Day 1a of the sixth edition of the OlyBet Kings of Tallinn €1,100 Main Event hosted by Olympic Park Casino and Hilton Tallinn Park was a huge success with 522 entrants ponying up the €1,100 buy-in.
This not already means that the €500,000 guarantee is already met but that also last year's record field of 375 entrants was smashed already by 147 entrants. The record will be further extended with many players planning to enter for the first time or re-enter on Day 1a and/or before the late registration period ends at the conclusion of the first blind level of Day 2 tomorrow.
Players began today's deep-stacked action with 30,000 in chips and battled it out for eight hour-long blinds levels.
More than half of today's field survived today's action with Italy's Renato Messina leading the way among the 264 survivors with 224,200 in chips.
Others bagging big stacks into Day 2 were Finland's Sargon Esfendiyari (195,100), Estonia's Urmo Velvelt (173,300), Robert Kallikorm (172,000), Lithuania's Daniel Belov (166,600), and United Kingdom's Carl Shaw (155,300).
Velvelt was picking up chips throughout the day but got off to an early start after he successfully picked off a bluff made by Audrius Navickas.
Meanwhile, Shaw won a huge pot against Swedish pro Jerry Odeen. Shaw jammed with a full house and got a call from Odeen with two pair to send his opponent to the rail.
Urmo Velvelt bags a big stack on Day 1a of the Kings of Tallinn Main Event
Day 2 of the Main Event will kick off at 12 p.m. local time tomorrow with blinds at 500/1,000 and a big blind ante of 1,000. We will post starting seat assignments before the action resumes.
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.
*Images courtesy of Ardo Kaljuvee / Kings of Tallinn.
The Day 1a field is already at 442 entrants. This smashes the previous Main Event record established last year when Vitalijs Zavorotnijs shipped the event for €85,300.
Urmo Velvelt checked with 20,000 in the pot and the on the board.
Audrius Navickas jammed for about 14,000. Velvelt tanked for about a minute before he made the call.
Navickas tried to throw his hand into the muck but as it was an all-in situation he had to show. He turned over for a missed flush draw and Velvelt won the pot with an overpair after he turned over .
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Welcome to Day 1a of the 2020 Kings of Tallinn €1,100 Main Event at the Hilton Tallinn Park and Olympic Park Casino.
Every year, the Kings of Tallinn is the biggest live poker festival. Attendance has grown each year since its inception in 2015 with this year's sixth edition featuring 40 action-packed events from Feb. 17-23.
This year will be by far the biggest to date with the Main Event featuring a huge €500,000 guaranteed prize pool and more sponsors than ever before bringing in qualifiers including Olybet Poker, Coolbet Poker, 32Red Poker, Paf Poker, and Optibet Poker.
The Main Event features two opening flights with players starting with a big stack of 30,000 in chips.
This is a change from previous years when a single opening flight prevailed. Day 1a features eight blind levels of an hour each starting at 12 p.m. EET.
Day 1b will begin shortly after players bag chips at 9 p.m. EET and is a turbo affair with 20-minute blind levels.
Players will have plenty of opportunities to build a massive stack with unlimited re-entries permitted until the conclusion of the first blind level fo Day 2 on Feb. 22.
Day 3 on Feb. 22 will play down to a final table, which will be played out until the sixth Kings of Tallinn Main Event winner is crowned on Feb. 23.
Last year, the Main Event attracted 375 entrants with Latvia's Vitalijs Zavorotnijs winning the trophy and the €85,300 top prize. This year's top prize will be even bigger.
Zavorotnijs has confirmed with PokerNews that he will attempt to defend his title as will 2018 Kings of Tallinn Main Event champion Juha Helppi.
Vitalijs Zavorotnijs wins the 2019 Kings of Tallinn Main Event.
Kings of Tallinn Main Event Day 1 Blind Structure
Level
Small blind
Big blind
Big Blind Ante
1
100
100
2
100
100
100
3
100
200
200
4
100
300
300
5
200
400
400
6
200
500
500
7
300
600
600
8
400
800
800
A handful of side events are also taking place today many of which begin after Day 1a is concluded. The €1,100 4 Card PLO Knockout, the €110 4 Card PLO Knockout, and the Final Day of the Kings €550 Event all take place at 9 p.m. EET, while the €220 Hyper Turbo kicks off two hours later at 11 p.m. EET.
