2024 The Festival Rozvadov Day 1

Its the end of the first day of The Festival in Rozvadov and its just beginning to warm up ahead of what will surely be a busy weekend in Kings Casino. Well, it’s not entirely true to say that the day is over, there are still three tournaments running, but this is the last post of the day by the media team and we are off now to rest and rejuvenate before Saturday’s action kicks-off the weekend.

We’ll be back in the morning with news of the first two winners of the week, as both the Sviten Special and the Crazy Pineapple tournaments will conclude tonight. Sleep well and don’t have nightmares.

Just six of the sixteen players who participated in Day 1a of the Mixed Games Main Event progressed to Day 2. Dutch player Koen Roos holds a narrow chip lead over Nicolas Bokowski.

Roos managed to bag the chip lead, despite never having played Sviten Special before. In fact he only read the rules of the game two weeks ago. However, he didn’t quite read the correct rules of Sviten Special, but watched a video on how to play the very similar variant Drawmaha and was unaware of the rule that when you discard only one card, it is dealt face up. That took him by surprise, but after playing just five hands, he’d figured out how to play.

Replying to a question about whether he liked playing the Sviten Special part of the rotation, Koen was decisive, saying “Yes, I love it, but maybe because I won a lot of my chips on those hands.”

Antoine Degiorgio, Malta’s mixed games ambassador also made it through the day. He noted that nobody on his table today seemed to know the game, but noted that this was probably because of the €250 Sviten Special tournament, which also took place tonight, attracting a field of 48 players. He expects more Sviten Special players will take their seats for the remaining starting flights on Saturday and Sunday.

POS		NAME	CHIP COUNT
1.		KOEN ROOS	151,000
2.		NICOLAS BOKOWSKI	140,500
3.		SCOTT “Pokerbrahs” KENYON	131,500
4.		ANONYMOUS	88,500
5.		ANTOINE DEGIORGIO	70,000
6.		BENJAMIN MAXIMIL BAUERMEISTER	58,500

The first day of The Festival in Rozvadov was always expected to be a relatively quiet one, but even though the day is drawing to a close, the Crazy Pineapple has been the busiest event of the day. By the start of level 3 there were already 90 entries and still a further two hours to go until late registration closes. The final total is likely to increase significantly, especially as we have just heard that a group of 15-20 Norwegian are currently en route from the airport to Kings Casino.

Scott Kenyon, fresh from bagging up in the H.O.R.S.E.S is one of the late entrants. He’d already been playing for eleven hours today, so thought he might as well carry on the session.

As a game, Crazy Pineapple isn’t as crazy as the name suggests. It’s basically the same as Texas Hold’em, but with one key difference. The twist is that players receive three hole cards instead of two, but after the flop, all remaining players in the hand must discard one of their hole cards.

Day 1a of The Hendon Mob Championship ended with nine of the 70 entrants progressing to Day 2 on Sunday.

POS		NAME	CHIP COUNT
1.		DOMINIK MARTAN	629,000
2.		AXEL BAYOUT	568,000
3.		DUSHKO BOGOEVSKI	498,000
4.		KONSTANTIN ROLF NOVOA FERRERAS	470,000
5.		STEFAN ALEXANDRU DRUSCA	455,000
6.		FEDAI YOLCU	288,000
7.		SEBASTIAN SZACHNOWSKI	266,000
8.		STEFFEN SCHAFFRATH	180,000
9.		JOERG BAUMGARTEN	143,000

The second flight of the day is underway in the €100,000 guaranteed The Hendon Mob Championship. There are ten levels for late entry, which means that the latest anyone can enter today is around about 11.30pm. By the start of level three, there were 56 entrants and there’s also a satellite still running for it, which will award ten seats to the flight.

They play sixteen levels on the starting day flights and the format is ‘Best Stack Forward,’ which means that even if you survive until the end of the first day, you can also enter another starting day. If you survive to the end of another starting day, your biggest chip stack will be the one you take with you into Day 2.

Day 1a is approaching the end with just 1 full level left to play. There are ten players left from the 70 who began the day.

While the €550 H.O.R.S.E.S Mixed Main Event is one way to get a game of Sviten Special today, for purists we’ve dropped the long face and scheduled a €250 Sviten Special event today as well. It’s midway through the second level now and there are 30 entries so far and ten levels for late entry.

Peter La Terra is in the field, as is Sascha Manns, who is one of the early chip leaders after scooping a big pot with Queens full of sixes for his Omaha hand and two pair (queens and threes) for the five card draw hand. 

Sviten Special is a split pot game, which combines Omaha and Five Card Draw. If you’re not sure how to play it, check The Festival Series’ guide on how to play the great game of Sviten Special.

Following a short delay to allow the satellite to complete, the Day 1a of the €550 H.O.R.S.E.S Mixed Games Main Event is now in running. They will play 12 x 30 minute levels on each of the three starting days.

Mixed games specialist Scott Kenyon managed to bag a seat in the satellite, despite it being run using a Hold’em format. Also in the field at this early stage of the day is Malta’s mixed games ambassador Antoine Degiorgio, who is here for the entire 10 days and will be basking in mixed games heaven, hoping to take a trophy home with him.

