Wow - from (almost) zero to hero! Former EPT poker dealer turned recreational player Martin Mauthner battled his way from a short stack coming into the final table to ending up the last man standing, an unlit cigarette hanging rakishly out of the corner of his mouth all the while. The sling on his raising arm apparently not holding him back any, he bested a field of 621 entries to take the inaugural Festival Series Main Event trophy and the biggest chunk of the €294,975 total prize pool.
A deal was done three-handed when Mauthner was the shortest of the three, meaning that Mauthner walked away with a little less than the official top prize of €59,000 - but we don't think he's too upset about that.
Mauthner to us in the bar last night that he was only here because he lives an hour away and his old friend, tournament direct Gerard Serra, had badgered him to come. Regardless, Mauthner looked like he was having the time of his life throughout the tournament, and he's walked away with by far the biggest tournament win of his career, plus the incalculable honour of being the first ever winner of a Festival Series Main Event.
The final table was originally scheduled for tomorrow, but the 31 players who returned for Day 3 busted so fast at the start of the day, a decision was made to play down to a winner today.
This festival is far from over, though. JJ Hazan is currently in the bar celebrating his win in the Pokerlistings Deepstack event earlier this evening, and elsewhere we understand that one mystery individual won all three of the sportsbetting freeroll, lowroll, and highroll contests - who could it be?! More on that tomorrow.
In light of the unexpectedly early conclusion of the Main Event, several events have been added to tomorrow's schedule, including a €100 + €10 Shortdeck NLH event, a satellite for a Kings Of Tallinn package, and some sort of "surprise tournament", which is honestly worrying us a little but Franke seems very excited about it.
We'll be back tomorrow with a full interview from our glorious champion Martin Mauthner, plus some updates from the various other shenanigans around Banco Casino. Until then - you know where we'll be. 🍻
Main Event final table results:
| # | Player | Prize Money | Deal |
| 1 | Martin Mauthner | €59,000 | €47,600 |
| 2 | Adi Rajkovic | €43,000 | €45,130 |
| 3 | David Vedral | €38,270 | €38,270 |
| 4 | Henry Mania | €20,500 | |
| 5 | Fotios Konstantinos | €14,000 | |
| 6 | Peter Hanke | €10,000 | |
| 7 | Dushko Bogoevski | €7,500 | |
| 8 | Viktor Eriksson | €5,975 | |
| 9 | Erik Seffer | €4,600 | |
