Follow us on Telegram

Hannes Kert Leads Final Nine of Record-Breaking Mini Main Event at WSOP Circuit Tallinn

by
Jason Glatzer
July 27, 2026
News provided by Poker.Pro
Hannes Kert Leads Final Nine of Record-Breaking Mini Main Event at WSOP Circuit Tallinn
Mini Main Event Final Table. Photo: Elena Kask

Day 4 of the 2026 WSOP Circuit Tallinn, powered by OlyBet Poker, delivered its biggest storyline yet as the record-breaking €350 Mini Main Event whittled down to a final table of nine, with Estonia’s Hannes Kert bagging the chip lead heading into Monday’s finale. Ring Event #3: €555 NLH banked its first two flights, and 42 players bagged up in Ring Event #2: €555 PLO4/PLO5 with poker.pro’s own Terje “Teddy” Bremseth and Jason Glatzer both surviving into the final day. Finland’s Sami Saamanen has the overall chip lead ahead of Monday’s final day, with a WSOP Circuit ring and a $5,000 WSOP Paradise Bahamas package on the line.

Three more trophies were handed out on Sunday. Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk added yet another memento to his remarkable 2026 with a three-handed win in the €555 Open-Face Chinese Pineapple, Poland’s Bartosz Wesolek topped a large 224-entry field in the €200 NLH 8-Handed, and Finland’s Onni Huttunen claimed the quirky €350 PLO4/PLO5/Sviten Mix.

Kert Leads the Way as Record-Breaking Mini Main Event Reaches Final Table

Hannes Kert. Photo: Elena Kask

The record-setting field of 1,162 entries in the €350 Mini Main Event has been whittled all the way down to a final table of nine, and it’s Estonia’s Hannes Kert who takes the chip lead into Monday’s decisive session. Kert built his stack in dramatic fashion on Sunday evening, making what Finland’s Ville-Tapio Mesiranta himself called a “sick call” when he flatted a 2,705,000 shove holding 99, only to see Mesiranta’s A3 never catch up through a 103572. The double-up rocketed Kert to 5,710,000, while Mesiranta never recovered and was eliminated in 12th place shortly after.

Elsewhere on the felt, Sweden’s last hope, Olof Höglin, hit the rail in 14th place for €2,610 when his K9 open-shove ran into Steffen Gjelseth’s 55, with the Norwegian turning a set to end any chance of the trophy staying with reigning champion Simon Hesserud Persson’s countrymen.

The final table bubble burst when Gjelseth fell in tenth. Opening to 1,500,000 on the Button and left with just 90,000 behind, Gjelseth called off his remaining chips against Estonia’s Silver Simulask, whose AJ ran down Gjelseth’s AK on a Q91083 board. The nine survivors bagged up their chips and will reunite at 12:00 on Monday to crown the champion of the largest Mini Main Event in the series’ history.

One name to watch: Finland’s Jarmo Salonen, who was down to just 5,000 in chips (one eighth of a big blind) on Blinds 20,000/400,000, and has somehow fought his way all the way to the final table. Should he go on to win it, it would be one of the great comeback stories of the WSOP Circuit season.

Follow all the final table action live on poker.pro live reporting page.

2026 WSOP Circuit Tallinn – €350 NLH Mini-Main Event Final Table Chips Counts

PositionPlayerCountryChips
1 Hannes KertEstonia8,450,000
2 Robin VanlootFrance7,150,000
3 Victor Fernandez AmatEstonia7,000,000
4 Martin PiikEstonia6,525,000
5 Antti PerttulaFinland4,425,000
6 Tarvi ApsolonEstonia4,225,000
7 Silver SimulaskEstonia3,775,000
8 Jarmo SalonenFinland2,225,000
9 Ivo PetkovBulgaria2,150,000

Ring Event #3: €555 NLH Banks First Two Flights

Kenneth Svendsen. Photo: Elena Kask

Ring Event #3, the €555 NLH, got underway on Sunday with Day 1A drawing 141 entries and Day 1B adding another 56, pushing the prize pool to €142,500 so far, with Day 1C and Day 1D still to come on Monday. In total, 78 players survived the first two flights and will return for Day 2.

