2025 Kings of Tallinn Day 2: Two Finns Win First Two Titles

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2025 Kings of Tallinn

The 2025 Kings of Tallinn has thus far more than lived up to its billing. The festival boasts 64 numbered events in a variety of stakes, poker variants, and formats, highlighted by the four-day 2025 Kings of Tallinn €1,100 Main Event, which boasts for the first time a record €1 million guarantee to highlight the 10th anniversary of this iconic event.

The first two trophies were awarded on Friday, February 21, and the Finnish flag was waived both times. Timo Tamminen became the only player thus far to earn a five-figure prize after defeating the United Kingdom’s Max Sanders heads-up to win the two-day Event #2: €200 NLH DeepStack Opening Event for €10,260.

Andreas Backlund followed this up with his biggest cash, according to The Hendon Mob, after defeating fellow Finn Henri Schalin to win the top prize of €5,228 in the one-day Event #5 €150 PLO4/PLO5/PLO6 Mix.

Meanwhile, the top of the leaderboard of the two-day Event #4: €350 NLH Kings of Tallinn Cup boasts Finland’s Pekka Ikonen, followed by 2022 Tallinn Summer Showdown Main Event champion Glen Gaines.

In other news, the Kings of Tallinn giveaways for the 10th anniversary began on Friday, with long-time Estonian resident Jimmy Dewerdt randomly winning a seat in the €555 NLH Championship starting today. Another player, and this time also a team from the OlyBet Team Competition, will win a special prize on Saturday and expect the giveaways to continue throughout the week.

Jimmy Dewerdt & Andrius Mazeika
Jimmy Dewerdt & Andrius Mazeika

Read on to learn more about Day 2 of the 2025 Kings of Tallinn at Olympic Park Casino and the Hilton Tallinn Park or click on the links below to read about the event.

Timo Tamminen Wins €200 NLH DeepStack Opening Event

The two-day €200 NLH Deepstack attracted 319 entries to create a €50,434 prize pool, representing an amazing start to the festival with a total of 41 players earning at least a €390 min-cash for nearly double the buy-in.

The final table was a fun one and there were three different countries represented on the podium. Estonia’s hopes were dashed from winning the first title of the 2025 King of Tallinn after Raigo Vaikma hit the rail in third place for €4,890, leaving Timo Tamminen and the formidable Max Sanders heads-up for the title. Sanders, who has attended many festivals in Tallinn over the past few years, wasn’t able to earn a trophy and settled for the €6,900 runner-up prize as an amazing start to the festival, while Timo Tamminen notched his third-ever five-digit prize after earning the trophy which came with a €10,260 top prize.

Event #2: €200 NLH DeepStack Opening Event Results

Place Player Country Prize
1 Timo Tamminen Finland €10,260
2 Maximilian Sanders United Kingdom €6,900
3 Raigo Vaikma Estonia €4,890
4 Niko Heikkinen Finland €3,460
5 Stefan Olofsson Sweden €2,460
6 Kaspar Anderson Estonia €1,844
7 Hardi Karolin Estonia €1,410
8 Vadims Milovs Latvia €1,180
9 Ahto Järve Estonia €1,020
10 Hendry Kullamäe Estonia €900
11 Veli-Pekka Penttinen Finland €900
12 Enea Subashi Greece €800
13 Marek Martin Estonia €800
14 Niko Penttinen Finland €720
15 Kaspars Mamons Latvia €720
16 Thuy Anh Dao Vietnam €650
17 Glen Gaines United Kingdom €650
18 Peter Roslund Sweden €580
19 Juho Korhonen Finland €580
20 Elias Suhonen Finland €580
21 Dmitri Damaskin Estonia €530
22 Illia Petrytsia Ukraine €530
23 Robert Kallikorm Estonia €530
24 Andrei Mjagkov Estonia €480
25 Maksim Solodilov Estonia €480
26 Aleksei Gontsar Estonia €480
27 Hugh O´Donnell United Kingdom €480
28 Mikael Slavov Finland €430
29 Lukas Kviecinskas Lithuania €430
30 Juho Suutari Finland €430
31 Ardo Tsukker Estonia €430
32 Joni Nenonen Finland €390
33 Steinn Thanh Du Karlsson Iceland €390
34 Ardo Pinna Estonia €390
35 Haitian Yang China €390
36 Yurii Zabrodotskyi Ukraine €390
37 Fred Martens Estonia €390
38 Jouni Huovila Finland €390
39 Sergejs Piratovs Latvia €390
40 Valentin Francois France €390
41 Ingvar Linne Sweden €390

Andreas Backlund Wins Event #5: €150 PLO4/PLO5/PLO6

The one-day Event #5: €150 PLO4/PLO5/PLO6 attracted a banner field of 209 players to create a €25,268 prize pool. The top 29 players earned at least a €280 min-cash with the prizes moving up quickly from there.

