2022 Tallinn Summer Showdown Day 1

Estonia’s Tonis Viik bagged the Day 1a chip lead after eight blind levels of one hour each in the Tallinn Summer Showdown €1,100 Main Event at Olympic Park Casino and the Hilton Tallinn Park.

Viik already had one of the larger stacks in the room when he earned a timely double to near the 214,000. Aistis Sandaras three-bet jammed the river with top pair after the river and was called by Viik with a set of queens.

Although we haven’t seen Viik run deep in a Main Event in Tallinn in the past, he has had some good success with the bulk of his $32,000 in live poker tournament earnings as tracked by The Hendon Mob coming from when he took third place in the Patrik Antonius Poker Challenge €3,000 High Roller for €18,010 earlier this year at Olympic Park Casino.

Other players finding six-figure stacks on Day 1a included Aleksandr Arutjunov (132,800), Sam Lau (129,600), Zakhar Galper (126,000), Marius Kudzmanas (122,200), Henri Juutilainen (115,700), Kshitij Kucheria (114,800), Toni Ojala (105,000), Deividas Kvaselis (102,500), and Sjoerd Nikkels (101,300).

Day 1a attracted a banner field of 209 entrants already getting into the action with 108 players bagging stacks into tomorrow’s Day 2 kicking off at noon.

Day 1a Top 10 Chip Counts

The second and final opening flight kicked off as a turbo-affair at 8 p.m. with 30-minute blind levels instead of one hour. At the time of this recap, there were 36 entries with 32 players remaining. Players not only can continue to re-enter the entirety of Day 1b but also during the first blind level (Level 9) of Day 2. Shortly after the conclusion of Level 9 with blinds at 500/1,000 along with a 1,000 big blind ante, the total number of entrants, the prize pool, and the final payouts will be announced.

Stay tuned to our coverage of the Tallinn Summer Showdown Main Event at Olympic Park Casino.

*Photos courtesy of the Tallinn Summer Showdown photographer Elena Kask.

Day 1a attracted a banner field of 209 entries with 108 players bagging up into tomorrow’s Day 2. Day 1b is currently ongoing and expected to finish at around 1 a.m.

Day 1a of the Main Event is playing out its final three hands before surviving players bag and tag into Day 2. Stay tuned for the end-of-the-day chip counts along with a recap of the first opening flight.

Aistis Sandaras checked with the 7 6 K Q J on the board before Tõnis Viik bet 27,500 into a pot of around double this. Sandaras tanked for a couple of minutes before he jammed. Viik tanked for a moment before he made the called off for 80,500.

Sandaras showed K 10 which proved to be no match to Viik’s trips after flipping over Q Q to double up into an impressive chip stack.

Tõnis Viik – 210,000
Aistis Sandaras – 50,000

Level 8: 400/800 (800)
Entries: 120/208

Turlough McHugh checked with the A 6 10 J on the board after the turn. Sandvik bet 7,000 into a pot of a bit more and McHugh called to see the 8 fiver.

McHugh checked again. Sandvik jammed for 18,000 and McHugh went into the tank before he folded. Sandvik showed he had king-ten with the king of spades and there is a good chance he got his opponent to fold a better hand with McHugh stating he folded a jack.

Espen Sandvik – 38,000

Level 8: 400/800 (800)
Entries: 120/208

The final blind level of Day 1a has just kicked off with blinds at 400/800 with a big blind ante of 800. Just before this blind level, Daragh Davey doubled his stack to

A player opened for 1,300 from the cutoff for 1,300. Davey three-bet to 5,000 and his opponent called. Davey bet 3,600 on the Q 5 2 flop and for 7,000 on the 6 turn and his opponent called both times. The 9 river put four diamonds on the board. Davey jammed for 16,300 and his opponent called. Davey had ace-queen with the ace of diamonds for the nuts to double his stack. According to Davey, his opponent didn’t show his cards.

Daragh Davey – 65,000

Day 1b has just kicked off with a starting field of 16 entries. Unlike Day 1a, which features 60-minute blind levels, Day 1b will be played out a bit faster with eight 30-minute blind levels.

Re-entries will be allowed until the end of the first blind level tomorrow, at which point we will know the final entrants and prize pool information.

Mantas Ungulaitis three-bet jammed from the small blind with 10 10 and was called by Jari Hurri for his stack of 24,900 holding A K .

The big slick didn’t connect with the 7 9 2 6 5 runout and he was at least temporarily on the rail.

Mantas Ungulaitis – 65,000
Jari Hurri – 0

Level 7: 300/600 (600)
Entries: 123/206

Jyrki Lampinen three-bet from the big blind for 3,800 and was called by Egidijus Digrys from under the gun.

Lampinen checks the 9 4 4 flop before Digrys fired out for 4,500. Lampinen wasted no time in declaring himself all in for about 22,000 and Digrys, who had a little bit more, just as quickly found a call.

Jyrki Lampinen: J J
Egidijus Digrys: Q Q

Digrys’ queens held to eliminate Lampinen at least for now after the 7 turn and 5 river completed the board.

