2026 The Festival Bratislava Live Blog

The final tournament of the week has concluded, and the OFC High Roller title goes to Eran Lin after a lengthy day at the tables. Below are the payouts. Apologies for any delays in coverage, as is it is the final day, the staff tournament is currently in-play. The blog is officially signing off for this stop, but the recap of today’s action will be up when the afternoon comes in Slovakia.

That’s all for now, folks. I hope you have enjoyed reading.

Until next time.

Johnny Johansen is the first casualty of the €1,100 Open Face Chinese here at Banco Casino Bratislava. He will be leaving with a score of €2,000 for his efforts.

Bo Lindhal wins the Lowroller after brief deal discussions. Lindhal and Petkov exchanged prizes, shook hands and called it a day.

Matt Kelley fell to the bubble in the OFC High Roller. Artem Berliand has an uncountable number of chips in front of him, and he has a strong advantage over the field.

Sergii Baranov has bested the field in the €1,100 10-Game Mix. Baranov has been on top form over the course of the two-day event, and always had a substantial stack in front of him. He beat Sascha Manns in a quick heads-up game, which happened to be the same result that occurred at last year’s EPT in Prague.

Baranov won the TORSES Main Event back in November and is now a double Festival Series champion. Below are the payouts.

Gani Weiss fell victim to the bubble in the €60 Lowroller. The min cash was worth a tasty €320. Monica Larsson, Bo Lindahl, Ivo Petkov, and Kare Hallamaa are all in contention for the top prize and a package worth €1,600. Below are the payouts.

Eight are left in the Open Face Chinese High Roller, and only five will be paid. Matt Kelley and Martin ‘Franke’ von Zweigbergk are amongst the biggest stacks in the room.

Having been left short in the previous hand thanks to a great river call on a paired board by Petros Theodosiou, Zbigniew Wieczorek moved all in for 2,150,000, under 10 big blinds with 9 6 . Theodosiou called after having a confirmed count.

The 6 5 4 flop propelled Wieczorek into the lead. The A changed nothing. “Seven, deuce, king!” called Theodosiou, and the deck was clearly listening. The K river sent Theodosiou into celebration, and he was joined by his compatriots at the table to embrace in celebration!

Congratulations to Theodosiou and commiserations to Wieczorek.

Action was picked up on the turn of 9 7 7 4 with Zbigniew Wieczorek check-calling a bet of 1,200,000 with the blinds at 150k/300k. On the 7 river, Wieczorek led for 1,200,000.

Theodosiou took a moment, talking to himself in his native tongue before switching to English. “smaller flush, full house, can’t be many sevens.” He then flicked in the call with K 2 for a flush. Wieczorek had a bluff with 10 8 .

It’s been all Petros Theodosiou in heads-up play. He has been winning pot after pot at Banco Casino Bratislava and has taken the lead from his opponent Zbigniew Wieczorek.

Alexander Freund has missed out on the mincash as he was the first departure in final table play here at Banco Casino Bratislava.

Artem Berliand, Matt Kelley and Martin ‘Franke’ von Zweigbergk are amongst the biggest stacks in the room in the €1,100 Open Face Chinese. OFC specialists Fabian Bartuschk and Krzysztof Kordus are amongst the short stacks.

Sergii Baranov is leading the way in the 10-Game Mix as play has reached final table status. His closest rivals are Ari Engel and Sascha Manns. Jari Maehoenen is not far behind those two.

Marc Gork is the table short stack.

The Main Event of The Festival in Bratislava is drawing to a close, but there are still three other tournaments taking place at Banco Casino, in the heart of the city.  Despite no tournaments ending, the race for the Player of the Series is effectively over, as Lachezar Tsenov recently busted from the €1,100 10-Game. Even though late reg is still open in the OFC High Roller, a win in that would not be enough for him to overturn the lead that Barrie Dear took into the final day of the series.

The final standings will be updated once all events have been completed, but at this late stage of the week, Barrie Dear is confirmed as the Player of the Series, the €1,600 package to The Festival in Rozvadov is his. Congratulations Barrie, very well deserved!

Petros Theodosiou and Zbigniew Wieczorek have done a deal! They will be playing for €7,400 and the trophy heads-up. Wieczorek has the chip lead and has locked up €34,810. Theodosiou has claimed €32,060. Below are the counts.

Markus Gaulhofer was all in and at risk with A Q . Petros Theodosiou had him covered with A 6 . It was all good for Gaulhofer until the river on the runout of 2 8 J 2 6 . Gaulhofer took the beat graciously and headed straight to the payout desk after exchanging fistbumps with his tablemates.

Action was picked up with Gaulhofer check-raising the flop of Q 7 6 to 600,000 over a 300,000 bet from Zbigniew Wieczorek, who called. The 5 turn was checked around and Gaulhofer checked again on the 10 river. Wieczorek bet 1,000,000, and Gaulhofer called.

Wieczorek showed K Q , and Gaulhofer showed the Q , saying “bad kicker” as he mucked his second card.

Pawel Dudnik has been eliminated by Petros Theodosiou. Dudnik’s A 10 was no match for A K across the 7 2 8 6 8 runout.

Markus Gaulhofer has picked up some chips, having made a straight out of the big blind with J 8 across the runout of 4 10 9 Q 4 . He picked up the pot from the current chip leader, Zbigniew Wieczorek.

Pawel Dudnik was all in and at risk for 2,175,000 with the blinds at 100k/200k. Petros Theodosiou called with 3 3 . Dudnik had K K .

Dudnik doubled across the 2 2 10 K 10 , making a boat in the process.

Henning Wendlandt opened to 400,000 with the blinds at 100k/200k. Pawel Dudnik called on the button before Zbigniew Wieczorek moved all in from the small blind. Wendlandt called and Dudnik tank folded 9 9 . Wendlandt had A K and Wieczorek had K Q .

Wieczorek binked a queen on the flop across the runout of Q 5 J 4 3 to eliminate Wendlendt.

Twelve are left in the 10-Game Mix. Sascha Manns and Sergii Baranov have healthy stacks. Alexander Freund appears to be the chipleader. The final table will be reached when seven players remain.

Henning Wendlandt doubled with A 10 versus Markus Gaulhofer’s K Q . The 3 6 4 4 10 runout secured the German a crucial double. Gaulhofer will now have to play short stack duties.

Dmitry Golushko three-bet jammed A Q from the small blind versus a button open from Zbigniew Wieczorek, who called off the 2,350,000 jam with 10 10 .

Wieczorek flopped Golushko essentially dead across 10 8 2 2 A runout. Golushko said “Good game” before claiming his payout. Wieczorek now takes the chip lead.

Henning Wendlandt opened from the hijack to 300,000 with the blinds at 75k/150k. Petros Theodosiou defended the big blind. He check-raised J J 4 to 350,000 from a 175,000 bet. Wendlandt called. Theodosiou then led for 350,000 on the 8 turn before the 9 was checked down.

Theodosiou claimed another pot with 10 8 .

Ari Engel has accumulated a substantial stack in the 10-Game Mix and is far ahead at the top of the counts so far. Sergii Baranov, last year’s Mixed Game Main Event – TORSES Bratislava champion, has a solid stack, as does a friend of The Festival and another former Mixed Game Main Event Champion, Sascha Manns.

Petros Theodosiou has been climbing up the ranks. He got two streets of value with J 9 across 2 8 6 8 6 versus Henning Wendlandt in a pot worth around 800,000 chips. The blinds are 50k/125k and the average stack is around 4,200,000.

Action was picked up with Mark McKenzie all in for around six blinds with J 2 from the button. Henning Wendlandt called in the big blind with A 6 . The K 7 A K 2 runout provided no surprises and McKenzie hit the payout desk.

The last High Roller of the week is in play in the Open Face Chinese streets. Specialists Fabian Bartuschk, Mati Pirn, and Krzysztof Kordus are all in the field as expected.

Markus Gaulhofer opened from early position to 300,000. Stevan Gvozdenovic made it 500,000. Gaulhofer called as action folded around. He check-called 300,000 on 10 4 3 . He check-called an all in on the 6 turn. Gvozdenovic had A A and Gaulhofer had 8 8 .

The 8 arrived on the river to the surprise of everyone. “That’s just how I run” said Gvozdenovic as he departed the table.

Pawel Dudnik opened from under the gun to 200,000 with blinds at 50k/100k. Zbigniew Wieczorek called, as did Petros Theodosiou. Teemu Haellfors called on the button and was all in. Stevan Gvozdenovic defended the big blind.

The 4 2 6 2 8 was checked down and the players showed down. Haellfors had A 10 , which was bested by a cheekily played A A . 9 7 and Q J failed to improve and Dudnik took the four-way pot.

The very next hand, Markus Gaulhofer was all in with A 9 versus Henning Wendlandt 10 10 . The Q 6 8 A J saw Gaulhofer double and take an impromptu smoke break.

Here are the payouts in the 10-Game. Registration is closed, and 20 remain. Franke bust again, and he is in the €1,100 Open Face Chinese.

Petros Theodosiou opened to 205,000 from the hijack. Teemu Aake Ilmari Haellfors and Stevan Gvozdenovic called in the blinds. Both checked the 10 8 4 flop. Theodosiou bet 205,000. Haellfors folded and Gvozdenovic called.

The J turn was checked around before Gvozdenovic led for 215,000. Theodosiou snap-called and snap-mucked when shown 10 6 .

Haellfors hasn’t been able to get going this afternoon, and he is now the short stack.

