Live Updates - The Festival Bratislava 2021

The Festival Team

The Festival Author

October 5, 2021 · 1 minutes to read

The Festival in Bratislava Live Updates

Konstantinos Leads Last 31 in the Main Event 24.09.2021 21:21

Fotios-Konstantinos-1024x768 — Main Event chip leader Fotios Konstantinos

Today saw the 218 survivors of the 573 entries from the four start days coalesce into a single Day 2. With registration still open until the end of the first break, though, that wasn’t the final number – over the course of Levels 11 and 12, another 48 entries/re-entries were registered, resulting in a final field of 621 players, hitting the official €300,000 guarantee (although a small percentage of that has been withheld by the casino for various reasons, so the prizepool that’s actually being paid out is €294,975). It was determined that 71 places would pay out, with a min-cash paying €1,000 and first place taking home €59,000 in the fullness of time.

Overall chip leader at the start of Day 2 was Pavol Melichar on 223k, and he used his massive stack well – he’s survived Day 2 as well, and we’ll be seeing him in tomorrow’s Day 3. Incidentally, tomorrow may turn out to be the final day of this Main Event – with only ……. players remaining, the tournament director was debating earlier whether to play down to a winner tomorrow. We’ll keep you updated on whether that happens; either way, the final table will be livestreamed direct from Banco Casino to your computer.

Chip leader going into Day 3 is Fotios Konstantinos with a massive 1,665,000 – way ahead of the next guy. Thirty-one players remain, with the following stacks:

Fotios Konstantinos	1665k
Igor Panak	1070k
Bernhard Haider	790k
Erik Seffer	785k
Peter Hanke	685k
Filip Sramka	680k
Martin Mauthner	680k
Thomas De Rooij	560k
Jozef Krajan	560k
Marjan Mitrovski	550k
Mihaly Jancso	535k
Andras Matrai	530k
Aare Haapsal	485k
Tor Welo	465k
Panagiotis Chantzaras	460k
Miroslav Lelek	455k
Viktor Eriksson	385k
Frank Reichel	380k
Aleksandar Tomovic	365k
David Vedral	330k
Mario Eder	300k
Michal Janczarski	150k
Tomche Spaseski	145k

And these are the Main Event results so far:

32	Andras Halasi	€1,800
33	Juraj Valasky	€1,500
34	Tomas Vojtek	€1,500
35	Vladimir Bednar	€1,500
36	Devid Berlin	€1,500
37	Daniel Koloczar	€1,500
38	Peter Bergman	€1,500
39	Didier Pirard	€1,500
40	Daniele Grassi	€1,500
41	Pavel Chalupka	€1,200
42	Patrik Ciklamini	€1,200
43	Quoc Ly	€1,200
44	Leo Worthington-Leese	€1,200
45	Robert Sloboda	€1,200
46	Martin Ilavsky	€1,200
47	Peter Varga	€1,200
48	Carina Wald	€1,200
49	Robin Hegele	€1,200
50	Kristoffer Winterstein	€1,200
51	Alexandros Erotorritou	€1,200
52	Marcin Stachyra	€1,200
53	Lars Eklund	€1,200
54	Ninni Malmi	€1,200
55	Richard Vladar	€1,200
56	Luka Bojovic	€1,200
57	Sami Pullianen	€1,000
58	Sandor Dudas	€1,000
59	Stefan Reiser	€1,000
60	Robert Manner	€1,000
61	Kaider Viikman	€1,000
62	Jonas Kovacs	€1,000
63	Tiikka Tiensuu	€1,000
64	Jiri Kocab	€1,000
65	Ondrej Jakubcik	€1,000
66	Peter Muhlbek	€1,000
67	Davide Saitta	€1,000
68	Peter Cekan	€1,000
69	Daniel Holmedahl	€1,000
70	Patrick Jowa	€1,000
71	Fabian Gumz	€1,000

Elsewhere, the €200 + €20 Pokerlistings Deepstack drew 194 players, of whom 138 are still in at the time of writing. The extremely silly €100 + €10 Open Face Chinese Pineapple Shootout had 27 runners, all of whom looked like they were having an amazing time, and the final of the €225 + €25 Roulette Championship is just getting underway. There are cash games going on in the casino to suit all pockets as well – I haven’t seen it myself, but there’s a rumour going around that they’re currently spreading everything from €1/€2 NLH right up to an eyewatering €50/€50 PLO game.

