The Festival Malta Day 3

Anything can happen at The Festival Series Malta as was evidenced last night. The Festival Series Twitch streamer notoriously punted away his stack intentionally in the Sviten Special event in order to play the Cash Game Challenge a couple of nights ago.

Last night was a different story. Apparently, when Jackson sets his mind out to win he can do just that as he shipped the €250 Texas Knockout for €3,500 plus bounties after agreeing to a heads-up deal with Liam Johnston, who won nearly as much.

Sascha Manns was also on the podium with a third-place performance for €2,380.

The event attracted 150 entries to create a €33,000 prize pool including bounties.

The €1,100 PLO High Roller was a massive success with 60 entries getting into the mix to create a €57,600 prize pool. It was a marathon to say the least as after nearly 13 hours of play Levani Rozomashvili shipped the event for €15,400 after agreeing to a heads-up deal with Balazs Somodi, who collected a healthy €14,700.

Here is a look at everyone that cashed in the PLO High Roller.

*Reflects heads-up deal.

The €125 8-Game personalized portrait trophy heads over to Lithuania after Jonas Jurksaitis defeated Damian Michalski heads-up to win the €3,350 top prize. Sviten Special author Martin Smith also was on the podium with ACR Stormer Scott “Pokerbrahs” Kenyon just missing the final three. Chris Hansen, Simon Ruckert, Barrier Dear, and Fabian Jarmer also cashed in this event.

Meanwhile, two players went out during hand-for-hand on the bubble on two separate tables and split the €300 min-cash with Jakub Kanosovsky and Andreas Sanden each collecting €150 each.

The 8-Game event was another The Festival Series attendance record-breaker with 93 entries creating a €9,820 prize pool.

While the Day 3 blog will have a handful of posts still coming it won’t be until tomorrow morning until that happens. Have a good night and see you back here tomorrow for another action-packed day.

The Cash Game Challenge has been completed for the evening with Martins Geiba notching the second biggest score of The Festival Series Malta after winning €1,008 for 504 big blinds in €2/€2 pot-limit Omaha. It hasn’t been the worst week for Geiba who yesterday won the €125 Roulette Tournament for €1,000.

This is still behind end-boss Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk who won a mind-blowing €6,300 for 3,150 big blinds in a €2/€2 pot-limit Omaha Cash Game Challenge a couple of days ago. This leaves Franke the far-and-away captain of the Cash Game Challenge leaderboard where the winner will win a package valued at €1,600 to The Festival Series Bratislava at Banco Casino on Nov. 27 to Dec. 3.

Younes Jarir defeated Manuel Blaschke heads-up in the €250 PokerListings Championship to win the €16,200 top prize. The event attracted 354 entries for a €76,464 prize pool to establish a new prize pool record for this event.

There were a number of stories at the final table. First, Colin Lovelock was going for back-to-back victories after shipping this event at The Festival Series Nottingham a few months ago. He eventually bowed out in sixth place for €3,250 after his ace-king was unable to hold against ace-eight.

Meanwhile, this was the second time Jarir and Blaschke were at a final table in this event as they previously battled it out on the final table in this event at The Festival Series Bratislava in the autumn of 2022. Jarir performed much better than his ninth-place performance that time around while Blaschke finished one spot behind as he was aiming to be the first two-time champion.

Here is a look at all of the payouts of the PokerListings Championship:

The €125 Blackjack event produced tons of fun with 25 entries creating a €2,640 prize pool. Angelo Vietti proved to be the best blackjack player of the day after shipping the event for €1,100. Theodoros Konstantindis, Annika Haaviste, and Orlando Genders also cashed in this event.

Day 1b of The Festival Series Malta €550 Main Event attracted 101 entries with 33 players finding a bag. This brings the total field up to 185 entries with 57 survivors when taking into account the 84 runners and 24 survivors on Day 1a. There is still plenty more to come with three more opening flights and two levels of late registration even still available on Saturday’s Day 2.

