2022 The Festival Bratislava Live Blog – Day 2

Level 26: 40,000/80,000 (60,000)
Entries: 16/1,271

Day 2 is in the books after two players were quickly eliminated. Tomorrow’s final day will begin at 2 p.m. with 42 minutes remaining in Level 26 with blinds at 40,000/80,000 along with a big blind ante of 80,000.

Dimitros Lykouris was the second to last player to hit the rail today after he unsuccessfully jammed his ace-nine into the ace-jack held by Slavomir Rakovan.

Moments later, Sandeep Nene jammed queen-nine into the queens held by Leo Sigurdsson.

We will update the seat draw for tomorrow and the recap will be included in tomorrow’s Day 3 intro. Until then, have an amazing evening, and be sure to tune back into PokerListings to see who will win the 2022 The Festival Series Bratislava Main Event at Banco Casino.

Level 25: 30,000/60,000 (60,000)
Entries: 18/1,271

Michel Molenar min-raised before he called a three-bet by Ronald Zapantis. Molenaar check-called a bet of 160,000 by Zapantis on the four-eight-deuce flop with two hearts before doing the same for 350,000 after an ace came on the turn.

A deuce of hearts paired the board and if either player had a potential flush draw it would have been completed on the river. Molenaar checked again. Zapantis slammed the table and fired out for 1.2 million. Molenaar paused for a few moments before he called.

Kamaras turned over pocket sevens and Molenaar took the chip lead after turning over ace-king to win the hand.

Michel Molenaar – 5.5 million
Ronald Zapantis – 2.5 million

Level 26: 30,000/60,000 (60,000)
Entries: 18/1,271

Adam Kharman min-raised before he called a three-bet to 285,000 by Ronald Zapantis. Kharman check-called for 250,000 after the 10 8 5 came on the flop before he check-jammed from 325,000 to 500,000 on the 2 turn. Zapantis called and Kharman was drawing dead.

Adam Kharman: 9 9
Ronald Zapantis: 10 10

There was no chance for Kharman to snag a miracle and he was on the rail in 20th place. Shortly after, both Fotios Ntamaris and Mario Mende were on the rail to leave just 18 players remaining in the Main Event.

Ronald Zapantis – 3 million
Adam Kharman – 0
Fotios Ntamaris – 0
Mario Mende – 0

Level 24: 25,000/50,000 (50,000)
Entries: 23/1,271

Day 1b chip leader Ronald Zapantis was nearly on the rail but the cards had something else in mind. Zapantis four-bet jammed for 1.1 million and was called by Peter Kamaras.

Ronald Zapantis: A 4
Peter Kamaras: K K

Kamaras remained ahead after the 6 5 10 flop but Zapantis pulled far ahead after his ace found a friend on the A turn. The Q river kept Zapantis on the winning end of the hand and he doubled his stack through Kamaras.

“I’m sorry,” said Zapantis after the hand.

“No, you’re not,” responded Kamaras. “It’s all good.”

Peter Kamaras – 4.5 million
Ronald Zapantis – 2.3 million

Level 24: 25,000/50,000 (50,000)
Entries: 24/1,271

Luka Bojovic jammed for around 20 big blinds from the small blind and was called by Leo Sigurdsson from the big blind.

Bojovic turned over ace-six and needed help with Sigurdsson waking up with cowboys.

The cowboys held on the nine-high board and Bojovic’s impressive Main Event run has come to an end.

Leo Sigurdsson – 4 million
Luka Bojovic – 0

Congratulations to Ian Vertefeuille for winning the most Franke’s Flip Flops. Not only does he win a €1,600 package to The Festival Series in Nottingham in February but also a unique framed pair of Franke’s flip flops to enjoy the memory.

Level 24: 25,000/50,000 (50,000)
Entries: 28/1,271

Players are on a short break. The floor announced that the day will end the sooner of four more blind levels or when the action is down to just 16 players.

We will update chip counts of all the remaining players at the break.

Level 23: 20,000/40,000 (40,000)
Entries: 30/1,271

Michael Sklenicka is the latest player on the rail. He got his short stack in with ace-queen and was unable to win a flip against Peter Kamaras with fives after the king-jack-six-seven-six ran out on the board.

