There’s always a lot going on in the world of poker, but perhaps an extra intense period is coming up. Things will be especially hectic for the founder of The Festival, Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk. While he’s looking forward to participating in Teddy’s birthday bonanza in Tallinn in a couple of weeks, he’s also working around the clock preparing for the upcoming 2025 Festival Bratislava. On top of that, he’s still on cloud nine after claiming a title in the 2025 Norwegian Poker Championship, writing history doing so. This poker.pro live reporter had a small chat with Franke, talking about everything on the horizon.
Godt spilt i Norge
I reached Franke early in the morning on October 8. Even though the Estonian-resident Swede is a busy man, he spared me 30 minutes of his valued time, something poker.pro is very grateful for.
First and foremost, I had to congratulate Franke on his legendary win in the 2025 Norwegian Poker Championship. Being a close friend to the Norwegian poker community, Franke visited the fjord nation and participated in the open events during the championship. When all was said and done, he’d edged his name into poker history, becoming the first-ever non-Norwegian winner to win a legal poker event on Norwegian soil. He finished first out of 312 runners in the NKr2,500 PLO Mystery Bounty. Not only did he claim the NKr51,250 first-place prize (which roughly translates to €4,400), but on top of that, he also knocked out a swarm of players and secured 11 out of 39 mystery bounties.
What is so hard to grasp about this win is that it was a Freezeout tournament. Those who are familiar with Franke should know that he is well-known for firing bullet after bullet; presumably, there’s never been a poker event where you haven’t heard him scream ”Rebuy!” across the venue. For example, once during the Polish Championship at Banco Casino, Bratislava, he made 14 rebuys in the €400 High Roller (this was during the time Franke “drank his tea strong”; he’s been sober for eight months now).
Nevertheless, he managed to conquer his Norwegian opponents, and it’s a win that Franke is very proud of:
“For the past three years, there have been side events at the Norwegian Poker Championship where foreigners are allowed to participate. Until my win, only players waving the Norwegian flag had won all side events. Then, suddenly, a Swede who resides in Tallinn comes in and wins. My win got much attention in the Norwegian media, which was fun. I now have a Finnish Championship title, a Swedish Championship title, and an Estonian Championship title; I wish this one had been a certified Norwegian Championship event. There can’t be many players out there who have four national titles.”
The tournament win during the 2025 Norwegian Poker Championship isn’t the only success Franke’s had at the tables recently. The week before, at the 2025 Festival Malta (his own event), he managed to become Player of the Series thanks to four awe-inspiring results (where his second-place finish in the €1,000 Open-Face Chinese High Roller was the most impressive one). Winning Player of the Series at his own event is quite the feat; during The Festival events, players get more points, and the better they finish in the various tournaments, but you also acquire points just by registering for tournaments. In all fairness, though, even if you wouldn’t count the participation points, Franke still would have finished first on the leaderboards by some margin. Could the reason behind Franke’s success perhaps be that he abandoned the strong tea?
Teddy’s Birthday Bonanza
Franke’s currently back home in Tallinn, and his next adventure is the birthday party of poker.pro owner Teddy Bremseth. The Norwegian poker entrepreneur will celebrate his fiftieth birthday in stellar fashion in the Estonian capital; between October 23-28, he’ll host a poker event for the ages at the luxurious Bombay Club in Tallinn. One of the highlights of the event will be a heads-up battle between Ossi “Monarch” Ketola and Kayhan Mokri, which is anticipated to be the biggest one-versus-one poker showdown of all time with buy-ins exceeding the one million mark.
Being a close friend of Teddy, Franke obviously wants to be involved in the festivities. During the same dates, the Chesterfield Club will also offer various tournaments that may be more appealing to low rollers. The €250 Mystery Bounty with a €25,000 guarantee will be the star of the show, and to express his gratitude towards Teddy, Franke has added a package to the upcoming 2025 Festival Bratislava (which will be played November 18-24 at Banco Casino, Bratislava) to the prize pool.
This won’t be the only chance to win a package to the 2025 Festival Bratislava during Teddy’s birthday week, though, as Franke has arranged the first-ever live satellite to The Festival event. The €100 Satellite is scheduled for October 25 at Chesterfield, and this isn’t your ordinary satellite; a certain percentage of the buy-in will go to cover the package, and the remaining money will go into an ordinary prize pool. Franke’s certain the value in this satellite will be off the charts.
Highlighted Tournaments at Chesterfield During Teddy’s Birthday Party
| Date | Time | Event |
|---|---|---|
| October 24 | 18:30 | €250 Mystery Bounty Day 1 (€25,000 Guaranteed + Added the 2025 Festival Bratislava Package) |
| October 25 | 18:00 | €100 Satellite to The 2025 Festival Bratislava (One Package Guaranteed) |
| 18:30 | €250 Mystery Bounty Day 2 (Final Day) |
The 2025 Festival Bratislava – The Holy Tournament Trinity
Speaking about the upcoming 2025 Festival Bratislava, this will be the fifth and final The Festival stop of this year. The Festival is Franke’s baby, and his brain is working around the clock in order to keep improving the event at every stop. This time will be no different, and indeed, there is some news coming.
The biggest one may be the first-ever international Chicago tournament. Chicago is a Swedish household game that has been played in the Ikea Nation for decades, and now, players from all over the world will get the chance to participate in what is arguably one of the most fun card games.
The €125 Chicago Championship event offers eight starting-day flights, ranging from November 18-21, before Day 2 (i.e., the final day) is scheduled on November 22. The rules for the games are the ones that the Swedish Poker Federation has been using since 2016. Fun fact: the first-ever Chicago event was won by Anders “Bengan” Bengtsson, the guy who invented another popular Swedish game, Sviten. Of course, this five-card draw/PLO hybrid discipline will also have its own tournament during the 2025 Festival Bratislava, in the form of the €250 Sviten Special one-day event.
Chicago and Sviten are two out of the three games that will, as Franke himself says, “celebrate poker as a social game, not just a grind.” The third will be the €250 Open-Face Chinese Pineapple event on November 20. The poker.pro editorial office actually gave this game its fair share of attention a couple of weeks ago, when Riko Koivurinne won the €350 Open-Face Chinese Pinapple Ring Event during the 2025 WSOP Circuit Tallinn (he defeated German Fabian Bartuschk heads-up, just as he did during the 2025 Irish Poker Open).
One could argue that Franke has more balls in the air than the most prominent jugglers in the entire world, and this poker.pro journalist begins to wonder if he has more than 24 hours in his day. Nevertheless, his never-ending drive in the poker community must be admired, and every creative move he makes seems to be very appreciated by all players. A round of applause for Franke’s recent successes at the tables and the whole team at poker.pro wishes him the best of luck, both in Tallinn, battling it out against some legends of the game, but also for the upcoming 2025 Festival Bratislava.
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