Karma Comes Good As Petros Theodosiou Wins The Main Event on Day 7 at The Festival Bratislava
The ultimate day of The Festival Bratislava saw a new Main Event Champion crowned at Banco Casino Bratislava and the first €1,100 10-Game Mix champion emerge. The last High Roller of the Week, the €1,100 Open Face Chinese, found a new champion after a marathon day at the tables. At the opposite end of the spectrum, the €60 Lowroller, one player walked away with a four-figure score and a package worth €1,600! Here is the rundown.
€550 Main Event
Nine players returned with the goal of Main Event glory, and it didn't take long for the stacks to be flying. Dmitry Golushko and Petros Theodosiou played a sizeable pot early into the Final Table. In a blind v blind situation, Golushko was at risk with A Q , and Theodosiu had K K . The A 5 6 5 4 gave Golushko an early double up to over 3,000,000 in chips.
Theodosiou was the most active player throughout the final table, and he was involved in the first elimination of the final table. In a four-way affair, Teemu Haellfors became the first to fall, as he lost to the slow-played aces of Pawel Dudnik.
Speaking of aces. The colourful Markus Gaulhofer cracked them to send Stevan Gvozdenovic to the rail. Gaulhofer opened from early position to 300,000. Gvozdenovic made it 500,000. Gaulhofer called as the action folded around. He check-called 300,000 on 10 4 3 . He check-called an all-in on the 6 turn. Gvozdenovic had A A and Gaulhofer had 8 8 .
The 8 arrived on the river to the surprise of everyone. "That's just how I run" said Gvozdenovic as he departed the table. Gaulhofer was elated and jumped out of his seat like a speeding bullet.
Mark McKenzie couldn't get much going over the course of the session, and he ended up all in for around six blinds with J 2 from the button. Henning Wendlandt called in the big blind with A 6 . The K 7 A K 2 runout provided no surprises, and McKenzie hit the payout desk.
Theodosiou kept chipping up and away at his opposition, and he was the overall chipleader as the remaining six took the first break of the day. Henning Wendlandt came into the day as the overall chip leader, but he was on the downtrend, losing multiple pots to Theodosiou.
Golushko was next to depart; this time, his A Q was the losing hand. He three-bet jammed versus a button open from Zbigniew Wieczorek, who called off the 2,350,000 jam with 10 10 .
Wieczorek flopped Golushko essentially dead across 10 8 2 2 A runout. Golushko said, "Good game," before claiming his payout. Wieczorek now takes the chip lead.
Wendlandt doubled with A 10 versus Gaulhofer's K Q . The 3 6 4 4 10 runout secured the German a crucial double, putting Gaulhofer on short-stack duties.
The atmosphere at the table was friendly and banterous throughout, like it is at any tournament in any event at The Festival Series. Wendlandt's newly acquired chips didn't last long as his A K was bested by Wieczorek's K Q . Wieczorek binked a queen on the flop across the runout of Q 5 J 4 3 to eliminate the German. Dudnik flatted the open but folded 9 9 to Wieczorek's jam.
Gaulhofer was chipping up himself. The colourful Austrian moved all in more times than I had coffee over the course of the afternoon (quite a lot), and would often throw in a biscuit and a freshly wrapped cigar he found on the tournament floor as the players bagged last night. He gained three streets of value from the big blind versus Wieczorek as the former made a straight.
Dudnik's day was done when his ace-ten offsuit couldn't find a ten on the runout of across the 7 2 8 6 8 runout against the A K of Theodosiou. Gaulhofer lost some ground to Wieczorek as he had kicker issues. Both players hit the queen across Q 7 6 5 10 , but it was Wieczorek's K Q that was best at showdown.
Wieczorek was now atop the counts, but Theodosiou was breathing down his neck. He drew closer to his Polish opponent by dispatching Gaulhofer in a preflop all-in. Gaulhofer was all in and at risk with A Q . Theodosiou had him covered with A 6 . It was all good for Gaulhofer until the river on the runout of 2 8 J 2 6 . Gaulhofer took the beat graciously and headed straight to the payout desk after exchanging fistbumps with his tablemates.
Theodosiou and Wieczorek quickly agreed on a deal, which saw them play for €7,400 and the trophy heads-up. Wieczorek had the advantage, but it wasn't huge. After the opening ten hands or so, it was Theodosiou back on top, as he won pot after pot.
In the most interesting hand of heads-up, the 9 7 7 was checked down before Wieczorek check-called a bet of 1,200,000 with the blinds at 150k/300k on the 4 turn. Wieczorek then led for 1,200,000 on the 7 river, putting Theodosiou in an awkward spot.
