The Festival Series: Highlights from the Upcoming Bratislava Stop

€250 The Hendon Mob Championship

One of The Festival Series staples, and a staple across the poker world in general, the €250 The Hendon Mob Championship returns to the schedule once again. There will be four flights available to players, one every day for the first four days, with the final flight offering a turbo structure of 15-minute levels and unlimited re-entries until registration closes at the end of Level 10. Flights A, B and C will all feature 30-minute levels and the same re-entry opportunities and the same number of levels for late registration. Progressors from each flight will be in the money, with Day 2 being the final day, which will start at 4 p.m. local time on Friday 21st of November. Last year, Norwegian national Vegard Granli took home the title and €17,745 for his efforts. He bested a field of 436 total entries, which produced a prize pool of €93,125. At the same spot, Granli also won the €250 PLO Freezeout for €4,440, topping a field of 72 entrants and taking home the majority of the €15,390 prize pool. We will find out next week if Granli will be in attendance to defend his title. Below are the final table payouts from last year’s event.

Position	Name	Country	Payout
1	Vegard Granli		€17,745
2	Martin Staszko		€12,025
3	Hristo Dimitrov		€8,300
4	Vitaliy Kryza		€6,375
5	Jason Shellum		€5,125
6	Ronen Mordechai		€4,200
7	Ziga Klopcic		€3,325
8	Jan Erik Iversen		€2,450
9	David Vesely		€1,850

€550 Main Event

The marquee Hold’em event of the series, as always, is the €550 Main Event. There will be seven starting flights running from Wednesday 19th of November to

Sunday, 23rd of November. Flights A, B, C, and E will feature 40-minute levels and unlimited re-entries until registration closes at the end of Level 12. Flight 1/D and F will be a turbo flight featuring 20-minute levels and unlimited re-entries until registration closes at the end of Level 12. The final flight will be held before Day 2 and will be a flip and go, meaning players can make Day 2 by winning a flip against the table, which will either be PLO or No Limit Hold’em. Day 2 then starts at 2 p.m. the same day (23rd November) and will conclude on the final day of the series, Monday 24th. Don’t fancy buying directly into a flight? Not to worry, as there will be €60 satellites running daily from the 19th to the 21st, all of which will have ten tickets guaranteed, unlimited reentries for the first eight levels, and levels last 20 minutes apiece. Last year’s Bratislava Main Event was won by Polish national Sebastian Kotowicz, who banked €77,001 for his efforts over the week. He topped a field of 983 total entrants and plays the majority of his poker in Slovakia and Czechia. His Main Event win stands as his second biggest score of his career and his sixth tournament win in Slovakia. Below are the payouts.

Position	Name	Country	Payout
1	Sebastian Kotowicz		€77,001
2	Jaap Smits		€53,100
3	Matus Gabzdil		€37,600
4	Andre Berg		€27,700
5	Halvor Dahlberg		€19,700
6	Cristian Bele		€14,600
7	Paul Minzariu		€11,300
8	David Kozma		€8,800
9	Ilya Smolko		€7,000

€550 T.O.R.S.E.S Main Event

The marquee mixed game event of the schedule comes in the form of the €550 T.O.R.S.E.S Main Event, a twist on the traditional H.O.R.S.E mixed game variant. Players will be playing Triple Draw, Omaha Hi Lo, Razz, Stud Hi Lo and Sviten Special, also known as Drawmaha in the States. The T.O.R.S.E.S Main Event is a new introduction and featured in the last stop in Malta for the first time. Before that, the mixed game main event was H.O.R.S.E. There will be two starting flights on Tuesday 18 and Wednesday 19, with levels lasting 30 minutes each in duration. Last time in Malta, friend of the Festival and mixed game fanatic Barrie Dear took the first T.O.R.S.E.S crown and €9,901 for his efforts in besting a field of 69 total entrants. In Bratislava last year, Aki Pyysing took home the title and €6,250 for the win. High stakes crusher and WSOP Bracelet winner Blaz Zerjav finished runner-up. Pyysing also took home the €250 Sviten Special tournament at the same spot, winning an additional €4,958. Below are the payouts of the Bratislava instalment of the H.O.R.S.E.S Main Event.

Position	Player	Country	Payout (€)
1	Aki Pyysing		6,250
2	Blaz Zerjav		4,400
3	Matteo Crapanzano		3,300
4	Lena Bjoern		2,650
5	Barrie Dear		2,100
6	Fabio De Francesco		1,750
7	Arto Loikkanen		1,400

New Additions

The first-ever Chicago Championships will be taking place with seven starting flights across the opening days of The Festival Series. Chicago is immensely popular in The Festival founder Martin ‘Franke’ von Zweigbergk’s native Sweden, and is sure to prove popular with the Swedish contingent who will be making their way to Bratislava. The game is points-based and involves two rounds of drawing and discarding to make poker hands. The third phase is a trick-taking phase, similar to Whist. The final day will run on Saturday, 22nd. For more on the rules, history, and a hand example, click here.

The Half n Half PLO/NLH has also been tweaked slightly, so every nine hands there is a bomb pot, where every player at the table contributes a big blind to the pot preflop.

What’s Next?

The Festival Series commences next week and is set to be a sure-fire hit with poker players from across the continent and further afield. If you fancy some Mixed Games, Hold’em, and everything else outside and between, get yourself to Bratislava for The Festival.

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