From Bulgaria With Skill: The Festival Rozvadov Recap

Let’s not beat around the bush. The Festival Series is one of the most coveted live poker championships out there.

Ever since May 31st, the tournament’s taken residence in Rozvadov, where our very own Melvin Schroen has been, with his ear to the ground. As the Festival crowned its Main Event champion last night, it’s high time to see what’s been going on in Rozvadov

And no, we don’t just mean the Main Event. Still, it’s a solid place to start.

The Festival Rozvadov – Main Event Highlights

Most people would argue that the Main Event is what it’s all about in live poker. The Festival Series in Rozvadov doesn’t seem to disagree.

Following their standard practice, The Festival set the buy-in to an anticipated €550, accompanied by a €500,000 for the guaranteed prize pool. If you think numbers like these would deter players, you’d be dead wrong.

Just as Day 1f of the Main Event kicked off, 183 players had joined the final flight by the end of late registration. This brought the total number of entries to to 989 in total. The survivors from this flight joined the 188 other players when Day 2 began.

Still out of the many remained a few and as luck would have it Bulgarian Presiyan Tsvetanov came up on top. The final table concluded with Tsvetanov capturing the €80,000 first prize and a seat in the €10,350 Main Event of the World Series of Poker Europe. So, how did it all go down?

Let’s break it down!

The Final Table

Most people would argue that the final heads-up stage is the pinnacle of any poker tournament. The Festival Series in Rozvadov was no exception.

Bulgarian Tsvetanov entered this decisive phase facing a daunting 4-1 chip deficit. But, with a bit of poker luck and some serious poker skill, Tsvetanov clawed his way back into contention.

From then on, the encounter took a more serious turn, with Tsvetanov managing to double up again, this time taking a bigger chip lead than the deficit he once faced. Yet, the drama was far from over. Riczak made a spirited comeback, doubling twice to close the gap and put the outcome back in the balance.

The intense heads-up battle stretched over two and a half hours. The final hand saw the blinds at 300k/600k with a big blind ante of 600k. Presiyan applied ultimate pressure on his short-stacked adversary by open shoving with 10 8, which was snap-called by Riczak holding K Q. The flop, 9 J Q, gave Presiyan a straight and left Riczak needing a ten to make a better one. The turn and river, 3 and 2, sealed the tournament for Tsvetanov.

Tsvetanov’s journey to the title was no less dramatic. Starting the final table 4th in chips, he soon found himself as one of the short stacks. A pivotal moment came when he hit a flush holding A 2 against Yann Lormel’s A A, after clubs on the turn and river devastated Lormel’s best starting hand in Texas Hold’em.

The Final Table Result

Position	Player	Country	Prize
1	Presiyan Tsvetanov		€90,350*
2	Michal Riczak		€58,250*
3	Antoine Degiorgio		€44,250*
4	Barnabas Nagy		€35,950*
5	Yann Lormel		€30,550*
6	Runen777		€25,650*
7	Erik Polluveer		€11,000
8	Asso		€7,500
9	Rickard Olsson		€5,950

**Prize includes €10,350 WSOPE Main Event Seat.

Side Events – A Quick Recap

Just because some players approach the Main Event like the be-all and end-all of poker doesn’t necessarily make it true. Apart from the Main Event, The Festival Rozvadov was jampacked with side events.

So, let’s see what went down in them.

€250 The Hendon Mob Championship

The Hendon Mob Championship is one of those side events you always look forward to seeing back. Something like a familiar face in the crowd; and this year it was bigger than ever.

With a total of 825 entries, this year saw is the largest edition of The Hendon Mob Championship ever staged. Sadly, the championship missed its €200,000 guarantee by just a little over €25,000.

Luckily, no one dwelled on this fact for too long when Iranian Majid Alimoradpour came out swinging, taking the title of Hendon Mob champion. After a 3-hour head-to-head with Czech player Marek Soukop, no one could even tell this was Alimoradpour first ever live result.

After securing a seat to the World Series of Poker Europe, all we can do is wish Alimoradpour the best of luck!

Position	Player	Country	Prize
1	Majid Alimoradpour		€ 35,250* + €2,000 Cape Town THMC Package
2	Marek Soukup		€ 35,250*
3	Tomas Svec		€ 23,850**

Franke’s Flip Flops

Franke’s Flip Flops is another legendary side event at The Festival Series – one we can’t help but follow.

Most evenings, players gathered for one-hand €25 flips, competing for a €1,600 package for the next Festival Series event in Malta. Oliver Kubalek took an early lead, but by the penultimate day, Rolf Arne Bechstroem, last year’s winner in Malta, had moved ahead. On the final day, Rolf secured seven more flips, ending with 20 wins to Kubalek’s 16.

This meant Rolf became the first double winner of Franke’s Flip Flops, receiving his ‘trophy’ from Franke himself. When asked about his wife’s reaction, Rolf admitted he nearly got kicked out after returning with the last pair, so he may not risk it this time.

€250 PokerListing 30K Texas NL

Could we end this recap with anything other than the €250 PokerListing 30K Texas NL. The answer is a firm no.

To keep it short and sweet, the winner was another Bulgarian, Aleksandar Georgiev who showcased exceptional poker skills and earned every chip he was worth. This side event was by far the busiest of the week, with 214 entries and a prize pool exceeding €45,000.

With five tables left, Aleksandar was the chip leader with over 500,000. Although he took a few hits, he regained the lead at the final table and secured the most in a five-way deal. After the deal, Aleksandar played on to take the title.

Position	Player	Country	Prize
1	Aleksandar Georgiev		€ 7,612*
2	Christopher Debessel		€ 7,202*
3	Maciej Kondraszuk		€ 6,169*

Congratulations to all the winners! We can’t wait to see what they do next!