2024 WSOP Circuit Tallinn Sets New Gold Standard

The 2024 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Circuit Tallinn broke many local records while returning for the second straight year at Olympic Park Casino and the Hilton Tallinn Park.

The event attracted nearly 10,000 total entries, including more than 1,500 unique players, across more than 50 numbered events, including 12 ring events, from July 19-28. Players came from near and far, including the United States and Canada. A total of 47 countries were represented, with most players coming from Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Norway, Lithuania, and Sweden.

Players were not only competing for big money in the tournaments and the plethora of cash games, but they were also competing for a chance to enter poker’s immortality, with WSOP gold rings awarded to each winner. This is not all, as each winner of a ring event earned an invitation to the 2025 WSOP Tournament of Champions freeroll, where they will have a chance to win a boatload of cash along with a coveted WSOP gold bracelet.

Many big stories emerged from the WSOP Circuit Tallinn but none more significant than Lithuania’s Aurimas Stanevicius defeating WSOP Europe 8-Game bracelet winner Espen Sandvik heads-up on the final day of the festival win the four-day Event #6: €1,500 Main Event for €167,900. This event established a new gold standard as the largest poker event ever at Olympic Park Casino, with 812 entries creating a €1,052,352 top prize.

Meanwhile, Finland’s Roope Tarmi also made history on the final day after defeating a field of 100 entries to win the two-day Event #9: €3,000 NLH 6-Handed for €64,000. He won this event as well during the inaugural WSOP Circuit Tallinn in 2023 for €78,280 to make him not only the first back-to-back winner in the same event but also the first two-time WSOP Circuit Tallinn ring winner in history.

While both of these stories culminated during the final day, plenty of other action took place earlier in the festival. Latvia’s Eriks Krumins won his second big live poker tournament of the year and earned the first WSOP gold ring of the festival after shipping the three-day Event #1: €250 NLH for €31,620.

Mixed game enthusiasts then had their chance to win a gold ring. Sweden’s Martin von Zweigbergk, also known as Franke to many in the poker community, had his chance to shine. The Estonian resident defeated an experienced field of 90 entries in the two-day Event #2: €350 8-Game for €8,020.

Later on the same day, Finnish poker legend and journalist Aki Pyysing won his first taste at WSOP gold by winning the one-day Event #3: €350 PLO 4&5 Progressive Bounty for €6,300.

The two-day Event #4: €250 Queens ladies only affair was the talk of the town soon after as the final table marked the launch of the daily live stream of poker action with hole cards displayed on a 30-minute delay at OlyBet.tv. OlyBet continued its tradition of inclusiveness by not only holding the first ladies-only ring event in Northern Europe but also with freerolls into this event and the later €150 Queens Mystery Bounty side event. This is all on top of a Meet & Greet and other activities to bring the community together.

A fun story developed on the final table of this event as Norway’s Linda Nguyen was running back and forth from the TV table into the main poker ballroom where she was also battling on Day 2 of the three-day Event #3: €555 NLH. Nguyen managed to finish in the money in the €555 NLH event before all her focus went into the ladies-only affair. Eventually, Nguyen went on to face fellow Linda in Finland’s Linda Lahdenpaa with both players hungry for the ring. Nguyen won the battle of the Linda’s to win the €5,570 top prize after a back-and-forth contentious heads-up affair.

The following day brought more emotions during the conclusion of the three-day Event #3: €555 NLH. Germany’s Phil Gross kicked off the final table with the chip lead and was very nervous by the time the heads-up battle against Ukraine’s Oleksii Natoptanyi as he previously had two runner-up performances in his two listed international poker tournament cashes at The Hendon Mob including taking runner-up around this time last year in the 2023 Kings of Tallinn Summer Showdown Main Event. Gross was all hugs and positive vibes after getting the proverbial monkey off his back after defeating Natoptanyi to win the €55,210 top prize.

The following day witnessed a commanding performance by Finland’s Riku Koivurinne after he defeated Norway’s Jan Holte heads-up in Event #7: €1,100 PLO 4&5 Cards for €41,200.

The two-day Event #8: €1,100 Mystery Bounty brought tons of emotions as well, especially early on the final day when Iceland’s Steinn Thanh Du Karlsson opened the top €20,000 mystery bounty prize straight off the bat. Karlsson was unable to get much going after that and fell short of the final table where eventually two Finns in Rasmus Lundstrum and Akseli Paalanen faced off heads-up for the ring. Lundstrum went on to win the precious WSOP Circuit ring along with a haul of €25,850 including bounties. Despite not winning, Paalanen was able to lock in even more cash with a €40,880 payout thanks to some fortuitious mystery bounty pulls.

Meanwhile, OlyBet Poker announced its launch in Lithuania during the festival just in time for the online ring event in Event #11: €350 Online Ring Event. Although several Lithuanians were witnessed grinding it out, the ring stayed home in Estonia after Isa Rusikas defeated a field of 147 entries to bank the €10,364 top prize.

The final day witnessed the final four rings awarded including the aforementioned victories by Lithuania’s Aurimas Stanevicius in the Main Event and Roope Tarmi’s back-to-back victory in the €3,000 NLH. Ukraine’s Mykhailo Mikhalov defeated Estonia’s Risto Parnet to win the two-day Event #10: €350 NLH Deepstack for €25,115.

Meanwhile, Latvia’s Harijs Erglis, who won a trophy the previous day in a side event, closed out the 2024 WSOP Circuit Tallinn by earning a gold ring and a haul of €10,670 plus bounties in the one-day Event #12: €555 Progressive Knockout.

2024 WSOP Circuit Tallinn Ring Event Results