None of the players left in the Main Event have enough points to get into the top ten of the Player of the Series race, let alone overhaul the runaway leader Barrie Dear. With late registration now closed in the 10-Game, it will take a monumental effort and will require either Igor Narajczyk or Lachezar Tsenov to pull off a remarkable feat of cashing in both the 10-Game and the OFC High roller, if that’s even possible. It probably isn’t as they would need to have reached the money in the 10-Game by the time late reg closes in the OFC, which is doubtful.

Read More: Barry Dear Goes Clear in Player of the Series Race

“REBUY” was heard from across the room from Martin ‘Franke’ von Zweigbergk, despite coming into the day as the tournament’s chip-leader.

Three more hands are to be played before registration closes.

Dmitry Golushko and Petros Theodosiou played a sizeable pot early into the Main Event Final Table. In a blind v blind situation, Golushko was at risk with A Q and Theodosiu had K K .

The A 5 6 5 4 gave Golushko an early double up to over 3,000,000 in chips.

Blogger still needs to write many words for the recap, so he is turning in for the night. The 10-Game Mix field is bagging and tagging for the night, and the counts will be in asap.

There are 7 left in the Mystery Bounty, and Walodik Gregorian binked the biggest bounty, worth €5,529.

That’s all for now folks. Stay tuned for Lemons content on Facebook.

Michal Zielinski called the games the best in the €125 Sportsbook tournament. What makes the win even sweeter is that he won his ticket in a flip! Two previous Sportsbook champs made the money; Mairo “EstonianWeirdo” Toom and The Blogger cashed in second and fourth. The Festival’s resident Nederlander claimed the last podium spot, and his compatriot Bas de Laat, claimed the last payout spot.

de Laat remains in the field in the Mystery Bounty and has locked up two cashes today. Below are the payouts.

Mladen Stojanovic was on the wrong end of a cooler. He was all in pre with Q Q against the covering stack of Henning Wendlandt, who had A A . The 6 3 5 8 10 runout saw the plastic bags make an appearance, so the players could bag and tag. Below are the counts of the returning players.

Jo Kim open-jammed for around 1,250,0004 4 from early position in a six-handed table. She was called by the current chip leader, Zbigniew Wieczorek, who had 10 10 . There were no surprises this time across the 3 2 9 6 7 .

Markus Gaulhofer gave himself a pat on the back for relinquishing ace-queen to the muck, saying “good fold” to himself.

Julius Jurksaitis has become the BigO Champion here at Banco for the first-ever Festival title. The results of the Sportsbook tournament are currently being confirmed.

Here are the counts of the remaining players in The Main Event. Play will finish when the final table is reached.

Here are the players who no longer have any chips in the Main Event.

Here is our interview with Koen Roos, who was presented with The Hendon Mob Award for the most countries cashed in last year. Roos went on his travels and cashed in 50 different countries over the course of the year.

Don’t forget to like, comment, share, and subscribe to keep up to date with all things The Festival.

The BigO saw Eva Jiretom miss out on the min-cash. Barrie Dear has since fallen in the money. In the Mystery Bounty, Lukasz Sajnog has narrowly missed out on the chance to play for bounties. He lost a flip with Big Slick versus sixes, as a pair became three of a kind on the flop.

On a nearby table, Alexandros Pissias bust immediately after, whilst on the bubble with eights against king ten suited.

Action was picked up with Jo Kim opening the button to 95,000. Tonis Vikk moved all in for around 350,000 with the blinds at 20,000/40,000. Kim called with 10 10 . Vikk had J J .

It was all fine and dandy for the jacks until the river, where Kim binked a ten across the 4 9 9 8 10 runout.

Jari Maehoenen, Jens Voertmann, Sergii Baranov, and Martin ‘Franke’ von Zweigbergk are the current big stacks at the break of the debut of the €1,100 10-Game Mix here at Banco Casino Bratislava. Play will run for nine levels before play stops for the night.

Registration will remain open for the first two levels tomorrow, so there is still a chance to play if you can’t tonight.

Heiko Hinkelmann, Julius Jurksaitis, and Nathan Ruell are the big stacks in the eight-handed BigO final table. The field is not in the money yet as only seven of the field will be paid.

Several of the key protagonists in the Player of the Year race are plugging away in various events at Banco Casino today. However, sadly Scott “pokerbrahs” Kenyon is not one of them, as he has had to return home for unexpected reasons. We wish him well and hope to see him again next time.

The top two of Lachezar Tsenov and Barrie Dear opted for the Big O, which has nine players left out of 54 entries, with 7 set to make the money. Barrie is still in, but Lachezar recently busted in 11th.

Wouter Schuurbiers chose the Mystery Bounty and is still in that as it also approaches the bubble. 

A strong finish for either Barrie or Wouter would put them in great shape to take down the title, however there is one player in the Main Event who could throw a spanner into the works. Komil Khamidov is one of the last 24 players left and a run to the final table would give him a very good shot at taking down the title.

Here are the Mystery Bounties that will be up for grabs from the Bounty chest. The bounties are juicy, so expect stacks to be flying when the field is in the money.

Two of the surprise attendees at this Festival stop in Bratislava have been Ari Engel and Jo Kim. The poker power couple have been taking to the tables across the week at Banco Casino in Bratislava. Engel has already secured a title in Sviten Special. Kim is still looking for her first title, but she is poised to threaten the field in the Main Event as she has accumulated a stack of over 1,000,000.

It would be no surprise to see Kim at the final table come 12 p.m. tomorrow. Engel is currently in the BigO, and it appears the Mixed Games have been the real attraction for the duo.

Thirteen are left, and only seven will be paid in the BigO tournament. Ari Engel is in contention for his second title of the week, having binked the Sviten Special. POS Leaderboard first-place Lachezar Tsenov will be looking to add to his current points tally of 117.5 with a deep run here. Below are the payouts in full.

Dortmund has taken the lead against Bayern Munich through Nico Schlotterbeck. Verona have equalised against Napoli via Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpo. Dortmund and Bayern players are indulging in half-time oranges, and Verona and Napoli have played 70 minutes of football.

Here are the biggest stacks in the Main Event. Eleven of the remaining 28 have over 1,000,000 in chips, and Ante Zvono has taken the lead. Gaulhofer, the start of the day chipleader, has slid down the rankings into sixth. Jo Kim has shot up the leaderboard, having come into Day 2 with roughly 360,000.

Only 28 remain of the Main Event field. Here are the recent eliminations as the field goes on an hour long dinner break.

Here is the field so far for the debut of the €1,100 10-Game Mix. Andreas Hoglund won his seat in a staff flip, so he is freerolling. Mixed Game Main Event – TORSES Champion Thor Morstoel is looking for a second title of the

Here are the full-time scores in what is now an 18-way tie. Five players have one point, 18 have three points, and 19 have two points. Bayern Munich and Dortmund have just got underway in the double points game. Napoli have taken an early lead against Verona through Rasmus Hojlund.

Burnley 3 – 4 Brentford

Liverpool 5 – 2 West Ham

Newcastle 2 – 3 Everton

Slovan Bratislava 4 – 0 Trnava

There has been over 20 goals across the four opening games so far in the Sportsbook tournament. Burnley have scored two goals in the second half against Brentford. They briefly took the lead to make it 4-3 but it was ruled out by VAR.

Liverpool are 5-2 up versus West Ham, and Slovan Bratislava ran out comfortable winners in the opening game, putting four past Trnava in a 4-0 victory. Newcastle and Everton has seen five goals, with Everton currently leading 3-2.

There will be no three-peat for Sebastian Kotowicz as he has become the latest casualty of the Main Event field. Mixed Game Main Event – TORSES champ Thor Morstoel has also been sent to the rail.

Slovan Bratislava have gone 2-0 thanks to a penalty. It’s half-time in the Premier League. Here are the scores.

Burnley 1 – 3 Brentford (Kayode Own Goal for Burnley)

Liverpool 3 – 0 West Ham (McAllister scored the third goal)

Newcastle 1 – 2 Everton

Thirty PLO enthusiasts are in play in the Big O tournament. Amongst the field are Ari Engel, who will be looking for a second Festival title, last year’s POS winner Ville Hakala, last night’s 2-7 Double Draw third place Barrie Dear, and current POS leaderboard topper, Lachezar Tsenov.

For those who don’t know, BigO is five-card PLO8, with half the pot going to the best high hand, and the other half going to the best low.

Brentford are putting Burnley to the sword as Kevin Schade makes it 3-0 from close range. There were two quick-fire goals in Newcastle and Everton. Jacob Ramsey’s equaliser was quickly cancelled out by Beto.

Brentford have taken a 1-0 lead away at Burnley courtesy of a headed goal from Mikkel Damsgaard, who converted the chance from Dango Outtara’s corner kick. Elsewhere, Jarrad Branthwaite also converted a chance from a corner courtesy of a great delivery from James Garner.

Keeping on trend with goals from corners, Virgil van Dijk outjumps the West Ham defense to head the ball into the opposition net. During the creation of this post, Brentford has put more distance between itself and Burnley. Damsgaard turned provider for the in-form Igor Thiago, who slotted the ball into the net from close range to make it 2-0.

In the biggest test of skill of the week, Slovan Bratislava has taken an early lead against Trnava courtesy of Andras Sporar.

The three Premier League games are all underway. Liverpool have gone 1-0 up thanks to Hugo Ekitike whose deflected shot passed the West Ham goalkeeper Mads Hermansen.

A whopping €45,525 will go to the winner of The Main Event. Stefan Raschbauer has become the first player to depart from the field.

Here are the chip leaders as The Main Event Day 2 gets underway. A field of 64 is returning with the blinds at 5,000/10,000 with a 10,000 big blind ante.

