The Festival Malta 2023 Live Blog

The Festival Series Malta boasted a fantastic festival for poker players, casino enthusiasts, and guests at Portomaso Casino on May 15-21. However, all good things must come to an end. Oystein Brenden capped off a fantastic week after defeating Balazs Somodi heads-up 2023 The Festival Malta €550 Main Event to win the €60,900 top prize.

The Main Event was just one of 50 events this week at The Festival Series Malta. There was something for everyone with many different poker variants, casino-style events, and cash games running nonstop. Despite no guarantee on the Main Event, it was still the third-largest in the tour’s history and only behind the two events hosted at Banco Casino in Bratislava with 617 entries creating a €296,610 prize pool.

Brenden was near the top of the pack most of the way. He entered Day 2 in second place and was the chip leader to start the final day with just 16 players left. However, it wasn’t smooth sailing from then on as Brenden lost a chunk of his stack with two tables left before taking a bad beat to be left short on chips. Brenden kept his composure and eventually took the chip lead with three players remaining and never looked back.

Congrats to Brenden for entering his name into The Festival Series history books and read on to learn more about the final day.

2023 The Festival Malta Main Event Final Table Results

The Main Event witnessed 71 players earning at least a min-cash of €1,000 for nearly double the €550 buy-in.

Final Day Action

Oystein Brenden began the final day with the chip lead and was on the live-streamed feature table broadcasted on TheFestivalOG Twitch and TheFestivalOG YouTube channels throughout the entire day by George Sandford and Jacob Dideriksen-Nilsen.

By the time the final table was reached, Brenden was near the bottom of the pack but things got worse for the eventual winner. Andreas Holmsten came in as the short stack with around six big blinds and immediately delivered a bad beat to the initial final table chip leader Dario Barone with his ace-nine got there against ace-jack to put eventual runner-up Balazs Somodi in the chip lead. Holmsten then delivered an even bigger bad beat to Brenden when his nines got there against cowboys and Brenden was left with just nine big blinds and in jeopardy of being the first player out at the final table.

However, Brenden won a crucial flip to gain some breathing room when his sevens were good against the ace-queen held by Mischa Wieten. Soon after Wieten lost another flip to hit the rail when his king-jack didn’t get there against Somodi’s tens.

Gytis Juskevicius was ousted by Stian Nostdahl immediately after Wieten’s elimination when his eights didn’t win a flip against ace-queen. Soon after, Brenden continued his momentum when his ace-queen held against ace-jack to eliminate the final local Maltese player Matthew Micallef.

Time eventually ran out for Holmsted, who managed to ladder up three places at the final table, when jammed his ace-trey unsuccessfully into Somodi’s queens to further extend Somodi’s lead. Somodi then amassed more than half the chips in play with four players remaining after his big slick proved to be no problem against ace-queen to eliminate Nostdahl.

Barone doubled through Somodi when his ace-ten held against ten-eight. Those chips went over to Brenden shortly after when his ace-nine didn’t improve against tens. Brenden held the chip lead after the hand. Shortly after, Luigi D’Alterio got his short stack in with ace-seven and was eliminated on the podium in third place when he didn’t improve against Brenden’s ace-queen.

Brenden began the heads-up affair against Somodi with a small chip lead. Brenden won a huge pot with cowboys after Somodi bricked some draws with queen-trey suited. Somodi jammed the short stack he had left with eight-seven only to run into the dominating king-seven held by Brenden and fell one player short of the title. Regardless, it was a tremendous effort by Somodi who collected the €40,500 runner-up prize for his efforts.

Congrats once again to Oystein Brenden and we look forward to seeing you at The Festival Series Bratislava from Nov. 27 to Dec. 3 at Banco Casino to defend your title.

€550 Main Event
Level 32: 100,000/200,000 (200,000)
Entries: 1/617

The Festival Series Malta €550 Main Event is in the books with Oystein Brenden claiming the trophy and the €60,700, while Balazs Somodi collected the healthy €40,500 runner-up prize.

Brenden entered Day 2 in second place and had the chip lead to start the day. However, he didn’t have a big stack at the final table and took a bad beat to leave him short soon after.

He rebounded and was crowned the latest The Festival Series Main Event champion after the following two hand:

Brenden opened for 450,000 with K K from the button and was called by Somodi with Q 3 from the big blind.

Somodi check-raised his flush draw on the 5 6 8 flop from 400,000 to 1,400,000. Brenden three-bet his overpair to 2,400,000 and Somodi called.

The 2 turn also gave Somodi a gutshot straight draw on top of his flush draw with one more card to come.

Somodi checked before Brenden fired out for 2 million. Somodi called for more than half his stack and the 3 river completed the board to give Somodi bottom pair. This wasn’t enough and Brenden won the hand and had Somodi down to just 7 big blinds after taking down the pot.

The next hand, Solomi jammed his short stack with 8 7 from the button and was up against the K 7 held by Brenden after he called from the big blind.

The 5 3 7 9 K board improved Solomi to a pair but he was out of chips as Brenden improved to two pair to win the tournament.

A massive congrats to Brenden for winning the Main Event for €60,900! Here is a look at the final table payouts:

This brings us to a conclusion of our reporting of The Festival Series Malta. We will post the full payouts of the Main Event shortly. Tomorrow, The Festival Series will publish an article about a recap of the Main Event with an overall recap of The Festival Series Malta coming later in the week. Thank you for tuning in and until the next time at The Festival Series Bratislava at Banco Casino from Nov. 27 to Dec. 3.

€550 Main Event
Level 31: 80,000/160,000 (160,000)
Entries: 2/617

Luigi D’Alterio hit the rail on the podium in third place for €27,900 shortly after Dario Barone exited in fourth place. Both Italian players were victims of Norway’s Oystein Brenden.

D’Alterio jammed for 1.9 million from the small blind and Brenden called from the big blind.

Luigi D’Alterio: A 7
Oystein Brenden: A Q

Both players had an ace but Brenden’s kicker came to play on the 3 9 5 J 3 board to eliminate D’Alterio and extend his chip lead.

Brenden and Balazs Somodi went on a five-minute break after the hand.

Oystein Brenden – 10.4 million
Balazs Somodi – 8.1 million
Luigi D’Alterio – 0

€550 Main Event
Level 31: 80,000/160,000 (160,000)
Entries: 3/617

Dario Barone jammed for 3.2 million from under the gun and was called by Oystein Brenden from the small blind.

Dario Barone: A 9
Oystein Brenden: 10 10

Brenden’s tens were not only good, but he further improved to a set on the 10 J K flop. Barone still had some thin hope with a gutshot to Broadway but this wasn’t meant to be with the 3 turn and 6 river completing the board.

Barone’s fourth-place finish was worth €20,300. Meanwhile, Brenden, who began the day with the chip lead, snagged the chip lead for the first time at the final table with Somodi not miles behind.

Oystein Brenden – 8.9 million
Balazs Somodi – 7.4 million
Luigi D’Alterio – 2.2 million
Oystein Brenden – 0

€550 Main Event
Level 31: 80,000/160,000 (160,000)
Entries: 4/617

Balazs Somodi min-raised from under the gun and was called by Oystein Brenden from the big blind.

