It was a bitter sweet ending to the 10th anniversary celebrations at the 2025 OlyBet Kings of Tallinn with Latvia’s Kaspars Butans adding his name to the festival’s Wall of Fame after an impressive victory in the four-day 2025 Kings of Tallinn €1,100 Main Event for €182,000 on Sunday at Olympic Park Casino and the Hilton Tallinn Park.
Kaspars Butans started the final day as the chip leader, stayed the course, and got the job done at the final table in style. After an intense battle, he defeated Sweden’s Mounir Tajiou heads-up to claim the crown of the 2025 Kings of Tallinn on what was a talented final table including the likes of online poker beast Anton “WhatIfGod” Bergström, 2023 Kings of Tallinn Main Event champion Priit Parmasto, Estonian poker beast Igor Pihela Jr., €555 Championship winner Benyamin Canatan, British friend of poker.pro Chris Da Silva, Finland’s Pasi Laihinen, and Latvia’s Eldars Sadih-Zade.
The heads-up showdown between Butans and Tajiou felt well deserved, as both players spent most of the final table at or near the top of the leaderboard. However, their paths to the final battle were vastly different. Tajiou thrived on aggression and seeing many flops, while Butans played a patient, calculated game, picking his spots wisely.
Despite starting the heads-up match almost as a 2:1 underdog, Butans landed the first and second big blows, leaving Tajiou unable to recover.
The final hand saw Butans setting a perfect trap, just calling on the button with pocket queens. His plan worked as Tajiou shoved all-in with ace-jack suited, and Butans snap-called. The board completely missed Tajiou, and with that, Kaspars Butans lifted the trophy as the 2025 King of Tallinn, securing a career-defining victory and the €182,000 grand prize.
Four other champions were crowned on Friday including Greece’s Theodoros Ampelikiotis winning a massive €51,200 top prize in the two-day €3,000 NLH after denying Estonia’s Mauri Dorbek the trophy.
Germany’s Roi Gibstein denied Norway’s Gisle Olsen a second trophy this festival after defeating his opponent heads-up to earn €15,115. While Olsen, who previously won the €1,100 PLO4/PLO5 Championship, which was live streamed at OlyBet Poker and other channels and live reported at poker.pro, was unable to earn the trophy, he did manage to earn the largest prize in the event thanks to the mystery bounties falling his way and added another €21,190 to his Tallinn haul.
United Kingdom’s Brad Whitehouse, who came to Tallinn to check things out as the PokerNews Social Media Manager, earned a trophy in the €150 PLO4/PLO5/PLO6 Progressive Bounty Turbo for €1,685 plus bounties, while Finland’s Samuel Saariaho won the final event of the festival in the €200 NLH Mini-Main Event DeepStack Hyper Turbo for €5,610.
The festival concluded with a players’ party at the OlyBet Bar and Grill boasting a band and an amazing atmosphere.
Read on to learn more about the final day of the 2025 Kings of Tallinn at Olympic Park Casino and the Hilton Tallinn Park, or click on the links below to learn more about the event.
