Last week the third edition of The Festival Series was organized in Bratislava. It promised to be a real spectacle with an epic €500,000 guaranteed prize pool in the Main Event, not bad for a €550 buy-in. With 1,271 entries, this prize pool was even expanded to €603,725, of which a staggering €126,650 was reserved for the winner. A large group of Dutch people made their appearance at the Banco Casino in the capital of Slovakia, which resulted in a dream scenario. Two Dutchmen would cross swords for the win!

Michel Molenaar, rising star of Dutch poker and only 23 years old, managed to win the Main Event. The player from Volendam, a fisher town close to Amsterdam, bested everyone and was able to score his biggest cash ever and even doubled up his all-time cashes. We spoke to him:

Hey Michel, have you recovered from The Festival Series? How were the first days back in our little country?

Yes, I have arrived back in Volendam since last Monday and I was able to get some rest. Volendam is not that big with 22,000 inhabitants, and then you soon have the ‘’everybody knows each other’’ story. When I cycled across the village on my bike, I already was congratulated by people who recognized me, that makes it extra beautiful. Funny detail is that I had been to my hairdresser a while ago and had promised to step in there again once I had achieved a great result. I kept my word.

How long have you been playing poker? And how has it all gone so far?

In the Netherlands you can legally play real money poker from the age of 18 and you can start straight away from that age. When I was 19, I put my studies aside and I fully focused on poker, I am also a big fan of chess, so I spend the necessary hours on that too. I picked up live poker immediately and some nice cashes in Barcelona, Rozvadov, Nottingham and Marrakech, I can say that it has gone quite well so far.

The Festival Series had its 3rd stop. How did you get there?

A friend of mine, Jeroen Aarts, was already in Tallinn (Estonia) in June and told me that it is a beautiful series where not only poker is high on the agenda, but especially the fun is paid a lot of attention to it. That combination appealed to me, especially if it is also held in a country like Slovakia, the safe side of Eastern Europe. I stayed there for the entire week for the series and was able to combine the mixed games with the No-Limit Main Event and some other side events.

How did the Main Event go for you up to the final day?

In fact, I was doing well throughout the whole tournament. On day 1 I finished with 177K (start 30K), running hot and made good plays quickly before I qualified for day 2, so I could focus on the necessary side events such as the Heads-Up tournament and the NLHE High Roller. Unfortunately, no cash because in the High Roller I got it in good for about half of the chips in play with 16 people left. 11 Would reach to the money and with 3 million chips it would have been very easy to grind to the top spots. Unfortunately, A J could not beat Jx 8x and Qx Qx on a flop with two spades. I had already played TheHendonMob Challenge before the Main Event and I was able to score a nice cash with a 14th place.

Day 2 started well, and I was able to add a ton to my chip stack. Until then, the table was quite soft and ideally with a big pile of chips, then Norwegian Espen Sandvik came to sit at my table, and I knew already he was quite an aggressive player. He was soon able to hit the showers as I was running well and got it in against him with my Qx Qx against his Jx Jx. It all really ran like clockwork, and I could not lose anything that day. I knocked out Johan Huisman with flip Ax Kx vs Tx Tx, river A. Did not have to do much and eventually expanded my stack to 5.7 million.

I got to know you at the beginning of the week, found out during the week that you had known as ”Lord Barre II” in the Netherlands, and thought you came across as very calm. Do you have any special preparation for such a final table?

The last two tables did not take too much time, and we quickly got to the unofficial final table. There we got a little break, and when 8 players were left, there was a 30-minute dinner break. Too much on the short side to be honest, could barely finish half a portion of spaghetti. Although the hunger had disappeared a bit due to healthy adrenaline from the final table. Too bad about the short breaks, because then you are just a bit in your game against the players where you eventually compete for the first places.

The final table I did not know anyone in terms of playing styles. But had already spoken a bit with Gerianne Dijkstra (runner-up for €77K), but that was it. I had seen a little bit of play at the other tables around me, and a little bit of how they played. The Icelander, Leo Sigurdsson, and Hungarian, Peter Kamaras, seemed reasonable players to me, considering they had some nice moves. I saw many players making some blunders when there were 8 players remaining and then you notice that the level was not too high. It all went smoothly, until we were with three players left, then it stopped a bit. And the stacks were also somewhat even. Luckily, a few good bluffs against Gerianne Dijkstra, and I got in perfectly against the Leo Sigurddsson with Ax Ax against his Ax Qx, which also almost meant practically the end for him.

Heads-up when two hands were counted, came the joy and happiness. This was your biggest money ever, what are your plans in the future?

Yes, the heads up did not last too long luckily, and it fell my way. €126K is a huge amount, but whether I have some plans for it now, I cannot really say yet. Probably a little more investment and clicking online than usual would be the usual run out. Playing semi-professional without a job is already stress-free and with some chess on the side, then such an amount is extra tasty.

