2023 Kings of Tallinn Sets the New Gold Standard
The 2023 Kings of Tallinn was a success by any measure, with attendance records broken for all major events at Olympic Park Casino and the adjoining Hilton Tallinn Park from Feb. 24 to March 5.
The festival boasted a massive schedule of 53 numbered events with buy-ins ranging from €60 all the way up to €3,000. This is on top of free satellites giving value to all our players regardless of their bankrolls.
While there was no shortage of hold’em events, there were other fun formats in pot-limit Omaha, Sviten Special, Open Face Chinese, Soko, 8-Game, and more. In addition, the schedule boasted not one but three mystery bounty events, including the popular new event, the €150 GGPoker Flip&Go Mystery Bounty Event.
1,361 unique players from 35 countries entered the Kings of Tallinn 2023 events 7,838 times, sharing a total prize pool of almost €2,3 million. The richest of all, obviously, was the record-breaking Main Event.
Priit Parmasto Keeps the Main Event Trophy in Estonia
Estonia’s Priit Parmasto agreed to a three-way deal with the Finnish duo of Petteri Laiho and Antti Vetelainen before winning the Kings of Tallinn €1,100 Main Event for €97,400. Laiho collected a bigger prize of €102,500 thanks to being the chip leader when the deal was agreed upon. However, he was unable to collect the additional €15,000 and the trophy left for the winner.
This marks the first time since the inaugural Kings of Tallinn Main Event back in 2015 that the trophy will stay home in Estonia. WSOP bracelet winner Ranno Sootla won that event.
The Main Event set the new gold standard as not only was the generous €500,000, a new record was set for the event with 716 entries creating a massive €673,040 prize pool.
Kimmo Fagerhold Defeats Anatoly Filatov in the High Roller
The €3,000 High Roller was another record-breaking event at the Kings of Tallinn, with 83 entries generating a €218,456 prize pool.
Two GGPoker Ambassadors were among the mix, including Niall Farrell and Anatoly Filatov. Farrell didn’t make the money in this event, but the reverse was true for Filatov. All eyes were on Filatov throughout Day 2 as he displayed the impressive skills he is known for in big events around the world and managed to advance to heads-up play against Finland’s Kimmo Fagerholm.
The Kings of Tallinn was the first live event for Fagerholm, but this didn’t stop him from defeating one of the game’s legends heads-up to win the title and the solid €63,156 top prize while leaving Filatov to settle for the healthy €43,200 runner-up payout.
Benjamin Gros Wins the €555 Championship
The €555 Championship was another massive success as it broke Kings of Tallinn records for this event, with 559 entries generating a massive €262,730 prize pool.
France’s Benjamin Gros was the star of the show. After more than 17 hours of play on the second and final day, Gros defeated Lithuania’s Rokas Barzdzius heads-up to win the massive €55,500 top prize. Remarkably, three Lithuanians made the final table. In addition to Barzdzius, Paulius Vaitiekunas (fourth place) and former Lithuania’s National Team goalkeeper Zydrunas Karcemarskas (fifth place) also contributed to a noticeable Lithuanian rail.
Meanwhile, the rail was even bigger for local Estonian hero Tarmo Tammel, who managed a podium third-place finish.
Bounties and Flips
The €150 GGPoker Flip&Go Mystery Bounty was a new innovative event that produced tons of excitement throughout the festival. The event featured 1-hand opening flights all week long, with 34 players flipping their way into Day 2 in the money and eager to collect mystery bounties. The prize pool also grew throughout the week and eventually capped out at 306 entries for a €37,293 prize pool.
While Keimo Souminen did manage to win the trophy along with the €4,130 top prize, fourth-place finisher Ranno Sootla can easily be described as the star of the show.
Sootla finished the day with a bang as not only did he collect the fourth-place prize of €1,450 but also took down the biggest bounty of €5,000, the second biggest bounty of €2,500. He also collected a €1,000 envelope and a €200 envelope for good measure.
The Kings of Tallinn 2023 is over, but the live poker season at the Olympic Park Casino and the Hilton Tallinn Park Hotel has just begun. Players may already start counting the days until the Summer Showdown festival, which will occur in July.