- Read more: Live Reporting of the 2025 Kings of Tallinn
- Read more: 2025 Kings of Tallinn Landing Page and Team Challenge Sign-Up at OlyBetEvents.com
- Read more: Kings of Tallinn Celebrating 10 Year Anniversary in Style
- Read more: Kings of Tallinn Main Event Holds a €1 Million GTD – Bigger than Ever Before
- Read more: Ten Multi-Day Events During the 2025 Kings of Tallinn
- Read more: OlyBet Rolls Out Red Carpet for Kings of Tallinn 10th Anniversary
- Read more: Your Guide to Mixed Games at the 2025 Kings of Tallinn
- Read more: Redtooth Poker Tour Heads to Tallinn for European Leg of the 2024/25 Season
- Read more: 2025 Kings of Tallinn Day 1: Packed House Kicks the Action Off
- Read more: 2025 Kings of Tallinn Day 2: Two Finns Win First Two Titles
- Read more: 2025 Kings of Tallinn Day 3: Stanislav Smeljov Wins Largest of 5 Titles on Saturday
- Read more: 2025 Kings of Tallinn Day 4: Poker Journalist Among Five Trophy Winners on Sunday
- Read more: 2025 Kings of Tallinn Day 5: Finns Go 3 for 3 to Sweep the Board
- Read more: 2025 Kings of Tallinn Day 6: Ahmet Canatan Wins €555 KoT Championship (€66,050)
- Read more: 2025 Kings of Tallinn Day 7: Kestutis Jungevicius Wins €5K High Roller (€90,380)
- Read more: 2025 Kings of Tallinn Day 8: Gisle Olsen Wins PLO Championship & Bad Beat Jackpot Triggered
- Read more: 2025 Kings of Tallinn Day 9: Mikael Haapaniemi Leads Record-Breaking Main Event
- Read more: 2025 Kings of Tallinn Day 10: Kaspars Butans Leads Main Event Final Table
2025 Kings of Tallinn €1,100 Main Event Final Table Action
The 2025 Kings of Tallinn €1,100 Main Event boasted an ambitious €1 million guarantee. Players responded enthusiastically to set a new record for this prestigious event with 1,181 entries, creating a €1,098,330 prize pool.
The eventual champion Kaspars Butans kicked off the final table with the chip lead with Austria’s Benyamin Canatan and Sweden’s Mounir Tajiou not too far behind. While Butans was near the top of the leaderboard throughout the day, the lead quickly bounced around to Tajiou before setting with Anton Bergström had his moment in the sun.
Meanwhile, the opposite was the case for United Kingdom’s Chris Da Silva, who came in with the shortest stack of around 20 big blinds before the live-streamed audience witnessed Da Silva’s card dead hand after hand in what is one of the biggest drought of cards in OlyBet history. He eventually woke up with king-queen, but at this point, he was down to 8 big blinds with no fold equity after a cold-four bet shove. Bergström extended his lead after making the easy call with big slick to send Da Silva first to the rail at the final table in ninth place for €16,800.
Butans regained the lead before there was a clash between the two Estonians at the table. Priit Parmasto (eighth – €21,800) got action on a safe flop and turn with cowboys against the ace-five suited held by Igor Pihela Jr. However, Pihela Jr., whose father was busy grinding deep in the €3,000 NLH, completed a wheel on the river and managed to earn the rest of Parmasto’s chips.
Tajiou then regained the chip while Canatan became short on chips. Canatan was on fumes after his top pair with king-five didn’t hold after Eldars Sadih-Zade turned a flush. The rest of his chips went the next hand with eight-four against Tajiou’s nine-seven suited to exit in seventh place for €28,000.
Momentum seemed to be with Sadih-Zade as he soon after woke up with pocket kings. He got it in against Tajiou who who had a flush draw with queen-jack suited on an ace-high board. The bad beat monster appeared its ugly head as Sadih-Zade had to settle for the sixth-place prize of €36,500 while his opponent padded his chip lead after Tajiou managed to complete the flush.
Tajiou kept up his role as table terminator. He got it in with top pair and a flush draw with jack-eight suited against Bergström with king-queen for an open-ended straight draw to Broadway. The straight did complete for Bergström, however, he was eliminated in fifth place for €47,000 after Tajiou completed his flush.
A deal was eventually brought up at the table. Tajiou made it clear he was neither interested in ICM or a deal.
“I have never made a deal in my life and I won’t start now,” shared Tajiou to the table.
Tajiou continued his domination while Butans sat back and let his opponent do all the dirty work. Pihela Jr. was Tajiou’s next victim after losing a flip with sevens against ace-ten suited to exit in fourth place for €61,000.
Pasi Laihinen was Tajiou’s final victim after unsuccessfully jammed his short stack with queen-jack into his opponent’s ace-queen to exit in third place for a cool €80,000.
