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Forus, Sorainen and Yazdanpanah Claim Rings on Wednesday at the 2026 WSOP Circuit Tallinn

by
Jason Glatzer
July 30, 2026
News provided by Poker.Pro
Forus, Sorainen and Yazdanpanah Claim Rings on Wednesday at the 2026 WSOP Circuit Tallinn
Three rings were awarded on Wednesday at the 2026 WSOP Circuit Tallinn. Photo: Elena Kask

Three gold rings changed hands on Wednesday at the 2026 WSOP Circuit Tallinn, powered by OlyBet Poker, as the felt stayed busy across Olympic Park Casino and the Hilton Tallinn Park. Norway’s Tarjei Forus topped Ring Event #6: €1,100 PLO4/PLO5 for €43,930, Finland’s Luka Sorainen captured the one-day Ring Event #7: €5,000 NLH for €66,762, and earlier in the day, Sweden’s Mehdi Yazdanpanah outlasted a 677-player field to win Ring Event #3: €555 NLH for €59,465. Christoffer Karlén already put together a full recap of that event, so click here to read more.

With three more rings in the books, attention is quickly turning to the €1,000,000-guaranteed Main Event, which added two more starting flights and 274 fresh entries on Wednesday. France’s Baptiste Caim bagged up a massive 1,098,000 to lead Day 1B, while Israel’s Ben Gur heads to Day 2 with the top stack from Day 1C at 578,000. Two more flights, Day 1D and Day 1E, are still to come on Thursday.

Ring Event #8: €1,100 8-Game restarts today with 10 players left in the hunt, with Germany’s Michael Schmitz and Norway’s Tarjei Forus, who jumped straight into the field after winning his PLO4/PLO5 ring, sharing the chip lead heading into Day 2. Also among the finalists is poker.pro’s own Head of Media, Jason Glatzer, sitting in seventh place.

As if that wasn’t enough action for one day of the festival, three more trophies were handed out in the side events. Lithuania’s Tomas Kovalenka won the €250 NLH Progressive Bounty for €5,272, Finland’s Juho Suutari took down the €555 PLO4/PLO5 6-Handed for €10,510, and Norway’s Jae Kim capped off the night by claiming the late-night €200 NLH Turbo for €6,683.

Full coverage continues at poker.pro and OlyBetEvents.com throughout the series.

Forus Wins Ring Event #6: €1,100 PLO4/PLO5

The 2025 WSOP Circuit Tallinn
Tarjei Forus. Photo: Elena Kask

Ring Event #6, the €1,100 PLO4/PLO5, drew 198 entries to build a €188,100 prize pool, and with plenty of prominent Pot-Limit Omaha specialists in the field, the standard was sky-high all the way through. Thirty players survived Day 1 to advance already in the money, but all eyes were on the gold ring, the €43,930 top prize, and a WSOP Paradise Bahamas package.

All six of the biggest stacks from Day 1 played their way through to the final table, with Finland’s Rasmus Ekstroem bringing the largest stack of all into the final day. Ekstroem couldn’t finish the job, though, falling in the heads-up battle against Norway’s Tarjei Forus and settling for second place and €28,370.

Forus had already flashed his Pot-Limit Omaha credentials earlier in the series with a win in the €350 PLO5/PLO5 Hi-Lo side event, and two other Omaha titles, with a wins at the 2024 edition of the Circuit festival and last year’s Kings of Tallinn. On top of that, he is a two-time Norwegian mixed games champion (2024, 2013). Now he can add a WSOP Circuit ring and the career-best result to go with it.

PlacePlayerCountryPrize
1 Tarjei ForusNorway€43,930
2 Rasmus EkstroemFinland€28,370
3 Vladislavs PetrovsLatvia€18,930
4 Pasi SormunenFinland€13,030
5 Pyry KyroejokiFinland€9,250
6 Ranno SootlaEstonia€6,790
7 Etienne BargibantFrance€5,160
8 Einars MuhajevsLatvia€4,060
9 Alberts CeversLatvia€4,060
10 Tony KokkoFinland€3,310
11 Marcis ZeltmatisLatvia€3,310
12 Vaeinoe KetvellFinland€2,810
13 Jari KurikkaFinland€2,810
14 Frederik BrinkDenmark€2,810
15 Steven ToolEstonia€2,810
16 Morten NorlandNorway€2,810
17 Roope TarmiFinland€2,810
18 Martin SchamaunAustria€2,480
19 Onni HuttunenFinland€2,480
20 Christian SteinboNorway€2,480
21 Georgi VoometsEstonia€2,480
22 Aurimas BielskasLithuania€2,480
23 Juho SuutariFinland€2,480
24 Pasi LaihinenFinland€2,480
25 Daniel CliffordSweden€2,280
26 Joona NyholmFinland€2,280
27 Markus RistolaFinland€2,280
28 Nicklas DehliDenmark€2,280
29 Kaspars RengaLatvia€2,280
30 Totti ArosuoFinland€2,280

