Player of the Series – The Festival Series Bratislava
The Player of the Series ranking during The Festival Series is becoming more iconic every single stop. You can compare it with the player of the year ranking during the WSOP as well, players such as Daniel Negreanu and Scott Seiver are chasing the rankings at any time of the day due to the legendary status of it. With The Festival Series, and the amount of tournaments throughout the series, we couldn't let it pass by that easily!
The ranking system of Player of the Series has been set up in a way that the winner of the Main Event wouldn't automatically be one of the strongest contestants for the title in this system as well. With our formula, we are really rewarding the 'all-round players'. Take a look at last year's ranking in Bratislava where Gabriel Rymar took down the Bratislava Deepstack event (€14,000+), and the Main Event (€80,000), the two largest tournaments of the series. He eventually didn't make it in the ranking of the Player of the Series, finishing 4th overall.
Speaking of the 2023 event in Bratislava, it was Scott 'Pokerbrahs' Kenyon who took down the leaderboard ranking with a total of 169 points. He is one of these players who is chasing the leaderboard from the very first tournament, until the very last tournament. Other players such as Barrie Dear and Lachezar Tsenov also try to aim high during the Player of the Series ranking.
>> All pictures The Festival Series Bratislava 2024
Player of the Series - Bratislava 2024
During this year's event in Bratislava, we have tried to put this ranking more into the spotlights by sharing daily the leaderboard standings on our social media channels. This to create more awareness among players, as after all, there is a package worth €1,600 on the line for the winner! From the get-go, it was Scott Kenyon who would be in the top-10 and kept scoring big throughout the entire week.
However, with one day remaining, it was Paddy Schmidt who had the lead by one point over Scott Kenyon. It looked like the final Sunday would turn out to become fireworks, but little did we know that Paddy wouldn't participate in the tournaments on Sunday as he already had left Bratislava. Still it wouldn't mean the end to this ranking, as Barrie Dear and Lachezar Tsenov were still present and tried to score the much needed points make it an exciting finish!
>> All Results The Festival Series Bratislava 2024
Scott Kenyon told us already on Saturday that he would be playing all tournaments on the final day. By only participating in the events, he would surpass Paddy Schmidt on the ranking. If he then would be able to score big as well in these tournaments it would turn out as a mission impossible for the remaining contestants. 'The Big O' and the 'OFC Highroller' would be the tournaments which would decide this ranking.
Final Ranking - Bratislava
Let's start with the players who ended up between 6th and 20th position on the ranking. Lars Hole, who eventually ended up 20th, had a good start and was even in the lead for some time. Wouter Schuurbiers, OFC passionate, managed to get a decent amount of points as well during this stop. Among these players, we see many winners of events, such as Vegard Granli who took down The Hendon Mob Championship event, as well as the PLO Freezeout. Peder Behr took down the Roulette tournament, and Rotem Bar Noy took down the Mystery Bounty tournament on the final day of this stop.
>> Relive the Final Hand of the The Festival Series Bratislava 2024 Main Event!
| Rank | Player | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | Jaroslav Stulhofer | 134 |
| 5 | Lachezar Tsenov | 127 |
| 6 | Riku Maatta | 125 |
| 7 | Vegard Granli | 125 |
| 8 | Wouter Schuurbiers | 115 |
| 9 | Blaz Zerjav | 108 |
| 10 | Peder Behr | 102 |
| 11 | Ole Karlsen | 98 |
| 12 | Ondrej Necas | 97 |
| 13 | Mattia Ruebenstrunk | 94 |
| 14 | Sami Pulliainen | 93 |
| 15 | Iury Wolf | 91 |
| 16 | Rotem Bar Noy | 91 |
| 17 | Sandeep Nene | 90 |
| 18 | Aki Pyysing | 89 |
| 19 | Hayley Goss | 87 |
| 20 | Lars Hole | 87 |
Player of the Series Bratislava - Podium Ceremony!
As we mentioned before, before the penultimate day of The Festival Series Bratislava, the standings of the ranking were extremely narrow! Paddy Schmidt was leading by one point, where we knew that Scott Kenyon would stay until the end, playing the Big O and the OFC Highroller events.
Where Kenyon didn't manage to come close to a cash in the Big O (20th, with 7 ITM), he would end up making a deal in the OFC Highroller and eventually win the whole lot! Barrie Dear gave it his all during the final day, but ended up coming 3rd in the Big O, which would turn out to be same position on the leaderboard in the end.
Paddy Schmidt wouldn't be able to participate on Sunday, but still managed to secure the runner-up position!
