2022 Kings of Tallinn – Day 3

Australian globetrotter Adam Kharman leads a star-studded final table including the likes of WSOP gold bracelet winner Vincas Tamasauskas and old-school Finnish poker legend Ilari ‘Ziigmund’ Sahamies in the Kings of Tallinn €1,100 Main Event at Olympic Park Casino and the adjoining Hilton Tallinn Park.

Kharman took sixth place in this same event last year and shared with PokerListings yesterday that he was in the hunt for a better result this time around. He is now in a prime position to walk away with the trophy and the €64,280 top prize after bagging 3,340,000 in chips.

Only two more players bagged seven-figure stacks. Kurt Skimmeland will go into tomorrow’s action with 2,255,000 in chips after making a correct hero call to eliminate Sebastian Wahl in 10th place, while Lithuania’s Algirdas Saveikis was near 2 million after a fury of eliminations with three tables left but lost some chips and will start tomorrow in third place with 1,175,000.

Meanwhile, Sahamies was nearly about to enter the final table with just crumbs but he ended the night instead by eliminating Julian Herold when his ace-deuce flopped a full house against ace-ten in a battle of the short stacks in the blinds.

Final Table Seat Draw

*Big blinds as of Level 23 (10,000/25,000) as there are just two minutes remaining in Level 22.

Day 3 Action

Day 3 began with 42 hopefuls in search of the trophy. However, only 39 players were able to cash. Evy Albrigtsen was out on the bubble in 40th place when she had just one chip left with sixes against eights held by Touko Berndtson. However, Albrigtsen was still thrilled to go out on the bubble as she was wearing a GGPoker badge for a competition which meant she was awarded €1,100 into her GGPoker account.

Phenporn Laatikainen was the last lady standing before she hit the rail in 24th place, while Daragh Davey followed soon after in 23rd place. Roope Tarmi had yet another deep run without a final table in Tallinn before bowing out in 20th place and Estonia’s Mark Metsla was the last local player to hit the rail in 12th place.

Main Event Payouts

The action will resume at noon tomorrow with two minutes left in Level 22 with blinds at 10,000/20,000 along with a big blind ante of 20,000. Our reporting will kick off 30 minutes later in order not to give away stream spoilers. Stay tuned at PokerListings to see who will win the 2022 Kings of Tallinn Main Event.

*Images courtesy of Kings of Tallinn photographer Elena Kask.

Tomorrow’s final table will kick off a noon EEST with eight players remaining. There was just two minutes left on the clock in Level 22, which means the action will effectively begin at Level 23 with blinds at 10,000/25,000 along with a big blind ante of 25,000. Our seat draw table below reflects the number of big blinds based on Level 23.

Level 22: 10,000/20,000
Entries: 8/328

Julian Herold jammed his short stack at the feature table from the small blind. Ilari Sahamies had him covered and made the call from the big blind.

Julian Herold: A 10
Ilari Sahamies: A 2

“Nice flop,” Herold said as he got out of his chair after the 2 A 2 flop improve Sahamies to a full house. Herold was drawing thin to a chop after the J turn. The 10 river gave him top two pair but this wasn’t enough to get back ahead of Sahamies and tomorrow’s final table will feature eight hopefuls instead of nine thanks to the simultaneous eliminations with 10 players remaining.

Ilari Sahamies – 765,000
Julian Herold – 0

Level 22: 10,000/20,000 (20,000)
Entries: 9/328

Sebastian Wahl opened for 42,000 from the cutoff and was called by Kurt Skimmeland from the big blind.

Skimmeland check-called for 33,000 on the J 10 4 flop and for 125,000 on the 4 turn before he checked the K river. Wahl jammed for about 400,000 and Skimmeland called.

Wahl bricked the board with A 2 and was out in 10th place after Skimmeland turned over 10 8 for a nice hero call.

While we promised that the action would stop when it was down to nine players, there was another elimination at the same time at the TV table. Stay tuned!

Kurt Skimmeland – 2,255,000
Sebastian Wahl – 0

Level 22: 10,000/20,000 (20,000)
Entries: 10/328

Santeri Nisula already had his chips in from the big blind with Q 5 before the hand was dealt. Ville Konttinen limped from the button with K 8 and Vincas Tamasauskas limped with J 7 from the small blind.

Konttinen held the best hand after the 10 8 A 4 6 was fully checked down and the action was on the final table bubble after Nisula was eliminated in 11th place.

