The supply of live poker events in today’s climate is very vast. Every week, all year long, multiple events are running all over the world. When it all comes down to it, it’s players gathering around a 52-card deck; sometimes one must wonder, how much more creative can live operators get, and how can they make just their event unique?
One series that has really managed to become unique is The Festival. Founder Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk is a man with a vision, and he seems to have no shortage of new ideas to implement in his events. The Festival is aging like a fine wine, and this year, the series was more successful than ever before. It’s appreciated by players all over the world, and much to the poker community’s great pleasure, The Festival recently announced the dates for all its stops for the upcoming year. Every event is destined to please all its participants, and with four major stops, 2026 looks like a very promising year for live poker.
New Tournaments, New Locations, New Everything
Ever since its inaugural event in 2021, The Festival has consistently aimed to be a diverse live poker series, with the vision of appealing to all poker players, regardless of their preferred game or buy-in. To say they’ve steered the ship in the right direction would be an understatement; all Mixed Games lovers can enjoy Deuce-to-Seven, PLO, Open-Face Chinese, H.O.R.S.E, Sviten, and much more. Then, there are also sublime Texas NLH tournaments for the more traditional players, including, but absolutely not limited to, a €550 Main Event. The Festival keeps expanding its repertoire of disciplines; during the most recent stop in Bratislava, they held the first-ever European Championship of the Scandinavian household game Chicago, something that was an absolute slam-dunk success.
- Read more: Franke Channels Inner Sinatra to Create European Chicago Championship (+How to Play Chicago)
The Festival crew, with Franke at the steering wheel, didn’t want to keep its community on its toes. In conjunction with the wrap-up of their final event of 2025, they announced the calendar for the 2026 season. With four bigger stops, three weekend specials, and two online series on the iPoker network, all poker players have a lot of fun to look forward to in 2026.
Bratislava is where it all started in 2021, and it will also be where it all begins in 2026. The 2026 Festival Bratislava will be played February 23-March 1 at Banco Casino, Bratislava. The impeccable Banco Casino has recently transformed into a poker-dedicated card room, making it the perfect venue for card players. While the full schedule is yet to be released, some familiar tournaments have already been confirmed. The €550 Main Event will return, and one player who’d be very eager to capture the title is Sebastian Kotowicz. The Polack won the tournament during the 2024 edition, and just weeks ago, he cemented his position in The Festival’s Hall of Fame, as he became the first-ever back-to-back Main Event winner of the series. He’ll be going for the three-peat in 2026, and if he pulls it off, it’d be an absolutely unreal, astonishing achievement.
“One Main Event isn’t enough,” Franke must’ve been thinking a few years ago, as the €550 T.O.R.S.E.S. Main Event also has become a recurring feature on the tournament schedule. Combining Deuce-to-Seven Triple Draw, Omaha Hi-Lo, Seven-Card Stud, Stud Hi-Lo, and Sviten Special, T.O.R.S.E.S. is the ultimate discipline for all Mixed Games enthusiasts, and it definitely deserves its title as the Mixed Games Main Event. Sergii Baranov is the current champion of the game on Slovakian soil, and just like Kotowicz, he’s destined to return to Banco Casino in February to defend his title.
Last but not least amongst the three confirmed events, there’s the €250 Hendon Mob Championship (THMC). The relationship between The Festival and The Hendon Mob is strong and vital, and THMC has proven to be a very appreciated event, whether The Hendon Mob runs it in conjunction with another event (like The Festival) or as a standalone affair. In fact, the last THMC of 2025 concluded the prior weekend, with poker.pro on-site following the action.
Bratislava will be the first stop out of four major stops for The Festival in 2026, as previously mentioned. Just like this year, the event will be held in Malta and Rozvadov. The big news, though, is that they are returning to Tallinn and the Hilton Tallinn Park Hotel and Olympic Park Casino for the first time since 2022 (not counting their Sviten Special Weekend stop in July. Tallinn is, and always has been, a very popular city for live poker enthusiasts, and hearing that The Festival is returning to the Estonian capital is fantastic news.
Apart from the four big stops, The Festival will also run Weekend Editions in the three Baltic capitals: Riga, Tallinn, and Vilnius. There will also be two online editions on the iPoker network. This online poker network also offers players great opportunities to qualify for live events year-round.
Qualifiers are running across a wide range of iPoker rooms, including Champion Poker, Betsafe, Betsson, and Guts Poker, giving players from different regions plenty of routes to join the action.
| Tournament | Time (CET) | Buy-in | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesday Festival Final | 19:30 | €50 | €1600 package guaranteed, often doubled |
| Daily Satellite | 20:00 | €5 | Qualifies into the €50 Final |
| Wednesday Hyper Satellite | 18:00 | €3 | Last-minute shot before the Final |
€1,000 Welcome Bonus
Sign-up for the best Guts Poker deal!
The 2026 Festival Calendar
| Date | Event | Venue/Network |
|---|---|---|
| February 23-March 1 | The Festival Bratislava | Banco Casino, Bratislava, Slovakia |
| TBA | The Festival Online April | iPoker Network |
| May 28-31 | The Festival Weekend Vilnius | Olympic Casino, Vilnius, Lithuania |
| June 9-15 | The Festival Rozvadov | King’s Resort, Rozvadov, Czech Republic |
| July 1-5 | The Festival Weekend Tallinn | Olympic Park Casino, Tallinn, Estonia |
| September 3-6 | The Festival Weekend Riga | Olympic Voodoo Casino, Riga, Latvia |
| September 14-20 | The Festival Malta | Portomaso Casino, St. Julians, Malta |
| TBA | The Festival Online Autumn | iPoker Network |
| November 20-29 | The Festival Tallinn | Tallinn and the Hilton Tallinn Park Hotel and Olympic Park Casino |
The founding father, Franke, is beyond excited for another season of The Festival, and he confirms that the event indeed is still in development:
“The Festival 2026 brings in a lot of updates: seven stops, two new countries, an updated Player of The Series system, introduction of Player of The Year, more formats, introduction of the all-new €1100 buy-in The Festival 10-Game Mix, and of course, more trophies than ever before to be awarded both live and Online!”
It’s been said before, and it’s worth saying again: The Festival loves Mixed Games, and Franke is one of the biggest Mixed Games advocates out there. The brand-new 10-Game Mix has a buy-in that is sure to appeal to many high-stakes players, and Franke is convinced the tournament will be a nice complement to the schedule:
“The Festival 10-Game Mix, a two-day event with a €1100 buy-in, you say. What is that? Well, we added to our coming Bratislava event a smaller buy-in version of our Mixed Games Main Event called Baby T.O.R.S.E.S. (Supreme), so then why not also listen to the players who ask for a bit higher buy-ins too? And in true The Festival manner, we play the games we prefer, so here is the full list of the mix: Fixed Limit Deuce-to-Seven Triple Draw, Pot Limit Omaha, Fixed Limit Stud High-Low 8 or better, Fixed Limit Badugi, Big O (Pot Limit), Pot Limit Deuce-to-Seven Double Draw, Fixed Limit Stud, Fixed Limit Omaha High-Low 8 or better, Fixed Limit Sviten Special, and Fixed Limit Razz.”
The old saying goes, “There’s no need to reinvent the wheel.” Well, Franke is redesigning the wheel from the ground up, and the feedback he has received from players over the years speaks for itself. The 2026 Festival season is destined to shatter all records, and all card players – whether one’s preferred poison may be Texas NLH or various Mixed Games principles – should set their expectations sky-high.
