“Twenty Years in the Making” – Egi Adriaans Wins Hendon Mob Championship at The Festival Series Malta
Yesterday, a myriad of events of all shapes, sizes and formats took place across the tournament floor at The Festival Series Malta inside the great Portomaso Casino. A new Hendon Mob Champion emerged, and winners were found in the first High Roller Event of the week, the €1,100 PLO High Roller, as well as in the €350 8-Game and the €125 Crazy Pineapple PKO. Another flight to the marquee event of The Festival Series took place in the form of 1/B of the €550 Main Event. Let's take a look at what happened.
€250 Hendon Mob Championships
The final day of the Hendon Mob Championships played down its conclusion. A field of 47 returned to challenge for the prestigious title, and it took only an hour for the field to condense from 47 to 36. Win the Button winner Oliver Kubalek and The Festival Founder Martin 'Franke' von Zweigbergk were amongst the early departures.
An hour later, the three-table redraw milestone was hit. Friend of the Festival and Rozvadov Player of the Series Kare Hallamaa had a swingy session. He lost an all-in pot to Niklas Nyman with Big Slick, as the latter made quads in a preflop all-in situation. He then took another hit versus Dennis Zetterman, who had top set.
Hallamaa then made some back, having sent Maria Koutsouski and Sebastian Mortensen to the rail in two separate hands. Eventually, the final table field was reached, and it was Peder Behr who was the unfortunate player to miss out on final table play as he was stacked by Egi Adriaans. Adriaans came into the final table as the chip leader, with Hallamaa in hot pursuit in second and eventual runner up Attila Erdei claimed the last podium place. Here is the counts and draw from the final table.
| Position | Player Name | Chips | Seat |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Egi Adriaans | 2,450,000 | 3/2 |
| 2 | Kare Hallamaa | 1,800,000 | 3/1 |
| 3 | Attila Erdei | 1,610,000 | 3/3 |
| 4 | Dennis Zetterman | 1,330,000 | 3/5 |
| 5 | Robert Lim | 1,010,000 | 3/4 |
| 6 | Brian Calleja | 970,000 | 3/7 |
| 7 | Niklas Sundstorm | 815,000 | 3/9 |
| 8 | Celine Helen Eidsto-Nyland | 680,000 | 3/6 |
| 9 | Daniel Kuhlmann | 600,000 | 3/8 |
It wasn't plain sailing for Adriaans off the bat. Short stack Daniel Kuhlmann doubled through the Dutchman, making a full house in a preflop all in. However, Adriaans stack bounced back, has he eliminated the last remaining home nation representative Brian Calleja. Calleja had jacks and he had run into the kings of Adriaans in a cooler spot.
The last lady standing Celine Helen Eidsto-Nyland lost a preflop all-in, flip versus Robert Lim who had ace-queen. Nyland was ahead with nines, but she was drawing to two outs by the turn. Adriaans then claimed the stack of Niklas Sundstrom, who moved all in over an early position open from Zetterman. Adriaans jammed from the small blind with his favourite hand, pocket eights, and held against the ace-ten of Sundstrom.
Hallamaa's rollercoaster ride came to an end, as his ace-ten couldn't find help against Kuhlmann's nines. Zetterman was next to depart, and he jammed around six big blinds from early position. Erdei woke up with aces. Despite flopping two pair with nine-eight offsuit, he didn't win the hand, as Erdei binked an ace from space on the turn to give him top set. This left play four handed.
Erdei then went to take the chip lead before the break, as he raised a river lead from Adriaans in a blind v blind spot. This left the Dutch national now bottom of the counts. Shortly after the break, he was right back in contention, as he doubled through Kuhlmann with king-jack offsuit versus ace-queen offsuit. With that, Kuhlmann was eliminated. Erdei was catching cards, and he eliminated Robert Lim after he jammed the button with seven-six suited. Erdei had ace-queen and hit the river to confirm Lim's exit.
Heads-Up Play
Erdei came into the heads-up with a decent advantage on his opponent. However, Adriaans applied pressure consistently, winning limped pots frequently and getting through successful uncalled preflop jams. He retook the lead, and was in a prime position to take down the title having flopped two pair versus Erdei's open-ended straight draw. Erdei got there, but then Adriaans made a straight of his own a few hands later.
Adriaans was then on the decline, and, at his lowest point, had around 950,000 chips, around five big blinds. He then doubled up, making trips with queen-ten off to beat the king-seven suited of Erdei. Adriaans proved resilient and incredibly tough to beat, and he was right back in contention having made a straight in one pot, went runner-runner for the nut flush in another hand, before scooping a third pot with an over pair to the board.
Adriaans at this point was near parity with Erdei. On the break, the two players discussed and agreed upon a deal. Both players locked up €11,400 apiece for their efforts, and played for the first-place prize of €14,271 plus the trophy and the €1,850 package to The Hendon Mob Championships in Cape Town.
Shortly after the deal was agreed, it was all over. Adriaans spiked a ten on the turn to take down the tournament with ten-nine offsuit against the king-queen offsuit of Erdei. The players exchanged a handshake and a warm embrace, both seemingly in disbelief at how the heads-up play went down.
A Few Words From the Winner
"Twenty years in the making. I am so happy, I can't believe it. It's not about the money for me, it's about the trophy. I came back from five big blinds, I believed in myself, and that's the most important thing."