German player Nicolas Bokowski is also playing. He finished 3rd in the €2,000 WSOPE Mixed Games Bracelet event here at Kings Casino in 2021. He had a great series then, cashing six times and making three final tables.

One of the most experienced players in today’s field is Ukrainian Alexander Dovzhenko, who has over $2.7m in lifetime cashes, with results on TheHendomMob database going back as fas as 2001. His best live cash was in 2009, when he was runner up in EPT Kiev, for €220,000.

With results dating back even further than Dovzhenko, Italian Bruno Stefanelli is a mixed game specialist. In 2023 he made the final table of the €2,000 Pot Limit Omaha bracelet event at WSOPE.

Day 1a of the Mixed Games Main Event with a H.O.R.S.E.S format was due to start at 3pm, however the runners and riders have not yet made their way to the starting line. There will be a one hour delay and the new starting time is 4pm. This is due to the satellite for the event still not being completed.

Mixed Games are one of the main attractions at The Festival Series and this weekend is a veritable extravaganza, with the Mixed Games Main Event with a H.O.R.S.E.S format staging the first of three starting days starting at 3pm. But that’s not all, the €225+€25 Sviten Special and the €110+€15 Crazy Pineapple are also taking place on the opening day of the festival.

The Festival’s strong focus on non-Hold’em games attracts players from Europe’s thriving mixed games community. Scott Kenyon, who was the winner of The Festival Bratislava Leaderboard in 2023 is here, streaming live on his Twitch Channel. He cashed four times in Bratislava on his way to topping the leaderboard, including two final tables. Although he did not secure a trophy, he is hoping to rectify that situation here in Rozvadov. Scott is going to be streaming every day throughout The Festival Rozvadov on his Twitch Channel, where he is known by his online moniker ‘Pokerbrahs’

The question recently came up about what Scott does when nature calls and he needs to take a number one, or god forbid a number two. The asker of the question was Jason Glatzer, who’s curiosity got the better of him, posing the riddler to Scott while he was on air. The answer was however less exciting than the question, as Scott simply leaves the camera at the table when he needs to relieve himself.

The €250 Hendon Mob Championship (THMC) became one of the key events at The Festival Series in 2023 and we are delighted to host them again at all the 2024 events. THMC is the first event on the schedule and today the first two starting days will take place. 

This is the fourth edition of THMC at The Festival and its expected to be the biggest one yet, anticipated to exceed the 384 who played at the Nottingham edition in 2023.

The first starting day began at 11am and the second is at 6pm. So far, its a relatively quiet start to the day with around 50 players in their seats during the first few levels, with more expected to join later.

Franke and The Hendon Mob’s Roland Boothby welcomed players at the start of the event and then both took their seats.

Good luck to all flag hunters!

It’s finally arrived, the first outing for The Festival is soon about to get underway at Kings Casino, Rozvadov in the Czech Republic. It may be almost June but 2024 hasn’t properly started until The Festival hosts its opening event of the year. And now that time has come, happy new year everyone!

This is the first time that the series has visited Kings Casino Rozvadov and it’s the most ambitious event that The Festival has staged in its short history. There are over 60 events on the very unique schedule that the tour has become known for. If you’re expecting i find a program of non-stop Hold’em tournaments you might be disappointed, as The Festival is about so much more than just poker games with two hole cards. 

The Festival’s Unique Tournament Schedule

There are of course plenty of No Limit Hold’em events on the schedule, but unlike many poker festivals, non-Hold’em games are more than just an afterthought. The Festival doesn’t just chuck in one or two Omaha events to tick the non-Hold’em box, it elevates the status of non-Hold’em games and puts them at the very centre of the  tournament schedule. 

There are non-Hold’em tournaments every day and on some days there are more of them scheduled than Hold’em ones. This is to the delight of many poker enthusiasts and an older generation of players who discovered poker when it wasn’t so heavily focused on Texas Hold’em.

Kings Casino Welcomes The Festival

Kings Casino is the biggest and busiest poker venue in Europe and this year it celebrates its 21st birthday. Owner and high stakes player Leon Tsoukernik has a dedicated team of staff that keep the venue running all year long, with tournament series running for most of the year. 

There are in fact very few ‘regular’ weeks at Kings Casino, as there tends to be a significant event taking place almost every week. The venue has hosted the WSOPE every year since 2017 and has hosted many other major tours and events. Leon had a dream over twenty years ago to build the biggest poker venue in Europe and he achieved that many years ago, as Kings Casino has been the number one poker venue in Europe for well over a decade.

Such a well equipped casino with very experienced staff is the perfect location for The Festival to start the 2024 season.

Festival Highlights

One of the wonderful things about poker festivals is the ability to make your own personal schedule of poker events that you wish to play. The Festival in Rozvadov is a perfect example of an event where no two players might have the same playing schedule. With 6-8 events starting every day in a wide variety of poker variants, players have the opportunity to create unique personal schedules that simply wouldn’t be possible at any other poker festival. 

