Day 2 of The Festival Series Nottingham was a grand success at Dusk Till Dawn with our three more winners crowned. The Festival Series Founder Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk took the lead in the Cash Game Challenge as well.
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- The Festival Nottingham Day 2
The Festival Nottingham Day 2


The Festival in Nottingham Live Updates
Antonius Samuel won the £120 Tuesday Turbo after agreeing a four-way deal with Orlando Anderson, Sanjay Patel, and Anthony Kauzloric.
The event attracted 53 entries to create a £5,044 prize pool.
Place | Player | Prize |
---|---|---|
1 | Antonius Samuel | £1,244 |
2 | Orlando Anderson | £1,195 |
3 | Sanjay Patel | £775 |
4 | Anthony Kauzloric | £1,205 |
5 | Anthony White | £375 |
6 | Jack Morrison | £250 |
What a legend! The Festival Series founder Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk absolutely blew up the Cash Game Challenge during the £2/£5 PLO after winning a whopping 628 big blinds good for £3,140.
This puts him miles ahead in the Cash Game Challenge!
The player that wins the most big blinds throughout the week in the Cash Game Challenges will be awarded a package to The Festival Series Malta on May 15-21.
Will it be Franke? Time will tell as there are still many Cash Game Challenges to go.
The £230 8-Game is in the books with Martin Chan defeating Mathew Truepenny heads-up. The tournament was fully capped with 56 entries to generate a prize pool of £10,864.
Place | Player | Prize |
---|---|---|
1 | Martin Chan | £3,690 |
2 | Mathew Truepenny | £2,390 |
3 | Leo Farodoye | £1,415 |
4 | Aleksandrs Golubevs | £975 |
5 | Ryan Armitt | £710 |
6 | Seth Webber | £540 |
7 | Leo Sigurdsson | £435 |
8 | Matteo Crapanzano | £384 |
9 | Bash Mahmoud | £325 |
Kasper Wurtz bagged the Day 1c chip lead despite losing loads of chips near the end of the evening. Meanwhile, Coolbet streamer Ylva Thorsrud busted Richard Lazarus on the bubble of the day.
Payouts will be announced tomorrow but it is likely the min-cash that all of the 57 players that advanced including the 20 in today’s Day 1c will receive around £200. Here is a full look at all of the Day 1c chip counts.
This concludes our coverage this evening but we will update the results of the other side events throughout the evening and morning with a front-page article recap to come also tomorrow morning.
Place | Player | Chips |
---|---|---|
1 | Kasper Wurtz | 2,865,000 |
2 | Jonas Kovacs | 2,700,000 |
3 | Tom Ascott | 2,670,000 |
4 | Ylva Thursrud | 2,115,000 |
5 | Dmitrijs Meless | 1,620,000 |
6 | Colin Lovelock | 1,600,000 |
7 | Thomas Clack | 1,170,000 |
8 | Pa Thenilsson | 1,155,000 |
9 | Daniel Edler | 1,110,000 |
10 | Chris Lee | 1,075,000 |
11 | Alexandru Talica | 1,025,000 |
12 | Gordon Skinner | 950,000 |
13 | Leon Jennings | 925,000 |
14 | Robert Mitchell | 800,000 |
15 | Yin Yuzhou | 730,000 |
16 | Lynne Etches | 680,000 |
17 | Justin Kean | 525,000 |
18 | Priti Patel | 510,000 |
19 | Simon Wilson | 275,000 |
20 | Roman Sembratovych | 273,000 |
The Cash Game Challenge has resumed with a higher stakes game of £5/£5 PLO. The line-up is all full of fun personalities including The Festival Series founder Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk, WSOP bracelet winner Espen Sandvik, Jon Kyte, Leo Sigurdsson, Sascha Manns, and Jari Hurri.
Hole cards will be shown to the stream viewers as the action will be broadcasted on a 30-minute delay.
