2023 TFS Bratislava Day 1: Value Town’s Martin Kanaker Wins First Event
The Festival Series' return to Banco Casino has been amazing thus far with tons of action and fun throughout the first of eight days. The Festival Series Bratislava boasts 54 numbered events including a wide variety of poker variants and casino games including Blackjack, Roulette, Slots, and Sports Wagering.
Value Town's Martin Kanaker was the star of the opening day after becoming the sole player to win an event, while others set themselves up handsomely for Day 2 in two other events. The cash games were hopping on the casino floor including a super dealer's choice affair started by Wouter Schuurbiers and Sviten Special author Martin Smith after both players busted from Event #2: €550 Mixed Main Event HORSES.
Read on to learn more about what transpired on Day 1 of The Festival Series Bratislava at Banco Casino:
Martin Kanaker Wins Event #4: €125 Crazy Pineapple
Event #4: €125 Crazy Pineapple could maybe have been dubbed the Crazier Pineapple event as there was more than just going than just the actual tournament. The event attracted a tidy field of 50 entries, which is amazing considering The Festival Series Bratislava qualifiers from nearly 20 partners have yet to arrive for a €5,225 prize pool.
Two fun things happened before late registration closed. First, players across two tables decided to play a stand-up game that is usually just in streamed cash games or home games where players had to stand up until they won a hand. The first time this took place it got a little messy with players moving tables and others hitting the rail, but they tried again. Sweden's Martin Kanaker lost this bet and had to pay all players participating €5 each.
This was the only thing that Kanaker lost during the event as everything else went smoothly. He had another prop bet going with Adam Tomasson that both players were sweating where the last player to table seven-deuce as a winning hand got to choose where to have a fancy dinner at the loser's expense.
Kanaker not only won this prop bet, but also wound up defeating Matthew Adams heads-up en route to the title and the €2,035 top prize to become the first winner of the 2023 The Festival Series Bratislava.
Event #4: €125 Crazy Pineapple Payouts
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Martin Kanaker | Sweden | €1,565* |
| 2 | Matthew Adams | United Kingdom | €1,200* |
| 3 | Morten Lie | Norway | €1,200* |
| 4 | Andre Sorm | Estonia | €525 |
| 5 | Svein Olav Eidsaeter | Norway | €420 |
| 6 | Anders Beckman | Sweden | €315 |
Bas de Laat Leads Event #2: €550 Mixed Main Event HORSES
Day 1a of The Festival Series Bratislava Event #2: €550 Mixed Main Event HORSES at Banco Casino attracted a tidy field of 17 players with just six players surviving on the first of the three opening days.
Dutch poker player Bas de Laat has thus far made the most of his trip from Malta as he bagged the chip lead during the first of the three opening flights after parlaying his 30,000 opening stack into 136,000 in chips. Austria’s Robin Panholzer (129,500) and United Kingdom’s John Clarkson (120,000) weren’t too far behind.
Meanwhile, United Kingdom’s Barrie Dear (49,000) and the French duo of Philippe Laval (41,500) and Liking Saiyasely (35,000) advanced with shorter stacks.
The action will resume in this event with Day 1b on Monday at 4 p.m. Expect many of the players that were unable to find a bag today to re-enter along with a bunch of new players with many more people heading into Bratislava for The Festival Series tomorrow.
| Player | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bas de Laat | Netherlands | 136,000 | 45 |
| Robin Panholzer | Austria | 129,500 | 43 |
| John Clarkson | United Kingdom | 120,000 | 40 |
| Barrie Dear | United Kingdom | 49,000 | 16 |
| Philippe Laval | France | 41,500 | 14 |
| Liking Saiyasely | France | 35,000 | 12 |
Aleksandar Kamendoliev Leads Event #3: €250 Bratislava Deepstack
Day 1a of Event #3: €250 Bratislava Deepstack attracted 47 runners. Just eight players found a bag after 16 levels of 30 minutes each.
North Macedonia’s Aleksandar Kamendoliev transformed his 30,100 opening stack into a whopping pile of 375,000 to easily end the first of three opening flights with the chip lead. Sweden’s Robert Kontkanen (216,000) was the only other player to advance with more than 200,000 with Tauno Loodus, Arman Nersisyan, Brian Klindrup, Erik Risberg, Phillip Huxley, and Trang Le also advancing through Day 1a.
The action will continue on Monday at 4 p.m. with Day 1b. Stay tuned to see who else will advance to Day 2.
| Place | Player | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aleksandar Kamendoliev | North Macedonia | 375,000 | 63 |
| 2 | Robert Kontkanen | Sweden | 216,000 | 36 |
| 3 | Tauno Loodus | Estonia | 171,000 | 29 |
| 4 | Arman Nersisyan | Armenia | 170,000 | 28 |
| 5 | Brian Klindrup | Denmark | 163,000 | 27 |
| 6 | Erik Risberg | Sweden | 152,000 | 25 |
| 7 | Phillip Huxley | United Kingdom | 109,000 | 18 |
| 8 | Trang Le | Netherlands | 59,000 | 10 |
Today's Schedule (Nov. 27)
Today will be a big day as not only with the €550 Mixed Main Event HORSES and the €250 Bratislava Deepstack continue but two more tournaments and a Main Event satellite are in the mixed.
Our Twitch stream will kick off today at TheFestivalOG channel as well with Andreas "Wiseguy" Hoglund hosting the Cash Game Challenge streams with guests. As a reminder, the player that wins the most big blinds out of all of the Cash Game Challenge sessions will win a package to the first The Festival Series of 2024 to be announced later this week valued at €1,600. Check out the full schedule below:
| Time | Event | GTD |
|---|---|---|
| 2 p.m. | Event #5: €250 Sviten Special | |
| 4 p.m. | Event #3: €250 Bratislava Deepstack Day 1b | |
| 6 p.m. | Event #6: €60 Super Satellite to Main Event | 10x €550 Seats |
| 7 p.m. | Event #2: €550 Mixed Main Event - HORSES Day 1b | |
| 8 p.m. | Event #7: €2/€2 NLH Cash Game Challenge | |
| 10 p.m. | Event #8: €125 Texas Monday Knockout | |
| 10:30 p..m. | Event #9: €2/€2 PLO4 |
