2025 Kings of Tallinn Day 9: Mikael Haapaniemi Leads Record-Breaking Main Event

The dust is beginning to settle in what has been an amazing celebration of the 10th anniversary of the OlyBet Kings of Tallinn at Olympic Park Casino and the Hilton Tallinn Park.

Day 2 of the Main Event witnessed entrants flying in left and right to be part of history. The €1 million guarantee proved to be a mere footnote with the event establishing a new Kings of Tallinn record with 1,181 entries creating a €1,098,330 prize pool.

Finland’s Mikael Haapaniemi will lead the final 113 entries when the action resumes for Day 3 on Friday at Noon with the live reporting at poker.pro by Frank Visser starting as soon as cards are in the air.

• Follow the biggest hands, bad beats, and more of the 2025 Kings of Tallinn Main Event in the dedicated poker.pro live blog.

Estonia’s Meelis Ahman earned the only trophy of the day after defeating Sweden’s Leif Lindstroem heads-up in the Event #46: €200 NLH Progressive Bounty. Both players collected the €4,360 top prize with Ahman earning the big bounty at the end along with the trophy.

In other news, poker streamer and mixed-game specialist Scott “Pokerbrahs” Kenyan leads the way in the two-day €555 Sviten Championship with 11 players remaining. Tomas Narmontas leads the two-day Event #49: €1100 NLH Deepstack Progressive Bounty with late registration remaining open for the first three blind levels of Day 2.

Read on to learn more about Day 8 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

Mikael Haapaniemi Shines the Brightest on Day 2 of the 2025 Kings of Tallinn Main Event

An ambitious guaranteed prize pool of €1,000,000 was set out for the €1,100 Main Event of Kings of Tallinn’s tenth anniversary. The series had never reached a seven-figure prize pool, so records had to be broken. And broken they were, as at the end of late registration midway through Day 2, the tally stood at 1,181 entries, surpassing the guarantee and creating a prize pool of €1,098,330.

At the end of the day, only 113 players were left standing, all in the money. Mikael Haapaniemi was the only chip millionaire, ending up with a stack of 1,015,000, good for 126 big blinds when play resumes on Day 3. Haapaniemi finished sixth in the 2023 Kings of Tallinn Summer Showdown Main Event and has made good strides to make his second Main Event final table at Olympic Park Casino.

Haapniemi’s fellow Finn Aklilu Laitinen sits in second on the leaderboard with a stack of 976,000, while Yaniv Peretz from Latvia occupies third place with 967,000 chips. €555 Championship winner Ahmet Canatan is well on his way to another success this week as he bagged 951,000, while Irish mainstay Michael Dwyer rounds out the top five. Jevgeni Voitovits was the best performing Estonian on Day 2, ending up in ninth place with 617,000.

End of Day 2 Top Ten Chip Counts

Rank	Player	Country	Chip Count	Day 3 Big Blinds
1	Mikael Haapaniemi	Finland	1,015,000	127
2	Aklilu Laitinen	Finland	976,000	122
3	Yaniv Peretz	Latvia	967,000	121
4	Ahmet Canatan	Denmark	951,000	119
5	Michael Dwyer	Ireland	837,000	105
6	Mirco De Martini	Italy	825,000	103
7	Isak Bergstrom	Sweden	677,000	85
8	Piotr Sztenkiel	Poland	650,000	81
9	Jevgeni Voitovits	Estonia	617,000	77
10	Olaf Larssen	Norway	611,000	76

Many other notable players made it through to Day 3, including Igor Pihela Jr. (577,000), past Kings of Tallinn champions Mathias Siljander (511,000), Juha Helppi (427,000) and Kai Lehto (221,000), and lone US representative Robbie Schiffbauer (292,000). Start-of-day chipleader Veikka Keto-Tokoi also found a bag, although the 262,000 he ended the day with was less than what he started with.

2025 Kings of Tallinn Main Event Day 2 Action

The day started with four more levels of late registration, at the end of which around 300 players remained. About half of them would get in the money as there were 151 paid spots, but the likes of Martin Kabrhel, Harry Lodge, Renan Bruschi, Blaz Zerjav, Robert Kaggerud, and Espen Sandvik would not come close to reaching the bubble phase.

Tarmo Tammel waved off some 30 spots before the money, while Tobias Leknes fell not much later. The first-ever Kings of Tallinn champion Ranno Sootla could not do it again ten years later as he ended up in 170th place.