The player that wins the most big blinds throughout the week in the Cash Game Challenges will be awarded a package to The Festival Series Malta on May 15-21. Thus far Harlo Buchan is the man to beat on the leaderboard after he won 251 big blinds or £502 in last night’s £2/£2 pot-limit Omaha.
Check out the stream by clicking on the stream tab starting at 10 p.m. GMT.
“Flips, flips, flips!!” The Festival Series founder Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk was chanting as he walked over to the table where flips are about to take place with a few players on his heels. This can only mean one thing. That the Franke’ Flip ‘n Go’s have just kicked off.
The flips will take place every night and are absolutely rake-free for all that want to test their luck. Franke shared that the player that wins the most flips will be awarded a package valued at €1,600 to The Festival Series Malta taking place at Portomaso Casino on May 15-21. Thank you to both The Festival Series and Dusk Till Dawn for adding even more excitement and value!
JJ Hazan will be hosting a PLO Masterclass tomorrow morning at 9:30 a.m. at the Crowne Plaza. The training session got rave review the last time Hazan hosted it at The Festival Series Bratislava in the autumn.
The Festival Series sat down with Hazan to chat about transitioning from two cards to four cards.
Scotland’s Glen Wilson won £353 for 176 big blinds during the first Cash Game Challenge live-streamed session of the day with stakes at £1/£2 no-limit hold’em.
While this was the best at the table, this wasn’t good enough to pop to the top of the leaderboard. Harlo Buchan won 251 big blinds or £502 in last night’s £2/£2 pot-limit Omaha live-streamed cash game and is currently the man to beat.
The player that wins the most big blinds during any single live-streamed session will not only win a ton of cash but also a free package to The Festival Series Malta taking place at the luxurious Portomaso Casino on May 15-21.
There will be another stream soon in £5/£5 pot-limit Omaha.
PokerListings Championship Day 1c
Level 16: 20,000/40,000 (40,000)
Entries: 26/138
Kasper Wurtz tried to bag a stack during yesterday’s Day 1b but it wasn’t meant to be. Today is a different story as Wurtz not only has the chip lead in the Day 1c with 4 million in chips but also this puts him as the overall chip leader with Day 1a chip leader W. M. bagging 3,920,000 in chips and Day 1b chip leader Corrado Mane accumulating an impressive 3,005,000 in chips.
There is still a little bit of time before the end of the day as there are still 26 players remaining. The day will end once there are just 20 players left. All players that find a bag not only will join the 37 other players that found a bag on Day 1a and Day 1b but also be in the money.
The floor informed us earlier in the day that a min-cash would be likely around £200 if not more but this is subject to change.
PokerListings Championship Day 1c
Level 14: 15,000/25,000 (25,000)
Entries: 31/136
We noticed Simon Wilson coloring up a big stack of chips in the PokerListings Championship. We met Wilson back in October when he attended our last The Festival Series in Bratislava. Wilson had an incredible festival winning the €250 Freezeout for €5,115 and taking runner-up in The Hendon Mob €250 Grand Final Warm-up for another €4,410.
Wilson is looking for more The Festival Series success and is off to a good start. He called off two players with tens and was up against ace-king and ace-queen.
“Was there any drama or did the board run clean,” we asked Wilson.
“No drama, a ten came on the flop,” said Lynne Etches, who was also at the table but not part of the hand.
Wilson confirmed this to be the case and is on about 2.5 million.
Simon Wilson – 2.5 million
Lynne Etches – 1.5 million
The first round of the Roulette tournament is in the books with Sturla Hiller, Jari Hurri, Jari Karkkainen, William Lynch, Oskar Ojaveer, Gatis Reigass, Lindsay Smith, and Rinalds Zimka all advancing.
Another opening round is scheduled to take place with the event in high demand before Round 2 begins.
Meanwhile, here are some photos by Mairo Toom of the £120 Roulette Tournament.










PokerListings Championship Day 1c
Level 13: 10,000/20,000 (20,000)
Entries: 47/136
Roman Sembratovych opened for 50,000 and was called by Justin Kean before Neil Hackman jacked it up to 265,000. Sembratovych called and Hackman folded.