Brenden check-raised a bet of 160,000 to 350,000 by Somodi on the 5 10 5 flop.

Somodi called and the 8 followed on the turn. Brenden led out for 750,000 and won the hand after Somodi folded.

Somodi had a mystery hand on the stream but Brenden held the Q 10 for two pair and a flush draw.

Balazs Somodi – 7.5 million
Oystein Brenden – 3.4 million

€550 Main Event
Level 31: 80,000/160,000 (160,000)
Entries: 4/617

€550 Main Event
Level 30: 60,000/120,000 (120,000)
Entries: 4/617

Balazs Somodi jammed for 11 million from the small blind. Dario called off his stack of 1.6 million from the big blind and the cards were turned over with Barone at risk.

Dario Barone: A 10
Balazs Somodi: 10 7

Barone was in good shape to double up and that was what he exactly did after the K 9 8 3 Q ran out on the board.

Balazs Somodi – 9 million
Dario Barone – 3.2 million

€550 Main Event
Level 30: 60,000/120,000 (120,000)
Entries: 4/617

The hand seemingly started simple enough as the action folded around to Stian Nostdahl, who opted to limp from the small blind. Things picked up after Balazs Somodi three-bet to 520,000 from the big blind. Nostdahl four-bet jammed for 3,300,000 and Somodi called with Nostdahl at risk in the biggest pot thus far in the Main Event.

Stian Nostdahl: A Q
Balazs Somodi: A K

Nostdahl needed some help but none was on the way with the 5 4 K 10 5 on the board. It was an impressive run for Nostdahl despite missing out on the title and will go home a little richer with a €14,560 fifth-place payout.

Meanwhile, Somodi ousted back-to-back players since the break and had more than half the chips in play when four-handed action began.

Balazs Somodi – 10 million
Stian Nostdahl – 0

€550 Main Event
Level 30: 60,000/120,000 (120,000)
Entries: 5/617

Luigi D’Alterio opened for a min-raise from under the gun with K 10 before Andreas Holmsten opted with A 3 to three-bet jam for 1.7 million. Balazs Somodi four-bet shoved from the small blind for 4.5 million with Q Q and it was a heads-up showdown after both Dario Barone and D’Alterio folded.

Holmsten came into the final table as the short stack and doubled up twice while behind. He bricked the 8 3 6 9 9 board. He managed to ladder up three spots from a ninth-place €5,150 cash to a sixth-place €10,950 payout and was all smiles despite hitting the rail. 

Balazs Somodi – 6.6 million
Andreas Holmsten – 0

€550 Main Event
Level 30: 60,000/120,000 (120,000)
Entries: 6/617

The Main Event players are back from dinner. Blinds have increased to 60,000/120,000 with a 120,000 big blind ante. You can check out the action on the stream by clicking on the stream time while also reporting the biggest hands in the blog.

The €250 Seniors 49+ was a fun event invented by The Festival Series. The main reason it was created is that Franke is just one year shy of 50. So while this was a seniors event there were several players including Franke that were a mere 49 years old.

Franke managed a good run. He built up a big stack and left the table for a period of time to play Day 2 of the €250 Mystery Bounty simultaneously. Eventually, Franke bubbled the event and the title a little while later went to Gerhard Brimmers after he feated Dieter Falzon heads-up. Both Leif Iversen and Jari-Pekka Rattya also cashed in this fun event.

Players are on a one-hour dinner break. We will also snag some food so see you in an hour.

€550 Main Event
Level 29: 50,000/100,000 (100,000)
Entries: 6/617

Stian Nostdahl opened for 225,000 with Q Q from the button and was called by Balazs Somodi with K J from the small blind.

Somodi improved to top pair on the 8 K 7 flop. Both players checked to see the 6 turn. Somodi fired out for 275,000 and Nostdahl called.

The Q river gave Nostdahl the perfect two-outer for a set of ladies. Somodi still with the top pair led out for 550,000. Nostdahl went into the tank for about a minute before he opted to just call.

Somodi still held the chip lead after the hand but it wasn’t as big as before.

Balazs Somodi – 4.6 million
Stian Nostdahl – 3.6 million

€550 Main Event
Level 29: 50,000/100,000 (100,000)
Entries: 6/617

Dario Barone opened for 200,000 from under the gun with 8 8 before Andreas Holmsten with A 9 three-bet to 525,000 from the cutoff.

Balazs Somodi woke up with Q Q from the big blind. He jammed his table-leading stack and extended his chip lead after both his opponents folded their cards.

Balazs Somodi – 5.6 million
Dario Barone – 3.1 million
Andreas Holmsten – 1.3 million

€550 Main Event
Level 28: 40,000/80,000 (80,000)
Entries: 6/617

Luigi D’Alterio opened for a min-raise from early position with 10 8 before Oystein Brenden three-bet jammed for 1.5 million from the cutoff with A Q .

Matthew Micallef quickly called off his stack of slightly less from the small blind with A J and D’Alterio folded.

Micallef was the final local Maltese player in the Main Event. The title won’t stay at home in Malta after ace-jack wasn’t able to push ahead of ace-queen on the 7 K 7 3 5 board to send Micallef to the rail in seventh place for €8,350.

Oystein Brenden – 3 million
Matthew Micallef – 0

€550 Main Event
Level 28: 40,000/80,000 (80,000)
Entries: 7/617

After three short-stacked doubles, the next two hands left players on the rail. First, Mischa Wieten hit the rail before Gytis Juskevicius headed to the locker room as follows:

Stian Nostdahl opened for 225,000 from early position before Juskevicius three-bet shoved for 800,000 from the lojack. Nostdahl called after the action was folded around to him and the players turned over their hands with Juskevicius at risk.

Gytis Juskevicius: 8 8
Stian Nostdahl: A Q

Juskevicius snowmen weren’t good enough and he was out in eighth place for €6,250 after Nostdahl’s ace found a partner on the 3 9 K A 10 board.

Stian Nostdahl – 3.1 million
Gytis Juskevicius – 0

€550 Main Event
Level 28: 40,000/80,000 (80,000)
Entries: 8/617

Balazs Somodi opened for 160,000 from the cutoff before Mischa Wieten three-bet jammed for 1.1 million from the big blind. Somodi called and it was a heads-up showdown with Wieten at risk.

Mischa Wieten: K J
Balazs Somodi: 10 10

Wieten was unable to win the flip and hit the rail in with place for €5,150 after he got nowhere on the 8 2 10 9 9 board.

The final eight players each locked up at least €6,250 after Wieten was eliminated by Somodi. Meanwhile, we had our first lead change at the final table with Somodi becoming the final table captain after the hand.

Balazs Somodi – 4.7 million
Mischa Wieten – 1.0 million

€550 Main Event
Level 27: 30,000/60,000 (60,000)
Entries: 9/617

Mischa Wieten opened for 125,000 from the button. Oystein Brenden three-bet jammed for 635,000 from the big blind and Wieten called.

