The Festival Series Malta 2025 Wrap Up: Highlights From Last Week’s Action Across The Portomaso Casino

The Festival Series returned to Malta last week for a jam-packed week of action on and off the felt in a wide variety of events. Of course, there was the usual No Limit Hold’em tournaments that are a part of any schedule in the poker world, but The Festival Series is known for doing things a little differently. The schedule was filled with Mixed Games, such as 8-Game, 10-Game Mix, T.O.R.S.E.S, as well as Open Face Chinese and Crazy Pineapple. There were also non-poker-related tournaments in table games, such as blackjack, roulette, and a slots championship. Let’s take a look at what happened across the seven days at the Portomaso Casino in the beautiful island nation of Malta.

€550 T.O.R.S.E.S Main Event

This time out at The Festival Series in Malta, instead of a H.O.R.S.E. Mixed Game Main Event as seen in previous instalments of the series, this time around it was T.O.R.S.E.S, which consists of 2-7 Triple Draw, Omaha Hi-Lo, Razz, Stud, Stud Hi-Lo, and Sviten Special. There were two starting flight’s to this event across the opening two days of the week, and the event attracted 56 total entrants across both flights.

On the final day, the final table was reached at a fairly rapid pace, due to the shallowness of the stacks in play in relation to the blinds, bring-ins, and completions across the six-game mix, and only nine players returned for the final day. EPT winner Christer Johannson was the unlucky player to miss out on the final table, and home team representative and friend of The Festival Antoine Degiorgio was the first to fall during final table play, despite coming into the final table second in chips.

Quentin Spyckerelle came into the final table on short-stack duties, but he chipped up to bring himself back into contention for the title. Barrie Dear was also in contention, and the Mixed Game enthusiast had trended down before spinning back up when he busted double Player of the Series runner-up Ville Hakala in a hand of Sviten Special. Heads-up play began, and it was an English 1-2 left battling for the title.

The stacks of Sweetman and Dear were fairly close at the start, but Dear quickly extended his lead. It was shortly after the Englishmen were dealt the exact same hand during PLO8 that Dear had all the chips in play. Dear sealed the deal in a Razz hand. All of Sweetman’s chips were in the middle before third street, and Dear made an eight lo with A 2 4 6 8 to become T.O.R.S.E.S. Main Event Champion. Below are the payouts in full.

€550 T.O.R.S.E.S Main Event Payout

Rank	Name	Country	Payout
1	Barrie Dear		€9,901
2	Ben Sweetman		€6,450
3	Ville Hakala		€4,540
4	Quinten Spyckerelle		€3,440
5	Martin ‘Franke’ von Zweigbergk		€2,640
6	Matteo Crapanzano		€2,040
7	Antoine Degiorgio		€1,550
8	Christer Johansson		€1,214
9	Martin Schamaun		€1,000

€250 Hendon Mob Championships

The final day of the €250 Hendon Mob Championships played down to it’s conclusion with 47 players left at the start of the day, and it didn’t take long for that field to be whittled down to 36. The Festival Series Malta Win the Button Champion and Rozvadov Festival Series Main Event runner up Oliver Kubalek and Festival Founder Martin ‘Franke’ von Zweigbergk were amongst the early departures.

An hour later, the three-table redraw milestone was hit. Friend of the Festival and Rozvadov Player of the Series Kare Hallamaa had a swingy session. He lost an all-in pot to Niklas Nyman with Big Slick, as the latter made quads in a preflop all-in situation. He then took another hit versus Dennis Zetterman, who had top set.

Hallamaa then made some back, having sent Maria Koutsouski and Sebastian Mortensen to the rail in two separate hands. Eventually, the final table field was reached, and it was Peder Behr who was the unfortunate player to miss out on final table play as he was stacked by Egi Adriaans. Adriaans came into the final table as the chip leader, with Hallamaa in hot pursuit in second and eventual runner up Attila Erdei claimed the last podium place. Here is the counts and draw from the final table.