Norway’s Kenneth Svendsen set the pace out of Day 1A, bagging up 189,000 to hold the overall chip lead, with Spain’s David Santalla Marfil (185,000) and Italy’s Daniele Intilisano (179,500) not far behind. All three are products of the opening flight, while Spain’s Joel Hernandez topped Day 1B with 165,000.

2026 WSOP Circuit Tallinn – €555 NLH Flight 1A & 1B Top 10 Chip Counts

PositionPlayerCountryChipsBig Blinds
1 Kenneth SvendsenNorway189,000157
2 David Santalla MarfilSpain185,000154
3 Daniele IntilisanoItaly179,500149
4 Joel HernandezSpain165,000137
5 Shreyas VenkatasubramaniamUnited States159,500132
6 Christian BlumensaadtDenmark152,500127
7 Maksym KasianovUkraine148,000123
8 Lukas PoskusLithuania145,000120
9 Martynas SaltisLithuania142,500118
10 Marta PorterLithuania134,500112

Franke Strikes Again in €555 Open-Face Chinese Pineapple

Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk during the 2026 OlyBet Showdown Vilnius. Photo: Viktorija Makovskaja

Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk just cannot stop winning in 2026. The Swede took down the €555 Open-Face Chinese Pineapple three-handed, picking up his eighth title of the year and his third OFC trophy alone. The win capped a whirlwind stretch of travel that has taken him from Vilnius to Tallinn, from Liechtenstein to Taipei, and to Antwerp for an OFC title less than two weeks ago, before returning to Tallinn to add yet another.

The 34-entry field created a €16,150 prize pool, and this one proved the most lucrative stop yet on von Zweigbergk’s run, netting him €6,055. He defeated Estonia’s Mati Pirn heads-up, with Pirn taking home €3,775 as the runner-up.

PlacePlayerCountryPrize
1 Martin “Franke” von ZweigbergkSweden€6,055
2 Mati PirnEstonia€3,775
3 Vidar AssersenNorway€2,795
4 Johnny JohansenNorway€2,025
5 Maxime TanneurFrance€1,500

Wesolek Wins Massive €200 NLH 8-Handed Field

Event #32, the €200 NLH 8-Handed, was one of the best-attended side events of the festival, pulling in 224 entries for a €36,176 prize pool with 34 places paid. Poland’s Bartosz Wesolek came out on top, defeating his Swedish opponent, Rolftomas Jauring, heads-up to secure the trophy and €8,384. Jauring settled for €5,453 as the runner-up.

PlacePlayerCountryPrize
1 Bartosz WesolekPoland€8,384
2 Rolftomas JauringSweden€5,453
3 Martynas SaltisLithuania€3,656
4 Ilvars GudrimovicsLatvia€2,525
5 Ben BonfilIsrael€1,797
6 Ahmet CanatanDenmark€1,320
7 Marko KolulaFinland€1,002
8 Tomas KovalenkaLithuania€786
9 Roni BonfilIsrael€639
10 Jiawei ZhaoChina€538
11 Marks BaidjuksLatvia€538
12 Sebastian SzymlaPoland€470
13 Dmitrijs PetrenkoLatvia€470
14 Niilo-Pekka NiinikoskiFinland€470
15 Thomas NielsenDenmark€470
16 Arturas KuzmenkaLithuania€427
17 Harri KareniusFinland€427
18 Samuel Aznar DuraSpain€427
19 Semi RantanenFinland€427
20 Joonas HelinFinland€427
21 Viktor SahhatskiEstonia€404
22 Carina WaldSweden€404
23 Jukka MoisioFinland€404
24 Gintaras NagliusLithuania€404
25 Haitian YangNorway€404
26 Martynas VolungeviciusLithuania€404
27 Erikas GoriacevskisLithuania€404
28 Antero RaisanenFinland€385
29 Bennie LaursenDenmark€385
30 Kari MartikainenFinland€385
31 Piotr SwietekPoland€385
32 Dennis WassbroSweden€385
33 Danil LebedevEstonia€385
34 Sultans ErtinhajevsLatvia€385

Huttunen Takes Down Quirky PLO4/PLO5/Sviten Mix

WSOPC Tallinn 2026 - Mini-Main (Day 2) - 034 - Onni Huttunen - [Credit - Elena Kask]
Onni Huttunen. Photo: Elena Kask

Event #33 offered up one of the more unusual formats of the festival: the €350 PLO4/PLO5/Sviten Mix, played with a button round of each game and capped at six-handed. The mix, which of course couldn’t skip fan-favorite Sviten Special, attracted 83 entries for a €24,433 prize pool.