Hackman fired out for 225,000 on the jack-six-king flop. Sembratovych jammed for a bit more and Hackman called off his stack of around 600,000.
Neil Hackman: J J
Roman Sembratovych: A K
Hackman flopped top pair but needed a pair of runners to pull ahead of Sembratovych’s set. Blanks came the rest of the way and Sembratovych took the chip lead after the hand, while Hackman hit the shower.
Samuel Deering was the previous chip leader and isn’t that far behind Sembratovych. Both these players combined are still behind the Day 1a chip leader W. M., who bagged a whopping 3.9 million in chips.
Roman Sembratovych – 1.6 million
Samuel Deering – 1.5 million
Neil Hackman – 0
During the inaugural The Festival Series at Banco Casino in Bratislava, former EPT dealer Martin Mauthner shipped the Main Event with an unlit cigarette hanging out of his mouth the entire final table for €56,870 as part of a three-way deal.
Can we see a repeat here in Nottingham? Well, current poker dealer Russell Bowman will give it his best to win the title but first he has a satellite to win.
Bowman is part of the crew that entered the £56 Main Event satellite to tomorrow’s £450 Main Event. The satellite awards five seats and thus far has just 22 entries. Best of luck to Bowman and the rest of the field to win their Main Event seat for pennies on the pound.
The Cash Game Challenge has kicked off with some friendly £1/£2 no-limit hold’em action. Leo Worthington-Leese with a fresh new haircut (at least since the last time we saw him) is among the players in action. Leo is a force to be reckoned with as he occasionally does poker commentating with top-notch analytics.
Hole cards will be shown to the stream viewers as the action will be broadcasted on a 30-minute delay.
The player that wins the most big blinds throughout the week in the Cash Game Challenges will be awarded a package to The Festival Series Malta on May 15-21. Thus far Harlo Buchan is the man to beat on the leaderboard after he won 251 big blinds or £502 in last night’s £2/£2 pot-limit Omaha.
Check out the stream by clicking on the stream tab starting at 7 p.m. GMT.
Roulette Tournament
Entries: 15/15
One of the fun aspects of The Festival Series is that not only are there a plethora of different types of poker tournaments but also casino tournaments including tonight’s £120 Roulette Tournament that just kicked off with 15 entries.
Tommi Heinonen won the Roulette Tournament the first time it was hosted at the 2021 The Festival Series Bratislava. Heinonen won €2,500 and enjoyed his experience.
“Being the first winner of the roulette tournament is a unique experience,” Heinonen said a month ago to The Festival Series. “I don’t remember much about it, but I remember that it was very cool and entertaining. There was fun, and a game and the prize pool was also pretty decent, so I was even surprised that it was possible to win something with it.”
Late registration is open for about another five minutes if you want to hop in. Isaac Barker, Coolbet qualifier Sturla Hiller, Paf Poker qualifier Jari Hurri, The Festival satellite streamer and Coolbet qualifier Joseph Jackson, Optibet streamer Gatis Reigass, BetFred qualifier Lindsay Smith, and The Festival Series founder Martin “Franke” von Zweigberk are among the initial entries.
Mairo Toom headed over to the Bowling activity that just ended. Little did we know about his other capabilities as he was able to multitask taking photos and entering the bowling competition.
It doesn’t seem like the competition was that fierce and it was more about the fun and games as Toom managed to win the competition after bowling for 142 points.
“I can get that with my eyes closed,” PokerListings reporter Melvin Schroen commented after he learned the news.
Other players came back with big smiles on their faces and said it was great to hang out with some of the players.
Congrats to Mairo and we look forward to more amazing photos like the ones below from the Bowling activity.



















Tuesday Turbo
Level 1: 200/500 (500)
Entries: 16/16
The £120 Tuesday Turbo has just kicked off with 16 entries. Players start off with 50,000 in chips with blinds increasing at a high-octane level of 15 minutes.