Oystein Brenden: 7 7
Mischa Wieten: A Q

The start of the day chip leader just lost more than half his stack when his kings didn’t hold against Andreas Holmsten’s nines. However, this time he was able to win a flip to stay alive after his opponent bricked the 7 8 2 5 J board.

Oystein Brenden – 1.3 million
Mischa Wieten – 1.0 million

€550 Main Event
Level 27: 30,000/60,000 (60,000)
Entries: 9/617

More fireworks were launched two hands after Andreas Holmsten got a lucky double. Mischa Wieten opened for 130,000 from the lojack with Q J . Holmsten three-bet jammed for 760,000 from the hijack with 9 9 .

Oystein Brenden woke up with K K from the cutoff and jammed for 1,300,000 and Wieten quickly got out of the way.

Holmsten was behind again. This time by a much further margin with Oystein holding an overpair. 

However, the poker gods are on Holmsten’s side early in the event with the 6 10 7 8 3 running out on the board and once again doubled despite being behind when the chips went into the pot.

Andreas Holmsten – 1.7 million
Oystein Brenden – 545,000

€550 Main Event
Level 27: 30,000/60,000 (60,000)
Entries: 9/617

Dario Barone raised to 130,000 from the lojack before Andreas Holmsten three-bet shoved for 335,000 from the button. Barone called and the cards were turned over.

Andreas Holmsten: A 9
Dario Barone: A J

It was looking like showers for Holmsten as he was a 2:1 underdog. He fell further behind on the 3 7 5 flop. However, everything changed after the 9 spiked the turn to improve Holmsten to a pair. He still had a sweat as the same card also gave Barone the nut-flush draw and his jack was still live as well.

The 9 river paired the board for Holmsten to get a lucky double with trip nines instead of hitting the rail in ninth place.

Dario Barone – 3.6 million
Andreas Holmsten – 760,000

The final table is about to kick off on the stream. Here is a look at some of the photos from the final table:

€550 Main Event
Level 27: 30,000/60,000 (60,000)
Entries: 9/617

The final table of The Festival Series Malta €550 Main Event has been reached with Dario Barone kicking the action off with the chip lead. You will be able to watch the final table play out by clicking on the Stream tab in our coverage. We will also be reporting all of the key hands of the final table here in the blog. In the meantime, here is a look at the final table seat draw:

The €1,100 OFC High Roller has kicked off. This is usually the tournament that The Festival Series Founder Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk plays but in this case, he is already playing both the Mystery Bounty and the Seniors Event. While you can miss hands in those events at times, this is not the case for OFC. Therefore, time will tell whether Franke gets into the action.

Meanwhile, the €250 OFC champion Aaron Kupin, Sascha Manns, Mati Pirn, Pierre Joubert, Kornel Kielbik, and Thibaut Yoccoz are all in the field.

This is the final event to kick off and we wish the six players in the field the best of luck.

Check out some photos from the final day of the €250 Mystery Bounty.

One of the two €2,000 envelopes and the €5,000 envelope have already been claimed on Day 2 of the €250 Mystery Bounty.

Marcel Fandre was the lucky recipient of the €5,000 bounty prize. Anastasia plans to interview him during one of the upcoming breaks of this event.

Congrats to Fandre and the action still continues in this event with 21 players remaining.

Three players have already hit the rail on the final day of the Main Event leaving just 13 players remaining. Andras Balogh, Kerrien Clement, and PokerStudie’s Jelmer Schuurmans all hit the rail for a cash of €3,000 with the remaining players each getting a pay jump to at least a €3,500 payout.

The second and final day of the €250 Mystery Bounty kicked off at 2 p.m. with 30 returning players each locking up at least a €200 min-cash. This is not all as the bounty element of the tournament has kicked in. If a player eliminates another player they will choose an envelope containing a random prize from €200 all the way up to €5,000!

The Mystery Bounty has been a massive hit with 201 entries coming out in full force to collect a €24,120 prize pool. Jari Porkka and Santo Sidoti began the final day with the biggest stacks. Meanwhile, Franke has a decent stack in this event and is also the chip leader in the ongoing Seniors Event. So we expect to see him running back and forth. He shared he might enter the Low Roller as well. This might be enough to push him ahead of Scott “Pokerbrahs” Kenyon on the Player of the Festival leaderboard but time will tell if that will be the case.

The action has resumed in the €550 Main Event. The live stream also began and you can check that out starting at around 2:30 p.m.

Andreas Sanden agreed to a five-way deal with Sami Pulliainen, Peder Behr, Toomas Orm, and Julien Teissedre before being crowned the champion in the €125 PLO Midnight Madness on Saturday evening to win €1,600. Two players in Orm and Teissedre collected more but Sanden was crowned the champion.

The €60 Low Roller has kicked off with a tasty Sunday field of 53 entries. Of course, this will grow throughout the day but this is an amazing start.

Lisbeth Sunde, Sascha Manns, Vadim Gercev, and Monica Larsson are among he early entries.

Daniele Marchesani defeated Sami Turunen heads-up to win the €4,480 top prize in the €250 PLO Freezeout. The Freezeout attracted 66 unique players to create a €14,256 top prize. The final table of this event was live-streamed on our TheFestivalOG Twitch channel.

Here is a look at all of the payouts and congrats to all of the winners!

The €125 Sportsbook Tournament of The Festival Series Malta attracted 12 participants on Saturday. Their job was to predict the outcome of five British Premier League games and two Italian Serie A games.

There were some upsets among these games. Therefore, it is natural that nobody was able to predict all the games correctly.

When the dust settled we had two winners with the same result with five correct predictions/points, and the decider was then the total number of goals made during these seven games which they also predicted with the total adding up to 20 goals.

Sami Korpela won the top prize of €526 after picking the goals figure exactly correct while Kenneth Heinsvig collected €280 for his runner-up performances after predicting 14 goals.  

Behind these winners, we had a lot of players on four and three points, and dead last with only one point, the self-proclaimed Sportsbook Pro and founder of the Festival Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk. “Franke” has won this event before so this is just a small needle to the man that created The Festival Series from the ground up.

Thank you to all that participated and we look forward to hosting this same event at The Festival Series Bratislava at Banco Casino on Nov. 27 until Dec. 3.

The €250 Seniors 49+ has kicked off with a tidy field of 11 entries, which includes The Festival Series Founder Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk, Sturla Hiller, Sean O’Donnell, Gerhard Brimmers, and others.

Late registration will be open for eight blind levels and this event is open to anyone at least 49 years old.

The current Player of the Festival leaderboard captain Scott “Pokerbrahs” Kenyon doesn’t have to worry that Franke will gain points here as any event that isn’t open to everyone does not count towards the leaderboard standings.

Best of luck to all of the kids in the Seniors Event!

It has been a fantastic week at Portomaso Casino but all good things eventually do come to an end in life and such is the case with The Festival Malta as we are on our final day.

Goodbyes have already been said to many that left this morning but many more are still around to play in two ongoing events and three new events.

The €250 Seniors 49+ is a one-of-a-kind event as this author doesn’t remember a Seniors Event where the minimum age was 49. We will see some “kids” in the field that are just 49 years old including The Festival Series Founder Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk. Franke will be busy as he also bagged chips in the €250 Mystery Bounty Day 2 which kicks off at 2 p.m. He has already shared he plans to play both events and perhaps also the €1,100 OFC High Roller that Franke has claimed the title at The Festival Series in the past.

