Much of our chat in the bar last night with Main Event champion Martin Mauthner was unprintable, but our own Mauritz Altikardes spoke to him about his victory in the inaugural Festival Series Main Event.
Much of our chat in the bar last night with Main Event champion Martin Mauthner was unprintable, but our own Mauritz Altikardes spoke to him about his victory in the inaugural Festival Series Main Event.
Wow – from (almost) zero to hero! Former EPT poker dealer turned recreational player Martin Mauthner battled his way from a short stack coming into the final table to ending up the last man standing, an unlit cigarette hanging rakishly out of the corner of his mouth all the while. The sling on his raising arm apparently not holding him back any, he bested a field of 621 entries to take the inaugural Festival Series Main Event trophy and the biggest chunk of the €294,975 total prize pool.
A deal was done three-handed when Mauthner was the shortest of the three, meaning that Mauthner walked away with a little less than the official top prize of €59,000 – but we don’t think he’s too upset about that.
Mauthner to us in the bar last night that he was only here because he lives an hour away and his old friend, tournament direct Gerard Serra, had badgered him to come. Regardless, Mauthner looked like he was having the time of his life throughout the tournament, and he’s walked away with by far the biggest tournament win of his career, plus the incalculable honour of being the first ever winner of a Festival Series Main Event.
The final table was originally scheduled for tomorrow, but the 31 players who returned for Day 3 busted so fast at the start of the day, a decision was made to play down to a winner today.
This festival is far from over, though. JJ Hazan is currently in the bar celebrating his win in the Pokerlistings Deepstack event earlier this evening, and elsewhere we understand that one mystery individual won all three of the sportsbetting freeroll, lowroll, and highroll contests – who could it be?! More on that tomorrow.
In light of the unexpectedly early conclusion of the Main Event, several events have been added to tomorrow’s schedule, including a €100 + €10 Shortdeck NLH event, a satellite for a Kings Of Tallinn package, and some sort of “surprise tournament”, which is honestly worrying us a little but Franke seems very excited about it.
We’ll be back tomorrow with a full interview from our glorious champion Martin Mauthner, plus some updates from the various other shenanigans around Banco Casino. Until then – you know where we’ll be. 🍻
Main Event final table results:
| # | Player | Prize Money | Deal |
| 1 | Martin Mauthner | €59,000 | €47,600 |
| 2 | Adi Rajkovic | €43,000 | €45,130 |
| 3 | David Vedral | €38,270 | €38,270 |
| 4 | Henry Mania | €20,500 | |
| 5 | Fotios Konstantinos | €14,000 | |
| 6 | Peter Hanke | €10,000 | |
| 7 | Dushko Bogoevski | €7,500 | |
| 8 | Viktor Eriksson | €5,975 | |
| 9 | Erik Seffer | €4,600 | |
And we have a winner. Martin Mauthner wins the first Festival in Bratislava against Adi Rajkovic.
Let’s take a look at the final hand.
Mauthner limped with K 3 and Rajkovic checked with J 10 in the Big Blind.
Flop: K 9 5 after a check Mauthner bet 500k and Rajkovic called.
Turn: K – same action: check / bet 1m / call.
River: 10 – Rajkovic had rivered a pair and checked again. Mauther moved all-in with his trips. For Rajkovic it was 2.8m chips more. He decided his chances to win are good enough an he called the all-in.
Of course Rajkovic’s pair had no chance against Mauthners trips and just like that heads-up was over.
We’ll post a full recap in a bit.
Martin Mauthner was quite lucky with his cards so far and now he received J J on the button. He raised to 950k and Rajkovic found A Q in the big blind. It was an easy all-in for Rajkovic and Mauthner called quickly.
A flip should decide the title. The board ran down K K 5 2 10 – no help for Rajkovic.
With that Mauthner was up to 14m and Adi Rajkovic down to 5m chips. The tides had turned against Rajkovic and Mauthner was in a commanding lead for the first time.
Martin Mauthner looked down at A A and raised to a smallish 750k; Adi Rajkovic flatted with J 10 to see a 4-3-2 rainbow flop, which he checked. Mauthner now just whacked the lot in, eliciting the fold from Rajkovic, and is now up to 7.3 million against Rajkovic’s 11 million.
On a turn of 8 7 3 J with 1.25m in the middle Mauthner shoved all-in for 3m with 10 7 . Rajkovic was holding 9 8 and had him dominated. But after some thinking he decided to let his hand go. If he had called there would have been a 70% chance of Mautner to lose his stack and the heads-up.
Adi Rajkovic has a commanding lead over his fellow countryman:
Chip daddy Adi Rajkovic limped in from the small blind, and in the big blind, David Vedral shoved for 3.5 million and soon discovered the bad news.
Vedral: J 8
Rajkovic: J J
Board: 5 J 9 2 9
Ladies and gents, we are heads up.