€250 Hendon Mob Championships Final Table Counts

Position	Player Name	Country	Chips
1	Egi Adriaans		2,450,000
2	Kare Hallamaa		1,800,000
3	Attila Erdei		1,610,000
4	Dennis Zetterman		1,330,000
5	Robert Lim		1,010,000
6	Brian Calleja		970,000
7	Niklas Sundstorm		815,000
8	Celine Helen Eidsto-Nyland		680,000
9	Daniel Kuhlmann		600,000

It wasn’t plain sailing for Adriaans off the bat. Short stack Daniel Kuhlmann doubled through the Dutchman, making a full house in a preflop all in. However, Adriaans stack bounced back, has he eliminated the last remaining home nation representative Brian Calleja. Calleja had jacks and he had run into the kings of Adriaans in a cooler spot.

The last lady standing Celine Helen Eidsto-Nyland lost a preflop all-in, flip versus Robert Lim who had ace-queen. Nyland was ahead with nines, but she was drawing to two outs by the turn. Adriaans then claimed the stack of Niklas Sundstrom, who moved all in over an early position open from Zetterman. Adriaans jammed from the small blind with his favourite hand, pocket eights, and held against the ace-ten of Sundstrom.

Hallamaa’s rollercoaster ride came to an end, as his ace-ten couldn’t find help against Kuhlmann’s nines. Zetterman was next to depart, and he jammed around six big blinds from early position. Erdei woke up with aces. Despite flopping two pair with nine-eight offsuit, he didn’t win the hand, as Erdei binked an ace from space on the turn to give him top set. This left play four handed.

Erdei then went to take the chip lead before the break, as he raised a river lead from Adriaans in a blind v blind spot. This left the Dutch national now bottom of the counts. Shortly after the break, he was right back in contention, as he doubled through Kuhlmann with king-jack offsuit versus ace-queen offsuit. With that, Kuhlmann was eliminated. Erdei was catching cards, and he eliminated Robert Lim after he jammed the button with seven-six suited. Erdei had ace-queen and hit the river to confirm Lim’s exit.

Erdei came into the heads-up with a decent advantage on his opponent. However, Adriaans applied pressure consistently, winning limped pots frequently and getting through successful uncalled preflop jams. He retook the lead, and was in a prime position to take down the title having flopped two pair versus Erdei’s open-ended straight draw. Erdei got there, but then Adriaans made a straight of his own a few hands later. Adriaans was then on the decline, and, at his lowest point, had around 950,000 chips, around five big blinds. He then doubled up, making trips with queen-ten off to beat the king-seven suited of Erdei. Adriaans proved resilient and incredibly tough to beat, and he was right back in contention having made a straight in one pot, went runner-runner for the nut flush in another hand, before scooping a third pot with an over pair to the board.

Adriaans at this point was near parity with Erdei. On the break, the two players discussed and agreed upon a deal.  Both players locked up €11,400 apiece for their efforts, and played for the first-place prize of €14,271 plus the trophy and the €1,850 package to The Hendon Mob Championships in Cape Town. Shortly after the deal was agreed, it was all over. Adriaans spiked a ten on the turn to take down the tournament with ten-nine offsuit against the king-queen offsuit of Erdei. The players exchanged a handshake and a warm embrace, both seemingly in disbelief at how the heads-up play went down.

A Few Words From the Winner

In the immediate aftermath and before even leaving the table, Adriaans had this to say about his victory.

€250 Hendon Mob Championships Final Table Payouts

Place	Player	Country	Payout
1	Egi Adriaans		€13,871
2	Attila Erdei		€11,000
3	Robert Lim		€6,700
4	Daniel Kuhlmann		€5,020
5	Dennis Zetterman		€3,650
6	Kare Hallamaa		€2,740
7	Niklas Sundstorm		€2,113
8	Celene Eidsto-Nyland		€1,730
9	Brian Calleja		€1,380

€350 10-Game Mix

A field of 58 total entrants entered the 10-Game Mix at the Portomaso casino, and overall the Mixed Games and individual events like Sviten Special, Crazy Pineapple PKO, and PLO 4/5/6 all drew a crowd of over 100 total entrants each, which just goes to show that it isn’t all about Hold’em all the time. The field generated a prize pool of €17,081, and attracted seasoned mixed game players, such as Scott ‘Pokerbrahs’ Kenyon, who was seen giving a beautiful rendition of Snow (Hey Oh) at the karaoke event later that evening, T.O.R.S.E.S. Champion Barrie Dear, and Mixed Game fanatic and professional poker reporter Frank Visser.

