2026 The Festival Bratislava Day 5

The 8-Game is still rolling on, and Jakub Janosovsky leads the play four-handed. He has a substantial advantage over his three tablemates.

The PLO 4/5/6 just wrapped up, and it was Christian Jung of Austria who bagged the title, besting Cheng Wei Yin heads-up.

The €125 €15k GTD has just reached in the money status, Yassine Jalal who fell victim of the bubble. 23 are left of 72 in Main Event 1/E and 9 will progress.

Forty are left of 80 in the 2-7 Double Draw which will run long into the small hours of this morning.

For continued updates, follow along for Lemon’s reels across social media.

But from me, that is all for tonight, until the blog returns later on today.

Markus Gaulhofer has shot to the top of the counts here at Banco Casino Bratislava. He now holds the overall chip lead going in to Day 2, and is likely to be the overall chipleader when all flights conclude. Below is the full list of players progressing.

Here are the payouts for the €125 €15k GTD, which features a generous score up top. 29 are currently left in play.

Jakub Janosovsky and Dieter Kuehnl have climbed to be atop the counts in the 8-Game with only eight players left.

Here are the players who have hit the rail, or the bar, having been eliminated in the money in the €250 8-Game.

Ari Engel will have to wait for his second Festival Series title. He was the victim of the bubble in a PLO hand. The remaining players are in the money. Scott Kenyon remains in the field, as does Jona Boman and Aaron Thiel remain the biggest stacks in the room.

Anne Bezdek has taken down The Festival Queens! Bezdek has won her second ladies title of the year, having won the €250 Queens event at The Kings of Tallinn earlier this month for €3,540.

1/C of The Main Event will see 25 of the 196 total entrants progress to in the money status for Day 2. Festival Series newcomer Komil Khamidov and last year’s Malta Hendon Mob Championship runner-up Attila Erdei remain in pursuit of a bag. Forty players remain.

Anne Bezdek and Rosa Sapere are the two Ladies left battling it for the title. Jenny Westerlund bowed out in third, and she said, “I don’t care about the money, I just wanted the trophy!”

Twenty Mixed Game enthusiasts are battling it out as the field nears the money. Only 14 will be paid, so the bubble looms.

The biggest stacks in the room are Aaron Thiel and Jona Boman. Below are the payouts.

In the small hours of this morning, Jaroslav Stulhofer became a back-to-back Bratislava Champion in the Crazy Pineapple streets.

In November, Stulhofer topped the 107-runner event for €3,206. Fast forward two months, and he did it again. This time around, the tournament resulted in a heads-up ICM chop, and Stulhofer walked away with €2,705. Below are the payouts from last nights tournament.

Three ladies are in contention for The Festival Queens title. Anne Bezdek, Jenny Westerlund, and Rosa Sapere are the trio in question, and Home Nation representative Bakuzo departed on the bubble.

Yesterday, 20 10-handed PLO flips ran! This could be a personal best for The Festival Series. Come down to the table closest to the tournament registration and cash desk to get involved.

They cost €25 a pop, rake free, and you can win €250 in tournament credits and a shot at the final flip-off, which will take place at 2 p.m. tomorrow.

As well as tracking the overall Player of the Series race, we are also keeping tabs on various other metrics, such as most cashes, biggest payouts and the top performers from each country. 

The most consistent nation so far is Bulgaria, as only two players from there have made the journey to Bratislava on this occasion. Both are in the top ten after Day 4, with Ivo Petkov in 5th place and Lachezar Tsenov in 10th. Neither of them makes the top ten for earnings, but Ivo is in 11th place, thanks to the €6,479 he scooped when he won the €250 H.O.R.S.E event. 

The runaway leader on the Festival in Bratislava 2026 Money List is Romanian Samuiel Stan, who won the PLO High Roller and followed it up with second place in the NLH High Roller, the only two completed tournaments he has played in so far. He is the only player to have cashed for over €20k.

Tomorrow’s final flip-off will be moved to 2 p.m. local time from the initial start time of 10.30 p.m. for those who would like to attend. Whether you will be in the flip-off yourself, or just to spectate, the vibes will be great, and a package worth €1,600 will be up for grabs! The package can be used for the next Festival Series in Rozvadov, and includes a €550 Main Event ticket, accommodation, free daily entry to King’s Casino, and cash money to cover travel costs.

To qualify for the final flip-off, participate in Franke’s flips tonight at 8 p.m. and win as many flips as you possibly can, they cost €25 each and are entirely rake-free. Alternatively, enter the cash game challenge at the same time, or at 10 p.m. Whoever wins the most big blinds per session goes through into the flip-off.

Good luck to all!

A big turnout is expected for the €125 €15k GTD NLH tournament that will be getting underway in five minutes. The tournament will have 20-minute blind levels, with unlimited re-entry opportunities for the first 8 levels.

Come and get involved in the action! Nine players are already registered and that field size with balloon over the course of the evening.

“And I’ll take the low road
And I’ll be in Scotland before you“

as the song that most of you have never heard before goes. 

At this stage of The Festival in Bratislava, players in contention have to make a choice about whether they take the high road of a shot in one of the last flights of the Main Event; or the low road route of the side events. 

