2017 Cash Game Festival Tallinn
Day 1 Completed
2017 Cash Game Festival Tallinn (Spring)
2017 Cash Game Festival Tallinn
Day: 1
Big Success at Day 1 of the 2017 Cash Game Festival
Day 1 of the 2017 Cash Game Festival Tallinn at Olympic Park Casino has been a huge success.
The day began with welcome drinks. Immediately after began a €1/€2 no-limit hold'em feature table. Players were enjoying the action so much, instead of having two feature tables the festival organizers extended the original feature table to 5 1/2 hours of play.
Viacheslav was the biggest winner on the feature table, taking home almost €700 in profit. Cash Game Festival regular Niklas Blomqvist also was one of the winners with a tidy profit of €150.
Other players from previous Cash Game Festivals got into the action on the first day and plan on playing through the evening including Lithuania's Karolis, Finnish poker player Mika Halmetoja and Finnish comedian Veli-Matti Puumala.
At 1 a.m., the action was still running strong with seven tables in action. Many players shared they plan to play through the evening.
Tomorrow's activities off the felt begin early with a day at the gun range. In the evening, players with the hospitality package will be heading to a VIP dinner.
Stay tuned at PokerNews as the action unfolds through the 2017 Cash Game Festival Tallinn.
Lots of Action
Although the feature table is over, the poker room shows no sign of slowing down. Almost every table throughout the casino is full accompanied by the familiar sound of chips shuffling.
Blomqvist Looking Forward to Firing a Bullet
The stream has just ended and a player just known as Viacheslav walked away with almost €700 in profit, which was the most on the €1/€2 no-limit hold'em table.
Also booking a profit was Cash Game Festival regular Niklas Blomqvist. While he did not win as much as Viacheslav, he did walk away €150 richer and had a good time doing so.
Additionally, Blomqvist shared he is looking forward to going to the gun range with other Cash Game Festival players. He admits he knows less about guns than poker and will be firing a gun for the first time.
Poker Room Filling Up
The poker room is now almost full. The latest table to open is a dealer's choice €2/€2 pot-limit Omaha game.
A handful of Finnish players including Veli-Matti Puumala and Cash Game Festival regular Mika Halmetoja are among those battling it out.
More Finns More €5/€5
Players from Finland are now arriving in bigger numbers. Tallinn is only two hours by ferry, making it an easy stop for those that love ring games.
A second €5/€5 no-limit hold'em table just opened thanks to the influx of new players. Shortly after this, Finland's Veli-Matti Puumala waltzed into the casino.
Puumala can make you laugh, but shared, "only if you pay for it." In case you were wondering, this is mostly true as he is a stand-up comedian in Finland.
This isn't Puumala's first rodeo at the Cash Game Festival. He previously attended the last time the tour was in Tallinn in November 2016 and was witnessed playing throughout the night. Puumala also has occasionally dabbled in poker journalism and was reporting on the results of some of the Finnish players of the last EPT in history in Prague in December 2016.
Feature Table Continues
The action at the feature table of the day has resumed. You can check out the action on the Cash Game Festival Twitch channel and on PokerNews by clicking on the Live Stream tab.
Four or Five Cards?
The first Omaha table just opened with stakes at €2/€2. It is a dealer's choice game where the player on the button can decide whether everyone receives four or five hole cards.
Estonian Championship Hero Marius Morel in the House
Marius Morel just walked in the door and shared he was looking to get in on no-limit hold'em action as fast as possible. A seat just opened up at a €2/€2 table seconds later he was ready for action.
Morel may not be a household name around the world, but his recent success in the Estonian Championship has made him somewhat a local legend. In back to back days last week, he claimed two trophies after winning two Estonian Championship side events for over €7,000. On top of this, he appeared on the final table in the Estonian Championship Main Event, but fell short of the podium finishing in seventh place for over €2,600.
Two months before, he also appeared on three final tables in the OlyBet Kings of Tallinn series in February 2017. Unlike the Estonian Championship, he was unable to find the winner's circle.
Niklas Blomqvist & Roland Luik Continue to Compete
Cash Game Festival regular Niklas Blomqvist has proven during past Cash Game Festivals that he is comfortable in front of the camera. He will be continuing to play on the late feature table.
Also still on the table is the man who unofficially won the best sunglasses of the festival award Roland Luik. While looking more than comfortable playing cash games, Luik has experienced some success recently in poker tournaments.
In August 2016 he took second place in the MPN Poker Tour Tallinn Main Event for €24,000. A few months later, he also finished just shy of a big win with a runner-up performance in the OlyBet Kings of Tallinn Main Event for €46,677.
We plan to catch up with both Blomqvist and Luik during the festival when they take a break from the action to learn more about them both on and off the poker felt.