Peter Karamas – 3 million
Michael Sklenicka – 0

Level 22: 15,000/30,000
Entries: 37/1,271

Fotios Ntamaris was down to crumbs but now is in a better spot. He first tripled with king-nine. More recently, Ntamaris ousted a short-stacked Marc Muller when his king-nine was good against jack-ten and now has 900,000 in chips.

Level 22: 15,000/30,000 (30,000)
Entries: 40/1,271

Dimitrios Lykouris jammed his short stack on the turn with the 6 9 A 8 on the board and was called by Sascha Manns.

Dimitrios Lykouris: A J
Sascha Manns: A 3

The 9 river paired the board and Lykouris doubled through Manns with the better kickers.

Sascha Manns – 900,000
Dimitrios Lykouris – 550,000

Level 22: 15,000/30,000 (30,000)
Entries: 43/1,271

Fotios Ntamaris took fifth place in the inaugural The Festival Series in Bratislava last year and is hoping for another final table appearance this time around as well.

Ntamaris jammed for five big blinds and was called by Adam Kharman. Luka Bojovic came in over the top for a bit more and Kharman laid down his hand.

Ntamaris was behind with king-nine against Bojovic’s ace-queen. However, a nine spiked the board, and Ntamaris tripled his stack.

Luka Bojovic – 1,100,000
Adam Kharman – 700,000
Fotios Ntamaris – 500,000

The following players cashed for €1,570 in The Festival Series Bratislava Main Event.

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Level 21: 10,000/20,000 (20,000)
Entries: 54/1,271

Leo Sigurdsson just won a pot north of 2.5 million in chips while delivering a massive cooler to Kenneth Aspestrand and David Kurbel.

Aspestrand four-bet jammed for 600,000 before Kurbel came in over the top for 800,000. Sigurdsson had both players covered and snap-called.

Kenneth Aspestrand: Pocket Jacks
David Kurbel: Pocket Queens
Leo Sigurdsson: Pocket Aces

It was a bit of a cooler for Aspestrand and Kurbel and they were on the rail after failing to improve on a dry board.

Leo Sigurdsson – 2.6 million
Kenneth Aspestrand – 0
David Kurbel – 0

Players are still on break. In the meantime, the following players cashed for €1,300. The final 63 players each got a pay jump and will secure at least €1,570.

Players are on a short break. We will provide you some of the notable chip counts when the action resumes.

The following players collected €1,085 for their deep Main Event runs. The final 71 players have now each locked up at least €1,300 payout.

Level 20: 8,000/16,000 (16,000)
Entries: 72/1,261

Yaron Amsalem bet 110,000 into a pot of approximately triple that after the J 2 10 came on the flop and was called by Michel Molenaar.

Amsalem fired out again for 115,000 after the 6 followed on the turn. Molenaar jammed over the top for heaps and Amsalem called off for about 350,000.

Yaron Amsalem: K 10
Michel Molenaar: J 4

Molenaar was ahead and eliminated Amsalem after he was unable to pull ahead on the 7 river.

Michel Molenaar – 2.4 million
Yaron Amsalem – 0

The following players cashed for €815.

Level 19: 6,000/12,000 (12,000)
Entries: 87/1,271

Yasen Dichev was absolutely relentless on the bubble and was busy building his stack. He seems to be continuing along post-bubble and just ousted Krzysztof Nowakowski.

Nowakowski jammed for 15 big blinds with king-jack. Dichev woke up with queens and made the call. The board ran dry for Nowakowski and his impressive Main Event run is history.

Yasen Dichev – 2.5 million
Krzysztof Nowakowski – 0

The following players earned €725 in The Festival Series Bratislava Main Event.

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The following players were awarded €665 in The Festival Series Bratislava Main Event.

Level 18: 5,000/10,000 (10,000)
Entries: 106/1,271

Robert Komlodi opened for 22,000 from early position before Domenik Schlesinger jammed for 153,000 from the small blind. Tamas Braun, who came into today with just 14,000 in chips and advanced into the money, called off for 11,000 and the action was paused on Komlodi.

“I apologize,” said another player at the table. “I must call for the clock.”

Komlodi folded before the floor got to his table and Braun was at risk.

Tamas Braun: 9 2
Domenik Schlesinger: A Q

Braun paired his deuce on the 10 A 2 Q 4 board but this wasn’t nearly enough with Schlesinger also improving to top two pair to eliminate his opponent.

