Day 1 of the 2017 Cash Game Festival Tallinn - Fall Edition at Olympic Park Casino was an amazing success with lots of action and fun throughout the day and evening.
The day peaked with seven tables running with many of them expected to run throughout the evening. Games on the first day including no-limit hold'em, pot-limit Omaha and Sviten Special.
The festival began in the late afternoon with a welcome drinks ceremony with many players enjoying free Tanqueray gin and tonics along with an assortment of meats, vegetables and cheese. Around the same time, the first televised feature table kicked off with players battling it out in €2/€2 no-limit hold'em.
Estonia's [Removed:111] was the winner at the early feature table, commentated by Scottish poker pro Andrew "Picasso" Hedley, after notching up €252 in profit or 126 big blinds. The number of big blinds won is important since the person that wins the most big blinds during any feature table during the festival will walk away with a commemorative trophy and two hospitality packages valued at £400 combined to the first Cash Game Festival next year, the Cash Game Festival London at Aspers Casino on Jan. 3-7, 2018
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The stakes stayed the same for the late feature table but the action got much crazier. What was initially booked as a Finance Feature Table with many of the players being involved in the business world was quickly renamed by Martin "Franke" von Zweigbergk to the Fish Birthday Feature Table in honor of Nick Voght. The shots got wild with any player winning a hand downing one and the action at the table was one the wildest (if not the wildest) at a Cash Game Festival.
Voght didn't live up to his billing as a fish and won a huge €1,100 at the table. However, the star of the day was Heiti Riisberg who won a huge profit of €3,364 or 1,682 big blinds.
Players with the hospitality package will be enjoying a painting session with a twist tomorrow in the early afternoon before heading back to the poker room for action at the tables.
Many other players will likely be enjoying the delights of Tallinn or getting into the action early in the day. As will be the case every day during the festival, live streaming is scheduled at lower stakes at 6:00 p.m. and higher stakes at 9:00 p.m. local time. You can watch all the action on the Cash Game Festival Twitch channel.
Stay tuned at PokerNews for the next four days as we report some of the hottest action at the Cash Game Festival Tallinn.
The crazy €2/€2 no-limit hold'em feature table has just ended. Crazy might be an understatement when examining the amount of four-digit pots and wild action.
Heiti Riisberg walked away the biggest winner at the table booking an amazing profit of €3,364 or 1,682 big blinds. This is almost double the record Kevin Malone established during the last Cash Game Festival in Dublin in October.
With his huge win, Riisberg is in excellent position just one day into the festival to take home the coveted Cash Game Festival Feature Table trophy.
Meanwhile, it turns out that Nick Voght wasn't one of the fish at the table and booked a profit of around €1,100.
The first feature table is in the books and despite the table being fairly loose and fast, [Removed:111] walked away the biggest winner with €252 in profit or 126 big blinds.
While this adds some spare change to his pockets, it will not put him in contention for the Cash Game Festival trophy unless he plans to appear at more feature tables during the festival.
The first stream of the Cash Game Festival Tallinn has just kicked off with stakes at €2/€2 no-limit hold'em. You can check out the action at the Cash Game Festival Twitch channel or by clicking on the Live Stream tab in our coverage.
Scotland's Andrew "Picasso" Hedley will be commentating what is bound to be an entertaining table headlined by Rauno “Estonian Jesus” Tahvonen, in Seat 4.
Tahvonen made a name for himself in the past year playing live poker tournaments and is looking to show his fans he knows what he is doing playing cash games as well.
Here is a look at the rest of the table:
In Seat 1 is Estonia's Ott-Kaarli Toome. He is not nervous and has played at a televised feature table in the past. He shared that, "my friends think that I work in a warehouse" when asked about his profession.
Greg, in Seat 2, came directly from the south of France to appear at the feature table and attend his first Cash Game Festival. This is his first feature table and shared his favorite hand is pocket queens.
Mairo "EstonianWeirdo" Toom, in Seat 3, is a regular viewer of the Cash Game Festival Twitch stream and now gets to see how he does in front of the lights in camera to some of the other stream fans.
Next seat over is Coolbet player from Estonia A Puusepp in seat 5 who is a radio DJ by trade. One seat over in Seat 6 is Estonia's Aleksei Gonstar.
Estonian writer Ragnar Raag, in Seat 7, has a appeared at two previous Cash Game Festivals in Tallinn and appeared at the feature table each time. He shared that something to keep in mind is to play the players more than playing your cards.
Rounding off the action is Estonia's Ilja in Seat 8 who shared his biggest poker achievement was winning a live freeroll tournament in Tartu.
Following eight successful stops this year, the Cash Game Festival is about to kick off its ninth and last stop of 2017 at Olympic Park Casino in Tallinn, Estonia for five days of nonstop cash game poker on Nov. 15-19.
Tallinn holds a special place in Cash Game Festival history as it is where the festival planted its roots with its first three Cash Game Festivals in history taking place in the Estonian capital in 2014 and 2015 before transforming into an international tour at the beginning of 2016.
The festival expects a full house with players confirmed from at least 19 different countries and the casino has set-up more poker tables than normal to satiate the huge demand.
Scotland's Andrew "Picasso" Hedley, who made his debut around this time last year when the Cash Game Festival was also in Scotland is back for the second time as both a player and the lead commentator. Picasso has had a tremendous year both in cash games and tournaments and will provide unique strategic insight into the two televised feature tables taking place every day during the festival at 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. EET. at the Cash Game Festival Twitch channel. PokerNews will also embed the stream in our coverage.
For the third consecutive time, the Cash Game Festival will be hosting a feature table contest where the player that wins the most big blinds will be awarded a commemorative trophy along with a hospitality package for two to the next Cash Game Festival valued at €400. To add to the intrigue, the last two winners in Norway's Jon Kite and Ireland's Kevin Malone will be in attendance to see if they can be the first two-time winner of the trophy.
Additionally, many of the festival's regulars are either in town or on their way since this is the last festival of the year including Peter La Terra, Ryan "Metalface" Davey and Jens "Dansken" Riis.
As is always the case, the Cash Game Festival organizers are planning a range of activities including welcome drinks, a sporting activity, a guided tour, a world-class dinner and a VIP party.
Our coverage will begin once the Cash Game Festival Tallinn officially kicks off at 5 p.m. EET with welcome drinks inside the poker room.
Stay tuned as the PokerNews Live Reporting team will be covering the festival with player interviews and recaps each day during the festival.
