2025 The Festival Bratislava Day 5

In play is the Hyper Turbo €550 Main Event flight. Currently, 43 remain of 51 players, and registration will remain open until 12.20 p.m. This is the last chance saloon to qualify for the Main Event. Members of The Festival Team, Christel Natri, Melvin Schroen and Mairo Toom have taken to the felt in pursuit of a stack for today’s Day 2 of the marquee Hold’em tournament of the week.

At 12.30 p.m. there will be flips to the Main Event, and they will be hosted by the registration desk.

At 1 p.m., there will be the cash game challenge flips to determine who is the winner in this event that has been running throughout the week. Then, 15 minutes later, Franke’s flip flops will run, and that will determine who wins a package to the next event in Bratislava worth €1,800.

With just two days to go and only eight ranking events left to be completed, the Player of the Series race is still wide open. Ville-Matti Keränen has slightly increased his lead over his nearest rivals and is now 16.25 pts clear, having earned 129.25 from just seven events played. On Saturday Ville-Matti played just two events, cashing in 12th place in Event 39, the €15k Guaranteed No Limit Hold’em. 

In joint second place now are Keränen’s Finnish compatriot Ville Hakala and Fedor Stadtrucker, who both have 113 points and are 1 point ahead of the mysteriously named “Bambi” who has 112 pts. Will he push on for the win or get stopped in his tracks, like a deer caught in headlights?

Hakala has now played in three times as many ranking events as the leader and is still poised to take control of the race, but he needs to spend more time in the queue for payouts than the one for buying-in. On Saturday the two-time Player of the Series runner-up fired in every event possible, but failed to cash in any of them.

Fedor Stadtrucker improved his chances by taking 3rd place in the 8-game, earning himself 29.5 points and jumping up from 5th to a share of second place at the top of the table.

Two other players, Krystian Nalepka (104.25) and Miles Rees (102.5), have accumulated scores of over 100 points, with seventh placed Vitalli Shcherba not far behind on 96.25 pts. With twelve players within 50 points of the lead, the race is still wide open, as a good finish in the Main Event could send one player well clear.

Leaderboard Contenders Still in the Main Event

There’s still one more flight for the Main Event, but already four of the players in the top 20 have bagged stacks for Day 2. Fifth placed Krystian Nalepka has the biggest stack of these contenders, sitting on 454k. Giorgo Mevlupishvili, who is in 16th place on the leaderboard has 353k, while 20th placed Leo Hourtoulle returns with 269k. Sneaking into Day 2 with just 94k is 11th placed Vlva “Jevakim” Thorsrud, who is very likely to be streaming her Day 2 efforts on her Twitch channel. 

Will one of these players kick-on by going deep in the Main Event? They could be joined by other leaderboard contenders, as many are sure to play in the final Main Event hyper-turbo flight, which begins at 10am.

Franke Hanging On

Martin “Franke” von Zweigbewrgk is still not entirely out of contention, but with just 67.5 points, currently in 23rd place, he will need to go deep in more than one event to have a chance to defend the title he won in Malta. His 8th place finish in the European Chicago Championship helped keep him in with an outside chance, if he has a strong finish to the series.

Player of the Series Top 100 After Saturday

There are five events that will be completed on Sunday, with the final three taking place on Sunday. It could go down to the wire! Follow the action throughout the day on The Festival Series blog, which Patrick Cole will attempt to keep updated, while also taking his seat for Day 2 of the Main Event at 2pm this afternoon. Best of luck to all!

The blog is being neglected as the fingers at the keyboard are occupied with the Main Event, courtesy of the generous Festival Founder Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk. He won multiple Main Event tickets in the flips and was kind enough to give one to me.

Thanks boss!

The penultimate flight, and the final turbo flight of the Main Event, is now in play. Of the 106 entrants, 67 remain in pursuit of a bag for Day 2. The final flight takes off tomorrow bright and early at 10 a.m., and this will be a hyper-turbo flight with 10-minute levels.

Here are the payouts in the €125 NLH €15,000 GTD tournament, where 39 remain of the 172 total entrants. Friend of The Festival Isac Ekstrom, is in pursuit of his first cash of the series at Banco Bratislava, and the team is rooting for him as we are tired of his bad beat stories. Below are the payouts.

In the €250 PLO Masters, two tables of 8 remain of the 83 entrants. T.O.R.S.E.S and Sviten Special final tablist Marc Gork is seeking his third ft of the trip. Below are the payouts.