Sorainen Tops High Roller Field to Win Ring Event #7: €5,000 NLH

Luka Sorainen. Photo: Elena Kask

Ring Event #7, a €5,000 NLH one-day event, brought together the best of Northern Europe’s poker scene. Forty-two entries built a €195,552 prize pool, with seven players making the money, and it came down to an all-Finnish final between Luka Sorainen and Mikael Haapaniemi.

Sorainen prevailed to collect €66,762 and his first-ever WSOP Circuit ring, one-upping his win earlier this year in the high roller side event at the 2026 Kings of Tallinn. As with all Circuit winners in Tallinn, Sorainen also earns a WSOP Paradise package and will be heading to the Bahamas in December. Haapaniemi wasn’t far behind, banking €42,540 for the runner-up finish, still the biggest cash of his career.

PlacePlayerCountryPrize
1 Luka SorainenFinland€66,762
2 Mikael HaapaniemiFinland€42,540
3 Noah RogersNorway€28,550
4 Casimir SeireFinland€20,220
5 Aliaksandr ShylkoCzech Republic€15,160
6 Piotr SztenkielPoland€12,070
7 Vladas TamasauskasLithuania€10,250

Ring Event #8: €1,100 8-Game Down to Ten

The 2025 WSOP Circuit Tallinn. Photo: Elena Kask
Jason Glatzer. Photo: Elena Kask

While the €1,000,000 GTD Main Event is the centerpiece of the festival, for some players, the €1,100 8-Game is their own “main event” and tournament that matters the most. Sixty-three entries created a €59,850 prize pool for Ring Event #8, and ten players survived the opening day, with everyone already guaranteed a payday.

Germany’s Michael Schmitz and Norway’s Tarjei Forus (fresh off his PLO4/PLO5 ring win and eyeing a second title of the week) share the overall chip lead with 576,000 apiece heading into Day 2, which gets underway at 13:00 local time on Thursday and plays to a first-place prize of €18,380.

Also among the ten finalists is poker.pro’s own Head of Media, Jason Glatzer, currently sitting in seventh place with 231,000. Good for roughly 15 big bets, or 28 big blinds. Plenty of chips to work with on an exciting final day, and still very much anybody’s game.

PositionPlayerCountryChipsBlinds
1 Michael SchmitzGermany576,00038
1 Tarjei ForusNorway576,00038
3 Bernd ReichGermany398,00026
4 Aki PyysingFinland328,00021
5 Marius ToverudNorway267,00017
6 Mikko YlamaekiFinland244,00016
7 Jason GlatzerLithuania231,00015
8 Simeon TsonevBulgaria209,00013
9 Sascha MannsGermany163,00010
10 Riku KoivurinneFinland159,00010

Kovalenka Wins €250 NLH Progressive Bounty

Tomas Kovalenka. Photo: Elena Kask

Event #50, the €250 NLH Progressive Bounty with €100 bounties and 8-handed play, attracted 256 entries, with 39 players sharing a €27,904 regular prize pool. Lithuania’s Tomas Kovalenka defeated Brazil’s Frederico Alves Dos Santos heads-up. As is the case with progressive bounty events, both finalists collected an equal €5,272 from the regular prize pool, but the bounties collected along the way, and the trophy, made all the difference for Kovalenka.

PlacePlayerCountryPrize
1 Tomas KovalenkaLithuania€52,720
2 Frederico Alves Dos SantosBrazil€52,720
3 Gintaras NagliusLithuania€2,780
4 Federico CaielliItaly€1,930
5 Carina WaldSweden€1,380
6 Xavier LyuUnited States€1,010
7 Jyrki LampinenFinland€760
8 Emil MortensenDenmark€590
9 Marius SoppNorway€470
10 Morten HalvorsenNorway€390
11 Matias KnaapinenFinland€390
12 Kristaps SipolsLatvia€330
13 Rasmus LundstromFinland€330
14 Jere HedmanFinland€330
15 Hannes OunEstonia€330
16 Kristian HeilmannFinland€290
17 Jonas LapinskasLithuania€290
18 Peter OnnestamSweden€290
19 Rolftomas JauringSweden€290
20 Meelis AhmanEstonia€290
21 Robertas VisockasLithuania€270
22 Nedas NanysLithuania€270
23 Yevhen RoshchebakUkraine€270
24 Alberto Martinez GonzalezEstonia€270
25 Lavrenti HirvonenFinland€270
26 Dalius BalciunasLithuania€270
27 Mikael ZackariasenSweden€270
28 Andrew WardUnited Kingdom€250
29 Jimmy DewerdtEstonia€250
30 Joakim StoereNorway€250
31 Alexander EkstroemSweden€250
32 Dmitrijs PetrenkoLatvia€250
33 Mart RinkenEstonia€250
34 Fan YangEstonia€250
35 Torben BeltzGermany€250
36 Jonas KlausAustria€250
37 Sander LithunNorway€250
38 Mathias BayerAustria€250
39 Terje FinsveenNorway€250