Adi Rajkovic is massive chip leader, by the way, with 12 million in chips while David Vedral and Martin Mauthner are sitting on 3.2 million apiece.
The final three players have made a deal with leaving €13,000 left to play for to the winner as follows:
The final three took a short break before they will play for the remaining cash and the coveted Main Event trophy. Blind levels have also been reduced from 45 minutes to 25 minutes after the deal was made, and suspect this won’t take long now.
Adi Rajkovic had eaten into Henry Mania’s lead after min-raising with 6 7 under the gun and getting just a flat call from Mania holding 6 6 in the big blind.
The flop came down 10 8 10 and Mania, though he was no longer dominating, bet 400k. Rajkovic flat-called with his gutshot and flush draw. Mania bet out another 400k on the 2 turn and again Rajkovic called, and they saw the river: the A . Mania checked this time but Rajkovic, now in possession of a flush, bet. Mania folded, but dropped to 6.4 million.
Next hand, Mania made it to the turn of a 6 9 4 7 board before opting to just jam with 5 7 . Unfortunately for him, Rajkovic had A 3 for the nut flush (the K river changed nothing), and Rajkovic was up to 10 million.
Suddenly crippled to just 1.3 million, Mania whacked it in from the button with K 8 but got a quick call from David Vedral holding A 10 in the big blind. The 6 7 Q Q 10 board couldn’t help him, and just like that, Mania was gone.
Henry Mania raised under the gun with pocket aces, but everyone folded.
Next hand, it folded around to Fotios Konstantinos in the small blind, who decided to have a go with 4 5 . Mania woke up with J J and made the call, and Konstantinos was soon picking up fifth place money – €14,000.
Board: K 10 9 3 K
Mania is now our chip leader on 6.8 million.
It folded around to Fotios Konstantinos in the small blind, who whacked it in with A 6 , Henry Mania, who’s been living up to his name since we got back from dinner (our commentators baselessly speculated that “He’s been doing lines off of some hooker’s bum”), called him with J 10 and promptly spiked on the Q 2 J Q 4 board to double up to 3.8 million. Konstantinos = down to 2 million.
Not sure what our players had for dinner, but it’s been all go since they got back to Banco Caisno. First hand back, chip leader David Vedral opened with K Q under the gun, but Martin Mauthner pushed with pocket eights, and Vedral gave it up.
Next hand, Henry Mania open-shoved with A 6 on the button, stealing David Vedral’s big blind in the process. He shoved again the following hand with 9T offsuit, forcing a fold from Martin Mauthner holding pocket three.
The live stream is once again live, with five players remaining. Blinds/ante are now 100k/200k/200k and you can watch it here.
Our five remaining Main Event contenders are taking a 45 minute break to find some poker fuel. These are the stacks while they’re on break:
| David Vedral | 5,725,000 |
| Adi Rajkovic | 5,300,000 |
| Fotios Ntamaris | 3,675,000 |
| Martin Mauthner | 2,850,000 |
| Henry Mania | 1,075,000 |
Peter Hanke, visibly frustrated at his lack of hands for a while now, moved in for 2 million from the hijack. In the cutoff, Adi Rajkovic reshoved for just a shade more, and (following a fold from Martin Mauthner holding A 10 ), they were on their backs.
Board: 2 J 4 8 2
And with that, we’re down to five. Rajkovic is on 4.5 million after that, by the way.
Actually, having said that, we just witnessed Martin Mauthner just raise to 380k with A J on the button, and it folded around to Henry Mania in the big blind with K J … who also folded. Extraordinary.
Players seem to be taking it in turns to push all in. You can see how shortstacked the table is:
| David Vedral | 5.8 million | 36BB |
| Martin Mauthner | 3.2 million | 20BB |
| Henry Mania | 2.9 million | 18BB |
| Fotios Ntamaris | 2.6 million | 16BB |
| Adi Rajkovic | 2.1 million | 13BB |
| Peter Hanke | 2 million | 12BB |
With blinds of 80k / 160k those are the chip counts:
| David Vedral | 5800k |
| Martin Mauthner | 3200k |
| Henry Mania | 2900k |
| Fotios Konstantinos | 2600k |
| Adi Rajkovic | 2100k |
| Peter Hanke | 2000k |
Fotios Ntamaris/Konstantinos has gone into overdrive, shoving three hands in a row now – Q8, then KT, then pocket sevens. He’s got away with all three, and is up to 1.6 million
This is a pretty shortstacked final all round now – the average stack is 3.1 million at 80k/160k/160k, which is under 20BB at the moment.
Table short stack Peter Hanke moved all-in from UTG with A 10 for 1.6m (a bit more than 12 big blinds).
Behind him David Vedral found A Q and to our surprise managed to fold this hand.
With all other players folding as well, Hanke collected the blinds in a spot where he was supposed to be in jeopardy to be eliminated in 6th place.
Henry Mania opened with a min-raise from the button with Q 9 .