It seemed destined with four Finns remaining out of the final five players that Finland would sweep the day with trophies. However, the possibility that Sweden would be able to take some of Finland’s thunder after Risto Pönniö (fourth – €1,780) and Jukka Juvonen (fifth – €1,400) hit the rail.

Risto Ponnio
Risto Ponnio

The lock was secure for Finland after Sweden’s Mounir Tajiou was first out on the podium in third place for €2,380. Henri Schalin, who has been witnessed in the winner’s circle at previous Kings of Tallinn festivals, fell one spot shy of securing an early trophy and settled for the €3,430 runner-up prize, while Andreas Backlund earned the trophy and the €5,228 top prize.

Event #5: €150 PLO4/PLO5/PLO6 Payouts

Place Player Country Prize
1 Andreas Backlund Finland €5,228
2 Henri Schalin Finland €3,430
3 Mounir Tajiou Sweden €2,380
4 Risto Pönniö Finland €1,780
5 Jukka Juvonen Finland €1,400
6 Michal Cornak Czech Republic €1,150
7 Olli-Pekka Huuskonen Finland €920
8 Joni KNenonen Finland €730
9 Aleksandrs Sotnikovs Latvia €730
10 Kaspar Laursoo Estonia €580
11 Timo Koivuniemi Finland €580
12 Tapio Vihakas Finland €480
13 Martin von Zweigbergk Sweden €480
14 Barrie Dear England €480
15 Pyry Remesaho Finland €410
16 Elias Suhonen Finland €410
17 Mikael Koistinen Finland €410
18 Steinn Thanh Du Karlsson Iceland €360
19 Tomasz Gluszko Poland €360
20 Roope Tarmi Finland €360
21 Tommi Lankinen Finland €310
22 Henri Ojala Estonia €310
23 Vesa Nieminen Finland €310
24 Tommi Koskela Finland €280
25 Egon Kaljulaid Estonia €280
26 Tobias Napel Norway €280
27 Khalid Dghaim United States €280
28 Veli-Pekka Penttinen Finland €280
29 Ranel Käsi Estonia €280

2025 Kings of Tallinn Schedule Day 3 (Saturday, Feb. 22)

Five trophies will be awarded on Saturday, February 22 with the action kicking off with the final day of the €350 Kings of Tallinn Cup and the Redtooth Invitational simultaneously beginning at Noon. The team at poker.pro will live report the Redtooth Invitational for the first time to give a taste of grassroots poker to the poker world.

Players were already practicing for the €200 Open-face Chinese Pineapple at 2 p.m. when also the first opening flight of the €555 Kings of Tallinn Championship at 2 p.m. The second of four opening flights begins at 7 p.m. with players also able to hop into the €200 Progressive Bounty at 3 p.m..

The final trophy event will begin at 7 p.m. with the games rotating in the €200 NLH/PLO4/PLO5 with two mega satellites awarding at least 10 seats each to the €555 Championship and the €1 million guaranteed Kings of Tallinn €1,100 Main Event at 7:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. respectively.

Check out Friday’s schedule below or head to the OlyBetEvents.com landing page to see the full schedule and more.

Time Event
12:00 Event #4: €350 KoT Cup Final Day
12:00 Redtooth Invitational
14:00 Event #7: €555 KoT Championship Day 1a
14:00 Event #8: €200 Open-face Chinese Pineapple
15:00 Event #9: €200 Progressive Bounty
19:00 Event #7: €555 KoT Championship Day 1b
19:00 Event #10: €200 NLH/PLO4/PLO5
19:30 Event #11: €80 Mega Satellite to €555 KoT Championship (10 seats GTD)
22:30 Event #12: €150 Mega Satellite to €1,100 KoT Main Event (10 seats GTD)

*Photos courtesy of Elena Kask

Poker journalist Jason Glatzer boasts more than a decade in experience in poker media and operations. He is well-known in Europe for providing quality reporting, editorial, and commentating at a wide variety of events from around the world including at all major events at our flagship venue Olympic Park Casino

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