Good luck to all who are playing.

The Hyperturbo flight to Day 2 of the Main has concluded, and Tal Moriel joins Markus Gaulhofer in the chip millionaire club. Last years runner up, Andrej Tekel, has bagged, but will need to spin up in order to make the final Day. Below are the counts from this flight.

In Festival fashion, the loser of each flip was the winner. Yevhenii Havriushenko won the heads-up cash game flip by losing with the worst hand.

Sami Korpela became Franke’s flip winner, outflipping a field of 5 players.

Franke then ran a staff flip-off, which was won by Andreas “Wiseguy” Hoglund. He was heads-up versus one of our resident rockstars, Pljuw, who rivered a straight to make the nuts and lose out on the chance to freeroll the €1,100 10 Game Mix.

Nine of the 72 will progress into today’s Day 2 of the Main Event. Ville Hakala will not be making the cut, as he was recently eliminated. Last years runner up Andrej Tekel is in contention to make the cut, as is Lachezar Tsenov, who is the current POS Leader.

A total of 92 entrants have made their way to Banco Casino Bratislava to play in the Mystery Bounty tournament. The €250 buy-in has a guarantee of €30,000, and €100 of each buy-in will go into the Mystery Bounty box.

Joakim Bakke, Attila Erdei, and Igor Narajczyk are just a trio of the strong field that is bound to grow stronger over the course of the day. Sami Pullainen is already on bullet number three.

In 50 minutes, registration for the €125 Sportsbook Tournament will close. The tournament takes place on 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. All entrants will be added to a group chat on WhatsApp so we can all sweat the tournament together. Scorelines will also be updated on the blog.

Come and get involved!

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!

Don’t forget to like, comment, share and subscribe to keep up to date with all things The Festival

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.

Not content with a stack in the Main Event, Sebastian Kotowicz hopped in at the last minute into the €1,100 NLH High Roller. Only 6 of the remaining 11 players will find the money.

Blogger is signing off now. Stay tuned on Facebook for the Late Night Lemon Show.

Until later on. Ciao.

Ari Engel and Matt Kelley have both made the final table of the Sviten Special. They are two of the final seven, which comprise Carlo Braccini, Henrik Brun, Thomas Lechner, Joni Limatta, and Lachezar Tsenov.

Here Are The 12 Players Going Through to Day 2 of The Main Event. Of course, Sebastian Kotowicz made the cut, as he is looking for an unprecedented three-peat. Artur Meburnutov bagged the biggest stack so far.

Martin ‘Franke’ von Zweigbergk invested five bullets to no avail, as he couldn’t make the most of his chip and his chair. He was the official bubble boy in the €250 Sviten Special. The remaining players are guaranteed €450.

Andreas Paliogiannis has become the Hendon Mob Championship Champion! In a limped pot preflop between himself and Igor Narajczyk. The flop of 10 10 A Q J was checked down. The turn received another round of knuckles before Paliogiannis moved all in on the river and got snap called by Narajczyk

Paliogiannis had a full house with Q Q , and Narajczyk had K 8 for Broadway. Below are the final table payouts.

Place	Player	Prize (€)	Country
1	Andreas Paliogiannis	€13,567
2	Igor Narajczyk	€9,015
3	Ralf Mikk	€6,885
4	Mickael Lacaze	€5,530
5	Oleksii Lezhepokov	€4,340
6	Peter Toth	€3,295
7	Walodik Gregorian	€2,420
8	Joakim Bakke	€1,780
9	Marco Herman	€1,475

Here are the payouts in the Baby TORSES Supreme. 44 are left battling it out in the first-ever instalment of this tournament.

Henrik Brun and Joni Limatta appear to be the biggest stacks in the Sviten Special. Martin ‘Franke’ von Zweigbergk is at risk of being the bubble boy as he is short-stacked.

American duo Ari Engel and Matt Kelley are looking to take the title Stateside.

Estonia’s Ralf Mikk has missed out narrowly on a second heads-up battle this week. The €250 Heads-Up runner-up has been eliminated in third place, leaving Mr Anonymous and Andreas Paliogiannis heads-up. Paliogiannis has a strong majority of the chips in play, and he will be looking to close it out and secure the win.

Mickael Lacaze was on the wrong side of a cooler in The Hendon Mob Championships. He reraised jammed all in preflop and got snap called by Igor Narajczyk. Lacaze had J J , and Narajczyk had A A .

He made a boat with K A 9 8 9 to eliminate Lacaze and to take play three-handed.

Oleksii Lezhepokov has been eliminated from The Hendon Mob Championships, leaving play four-handed.

12 players from today’s 1/C flight will progress to Day 2 and gain a Festival Series cash. In the field are the reigning champ Sebastian Kotowicz, online crusher Niclas “Flushiisback” Thumm, and new Mixed Game Main Event – TORSES champion, Thor Morstoel.

Here are the counts at the break in The Hendon Mob Championship. An anonymous player has taken the lead, usurping Oleksii Lezhepokov atop the counts. Ralf Mikk and Mickael Lacaze need a spin-up if they wish to threaten the top three.

Fancy a €125 Seven-fold? 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!

Peter Toth and Walodik Gregorian have been welcomed to the departures lounge in The Hendon Mob Championships, leaving only 5 battling for the title.

Franke’s Flips is set to take place at the tables near the tournament registration area!

For just €25, you can flip your way to glory in a series of “stand and goes” in a quest to win a pair of Franke’s fabled flip flops and tournament credits! The flips are rake free. Come join in the fun!

Oh, and there’s a chance to win a package to Rozvadov worth €1,600!

A field of 31 have assembled for the debut of the Baby TORSES (Supreme) here at Banco Casino in Bratislava. Amongst the players are Malta Mixed Game Main Event runner-up Ben Sweetman, popular streamer Scott Kenyon, and this Series’ Mixed Game Main Event runner-up Matteo Crapanzano.

Want to get involved in Mixed Games? This is the place to start, with the buy-in at €125, it won’t break the bank. The players are friendly and will be willing to help you out if you are unsure of anything.

You can also swat up on your Mixed Game knowledge and strategy through this helpful article that we produced, which will tell you how to play the games.

Registration has now closed in the Sviten Special, which saw a total of 123 entrants take to the felt over the course of this afternoon. Five of those entrants belong to Martin ‘Franke’ von Zweigbergk, and 54 players remain with the Festival founder still in the field. Below are the payouts.

Joakim Bakke has become the latest departure from The Hendon Mob Championships. Below are the payouts from 9-20.

The second €1,100 of the week is in play, and a field of 17 High Rollers is in action. Representing the home team is Martin Ilavsky, and also in the field is the newly crowned €1,100 PLO High Roller champion Samuiel Stan.

Oleksii Lezhepokov has a commanding chip lead as the players have come together for the final table of the Hendon Mob Championships. The most recent departure was Marco Herman, and play is now 8-handed.

The €250 Sviten Special has attracted 113 total entrants over the course of the day. Multiple WSOP Bracelet and WSOPC Ring winner Ari Engel is in the field, as is his compatriot, Matt Kelley, who was almost turned away in Vienna.

The NLH High Roller is delayed due to the satellite still being in play. Below are the players who have bought directly into the second High Roller event of the week.

The Hendon Mob Championship final table has been finalised, and Ole Karlsen was the unfortunate victim of the final table bubble.

With today being the half-way point in The Festival in Bratislava, event choice becomes a big factor in determining the winner. Those who choose to focus on the Main Event and enter several starting flights usually rule themselves out of contention as they forgo picking up points in multiple events while they try to secure their berth in Day 2.

Leaderboard front runner Ivo Petkov has chosen to enter Day 1c of the Main Event, while 2nd placed Wouter Schuurbiers has opted for the Sviten Special. Third placed Yevhenii Ivanov and fourth placed Johnny Johansen have yet to enter anything today. 

Scott ‘Pokerbrahs” Kenyon is also participating in the Sviten Special and is live streaming it on his Twitch channel. If you’ve ever wondered how to play the game, this stream is a veritable masterclass….actually maybe not, he’s just busted. He will likely start another stream when he decides what to play next, but has already safely secured 2.5 participation points and can shoot for more in another event, likely the Baby TORSES.

Only 14 are let in pursuit of the Hendon Mob Championship title. The chipleader at the time of writing is Ukraine’s Oleksii Lezhepokov, who has around 1,700,000 with the blinds at 10,000/20,000. The average stack in the room is 700,000.

A total of 73 entrants have been made into 1/C of The Main Event. Current Hendon Mob Championship Champion Ondrej Chlapek, current Main Event Champion and back-to-back winner Sebastian Kotowicz, has entered for the first time this week, and newly crowned TORSES Champion Thor Morstoel is back in the two-card streets.

Like all successful operations, it takes many moving parts to make the machine work efficiently. The dealers are integral to this machine we call The Festival Series, and there is no one better to talk to about The Festival from a dealer’s perspective than Petr Kupský. The man alone is a machine. The talented and charming Czech is a Festival veteran, having worked, at least in his estimation, at 80% of the stops. He was generous enough to spend some of his break time with me yesterday, before the start of the €125 Bomb Pot Madness tournament, about his background and The Festival.

Q: How did you first get into dealing?

A: I had a training in Czechia when I was going to University. I wanted to make some money. So, I took a training course in Olomouc, I started freelancing there for two years, and after two years, I started coming to Bratislava, where I met The Festival series and other series.

Q: How many stops have you done with The Festival?