In the Big Blind Adi Rajkovic had A 5 and decided to see a flop out of position.
On a K J 4 flop Mania bet 250k with his gut shot. Rajkovic decided to call.
Turn: 10 – Mania made his straight and after Rajkovic checked again, Mania bet 550k. Rajkovic looked like he might want to make a move, but eventually decided to throw away his hand, saving a huge chunk of his stack.
Henry Mania meanwhile is on the way to become chip leader on this final table.
Chip counts with 6 players left:
| David Vedral | 5900k |
| Adi Rajkovic | 3500k |
| Martin Mauthner | 3200k |
| Henry Mania | 2400k |
| Peter Hanke | 2100k |
| Fotios Konstantinos | 1500k |
Dushko Bogoevski was one if the most active players at the table. But his luck had run dry in the end. He was left with less than 8 big blinds and shoved with J 10 from middle position for 1m. David Vedral in the small blind had an easy re-shove with A Q .
The 5 9 3 K 7 board didn’t improve Bogoevski’s inferior hand and he had to leave the tournament are in 7th place.
Dushko Bogoevsky min-raised to 250k with 10 10 in the hijack and it fodled all the way around to David Vedral in the big blind who made the call with 9 7 .
Flop: 5 9 K
Vedral check-called a 125k min-bet from Bogoevsky.
Turn: Q
This time both players checked.
River: 7
Vedral, now ahead with two pair, bet 450k. Bogoevsky thought about it, or at least pretended to, for some time. Ultimately he folded though, and is now down to 1 million.
Martin Mauthner must be dying for a smoke, but it’s not happening yet – he’s up to 3.6 million after shoving with queens over the top of a raise from Adi Rajkovic holding QT. Rajkovic laid it down, and we continue with seven players.
After the break the blinds increased to 60k / 125k and one of the first hands in the new level saw Adi Rajkovic open raise with J 7 to 250. In the small blind Fotios Konstantinos moved all-in for 1m with Q J .
Rajkovic felt priced in to call and the two saw a board.
The board came down A K 5 10 A and with a straight Konstantinos doubled up to 2m.
We’re on a 20 minute break and the casino did some chip counting for us:
| Adi Rajkovic | 4515k |
| Henry Mania | 3090k |
| David Vedral | 3020k |
| Martin Mauthner | 2990k |
| Peter Hanke | 2365k |
| Dushko Bogoevski | 1870k |
| Fotios Konstantinos | 780k |
With 1,200k chips Viktor Eriksson picked up A Q in early position and shoved all-in. In the big blind Martin Mauthner found A K and had an easy call.
Board: J 4 3 2 Q
With the better kicker and better flush Mauthner knocked out Eriksson in 7th position.
With 50k/100k blinds those are the counts:
| Adi Rajkovic | 3800k |
| David Vedral | 3200k |
| Henry Mania | 3100k |
| Peter Hanke | 2100k |
| Dushko Bogoevski | 2100k |
| Martin Mauthner | 2100k |
| Viktor Eriksson | 1200k |
| Fotios Konstantinos | 1100k |
Under the gun Viktor Eriksson picked up 8 8 and min raised to 200k. On the button the shortest stack at the table, David Vedral found K K and he quickly moved all-in for 14 big blinds.
In the small blind Martin Mauthner looked down to find J J and was in a very difficult spot. He did some counting and thinking and eventually was able to get awy from the badly dominated hand.
Eriksson on the other hand quickly called.
It was time for a board: 5 6 Q 3 Q
With this Vedral doubled up and Eriksson now is at the bottom of the count again.
We highly recommend our live stream which is commented by the two super knowledgable poker players Leo Worthington-Leese and George Sandford.
Quite a fun one here, as Henry Mania min-raised to 200k under the gun with 5 5 and called a reraise to 500k from Adi Rajkovic a couple seats down with A 10 .
Flop: J 4 A
Mania checked his pair of fives; Rajkovic, now ahead with a pair of aces, checked behind.
Turn: an irrelevant 7 – and Mania now open-shoved for 1.5 million! Rajkovic barely gave it any thought before folding the better hand. Extraordinary.
Next hand, Dushko Bogoevsky raised with Q J – only to fold it to a 2 million shove from Mania holding a more reasonable pocket queens on the button. We’re starting to wonder whether Mania’s in danger of missing his flight or something.
From early position Peter Hanke min-raised to 160 with K Q . In the big blind an awakened Viktor Eriksson defended with 6 5 .
Flop: J J 6
Eriksson checked his pair and Hanke bet 80k with king high. Eriksson called.
Turn: 4
Eriksson checked once more and this time Hanke bet 220k – roughly one third of the pot. Eriksson eventually decided his low pair wasn’t worth calling here and possibly facing another big barrel on the river.
After his double up, Eriksson is beginning to become more active – or he’s just now finding playable hands. Here’s one:
Viktor Eriksson found 9 9 under the gun and opened to 160k. In the big blind Fotios Konstantinos defended with K 3
Flop: Q 6 6
After a check Eriksson bet 125k and this prompted Konstantinos to let his hand go.
