Michel Molenaar leads the Final 16 – The Festival Bratislava – Day 6
Saturday was a long day at the Bratislava Festival. The Main Event went from Late Reg in Day and almost 500 players to the Final Sixteen over the course of 14 hours while almost a dozen side events raged in the various parts of the Banco Casino.
1,271 Entries – New Record for The Festival Series
We started the day with about 460 players and entries and busts continued until level 14 and the first break of the Main Event. When the Main Event officially went into freezeout, there were a total of 1,271 entries, bringing the total prize pool to €603,725 - well above the €500,000 guarantee.
Main Event by the Numbers
| Flight | Entries | Survivors | Average | % Advanced | Chip Leader | Chips | Big Blinds |
| Day 1a | 134 | 39 | 103,077 | 29.1% | Rikard Larsson | 256,000 | 85 |
| Day 1b | 180 | 51 | 105,882 | 28.3% | Ronald Zapantis | 296,000 | 99 |
| Day 1c | 280 | 91 | 92,308 | 32.5% | Attila Kuna | 384,000 | 128 |
| Day 1d | 458 | 141 | 97,447 | 30.8% | Pavel Svach | 303,000 | 101 |
| Day 1e | 144 | 58 | 74,483 | 40.3% | Erik Seffer | 183,000 | 61 |
| Day 2 Late Reg | 75 | - | - | - | |||
| Total | 1,196 | 380 | 94,421 | 31.8% |
It was determined that 160 seats would be paid out with amounts ranging from €605 to €126,650. Full Payouts can be found below.
The bubble was a lengthy affair, spanning two floors and lasting almost two hours. In the end, American Andrew Puglisi fell at the most unfortunate spot and went away empty-handed. Although afterwards in the bar he told whoever would listen to what a great time he's had here this week. That’s the Festival spirit!
Once in the money, the usual quick bustouts ensured the field was quickly reduced to a number small enough to fit in the downstairs Ashoka room, which is also home to the TV table. As the bubble burst, our stream went live and at today's table was George Sandford, joined by Dehlia de Jong and Jacob Dideriksen-Nielsen.
Down to Two Tables Way After Midnight
The plan had always been to play down to two tables and that's what our Main Event players wanted to do no matter how long it took. They played well into level 26 and past 1 am when Sandeep Nene's elimination in 17th place meant the end of Day 2 and time for a short layover before the finals day begins today at 2 pm.
The chip leader at the end of Day 2 is Michel Molenaar - as he had been for some time after taking the lead from Peter Kamaras. He goes into the final day with 5,775,000 of the 38 million total chips in play. Sascha Manns is among the players who are still in, albeit with a more modest stack; Ronald Zapantis, the Day 1b chip leader, is also still good. Two women are also still in contention - Norwegian poker legend and successful streamer Ylva "Jevakim" Thorsrud and relative newcomer Gerianne Dijkstra from the Netherlands, who cashed in this week's Win the Button event in Bratislava, both have respectable stacks. The full chip count is below.
Side Events in Full Swing
Throughout the casino complex, the side events continued in full swing. The PLO and NLH freezeouts drew 72 and 87 entrants, respectively and continuing this week's general theme of blowing the guarantees, the Texas €30k Gtd event has attracted over 400 entries, meaning a prize pool of at least €45k. It will be played late into the night and we expect the winner to be announced at some point over breakfast. Away from poker, Ian Vertefeuille (who also placed in the Blackjack Championship) won the Franke's Flip Flops leaderboard and won a package to our next event.
Today the last day of The Festival in Bratislava begins at 1 pm with the €60 Texas Low Roller and the €250 Short Deck Championship. Main highlight besides the final of the Main Event will be the Open Face Chinese High Roller starting at 4 pm.