JJ Hazan was the chip-leader for a decent amount of final table play, but he was dispatched by Keranen in a three-way all in which also saw Ben Sweetman depart from the tournament.

At the end of the day, it was Sviten Special Weekend Main Event Champion Ville Keranen who took down the title after around 12 hours of play. He bested Eriks Gedroics heads-up, taking down the title with a 2-7 Single Draw Hand. Below are the full payouts.

€350 10-Game Mix Payouts

Rank	Player	Country	Prize (€)
1	Ville Keranen		€5,001
2	Eriks Gedroics		€3,240
3	Ben Sweetman		€2,350
4	JJ Hazan		€1,840
5	Herli Olop		€1,450
6	Simeon Tsonev		€1,100
7	Jose Gomez		€800
8	Sean Godley		€650
9	Grzegorz Iskra		€650

€550 Main Event

A beastly field of 666 entrants came together across four starting flights in the Main Event, a 100-entrant increase on the previous Festival Series Malta Main Event. Despite its negative connotations, it must have been a good omen for Portugal’s Nuno Morais, who had all the chips in play and €61,001 more in his pocket when play came to an end.

He came into the Day with 2,380,000, good for fifth in chips. Angelo Vietti and Jon Persent were two early eliminations, and the final table was reached in some speed. It took just 45 minutes for the field to thin from 16 to 9.

Emmanuel Houssais came into the Final Table with the chip lead, and Morais sat in third. Jelenius chipped up early having caught Chalasa bluffing on a five-card flush board with the second nut flush. Morais was also on the up, and he jammed the flop over a big blind lead from Arttu Mylls. Morais tabled a set of sevens to show Mylls was most likely drawing essentially dead.

Olli Kovalainen was the beneficiary of a preflop cooler, as Houssais jammed into him from the big blind with Queens. Kovalainen had Aces and held, and Houssais was left chipless.

The tables then turned for Kovalainen, as he was coolered in spectacular fashion against the eventual winner. Morais made aces full for top boat, and Kovalainen’s Kings full was no good. This massive pot propelled Morais to the top of the counts, and from there, there was no looking back.

Thomas Jakobsen, Arttu Myllys, Gustav Ekhagen were next out, and when play reached four handed, Morais had a 2:1 advantage on Jelenius. It wasn’t much longer until Jelenius and Dimitrios Chalasa departed in third and fourth, respectively, leaving Morais and Savio heads-up. Morais had over a 3:1 advantage over his opponent.

Savio tried his best to claw some back, but ultimately, the chip deficit was too big to overcome, and Morais sealed the deal in a preflop all-in with king-queen offsuit. Below are the final table payouts.

Main Event Final Table Payouts

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1	Nuno Morais		€61,001
2	Damir Savio		€38,980
3	Julius Julenius		€27,580
4	Dimitrios Chalasa		€20,460
5	Thomas Jakobsen		€15,730
6	Arttu Myllys		€12,080
7	Gustav Ekhagen		€9,259
8	Olli Kovalainen		€7,160
9	Emmanuel Houssais		€5,740

Table Game Tournaments and Much More

The Festival has truly unique offerings when it comes to tournaments. On offer in this instalment were the regular Slots, Roulette and Blackjack Championships, as well as a Sportsbook Tournament.

The Blackjack Tournament that ran in the foyer outside the tournament area attracted 21 total entrants, of which only four found the money. Laur Sibold topped the small field event, and the Festival Founder Martin ‘Franke’ von Zweigbergk also found the money. Below are the payouts for this unique The Festival event.

Blackjack Tournament Payouts

Place	Player	Country	Payout
1	Laur Sibold		€851
2	Jan Ferenc		€660
3	Martin ‘Franke’ von Zweigbergk		€440
4	Salvatore Incardona		€243

The foyer at the Portomaso also saw Gert Orav win the Roulette Tournament. He was the luckiest of the 27 total entrants who took to the impromptu gaming floor in the foyer outside the tournament area. Here are the five players who made the money.