A:  I believe The Festival series is already three, four years old. This was the first stop I came to (in 2021), some of them, I missed, but I would spend most of them I might like from 80 percent. Yeah, I couldn’t. I couldn’t attend in Tallinn (Sviten Special Weekend) because it was very short and also Nottingham I missed. But Malta, Rozvadov, Bratislava, I think I’ve done all of these stops. With Bratislava, I have done them all, 100%!

Q: What is the best thing about being a poker dealer?

A: You’re free! You can plan your time. You can schedule your tournaments. And you can travel. You can see nice places. You can learn languages. You can meet nice people, and it also helps you to grow. There are so many things that people don’t see that they can learn when travelling. It’s not only about poker, but it’s also about meeting people, knowing how to talk with people, and how to behave at the table. Sometimes that’s hard, because when you get to know the people at the table, you want to talk to them.

Q: What are the biggest challenges you face in this job?

A: The shifts can be very long, so it’s important to stay disciplined. And after these long shifts, we also like to have some free time, and if you lose your discipline, then it can be hard, because of the long hours. You need to think twice before going out to a party, so if you don’t sleep, you need to sleep, and you need to create a disciplined plan if you want to become a dealer.

Q: How does dealing at The Festival compare to other poker events?

A: When I was dealing in Czech, it was only Czech people or Polish people. But now, when I started meeting people from across Europe, I realised that there is many nationalities and each nationality is special, and they all like different things; the Swedish people they like to play mixed games, then you have Czech people, most don’t play Mixed or PLO. The biggest difference is the choice of games. When I started travelling to the Mixed Game events, and this is the reason why I’m dealing, I love poker. But when i first started travelling, I only knew Hold’em, so it was very hard at the start. 

Q: How long did it take you to learn the Mixed Games fluently?

A: It’s not so much about learning, you could learn it in one day, but to feel confident in dealing the games, you need to do at least 5-10 Mixed Game tournaments to feel confident that you’re able to do it. The biggest problem with Mixed Games is that there is not that many tournaments in Europe. So some dealers deal maybe one or two times per years then maybe they forget. Also, they are not the same rules everywhere, but they are changing over time.

Q: What is your favourite stop?

A: The Festival Bratislava. When The Festival is here, it feels alive; it feels like the players take it seriously here. Bratislava is one of the main stops for The Festival, where you see a lot of the same faces and always new faces. It’s always very friendly here, it’s not always about the poker. If I came here as a player with only two bullets worth, I would still stay the whole week, just to hang out. Many of the tournaments on the schedule are made for fun to be entertaining, like turbos, bomb pot tournaments, and you also don’t get that many opportunities to deal those games anywhere else.

And here when dealing cash games here at The Festival Series, players can pick any Mixed Game. They don’t just have to play it in a tournament format. They can play it in the cash games as well.

Q: Would you recommend this job?

A: It is a great job and a great opportunity, but it is hard. You are allowed to learn, to grow to travel to learn everything, but in the end, it is very tough. You have to plan your travel, and you need to make sure that you are on time everywhere. You need to make sure that you are ready to work long hours. Sometimes its the opposite, and you don’t get enough hours, and as a freelancer, you need the hours, especially if you have to pay for travel expenses.

I would say though, if you like poker, this is your space. If you want to learn how to play poker, you can also start as a dealer, because you will learn the rules. You will learn how it works, and you can choose what kind of tournament do you like to attend in the future as a dealer or as a player. You can find your way in poker because there is plenty of games, you can choose which game fits you, because many people know only Hold’em then they start playing something like Open Face Chinese they can play it for 12 hours and learn it.

And from the dealers perspective in a game like that, you can learn the games so well as it is the best school you could have. Sometimes you are watching the best players right in front of you and you’re happy you can deal for them. You can then ask them for recommendations, advice about the games.

Q: If you had to pick one game to play forever, what would it be?

A: Open Face Chinese.

Q: If you had to pick on game to deal forever, what would it be?

A: Open Face Chinese.

Petr then signed off the interview by giving thanks to The Festival Series, and encouraging his fellow dealers to learn the Mixed Games, saying: “Thanks to The Festival, I had the opportunity to learn all the Mixed Games. It’s been like four or five years now, and I can say that it is my best choice in the past. All my friends, when they wanted to learn, didn’t know they were very scared of it, but there is nothing to be scared of. It’s very easy when you learn it. People are very helpful. They help you always because usually they are very experienced in all the game, all the variants, and it’s the best opportunity. When you know the Mixed Games, more doors open. I would recommend it to all dealers. Learn it. Don’t pay any money to anybody, look at guides online on The Festival and do some research.”

OFC Specialist Fabian Bartuschk and back-to-back Main Event Winner Sebastian Kotowicz are just two of the names that have been sent packing to new tournaments, having been eliminated from The Hendon Mob Championships.

A total of 51 players have entered the €250 Sviten Special this afternoon at Banco Casino Bratislava. The tournament has been in play for 50 minutes, and if the entrants keep coming, we could see the record for most entrants in a Sviten Special tournament being broken.

It is a record we at The Festival know well; we set it last time out in Bratislava, where 131 total entrants took to the felt to play one of Sweden’s best exports. Ville Keränen won that event, but he hasn’t been seen yet this week, so a new champion will be crowned by the end of the day.

Jari-Pekka Rattya took down the €125 NLH Knockout Madness for his first-ever Festival Series title. The closest Rattya has come to victory before was in the Seniors 50+ tournament in Malta last year, where he finished second to Salvatore Ritrovato. Below are the payouts exclusive of bounties.

Position	Player	Payout	Country
1	Jari-Pekka Rattya	€1,270
2	Wiktor Marcinkowski	€1,270
3	Marco Herman	€905
4	Yevhenii Ivanov	€650
5	Levente Kis	€465
6	Cheng Yin	€330
7	Jari Kaerkkaeinen	€235
8	Bo Lindahl	€170
9	Jonas Janavicius	€170
10	Matthias Tschach	€140
11	Milenko Pilic	€140
12	Ronald Woudstra	€120
13	Sami Pulliainen	€120

Dutch crusher Bas de Laat claimed his first Festival win in the small hours of this morning in the explosive Bomb Pot Madness (NLH/PLO) at Banco Casino Bratislava.

Last time in Bratislava, de Laat finished 11th in the Main Event for €6,500, and he will no doubt be looking for another deep run before the week comes to an end. Below are the payouts. Click here to see the full results page of the action so far.

Position	Player	Payout	Country
1	Bas de Laat	€2,442
2	Harald Redl	€1,510
3	Simon Wilenius	€1,155
4	Jakub Janosovsky	€890
5	Aurelie Mazauric	€710
6	Lubomir Balaz	€575
7	Ivo Petkov	€465
8	Jacek Piontke	€355
9	Flavien Mullet	€280
10	Ka Yim	€250
11	Hans Kleinsman	€250

Here are what the players will be battling it out for in The Hendon Mob Championships over the course of this afternoon.

Here are the players who have hit the rail early in The Hendon Mob Championships so far this afternoon.

Bulgarian Ivo Petvok assumed the lead in the Player of the Series race when he won the €125 H.O.R.S.E. on Tuesday evening and after the third day of The Festival in Bratislava, has retained the lead, boosting his score to 83.75 points.  The full story and the current top 20 in the rankings can be explored in the Day 3 Leaderboard story, which is now live in the news section of The Festival Series website.

There’s still a long way to go before the eventual Player of the Series will be determined and Thursday, which is the hump day of the series will see another five events reach their conclusion:

• Event 2 – €250 Hendon Mob Championship
• Event 25 – €250 Sviten Special
• Event 27 – €1,100 NLH High Roller
• Event 29 – €125 Baby TORSES (Supreme)
• Event 32 – €125 NL Crazy Pineapple Turbo Madness

The Main Event also continues today and the first day of the Bratislava Deepstack will also take place.

Here are the four players going through to Day 2 of The Main Event.

Here are the 15 players progressing through to Day 2 of The Hendon Mob Championships. Tal Moriel leads the way, and dual Main Event Winner Sebastian Kotowicz will come into Day 2 with a solid stack.

Harald Redl has fallen victim to the bubble in the €250 Open Face Chinese. 11 are now in pursuit of the title, including the Festival head honcho, “Franke”, Mati Pirn, and Riku Koivurinne.

Thor Morstoel hammered his opponents to take down the €550 Mixed Game Main Event – TORSES title and a score of €10,365. Morstoel is a Mixed Game specialist, and this is his first Festival Series appearance, cash, and win!

In December, Morstoel won the €550 8-Game Mix for €11,630 as well as the €550 2-7 Single Draw for €6,620.

Andras Matrai was in Fantasyland in the Open Face Chinese, whilst The Festival Founder, Martin ‘Franke’ von Zweigbergk, was assembling his board the usual way, receiving three cards at a time and discarding one.

Franke’s bottom board was looking to be drawing slim, as he bricked a straight draw and had two pair in the middle, which means if he didn’t make trips or better, he would foul and concede points to his opponent.

However, he was dealt the trips he needed to not foul, and had aces up top to qualify for Fantasyland. However, Matrai returned with a worldie of a hand: jack high flush on the bottom, broadway straight in the middle, and trips up top, to scoop a sizeable chunk of points from the Boss.

The most explosive tournament of the week is in play! Not enough bomb pots in the Bomb Pot feature tournament for you yesterday? No sweat, because this tournament means every hand is a bomb pot!

The game changes every level, and alternates between NLH and PLO. There is still plenty of time to register, as registration will close at 11.10 p.m. Come and join the 58 entrants that have taken to the felt, it will be a blast!