Your famished bloggers are now heading out to find some dinner, plus our blood alcohol levels are worryingly low, but we’ll be right back here in the casino from noon tomorrow, when we’ll be playing down to at least a final table, and possibly a winner.

Last hands 24.09.2021 20:58

We have reached the end of the day. Players are playing the last 3 hands and will bag & tag afterwards.

End of Luck for Andras Halasi 24.09.2021 20:54

MAIN-EVENT-DAY-1B-32-1-Halasi-Andras-Medium-1024x683 — Andras Halasi

Andras Halasi had his fair share of luck this afternoon. This luck just ran out when he was all-in against Carl Hansson. It was a simple flip, Hansson with J-J, Halasi with K-Q. The board gave Halasi no help (A-7-6-2-5) and he was out in 32th place.

AA for MM 24.09.2021 20:52

A most unfortunate spot for two gentlemen, but a delightfully pleasant one for the third involved in this hand:

Juraj Valasky (button): A J
Tomas Vojtek (SB): 5 5
Marjan Mitrovski (BB): A A

Board: 6 6 8 2 6

Mitrovski’s aces held, and he’s now up to 600k or so. Valasky had the bigger stack so he takes 33rd place and Vojtek takes 34th, although the next pay jump isn’t until 32nd place anyway so arguably it doesn’t matter.

Devid Berlin out, Konstantinos overwhelming chip leader 24.09.2021 20:42

Half-´n-Half-25-6-Berlin-Devid-Medium-1024x683 — Devid Berlin out

Devid Berlin just was in a huge 800k pot against Fotios Konstantinos. Konstantinos who propelled into chip lead in the past hours kept being lucky, won the pot (a flip preflop) and upped his chip stack to over 1.6 Million (triple the average stack) and Berlin is out in 36^th place.

Money Money Money 24.09.2021 20:30

Here are the ITM bustouts so far as we head into the last level of the day:

37	Daniel Koloszar	€1,500
38	Peter Bergman	€1,500
39	Didier Pirard	€1,500
40	Daniele Grassi	€1,500
41	Pavel Chalupka	€1,200
42	Patrik Ciklamini	€1,200
43	Quoc Ly	€1,200
44	Leo Worthington Leese	€1,200
45	Robert Sloboda	€1,200
46	Martin Ilavsky	€1,200
47	Peter Varga	€1,200
48	Carina Wald	€1,200
49	Robin Hegele	€1,200
50	Kristoffer Winterstein	€1,200
51	Alexandros Erotokritou	€1,200
52	Marcin Stachyra	€1,200
53	Lars Eklund	€1,200
54	Anna Malmi	€1,200
55	Richard Vladar	€1,200
56	Luka Bojovic	€1,200
57	Sami Pulliainen	€1,000
58	Sandor Dudas	€1,000
59	Stefan Reiser	€1,000
60	Robert Manner	€1,000
61	Kaidar Viikman	€1,000
62	Jonas Kovacs	€1,000
63	Tiikka Tiensuu	€1,000
64	Jiri Kocab	€1,000
65	Ondrej Jakubcik	€1,000
66	Peter Muhlbek	€1,000
67	Giuseppe Saitta	€1,000
68	Peter Cekan	€1,000
69	Daniel Homedahl	€1,000
70	Patrick Jowa	€1,000
71	Fabian Gumz	€1,000

Last Level of the Night 24.09.2021 20:23

MG_1879-Medium-1024x640 — No consequential all-ins in the past half hour

For the past 30 minutes not much happened at the tables. At least no players busted. But we’re sure this change as there are quite a lot of short stacks in the field.

The clock is up to level 20 now and this is the last level of the night.

Big Double Up for De Rooij 24.09.2021 20:16

Thomas De Rooij raised, and then shoved to a reraise from Juraj Valasky. A straightforward coinflip at the start, De Rooij immediately flopped his set, and then rivered quads for good measure. Valasky looked extremely upset about it as most of his stack headed across the table to De Rooij, but that’s poker, as they say. De Rooij is now up to around 850k, while Valasky is left with 250k.

