Day 1 of the 2017 Cash Game Festival Gibraltar at Sunborn Casino has been a huge success.
The day began with welcome drinks. Immediately after began a £1/£2 no-limit hold'em feature table. Players were enjoying the action so much, that festival organizers allowed many to return after a short-break. Most of the players did just that. Joining the action, however, was 2011 WSOP side event winner Hasan Alexander Anter.
Dom was the biggest winner on the feature table, taking home more than €800 in profit. However, there may be other players winning as big on side tables if not more including Betsafe Head of Poker Michael Robinson tripling up his buy-in in early action on the £2/£2 Sviten Special table.
Other players from previous Cash Game Festivals got into the action on the first day and plan on playing through the evening including John Scanlon, Janar Kokk, Veli-Matti Puumala, Niklas Blomqvist, Michael Michelin, Peter La Terra and Michael Fletcher.
Cash Game Festival co-founder Martin "Franke" von Zweigbergk also played for many hours on the Sviten Special table. He was first ahead proclaiming that, "I am amazing at Sviten Special" before he wound up losing a few buy-ins.
At after midnight., the action was still running strong with four tables in action. Many players shared they plan to play through the evening. The record for the most cash game tables running simultaneously at the casino is six and based off today's action a new casino record will likely be established before the festival is in the books.
Tomorrow's activities off the felt begin very early with a morning and afternoon whale and dolphin watching on a boat taking off about an hour away from Gibraltar in neighboring Spain. Players have been buzzing with excitement about the site seeing, while others plan to see some sites on the land on their own time instead before heading to the poker tables.
Stay tuned at PokerNews as the action unfolds through the 2017 Cash Game Festival Gibraltar.
Playing £1/£2 no-limit hold'em is something many players even if they normally play high stakes. After all, the game is fun and sometimes poker is meant to be social.
While many players on the feature table are familiar from today's earlier table, one new face casually joined them in Sweden's Hasan Alexander Anter.
Almost six years ago Anter won big on poker center stage during the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. He shipped a WSOP gold bracelet and almost $780,000 after winning a $1,500 no-limit hold'em WSOP side event in 2011.
This was only Anter's second career cash with his first coming days before in small-field event. Since then Anter recorded three different tournament cashes, with his biggest coming when he took eighth place in an EPT side event in London in October 2011 for £3,400.
Janar Kokk and his wife Elora Kask have attended many Cash Game Festivals and have just arrived in Gibraltar for this festival.
Kokk is one of the more animated players during Cash Game Festivals lost a prop bet during the Cash Game Festival Bulgaria in August against Martin "Franke" von Zweigbergk.
It is almost time for Kokk to pay the price as he will be exiled to the Polish village of Hrubieszów, located on the Ukrainian border to live for one month between May 31 and June 30 as a "punishment" or sorts.
What turned out to be a punishment may be a story of a lifetime for Kokk as Polish local and national media have been in touch with him after the story went viral at PokerNews. Additionally, the mayor recently offered Kokk a personalized tour and they may be holding a poker tournament in his honor.
While Hrubieszów may not be a household name for many, a big name in poker is originally from the village in World Series of Poker gold-bracelet winner Henry Orenstein, who now lives in New Jersey.
Orenstein worked his way to success in the United States and became a millionaire as a toy maker. He also founded Topper Toys and was able to convince Hasbro to produce Transformers, his patented product.
Orenstein had a huge impact on poker as well. Among his many patents included the ability to detect and display hole cards in poker games in the United States. Many believe this is what led to the success of poker on television.
He was also the executive producer of Poker Superstars Invitational Tournament and produced the High Stakes Poker.
The first feature table is now in the books and Dom booked a big win of £813 on a £1/£2 no-limit hold'em table. On the flip side, Lithuania's Robertas had a rougher go at things and lost £690.
The next feature table should start in about 30 minutes.
Cash Game Festival co-founder Martin "Franke" von Zweigbergk's early start to the Sviten Special table has fizzled and is now down a few bucks. It probably doesn't help matters that Peter La Terra just sat next to him.
Franke's loss is someone else's gain. In this case it seems that Betsafe Head of Poker Michael Robinson has taken the most advantage and appreciates having Franke on the table.
Robinson posted on Facebook that he is "Three buy-ins up. Martin "Franke" von Zweigbergk money - the best sort."
Robinson bought in for €100, so three buy-ins currently give him a quick profit of €300. Sviten Special is a swingy game and as Franke can attest to, profit isn't booked until one steps away from the table.
Following three successful stops this year in London, Nova Gorica, Slovenia and Tallinn, the Cash Game Festival is about to kick off its fourth stop of 2017 at Sunborn Casino in Gibraltar for five days of nonstop cash game poker on May 17-21.
Sunborn Casino is located on a seven-story yacht which acts as a hotel and casino. The festival will take place in the downstairs ballroom, which will host more than 10 tables simultaneously.
Most of the tables will likely be no-limit hold'em and pot-limit Omaha, any game requested will be catered to by the festival's organizers and casino's staff.
Past festivals have included super dealer's choice where any game goes, open-face Chinese Poker, Sviten Special (also known as Drawmaha) and variations of super stud high-low which have included wild cards. There have even been games played where players put cards on their heads and can only see their opponents' cards and not their own.
Additionally, there will be a handful of players attending the festival thanks to Cash Game Festival VIP packages they won online at Betsafe and Guts.
Each day, Brandon Allen will host the two televised feature tables and players will also have plenty of opportunities to enjoy themselves away from the poker tables with plenty of fun activities planned by the festival organizers. Early today, many players have been witnessed around both Gibraltar and the border towns in Spain enjoying the almost perfect weather with some sharing they are anxious to play poker later in the day.
The Cash Game Festival Gibraltar officially kicks off at 5:30 p.m. CEST (4:30 p.m. BST) with welcome drinks inside the poker room. Shortly afterward, the first of two daily televised tables start at 5:40 p.m. CEST (4:40 p.m. BST) and will be streamed on a 20-minute delay with stakes at £1/£2 no-limit hold'em on the Cash Game Festival Twitch channel as well as will be broadcasted across multiple media outlets including PokerNews.
The stakes are planned to go up to £5/£5 no-limit hold'em for the second feature table later in the day. This table will also be broadcasted on a 20-minute delay at 8:40 p.m. CEST (7:40 p.m. BST).
There are plenty of other activities planned for the players that won packages to the event and players purchasing the hospitality package including a dolphin and whale sightseeing boat trip, a city tour, a world-class dinner and a VIP party.
Stay tuned as the PokerNews Live Reporting team will be covering the festival with player interviews and recaps each day during the festival.
