main Event ended at about the same time as the Hendon Mob Championship. There were 35 entries in total, with 14 players surviving the day with their riders still in their saddles. Franke fired 2 bullets, but unfortunately just missed making it into Day 2.

Norwegian Eirik Presttun posted the biggest stack of the flight and is the only player to have over 200,000. Second placed Lachezar Tsenov on 117,000 is the only other player with a six-figure stack at this stage. Here are the chip counts of those who made it through the day.

We’ll be back early tomorrow afternoon, when Day 2 of The Festival begins. Until then, sleep safely and don’t let the mosquitoes bite.

Just thirteen players made it through to the second day of The Hendon Mob Championship with Smaling Kuner bagging the largest stack of the day on 270,000. Another player who made it through the day was Bulgarian Ivo Petkov, 5th in chips. He cashed in 31st place in the Rozvadov Main Event and also made a final table in a side event.

Other players who made it through the day include Kenny Burke from the UK, Maltese James Paris and Swedish Gia Carnestrom, who is remarkably the only Scandinavian who made it through the day.

Franke played in this at the same time as he played in the Mixed Games Main Event, but busted in 18th place, narrowly missing making Day 2.

Chip Counts of the Day 1a Survivors

The first day of The Festival in Malta is now slowing down as the end of play draws closer.

The Hendon Mob Championship satellite drew 51 entries, creating a prize pool of €1,530, generating six seats into the event. It’s now down to the last eight players. There would only have been five seats in the event if it weren’t for Jason Glatzer, who max late reg’d during the last break. However, he lasted only one hand, busting from the big blind as soon as he sat down.

The Hendon Mob Championship Day 1a is now in the 14th and last level of the day, having had 54 entrants. David Lappin did indeed bust soon after my last post about this, but he’ll no doubt be back tomorrow for another crack at making Day 2. There are 16 players left.

The Mixed Games Main Event ended up with 35 entries, two of which were Franke, as he busted close to the end of late reg and jumped back soon after. He’s just busted his second stack and there are fourteen players left. They are also now on the last level of the day.

Amongst the 14 players still in are Lachezar Tsenov, Frank Visser, Barrie Dear, Jens Voertmann and William Lynch.

By the time late registration closed, The Hendon Mob Championship had reached 54 entrants, 24 of whom are still playing. They are currently on level 12 and will play until the end of level 14. Day 1b starts at 5pm on Monday.

Spotted in today’s field is David K Lappin, the Unibet sponsored pro and half of the presenting team of the Chip Race podcast. He started the day well and a built a big stack within the first few levels, but has fallen back and is now in the danger zone and in will-he, won’t-he limbo with regards to his chances of making Day 2.

As today is the first day of the festival, it’s also the day for welcome drinks. A small gathering of around 35 people turned up for a glass of fizz or a cup of tea after.

The drinks were organised by Alona Sergeevna, who is our hospitality host here this week. It’s her first time working at The Festival, after which she will go back to her usual day job as a swimming instructor.

It’s obvious that her real job has prepared her well for this week as she’s dived in at the deep end and is doing swimmingly well.

The Mixed Games Main Event (H.O.R.S.E.S) is now in the 9th level of the day and the field has grown to 32 players. Late registration ends after level 10. There were just 13 players in the Day 1a in Rozvadov for this event, so it looks like we could be in for a bumper sized field once the second starting day has taken place, tomorrow afternoon.

Quite a few players have joined the field as late entries, including Frank Visser, who just finished 3rd in the Vamos Open Face Chinese tournament. Scott Kenyon also jumped into this one after an early exit in the OFC.

The winner of the Vamos Open Face Chinese was Siarhei “The Machine” Narozhny, one of the top performers at The Festival Rozvadov, where he won the Seven Card Stud and finished as runner-up in the Mixed Games Main Event. He hasn’t joined the H.O.R.S.E.S today, but is a racing certainty to play in Day 1b tomorrow afternoon.

Siarhei was mentioned earlier today in the Faces in the Crowd article as one to watch here in Malta and he has immediately staked his claim to be a main contender. We expect “The Machine” to feature heavily in the storyline of this week’s festival.

The final event of the first day is now in play. It’s a €40 satellite to The Hendon Mob Championship. Late registration is open for the first eight levels, which are twenty minutes long each, which means there’s plenty of time for late entrants to join in.

Day 1a of The Hendon Mob Championship is now on level 8, the final level for late registration, with 47 entries so far.

The cash game challenge and Franke’s Flip Flops are two of the core events that always take place at The Festival Series. They are back on the schedule once again here in Malta of course, but there’s been a change to format of the events this time. 

It’s not a huge change, essentially both competitions are the same, but the winners will be determined in a slightly different way.

Both competitions will have grand finals, which will be flips and in fact the players who secure seats into the grand final flips don’t even need to be present in order to participate.