I am going to play the Master Classics of Poker in Holland Casino Amsterdam anyway, because I already know a lot of people there. I have been active in Dutch poker for five years and then such an outing is always a party. I cannot say anything about the next The Festival Series yet. Nottingham, Dusk Till Dawn poker club, I have been to, but because of taxes it is not that attractive for Dutch players. Malta, Portomaso Casino appeals to me enormously, especially because of the large numbers of Dutch people who always go there.

Michel, congratulations again and thanks for the conversation, we will keep in touch. Any closing words?

Shout out to Dominik Nitsche and DTO poker. It was the first event where I forgot to wear my patches, but luckily a win made up for that.

Main Event Payouts

#	Player	Payouts
1	Michel Molenaar	€126,650
2	Gerianne Dijkstra	€77,450
3	Leo Sigurdsson	€50,550
4	Slavomir Rakovan	€36,975
5	Peter Kamaras	€27,900
6	Sascha Manns	€20,375
7	Mark Berman	€14,350
8	Yasen Dichev	€9,870
9	Marton Lugosi	€6,820

If you play online poker or make online payments or transfers, then chances are you’ve come across Luxon Pay at some point. And with the latest news in mind, if you haven’t yet, you soon will. Offering a multi-currency global eWallet, Luxon Pay is the perfect payment solution for poker and, deservedly, has established itself as a leading name in facilitating transactions for live poker events, players being able to buy into many major events using the Luxon Pay app. This latest partnership is a fitting testament. Note that Luxon Pay does not currently accept customers from the US.

The popular Malta Poker Festival (MPF), which takes place 24th – 31st October at the excellent Portomaso Casino, features a range of events, including the €500,000 GTD €550 buy-in Grand Event, powered by partypoker.

Jesmond Galea, General Manager of Portomaso Casino said: “Portomaso Casino is delighted to join forces with Luxon Pay and provide another hassle-free and secure service to the poker community and clients alike. The app is the perfect utility for anyone joining us during our events to buy in to the tournaments ahead of the rest.

Luxon Pay Bubble Insurance

Being eliminated from a tournament on the Bubble is a poker player’s nightmare, so Luxon Pay will be offering a special Bubble Insurance promotion at the Malta Poker Festival: Players who buy in to ANY MPF events (excluding Satellites) using Luxon Pay will have their buy-in returned if they are eliminated on the Bubble!

Special Bonus Package for MPF Grand Event Winner

Luxon Pay is also part of a great bonus for the winner of the MPF Grand Event, joining forces with the Malta Poker Festival and the World Poker Tour (WPT) to offer the eventual victor a WPT Prime package for the WPT World Championship at the Wynn Las Vegas, 8th-12th December.

The package includes:

• $1,100 buy-in for the $2 Million GTD event
• $1,300 travel expenses
• Hotel package worth $1,600

Neil Barrett, Business Development Director of Luxon Pay said: “We are pleased to be partnering with the Malta Poker Festival for the very first time as Official Payment Partner. Ivonne Montealegre and her team, in conjunction with Portomaso Casino, put on a great event and we hope players take advantage of the bubble insurance on all events and the Luxon Pay simple and seamless buy-in experience. We are also delighted to partner with the WPT to offer the Main Event winner a very special bonus.”

This is an impressive collaboration indeed, bringing together key players, each with key roles, in the running of top-level poker!

Every now and then, the Gambling Commission in the UK , upon investigation into the practices of gambling companies, find that certain ‘rules’ have been broken and that, for example, customers have not been treated with their well-being in mind. The latest infraction has resulted in a large fine…

NSUS Limited might not be a well-known name among poker fans, but it is, in fact, the name of the gambling operator which trades as GGPoker and operates under ggpoker.co.uk (one of the world’s leading online poker rooms). NSUS was recently hit with a hefty £672,829 penalty for both social responsibility and anti-money laundering failures. The operator will also receive an official warning.

Regarding social responsibility failures, these included failing to identify customers potentially at risk of suffering from problems associated with gambling, as well as failing to interact with such vulnerable customers.

Furthermore, the operator was deemed to have failed to take all reasonable steps to prevent self-excluded customers receiving marketing material, with 125 self-excluded customers getting marketing emails.

On the subject of anti-laundering failures, these included failing to carry out adequate risk assessments of the business being used for money laundering and terrorist financing, and failing to ensure that appropriate policies, procedures and controls were in place to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing.

Sanctions

The Commission has decided to impose a warning under section 117 (1) (a) of the Gambling Act 2005 (the Act), and to also impose a financial penalty of £672,829 under section 121 of the Act. The Licensee co-operated with the Commission throughout the investigation.

The Road to PSPC is in full swing with Platinum Passes now being awarded regularly. The coveted Platinum Pass from PokerStars is a ticket to the biggest $25k game in live poker history, the PokerStars Players Championship (PSPC).