Level 22: 10,000/20,000 (20,000)
Entries: 11/328

It is now official that there will not be any Estonians at the final table after Mark Metsla busted on the TV table. He shared that he jammed for 13 big blinds with fours and didn’t get there against Adam Kharman’s tens.

Adam Kharman – 3.4 million
Mark Metsla – 0

Level 22: 10,000/20,000 (20,000)
Entries: 12/328

Sebastian Wahl jammed for 200,000 from the cutoff and was called by Ville Konttinen from the big blind.

Sebastian Wahl: Q Q
Ville Konttinen: A 10

Konttinen improved to trips on the A Q 4 A 2 board but Wahl improved even more to a full house to double his stack.

Ville Konttinen – 500,000
Sebastian Wahl – 430,000

Level 22: 10,000/20,000 (20,000)
Entries: 12/328

Kurt Skimmeland four-bet jammed for 744,000 from middle position over the three-bet by Vincas Tamasauskas to 148,000 from the cutoff. Tamasauskas called and a race for 1.5 million in chips was on with Skimmeland at risk.

Kurt Skimmeland: J J
Vincas Tamasauskas: A K

The Q 8 10 Q 6 board was good enough for jacks to hold against big slick for Skimmeland to double his stack instead of hitting the rail.

Kurt Skimmeland: 1,500,000
Vincas Tamasauskas 500,000

Level 22: 10,000/20,000 (20,000)
Entries: 12/328

On the TV table, Aasmund Holvik jammed a short stack and was called by Adam Kharman.

Aasmund Holvik: Q 9
Adam Kharman: A K

The K J 6 Q 4 board didn’t help Holvik and he was ousted in 13th place. Meanwhile, Kharman was sitting on 3 million after the hand.

Level 21: 8,000/16,000 (16,000)
Entries: 13/328

After just about all the eliminations from three tables down were on the outer tables, the last two were on the TV table. We were able to get a quick peek and it was Zachary Duce jamming with queen-nine from late position and called by Julian Herold from the big blind with big slick.

An ace hit the flop and Duce was drawing dead before the river to exit the Main Event in 14th place.

Julian Herold – 450,000
Zachary Duce – 0

Level 21: 8,000/16,000 (16,000)
Entries: 14/328

Ignacio Garrido was the chip leader to start the day but he won’t make it to tomorrow’s final table after the following hand against Vincas Tamasauskas.

Tamasauskas opened for 32,000 from early position before he called a three-bet jam to 373,000 by Garrido.

Ignacio Garrido: J J
Vincas Tamasauskas: A K

Garrido was ahead after the 3 9 10 flop and the 2 turn. But the A spiked the river to give Tamasauskas a better pair and Garrido was eliminated in 16th place. Meanwhile, Vjatseslav Jakusin was eliminated shortly after at the feature table to leave just 14 players remaining.

Players will bag up chips once the final table of nine players is set.

Vincas Tamasauskas – 1.2 million
Ignacio Garrido – 0
Vjatseslav Jakusin – 0

Level 21: 8,000/16,000 (16,000)
Entries: 16/328

Pyry Kekalainen jammed for 140,000 from under the gun. Algirdas Saveikis asked for a count while also asking the big blind to move his hands to see how much he had as well before making the call.

Pyry Kekalainen: 5 5
Algirdas Saveikis: 10 10

Kekalainen was unable to get ahead with the 4 K 3 A Q running out on the board and was eliminated in 18th place. Meanwhile, Atte Franssila hit the rail moments later in 17th place to leave just two tables of players remaining.

The action is paused for a two-table redraw.

Algirdas Saveikis – 1.5 million
Pyry Kekalainen – 0
Atte Franssila – 0

Level 21: 8,000/16,000 (16,000)
Entries: 18/328

Aki Wassholm defended his big blind with seven-three suited against a button open by Jordi Baixas with jack-ten offsuit.

Wassholm check-jammed the ten-six-deuce flop with a flush draw for 260,000. Baixas called and eliminated Wassholm after his opponent ran dry the rest of the way.

Jordi Baixas – 820,000
Aki Wassholm – 0

Level 21: 8,000/16,000 (16,000)
Entries: 19/328

Finnish poker reporter Juhani Tyriseva shared with PokerListings how Roope Tarmi busted.