With blinds of 40k / 80k all players are over 20 big blinds right now.
Those are the counts:
| Adi Rajkovic | 4200k |
| Peter Hanke | 2300k |
| Dushko Bogoevski | 2300k |
| Viktor Eriksson | 2200k |
| Henry Mania | 2100k |
| Fotios Konstantinos | 2000k |
| Martin Mauthner | 1900k |
| David Vedral | 1700k |
Dabid Vredal raised to 160k with 10 10 . Behind him short stack Viktor Eriksson finally found a hand: A K . He moved all-in for 1m and Vredal had an easy call.
The board gave Eriksson a full house: A K K Q 5
Just like that he doubled up to 2.2m and is no longer the shortest stack at the table.
It was fodled to the Martin “German Samy Farha” Mauthner. In the small blind he opened with K 7 to 170k.
Fotios Konstantinos called with J 9 .
Flop: 4 2 5 – check / check.
Turn: 8 – Mauthner checked and now Konstantinos made it 225k with his jack high.
Mauthner quickly folded his King-high.
Dushko Bogoevski is certainly the most active player during the early stages of the final table.
Again we have him in a hand. He found 9 9 in middle position and raised to 160k. Chipleader Adi Rajkovic in the small blind muscled his chip advantage and moved all-in with A 6 .
Bogoevski with 2.3m behind had a tough decision to make. Eventually he decided against an all-in against a range that he most likely is not much better than a flip against.
Most hands are decided before the flop right now.
From the cut off Dushko Bogoevski opened with A 10 to 120k. In the small blind Peter Hanke found A 3 and made it 415k.
While Bogoevski had position on Hanke, he decided to let it go. He’s left with 2.5m chips and Hanke improved his count to over 2.4m.
This is basically the most action we’re getting at this stage.
Over at the other end of the casino, the €200 + €20 Pokerlistings Deepstack has reached a final table. JJ Hazan is the chip leader on 2.35 million, and is very pleased with his free Pokerlistings hat, although he’s wearing his own for superstitious reasons. In seat order:
| 1 | Harald Sammer | 875,000 |
| 2 | Dan Olin | 2,200,000 |
| 3 | Jason Kiselis | 1,500,000 |
| 4 | Yannick Schumacher | 1,700,000 |
| 5 | Peder Paulsen | 200,000 |
| 6 | Jukka Karvinen | 250,000 |
| 7 | JJ Hazan | 2,350,000 |
| 8 | Dennis Johansson | 450,000 |
| 9 | Andras Balogh | 350,000 |
Currently the action is rather slow as most players seem to wait for short stack Viktor Eriksson (who hasn’t played a hand so far) to bust.
Hands look like this one for example:
Peter Hanke opened from EP with K J to 160k. Behind him David Vedral found K K in the cut-off and made it 495k. It was a huge 3-bet and this got everyone to fold. Onwards to the next hand!
| Adi Rajkovic | 4300k |
| Henry Mania | 2500k |
| Peter Hanke | 2400k |
| David Vedral | 2200k |
| Martin Mauthner | 2200k |
| Dushko Bogoevski | 2100k |
| Fotios Konstantinos | 1900k |
| Viktor Eriksson | 960k |
David Vedral opened from early position with K Q . It was folded around to Erik Seffer in the Sall Blind who moved all-in with A 6 for 465k.
Vedral got odds to call and so he did.
Board: 10 4 9 Q Q
With trips Vedral took down the pot and eliminated Seffer in the process.
Henry Mania opened to 180k with K J and Erik Šeffer just flat-called with Q Q in the hijack. Peter Hanke flatted too with 9 9 in the cutoff, but Martin Mauthner woke up with A K in the big blind and moved in for 880k. Mania got out of the way, as did Hanke, but Šeffer made the call, and they proceeded to showdown.
Board: J 6 8 A A
A full double up for Mauthner to 2.2 million – he may never to get to smoke that cigarette at this rate. Šeffer is left with just 585k.
That’s our Final Nine:
Dushko Bogodevski opened and Henry Mania called in position with K J .
Flop: Q 10 5
After the preflop raiser checked Mania bet the flop and Bogodevski called.
Turn: 5
Mania followed throug on the turn with another bet. Bogodevski called both bets.
The river came down A
Mania had made his straight and bet a third time. This time 360k in a 1.5m pot.
Bogodevski decided to hero call the bet with 9 9 .
Mania tabled his straigt and is up to 2nd place in the count with almost 3m chips now.
Short stack Martin Mauthner woke up with Q Q first hand and opened to 140k but got no callers. He picked up the blinds and he and his cigarette survive to play another hand.
The players are set at the final table. The stream will start in roughly 20 minutes.