Suutari Claims €555 PLO4/PLO5 6-Handed

Juho Suutari. Photo: Elena Kask

Event #52, another action-packed €555 PLO4/PLO5 played in a Button Round Each, 6-Handed format, brought together 76 entries for a €36,100 prize pool. After eight hours of play, Finland’s Juho Suutari claimed the win and the €10,510 top prize, defeating Sweden’s Magnus Edengren heads-up. Edengren pocketed €6,970 for his runner-up finish.

PlacePlayerCountryPrize
1 Juho SuutariFinland€10,510
2 Magnus EdengrenSpain€6,970
3 Pyry KyroejokiFinland€4,530
4 Thomas RottNorway€3,100
5 Roy Van Der ReijnstNetherlands€2,230
6 Adem CanFrance€1,700
7 Joona KoivistoFinland€1,380
8 Vidar AssersenNorway€1,190
9 Abbe MardinySweden€1,190
10 Jelco BurgerNetherlands€1,100
11 Onni HuttunenFinland€1,100
12 Tson HuNetherlands€1,100

Kim Wins Late-Night €200 NLH Turbo

Jae Kim. Photo: Elena Kask

The late-night €200 NLH Turbo, 8-handed, saw 159 entries battle for a €26,433 prize pool with 24 players cashing. Norway’s Jae Kim topped the list, collecting €6,683 for his “night shift.” Kim denied 2024 Queens of Tallinn champion Finland’s Saara Benlamine a trophy of her own, though Benlamine still walked away with a respectable €4,220 for the runner-up finish.

PlacePlayerCountryPrize
1 Jae KimNorway€6,683
2 Saara BenlamineFinland€4,220
3 Thomas HaverstadNorway€2,820
4 Antti Hakala (1)Finland€1,950
5 Kristian HeilmannFinland€1,390
6 Jari-Pekka JuholaFinland€1,040
7 Anders HolmDenmark€800
8 Michal DydymskiPoland€640
9 Danqiu ShenChina€540.75
10 Nico Segersven (1)Finland€470
11 Simon SvinthDenmark€470
12 Daniel RantanenFinland€430
13 Miika ToyrasFinland€430
14 Adomas JuozapaviciusLithuania€430
15 Even Flatekvaal (2)Norway€430
16 Morten NorlandNorway€410
17 Richard Melby (1)Norway€410
18 Satu KaihoniemiFinland€410
19 Mindaugas GrigaitisLithuania€410
20 Iiro ElomaaFinland€410
21 Abraham Uittenbogaard (1)Netherlands€410
22 Edvinas TenikaitisLithuania€410
23 Vilde EkrenNorway€410
24 Toni JaervisaloFinland€410

Thursday, July 30 Schedule at 2026 WSOP Circuit Tallinn

Thursday brings Day 8 of the 2026 WSOP Circuit Tallinn, and a fourth gold ring is already on the cards, with Ring Event #8: €1,100 8-Game set to crown its champion. The Main Event also rolls on with two more starting flights, Day 1D and Day 1E, and there’s plenty more side action lined up to keep both rooms buzzing.

TimeEvent
12:00Ring Event #5: €1,500 NLH Main Event Flight 1D
13:00Ring Event #8: €1,100 8-Game Final Day
13:00Event #54: €750 NLH Mystery Bounty
15:00Event #55: €200 Five-Card Mix
18:00Ring Event #5: €1,500 NLH Main Event Flight 1E
18:30Event #56: €50 PLO5 Satellite to WSOPC €555 SVITEN
19:00Event #57: €555 NLH 6-Handed
21:00Event #58: €200 PLO4/PLO5 Bomb Pot
22:00Event #59: €200 NLH Turbo
  • Images courtesy of Elena Kask / OlyBet
  • Poker Article originally produced at poker.pro.

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