It came down to a head-to-head battle between Finland’s Onni Huttunen and Lithuania’s Darius Tamulevicius, with Huttunen sealing the trophy and €6,963. Tamulevicius had to settle for the runner-up prize of €4,610.

PlacePlayerCountryPrize
1 Onni HuttunenFinland€6,963
2 Darius TamuleviciusLithuania€4,610
3 Joonas KeijonenFinland€3,010
4 Sergei OganesjanEstonia€2,060
5 Erik RisbergSweden€1,480
6 Paraw SafariSweden€1,120
7 Teemu SattanenFinland€900
8 Eetu SepponenFinland€770
9 Lars NordSweden€770
10 Timothee ReyFrance€700
11 Petteri LaihoFinland€700
12 Aria Farahi NobarjanSweden€680
13 Juuso ParviainenFinland€680

Saamanen Leads €555 PLO4/PLO5 Into the Final Day

Sami Säämänen. Photo: Elena Kask

The two-day Ring Event #2, the €555 PLO4/PLO5, attracted 282 entries for a €133,950 prize pool. After 17 levels of play on Sunday, 42 players bagged up and will return for the final day on Monday, July 27, with a WSOP Circuit ring and a €29,280 top prize on the line, not to mention a $5,000 WSOP Paradise Bahamas package!

Among the survivors are two familiar faces, poker.pro’s own Terje “Teddy” Bremseth and Jason Glatzer. Glatzer bagged up the 14th-biggest stack of the day with 214,000, while Bremseth has considerably more work ahead of him, returning as the shortest stack in the field with 21,000. Both are already locked into a payday, with 43 places paid.

The stack to catch belongs to Finland’s Sami Saamanen, who bagged an enormous 633,000 to take the overall chip lead. His countryman Mikko Ylämäki (569,000) and Sweden’s Ludwig Klingberg (559,000) round out the top three heading into Monday’s restart.

PositionPlayerCountryChipsBig Blinds
1 Sami SaamanenEstonia633,000126
2 Mikko YlamaekiFinland569,000113
3 Ludwig KlingbergSweden559,000111
4 Juuso OksanenFinland456,00091
5 Kristaps RengaLatvia452,00090
6 Kert HallikEstonia420,00084
7 Pierre PochatFrance385,00077
8 Igor PihelaEstonia373,00074
9 Thomas AalbersNetherlands358,00071
10 Ollitapani IkonenFinland314,00062

Monday, July 27 Schedule at 2026 WSOP Circuit Tallinn

TimeEvent
12:00Ring Event #3: €555 NLH Flight 1C
12:00Event #35: FREEBUY WSOPC Women-Only NLH Satellite! (€20 Re-entry, Five Seats Guaranteed)
12:00Ring Event #1: €350 NLH Mii -Main Event Final Day
13:00Ring Event #2: €555 PLO4/PLO5 Final Day
13:00Event: 36: €1,100 NLH, 6-handed, One-Day Event
14:00Event #37: €80 PLO5 Satellite to Ring Event #6 €1,100 PLO4/PLO5 (Five Seats Guaranteed)
15:00Ring Event #4: €350 NLH Queens (Women-Only)
16:00Event #38: €200 PL Baducey
18:00Event #39: €250 NLH Progressive Bounty
19:00Ring Event #3: €555 NLH Flight 1D
20:00Event #40: €350 PLO4/PLO5 BOMB POT
22:00Event #41: €150 NLH Mega Satellite to the €1,500 WSOPC Tallinn Main Event (10 Seats Guanrateed)

Lead image courtesy of Elena Kask / OlyBet Poker
Article originally produced at poker.pro.

Related