He jammed with eights and was up against the big slick held by WSOP bracelet winner Vincas Tamasauskas. An ace hit the flop and a king the turn to give Tamasauskas top two pair. Tarmi was unable to get any love and was on the rail in 20th place.

Vincas Tamasauskas – 850,000
Roope Tarmi – 0

Level 21: 8,000/16,000 (16,000)
Entries: 19/328

We lost Roope Tarmi to bring the field down to 19 players. It seemed for a moment it could have been 18 players after the following hand.

Mark Metsla jammed for 131,000 from the button and was called by Jordi Baixas from the big blind.

Mark Metsla: A 7
Jordi Baixas: K Q

The 10 2 J flop kept Metsla ahead but his opponent had many outs. Metsla got up after he saw Baixas pair his king on the K turn but sat back down in relief after the Q river improved his hand to Broadway to double his stack.

Jordi Baixas – 400,000
Mark Metsla – 290,000

The Main Event is on a 15-minute break.

Level 20: 6,000/12,000 (12,000)
Entries: 20/328

Stanislovas Vinicenka three-bet shoved for 200,000 with ace-five suited and was called by Adam Kharman, who opened from the button with ace-queen suited.

Vinicenka previously lost a good bit of his stack to Kharman a few hands before losing the rest to the Australian poker globetrotter after a dry board.

Meanwhile, Kharman is easily the chip leader once again with a stack of 1.9 million.

Adam Kharman – 1.9 million
Stanislovas Vinicenka – 0

Level 20: 6,000/12,000 (12,000)
Entries: 21/328

Vjatseslav Jakusin opened for 25,000 from the hijack. Sven Reimaa three-bet jammed for about 100,000 from the cutoff. Jakusin thought for a minute before he called.

Sven Reimaa: A 10
Vjatseslav Jakusin: 7 7

Jakusin won the flip to eliminate Reimaa after his opponent didn’t snag a piece of the 3 8 4 K 4 board.

Vjatseslav Jakusin – 350,000
Sven Reimaa – 0

Level 20: 6,000/12,000 (12,000)
Entries: 22/328

Daragh Davey unfortunately won’t be making a back-to-back final table appearance as he just hit the rail.

Davey jammed for about 20 big blinds from the small blind and was called by Kurt Skimmeland from the big blind.

Daragh Davey: 7 7
Kurt Skimmeland: 9 9

Sevens weren’t able to get ahead of nines after the 8 8 3 3 6 ran out on the board and Davey was eliminated in 23rd place.

Kurt Skimmeland – 700,000
Daragh Davey – 0

The following players have each locked up €2,050 in the Main Event. All remaining players have locked up at least €2,310.

Level 20: 6,000/12,000 (12,000)
Entries: 23/328

Phenporn Laatikainen was the last lady standing in the Main Event. She just doubled her short stack with a three-bet jam for 61,000 with A J against the A 8 held by Atte Franssila. Ace-jack held on the 9 10 10 6 Q board for Laatikainen to double.

Adria Comas I Roura was then eliminated before Laatikainen lost her stack she just doubled up to when her ace-queen ran into the big slick held by Julian Herold.

A table redraw is taking place with just three tables remaining and the live stream will start soon.

Level 19: 5,000/10,000 (10,000)
Entries: 25/328

Marius Olsvik opened for 21,000 from under the gun. Vjatseslav Jakusin jammed for 110,000 from the big blind and Olsvik went into the tank for about two minutes before he called.

Vjatseslav Jakusin: Q Q
Marius Olsvik: J 9

Jakusin’s queens held after the 10 A J 7 6 ran out on the board to double his stack.

Marius Olsvik – 300,000
Vjatseslav Jakusin – 250,000

Level 19: 5,000/10,000 (10,000)
Entries: 25/328

Julian Herold min-raised the button before Ville Konttinen jammed for about 700,000 from the small blind. Sebastian Wahl folded in the big blind before Herold Called.

Julian Herold: 10 10
Ville Konttinen: Q J

Herold’s tens won the flip to double his stack after Konttinen bricked the A 4 5 2 A runout.

Ville Konttinen – 500,000
Julian Herold – 400,000

Level 19: 5,000/10,000 (10,000)
Entries: 25/328

Aligirdas Saveikis occasionally plays cash games with this author where we live in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius. Lately, he has been having a strong showing in tournaments and has been on fire during Level 18 of the Main Event.

Tuomas Röppänen three-bet jammed for 126,000 from the big blind and Saveikis called from under the gun.

