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Who Was the Player of the Series at The Festival in Malta?

It was another exciting finish to the Player of the Series race, which went down to the very last event to determine the winner. Usually in this article, we keep it a secret until you’ve done a few mins of reading first, but as the race was widely publicised during the series itself, most people already know the identity of the winner. 

So, we’ll waste no time is revealing that the winner of The Festival in Malta Player of the Series was none other than Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk, the founder and owner of The Festival Series itself!

Franke went into the final day with a nine point lead over Ville Hakala. The Finn had missed out on being the Rozvadov Player of the Series, when he was beaten by compatriot Kare Hallamaa earlier this summer, in another fiercely contested, but good-natured match-up. But this time he was closer to Franke than he had been to Kare in the closing stages in Rozvadov. He just needed to cash in the final event (Open Face Chinese High Roller) with Franke failing to make the money and victory would be his.

It was not until level 10 that Ville joined the OFC High Roller, perhaps trying to reduce the need for additional bullets to be fired. Franke had been playing since the start. Ville was the last of the 23 entrants to take his seat, but could only manage a 10th place finish, which was not enough for him to usurp Franke in the leaderboard race. Although Franke no longer needed to cash in the OFC High Roller to secure the Player of the Series title, he went on to very nearly win it, finishing second, for his sixth cash of the series.

Soon after winning, Franke spoke with Václav “Lemon Poker” Dušek, saying

“I created The Festival to play the games that I want to play and now I’ve proved that I’m the best of the Series,it’s insanely cool”

The full interview can be watched on The Festival Series facebook page.

It was bound to happen eventually. Franke plays almost everything and he’s pretty good at some games, especially Open Face Chinese. He was also incentivised, as by winning the 2025 Malta Player of the Series, he has saved himself from shelling out a €1,600 Bratislava package to someone else. Congratulations Franke!

The Festival in Malta Player of the Series Race Final Points Tally

Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk ended up with 199 points, 29 clear of Ville Hakala’s on 170. Barrie Dear was the next best finisher in 3rd place, on 132 points. In 4th place with 128 points was Jose Gomez Casillas, while Benjamin Sweetman and Wouter Schuurbiers shared 5th place on 120 points. 

Kare Hallamaa, the Rozvadov Player of the Series was 7th on 118 points with The Hendon Mob Champion winner Egi Adriaans taking 8th on 108 points. Scott “Pokerbrahs” Kenyon, usually a front runner in the Player of the Series race, finished in an uncharacteristically low 16th place, with just 89 points.

The final leaderboard placings of the top 50 players can be found at the bottom of this article.

Top Three Points Breakdown

Starting backwards, here’s the points breakdown for the top three in the Player of the Series race at The Festival in Malta, in reverse finishing order.

Bronze Medal: Barrie Dear, 132points

Edinburgh resident Barrie Dear won the Mixed Games Main Event: TORSES early on during the series and by Tuesday he was in second place on the leaderboard, just behind Benjamin Sweetman. Barrie banked almost £9,000 for that win and looked like he could be the one to catch, as he played in almost every event he could thereafter. 

He maintained his challenge in the leaderboard race by taking 5th place in the Razz and also cashed in the PLO 4/5/6 Card, but drew a blank in the other twelve events he took part in. Nevertheless, his TORSES win and the 46 participation points he earned from all those failed attempts helped push his final total up to 132, which was good enough for third place and the bronze medal*.

Event	Finishing Position	Points
Mixed Games Main Event	1st	49
Razz	5th	25
PLO 4/5/6 Cards	13th	12
12 Other Events	NOT ITM	46
Total Points		132

*Anecdotal, there aren’t actually any medals given out

Silver Medal: Ville Hakala, 170 points

Right from the very start of the series, Ville declared himself a challenger for the Player of the Series title. He missed out on the title in Rozvadov, taking second place to his compatriot Kare Hallamaa, but came to Malta determined to try and climb one rung higher on The Festival Series’ barometer of excellence. But he had to settle for the bridesmaid spot once again, although this time he was within spitting distance of his rival and could have emerged victorious, if the OFC High Roller had panned out a little differently. 