Adi Rajkovic is our glorious chip leader. Martin Mauthner is proud to be the short stack, and is very happy that the unlit cigarette he’s had hanging out of his mouth all day has made it to the final. In seat order:
| 1 | Peter Hanke | 2,545,000 |
| 2 | Adi Rajkovic | 4,215,000 |
| 3 | David Vedral | 1,865,000 |
| 4 | Martin Mauthner | 790,000 |
| 5 | Fotios Ntamaris | 1,665,000 |
| 6 | Viktor Eriksson | 1,170,000 |
| 7 | Dushko Bogoevski | 3,080,000 |
| 8 | Henry Mania | 1,830,000 |
| 9 | Erik Šeffer | 1,495,000 |
From here on in we’ll be blogging along with the live stream – going live in around half an hour. We’ll keep you posted….
We’re set and done for the final table and it was much quicker than anticipated.
Igor Panák shoved 650k from the button and behind him Peter Hanke called quickly.
Showdown:
The board gave Hanke a straight: K J 2 10 2
And with Panák busting in 10th we’re down to 9 and move over to the final table which will be played out in roughly half an hour.
We will have it live on stream.
There was a complete 8 7 Q J 5 board on the table and David Vedral (SB) was already all in; Viktor Eriksson (BB) had disappeared into the tank.
At the next table, Martin Mauthner pushed with A 10 from the cutoff to an under-the-gun min-raise from Peter Hanke holding 9 9 ; he soon doubled up to 900k, the board running out 4 4 10 7 3 , while Hanke dropped to 2.4 million.
Eriksson was meanwhile still in the tank.
On Table 18, Igor Panák open-shoved from the button, and got away with just the blinds.
On Table 19, still Eriksson tanked. I was beginning to think he was planning to stay there until someone busted from the other table.
After what seemed like an eternity, he finally made the call with A J for second pair – but found it severely lacking against Vedral’s 9 10 straight.
Down to less than 200k, Eriksson seemed the favourite to finish in 10th place, but he’s so far tripled and then doubled up, and is now back to 1.1 million. This could take longer than we expected it to…
We’re at the final table bubble. We need one more player to bust before the remaining players will be moved to the final table.
The most likely to bust is Martin Mauthner from Austria. He is the shortest stack with only 600k chips and he knows that he’s the most likely to kick it. “Es geht um mich!” – that’s German and means “It’s about me!” and that’s what he explained to his neighbours.
We’ll see whether he will be the one to be the next to bust.
Bernhard Haider has been eliminated in a blind-on-blind confrontation with Peter Hanke.
Haider: K J
Hanke: A 4
“First time I’ve been behind!” noted Hanke. Not for long though…
Board: 10 2 J 9 K
And just like that, we’re down to 10, Haider taking home €3,500 for 11th place. With two tables playing five-handed, it really won’t be long until we reach our nine-handed final table and shift this party over to the livestream.
In the middle of the 24th level we lose the next player. Tor Welo was all-in with T-T against Peter Hanke with A-Q.
The board gave Hanke an Ace and that’s all he needed to win the flip against Welo who’s out in 12th place.
Another unlucky bust sees Oleksander Lizanets depart the tournament.
He was all-in preflop and a massive favourite against Igor Panak. That’s what they had:
The board gave Panak a flush: A A 9 3 5
And just like that we’re down to 12 player.
We just caught the end of this one – they’re busting faster than we can type!
Haapsal: A 9
Dushko Bogoevski: A K
Board: 7 2 7 K 4
Boom. Bogoevski’s up to 2.8 million now.
Fotios Konstantinos opened from UTG and behind him Dushko Bogoevski made it 205k to go. From the small blind Ugucciono jammed all-in for 700k. Fotios Konstantinos folded and Bogoevski called immediately.
Showdown:
The board gave Bogoevski running quads: 5 10 3 K K
That was more than enough to send Ugucciono to the rail.
While Frank Reichel was busy busting out in 17th place, Marjan Mitrovski had whacked it in from the small blind with 3 4 , only to get a call from Tor Welo holding A 5 in the big blind. The board ran out a decisive A A 7 3 Q , and Mitrovski thought he was a goner – but it turned out he had 45k in change. That’s one big blind.
After folding for a few hands, he did manage to double up and recovered to around 300k, but it couldn’t last. Eventually he pushed with K 7 under the gun, and it folded around to Martin Mauthner in the big blind, who looked at one card: A . Then he looked at the other card: A . He called, as you do, and although Mitrovski flopped a flush draw, the aces ultimately held and he’s out in 16th place for €2,700.
