Ville-Matti Keränen Assumes Lead in Player of Series Race
The Player of the Series Race is hotting up after the third full day of action, but its still tight at the top, with Ville-Matti Keränen posting a narrow overnight lead of less than two points over Giorgi Mevlupishvili. He goes into the middle day of The Festival in Bratislava with 71 points, just 1.75 ahead of Georgian Giorgi’s 69.25.
Ville-Matti had been in 20th place on the leaderboard on Wednesday, having taken 4th place in the Half n Half, but cashed twice on Thursday to catapult himself to the top of the table. His first visit to the payout window was for 12th place in the Open Face Chinese Pineapple, which earned him 14.5 points. But the Finn's big score of the day came in the early hours of Friday morning, when he finished runner-up in the Bomb Pot Madness, earning himself €1,700, in addition to 31.25 leaderboard points.
Giorgi Mevlupishvili had almost as meteoric a rise as Keränen, moving up from 17th to 2nd, thanks to two final table appearances on Thursday, having already finished 4th in the Late Night Madness on Wednesday. He took 6th place in the OFC for 23.5 points and added a further 19.25 for 8th in the Thursday Late Night Madness.
Miles Rees Moves Up to 3rd
There was a slight confusion at The Festival Series HQ yesterday regarding the ranking status of the Heads Up Tournament. The leaderboard was originally calculated without it, based on a misunderstanding that capped events do not count towards the leaderboard. The rule is that they only don't count if the cap is reached, which it wasn't, as 31 players took part, leaving one seat empty. It has therefore been re-instated as a ranking event and the points awarded for it have been added in. Apologies for the mistake and any distress it may have caused to any and all involved. Our bad.
This was good news for Ville Hakala, who picked up an extra 2.5 points for his fruitless participation, but even better news for Miles Rees, as he finished joint 3rd in the Heads Up, earning 20.5 leaderboard points. Rees went on to win Event 25 yesterday, the €125 NLH PKO Late Night Madness, for a further 38.75 and now sits in 3rd place on the leaderboard with 61.75 points.
Hakala Tied for 4th
Ville Hakala, is now in 4th on 61 points, having now played in 9 events. The double runner-up in the POS race at the last two festivals boosted his score on Thursday with by 23.75 points with a 5th place finish in the Bomb Pot Madness. Overnight leader Jonas Jurksaitis slips back to 5th on 58.75 points, having only added participation points to his total on Thursday.
Kyte Surfs into Top Ten
But the loudest new entry onto the leaderboard was made by Jon Kyte, who’s back-to-back 3rd place finishes in the T.O.R.S.E.S, followed by the PLO High Roller have rocketed him straight into 7th place, on 55 points. The Norwegian cashed for €13,000 in total on Thursday, making him the biggest winner of the day, both in terms of cash and leaderboard points.
Franke and Keny Simmering Outside Top 10
Sitting just outside the top ten, in 15th place is Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk, the reigning leaderboard king from September’s Festival in Malta. Like Ville Hakala, Franke employs a ‘play everything’ strategy and has currently done so 5 times in events that count towards this leaderboard.
On Thursday Franke took 3rd place in the Open Face Chinese, an event that he has been successful in many times before. He has also qualified for the final day of the European Chicago Championship, which is yet to take place, so has a great shot of adding more points to his current total of 42 points.
Just two points further back in joint 22nd place is double Player of the Series winner (but oh it could have been more) Scott “Pokerbrahs” Kenyon, who was the runner-up in the Open Face Chinese after a heads-up deal with Krzysztof Kordus. Scott has also bagged a seat in the Chicago final day.
The Top 75
We’ve expanded the leaderboard to the top 75 today, can you find your name?