Hendon Mob Championship Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Payout |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Egi Adriaans | Netherlands | €13,871 |
| 2 | Attila Erdei | Hungary | €11,000 |
| 3 | Robert Lim | United Kingdom | €6,700 |
| 4 | Daniel Kuhlmann | Germany | €5,020 |
| 5 | Dennis Zetterman | Sweden | €3,650 |
| 6 | Kare Hallamaa | Finland | €2,740 |
| 7 | Niklas Sundstrom | Sweden | €2,113 |
| 8 | Celene Eidsto-Nyland | Norway | €1,730 |
| 9 | Brian Calleja | Malta | €1,380 |
€350 8-Game
A total of 76 entered yesterday's 8-Game Tournament, and it was a case of third times the charm as Sander van Wesemael won the title on his third bullet. He bested Johnny Andreassen to take down the first-place prize of 6,301. Rounding out the podium was Rozvadov Player of the Series runner-up Ville Hakala. van Wesemael must have played well and ran hot, as he had a short stack of 25,000 when play was nine-handed.
T.O.R.S.E.S Main Event runner-up Ben Sweetman also found the money, as did Mixed Game fanatic and poker media professional Frank Visser, and Sviten Special Winner Martin Schauman, who is currently joint first in this years Player of the Series Malta rankings. Below are the payouts.
| Place | Name | Country | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sander van Wesemael | Netherlands | € 6,301 |
| 2 | Johnny Andreassen | Denmark | € 4,050 |
| 3 | Ville Hakala | Finland | € 2,900 |
| 4 | William Mawer | United Kingdom | € 2,240 |
| 5 | Quinten Spyckerelle | Luxembourg | € 1,720 |
| 6 | Frank Visser | Netherlands | € 1,361 |
| 7 | Markus Binder | Germany | € 1,080 |
| 8 | Ben Sweetman | United Kingdom | € 870 |
| 9 | Martin Schamaun | Switzerland | € 700 |
€1,100 PLO High Roller
A field of 35 took to the four-card streets in the 20,000 GTD 1,100 PLO High Roller. The title went to Bulgarian Simeon Tsonev, who walked away with €11,471 in the small hours of this morning. He bested Julien Rouquet heads-up for the win and the leaderboard points. When the counts were taken with 11 left, Tsonev was second last, which just goes to show sometimes all you need in poker is a chip and a chair. Below are the payouts.
| Place | Name | Country | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Simeon Tsonev | Bulgaria | € 11,471 |
| 2 | Julien Rouquet | France | € 7,480 |
| 3 | Koen Adlof | Netherlands | € 5,150 |
| 4 | Fabian Bartuschk | Germany | € 3,820 |
| 5 | Janne Siljamaki | Sweden | € 3,009 |
| 6 | Olesandr Sadovyi | Ukraine | € 2,320 |
€125 Crazy Pineapple PKO
The fruitiest event of the week saw 172 total entrants battle it out for bounties in the Crazy Pineapple. The final table was comprised of Festival Friends Ingela Charlez and Elias Eckstrom, the latter of whom binked his first ever live cash in an incredibly high-variance version of poker. Ultimately, the title went to the aforementioned player's fellow countryman Jonas Rosqvist, who admitted that it was his first ever time playing Crazy Pineapple. Below are the final table payouts, inclusive of bounties.
| Place | Name | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jonas Rosqvist | € 3,975 |
| 2 | Kalle Kulju | € 2,785 |
| 3 | Jussi Heikkila | € 1,195 |
| 4 | Roland Rohlich | € 1,095 |
| 5 | Ingela Elvira Charlez | € 635 |
| 6 | Peder Behr | € 675 |
| 7 | Salvatore Incardona | € 460 |
| 8 | Robert Rohlich | € 1,129 |
| 9 | Elias Ekstrom | € 575 |
Main Event 1/B
Here is who is progressing through to Day 2 of the Main Event. These 16 found a bag out of the 125 total entrants that hit the tables yesterday afternoon. Below are the counts.
| Place | Name | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oliver Mihajlovski | 824,000 |
| 2 | Philip Pearson | 785,000 |
| 3 | Thomas Degimbe | 741,000 |
| 4 | Julius Julenius | 579,000 |
| 5 | Gustav Ekhagen | 532,000 |
| 6 | Eskil Kvamvold | 476,000 |
| 7 | Emmanuel Houssais | 439,000 |
| 8 | Wang Kwan Chan | 345,000 |
| 9 | Anders Damhaug | 331,000 |
| 10 | Tarmo Pikk | 289,000 |
| 11 | Jon Per Persent | 265,000 |
| 12 | Lorenzo Paolini | 230,000 |
| 13 | Gregory Partridge | 152,000 |
| 14 | Tom Gornall | 123,000 |
| 15 | Damian Kucharski | 110,000 |
| 16 | Didier Darracq | 104,000 |
What's Next?
Today, there is the Razz Big Bounty in play and 1/C of the Main Event. The second High Roller of the week, the 1,100 No Limit-Holdem High Roller runs from 5 p.m. as does the PLO 4/5/6 at 9 p.m.
That's all for now, folks. Stay tuned to www.graiachia.com and the social media channels for all things The Festival.