De Rooij: 9 9
Valasky: A K

Board: 9 10 7 A 9

Small Double Up for Matrai 24.09.2021 20:10

Michal Janczarski made the opening raise and got a call from Michael Uguccioni in the next seat down, before Andras Matrai pushed his small stack in from the big blind. Janczarski called, Uguccioni got out of their way, and they were soon on their backs.

Janczarski: A 8
Matrai: J J

Board: 4 K 4 9 7

Current score: Matrai 230k, Janczarski less than 140k.

A set beats Top Pair 24.09.2021 20:03

MAIN-EVENT-DAY-2-32-3-Uguccioni-Michael-Medium-300x200 — Michael Uguccioni gains chips with a set

Pavel Chalukpa was on the lower end oft he count during the past levels and in level 20 he eventually snuffed it.

On a flop of J 10 7 he was all-in for a total of roughly 230k chips with K J . His top pair was good, but no where good enough against Michael Uguccioni who holding 10 10 for a set. Turn and river bricked (7 , Q ) and Chalupka was out in 40^th place.

Ugucciono on the other hand is up to over 800k chips now.

Seffer Cracks Aces 24.09.2021 19:41

Erik Seffer, his stack much reduced since we declared him chip leader a few levels back, has just enjoyed a miraculous double up with a flush against Patrik Ciklamini’s aces.

Ciklamini: A A
Seffer: A K

Board: 8 K 4 9 6

Seffer’s up to 550k now, Ciklamini down to 240k and looking quite dejected.

Last woman standing is sitting no longer 24.09.2021 19:40

Half-´n-Half-25-4-Wald-Carina-Medium-1024x683 — Carina Wald

Carina Wald was the last woman standing in the main event. Unfortunately she was knocked out right after the break in 47th place and isn’t sitting among the other players anymore . Besides here another woman, Ninni also reached the money ranks.

Full Counts at the break 24.09.2021 19:32

One last time we sent all players away to count their chips. With only 48 players remaining we counted all of them:

Fotios Konstantinos	1150k
Filip Sramka	745k
Dushko Bogoevski	720k
Bernhard Haider	700k
Tor Welo	695k
Igor Panak	680k
Mihaly Jancso	675k
Michael Uguccioni	570k
Martin Mauthner	565k
Carl Hansson	550k
Adi Rajkovic	540k
Marian Mitroski	510k
Panagiotis Chantzaras	500k
Martin Elavsky	500k
Jozef Krajan	500k
Peter Hanke	500k
Viktor Eriksson	480k
Devid Berlin	458k
Thomas De Rooij	430k
Patrik Ciklamini	410k
Henry Mania	405k
David Vedral	400k
Robert Sloboda	380k
Oleksander Lizanets	360k
Pavol Melichar	360k
Vladimir Bednar	350k
Robin Hegele	300k
Quoc Ly	300k
John Ekdahl	284k
Didier Pirard	280k
Tomche Spaseski	280k
Miroslav Lelek	265k
Daniele Grassi	250k
Aleksandar Tomovic	250k
Juraj Valasky	240k
Pavel Chalupka	228k
Aare Haapsal	226k
Tomas Vojtek	215k
Frank Reichel	210k
Carina Wald	200k
Peter Bergman	200k
Erik Seffer	165k
Mario Eder	141k
Andras Matrai	130k
Leo Worthington-Leese	120k
Andras Halasi	110k
Michael Janczarski	110k
Peter Vraga	8k

Erotokritou History 24.09.2021 19:17

MAIN-EVENT-DAY-2-50-9-Erotokritou-Alexandros-Medium-1024x683

Alexandros Erotokritou has joined the swelling ranks at the rail, his Q J insufficient against Peter Hanke’s K K on an A 10 8 Q 4 board, although I got there too late to tell you when the chips went in. Either way, Hanke now has 495k while Erotokritou has none.

Frank Reichel doyles Richard Vladar 24.09.2021 19:00

MAIN-EVENT-DAY-1C-33-1-Reichel-Frank-Ronald-Medium-1024x683 — Frank Reichel knows how to win with ten deuce

A short stack confrontation saw Richard Vladar lose all his chips against German Frank Reichel.