Roope Tarmi, Panagiotis Mavritsakis, and Ermo Kosk got tantalizingly close to the money, all busting within ten eliminations away from it. Where many a poker tournament slows down near the bubble phase, the steady flow of eliminations continued.

Eventually, three all-in and calls happened simulteanously just before hand-for-hand. Kestutis Jungevicius, Enea Subashi, and Nikolay Ponomarev all busted at different tables with 152 players remaining, meaning that they split two min-cashes and walked away with a consolation prize of €1,400 each.

The remaining players had all secured themselves a min-cash of €2,100 as play continued for another hour or so. Kristiana Stauere (141st – €2,250) booked back-to-back in-the-money finishes in the Main Event and was quickly followed by Luka Sorainen (136th – €2,250) and Igor Pihela Sr. (134th – €2,250).

Paul Newey (127th – €2,250) busted a few spots later, while Vivian Saliba (119th – €2,450) and recently-crowned Kings of Tallinn PLO champion Gisle Olsen (117th – €2,450) picked up a pay jump as they were eliminated during the final few hands of the night.

When all was said and done, 113 players bagged up for Day 3, who have all guaranteed themselves a payday of €2,450. However, the massive prize pool has left €182,000 reserved for the winner, which all 113 will be dreaming of tonight.

2025 Kings of Tallinn Main Event Remaining Payouts

Day 3 will start Saturday at noon local time. The tournament will continue in Level 20: 4,000/8,000 with an 8,000 big blind ante, with levels remaining 60 minutes long throughout the day.

• Follow the biggest hands, bad beats, and more of the 2025 Kings of Tallinn Main Event in the dedicated poker.pro live blog.

_{*Main Event recap by Frank Visser, who is live-reporting the Main Event}

Event #46 €200 NLH Progressive Bounty Results

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1	Meelis Ahman	Estonia	€4,360
2	Leif Lindstroem	Sweden	€4,360
3	Anton Niemelä	Finland	€2,820
4	Soile Lerviks	Finland	€1,920
5	Andreas Lundin	Sweden	€1,330
6	Joona Oksanen	Finland	€1,020
7	Tugay Gavgacioglu	Sweden	€850
8	Karl-Steven Mellikov	Estonia	€728
9	Daniel Kannerstedt	Sweden	€630
10	Joel Holmberg	Finland	€540
11	Henri Katila	Finland	€540
12	Juho Suutari	Finland	€470
13	Henning Andre	Sweden	€470
14	Jimmy Dewerdt	France	€400
15	Rolf Jauring	Sweden	€400
16	Simon Valentin	Denmark	€350
17	Anders Kühl	Denmark	€350
18	Shadi Jamil	Finland	€310
19	Jerry Villa	Finland	€310
20	Pyry Kekäläinen	Finland	€310
21	Berhan Ahmadi	Finland	€270
22	Mikko Saarremaa	Finland	€270
23	Bo Janzon	Sweden	€270
24	Reio Reins	Estonia	€240
25	Steen Sondergaard-Larsen	Denmark	€240
26	Bo Zackariasen	Sweden	€240
27	Gustav Andersson	Sweden	€240
28	Kai Välimäki	Finland	€210
29	Kalle Aberg	Finland	€210
30	Ulf Grähs	Sweden	€210
31	Raimon Taskinen	Sweden	€210
32	Magnar Storhaug	Norway	€190
33	Holly Waite	United Kingdom	€190
34	Pernille Jordan	Denmark	€190
35	Antti Perttula	Finland	€190
36	Dmitrijs Petrenko	Latvia	€190
37	Kasper Renell	Denmark	€190
38	Tomi Arponen	Finland	€190
39	Siim Sikk	Estonia	€190
40	Karl Magnusson	Sweden	€180
41	Glen Kolmer	Estonia	€180
42	Henri Pöllänen	Finland	€180
43	Tero Hakanen	Finland	€180
44	Per Engström	Sweden	€180
45	Pekka Lähdekorpi	Finland	€180
46	Martti Ojala	Finland	€180
47	Meelis Lepikult	Estonia	€180

2025 Kings of Tallinn Schedule Day 10 (Saturday, March 1)

Saturday will boast the conclusion of two multi-day events along with Day 3 of the Kings of Tallinn Main Event. However, this is just the start as there four one-day trophy events including the much-anticipated €150 NLH Queens at 3 p.m. and two other events will start their first of two days in the €3,000 NLH at 4 p.m. and the €750 PLO4/PLO5 Mystery Bounty at 7 p.m.

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