€1,100 Main Event
Day 5 Completed
2018 OlyBet Kings of Tallinn
€1,100 Main Event
Day: 5
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2018 OlyBet Kings of Tallinn
Buy-in
€1,100
Prize Pool
€254,600
Entries
268
Level
28
Blinds
40,000 / 80,000
Ante
10,000
Juha Helppi Wins the 2018 OlyBet Kings of Tallinn Main Event for €62,000
Level 28
: 40,000/80,000, 10,000 ante
Finnish poker legend Juha Helppi outlasted a field of 268 players to win the 2018 OlyBet Kings of Tallinn €1,100 Main Event for €62,000.
The win caps off a huge week where he won more than six-digits when taking into account playing high-limit €50/€100 pot-limit Omaha with double straddles against Patrik Antonius, Theo Jorgensen, Ville Wahlbeck, Jani Vilmunen, Kings of Tallinn High Roller Winner Ellis Parssinen and others.
Helppi now has almost $7.2 million in career live cashes after the win, only second in Finland to Antonius' $7.3 million. Despite his impressive poker resume, this is only Helppi's second live tournament win with at least 200 players in his two-decade poker career. Team OlyBet pro Dmitrijs Meless made the final day and finished in 13th place.
2018 Kings of Tallinn Main Event Final Table Results
| Place | Winner | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Juha Helppi | Finland | €62,000 |
| 2 | Arto Ilmari Loikkanen | Finland | €41,000 |
| 3 | Arunas Garunkstis | Lithuania | €25,000 |
| 4 | [Removed:174] | Lithuania | €19,800 |
| 5 | Totti Matias Arusuo | Finland | €15,200 |
| 6 | Shahin Shirazi Nejad | Sweden | €10,800 |
| 7 | Arto Antero Lehtonen | Finland | €8,500 |
| 8 | Quang Thanh Doan | Finland | €6,200 |
| 9 | Silver Nommik | Estonia | €5,200 |
Final table action
The final table began with Finland's Totti Matias Arusuo in the lead and Helppi on his tail in second place.
Estonia's Silver Nommik, the only player remaining from the home country, entered the table as the short-stack and was unable to move up the ladder taking ninth place for €5,200. He jammed five-three suited and didn't get there against the ace-jack held by Lithuania's Arunas Garunkstis.
Finland's Quang Thanh Doan was the next to go in eighth place for €6,200 after he jammed his short-stack on the button with queen-ten and couldn't get there against Helppi's ace-jack.
Shortly after, Finland's Arto Antero Lehtonen hit the rail in seventh place for €8,500 when he flopped top two pair with jack-nine only to run into the set held by Arosuo with pocket nines.
Helppi then grabbed the chip lead from Arosuo and never looked back. He flopped top-set with pocket queens against Arosuo's middle-set with pocket eights. The pot was already fairly large, however, Arosuo made an amazing laydown when Helppi was all in on the river to save him many valuable chips.
Sweden's Shahin Shirazi Nejad, who entered the final table short on chips was eliminated in sixth place for €10,800 after he flopped top pair with king-queen and was unable to find the help he needed on the turn and river against the pocket aces held by Arto Ilmari Loikkanen.
Arosuo got low on chips after his pocket aces were cracked by the jack-ten suited held by Garunkstis. He was then eliminated in fifth place for €15,200 when he king-queen was unable to outflip Helppi's eights.
Lithuania's [Removed:174] got low on chips after losing a crucial flip to Loikkanen when his ace-king couldn't improve against his opponent's pocket eights. Loikkanen then took the rest of the Lithuanian's chip when his king-three held against nine-six sending Tamasauskas on the rail in fourth place for €19,800.
Tamasauskas took seventh place in last year's Main Event and shared before the final table began that anything less than a win would be a "total disaster." However, after hitting the rail he was in good spirits and seemed pleased with him overall performance.
Garunkstis hit the showers next in third place for €25,000. The Lithuanian was low on chips after he called a bet against Helppi's flush and then got the rest of his chips in with jack-nine against ten-seven. Garunkstis was safe on the flop, but a ten hit the turn and the river was of no help.
This left Helppi and fellow Finn Loikkanen heads-up for the title. Helppi had more than a two to one chip advantage and slightly extended it when the final hand took place.
Helppi opened with ace-queen before Loikkanen three-bet with ace-ten. Helppi four-bet all-in and his opponent called. The board ran all blanks and Loikkanen was eliminated in second place for €41,000. Helppi claimed the title and has begun 2018 with a bang after having his first losing year in 2017.