Thor Morstoel and Matteo Crapanzano are heads-up in the TORSES Main Event. Johnny Johansen and Sandeep Nene departed in third and fourth place, respectively.

25 OFC players are in contention for the first of two OFC titles this week. Amongst the field are OFC specialists Fabian Bartuschk and Krzysztof Kordus, Mixed Game enthusiasts Barrie Dear and Riku Koivurinne, as well as multiple Player of the Series Winner, Scott Kenyon.

Franke’s Flips is set to take place at the tables near the tournament registration area!

For just €25, you can flip your way to glory in a series of “stand and goes” in a quest to win a pair of Franke’s fabled flip flops and tournament credits! Come join in the fun!

Oh, and there’s a chance to win a package to Rozvadov worth €1,600!

Wouter Schuurbiers has departed the TORSES tournament during a hand of PLO8. He was the shortest stack at the table, and got it in pre-flop with A 2 3 3 versus Johnny Johansen, who had A Q K 4 . The runout of J J 8 K 9 sealed Schuurbier’s fate.

“Now I can’t even play the Open Face Chinese, I hate poker!” joked Schuurbiers as he departed the table. Michael Schmitz departed shortly after, leaving play four-handed. Below are the payouts so far.

For those in attendance and reading along at home, it seems wise to draw your attention to the first of two online events that will take place across the iPoker network.

Like the live edition of The Festival Series, there will be a wide range of games across a wide range of buy-ins, varying from €3-€100. A whopping €1,500,000 will be up for grabs from March 29th to April 13th.

Get involved when The Festival Series comes to a screen near you.

The Festival Founder Martin ‘Franke’ von Zweigbergk has taken many trips to Fantasyland in this afternoon’s Open Face Chinese tournament.

His last trip proved to be fruitful, as he made a queen-high straight flush on the bottom board, tens and deuces in the middle, and ace-king-jack up top. He returned to the table and scooped a substantial amount of points, gaining 15 for the straight flush alone.

One of his opponents mucked as they were drawing dead, as was Rajmund Marton, who had nines full of sixes on the bottom, king-queen-five-four-seven in the middle, and king-jack-eight on top.

The boss scooped the pot and declared that both players owed him “9,000” points.

Thor Morstoel has a commanding chip lead over the remaining field in the TORSES Main Event. Matteo Crapanzano appears to be his nearest rival, whilst Wouter Schuurbiers and Sandeep Nene have slipped down the counts.

Two tickets were guaranteed, but five were won by the time the tournament finished. Here is a look at who will be joining the High Roller field. Claudio Gehrs took the money prize, and Grzegorz Iskra just missed out on the cash and the €1,100 worth of ticket.

Antonios Onoufriou was the latest departure in the €550 TORSES. He was all in three ways in 2-7 Triple Draw, and he caught a king on the final draw to be sent to the rail in 7th place. Sandeep Nene was the beneficiary of the sizeable pot, as his 9-5-4-3-2 was good enough to win at showdown. Johnny Johansen was the third player in the pot, and he had a queen-low.

103 players have taken to the felt in 1/C of The Hendon Mob Championships, meaning this flight is on track to surpass yesterday’s total of 108.

Registration remains open until 7 p.m. Can’t make that flight? No problem, as the 1/D Turbo flight will be kicking off at 7 p.m., so there is still plenty of time to get involved in The Hendon Mob Championships.

Four players have ponied up the full €1,100 to enter the PLO High Roller. However, 6 players remain in pursuit of two tickets to the same event.

Reigning champion Graham Clarkson is in the satellite, looking to take the same route to victory as he did last time out in Bratislava.

The bursting of the bubble in the Mixed Games Main Event (TORSES) and the exit of Marc Gork in 11th, leaves ten players in contention for the title. Three of those still left in were already in the top 20 on the Player of the Series leaderboard. Wouter Schuurbiers is the highest placed of these, currently in 8th place on 41.5 points, while Barrie Dear lies in 19th on 29.5 points. Sandeep Nene in 20th is just behind Barrie, with 27.75 points. 

Both Wouter and Barrie are relatively short stacked, while Sandeep sits in mid-division with the largest stack of the three. A strong finish for any would see one of them leapfrog overnight leader Ivo Petkov into first place.

Nicolas Bokowski fell victim to the bubble in the €550 Mixed Game Main Event – TORSES. Since then, Marc Gork has departed in the first money spot, claiming a cash prize of €1,005. Barrie Dear’s stack is also on the shorter side, so he will need to spin it up in order to threaten the bigger stacks in the room.

Currently, Thor Morstoel appears to be at the top of the counts, and Matteo Crapanzano still has a sizeable stack.

Being used at this edition of The Festival Series for the first time is a new Player of the Series management tool, which includes more info and rankings that are not necessarily linked to the Player of the Series race. This helps to keep a track of things like who has cashed the most times, who has made the most final tables and who has banked the biggest payouts of the week.

As the week progresses we may incorporate a few of these into the event coverage, as the race for the Player of the Series picks up the pace. 

Scott Kenyon and Miles Rees have fallen early in the OFC, which has now seen 51 total entrants. Kenyon makes up two of these entrants, as the popular streamer has since rebought to give the tournament another shot.

He will be looking to make a second cash of the week, having finished second via ICM chop in the Half n Half last night.

Today is a key day for the Player of the Series race, with no less than five events concluding that count towards the leaderboard. The most significant of these is the Mixed Games Main Event with its unique TORSES format, which adds Sviten Special to the usual TORSE rotation, itself a derivation of the more familiar HORSE.

There are also four one-day events that will finish up, making Wednesday a significant day and one which could define the script for the remainder of the Series.

The five events that do finish up today are:

• Event 1 – €550 Mixed Games Main Event
• Event 18 – €250 Open Face Chinese Pineapple
• Event 19 – €1,100 PLO High Roller
• Event 22 – €125 Bomb Pot Madness (NLH/PLO)
• Event 23 – €125 NLH PKO Madness

The two ongoing tournaments that won’t reach their conclusions today are The Hendon Mob Championship and the Hold’em Main Event.

Bulgarian Ivo Petkov has assumed the top spot on The Festival in Bratislava’s Player of the Series leaderboard. He had been in 19th place after the first day of the competition, but victory in Tuesday evening’s €125 H.O.R.S.E added a further 38.75 points to his score and he now leads the way with 58 points.

For the updated leaderboard and the full story of who is in the top 10, check out the Day 2 Player of the Series article in the news section of the Festival Series Website.

Here are the 10 players who won their seat to the €550 Main Event. Amongst the qualifiers is Komil Khamidov, who will be looking to secure his second win of the week in the Series’ marquee Hold’em tournament. Last year’s Heads-up champion, Mladen Stojanovic, also made the cut.

The €250 Open Face Chinese is proving to be popular here at Banco Casino Bratislava. Currently, 42 players have taken to the tables to play this increasingly popular variant of poker.

In the field are Sascha Manns, Martin ‘Franke’ von Zweigbergk, and Matt Kelley, to name a few. Kelley was almost turned away at the border in Vienna due to a lost passport, and he made the journey from Bratislava exclusively for the Mixed Games.

To learn more about the rules and strategy of OFC, click here.

It appears from a visual count that Wouter Schuurbiers, Tomasz Glusko, and Matteo Crapanzano are atop the counts in the TORSES Main Event at the break.

17 remain, and only 11 will be paid. Amongst the recent departures are Scott “Pokerbrahs” Kenyon, who has since hopped into the €250 Open Face Chinese, reigning PLO High Roller Champion Graham Clarkson, and last year’s Sviten Special runner-up Riku Koivurinne.

Friend of The Festival Dan Pilgrim and Olympic Park Casino’s Poker Director Jaan Vaabel are just two of the 16 players hoping to bink a ticket to this evening’s PLO High Roller.

Two tickets are up for grabs, plus a cash prize of €422 for third place. Registration remains open until 4:20 p.m. so these payouts could change.

Current Main Event Champion and back-to-back Festival Bratislava Main Event Champion Sebastian Kotowicz has taken to the felt for the first time this week. And it isn’t in the Main!

Kotowicz has entered the €250 The Hendon Mob Championships 1/C in an attempt to win a different Festival Series title. It would be no surprise to see the Polish national make a deep run in this event; his record at Banco Casino is exceptional.

Kotowicz has already cashed 8 times this year, seven of which came in Rozvadov, one in Campione. You can read about his previous success in Bratislava here, and relive his first Main Event win here.

The reigning champion of The Hendon Mob Championship, Ondrej Chlapek, is currently in the field of Day 1/C in pursuit of a successful title defense.

The Czech national bested a field of 467 entrants to win a career-best score of €19,346, which is his third-ever recorded live tournament cash!

Here are the payouts in the €550 Mixed Game Main Event – TORSES. Currently, 23 are in the field. Chip-leader Fredrik Zitting has been sent to the rail early, as have Kare Hallamaa, Jens Voertmann, Jari Maehoenen, Jyri Merivirta, and Rowan Harley.

For the aspiring High Rollers in the house, the €150 satellite to the PLO High Roller will have two tickets up for grabs, worth €1,100. The satellite will start at 2 p.m. and the PLO High Roller will kick off at 5 p.m.

Last time in Bratislava, Graham Clarkson took this route, emerging victorious and €13,700 richer.

The cards are in the air for the third day of Festival Series action here at Banco Casino Bratislava.

Currently, Day 2 of the Mixed Game Main Event – TORSES is in play. Fredrik Zitting comes into the day as the overall chip leader, but Antonios Onoufriou is hot on his heels. Below are the top 10 in the counts.

