Wahlbeck Defeats Kabrhel to Win First Bombay High Stakes Week Title

The high-stakes poker action descended on the Estonian capital of Tallinn, with players around the world ready to compete in the much-anticipated 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

The first day opened with a bang, with players enjoying the ambiance one might expect to feel if they were living out a real-life James Bond movie while battling the one-day Event #1: €5,000 Warm-Up Turbo, enjoying cash and casino games, the ambiance, and, of course, the world-class hospitality the Bombay Club is known for.

Finnish WSOP bracelet winner Ville Wahlbeck was the star of the day and now has a Bombay title to add to his impressive resume, which is edging on nearly $2 million in live tournament cashes at The Hendon Mob, after defeating the field of 38 entries for a €180,500 prize pool to win the €62,250 top prize. He had the most entries in the event with three entries but made the most of it at the end in what promises to be a great start to the Bombay High Stakes Week.

It was a victory worth remembering for Wahlbeck not just because of the money involved but due to the fierce competition he faced along the way, including defeating three-time WSOP champion Martin Kabrhel (second – €40,600) during heads-up play.

The impressive Estonian duo of chess grandmaster Ottomar Ladva (third – €28,000) and Markkos Ladev (fourth – €20,750) kept the local crowd’s hopes alive to win the first title but fell just short of the heads-up action, while Czech Republic’s Zdenek Zizka (fifth – €16,250) and Lithuania’s Matas Cikinas (sixth – €12,650) also finished in the money after Dutch poker beast Tom Vogelsang hit the rail on the money bubble in seventh place.

Vogelsang wasn’t the only big name from the Netherlands to strike out during the opening event. Teun Mulder is also in the house but was unable to find the money in the €5,000 Warm-Up. He will have plenty of chances to make up for this with seven more events, each with bigger buy-ins still on the schedule.

Several other local players were in the mix in addition to Ladva and Ladev, including Igor Pihela Sr., Igor Pihela Jr., Ragnar Toompere, EPT Paris champion Henri Kasper, Taago Tamm, and the Bombay Club’s very own Tim Heath.

Poker commentator Jesse May was also in the mix as was Swedish online poker legend Niklas “Lena900” Astedt, Arunas Sapitavicius, Matas Cikinis, Dan Korsunskyy, Casimir Seire, Evgeniy Tereschenko, and Maksim Vaskresenski were also in the mix. We expect to see all these names and more as the week goes on, competing for big prizes and glory during the exclusive Bombay High Stakes Week at the Bombay Club.

Event #1: €5,000 Warm-Up Results

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1	Ville Wahlbeck	Finland	€62,250
2	Martin Kabrhel	Czech Republic	€40,600
3	Ottomar Ladva	Estonia	€28,000
4	Markkos Ladev	Estonia	€20,750
5	Zdenek Zizka	Czech Republic	€16,250
6	Matas Cikinas	Lithuania	€12,650

Bombay High Stakes Week Schedule

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

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