Both were all-in before the flop:

Vladar: A-7
Reichel: T-2

Vladar was favourite but Reichel had the hand that won Doyle Brunson the World Series two years in a row. The dealer promptly put enough of help for Reichel on the board: T-5-4-J-T. That was more than enough to take the pot and remove Vladar from the tournament.

Seffer bluffs away his chip lead 24.09.2021 18:52

Before the bubble Erik Seffer war chip leader but he has lost a big chunk of his stack in the past hour. In a massive pot against his fellow Slovakian countryman Filip Sramka there were 170k chips in the middle on a Q K A 3 4 board. After Sramka checked, Seffer slid out 80k and Sramka quickly called.

Seffer turned over J-2 for a stone cold bluff and Sramka took down the pot with A-Q.

Tomb Kaidar 24.09.2021 18:44

Kaidar Viikman, who put on a very good show at the cabaret bar the other night, is among the growing number of Main Event players now at the rail after pushing with pocket nines and getting a call from Martin Ilavsky holding AK which spiked a classic ace on the river. Ilavsky is up to 350k or so, and Viikman is busto. He could have a fine career ahead of him in cabaret though if poker doesn’t work out.

These are all the ITM exits so far:

60	Robert Manner	€1,000
61	Kaidar Viikman	€1,000
62	Jonas Kovacs	€1,000
63	Tiikka Tiensuu	€1,000
64	Jiri Kocab	€1,000
65	Ondrej Jakubcik	€1,000
66	Peter Muhlbek	€1,000
67	Giuseppe Saitta	€1,000
68	Peter Cekan	€1,000
69	Daniel Homedahl	€1,000
70	Patrick Jowa	€1,000
71	Fabian Gumz	€1,000

More Water, Less Beer 24.09.2021 18:34

There’s a peculiar change that is noticeable in the tournament are compared to the days before: There are way more water bottles than beer glasses.

Now the question is: Are people sobering up now that they are in the money or did the beer drinkers simply not make the cut?

No Early Night for Bednar 24.09.2021 18:33

Vladimir Bednar open-shoved for 108k – a little more than the pot – on a 10 5 9 flop. After a moderate-to-lengthy spell in the tank, Erik Seffer made the call, and they were on their proverbial backs.

Seffer: Q J for an up-and-down straight draw
Bednar: K K for an overpair

Turn: 6

River: 3

Bednar made a noise like air escaping from a balloon as he doubled up to a roughly average 300k.

Jowa’s Aces Cracked for a Min-Cash 24.09.2021 18:10

I think just the second player out in the money, you’ve got to feel for Patrick Jowa – he got it in good with A A against Marcin Stachyra’s A J , but the board rolled out 3 K 3 10 Q making Stachyra a Broadway straight, and Jowa will have to settle for a min-cash. UL, GG, WP.

Markus Ganglbauer is the last player to leave without money 24.09.2021 18:07

It was a simple flip that eventually decided the bubble of The Festival Main Event.

Markus Ganglbauer was all-in with A K against Vladimir Bednar who held 10 10 . The board came down Q 9 4 10 K giving Bednar a set.

Ganglbauer was out and now the remaining players are all guaranteed at least 1,000 Euro prize money.

Bubble-Medium — The bubble as it happened

Halasi Happy 24.09.2021 18:05

Andras Halasi, who’d already doubled up once during this bubble, just got it in again, open-shoving for 64k in the hijack and getting a call from Peter Muhlbek in the big blind. After the usual agonising wait for the hand to finish on all the other tables, they went to showdown: a classic coinflip.

Halasi: Q Q
Muhlbek: A K

Board: 5 J 5 5 2

The ladies held, and Halasi is up to around 150k now – still well below the 260k average, but out of the immediate danger zone.

Halasi & Hanke Survive the Bubble 24.09.2021 17:54

No sooner had Dawid Miluska bubbled the bubble, two all-ins were declared at adjacent tables, before TD Gerard had had an opportunity to declare hand-for-hand. I didn’t catch one of them, but I can tell you the lucky survivor was Peter Hanke. At the other table, Andras Halasi had pushed for just 24k from the small blind – mere pennies more than the raise from Olekandr Lizanets. “All or nothing,” declared Halasi, turning over A 2 . It held against Lizanets’ 7 10 , the board running out 5 3 7 4h] A , and he doubles up to 60k or so – still desperately short, but still in.