A field of 17 have taken to the tables in 1/B of the Main Event, all aiming to emulate Sebastian Kotowicz, our reigning Main Event Champion. 1/C of The Hendon Mob Championships are also in play, with 26 taking to the felt in pursuit of the beautiful glass trophy.

Good luck to all who are taking to the felt over the course of the day.

The Blogger needs his beauty sleep; however, Lemons are immune to fatigue, which is why our resident escapee from the fruit bowl will be powering on through the night to provide content via Facebook.

That’s all for now, folks. Stay tuned for much more to come.

Dennis Packert has taken a very early lead in the Main Event as he topped the progressing field of five. Below are the players who have made the cut.

Here are the 13 progressing through to Day 2 of the €550 Main Event.

Only 11 will cash in the Half n Half. Below are the payouts.

Friend, associate, and Olympic Park Casino Tallinn Poker Director Jaan Vaabel has swapped the floor for the felt at Banco Casino Bratislava to play a spot of HORSE.

Vaabel has helped accommodate The Festival Series this year in Tallinn, providing a Weekend stop in the Summer, running from July 1 – 5, and a full Series stop in the Winter, which will run from November 20 – 29.

The Estonian has had an interesting career path, from being an IT lecturer, a policemans assitant, to Poker Director of Tallinn’s largest casino, Vaabel clearly knows what it takes to run a tight ship.

To learn more about Vaabel, check out this interview that he did with The Festival.

And to see our full schedule, click here.

In 1/A of the €550 Main Event, 10 are left battling it out for progression into Day 2 of the tournament, where only 5 progressors from this flight will be guaranteed a min-cash. Home nation representative Patrik Ciklamini remains in with a chance to making it to Day 2

In 1/B of The Hendon Mob Championships, 13 will progress out of the 23 that remain. Dutch crusher Bas de Laat has a live chance of making it through to Day 2 in that event. Last time out in Bratislava, de Laat cashed in the Main Event for €6,500 for his 11th-place finish.

The terrific trio from thehendonmob.com have taken to the felt in the €125 NLH/PLO Bomb Pot Feature in an attempt to log their own potential successes on the prestigious poker results database.

Roland Boothby, Wesley McKenzie, and Hans Kleinsman (second bullet) are all in the field, hoping for Festival Series glory and a lovely 1st place next to their names.

Come and join in the fun!

For the bargain hunters in attendance at Banco Casino Bratislava, consider registering the €60 Main Event satellite! 10 players will come away with a Main Event ticket worth €550, so it’s worth a stab, especially if you are intending on playing the week’s marquee Hold’em tournament.

Currently, 47 are in the field and registration remains open until 10.40 p.m.

Joakim Bakke seems keen to play as many events as possible, as he is one of the four early registrants into the €250 HORSE tournament that is due to commence at 8 p.m.

To learn more about the games, click here.

A field of 16 has assembled for one of the “explosive” tournaments of the week, the NLH/PLO Half Bomb Pot Feature tournament.

Current Player of the Series leader Komil Khamidov is in the field, as is Heads-Up Runner-Up Ralf Mikk and Peder Behr. The game changes once every eight hands, and the bomb pot feature will come into play once every nine hands.

The field in The Hendon Mob Championship 1/B saw an over 3x increase on yesterday’s number, with 105 total entrants taking to the felt this afternoon.

Of the total, only 52 remain in search of a stack for Day 2, and of the field, 10 or 11 will progress to Day 2 of this prestigious event.

Is that you? 

Monday, despite being a relatively quiet day, had the most incredible atmosphere here at Banco Casino. Laughter and joviality was in abundance as friends off the table became adversaries on it. Many returning faces showed up, setting the scene for the competitive spirit that defines what it’s like to attend and take part in The Festival Series.

Amongst those who have rocked up so far are many with strong track records at the Series, including back-to-back Main Event champ Sebastian Kotowicz. Could he achieve the improbable and to back-to-back-to-back? Or maybe he’ll challenge for the Player of the Series this time.

Dutch Maltese resident Bas de Laat, who narrowly missed the Main Event final table last time is also here. He’s better known as a mixed games specialist and there was a time a few years ago when scooped or went close in almost every HORSE or 8-Game tournament that was held on the island. He arrived last night in time for the Knockout Madness.

Many of those in today’s Mixed Games Main Event (TORSES) can be considered strong contenders for the Player of the Series title, including Scott Kenyon, who is live streaming his game on Twitch. Mark Gork, Barrie Dear, Benjamin Sweetman, Wouter Schuurbiers and Franke are amongst those still in Day 1b.

Jenny Westerlund is also here, but after three unsuccessful bullets in Day 1b of The Hendon Mob Championship, she’s setting her sights on the Half and Half next. Could she become the first female Player of the Series?

However, its unlikely that any of these players will walk away with the title, because the eventual winner is surely you! Good luck at the tables!

Niclas Thumm has taken to the felt of The Festival Series for the first time in his poker career. The German crusher is a well-known online player who goes under the alias “flushiiisback.”

Thumm is also a former streamer on Twitch and plays predominantly on PokerStars. However, he has seen success in the live poker sphere, with his biggest score coming in the 2023 PokerStars Players No-Limit Hold’em Championship in the Bahamas, where he finished 6th for $1,001,200 in the $25,000 buy-in event.

Will Thumm add to his glittering CV with a win at The Festival? It wouldn’t be a surprise to see him walk away with a beautiful personalised trophy come the end of the week.

The defending The Hendon Mob Championship Champion Ondrej Chlapek is in the field in pursuit of a successful title defense.

He won the event last time out in Bratislava for a career-best score of €19,346. Can he emulate Sebastian Kotowicz in becoming the first player to win the same event at back-to-back stops?

The Festival Founder Martin ‘Franke’ von Zweigbergk has celebrated his 25th birthday for perhaps the 25th time, as Boss has turned the young age of 52!

Boss isn’t the only birthday boy, as one of our resident rockstars, Pljuw, shares the same birthday! Here are some snaps from a surprise get-together.

Robin Panholzer, Wouter Shuurbiers, Jonas Jurksaitis, Jorn Inge Havl and Matteo Crapanzano appear to be the biggest stacks in the TORSES field at the extended break.

So far, 48 have entered, and 35 remain in play. Birthday boy Martin ‘Franke’ von Zweigbergk is still in on his second bullet, as are Siarhei Narozhny and Itay Kimhi. Kimhi’s second bullet has gone better than the first, as he has one of the healthiest stacks in the room.

The €125 Razz PKO winner, and current Player of the Series leader, Komil Khamidov, appears to be a man of many talents.

Khamidov, despite “not knowing the rules,” won the event for his first-ever Festival Series cash at his first Festival Series! The Polish national is also a rapper, and his music can be found on YouTube. Not only that, he is a former eSports professional who had his own team, Komil&Friends. Their game of choice was League of Legends, but the team has since disbanded.

He clearly has a knack for games and is a high ELO in chess, with a rating of 2085 according to the International Chess Federation. This score puts him in the 98th percentile of chess players worldwide!

Khamidov has accumulated $131,101 in live tournament earnings so far, according to thehendonmob.com.

The €2/€2 No Limit Hold’em session didn’t run, but there was clearly an appetite for “The Great Game” of PLO.

The winner was Yevhenii Havriushenko, who netted a profit of 227 big blinds. He will progress to the final flip-off, where a package worth €1,600 for the next Festival stop in Rozvadov will be up for grabs.

The games will run again tonight, with €2/€2 NLH running at 8 p.m. and €2/2 PLO starting at 10 p.m.

Six of today’s events at The Festival in Bratislava count towards the Player of the Series race, including the Main Event, which has the first of six starting flights, plus the continuation of The Hendon Mob Championship and the Mixed Games Main Event (TORSES). None of these three will be completed today, but there are three that will wrap up by the small hours of the morning:

Event 11 – €125 Half ’n Half (NLH/PLO) Bomb Pot
Event 14 – €125 H.O.R.S.E
Event 15 – €125 NLH Win the Button Madness

Tomorrow’s updated Player of the Series leaderboard will add these events to those that have already be completed. Lots more players have arrived today, all of whom are potential contenders for the title, including defending champ Ville Hakala, who is extremely competitive and may be eyeing up more glory by the end of the week.

Three Slovakians are in the field of the €550 Main Event, all of whom will be hoping to emulate dual-Main Event winner Sebastian Kotowicz by taking down the title, especially on their home turf.

The natives in question are Patrik Ciklamini, Martin Ilavsky, and Erik Šeffer. Ciklamini has accumulated $447,702 in live tournament earnings, according to our friends at thehendonmob.com. He has one previous Festival Series cash, which came here at Banco in 2022, where he finished 134th for €665.

Ilavsky has amassed $514,521 throughout his career and has attended numerous Festival Series stops across the continent. His previous cash also came in the Main Event, but in 2024, where he finished 51st for €2,150.

Šeffer has banked $143,897 from live tournaments, and every dollar has been earned in his homeland. His best score at the Festival Series came in 2021, where he finished 9th in the Main Event for €4,600.

Like your standard run-of-the-mill human being, poker players also require food. If you’re after a solid burger, head outside to the Jump Street Burger van located outside the ground-floor entrance to Banco Casino Bratislava.

For players in attendance at The Festival, if you order a burger and fries and say the magic words “The Festival,” the team at Jump Street Burgers will provide you with a free soft drink as part of the deal.

If you need some good fast food on a break, pre- or post-tournament or cash game session, head outside and give Jump Street Burgers a go.

