The Festival Bratislava: Highlights From a Record-Breaking Week For The Festival Series

€550 Main Event

The Main Event attracted 887 players to the tables at Banco Bratislava, all of whom wanted a slice of the €500,000 prize pool. The field was comprised of qualifiers from eight starting flights, which ranged from full 30-minute long flights, to 20-minute flights, a 10-minute hyper-turbo, and a last-chance saloon Flip n Go. On the final day, 16 returned, and Festival history was on the line for two players: Gabriel Rymar and Sebastian Kotowicz. The Polish nationals are both Main Event winners, and both of their victories came on these very felts in Bratislava. Rymar won the title in 2023 for €80,000 and also won the €250 Bratislava Deepstack for €14,400. Sebastian Kotowicz is the reigning champion, and he won the title last year for €77,001, besting 983 players in the process. The field comprised 10 different nationalities from across the continent and Scandinavia. However, it was a home-team 1-2-3 atop the counts coming into the Day’s play.

Rank	Name	Country	Amount
1	Tomas Stvrtecky		7,790,000
2	David Urban		5,320,000
3	Andrej Tekel		5,040,000
4	Jari Maehoenen		3,700,000
5	Michal Hamacek		3,290,000
6	Filip Pilic		3,070,000
7	Daniel Gumula		2,870,000
8	Rikard Larsson		2,520,000
9	Maximilian Meier		2,080,000
10	Daniel Koloszar		1,850,000
11	Sebastian Kotowicz		1,670,000
12	Joel Fritz		1,540,000
13	Siamak Tahmoresnia		1,430,000
14	Bas de Laat		995,000
15	Gabriel Rymar		920,000
16	Rakel Dahle		240,000

A Tale of Two Champions

It was early showers, unfortunately, for Gabriel Rymar as he departed in the opening frames of the Days play. Kotowicz, however, was on the ascent, having started the day in 11th place. By the time the final table was reached, the champ was atop the field, with a substantial lead over his opponents. He kept adding to his stack throughout the final table, but lost some back to Maximilian Meier, who needed a double-up. Meier pulled off a well-executed bluff on the feature table early into the day’s play. He moved all in on a three-flush river with just ace-ten with the nut flush blocker, which forced his opponent, Tomas Stvrtecky, to fold two pair.

Kotowicz claimed a massive pot courtesy of Andrej Tekel, who four-bet jammed king-high on five-five-five. Kotowicz had slow-played jacks preflop out of the big blind, and this pot secured his place at the top of the counts when play went three-handed. Meier fell in fourth to home team representative David Urban, meaning two players were fighting to keep the title in Slovakia, and denying Kotowicz his shot at glory. Tekel was the shortest, and he doubled through his countryman early in three-handed play, but those chips then moved to Kotowicz, as he woke up with Big Slick in the Big Blind and called a jam from Tekel, who had ace-seven on the button. Kotowicz then claimed the stack of Urban, as his ace-seven suited cracked the nines of Urban.

Heads Up

Tekel had a 3.5/1 chip lead to eat into, and he drew close to parity by getting through preflop shoves and chipping up in postflop play. However, Tekel was left with a smidgen of a big blind, having called an all-in jam for Kotowicz on an ace river, across a board of Q 3 5 7 A . Both players had paired their five, with Tekel having 8 5 ff suit against Kotowicz J 5 . It was then all over the very next hand, as Kotowicz had Tekel crushed with J 2 against 4 2 . The runout of 7 A 8 J 9 secured Kotowicz the win, and he was visibly elated to become the first dual Festival Series Main Event Champion. Below are the final table payouts.

€550 Main Event Final Table Payouts

Rank	Name	Country	Amount
1	Sebastian Kotowicz		€78,100
2	Andrej Tekel		€48,850
3	David Urban		€33,250
4	Maximilian Meier		€24,700
5	Tomas Stvrtecky		€19,000
6	Michal Hamacek		€14,600
7	Jari Maehoenen		€11,700
8	Rikard Larsson		€9,350
9	Daniel Gumula		€7,500

€550 T.O.R.S.E.S Main Event

The marquee Mixed Game Event of the week attracted 102 total entrants across two flights, smashing the previous best turnout of 69 at the last stop in Malta, which shows the increasing popularity of the Mixed Game scene in Europe. Norwegian Mixed Game crusher Jon Kyte came into the day with the chip lead, and Finnish national Riku Koivurinne was his closest rival. The first Festival Series T.O.R.S.E.S. champion, Barrie Dear, couldn’t put up a successful title defence from his victory last time out in Malta, and he was the unfortunate victim of the bubble.

Kyte kept chipping up and extended his lead by the time the 30-minute dinner break rolled around. Sergeii Baranov moved into second, and Koivurinne into third. It seemed to be Kyte’s to lose, and the final table of seven became four in a matter of forty minutes. However, he ended up on the decline, and JJ Hazan and taken to the top of the counts. Hazan, Kyte, and Sergeii Baranov, were left three-handed, and Kyte’s day came to an end in third.  This didn’t last long, and by the time this writer returned to the desk, Baranov had triumphed. Remarkably, this is his first Festival Series cash in his career, and he took home the €12,950 top prize on bullet number six. This win joins his resume of Mixed Game victories, which includes victories at EPT Barcelona this year in the €5,200 8-Game, where he won €53,600, and the €1,000 8-Game at EPT Prague last December. Below are the payouts.

€550 T.O.R.S.E.S Main Event Payouts

Place	Name	Country	Prize
1	Sergii Baranov		€12,950
2	JJ Hazan		€9,500
3	Jon Kyte		€6,250
4	Marc Gork		€4,250
5	Rolf Bechstrom		€3,000
6	Joonas Lyttinen		€2,250
7	Mattia Ruebenstrunk		€1,750

€250 Sviten Special

Sviten Special is quickly becoming one of Sweden’s most popular exports in recent years, as evidenced by the bumper fields that are taking to the felts in these tournaments at The Festival Series. The Festival Series Malta saw 101 take to the felt, and this time, 131 entrants tried their hand at this split-pot game, which set a new world record for the most entrants in a Sviten tournament, according to thehendonmob.com.Within 45 minutes of the tournament start, 74 total entrants had already made their way to the tables, setting a good pace to break the record. The record was set at the Kings of Tallinn in a €250 Pot Limit Six Max event. Riku Koivurinne won that tournament in Estonia, and he was in the field here in Bratislava. He was made aware that history and prestige were on the line, as he would hold one of, if not the most unique title in poker history, if he were to win the two biggest Sviten tournaments in poker history thus far.

Koivurinne got his shot at glory. He made it to the final table of this event after a marathon session at the tables. He had some work to do to catch Ville Keranen, the Sviten Special Main Event Champion from The Festival Series Weekend in Tallinn. He came into the final table with a massive advantage over his opponents. The two Finns ended up heads-up, and Koivurinne had clawed back some of the deficit. However, it was Keranen’s day, and he managed to take down Koivurinne within an hour of head-up play to deny Koivurinne his unique accolade. Below are the payouts.

€250 Sviten Final Table Payouts

Place	Name	Country	Amount
1	Ville Keraenen		€5,826
2	Riku Koivurinne		€4,075
3	Yurii Rassamakin		€2,975
4	Fabio Bianchi		€2,250
5	Marc Gork		€1,775
6	Bambi		€1,425
7	Carlo Braccini		€1,175

What’s Next?

The Festival Series will return next year with seven live stops and two online events in what is sure to be the biggest year for The Festival Founder Martin ‘Franke’ von Zweigbergk’s poker tour.

That’s all for now, folks. Until next time.