Photo Finish Expected in Bratislava Player of the Series Race
With just one day left and three ranking events still to be completed, the Player of the Series race at The Festival in Bratislava is poised for a photo finish. No players in the top 50 are left in the Main Event, but several did play and a few made the money. In order to get the clearest picture of who’s in the running to win the title, we’ve added any points for the Main Event to all 50 players on this penultimate leaderboard and there are just 7 points separating the top two.
With just two ranking events - the Big O and the Open Face Chinese High Roller to be played on Monday (in addition to the Main Event, which has no further bearing on the Player of the Series race), any of the players in the top 10 could still end up victorious.
The Front Runner - Krystian Nalepka
The standout performer of the series so far, with 148 points from just seven events played, Krystian Nalepka cashed in the Main Event, finishing in 17th place*, earning him 12.5 leaderboard points. He also finished runner up in the Sunday PLO5 Turbo PKO, for 31.25 pts, to jump up from 5th place to take pole position going into the last day of action.
*Please note that an earlier edition of this article incorrectly had Nalepka's Main Event finishing position listed as 18th. This is due to a discrepancy between PokerLens, where he is listed as the 18th place finisher and Banco's tournament clock, which has the correct finishing position of 17th listed.
The Challenger - Miles Rees
Just 7 points behind Nalepka is the UK’s Miles Rees, who didn’t play in the Main Event, but finished 3rd in the Mystery Bounty on Sunday, to earn 38.5 leaderboard points.
Still Chasing - Ville Hakala
Just 15.25 points behind the leader on 132.75 pts is Finn Ville Hakala, who has been runner-up in the last two Player of the Series races and has attempted to buy the win this time, playing in an unprecedented 27 events, so far. He is certain not to give up on the final day and is expected to play in both the Big O and the OFC High Roller. But he’ll have to get in the money in at least one of them to be in with a chance of winning the whole shebang!
Given Up the Ghost - Ville-Matti Keränen
Having been the leader for several days, Ville-Matti Keränen went AWOL from the Festival in Bratislava on Sunday, failing to enter any tournaments. Did he have other plans for the day, or has he gone home already, relinquishing his chance to take down the title? He has 129.25 pts and is in 4th place and could still challenge, if he returns to the casino on Monday.
What a Long Strange Trip Its Been - Fedor Stadtrucker
Just half a point behind in 5th place on 128.75 pts is Fedor Stadtrucker, who added 13.25 pts to his total for 12th place in the Sunday PLO5 Turbo PKO. He still hasn’t got his chips cashed in and will keep truckin’ on for the win, but the cards ain’t gonna be worth a dime unless he goes deep on Monday.
The Chasing Pack
Outside the top five, several others can still win the Player of the Series title, with a strong showing on Monday. This includes defending champion Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk, who took second place in the Sportsbook tournament and cashed in the Main Event on Sunday, to keep his dream alive of going back-to-back.
But he’s over 40 points adrift of Nalepka and will have to go deep and cash in both of the final two events to stand a chance of retaining his title. He will likely have to win one of them to do it and is up for the challenge! Good luck Franke!
The Top 50 After Sunday
The Festival Series blog will be covering the outcome, as well as the conclusion of the Main Event. Good luck to all, may the cards be with you!
