First nonstop Cash Game Festival will take place in Aspers

Aspers Casino Westfield Stratford City will become the host of the first in the history of the UK cash-game festival, which will take place from 30 March to 3 April, 2016.

Cash Game Festival is a 5-day event that is going to entertain 3,000 players during 120 hours nonstop. The players from about 50 countries will have a chance to try a huge range of games. The bets will be rather affordable, starting from £1/£1 and up you want. The games will run at the ordinary rate without any additional payments introduced to those who are gambling.

The owner of Poker Icons Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk is the person behind the event. He has already succeeded to organize 3 similar festivals in Tallinn, Estonia at the Olympic Casino during the last 2 years.

Commenting on the event, Franke said, “I’ve been involved in poker tournaments since 2006, and all the time I heard from cash-game players that it was a long way to travel to these tournaments only to bust, or asking why we couldn’t open the cash games earlier,” said Franke. “A friend of mine, Enri Orav, a professional poker player, suggested we do a cash-game festival. So basically, Enri and I created the Cash Game Festival. The concept is cash-game-only poker over several days and nights. It is our baby!”

Franke and his team got a lot of feedback from the previous festivals in Tallinn, so now he has a clear idea what should be improved and what the players want.

“When we last ran the Cash Game Festival in Tallinn, there were more alternative tables than hold’em,” said Franke. “Most were ‘super dealer’s choice,’ which means basically any game goes so long as the rules are understood by everyone at the table. ‘Sviten Special’ was extremely popular. It’s one of the most popular games in Northern Europe right now, and is a split game that is a hybrid of draw and Omaha. It is a super action game.”

“Also popular was triple-board Omaha, where you play four-, five-, or six-card Omaha with three boards and you have to win two of them. It’s safe to say, we left Texas 10 years ago!”

The gamblers will not only play games here, but will also be catered for. Franke told that the most popular stake in Tallinn was €5/€5, but here in London he expects that £2/£5, £5/£5 and £5/£10 will be among the most popular ones. But lower and higher stakes are also available.

The next stops of the Cash Game Festival will be Southern Europe and Malta. They chose Aspers for the UK leg due to its favorable location and excellent staff.

“Aspers is huge and it has an amazing poker room and amazing staff,” he said. “John Scanlon, the poker room manager, is a very well connected, professional worker, and that’s why we have chosen to work with him and his team. The Cash Game Festival is still in the beginning of its journey and you have to start building trust with the best of the best in the industry. If you do this, the results should be good.

“Also, the location of Aspers is fantastic. Its transport links are superb being only a few stops from both Shoreditch and Leicester Square. Visitors have a wide selection of accommodation and have easy access to entertainment like maybe going to a football match before returning to the casino for some more poker.”