Janar Kokk Bags the Day 2 Chip Lead in the OlyBet Kings of Tallinn
Estonian globetrotter Janar Kokk, who is primarily known in Europe as a cash game player, is in the driver's seat for the biggest live poker tournament cash of his lifetime. He bagged 622,000 in chips, which was more than good enough to end Day 2 of the Kings of Tallinn €1,100 Main Event in the chip lead.
Kokk, who re-entered to start the day with a fresh stack of 30,000 in chips, was in the lead since the middle of Day 2 and shared with PokerNews that it was easy going most of the day. He agreed to an interview with PokerNews on Facebook Live during the first or second break of Day 3 where we will learn more about his travels around the world and his performance thus far in the Main Event.
Late registration was open until the end of the first blind level of the day. By the time the last players joined the field, a new Kings of Tallinn Main Event record was established with 375 entrants generating a massive €356,250 prize pool. This not only smashed the previous record of 268 entrants established last year by more than a hundred but also decimated last years €254,600 prize pool. This is also the largest prize pool in Estonian history in nearly a decade with only the two EPTs that took place in 2010 and 2011 generating a larger prize pool.
A total of 168 players plus those that reentered or late registered began the day in hopes of being in contention for the €85,300 top prize or at least the min-cash paid guaranteed to the 34 players that cash of €2,740. By the end of the day's eight one hour blind levels, the field was trimmed down by more than two-thirds with 49 players bagging chips to Day 3.
Behind Kokk in the chip counts are Slovakia's Vladimir Bednar (second - 517,000), Denmark's Peter Jaksland (453,000), United Kingdom's Julian Adamson (435,000), and Denmark's Morten Mortensen (fifth - 422,000).
Three of the four OlyBet Team Pros bagged chips as well including Dmitrijs Meless (202,000), Raigo Aasmaa (81,000), and Carmen-Elina Vist (70,000). In addition, Estonian poker pro Markku Koplimaa bagged an above average stack of 248,000 in chips.
Most of the big name pros weren't able to make it through Day 2 including 2018 Kings of Tallinn Main Event champion Juha Helppi, 2018 WSOP Europe champion Jack Sinclair, Finnish poker star Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies, Swedish online crusher Anton "AnteSvante" Wigg, and Espen Uhlen Jorstad.
Day 3 of the Main Event will kick off at 12 p.m. local time tomorrow with blinds at 3,000/6,000 and a big blind ante of 6,000. The plan entering the day is to play down to a final table.
As was the case the past two days, the PokerNews live reporting team will be back on the floor to provide complete coverage tomorrow and beyond until a winner is declared.
*Photos courtesy of Rene Velli/Kings of Tallinn