Juan Carlos Vecina Duenas Leads Kings of Tallinn Summer Showdown €1,100 Main Event
The time is here and the mission is clear with just 71 players remaining in the Kings of Tallinn Summer Showdown €1,100 Main Event at Olympic Park Casino and the adjoining Hilton Tallinn Park.
The event set a new summer record and it wasn’t even close with 564 entries getting into the mix to create a €530,160 prize pool with all of the returning players for Day 3 locking in at least a €2,000 min-cash.
Juan Carlos Vecina Duenas is part of the Spanish poker expat community that has called the Estonian capital of Tallinn their home for the past few years. Now, Duenas is set to be the “poker king” of the city as he will begin the third of four days with a chip-leading stack of 709,000 for 118 big blinds. Several other players are more than halfway to becoming chip millionaires including Vlads Dolgilevics (674,000), Nils Linden (558,000), and Mikael Haapaniemi (536,000).
The action resumes with one-hour blind levels on Saturday at 12 p.m. The plan is to play down to a final table but this can change as it is possible we come back to the final day with two tables. You can follow the action at our live reporting blog as well as check out a televised feature table throughout the day at Olybet.tv.
Event #23: Kings of Tallinn Summer Showdown €1,100 Main Event
564 entries, 71 survivors
- Juan Carlos Vecina Duenas (Spain) – 709,000
- Vlads Dolgilevics (Latvia) – 674,000
- Nils Linden (Denmark) – 558,000
Full Results HERE
Meanwhile, Max Avela dazzled his opponents on a live-streamed audience by catapulting a short stack at the final table into a victory in Event #38: €5,000 6-Max High Roller. Avela agreed to a deal with Finnish countrymate Casimir Seire awarding the duo €45,413 and €40,333 respectively. The heads-up battle for the remaining €5,000 on the line lasted just one hand with Avela going home with an amazing payday.
The quick heads-up battle was in stark contrast to the rest of the final table as it was a deep-stacked affair broadcasted at OlyBet.tv with poker media guru Jason Glatzer hosting with several guests throughout the evening. One interesting story from the final table was that Lithuania’s Andrius Bielskis, qualified for this event the night before for just €150. He had the chip lead a good part of the final table but lost a crucial hand where his aces didn’t hold against ace-king suited. He came back from this but it appeared luck was never on the Lithuanian’s side. That being said, his ROI was through the roof as he hit the showers in third place for €23,800.
Event #38: Kings of Tallinn Summer Showdown €5,000 6-Max High Roller
33 entries, €148,896 prize pool
- Max Avela (Finland) – €50,413
- Casimir Seire (Finland) – €40,333
- Andrius Bielskis (Lithuania) – €23,800
Full Results HERE
While the Finns finished in the top two spots in the €5,000 High Roller, they did one better in Event #39: €250 5-Card PLO with Finnish poker players finishing in the top four places.
Mohammed Halafi defeated Risto Ponnio heads-up to win the €8,999 top prize. The event attracted 191 runners to create a €39,499 prize pool.
Event #38: Kings of Tallinn Summer Showdown €5,000 6-Max High Roller
191 entries, €39,499 prize pool
- Mohammed Halafi (Finland) – €8,999
- Risto Ponnio (Finland) – €6,200
- Aleksi Naski (Finland) – €4,500
Full Results HERE
Meanwhile, Kert Hallik defeated Elvinas Vitkevicius heads-up in Event #40: €150 No-Limit Hold’em for the €4,623 top prize with Jorge Bravo also finishing on the podium in third place.
The event attracted 171 entries to create a €20,896 prize pool.
Event #40: Kings of Tallinn Summer Showdown €150 No-Limit Hold’em
171 entries, €20,896 prize pool
- Kert Hallik (Estonia) – €8,999
- Elvinas Vitkevicius (Lithuania) – €4,623
- Jorge Bravo (Spain) – €2,400
Full Results HERE
Meanwhile, there are many new events on Saturday along with the two mystery bounty events pulling bounties on their second and final day including in the €150 GGPoker Flip&Go Mystery Bounty. GGPoker generously added €10,000 to the prize pool to this event and the top mystery bounty will be €5,000.
You can check out the full schedule on our website and best of luck to all Kings of Tallinn Summer Showdown players on Saturday!
