Ignacio Menendez Wins The Festival Nottingham Main Event (£38,595)
Congratulations to Ignacio Menendez! The Argentinian dazzled the crowd at Dusk Till Dawn Casino after going zero to hero before ultimately shipping The Festival Series Nottingham £450 Main Event for £38,595 after agreeing to a heads-up deal with Sean O'Donnell.
Menendez started the third and final day at the final table with the second shortest stack before catapulting into a commanding chip lead with four players remaining. It wasn't all smooth sailing even at that point as he coughed up the lead during heads-up play before charging back to victory.
Our lovely host Anastasia interviewed the lively Menendez just after he secured his place in The Festival Series history books.
The Main Event attracted a banner field of 609 entries to generate a healthy £236,292 prize pool.
The Festival Series Nottingham Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ignacio Menendez | Argentina | £38,595* |
| 2 | Sean O’Donnell | United Kingdom | £31,150* |
| 3 | Endrit Geci | United Kingdom | £18,250 |
| 4 | Gyorgy Simon | Hungary | £12,592 |
| 5 | Dmitri Dudakov | Estonia | £9,250 |
| 6 | Vegard Andreassen | Norway | £7,000 |
| 7 | Michael O’Brien | United Kingdom | £5,500 |
| 8 | Mark van der Voorden | Netherlands | £4,500 |
*Reflects heads-up deal.
The Festival Series Nottingham Main Event by the Numbers
The Festival Series has featured Main Event winners from four different countries. Here is a look at all of the Main Event winners throughout the budding history of The Festival Series.
| Year | Location | Entries | Prize Pool | Winner | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Banco Casino Bratislava | 621 | €304,245 | Martin Mauthner | Austria | €56,870 |
| 2022 | Olympic Park Casino Tallinn | 552 | €264,960 | Eirik Kristiansen | Norway | €56,100 |
| 2022 | Banco Casino Bratislava | 1,271 | €603,725 | Michel Molenaar | Netherlands | €126,650 |
| 2023 | Dusk Till Dawn Nottingham | 609 | £236,292 | Ignacio Menendez | Argentina | £38,595 |
Final Table Recap
The final day began with eight hopefuls in the hunt for The Festival Series Main Event glory joining the likes of Martin Mauthner, Eirik Kristiansen, and Michel Molenaar in our tour's history books.
Dmitri Dudakov kicked off the final table with the chip lead with eventual winner Ignacio Menendez near the bottom of the pack. Menendez quickly doubled twice and was right in the thick of things fairly early into the final table.
It took several blind levels for the first eliminations to take place but after that, the floodgates opened with Vegard Andreassen, Michael O'Brien, and Mark van der Voorden all hitting the rail just a few hands apart.
Dudakov coughed up the chip lead several times but still had the chip lead at one point with five players remaining. The tides quickly turned after Dudakov lost a crucial flip when his tens proved to be no good against Sean O'Donnell's big slick. Dudakov was left with crumbs and soon after was on the rail to leave just four players remaining while O'Donnell was on the top of the pack for the first time at the final table.
O'Donnell asked for a deal at this point but the two players that hit the rail next wanted to keep playing. Menendez then took the chip lead which he held nearly the rest of the way. Gyorgy Simon then hit the rail on a cooler when he lost his short stack with tens against Menendez's nine-seven suited despite flopping a set.
Online poker beast Endrit Geci was the next to go on a cooler when his ace-queen was unable to hold against O'Donnell's ace-four.
Menendez began heads-up play with a substantial 4:1 chip advantage over O'Donnell. However, by the time the next break rolled around, Menendez's lead thinned out to a 2:1 advantage.
Fireworks erupted in back-to-back hands. First, O'Donnell with jack-eight managed to crack Menendez's rockets to take the chip lead but his advantage was short-lived with Menendez doubling back through O'Donnell to regain the lead when his big slick held against ace-queen.
The duo at this point agreed to a deal with £4,250 and the trophy left to play for. Shortly after, another cooler took place with Menendez winning the event with a full house holding king-seven against O'Donnell's flush with ace-eight suited.
A huge congrats again to Ignacio Menendez for winning The Festival Series Main Event!
The Festival Series Malta Next
If you missed out on all of the fun and excitement in Nottingham, rest assured The Festival Series will be back in just a few months in sunny Malta at the luxurious Portamaso Casino on May 15-21! Check out the full The Festival Series Malta schedule and be sure to book your flights!