We eyeballed counts of the players:
| David Vedral | 2600k |
| Adi Rajkovic | 2200k |
| Viktor Emil Petter Eriksson | 2100k |
| Fotios Konstantinos | 1600k |
| Henry Frank Mania | 1300k |
| Dushko Bogoevski | 1200k |
| Michael Uguccioni | 1000k |
| Peter Michael Hanke | 950k |
| Tor Anton Myrvold Welo | 900k |
| Erik Seffer | 850k |
| Igor Panak | 750k |
| Aare Haapsal | 750k |
| Bernhard Haider | 600k |
| Olexandr Lizanets | 550k |
| Martin Mauthner | 400k |
| Marjan Mitrovski | 300k |
Frank Reichel opened to 100k under the gun and Henry Mania flat-called on the button before Fotios Ntamaris shoved from the small blind. Reichel tanked for a long time – long enough for us to witness the crippling of Marjan Mitrovski on the next table; more on that shortly – and eventually called all in. Mania got out of the way, and they were on their backs.
Reichel: Q Q
Ntamaris: K K
Board: 4 10 7 3 8
With that we’re down to two tables.
On table 18 we just witnessed a ridiculous hand between Henry Mania and Michael Uguccioni.
On a turn of A 10 6 5 there were 400k in the middle.
Uguccioni checked, Mania bet out 100k and Uguccioni checkraised to 305k. Mania called. So far so normal.
The river fell 3 and now Uguccioni fumbled with his chips a bit. He had 40k (the minimum allowed bet) in his fingers and was about to move them over the betting line. He had not let the chips go when Henry Mania exclaimed “all-in!”.
Now Uguccioni was confused as he didn’t know whether his bet was standing or not. The dealer explained that Mania bet out of turn and Ugucciono could take back his bet. The tournament director came over and confirmed this.
Ugucciono inquired what happened if he still wanted to bet 40k. The tournament director explained that then the action would start new and Mania could decide what to do. Uguccioni thought for a bit and bet 40k.
Now Mania jumped out of his chair and exclaimed again: “All-in, I said that already!”.
Uguccioni looked flabbergasted that his min bet didn’t change anything. Mania requested “time!”. After the tournament director counted down 30 seconds Uguccioni eventually folded his hand.
Mania turned over 8 5 for a ridiculous bet and an entertaining show while Uguccioni looked defeated.
More straights to bust players!
Right after the break we have to report the next bust. It’s Thomas De-Rooij who found himself on a flop with chipleader Emil Viktor. The board read 10 7 9 with 300k in the middle.
De Rooij moved all-in for roughly 250k and Viktor called rather quickly. Showdown:
Turn and river came Q 4 giving Viktor a straight. “What is happening!” exclaimed Henry Mania who witnessed this impressive call while Viktor extends his chip lead and De-Rooij is out in 19th place.
We have a new Chipleader in Viktor:
| Viktor Eriksson | 2100k |
| David Vedral | 1600k |
| Michael Uguccioni | 1450k |
| Erik Šeffer | 1400k |
| Dushko Bogoevski | 1200k |
| Adi Rajkovic | 1145k |
| Fotios Ntamaris | 1050k |
| Peter Hanke | 1000k |
| Aare Haapsal | 940k |
| Henry Mania | 880k |
| Martin Mauthner | 775k |
| Frank Reichel | 770k |
| Marjan Mitrovski | 700k |
| Carl Hansson | 680k |
| Tor Welo | 600k |
| Igor Panák | 600k |
| Bernhard Haider | 600k |
| Olexandr Lizanets | 400k |
| Thomas De Rooij | 400k |
Erik Seffer is probably the most active player at the tables right now. At least it seems like he’s always involved a monster hand when we approach his table.
In the last hand before the break we saw him on the river when the board read 10 9 5 6 4 .
There were roughly 500k chips in the middle and Seffer bet 250k.
His opponent was Austrian David Vedral and after some time he decided to call. Showdown:
Vedral caught Seffer’s bluff successfully and thus challenges his chip lead.
We’ll do some counting in the upcoming break.
Miroslav Lelek was already all in and dominated by the time I got there:
Lelek: A J
Thomas De Rooij: A Q
Board: 10 8 9 K 5
Lelek stood to leave, but it turned out he had change once De Rooij’s stack had doubled to 450k – just 40k, of which 30k immediately went in as the big blind. Duly, he got his last 10k in against small blind Fotios Ntamaris, and moments later was collecting his €2,200 for 20th place.
Lelek: 5 7
Ntamaris: Q 6
Board: 6 8 A J 10
With roughly 500k in the middle during a blind battle we see a river and the board reads Q 5 K 2 A .
Austrian Adia Rajkovic slid out a bet worth 360k chips. Erik Seffer called after some thinking. Showdown:
With this hand Seffer extends his chip lead as he is up to over 2.5m chips now.
Mario Eder was all in on the flop by the time I arrived; the cards looked like so:
Eder: J 8
David Vedral: A 6
Board: 9 8 8 3 5
The turn brought in the flush, the river did not fill up the eights, and we are down to 20 players. “Gee gee,” said Eder as he departed. Indeed. Vedral is up to 1.3 million, by the way.
We did manage to get the rather dramatic exit of Michal Janczarski in 23rd, though. Marjan Mitrovski open-shoved under the gun, adn it folded around to Janczarski in the small blind, who called all in.
