The Kings of Tallinn Main Event has grown every year since its inception in 2015 and is absolutely huge this year with 375 entrants (278 unique entrants).
Here is a peek at the year over year growth:
Year
Unique Entrants
Total Entrants
2015
111
140
2016
198
245
2017
195
247
2018
226
268
2019
278
375
The €356,250 prize pool is also a new record for the venue and the third largest in Estonian history only behind the two EPT Main Events held in 2010 and 2011.
Veli-Pekka Alakorva, also known around Finland as simply VP, is known for wearing his emotions on his sleeve and being loud in almost every big hand whether winning or losing.
He was just unusually silent and instead it was Antti Tapani Tuomi being very loud due to the behavior previous history the duo have had on the tables.
We caught up with the pot after the preflop betting and 100,000 in the middle after Tuomi turned over and Alakorva turned over .
The flop was a safe one for Alakorva. However, the came on the turn and this is when Toumi could be heard anywhere in the poker room. The celebrations continued for Tuomi both before and after the completed the board on the river and Alakorva silently walked out the door.
A final figure of 375 entrants has been confirmed to enter the Kings of Tallinn Main Event to create a €356,250 prize pool. This absolutely shatters last year's record of 268 entrants by more than 100.
Congrats to the organizers of the Kings of Tallinn as well as the host Olympic Park Casino for monumental achievement.
The day ended early for Finnish poker legend Ilari Sahamies. We only caught the end of the hand but he got it in for 35 big blinds preflop with . Sahamies ran into an opponent holding and the board was unable to save him.
Welcome to Day 2 of the Kings of Tallinn €1,100 Main Event at Olympic Park Casino and Hilton Park Hotel located in the heart of the Estonian capital.
Players traveled from near and far to play in the Main Event with 318 entrants joining the field on Day 1. This is already 50 more than the record of 268 entrants established during last year's Kings of Tallinn Main Event. The record will be further extended with late-registration allowed until the conclusion of the first blind level of Day 2.
A total of 168 players survived yesterday's action with Lithuania's Vasilijus Piskunovas leading the way to start the day with a huge stack of 189,900 in chips. Behind him are Dutch poker player Teun Hernar Mulder in second place with 170,400 in chips and Lithuania's Alexandras Voisnis in third place with 164,600.
Also well in the mix are three of Europe's most successful poker players including Finland's Ilari Sahamies (64,200), Anton "AnteSvante" Wigg (37,000), and 2019 WSOP Europe Main Event winner Jack Sinclair (31,700). Last year's winner Juha Helppi is also still in contention with 47,300 in chips.
Additionally, four Team OlyBet members bagged chips yesterday including Dmitrijs Meless (96,000), Carmen-Elina Vist (55,900) and Raigo Aasmaa (34,600).
Day 2 of the Main Event will kick off at 12 p.m. local time with blinds at 500/1,000 and an ante of 1,000. As was the case yesterday, today will feature eight hour-long blind levels with 15-minute breaks scheduled after every two blind levels.
Kings of Tallinn Main Event Day 2 Blind Structure
Level
Small Blind
Big Blind
Big Blind Ante
9
500
1,000
1,000
10
600
1,200
1,200
11
800
1,600
1,600
12
1,000
2,000
2,000
13
1,200
2,400
2,400
14
1,500
3,000
3,000
15
2,000
4,000
4,000
16
2,500
5,000
5,000
As was the case today, the PokerNews live reporting team will be back on the floor to provide complete coverage Day 2 and beyond until a winner is declared.