Adam Briggs was the star of Day 1b after turning his 30,000 opening stack into 329,000 in chips. This was enough to push Briggs into the chip lead with Day 1a chip leader Beka Kopaleishvili bagging 253,500 in chips. Meanwhile, Optibet streamer Gatis Reigass (241,500) and Rickard Olsson (236,000) were the only other players above 200,000 in chips.

Here is a look at the final Day 1b chip counts:

Day 1b of the Main Event is in the books with 33 of the 101 entries bagging stacks into Saturday’s Day 2. We will provide the final chip counts and updates on other events after a late dinner break.

Mantas Petrauskas defeated Raoul van Wersch heads-up in the €250 Heads-Up event for €2,380 while Peder Behr and Sven Lysebo also cashed.

The event attracted 28 players for a €6,048 prize pool.

Gerianne Dijkstra nearly won the 2022 The Festival Series Bratislava €550 Main Event. She finished just one spot shy with fellow countrymate from the Netherlands Michal Molenar claiming the title.

Check out Anastasia’s interview below with Dijkstra.

The €2/€2 PLO Cash Game Challenge session has kicked off with all players praying they can pass the 3,150 big blinds that Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk won on the first day of The Festival Series Malta when he amazingly profited €6,300 in €2/€2 PLO.

“Why do players have their eyes on this amount?” you might ask.

This is because the player that wins the greatest amount of big blinds during any of the Cash Game Challenge sessions throughout the week will be awarded a package valued at €1,600 to The Festival Series Bratislava on Nov. 27 to Dec. 3.

You can check the action out by clicking on the Stream tab within our coverage.

Here is a look at the players in the initial lineup:

€1,100 PLO High Roller
Level 7: 2,000/4,000 (4,000)
Entries: 27/46

The €1,100 PLO High Roller now has 46 entries with 27 players remaining. There are almost two full 30-minute levels and a break before late registration will close. So, it is natural the field will grow even more.

Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk just fired his third bullet unsuccessfully and is off for his fourth. We will closely monitor to make sure he doesn’t come close to his 10-bullet maximum.

Meanwhile, Teddy Bremseth joined the field. Happy Norwegian National Day to him and his tablemate Rolf Bechstrom as well as the entire Norwegian poker community.

Check out these photos from today by Damiano Nigro compliments of PokerFirma.

€250 PokerListings Championship Day 2
Level 26: 40,000/80,000 (80,000)
Entries: 5/354

Colin Lovelock was miraculous in the hunt for back-to-back PokerListings Championship victories after previously winning this event that featured a lower buy-in of £120 at The Festival Series Nottingham for £5,020.

Lovelock had a heck of a run once again but bowed out this time around in sixth place for €3,250.

Meanwhile, Tanguy Pellerin, Wooseung Kim, and Laila Hawaszadeh also hit the rail with Niklas Borg, Karl Sundin, Manuel Blaschke, Younes Jarir, and Vahur Tima still in contention.

Final table photos below compliments of Dominik Demcak.

€1,100 PLO High Roller
Level 5: 1,000/2,500
Entries: 25/37

The €1,100 PLO High Roller continues to grow with the field at 37 entries already. The Festival Series Founder Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk lasted for longer than we anticipated as he shared before the event began that he was going to be ready to re-enter quickly.

Franke did eventually lose his first bullet and immediately walked away from the table.

“What happened?” we asked Franke.

“Out,” answered Franke. “About to re-enter.”

“Will there be a cap on how many times you re-enter?” we asked in response.

“I won’t go above ten bullets,” Franke said before running off to the cashier.

We will hold Franke to his word but we hope that it doesn’t get close to that number of re-entries.

While it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility that Franke will win the PLO High Roller, it may be worth considering entering if you are on the fence. Late registration is open for about two more hours with it closing after the end of Level 8.

Records, records, records are being broken left and right at The Festival Series Malta. As we mentioned earlier in our coverage, the €250 Sviten Special event broke a new The Festival Series attendance record with 79 entries beating the previous record of 77 entries.

Meanwhile, yesterday the €250 PokerListings Championship broke The Festival Series prize pool record with 354 entries generating a €76,464 prize pool. While today, the €125 8-Game established a new The Festival Series attendance record with 93 entries for a €9,820 prize pool.

