2017 Cash Game Festival Bulgaria Day 1 | 2017 Cash Game Festival Bulgaria

08-10-2017 00:30 UTC+3

Miroslav Georgiev Was the Star of the Show on Day 1 of the 2017 Cash Game Festival Bulgaria

Jaxon

Day 1 of the 2017 Cash Game Festival Bulgaria has been a big success with tons of action and fun emanating throughout the poker room at Platinum Casino located off the boardwalk in Sunny Beach.

The day began with players heading away from the beautiful sunshine and weather and head to the casino for welcome drinks at 5:00 p.m. Many familiar faces were about along with many new faces and online qualifiers.

About an hour later, the first televised feature table kicked off at €1/€2 no-limit hold'em. United Kingdom's James Simms, who promised to come to another festival after having a blast in during the Cash Game Festival London, was the biggest winner on the first feature table after notching a profit of around €400. After the first session, he headed into the commentary booth with Cash Game Festival host Brandon Allen to commentate the later €2/€5 no-limit hold'em feature table.

Local Bulgarian poker player Miroslav Georgiev was the big winner on the late feature table. He took a huge pot worth €4,000 against local legend Fahredin "FeriBo" Mustafov when his ace-king proved to be good on a river bet on a king-high board against his opponent's pocket jacks and notched a final total of nearly €2,500 in profit for the session.

Off the poker felts, there have been dozens of players enjoying drinks and conversation with promises to join in on the hot poker action as the festival moves ahead.

The action is still going strong with eight tables in play and some players have shared they plan to play through the night.

Players with the hospitality package are scheduled to head back to the casino tomorrow at 1 p.m. for a trip to the winery club.

Many other players will likely be sticking to the beach, bars, and of course the casino for some ring game action. Live streaming is scheduled at lower stakes at 5:40 p.m. and higher stakes at 8:40 p.m. on a 20-minute delay.

Stay tuned at PokerNews for the next four days as we report some of the hottest action at the Cash Game Festival.

Tags: Fahredin "FeriBo" Mustafov James Simms Miroslav Georgiev

08-10-2017 00:14 UTC+3

Sick Pot Near the End of the Stream For Miroslav

Jaxon

Miroslav Georgiev and Fahredin "FeriBo" Mustafov are two local Bulgarian poker players that have a ton of history against each other.

Tonight it was Georgiev that got the better of Mustafov. In one of the last hands of the stream, a player opened up in early position on the €2/€5 no-limit hold'em feature table for €30. Georgiev, holding , three-bet to €110 and got a call from Mustafov who held from the blinds.

The open raiser folded before the flop was dealt. Mustafov check-called a bet of €130 from Georgiev before both players checked after the appeared on the turn.

Mustafov checked once again when the completed the board on the river. Georgiev bet €340 before Mustafov tanked and jammed for for the rest of his stack. Georgiev went into the tank before he called and collected a huge pot worth more than €4,000.

Tags: Miroslav Georgiev

08-09-2017 21:32 UTC+3

Local Hero and Sunday Million Winner "FeriBo" Headlines the Late Feature Table

Jaxon

The second televised feature table of the 2017 Cash Game Festival Bulgaria has just kicked off with stakes moving up to €2/€5 no-limit hold'em. Here is a look at the line-up.

Czech Republic's Ladislav Vitoslavsky in Seat 1 has been playing poker since 2014 and shared his favorite hand is eight-four suited. Vitoslavsky is a postman by trade and we will have to wait and see if he can deliver at the poker table.

In Seat 2 is Fahredin Mustafov, one of the better known Bulgarian live and online poker players. He is known as Feri to his friends and "FeriBo" on many online poker rooms including at PokerStars where he won the Sunday Million for around $165,000 in 2015.

Bulgaria's Stanislav Stefanov in Seat 3 is making his first televised poker appearance and admitted he was a little nervous. He shared that pocket sevens is his favorite hand.

One seat over is Romania's Bureata George in Seat 4 has been playing poker for four years and loves pocket kings.

Czech Republic's Mirek Spicka in Seat 5 has been playing poker for almost a decade. This is not his first rodeo at a televised poker table and that he isn't nervous this time around.

Bulgaria's Miroslav in Seat 6 didn't share too much about himself other than he said he is a "fish."

Latvia's Aigars Dambrans is no stranger to the Cash Game Festival with this now being his fourth or fifth festival. He is well known for playing late night Omaha sessions, but he is no stranger to no-limit hold'em as well.

Rounding off the feature table is Italy's Napolitano Emanuele in Seat 8. The Italian explained his biggest win in poker was when he took down an online tournament for around $14,000.

Meanwhile, James Simms has headed into the commentary box with Cash Game Festival host Brandon Allen. Simms is first on the waiting list for the table and shared with PokerNews that he hopes to smash the record of being the biggest winner three different times on a feature table during the same festival.

You can follow the action on the Cash Game Festival website, on the Cash Game Festival Twitch channel, and here in our PokerNews coverage.

08-09-2017 20:40 UTC+3

Profile Play by James Simms Leads to a Big Win

Jaxon

Team NordicBet member Daniel Straume was cruising along on the feature table until he had a bluff picked off on the very last hand.

Instead, it was United Kingdom's James Simms, who just arrived this morning, notching up the biggest win on the feature table booking a profit of approximately €400. Simms shared he plans to come back to try to go "two for two" in the later €2/€5 no-limit hold'em feature table.

