Player of the Series Announcement – Festival Series Bratislava!
The Festival Series Bratislava has been a huge success when it comes to attendance rates! So many players from all over the world came to visit us at the Banco Casino in the heart of Bratislava. Players such as Kelly ''Kelstermania'' Kellner came all the way from Canada, and Jason Kiselis was also present, who originally comes from Australia and now residing in Monaco. For the 'Player of the Series' ranking every single player was eligible to participate and this happened automatically. Almost every tournament is included in the calculations, and it's about time to announce the winner of this honourable prize!
The 'Player of the Series' ranking is based on tournaments with a buy-in equivalent to €125 or higher, excluding the Ladies event, Seniors event, Satellites, and Flip 'n Goes. For every tournament players will accumulate points as by just entering a tournament, you get participation points. These points are based on the buy-in level. On top of that, players will receive additional points when they will reach the money spots. Last but not least, the points (excluding participation points) will be multiplied according to the field size. All terms and conditions about the 'Player of the Series' ranking you can find here. Here is the top 5 ranking from our stop in Bratislava 2023!
5. Risto Ponnio 
(121 Points)
Risto, who helped to shape the game of Open Face Chinese to how it's played nowadays, had a good final run at the series in Bratislava. He managed to scoop the Open Face Chinese High Roller event and gathered enough points to catapult him into the top 5 of the leader board. If there would be a ranking just for OFC games then Risto would have ownership of the victory.
| Tournament Name | Place | Points |
|---|---|---|
| OFC High Roller | 1st | 36 |
| OFC Pineapple | 2nd | 33 |
| 8-Game | 4th | 27 |
| Main Event | 11 | |
| Mystery Bounty | 3 | |
| 4/5/6 Cards PLO | 3 | |
| Friday NLH Turbo Midnight Madness | 2 | |
| Saturday PLO5 Turbo Midnight Madness | 2 | |
| Thursday NLH Turbo Midnight Madness | 2 | |
| Saturday NLH Turbo Midnight Madness | 2 |
4. Gabriel Rymar 
(139 Points)
Gabriel perhaps has the most impressive runs this series by winning two of the biggest tournaments in terms of field size, with him finishing 4th in the overall ranking, you can see that winning the Main Event does not automatically give you the title of 'Player of the Series' as well. Nevertheless, he won't be too sad about it as he collected close to €100,000 in winnings overall!
| Tournament Name | Place | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Main Event | 1st | 86 |
| Bratislava Deepstack | 1st | 53 |
3. Robert Kontkanen 
(144 Points)
Robert has given everything to try and scoop the victory an become the player of the series. Unfortunately for the Swede, he just came in short. With a maximum of 36 points to be taken in the OFC High Roller, it would have helped him to secure the victory. Overall, Robert has made an outstanding performance, finishing SEVEN times in the money during one series event! At The Hendon Mob, you can also see the ranking of most cashes during all the stops in the history of The Festival Series!
| Tournament Name | Place | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Saturday NLH Turbo Midnight Madness | 3rd | 29 |
| Half 'n Half | 3rd | 29 |
| Saturday PLO5 Turbo Midnight Madness | 5th | 24 |
| Main Event | 74th | 17 |
| Thursday NLH Turbo Midnight Madness | 13th | 12 |
| Bratislava Deepstack | 28th | 7 |
| NLH 15K GTD | 17th | 6 |
| NLH Progressive KO | 3 | |
| The Hendon Mob Championship | 3 | |
| Mystery Bounty | 3 | |
| Sviten Special | 3 | |
| 4/5/6 Cards PLO | 3 | |
| PLO Masters | 3 | |
| Blackjack Championship | 2 |
2. Rinatas Suleimanovas 
(153 Points)
It has been a close fight between Rinatas and the eventual winner of the ranking. Going into the last weekend it was just one point difference, where he also kicked out the eventual winner with his own hands in one of the tournaments. A great run, with a victory in one of the Turbo Midnight Madness events, gives him plenty of winnings overall, on which he can be proud of.
| Tournament Name | Place | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Saturday PLO5 Turbo Midnight Madness | 1st | 39 |
| 4/5/6 Cards PLO | 3rd | 30 |
| PLO Masters | 4th | 27 |
| NLH Win the Button | 7th | 21 |
| Main Event | 11 | |
| PLO High Roller | 11 | |
| NLH Freezeout | 3 | |
| Bratislava Deepstack | 3 | |
| NLH Progressive KO | 3 | |
| Mystery Bounty | 3 | |
| Half 'n Half | 2 |
- Scott 'Pokerbrahs' Kenyon
(169 Points)
(169 Points)During our stop in Malta, Scott Kenyon was already noted down as one of the future potential winners of the ranking series as he finished 6th overall in Malta. In Bratislava, he made it his objective at some point when he took note of his great position at the leader board. Almost for the entire week, he was leading the ranking. By going into the final weekend as the leader, he already knew that he would collect quite some points regardless the outcome of those. Participation points can be decisive, and Scott is a perfect example of that by having played a stunning fifteen events overall!
Congratulations to 'Pokerbrahs' for being the most accomplished player during The Festival Series Bratislava 2023! You have won a package worth €1,600 for our next stop which starts on the 31st of May 2024!
| Tournament Name | Place | Points |
|---|---|---|
| PLO Masters | 2nd | 33 |
| 8-Game | 2nd | 33 |
| H.O.R.S.E. | 10th | 17 |
| Thursday NLH Turbo Midnight Madness | 10th | 17 |
| Saturday NLH Turbo Midnight Madness | 11th | 15 |
| Main Event | 11 | |
| OFC High Roller | 11 | |
| H.O.R.S.E.S. | 6 | |
| OFC Pineapple | 3 | |
| Sviten Special | 3 | |
| PLO Freezeout | 3 | |
| Roulette Championship | 2 | |
| Saturday PLO5 Turbo Midnight Madness | 2 | |
| Crazy Pineapple | 2 | |
| Half 'n Half* | 14th* | 11* |
