Sebastian Kotowicz Makes History at The Festival Bratislava Winning Back-To-Back Main Events for €78,100
This instalment of The Festival Bratislava saw records shattered and history made across the tournament floor at Banco Bratislava throughout the week. For the first time in Festival Series history, a dual Main Event champion was crowned, an impressive feat made even more remarkable as it was a successful title defence in the premier Hold'em event of the week. The third and final High Roller of the week, the €1,100 Open Face Chinese, saw a familiar face become another dual Festival Series winner, and the Lowroller saw a package to the next stop in Bratislava being given to the winner. Here is a rundown of yesterday's action from the beautiful Banco Bratislava in Slovakia's capital city.
€550 Main Event
A field of 16 poker players seeking glory and prestige in the marquee Hold'em tournament event of the week. It was a tough field, containing 2023 Bratislava Main Event and €250 Bratislava Deep Stack Champion Gabriel Rymar (below right), who returned in second last. Rymar and his countryman, Sebastian Kotowicz, were well aware that history could be made at this stop if either of them were to take down the title under the lights of the feature table.
When play resumed yesterday afternoon, it was a home-team 1-2-3, with Tomas Stvrtecky leading the pack by over 2,000,000 chips. David Urban and Andrej Tekel, who sat on the right of a certain poker blogger for a decent chunk of Day 2 play, were in contention in the remaining podium spots. The field was guaranteed to walk away with €4,500, but all eyes were on the massive first-place prize of €78,100. Joining Rymar on short-stack duties was Rakel Dahle (below left), and the Norwegian national was the first casualty of the day's play, despite doubling up in the first hand.
Daniel Koloszar, Siamak Tahmoresnia, and Rymar were all sent packing early in the play on the outer table. Another player the blogger shared the felt with was Maximilian Meier, and he scored an early double up, jamming A 8 for 11 big blinds, making the wheel straight in the process. Rikard Larsson also scored an early double, as he flopped middle set against the A K of Michal Hamacek. Meier came to play, and he pulled off one of the best power plays of the final table. He moved all in on the river with ace-high over a bet from Stvrtecky, who had two pair, which prompted the Slovakian to fold his hand on a three-to-a-flush board.
Nederlander Bas de Laat was next out, and he jammed king-jack offsuit from the small blind into Urban's button open, and he had aces. No miracle runout meant de Laat was out in 12th. Filip Pilic was next to depart, and his ace-queen was no match for the ace-king of Daniel Gumula. Joel Fritz was left short after jamming Queens into Aces. He couldn't spin his two big blind stack, and he departed as the final table bubble boy.
€550 Main Event Final Table
Reigning champion Kotowicz came into the final table with just shy of a 2:1 advantage over the field as the floor confirmed the counts. Hamacek (below right) was on short-stack duties, but he spiked a two-outer to crack Urban's aces with pocket eights. Tekel was also chipping up, and he flopped Broadway, getting two streets of value from Rikard Larsson (below left) in an under-the-gun versus early position situation. Gumula was the first elimination of final table play, as he jammed just over five big blinds with king-jack offsuit. Hamacek was the beneficiary, and he rivered a queen to send the Polish national to the payout desk.
At the next break, Tekel was up to second, and it was Larsson's turn to be on short-stack duties. Kotowicz was still atop the counts, and Stvrtecky had lost half his stack by the time the second break was reached. Kotowicz was chipping up, and Larsson doubled his short stack but remained at the bottom of the counts. Hamacek left Stvrtecky short with ace-five off, but the latter then doubled again to continue with the tournament.
Larsson fell victim to a classic cooler, as his kings were no match for the aces of Tekel. It was then Urban's turn to benefit from a cooler, as his pocket nines became a set to crack Hamacek's queens. Meier then doubled through chip-leader Kotowicz, and his pair of eights faded the two overs in the form of Kotowicz's ace-queen offsuit. Jaro Maehonen had a quiet start to the day and he couldn't get much going, and he fell victim to subpar card distribution. He was stacked by Tekel, who flopped quad kings for pure overkill in a preflop all-in situation.
Hamacek's run came to an end shortly after, with Tekel claiming another scalp. Tekel flopped two pair and boated up on the river to send the Czech national to the rail. Stvrtecky (below left) was next on the chopping block, and he lost the classic race of queens v ace-king against his countryman, Urban. Tekel then lost a sizeable pot to Kotowicz, who slow played his jacks preflop. He flopped a full house, and Tekel four-bet jammed king-high.