While the field is still small at the start, we expect this to fill up. If you are interested in playing, you should likely enter sooner rather than later as the event is capped at 63 entries. Even if the cap is extended, late registration for new players is only available for the first four blind levels. However, players that wish to re-enter after losing their stack have a bit more time as they can get back into the action until the end of Level 8.
Adam Chang, Toke Jensen, Eugen Mararit, Sean Randall, Garry Sprinks, Tuna Tascioglu, and Emily Truepenny are among the early players. Best of luck to all of the turbo players.
PokerListings Championship Day 1c
Level 9: 4,000/8,000 (8,000)
Entries: 81/136
Late registration is now closed for Day 1c of the PokerListings Championship. As this was the final flight, late registration is now closed for the event.
The Day 1c field attracted 136 entries to bring the total count up to 383 entries. This means that the £25,000 guarantee was absolutely smashed with the prize pool ballooning to £37,151.
There were 81 players remaining after the break. Just 20 of these players will advance to tomorrow’s Day 2 already in the money alongside the 18 players that advanced on Day 1a and the 19 players that bagged chips on Day 1b.
PokerListings Championship Day 1c
Level 8: 3,000/6,000
Entries: 73/124
Late registration for the PokerListings Championship is about to close for the entire event with Level 8 winding down. Shortly after the break, we will know how many players will advance into tomorrow’s Day 2 from the Day 1c field.
Unfortunately, Ninni Malmi won’t be one of those players. She re-entered about 30 minutes ago and lost a good portion of the stack before the following hand dusted off the rest of her chips.
Malmi open-jammed for 49,000 from under the gun and was called by Yuzhou Yin from middle position and by John Kitchen from the big blind.
Kitchen jammed the K 6 4 flop. Yin asked for a count and called after it was confirmed to be for 81,000.
“That was an amazing flop,” Kitchen said before the cards were turned over.
“Six-four?” asked a player at the table.
“No, even better,” replied Kitchen.
Ninni Malmi: A 10
John Kitchen: 5 3
Yuzhou Yin: A J
Kitchen was correct about the flop as it not only gave him a flush draw but also an open-ended straight draw. The 7 turn completed his draw and he had both his opponents drawing dead. A blank K river completed the board and Kitchen more than doubled his stack while also eliminating Malmi. Meanwhile, Yin is still sitting on a monster stack despite coming up short in this hand.
Yuzhou Yin – 950,000
John Kitchen – 320,000
Ninni Malmi – 0
8-Game
Level 10: 2,000/4,000
Entries: 42/56
We just had a scrumptious snack in the lounge area where we met with poker dealer Russell Bowman and The Festival Series PLO Masterclass host JJ Hazan. While we highly recommend just about anything on the menu, Hazan and Bowman likely wished to be somewhere else as they were among the recent casualties in the £230 8-Game event.
Meanwhile, Georgina “GJReggie” James and Ylva “Jevakim” Thorsrud were also recently eliminated from the 8-Game event. They headed to the bar area shortly after to enjoy a few drinks while deciding if they will hop in the £120 Tuesday Turbo starting in less than one hour.
Late registration is closed for this event and it reached its cap of 56 entries with 42 players remaining. The action should continue for quite some time before the money is reached with the top 8 players getting paid at least a £380 payout. Tonight’s winner will win 10 times as much with the event awarding a top prize of £3,800. Here is a look at all of the payouts and best of luck to the remaining players battling it out for the title.
Place | Prize |
---|---|
1 | £3,800 |
2 | £2,440 |
3 | £1,470 |
4 | £1,034 |
5 | £760 |
6 | £540 |
7 | £440 |
8 | £380 |
PokerListings Championship Day 1c
Level 6: 2,000/4,000 (4,000)
Entries: 76/105
Day 1c has already attracted more than 100 entries to bring the field past 350 entries in total. Optibet streamer Gatis Reigass unfortunately isn’t still among the field as he fired already the maximum of two bullets today.