This concludes the PokerNews Live Reporting of the 2018 OlyBet Kings of Tallinn Main Event. Stay tuned as we bring you coverage of big events from around the world.
Interview with 2018 OlyBet Kings of Tallinn Main Event Winner Juha Helppi on Facebook
Level 28
: 40,000/80,000, 10,000 ante
Arto Ilmari Loikkanen Eliminated in 2nd Place (€41,000)
Level 28
: 40,000/80,000, 10,000 ante
Juha Helppi opened for 200,000 with 
and Arto Ilmari Loikkanen three-bet to 550,000 with 
. Helppi four-bet shoved covering Loikkanen's remaining 2,200,000 in chips and got a call.
Helppi's hand was still ahead on the 
flop. A flush draw opened up for Loikkanen after the 
appeared on the turn. However, the 
appeared on the river to eliminate Loikkanen in second place for €41,000.
Meanwhile, Helppi got his first big win in a tournament with over 200 players and capped off an amazing week of high-stakes cash games and a win in the Main Event for €62,000.
PokerNews will interview Helppi shortly on Facebook live and a recap of the event will follow.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
8,100,000 | 3,100,000 |
|
Busted |
Level: 28
Blinds: 40,000/80,000
Ante: 10,000
Eelis Parssinen Wins the High Roller for €41,100
Level 27
: 30,000/60,000, 5,000 ante
Eelis Parssinen had a 9:1 chip advantage over Igor Pihela Jr. heads-up in the €3,000 High Roller. He just snagged the rest of the chips and the title after calling with 
and all-in from his opponent's 10 big blind shove with 
.
The board ran out 
and Parssinen won the trophy. The €41,100 top prize Parssinen will be the second biggest prize during the festival after the Main Event has ended.
Loikkanen Over 3 Million
Level 27
: 30,000/60,000, 5,000 ante
Juha Helppi opened to 150,000 with 
and Arto Ilmari Loikkanen defended with 
.
Helppi nailed middle-pair on the 
flop and bet 150,000 after the action was checked to him and Loikkanen called.
The turn gave Loikkanen a straight. He opted to check and Helppi checked behind. Loikkanen tried to get valued after the 
completed the board on the river with a bet of 120,000. However, Helppi gave up on the hand and Loikkanen's stack went over 3 million for the first time.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
5,000,000 | -600,000 |
|
|
3,100,000 | 700,000 |
Arunas Garunkstis Eliminated in 3rd Place (€25,000)
Level 27
: 30,000/60,000, 5,000 ante
Juha Helppi opened from the button with 
and Arunas Garunkstis jammed for 370,000 with 
from the small blind and Arto Ilmari Loikkanen folded from the big blind.
Helppi snap-called and was a little behind and still so on the 
flop. He caught up on the 
turn to give him a pair and Garunkstis was eliminated in third place for €25,000 after the 
completed the board on the river.
Players are now on a 10-minute unscheduled break with Helppi holding a more than 2:1 chip advantage in the battle of the Finns against Loikkanen when the action resumes. Players are now guaranteed €41,000 with the top prize paying €61,000. It would be shocking to see a deal made since Helppi has gone on record in the past how he prefer to play tournaments out to their completion.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
5,600,000 | 400,000 |
|
|
2,400,000 | 200,000 |
|
Busted |
Garunkstis' Stack Decimated
Level 27
: 30,000/60,000, 5,000 ante
The hand began with Arunas Garunkstis raising to 130,000 from the button with 
and Juha Helppi calling with 
.
Both players checked on the 
flop before Helppi fired out for 140,000 after the 
appeared on the turn. Garunstis called and the 
came on the river to complete Helppi's flush.
Helpii fired out again for 370,000 and Garunstis called again and his stack was down to just 375,000.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
5,200,000 | 400,000 |
|
|
375,000 | -725,000 |
Aki Pavel Vartinen Wins Valentine's Day Mystery Event
Level 27
: 30,000/60,000, 5,000 ante
On Valentine's Day, the Kings of Tallinn poker festival got creative with a mystery event for Event #16. It turned out the event featured a €110 buy-in and the queen of hearts was wild whether in a hand or on the board.
Aki Pavel Vartinen managed to win this unique event for a healthy first-place prize of €1,800 along with a trophy. Behind Vartinen, three were three more Finns to take up the top four spots in the tournament including Mikael Anton Ilmari Niemela (second - €1,280), Jarkko Juhani Suokas (third - €850) and Jani Kristjan Rasinen (fourth - €530).