Here’s today’s schedule:
| Time | Event | Buy-In |
|---|---|---|
| 13:00 | Texas Lowroller | 50+10 |
| 13:00 | Texas Shortdeck/ 6+ Hold´em | 225+25 |
| 14:00 | MAIN EVENT DAY 3 (Final 2 Tables) €500,000 gtd. | Closed |
| 16:00 | OFC High Roller | 1000+100 |
| 17:00 | Staff Tournament €500 added | 10 |
Main Event Chip Counts
| Name | Chips | Big Blinds | Table | Seat |
| Adi Rajkovic | 3,500,000 | 44 | 23 | 6 |
| Marton Lugosi | 3,400,000 | 43 | 1 | 8 |
| Aaron Frese | 1,800,000 | 23 | 23 | 1 |
| Leo Sigurdsson | 1,600,000 | 20 | 1 | 1 |
| Gerianne Dijkstra | 1,600,000 | 20 | 23 | 2 |
| Mark Berman | 1,600,000 | 20 | 1 | 4 |
| Jari Pekka Raettyae | 1,300,000 | 16 | 23 | 5 |
| Ylva Thorsrud | 1,000,000 | 13 | 1 | 3 |
| Peter Kamaras | 900,000 | 11 | 23 | 4 |
| Slavomir Rakovan | 650,000 | 8 | 23 | 3 |
| Yasen Dichev | 600,000 | 8 | 1 | 7 |
| Michel Molenaar | 500,000 | 6 | 1 | 5 |
| Andrew Hanak | 500,000 | 6 | 23 | 8 |
| Ronald Zapantis | 400,000 | 5 | 1 | 6 |
| Sascha Manns | 400,000 | 5 | 23 | 7 |
| Miklos Zsuffa | 300,000 | 4 | 1 | 2 |
Main Event Payouts
| # | Player | Payout |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | €126,650 | |
| 2 | €77,450 | |
| 3 | €50,550 | |
| 4 | €36,975 | |
| 5 | €27,900 | |
| 6 | €20,375 | |
| 7 | €14,350 | |
| 8 | €9,870 | |
| 9 | €6,820 | |
| 10 | €5,795 | |
| 11 | €5,795 | |
| 12 | €5,795 | |
| 13 | €4,710 | |
| 14 | €4,710 | |
| 15 | €4,710 | |
| 16 | €4,710 | |
| 17 | Sandeep Nene | €3,805 |
| 18 | Dimitros Lykouris | €3,805 |
| 19 | Mario Mende | €3,805 |
| 20 | Fotios Ntamaris | €3,805 |
| 21 | Adam Kharman | €3,805 |
| 22 | Are Ugland | €3,805 |
| 23 | Alf Peter Onnestam | €3,805 |
| 24 | Hans Erlandsson | €3,080 |
| 25 | Luka Bojovic | €3,080 |
| 26 | Giovanni Piccione | €3,080 |
| 27 | Robert Laskowski | €3,080 |
| 28 | Ori Elul | €3,080 |
| 29 | Paul Hoefer | €3,080 |
| 30 | Attila Kuna | €3,080 |
| 31 | Michael Sklenička | €3,080 |
| 32 | Johan Sundgren | €2,775 |
| 33 | Giorgi Gogoladze | €2,775 |
| 34 | Frank Visser | €2,775 |
| 35 | Miroslav Juris | €2,775 |
| 36 | Karl Sundin | €2,775 |
| 37 | Peter Zolnai | €2,775 |
| 38 | Marc Muller | €2,775 |
| 39 | Riccardo de Rubeis | €2,775 |
| 40 | Michael Wehner | €2,295 |
| 41 | Elod Zsombok | €2,295 |
| 42 | Zsolt Lassu | €2,295 |
| 43 | Vladimir Bartko | €2,295 |
| 44 | Richard Miklosovic | €2,295 |
| 45 | Istvan Toth | €2,295 |
| 46 | Markku Tammisto | €2,295 |
| 47 | Dmitri Dudakov | €2,295 |
| 48 | Sergejs Cugainovs | €1,900 |
| 49 | Thomas Næss | €1,900 |
| 50 | Erik Seffer | €1,900 |
| 51 | Nils Linden | €1,900 |
| 52 | Sebastian Schulze | €1,900 |
| 53 | Carsten Lund Larsen | €1,900 |
| 54 | Hector Fortea Grangel | €1,900 |
| 55 | David Kurbel | €1,900 |
| 56 | Kenneth Aspestrand | €1,570 |
| 57 | Nils Leif Doverklint | €1,570 |
| 58 | Robert Komlodi | €1,570 |
| 59 | Ergo Rohi | €1,570 |
| 60 | Ayrton Turudic | €1,570 |
| 61 | Leif Iversen | €1,570 |
| 62 | Marius Hoegtun | €1,570 |
| 63 | Raymond Forsland | €1,570 |
| 64 | Savvas Papadopoulos | €1,300 |
| 65 | Domenik Schlesinger | €1,300 |