Danut-Andrei Onofrei is also on the rail after he got his queens in against Justin Keen’s big slick. Keen won the flip and was up to around 650,000 in chips after an ace spiked the flop.
Players that qualified online or otherwise have the hospitality package just left the poker room to go bowling. Of course, a few stayed behind as they are already playing in either the 8-game or the PokerListings Championship.
Among the new faces to come in just in time to bowl including Betfred’s Nick Diaz. Along with Nick, we gave some quick hugs to Mick & Lindsey Smith who just arrived in time to toss some balls down the lane. The Smiths shared that both Mick and their son will play tomorrow in the £450 Main Event. Best of luck to the Smiths on the lanes today and tomorrow in the Main Event.
PokerListings Championship Day 1c
Level 4: 1,500/2,500 (2,500)
Entries: 75/91
The one-man blogging team was happily charging Gregor Larsson’s telephone. For players that need it, this service is available for the price of a smile and a thank you.
Larsson just came to grab his phone. We noticed the break was still a few minutes away so we were puzzled as to why Larsson was coming now.
“Are you out?” we asked Larsson.
“In this field?” Larsson replied with a big smile.
Larsson left us hanging for a few moments and we were internally thinking that Larsson built up his stack. Unfortunately, it was something else.
“Of course, I am out,” Larsson said also with a smile.
Larsson said he was out in a pot of around 650,000. He shared that his chips went in with jack-nine of diamonds after the four-four-trey with two diamonds came on the flop. He was up against both cowboys and a player with an open-ended straight draw with six-five.
Blanks came on the turn and river and Larsson re-entered after picking up his phone.
PokerListings Championship Day 1c
Level 3: 1,000/2,000 (2,000)
Entries: 74/80
Some fun action is happening in the PokerListings Championship thanks to Peter Winter. We learned that Winter has opted to look at just one card instead of both of his cards.
We bumped into Tom Ascott who shared with us a funny hand. If Winter looked at both of his cards this would just be a standard hand. As played, it was a bit of a cooler for Ascott.
Ascott shared that he opened with ace-jack. Winter looked down at one card, which was a jack, and made the call. Both players had more than double the starting stack and the pot began to grow with action on both the ace-jack-ten flop. Winter called a bet by Ascott once the jack paired the turn.
A blank deuce followed on the river. Ascott led out with nearly the nuts as only a pair of aces would beat him. Winter still didn’t look at his other card and jammed over Ascott’s bet. Ascott made the snap-call and the cards were turned over. As luck would have it, Winter had an ace to go with his jack for a chopped pot.
We asked Winter a bit later whether he is still only looking at one card. He confirmed this to be the case. What a legend as not only does he not have all the information about his hand but is sitting on more than 400,000 in chips. Ascott has slightly more with other players at the table also having decent early stacks.
Best of luck to Winter with his strategy and special thanks to Ascott for sharing this epic story.
8-Game
Level 3: 400/800
Entries: 48/48
It is still early in the 8-game, so it shouldn’t be any surprise that all players are still in their seats. That being said, a few new players came into the action including Seth Webbers, Aleksandrs Golubevs, Stephen Pearce, and Wendy Lambert. The field will continue to grow with a couple of players also on a waiting list to get into the action.
While we don’t have any big hands to report, we can also call this event the 8-drink game as we went around to all the tables to see what beverages players are choosing to drink early on. Here is the report:
- Lager Beer
- Guinness Irish Stout
- Coffee
- Cola (unsure of brand and calorie value)
- Apple juice
- Orange juice
- Still water
- Sparkling water
Unlike the rotation of games that takes place in 8-game, the same doesn’t apply to the 8-drink line-up. We aren’t savages and players are allowed to keep their own drinks.
8-Game
Level 1: 200/500
Entries: 42/42
There was a small break in the 8-game as the 42 players discussed an epic deal.
Just kidding, the players asked for the structure to be printed for them and the staff at Dusk Till Dawn was more than happy to oblige. The action will resume in just a minute.