Tajiou had a 2:1 chip advantage against Butans and once again turned down a deal. Butans quickly snagged all the momentum to win hand after hand and came back to take the lead while eventually leaving Tajiou short on chips. A cooler was the deciding factor at the end with Tajiou coming up short with ace-jack suited to earn the €115,000 runner-up prize after not improving against Butans’s queens.
Congrats to Kaspars Butans for entering his name into the Kings of Tallinn history books and winning the coveted trophy along with the massive €182,000 top prize.
Event #25: €1,100 Kings of Tallinn Main Event Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Kaspars Butans | €182,000 |
| 2 |  Mounir Tajiou | €115,000 |
| 3 |  Pasi Laihinen | €80,000 |
| 4 |  Igor Pihela Jr. | €61,000 |
| 5 | Anton Bergström | €47,000 |
| 6 | Eldars Sadih-Zade | €36,500 |
| 7 |  Benyamin Canatan | €28,000 |
| 8 | Priit Parmasto | €21,800 |
| 9 |  Chris Da Silva | €16,800 |
| 10 |  Robertas Smolskis | €13,500 |
| 11 |  Thomas De Leiris | €13,500 |
| 12 | Ludvig Sterner | €11,400 |
| 13 |  Stein Karlsson | €11,400 |
| 14 | Elvijs Kergalvis | €9,800 |
| 15 | Marek Zigel | €9,800 |
| 16 |  Michael Dwyer | €8,515 |
| 17 | Mikael Haapaniemi | €8,515 |
| 18 |  Piotr Sztenkiel | €7,500 |
| 19 | Mairo Tori | €7,500 |
| 20 | Ignas Jasinevicius | €7,500 |
| 21 | Yaniv Peretz | €6,500 |
| 22 |  Mirco De Martini | €6,500 |
| 23 | Heppu Simola | €6,500 |
| 24 |  Oleh Pritsak | €5,600 |
| 25 |  Frode Alfredsen | €5,600 |
| 26 | Ilari Sahamies | €5,600 |
| 27 | Artturi Hannula | €5,600 |
| 28 | Kristian Kostiander | €4,850 |
| 29 | Sebastian Wahl | €4,850 |
| 30 | Artem Berliand | €4,850 |
| 31 | Benjamin Gros | €4,850 |
| 32 | Nils Linden | €4,200 |
| 33 | Olli Muukkonen | €4,200 |
| 34 | Mehdi Saidi | €4,200 |
| 35 | Mario Boos | €4,200 |
| 36 | Jevgeni Voitovits | €4,200 |
| 37 | Mykhailo Mikhalov | €4,200 |
| 38 | Atte Asikainen | €4,200 |
| 39 | Aklilu Laitinen | €4,200 |
| 40 | Maksim Petrov | €3,650 |
| 41 | Kai Lehto | €3,650 |
| 42 | Marko Tiitsaar | €3,650 |
| 43 | Roman Isaienko | €3,650 |
| 44 | Oleksii Shchukin | €3,650 |
| 45 | Osku Karttunen | €3,650 |
| 46 | Peter Kvisthammar | €3,650 |
| 47 | Erik Lindqwist | €3,650 |
| 48 | Kristian Aksnes | €3,650 |
| 49 | Andres Loiv | €3,650 |
| 50 | Vygerdas Jonikas | €3,650 |
| 51 | Mykolas Savickas | €3,650 |
| 52 | Lars Olofsson | €3,650 |
| 53 | Pasi Sormunen | €3,650 |
| 54 | Albert Ostrovskij | €3,650 |
| 55 |  Felix Seelentag | €3,650 |
| 56 | Christian Hoffmann | €3,200 |
| 57 | Stein Pedersen | €3,200 |
