Similar to the Roulette Tournament, the £120 Black Tournament featured a four-way deal. Waheed Ashraf came out on top for a slightly larger prize of £995.
The event attracted 35 entries to create a £3,395 prize pool.
Sean O’Donnell agreed to a heads-up deal with Allan Arjut before winning the £230 Round of Each (NLH/PLO) for £3,649. Arjut also collected a tasty prize of £3,381.
The event attracted 63 entries to create a £12,222 prize pool.
Norwegian poker beast Tobias Leknes does it again as last night he won the £120 Knockout for £1,520 plus bounties after defeating Daniel Turner in heads-up play.
The event attracted 95 players to generate a £9,215 prize pool.
Colin Lovelock defeated poker dealer Russell Bowman heads-up in the £120 PokerListings Championship to win £5,020 and a package to The Festival Series Malta valued at €1,600 from May 15-21.
Lovelock, Russell Bowman, and former PokerListings Championship winner JJ Hazan all agreed to a deal with 10% left to be played for. This led Bowman to win the biggest cash prize, however, Lovelock still won a bigger overall prize thanks to winning The Festival Series Malta package.
The event attracted 383 entries across three opening flights to generate a £37,151 prize pool.
Jon Kyte was well-known at the Cash Game Festival for crushing feature tables in cash games for many years. He has had great success in tournaments as well.
Kyte was unable to get things going during two Omaha Cash Game Challenges but that all changed during the late £2/£5 no-limit hold’em Cash Game Challenge as he won a whopping £2,293 for 458.6 big blinds.
While this is a great win, it isn’t enough to put him at the top of the Cash Game Challenge leaderboard as last night The Festival Series founder Martin “Franke” von Zweigberk won an impressive 628 big blinds or £3,140 in £2/£5 pot-limit Omaha.
The winner of the Cash Game Challenge will be the player that wins the most big blinds throughout The Festival Series Nottingham at designated Cash Game Challenge tables. While these tables were streamed the first two days, today the stream was focused on the final day of the PokerListings Championship. The winner of the Cash Game Challenge will be awarded a package valued at €1,600 to The Festival Series Malta at Portomaso Casino on May 15-21.
There may still be an update or two this evening but more or less our coverage has concluded for the evening. Thank you for tuning in and be sure to come back tomorrow not only for more coverage but also a recap of Day 3.
The Festival Series founder Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk was one of the lowest stacks of the five players at his tables and was still behind the eight-ball with one round to go.
Franke laid out a bet of 2,000 and Dideriksen-Nielsen didn’t want to take too many chances and bet just 300. Both players were dealt 17. The only chance for Franke to win was to double. He doubled and snagged a four for 21! Dideriksen-Nielsen busted which led Franke to advance to the next round while Dideriksen-Nielsen hit the shower.
A deal was agreed in the PokerListings Championship to even out the payouts as follows:
Russ Bowman – £5,225
Colin Lovelock – £4,335
JJ Hazan – £3,885
The players left £685 and the trophy to be played for but this is not all as the winner will also be awarded a package to The Festival Series Malta at Portomaso Casino on May 15-21 valued €1,600. Also, the winner will also be awarded a poker comic book authored by Anish Patel.
The Cash Game Challenge has resumed with the game changing from four cards to two cards. The stakes though remain the same with the game switching to £2/£5 no-limit hold’em.
Jon Kyte and Daniel Pilgrim are both among the players in action.
Day 1a of The Festival Series Nottingham £450 Main Event is in the books with 19 players bagging chips out of the original field of 129 entries. All 19 players will be in the money with hopes to earn much more with a deep run.
Ali Ayub, who was recently interviewed by The Festival Series, parlayed his 200,000 opening stack into an impressive chip-leading stack of 3,420,000.
Here is a look at all of the chip counts with some players opting out of using their real names.
The first Cash Game Challenge of the evening is in the books with Marcin Niedzwiecki coming out on the top of the pack after winning 336 big blinds or £1,680 in the early £5/£5 pot-limit Omaha.
While this is an impressive score for just 2 1/2 hours of action, this is still not catapulting him to the top of the Cash Game Leaderboard. This honor belongs to The Festival Series founder Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk, who won a whopping 628 big blinds or £3,140 in last night’s £2/£5 pot-limit Omaha session.
