There’s no doubt that the 2025 Festival Rozvadov will go down in the poker history books. This may sound like a crazy claim, considering the event is currently on its fourth day. But there’s evidence to take this stance. The first weekend was all about the €150 Hendon Mob Championship (THMC).
The fuss about this tournament was indeed tangible; a €150 buy-in tournament with a €300,000 guarantee? Could that really be done? No doubt, it was an ambitious idea by Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk (founder of The Festival) and Roland Boothby (Head of Partnership at The Hendon Mob). In the end, though, it was nothing less than a slam-dunk success, and the lucky winner walked away with €51,300, The Festival winner’s portrait, the coveted THMC trophy, and a €1,500 Cape Town Millions package.
Records Shattered
As previously summarized by poker.pro, the tournament had eight starting flights in total, two of them being remote flights at King’s Casino, Prague. Overall, 2,417 entries were made in the tournament, which created a €304,542 prize pool. Such, the abnormally large guarantee (in relation to the buy-in) was surpassed.
| Date | Flight | Entries | Advanced to Day 2 | Collected |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 10 | Day 1a (Remote Flight, King’s Casino) | 71 | 9 | €10,650 |
| June 6 | Day 1a | 227 | 29 | €34,050 |
| June 6 | Day 1b | 313 | 39 | €46,950 |
| June 6 | Day 1b (Remote Flight, King’s Casino) | 96 | 12 | €14,400 |
| June 7 | Day 1c | 501 | 63 | €75,150 |
| June 7 | Day 1d | 533 | 66 | €79,950 |
| June 8 | Day 1e | 436 | 55 | €65,400 |
| June 8 | Day 1f | 240 | 30 | €36,000 |
In addition to reaching the guarantee, the tournament also became the biggest THMC event ever played in Europe when it surpassed 888 entries (which was the previous record, set during the 2025 Irish Poker Open). Some hours later, it also became the biggest worldwide when the tournament passed 1,605 entries (set during the 2023 RUNGOOD Poker Series at the Thunder Valley Casino Resort, Lincoln).
Each starting flight was played down to 12,5 % of the field. These lucky competitors were all guaranteed a €300 min-cash and bagged their chips for Day 2 (the final day), which was played June 8.
The Later Stage
In total, 296 players took their seats Day 2. There was a lot to fight for: top dollar, unique trophies, eternal poker glory, and sought live poker packages. Needless to say, the atmosphere was electryfying and the vibe was buzzing.
When the first break was reached roughly two hours into the tournament, more than half the field had been eliminated. Only 141 players remained, and the number of entries was still being reduced at a rapid rate.
Play continued, and when 66 players remained, two players had over five million in chips. Haik Tougu led the field with 5,800,000, and right behind him was Renata Onodyova. Onodyova was one of the few ladies still in the tournament, and at this point, she had great presumtions for a deep run; in fact, there’s never been a female winner of a THMC event earlier (Charlie Waters came close during the 2025 Irish Poker Open as she finished as the runner-up).
Undoubtedly, there was a lot of exciting and entertaining poker during this Sunday in Rozvadov. Tommaso Liberio won the biggest pot of the tournament (at that given point) when he took down a huge amount of chips with a bet on the flop. This secured him the chip lead at the next break, and soon enough, the tournament would be down to two tables.
The number of entries quickly went down from 18 to nine. There were some unbelievable hands at this stage in the tournament, for example, when Timo Trems and his pocket kings eliminated Tiago Martins, who had a pair of aces in his hand. One by one they fell, and when the nine remaining warriors were about to begin the final table around half past two in the morning, Philipp Klok was the chip leader.
The Last Dance
At the start of the final table, the tournament had already been going for nine hours. The Hendon Mob’s Roland Boothby congratulated all the remaining players on a great achievement, gave them THM sunglasses and patches, and reminded them that there was an added €1,500 Cape Town Millions package added up top for the winner. Then, Boothby and the poker.pro live coverage team called it a night, as the final table was live streamed on King’s Resort’s YouTube channel.
The first one to go out from the final table was Luca Venece. Seated in the Small Blind, he only had half of a Big Blind. He got it all in with 7♥5♣ against the pocket tens of Philipp Klok, and wasn’t able to produce a miracle.
Next one to bid farewell was the player referred to as “Sino”. UTG, he moved all in for seven Big Blinds holding K♣Q♥. Unfortunately for him, Adrianus Van Dongen woke up with pocket aces and eliminated the Italian. Shortly thereafter, Haik Tougu and Lukas Rath clashed all in. A flip situation saw Tougu taking down the pot, and doing so, he sent Rath to the rail in seventh place.
At this point, most players were super short, and Daniele Barbera was even forced all in from the Big Blind with J♣10♠. Four ways to the flop, the hand was checked down, and Barbera fell to the trip eights of Klok. Five players were left at this point, and then Van Dongen got involved in a hand against Tougu. Throughout Day 2, Van Dongen had been seen high up at the chip counts all day, but a rivered flush came up short against the full house of Tougu.
Even though getting it in as a favorite, the pocket nines of “Max Value” was cracked against the A♠9♣ holdings of Klok, as the board ran out J♠8♥5♠Q♠6♠. Three players left, then, and “Doofy Downswinger” was the shortest of the pack. Even though climbing and holding on for a while, he eventually was eliminated as his pocket fives came up short against Tougu who flopped a pair of Kings.
The stage was set for a heads-up battle between Klok and Tougu. The one-on-one finale would last 11 hands, before all the chips would go in the middle. Klok was the player at risk holding 10♥9♣, and he was up against the Q♠2♣ of Tougu. The board ran out K♥3♦A♥5♣4♣, and that settled it. Not only did Tougu claim the €51,300 first-place payout and the coveted The Hendon Mob trophy, but he also won the Cape Town Millions package, valued at roughly €1,500.
| Place | Player | Country | Payout |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Haik Tougu | Germany | €51,300 |
| 2 | Philipp Klok | Germany | €27,300 |
| 3 | “Doofy Downswinger” | Germany | €18,800 |
| 4 | “Max Value” | Germany | €13,700 |
| 5 |  Adrianus Van Dongen | Netherlands | €11,000 |
| 6 |  Daniele Barbera | Italy | €8,800 |
| 7 | Lukas Rath | Germany | €6,700 |
| 8 | “Sino” | Italy | €5,050 |
| 9 | Luca Venece | Italy | €3,600 |
That’s a wrap for the €150 THMC. There’s no doubt that it was the perfect start to the 2025 Festival Rozvadov, and considering all sorts of records were broken, new chapters in the poker history books have been written. Hats off to Franke and Boothby for creating a superb tournament.
