Markkos Ladev Shined Above Estonian Domination in Bombay Invitational

The first three days of high-stakes poker action lived up to its billing and more at the luxurious Bombay Club in the heart of the old town of the majestic Estonian capital of Tallinn for the inaugural Bombay High Stakes Week. The festival boasts eight nosebleed events with buy-ins ranging from €5,000 to €50,000 at one of the newest European venues in the luxurious Bombay Club.

• Read more: Bombay High Stakes Week Kicks Off in Tallinn
• Read more: Wahlbeck Defeats Kabrhel to Win First Bombay High Stakes Week Title

Markkos Ladev won the largest single prize thus far after defeating Estonian chess grandmaster and poker pro Ottomar Ladva heads-up to win the two-day Event #2: €10,000 Bombay Invitational for €128,000 after the duo agreed to a heads-up deal. Meanwhile, Armin Rezaei denied Ville Wahlbeck his second win of the festival by defeating his opponent heads-up in the fast-paced Event #3: €10,500 Turbo Bounty for €38,700 plus €25,000 in bounties for a total haul of €63,700.

Ladev Wins €10,000 Bombay Invitational

The €10,000 Bombay Invitational attracted 56 entries, including seven fresh entries before the start of Day 2, to create a €532,000 prize pool.

The money bubble broke in the early evening on Saturday after Dutch poker beast Teun Mulder hit the rail leaving the final eight players to collect at least a €21,300 min-cash for more than double their €10,000 buy-in.

Poland’s Maksim Vaskresenski (fifth – €45,200), Lithuania’s Matas Cimbolas (sixth – €34,600), Latvia’s Aleksejs Ponakovs (seventh – €26,600), and Finland’s Casimir Siere (eighth – €21,300) all exited in the money, guaranteeing that the title would remain home in Estonia.

The formidable old-school duo of Henri Kasper (third—€77,200) and Igor Pihela Sr. (fourth—€58,500) also hit the rail, leaving Markkos Ladev and Ottomar Ladva competing for the title.

Ladva and Ladev were both deep in the opening €5,000 Warm-Up before bowing out in third and fourth places. The duo negotiated a deal guaranteeing Ladva the highest cash prize of the event of €140,600. However, Ladva won all the chips at the end to earn the trophy along with a healthy €128,000 prize to go along with the €20,750 won in the warm-up.

Event #2: €10,000 Bombay Invitational Results

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1	Markkos Ladev	Estonia	€128,000
2	Ottomar Ladva	Estonia	€140,600
3	Henri Kasper	Estonia	€77,200
4	Igor Pihela Sr.	Estonia	€58,500
5	Maksim Vaskresenski	Poland	€45,200
6	Matas Cimbolas	Lithuania	€34,600
7	Aleksejs Ponakovs	Latvia	€26,600
8	Casimir Siere	Finland	€21,300

Armin Rezaei Denied Ville Wahlbeck Second Title

The one-day Event #3: €10,500 Turbo Bounty kicked off while the final table was roaring on in the €10,000 Bombay Invitational. All players had a €5,000 normal bounty on their heads in what will be one of the smaller events of the festival despite a huge €160,000 prize pool generated from the 16 entries.

German poker beast and founder of the poker training site Pokercode Fedor Holz and Ukraine’s Igor Yaroshevskyy fell out just before the money but did get part of their buy-ins back with both players earning a €5,000 bounty before their untimely eliminations. Czech WSOP bracelet winner Martin Kabrhel, who took runner-up in the opening event, was less fortunate, having pure bubbled the tournament with no bounties to claim.

Zdenek Zizka found himself on the second final table of the festival after taking fifth place for €16,800 in the opening event. He performed one spot better with a fourth-place performance for €15,800, including bounties, before Hungarian poker guru Andras Nemeth exited first on the podium in third place for €21,200, including bounties, leaving Ville Wahlbeck to compete against Armin Rezaei to become the first player to win two titles this festival.

However, Rezaei won Wahlbeck’s bounty at the end to win the event for €63,700, including €25,000 in bounties, while Wahlbeck is now left with both a win and a runner-up performance in the first three events and earned a tasty €49,300 including bounties.

Event #3: €10,500 Bombay Turbo Bounty Results

Place	Player	Country	Prize	Bounty	Total
1	Armin Rezaei	Austria	€38,700	€25,000	€63,700
2	Ville Wahlbeck	Finland	€24,300	€25,000	€49,300
3	Andras Nemeth	Hungary	€16,200	€5,000	€21,200
4	Zdenek Zizka	Czech Republic	€10,800	€5,000	€15,800
6	Fedor Holz	Germany		€5,000	€5,000
8	Igor Yaroshevskyy	Ukraine		€5,000	€5,000

Bombay High Stakes Week Schedule

_{*Photos courtesy of the Bombay Club / Elena Kask}