Everyone can enjoy the Low Roller at 1 p.m. as it features only a €70 buy-in, while the €550 Main Event takes center stage as it is down to just 16 players. Our coverage will focus on all of the events until a final table is reached. However, the final day will be live-streamed from the beginning until the end and you can follow the coverage by clicking on the Stream tab in our coverage or by heading to TheFestivalOG on Twitch. We will also change things up where we will be posting the late results from yesterday’s event in today’s coverage.

Norway’s Oystein Brenden heads into the final day of the Main Event with the chip lead with 2,240,000 in chips. Gytis Juskevicius, Andreas Holmsten, Stian Nostdahl, Balazs Somodi, Dario Barone, and Luigi D’Alterio all advanced with at least 1 million in chips. Meanwhile, Mischa Wieten, Annika Haaviste, Clausin Sanz, Shimon Hagay, Matthew Micallef, Jelmer Schuurmans, Andras Balogh, and Kerrien Clement are also still in the hunt for the title.

Main Event Final Day Seat Draw

May 21st Schedule

Oystein Brenden bagged a massive stack of 2,240,000 on Day 2 of the The Festival Series Malta €550 Main Event and will lead the final 16 players at the start of the final day which will commence at 2 p.m. on Sunday.

Gytis Juskevicius, Andreas Holmsten, Stian Nostdahl, Balazs Somodi, Dario Barone, and Luigi D’Alterio all bagged at least 1 million in chips. Meanwhile, Mischa Wieten, Annika Haaviste, Clausin Sanz, Shimon Hagay, Matthew Micallef, Jelmer Schuurmans, Andras Balogh, and Kerrien Clement are also still in the hunt for the title.

Bags were passed around in the Main Event as the action ended when there were just 16 players remaining from the 617 entry field. We will post the chip counts and final table seat draw shortly for when the action resumes on Sunday at 2 p.m. In the meantime, here is a look at the payouts thus far.

Our blog will change a little for the final day. Instead of reporting what is happening everywhere we will focus on the key hands of the Main Event and provide some detailed coverage until The Festival Series Malta Main Event champion is crowned.

Come by where the tournament registration desk as the final session of Franke’s Flip Flops begins. This will feature some rake-free flips where the player that wins the most flips of the week will win a framed pair of Franke’s Flip Flops along with a package valued at €1,600 to The Festival Series Bratislava on Nov. 27 to Dec. 3.

Sami Korpula currently leads the leaderboard but there is still some time to knock him off his perch. Here is a look at the leaderboard going into today:

Congrats to Jonas Engedal for winning the €250 The Hendon Mob Championship for €6,100 after defeating Danielle Coroneo heads-up en route to both The Festival Series and The Hendon Mob glory. Engedal earned both a framed-sketch of himself as a trophy from The Festival Series on top of the trophy provided by The Hendon Mob for all their Championships.

Engedal, who is originally from Norway but calls Malta his home, was over the moon about his win. Soon after finding the winner’s circle he was interviewed by The Festival Series Malta presenter Andreas Hoglund. We will share the interview once it is published on YouTube.

The two-day event attracted 102 entries to create a €22,032. Here is a look at all of the payouts:

OK, the title is super long. But the message is clear. Saturday is the final day of Franke’s Flip Flops where players will flip in Omaha hands rake-free for as many games as players wish from 9 p.m. until 11 p.m.

The player that wins the most flips not only wins a bit thanks to running hot but will also win a package valued at €1,600 to The Festival Series Bratislava at Banco Casino on Nov. 27 to Dec. 3, 2023.

You might be thinking what might be better than a package to The Festival Series Bratislava. My answer would be not much. However, we did give away a spoiler in the title and the winner will also get a pair of Franke’s actual flip flops he was wearing all week long at The Festival Series Malta.

This author will likely be down on the main floor commentating the flips whether there is a camera on me or not. So come join in on the fun at 9 p.m.

The following players booked slightly more than €1,000 min-cash. Instead, they will go home with €1,100 with the rest of the remaining field guaranteed at least a €1,250 payout.

The following players cashed in the Main Event for the minimum prize of €1,000:

The two-day €250 Mystery Bounty has attracted 108 entries and counting. This is a fantastic result thus far for the new addition to the schedule.

Gerhard Brimmers was the first on the rail followed by Binjam Mesfin to leave 106 players remaining including Mesfin as he re-entered.

Have fun and good luck to all of the Mystery Bounty players!

The initial results are in for The Festival Series Malta Player of the Festival leaderboard. ACR Stormer Scott “Pokerbrahs” Kenyon has been grinding the mixed games all week long and is on top of the leaderboard after managing three final table performances. Salvatore Ritrovato, The Festival Series Founder Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk, Sander van Wesemael and Balazs Somodi are also in the top five.

We know that van Wesemael won’t climb any further and likely will drop down a few spots as he just dropped by to say goodbye as he will be heading to Las Vegas early for the WSOP.

This also doesn’t take into account events running today and tomorrow including the Main Event but congrats to “Pokerbrahs” for his impressive performance at The Festival Series Malta.

The two-day €250 Mystery Bounty is a new event on The Festival Series schedule. It is about to kickoff with 44 players already registered including Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk, Sascha Manns, and The Chip Race podcast co-host David Lappin.

Lappin just busted in seventh place in the €250 The Hendon Mob Championship for €900. He hasn’t had enough poker yet today and immediately hopped into the Mystery Bounty event.

Meanwhile, Antoine Degiorgio and Sami Pulliainen dropped by for a chat on the break of the €250 PLO Freezeout, which grew to 66 entries by the time late registration closed for a €14,256 prize pool. They were both asking about how a mystery bounty tournament works. I quickly explained and they said if they bust the PLO Freezeout they now have a back-up plan.

In case you are wondering how a mystery bounty event works, it is quite simple. Part of the prize pool, in this case €100 per player entered, will be placed into a mystery bounty prize pool. The action on the first day will play as normal with no bounties collected. Each player that advanced to Day 2 will have a mystery bounty on their head and will collect a random prize based on how much is collected for each player they eliminate. This is in addition to the normal prize pool and adds a fun element to tournament poker.

Players are in the money for at least a €1,000 min-cash with just 71 players remaining in the €550 Main Event. Unfortunately, Jarmo Luokkala won’t be one of the players snagging a pay-slip as he lost a flip when his big slick bricked against his opponent’s ladies.

“Super” Mairo Toom was once again on the ball capturing the photos of the bubble action of the Main Event. The man is everywhere at once!

Frank Visser bubbled the €250 OFC Tournament yesterday before things got much better when he won the €125 PLO/PLO8 Event for €2,220.

Unfortunately, Visser just hit the rail three away from the money in the Main Event and it is now hand-for-hand on the money bubble.

We have a special stream for you this afternoon as a bunch of streamers opted to play a special match today on our TheFestivalOG Twitch channel hosted by Jacob Dideriksen-Nielsen.