| Position | Player | Points After Sunday (not including Main Event) | Events Played | Main Event Points | Total Points (including Main Event) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Krystian Nalepka | 135.5 | 7 | 12.5 | 148 |
| 2 | Miles Rees | 141 | 10 | 0 | 141 |
| 3 | Ville Hakala | 127.75 | 27 | 5 | 132.75 |
| 4 | Ville-Matti Keränen | 129.25 | 7 | 0 | 129.25 |
| 5 | Fedor Stadtrucker | 128.75 | 15 | 0 | 128.75 |
| 6 | Jarmo Salonen | 118.75 | 15 | 5 | 123.75 |
| 7 | Bambi | 112 | 12 | 10 | 122 |
| 8 | Asterios Kokompelis | 112.25 | 9 | 5 | 117.25 |
| 9 | Graham Clarkson | 107.5 | 9 | 0 | 107.5 |
| 10 | Martin "Franke" von Zweigbergk | 96.25 | 15 | 10 | 106.25 |
| 11 | Ylva "Jevakim" Thorsrud | 87.5 | 12 | 10 | 97.5 |
| 12 | Paddy Schmidt | 87.25 | 15 | 10 | 97.25 |
| 13 | Vitalii Shcherba | 96.25 | 5 | 0 | 96.25 |
| 14 | Thomas Lechner | 87.5 | 16 | 5 | 92.5 |
| 15 | Marc Gork | 91.75 | 13 | 0 | 91.75 |
| 16 | Giorgi Mevlupishvili | 78 | 9 | 10 | 88 |
| 17 | Philipp Krieger | 80.5 | 12 | 5 | 85.5 |
| 18 | Leo Hourtoulle | 74.25 | 5 | 10 | 84.25 |
| 19 | Matteo Crapanzano | 84 | 6 | 0 | 84 |
| 20 | Riku Koivurinne | 76.75 | 12 | 5 | 81.75 |
| 21 | Julius Kettunen | 76.5 | 9 | 5 | 81.5 |
| 22 | Risto Ponnio | 79.25 | 10 | 0 | 79.25 |
| 23 | Tomasz Sumek | 68.75 | 4 | 10 | 78.75 |
| 23 | Jonas Jurksaitis | 78.75 | 6 | 0 | 78.75 |
| 25 | Kyros Kyrou | 72.25 | 8 | 5 | 77.25 |
| 26 | Marco Herman | 72 | 5 | 5 | 77 |
| 27 | Asgejr Lund | 71.75 | 12 | 5 | 76.75 |
| 28 | Magnus Nilsen | 74.5 | 5 | 0 | 74.5 |
| 29 | Scott "Pokerbrahs" Kenyon | 73.75 | 10 | 0 | 73.75 |
| 30 | Rolf Bechstrom | 66.5 | 11 | 5 | 71.5 |
| 31 | Jari Hurri | 59.25 | 11 | 10 | 69.25 |
| 32 | Kristin Flataker | 68.5 | 8 | 0 | 68.5 |
| 33 | Svein Eidsaeter | 63.25 | 10 | 5 | 68.25 |
| 34 | Ole Karlsen | 61.5 | 7 | 5 | 66.5 |
| 35 | Simon Keating | 61 | 6 | 5 | 66 |
| 36 | Ove Nilsson | 59.75 | 12 | 5 | 64.75 |
| 37 | Garth Stanton | 64.25 | 4 | 0 | 64.25 |
| 38 | Hayk Manasyan | 59 | 3 | 5 | 64 |
| 39 | Nicholas Okane | 58 | 6 | 5 | 63 |
| 40 | Jani Kattilakoski | 57.75 | 5 | 5 | 62.75 |
| 41 | Per Bergstroem | 56.25 | 9 | 5 | 61.25 |
| 42 | Jeraint "JJ" Hazan | 60.75 | 8 | 0 | 60.75 |
| 43 | Urmas Lepik | 55.25 | 10 | 5 | 60.25 |
| 44 | Tomasz Walkowiak | 58.5 | 4 | 0 | 58.5 |
| 45 | Eva "Chic" Jiretorn | 58 | 5 | 0 | 58 |
| 46 | Karl Gialanze | 57.75 | 8 | 0 | 57.75 |
| 47 | Jon Kyte | 55 | 2 | 0 | 55 |
| 47 | Kenji Hamamoto | 55 | 8 | 0 | 55 |
| 47 | Nils Doverklint | 55 | 10 | 0 | 55 |
| 47 | Verneri Hakkinen | 55 | 7 | 0 | 55 |
Please note that all leaderboard scores are unofficial, all results will be re-checked at the end of series before the Player of the Series is officially declared.