Franke’s Flip Flops Rules Change

In Franke’s Flips, the player who wins the most flips per day will win a seat into the grand final flip. Players who top the daily leaderboard will also be able to win more than one seat into the final. For example, if defending champion Rolf Arne Bechstrom wins the most flips on every day of the event, he will take all the seats in the grand final. 

Previously the winner was determined by totalling up all the results throughout the week and awarding it to the player with the most wins, usually Rolf.

Cash Game Challenge Rules Change

In the Cash Game challenge, the player who makes the biggest profit each day (in big blinds) will win a seat in the Grand Final. There are two cash game challenge heats each day, for six days, so the Grand Final will be held with 6 players.

Previously editions of the Cash Game Challenge had been a race to see who could post the biggest profit (in big blinds) and did not have a grand final.

The Grand Finals Rules

Both the Cash Game Challenge and Franke’s Flips Grand Finals will be 4-card PLO and there is an additional twist for the Grand Final. The Grand Finals will be flips and the player who has the best (winning) hand in the first flip will be eliminated. This will be repeated until we have a winner, who will be the player with the worst hand once they get heads up.

The winners of both the Cash Game Challenge and Franke’s Flips Grand Finals will each win a €1,600 Festival in Bratislava package.

Further details on these rule changes can be found in this article by Melvin Schroen

The weather in Malta is usually hot, it’s a hot country, the most southern in Europe, so no surprises there. There are some parts of north Africa that are further north than Malta, which has the longest summer season in Europe.

I’ve been living in Malta for ten years and in the first year i was here it touched 30c on 30th November, so we still have a lot of summer still to come here. 

One thing that is not always reliable in Malta is the weather forecast, which is not always the fault of the weather apps, but they really are inaccurate sometimes and here’s why. 

Malta is a tiny island, slap bang in the middle of the Mediterranean sea and as such, it only takes a slight change in the direction of the wind for rain or storms that weren’t predicted to hit to suddenly be on a path to cross the Maltese archipelago. 

Often i’ll look at the weather app and it will say “no rain predicted for the next 10 days” only for it to bucket down later that same day.

So what’s in store for us this week, will the current heatwave that has enveloped the island recently continue, or will Wednesdays pool party face cancellation due to high winds? 

Let’s take a look at what the iphone weather app says and we can cross-check throughout the week to see how accurate it was.

Today is expected to be the hottest of the days at The Festival in Malta, with temperatures touching 32c, but feeling a little hotter due to the humidity.

Monday: Rain expected from 8am until lunchtime, but then clearing up for the afternoon, but with gusts of up to 15MPH, it could feel a little cooler than the 28c that is forecast.

Tuesday and Wednesday: No rain expected but stronger winds with gusts of up to 26MPH 

Rest of the week: well, as I already explained there’s no point looking that far ahead, the forecast is likely to change.

The Mixed Games Main Event H.O.R.S.E.S is now in running, with 18 runners and riders assembled across three tables. Franke has chips but his is currently AWOL from his table.

In these circumstances its not uncommon to find him playing in another tournament at the same time, but this doesn’t appear to be the case this time, probably just a toilet break, after all, when you drink as much tea as Franke does, when you gotta go, you gotta go.

Antoine Degiorgio, Barrie Dear, Lachezar Tsenov and Jens Voertmann are amongst the field. But this race is a marathon steeple chase, not a 5 furlong sprint, so there’s not much yet to report, all players are still in.

However news has just been received that the Rozvadov Mixed Games Main Event Champion Sascha Manns definitely won’t be winning this one, as he won’t be arriving in Malta until Tuesday.

The HendonMob Championship has 30 players in their seats at this point and will soon be approaching its first break of the day.

On the Vamos Poker Tour side of things the Main Event is now down to 5 players and sadly Mairo Toom is no longer in contention for the trophy, having exited in 6th place. He went into the 9-player final as the shortest stack and laddered up like the legend that he is for a payout of just under €4,500. He had been whittled down to less than half a big blind by the time he was eliminated.

The Open Face Chinese players on the Vamos Poker Tour are also now deep in concentration with ten players takling part. These ten include Scott Kenyon, who is streaming it live on his Pokerbrahs Twitch channel and Siarhei Narohzny, who once again has brought his fan club (his wife) to cheer him on from the rail.

Newly wed mixed games supremo Frank Visser is also playing, as is his wife and this is apparently the only variant she plays. Things could get interesting if they get heads up.

The players for today’s H.O.R.S.E.S Mixed Main Event are begging to assemble near the start line, with several of the usual suspects already installed in their starting boxes. These include Barrie Dear, Lachezar Tsenov and Franke. Scott Kenyon is also mulling around, but he has his eyes set on the €250 Open Face Chinese, which is part of the Vamos Poker Tour final day schedule.

The casino has been running satellites for several of the mixed game events including the Sviten Special and today’’s H.O.R.S.E.S. Antoine Degiorgio has reportedly won three seats, so he is also expected to be one of today’s entrants.

