The Festival

A trip to The Festival is not unlike many other live poker events. However The Festival takes things just a little bit further than most live series, with tournaments based on casino games like blackjack and roulette. There is usually a sports betting competition as well and Padel tennis is another popular off-the-felt activity. The Festival’s founder Franke is the life and soul of the Festival and he likes to take part in poker tournaments and the special non-poker events that the tour has become famous for. Not only does he like to participate in them, he has a history of winning them too!

PokerWired is a media partner of The Festival and will be following the action closely, publishing news and event reports from every stop of The Festival in 2024.

Founded by a team fronted by Swede Martin “Franke” von Zweigberk, The Festival set about to run fun poker events with a difference, including casino game based tournaments as well as off-the felt activities such as shuffleboard, Padel tennis and even drinking games. The first outing for The Festival was in Bratislava in 2021, when 621 players turned out for the €550 main event. That was the sole event held in 2021, but in 2022 the tour added Tallinn to its roster and also returned to Bratislava for the second time. In 2023 the tour expanded even further, adding a stop in Malta and one in Nottingham, but dropping the Tallinn leg.

As mentioned, Franke has a knack of winning tournaments, especially the non-poker ones. At one edition of The Festival he scooped multiple titles, none of them for poker. However Franke can be a formidable opponent at the poker table as well and has many tournament cashes to his name. He’s a competitive gambling all-rounder. If he comes up to you at the bar and tells you that the jack of clubs in his hand is going to jump up and give you an earful of cider, don’t bet against it!