Thor Morstoel Wins Mixed Game Main Event – TORSES Main Event on Day 3 of The Festival Bratislava
The Festival Bratislava is now in full swing, with the tournament floor at Banco Casino in the heart of the Slovakian capital quickly filling up with players from across the world. Champions were crowned in the Mixed Game Main Event - TORSES and in four additional side events. The Hendon Mob Championship field was finalised, and four players progressed to Day 2 of the Main Event. Let's take a look at what happened throughout the day.
€550 Mixed Game - TORSES
A field of 28 Mixed Game enthusiasts took to, or returned to, the felt early yesterday afternoon in pursuit of Mixed Game Main Event glory. Fredrik Zitting came into the day as the overall chip leader, but he was sent to the rail early. Kare Hallamaa, Jens Voertmann, Jari Maehoenen, Jyri Merivirta, and Rowan Harley also joined Zitting in the departures lounge early doors.
Wouter Schuurbiers, Tomasz Glusko, and Matteo Crapanzano were chipping up early and were near the top of the counts at the first break. Schuurbiers and Crapanzano would eventually make the final table, but Glushko fell in 14th.
Nicolas Bokowski was the unfortunate victim of the bubble, and Marc Gork followed suit in the first money spot. Then it was Aleksi Roine, Aaron Thiel,w and Antonious Onoufriou who would depart next, the latter of which busted in a three-way confrontation during 2-7 Triple Draw.
Thor Morstoel was hammering the table, and he had a sizeable chunk of chips in front of him from the start of the final table. Schuurbiers was next to depart during a hand of PLO8 versus Johnny Johansen, as he binked a king on the turn to make two pair on a high-only board.
Morstoel ended up heads-up with Crapanzano, a fellow Mixed Game enthusiast. Ultimately, Morstoel got the better of his tablemate and claimed his first Festival title on his first appearance! Below are the payouts.
| Position | Player | Payout | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thor Morstoel | €10,365 |  |
| 2 | Matteo Crapanzano | €7,425 |  |
| 3 | Johnny Johansen | €5,410 | |
| 4 | Sandeep Nene | €3,865 |  |
| 5 | Michael Schmitz | €2,760 |  |
| 6 | Wouter Schuurbiers | €1,970 |  |
| 7 | Antonios Onoufriou | €1,410 |  |
| 8 | Aaron Sebastian Thiel | €1,155 | |
| 9 | Aleksi Roine | €1,155 |  |
| 10 | Barrie Dear | €1,005 |  |
| 11 | Marc Gork | €1,005 | |
The Hendon Mob Championships 1/C
The third flight of The Hendon Mob Championships attracted 121 entrants over the afternoon. Of the total entrants, only 15 progressed, with Tal Moriel bagging a sizeable stack of 779,000. Sebastian Kotowicz, a dual Main Event Bratislava Champion, seems to fancy winning a different tournament this time out. Below are the chip counts of those progressing to Day 2.
| Rank | Player | Chips | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tal Moriel | 779,000 |  |
| 2 | Reinhard Faltejsek | 410,000 |  |
| 3 | Sebastian Kotowicz | 383,000 |  |
| 4 | Michal Kokocha | 346,000 | |
| 5 | Jiri Dusek | 282,000 |  |
| 6 | Ralf Mikk | 248,000 |  |
| 7 | Komil Khamidov | 241,000 | |
| 8 | Igor Dovzhenko | 225,000 |  |
| 9 | Adam Lawniczak | 142,000 | |
| 10 | Quinten Spyckerelle | 136,000 |  |
| 11 | Tonis Viik | 134,000 | |
| 12 | Matte Karjalainen | 116,000 | |
| 13 | Andrej Desset | 82,000 |  |
| 14 | Daniel Halon | 60,000 | |
| 15 | Ola Bremer | 46,000 | |
Main Event 1/B
In Main Event 1/B, 32 took to the felt across the afternoon. The flight saw four players progress, and it was Marko Siven who bagged the biggest. Below are the counts.
| Rank | Player | Country | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marko Siven | | 535,000 |
| 2 | Juha Vaininen | | 430,000 |
| 3 | Pawel Dudnik | | 413,000 |
| 4 | Viacheslav Sultanov |  | 223,000 |
Side Event Winners
€250 Open Face Chinese
A field of 88 assembled to play Open Face Chinese, a variant that is growing in popularity. The game is played with a points system, and players need to make two five-card hands and one three-card hand. The strongest hand should be on the bottom, the second strongest in the middle, and the worst hand up top.
One of those in the field was Martin 'Franke' von Zweigbergk, and he became a repeat traveller to Fantasyland throughout the day, which is where players go to a separate table to piece together their hand. On one occasion, he had a straight flush on the bottom board, two pair in the middle and ace-high on top to scoop a three-way pot.
Another time, he wasn't so lucky. He caught some cards to make a decent hand, with trips on the bottom, two pair in the middle and aces up top for another trip to Fantasyland. However, his opponent, Andras Matrai, returned from Fantasyland with a flush on the bottom, Broadway in the middle and trips up top to scoop.
The best hand of the day accolade, that this poker writer saw at least, goes to the Flag Hunter Koen Roos, who made quad nines on the bottom board, full house in the middle, and aces up top for Fantasyland. At this point in the tournament, play was four-handed, and Roos had the majority of the chips in play. He went on to seal the deal, besting Patrick Roetzer heads-up. Below are the payouts.
| Position | Players | Payout | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Koen Roos | €5,040 | |
| 2 | Patrick Roetzer | €3,195 | |
| 3 | Riku Koivurinne | €2,130 | |
| 4 | Vadym Teslenko | €1,560 | |
| 5 | Mati Pirn | €1,560 | |
| 6 | Sergej Vladimirov | €1,065 |  |
| 7 | Nikolaus Grubmayr | €1,065 | |
| 8 | Andras Matrai | €1,065 |  |
| 9 | Martin "Franke" von Zweigbergk | €710 | |
| 10 | Jyri Merivirta | €710 | |
| 11 | Scott Kenyon | €710 | |
€1,100 PLO High Roller
The first High Roller of the week saw 33 take to the felt, with five of those entrants coming via satellite. Jakub Jirchar did the best of those satellite progressors, as he finished 3rd. Reigning champion Graham Clarkson qualified via satellite once again, but this time around, he couldn't cash.
Ultimately, the title went to Italy, as Samuiel Stan took down the top prize of €11,595. Not much is known about Stan, so we will try to find out more about our newly crowned High Roller winner.
| Position | Player | Payout | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Samuiel Stan | €11,595 | |
| 2 | Teemu Sattanen | €7,995 | |
| 3 | Jakub Jirchar | €5,095 | |
| 4 | Tomasz Gluszko | €3,685 | |
| 5 | Oswin Ziegelbecker | €2,980 | |
Today's Schedule
| Time | Event | Buy-in |
|---|---|---|
| 12:00 | Main Event Day 1/C | €500 + €50 |
| 12:30 | Hendon Mob Championship Final Day | - |
| 13:00 | Sviten Special | €225 + €25 |
| 14:00 | Turbo Satellite to NLH High Roller | €135 + €15 |
| 17:00 | NLH High Roller | €1,000 + €100 |
| 18:30 | Super Satellite to Main Event | €50 + €10 |
| 19:00 | Baby TORSES (Supreme) | €110 + €15 |
| 19:00 | Bratislava Deepstack Day 1 | €225 + €25 |
| 20:00 | Cash Game Challenge (€5/5 NLH) | min. €500 |
| 22:00 | NL Crazy Pineapple Turbo |
