Massive congratulations to Petre Ionescu – the winner of the first edition of the United Poker Festival!
The Romanian beat a record-breaking field of 1,411 entries to win the trophy and the prize of €51,000.
The Main Event of the festival had a total of 15 starting days in 3 different countries: Bulgaria, Romania, and North Macedonia.
The schedule of the festival consisted of 6 side events such as High Roller, Mystery Bounty, PLO event, and others. United Poker Festival attracted players from Israel, Serbia, North Macedonia, Romania, Greece, Malta, Poland, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Portugal, Moldova, and, of course, Bulgaria.
Top three Main Event finalists
Winner – Petre Ionescu from Romania
Second place – Petar Georgiev from Bulgaria
Third place – Tsvetelin Stefanov from Bulgaria
Final table players
In an interview after the tournament, Petre Ionescu shared that it’s his first time visiting Bulgaria but he will surely come back again.
Check out the final table ranking:
- Petre Ionescu – Romania – €51,000 (deal)
- Petar Georgiev – Bulgaria – €38,000 (deal)
- Tsvetelin Stefanov – Bulgaria – €21,000
- Silviu Baltateanu – Romania – €14,874
- Danail Penchev – Bulgaria – €11,000
- Shraga Vrubel – Israel – €9,000
- Atanas Georgiev – Bulgaria – €7,500
- Atanas Atanasov – Bulgaria – €6,300
- Rami Koren – Israel – €5,200
The tournament’s prize pool surpassed the guaranteed €250,000, reaching the impressive €307,950. A total of 131 players were in the money.
Casino International – Golden Sands hosted the event and took excellent care of the thousands of participants of the United Poker Festival, showing once again why this is one of the best places to play poker in Bulgaria.
Side Events Recap
Side Event #1: 6-max Hold’em
Winner: Boris Basin – Israel
Prize: €2,100
Entries: 41
Prize pool: €7,175
Final ranking:
- Boris Basin – Israel – €2,100 (ICM deal)
- Predrag Pavisic – Serbia – €1,950 (ICM deal)
- Sotir Gochev – Bulgaria – €1,685 (ICM deal)
- Svetlin Penev – Bulgaria – €740
- Leonid Trostianetsky – Israel – €500
- Nikolay Savov – Bulgaria – €200 (bubble deal)
Side Event #2: Bounty
Winner: Ivelin Pavlov – Bulgaria
Prize: €3,165 + bounty
Entries: 130
Prize pool: €51,220
Final ranking:
- Ivelin Pavlov – Bulgaria – €3,165 + bounty
- Vanja Ilic – Serbia – €2,050 + bounty
- Viktor Popov – Bulgaria – €1,500 + bounty
- Kostadin Kostadinov – Bulgaria – €1,150 + bounty
- Simeon Todorov – Bulgaria – €925 + bounty
- Yahia Dahmani – France – €750 + bounty
- Metodi Peichev – Bulgaria – €460 + bounty
- Rafael Gerassy – Israel – €360 + bounty
- Ivailo Valev – Bulgaria – €300 + bounty
- Aleksandar Georgiev – Bulgaria – €250 + bounty
- Svetlin Penev – Bulgaria – €250 + bounty
- Zhivko Shopov – Bulgaria – €250 + bounty
- Martin Ganchev – Bulgaria – €200 + bounty
- Ziv Oz – Israel – €200 + bounty
- Gheorge Velea – Romania – €200 + bounty
Side Event #3: Mystery Bounty
Winner: Deyan Petrov – Bulgaria
Prize: €5,085 + bounty
Entries: 170
Prize pool: €49,470
Final ranking:
- Deyan Petrov – Bulgaria – €5,085 + bounty (after a 5-way deal)
- Moti Fahima – Israel – €3,000 + bounty (after a 5-way deal)
- Sharon Cohen – Israel – €3,000 + bounty (after a 5-way deal)
- Anonymous – Israel – €3,000 + bounty (after a 5-way deal)
- Georgi Dimitrov – Bulgaria – €3,000 + bounty (after a 5-way deal)
- Leonardo Terlizzi – Bulgaria – €1,200 + bounty
- Simeon Ivanov – Bulgaria – €900 + bounty
- Anonymous – Israel – €725 + bounty
- Vladislav Bakalov – Bulgaria – €575 + bounty
- Georgi Harasimov – Bulgaria – €450 + bounty
- Dimitar Kostov – Bulgaria – €450 + bounty
- Borislav Shishkov – Bulgaria – €450 + bounty
- Danail Balkanski – Bulgaria – €350 + bounty
- Gideon Cohen – Israel – €350 + bounty
- Danail Zhelev – Bulgaria – €350 + bounty
- Anonymous – Bulgaria – €350 + bounty
- Ivailo Slavov – Bulgaria – €300 + bounty
- Anonymous – Israel – €300 + bounty
- Tihomir Kitanov – €300 + bounty
- Martin Ganchev – €300 + bounty
- Naor Bushari – €300 + bounty
Side Event #4: High Roller
Winner: Miroslav Rizov – Bulgaria
Prize: €17,500
Entries: 70
Prize pool: €61,110
Final ranking:
- Miroslav Rizov – Bulgaria – €17,500
- Johnny Hofseth – Norway – €11,000
- Iliya Yordanov – Bulgaria – €7,500
- Aharon Arbeli – Israel – €6,400
- Kiril Yordanov – Bulgaria – €5,310
- Ivelin Pavlov – Bulgaria – €4,300
- Ran Shahar – Israel – €3,600
- Monika Nikolova – Bulgaria – €3,000
- Simeon Tsonev – Bulgaria – €2,500
Side Event #5: PLO
Winner: Dimitar Kostov – Bulgaria
Prize: €3,450
Entries: 85
Prize pool: €14,841
Final ranking:
- Dimitar Kostov – Bulgaria – €3,450 (deal)
- Vladimir Velikov – Bulgaria – €2,635 (deal)
- Anonymous – Bulgaria – €2,650 (deal)
- Preslav Georgiev – Bulgaria – €2,295 (deal)
- Meir Lang – Israel – €1,100
- Momchil Tomov – Bulgaria – €800
- Ivailo Popov – Bulgaria – €600
- Kamen Marinov – Bulgaria – €500
- Yordan Mitev – Bulgaria – €441
- Simeon Ivanov – Bulgaria – €400
Side Event #6: Deepstack
Winner: Peretz Madmon – Israel
Prize: €5,500
Entries: 79
Prize pool: €20,698
Final ranking:
- Peretz Madmon – Israel – €5,500 (deal)
- Simeon Todorov – Bulgaria – €4,400 (deal)
- Marin Tsenov – Bulgaria – €2,750
- Nikolai Stankov – Bulgaria – €2,020
- Krasimir Krastev – Bulgaria – €1,530
- Lior Levi – Israel – €1,280
- Anonymous – Norway – €1,050
- Dimitar Kukushkov – Bulgaria – €870
- Boris Basin – Israel – €710
- Yossef Fitoussi – Israel – €579
United Poker Festival will return for a second edition in 2024. More info coming soon!