Presiyan Tsvetanov Wins The Festival Main Event
Presiyan Tsvetanov has won the Main Event of The Festival in Rozvadov to capture the €80,000 first prize and a seat in the €10,350 Main Event of the World Series of Poker Europe. He outlasted a field of 989 players, triumphing after a long heads-up battle with Czech player Michal Riczak.
Bulgarian Tsvetanov had gone into the final heads-up stage of the tournament with a 4-1 chip deficit, but clawed his way back into contention with an early double up holding AT versus Riczak’s K6. From then on the encounter took a more serious turn.
The table banter had largely been provided by Antoine Degiorgio and when he was eliminated in 3rd place, the time for table talk was over as both players locked their sights on the title.
After a long session of cagey play, the Bulgarian doubled again to take a bigger chip lead than the deficit he once faced. However it was still not over, as Riczak made a spirited comeback, doubling twice to close the gap and put the outcome in the balance once again.
It eventually concluded after over two and a half hours of heads up play. In the final hand, with the blinds at 300k/600k and a big blind 600k ante, Presiyan had applied the ultimate pressure against his short-stacked adversary, open shoving with 10 8 , which was snap called by Riczak, who was in the lead with K Q . However, the 9 J Q flop gave Presiyan a straight and left Roczak needing a ten to make a better one. The 3 on the turn and 2 on the flop brought the tournament to close.
Tsvetanov had started the final 4th in chips, but soon found himself slipping down the table and spent quite some time as one of the short stacks. However he doubled up when hitting a flush holding A 2 versus Yann Lormel’s A A after clubs on the turn and river devastated the best starting hand in Texas Hold’em.
It was Riczak who made the early running on the final table, busting Swede Rickard Olsson in 9th. Yann Lormel also started well, accounting for the exit of 8th placed ASSO (nickname).
Perhaps spurred on by the knowledge that highlights of the tournament were to be shown on Czech National TV, Michal then reasserted his lead, dumping 7th placed Erik Pulloveer from Estonia and 6th placed Runen777 (nickname) out of the €500,000 guaranteed event.
After dispatching Hungarian Barnabus Nagy and Maltese Antoine Degiorgio in 4th and 3rd places respectively, Riczak held a 4-1 chip lead when heads up play began. However it was not to be for the local hero, who had to settle for the runner-up spot, €47,900 and a WSOPE Main Event seat.
After taking down the title, Presiyan commented that it was an amazing feeling to get this far and achieve by far his biggest win in poker. Paying tribute to his heads-up opponent, he acknowledged he had played well, had been a really tough opponent and that he had to make many adjustments in his own game to counter the bet sizing of Riczak.
The Final Table Result
| Finishing Position | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Presiyan Tsvetanov | Bulgaria | €90,350* |
| 2 | Michal Riczak | Czech Republic | €58,250* |
| 3 | Antoine Degiorgio | Malta | €44,250* |
| 4 | Barnabas Nagy | Hungary | €35,950* |
| 5 | Yann Lormel | France | €30,550* |
| 6 | Runen777** | €25,650* | |
| 7 | Erik Polluveer | Estonia | €11,000 |
| 8 | Asso** | Germany | €7,500 |
| 9 | Rickard Olsson | Sweden | €5,950 |
The full result and all results from The Festival Series in Rozvadov can be found here.
