2018 Cash Game Festival Bratislava
Day 1 Completed
2018 Cash Game Festival Bratislava
2018 Cash Game Festival Bratislava
Day: 1
Unibet Ambassador David Lappin Shines on Day 1 of the Cash Game Festival Bratislava
The 2018 Cash Game Festival Bratislava at Banco Casino Bratislava kicked off to a great start with an amazing and fun day both on and away from the poker felt.
The festival began in the late afternoon with a welcome drinks ceremony with many players enjoying some early champagne to help break into the spirit. Shortly after, the first televised feature table, commentated by the British duo of Henry Kilbane and George Sandford, began with players battling it out in €1/€2 no-limit hold'em.
Unibet Poker Ambassador and the co-host of The Chip Race podcast David Lappin, well-known for his prowess in tournaments and sit-and-go's, showed he isn't a one-trick pony by winning €651 or 325.5 big blinds. This was the most profit at the table and in terms of big blinds was the most profit at either of the two feature tables.
Lappin's big day was catapulted by a hand where he was able to win a four-digit pot with aces against kings with stacks in the middle before the flop. Lappin shared some of his insight into the hand in a live video on Facebook below.
Italy's Luca Sebastiani was the star of the show at the second €2/€5 no-limit hold'em feature table by winning a table high of €1,688 or 317.6 big blinds. While Lappin did win slightly more big blinds than Sebastiani, the Italian does get the honors of winning the most cash at either feature table during the opening day of the festival.
As will be the case every day during the festival, live streaming is scheduled at lower stakes at 6:00 p.m. and higher stakes at 9:00 p.m. local time. You can watch all the action on the Cash Game Festival Twitch channel and under the Live Stream tab in our coverage.
Stay tuned at PokerNews as the festival has just begun and will continue to grow as the weekend approaches.
Luca Sebastiani Wins Big at the Later Feature Table
Italy's Luca Sebastiani faced off against an active and tough €2/€5 no-limit hold'em feature table and came out on top by winning €1,688 or 317.6 big blinds.
While this puts him at the most profit overall so far at feature tables, it is slightly behind the 325.6 big blinds won by Unibet Poker Ambassador David Lappin.
Although the feature tables are both in the books, there is plenty of action taking place around the poker room across a variety of games and stakes. In addition. many other players are gathered in the bar lounge area catching up with old friends from previous events.
Nick Diaz in the House
The brains behind 32Red Poker and the man that runs the show Nick Diaz arrived in Bratislava to attend his second consecutive Cash Game Festival. Diaz has been with 32Red for 15 years and has immediately found his place in the Cash Game Festival family with players loving the calm and cool vibe he naturally brings.
Diaz began working at 32Red straight from university and he has never looked back.
"I finished university studying languages and applied for a summer job at 32Red," Diaz said to PokerNews. "I got the job on the basis I was going to apply my language skills and translate. I eventually got into poker side of things because to me it's a fun game."
Language skills were just the beginning of what Diaz brought to the table for 32Red. His ability to solve any and all issues that arose on the poker side guided his path to where he is now.
"We had a small support team and all the poker queries came to me," Diaz shared. "The team waited for me to come on shift to wait for these types of emails and issues. The operations director at the time asked me if I wanted to take on being the poker manager and I said yes. That's how it all started."
Diaz has had several poker management rolls at 32Red. Now he is a one-man show running the poker product for the online gaming company.
"I then went from poker manager to poker operations manager to poker marketing manager," said Diaz. "So, yeah, I officially run poker for 32Red."
Diaz shared that they have always been able to offer live entertainment suitable for tournament players and they have experimented in the past for sit-and-go players. However, cash game players make up an important part of the mix at 32Red Poker and until the Cash Game Festival there was nothing offered for this group of players.
"Cash games are one of the most important activities we have in terms of revenue and also in terms of what players enjoy," said Diaz. "We catered already for too many players for live tournaments and not anything for cash game players."
It also didn't hurt that the charismatic Martin "Franke" von Zweigbergk is the festival's co-founder.