Meier's (above right) departure took play three-handed, as his king-ten offsuit couldn't improve against the ace-jack offsuit of Urban. At the break, Kotowicz had the chip lead, with Urban in second and Tekel the shortest stack. Tekel spent no time doubling up through Urban, meaning Tekel moved one notch up the counts. The chips then migrated to the stack of Kotowicz, as he called an all-in shove with ace-king against Tekel's ace-seven. Tekel had kicker issues, and a big pot went Kotowicz's way, who was covered by Tekel at this stage. Urban was next to depart, as his nines failed to hold against the ace-seven suited of Kotowicz.
Kotowicz came into heads-up with around a 3.5/1 advantage over Tekel. Tekel did claw back the deficit to near parity, but a massive hand took place to leave Tekel with fumes. Both players rivered a five, and Kotowicz overbet shoved. Tekel took 30 seconds or so with his inferior five and he was left with 800k, which was less than a big blind and this stage in the tournament.
The next hand played itself, as Tekel was all in for his remaining chips. His hand was dominated, and Kotowicz paired his jack to seal the deal, and in turn, make Festival Series history by becoming the first dual winner of the €550 Main Event. He also takes pole position in The Festival Series All-Time Money List, usurping Michel Molenaar at the top of the rankings. There is no doubt that Kotowicz will be back in February at the first stop in the same venue, going for the threepeat in what is set to be a massive year for The Festival Series, as there will be seven live stops throughout 2026. Below are the final table payouts.
€550 Main Event Final Table Payouts
| Rank | Name | Country | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sebastian Kotowicz | Poland | €78,100 |
| 2 | Andrej Tekel | Slovakia | €48,850 |
| 3 | David Urban | Slovakia | €33,250 |
| 4 | Maximilian Meier | Germany | €24,700 |
| 5 | Tomas Stvrtecky | Slovakia | €19,000 |
| 6 | Michal Hamacek | Czechia | €14,600 |
| 7 | Jari Maehoenen | Finland | €11,700 |
| 8 | Rikard Larsson | Sweden | €9,350 |
| 9 | Daniel Gumula | Poland | €7,500 |
€1,100 Open Face Chinese High Roller
The final high roller event of the week attracted a total of 23 entrants, and four of these bullets were courtesy of The Festival Founder and Sweden's answer to Brad Pitt, Martin "Franke" von Zweigbergk, who was pursuing leaderboard points for the Player of the Series rankings. Unfortunately for the Boss, it wasn't meant to be, and he departed two from the money on his final attempt.
In what is quite possibly the least surprising news of the week, the title went to Open Face Chinese specialist Fabian Bartuschk, who is now a triple Festival Series winner in the OFC streets. He bested Johnny Johansen heads-up to win his second Festival Series High Roller title, adding to his first High Roller title, which came in Rozvadov this year. Bartushck also bested 'Franke' heads-up in Malta in the €250 Open Face Chinese. Below are the payouts.
€1,100 Open Face Chinese Payouts
| Rank | Name | Country | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fabian Bartuschk | Germany | €8,350 |
| 2 | Johnny Johansen | Norway | €5,250 |
| 3 | Sami Peisanen | Finland | €3,500 |
| 4 | Siarhei Narozhny | Belarus | €2,750 |
| 5 | Wouter Schuurbiers | Belgium | €2,000 |
€60 Texas Low Roller (€1,600 Package Added)
This tournament represented some incredible value, and a small field of 29 took to the felt in the €60 Texas Low Roller (€1,600 Package Added) yesterday afternoon. Ultimately, it was a "cool and composed" (his words, not mine) Callum Hornby (pictured) who took down the title in a field of "the toughest regs in the building." He will be returning to the venue of his victory in February and will be looking to win another package for the following stop. Below are the payouts.
| Rank | Name | Country | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Callum Hornby | United Kingdom | €1,152 |
| 2 | Daniel Schwensen | Denmark | €810 |
| 3 | Dimitrios Panagopoulos | Greece | €560 |
| 4 | Ofer Sisso | Israel | €415 |
| 5 | Joakim Olin | Sweden | €150 |
What's Next?
That's all from the live stops of this years The Festival Series. Join us in 2026 for seven stops and two online events in what is set to be the biggest year of The Festival Series so far. Thanks to everyone that has been reading the blog, watching and sharing the YouTube videos, liking and commenting on Facebook and Instagram, and the players, dealers and floor stuff who all come together to make this possible.
That's all for now, folks. Until next time.
