The PokerStars Festival which took place in Casino Schenefeld in Hamburg, Germany was the latest major poker congregation in the calendar with events for many players. It commenced on 17th November featuring seven tournaments which provided a wide spectrum of poker game for the participants of the festival. The number of German poker players was big and this resulted in six winners from Germany in the first six events, as well as a seventh winner from Switzerland, who claimed the throne at the closing event of the festival.
PokerStars provided the players with a total of ten days of game and this resulted in many earnings for the most proficient ones among them. The first winner in the festival was Reinhard Nack, who dominated the three-day €330 No-Limit Hold’em Hamburg Poker Cup event. He defeated a total of 400 players and laid his hands on some €20,000 which were amassed thanks to the generous prize pool amounting to €116,400. Almost parallel to that event ran the €220 No-Limit Hold’em PokerStars Open #3 which draw 450 players ready to participate. The total prize pool managed to swell to €87,300 and the lucky player who climbed the first place on the leader board was Nebojsa Musulin winning €13,020.
The third event in the rich schedule of the festival was the one-day €440 Pot-Limit Omaha #6. There were as many as 93 players willing to take part in it, which resulted in a total prize pool amounting to €32,204. Jascha Ahmadi reached the first place and bagged €8,234 for his excellent performance. Right after the end of this event began the next one, namely the highly-anticipated €2,200 No-Limit Hold’em PokerStars Festival High Roller #8. There was a total of 100 players willing to reach the top positions on the leader board and this resulted in a prize pool amounting to €174,600. The player who sent most of the participants home was Andre Haneberg and for his deep run in the tournament he received €46,380.
The 22nd November saw the start of the fifth event which was a five-day one and this happened to be the €1,100 No-Limit Hold’em PokerStars Festival Main Event #10. The culminating tournament in the schedule of the festival boasted a guaranteed prize pool amounting to €500,000 which was quickly swelled to €549,990 due to the big interest towards the event. There were as many as 567 entries and the best among them proved to be Ulrich Pauls, who received the Main Event trophy, as well as the first-place prize amounting to €105,850.
In the meantime there was another two-day event in progress, the €330 No-Limit Hold’em DeepStack #13 which attracted 238 entries. With their combined efforts the prize pool reached €69,258 and this worked well for the poker player who demonstrated the highest level of proficiency among the participants. Thorben Vellrath from Germany laid his hands on €13,958 first-place prize. The final event of the PokerStars Festival Hamburg was a single-day one and, as it happened to be, the only one which sent the big cash to a player from another country. Swiss player Chris Cajochen dominated the field at the €275 No-Limit Hold’em Big Sunday Monster Hyper Turbo #14 and managed to outplay 113 other participants. With a prize pool estimating to €27,402, Cajochen bagged €6,902 at the end of Sunday.
PokerStars Festival Highlights throughout 2017
This is the last PokerStars Festival for this year, but the previous eleven months saw a lot of action around the globe. The first one was back in March at the famous King’s Casino in Rozvadov, the Czech Republic, which is a well-known location for many poker enthusiasts. Chile was next on the list to welcome the game loved by many in May, but probably the busiest month in the schedule was the month of July. Parallel PokerStars Festivals were in progress in Korea, at the new Paradise City, Incheon complex, as well as Lille, Manila, and Bucharest, offering players across the world with the chance to participate in premium poker tournaments. The next stop of the Festival is going to be London and poker action is scheduled to commence on 22nd January 2018.
