Day 1 of the Festival in Malta
The wait is over and today marks the first day of The Festival in Malta. We’re not quite sure if it feels like a long time or a short time since the last event. Personally it feels like ages ago, but the sheer exhaustion of that 10-day poker extravaganza is still a living memory.
The Festival in Malta is two days shorter than the last event, but every day is equally as packed as in Rozvadov, with once again lots of choice for recreational players looking for reasonably priced events to play. And of course The Festival is a veritable mixed games players paradise, with a variety of non-Hold’em focused offerings on the 45-event schedule.
The opening day of The Festival is unusual and unique, as it is not only the first day of The Festival Series, but it is the last day of the Vamos Poker Tour, which has been running this week, with a €350 Main Event and several side events.
As the venue is shared for the first Day of the Festival, the schedule of The Festival Series events is smaller than usual, however there are also several Vamos Poker Tour tournaments taking place as well.
The Vamos Tour’s Mystery Bounty has two flights remaining, one at 10am, which is a regular flight but on a turbo 15-minute clock and a second at 2pm which is a Flip & Go Flight. For every eight player tables, one player will progress to Day 2, which starts at 3pm.
The Vamos Main Event final table is also taking place, with play resuming at 2pm and none other than The Festival's very own photographer Mairo Toom has booked himself a seat on that final table, with a 950k chip stack. Good luck to Mairo and apologies for any subsequent delays is getting photo galleries uploaded.
The Vamos schedule concludes with a €250 Open Face Chinese tournament at 3pm, starting at the same time as the H.O.R.S.E.S Mixed Games Main Event.
Here’s the full schedule for the day, including Vamos events that are still registering. Please note that for the purposes of The Festival Series Player of the Year, points are not awarded for any of the Vamos events taking place today.
| Tour | Start Time | Event # | Buy-In | Tournament |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Festival | 14:00 | 1 | €250 | The Hendon Mob Championship Day 1A |
| The Festival | 15:00 | 2 | €550 | Mixed Games Main Event - HORSES Day 1A |
| The Festival | 18:00 | 3 | €40 | The Hendon Mob Championship Satellite Day 1B |
| Tour | Start Time | Buy-In | Tournament |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vamos | 10:00 | €250 | Mystery Bounty Championship Day 1C Turbo |
| Vamos | 14:00 | €250 | Mystery Bounty Championship Day 1D Flip & Go |
| Vamos | 15:00 | €250 | Open Face Chinese Poker |
The €250 NLH HendonMob Championship
The HendonMob Championship is a €250 buy-in No Limit Hold'em event which has three starting days.
The first of these takes place on Sunday, starting at 2pm. It runs on a 30-minute clock and players start with 30,000 chips. The remaining starting days are at 4pm on Monday and Tuesday, with Day 2 taking place on Wednesday.
There is also one live satellite scheduled for TheHendonMob Championship, which takes place today at 6pm and costs just €40 to enter.
H.O.R.S.E.S Mixed Games Main Event
There are two starting days for the Mixed Games Main Event, the first of which is at 3pm today (Sunday). The second flight is at 9pm on Monday 9th September. As has now become a tradition at The Festival Series, the format has a Scandinavian twist, with Sviten Special added to the usual H.O.R.S.E. rotation.
If you’re not familiar with Sviten Special, click on the link you’ve just skimmed past and you’ll find an article I wrote earlier this year explaining the game and its history.
Live Blog Coverage
News, reports and results from the event, with stories from on and off the felt will be covered on the blog every day throughout the event. There are also other ways to follow the action from The Festival in Malta, as there will be coverage on The Festival's Youtube, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter (X). You can access them by following social links at the bottom of this article.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the curtain has now lifted on The Festival in Malta. Let the Games Commence!