Robert Komlodi – 500,000
Domenik Schlesinger – 250,000
Tamas Braun – 0

Level 18: 5,000/10,000 (10,000)
Entries: 135/1,271

The following players min-cashed for €605 in the Main Event.

Andrew Puglisi bubbled the Main Event after his ace-deuce was up against ten-seven and ace-king. The board ran dry for all players and Puglisi was on the rail.

Players went on a break after the money bubble broke and are now in the money.

Level 17: 4,000/8,000 (8,000)
Entries: 161/1,271

Siamak Tahmoresnia finished in 162nd place or two spots from the money. The action is still hand-for-hand, but now the action is on the pure money bubble with just 161 players remaining and 160 finishing in the money.

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Level 17: 4,000/8,000 (8,000)
Entries: 162/1,271

Attila Leeb just hit the rail on a coinflip when his tens were no good against the big slick held by Gerianne Dijkstra after a king spiked the turn.

Level 17: 4,000/8,000 (8,000)
Entries: 163/1,271

Teresa Clark had a short stack throughout Day 2. She got her stack up to around 110,000 but is now on the rail. Special thanks to Mateusz Moolhuizen for recapping the action.

She lost most of her stack after getting it in with ace-queen against the tens held by Paul Maguire. She had less than a big blind left when she went in blind with four-three off and bricked the board against king-ten.

Paul Maguire – 250,000
Mateusz Moolhuizen – 240,000
Teresa Clark – 0

The floor stopped the clock about 10 minutes ago with 31:06 left on the clock with 164 players remaining and 160 getting paid at least a €605 min-cash.

We are now hand-for-hand as the floor decided to start it a bit earlier with many tables across two different floors. We will do our best to be on the correct floor when the bubble breaks but even this Superman of a reporter can’t be in two places at once.

Level 17: 4,000/8,000 (8,000)
Entries: 164/1,271

The bubble is just around the corner with just 164 players remaining and 160 players slated for at least a min-cash of €605. Luka Bojovic checked the A A Q 4 10 board before Adi Radjkovic fired out about a pot-sized bet of 113,000. Radjkovic had just 1,000 chips back when Bojovic went into the tank.

Bojovic eventually called and mucked his cards after Radjkovic turned over K J for Broadway.

Adi Radjkovic – 375,000
Luka Bojovic – 330,000

Level 16: 3,000/6,000 (6,000)
Entries: 178/1,271

The payouts have been announced. The top 160 players will go home with at least a €605 min-cash with tomorrow’s eventual winner going home with €126,650.

The floor just announced that after this hand, players will take a 10-minute break. After the break, we will likely know the payouts for the Main Event.

The reason for the break makes sense since there are 180 players remaining and it appears likely that 160 players will be in the money.

Level 16: 3,000/6,000 (6,000)
Entries: 185/1,271

WSOP Bracelet winner Espen Sandvik was unable to manage a run in the Main Event and is off playing Blackjack with his friend Terje Bremseth who also hit the rail today.

Sandvik fired seven bullets but it wasn’t a lucky seven.

He shared that he got his last 44,000 in the middle with treys and was up against the deuces held by Morten Bremseth. If you recall Sandvik earlier in the tournament, he played two big hands with deuces.

This time, Sandvik hoped that the saying that “deuces never loses” wouldn’t take place but a deuce spiked the river and all of his chips went over to Bremseth.

Meanwhile, The Festival Series’ Karev Tralla is also on the rail. He shared that he lost a flip at the end with nine-seven against an underpair.

Best of luck to Sandvik and Tralla the rest of the way in side events.

Level 15: 2,000/5,000 (5,000)
Entries: 201/1,271

We checked up on Ruurd Nauta and noticed his stack dipped to 70,000 in chips. While we hear tons of bad beats stories every day, this one was particularly nasty.

A player jammed for under 15 big blinds with ace-deuce and was called by Nauta with pocket rockets. Normally there wouldn’t be much of sweat here. This time there wasn’t but for a different reason as two deuced came on the flop leaving Nauta to just one out despite being miles ahead when the chips went in. No miracle came for Nauta and but he still has enough left in his stack to potentially spin up and get back in the mix.