We are now officially hand for hand. Please stand by.

Dawid Miluska prebubbles 24.09.2021 17:46

One spot oft he bubble we just witnessed Polish player Dawid Miluska bust against Luka Bojovic. Bojovic was all-in with 8-7, Miluska called with A-4 and the board came down 5-4-K-6-2 giving Bojovic a straight.

We’re down to 72 players now and need only one more bust before all players are in the money.

The Bubble Is Almost Upon Us 24.09.2021 17:36

With the Main Event now on the bubble-bubble (73 players remaining, 71 places paid) and players likely to bust out at very high speed once it’s burst, there has been some discussion of possibly playing right down to a winner tomorrow, rather than bringing the final table back on Sunday. It’s just a rumour at the moment, but it seems eminently doable – we’ve been playing 10 levels a day, and according to our calculations this tournament should be over by about Level 30. We’ll keep you updated as we hear more…

Slow action as we approach the bubble 24.09.2021 17:32

With 75 players in the field we’re 4 spots away from the money. The action is now very slow as most small stacks play very slowly, hoping to squeeze into the money. We will be playing hand for hand right before the bubble.

More for Mauthner 24.09.2021 17:20

There was already over 150k in the pot and a full 6 9 6 5 8 board on the felt when I arrived; three players were the hand. Michal Janczarski checked from the big blind over to Martin Mauthner, who bet 87k. Vlada Petrovich made the call, Janczarski folded, and Mauthner turned over 9 9 for a flopped full house. I’m actually not sure whether Janczarski showed his hand – if he did, he threw his cards in the muck very fast. He seemed quite upset about it though, so I suppose a smaller full house is a possibility as well as the obvious straights and flushes.

Mauthner is now up to 540k. Having his right arm in a sling (he tells me he had some sort of operation on it) doesn’t seem to have affected his ability to raise.

Lucky sevens for Andras Halasi 24.09.2021 17:14

MAIN-EVENT-DAY-1B-32-1-Halasi-Andras-Medium-300x200 — Andras Halasi

The Hungarian Andras Halasi was among the chip leaders quite some time this tournament but in the past levels it seemed like lady luck had departed him. Maybe she had but now she just came through for him. He shoved all-in from middle position with 70k chips (roughly 11 big blinds) and his fellow countryman Oleksandr Lizanets called the all-in.

Showdown:

Halasi: 7-7
Lizanets: T-T

Lizanets was a massive favourite to double up, but the dealer turned a seven on the flop as the board came down 8-7-5-A-Q. With his set Halasi doubled up to more than 150k chips. That’s still below average stack, but at least gives him a fighting chance to survive the bubble.

Bubble Approaches 24.09.2021 17:06

We are rapidly approaching the bubble now – we have 79 players left in the Main Event, and only 71 of them are going to get paid. Some of the players who definitely won’t be making it include:

Sebastian Supper
Nils Vadenbring
Milos Zerzevski
Kristian Roeysland
Michael Allmrodt
Jiri Noga
Barnabas Nagy
Edvin Makic
Edmond Ala

Please stand by…

Erik Seffer is our new chip leader 24.09.2021 16:47

While the players enjoy their last break of the day we did some more counting. For now Erik Seffer is our new chip leader with more than three times the average stack.

Erik Seffer	740k
Dushko Bogoevski	600k
Carl Hansson	525k
Patrik Ciklamini	500k
Devid Berlin	490k
Daniel Koloszar	430k
Henry Mania	425k
David Vedral	415k
Viktor Eriksson	410k
Mihaly Jancso	400k
Carina Wald	360k
Michael Uguccioni	355k
Lars Eklund	340k
Filip Sramka	310k
Bernhard Haider	300k

You gain one, you lose one 24.09.2021 16:36

We have to apologize. When reporting on the women in the field we somehow completely missed Carina Wald (who incidentally is also from Sweden). She’s sitting with healthy 250k stack at the same table as Ninni is sitting.

The moment we discovered Carina in the field we also saw Amanda Sidark passing by. Unfortunately she lost her stack and we’re down to two women again.

Being dominated is rarely fun 24.09.2021 16:32

Gianluca Petrano shoved his remaining stack (50k chips or exactly 10 big blinds) in the middle from early position. Behind him Aleksandar Tomovic re-shoved and all other players folded.