The most recent addition to the list of PSPC qualifiers made the cut in Philadelphia recently and it was a bit of a special one–for the first time, PokerStars has awarded a Platinum Pass in a restricted-entry event. While the Road to PSPC events are usually open-entry with the pass available to any player who enters the game, the latest Pass was awarded in a Ladies-only event.

It was the first time PokerStars offered a pass in a women-only event, and when the dust settled Rishva Iyer from Kensington, Philadelphia won nearly $6,000 and the much sought-after Platinum Pass. The game was held at Live! Casino in Philadelphia with a $200 buy-in running on Oct 8 and 9.

First Restricted Platinum Pass Goes to Rishva Iyer

The first Platinum Pass awarded in an exclusive women-only event is now in the pocket of Rishva Iyer. The 24-year-old from Kensington is fairly new to the game, having started playing in college home games.

Her poker journey really kicked off when her boyfriend ran through some of the basics with her for a bit of early training. She said she mostly plays real money poker cash games but sometimes plays tournament poker as well.

“I’m a regular here at Live!,” Iyer said after her win, “so I’m always checking for events and I saw there was a Ladies Event and I thought I can’t miss this; I have to play it. I try to play the big tournaments now and then, but I don’t study them as much and I don’t have that much experience at all, so it was kind of tough, but it’s always fun.”

Iyer’s journey to the PSPC began on Oct 8 in a field of 120 entries at Live! Casino in Philadelphia. That meant that in addition to the Platinum Pass that everyone had their eye on, there was a prize pool of just shy of $20k to fight for in the $200 game as well.

Iyer’s Platinum Pass came with a first-place prize of $5,840 in addition to the ticket package. The Platinum Pass alone is worth $30k USD with some travel cash, accommodations, and airport transfer included with the $25k buy-in to the PSPC.

Platinum Pass Value ($30,000):

• Buy-in to the $25,000 PSPC
• Six nights hotel accommodation for winner and a guest in a 5-star hotel
• Airport transfer
• $1,900 expense money
• Platinum Pass Winner experiences during the event

More Miles on the Road to PSPC

The operator plans to award hundreds of tickets to the Bahamas extravaganza set to run from Jan 30 through Feb 3 as part of the larger PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA). The PCA is a long-running festival from PokerStars, but in the first running in three years it will begin its new post-pandemic life in a brand-new location.

There will be a lot more chances for players to book a cheap ticket to the big game as well on the Road to PSPC. Both international and US-specific dates are still upcoming, so no matter where you play you’ll have a shot at one of the coveted Platinum Passes.

In addition to the online qualifiers running on the online poker client in your jurisdiction, there are two Roads currently being traveled.

Upcoming Live Road to PSPC Events

International Stops:

Road To	Venue	Country	Buy-In	Date
Road to PSPC Bucharest €150,000 GTD	Poker Room Bucharest	Romania	€400	October 12-16
Road to PSPC Paris	Club Circus Paris	France	€400	November 7-13
Road to PSPC BSOP Millions Mystery Bounty R$ 2,000,000 GTD	WTC Sheraton São Paulo	Brazil	R$ 1,000	November 14-26
Road to PSPC Namur €500,000 GTD	Grand Casino de Namur	Belgium	€400	November 24 – December 4

US Stops:

Venue	City	Buy-In	Date
Live! Casino Philadelphia	Philadelphia, PA	$360	October 13 – October 16
Live! Casino Pittsburgh	Greensburg, PA	$360	October 27 – October 30

PSPC Summary Details

The venue for the upcoming PCA return has now moved to Baha Mar, Nassau, Bahamas. There will be a lot of action in the PCA return in early 2023 with mystery bounties, women’s and seniors events, a raft of mixed games including HORSE and 8-game, and the usual slate of high rollers and Main Events.

Key Games at PSPC

• PCA Super High Roller: January 22-24, $100,000
• PCA Main Event: January 23-29, $10,300
• PSPC Main Event: January 30 – February 3, $25,000
• PCA High Roller: February 1-3, $25,000
• Senior’s Event: January 23, $550
• PCA Mystery Bounty: January 26-28, $3,000
• Women’s Event: January 29, $550
• PSPC Mystery Bounty: February 1-3, $550
• PLO: January 24, $1,100
• 8-Game: January 26, $550
• PLO – 8 or Better: January 27, $550
• PLO High Roller: January 27-28, $10,300
• H.O.R.S.E: January 28-29, $1,100
• H.O.R.S.E: February 1, $550
• PLO: February 2, $330

Almost four years have passed since the last PSPC event but after the unexpected absence prompted by unprecedented global events over the past few years, the biggest live $25k game in history is returning in 2023. There’s still time to book your Platinum Pass at one of the stops along the remaining Road to PSPC.