There are hundred of viewers already joining in on the entertainment. Check it out by clicking on the Stream tab in our coverage.

The Festival Series Bratislava Main Event runner-up Gerianne Dijkstra will unfortunately not make another deep run in The Festival Series Malta Main Event as she just hit the rail in 77th place. The Festival Series streamer Joseph Jackson also won’t be able to brag about a title as he also recently hit the rail.

The bubble is getting closer and closer with 73 players remaining and 71 slated for at least a €1,000 min-cash. Best of luck to all of the remaining Main Event players for getting to the money and beyond and in the meantime enjoy some Day 2 photos by Mairo Toom.

The Main Event is down to 95 players out of the original field of 617 entries. The top 71 players will walk away with at least a €1,000 min-cash with tomorrow’s winner going home with a €60,700 top prize.

Here is a look at all of the Main Event payouts:

The Hendon Mob Championship payouts have been released with all the 15 returning players guaranteed at least €500 payout with today’s winner going home with the €6,100 top prize and two trophies. One of the trophies will be the official The Hendon Mob Championship trophy that The Hendon Mob rewards at all of their events while the other one will be a personalized framed sketch of the winner.

Colin Lovelock, Kevin Malone, Dukai Csongor, and Andreas Simml all hit the rail for a min-cash leaving 11 players remaining in the hunt for both The Festival Series Malta and The Hendon Mob Championship glory.

The €250 PLO Freezeout kicked off with a field of 28 entries.

The Festival Series Founder Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk entered this event. Several players joked that this wasn’t the event for Franke as he loves to re-enter.

Mark Adams, Allan Arjut, Guiseppe D’Angelo, Karl Gialanze, Mikael Gronvik, Keimo Suominen, Philippe Laval, Imre Leibold, Totti Lind, Kevin Malone, Sean O’Donnell, Rita Paus, Erik Risberg, and Soner Vanelderen are all in the PLO Freezeout field from the start as well.

Good luck to all of the four-card players!

Late registration is now closed for the €550 Main Event. A total of 617 entries came out in full force to create a €296,160 prize pool. Payouts will be announced shortly for the 143 players still in contention.

Best of luck to all of the Main Event players.

The €125 Sportsbook Tournament takes just a few minutes to enter. This is something players can do on the break of any event they are in. Registration and entry submission is open. Just head down to the casino floor and The Festival Series Presenter and Sportsbook Host Andreas “Wiseguy” Hoglund will assist you.

Check out the video below to learn the rules. Spoiler alert, they are simple.

Day 2 of The Hendon Mob has kicked off. The Hendon Mob’s Social Media Manager Hans Kleinsman put together a list of all the 15 survivors live tournament earnings for events tracked by The Hendon Mob.

The Main Event has already blossomed to 600 entries with nearly an hour of late registration to go. There were 173 active players when the 600 entry-count was reach.

Best of luck to all of the Main Event players.

The €125 Sportsbook Tournament kicks off at 1 p.m. The Sportsbook Tournament host Andreas “Wiseguy” Hoglund outlines the rules in the video below.

Day 2 of the Main Event has kicked off. A handful of new players came into the field to grow the field to 591 entries already with 193 players battling it out.

Many players were asking yesterday what the surprise element was in yesterday’s €125 Texas Surprise. We just learned from The Festival Series Founder Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk that there will be a surprise within a surprise.

Salvatore Ritrovato won the Texas Surprise for €2,230 but this is not all as Franke just announced that Ritrovato also will be surprised with a free €250 Mystery Bounty ticket for tonight’s event at 6 p.m. Additionally, the bubble boy Juuso Parviainen won’t go home empty-handed that player will also have a chance to run it up in the Mystery Bounty as well. It would be amazing if one of these players runs deep and/or collects the top Mystery Bounty prize to be announced later.

Today is another big day with it starting off with a bang with both the Main Event and The Hendon Mob Championship progressing to their second day. The Hendon Mob Championship is down to 15 hopefuls in the money and will play down to a winner while the Main Event is planned to play down to 16 players. Late registration for the Main Event will still be open for the first two blind levels of the day but the five opening flights attracted 579 entries with 181 players finding a bag.

Laila Hawaszedeh will kick things off in the captain’s seat after bagging 382,500 from her starting stack of 30,000. Oystein Brenden was too far behind with 369,000, while Adam Briggs was the only other player over 300,000 in chips with 329,500. Day 2 will feature 45-minute blind levels instead of the 40 minutes featured during most of the opening flights.

• Main Event Day 2 Seat Draw Link
• The Hendon Mob Championship Day 2 Seat Draw

There are plenty of other events on tap today including the €125 Sportsbook Tournament and the two-day €250 Mystery Bounty. Here is a look at the entire schedule:

The €125 Texas Friday Turbo Midnight Madness was another fun event that didn’t begin until 11 p.m. in the evening. The event attracted 64 entries to create a €6,758 prize pool. Guido Stanzione won the event for €2,250 after defeating Gianmarco Scannapiego heads-up. Here are all of the payouts in the PLO/PLO8.

Frank Visser is one of the players here at The Festival Series Malta for the mixed games. He appeared disappointed after he bubbled the OFC event but made it for it in a big way. Visser defeated Ali Oznesil heads-up to win the €250 PLO/PLO8 for €2,220.

The event attracted 64 runners to create a €6,758 prize pool. Here is a look at all of the payouts:

The €125 Texas Surprise attracted 131 entries to create a €13,834 prize pool. Salvatore Ritrovato won the event for €2,230 after agreeing to a five-way deal with Alfredo Cuti, Kei Yaegashi, Leonard White, and Vadim Gercev. The other four players mentioned each received an equal prize of €2,130 each.

Aaron Kupin traveled out to Europe with his girlfriend from his home state of Florida. He was looking for some poker action and saw all the mixed games on offer at The Festival Series Malta and opted to come out and see what it is all about.

Kupin eliminated the final two players on the bubble in the €250 OFC Event and then zoomed ahead to win the €2,880 to bring the OFC trophy back to the USA.

The OFC attracted 28 entries to create an €8,206 prize pool. Here is a look at the payouts:

The Hendon Mob €250 Championship drew in 102 entries during the opening day. ACR Stormer bagged the overall chip lead with 15 players left. The returning Day 2 players will be in the money for at least a min-cash. Payouts will be posted after they are made publicly available. In the meantime, here is the Day 2 Seat Draw.

The €550 Main Event attracted 579 entries during its five opening flights to add €277,920 to the prize pool. A total of 181 players bagged chips led by Laila Hawaszadeh who parlayed a 30,000 opening chip stack into 382,500.

Blinds will start tomorrow at 1,000/2,000 with a big blind ante of 2,000 when the action resumes at noon. Players can re-enter for the first two blind levels of the day with blind levels increasing to 45 minutes in length instead of 40 minutes as featured during most of the opening flights.

Beate Etim defeated Christel Haller heads-up to win the €125 The Festival Queens Ladies Event for €1,760. Kairit Leibold, Adriana Bernardo, and Angelica Andersson also made the money.

The event attracted 47 entries to create a €4,963 prize pool. Congrats to Beate and all of the players that cashed in The Festival Queens.