We had a chance to chat during the short break with PokerStars ambassador Georgina “RJReggie” James who is in the hunt for her first victory of the month. She and other British players are thrilled to have mixed games come to England as it isn’t every day that mixed game events take place in Great Britain.
PokerListings Championship Day 1c
Level 1: 1,000/1,000 (1,000)
Entries: 47/48
Chris Janlow bet 21,000 into a pot of a bit more with the 5 K 3 A on the board. Martin Hockaday paused for a moment before he called. Both players checked the 6 river.
Hockaday turned over K K for a set of cowboys and won the hand after his opponent mucked his cards.
Meanwhile, Gordon Skinner was the first player to hit the rail but has already re-entered for a fresh stack of 200,000 in chips.
Martin Hockaday – 250,000
Gordon Skinner – 200,000
Chris Janlow – 130,000
8-Game
Level 1: 200/500
Entries: 36/36
The Festival boasts tons of mixed games throughout its schedule. Today features many mixed in one single event with the £230 8-Game event just kicking off with a field of 36 entries.
The event rotates games between no-limit hold’em, pot-limit Omaha, 2-7 Triple Draw, limit hold’em, limit Omaha h/l, Razz, Stud, and Stud h/l.
Blinds will increase every 20 minutes with late registration closed after Level 7. Among the players already in the field are Allan Arjut, Sviten Special runner-up Barrie Deer, Sviten Special champion Tuomas Roppanen, PLO Masterclass host JJ Hazan, Norwegian poker beast Jon Kyte, mixed-game legend Tobias Leknes, Oskar Wedde, Ylva Thorsrud, Sascha Manns, Marius Morel, and William Lynch.
PokerListings Championship Day 1c
Level 1: 1,000/1,000 (1,000)
Entries: 37/37
After some welcome announcements by The Festival Series founder Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk, the PokerListings Championship just kicked off with a field of 37 players. This means that the £25,000 guarantee has already been smashed when taking into account the 247 entries attracted on Day 1a and Day 1b.
Players will battle it out in 30-minute blind levels with late registration closing after the conclusion of Level 8. Players can re-enter once during this time. The day will end when just 15% of the field remains and will join others from the first two opening flights in tomorrow’s Day 2 already in the money.
Among those battling it out are ACR Stormer Neil “TwinnyPoker” Edwards, Jonas Kovacs, Mark McCluskey, and Optibet qualifier Dmitrijs Meless.
Welcome back to The Festival Series Nottingham at Dusk Till Dawn from Feb. 13-19. The action was off to a rocking start yesterday and expect a bigger crowd today as many players arrived just last night.
The action will begin today with two events. The £120 PokerListings Championship will feature its third and final opening flight starting at noon while mixed game players have something else to enjoy with the £230 8-Game kicking off at the same time.
For those looking for some high-octane, the £120 Tuesday Turbo begins a little later at 5 p.m, while the big guns will battle it out in the two-day £1,100 PLO High Roller starting at 6 p.m.
Today is also the start of the casino tournaments with the £120 Roulette Tournament kicking off at 6 p.m. This isn’t exactly the same as playing roulette against the casino as in this case you will be battling against other players in a tournament format.
Meanwhile, the Cash Game Challenge will rock on with two more sessions. You will be able to check these out by heading to the Stream tab within our coverage.
Today’s Schedule (Feb. 14)
Time | Buy-in | Name |
12.00 | £120 | PokerListings Championships Day 1C |
12.00 | £230 | 8 Game [56 Cap] |
17.00 | £120 | Tuesday Turbo [63 Cap] |
18.00 | £120 | Roulette Tournament |
18.00 | £1,100 | PLO High Roller Day 1 |
18.30 | Cash Game Challenge | |
19.00 | £56 | Main Event Satellite: 5 seats GTD |
21.30 | Cash Game Challenge |
We will provide highlights of all the events throughout the day. So stay tuned to The Festival Series blog for all of your updates.