2023 Kings of Tallinn Results
Event #1: €60 NLH Kings of Tallinn Special
264 entries; €13,200 prize pool
Winner: Grigori Belimov (Estonia) – €3,012
Event #4: €120 NLH Independence Day Special
350 entries; €32,900 prize pool
Winner: Ralf Rogov (Estonia) – €4,910
Event #7: €555 NLH Championship
559 entries; €262,730 prize pool
Winner: Benjamin Gros (France) – €55,500
Event #8: €250 4-Card PLO 8-Max
100 entries; €20,680 prize pool
Winner: Marius Morel (Estonia) – €5,860
Event #10: €250 NLH Progressive Bounty
140 entries; €29,792 prize pool
Winner: Espen Sandvik (Norway) – €3,450 + bounties
Event #12: €250 PLO/PLO5 Progressive Bounty
148 entries; €31,494 prize pool
Winner: Ronny Albrigtsen (Norway) – €3,650 + bounties
132 entries; €27,298 prize pool
Winner: Onni Huttunen (Finland) – €6,820
106 entries; €12,953 prize pool
Winner: Lauri Niemi (Finland) – €3,480
Event #17: €150 GGPoker Flip&Go Mystery Bounty
306 entries; €37,293 prize pool
Winner: Keimo Suominen (Finland) – €4,130 + bounties
Event #18: €350 NLH Opening Event
208 entries; €61,589 prize pool
Winner: Jaakko Tirkkonen (Finland) – €14,600
Event #21: €250 NLH Short Handed 6-Max
158 entries; €32,674 prize pool
Winner: Jarmo Salonen (Finland) – €7,450
68 entries; €20,135 prize pool
Winner: Tuomas Roppanen (Finland) – €6,340
Event #24: €150 NLH Celebrity Special
331 entries; €40,448 prize pool
Winner: Mark Metsla (Estonia) – €7,585
Event #25: €440 4&5 Card PLO Mystery Bounty
117 entries; €43,992 prize pool
Winner: Sondre Lunde (Norway) – €5,800 + bounties
Event #27: €1,100 Kings of Tallinn Main Event
716 entries; €673,040 prize pool
Winner: Priit Parmasto (Estonia) – €97,400
Event #29: €250 Sviten Special
55 entries; €11,374 prize pool
Winner: Tony Westby (Norway) – €4,100
131 entries; €38,789 prize pool
Winner: Kasper Mellanen (Finland) – €10,400
99 entries; €46,530 prize pool
Winner: Maciej Komorowski (Poland) – €12,000
Event #34: €250 4&5 Card PLO Progressive Bounty
174 entries; €35,983 prize pool
Winner: Toni Mykkanen (Finland) – €3,700 + bounties
Event #35: €350 5 Card PLO Hi/Lo 6-Max
77 entries; €22,800 prize pool
Winner: Hannu Penttinen (Finland) – €5,700
205 entries; €25,051 prize pool
Winner: Fuad Gotovusa (Sweden) – €6,500
Event #37: €250 NLH Deep Stack
246 entries; €50,873 prize pool
Winner: Sander Leigri (Estonia) – €11,000
Event #38: €1,100 4&5 Card PLO Championship
74 entries; €69,560 prize pool
Winner: Kaspars Butans (Latvia) – €18,580
Event #39: €440 NLH Progressive Bounty
154 entries; €57,904 prize pool
Winner: Jaagop Luhakooder (Estonia) – €5,680 + bounties
Event #40: €150 PL Omaha 4, 5 & 6 Cards
173 entries; €21,141 prize pool
Winner: Eero Ahola (Finland) – €4,700
Event #41: €250 Triple Draw 6-Max
50 entries; €10,340 prize pool
Winner: Ville-Oskari Turja (Finland) – €3,520
Event #45: €350 Open Face Chinese Pineapple
41 entries; €12,140 prize pool
Winner: Henri Antikainen (Finland) – €4,635
Event #46: €3,000 NLH High Roller 6-Max
83 entries; €218,456 prize pool
Winner: Kimmo Fagerholm (Finland) – €63,156
Event #47: €120 Queens of Tallinn
95 entries; €9,120 prize pool
Winner: Ingrid Pall (Estonia) – €1,780
Event #48: €440 4&5 Card PLO Progressive Bounty
162 entries; €60,912 prize pool
Winner: Hai Hoang (Finland) – €5,200 + bounties
Event #49: €120 Finnish Five Card Stud
35 entries; €8,140 prize pool
Winner: Timothy Dallas (United States) – €2,800
Event #50: €660 NLH Mystery Bounty
151 entries; €85,164 prize pool
Winner: Fintan Gavin (Ireland) – €8,650 + bounties
154 entries; €18,819 prize pool
Winner: Anton Askolin (Finland) – €3,417
Event #52: €250 NLH Progressive Bounty
105 entries: €19,740 prize pool
Winner: Arvo-Mart Elvisto (Estonia) – €1,850 + bounties
Event #53: €150 Turbo Version of the Main Event
101 entries; €12,342 prize pool
Winner: Erno Suominen (Finland) – €3,390