In the €125 NLH, the €15,000 guaranteed prize pool has attracted 176 total entrants, and 67 remain. The guarantee has been smashed, and it now stands at €18,392.

Verneri Hakkinen has won the €125 Chicago European Championship at Banco Bratislava. He bested the favorite for the title and the sole Swede Per Joergen Bergstroem, and two Norwegians, John Eirik Nergaard Boine and Morten Antonsen. Chicago has been a resounding success at its first Festival Series inclusion and is bound to become a staple on the schedule. Below are the payouts.

Three ladies are now left in contention for the Queens title after Celine Nyland’s recent departure. She cashed for €250 in the first money spot. The three that remain are Lisa Andrews, Britt Roberston, and Teresia Eriksson (pictured). Riitta Liisa Sahala was the victim of the bubble. Below are the payouts.

Tomorrow’s 10 a.m. Flip and Go Main Event flight is now a Hyper-Turbo tournament with 10-minute levels and will be the last chance saloon to qualify for this week’s marquee Hold’em tournament, which boasts a €500,000 guarantee. Registration will close at 1.15 p.m. CET.

Flips to qualify for tonight’s turbo and tomorrow’s hyper-turbo are currently running for €50, and they are the cheapest and easiest way to qualify for the Main Event.

Sergii Baranov and Matteo Crapanzano are looking for their second title of the week, as Baranov won the T.O.R.S.E.S. Main Event, and Crapanazano the H.O.R.S.E. Only 16 remain of the 94 that entered here at Banco Bratislava.

Here is the lineup of the nine lovely ladies who have reached the final table of The Festival Queens event here at Banco Bratislava.

Here is the first-ever final table of the Chicago European Championship. The four players remaining are from Sweden, Norway and Finland. Here are some quotes from the players before the final table commenced.

The sole Swede, Per Joergen Bergstroem, said “it is my favourite game” and that “he has been playing for years”.

Finnish national Verneri Hakkinen said, “I got lucky to be here, I got good cards all the way through.” He considered “The Swede” to be the favorite in this tournament.

Norwegian national John Eirik Nergaard Boine, said, “I saw the schedule and thought I would give it a go. I’ve played something similar before in Norway called Poker Cool, it’s basically the same.” He also considered Bergstroem to be the favourite.

The second Norwegian, Morten Antonsen said, “My friend knows how to play, and I have been playing with them so I thought I would have a go. I don’t know who the favorite is but it won’t be me, if there’s a Swede, it is probably him. This is my first time playing properly.”

Good luck to the final tablists.

Tonight at 7.30 p.m., there will be €50 10-handed flips to the Main Event at the tables outside the registration desk. They will run for a potentially unlimited duration, depending on the level of interest in them. They represent amazing value, and is by far the cheapest and easiest way to qualify for the €550 €550,000 GTD Hold’em Main Event.

Come and get involved.

At ‘Franke’s table in Chicago, Per Joergen Bergstroem leads the way, and The Boss and Bambi have some catching up to do as they both have 11 points versus his 45. He is now discardless, meaning he cannot draw or discard any more cards. Morten Antonsen trails with 8. No Chicago has been declared.

The other table is a tight run affair. Verneri Hakkinen leads with 35, John Boine is second with 32, Niclas Fagerberg has 23 and Mattias Sundstrom has 20.

Here are the big stacks in the room in 1/E of the €550 Main Event. Registration remains open until 9.15 p.m., so there is plenty of time to register for this €500,000 guarantee event. A total of 268 have entered, and 154 remain.

Registration has closed, and 47 remain of the 94 total entrants that took to the tables at Banco Bratislava.

The field is flush with notables and regulars from the week. Including POS Winner and new Sviten champ Ville Keranen, T.O.R.S.E.S. Champion Sergii Baranov, H.O.R.S.E. winner Matteo Crapanazano, just to name a few. Below are the top 10.

Here are the final eight players in the Chicago European Championships in no particular order. These players are now in the money, and all will have their eyes on the prize of becoming the first Festival Series Chicago Champion. To learn more about Chicago, click here.

And here are the players that fell in spots 9 through 15.

As the Day 2 field is now coming together, here is a spotlight on some of the big stacks that will be returning to battle for Main Event glory from 2 p.m. tomorrow. The current chip leader is Sebastian Kotowicz, meaning it is Poland 1-2 at the top of the counts heading into Day 2 so far.

Kotowicz is the reigning The Festival Series Bratislava Main Event titleholder. No one has won two Festival Series Main Events, let alone going back-to-back at the same stop in consecutive years, and it would be a great achievement for Kotowicz and for Poland if he is successful on Monday. Currently, Kotowicz is fifth on The Festival Series all-time money list, with $82,405 in live tournament earnings.

