OlyBet Qualifiers Crush in Day 1A of Kings of Tallinn Main Event

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Feb 26, 2025 6 min read

Tuesday at the Olympic Park Casino was buzzing as the Kings of Tallinn Main Event finally got underway, kicking off with a guaranteed €1 million prize pool and a whole lot of excitement.

With Day 1B and 1C flights taking centre stage today, the series' headline event drew 175 hopefuls, all taking their first shot at glory. After nine levels of battling on the felt, just 60 players survived, locking up their seats for Friday’s Day 2.

Among those making it through the opening hurdle, a dozen OlyBet qualifiers kept the dream alive, having secured their spots in the €1,100 buy-in event through the online platform.

Dmitri Damaskin was the best-performing qualifier, growing his 30,000-chip starting stack to 127,000 (127 big blinds) by the time play ended. Damaskin's performance was enough to put him in the top ten chip counts, while qualifiers Jimmy Philippe Dewerdt (12th 126,800), Giedrius Karpavicius (14th, 124,800), Magnus Pukk (21st, 108,700) and Andre Magi (22nd, 108,000) also wrapped up play with more than 100 big blinds each.

Adria Comas Roura (29th, 87,000), Arto Antero Lehtonen (34th, 70,200), Arturs Daugis (37th, 68,500), Vladimiras Meckovskis (48th, 43,600) and Richard Koppel (52nd, 37,100) were the other qualifiers to see a slight increase in their chip counts. However, Josep Pastor (54th, 28,700) and Allan Arjut (58th, 20,900) have their work cut of for them after dropping below the 30,000 chip threshold.

Outside of the qualifiers, it was local player Rauno Ratt who stole the show, becoming the only player to break the 250,000-chip mark. He bagged a tournament-leading 253,500, an impressive feat considering his live poker résumé. With just $956 in recorded earnings across three cashes—his biggest score being €450 ($487) last October—Ratt is now in uncharted territory as he looks to turn his chip lead into a career-defining payday.

Other notables who made it to Day 2 include 2024 BetMGM Championship runner-up Benjamin Gros, 2023 Irish Open Champion Tero Laurila and high-stakes crusher Vladas Tamasauskas.

Several other notable names also punched their tickets to Day 2, including 2024 BetMGM Championship runner-up Benjamin Gros, 2023 Irish Open Champion Tero Laurila, and high-stakes crusher Vladas Tamasauskas.

Meanwhile, familiar faces like Michael Dwyer, Harry Lodge, Paul Newey, Georgios Tsouloftas, and Igor Pihela Snr hit the rail but will have more chances to re-enter in the upcoming flights. Interestingly, no former Kings of Tallinn Main Event champion took a shot at becoming a two-time winner on Day 1A, as they instead were invited to play in the Royal Challenge and Royal Showdown side events.

Day 1A Top 10 Chip Counts

“nonoty” Steamrolls Final Table to Capture PNOC $215 Mystery Bounty Main Event Title

Canatan Grabs Biggest Prize of Festival So Far

Ahmet Canatan had 66,050 reasons to smile after scooping up the biggest prize of the Kings of Tallinn so far. The Dane emerged victorious from a tough field of 710 entries, securing both the top prize and the trophy in the €555 Kings of Tallinn Championship (€330,150 prize pool).

The €66,050 windfall allowed Canatan to pass the $100,000 live earnings barrier after swiftly seeing off Michel Karim in heads-up play. Tommy Piiroinen bowed out ahead of Estonian duo Hanna Heinlo and 2023 Kings of Tallinn Main Event champion Pritt Parmasto falling in fourth and fifth respectively. Heinlo doubled her tournament earnings with the €20,150 score, while Parmasto added €15,250 to his bankroll.

Jonas Silfver was the first player to receive a five-figure payout after he departed in sixth place after Siim Nikopensius, Yurii Zabrodotskyi and Morten Olsen exited the final table.

KoT Championship Final Table Results

Norwegian Poker Champ Bags a Mystery Bounty Trophy

Robert Kaggerud added another title to his impressive poker resume with a victory in the €555 Mystery Bounty at Kings of Tallinn. This was his fifth career win, following big victories like his 2018 Norwegian Poker Championship win for $140,652 and a triumph in the Norwegian Championship Heads-Up event the same year.

Kaggerud's win in the Mystery Bounty earned him €16,045, including €7,000 in bounties. His journey to victory wasn’t without its challenges, but in a post-game interview, he explained how things turned around for him.

“I came in short, and we started the day three players away from the money. I doubled up right after the bubble burst. After that, it was pretty uneventful until the final table. I got some good spots, stealing blinds when short. It ended up going my way,” he shared.

Despite the victory and being a Heads-Up champion, Kaggerud admitted heads-up play isn’t his strong suit. “Heads-up is probably one of the worst parts of my game, so I didn’t mind it ending quickly.”

After the tournament wrapped up, Kaggerud headed over to the Mystery Bounty tombola to claim some of the final bounty prizes. On his first grab from the prize chest, he pulled out a €5,000 envelope, plus a €1,500 and €500 bounty. This added to the €500 bounty he had already picked earlier in the day—quite a nice haul to wrap up a day at the office.

€555 Mystery Bounty Final Table Results

Kings of Tallinn Remaining Schedule

2025 Kings of Tallinn Results

Images courtesy of Elena Kask/Kings of Tallinn

Calum has been a part of the PokerNews team since September 2021 after working in the UK energy sector. He played his first hand of poker in 2017 and immediately fell in love with the game. Calum has written for various poker outlets but found his home at PokerNews, where he has contributed to various articles and live updates, providing insights and reporting on major poker events, including the World Series of Poker (WSOP).

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