The Kings of Tallinn Main Event Breaks Records
The Kings of Tallinn has been a blast at Olympic Park Casino and the adjoining Hilton Tallinn Park, with tons of poker action all week long.
The festival advanced to its penultimate day on Saturday with still more action to come, including Day 3 of the Kings of Tallinn €1,100 Main Event and the start of the two-day €3,000 High Roller.
Friday was yet another exciting day. Not only did the Main Event advance to close to the money, but many new winners were crowned.
Kings of Tallinn Main Event Smashes its €500,000 GTD
The 2023 Kings of Tallinn €1,100 Main Event is the new gold standard for the festival and perhaps for poker festivals around the Baltics. The event attracted a banner field of 716 entries to generate a whopping €673,040 prize pool.
This not only smashed the lofty €500,000 guarantee but also set a new record for the Kings of Tallinn, previously beating the 674 entries in 2020 when Johan Karlsson won the event for €120,100 after agreeing to a heads-up deal with Ermo Kosk. This is also the third largest poker tournament in Estonian history, with just the two EPT Tallinn events that took place more than a decade ago creating bigger prize pools with the assistance of bigger buy-ins.
The field is down to just 93 hopefuls in the hunt for the title, with the money bubble looming early on Day 3 thanks to the event paying the top 87 players at least a €2,100 min-cash. The eventual winner on Sunday will take home much more.
Latvia’s Pavel Spirins is in the driver’s seat to start the day with a chip-leading stack of 868,000, with Paul Koppe (845,000) as the only other player above 800,000 to start the day.
However, there are many other players to keep your eyes peeled on, including WSOP bracelet winner Ranno Sootla, who resides in third place. Sootla is already in the Kings of Tallinn history books after winning the inaugural Kings of Tallinn Main Event in 2015 and is looking to become the first two-time champion. Last night he also was extremely lucky on the final day of the €150 GGPoker Flip&Go Mystery Bounty.
Another player to watch out for in the Main Event is GGPoker Ambassador Anatoly Filatov, who has called Tallinn his home in recent times and lives not too far from the casino. Filatov, who normally plays events with much bigger buy-ins and is well-known as one of the best players in the world, is in the middle of the pack with 228,000.
Follow our dedicated Kings of Tallinn Main Event blog starting when the action kicks off at noon.
Ranno Sootla Bounty King While Keimo Suominen Wins Event #17: GGPoker Flip & Go Mystery Bounty
The €150 GGPoker Flip & Go Mystery Bounty featured 1-hand opening flights all week long with 34 players flipping their way into Day in the money and eager to collect mystery bounties.
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, who bagged a big stack on Day 2 of the Main Event, 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.
Event #17: €150 GGPoker Flip & Go Mystery Bounty
306 entries, €37,293 prize pool
- Keimo Suominen (Finland) – €4,130 + bounties
- Egon Kaljulaid (Estonia) – €2,813 + bounties
- Saulius Tumosa (Lithuania) – €2,000 + bounties
- Ranno Sootla (Estonia) – €1,450 + bounties
- Niall Farrell (Scotland) – €1,100 + bounties
Full results HERE.
Event #38: €1,100 PLO Championship Ends with a Heads-Up Deal
The €1,100 PLO 4/5 Card Championship was another success story, with 74 entries creating a healthy €69,560 prize pool.
Latvia’s Kaspars Butans and Finland’s Santtu Leinonen agreed to a heads-up deal with each player collecting €18,580, while Poland’s Michal Rudnik snagged third place for €9,850.
Event #38: €1,100 PLO Championship
74 entries, €69,560 prize pool
- Kaspars Butans (Latvia) – €18,560
- Santtu Leinonen (Finland) – €18,560
- Michal Rudnik (Poland) – €9,850
Full results HERE.
Sander Leigri Defeats Vytautas Kacerauskas in Event #37: €250 NLH Deepstack
Event #37: €250 NLH Deepstack was an absolute marathon lasting more than 17 hours before Sander Leigri defeated Vytautas Kacerauskas heads-up to win the €11,000 top prize.
While we were unable to catch up with Leigri after the marathon affair, we did have a chance to chat with Kacerauskas who referred to his second-place performance worth €7,750 as a “trip saver.”
“I had a few key hands including one hero called and one provoked all-in to give me the early chip lead,” shared Kacerauskas. “The lead was more commanding with four tables left and I held a final table average with just three tables left. I would have loved to give the dealers some rest after such a long event but my opponent didn’t wish to make a deal or to resume play the following day.”
Event #37: €250 NLH Deepstack
246 entries, €50,873 prize pool
- Sander Leigri (Estonia) – €11,000
- Vytautas Kacerauskas (Lithuania) – €7,750
- Juha Nikkola (Finland) – €5,600
Full results HERE.
Other Recent Winners:
Event #39: €440 NLH Progressive Bounty
154 entries; €57,904 prize pool
1. Jaagup Luhakooder (Estonia) – €5,680 + bounties
Event #40: €150 PLO 4,5,6 Card
173 entries; €21,141 prize pool
1. Eero Ahola (Finland) – €4,700
Event #41: €250 2-7 PL Triple Draw
50 entries; €10,340 prize pool
1. Ville-Oskari Turja (Finland) – €3,520