"As soon as I heard about the Cash Game Festival, I immediately became interested and immediately wanted in," said Diaz. "I met the co-founder Martin "Franke" von Zweigbergk and we quickly hit it off."
The first collaboration between 32Red Poker and the Cash Game Festival took place during the Cash Game Festival London earlier in the year. Thanks to its big success, the partnership has grown bigger.
"We tested the waters during the last Cash Game Festival in London and we went fully all-in offering 10 packages for Bratislava," said Diaz. "One of the promotions was a biweekly leaderboard where we gave away two packages every two weeks along with €1,000."
The most active players aren't the only ones to be awarded as anyone can win Cash Game Festival packages in freerolls held once every three months at 32Red.
"In addition, I am giving a chance for all players to win packages," said Diaz. "We will try to host every three months a €5,000 freeroll where the top two winners can choose to attend a Cash Game Festival with a package valued at €1,500. In addition, another €2,000 in cash are awarded to others that cash."
Diaz thinks that the Cash Game Festival will only get bigger as time moves on.
"The festival does feel like it is something that will continue to grow," said Diaz. "Now that we have live entertainment for tournament and cash game players the next challenge is to find similar channels for sit-and-go and casino players."
Diaz plans to enjoy himself and got a head start tonight. This is his first-time in Bratislava and is just catching up with friends before hopping into site-seeing and of course playing some poker himself. We will catch up with Diaz later in the trip to see his impressions about the city and the Cash Game Festival Bratislava.
Day 1 Photos From Around the Room
Jon Kyte Cracks Aces
There has been tons of action on the €2/€5 no-limit hold'em feature table. A lot of it is being created by Norway's Jon Kyte. After losing a big hand he won one back at the expense of Italy's Andrea Iengo.
Iengo opened the button for €15 with 
. Luca Sebastian called from the small blind with 
before Jon Kyte three-bet to €75 with 
.
Iengo four-bet to €180. Sebastiani folded and Kyte called.
Kyte checked the 
rainbow flop before Lengo fired out for €250 into a pot that was already at €375. Kyte perhaps not knowing he was drawing to four outs or runner-runner kings or tens called.
The 
spiked the turn to give Kyte the nuts with a straight. Kyte checked before Iengo, who was drawing dead went all-in for €615. Kyte made the obvious call and collected a pot worth around €2,100 after the inconsequential 
completed the board on the river.
Feature Table Photos
Sviten Special Begins
It isn't a Cash Game Festival without Sviten Special, also known as Drawmaha making several appearances. Another checkbox can be ticked with Andro Loos, Peter La Terra, Ivelin Ganev, and Christoph Rueegg among the players competing at a €1/€2 table.
The game is a mix of five card draw and pot-limit Omaha. Play starts off with players receiving five hole cards before a round of betting takes place.
Then a flop is dealt followed by another round of betting. After betting is completed, players can choose to discard anywhere from zero to five cards. If they select only one card to discard it is face-up. The player can then decide to keep it or get another card for free which will be face down. Players asking for any other amount of cards will receive them face down.
Another betting round occurs after the turn is dealt followed by a final round of betting after the river hits the board. If a hand goes to showdown, half the pot will go to the best five card draw hand and half the pot will go to the player with the best pot-limit Omaha hand.
As you can imagine Sviten Special is an action game with pots also getting huge.
Chatting With David Lappin on Facebook
Jon Kyte Headlines Feature Table
The second feature table has just kicked off with stakes at €2/€5 no-limit hold'em. Among the players at the table is none other than Cash Game Festival record holder Jon Kyte for winning the most money at the most feature tables throughout all Cash Game Festivals.
Not only is Kyte a strong cash game player, but he is also a force to be reckoned with in tournaments. In December, he shipped the Nordic Poker Championships for €240,000. Since then he won an event at the Aussie Millions and the Irish Poker Open.
You can watch Kyte and others battle it out on a 20-minute delay on the Live Stream tab in our coverage or by heading to the Cash Game Festival Twitch channel.