The Franke’s Flip Flops has been going on all week long and tomorrow will be the final evening of flips starting at 9 p.m.

Players enjoy rake-free flips while also competing on the Franke’s Flip Flops Leaderboard. The winner of the leaderboard will be crowned the Franke’s Flip Flops Challenge. That honor also comes with a frame pair of Franke’s actual flip flops he has been wearing all week and a package to The Festival Series Bratislava at Banco Casino from Nov. 27 to Dec. 3.

Until today, there were several players tied at two flips each. But that quickly changed tonight with 14 flips run today. Sami Korpula made the most of the biggest day for the flips by winning three flips putting him in the lead with one more day of flipping to go with five flips won.

Meanwhile, Rolf Bechstrom won three flips today as well. However, he is still two behind Korpela after previously not appearing on the leaderboard. Joseph Jackson is tied with Bechstrom after winning two flips tonight as well.

If for some reason, the leaderboard ends with a tie, one final flip will take place to see who the champion will be among the tied players. Here is a look at the full leaderboard through Friday:

Earlier this week, Lithuania’s Mantas Petrauskas won the €250 Heads-Up tournament for €2,480. He will be highlighted again tonight after winning the most in the €5/€5 no-limit hold’em Cash Game Challenge with a profit of €1,624 good for 324.8 big blinds.

This is still a galaxy away from the €6,300 for 3,150 big blinds won by our very own Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk in a €2/€2 pot-limit Omaha Cash Game Challenge earlier this week.

The Hendon Mob Championship witnessed 102 entries pony up the €250 buy-in on the opening day to create a €22,032.

The action is down to just 25 players including the likes of Nathaniel Brown, Jonas Engedal, Valmar Runk, Raimo Einberg, Paula Ensink, The Chip Race Co-Host David Lappin, Colin Lovelock, Kevin Malone, and ACR Stormer Oskar “Deckflow” Ojaveer.

Day 1 will conclude when the field is reduced to 15 players. Each of the Day 1 survivors will be in the money for at least min-cash before resuming action on Day 2 at 1 p.m.

The €125 PLO/PLO8 is a fun affair where the games shift between the two games. It is quite rare to see PLO8 at any festival but, of course, The Festival Series has a bit of everything.

The event attracted 63 entries to create a €6,652 prize pool. Rolf Bechstrom, Barrie Dear, Antoine Degiorgio, Scott “Pokerbrahs” Kenyon, and Ylva “Jevakim” Thorsrud are among the 32 players remaining.

Day 1d of the €550 Main Event attracted 179 entries to make it the biggest opening flight. Laila Hawaszadeh bagged the biggest stack of the 45 survivors with 382,500 and was closely followed by Oystein Brenden with 369,000. Both these players will advance to tomorrow’s Day 2 with more chips than the previous chip leader Adam Briggs who survived with the Day 1b chip lead with 328,500.

Franke’s Flip Flops are about to begin. The Festival’s Melvin Schroen is going to attempt to be on of the players to win a flip into the €125 Texas Surprise. The Festival Series Head of Photography Mairo Toom and this author will buy pieces of Melvin’s flips so we have an extra reason to rail.

The player that wins the most flips throughout the week will win the Franke’s Flip Flops leaderboard. They will not only win a package valued at €1,600 to The Festival Series Bratislava at Banco Casino from Nov. 27 to Dec. 3 but also win a framed pair of Franke’s actual flip flops.

Adam Briggs is back looking to make it three Cash Game Challenge session wins in a row. This time, he tests his skills and luck against a talented crew in a €5/€5 no-limit hold’em affair.

Pokerstudie’s Koen Meutstege and Marthijn Lakerveld are also in the mix and will share some of the footage with their students and analyze some spots. The training group is developing a cash game course and this session fits nicely into their plans.

Other experienced players in the mix include Raoul van Wersch, Maksymillian Gora, Mantas Petrauskas, and Arnaud Capella. You can check out the Cash Game Challenge by clicking on the Stream tab in our coverage.

We will likely stream The Festival Queens final table after this session.

The turbo-charged Day 1e kicked off about 15 minutes ago with a couple of dozen players. This will be the final of the five opening flights and plays out a bit differently with 20-minute blind levels instead of 40 minutes.

This isn’t the last chance saloon for the Main Event as tomorrow’s Day 2 will allow late entry and re-entries for the first two blind levels.

Best of luck to the final opening flight players in the Main Event.

The €250 OFC is in the money after Aaron Kupin busted both Frank Visser and Lars Eklund out of the event on the money bubble in the same hand. The event attracted 38 entries to create a prize pool of €8,206.

Kupin shared with us that he traveled from the United States to play in The Festival Series. He was coming to Europe anyway to visit his girlfriend’s home country of Romania and was looking at The Hendon Mob to see what events were happening in Europe during that time. He shared that he chose to come to Malta as the mixed-game schedule was enticing and exciting. It didn’t hurt that we hosted the first of two OFC events today, which he shared was his favorite game.

Now, Kupin has his girlfriend on the rail after reaching the money for at least a min-cash of €820 with more to come if he can win the event to bank the €2,880 top prize.

Maksimillian Gora, Teemu Hietela, Kornel Kiebik, and Thibault Yoccoz are also all in the money contending for the title. Good luck to all of the final five players.

Here are some photos of the OFC event by Mairo Toom:

Earlier today, Dainius Antanaitis dropped by to discuss a hand that he broke down his thought process. Several people have shared they liked this concept so now I am giving a general shoutout to everyone playing any of our events to share your hand with us.

This isn’t a bad beat corner request. This is more if you had something to think about and what you were thinking about before you made your decisions during that hand. Drop by the media desk if you would like to share your thoughts on a hand in any event you play this week.

Here is a link to the post where we saw how Antanaitis broke down a hand where he felt he misplayed during Day 1d of the Main Event.

The €125 Texas Surprise kicked off a couple of minutes ago with an initial field of 44 entries.

PokerCity’s Lars Smeets, Dusk Till Dawn’s Glenn Townsend, Laur Sibold, and Alessandra Cuntro are among the early entrants.

Best of luck and have fun!

The late-registration window for the €125 The Festival Queens Ladies Event is minutes away from closing and thus far has attracted 47 entries. We may see another lady or three hops into this event at the last second but this will likely be close to the final number.

The Festival Series Hospitality host Anastasia Bukstynovic, The Festival Queens host Laura Cornelius, and Christel Haller, who you might know from handling social media responsibility at many of our events are still alive as are Paula Ensink, Katre Kokk, Monica Larsson, Kairit Leibold, Ilona Sibold, Ave Lepik, and Lisbeth Sunde.

Here are some photos of the event by Mairo Toom:

Our friend Dainius Antanaitis busted the Main Event on Day 1d a bit ago during the 100/300 (300) blind level. He shared with us the hand along with some insight into his thought process. Antanaitis is one of the sharpest poker players regardless of the poker variant. Even the best make mistakes but in this case, I am not sure if many could have found a fold or not. Check it out as it is a decent hand to analyze.