The Festival Series has grown from strength to strength throughout the concept’s four-year-long operation. With that, awareness grows, and players are coming from increasingly faraway lands. Yesterday, 26 separate nationalities were represented in the €125 NLH Knockout Madness, but none were from the States.

However, several Americans have made the journey to Bratislava. One of whom is Baltimore native Matt Kelley, who made the nine-hour flight from the States to play at The Festival. His journey wasn’t easy, and he told The Festival about his trials and tribulations.

“I lost my passport on the plane, so I got stuck in Vienna airport for two hours. They said to me [the border guards], ‘We have to send you back home, you have no passport.’ I was adamant that it was on the plane, so they kept me in.”

“A few hours later, a cleaner who was on the plane made a call to the desk to say they found my passport on the plane! So I didn’t have to go back.”

Kelley came “exclusively for the Mixed Games” and will be hopping in 1/B of the Mixed Game Main Event – TORSES later on after a spot of lunch.

This isn’t Kelley’s first foray into the European poker scene: “I have played before at the European Mixed Poker Championship (EMPC) in Dublin, which is where I met ‘Franke’. I learned more about the Mixed Game scenes in Europe, and it’s easy enough to come to Europe from Baltimore; it’s a similar journey to going to Las Vegas.”

‘Franke’ then tastefully interjected, saying, “Yes, come in and play the mixed games and I’ll bust you” before signing off with his trademark giggle.

Best of luck to Kelley and all those who take to the felt today.

This flight of The Hendon Mob Championships has already eclipsed yesterday’s total entrants. Yesterday’s Heads-Up champion Antal Mezei is in the field, as is The Festival Malta Hendon Mob Championship runner-up Attila Erdei, who is on his second bullet.

After the first day of The Festival in Bratislava 2026, the early leader in the Player of the Series race is PL Razz PKO champion Komil Khamidov, who has taken a narrow lead over KO Madness champion Ilija Likic. The full story and the top 20 leaderboard rankings is posted in the news section of the site.

Here is a look at the players who have taken to the felt in the second flight of the Mixed Game Main Event – TORSES. The Hendon Mob Championship 1/A chipleader, Joakim Bakke, The Festival Malta Mixed Game Main Event champion, Barrie Dear, and The Festival Founder Martin ‘Franke’ von Zweigbergk, are just a trio of the 24-strong field that have started their session bright and early.

The first flight of the week’s marquee Hold’em tournament, the €550 Main Event, is currently underway. In the field is Festival regular and Swedish poker legend Peder Behr, as well as Japheth Dupuis, who has flown in from the USA.

The Blogger needs his beauty sleep; however, Lemons are impervious to fatigue, which is why our resident escapee from the fruit bowl will be powering on through the night to provide content via Facebook.

That’s all for now, folks. Stay tuned for much more to come.

Here are the payouts in the international affair that is the NLH PKO Madness.

Here are the payouts in the Razz PKO, exclusive of bounties.

Here are the chip counts of the four progressing players in the first flight of The Hendon Mob Championships. Dimitros Nanos was the victim of the bubble, and he lost to ace-ten in back-to-back hands to be sent home without a stack.

The first two bounty tournaments of The Festival Bratislava are in play in the form of the €125 Razz PKO Big Bounty and the €125 Knockout Madness.

So far, 68 have entered the Razz, and 28 remain. In the field are last year’s PLO High Roller winner Graham Clarkson, friend of The Festival and former Mixed Game Main Event Champion Barrie Dear, as well as popular streamer and multiple Player of the Series Winner Scott “Pokerbrahs” Kenyon.

The €125 NLH Knockout Madness sums up what The Festival is all about; players of all creeds, colours and nationalities coming together to play a game they all love. The tournament is a truly international affair. With 52 players remaining, a staggering 26 different nations are being represented. Here is the list in full to show how far The Festival Series is reaching.

• United Kingdom
• Ukraine
• Romania
• Netherlands
• Albania
• Italy
• Hungary
• Greece
• Belarus
• Ireland
• Lithuania
• Finland
• Austria
• Norway
• Serbia
• France
• South Africa
• Hong Kong
• Sweden
• Germany
• Czechia
• North Macedonia
• Croatia
• South Korea
• Poland
• Israel

Thank you to all those in attendance!

Due to the crew’s luggage getting stuck in Warsaw, the opening video to this week’s Festival festivities was delayed, but no more!

Check it out below, and don’t forget to like, comment, share, and subscribe, to keep up to date with all things The Festival

Andrea Chaulet and Ralf Mikk are currently in play in one of the two semi-final legs in the €250 Heads Up tournament. The latter has the biggest stack of the four opponents.

Jiri Dusek and Antal Mezei are fairly level stack-wise, and one of those will progress to the final where they will face either Chaulet or Mikk.

We are now deep into the first day of The Festival in Bratislava and there are multiple events taking place simultaneously. The three Player of the Series events that will finish today are now all in play. 

The first of these is the €250 Heads Up, which drew 25 entries and is now in the semi-finals stage, with the four winners making it into the prize money. 

Amongst those who played was Miles Rees from the UK. He finished fourth in the Player of the Series race at the last Festival in Bratislava and took third in the Heads Up, falling at the semi-final stage. He was looking for a good show in this one, to debut in the top ten of the leaderboard after the first day of The Festival concludes, but fell short, exiting in the quarter-finals.

Double Player of the Series winner Scott “Pokerbrahs” Kenyon has also entered the building, arriving too late for the TORSES, but well in time for the €125 Razz PKO. He’s doing quite well so far, taking a bounty and is one of the early big stacks. 

Another possible contender is former Mixed Games Main Event winner Sascha “The King of France” Manns, whose very Gallic dress sense is only missing a baguette and a string of garlic to complete the stereotype. He’s in the Razz PKO too and also has a bounty to his name already. 

Koen Roos, the 2025 Hendon Mob Flag Hunter champion is also here. He earned flags in 50 different countries last year, beating the “never to be broken” record of 48 set by Dominick French in 2024.

Bulgarian Lachezar Tsenov, who was a regular on the Series in 2024, is also back. He missed the last two events of 2025, but is here for the duration and likely to play as many events as possible. He’s in Razz too, having already played and busted the Hendon Mob Championship. Belarusian Siarhei Narohzny, another mixed games crusher, has also arrived and is one to watch, especially in formats like 2-7 Double Draw and OFC Pineapple.

The Finnish duo of Ville Hakala and Kare Hallamaa have not yet arrived, but are in transit and will join the action tomorrow at the latest.

The final leaderboard event of the day is the €125 NLH Knockout Madness, which had just begun. Full results of these events will be published on Tuesday morning, as will the first Player of the Series leaderboard.

After the set amount of levels in Day 1/A of the Mixed Game Main Event – TORSES played to their conclusion, nine survived of the 27 that entered. Leading the way is Fredrik Zitting, who bagged a very respectable 166,500. Johnny Johansen is his nearest competitor.

Currently, five players are in contention for the first title of the series in the €250 Heads Up tournament. Ralf Mikk and Andrea Chaulet are currently in play, and Antal Mezei will play either Jiri Dusek or Mark McKenzie in the other semi-final.

Hospitality package winners were invited to free flips! Up for grabs were three tickets to the €125 Sportsbook tournaments. The winners were Fabrice Mouton, who won the photo competition last time out in Bratislava.

Michal Zielinski and Toni Sarkama laid claim to the final two tickets. Good luck to them in the Sportsbook tournament that will run on the penultimate day, Saturday 28th.

A handful of players will progress to Day 2 of The Hendon Mob Championships this evening. Currently, 14 remain of the 33 total entrants that took to the felt over the course of the day.

Having busted the Heads Up tournament, Fabian Bartuschk took to the felt in an attempt to secure a stack for Day 2. Martin Ilavsky is the sole home nation representative in the field.

A field of seven experienced players has registered from the start in one of two restricted entry tournaments this week – the €250 Seniors (50+) event. Here is a look at the lineup, which features Festival regular Bo Alm.

Registration remains open until 11.05 p.m., so there is still time to get involved if you happen to be of a certain age.

For the cash game players in attendance for The Festival or cash games in general, register your interest for tonight’s Cash Game Challenge. Starting at 8 p.m. local time, the game will be €2/€2 NLH with a minimum buy-in of €200. The biggest winners from each session go through to a final flip-off, where a package to the next Festival stop worth €1,600 will be up for grabs on the ultimate day of this stop.

Only 4 of the 25 strong field will cash the €250 Heads Up tournament. Reigning champion Mladen Stojanovic will not put up a successful title defense, as he departed in 16th place.

Currently, 15 players are still in contention for one of the first titles this week. Below are the payouts.

The biggest stack currently at the break of 1/A in The Hendon Mob Championships appears to be Marcus Skalicky with a stack of around 60,000 – twice the starting stack. Play is about to get back underway here at Banco Casino Bratislava, and 18 remain of the 24 entrants that have taken to the felt in this tournament so far.

The horses in the TORSES field have been sent to graze for 45 minutes. The stacks across the floor are fairly equal; however, Itay Kimhi appears to be atop the counts with around 50,000. His tablemate, Tomasz Gluszko, has around 40,000.

There have been four eliminations so far: Antoine Profit, Dinesh Khatri, Rowan Harley and Aaron Thiel were all eliminated in the opening frames. Thiel has since rebought.

Five of today’s events at The Festival in Bratislava count towards the Player of the Series race, however only three of them will conclude today. Both the Mixed Games Main Event (TORSES) and The Hendon Mob Championship are multi-flight tournaments and won’t be included until they conclude later in the week.