Level 15: 2,000/5,000 (5,000)
Entries: 246/1,271

The Main Event unofficially attracted 1,271 entries to generate a €603,725 prize pool. Although late registration is closed, it might take a blind level before everything is confirmed and the prize pool and payouts are announced but it won’t be too far off this figure if it changes.

Two of the big-name Finnish players hit the rail shortly after the start of Level 15 in Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies and Jussi “Potti-Jussi” Mattila.

While we caught how Potti-Jussi hit the rail, Sahamies stormed away with his drink but perhaps we will find out about that elimination later.

Mattila open-jammed sevens and was called by Attila Leeb with ace-queen. An ace spiked the river on the king-six-trey-jack-ace runout and the rest was history for Mattila.

Attila Leeb – 135,000
Jussi Mattila – 0
Ilari Sahamies – 0

Players are on their first break of Day 2. Late registration will be closed after the break. It might take a blind level before the final entries and prize pool are finalized.

Level 14: 2,000/4,000
Entries: 264/1,264

Dominik Znasik opened for 8,000 before Danius Antanaitis three-bet to 24,000. Znasik four-bet jammed for his massive stack of around 200,000 and was called off by Antanaitis for 152,000.

Dainius Antanaitis: Q Q
Dominik Znasik: A K

Znasik pulled out ahead on the 5 A 10 flop and never looked back with the 7 turn and 3 river completing the board.

Antanaitis did re-enter today with a 30,000 stack before running it up but shared he won’t try the same again after hitting the rail. He is one of Lithuania’s most formidable mixed-game players as evidenced by his recent run at the WCOOP where he won three separate titles this year.

Dominik Znasik – 360,000
Dainius Antanaitis – 0

Level 14: 2,000/4,000 (4,000)
Entries: 291/1,249

Sascha Manns began today with a top ten chip stack and has extended it further.

He first eliminated Svein Eidsaeter as follows.

Manns defended his big blind after Eidsaeter opened the hijack and both players checked the four-five-queen with two hearts flop. The two of diamonds paired the board on the turn. Manns bet 10,000. Eidsaeter jammed for more than 70,000 and Manns called.

Sascha Manns: Six-Five
Svein Eidsaeter: Ace-King

Eidsaeter still had some hope but that went into the gutter after a blank ten completed the board.

Shortly after, Manns took care of another player after winning a flip with ace-king vs. tens.

In other news, this reporter no longer has a sweat as he had a small piece in Ant Gokcek who also hit the rail. Gokcek wanted to take a break but he plans to enter the €250 NLHE Freezeout that kicks off at 3 p.m.

Sascha Manns – 380,000
Svein Eidsaeter – 0
Ant Gokcek – 0

Level 14: 2,000/4,000 (4,000)
Entries: 303/1,247

We caught up with Jostein Groedum who is on the rail. He shared that he three-bet jammed about 15 big blinds with ace-nine suited and was called by two players. One player with nines and another with kings.

The queen-jack-eight-eight-deuce runout didn’t help Groedum stay alive and he shared he will not be re-entering. Groedum still has a sweat as he is representing Guts Poker, who have sent about a half-a-dozen qualifiers to The Festival Bratislava. Best of luck to all of the Guts Poker players.

Meanwhile, it appears we will have our commentator available to do commentating. George Sandford entered the maximum three bullets on Day 2 and came out empty each time. Sandford is a formidable player in many poker formats and has had tons of success here at Banco Casino. We look forward to watching his commentating of the Main Event when the stream goes live later today.

Level 14: 2,000/4,000 (4,000)
Entries: 310/1,245

We decided to catch up with a few of our friends on the rail to see how they hit the felt. Terje Bremseth is the first of the crew we had a chat with.

Bremseth shared he jammed a short stack with ace-eight and was unable to win a flip against sevens.

We spoke with Dehlia de Jong next. She shared that she three-bet jammed with nines for 15 big blinds and was up against king-queen. A king came out of the window right away and the rest was history.

Both Bremseth and de Jong got immediately back into the action after their unfortunately early demises with the stacks they brought into Day 2. Best of luck to Terje and Dehlia.

Level 13: 1,000/3,000 (3,000)
Entries: 336/1,236

Jussi Mattila, known to friends as Potti-Jussi, limped from the small blind. Erik Oestergaard raised to 43,000 leaving him about 32,000 left in his stack. Mattila three-bet jammed and Oestergaard went into the tank before he called.