Stay tuned as The PokerNews live reporting team will be on the floor to provide all the action until a champion is crowned.
2020 Kings of Tallinn Schedule
Date
Time (EET)
Event #
Event
Buy-in
Guarantee
Feb. 17
7 p.m.
1
Hit & Run Satellite to the Kings €550
€60
Three Seats
10 p.m.
2
Freebuy Satellite to Main Event
€0 + €50 rebuys and add-on
One Seat Added
Feb. 18
4 p.m.
3
Freebuy Satellite to the Kings €550
€0 + €20 rebuys and add-on
Two Seats
5 p.m.
4
Kings €550 Day 1a
€550
7 p.m.
5
Celebrty Event
€110
9 p.m.
6
Satellite to Main Event
€60
Three Seats
11 p.m.
7
Hyper Turbo Knockout
€220
Feb. 19
1 p.m.
8
Optibet Super Deep Hold'em
€220
5 p.m.
4
Kings €550 Day 1b
€550
7 p.m.
9
Mega Satellite to Main Event
€110
Ten Seats
9 p.m.
4
Kings €550 Turbo Day 1c
€550
9 p.m.
10
4 Card PLO Hi/Lo
€330
11 p.m.
11
Super Satellite to Main Event
€110
Five Seats
Feb. 20
11:30 a.m.
12
Freebuy satellite to Main Event
€0 + €50 rebuys and add-on
Two Seats
12 p.m.
13
Kings of Tallinn Main Event Day 1a
€1,100
€500,000
2 p.m.
14
Hit & run satellite to Main Event
€120
Three Seats
5 p.m.
15
Satellite to Main Event Day 1b
€60
Three Seats
9 p.m.
16
4 Card PLO Knockout
€1,100
9 p.m.
17
4 Card PLO Knockout
€110
9 p.m.
4
Kings €550 Final Day
9 p.m.
13
Kings of Tallinn Main Event Turbo Day 1b
€1,100
11 p.m.
18
Hyper Turbo
€220
Feb. 21
12 p.m.
13
Kings of Tallinn Main Event Day 2
€1,100
3 p.m.
19
Satellite to €3K Highroller
€110
Three Seats
3 p.m.
20
PL Sviten by Svensk Poker
€220
5 p.m.
21
The Hendon Mob Championship Day 1
€220
5 p.m.
22
Open Face Chinese Poker
€550
7 p.m.
23
Hyper Satellite to €3K High Roller
€60
Two Seats
9 p.m.
24
Knockout
€1,100
9 p.m.
25
Bounty Special - Hunt Them All
€110
11 p.m.
26
4 Card PLO Hyper Turbo
€110
Feb. 22
11:30 a.m.
27
Freebuy Satellite to Event #28
€0 + €20 rebuys and add-on
Seven Seats
12 p.m.
21
The Hendon Mob Championship Day 2
12 p.m.
13
Kings of Tallinn Main Event Day 3
1 p.m.
28
Hyper Turbo Deep Satellite to €3K Highroller
€165
Two Seats
1 p.m.
29
H.O.R.S.E.
€330
2 p.m.
30
Paf Queens of Tallinn (Ladies Only)
€60
3 p.m.
31
Kings of Tallinn High Roller Day 1
€3,000
3 p.m.
32
Olybet Special Day 1
€110
5 p.m.
33
Soko - PL Five Card Stud
€110
7 p.m.
34
PL Omaha 4 & 5 Cards (ROE) Day 1
€220
9 p.m.
35
Coolbet Progressive Knockout Championship Day 1
€440
11 p.m.
36
Hyper Turbo Win The Button
€110
Feb. 23
12 p.m.
37
Estonian Poker 20 freezeout
12 p.m.
13
Kings of Tallinn Main Event Final Day
12 p.m.
31
Kings of Tallinn High Roller Final Day
12 p.m.
32
Olybet Special Final Day
12 p.m.
34
PL Omaha 4 & 5 Cards Final Day
12 p.m.
35
Coolbet Progressive Knockout Championship Final Day
on the board.
for a missed flush draw and Velvelt won the pot with an overpair after he turned over 
.
came on the flop. Merfeldas raised to 2,700 and Gokcek called.
came on the turn and Gokcek bet 5,000. Merfeldas jammed for more than his opponent's stack of around 15,000 and Gokcek called.
or spade give him a double up. Instead the 