The 8-Game and PokerListings Championship are on dinner break. It might be some time before the 8-Game reaches the money with 26 players remaining and the event paying out the top nine players at least a €300 min-cash with the eventual winner scheduled to earn the top prize of €3,350.

Meanwhile, the PokerListings Championship is down to the final nine players with each player locking up at least a €1,340 prize. Colin Lovelock is looking for back-to-back championships after previously shipping this event at The Festival Series Nottingham. Other players that are in the hunt for the top prize of €16,200 include Niklas Borg, Karl Sundin, Manuel Blaschke, Younes Jarir, Vahur Tima, Tanguy Pellerin, Wooseung Kim, and Laila Hawaszadeh.

If you want to play The Festival Series Malta Main Event without paying the full €550 buy-in, you could be in luck. A €70 satellite guaranteeing three Main Event seats for tomorrow’s Day 1c is about to begin at 7 p.m.

Best of luck to all of the satellite players.

€125 8-Game
Level 10: 1,000/2,000 (2,000)
Entries: 45/93

The 8-Game proved to be popular with 93 entries generating a €9,820 prize pool. One player that won’t be making the money for at least the €300 min-cash on tap for the top nine players is our friend from Lithuania Danius Antanaitis who just went out in no-limit hold’em.

Antanaitis three-bet jammed for about 45,000 and was snap-called by Scott “Pokerbrahs” Kenyon.

Dainius Antanaitis: A K
Pokerbrahs: Q Q

Pokerbrahs and Antanaitis have been playing together all day and became friendly during that time. This is exactly what we like to see at The Festival Series.

“Once I learned your screenname, I gained even more respect for you,” Pokerbrahs said to Antanaitis who was also grinding an online satellite to a big online event.

Antanaitis was unable to win the flip after the 9 4 7 3 4 runout.

Both players wished each other the best before Kenyon shared that this was the second time he busted Antanaitis who lost a bullet during the late registration period.

Just before that, Allan Arjut at another table had a suggestion.

“Instead of no-limit hold’em, we should play Sviten Special instead,” Arjut said.

This author loves this idea and it would have saved Antanaitis as well.

Antanaitis will take a break at least for now. In the meantime, we wish Pokerbrahs the best of luck in winning the €3,350 top prize on tap for today’s winner. He is well on his way with 140,000 in chips for nearly triple the average.

€550 Main Event Day 1b
Level 8: 400/800 (800)
Entries: 63/93

Day 1b of the Main Event is more than halfway over with nearly 100 entries getting into the action thus far. Here are some photos of Day 1b by Mairo Toom.

The Festival Series is streaming cash games and tournaments throughout the week. We will share some of the clipped highlights throughout our coverage starting today. Check out a fun hand below from last night’s €2/€2 PLO Cash Game Challenge stream.

The €1,100 PLO High Roller has kicked off with 14 entries. This will grow over time, especially considering The Festival Series founder Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk is ready to fire away during the late registration period.

Sviten Special champion Totti Lind, Warren Azzopardi, Irakli Dumbadze, Roulette champion Martins Geiba, Vangelis Kaimakamis, Adriaan Knulst, Alexander Koops, Hendrik Koops, Stefan Mattsson, James Mercieca, Levani Rozomashvili, Balazs Somodi, and Mark Vella are among the players in action.

While I have faith in The Festival Series founder Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk it is saved for when he is focused or motivated. Right now, he has been celebrating the Norwegian National Day with everyone in the room but he just showed me his ticket to the €1,100 PLO High Roller scheduled at 5 p.m.

He was the first player to enter and said this may not be the only ticket he receives. In other words, he is already planning to re-enter despite not yet playing a hand.

If you were on the fence as to whether to play this or not, I think most people can agree that there is now sick value thanks to Franke being ready to punt away. We wish you the best of luck in taking all of Franke’s chips.

The €125 Blackjack Tournament has kicked off with 25 players. It is possible the entry count will increase as players are allowed to re-enter for a limited amount of time.

• Click here for more information about the Blackjack Tournament.