Simms, who has been all smiles since arriving at Sunny Beach, shared that, "picking the players to make moves against" helped him stack up his chips. Simms scoping out the players mentioned he strategically avoided the three sponsored pros but didn't know that they were pros at the time.

Also booking a nice win of €200 was Norway's Robin Klett, who Straume introduced to PokerNews during the welcome drinks ceremony as his coach.

Tags: James Simms Daniel Straume Robin Klett

08-09-2017 18:24 UTC+3

James Simms Headlines the First Feature Table

Jaxon

The first televised feature table of the 2017 Cash Game Festival Bulgaria with stakes at €1/€2 no-limit hold'em has just kicked off with some familiar players from old festivals along with ones playing at a Cash Game Festival for the first time. You can follow the action on the Cash Game Festival website, on the Cash Game Festival Twitch channel, and here in our PokerNews coverage.

Norway's Alf Kvant in Seat 1 is experiencing his first ever televised poker experience. He shared he isn't nervous and that his favorite hand is jack-ten.

Bulgaria's Blagovest Kostov in Seat 2 considers himself to be an amateur poker player and his day job is as a programmer. He shared he is a little nervous since this is his first televised poker experience.

Slovakia's Dusan Hajek in Seat 3 is becoming a Cash Game Festival legend after qualifying for a third Cash Game Festival through Betsson.

Norway's Daniel Straume in Seat 4 qualified to the festival through Nordicbet. This is his first televised poker experience but explained he wasn't nervous. He shared with a smile his favorite hand is pocket aces.

Bulgaria's Ivaylo Manolov in Seat 5 has been playing poker for a decade. Unconventionally, his favorite hand is nine-seven.

United Kingdom's James Simms is now at his second Cash Game Festival. He previously attended the festival in London in February and vowed to be back. He arrived this morning and after enjoying the perfect weather hopped on the feature table. Simms smiled and said his favorite hand is any hand that he wins.

Local Bulgarian Pencho Ivanov Chavdarov is in Seat 7. Similar to Straume, he has never appeared on a feature table, isn't nervous and loves pocket aces.

Rounding off the table is Norway's Robin Klett. He traveled to Sunny Beach, Bulgaria with his friend Straume, who introduced Klett during welcome drinks as his coach. It will be interesting to see who fairs better during the feature table, the student of the coach.

08-09-2017 15:42 UTC+3

Welcome to Day 1 of the 2017 Cash Game Festival Bulgaria

Jaxon

Welcome to PokerNews' live coverage of the 2017 Cash Game Festival Bulgaria at Platinum Casino located just off the boardwalk and sand in Sunny Beach. The festival follows many successful stops earlier in the year in London, Slovenia, Tallinn, Gibraltar and Malta.

As is the case during all Cash Game Festivals, games will be available in any format you can think of — at stakes high and low for more than 120 straight hours. In addition, twice a day Cash Game Festival Commentator Brandon Allen and a variety of co-hosts will be hosting two live poker streams, which can be viewed on a 20 minute delay starting at 6 p.m. local time on the Cash Game Festival Twitch channel and in our PokerNews coverage.

Allen is especially excited thanks to the Cash Game Festival Twitch channel just receiving a subscribe button.

"This marks the one year anniversary of my commentating the live stream for the Cash Game Festival," shared Allen. "I am not only excited about returning for this reason, but this will be the first festival where our fans can subscribe to our Twitch channel."

Last year's Cash Game Festival Bulgaria went viral thanks to a heads-up prop bet between Cash Game Festival Co-founder Martin "Franke" von Zweigbergk and Estonian recreational poker player Janar Kokk. The winner of the match was able to choose where the loser would move to live for a month.

Martin "Franke" von Zweigbergk & Janar Kokk — Martin "Franke" von Zweigbergk and Janar Kokk

Kokk lost the bet and recently spent a month in the Polish town of Hrubieszów. The location was deemed to be a punishment by von Zweigbergk, however, Kokk was able to turn it into a reward. His trip was covered by all of the national media and near the end of his month a charity poker event was held.

There are many Cash Game Festival regulars planning to come to Sunny Beach for this Cash Game Festival, including Betsafe Ambassador Monika Zukowicz, "Trumulis", "Karolis" and Peter La Terra. These players are all known to love action both on and off the poker tables, so it wouldn't be surprising if another crazy prop bet. Also traveling from the United Kingdom after enjoying a festivals in the past are Peter Cox and James Simms.

Increasing the odds even more a prop bet is the fact the von Zweigergk is on the way in a Slowball car with Cash Game Festival regulars Kalle Fagerstrom, Kadi Kask and Petra Poola.

Slowball is another event created by von Zweigbergk that runs every two years. The event is one of a kind where old cars are renovated and then transformed into pieces of art by artists. This year there were 18 cars traveling through Estonia, Sweden and Finland.

Von Zweigbergk and others decided to take things to another level and are now traveling via a Slowball car for at least two days from Finland to Sunny Beach, Bulgaria.

The Cash Game Festival is more than about just poker. There are many activities planned for qualifiers and those with the hospitality package, including welcome drinks today at 5 p.m., a winery trip, go-carting, a world-class dinner, a VIP party and snorkling.

PokerNews will be on hand to report all the excitement for the 2017 Cash Game Festival Bulgaria. Stay tuned to our coverage which will begin around 5 p.m. local time when the festival officially kicks off.