Showdown:

Gianluca Petrano: A-Q
Aleksandar Tomovic: A-K

The board brought no help for Petrano he was busted roughly 20 spots before the money.

Reports of Bobby James’ Demise Not Exaggerated 24.09.2021 16:28

Bobby James has gone today from zero to hero, and then back to zero – literally zero this time, as about 30 seconds after we reported him back up over 200k, he sent us this:

242860577_297078911768932_7316856186437044787_n

Carl Hansson was the chap responsible for this, and is now on well over 400k – although he’s still not the biggest stack at that table, as Dushko Bogoevski seems to have somehow increased his stack to 570k.

More space! 24.09.2021 16:18

Smaller-Tournament-Field-Medium — Our shrinking tournament field

We’re down to less than 100 players and only 12 tables. Going forward the play will be 8 handed (down from 9 handed) giving all players a bit more space at the tables and increasing the pressure the blinds and antes exert.

Bobby James reports 24.09.2021 16:03

More from our aspiring blogger Bobby James – in his own words/pictures:

Further to that, he seems to have knocked out a short stack with AK v A4 – he’s now right up to 212k!

2 / 100 and it’s looking grim 24.09.2021 15:59

MAIN-EVENT-DAY-2-50-1-Sidark-Amanda-Medium-1024x683 — Amanda Sidark – one of the last 2 women standing (here pictured while sitting)

With a bit over 100 players remaining, only two women are left in the field:

Amanda Sidark and Ninni – both hailing from Sweden. And both have an uphill battle to fight if they want to make the money (71 placed are paid) as both only have a couple of big blinds left. Sidark has 60k chips and Ninni 50k.

Show Me the Money 24.09.2021 15:57

2956885-flying-euros-over-white-background-1024x768

The payouts have been announced; 71 places will be paying out, in the following amounts:

1	€59,000
2	€43,000
3	€29,000
4	€20,500
5	€14,000
6	€10,000
7	€7,500
8	€5,975
9-10	€4,600
11-13	€3,500
14-16	€2,700
17-24	€2,200
25-32	€1,800
33-40	€1,500
41-56	€1,200
57-71	€1,000

There are currently just 109 players remaining, so we may be in the money within the next couple of levels…

Just another manic flush draw 24.09.2021 15:47

In what looked like a limped pot with three players the board showed 8 4 2 . After Ylva Thursrud checked in the big blind Henry Mania bet from middle position 16k. The small blind called the bet and now Ylva moved all-in for roughly 130k. Mania thought for a second or two then exclaimed, “let’s do this” and called. The small blind folded and we got a showdown:

Ylva Thorsrud: 8 4 for a flopped two pair
Henry Mania: A 3 for a straight & flush draw

The turn and river came down Q and K giving Mania his flush (and propelling him into the chip lead in this tournament for now) and sending Thorsrud off to the rails.

Erotokritou Feeling the Love 24.09.2021 15:43

I’m not sure quite what happened, but Harald Matthaeus has just hit the rail thus:

Matthaeus: A 10
Alexandros Erotokritou: J 8

Board: 7 6 8 6 Q

Erotokritou is now up there with the big stacks on 385k.

Unscheduled Chip Counts 24.09.2021 15:24

Dushko Bogoevski Chips — Dushko Bogoevski chip stack during the break

Unscheduled break also means we get to do our favorite thing – counting chips, which we did.

Those are the chip leaders in level 14:

Dushko Bogoevski	410k
Filip Sramka	400k
Henry Mania	350k
Patrik Ciklamini	345k
Thomas De Rooij	340k
Pavol Melichar	320k
Leo Worthington-Leese	315k
Michael Ugucciono	310k
Jozef Krajan	310k
Miroslav Lelek	260k

As You Were 24.09.2021 15:24

The gremlins have been located and removed from the wireless routers and players are retaking their seats in the Main Event. Play will resume shortly. There are 128/621 players remaining, blinds/ante are 2k/4k/4k.

Error 404: Tournament Not Found 24.09.2021 15:14

Oops! The wifi in the tournament area has just gone down, which wouldn’t be a problem except that the tournament is being run using the excellent kHoldEm software, which requires internet. I am writing to you via a 4G hotspot from my phone. The players have been sent on a 15 minute break while the staff try to find some new hamsters or whatever to get the internet back up and running. Please stand by.

