Ville Keranen Becomes Sviten Special Main Event Champion – Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk Wins Sviten Special High Roller
After an exciting few days here at The Festival Weekend in Tallinn, winners have been crowned in the €100 Sviten Special Main Event and the €250 Sviten Special High Roller, the two biggest tournaments of the event at The Chesterfield Poker Club in the picturesque capital of Estonia. Let’s have a look at how the action transpired, which features a very familiar winner.
Record-Breaking Main Event
A field of 12 returned to the felt at 2.30 p.m. local time. The stacks were varied in size; the shortest, Angelica Andersson, returned with just 15,000. Comparatively, the start of the day chip leader came in with 965,000. Below is the start of the Day chip counts. The Sviten Special Main Event was The Festival's biggest Sviten tournament to date, which shows how popular the game has become, and The Festival in general.
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Enri Orav |  | 965,000 |
| 2 | Paolo Bortolon | | 585,000 |
| 3 | Ville Keranen |  | 530,000 |
| 4 | Anna Astahova | | 440,000 |
| 5 | "MrMork" | | 335,000 |
| 6 | Bjorn-Olav Oeverboe |  | 205,000 |
| 7 | Martin Smith |  | 175,000 |
| 8 | "ei ole anonuumne" | | 135,000 |
| 9 | Eero Westerlund | | 100,000 |
| 10 | Taavi Tamm | | 90,000 |
| 11 | Olav Oeverboe | | 85,000 |
| 12 | Angelica Andersson |  | 15,000 |
Unfortunately for Andersson (pictured above), she couldn't spin up her short stack and was the first elimination of the day. She was soon joined by “Ei ole anonuumne” and Eero Westerlund followed shortly after. These eliminations came around 20 minutes into the day's action.
Anna Astahova missed out on the final table, as she fell victim to the final table bubble.
It wasn't long after that that the final table of seven was reached.
Enri Orav's overwhelming chip lead had dissipated by the time the first break was reached. Orav's fellow countryman, Paolo Bortolo,n was his closest rival in the counts, and he had a marginal advantage over Orav.
The stacks were shallow due to a large big blind and the difficulty in scooping pots. Taavi Tamm was the first to be eliminated from the final table, followed by "MrMork" and Martin Smith, author of Pot Limit Sviten Special: A European Version of Drawmaha.
The long-time chip leader Enri Orav was next to depart to leave play three-handed between Bjorn Oeverboe, the eventual winner Ville Keranen and Paolo Bortolon, who was once rivalling for the chip lead. He was now the shortest stack at this point, and Orav and Oeverboe were neck and neck.
Bortolon couldn't spin up to topple the big stacks, and he was next to head to the payout desk shortly after Orav's departure.
Heads-up was a fairly back-and-forth battle, but Keranen found a solid run of cards and took down some raised pots with some aggressive betting in position to whittle down the stack of Oeverboe (pictured below), and maximising his chances of winning the full pot more often to seal the deal.
It took around 40 minutes of heads-up play for Keranen to have all the chips in play, and the top prize of €2,500.
After his victory, he informed the Festival Team that at one stage in the tournament, he was down to half a big blind, which is a great achievement considering the chop-pot nature of Sviten Special. Below are the payouts.
€100 Sviten Special Main Event Payouts
| Place | Player/Nickname | Nationality | Payout |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ville Keranen | | €2,500 |
| 2 | Bjorn Oeverboe | | €1,700 |
| 3 | Paolo Bortolon | | €1,210 |
| 4 | Enri Olav | | €920 |
| 5 | Martin Smith | | €750 |
| 6 | “MrMork” | | €630 |
| 7 | Taavi Tamm | | €520 |
| 8 | Anna Astahova | | €440 |
| 9 | Olav Oeverboe | | €380 |
| 10 | Eero Westerlund | | €340 |
| 11 | "Ei ole anonuumne" | | €310 |
| 12 | Angelica Andersson | | €280 |
| 13 | Andreas Hoglund | | €235 |
| 14 | Anders Bengtsson | | €235 |
| 15 | Barrie Dear |  | €201 |
€250 Sviten Special High Roller
A field of 54 total entrants hit the tables in the largest buy-in of this Festival Weekend, the €250 Sviten High Roller. As registration closed, the floor confirmed the prize pool and payouts, and the €7,500 guarantee was smashed, reaching a total of €12,004.