Ville was remarkably consistent, finishing in 3rd place in three events: the Mixed Games Main Event, the 8-Game and the Open Face Chinese. He also took 10th place in the PLO 4/5/6 and earned 55 participation points from 12 other events that he entered during the week. His final total was 170 points.

Event	Finishing Position	Points
Mixed Games Main Event	3rd	38
8-Game	3rd	30
PLO 4/5/6 Cards	10th	17
OFC	3rd	30
12 Other Events	NOT ITM	55
Total Points		170

Gold Medal: Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk, 199 points

Now, let’s take a look at the sober journey that took Franke from Cisk Zero to Festival Series hero. His best results were in the Open Face Chinese events, as he was the runner up in both the regularly priced €250 and the €1,100 High Roller versions. These two events, along with his 5th place in the TORSES produced almost half of Franke’s 199 leaderboard points. A final table in the Razz and third place in the Blackjack tournament helped boost his score further. Franke’s only Hold’em cash was in The Hendon Mob Championship, in which he took 36th. 

Franke played in more events than anyone else, 17 in total, cashing in six of them. The eleven events that he failed to cash in contributed 52 points in total. To put Franke’s achievement into perspective, if you discount the participation points earned from the events he drew a blank in, but left everyone else's in, his score of 147 points from events he cashed in, would have been enough to take third place in the leaderboard race.

This is the first year of The Festival Series that Franke has shunned alcoholic beverages, opting for Cisk 0% as his tipple of choice. It certainly seems to have worked for him and if the rumours are true, there could be a new sponsor on board in time for next year’s edition of The Festival Series in Malta.

Event	Finishing Position	Points
Mixed Games Main Event	5th	34
Blackjack	3rd	20
The Hendon Mob Championship	36th	7
Razz	7th	22
OFC	2nd	33
OFC High Roller	2nd	31
11 Other Events	NOT ITM	52
Total Points		199

Final Player of the Series Top 50

Did you make the top 50? Check the table below to find out!

Finishing Position	Player	Points	Events Played
1	Martin "Franke" von Zweigbergk	199	17
2	Ville Hakala	170	16
3	Barrie Dear	132	15
4	Jose Gomez Casillas	128	7
5	Benjamin Sweetman	120	8
5	Wouter Schuurbiers	120	11
7	Kare Hallamaa	118	13
8	Egi Adriaans	108	7
9	Ville-Matti Keränen	102	10
10	Peder Behr	99	7
11	Karl Gialanze	96	6
12	Fabian Bartuschk	92	5
12	Simeon Tsonev	92	5
14	Eva Jiretorn	91	9
15	Mattia Festa	90	5
16	Lars Johansson	89	9
16	Scott Kenyon	89	12
18	Attila Erdei	86	5
18	Robert Rohlich	86	9
20	Quinten Spyckerelle	84	6
20	Sander Van Wesemael	84	8
22	Frank Visser	83	10
23	Martin Schamaun	81	4
23	Sean Godley	81	7
25	Yurii Rassamakin	80	9
26	Glenn Hasselberg	77	10
26	Mika Hautakangas	77	9
28	Benedict Kaiser	76	7
28	Herli Olop	76	9
28	Nuno Morais	76	2
31	Isac Ekstrom	74	6
32	Michael Cauchi	72	9
33	Yann De Tychey	71	9
34	Fabio De Francesco	70	7
34	Kalle Kulju	70	6
36	Roland Rohlich	68	5
37	Kamil Maslowski	67	6
37	Marcello Genna	67	3
39	Oliver Kubalek	66	7
39	Salvatore Incardona	66	8
39	Toni Sarkama	66	4
42	Andreas Holmsten	62	3
42	Eriks Gedroics	62	6
42	Jonas Rosqvist	62	5
42	Julius Julenius	62	4
42	Sascha Manns	62	12
47	Damir Savio	61	1
47	Philip Pearson	61	4
49	Antoine Degiorgio	59	9
50	Gert Orav	58	3