Roulette Championship Payouts

Place	Player	Country	Payout
1	Gert Orav		€1,131
2	Alen Bakovic		€651
3	Kare Hallamaa		€450
4	Heimar Lill		€340
5	Martin Johansson		€250

The slots tournament is a very prestigious skill-based event, and it was Isac Ekstrom who pressed the buttons the best, winning the most of the 21 entrants who took to the machines downstairs in the gaming area of the Portomaso Casino.

Slots Championship Payouts

Pos.	Name	Country	Prize Money
1	Isac Ekstrom		€621.00
2	Attila Erdei		€473.00
3	Gert Orav		€310.00
4	Peter Kovacs		€160.00

A total of 28 entered the Sportsbook tournament, another one steeped in prestige and skill. A very familiar name took that one down. Patrick Cole (aka The Blogger for The Festival aka Author for Pokerlistings) was the luckiest man of all who entered the tournament. This was made possible due to Martin ‘Franke’ von Zweigbergk putting me into the tournament, which is something he does as a treat for his Festival Team. With that being said, he also comes away a winner, as he is entitled to half of the winnings.

It was almost not meant to be, due to a misclick. Second-place finisher Wouter Schuurbiers was instructed to put 17 down as his tiebreak score by his friend and my colleague Melvin Schroen, but instead opted for 11, meaning my tiebreak score of 19 was the closest to the overall total score of all the games combined, 16. Below are the payouts for the best tournaments on the schedule.

Sportsbook Tournament Payouts

Rank	Name	Country	Prize
1	Patrick Cole		€1,463
2	Wouter Schuurbiers		€731.50
3	Toni Sarkama		€731.50

And the Player of the Series Is…

During each Festival Series, a leaderboard runs to determine who is the Player of the Series, which is based on a scoring system and different metrics. every player is automatically included in the race when they enter a qualifying tournament. The only condition: the buy-in must be €100 / £100 or more. Certain events don’t count, such as the Ladies Events, sponsored or private tournaments, charity tournaments, satellites, and staff events). Below are tables that show how the leader board points are totalled.

Base Points

Everyone who finishes in the money receives points based on their final position:

Field Size Multiplier

The larger the field, the bigger the boost:

Participation Points

On top of that, you also earn points just for taking part:

This year, we had a very special winner, in the form of The Festival Founder himself, Martin ‘Franke’ von Zweigbergk, who sealed the win with a deep run in the €1,100 Open Face Chinese High Roller, which was his second second-place finish of the week. The first came in the High Rollers discounted cousin, the €350 Open Face Chinese, where he finished runner-up to The Festival Series Rozvadov Open Face Chinese High Roller champion Fabian Bartuschk. Coincidentally, ‘Franke’ was second in that event too!

‘Franke’ was being closely pursued by now two-time Festival Series Player of the Series Ville Hakala, who finished runner-up this time around as he did in Rozvadov to his close friend and countryman, Kare Hallamaa. It all came down to the Open Face Chinese High Roller for Hakala and ‘Franke’, and the Boss sealed the deal when Hakala was sent to the rail in tenth place. T.O.R.S.E.S Champion Barrie Dear rounded out the podium spots after another solid outing at The Festival for the likeable Brit. Below are the top 10 in the leaderboard.

Finishing Position	Player	Points	Events Played
1	Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk	199	17
2	Ville Hakala	170	16
3	Barrie Dear	132	15
4	Jose Gomez	128	7
5	Ben Sweetman	120	8
5	Wouter Schuurbiers	120	11
7	Kare Hallamaa	118	13
8	Egi Adriaans	108	7
9	Ville Keränen	102	10
10	Peder Behr	99	7

What’s Next?

Even though this instalment of The Festival Series is over, there is not long to wait until the next one which will be held at the Banco Casino in Bratislava. Qualifiers to Bratislava are already in play, and the iPoker campaign starts on the 29th of September. A total of 32 packages will be up for grabs, as well as 23 seats to the Main Event. Get yourselves online and in the qualifiers and join us at the next stop in Bratislava from November 18th to November 24th.

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