Today is the Norwegian National Day. Lots of the Norwegian player and even some of us that aren’t Norwegian are wearing the Norwegian flag in honor of today. Coolbet’s Svein Olav Eidsaeter is one of the Norwegian poker community’s funny characters. Apparently, he knows how to play as well as he won the Win the Button last night. Check out what Eidsaeter had to say before winning the event yesterday.

The PokerListings Championship is down to just 37 hopefuls in the hunt for the title. They each got a small pay jump and are now guaranteed at least a €470 payout instead of the €450 they locked up at the start of the day. Here are some photos from Day 2 by Mairo Toom.

The €125 8-Game has kicked off with games rotating every orbit between limit hold-em, limit Omaha h/l, stud, razz, stud h/l, 2-7 triple draw, no-limit hold’em, and pot-limit Omaha.

The rules are a little different for the stud games this time around. Instead of each player putting in the ante, the player on the button will put in the antes for the entire table. The standard big blind ante will remain for the no-limit hold’em.

Dainius Antanaitis, Scott “Pokerbrahs” Kenyon, Mark Adams, Brenden Oystein, Svein Olav Eidsaeter, Mikael Gronvik, Jarkko Kuusisto, Imre Leibold, Kairit Leibold, Kjell Lindqvist, Sascha Manns, Davit Mikhanashvili, Alexander van Dijk, Axel Thoren, Julien Teissedre, and Sviten Special author Martin Smith are among the 50 players ready to battle.

Meanwhile, Allan Arjut was the first player to bust the PokerListings Championship on Day 2 and immediately entered the 8-Game.

“I busted the PokerListings Championship just to play the 8-game,” joked Allan Arjut.

We learned later that Arjut just had four big blinds that he needed to speed up but he is happy that if he wasn’t going to spin that he can play the 8-Game from the start.

Best of luck to all of the players in the field.

The 53 returning final-day players have locked up at least a min-cash of €450. The payouts grow from there with today’s winner going home with a €16,200 top prize. Here is a look at all of the payouts:

The €250 PokerListings Championship has kicked off its second and final day. Colin Lovelock leads the way in the hunt for a back-to-back championship.

All of the 53 returning players are guaranteed at least a €450 payout with a tasty €16,200 top prize on the line.

Best of luck to all of the players!

The €250 Heads-Up Tournament has resumed with the final four players out the original field of 28 players. Here is a look at the semi-final match-ups.

• Peder Behr vs. Raoul van Wersch
• Sven Lysebo vs. Mantas Petrauskas

The final four players have each locked up €614 with Wednesday’s winner going home with a €2,480 top prize. Good luck to the final four!

€550 Main Event Day 1b
Level 1: 100/100
Entries: 32/32

Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk welcomed the players to Day 1b of the Main Event. He also wished everyone a happy Norwegian Natonal Day alongside his friend and Coolbet rep Svein Olav Eidsaeter, who won the Win the Button last night.

Best of luck to all of the players in the Main Event!

It has been an amazing start at Portomaso Casino for The Festival Series Malta and we are looking forward to even bigger things today with a full slate of events planned.

Today will begin with the second opening flight of the €550 Main Event. Players will start with 30,000 in chips with blinds increasing every 40 minutes as was the case yesterday. Up to two re-entries are permitted for each opening flight and again on Saturday’s Day 2 with late registration open for the first two blind levels of the penultimate day. Bags will be passed around after 12 blind levels with blinds at 1,000/2,000 with a 2,000 big blind ante on the final blind level of the day.

Meanwhile, the PokerListings Championship and the Heads-Up event will both crown a champion on its second and final day. Many Norwegians are excited about celebrating their National Day with the €125 8-Game while this author may or may not take a break from the blog to hop into the €125 Blackjack.

There are also a pair of satellites followed by a €250 Texas Knockout late in the evening. As if this isn’t enough action, there are also two more Cash Game Challenge sessions planned today at stakes that most players can afford.

The only problem players might find is choosing what to play and what Hospitality events they wish to attend if they have the Hospitality Package.

The Festival Series Malta May 17th Schedule