| 66 | Mateusz Moolhuizen | €1,300 |
| 67 | Dan Jackson | €1,300 |
| 68 | Jakub Matusiak | €1,300 |
| 69 | Siegfried Rath | €1,300 |
| 70 | Viktor Eriksson | €1,300 |
| 71 | Paul Maguire | €1,300 |
| 72 | Szerhij Danasevszkij | €1,085 |
| 73 | Yaron Amsalem | €1,085 |
| 74 | Peter Behr | €1,085 |
| 75 | Gyorgy Laszlo | €1,085 |
| 76 | Erik Zackrisson | €1,085 |
| 77 | Patrik Kunik | €1,085 |
| 78 | Matus Kucera | €1,085 |
| 79 | Johannes Huisman | €1,085 |
| 80 | Alexander Moser | €935 |
| 81 | Karlo Finka | €935 |
| 82 | Iraklis Manikaros | €935 |
| 83 | Daniyel Destici | €935 |
| 84 | Alexander Willem Van Dijk | €935 |
| 85 | Kristiyan Spasov | €935 |
| 86 | Jozsef Dobos | €935 |
| 87 | Zdenko Slavik | €935 |
| 88 | Krzysztof Nowakowski | €815 |
| 89 | Holger Brueck | €815 |
| 90 | Cole Maguire | €815 |
| 91 | Kyrill Leutwyler | €815 |
| 92 | Dragos-Constantin Negrii | €815 |
| 93 | Michael Zauner | €815 |
| 94 | Roberts Krigers | €815 |
| 95 | Stefan Bugar | €815 |
| 96 | Miroslav Zitka | €815 |
| 97 | Dominik Desset | €815 |
| 98 | Damian Marcinkowski | €815 |
| 99 | Ivan Barczi | €815 |
| 100 | Emmanouil Zacharakis | €815 |
| 101 | Matyas Kende | €815 |
| 102 | Richard Aotaeht | €815 |
| 103 | Daniel Schausberger | €815 |
| 104 | Tibor Benko | €725 |
| 105 | Ervin Kuglis | €725 |
| 106 | Andreas Pavli | €725 |
| 107 | Tamas Braun | €725 |
| 108 | Adam Jindra | €725 |
| 109 | Johannes van Aalst | €725 |
| 110 | Plamen Yakimov | €725 |
| 111 | Dominik Znasik | €725 |
| 112 | Johan Amren | €725 |
| 113 | Sebastian Kotowicz | €725 |
| 114 | Espen Gundersen | €725 |
| 115 | Miroslav Druga | €725 |
| 116 | David Courselles | €725 |
| 117 | Robert Sloboda | €725 |
| 118 | Simon Ye | €725 |
| 119 | Symeon Marvakis | €725 |
| 120 | Christos Vettas | €665 |
| 121 | Eden Azulay | €665 |
| 122 | David Ankava Onkioa | €665 |
| 123 | Aurelie Dassi | €665 |
| 124 | Attila Tarko | €665 |
| 125 | Feng Li | €665 |
| 126 | Chen Keren | €665 |
| 127 | Konstantinos Nanos | €665 |
| 128 | Emmanuel Leghait | €665 |
| 129 | Wang Lu | €665 |
| 130 | Kwan Shun Sam Lau | €665 |
| 131 | Patrik Ciklamini | €665 |
| 132 | Alain Berth | €665 |
| 133 | Almir Koljenovic | €665 |
| 134 | Filip Sramka | €665 |
| 135 | Andras Matrai | €665 |
| 136 | Robin Cornet | €605 |
| 137 | Natanel Mamis | €605 |
| 138 | Yordan Dichev | €605 |
| 139 | Emir Jusuframic | €605 |
| 140 | Slimane Mameche | €605 |
| 141 | Ole Johan Wasenius | €605 |
| 142 | Sivan Mirani | €605 |
| 143 | Per Thomas Lindstroem | €605 |
| 144 | Jozef Bartalos | €605 |
| 145 | Joel Christian Salmirinne | €605 |
| 146 | Richard Msall | €605 |
| 147 | Rene Vonwald | €605 |
| 148 | Morten Bremseth | €605 |
| 149 | Robert Perelman | €605 |
| 150 | Vojtech Paxian | €605 |
| 151 | Jon Kyte | €605 |
| 152 | Wessam Bitar | €605 |
| 153 | Jenny Westerlund | €605 |
| 154 | Andrej Kocian | €605 |
| 155 | Dimitrios Nanos | €605 |
| 156 | Alexandros Fixmer | €605 |
| 157 | Dalil Masaud | €605 |
| 158 | Branislav Ondrus | €605 |
| 159 | Teodor Popovic | €605 |
| 160 | Istvan Kovács | €605 |