>> Full Structure of the Player of the Series ranking
3. Bronze Medalist : Barrie Dear (146 Points)
Barrie Dear, friend of The Festival Series, is always present during our stops throughout the year. Besides having a very friendly and great personality, he is extremely competitive when it comes to mixed games! Two years ago, he arrived in Bratislava with the likes of fellow countrymen William Paxton and William Lynch, and Barrie this year kept shining as well! Taking home third place in the ranking, having one title behind his name and several notable finishes. Surely he won't be disappointed with all these great results! See you next time Barrie!
| €250 8-Game Mix | 3 |
| €250 PLO 4/5/6 Card | 21 |
| €550 HORSES Mixed Games Main Event | 26 |
| €250 Open Face Chinese Poker | 3 |
| €125 PL Razz Progressive KO | 2 |
| €125 H.O.R.S.E | 2 |
| €250 Sviten Special | 3 |
| €125 2-7 Triple Draw | 39 |
| €250 PLO Freezeout | 3 |
| €125 PLO5 Turbo Late Night Madness | 2 |
| €125 Saturday NLH Turbo Midnight Madness | 21 |
| €250 Big O | 21 |
| Total Points | 146 |
2. Silver Medalist : Paddy Schmidt (170 Points)
When searching for Paddy Schmidt on The Hendon Mob (the world's largest poker database), you could find only two cashes prior to The Festival Bratislava. Both of them were from 2023. With a total of six ITM finishes during this event, he extended his list of cashes impressively! His best finish during this Series was his runner-up result in the €125 NLH PKO Late Night Madness tournament, where he got send to the rail by Banco Casino regular Maksym Ronshyn.
We would never know how the ranking would have turned out when Paddy decided to stay the last day of the event, but surely he can look back on his magnificent runs during this series with a big smile on his face! Congratulations on the good results, Paddy! And surely hope you will be rocking it again during our next event in 2025, at the King's Casino in Rozvadov!
| €1,100 NLH High Roller | 11 |
| €125 Thursday NLH Late Night Madness | 17 |
| €250 The Hendon Mob Championship | 7 |
| €550 HORSES Mixed Games Main Event | 11 |
| €250 Open Face Chinese Poker | 3 |
| €1,100 PLO High Roller | 11 |
| €125 NLH PKO Late Night Madness | 32 |
| €125 PL Razz Progressive KO | 23 |
| €125 H.O.R.S.E | 2 |
| €250 Sviten Special | 22 |
| €125 2-7 Triple Draw | 24 |
| €250 PLO Freezeout | 3 |
| €125 PLO5 Turbo Late Night Madness | 2 |
| €125 Saturday NLH Turbo Midnight Madness | 2 |
| Total Points | 170 |
1. Golden Medalist : Scott 'Pokerbrahs' Kenyon (201 Points)
The official Winner of the Player of the Series ranking of The Festival Series Bratislava is Scott 'Pokerbrahs' Kenyon!! With a total of seven impressive cashes during this event, he ended up winning the whole lot! The first, and only, prize of this leaderboard ranking is a €1,600 Full Package for The Festival Series Rozvadov event in 2025! Congratulations Scott!
When the first cards were dealt during this event, Scott Kenyon was right in the mix of the HORSES Mixed Main Event. Even when the final cards were dealt of the final tournament (OFC Highroller), he was still sitting up straight! To make it even more iconic, he went on to win this very event after a 3-way deal! Once again, Scott managed to secure the most points in the leaderboard in Bratislava. Where he ended up short of the victory in Rozvadov and Malta earlier this year, it's once again the Englishman living in Gibraltar who takes down one of the most prestigious titles of the series!
Not only did he stream all his poker action live on his own Twitch Channel and presumably set a personal record for having streamed most hours of live poker in one week, he also set a new All-Time best in the Player of the Series ranking with a grand total of 201 Points! Scott, from the bottom of our hearts; Congratulations and a very well deserved win! We hope to see you during our next event, where yet another ranking will be on the line!
| €250 8-Game Mix | 27 |
| €125 Thursday NLH Late Night Madness | 18 |
| €550 HORSES Mixed Games Main Event | 11 |
| €250 Open Face Chinese Poker | 3 |
| €125 PL Razz Progressive KO | 29 |
| €125 H.O.R.S.E | 22 |
| €250 Sviten Special | 21 |
| €125 2-7 Triple Draw | 2 |
| €125 Friday NLH Turbo Late Night Madness | 2 |
| €250 PLO Freezeout | 3 |
| €125 PLO5 Turbo Late Night Madness | 2 |
| €125 Saturday NLH Turbo Midnight Madness | 29 |
| €250 Big O | 3 |
| €1,100 OFC Highroller | 29 |
| Total Points | 201 |
