Today is the busiest day on the schedule by far, Christmas for poker players attending this Malta instalment of The Festival Series. If today is Christmas, that must make yesterday Christmas Eve; it's still a good day, but the real gifts get unwrapped today.
Yesterday saw winners in the first Open Face Chinese tournament, Big O, and a new Queen was crowned in The Festival Queens event. Let's have a look at what happened across the floor yesterday.
A field of 56 total entrants took to the felt in the first of two Open Face Chinese tournaments that will take place this week. The Open Face Chinese field was packed full of familiar names and faces here at the Portomaso Casino in Malta. Rozvadov POS runner-up Ville Hakala, Rozvadov OFC High Roller Winner Fabian Bartuschk, Razz Big Bounty runner-up Fabio De Francesco, T.O.R.S.E.S Champion Barrie Dear, PLO High Roller Winner Simeon Tsonev and 8-Game Winner Sander van Wesemael.
Barrie Dear was a big stack in the tournament for a decent period of time throughout the play, but he ended up falling short of the money and being the victim of the bubble. Ultimately, it was the Rozvadov OFC High Roller Winner Fabian Bartuschk who took down the title. He bested The Boss Martin 'Franke' von Zweigbergk heads-up after a lengthy, swingy duel heads-up. Below are the payouts. For more information on how to play this interesting variant of poker, click here.
| Place | Name | Prize (€) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fabian Bartuschk | €3,601 |
| 2 | Olof Martin Stellansson Von Zweigbergk | €2,470 |
| 3 | Ville Tapani Hakala | €1,730 |
| 4 | Tobais Andersen | €1,240 |
| 5 | Samuel Elliot Shepherd | €950 |
| 6 | Yann De Tychey De La Ferte Preval | €720 |
| 7 | Eva Jiretorn | €543 |
| 8 | Christer Johansson | €450 |
It was ladies night at the Portomaso Casino and a new Queen was crowned. The field garnered 25 total entrants, three of which belonged to Hendon Mob Final maker Celine Nyland. She fired three bullets but couldn't find the money.
Due to the small field, when the ladies reached the final table, they still were not in the money. Only six were to be paid, and it was Roberta Memoli of Italy who missed out on the payouts. She jammed her short-stack from the button with queen-jack off suit, and ran into the ace-queen offsuit of Karin Krantz in the big blind. She was then the next to depart.
Ultimately, it was Denise Fusciardi who took the crown. She bested Cristina Balsamo heads-up in a face-off that lasted for around 45 minutes. Fusciardi had a substantial advantage over Balsamo when heads-up play was reached. Below are the payouts.
| Place | Name | Payout |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Denise Fusciardi | €1,001 |
| 2 | Cristina Balsamo | €631 |
| 3 | Thea Hoivik | €420 |
| 4 | Kristina Ferusova | €310 |
| 5 | Karin Andrea Elisabeth Krantz | €250 |
In the one and only Big O tournament, which is 5-Card PLO Hi-lo, Joakim Olin walked away with first-place money, and will receive a beautiful trophy courtesy of our talented in-house artist Modernoise. He bested Soner Vanelderen heads-up in the small hours of this morning. The tournament attracted 100 total entrants.
Also finding the money was Rozvadov Mystery Bounty winner Mariya Todorova, as well as Martin Smith, author of Pot Limit Sviten Special: A European Version of Drawmaha. Below are the payouts.
| Place | Name | Payout |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joakim Olin | €2,601 |
| 2 | Soner Vanelderen | €1,849 |
| 3 | Yurii Rassamakin | €1,280 |
| 4 | Serhii Kyslyi | €1,050 |
| 5 | Benedict Kaiser | €850 |
| 6 | Kamil Maslowski | €680 |
| 7 | Mariya Todorova | €520 |
| 8 | Oliver Faller | €380 |
| 9 | Michael Cauchi | €300 |
| 10 | Glenn Hasselberg | €260 |
| 11 | Martin Smith | €260 |
| 12 | Gintas Dirse | €210 |
| 13 | Olesandr Sadovyi | €210 |
The Day 2 field has been finalised, and the counts are in. Jose Gomes has bagged the biggest prize of the 666 total entrants who have taken to the tables at Portomaso over the last five days. He sits clear at the top of the counts, with his nearest rival having 400,000 less than him. 8-Game Winner Sander van Wesemael and former Festival Series Malta winner is also in the top 10, as well as Victor Gil Den Houting, who is in pursuit of a second title.
| # | Name | Chips | Table/Seat |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jose Gomez | 1,720,000 | 10/7 |
| 2 | Arttu Myllys | 1,320,000 | 4/1 |
| 3 | Fan Sun | 1,190,000 | 11/4 |
| 4 | Angelo Vietti | 1,130,000 | 11/3 |
| 5 | Jedrzej Smaruj | 1,080,000 | 7/5 |
| 6 | Sander van Wesemael | 975,000 | 3/4 |
| 7 | Victor Gil Den Houting | 938,000 | 8/6 |
| 8 | Nuno Morais | 868,000 | 3/7 |
| 9 | Oliver Mihajlovski | 824,000 | 4/3 |
| 10 | Claudio Mazza | 794,000 | 1/8 |
Today is jam-packed with action of all varieties: from the sportsbook tournament, to the 10-Game, the Main Event, to the slots tournament in the evening. 1/C of the Mystery Bounty will be in play in the evening, as will the best tournament of the week - the Bomb Pot PLO Madness (round of each Holdem and Omaha). To see the full schedule, click here.
That's all for now, folks. Stay tuned to www.graiachia.com for the blog, and social media channels for everything and anything Festival related.
Until later on.