Egidijus Digrys – 65,000
Jyrki Lampinen – 0

Kshitij Kucheria opened for 1,300 from early position before Jimmy Dewerdt jammed for 25,600 from the hijack. Kucheria made the call and the cards were turned over.

Jimmy Dewerdt: A K
Kshitij Kucheria: A Q

Dewerdt was ahead and doubled his stack through Kucheria after the 5 8 10 3 8 board ran clean. Kucheria still had a six-figure stack after the hand.

Kshitij Kucheria – 105,000
Jimmy Dewerdt – 53,000

Level 7: 300/600 (600)
Entries: 127/203

Jaime Susarte bet 12,000 into a pot of a bit more with the 8 K 9 7 on the board and was called by Roope Tarmi. The Q completed the board on the river and Susarte jammed for 27,500. Tarmi went into the tank for a couple of minutes before he called off for most of his stack.

Susarte turned over Q J which didn’t get the job done with Tarmi holding a better pair with K J .

Roope Tarmi – 105,000
Jaime Susarte – 0

Level 7: 300/600 (600)
Entries: 130/202

It appears to be a certainty at this point that this will be the biggest Tallinn Summer Showdown Main Event with Day 1a surpassing 200 entries with two more hours to go. Day 1b will kick off at 8 p.m. and players will also be able to enter or re-enter until the conclusion of the first blind level of tomorrow’s Day 2.

The current record was set last year when Kristian Zitting bested a field of 286 entries en route to win the trophy and the €56,500 top prize.

Players are on their final short break of Day 1a.

Level 6: 200/500 (500)
Entries: 129/196

As we previously reported, Lithuania’s Aistis Sandaras has the chip lead after a monster pot to double his stack to around 160,000. His brother, Rytis Sandaras has just chipped up as well as follows.

Robertas Smolskis check-called. bet of 6,000 by Sandaras with about 20,000 in the pot and the J A Q flop. Both players checked the J turn before Smolskis checked again on the 5 river. Sandaras fired out for 7,000 and Smolskis tanked for a minute.

“Yeah, yeah,” said Smolskis before open folded K K .

“Good flop,” added Smolskis. Whether this was true or not we may never know as Sandaras mucked his hand and was up to about 65,000 in chips after the hand.

Level 6: 200/500 (500)
Entries: 138/189

Aistis Sandaras has just taken the lead after doubling through Thomas Jakobsen. Sandaras bet 15,000 into a pot of around 25,000 with the K 10 3 K on the board. Jakobsen called and the 2 river completed the board.

Sandaras tanked for nearly a minute before he jammed. Jakobsen paused for a minute before he asked for a count then continued to tank for several minutes after he found out he would have to call for 52,200.

Eventually, Jakobsen found a call and both players had trips. Sandaras held a better kicker with A K to double into the chip lead with Jakobsen showing up a little short with K 9 .

Aistis Sandaras – 160,000
Thomas Jakobsen – 65,000

Olivier Franceschi is one of the most experienced floor and tournament directors in the business. Check out the Tallinn Summer Showdown’s host Patricia Rimfire’s interview below.

Level 6: 200/500 (500)
Entries: 143/187

Ignas Vaitulionis was all-in with K K for about a starting stack and was up against Toni Ojala with A A .

Vaitulionis was behind but things got worse after Ojala nailed a set on the A 5 2 flop. The 2 turn improved Ojala further to a full house and Vaitunlionis went from drawing thin to drawing dead.

The 9 river was ceremoniously dealt and Ojala was the latest player to have a six-figure stack while eliminating Vaitulionis.

Level 5: 200/400 (400)
Entries: 144/183

Thomas Jakobsen appears to be the chip leader near the tail end of Level 5 with about 125,000 in chips. In a recent hand, he three-bet to 2,300 over an open for 1,000 by Jimenez Sanches.

Sanches called and both players checked the A 5 A flop. The 8 turn brought some action with Sanches betting 1,500 before Jakobsen snapping it back for 3,000. Sanches called and the 3 completed the board on the river. Sanches checked before he gave up on the hand after facing a bet of 4,000 by Jakobsen.

Level 5: 200/400 (400)
Entries: 143/178

Sam Lau took the chip lead and appears to be the only player with a six-figure stack at the moment. Here is a look at some of the chip counts.

Juhani Tyriseva and I are often reporting at the same events and can honestly say that he is the encyclopedia of anything Finnish poker related. Check out the Tallinn Summer Showdown’s interview with the Finnish poker reporter.

Level 5: 200/400 (400)
Entries: 147/167

Victor Garcia is on fumes with his first bullet in the Main Event. He was already low on chips when he bet 5,000 into a pot of about the same with the 2 5 2 10 5 on the board. Jordi Baixas tanked for a moment before he called.

“Nice call,” Garcia said as he showed the 4 3 . Baixas then turned over 8 8 to win the pot and leave Garcia with under 10 big blinds.

Jordi Baixas – 36,000
Victor Garcia – 3,500

Players are now on a short break which is the perfect time to share the video recap of Day 1 of the 2022 Tallinn Summer Showdown with host Patricia Rimfire.