Erik Oestergaard: A 3
Jussi Mattila: A 9

Mattila remained ahead after the Q K 4 flop and after the 2 turn. However, the 3 river spiked the board to save Oestergaard. Mattila slammed the table out of frustration.

“Well played,” Mattila said sarcastically to Oestergaard.

“Thank you,” said Oestergaard.

Mattila was smiling shortly after as he has been around long enough to know anything can happen in poker.

Erik Oestergaard – 150,000
Jussi Mattila – 60,000

Level 13: 1,000/3,000 (3,000)
Entries: 346/1,230

Georgi Gogoladze in the hijack called a three-bet jam for 32,000 by Sohrab Mohammadzadeh from the small blind.

Sohrab Mohammadzadeh: 10 10
Georgi Gogoladze: A J

The race was on and Mohammadzadeh appeared to be in good shape after the K K 7 flop and the 2 turn. However, that all changed when Gogoladze connected his ace with the A river to eliminate Mohammadzadeh.

Georgi Gogoladze – 150,000
Sohrab Mohammadzadeh – 0

Level 13: 1,000/3,000 (3,000)
Entries: 362/1,220

Ronny Albrigtsen re-entered before the start of the day and now has more than double a starting stack. His biggest hand came against the start-of-the-day chip leader Attila Kuna.

Albrigtsen shared that he got his short stack in with fours and was up against the ace-nine held by Kuna. Not only did the board run clean for Albrigtsen, but he rivered a four as well for good measure.

Attilas Kuna – 350,000
Ronny Albrigtsen – 76,000

Level 13: 1,000/3,000 (3,000)
Entries: 372/1,216

Jiri Noga committed his short stack from middle position and was up against Paul Maguire from the small blind.

Jiri Noga: 6 6
Paul Maguire: J J

Maguire had Noga dominated with jacks against sixes. The A 8 9 7 Q board didn’t help Noga get ahead and he will need to re-enter if he wants a chance to go deep in the Main Event.

Paul Maguire – 125,000
Jiri Noga – 0

Level 13: 1,000/3,000 (3,000)
Entries: 386/1,201

Attila Kassitzky jammed for 32,000 from the hijack and was looked up by Tamas Barbarics from the small blind.

Attila Kassitzky: Q J
Tamas Barbarics: 4 4

Barbarics’ fours did the job to eliminate his opponent after Kassitzky bricked the A 3 5 8 5 runout.

Tamas Barbarics – 190,000
Attila Kassitzky – 0

Level 13: 1,000/3,000 (3,000)
Entries: 395/1,200

Day 2 has just kicked off. Expect some mayhem in the beginning with players holding short stacks looking to spin them up. Among the players to re-enter before the start of the day were Ronny Albrigtsen, Dave Clark, and Greg Partridge.

The plan was originally to play down to the final table today but it is expected that we will have more players survive today. The tournament director will update the players with the Day 2 plan during the day.

The €500,000 guaranteed The Festival Series €550 Main Event has moved onto its second day. The event thus far has attracted 1,196 entries through the five opening flights with 380 players finding a bag.

These figures will continue to grow throughout the day as late registration will be open for those looking to get in at the very last minute for the first two blind levels today.

Attila Kuna is currently on top of the chip leaderboard after bagging a whopping 384,000 in chips on Day 1c. Pavel Svach was the only other player to bag more than 300,000 in chips after ending Day 1d with a healthy stack of 303,000.

Top 10 Chip Counts

Main Event by the Numbers

The €500,000 Main Event guarantee has already been smashed. By how much we will know around 1:30 p.m. after late registration closes but the prize pool currently stands at €562,400 and counting.

Day 2 will begin at noon at Level 13 with blinds at 1,000/3,000 along with a big blind ante of 3,000. The structure will be slightly deeper on Day 2 with 45-minute blind levels instead of the 40-minute levels featured during most of the opening flights.

Stay tuned at PokerListings to witness the biggest hands and bad beats throughout The Festival Series Bratislava Main Event.

The Festival Series reporter Arved Klohn has posted the Day 2 Seat draw.

You can check it out here along with some updates from the plethora of side events throughout the week.