2025 The Festival Bratislava Day 2

Eight players have taken to the field bright and early in the fifth flight of the €125 Chicago European Championships here at Banco Bratislava. The Festival’s own Melvin Schroen, Wouter Schuurbiers, and Finnish poker legend Risto Ponnio are just a trio of the players who will be looking to make it to Day 2 in this family home game-come-poker tournament.

To learn more about the rules, click here.

The second full day of The Festival in Bratislava featured another three tournaments that count towards the Player of the Series rankings. The Heads Up tournament, as a capped field event, does not count towards the scores. With five ranking events now consigned to the results pages, a new leader has emerged.  

Lithuanian Jonas Jurksaitis had been in joint third place after the first day of the series, thanks to his runner-up finish in the Razz. On Wednesday he made the final table of the H.O.R.S.E, finishing 5th, to net himself a further 23.85, taking his score up to 55 points, a full 15 points clear of the rest of the pack. Jonas is already a Festival Series winner, as he won the 8-Game title earlier this year at The Festival in Rozvadov. He’s clearly still in good form, with two strong finishes so far in Bratislava.

In joint second place, on 40 points each are Matteo Crapanzano and Yuri Overhand, who both won titles at The Festival on Wednesday. Crapanzano’s victory came in the H.O.R.S.E,  cashing for €1,925, securing 38.75 points towards the POS race. Yuri Overhand won the Half n Half, taking €2,735 for the win and the same points total.

Boost for Joost

Apologies, there was a mistake in yesterday’s top 25, as it came to light after being published that there has been a saver in one of Tuesday’s events and a deal in the other. As a result of this, the bonus points awarded to Wouter Schuurbiers have now been removed, as he was the player who benefitted from the saver in the Razz. 

The deal was a heads up one, made between Ylva Thorsrud and William Meeuwisse in the Tuesday Knockout, which means that both players receive 2nd place points. Ylva was therefore awarded 7.5 points too many and these have now been deducted from her total. It means that actually, she wasn’t the overnight leader after day 1, as that honour has now been re-assigned to Dutchman Joost Melkert, winner of the Razz. 

Joost didn’t cash again on Wednesday and has now slipped down to fourth place, tied with Vitalii Shcherba, champion of the Win the Button event on Wednesday.

But there’s still a long way to go before the true identity of the Player of the Series is revealed. Are those near the top imposters, or genuine contenders for the title? The story will develop further on Thursday, when a further five ranking events will be concluded, including the Mixed Games Main Event final day and the Open Face Chinese.

Could this be the day that Franke begins his challenge to defend the title he won in Malta? Stay tuned to the Festival in Bratislava blog to find out the answer to this question and many more, that we haven’t even asked yet!

The Top 50 After Wednesday

Here are the payouts in the H.O.R.S.E. tournament. There are 37 remaining players at the break, and only 11 will get paid out of the 75 total entrants. The blog will now finish for the evening. Good luck to those remaining in the tournaments that are still running.

After this morning’s Chicago school, a whopping 24 entrants are taking to the felt in the fourth flight of the €125 Chicago European Championship. Hospitality package winners were treated to some Chicago lessons, and clearly, players have taken a fancy to this Swedish family home game-come-poker-tournament. For context, the record for a single Chicago tournament was 32 players, meaning The Festival Series will have hosted the largest Chicago tournament in the world.

To learn more about the rules, click here.

Registration will be closing soon in the €125 NLH/PLO Bomb Pot Feature. Only 27 remain of the 89 total entrants, but that field could grow as the players rush around the floor looking for some action. Malta Hendon Mob Championship runner-up Attila Erdei, last year’s Bratislava Hendon Mob Champion Vegard Granli, and Sviten Special Main Event winner from The Festival Weekend stop in Tallinn all remain in the field.

Reg has already closed in the H.O.R.S.E., Joakim Olin, Barrie Dear and Antoine Degiorgio remain in the hunt for a Mixed Game title this week.

Registration will be closing in 15 minutes for the €125 H.O.R.S.E tournament taking place upstairs in the room adjacent to the registration desk. Of the 70 that entered, 69 remain, and Wilhemus Lepelaars has been the sole elimination in the field.

The Boss “Franke” is in the field, as are Joakim Olin, Barrie Dear and Antoine Degiorgio, just to name a few.

Only 14 of the 114-strong field in 1/B of the €250 The Hendon Mob Championship will progress to Day 2 and the money. Below are the chip counts. Estonian national Ott Kaarli Toome (pictured) currently leads the way in this flight.