| Position | Player | Total Points | Events Played |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ville Keränen | 71 | 3 |
| 2 | Giorgi Mevlupishvili | 69.25 | 4 |
| 3 | Miles Rees | 61.75 | 4 |
| 4 | Ville Hakala | 61 | 9 |
| 5 | Jonas Jurksaitis | 58.75 | 4 |
| 6 | Bambi | 58.5 | 5 |
| 7 | Jon Kyte | 55 | 2 |
| 8 | Fedor Stadtrucker | 54.5 | 6 |
| 9 | Aaron Thiel | 46.25 | 4 |
| 10 | Matteo Crapanzano | 45 | 3 |
| 11 | Magnus Nilsen | 44.5 | 2 |
| 12 | Mattia Ruebenstrunk | 43.5 | 3 |
| 13 | Vitalii Shcherba | 43 | 2 |
| 14 | Joost Melkert | 42.5 | 3 |
| 15 | Martin "Franke" von Zweigbergk | 42 | 5 |
| 16 | Garth Stanton | 41.25 | 2 |
| 16 | Julius Kettunen | 41.25 | 3 |
| 16 | Simon Keating | 41.25 | 2 |
| 16 | Ylva "Jevakim" Thorsrud | 41.25 | 6 |
| 20 | Thomas Lechner | 40.75 | 4 |
| 21 | Marc Gork | 40.25 | 7 |
| 22 | Scott "Pokerbrahs" Kenyon | 40 | 4 |
| 22 | Yuri Overhand | 40 | 2 |
| 24 | Krzysztof Kordus | 38.75 | 3 |
| 25 | Tomasz Walkowiak | 38 | 3 |
| 26 | Kristin Flataker | 37.5 | 3 |
| 27 | Jeraint "JJ" Hazan | 35 | 1 |
| 27 | Sergii Baranov | 35 | 1 |
| 29 | Riku Koivurinne | 34.25 | 5 |
| 30 | Ove Nilsson | 32 | 4 |
| 31 | Lars Hole | 31.5 | 3 |
| 32 | Daniel Stossl | 31.25 | 1 |
| 32 | Krystian Nalepka | 31.25 | 1 |
| 32 | William Meeuwisse | 31.25 | 1 |
| 35 | Halvor Lindrupsen | 30.75 | 3 |
| 36 | Jarmo Salonen | 30 | 5 |
| 36 | Philipp Krieger | 30 | 6 |
| 38 | Lee Horton | 29.75 | 4 |
| 39 | John Clarkson | 29.5 | 2 |
| 39 | Lukas Exner | 29.5 | 2 |
| 39 | William Lynch | 29.5 | 5 |
| 42 | John Tunstall | 29 | 4 |
| 43 | Julius Julenius | 28.75 | 4 |
| 43 | Mladen Stojanovic | 28.75 | 2 |
| 43 | Rolf Bechstrom | 28.75 | 2 |
| 43 | Tomasz Sumek | 28.75 | 2 |
| 47 | Vilde Fagerbakke | 28.25 | 1 |
| 48 | Gilles Lamy | 27.75 | 2 |
| 49 | Lena Bjorn | 26.75 | 3 |
| 50 | Joonas Lyttinen | 26 | 1 |
| 51 | Roar Sandvik | 25.75 | 5 |
| 52 | Karl Rosen | 25.25 | 1 |
| 52 | Victor Wesselink | 25.25 | 1 |
| 54 | Christopher Heidelbacher | 25 | 2 |
| 54 | Graham Clarkson | 25 | 1 |
| 54 | Paddy Schmidt | 25 | 7 |
| 57 | Andre Berg | 24.25 | 2 |
| 58 | Jascha Wieck | 23.75 | 1 |
| 58 | Ofer Sisso | 23.75 | 2 |
| 58 | Vijar Tejapaibul | 23.75 | 1 |
| 61 | Asterios Kokompelis | 23.5 | 2 |
| 61 | James Rooney | 23.5 | 2 |
| 61 | Julius Stroehlein | 23.5 | 2 |
| 61 | Per Bergstroem | 23.5 | 2 |
| 65 | Risto Ponnio | 23 | 3 |
| 65 | Thomas Hornby | 23 | 3 |
| 67 | Asgejr Lund | 22.25 | 4 |
| 67 | Maximilian Feix | 22.25 | 1 |
| 69 | Craig Mcluckie | 22 | 2 |
| 69 | Dag Nilsen | 22 | 2 |
| 69 | Mats Rosqvist | 22 | 1 |
| 69 | Pawel Matloka | 22 | 2 |
| 73 | Alexander Freund | 21.5 | 1 |
| 74 | Steven Tool | 21 | 1 |
| 75 | Sjoerd Giesbers | 20.75 | 1 |
With Hakala, Zweigbergk and Kenyon all poised to challenge once again, it’s already shaping up to be an interesting title race. With six further events concluding on Friday at Banco Casino in Bratislava, the leaderboard is certain to change again, but who will be leading the way? Will a strong contender emerge and pull away from the rest of the field? Stay tuned to the Festival Series blog to find out, where Patrick Cole will be your host, covering all the action, direct from the tournament floor.