The £120 Blackjack Tournament will kick off in about 10 minutes. There are already 13 entries registered with more still to come.
This isn’t a house game like Blackjack normally is as the object of the game is to win more chips than others at your table. Latvia’s Aleksandrs Leonovs is the reigning champion after shipping the Blackjack Tournament at The Festival Bratislava in the autumn.
“The Blackjack tournament was a strong challenge for me,” Leonovs said. “As I have a background in mathematics, I wanted to test myself and see if I could combine my skills in probability calculation with strategic thinking. Since I won, it seems like it was successful. If possible, I would play again with pleasure.”
Round of Each Level 1: 200/500 (500) Entries: 27/27
The £230 Round of Each just kicked off with 27 entries. Players will play one round of no-limit hold’em followed by another round of pot-limit Omaha. Rinse and repeat until a winner is crowned in this turbo-charged affair with 15-minute blind levels.
Allan Arjut, Torgeir Hagmann, Jonas Kovac, Irina Liepina, Sascha Manns, Michael London, William Lynch, and Sean O Donnell are among the early entrants.
Main Event Day 1a Level 14: 15,000/25,000 (25,000) Entries: 27/129
The Festival streamer Joseph Jackson had a good run but sometimes all good things come to an end. Jackson hit the rail short of the end of the day and unfortunately will have to try again during another opening flight if he wishes to make it to the money and beyond.
Jackson shared that he first lost with king-seven against the king-nine held by Sara Wickins. Wickins bet out on a king-deuce-trey-trey board after the turn.
“I shoved in an attempt to get my opponent to fold a weak king,” Jackson said.
The shove didn’t work out by Jackson as Wickins called and a blank six completed the board on the river.
Jackson still had about 7 big blinds. He jammed with jack-ten from the cutoff and was out of the event after he was unable to get there against a big blind call with ace-eight.
It’s off to the £120 Blackjack Tournament for Jackson next. Good luck!
Main Event Day Satellite Level 2: 100/300 (300) Entries: 26/27
Another £56 Main Event satellite has kicked off with late registration open for at least an hour. So far, 27 entries got into the mix.
The satellite guarantees at least five £450 Main Event seats for tomorrow’s Day 1b. Get on in if you want a chance to play for some big money for just £56!
PokerListings Championship Final Day Level 25: 150,000/300,000 (300,000) Entries: 9/383
The final table has kicked off in the PokerListings Championship. You can check out the action by clicking on the stream tab. Tonight’s winner will go home with £6,850 plus a package to The Festival Series Malta at Portomaso Casino from May 15-21 valued at €1,600.
JJ Hazan, who already has a PokerListings Championship title in his pocket from the inaugural The Festival Series in 2021 in Bratislava, is still in contention for his second title. We also have our eyes on Russell Bowman, who is usually pitching cards instead of playing. Meanwhile, Nicholas Burrett had a commanding lead to kick off the final table.
Also in contention are Day 1b chip leader Corrado Nane, Sean O Donnell, Vlad Talica, Colin Lovelock, and Dimitru Enache.
You can check out the stream by clicking on the Stream tab within our coverage.
The PLO Challenge is taking a session off from the live stream as the PokerListings Championship will continue to stream until a winner is crowned.
This doesn’t mean that the challenge won’t continue. It just won’t appear on the stream. Today’s first Cash Game Challenge table features £5/£5 PLO. Jon Kyte, who was shocked by one profitable call the Cash Game Challenge leader Franke made last night, and Daniel Pilgrim are among the players that battled.
The player that wins the most big blinds throughout the week in a single Cash Game Challenge will be crowned the Cash Game Challenge champion and go home with a free package valued at €1,600 to The Festival Series Malta at Portomaso Casino on May 15-21.
Main Event Day 1a Level 13: 10,000/20,000 (20,000) Entries: 32/129
While surveying the action-packed £5/£5 PLO Cash Game Challenge table, we bumped into Norwegian poker streamer Oskar Wedde.
Wedde had a stack in the Main Event but unfortunately, he shared that he dusted off all his stack on a bluff to The Festival Series streamer Joseph Jackson.