Härold Out; Bobby Hanging On by the (Potato) Skin of His Teeth 24.09.2021 15:03

Day 1c’s chip leader Timothy Härold just walked past the media desk with his sad face on. We’re not sure what happened, but he told us, “I’m going to my room to cry,” so we’re guessing it was bad.

Elsewhere Bobby James has been on a bit of a roller coaster, up to 185k just after the last break, then down to just four big blinds after flopping top pair against an overpair, but now back up to 52k (blinds/ante 2k/4k/4k) and hanging in there for now.

It’s tough to be a short stack 24.09.2021 15:02

MAIN-EVENT-DAY-1B-36-7-Eriksson-Viktor-Emil-Petter-Medium-300x200 — Mueller-Eliminator Viktor Eriksson

The blinds have reached a level where many players are forced to play shove, re-shove or fold.

Felix Mueller from Austria was one of those players. He found himself down to 40k and shoved those chips in the middle after an open-raise from Viktor Eriksson. Eriksson called immediately.

Showdown:

Mueller: A-T
Eriksson: A-Q

The board didn’t improve Mueller’s dominated hand and it came down J-7-2-K-6.

Thus, Mueller must take his leave. Maybe he will take comfort in the fact that he is among over 100 players that have busted today already. Many more will follow!

144 Players Remain in the Main 24.09.2021 14:44

With the blinds/ante now at 1k/3k/3k, players are busting left, right and centre. Among the most recent departures:

Tobias Hausen ran his pocket nines into Milos Zerzevski’s pocket jacks and is now at the rail while Zerzevski is up to 130k.

Elsewhere, Jakub Ojrzynski got his last in with 7 7 against Stefan Reiser’s A J . The board ran out Q 2 6 J K and Ojrzynski was left with nothing while Reiser’s stack has risen to 110k.

Larsson loses last flip, Spaseski up to 250k 24.09.2021 14:40

MAIN-EVENT-DAY-1C-44-6-Spaseski-Tomche-Medium-300x200 — Tomche Spaseski

Greger Larsson was down to 30k chips and he jammed his chips (10 big blinds at this stage) from the button. Tomche Spaseski called in the blinds.

Showdown:

Larsson: 7-7
Spaseski: A-T
Board: A-K-5-9-Q

Thus Larsson lost his flip, is out of the tourney and Spaseski is up to almost quarter a million chips.

Main Event Now a Freezeout 24.09.2021 14:15

Registration has finally closed, and the final number of entries is 621 (although owing to the percentage of the prizepool withheld for the dealers, the prizepool that will actually be paid out comprises €294,975), and this is now a freezeout. Good luck, all.

First break & Chip Race 24.09.2021 13:52

Chips-with-a-frog-Medium — One of the smaller stacks (but one with a cute card protector nevertheless!)

After the 2nd level of the day we have the first break. All the 100 and 500 chips are being removed from the tables and we got a chance to count the biggest stacks:

Dushko Bogoevski	370k
Jozef Krajan	335k
Pavol Melichar	290k
Daniele Grassi	270k
Erik Seffer	260k
Filip Sramka	255k
Patrik Ciklamini	240k
Peter Varga	230k
Henry Mania	225k
Marian Flesar	215k
Tomas Vojtek	200k
Miroslav Lelek	195k

Bobby at 150k at the Break 24.09.2021 13:51

Bobby James dropped by the media desk on his way to break to inform us that he won a smallish showdown with KT against a player who’d moved in for about 12 big blinds with pocket deuces. He’s up to about 150k now.

By the by, the number on the board is 619 entries at the moment, although we believe that registration is technically open until the end of the break. We’ll let you know the final number once registration is officially closed.

Yesterday’s Highlights: The Movie 24.09.2021 13:43

Flipomania 24.09.2021 13:33

On table 40 the two big stacks Claas Stoob and Henry Mania collided in a huge hand.

On a K 9 7 flop both players were all-in after some bets and raises.

Showdown:

Claas Stoob: 8 7 for a flush draw with a pair
Henry Mania: A K for top pair

Stoob had 46% equity in this situation but turn and river failed him as the board ran out 4 Q . He was left with no chips while Mania is up to over 250k now.

