The Festival is Live in Action in Bratislava!
There’s no doubt about it: Banco Casino is well experienced when it comes to hosting live poker events. Earlier this year, they rolled out the red carpet for the Coolbet Open as well as the Winamax Poker Open. What’s more, they also hosted both the Swedish and the Polish National Championships. It’s a great venue and whatever live poker event they host, they seem to always deliver a poker experience in absolute top class.
They’re not slowing down either. Right at the end stretch of 2023, they’re in this very moment quite busy turning the Festival Series Bratislava into an unforgettable experience. The Festival is one of the most attractive live poker festivals in Europe and their stop in Bratislava is their third stop of the year, after they’ve visited both Nottingham and Malta earlier this year.
The Festival Bratislava kicked off November 26th, meaning we’ve already had roughly three days of interesting poker action to follow. Let’s take a look at what’s happened so far in the Slovakian capital, as well as what’s to expect for the rest of the week!
Is H.O.R.S.E.S Here to Stay?
When talking about the Festival, it’s hard not to think of the founding father, Martin Von Zweigbergk, more commonly known as “Franke”. This man can’t be described in one word, but it’s safe to say that he enjoys a lot of action. Maybe this is why he added a second “S” to H.O.R.S.E. Franke simply found the most diverse version of Mixed Games to be to boring, and he fixed this by adding Sviten Special (or “Drawmaha”) to the mix.
Thanks to the great live blog from The Festival with live reporter legend Jason Glatzer behind the wheels, we’re able to take part of everything that went down in the tournament. The H.O.R.S.E.S event kicked off with its first out of three flights the 26th, and out of the 60 entries, 28 went on to day 2. From the get-go, Norwegian Jon Kyte dominated day 2. When there were only three players left, Kyte held roughly 90 % of the chips. He dismissed Dimitris Giannakou and Robin Panholzer fairly quickly, which resulted him becoming the inaugural H.O.R.S.E.S champion and claiming the €8 825 prize check.
Who Will Become the Main Event Champion?
Of course, it wouldn’t be a great live poker festival without a Main Event. The €550 Main Event offers six different start flights before day two kicks off December 1st. So far, two flights have been played and we’re currently standing on 196 entries. Bo Alm and Daniel Nagy were the two who bagged most chips after the respective flight, and they will be very eager to return for day 2 in the hunt for eternal festival glory.
The Festival: More Than Just Poker!
One thing’s sure about the Festival: there are many ways to keep yourself entertained away from the poker tables. The event has some interesting elements in the schedule. November 28th, the Festival visitors went to another section of the casino to partake in the €125 Roulette Championship. This is a creative concept to say the least, and a total of 18 players joined the competition creating a €1 881 prize pool. When all was said and done, Domagoj Kuterovac could reach his hands into the skies and title himself a Roulette Championship winner. For his feat, he earned €941.
The non-poker related fun doesn’t stop there. The 29th it was time for the Blackjack championships, and this casino tournament attracted 24 players who were competing for a slice of the €2 508 prize pool. When the dust settled, it was Nicklas Dehli who emerged as the champion.
What’s That at the Horizon?
The Festival Bratislava will keep going until culminating with the Main Event final table December 3rd. There is a lot – a lot – of action remaining. Out of the remaining key events, the €125 Festival Queens will be very interesting event to follow. There is also be one more casino event to be played, seeing as there will be a Sportsbook Championship on December 2nd. The are roughly ten events being played each day; the players in Bratislava – as well as us following along from afar – has a lot of poker action to enjoy.
We’re so grateful for the great live coverage from Banco Casino. Thanks to this, we’re able to update you all on what’s going on in Bratislava, and the Festival Bratislava is surely an event you want to stay up to date with.
Photo Credit: The Festival/Mario Toom/Dominik Demcak.
