2024 WSOPC Tallinn Day 1: Kyte Hunting for Second Ring

The 2024 World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) is finally here at Olympic Park Casino and the adjoining Hilton Tallinn Park. Players couldn’t be more excited about competing for a chance at one of a dozen WSOPC gold rings, including the €1 million guaranteed Main Event. This is not all, as the schedule boasts a total of 53 numbered events alongside cash games across a variety of poker variants at stakes both high and low.

The festival was off to a hot start on Friday with two opening flights for the two-day Event #1: €250 No-Limit Hold’em, alongside a freebuy satellite and a €80 satellite to Event #3: €555 No-Limit Hold’em.

Norway’s Jon Kyte won a coveted WSOP Circuit gold ring last year at the inaugural WSOPC Tallinn in the €1,100 Pot Limit Omaha for €34,780 and nearly won a WSOP bracelet this summer before finishing one spot short as the runner-up in Event #61: €2,500 Mixed Games: Omaha 8 or Better / Stud 8 or Better for $148,462. He arrived to Tallinn on time and made the most of his appearance to put himself in position to potentially take down his second ring event in Tallinn in as many years after finishing with the Day 1b chip lead and was just behind Day 1a chip leader Anthony Lesoismeir-Geniaux.

Thus far, the first ring event has attracted 271 entries including 174 entries on Day 1a and another 97 entries on Day 1b. Saturday will boast the final two opening flights of this event with late registration remaining open during the first blind level of Sunday’s final day.

Meanwhile, Jason Glatzer, Maureen Bloechlinger, and Matthew Summers finished up the PokerPro Baltic Road Trip to WSOP Tallinn. The crew would like to give special thanks to PokerPro.cc, Globetrotting Poker, Main Event Travel, and OlyBet for their support on their six-day road trip through the Baltics, with stops to play poker in Vilnius, Klaipeda, and Riga.

Read on to learn more about the opening event:

Hot Start on Day 1a

Players couldn’t be more excited about the price point and timing of the first ring event with Day 1a of Event #1: €250 No-Limit Hold’em attracting a banner field of 174 entries with 74 players advancing to Sunday’s Day 2 after 10 blind levels of 30 minutes each.

France’s Anthony Lesoismier-Geniaux is one of the many new players to visit Tallinn for the WSOP Circuit and made the most of the day by bagging up the overall chip lead with nearly 170 big blinds with 169,900 in chips heading into Day 2. The story was a little different for Spain’s Josep Pastor De Ramon, who has competed in many festivals in Tallinn during the past few years who came in just behind with 157,600 in chips.

Several local players finished in the top ten on the day, including Janek Hin (104,500), Magnus Pukk (90,200), Mark Metsla (87,300), and Taago Tamm (86,000), in hopes of keeping the first ring on home soil. Meanwhile, Spain’s Antonio Martinez Iborra (100,800), Finland’s Tero Kilkanen (99,000), Finland’s Mikko Kujansuu (88,300), and Lithuania’s Liutaraus Armanavicius also had strong days and finished in the top 10 on the Day 1a leaderboard.

Kyte Back to Business

Norway’s Jon Kyte played just about every day during poker’s summer camp in Las Vegas during the 2024 World Series of Poker. He shared with this author that he took a few days back home in Vienna, Austria before coming out hungry for another ring in Tallinn. So far, so good for Kyte as he thus far is in second place in the opening ring event after bagging the Day 1b chip lead with 165,400 from his starting stack of 20,000.

The charismatic Phil Gross from Germany made his return to Olympic Park Casino and will have a healthy 140,000 stack to start Day 2. Gross became known throughout the Baltics after finishing runner-up around this time last year in the 2023 Kings of Tallinn Summer Showdown €1,100 Main Event for €72,700.

Meanwhile, Lithuania’s Vitalijus Kuzmicius joined Bloechlinger, Glatzer, and many others during the Vilnius leg of the Baltic Road Trip to the WSOP Circuit Tallinn. Although he took a different route to Tallinn, he slept well last night after catapulting his stack to 131,800.

Sweden’s Marius Hakonsen (120,000), Lithuania’s Modestas Kryzanauskas (107,000), Sweden’s Christopher Berggren (97,300), Finland’s Henri Tanskanen (94,500), Finland’s Tomi Rasanen (93,600), United Kingdom’s Peter Rees (81,800), and Finland’s Rasums Sihvonen (77,600) also finished in the top ten on the Day 1b leaderboard where 31 players survived out of the 97 entries coming out for battle.

WSOP Circuit Tallinn Day 2 Schedule (July 20)

The action will head up more on Saturday, with the final two opening flights of Event #1: €250 NLH kicking off at noon and 7 p.m., respectively. Players will start both opening flights with 20,000 in chips and battle for ten blind levels of 30 minutes each before bagging their stacks for the day.

Players who have already bagged or are more interested in one-day affairs will be ready to rumble in Event #15: €350 NLH Progressive Bounty at 1 p.m.

Scott Kenyan, also known as PokerBrahs, was busy teaching players how to play open-face Chinese poker yesterday in hopes of a big field in Event #16: €250 Open-Face Chinese Pineapple at 5 p.m., while PLO lovers will enjoy Event #17: €150 PLO 4&5&6 Progressive Bounty at 9 p.m.

Night owls will also have fun with a €80 Mega Satellite to Event #3: €555 NLH with 10 seats guaranteed.

Head to OlyBetEvents.com for the full schedule of the 2024 WSOP Circuit Tallinn and check out Saturday’s schedule below: