Great New Additions during the First Days of The Festival Series Bratislava
The Festival Bratislava got to know many new winners in the history of our event. Not only winners but also notable results of players who managed to run deep in several events. Besides the results in poker, what stroke us is the attendance rates in the side events which went above every expectation. Take for example the PL Razz PSKO tournament, attracting 80 entries. Or the Mystery Bounty event which had a whopping 405 entries! We are going to look back on every single tournament of The Festival Bratislava, starting off with the first part right here!
H.O.R.S.E.S. Mixed Main Event
| Buy-In | €550 |
| Entries | 46 |
| Prize Pool | €21,850 |
The H.O.R.S.E.S. Mixed Main Event made its introduction during the previous Festival Series edition in Bratislava, back in 2023. There are many variants on the format of H.O.R.S.E, such as T.E.R.O.S, which excludes Limit Hold'em. But as you might have figured out by now, we do not like to exclude anything from our events, doesn't matter if it's about players, hospitality events, or even tournament formats. With the addition of Sviten Special to one of the most popular mixed games formats, this tournament is being seen as one of the toughest mixed games to beat during our event.
The winner's gallery of this tournament, prior to this Bratislava event, have names which are known in the live poker circuit such as Jon Kyte (Bratislava '23), Sascha Manns (Rozvadov '24), and Eirik Presttun (Malta '24).
The field in Bratislava existed out of a total of 46 entries, equal to the event at King's Casino in Rozvadov earlier this year. When the remaining players took a seat for the second day of the tournament, the prize pool got announced. A total of 7 players (final table) would reach in the money, guaranteeing €1,400 for the min cash. It wouldn't take much knowledge to have two players from Finland in the mix at the final table with Aki Pyysing and Arto Loikkanen. The mixed games seemed to have hit Italy as well, as Matteo Crapanano and Fabio De Francesco also managed to get the job done. Blaz Zerjav, known for his excellent resume on The Hendon Mob with total live earnings surpassing the €800,000 mark, came to Bratislava to practise his Mixed Games skills. Not bad at all, considering he managed to take the runner-up position in this tournament.
Eventually not a single player would be able to best Finish poker legend Aki Pyysing, often praised for his poker books written with in a great amusing manner. He took down the event for a total of €6,250, making him a great addition to the earlier mentioned winner's gallery.
Pot-Limit Razz Progressive KO
| Buy-In | €125 |
| Entries | 80 |
| Prize Pool | €4,560 |
One of the newest additions to The Festival Series is the Pot-Limit Razz Progressive Knockout tournament. One of the main reasons for adding this tournament was the gap in the Monday tournament schedule, making it the perfect occasion to add a new gem to the list. The tournament attracted a whopping 80 entries and included not only seasoned mixed-games players. The Razz format is one of the "easiest" mixed-games formats, where players get a total of seven cards (3 closed, 4 open). The best hand is A-2-3-4-5, and suits are irrelevant in this game.
A total of 11 players reached the money spots, and with leaderboard hunters such as Scott Kenyon (3rd), Lachezar Tsenov (4th), Wouter Schuurbiers (5th), Paddy Schmidt (6th), and Antoine Degiorgio (11th) among the survivors, fireworks at the final table were guaranteed. The progressive knockout feature added an extra dimension to the game, making it worthwhile to try and bust as many players as possible. It was eventually Lars Hole from Norway who lifted the trophy in the end, leaving Italian Giorgio Savignone as the runner-up.
The feedback from the players after the tournament was extremely positive, making it an easy decision for us to consider including this tournament in the next event as well. With blind levels set at 20 minutes, the format exceeded expectations. Perhaps next time, we could add even more fireworks by setting the levels at 15 minutes.
NLH Monday Knockout
| Buy-In | €125 |
| Entries | 95 |
| Prize Pool | €4,560 |
With the opening flights of The Hendon Mob Championship and the H.O.R.S.E.S. Mixed Main Event running throughout the day, and new events such as the U25 tournament and the Razz tournament, there had been plenty of choice for all players. But whoever arrived later on the day, or had busted out of the afternoon tournaments, could join the first No-Limit Hold'em Knockout tournament of the week.
A total of 95 entries were made during 6 levels of registration. The top prize was set at €1,290, excluding bounties. It was eventually a Nordics gathering at the final table, giving Tomi Suikka from Finland the win. The top six players came from Finland (3x), Norway (1x), Denmark (1x), and Iceland (1x). A promising start for the Hold'em side events after all, with Vegard Granli finishing in 10th place—a name which would eventually throw high numbers throughout the week.
Fun story in the end was the final hand- Giving Tomi Suikka the win with Seven-Deuce, while playing on table #72.