“The blinds were 100/300/300 when I limped behind an under-the-gun open limp,” began Antanaitis. “The player in the hijack raises to 1,600 and I was the only player to call. This could be a mistake to play this hand in the first place but I call to see the queen-six-seven rainbow flop. Sometimes I lead out with a small donk bet on this flop but he could put me in a tough high-variance spot as I would have to shove over the top then. Check-raising was also an option depending on the sizing but I opted to check-call his bet of 1,500 into a pot of 4,200.”

So far so good although I would personally be folding this hand preflop. Then again, I admit that Antanaitis is a stronger player than me so let’s go back to his thoughts.

“The turn was the perfect five of diamond placing two diamonds on the board and I donk bet pretty big for 5,500 into a pot of 7,200 with just 18,200 behind,” Antanaitis shared. “This sets me up a pot-sized bet on the river with my straight if he calls. He tanked for a minute or two and I definitely saw him debating whether or not to shove. So, I put him on a range of ace-queen, kings, aces, and sets. I am hoping for a brick river so I can shove and get the call probably around 90% of the time.”

Antanaitis no longer had the nuts on the board by the time the river came as our Lithuanian friend explains.

“Unfortunately, a seven paired the board on the river. So, now I am debating between going for a block-bet-fold or check-bluff catch. I chose the latter and after I check he internally debates for about 30 seconds before he puts all of his chips in one piles and jams them all-in. My first instinct and idea that comes to my mind is if I can make this fold, I can definitely win this event. He is rarely doing this with aces, kings, or queens and would probably go for smaller value for like 6,000 to 8,000. I feel he definitely never has a 7x for a value shove here. So, basically 80% value full house/quads, although it is unlikely he has quads as he would have likely limped his sevens. So maybe 20% for a random bluff but I didn’t have much history with this player before. As I was only getting 33% odds on this pot-sized shove and it was for my tournament life, I should have found an easy fold despite the fact I could re-enter. Instead, I took an easy no-brainer move and just donated the rest of my chips. Many people would call this a cooler when actually it is just a big mistake to pay off the river bet once you analyze the hand properly and see the big picture.

Thank you for sharing the hand and best of luck the rest of the week!

Two fun tournaments are about to begin at 4 p.m. The Hendon Mob €250 Championship is a two-day affair and always one of the more popular events at The Festival Series. This should be no different as many players have already shared this was going to be the highlight of their day.

Meanwhile, many of the women in attendance are gearing up for the €150 The Festival Queens Ladies Event also at 4 p.m. Poker presenter Laura Cornelius will be hosting this event and we expect an entertaining and competitive affair between the ladies.

Yesterday, Danny Young, who is one of the amazing poker dealers at The Festival Series Malta, arranged the cards to spell HORSE for the HORSE event. During the first break of the OFC event, Young kept the trend going.

Speaking of the OFC event, it has thus far attracted 24 entries with 19 players remaining. Kei Yaegashi, Terje Jahn, Luca Delfino, and Jarno Kuiper are already on the rail and have yet to re-enter. Meanwhile, Maksymillion Gora also lost his stack but opted to re-enter.

We were graced with the presence of esteemed poker photographer Damiano Nigro. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end eventually and it’s time to say goodbye to our friend.

Damiano spent the past few days documenting his view via his create eyes on The Festival Series Malta. We have been sharing his photos throughout the week and want to send him a special thank you from The Festival Series to both him and also we appreciate our relationship with PokerFirma.

You can also check out his photos, blogs, and more by heading to his website the-rounder-net. Check out his final few photos below:

The €250 OFC Tournament is about to begin. We sat down with Frank Visser’s girlfriend Kelly who is in Malta. She never played a poker tournament before but has some practice playing at home with Frank.

“I am nervous about playing my first poker tournament,” Kelly said. “But I am excited to be to playing!”

We were curious about how she got into OFC.

“I learned how to play with my boyfriend Frank (Visser) at home,” Kelly shared. “I enjoyed playing right away and got the hang of it. I learned what the good options were or not. I also got an app afterward and play with Frank and my friends.

Kelly has been playing for about half a year but when there was an OFC tournament at The Festival Malta she couldn’t resist.

“We were planning to come here anyway and I saw there was an OFC tournament and decided to give it a shot,” Kelly said. “I will be happy with the experience regardless of whether I win or not. In fact, I don’t expect to win, I just hope for a fun experience.”

Kelly’s OFC knowledge doesn’t only come from Frank.

“My biggest inspiration is Wouter Beltz (Sorry Frank),” Kelly said. “I learned quite a lot from this. Halfway joking as I wouldn’t have gotten involved in playing OFC if not for Frank. He also taught me a lot too. We will see how it goes.”

We wish Kelly and the rest of the 15 players already registered with more to come the best of luck!

Sascha Manns already hit the rail early and wasted no time in re-entering. He just shared with us that he took out The Festival Series Nottingham Main Event winner Ignacio Menendez on his second bullet.

Manns has been to all of The Festival Series events and has appeared at a couple of final tables along the way in the Main Event. Best of luck to our friend and may his good fortunes continue.

The €250 HORSE Event was another popular mixed game event at The Festival Series Malta with 69 entries forming a €14,904 prize pool. Players were visibly having fun all event long.

The Festival Series Founder Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk was low on chips early on. But he ran his stack up before taking many unscheduled breaks. He even sat out the first portion of the final table.

However, when there were four players left, Franke had the chip lead and made a deal with Antti Tianen, Petri Juurikkala, and Per Gjelten where each of the four players collected a €2,850 payout.

“How easy is it?” Franke said after the win before joking. “I don’t even know all the rules and yet still won against HORSE pros like Sascha Manns.”

Franke is being modest as last year he took third place in the EPT Prague €550 HORSE. Congrats to Franke for winning the trophy and all of the players that cashed this fun mixed-game event.

Day 1d has just kicked off in the €550 Main Event with 39 runners after some announcements by Andreas “Wiseguy” Hoglund and Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk.

Sascha Manns, Mark Adams, Joseph Jackson, Sirin Ongorur, and Toivo Ojasoo are among the players seated from the beginning.

The €250 PLO 4/5/6 attracted 72 entries to create a €15,550 prize pool. William Lynch, Sander Mets, Boon Wan Lee, Bianca Essers, and Yann de Tychey all agreed to a five-way deal. Lynch and Mets both collected the same €2,900 prize but Lynch was crowned the winner.

Day 5 of The Festival Series Malta is set to be another big one. Not only will the final two flights of the €550 Main Event kick off today but today is also the start of the two-day €250 The Hendon Mob Championship. The €125 The Festival Queens, hosted by poker presenter Laura Cornelius, is bound to be tons of fun for the ladies in attendance.

Here is a look at today’s schedule. Of course, there are hospitality activities today for those with the hospitality package, Franke’s Flip Flops running from 9 p.m. until 11 p.m., and cash games running nonstop on the casino floor.

Congrats to Adam Briggs for winning both Cash Game Challenges last night. He booked a €560 profit (280 big blinds) in the €2/€2 Omaha and another €532 profit (266 big blinds) in €2/€2 no-limit hold’em.