Theodosiou took a moment, talking to himself in his native tongue before switching to English. "smaller flush, full house, can't be many sevens." He then flicked in the call with K 2 for a flush. Wieczorek had a bluff with 10 8 .
Theodosiou then had a commanding advantage, and it wasn't long before it was all over. Wieczorek moved all in for 2,150,000, under 10 big blinds with 9 6 . Theodosiou called after having a confirmed count.
The 6 5 4 flop propelled Wieczorek into the lead. The A changed nothing. "Seven, deuce, king!" called Theodosiou, and the deck was clearly listening. The K river sent Theodosiou into celebration, and he was joined by his compatriots at the table to embrace in celebration!
What is interesting to note is his interaction with our Hospitality hostess with the mostess, Christel Natri. Theodosiou bought Natri a sandwich at a neighboring store having recognized her for her work with The Festival team. Theodosiou said he was about to hop into the Main Event on the same day, to which Natri said "that's good karma, you are going to win it all now!" Clearly karma is a powerful force, and a matter of days later, Theodosiou leaves Bratislava €39,490 richer. Below are the payouts.
| Position | Player | Prize | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Petros Theodosiou | €39,490 |  |
| 2 | Zbigniew Wieczorek | €34,810 |  |
| 3 | Markus Gaulhofer | €19,850 |  |
| 4 | Pawel Dudnik | €14,700 | |
| 5 | Henning Wendlandt | €11,300 |  |
| 6 | Dmitry Golushko | €8,700 | |
| 7 | Mark Mckenzie | €6,950 |  |
| 8 | Stevan Gvozdenovic | €5,575 |  |
| 9 | Teemu Haellfors | €4,450 |  |
€1,100 10-Game Mix
The Festival Founder Martin 'Franke' von Zweigbergk returned for Day 2 as the chipleader, but within two levels, "REBUY" was heard from across the floor. Ari Engel took to the felt and was quickly building a threatening stack.
Former Mixed Game Main Event HORSES Champ Sascha Manns also accumulated early. The friend of The Festival managed to keep a hold of his stack, and he was still near the top of the counts when the final two tables were formed.
Another who consistently had chips in front of him was last years Mixed Game Main Event - TORSES Winner, Sergii Baranov. The experienced Mixed Game player was atop the counts when play reached final table status. Alexander Freund was the unfortunate victim of the bubble, and he was the first to fall at the seven handed FT with only six paid.
Baranov could seemingly do no wrong, and he ended up besting Sascha Manns in a short heads-up having an overwhelming chip advantage. Manns let The Festival know that this was a rerun of a previous encounter he had with Baranov at last years EPT Prague stop. Below are the payouts.
| Position | Players | Payout | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sergii Baranov | €14,225 |  |
| 2 | Sascha Manns | €10,025 | |
| 3 | Marc Gork | €6,900 | |
| 4 | Jacek Piontke | €4,800 | |
| 5 | Jari Maehoenen | €3,350 | |
| 6 | Ari Engel | €2,500 |  |
€1,100 Open Face Chinese
Twenty-three High Rollers took to the felt in the €1,100 Open Face Chinese, which is a game quickly growing in popularity. Players like Krzysztof Kordus and Fabian Bartuschk show up to The Festival mainly for the Open Face Chinese games. Both like the game so much, they were in for three bullets each, but all failed to cash.
'Franke' had a yo-yo day up the chip counts, and went from loving to hating the game in the blink of an eye, the turn of a card. The Boss ended up cashing in third for €3,500. Not so lucky was Matt Kelley, who was the victim of the stone bubble. Artem Berliem had chips throughout the day, but couldn't make his advantage count at the final table.
Ultimately, it was Eran Lin who took down the title and €8,350 for his efforts.
| Position | Player | Payout | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eran Lin | €8,350 |  |
| 2 | Ilkka Heikkilae | €5,250 | |
| 3 | Franke von Zweigbergk | €3,500 |  |
| 4 | Artem Berliand | €2,750 |  |
| 5 | Johnny Johansen | €2,000 | |
€60 Lowroller
Sweden's Bo Lindahl will be joining us in Rozvadov in the summer, having agreed a heads up ICM deal which saw him walk away with €1,000 and a package worth €1,600. He did a deal with Ivo Petkov who took the biggest cash prize. Below are the payouts.
| Position | Player | Payout | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bo Lindahl | €1,000 + €1,600 Package | |
| 2 | Ivo Petkov | €1,630 |  |
| 3 | Kare Hallamaa | €600 | |
| 4 | Monica Larsson | €440 | |
| 5 | Karo Virtanen | €320 | |
What's Next?
That's all for this Festival Series stop! If you would like to join us in Rozvadov, qualify online through iPoker, Unibet and WPT Global from as little as 1 cent. Come and get involved in all The Festival fun!
Until next time.