The three events that do finish up today are:

Event 3 – €250 Heads Up
Event 7 – €125 PL Razz PKO
Event 8 – €125 NLH Knockout Madness

Tonight’s €250 Seniors will also finish tonight, but as a restricted entry tournament, it does not count towards the Player of the Series race.

For those wanting to play the Main Event, consider entering the super satellite, which starts at 6 p.m. There will be ten tickets up for grabs, each worth €550. The €60 buy-in represents great value for players of all bankrolls.

Levels will run for 20 minutes apiece, and players will have the option for unlimited re-entries until the registration period closes after Level 8, which will be roughly 9.10 p.m. local time.

As part of the Hospitality schedule unique to The Festival, online package winners are invited to gather at the casino bar for drinks at 7.30 p.m. to get to know each other and members of The Festival Team.

Additionally, if you wish to claim your merchandise, which is the latest edition cap and a custom deck of high-quality Festival-branded Fournier playing cards, come and find us at the Hospitality desk opposite the cash and tournament registration area.

To see the Hospitality schedule in full, click here.

As the first events of The Festival are underway, it means that the Player of the Series race has also begun. Its far too early for any predictions of who might win, but lets take a quiet moment, thoughts and prayers for a few players who won’t be joining us this time around:

Antoine Degiorgio – The Maltese Mixed Games Maestro is sitting this one out. In previous editions he has made the top 10 of the rankings, but after drawing a complete blank last year in Bratislava, he’s decided to give this one a miss. He can still change his mind of course and turn up, but otherwise the only Sviten Special event he will be playing this week will be the Tuesday night game at Portomaso Casino in Malta.

William Lynch – One of Edinburgh’s finest mixed games players will also not be attending this event. He has a significant birthday this year (yes, 21 again) and has holiday plans this year, so something had to give. However Edinburgh’s chances will still be well represented, as Barrie Dear is here for the week and is rarely far away from the top 10 in the leaderboard.

JJ Hazan – Pot Limit Omaha aficionado JJ has chosen to escape the winter with an extended holiday in Asia. He’s still doing  remote commentary work and is calling the final table of the Polish Winter Cup as we speak. I had a chance to make that final table, but aces didn’t hold against kings in monster pot with 53 players left. Oof!

At this stage, we can’t be entirely sure who will turn up, but one player who is notably absent is Scott “Pokerbrahs” Kenyon. He may still be planning to visit but as yet, there’s no sign of him. 

Currently, 20 players have registered for the €250 Heads-Up tournament. Spaces are now at a premium, as the tournament is capped at 32 entrants.

In the field is the defending champion, Mladen Stojanovic, who won the event in November for €2,976. The Festival Series regular and Open Face Chinese specialist Fabian Bartushk is also in the field.

Get to the registration desk ASAP if you wish to play!

The cards are in the air for Day 1/A of the prestigious The Hendon Mob Championship. A field of 9 is in pursuit of a stack for Day 2’s proceedings on Thursday 26th of March, all of which will be looking to take home the beautiful trophy.

Here is a look at the early entrants in the €550 Mixed Game Main Event – TORSES. Amongst the entrants is Graham Clarkson, who cashed four times last time out here at Banco Casino Bratislava, including winning the €1,100 PLO High Roller. Clarkson qualified for that event via satellite and banked just over €15,000.

Friend of The Festival and former Mixed Game Main Event champion Barrie Dear has taken to the felt from flagfall, as has The Festival head honcho, Martin ‘Franke’ von Zweigbergk.

Players will receive a starting stack of 30,000, and blind levels run for 30 minutes apiece.

Come and get involved in the world-famous €250 The Hendon Mob Championship here at Banco Casino in Bratislava. Last time out, the beautiful trophy went to Czechia, as Ondrej Chlapek took down the title and a career-best score of €19,346.

Click here to see how the action unfolded.

The €550 Mixed Game Main Event kicks off proceedings here at Banco Casino in Bratislava. Last time out, Sergii Baranov claimed the title and his first-ever Festival Series cash, winning €12,950 in the process.

The tournament set a new personal best for The Festival Series in this event, as a total of 102 took to the felt across the two Day 1 flights. This eclipsed the previous best of 69, which was set in Malta last year.

Can we do it again?

The time is finally upon us for the first instalment of The Festival Series in 2026. In what will be a mild case of Deja vu for the players and the Festival Team, we will be returning to Banco Casino Bratislava in Slovakia, where we ended an amazing 2025. Here is what to look forward to on the opening day of The Festival Bratislava.

Starting With a Bang

The Festival Series gets underway with the opening flights of two of the schedule’s marquee tournaments: The €550 Mixed Games Main Event – TORSES, and the €250 Hendon Mob Championship. Both tournaments feature unlimited re-entries for the first 10 levels, which is when registration will close, and a starting stack of 30,000. Blind levels run for 30 minutes. The TORSES starts at 12.30 p.m., and is sure to attract a strong contingent of Mixed Games enthusiasts from across the continent and beyond.

Last time out, Sergii Baranov won the event for €12,950, besting a record-breaking field of 102 entrants for The Festival Series. It was also Baranov’s first-ever Festival Series cash! The podium places were rounded out by the Norwegian all-rounder Jon Kyte, who finished second, and British poker mainstay JJ Hazan, who finished third.

TORSES Final Table Payouts

Place	Name	Country	Prize
1	Sergii Baranov		€12,950
2	JJ Hazan		€9,500
3	Jon Kyte		€6,250
4	Marc Gork		€4,250
5	Rolf Bechstrom		€3,000
6	Joonas Lyttinen		€2,250
7	Mattia Ruebenstrunk		€1,750
8	Riku Koivurinne		€1,500
9	Alexander Freund		€1,500
10	Philipp Krieger		€1,250
11	Asgejr Lund		€1,250
12	Fedor Stadtrucker		€1,000
13	Aaron Thiel		€1,000
14	“Bambi”	N/A	€1,000

At 1 p.m., €250 The Hendon Mob Championship will run its first flight. Last year, the prestigious trophy went to Ondřej Chlápek of Czechia, who won €19,346 and a package to Cape Town worth €1,650. He bested a field of 467 total entrants for a career-best score.

What makes The Hendon Mob Championship unique is that all players who cash in the event will receive a customised profile flag on their Hendon Mob account as well as a beautiful trophy.

The Hendon Mob Championship Final Table Payouts

Place	Name	Flag	Amount
1	Ondřej Chlápek		€19,346
2	Asterios Kokompelis		€12,875
3	John Lausch		€8,850
4	Arjen Witteveen		€6,375
5	Tony Danielsen		€4,725
6	Leo Hourtoulle		€3,625
7	Tore Pedersen		€2,900
8	Urmas Lepik		€2,325
9	Siamak Tahmoresnia		€1,925

€250 Heads-Up

The third tournament of the afternoon kicks off at 2 p.m. local time, and its the €250 Heads-Up. Last year, Mladen Stojanovic bested a maximum field of 32, taking home €2,976. He took down the title besting Ofer Sisso in the final heads-up dual, and he took home €1,750. Rostyslav Sabishchenko and Miles Rees shared a joint third-place payout of €950.

Once again, the field size will be restricted to 32, and Levels run for 10 minutes.

€250 NLH Seniors Event (50+)

The €250 NLH Seniors Event (50+) returns once again, and last year it was Swedish poker legend Peder Behr who took down the title, besting a field of 40 experienced players. He won €2,740 for his efforts, besting home nation representative Johan Sundstrom in the process.

Unlimited re-buys are available for the first 8 levels, and the clock will run for 20 minutes for each blind level. The tournament will kick off at 7 p.m. local time, and it would be no surprise to see Behr in the field again to defend his title.

€125 PL Razz PKO

The Festivals own Melvin Schroën’s favourite tournament returns to the schedule at 8 p.m. – the €125 PL Razz PKO. Each player starts with a bounty worth €50, and as it is a progressive bounty, they will increase in value as the tournament progresses. Players have the option for unlimited re-entries for the first 8 levels, and the blind levels run for 20 minutes each.

Last year, Joost Melkert of the Netherlands won the title, and admitted at the trophy hand off that this was “the second time he had played any Mixed Games in his life.”

€125 NLH Knockout Madness

For those wanting bounty action in the No Limit Hold’em streets need not fear, as at 9 p.m. the €125 NLH Knockout Madness offers players eight levels of unlimited entries. With 15 minute levels, there is sure to be plenty of action, especially with bounties on the line. €50 of each buy-in goes onto the table in the form of a bounty token, and that represents a decent chunk of the prize pool.

Mixed Game enthusiast and Ylva “Jevakim” Thorsrud took down the event and won €1,749 for her efforts. The Coolbet Ambassador has won three Festival titles, this, and the €125 2-7 Triple Draw in Rozvadov 2024 and the €250 PLO 4/5/6 in Bratislava 2024.

Cash Game Challenge

The Cash Game Challenge returns. For NLH players, the challenge begins at 8 p.m., where the blinds will be €2/€2, with a minimum buy-in of €200. The goal is simple. Win the most big blinds within the timeframe. The players who win the most big blinds from each leg will return on the final day for a Flip Final, where the winner will bag a package to The Festival Series worth €1,600.

The second running of the Cash Game Challenge will commence at 10.30 p.m. on the same day. The stakes and the buy-in remain the same, but the game will be PLO. It is well worth getting involved with if you are a cash game player!

See You Soon!

The Festival is about to get underway. Hospitality package winners are invited to join us at the bar for Welcome Drinks at 7.30 p.m. We look forward to seeing you all at Banco Casino Bratislava and as always, feel free to come and say hello if you see us around.