“I tried to bluff a guy who I thought would fold,” Wedde shared. “I am steaming a little so I am going to blow off my steam at the cash game tables before watching the football match.”
This won’t be the last we see of Wedde as he will get back into the Main Event at some point but his focus tomorrow will be the Open Face Chinese tournament. Good luck to Wedde in adding another trophy to go along with the trophy he won during the 2022 The Festival Series Bratislava in 8-Game.
The Main Event is on a break but we took a quick peak at Jackson’s stack and he is on around 750,000 for nearly 40 big blinds when the action resumes.
Main Event Day 1a Level 12: 10,000/15,000 (15,000) Entries: 39/129
Day 1b of the Main Event is down to just 39 players from the original field of 129 entries. A total of 19 players will advance to Day 2 from this field already in the money.
James Clarke, Kristo Erala, The Festival satellite streamer Joseph Jackson, Jack Kent, ACR Stormer Oskar “DeckFlow” Ojaveer, and American Ian Vertefeuille are among the players still in action.
PokerListings Championship Final Day Level 24: 125,000/250,000 (250,000) Entries: 14/383
Day 1c chip leader Kasper Wurtz was on the rail out in 15th place. He shared with us how it went down.
“I lost a bit of my stack doubling up a short stack when my king-queen was no good to a player’s shove with king-nine,” shared Wurtz. “The rest went in after my king-jack didn’t complete its draws against ace-queen on a queen-queen-ten flop.”
Despite hitting the rail, Wurtz praised the event.
“It was a very good tournament,” Wurtz shared. “I went up and down, but at the end, it wasn’t a bad result finishing in 15th place.”
Wurtz was in good spirits with a beer in his hands but is unsure whether he will continue to play in another event today.
“I am always about the Main Event,” Wurtz said. “At every festival, it is my primary focus. Therefore, I am not sure I will enter another event today.”
We popped by the outer table to see what was going on there and both poker dealer Russell Bowman and PokerStars’ Georgina “GJReggie” James were both still battling it out. We shared that we spoke to Wurtz as we new he was on the table and Bowman laughed a little.
“I think I was the one with the king-nine in the first hand,” Bowman shared.
Russell Bowman – 6.7 million Georgina James – 5.5 million Kasper Wurtz – 0
PokerListings Championship Final Day Level 23: 100,000/200,000 (200,000) Entries: 16/383
The £120 PokerListings Championship is down to the final two tables. The stream has begun for this event and you will be able to watch it on a 30-minute delay with hole cards exposed by clicking on the Stream tab in our coverage starting at approximately 5:30 p.m. GMT.
Poker dealer Russell Bowman is among the final players and is sitting on around 3.5 million in chips.
“I hope to double up once,” shared Bowman to us on the break. “Then I will have around the final table average.”
Also still in contention are PLO Masterclass host JJ Hazan, Day 1b chip leader Corrado Nane, Day 1c chip leader Kasper Wurtz, Marius Morel, Colin Lovelock, and PokerStars hero Georgina “GJReggie” James. Best of luck to this group and everyone else still battling it out in hopes of The Festival Series glory in the PokerListings Championship.
The £120 Knockout has just kicked off with already 63 players in the field. This event was scheduled to be capped at 54 entries but the cap was extended with many players looking to get into the action.
Players will start with a healthy stack of 50,000 in chips. Expect a fast and furious pace with 15-minute blind levels and bounties of £50 per player on the line.
Isaac Barker, Brenden Oeystein, ACR Stormer Neil “TwinnyPoker” Edwards, Coolbet qualifier Sturla Hiller, Jonas Kovacs, Tobias Leknes, and Sascha Manns are among the players in the field.
Main Event Day 1a Level 8: 3,000/6,000 (6,000) Entries: 77/125
WSOP Europe bracelet winner Espen Sandvik was finishing up a meal when he hit the rail on a bluff against Michael Purkiss. Sandvik with ten-six check-raised the queen-nine-five flop and was called by Purkiss. Both players checked a blank turn. Sandvik attempted to rep a straight or something else after an eight completed the board on the river with a jam of more than double the pot.
Purkiss turned a flush and made the call. Unfortunately, Sandvik already fired a bullet earlier today. So, he will have to wait until tomorrow to get back into the Main Event.
