An Interview With Sviten Special Creator Anders “Bengan” Bengtsson From The Festival Sviten Special Weekend
At the previous instalment of The Festival Weekend Sviten Special, where Finland's Ville Keranen and The Festival Founder Martin "Franke" von Zweigbergk were crowned Main Event and High Roller Champions respectively, I had the opportunity to sit down with the game's mastermind, Sweden's very own Anders "Bengan" Bengtsson.
As well as sharing the table with him during the €50 Sviten Special Opener that was held at The Chesterfield Club around a month ago, it was about as perfect an introduction as anyone could have to the game of Sviten Special.
This interview serves as an additional supplement to a conversation conducted between Bengtsson and The Festival's resident Dutchman, Melvin Schroen, which you can read here.
What is Sviten?
For those who are new to the game of Sviten, it is a five-card, split-pot game, where one half of the pot is awarded to the best Pot Limit Omaha hand, and the other is given to the best Five-Card Draw hand, a unique twist on the standard Hi-Lo dynamic that is commonplace in split-pot games. The game is played with a pot-limit betting structure. For additional information and strategy tips, click here, and more will be revealed in the following interview.
The Chesterfield Poker Club, Tallinn, 8:43 p.m.
Sviten was invented in Stockholm in the mid-2000s. How has the poker scene changed there since the game's inception?
When we started Sviten, we were like one out of 50 clubs, but there were a lot of small clubs, and there were only two big clubs, and it was Sviten Club and another one, and then everyone started to come to us and the other club instead. So you can say it's been increasing, but then it decreased a bit, and then it increased again.
When we stopped the Sviten Club, two clubs were growing; now there are three big clubs in Stockholm, and there are quite a few one-table clubs as well, but the scene is quite different. In the Sviten, we only have fun, so we only played €1/2 at maximum. If anyone wanted to play €2.50/€5, we were like wow!
So it's changed so much money-wise, and I think it's not as familiar as it was. You can have fun, it depends on who you are playing with at the table. If you're playing with "Franke" at the table, you'll have fun every time.
Why did you decide on the one card being dealt face up on the flop?
Because it's fun to have more chances, and it's a good bluffing situation, it's not that easy to bluff in Sviten, but if you take the one face-up card, that creates opportunities to bluff. But still, it started just for fun.
Where do you enjoy playing the most?
Nowadays, home games. I don't really like the environments at the clubs. It's a little bit too harsh. It's fun sometimes, and if I play, I play at the clubs in Stockholm, except for one, if I decide to play at the clubs. And we don't have any casinos left now in Sweden.
Have you thought about tweaking the game at all, or inventing a new or different variant of Sviten Special?
I think Sviten Special will be like this forever, but of course we have been tweaking a lot of times with a lot of different variants, but every time we changed we saw that this way is the best. We tried playing with three blinds, it wasn't my idea, not actually sure who it was, for tournament play because sometimes they can go on for a really long time. It was quite successful but then it stopped.
What are your thoughts on this Festival Sviten Special Weekend?
It's great! First of all, The Festival is great because "Franke" has the same idea that I do for poker, it should be fun! Fun, fun, fun is the main part, then comes the excitement of playing, or winning, you know, but you shouldn't lose too much. I mean, play responsibly and have fun. So that's first of all, that's good.
And then just to have a Sviten Weekend, that's great! I was surprised that they had a Texas Hold'em tournament. I mean, like, why? It's really nice that there were something like 18 different nationalities in the tournament.
Do you think the game has space to grow?
Yes, I think so, and Franke is doing a great job spreading it, but the poker world has also gone a little bit more to mixed games. It's not only Texas, I mean, like Badugi and Badaceyi and everything is growing up here. So this is part of the new poker scene, I think, these kinds of games.
What is the best way to start with Sviten for complete beginners? Play Omaha and Five-Card Draw separately or dive straight into a Sviten tournament.
Just jump right in and say "pot!" A lot of the new players can play Omaha, and they focus on the Omaha aspect of the hand too much, the Draw hand is the most important part of the hand. Just take it easy play, play a small no, no, not, maybe not small tournament, but cheap tournaments, and or cheap cash games, and remember that the draw hand is the most important!
To Conclude
And that wraps up the interview with Sviten Special's Creator, Anders "Bengan" Bengtsson.
Stay tuned to www.graiachia.com for more content from the previous Sviten Special Weekend and The Festival Online that kicked off just two days ago.
That's all for now, folks. Until next time.
