2017 Cash Game Festival Slovenia
Day 1 Started
2017 Cash Game Festival Slovenia
Day 1 Started
The Cash Game Festival is about to begin its second stop of 2017 at Casino Perla in Nova Gorica, Slovenia, for five days of nonstop cash game poker on March 8 to 12.
The festival expects to attract many players from Italy due to the casino's proximity to the Italian border. Although this marks the festival's first stop in the region, the structure of the festival will be similar to that of other Cash Game Festivals with nonstop cash games across a variety of limits and poker variants.
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 felt with plenty of fun activities planned by the festival organizers. Early today, many players have been witnessed around the town enjoying the almost perfect weather and shared they are looking forward to shuffling chips on the tables.
The Cash Game Festival Slovenia officially kicks off at 5 p.m. CET with welcome drinks inside the poker room. Shortly afterward, the first of two daily televised tables start at 5:40 p.m. CET and will be streamed on a 20-minute delay with stakes at €2/€2 pot-limit Omaha on the Cash Game Festival Twitch channel as well as will be broadcasted across multiple media outlets including PokerNews.
Later in the day, there will also be a second higher stakes televised feature table of no-limit hold'em with stakes at €2/€5 broadcasted on a 20-minute delay at 8:40 p.m. CET.
Other activities away from the tables include a side trip to Soca Fun Park on Thursday, a luxurious dinner at Restaurant Pikol on Friday, a VIP party at Pulse Arena on Saturday and a visit to the caves in the region on Sunday.
The PokerNews Live Reporting team will be covering the festival with player interviews and recaps of some of the most exciting action.
The Cash Game Festival Slovenia has just begun with players enjoying welcome drinks. Players came in from outside and headed to the Perla Poker Room located upstairs from the casino floor to celebrate the opening of the festival with champagne.
The first televised feature table is being set-up with the action set to begin at 5:40 CET on a 20-minute delay. You will be able to watch players battle it out in €2/€2 pot-limit Omaha on the Cash Game Festival Twitch channel or here on PokerNews.
Earlier in the day, some of the players headed outside of Casino Perla to across the border into Gorizia, Italy. Here's a look.
Cards are in the air on the first televised feature table of the day. You can watch players compete in €2/€2 pot-limit Omaha. The table is almost full of Cash Game Festival regulars.
Cash Game Festival co-founder Martin "Franke" von Zweigbergk is in Seat 1. Franke has a contagious laugh that brings everyone up throughout the poker room and is known for being good at many forms of poker despite him often referring to himself as a fish.
Viktoria Lundberg is a relatively new face on the Cash Game Festival, however, is likely one that we see much more of. She is the newest SlotsMillion pro who also recently began a vlog of her journey here and elsewhere on the My Little Slots Youtube channel.
Cash Game Festival regular Jack Fenton is in Seat 4. This marks his seventh straight Cash Game Festival with him attending every stop for the past 12 months. Fenton is known as a fierce opponent and has done well the last few festivals on the televised tables.
Finland's Mika Halmetoja in Seat 6 also has attended many Cash Game Festivals in the past. To warm up last night, he played in a small tournament at Perla Casino. During the tournament, he shared it was the first time that he played in a tournament in eight years and was looking forward to getting back to his preferred choice of ring games.
Sweden's Peter La Terra in Seat 7 is another Cash Game Festival regular. La Terra is fresh off the plane and already joking around. He shared that his favorite hand is his left hand. He should also find himself very comfortable in Slovenia as thanks to his ancestry, he is completely fluent in Italian. Since the casino is located on the Italian border, Italian is more spoken by the players than Slovenian.
Alexiou Kostas from Greece in seat 8 rounds off the action. Kostas' claim to fame in the poker world came almost a decade ago when he took fourth place in the 2008 EPT Prague Main Event for €199,000.
Just joining the feature table is Croatia's Igor Horvat in Seat 5.
Slotsmillions Ambassador Viktoria Lundberg has spent many hours on the poker tables in her life. However, much of that time as a dealer and not a player. Thus far she has been having fun in Slovenia despite not having much luck thus far on the poker tables.
Lundberg called a bet that put her all-in after Martin "Franke" von Zweigbergk raised the action to €100 putting him all-in as well. Peter La Terra potted the action to be all-in himself for €461 and Alexiou Kostas, who had everyone covered, called.
Von Zweigbergk:
Lundberg:
La Terra
Kostas:
No player caught a piece of the flop. However, the on the turn and the on the river completed a flush draw for at least two of the players. Kostas shipped a huge €1,100 pot after La Terra's mystery cards and the hands known by the other two players were unable to beat his queen-high flush with a better flush, a set or quads.
While both La Terra and von Zweigbergk reloaded, Lundberg who had a busy day away from the poker tables decided to take a break instead of dipping into her wallet for more action on the feature table.
The seat left open by Viktoria Lundberg didn't stay empty for long with Finland's Jukka Heikkinen taking her spot.
Heikkinen did not make any of the festivals in 2016, however, did make the 2015 Cash Game Festival in Tallinn before the tour went international. He came to Slovenia with two of his friends, who are both currently playing €1/€3 no-limit hold'em on a side table.
Here is a look at photos from the Day 1 €2/€2 pot-limit Omaha feature table.
Fresh off the feature table, SlotsMillion Ambassador Viktoria Lundberg is now instead commentating on the feature table action in the booth with Brandon Allen. You can check them out on the Cash Game Festival Twitch channel or here on PokerNews.
Here are some pictures of Lundberg from earlier today.