Sergii Baranov has bagged the biggest of the progressing 17 players from the €550 T.O.R.S.E.S. Main Event. The field will be joining the players from yesterday’s 1/A flight, where eight players progressed. The field will be led by Jon Kyte, who has a stack of 325,000. Below are the stacks of the 17 that made it through today.

The second Mixed Game event of the week, the €125 H.O.R.S.E., has been in play now for 30 minutes. Currently, 43 have taken to the felt at the Banco Bratislava, and registration remains open until 10.30 P.M. CET.

If you are new to Mixed Games and want to learn more before or during the tournament, click on this link to learn more about each individual game that is included.

If you would like a more in-depth look at Sviten Special, check out this article here to learn more about the dynamics and strategy.

Mattia Ruebenstrunk is currently in pole position to progress through to tomorrow’s final Day. Barrie Dear is still in the field and will be looking for a spin-up in order to defend his T.O.R.S.E.S. Main Event title that he won in the previous stop in Malta.

The second most explosive tournament of the week, the NLH/PLO Half n Half Bomb Pot Feature is underway, and features the reigning The Festival Series Bratislava Main Event Champion Vegard Granli (pictured).

He is joined by 24 others in the field. The bomb pot feature comes into play every ninth hand, where every player will contribute one big blind into the pot preflop.

There are 48 remaining of the 114 total entrants that have taken to the felt over the course of this afternoon in the prestigious €250 The Hendon Mob Championship. Newly crowned Seniors Champion Peder Behr, The Festival Series Malta Main Event 2023 Champion Victor Den Houting, and Sviten Special Weekend Main Event Winner Ville Keranen are all in contention to bag for Day 2, where all progressing players will be in the money.

Adrianus van Dongen (pictured) has climbed up the counts in Flight 1/A of the €550 Mixed Game Main Event. He has usurped his fellow compatriot Sjoerd Giesbers, at the top of the tree, and Giesbers has slipped to eighth place. The first of four flights has seen a total of 49 entrants so far, and registration remains open until 9.15 p.m. CET.

There are 14 players remaining in the only Heads-Up tournament of the Series here at Banco Casino in Bratislava. POS contender Ville Hakala remains in contention, as does Razz Big Bounty winner Joost Melkert, who is currently second in this week’s POS rankings.

The tournament attracted 31 entrants in total.

The Festival Series Bratislava 2023 Main Event Champion, Gabriel Rymar, is currently playing the €250 The Hendon Mob Championship Flight 1/B. He is looking to secure his third title in Slovakia and his third Festival Series title. He won the €250 Deepstack at the same Festival Series stop for €14,400 just two days before his Main Event success.

Currently, 64 remain, and the flight has attracted 100 total entrants so far. Registration remains open for another two levels and will close at 6.45 p.m. CET.

Here are the top 10 counts in the final flight of the T.O.R.S.E.S. Main Event. Currently leading the pack at the 30-minute break is Alexander Dovzhenko. Lars Hole and Aaron Thiel are in hot pursuit in the remaining podium places.

This morning, over 30 players participated in The Festival’s second hospitality event for online package winners of the week, and the first-ever Chicago school to be held at The Festival Series.

Players in attendance came from the UK, Estonia, and everywhere in between. As expected, there was a strong Scandinavian presence at the tables, as Chicago originated in Sweden.

The players were in good spirits and eager to learn this popular Swedish family home game-come-poker tournament.

Here are the top 10 chip counts in the first flight of the €550 Main Event. Dutch national Sjoerd Giesbers currently leads the way atop the counts.

Progressing to the final day of the €125 Chicago European Championships from last night’s 1/B flight is The Festival Founder Martin ‘Franke’ von Zweigbergk and Pierre Ekendahl (pictured above), who topped the field of eight players.

They will be joined by Dutch national Bas de Laat, who qualified for Day 2 through this morning’s 1/C flight, besting Barrie Dear, Svein Olav and Jonas Rosqvist.

Here is the highlights video of yesterday’s action from across the floor at the Banco Casino in Bratislava. Don’t forget to like, comment and subscribe to keep up to date with all things The Festival!

The newly crowned Seniors 50+ champion, Peder Behr (above), is amongst the 59 remaining in the field in the second of four flights to Day 2 of the world-famous The Hendon Mob Championship.

