Oystein Brenden is the defending The Festival Series Main Event champion after he bested a 617-entry field in The Festival Series Malta in May at Portomaso Casino for €60,700.
Brenden is now on the hunt for a different Main Event trophy at The Festival Series Bratislava at Banco Casino as he was among the recent entries in Event #2: €550 Mixed Main Event HORSES.
The Day 1a field has reached 13 entries but one of those players will need to try again in Eva "Chic" Jiretorn. Chic is a mixed-game enthusiast who has had some success in both tournaments and cash games but today wasn't her day as she was the first (and thus far only) player on the rail. She opted to become the first person to enter Event #4: €125 Crazy Pineapple, which kicks off at 9 p.m. and will be joined by Scott "Pokerbrahs" Kenyon and others including The Festival Series commentator Andreas "Wiseguy" Hoglund.
"It's epic!" said Chic. "It was the first ever HORSES tournament and I was the first player out. It was the same at the Swedish Championship where I was the first out as well."
Chic has played Crazy Pineapple before at The Festival Series but had only slightly better success than she had today during Day 1a of the HORSES.
"I played the Crazy Pineapple in Malta," said Chic. "I only lasted three hands but was out with ace-ace-queen."
Tomorrow, however, is a different story as Chic plans to play (and win) the €250 Sviten Special. Let's just say we have played our share of mixed game hands and tons of Sviten Special against Chic. She is fun to play with but don't let that fool you as she is better than most and is among the best Sviten Special players we have come across.
"It's better to be fun than boring," Chic added before getting ready for the Crazy Pineapple kicking off at 9 p.m.