Janczarski: a respectable A J
Mitrovski: a somewhat esoteric 3 4
Board: 5 8 3 K 7
With blinds ever increasing and stacks getting shallower we’re seeing more interesting all-ins preflop now. One of them was Andras Matrai vs. David Vedral in a blind battle. Matrai had roughly 300k chips (10 bigs) and was all-in.
And we’re down to 20 players now.
Pavol Melichar was down to 150k chips (i.e. 5 big blinds) and was all-in with Q-T. Oleksandar Lizanets found A-J and the two of them saw a showdown. The board came down K-3-J-3-8 and thus Melichar had to take his leave.
Hot Michael-on-Michael action at Table 19 – but the poker gods were taking the mickey. It was a most unfortunate end for Michael Ekdahl, who got the lot in on the turn with aces only to find that Michael Uguccioni had turned a set, and the former was soon gone in 26th while the latter is up to 1.4 million.
Ekdahl: A A
Uguccioni: 8 8
Board: K 8 J 6 7
Aleksandar Tomovic was down to 8 big blinds and moved all-in from UTG. Behind him Dushko Bogoevski who had him covered moved all-in as well. All other players folded. Showdown:
Just like that we’re down to 24 players and three players.
Carl Hansson min-raised to 60k under the gun and it folded around to Filip Sramka in the big blind, who pushed for 600k. A call, and a showdown. It was quite an exciting one.
Hansson: 7 7
Šrámka: A J
Flop: 6 8 9 , giving Hansson an up-and-down straight draw in addition to his pair of sevens
Turn: A – suddenly Šrámka was looking good for a double up
River: 5 !
The straight duly came in, and Šrámka was relegated to the rail. He gets €1,800 for his efforts.
Igor Panik and Bernhard Haider are sitting right next to each on table 18 and just battled out a small bet battle.
On the button Panik raised 45k and Haider reraised to 120k from the small blind. Panik called.
Flop: 10 10 8
With more than 250k in the middle Haider made a tiny c-bet of 50k chips. Panak instantly doubled the bet size to 100k and Haider called.
Turn: 5
Now Haider checked and Panik eventually pulled out his big gun and moved all-in for 300k. Haider folded quickly.
Another player was screwed over with a straight on the river. It was short stack Tomche Spaseski who was all-in with A-J against Andras Matrai who was the underdog with T-9.
The board cam 9-J-8-2-7 giving Matrai a lucky straight and sending Spaseski to the rails.
Viktor Eriksson made an opening raise under the gun only for Thomas De Rooij to move in from the button. Jozef Krajan, crippled from that earlier encounter with Eriksson, called all in from the small blind. Eriksson gave it up, and they were heads up to a showdown.
De Rooij: 8 8
Krajan: 7 7
Board: 3 A 6 10 6
De Rooij is now up to around 700k, while Krajan gets €1,800 and as long a lunch break as he likes.
Next bust of the day was a very bitter one for Mihaly Jansco. He arrived on the river with the board reading J 8 A 7 9 and his opponent was Erik Seffer. With 125k in the middle Jansco bet out pot, 125k. Seffer moved all-in for effectively 150k more. Jansco called. Showdown:
There was a three-way showdown in progress when I arrived at Table 19.
Panagiotis Chantzaras: A 7
Jozef Krajan: A Q
Viktor Eriksson: 10 10
Board: 8 J 8 2 2
Chantzaras thus becomes our 31st place finisher, and now has a whole day to enjoy the many delights of Bratislava with his €1,800 prize money. Krajan initially tried to wander off but he’s actually still in the running on around 190k (just under 10BB), while Viktor Eriksson lives up to his Christian name and is up to 900k.
Panagiotis Chantzaras opened from the button and Frank Reichel in the Small Blind jammed all-in for 15 big blinds (300k chips). Chantzaras insta-called.
Panagiotis Chantzaras: K K
Frank Reichel: A 6
The board came down 10 3 7 5 4 giving Reichel a lucky straight to double to over 600k.
In side event news, the Roulette Championship was won last night by Twitch streamer and The Festival partner Tommi “Gargamies” Heimonen with the maximum of shouting, drinking etc. Great event. Here are the full results:
| 1 | Tommi Heimonen | €2,500 |
| 2 | Joni Helenius | €1,750 |
| 3 | Sami Pulliainen | €1,340 |
| 4 | Ilmari Sukanen | €980 |
| 5 | Lauri Kangas | €680 |
| 6 | Mattias Alanko | €400 |
Elsewhere, we understand that Franke von Zweigbergk scored his first cash after falling short in about eight events, we lost count. His score came in the mindbending €100 + €10 Open Face Chinese Pineapple Shootout – we’ll have full results for that with you shortly.
Play will commence at 12 pm in the cash game area of the Banco Casino.
