Betsafe Ambassador Monika Zukowicz from Poland is now making her third straight visit to the Cash Game Festival after having good times both on and off the poker tables in Gibraltar and Malta.
As always, Zukowicz is full of smiles. After saying hello to everyone in her Cash Game Festival family she could find and giving most a big hug, she headed off to a €1/€2 no-limit table.
Zukowicz was joking that the players on her table are scared of her.
"I sat down to a full table and now we are down a couple of players," said Zukowicz. "I think they are scared of me," she said before giving away she was joking by smiling from ear to ear.
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.
There are currently four low-stakes no-limit hold'em tables running. This number is expected to grow fast with players sharing they want to start their session after they ate dinner.
The buffet at the Platinum Casino is one of the biggest bargains you will see anywhere costing just four Bulgarian Lev or around two Euro.
Cash Game Festival regular Michael Fletcher, who flew out to Bulgaria yesterday with his friend Lou just walked out of the buffet with full stomachs. Fletcher couldn't believe how cheap it was sharing that it is a big bargain and that in Las Vegas it would be a minimum of ten-times the cost. Fletcher also explained he plans to eat at the buffet all week.
United Kingdom's Peter Cox has quickly become a Cash Game Festival regular. His first ever Cash Game Festival wasn't too far where he lived in London. A few months later, Cox came to the Cash Game Festival Malta in June before popping up in Sunny Beach for some poker and the sunshine.
He joined a table of tourists and recreational players playing €1/€2 no-limit hold'em.
Daniel Straume is a player we will keep an eye out during the 2017 Cash Game Festival Bulgaria. He won this year's “Norgesligaen” promotion (Norwegian Online Tournament League hosted by NordicBet), where he bested over 200 other players to win a spot on Team NordicBet. He was awarded four live event packages and opted to choose the Sunny Beach, Bulgaria stop for his Cash Game Festival package.
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.
Players have been waltzing into the casino to enjoy welcome drinks to kick off the festival and we will share photos later in the coverage.
Meanwhile, the televised feature table is being set-up with stakes at €1/€2 no-limit hold'em. We will share the line-up along with a little information about each player shortly after the stream kicks off.
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 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.