Roulette Championship
| Buy-In | €125 |
| Entries | 24 |
| Prize Pool | €2,640 |
Ever played a casino game which isn't about competing against the casino itself? Then the Roulette Tournament will give a new meaning to one of the most popular casino games in the world. With a whopping 24 entries, many had their eyes set on the first prize of €1,300. Peder Behr from Norway eventually took down the event, and even shared the winning strategy during one of the interview moments, done by our host Andreas Hoglund.
Heads Up Tournament
| Buy-In | €250 |
| Entries | 32 |
| Prize Pool | €6,840 |
The heads-up tournament is one of these tournaments which are instantly 'sold out' as it has a capped feature of entries. A total of 32 players sat down in the early hours of Tuesday, 19th of November. Among the players a player all the way from Japan, Reiji Kono. He eventually made it to the final Heads-Up match, which he would have to let go against the new champion Jaroslaw Falkowski from Poland. The first prize was set to €3,420, leaving €1,710 for the runner-up position.
The Heads-Up tournament is consist of knockout phases, with the best-of-three feature enabled in every match. Out of the 32 entries, a total of 4 would reach the money spots. If you would like to play one of these kind of unique tournaments in the future during our stops, make sure to be ahead of the curve by registering straight on arrival for this tournament.
Half 'n Half (NLH/PLO)
| Buy-In | €125 |
| Entries | 92 |
| Prize Pool | €9,614 |
The Half 'n Half tournament is the perfect balance between No-Limit Hold'em and Pot-Limit Omaha. Having 92 entries might not have overcome the success of last year's edition in Bratislava (102 entries), but to have such numbers on the second day of the event is to be called iconic! Last year it was Andrew Hanak who took down this event, which would turn out to be one out of THREE wins that week!
This time around, the reigning champion from the UK wouldn't be able to defend his title. It would open up the road to the championship widely for players from Finland, but they all stranded in the early stages of the final table. Mikolaj Domanski, originally from Poland and currently living in Sweden, finished in 3rd place, while Banco Casino regular Maksym Ronshyn took second place after a heads-up deal. John Backman took down the whole lot for a nice payday of €2,267.
Interesting fact about John Backman is that this half 'n half tournament wasn't the only half-tournament he had won in his life. He is a famous professional snowboarder and became famous for setting the world record highest air out of a quarter-pipe (8,5m), back home in Sweden. He participated in the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano! It was a pleasure to have you around, John! There won't be laying snow in Rozvadov when we will be there from June 6-16, but surely hope to see you in the mix once again!
NLH Seniors Event (50+)
| Buy-In | €250 |
| Entries | 24 |
| Prize Pool | €6,840 |
The Seniors event is one of these events which has restrictions when it comes to age. However, it doesn't take anything away from the fun at the tables, as the players surely were enjoying their time in this tournament! All eyes were set on Joakim Olin, who could have gone back-to-back-to-back in this discipline. Unfortunately for him, we did not notice any Swedish flag among the six players who would have made it to the money spots.
Jari Hurri from Finland, an online qualifier for our this event at the Banco Casino in Bratislava, took down the event for €1,865 after having made a deal heads-up with Dutchman Martin de Graaf (€1,800). With Servie Keerssemeeckers finishing 6th in this tournament, there was another player from The Netherlands doing well here. Kacper Wuertz from Denmark, a familiar face at The Festival Series, managed to get hold of the bronze medal in this event.
H.O.R.S.E.
| Buy-In | €125 |
| Entries | 47 |
| Prize Pool | €4,911 |
The H.O.R.S.E. consists out of five disciplines- Hold'em, Omaha, Razz, Stud, and Eight-or-better (Omaha hi/lo). It's by definition one of the key tournaments for any mixed games player out of all mixed games tournaments and this time it attracted a total of 47 entries. The winner would walk away with €1,341, and it was Italian Giorgio Savignone who took the title in this event, after he already ran deep in the PL Razz tournament the previous day. Again players who were chasing the leaderboard would be among the players being successful in this tournament as well. Scott Kenyon (2nd), Blaz Zerjav (3rd), and Lars Hole (4th), all reached it to the money spots, while Paddy Schmidt finished on the stone-cold bubble.
NLH Win The Button Late Night Madness
| Buy-In | €125 |
| Entries | 79 |
| Prize Pool | €8,255 |
The second day of The Festival Series in Bratislava ended with the NLH Win-the-Button Late Night Madness. With 15-minute blind levels, and 6 levels of late registration, the tournament started at 22:00 local time. It wouldn't take long before Toni Sarkama would take down the event for €2,355, leaving Bulgarian Lachezar Tsenov without a trophy, but with €1,550 in his pockets instead. A total of 11 players managed to get in the money spots, all taking a proportional part of the €8,255 prize pool.
We spoke to Toni Sarkama bliefly throughout the week as he was curious how his portrait would have turned out. It wasn't until then we remembered Toni from the previous event here in Bratislava, where he took down a Midnight Madness event as well! Congratulations once again!