Below is the seat draw for today. Table 18 promises to be the most spicy one with the two big stacks Konstantinos and Panak right next to each other.
| Player | Country | Chips | Table | Seat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michael Uguccioni | Italy | 1,400,000 | 14 | 1 |
| Mihaly Laszlo Jancso | England | 535,000 | 14 | 2 |
| Mario Eder | Austria | 300,000 | 14 | 3 |
| Tomche Spaseski | Macedonia | 145,000 | 14 | 4 |
| Erik Seffer | Slovakia | 785,000 | 14 | 5 |
| David Vedral | Austria | 630,000 | 14 | 6 |
| Andras Matrai | Hungary | 530,000 | 14 | 7 |
| Filip Sramka | Slovakia | 680,000 | 14 | 8 |
| Tor Anton Myrvold Welo | Norway | 465,000 | 15 | 1 |
| Skommar Hansson | Sweden | 1,155,000 | 15 | 2 |
| Martin Mauthner | Austria | 630,000 | 15 | 3 |
| Miroslav Lelek | Slovakia | 455,000 | 15 | 4 |
| Marjan Mitrovski | Macedonia | 550,000 | 15 | 5 |
| Michal Mariusz Janczarski | Poland | 150,000 | 15 | 6 |
| Peter Michael Hanke | Austria | 685,000 | 15 | 7 |
| Adi Rajkovic | Austria | 890,000 | 15 | 8 |
| Pavol Melichar | Slovakia | 210,000 | 18 | 1 |
| Dushko Bogoevski | Macedonia | 425,000 | 18 | 2 |
| Aare Haapsal | Estonia | 485,000 | 18 | 3 |
| Fotios Konstantinos | Greece | 1,665,000 | 18 | 4 |
| Igor Panak | Slovakia | 1,070,000 | 18 | 5 |
| Bernhard Haider | Austria | 790,000 | 18 | 6 |
| Olexandr Lizanets | Hungary | 380,000 | 18 | 7 |
| Aleksandar Tomovic | Serbia | 365,000 | 18 | 8 |
| Henry Frank Mania | Germany | 740,000 | 19 | 2 |
| Rooij Thomas Dirk De | Netherlands | 560,000 | 19 | 3 |
| Jozef Krajan | Slovakia | 560,000 | 19 | 4 |
| Panagiotis Chantzaras | Greece | 460,000 | 19 | 5 |
| Frank Ronald Reichel | Germany | 310,000 | 19 | 6 |
| John Michael Bengt Ekdahl | Sweden | 260,000 | 19 | 7 |
| Viktor Emil Petter Eriksson | Sweden | 385,000 | 19 | 8 |
We have only 31 players remaining in the Main Event. Today they will play down to a final table(*). Fotios Konstantinos from Greece is the front runner, followed closely by the Italian Michael Uguccioni. Those are the full counts:
| 1 | Fotios Konstantinos | Greece | 1,665,000 |
| 2 | Michael Uguccioni | Italy | 1,400,000 |
| 3 | Skommar Hansson | Sweden | 1,155,000 |
| 4 | Igor Panak | Slovakia | 1,070,000 |
| 5 | Adi Rajkovic | Austria | 890,000 |
| 6 | Bernhard Haider | Austria | 790,000 |
| 7 | Erik Seffer | Slovakia | 785,000 |
| 8 | Henry Frank Mania | Germany | 740,000 |
| 9 | Peter Michael Hanke | Austria | 685,000 |
| 10 | Filip Sramka | Slovakia | 680,000 |
| 11 | Martin Mauthner | Austria | 630,000 |
| 12 | David Vedral | Austria | 630,000 |
| 13 | Rooij Thomas Dirk De | Netherlands | 560,000 |
| 14 | Jozef Krajan | Slovakia | 560,000 |
| 15 | Marjan Mitrovski | Macedonia | 550,000 |
| 16 | Mihaly Laszlo Jancso | England | 535,000 |
| 17 | Andras Matrai | Hungary | 530,000 |
| 18 | Aare Haapsal | Estonia | 485,000 |
| 19 | Tor Anton Myrvold Welo | Norway | 465,000 |
| 20 | Panagiotis Chantzaras | Greece | 460,000 |
| 21 | Miroslav Lelek | Slovakia | 455,000 |
| 22 | Dushko Bogoevski | Macedonia | 425,000 |
| 23 | Viktor Emil Petter Eriksson | Sweden | 385,000 |
| 24 | Olexandr Lizanets | Hungary | 380,000 |
| 25 | Aleksandar Tomovic | Serbia | 365,000 |
| 26 | Frank Ronald Reichel | Germany | 310,000 |
| 27 | Mario Eder | Austria | 300,000 |
| 28 | John Michael Bengt Ekdahl | Sweden | 260,000 |
| 29 | Pavol Melichar | Slovakia | 210,000 |
| 30 | Michal Mariusz Janczarski | Poland | 150,000 |
| 31 | Tomche Spaseski | Macedonia | 145,000 |