The Festival Series Malta Hendon Mob Championship runner-up, Attila Erdei (above),is also in the field. He will be looking to go one better than the last stop by taking down the title, a five-figure score, and a package to the next Festival Series stop.

So far, 21 have registered for the second and final flight of this week’s marquee Mixed Game Event, the €550 T.O.R.S.E.S. Main Event.

As expected, Barrie Dear (pictured) has taken to the felt to defend his T.O.R.S.E.S. title that he won in the previous stop in Malta. JJ Hazan, EPT Winner Christer Johansson, and Festival Founder Martin ‘Franke’ von Zweigbergk have all taken to the tables in pursuit of Mixed Game Main Event glory.

The reigning Festival Bratislava Main Event Champion, Sebastian Kotowicz, is in the field of Flight 1/A of this weeks marquee Hold’em event, the €550 Main Event. He is joined by a field of 32, and will be looking to bag a stack to defend his title.

Today, the registration desk is upstairs on level -1, not on level -2 where it was yesterday. The Festival Team is currently occupying the desk in the middle, and unfortunately, you won’t be able to register for your chosen tournament with us.

The €250 Heads-Up Tournament is nearing max capacity, as it is capped at 32 entrants. Currently, 27 have registered for the tournament that starts at 1 p.m. local time.

Player of the Series contender Ville Hakala and The Festival Series Main Event Malta 2023 winner Victor Den Houting are in the field.

Here is today’s schedule. Chicago is currently in play, with Bas de Laat, Barrie Dear and Svein Eidsaeter firing again after an unsuccessful attempt in yesterday’s first flight. Jonas Rosqvist makes up the field in this four-handed affair.

The first two ranking tournaments were completed on the opening day of The Festival in Bratislava. Both were low buy-in affairs, costing €125 to play. The first to begin was Event 7, the €60+€15+€50 Pot Limit Razz PKO, in which 55 players took their seats for some lowball action. 

It was won by Joost Melkert, claiming the first win of the week for the Dutch contingent. He defeated Lithuanian Jonas Jurksaitis heads up, to take the title and earn his first 38.75 points towards the Player of the Series Award. Ville Hakala, runner up in the POS races at both Rozvadov and Malta, also booked his first cash of the week in this event, signalling his intentions to once again be a challenger for the title.

The other tournament that completed on Tuesday was the €110+€15 NLH Tuesday Knockout, the first of the single day Hold’em events on the schedule. It had a larger field of 107 entries, but awarded the same points to those who made the money as the Razz. The champion of the event was Ylva Thorsrud, someone whom is no stranger to winning Festival Series tournaments. The Norwegian streamer defeated Swede William Meeuwisse to claim the first prize of €1,749.

Ylva also played in the Razz, but was eliminated early on, however the 1.25 participation points she received for playing in it boosts her total to 40 points, securing her the number one spot on the first Player of the Series Leaderboard of this festival. Joost Melkert sits in second place, on 38.75 points.

While these were the only ranking events to be completed on the opening day of The Festival in Bratislava, there were three multi-day tournaments that day starting day flights. No points have been added to the leaderboard for those who took part in these events, but its worth noting that Franke von Zweigbergk made it through to Day 2 of the European Chicago Championship and will have a great chance of securing a decent leaderboard score when that event reaches its conclusion on Saturday.

The first of two starting days in the €550 T.O.R.S.E.S Mixed Games Main Event also saw eight of 44 players progress to tomorrow’s final day, including chip leader Jon Kyte, who could be a leaderboard challenger this time around. Also progressing was Rolf Arne Bechstrom, a frequent POS contender.

Top 25 After Tuesday

Actually, the top 26 are listed here, as there was a four-way tie for 22nd place. All players (not listed) below 22nd place have 1.25 points.

Day 2 of The Festival Series Bratislava is underway with the 1/C flight of the €125 Chicago European Championship. Last night saw the completion of three tournaments and the 1/B flight of the Chicago European Championship.

The €250 Seniors 50+ event was won by Peder Behr, who made a deal with his heads-up opponent Mattias Sundstrom, in the small hours of this morning. Below are the payouts.

Seniors 50+ Payouts

€125 Hold’em KO

The first bounty tournament of the week also took place, and was won by Ylva Thorsrud, again in the small hours of this morning. Below are the payouts exclusive of bounties won.

€125 Razz Big Bounty

The Festival’s own Melvin Schroen was absent from his favorite tournament on the schedule. However, the tournament was won by one of his fellow countrymen, Joost Melkert. Here are the payouts exclusive of bounties.