Level 8 is winding down. After this level and a break, late registration will be over and we will know the final field size and how many players will advance.
Meanwhile, Sandvik was also at the live-streamed £2/£5 pot-limit Omaha table that The Festival Series founder Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk won a whopping 682 big blinds to put him in the lead in the Cash Game Challenge. We asked Sandvik what he thought about Franke’s play while he was finishing up a quick meal.
“I will always play with Franke when he is drinking Coca-Cola,” Sandvik shared with a smile. “He was even crazier on Coca-Cola than he normally is when he is on alcohol.”
PokerListings Championship Final Day Level 21: 60,000/120,000 (120,000) Entries: 20/383
There are just 20 hopefuls remaining in the £120 PokerListings Championship. They have each locked up £400 with much more to come if they can be the last player standing with a £6,850 top prize on the line. In addition, tonight’s winner will also be awarded a package for The Festival Series Malta on May 15-21 at Portomaso Casino valued at €1,600.
Gordon Skinner won’t be one of those players as he recently unsuccessfully jammed ace-four suited into Alexandru Grigorie’s ace-queen. Optibet qualifier Rinalds Zimka is also on the rail after his king-jack proved to be no good against Corrado Nane’s ace-ten.
Corrado Nane – 5.5 million Alexandru Grigorie – 4.5 million Rinalds Zimka – 0 Gordon Skinner – 0
Are you enjoying The Festival Series Nottingham as much as we are? Well, the fun won’t stop this week as soon enough The Festival Series heads to the luxurious Portomaso Casino in Malta for The Festival Series Malta on May 15-21.
There will be plenty of opportunities to win a package to The Festival Series Malta online but you may want to mark your calendars for Friday, Feb. 24 for a truly special satellite with three packages valued at €2,000 each guaranteed for just a €20 buy-in. Check out the details below:
Main Event Day 1a Level 5: 1,500/3,000 (3,000) Entries: 80/104
The Main Event is off to a rocking start on its first of four opening flights with the field already passing 100 entries. Close to 20% of the field didn’t hold onto their initial stack of 200,000 in chips. Some of these players hopped right back in as the event allows one re-entry per opening flight. Others opted to hop into the £56 Main Event satellite. Some are at the bar or touring the city, while some of those with the hospitality package is choosing to go to the Axe Throwing activity.
In other words, there is no lack of options.
Mairo Toom took a few initial photos before heading off to the Axe Throwing activity. We will have more Main Event photos to share with you later in the day.
Main Event Day 1a Level 9: 4,000/8,000 (8,000) Entries: 76/129
Michael Purkiss appears to be in the lead in the Main Event at the break after winning a big pot against Espen Sandvik. Players can still enter or re-enter for the next few minutes. After the break, the Day 1a field will be locked up and we will announce how many players will advance.
Meanwhile, here is a look at some of the bigger stacks from around the room in the Main Event.
Main Event Satellite Level 7: 400/800 (800) Entries: 24/36
There is a £56 Main Event satellite running alongside both The Festival Series Nottingham £450 Main Event and the £120 PokerListings Championship.
The satellite guarantees five seats into the Main Event and there is currently some small overlay with late registration set to close in about 30 minutes.
Marc Bolton, Vegard Andreassen, Richard Lazarus, Adam Naylor, Mick Smith, Maili Tannbaum, and Diana Toht are among those still in contention for a Main Event seat. Best of luck to this group of players and everyone else battling it out in hopes of securing a Main Event ticket for pennies on the pound.
PokerListings Championship Final Day Level 19: 40,000/80,000 (80,000) Entries: 38/383
Players are on their first break in the PokerListings Championship. The field is already down from the 57 players that started the day to just 38 hopefuls.
Simon Wilson, Yin Yuzhou, Jack Kent, Chris Lee, Garry Bennett, Priti Patel, Alexandru Talica, and Lynne Etches are among the players to not survive the first two hours.
We wish all the remaining players the best of luck. Meantime, enjoy some early photos by Mairo Toom.
There are rake-free flips taking place each and every night where players have a chance to win tickets to The Festival Series events.
