History Made and Margins Tested at Festival Bratislava

Bratislava wasn’t subtle about making headlines this time. In a week packed with tournament action, leaderboard chases, and the odd quad-K for flair, The Festival Series wrapped up its 2025 season with a crescendo. 

Sebastian Kotowicz pulled off the unprecedented, back-to-back Main Event victories, while Ville Hakala finally turned Player of the Series heartbreak into a hair’s-breadth win. If you blinked, you missed history being made.

Let’s walk through what happened on and off the felt in Slovakia’s poker epicentre

The €550 Main Event drew a competitive field, but all eyes landed on one man: Sebastian Kotowicz. Having already won this very event before, Kotowicz returned to Banco Casino with one goal: defend the title. He didn’t just manage it. He dominated.

With this win, Kotowicz now tops The Festival’s all-time money list and enters 2026 with the rare pressure of chasing a threepeat in February.

While Kotowicz was making history on the feature table, another nail-biter unfolded in the Player of the Series race. For Ville Hakala, this was personal. Twice denied the title in previous Festivals, he arrived in Bratislava with something to prove and a schedule to grind. He entered 29 of the 32 events. Yes, 29.

Hakala needed to cash. He took fourth. That alone secured his win, barely. He ended on 156.25 points to Nalepka’s 150.5. The kicker? He didn’t even need the participation points he grabbed from registering OFC as backup.

While the top two dueled, “Bambi” quietly galloped his way to third place on the leaderboard. He won the Big O on the final day, which catapulted him into bronze position, just one point behind Nalepka. No surname, no problem. Bambi banked over €10K in prize money and made enough noise to be remembered.

Other closing highlights included Fabian Bartuschk snagging his third Festival OFC title in the €1,100 High Roller, solidifying his grip on that niche. Meanwhile, Callum Hornby booked himself a return trip to Bratislava by winning the Texas Low Roller for a package to the February stop.