Meet Ronald van de Linde – The bridge between the BeNeLux and Rozvadov
Ronald van de Linde is a well-known personality in the Dutch poker community. Where his origins rely in Amsterdam, he is often to be found in another capital of Europe, poker temple King's Casino in Rozvadov. Not only does he own a tennis school in The Netherlands, he is also the founder of the 'Dutch Classics' and 'Benelux Classics', lower buy-in tournament series with great guaranteed prize pools.
Operator: Unibet Poker
The Festival Series will make its debut at the King's Casino in Rozvadov on May 31st. For a whopping 10-day streak, tournaments will be offered in all shapes, formats, and levels. Where the €550 Main Event hosts a guaranteed prize pool of €500,000, there are two other events going with massive prizes. The Hendon Mob Championship with a buy-in of just €250, guarantees €200,000. Another epic event on the schedule is the Mystery Bounty, where a buy-in of €300 is applied, going with a guarantee of €100,000!
Ronald van de Linde is well-known for organizing poker trips for all Dutch and Belgian poker enthusiasts. Where a collaboration has been set up between The Festival Series and Ronald, we made use of this moment and caught up with him. At the time we did the interview, Ronald found himself at the Canary Islands, enjoying a well-deserved holiday before one of his events kicks off in Rozvadov on April 10th.
Ronald van de Linde and King's Casino Rozvadov
Ronald always has been a fan of card games. Name any kind of card game, and Ronald is able to give you fierce competition! The Netherlands is known for their many cards games, of which a lot of them don't even have an English meaning. From a young age, Ronald mastered several card games, and eventually got in touch with poker. Where it was first limit-Hold'em games, it eventually turned into the poker we all know.
Ten years ago, he got his first experience at the King's Casino in Rozvadov. Back then, not at the level as where they are at nowadays, but still very recognizable! He tagged along with a couple friends and one of them got invited to play cash games at the casino, where he eventually walked away with a tremendous profit. A half a year after that, he returned to Rozvadov with a bunch of friends for the second time. At that time, a fellow Dutchman was working as a F&B Manager in the casino, and he mentioned to the group of friends that somehow the Dutch players were not visiting Rozvadov at all. There was a Belgian Championship event, but players from The Netherlands were missing out on this.
Ronald quickly put things on paper, and introduced his idea to King's Casino of organizing an event for the Dutch players. From there onwards, events like the 'Dutch Classics' and the 'Benelux Classics' got introduced to the poker crowd, and have been a great success ever since! This year, 2024, King's Casino hosts five of such events, where players can get their hands on big prizes, for respectable buy-ins. Not only does Ronald organize the event, alongside King's Casino, he also offers a full package to Dutch and Belgian players. The travel, the accomodation, the tournaments, everything is included. With his company called 'Kennemer Reizen'. Together with a whole team, Ronald is offering a great way of enjoying poker abroad!
The Festival Series going to Rozvadov
When asking Ronald on his honest opinion about Rozvadov he had the following to say: ''King's Casino is the perfect resort for both, low- and high buy-in events. Not only can you find tournaments with the best structures you can imagine, all staff members are highly professional and aim always for standards to rise above themselves. The accomodation options in Rozvadov are cheap and very comfortable. The tournaments at King's Casino are the best you can find in Europe.''
With The Festival Series arriving into town, Ronald is excited about the idea. ''When I met Franke for the first time, I could directly see the reason why The Festival Series is such a great event to go to. Alongside his team, he makes it happen that their faces are being recognized. And that's exactly the thing which is important for poker players in my opinion, people where you can rely on whenever you need something during the event, as after all, you are residing in a foreign country. Besides the great tournament structures that King's Casino offers, it is also a great thing to see that The Festival Series highlights their hospitality events and really makes a poker holiday complete.''
Poker in The Netherlands
Online gaming, as well as live events, are regulated in The Netherlands. Where state-owned Holland Casino is having a monopoly on live games, there are just a hand full of online poker operators available for the Dutch players. One of them, Unibet Poker, hosts daily satellite tournaments for The Festival Series, with a grand final every Sunday at 20:00 CET, guaranteeing 2x Full Packages! At this moment, Unibet Poker also hosts a Special Challenge where you can grab a Live Package!
Ronald: ''Years ago, there weren't much possibilities in live poker when it comes to lower buy-in events. This is one of the main reasons why we came up with the idea of organizing events in Rozvadov, where players can enjoy a short holiday away from home, doing what they like to be doing, playing poker! Dutch players are going all across Europe and beyond to participate in poker events, think about Barcelona, Malta, Rozvadov, Ireland. It's great to see they are going in big numbers to events in Rozvadov several times a year.''
Despite many Dutchmen going to Rozvadov, in the history of the 'Dutch Classics', it had never happened that the event would have a winner from The Netherlands, until Ronald van de Linde had a run of his lifetime. Where in 2017, he already managed to secure a win in the High-Roller event and several other good scores in side events, it was in 2022 where Ronald would become Main Event Champion of the 'Dutch Classics'. He bested a field of 1,452 entries, taking home €58,050 for the win + WSOPE Main Event ticket worth €10,350!
In the whole history of the Dutch- and Benelux Classics, the tournament receives on average around 1,500 entries. Great numbers for a low buy-in event!
The Festival Series - Social Media
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See you in Rozvadov!