Where else can you start your day with a bit of PLO, progress to a Mystery Bounty, then fire a roulette tournament and finish off with another PLO competition? Don’t send any answers to this question, its rhetorical, as there is obviously no other poker events anywhere else on the planet that has such an eclectic mix of games.

KEY EVENTS

These are the key tournaments taking place at The Festival in Rozvadov

• Event #1 – The Hendon Mob Championship, buy-in: €220+€30, €200,000 GTD
• Event #3 – Mixed Games Main Event H.O.R.S.E.S., buy-in: €500+€50 €25,000 GTD
• Event #17 – NLH Mystery Bounty, buy-in: €270+€30, €100,000 GTD
• Event #32 – Blackjack Tournament, buy-in: €110+€15
• Event #39- The Festival Rozvadov Main Event, buy-in: €500+€50 €500,000 GTD
• Event #40 – Roulette Tournament, buy-in: €110+€15
• Event #58 – PLO Highroller, buy-in: €1000+€100, €25,000 GTD
• Event #59 – PokerListings 30K Texas, buy-in: €225+€25, €30,000 GTD
• Event #65 – NLH Highroller, buy-in: €1000+€100, €30,000 GTD

Opening Weekend Key Events

The €250 Hendon Mob Championship gets the Festival in Rozvadov started at 11am on Friday 31st May, with the first of five starting flights. The second starting flight of the €200,000 guaranteed event is also on Friday, at 6pm. There are two further flights on Saturday and a final turbo structured flight on Sunday before those who make it through to Day 2 recommence play. 

The Hendon Mob Championship Schedule

• Day 1a: 11am, Friday 31st May
• Day 1b: 6pm, Friday 31st May
• Day 1c: 11am, Saturday 1st June
• Day 1d: 6pm, Saturday 1st June
• Day 1e Turbo: 11am, Sunday 2nd June
• Day 2: 5pm, Sunday 2nd June
• Day 3: 1pm, Monday 3rd June

The first day of The Festival in Rozvadov also features the Mixed Games Main Event, with a H.O.R.S.E.S format and a €550 buy-in. For those not familiar with it, it’s the same as H.O.R.S.E, but with Sviten Special added into the rotation.  

Emphasising how important mixed games are to The Festival players, the H.O.R.S.E.S event has three starting days, with the second flight starting on Saturday afternoon and the third on Sunday. Those who make it through the starting days will reconvene on Monday for the second and final day of the event.

H.O.R.S.E.S Schedule

• Day 1a: 3pm, Friday 31st May
• Day 1b: 3pm, Saturday 1st June
• Day 1c: 1pm, Sunday 2nd June
• Day 2: 1pm, Monday 3rd Jun

Sunday sees the start of another marquee event on the schedule, the €300 Mystery Bounty tournament with a €100,000 guarantee. It has its first starting day at 6pm on Sunday evening, with a further three flights taking place over the  next few days. This tournament will be the main focus of the early part of next week, concluding on Wednesday, side by side with the start of the Main Event.

Non-Hold’em Tournaments

In addition to the Mixed Games Main Event, there are several other non-Hold’em tournaments scheduled for the first weekend of The Festival in Rozvadov. This includes Sviten Special and Crazy Pineapplw, which both take place on Friday. Pot Limit Omaha is Saturday’s non-Hold’em offering while Sunday’s schedule includes an 8-Game tournament.

• €250 Sviten Special, Friday 31st May, 5.30pm
• €125 Crazy Pineapple, Friday 31st May, 10pm
• €250 PLO Masters, Saturday 1st June, 4pm
• €250 8-Game, Sunday 2nd June, 4pm

Other Sides and Satellites 

But of course those who prefer No Limit Hold’em are also very well catered for at The Festival in Rozvadov. The Hendon Mob Championship is the main Hold’em option all weekend, however there is also a €125 Bounty side event on Saturday evening and a Win The Button tournament on Sunday. 

There are also satellites to the Main Event, the H.O.R.S.E.S and the Mystery Bounty on the opening weekend schedule.

Live Streamed Cash Game Challenges

Live streaming on Kings Casino’s state of the art feature table begins on Saturday, with four cash game challenges scheduled for the opening weekend.

Franke’s Flip Flops

Franke’s Flip Flops has become a popular tradition at The Festival events. Within the hospitality lounge area at the back of the main poker arena, three-handed fast paced flips on-demand flips tournaments will take place every evening between 20.00 and 22.00. They will be rake free and there’s a prize package valued at €1,600 for the player who wins the most flips throughout the festival. 

Perhaps even more sought after than the prize, is the trophy, Franke’s actual flip flops, framed!

Off the Felt Activities

The Festival has always been about more than just poker. Yes, there are casino game challenges and rake free flips, but it’s also about more than just competition and gambling games. This is a very serious and very important  part of the Festival and it is defined by fun! Whether it’s drinking games, excursions, sports activities or even treasure hunts, the off-the-table activities are one of the key defining features of The Festival experience.

Franke and the team have been hard a work this year preparing a stellar schedule off-the-table activities for The Festival in Rozvadov.

Friday’s Schedule at The Festival in Rozvadov