The buzz is always exciting whenever these take place and sometimes players make up their own rules about not looking at their cards and flipping one at a time after each street in an Omaha format.
Apparently, Alexandru Talica and Vasile Margarit are pro-flippers as they have each won four separate times. Mick Smith and Allan Arjut aren’t far behind with three wins each.
The winner of the Franke’ Flip ‘n Go’s will be awarded a €1,600 package to The Festival Series Malta taking place from May 15-21, 2023 at the luxurious Portomaso Casino.
JJ Hazan hosted a PLO Masterclass this morning at the Crowne Plaza with a handful of people in attendance including Gregor Larsson.
We dropped by to check it out in the morning and it appeared the players were fully engaged. JJ parted his years of wisdom in a way that players of all levels could understand.
As if this wasn’t enough, JJ answered our call about exchanging some bank notes from the Estonian crew. His price to do so is just a token. Just buy him a drink and he might still be able to help you as he is doing for others.
Thanks, JJ, and best of luck in today’s PokerListings Championship. Coincidentally, JJ already has a PokerListings Championship title under his belt as he shipped the €220 PokerListings Deepstack Championship during the inaugural The Festival Series in Bratislava in September 2021 for €7,375. While Groundhog’s Day was a couple of weeks ago, a repeat performance is not out of the question as JJ can also play with two cards and not just four cards.
Main Event Day 1a Level 3: 1,000/2,000 (2,000) Entries: 68/71
The Day 1a field has just about doubled to 71 entries from the start of the day. Three players have already lost their stacks in the Main Event including Raivo Pinsel, Eugen Margarit, and Khadar Khoshawy.
Khoshawy is already back in action while Pinsel and Margarit are still on the rail at least for now.
Several players have come to Nottingham with old British pounds. Unfortunately, these aren’t accepted anymore and the only way to exchange them is at a British bank.
You must have a British bank account in order to be able to exchange. So, if anyone wants to help some of the players that need to exchange funds, please see Jason and he will help coordinate. In some cases, players might even pay a small premium for this service.
Main Event Day 1a Level 1: 1,000/1,000 (1,000) Entries: 38/38
The Main Event has kicked off with a field of 38 entries. Espen Baasto, Alan Fenney, Chris Janlow, Robert Nur, Oskar “DeckFlow” Ojaveer, Betfred qualifier Jordan Smith, and Albert Sapiano are among the early entries in the field. Players start off with a 200 big blind stack of 200,000 in chips with blinds increasing every 30 minutes.
Players can re-enter one time per opening flight until late registration closes at the conclusion of Level 8. Best of luck to all of the Main Event players!
After some announcements by The Festival Series founder Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk, Day 2 of the PokerListings Championship has kicked off with the 57 survivors from the three opening flights ready to battle it out to a winner. Similar to the opening flights, blinds will increase every 30 minutes. A live stream of the event is planned after the first break.
The full payouts have been announced with all players already locking up £200. The winner will go home with a bit more with a tasty £6,850 top prize along with a package to The Festival Series Malta valued at €1,600 on May 15-21. Here is a look at the full payouts:
Welcome to Day 3 of The Festival Series Nottingham at Dusk Till Dawn. Today will be another thrilling day as not only will there be a champion crowned in the PokerListings Championship but also today is the day that the £200,000 guaranteed The Festival Series Nottingham £450 Main Event kicks off with the first of its four opening flights.
The first three opening flights of the Main Event feature 30-minute blind levels while the final turbo flight boasts a faster 15-minute structure. Players begin with a massive stack of 200,000 in chips and can re-enter up to once per opening flight or late register for the first eight blind levels.
Each of the opening flights will play down to 15% of the field. At this point, all players will be in the money before battling it out for two more days on Feb. 18-19 until a winner is crowned.
Other events today include the £120 Knockout at 5 p.m., the £230 Round of Each (NL/PLO) at 8 p.m. and the £120 Blackjack tournament at 9 p.m.
Also, today will be two more live-streamed Cash Game Challenges and a £56 Main Event satellite at 7 p.m.
Our coverage will begin at 12 p.m. when cards are in the air for the Main Event. However, today we will continue to focus on the entire atmosphere instead of focusing solely on one event. Stay tuned to our coverage.