Tuomas Röppänen: 4 4
Algirdas Saveikis: K Q

Saveikis won the flip with a king-high flush and terminated the tournament life of yet another player after the A 3 2 A 8 ran out on the board. Saveikis appeared to take the chip lead after winning the pot.

Algirdas Saveikis – 1,150,000
Tuomas Röppänen – 0

Level 19: 5,000/10,000 (10,000)
Entries: 26/328

Toiko Berndtson got his 30 big blind stack in with ace-king suited but ran into the cowboys held by Algirdas Saveikis.

Berndtson bricked the board and was on the rail in 27th place. There will be a three-table redraw after two more players are eliminated with the stream starting shortly after that.

Algirdas Saveikis – 850,000
Toiko Berndtson – 0

Level 19: 5,000/10,000 (10,000)
Entries: 27/328

Stefan Bittger jammed for about 75,000 from the button. Rasmus Sepping three-bet shoved for about 200,000 from the small blind before Santeri Nisula called them both from the big blind.

Stefan Bittger: J 10
Rasmus Sepping: K Q
Santeri Nisula: Q Q

Bittger improved to two pair after the 2 J 10 came on the flop. However, he got out of his chair after the 2 turn counterfeited his two pair. He still had outs to a full house and Sepping also had a live open-ended straight draw. However, the case queen in the Q completed the board and Nisula eliminated both his opponents with a full house.

Santeri Nisula – 900,000
Rasmus Sepping – 0
Stefan Bittger – 0

Level 19: 5,000/10,000 (10,000)
Entries: 29/328

Julius Kettunen hit the rail just before the break in 31st place while Vytautas Kacerauskas followed in 30th place just after the break.

Kacerauskas’ bustout went as follows:

Adria Comas I Roura opened for 20,000 from under the gun and was called by Marius Olsvik from the cutoff. Kacerauskas three-bet jammed for 114,000 from the big blind. Comas I Roura folded while Olsvik found a call.

Vytautas Kacerauskas: J J
Marius Olsvik: A Q

“Red queen,” Olsvik asked the dealer.

No red queen came but Olsvik won the flip anyway after his ace connected with the A 3 6 7 2 runout to eliminate Kacerauskas.

Marius Olsvik – 450,000
Vytautas Kacerauskas – 0
Julius Kettunen – 0

Players are on their first 15-minute break of Day 3. The blinds will increase to 5,000/10,000 with a big blind ante of 10,000 when the action resumes.

Level 18: 4,000/8,000 (8,000)
Entries: 31/328

The first pay jump just took place with the final 31 players locking up at least €2,050. Here is a look at all of the players that min-cashed the Main Event.

Level 18: 4,000/8,000 (8,000)
Entries: 31/328

Balazs Szabo jammed his short stack from the cutoff with A 6 and was called by Santeri Nisula with A J . Nisula’s ace-jack held on the 2 5 K 3 9 board to eliminate Szabo in 32nd place.

Meanwhile, just before this, Viktors Caikins was eliminated on another table in 33rd place.

Santeri Nisula – 750,000
Balazs Szabo – 0
Viktor Caikins – 0

Level 18: 4,000/8,000 (8,000)
Entries: 33/368

Vytautas Kacerauskas just doubled up moments after Marko Liblik hit the rail in 34th place.

Adam Kharman opened for 16,000 from early position. Kacerauskas jammed for 64,000 and Kharman called.

Vytautas Kacerauskas: A Q
Adam Kharman: K 6

Kacerauskas had his phone out ready for a sweat. His hand not only held but improved to trips after the 9 10 A A 8 rolled onto the board to survive and double his stack.

Adam Kharman – 1,000,000
Vytautas Kacerauskas – 145,000
Marko Liblik – 0

Level 18: 4,000/8,000 (8,000)
Entries: 34/328

We recently lost Toni Ojala after his king-six proved to be no good against an opponent’s big slick and are down to 34 players. Adam Kharman holds the chip lead while becoming the first player to reach 1 million in chips.

Level 18: 4,000/8,000 (8,000)
Entries: 35/328

Jarmi Salonen just followed Dragan Gali, Gunnar Wedde, and Niklas Vakkuri to the rail to leave 35 players remaining.

Roope Tarmi jammed for about 15 big blinds from the small blind and Salonen called off for about five big blinds from the big blind.