Will he have as good a series as he did in Rozvadov, where he took third place in the Main Event (NLH version) for a lifetime best cash of €44,250, which included a WSOP Europe Main Event ticket.

Franke has delivered the first of his now famous speeches and cards are now in the air for Day 1a of the very first event of The Festival in Malta, The HendonMob Championship. The tournament has three starting flights one per day over the first three days of the festival.

So far there are just 10 players in their seats, but with ten x 30 minutes for late registration, the number of participants is expected to steadily climb.

The Vamos Main Event final table has also just resumed recently, with Festival Series photographer Mairo Toom taking his seat, albeit as the short stack of the nine remaining players. He has 950,000 chips and needs to finish in at least second place to cover the money he sank into the streamers challenge, which he narrowly missed out on scooping.

That honour went to Vaclav ‘Lemon’ Dusek, who is also present here this week and will be covering the events in his unique and entertaining way on our social channels – links below.

• Twitter
• Facebook
• Instagram
• YouTube
• Twitch

The story of the Festival has just beginning but already we are asking ourselves questions like:

• Who will win the main event?
• Who will ride their H.O.R.S.E.S over the finish line in first and second place?
• Who will be the star players that make multiple final tables?
• …and who will be the jokers in the pack, who are relevant for some tournaments, but somewhat absent in others?

Read the article on the homepage entitled Faces in the Crowd for look back at some of the top performers at The Festival in Rozvadov. Will any of them feature prominently in The Festival in Malta’s evolving storyline?

There are other questions about The Festival in Malta that we will do our best to find the answers to this week on the blog, such as:

• How many wines will be tasted at the wine tastings?
• How many players will K.O. themselves during the boxercise classes?
• Will Rolf Arne Bechstroem win his third Franke’s Flip Flops title?
• How big will Franke’s bar tab get?
• Will the water in the pool at the pool party be replaced with beer and how long before Franke orders a refill?

Stay tuned to the blog all week to find out the answers to these questions and more…

It’s time folks, the Festival in Malta begins today and we’re off to a flying start with both the €550 Mixed Games Main Event and the €250 The Hendon Mob Challenge holding their first starting flights.

Here’s today’s schedule:

It’s a very unique day today as not only does The Festival Series begin, the Vamos Poker Tour is ending. This is why we only scheduled three tournaments today, because there are another three on the Vamos schedule, including a Festival favourite, Open Face Chinese, with a €250 buy-in.

The Vamos Main Event takes place today also, resuming play at 2pm. The Festival Series photographer Mairo Toom has made the final table of that and we’ll be keeping a close eye on that also. Good luck Mairo!

The Festival reporting team is back once again to deliver the news, not only via this blog, but via our other social channels as well. Check out interviews, montages and short clips on our various social social channels, using these links:

• Twitter
• Facebook
• Instagram
• YouTube
• Twitch

Coverage will begin on Sunday 8th September, directly from the tournament floor at Portomaso Casino in St Julians. We’ll be bringing you regular updates on the proceedings throughout every day of The Festival in Malta, delivering news from the tables and stories about everything that is happening, both on and off the felt.

The opening day of the series sees the €250 The HendonMob Championship and the €550 H.O.R.S.E.S Main Event begin their first starting days. Will Sascha Manns be in attendance to attempt to add to the Mixed Games title he won in Rozvadov? Will Scott ‘Pokerbrahs’ Kenyon go one better than the second place he snatched in the Rozvadov Player of the Series race? And how big will Franke’s bar bill be this time?

These and more questions will hopefully be answered during the course of the week and we will find out who the new champions will be. Every event has a trophy and those trophies are framed caricature drawings of each event winner. You can view the Rozvadov winners’ gallery by clicking on the picture of Jari Johannes Virta below, to see his winners drawing and those of all the event winners at Kings Casino.

In the meantime, while you wait for the games to get going on Sunday, check out the full tournament schedule for The Festival in Malta.

If you’re new to Malta or to the Festival Series itself, read this great synopsis by Melvin Schroen of what to expect when you visit The Festival in Malta.

And you’re probably also aware that The Festival has not one, but two main events, the first of which is the Mixed Games Main Event, which used a H.O.R.S.E.S format, which adds Sviten Special to the usual H.O.R.S.E rotation. To find out more, read this excellent piece about the history of the Mixed Games Main event by Iva Dozet.

Its also very likely that you’ve heard that The Festival Series is great for its off-the table hospitality activities. To find out more about what’s in store during the festival week, Melvin Schroen has laid out all the details for you in a carefully crafted article.

Fancy a bit of boxercise before hitting the tables? No, nor do I, but some might like to do this and Franke has recruited Maltese pro boxer Christian Schembri to run a daily session from Tuesday to Saturday. Get the stress of those bad beats out of your system before you get battered around the poker table again later in the day.

We’ll be back on Sunday when the games begins, until then be good…and if you can’t be good, at least be lucky!