Baldvin Borgarsson Bags Biggest on Day 1a of Coolbet Open Main Event

For the first time since 2022, the Coolbet Open went back to where it all began. It had been four years since the Olympic Park Casino in Hilton Tallinn Park hosted the annual festival, and today, Coolbet returned with a bang.

On day 1a of the flagship €550 Main Event, 169 entries were made, an improvement from last year and already gathering €83,125 in the prize pool on the first starting flight. After a nice afternoon of poker, consisting of nine 40-minute levels, that number was reduced to just 67 players, who all bagged their chips for Day 2.

Iceland's Baldvin Borgarsson leads the survivors with 179,000 in chips, worth nearly six starting stacks and nearly 120 big blinds at the start of Day 2. Borgarsson is followed by his fellow countryman Jon Thorvaldsson, who ended with 173,300. Sergi Kapanadze traveled from Georgia to play the Coolbet Open, and his efforts were rewarded with a stack of 157,000 for third place.

End of Day 1a Top Ten Chip Counts

Rank	Player	Country	Chip Count	Big Blinds
1	Baldvin Borgarsson	Iceland	179,000	149
2	Jon Thorvaldsson	Iceland	173,700	145
3	Sergi Kapanadze	Georgia	157,000	131
4	Andreas Backlund	Finland	150,100	125
5	Steven Tool	Estonia	143,000	119
6	Skuli Sigfusson	Iceland	141,200	118
7	Sigurdur Fridriksson	Iceland	140,100	117
8	Markus Volk	Finland	118,900	99
9	Benny Hagberg	Sweden	118,400	99
10	Lukas Kasparavicius	Lithuania	114,200	95

Steven Tool became the highest-placed Estonian player, followed by Igor Pihela (111,400). Other notable players who battled their way through Day 1a include Konstantin Faerber (95,000), Tarmo Tammel (64,000), and old-school Swedish legend Johan Storakers (50,100).

Those who were eliminated throughout the day will have two more chances to build a stack tomorrow, September 3, as Day 1b and Day 1c, the final starting day, will both get underway. Day 1b will start at noon local time, while Day 1c will kick off at 7:30 p.m., when Day 1b will already have finished play. Both days will follow the same structure as Day 1a, playing nine 40-minute levels before bagging up. Meanwhile, late registration will remain open four levels into Day 2, closing after Level 13.