Both strategies have merits, but the majority of those serious about securing victory tend to take the low road approach of playing in as many sides as possible each day, hoping to make the money in at least one of them. Let’s take a look at which choices the front runners have taken in what is an extremely tight race, with less than 5 points separating the top five.

The only player in the top ten who has opted for the high road is Marco Herman from Netherlands and he is currently on his second bullet of the day.

The 8-Game Mix was a popular choice for several other top contenders, with Sandeep Nene, Jen Voertmann, Scott Kenyon, Igor Narajczyk, Ivo Petkov, Wouter Schuurbiers and Lachezar Tsenov all opting for the low route to glory. Barrie Dear, who actually does live in Scotland has also opted to take the low road, but he’s not ready to go home yet and will be hoping to propel himself back into the top ten after today’s proceedings have drawn to a close.

Voertmann, Petkov and Schuurbiers have already busted, which isn’t such a bad thing for their chances as they can now enter another side event, increasing their participation points. With the race being so close, it could go down to the wire, with every participation point earned being incredibly valuable.

From a visual inspection of stacks, it appears that Grzegorz Iskra is atop the counts of the €250 8-Game. He is leading the 43 remaining players, and registration is closed.

Yesterday’s Sviten Special winner, Ari Engel, will be looking for a second title in as many days. Below are the payouts.

A field of 23 players has entered the PLO streets in the 4/5/6. The numbers indicated the number of cards players will receive for their hands, and this will change once every orbit.

So far, Festival regular Daniel Pilgrim has made the pilgrimage to the tables in pursuit of the title, as well as Sviten final tablist Henrik Brun and Hendon Mob Championship final tablist Walodik Gregorian.

It’s ladies’ night here at Banco Casino Bratislava as a field of 13 lovely ladies have taken to the tables in pursuit of The Festival Queens title.

Amongst the players are Sweden’s Jenny Westerlund, the Italian duo of Rosa Sapere and Maria Romano. Representing the UK is Teresa Newton.

Sourlas Georgios became the Bratislava Deepstack Champion over the course of yesterday evening. The scheduled two-day event played out to its conclusion yesterday.

Jari-Pekka Rattya was narrowly denied a second title of the week, having won the NLH PKO Madness.

Position	Player	Payout	Country
1	Sourlas Georgios	€3,327
2	Jari Rattya	€2,030
3	Mickael Lacaze	€1,220
4	Miles Rees	€895
5	Toni Sarkama	€650

Jaroslava Stulhofer stuck it to his opposition in the wee hours of this morning as he took down the Crazy Pineapple title. The Festival’s own wiseguy, Andreas Hoglund, made his first deep run of the week in the three-card and discard streets. Stulhofer also finished 20th in The Hendon Mob Championships for €760. Below are the payouts.

Position	Player	Payout	Country
1	Jaroslav Stulhofer	€2,705
2	Jenny Westerlund	€1,860
3	Andreas Hoglund	€1,260
4	Sebastian Fleischmann	€990
5	Julius Jurksaitis	€795
6	Timo Tenhunen	€620
7	Jason Glatzer	€490
8	Scott Kenyon	€385
9	Borgi Sami	€300
10	Antt Tiainen	€250
11	Jari Kaerkkaeinen	€250
12	Matthias Tschach	€220
13	Juha Olavi Vaininen	€220

Time is of the essence for players wishing to make Day 2 of The Main Event. Sebastian Kotowicz has already secured his seat in search of a historic three-peat.

NLH High Roller Winner Martin Ilavsky is in the field, as are Niclas ‘Flushiisback’ Thumm and the newly crowned Hendon Mob Championship Champion Andreas Paliogiannis.

Register for the Sportsbook tournament, which takes place on pen and paper from today! You have until Saturday, 1 p.m. local time to buy in and grab a sheet from The Festival team at the Hospitality desk.

The rules are simple. Pick either home team to win, draw, or away win and the correct score for each game. Players will receive one point for each correct outcome and two points for the correct score.

One of the games will be worth double points. In case of a tie, the player who predicts, or is closest to, the total number of goals scored across the seven games will win the title.

Come and get involved!

Check Out this Interview With Festival Series Newcomer, Rapper, Chess Player, Poker Player, Komil Khamidov!

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It’s a Festival Series who’s who in the €250 8-Game: Festival friends and Mixed Game fanatics, Barrie Dear, Wouter Schuurbiers, Sascha Manns, Scott Kenyon, and Mixed Game Main Event TORSES 1-2 Thor Morstoel and Matteo Crapanzano have all taken to the felt in the first Mixed Game event of the day here at Banco Casino Bratislava.

Its Day 5 of The Festival in Bratislava and its the busiest day of the week, with nine tournaments taking place. Technically its only eight, but two of them are Main Event starting flights, but who’s counting? One thing that is being very carefully counted are the Player of the Series scores and the leaderboard has now been updated with all of Thursday’s concluding events.

Sandeep Nene is the new leader, but is less than a point ahead of Jens Voertmann with Scott Kenyon breathing down their necks in third place, it looks like one of the most competitive races we have ever seen. The full story of Thursday’s leaderboard movers and shakers can now be read in an article in the news section of The Festival Series website.