Two Lithuanians Among Six Title Winners on Day 3 of The Festival Series Malta
The Festival Series Malta was busy yesterday at Portomaso Casino with six new winners crowned. Two Lithuanians in Jonas Jurkaitis and Mantas Petrauskas won titles as did The Festival Series Twitch streamer Joseph Jackson, Georgia's Levani Rozomashvili, Younes Jarir, and Angelo Vietti.
Read on to check out what happened and what is scheduled to take place today on Day 4 of The Festival Series Malta.
Joseph Jackson Wins the Texas Knockout (€3,500 + Bounties)
Joseph Jackson streams The Festival Series satellites weekly on TheFestivalOG Twitch channel. He was unable to win a package while streaming but, of course, he couldn't miss The Festival Series Malta. Apparently, anything can happen at The Festival Series Malta as was evidenced last night. A couple of nights ago, Jackson notoriously punted away his stack intentionally in the Sviten Special event in order to play the Cash Game Challenge. Let's just say this was a 'don't do this at home' type of move.
Last night was a different story. Apparently, Jackson can actually play poker when he sets his mind out to win 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.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joseph Jackson | €3,500* |
| 2 | Liam Johnston | €3,490* |
| 3 | Sascha Manns | €2,380 |
| 4 | Alkan Aydingoz | €1,770 |
| 5 | Igor Panak | €1,260 |
| 6 | Luca Delfino | €990 |
| 7 | Fraser Mackenzie | €740 |
| 8 | Gerianne Dijkstra | €610 |
| 9 | Nathaniel Brown | €490 |
| 10 | Atilla Szathmari | €420 |
| 11 | Rami Amuri | €420 |
| 12 | Kenneth Kull | €355 |
| 13 | Matiss Clemins | €355 |
| 14 | Martin Klaar | €305 |
| 15 | Stefan Wardenier | €305 |
| 16 | Jeroen Mulder | €305 |
| 17 | Lars Nilsen | €305 |
*Reflects heads-up deal.
Levani Rozomashvili Wins PLO High Roller (€15,400)
The €1,100 PLO High Roller was another success story at The Festival Series Malta with 60 entries mixing it up to create a €57,600 prize pool. It was a long day for those that ran deep as it took nearly 13 hours of action before Georgia's Levani Rozomashvili shipped the event for €15,400 after agreeing to a heads-up deal with Balazs Somodi, who collected a healthy €14,700.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Levani Rozomashvili | €15,400* |
| 2 | Balazs Somodi | €14,700* |
| 3 | Alexander Koops | €8,650 |
| 4 | James Mercieca | €6,550 |
| 5 | Sander van Wesemael | €4,450 |
| 6 | Andre Grech | €3,350 |
| 7 | Florian Ahlmer | €2,500 |
| 8 | Samuel Stranak | €2,000 |
Younes Jarir Wins the PokerListings Championship (€16,200)
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.
The final table was full of stories. All eyes were initially on Colin Lovelock as he was going for back-to-back victories after shipping this event at The Festival Series Nottingham a few months ago. He eventually hit the rail 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 the final table payouts of the PokerListings Championship:
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Younes Jarir | €16,200 |
| 2 | Manuel Blaschke | €9,990 |
| 3 | Niklas Borg | €6,690 |
| 4 | Vahur Tima | €5,250 |
| 5 | Karl Sundin | €4,250 |
| 6 | Colin Lovelock | €3,250 |
| 7 | Tanguy Pellerin | €2,574 |
| 8 | Wooseun Kim | €1,930 |
| 9 | Laila Hawaszadeh | €1,340 |
Jonas Jurksaitis Brings 8-Game Trophy to Lithuania
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. Jurksaitis is a local poker dealer where this author lives in Lithuania and came to Malta on holiday. It seems like he made the correct decision as he has his holiday paid for and then some.
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.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jonas Jurksaitis | €3,350 |
| 2 | Damian Michalski | €2,090 |
| 3 | Martin Smith | €1,240 |
| 4 | Scott “Pokerbrahs” Kenyon | €890 |
| 5 | Chris Hansen | €660 |
| 6 | Simon Ruckert | €520 |
| 7 | Barrie Dear | €420 |
| 8 | Fabian Jarmer | €350 |
| 9 | Jakub Kanosovsky | €150 |
| 10 | Andreas Sanden | €150 |
Angelo Vietti Wins the Blackjack
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.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Angelo Vietti | €1,100 |
| 2 | Theodoros Konstantindis | €790 |
| 3 | Annika Haaviste | €500 |
| 4 | Orlando Genders | €250 |
Heads-Up Title Also Heads to Lithuania
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.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mantas Petrauskas | €2,380 |
| 2 | Raoul van Wersch | €1,690 |
| 3 | Peder Behr | €1,130 |
| 4 | Sven Lysebo | €900 |
Franke Still Leads the Cash Game Challenge
The Festival Series Founder Martin "Franke" von Zweigbergk still leads the Cash Game Challenge. This might be a recurring theme as his lead is massive with him winning 3,150 big blinds (€6,300 profit) in the €2/€2 PLO Cash Game Challenge on Monday evening. Players will try to knock him off the top of the mountain as the player that wins the most big blinds during any Cash Game Challenge will win a package valued at €1,600 to The Festival Series Bratislava at Banco Casino from Nov. 27 to Dec. 3.
Martins Geiba notching the second biggest score last night of the Cash Game Challenge at 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.
May 18th Schedule
There are plenty of events on tap on Day 4 of The Festival Series Malta starting off with Day 1c of the €550 Main Event. Adam Briggs bagged the overall chip lead in the Main Event during yesterday's Day 1b with 329,500 in chips.
Meanwhile, there are plenty of other events including the €250 HORSE, the €1,100 NLHE High Roller, the €250 PLO 4/5/6, and the €125 Texas Turbo Thursday Midnight Madness.
Players will also have a blast in the €125 Matching Visions Slots Tournament. This event likely has the least amount of skill out of all of our events and should be fun for poker players and casino enthusiasts alike.
The Cash Game Challenge continues with two more sessions this evening and Franke's Flip Flops will run once again from 9 p.m. until 11 p.m. Of course, cash games will be running on the casino floor 24 hours a day throughout The Festival Series Malta.
Here is a full look at today's schedule:
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
| 12 p.m. | Event #8: €550 Main Event Day 1c |
| 1 p.m. | Event #26: €250 HORSE |
| 5 p.m. | Event #27: €1,100 NLHE High Roller |
| 7 p.m. | Event #28: €70 Main Event Satellite |
| 8 p.m. | Event #29: €250 PLO 4/5/6 |
| 8 p.m. | Event #30: €2/€2 NLHE Cash Game Challenge |
| 9 p.m. | Event #31: €125 Matching Visions Slots Tournament |
| 9 p.m. | Event #32: €125 Texas Turbo Thursday Midnight Madness |
| 10:30 p.m. | Event #33: €2/€2 PLO Cash Game Challenge |
