Christmas is coming earlier to Bratislava
This year, The Festival Series will make its third consecutive appearance at the illustrious Banco Casino, located in the bustling capital of Slovakia, namely Bratislava. After the unprecedented success in 2021 where the very first event of The Festival Series was organized, the edition in 2022 was even more decisive as it emerged as the biggest first prize ever handed out in Slovakian poker history. Poker players from all over Europe and around, can already start booking their flights as the dates will be from 27th of November until the 3rd of December, the Main Event will offer once again a guaranteed prize pool of a stunning €500,000!
The Festival Series VI
Bratislava can rightly be called the home of The Festival. The upcoming edition, the sixth in the history of The Festival, will be almost identical to the previous event at Banco Casino when it comes to tournament offerings. This grand casino is known for its professional approach and very convenient location. It is located in the same building as Crowne Plaza Hotel and has a great connection to the bustling downtown area, where one can find numerous optimal restaurants and bars where drinks are generously served.
The Festival Bratislava 2023 Schedule
Download The Festival Bratislava 2023 schedule from here.
Accommodation - Read more about hotel offers
What else you should know?
The Festival Series has always put emphasis on offering added value to its players, which is why the usual Franke Flip Flops, Cashgame Challange, Blackjack -, Roulette -, and Slots tournaments are also on this occasion. At the end of the week, there will also be a sports prediction tournament, and of course, the event will not miss the hospitality gatherings that elevate the senses and tones to new heights in Bratislava.
Main Event 2022 goes into the history books
The Main Event with a buy-in of only €550 had a guaranteed prize pool of €500,000! This was eventually broken by a huge turnout of over 1,200 participants. In the end, it was the Dutchman Michel Molenaar who took the win, as he had dealt heads-up with his compatriot Gerianne Dijkstra. Molenaar was credited with €126,650 to his bank account, an unprecedented amount that still tops the ranking of prizes paid out in Slovakia's poker industry.
- Buy-In: €550
- Entries: 1,271
- Prize Pool: €603,725
| # | Player | Payouts |
1  | Michel Molenaar | €126,650 |
| 2 | Gerianne Dijkstra | €77,450 |
3  | Leo Sigurdsson | €50,550 |
4  | Slavomir Rakovan | €36,975 |
5  | Peter Kamaras | €27,900 |
6  | Sascha Manns | €20,375 |
7  | Mark Berman | €14,350 |
8  | Yasen Dichev | €9,870 |
9  | Marton Lugosi | €6,820 |
All time biggest scores Slovakia
| 1 | Michel Molenaar | $ 129,223 | |
2  | L'ubos Bihari | $ 125,118 | |
3  | Deividas Daubaris | $ 115,499 |
In addition to the success of the Main Event, dozens of side events also exceeded their expected attendance, including the HendonMob Championship and PokerListings Championship, which along with the Texas 30K event had the largest guaranteed prize pools of the week. These tournaments will most likely be found again on the tournament schedule. The schedule will only be announced after the upcoming Festival Series Malta, as the focus relies fully on the organizational part of this event.
We spoke briefly with the person responsible at Banco Casino, Jan Packa, and asked him what his thoughts are about the upcoming event in November:
Jan Packa: 'Poker Christmas is coming a little early to Banco Casino! Banco will once again provide the best it can bring in cooperation with The Festival and is very excited!''
You can’t wait until the end of the year to join an event of The Festival Series? There are currently tons of satellites running for our event in Malta, with chances on Unibet, Betfred, WPT Global, Paf, Coolbet, Optibet, partypoker and Guts, who all offer full packages including accommodation and pocket money. Do you want to know the full schedule of these qualifiers? Make sure to check out thefestivalcom.wpengine.com/qualify.