Worthington Leese Worth More Than Before 24.09.2021 13:33

Thanks to our budding reporter and soon-to-be-ex-Countdown champion Bobby James for this cracker of a hand. Apparently, Leo Worthington Leese opened to 4.5k and faced a reraise to 11k from Carl Hansson. Back to Worthington Leese who made it 26k, then 62k from Hansson, and finally Worthington Leese went all in. ON their backs:

Worthington Leese: K K
Hansson: AQ offsuit

Board: 2 10 7 6 5

Worthington Leese is up to 210k after that. Photograph also provided by Bobby James. We’ve offered him a job, should things not work out on the professional Countdown circuit.

“I called a bluff and got fucked” 24.09.2021 13:07

JJ Hazan started the day with over 100k chips but couldn’t catch a break on his second day. He managed to lose three quarters of his stack within the first 40 minutes (his explanation: “I called a bluff and got fucked”). Apparently he got rivered badly in one hand and lost a lot of chips:

Here’s how he lost the rest of his stack: Hazan was all-in preflop with his last 25k against two other players at his table: Oleksandr Lizanets and Carlos Pezzia.

Lizanets still had chips behind and moved all-in on a 4 4 2 flop for 35k more. Pezzia who had both covered called.

Showdown:

JJ Hazan: A 8
Oleksandr Lizanets: Q Q
Carlos Pezzia: 10 10
Turn & River: Q / 10

With this hand Lizanets almost tripled up to over 100k chips. Hazan on the other hand quickly hopped over to the registration desk and bought in for another bullet.

What We Guarantee, We Deliver 24.09.2021 13:02

Ladies and gentlemen, after registering a total of 557 entries across the four Day 1’s, we have so far picked up an extra 46 Day 2 entries bringing the total right now to 603 – meaning that the €300,000 guarantee has now been met! The numbers are still rising and registration remains open for another 40 minutes or so.

Svedin Bleeding Chips 24.09.2021 12:52

PLO-High-Roller-Day-1-24-7-Svedin-Robert-Gustav-Medium-1024x683

A report from our roving reporter/Main Event contender JJ Hazan: apparently Robert Svedin (PLO High Roller champion and start-of-day big stack) has just doubled up Viktor Eriksen on a massive bluff. Svedin was holding 10 8 that missed all of its straight and flush draws but set Eriksen in on the river anyway. Eriksen called with a set of sevens and is now up to 175k. Svedin meanwhile has dropped right back to around 75k – jsut below the average right now.

Word Up 24.09.2021 12:43

At this stage in the event, there are quite a few haggard faces in the field – the cash games have been pretty insane, and there have been more than a few epic parties going on long after the tournaments have ended for the day. The best excuse I’ve heard for looking a bit rough this morning though comes from Bobby James, who informs me that he was up until 5am playing high stakes Countdown. Yup. He says he won €450. Your faithful blogger is hoping for a slightly lower stakes rerun of that tonight – I quite fancy my chances in that game.

Hazardous Flop for Hazan 24.09.2021 12:20

An interesting start for JJ Hazan – he called a raise with QJ in the big blind and flopped top pair, but managed to lay it down to a shove from his opponent. He was rewarded by the other player showing him pocket aces, and is feeling rightly smug about only losing 11k there.

Registration Still Open 24.09.2021 12:10

The Day 2 entries are creeping up, and we’re now at a total of 573 entries, with 234 players currently in possession of chips. There were 557 entries across the four Day 1’s, so that’s 16 people who have so far decided to throw €550 at a starting stack of less than 19 big blinds. We need 600 entries to hit the guarantee (or around 630, if you count the extra percentage that’s being taken out of the prize pool for the dealers).

We’ll be starting any second now at Level 11 – blinds/ante 800/1,600/1,600. Registration remains open until the end of Level 12.

222 players to return on day 2 24.09.2021 11:56

PXL_20210924_094430159-Medium — Time to unpack

We have 222 players left in the Main Event out of 561 entries so far. Players have the option to re-enter the next two levels. From the looks of it we will probably note quite hit the 600 runners needed to hit the guarantee. Meaning we will probably have an overlay. Let’s call it added value!

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