Many Festival regulars and Sviten specialists had ambitions of taking down the final Sviten title of the weekend, including The Opener winner Gia Carnestrom, regular and fellow Brit Barrie Dear, reigning Hendon Mob Champion Haik Tougu, and the game's creator, Anders “Bengan” Bengtsson.
Unfortunately for this group, they fell short and couldn't add to their cashes this Festival Weekend.
Only 7 were to be paid, and the field was whittled down from 35 to 17 around two and a half hours after the reg desk closed.
Martin Smith was once again in contention with another deep run and was looking to add to his fifth-place finish in the Main Event earlier in the day. The Festival Boss and Sweden's answer to Brad Pitt, Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk was also in amongst the action, looking for his first cash for the weekend.
The stacks were shallow, with the average sitting at the 10-12 big blind mark for the majority of post-registration play.
Play continued to grind along, with calls of "chop, chop" being heard across the tournament floor.
One player had to be the victim of the money and final table bubble, a doubly cruel way for a poker tournament to come to an end. Unfortunately for Taivo Egel, it was he, and his departure commenced final table play.
Sami Saamanen came into the final table as a solid chip leader, with Smith and Ari Hissa being on short-stack duties.
Smith's second deep run came to an end shortly into final table play, before being followed to the payout desk by an "Anonymous" player in sixth place shortly after.
Hissa was stacked by "Franke" after he moved all in due to being committed and short-stacked in the big blind. "Franke" had trips in hand and had both board and high hands locked up as Hissa failed to make his flush draw after drawing one.
Michal Zielinski, a Sviten newcomer up until this Festival Weekend, was next to depart. He couldn't get a lot going at the final table, and he ended up being a victim to the blinds more than anything.
His fate was sealed by Karev Tralla, who scooped a three-way pot with a flush on board and two pair in hand. Saamanen was the third party, and he completed in the big blind as he was priced in, and had Tralla covered.
Saamanen was aggressive throughout final table play, using his big stack to apply pressure to the short-stacks on his left. He "got lucky" versus Tralla as he went runner-runner to make two pair on the board.
Kralla navigated short-stack play well and brought himself back into contention, having won a few pots preflop and on the flop. However, he was dispatched in a three-way pot.
"Franke" had the goods on the board and in the hand, as he had a nine-high straight in the hand and a seven-high straight on the board. Kralla had two pair and was ultimately the victim of a massive cooler.
"Franke" and Saamanen were in high spirits and enjoying their poker, a sentiment that echoes the jovial vibes that have echoed through the room at The Chesterfield.
The stacks were incredibly close, with "Franke" having a slight advantage in the chip counts.
Ultimately, after around 15 minutes of heads-up, all the chips were in the middle. Saamanen potted on the button and "Franke" defended before leading for pot on the flop of K 9 A . Saamanen had 125,000 behind and contemplated the call before eventually flicking in the chips.
"Franke" said, "I think you have a pair of jacks," as he decided which card to switch. Franke then drew one, which was the 5 , and he declined. Saamanen drew one and declined, before tabling J J 8 8 .
"Franke" turned over Q 8 7 4 for a flush draw. Both players revealed their final cards after the 10 turn and Q river. He completed his flush draw with the 5 , and had trips on the board. Saamanen couldn't improve, and "Franke" scooped the pot and the title.
The Boss looked genuinely chuffed to win, and his cheers of victory reverberated through the Chesterfield as he held his arms aloft in celebration. One of his common expressions in recent outings has been, ironically, "I hate poker." He confirmed to me that he now "loves poker" once again.
"Franke" didn't hang around long after his interview with the team, as he headed back to the room for some much-needed rest after a job well done and a successful instalment of The Festival Weekend.
| Place | Payout | Nationality | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Martin "Franke" von Zweigbergk | | €3,500 + €1,600 Package to Malta |
| 2 | Sami Saamanen | | €2,650 |
| 3 | Karev Tralla | | €1,850 |
| 4 | Michal Zielinski |  | €1,450 |
| 5 | Ari Hissa | | €1,100 |
| 6 | "anonymous" | | €850 |
| 7 | Martin Smith | | €604 |
And with that comes the end of this instalment of The Festival Weekend. Don't forget to follow on all social media channels and YouTube to keep up to date with all things Festival. Satellite tournaments to the next stop in Malta are already running. Come and join us at the next stop!
That's all for now, folks, until next time.