| 58 | Mathias Siljander | €3,200 |
| 59 | Martynas Racinskas | €3,200 |
| 60 |  Robbie Schiffbauer | €3,200 |
| 61 | Aleksander Lattikas | €3,200 |
| 62 | Olaf Larssen | €3,200 |
| 63 | Sander Leigri | €3,200 |
| 64 | Toni Ylitervo | €3,200 |
| 65 | Frederik Brink | €3,200 |
| 66 | Juha Helppi | €3,200 |
| 67 | Bengt Johansson | €3,200 |
| 68 | Veikka Keto-Tokoi | €3,200 |
| 69 | Illia Petrytsia | €3,200 |
| 70 | Ruslan Stserbjuk | €3,200 |
| 71 | Mauri Dorbek | €3,200 |
| 72 |  Leantzis Christos | €2,800 |
| 73 | Peter Rees | €2,800 |
| 74 | Nikolajs Jalunins | €2,800 |
| 75 | Jukka Moisio | €2,800 |
| 76 | Jarmo Salonen | €2,800 |
| 77 | Kaspars Renga | €2,800 |
| 78 | Dmitri Zatsik | €2,800 |
| 79 | Vu Vuong | €2,800 |
| 80 | Peer Zahl | €2,800 |
| 81 | Tommi Lankinen | €2,800 |
| 82 | Hai Hoang | €2,800 |
| 83 |  Martin Tsvetanov | €2,800 |
| 84 | David Bright | €2,800 |
| 85 | Zoran Ruvceski | €2,800 |
| 86 | Eero Abbey | €2,800 |
| 87 | Rune Brunes | €2,800 |
| 88 | Henri Schalin | €2,800 |
| 89 | Stefan Galic | €2,800 |
| 90 | Markus Ylanne | €2,800 |
| 91 | Lukas Rodionovas | €2,800 |
| 92 | Edgaras Stusevas | €2,800 |
| 93 | Ryan Mandara | €2,800 |
| 94 | Mikko Harmaa | €2,800 |
| 95 | Markus Jauhiainen | €2,800 |
| 96 | Vidar Assersen | €2,450 |
| 97 | Stanislav Smeljov | €2,450 |
| 98 | Richard Melby | €2,450 |
| 99 | Jonatan Fors | €2,450 |
| 100 | Sauli Haapaniemi | €2,450 |
| 101 | Joni Rantamaki | €2,450 |
| 102 | Erik Risberg | €2,450 |
| 103 | Riku Maatta | €2,450 |
| 104 | Mindaugas Grigaitis | €2,450 |
| 105 | Marijus Dirgela | €2,450 |
| 106 | Vetle Holum | €2,450 |
| 107 | Mantas Bagocius | €2,450 |
| 108 | Rasmus Sihvonen | €2,450 |
| 109 | Vytautas Baltrusaitis | €2,450 |
| 110 | Elias Suhonen | €2,450 |
| 111 | Erling Olsen | €2,450 |
| 112 | Aleksei Gontsar | €2,450 |
| 113 | Martin Bjerrum | €2,450 |
| 114 | Nazarii Piznak | €2,450 |
| 115 | Roberto Sellitto | €2,450 |
| 116 | Fritz Nygren | €2,450 |
| 117 | Gisle Olsen | €2,450 |
| 118 | Henry Gronvik | €2,450 |
| 119 |  Vivian Saliba | €2,450 |
| 120 | Ilja-Ulo Nukka | €2,250 |
| 121 | Magnus Pukk | €2,250 |
| 122 | Egidijus Liutkevicius | €2,250 |
| 123 | Peteris Balodis | €2,250 |
| 124 | Davor Pavic | €2,250 |
| 125 | Andrei Mjagkov | €2,250 |
| 126 | Virgo Laansoo | €2,250 |
| 127 | Paul Newey | €2,250 |
| 128 | Simon Hassan | €2,250 |
| 129 |  Angel Alonso | €2,250 |
| 130 |  Marcel Verheul | €2,250 |
| 131 | Jussi Mattila | €2,250 |
| 132 | Nikolai Austad | €2,250 |
| 133 | Miko Miettinen | €2,250 |
| 134 | Igor Pihela Sr. | €2,250 |
| 135 | Jesper Hansen | €2,250 |