This is still miles behind The Festival Series Founder Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk on the Cash Game Challenge leaderboard which the winner will win a €1,600 package to The Festival Series Bratislava at Banco Casino on Nov. 27 to Dec. 3. Franke miraculously won €6,300 in the €2/€2 Omaha Cash Game Challenge on May 15 and this will be tough for anyone to beat.

Despite the title, the €125 Thursday Turbo Midnight Madness kicked off at 9 p.m. The action was still going strong at midnight and it wasn’t until slightly after 2 a.m. that Kai Muller defeated Rinalds Zimka to win the title and the €3,190 top prize.

The event attracted 112 entries to create a €11,827 prize pool. Here is a look at all of the players that cashed in the Thursday Turbo Midnight Madness:

The €1,100 High Roller attracted a fun field of 70 entries to generate a €67,200 prize pool. The sun was shining when Cory Desmond and Domenico Zappia agreed to a heads-up deal. Desmond collected €18,000 and the title, while Zappia collected nearly as much with a €17,500 payout.

Also cashing in this event were Ewen Trevidy, Albert Cigliano, Raoul van Wersch, Daniel Oliver, Gyorgy Laszlo, Alexander van Dijk, and Balazs Somodi.

Our blog is done for the night as it is nearly time for some rest. However, we will update the Day 4 action tomorrow morning before the action resumes with Day 1d of the Main Event at 12 p.m. on Friday. Until then, have a good night and hope you sleep well.

CasinoTogether’s Tobias Bollman showed how it was done as he shipped the €125 Matching Visions Slot Tournament for a cool €1,000. He seemed down but out but in his final few spins hit the biggest one of them all to win the event.

Meanwhile, the runner-up Arturs Pomerancevs also had an incredible run. He normally plays micro-stakes online and won a package for €11 to The Festival Series Bratislava from our partner Optibet. This is also his first poker festival and was a pleasure to meet him while playing the Slots Tournament. Despite busting the Main Event earlier today, Pomerancevs at least has a good story to remember about his experience at The Festival Series Malta.

Nils Vadenbring also cashed after finishing in third place.

Day 1c of the €550 Main Event attracted 149 entries making it the largest field of the Main Event thus far with 84 entries on Day 1a and another 101 entries during yesterday’s Day 1b to bring the total field up to 334 entries. This isn’t the end as there are still two more flights to go along with late entry permitted during the first two blind levels of Saturday’s Day 2.

Gerhard Brimmers bagged the Day 1c chip lead with 218,000 in chips but will be behind several players starting Day 2 including Day 1b chip leader Adam Briggs who after three opening flights holds the overall chip lead with 328,500 in chips.

Matthew Micallef, Franco Scalise, Milad Rad, and Theo Baldanze also bagged decent stacks into Day 2. Here is a look at the chip counts of all the Day 1c survivors.

The €250 HORSE Event has reached its final table of seven players from its original field of 69 entries. Here is a look at the final table photos by Dominik Demcak:

I had some fun but apparently, my strategy tips didn’t work at least for myself as I finished in 13th place out of 18 entries in the €125 Matching Vision Slots Tournament.

We will have the official payouts shortly, but Tobias Bollman shipped the event with Optibet qualifier Arturs Pomaranovs taking second place after taking an early lead.

After I knew I had no chance of winning, I opted to commentate the final two round. Perhaps there is a video floating around somewhere in which case we will also post this later.

Congrats to Tobias for being the best Slots Tournament player. #notjealous

This reporter loves playing poker and even more loves to play mixed games. I haven’t had the time to hop into any of the events nor think I will but will carve out some time for something different and play my first slots tournament in about a decade.

We will update you with our experience after I have either busted from the event or the more likely scenario of me winning the event and the coveted framed sketch.

The Matching Visions Slot Tournament kicks off at 9 p.m. Come join me while we spin away and have some fun!

The first Cash Game Session Challenge of the day has just kicked off with stakes at €2/€2 no-limit hold’em. This will be a live-streamed affair with our very own George Sandford behind the booth. You can check out the action by clicking on the Stream tab in our coverage or by heading to the TheFestivalOG Twitch channel.

The Festival Series will be awarding the player that wins the largest amount of big blinds a package to The Festival Series Bratislava at Banco Casino on Nov. 27 to Dec. 3 valued at €1,600. Tune in to see if anyone can fly ahead of the massive win Franke had on Day 1 when he won €6,300 good for 3,150 big blinds. This will be tough to beat but not impossible. Best of luck to all of the players.

The €250 PLO 4/5/6 is about to begin. Players will start off with 25,000 chips which is good for 125 big blinds with the blinds starting at 100/200 and going up slowly every 25 minutes.

Antoine Degiorgio, Allan Arjut, Mark Adams, Fabio Bognier, Bianca Essers, Jonas Havren, Iman Tarique, Boon Lee, Jarmo Luokkala, Sander Mets, Collins Nomafo, Erik Risberg, Kalle Sammalisto, Andre Sorm, Sander van Wesemael, and Mikael Viggander are among the early entrants in the field.

Good luck to all that wind up playing and have fun!

Another €70 satellite which guarantees three €550 Main Event seats just kicked off.

This will be your final chance at qualifying for the Main Event without paying the full price. So you may want to hop in unless you were thinking of playing the €250 PLO 4/5/6 at 8 p.m., the €125 Matching Visions Slots Tournament at 9 p.m., or the €125 Thursday Turbo Midnight Madness. Of course, there are also two Cash Game Challenge sessions this evening and cash games running around the clock.

Best of luck to all the satellite players!

Damiano Nigro will be heading home from Malta tomorrow. He just put together an amazing video of his photos from throughout the week. Sit back, and enjoy!

If you are looking for some fun, why not enter the €125 Matching Visions Slots Tournament at 9 p.m.

Here is some advice on how to play the slots tournament.

1. Grab a drink (maybe two)
2. Get comfortable in your chair
3. Push the spin button as fast as you can

Step 1 is optional but from my experiences playing slots tournaments on cruise ships over the years, it is highly recommended.

Best of luck to all of the players in the Matching Visions Slots Tournament. Who knows, maybe this reporter will also enter.

Players with the hospitality package were invited to a scrumptious meal at The Smokehouse. Here is a look at some of the photos of the outing:

The €250 HORSE Event attracted 69 entries with 38 players remaining when late registration closed. Nine of these players will earn at least a €504 min-cash with tonight’s winner going home with a much bigger prize of €5,380.

The Festival Series Head of Photography Mairo Toom grabbed some photos from the event. Here’s a look:

The €1,100 High Roller is still on its opening level but it looks like this event could get big as the field has already grown from 14 entries to 26 entries and counting.

John Blomberg, Clement Bonnant, Dandido Cappiello, Kerrien Clement, Cory Desmond, Domenico Gala, Karl Gialanze, Alexandrs Golubevs, Xavier Zuckowski, Andrea Stellato, Erik Lindqwist, and Kim Ofverstrom are among the recent additions.

Our good friend Damiano Nigro is back with his camera showing us a unique eye of The Festival Series Malta through his viewpoint. Special thanks to PokerFirma and Nigro’s blog the-rounder.net.