*Any mention of a bonus or discussion of such terms is not in relation to the province of Ontario.

Six-time WSOP gold bracelet winner and GGPoker Ambassador Daniel Negreanu documented a rough summer where he lost $1.1 million. He was down a bit more than that in 2022 and was on pace for what appeared likely to be his first losing year since 2017.

Negreanu turned everything around and instead of showing a nearly $2 million loss on the year, he is now in profit for $1,671,022 after defeating Nick Petrangelo heads-up in the nosebleed $300,000 buy-in Super High Roller Bowl VII for $3,312,000.

Was on pace for my worst losing year ever but it will be a winning 2022 after yesterday

Buy ins: $2,866,564
Payouts: $4,544,086

Profit: $1,671,022

2013 +$1.96
2014 +$7.1
2015 +$950k
2016 -$1.2
2017 -$86k
2018 +$1.4
2019 +$831k
2021 +$584k

— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) October 8, 2022

Negreanu is one of the most successful no-limit hold’em poker tournament players of all time with nearly $50 million in live tournament earnings as tracked by The Hendon Mob placing him in third place on The Hendon Mob All Time Money List just behind Justin Bonomo and Bryn Kenney.

This wasn’t the only success that Negreanu had in a Super High Roller Bowl tournament as he took runner-up in the $300,000 buy-in Super High Roller Bowl IV in 2018 for a cool $3 million. Three-time Super High Roller Bowl champion Bonomo won that event for $5 million and while he was unable to win this time around, he did manage a fourth-place finish to collect $720,000.

While Negreanu’s Super High Roller Bowl success has added millions to his bankroll, this isn’t where Negreanu achieved his biggest success to date. That came eight years ago when he finished runner-up to Dan Colman in the 2014 WSOP Event #58: $1,000,000 No Limit Hold’em – The Big One for One Drop for $8,288,001.

We could easily be writing about a different champion for this event if not for a big hand on Day 1. The recently controversial Kenney was allowed to play while others embroiled in controversy in Ali Imsirovic and Jake Schindler are banned at least until the end of the year by PokerGO for all of its events. That being said, Kenney wasn’t grouped in by PokerGO with others accused of cheating and was allowed to play. In hindsight, it would have worked out better for Kenney if he didn’t enter as his wallet wouldn’t be $300,000 lighter.

Kenney got into a major hand with Negreanu where he held aces and nailed a set on an ace-four-five flop. Negreanu with pocket threes improved to an inferior set after a trey hit the turn. Thus far, the betting was relatively small but that all changed after Negreanu further improved to the nuts with quads after the case trey spiked the river. All the chips went in then to eliminate Kenney, and Negreanu never looked back en route to victory.

• Read more about Negreanu delivering a major cooler to Kenney.

Super High Roller Bowl VII Results

The Super High Roller Bowl VII attracted 24 of the biggest names in poker to generate a whopping $7,200,000 prize pool. The top four players were awarded at least a min-cash of $720,000 with payouts going up quickly from there.

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1	Daniel Negreanu	United States	$3,312,000
2	Nick Petrangelo	United States	$2,016,000
3	Andrew Lichtenberger	United States	$1,152,000
4	Justin Bonomo	United States	$720,000

Final Day Action

Five players returned on the third and final day on the money bubble with four spots getting paid. Petrangelo and Negreanu were on the top of the pack with Andrew Lichtenberger, Orpen Kisacikoglu, and Bonomo all with shorter stacks.

Two of the shorter stacked players collided early on with Lichtenberger four-bet jamming queens and Kisacikoglu calling off his stack with ace-queen. The money bubble broke after the board ran clean for Lichtenberger and it was guaranteed with Turkey’s Kisacikoglu on the rail that the event would feature all American players in the money.

Lictenberger was back at it again, this time eliminating Bonomo in fourth place after his jacks were good against eights. All three players were near even at this point during three-handed play but that all changed when Lichtenberger’s good fortunes ended when he ran his king-six into Negreanu’s ace-six.

Negreanu began heads-up action with a nearly 5:1 chip advantage and eventually had Petrangelo on the ropes with just 10 big big blinds when the final hand took place. Negreanu jammed with queen-seven suited and Petrangelo called off with king-five. If Petrangelo was able to hold, he would have been right back into things. Instead, Negreanu connected with his seven on the flop and won the event after Petrangelo bricked the board.

After the win, Negreanu tweeted his appreciation for his ever-supporting wife Amanda Negreanu.

YO @RadioAmanda

I DID IT!!!!

I love you soooo much. Thanks for being there for me always through the rough patch last couple years.

You always believed in me and it makes a difference! ❤️❤️❤️ https://t.co/TL176UW6mh

— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) October 8, 2022

Congrats to Daniel Negreanu on an epic victory and turning around his year!

_{*Lead image courtesy of the PokerGO Tour}