The partypoker Grand Prix Bratislava Main Event Smashes the €500K GTD

The partypoker Grand Prix joined forces with the Bratislava Poker Festival powered by the Irish Poker Tour for six fantastic days of poker tournaments and cash games at one of the most spacious casinos in Europe at Card Casino Bratislava on July 18-23.

The festival has been a massive success with players hungry for the revival of the partypoker LIVE tour. Not only is the atmosphere full of fun and energy, but the partypoker Grand Prix €550 Main Event smashed its lofty €500,000 guarantee with 1,113 entries creating a €542,588 prize pool.

Late registration from Day 1f recently ended with Day 2 to follow at 4 p.m. with blinds starting at 2,500/5,000 with a 5,000 big blind ante. The payouts will be announced shortly after the start of play between the 239 players that survived during one of the first five opening flights along with the players that find a bag in the final opening flight.

Day 1e chip leader Oliver Schulze snagged the chip lead on Friday evening to begin the action with 865,000 (173 big blinds) with Day 1b chip leader Stanislav Tomov (785,000), Day 1c chip leader Kristian Saethre (675,000), Jasper van der Veen (600,500), and Daniel Nagy (509,500) rounding out the top five. Of course, it is possible that the top end of the leaderboard changes before the start of Day 2 pending the outcome of the ongoing Day 1f.

Meanwhile, four players hoisted trophies on Friday with Bulgaria’s Boris Angelov putting on a clinic in one of the largest Omaha tournaments in European poker history after defeating Jakub Koleckar (second – €26,000) heads-up in the €2,500 Omaha Euro Championship for €40,000. To make this even more impressive, Angelov qualified for this event for just €360 in a live rake-free sit-and-go taking place hours before the event began.

Angelov appeared calm, cool, and collected during the live-streamed T.V. table broadcasted the partypokerTV Twitch channel with partypoker commentator Jason Glatzer, PLO baller George Sandford, and overall poker beast Tomas “luckymo32” Geleziunas entertaining the masses while providing a unique insight on how to approach PLO tournaments. It was an impressive final table with nosebleed cash game player Patrik “TheHammerCrusher” Jaros (third – €18,000), Ladislav Popisil (fourth – €13,400), and Irish Poker Tour and Bratislava Poker Festival founder Fintan Gavin (fifth – €10,240) all finishing in the money.

Serbia’s Ozren Cvijanovic also notched his second-largest live tournament cash after winning the €1K One Dayer for €20,000. Czech Republic’s Marek Ohnisko won the €300 Omaha for €4,900, while England’s Roy Walker shipped the €150 NLH Turbo Freezeout for €3,200.

The partypokertv Twitch channel boasted a live stream all week long with an entertaining mixed of high-stakes cash games and a huge buy-in Omaha tournament. The final two days of the live-streamed action will focus solely on Day 2 and the final day of the epic partypoker Grand Prix Bratislava Main Event starting on Saturday, July 22 at 8 p.m. local time. Poker media guru and partypoker commentator Jason Glatzer will lead the way with plenty of entertaining and informative guests popping into the booth throughout the coverage.

July 19 (8:30 p.m.) – €5/€10 NLHE

July 20 (4:30 p.m.) – €50/€50 (optional €100 straddle) PLO

July 21 (6:00 p.m.) – €2,500 Euro Omaha Championship Final Table

July 22 (8 p.m.) – €550 Grand Prix Day 2

July 23 (2 p.m.) – €550 Grand Prix Final Day

If we didn’t already give you enough reasons to watch the stream, we have one more. We are celebrating the return of the partypoker LIVE tour with four amazing password-protected freerolls this week at partypoker for the partypoker MILLIONS Malta at the luxurious Portomaso Casino on Sept. 23 to Oct. 3. Each freeroll awards the top 120 players with the top two players snagging a ticket to one of the three Online Day 1s to the €1 million guaranteed partypoker Grand Prix €550 Main Event. Check out the prizes below:

· 1st – 2nd | – €550 | Malta Online Day 1 Ticket
· 3rd – 12th | – €22 | Malta Online Phase 2 Ticket
· 13th – 54th | – €4.40 | Malta Online Phase 1 Ticket
· 55th – 120th | – €1.10 | Malta Online Feeder Ticket

Be sure to tune into the stream not only for the amazing action but also to participate in the lucrative freerolls with the passwords shared each day at the partypokertv Twitch channel.

While most of the focus will be on the partypoker Grand Prix Bratislava, many other exciting events kick off their action today. The Irish Poker Tour NLHE boasts a €40,000 guarantee for just a €250 buy-in, while the second of three one-day €300 Pot-Limit Omaha events will also provide some action for four-card lovers.

Meanwhile, the two-day €3,000 High Roller kicks off its action today with players having a chance a few hours before to get into the action with a five-seat guaranteed €330 satellite.

Of course, cash games will continue to run 24 hours a day across a variety of games and stakes. Check out today’s tournament schedule below:

Time | Event | Buy-in | Guarantee
11 a.m. | partypoker Grand Prix 1f Fast | € 550 | € 500,000
3 p.m. | High Roller Mega Satellite | € 330 | 5x seats
4 p.m. | partypoker Grand Prix Day 2 | |
6 p.m. | Irish Poker Tour NLHE | € 250 | € 40,000
7 p.m. | High Roller Day 1 | € 3,000 | € 200,000
8 p.m. | Omaha 7-Max | € 300 |
9 p.m. | The Bratislava Cup Satellite | € 50 | 5x seat

Stay tuned for daily recaps of the partypoker Grand Prix and the Bratislava Poker Festival all week long here at partypoker.

Jason Glatzer