Estonia's Haik Tougu Wins Record-Breaking THMC in Rozvadov (€51,850)
The Festival Rozvadov has been running for less than a week at King's Resort in the Czech Republic, yet it has already broken a record. The €150 buy-in Hendon Mob Championship (THMC) served as the series' opening event, and what better way to welcome players to The Festival than by smashing the THMC's long-standing attendance record.
Martin "Franke" von Zweigbergk, founder of The Festival Series, is not a man who does things by halves. There were many who thought Franke had gone too far when he put a €300,000 guarantee on the THMC Rozvadov prize pool, not least because the tournament cost only €150 to enter.
However, Frankie's confidence in hitting the ambitious guarantee paid off when 2,417 players bought in across several flights and created a €304,542 prize pool! The massive field first broke the record for the best-attended European THMC event before obliterating the world record, set during the RUNGOOD Poker Series Checkpoint Thunder Valley in July 2023, when 1,605 players battled it out for the title.
THMC Rozvadov Final Table Results
| Rank | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Haik Tougu | Estonia | €51,300 |
| 2 | Philipp Klok | Germany | €27,300 |
| 3 | Anonymous | €18,800 | |
| 4 | Anonymous | €13,700 | |
| 5 | Andrianus Van Dongen | Netherlands | €11,000 |
| 6 | Daniele Barbera | Italy | €8,800 |
| 7 | Lukas Rath | Germany | €6,700 |
| 8 | Anonymous | €5,050 | |
| 9 | Luca Venece | Italy | €3,600 |
Estonia's Haik Tougu will forever be known as the champion of the biggest-ever THMC Main Event, at least until someone breaks the record again. Tougu, who had a handful of cashes on his Hendon Mob profile before this event, walked away with a €51,300 haul, plus a €1,500 package to the upcoming Cape Town Millions later this year.
Once the tournament reached the heads-up stage, it only took ten hands for Tougu to come out on top. Tougu had 65 big blinds at his disposal compared to Philipp Klok's micro-stack of less than four big blinds. Looking down at queen-deuce, Tougu set Klok all-in, and Klok called with ten-nine. Tougu improved to an unnecessary five-high straight on the river to capture the title and leave his German opponent to console himself with a €27,300 runner-up prize.
Speaking to The Festival Series' host, Andreas Hoglund, after his victory, Tougu revealed he plans to invest some of his winnings back into poker and travel. Perhaps some of those winnings will find their way into the €550 buy-in, €500,000 guaranteed The Festival Rozvadov Main Event, which started on June 11 and wraps up on June 16.