| 136 | Luka Sorainen | €2,250 |
| 137 | Justus Kursi | €2,250 |
| 138 | Andre Magi | €2,250 |
| 139 | Yves Honore | €2,250 |
| 140 | Hendrik Uibo | €2,250 |
| 141 | Kristiana Stauere | €2,250 |
| 142 | Tomasz Gluszko | €2,250 |
| 143 | Rohan Oberoi | €2,250 |
| 144 | Raunto Ratt | €2,100 |
| 145 | Risto Ponnio | €2,100 |
| 146 | Fredrik Lindstroem | €2,100 |
| 147 | Iman Ghashayar | €2,100 |
| 148 | Teemu Toikkanen | €2,100 |
| 149 | Peder Behr | €2,100 |
| 150 | Nikolay Ponomarev | €1,400 |
| 151 |  Enea Subashi | €1,400 |
| 152 | Kestutits Jungevicius | €1,400 |
Event #55: €3,000 NLH Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Theodoros Ampelikiotis | €51,200 |
| 2 | Mauri Dorbek | €34,500 |
| 3 | Luka Sorainen | €24,250 |
| 4 | Martin Tsvetanov | €17,700 |
| 5 | Mikko Ylamaki | €12,900 |
| 6 | Jari-Pekka Juhola | €10,600 |
| 7 |  Blaz Zerjav | €8,650 |
| 8 | Igor Pihela Sr. | €7,100 |
| 9 | Juha Helppi | €6,000 |
Event #62: €150 PLO4/PLO5/PLO6 Progressive Bounty Turbo Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brad Whitehouse | United Kingdom | €1,685 |
| 2 | Kimi Sipilä | Finland | €1,685 |
| 3 |  Harald Redl | Austria | €1,150 |
| 4 | Allan Arjut | Estonia | €850 |
| 5 | Matias Knaapinen | Finland | €660 |
| 6 | Giedrius Saduikis | Lithuania | €520 |
| 7 | Vidar Assersen | Norway | €420 |
| 8 | Scott Kenyon | United Kingdom | €340 |
| 9 | Kare Hallamaa | Finland | €340 |
| 10 | Jens Rössel | Sweden | €290 |
| 11 | Bengt Johansson | Finland | €290 |
| 12 | Henri Schalin | Finland | €250 |
| 13 | Lee Horton | United Kingdom | €250 |
| 14 | Roope Tarmi | Finland | €250 |
Event #63: €200 Mini Main Event Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Samuel Saariaho | Finland | €5,610 |
| 2 | Tommy Brattskar | Norway | €3,720 |
| 3 | Tobias Traussnig | Austria | €2,690 |
| 4 | Meelis Ahman | Estonia | €2,100 |
| 5 | Maksim Belomestnõi | Estonia | €1,630 |
| 6 | Joel Holmberg | Finland | €1,270 |
| 7 | Indre Martoviciute-Kasten | Lithuania | €991 |
| 8 | Gustav Andersson | Sweden | €800 |
| 9 | Monica Larsson | Sweden | €640 |
| 10 |  Shaul Weinstein | Israel | €530 |
| 11 | Tim Van Kemenade | Netherlands | €530 |
| 12 | Joel Haapio | Finland | €470 |
| 13 | Marcus Hallabro | Sweden | €470 |
| 14 | Tapio Vihakas | Finland | €410 |
| 15 | Espen Sandvik | Norway | €410 |
| 16 | Steinn Karlsson | Iceland | €370 |
| 17 | Leonidas Georgopoulos | Greece | €370 |
| 18 | Noelia Rico | Sweden | €340 |
| 19 | Alexander Proca | Sweden | €340 |
| 20 | Gytis Bilevicius | Lithuania | €340 |
*Photos courtesy of Elena Kask.