Jami Salonen: 10 9
Roope Tarmi: A 10

Both players wound up with a pair of tens on the 3 J 10 2 Q board. Tarmi had the better kicker and thus won the hand to eliminate his opponent.

Roope Tarmi – 200,000
Jarmi Salonen – 0
Dragan Gali – 0
Gunnar Wedde – 0
Niklas Vakkari – 0

Level 17: 3,000/6,000 (6,000)
Entries: 39/328

Evy Albrigtsen was down to a single chip and this went in from under the gun.

“Looks good,” Albrigtsen said. “You should fold.”

The table laughed before Touko Berndtson raised to 12,000 from the cutoff. The action paused for the other tables to finish their action after everyone else folded.

Evy Albrigtsen: 6 6
Touko Berndtson: 8 8

Sixes got nowhere against eights with the 3 3 9 7 9 double-paired board and Albrigtsen was eliminated on the bubble.

There is some silver lining, however. Albrigtsen will be awarded €1,100 into her GGPoker account thanks to participating in a promotion held by the network that OlyBet Poker operates on.

Touko Berndtson – 300,000
Evy Albrigtsen – 0

Level 17: 3,000/6,000 (6,000)
Entries: 40/328

We are now hand for hand on the bubble after Jaako Tirkkonen took a bad beat. Tirkkonen had his short stack committed with K K and was up against the 5 5 held by Touko Berndtson.

The 3 6 8 4 2 board improved Berndtson to a straight to send Tirkkonen packing short of the money on a bad beat.

The action went hand-for-hand on the stone-cold money bubble after the hand.

Touko Berndtson – 300,000
Jaako Tirkkonen – 0

Level 17: 3,000/6,000 (6,000)
Entries: 41/328

Ignacio Garrido jammed for more than the 200,000 in the stack of Pyry Kekalainen with the 7 10 4 9 5 board. Kekalinen called and won a 600,000 chip pot after his 10 10 for a set of tens was more than enough to beat the king-high held by Garrido.

Pyry Kekalainen – 600,000
Ignacio Garrido – 400,000

Level 17: 3,000/6,000 (6,000)
Entries: 41/328

Kurt Skimmeland opened for 15,000 from early position before Johan Martinsen three-bet jammed for 68,000 from one seat over. Skimmeland tanked for a minute before he called.

Johan Martinsen: A K
Kurt Skimmeland: K Q

Martinsen was ahead and it appeared he would double after his ace connected with the 9 A J flop. But two clubs came with the 6 turn and 4 river to improve Skimmeland to a flush to eliminate Martinsen.

Kurt Skimmeland – 350,000
Johan Martinsen – 0

Level 17: 3,000/6,000 (6,000)
Entries: 42/328

Cards are now in the air for Day 3 of the Main Event.

Welcome to Day 3 of the 2022 Kings of Tallinn €1,100 Main Event at Olympic Park Casino and the adjoining Hilton Tallinn Park.

The action is down to just 42 hopefuls in the hunt to become the latest Kings of Tallinn champion with Spain’s Ignacio Garrido kicking things off in pole position with 585,000 in chips.

Three others will start with at least 500,000 in chips including Finland’s Ville Konttinen (570,000), Lithuanian WSOP gold bracelet winner Vincas Tamasauskas (569,000), and Australian poker globetrotter Adam Kharman (546,000).

Two female players are still in the mix, although one of them in Norway’s Evy Albrigtsen has her work cut out for her tomorrow as she will enter the action with the shortest stack of 26,000. The other woman remaining in Phenporn Laatikainen is in a bit of better shape with a stack of 200,000 entering Day 3.

Meanwhile, Mark Metsla (405,000), Algirdas Saveikis (324,000), Rasmus Sepping (256,000), Daragh Davey (236,000), Sebastian Wahl (200,000), Touko Berndtson (197,000), Roope Tarmi (195,000), and Ilari Sahamies (129,000) are also still in the hunt for Kings of Tallinn glory.

The plan for today is to play as many hour-long blind levels starting at 3,000/6,000 in order to reach the final table of nine. Not only will the final table be live streamed but so will a feature table throughout Day 3.

There promises to be a bit of excitement at the beginning of the day with 42 players remaining but only 39 of them securing at least a min-cash of €1,900. This pales in comparison to the €64,280 that tomorrow’s winner will be rewarded but players should feel more relaxed after the money bubble breaks.

Top Ten Chip Counts Entering Day 3

Main Event Payouts