Twelve lovely ladies have taken to the felt in the Queens tournament at Banco Bratislava. Here is a look at the lineup. Registration remains open until 6.15 p.m. CET, and more are expected to take to the tables over the course of the late registration period.

A hand of Chicago had been dealt. Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk asked for a count of his points, and he had 27 as the cards found the hands of the players at his table.

Christer Johannson then informed “Franke” that he had zero points, as he had tabled quad sevens. Franke had been dealt a full house of fours full of aces, and his 27 points became 0. Patrik Amren also had his points reset to zero.

Here is the lineup of the remaining 16 players in the Chicago European Championship in no particular order. Recent departures include friend of The Festival Ingela Charlez and popular streamer and multiple POS Winner, Scott ‘Pokerbrahs’ Kenyon.

Italian duo and Sviten Special final tablists Fabio Bianchi and Carlo Braccini, as well as the champion Ville Keranen, are all in the field. Registration closes at 4.15 p.m. CET. To learn more about Mixed Games, click here.

Only 8 of the 29 that made it through to Day 2 of the €125 Chicago Championships will get paid at Banco Bratislava. Below are the payouts.

Earlier this year there was a 1-2 Finnish finish, when Kare Hallamaa topped the Rozvadov leaderboard, followed by compatriot Ville Hakala. Hakaka went on to repeat the feat in Malta, finishing second again, defeated this time by Swede Martin “Franke” von Zwiegbergk. He once again sits in second place, but its only the half-way point of the series and he has been entering every event he possibly can, in pursuit of an improvement on his last two outings. 

Ville Hakala’s total is now up to 110.5 pts, having cashed twice on Friday, in the Sviten (14th) and the Friday NLH Late Night Madness (8th). However Ville-Matti Keränen, who held the lead after Thursday, now has a 13 point lead over Hakala, as he won the Sviten, securing 40 points towards the leaderboard and a payout of €5,826. 

Keränen’s total of 113.5 points is impressive, as he has only played in five events and has a win and a second place under his belt already. Hakala has played in 14 of the 17 events that have been completed so far and his strategy seems to be working, but will he get the results needed to push on for the win?

Miles Rees maintains his 3rd place on the leaderboard, achieving a min-cash in the Friday NLH Late Night Madness and picking up participation points in a few other events. Fedor Stadtrucker moved up from 8th to 5th on the leaderboard and now has 78.5 pts, thanks to a 9th place finish in the PLO 4/5/6 Card. Fedor is another player who seems to be taking the “play everything” approach. Could he rise up to challenge the leaders over the weekend?

Just a few points further back in 6th is Jonas Jurksaitis, who had been the leader after Wednesday and remains in the hunt, with 76.25 points. He only played in one event on Friday, the Sviten Special, in which he made the money, finishing 10th for €900, adding 17.5 points to his total.

Nalepka Back in the Top 10

The mover of the day was Krystian Nalepka, who had been in 7th place on Wednesday’s leaderbiard, after taking 2nd place in the Win The Button event. However he had slipped to 32nd by Thursday, having failed to add any further points to his tally. On Friday he rectified that, claiming 11th place in The Hendon Mob Championship and 3rd place in the NLH High Roller. He now has 74.75 pts and has reclaimed the 7th place position he had on Wednesday.

Dropping Back

Giorgi Mevlupishvili didn’t have a great Friday, picking up only participation points and has slipped back from 2nd to 8th place, on 73 points. There was also no further progress on Friday for Jon Kyte, who drops back to 20th, while Franke and Scott Kenyon also failed to make an impression and now lie in 28th and 37th places respectively.

JJ on the Rise

JJ Hazan, on the other hand, is still proving that Jeraint what he does, its the way that he does it, that’s what get’s him results, such as his 12th place in the Sviten Special, which moves him up three places on the leaderboard to 24th. With the PLO Masters, which he hosts still to come, could JJ make a challenge for the Player of the Series race?

Leaderboard Top 100 After Friday

There are still 15 of the 32 events that make up the leaderboard to take place, so its still far too early to call it, but with seven events concluding on Saturday, we should have a better idea by this time tomorrow. Full coverage of Saturday’s action can be followed on The Festival Series blog and social media channels.

In the early hours of this morning, Ondrej Chlapek won The Hendon Mob Championship for €19,346, overcoming a substantial chip deficit in the process.