Day 1a of the Coolbet Open Main Event hosted by Olympic Park Casino and Hilton Tallinn Park was a huge success with 113 entrants ponying up the €550 buy-in.
This represents a larger turnout than the 104 entrants that participated in Day 1a of the last Coolbet Open in May. Tomorrow's action is expected to be much bigger for the second and final opening flight thanks to the huge amount of online qualifiers slated to be in the field.
Players kicked off today's deep-stacked action with 30,000 in chips and competed for eight blinds levels of 45 minutes each. Those bagging chips will enjoy an even deeper structure for Day 2 and Day 3 on Oct. 19-20 with 60-minute blind levels.
The star of the day was Estonia's Gert Laanemets who bagged a chip-leading stack of 163,200.
Also bagging six-figure stacks on Day 1a were Tomi Rasanen (second - 127,000), Timothy Harold (third - 107,400), Ranno Sootla (fourth - 107,400), and Aare Sepp (fifth 101,600). Unlike the other players, it took Sootla two bullets in the Day 1a field to get his name on the leaderboard.
These were obviously not the only players to bag chips as 64 players from the Day 1a field will advance to Day 2. Two former professional athletes also entered today's action in former footballer Joel Lindpere and former basketball player Martin Muursepp.
Luck was not on Lindpere's side as he did not bag chips after he lost a flip near the end of the day. Muursepp fared much better and bagged a 10th place chip stack of 85,600.
Also bagging chips was Finnish musician Kim Herold, who performed as part of a three-piece band during the welcome drinks ceremony on Oct. 16, with 78,500 in chips. Both Herold and Lindpere were interviewed during Day 1a live at Facebook on the PokerNews page.
Also interviewed today was Coolbet COO Anders Karlsen. Karlsen was unable to hold onto his chips and is unsure about whether he will enter again on Day 1b or before late-registration closes at the end of the first blind level of Day 2.
Day 1b of the Main Event will kick off at 2 p.m. local time tomorrow with many new players and many of the same players from today that were unable to survive.
As was the case today, the PokerNews live reporting team will be back on the floor to provide complete coverage tomorrow and beyond until a winner is declared.
While players were bagging chips, we interviewed Finnish musician Kim Herold live on Facebook. Herold not only was the lead singer in the band during the welcome drinks ceremony yesterday but also bagged a decent stack of 78,500 in Day 1a of the Main Event.
Stay tuned at PokerNews for the final day chip counts and recap.
Jussi Mattila built up his stack after his second bullet started off to a rough start but most of that recently disappeared again.
We caught up on a big hand when the action was on the river. With about 25,000 in the pot, Mattila bet for 24,800 after his opponent Tomi Rasanen checked the action.
Rasanen then jammed for about 53,000.
"I have to call, I have to call," Mattila said to Rasanen.
Mattila did indeed call and turned over for a flush. However, Rasanen held for a higher flush and became the latest player to enter the six-figure stack club.
A player bet 3,200 into a pot of around 5,000 after the flop came . Former Estonian footballer Joel Lindpere three-bet to 11,000 before Martin Mand four-bet jammed for 36,900.
The original raiser folded and Lindpere, who had his opponent barely covered, was shuffling his chips in one hand while rocking his cards back and forth in the other. This continued for two to three minutes before Lindpere found a call.
Martin Mand:
Joel Lindpere:
Equity was close in this hand with Lindpere holding top pair and Mand holding an open-ended straight draw and a flush draw.
The pendulum swung in Mand's favor after the came on the turn to give him a flush. Lindpere was unable to improve his hand to a full house after the completed the board on the river and was left with left with crumbs.
Lindpere just had a big blind and a big blind ante left and he hit the rail after he was unable to win that holding .
Kirill Zemskov just became the first elimination of the Main Event. He got it all-in preflop with pocket aces against Daniel Schwensen with pocket kings in a 600 big blind pot.
Zemskov was looking good for a double up after all blanks appeared on the flop. A king spiked the turn to give Schwensen a set and Zemskov was unable to get one of the two remaining aces on the river to save his stack.
The big hand makes Schwensen the early chip leader with 62,000 in chips. Although Zemskov quickly left the tournament area after the hand, he can get back with the tournament allowing for unlimited reentries.
Welcome to the 2018 Coolbet Open €550 Main Event at Olympic Park Casino and Hilton Park Hotel on Oct. 17-20.
The festival is expected to attract players from all around Europe, especially from Scandinavian and Baltic countries with many already in the house last night for the Coolbet €220 WarmUp Event and the welcome drinks ceremony which included a "cool" band featuring Kim Herold, Toomas Keskinen, and Jarkoo Rantala.
The Coolbear was also in the house dancing away on stage with the magnificent trio.
The first of the two opening days of the Main Event kicks off today at 2 p.m. EEST. The tournament boasts an amazing structure with players kicking off the action with 30,000 in chips and blinds increasing every 45 minutes.
Coolbet Open Main Event Day 1a Blind Structure
Level
Small blind
Big blind
Big blind ante
1
25
50
2
50
100
3
75
150
4
100
200
200
5
150
300
300
6
200
400
400
7
300
600
600
8
400
800
800
Players are scheduled to play eight blind levels today and can re-enter an unlimited amount of times up until the end of the first blind level of Day 2 on Oct. 19. Those advancing to Day 2 or buying in before the late-registration period closes will play in an even deeper structure of 60-minute blind levels. Players that survive the second day will compete for the title in one final day on Oct. 20.
This is the second-ever Coolbet Poker festival. The first one took place in May 2018 and was a huge success both in terms of how many players attended and the fun atmosphere surrounding the event.
Wahl battled it out against a difficult opponent heads-up in Dutch player Sander van Wesemael, who claimed the runner-up prize of €33,000 ($39,637).
Van Wesemael, Wahl, and other top performers, will be back this festival thanks to the top 10 finishers in the Main Event in May getting awarded a Coolbet Open package on top of the prizes they won.
In addition to the Main Event, there are a whopping 26 events on the schedule to complement the Main Event giving something for everyone. Today's action includes the opening day of the two-day Coolbet €330 NLHE Deepstack at 7 p.m., the and the Coolbet €165 Hyper Turbo at 9 p.m., and the €60 Five-Card PLO Bounty at 11 p.m.
In addition, the final two tables of the Kommunepoker will begin at 5 p.m. This event has created a huge buzz in Norway with players competing locally in their municipalities. The winner of each municipality, including Bergen's Jon Kyte, will be in action hoping to become the Norwegian champion. This event will be live streamed in Norwegian and embedded in our coverage.
Coolbet Open Schedule
Date
Time (EEST)
Event #
Event
Buy-in
Oct. 16
5 p.m.
1
Freebuy Satellite to Coolbet Opening Event (seven seats gtd.)