Level 4: 100/300 (300)
Entries: 138/151

Hakon Hovrud bet 5,000 into a pot of slightly more with the 9 3 6 Q 4 on the board after the river. Mati Pirn went into the tank for a couple of minutes before he called, while Martynas Vitkauskas found a snap fold.

Hovrud turned over A A and took down the pot after Pirn folded.

On the same table, Daragh Davey is silently plugging away hoping for another deep run in Tallinn. A little less than a year ago, Davey advanced to the final table of the 2021 Kings of Tallinn before bowing out in fourth place for €23,810.

Mati Pirn – 48,000
Martynas Vitkauskas – 30,000
Hakon Havrud – 24,000

Level 4: 100/300
Entries: 137/146

An interesting hand just took place at the TV table on the stream as follows.

Aleksandr Naumov opened for 600 with Q Q from middle position and was called by Tarmo Tammel with Q 9 from the cutoff and 2017 Kings of Tallinn Main Event Champion Matias Knaapinen from the big blind with 10 9 .

The 10 10 4 flop was an interesting one with Naumov holding an overpair to the board, Tammel with a flush draw, and Knaapinen waking up with trip tens. Knaapinen checked before Naumov continued for 500. Tammel called before Knaapinen jacked it up to 2,000. Both Naumov and Tammel called before the 7 appeared on the turn.

Knaapinen fired out for 4,000 which was good enough for Naumov to fold his queens. Tammel came along for the ride with his flush draw only to brick the A river. Knaapinen bet 5,000 and was awarded the pot after Tammel folded.

Matias Knaapinen – 33,600
Tarmo Tammel – 27,400
Aleksandr Naumov – 23,000

Level 4: 100/300 (300)
Entries: 134/142

Oskar Ojaveer bet 10,100 into a bloated pot of 22,000 with the 5 7 4 J 8 on the board. Max Avela went into the tank several minutes during which time he was expressing some of his thoughts out loud including saying: “I’m in trouble if you have sixes.”

Avela made the fold, and by default, it appears Kimmo Kurko has the chip lead with about 70,000 in chips at a different table.

Meanwhile, Jari Mähönen became the latest player to fire a second bullet after not finding success with his first one.

Kimmo Kurko – 70,000
Max Avela – 55,000
Oskar Ojaveer – 53,000
Jari Mähönen – 30,000

Level 3: 100/200 (200)
Entries: 127/134

Vasyl Tkachenko jammed for 5,100 into a pot of a bit more with the 4 5 8 6 2 on the board. Sam Lau made the call to give Tkachenko the bad news. Tkachenko turned over 10 7 for a straight but Lau rivered a flush with K 6 to win the hand and send his opponent to the rail.

At around the same time, Jaana Kindsigo also was eliminated. Neither Tkachenko nor Kindsigo opted to immediately re-enter after losing their stacks.

Sam Lau – 50,000
Vasyl Tkachenko – 0
Jaana Kindsigo – 0

Level 3: 100/200 (200)
Entries: 128/133

Tallinn Summer Showdown Opener champion Max Avela is off to a hot start with about 80,000 in chips to give him an early chip lead. He was moved to a new table and opted to take a short break with his seat empty. While seeing if we could find where Avela was, we caught up with a hand at his table.

Rokas Asipauskas three-bet the button for 2,300 and was called by Jari-Pekka Juhola from under the gun. Asipauskas continued for 1,400 on the J 4 K flop and Juhola called. Both players checked down the 9 turn and 6 river. Juhola turned over Q J for a pair of jacks. This was good enough to win the pot with Asipauskas mucking his hand.

In other news, Jyrki Lampinen, Gytis Lazauninkas, and Igor Pihela Sr. are all on their second bullet. Mattias Priolo also hit the rail but hasn’t re-entered as of yet.

Max Avela – 80,000
Jari-Pekka Juhola – 35,000
Rokas Asipauskas – 24,000

Level 3: 100/200 (200)
Entries: 116/119

Arnas Lydeka bet 3,100 into a pot of around 6,000 with the J 4 A 3 on the board on the turn. Arvo-Mart Elvisto raised to 7,500 and Lydeka called. Lydeka checked after a third club came on the board with the K completing the board on the river. Elvisto checked and Lydeka fired out for 13,000. Lydeka tanked for more than two minutes before he made the call.

“Nice call,” said Elvisto as he turned over 8 6 for a bluff.

“Wow!” Elvisto said in shock when he saw Lydeka show A 5 . “Ace-Five, oh my God!”

Arnas Lydeka – 65,000
Arvo-Mart Elvisto – 37,000

Level 3: 100/200 (200)
Entries: 113/116

Deividas Kvaselis checked with the 10 A 4 7 on the board after the turn. Glen Gaines fired out for half the pot with a bet of 4,000. Kvaselis called and the 4 paired the board on the river. Gaines bet 9,500 after Kvaselis checked. Kvaselis tanked for about a minute before he opted to fold.

Glen Gaines – 45,000
Deividas Kvaselis – 38,000

Level 3: 100/200 (200)
Entries: 108/111

Players are back from the break. The TV table is also in action but it will be about 30 minutes before you can watch as there is a small delay so they can broadcast each player’s hole cards. Here is a look at the chip counts at the TV table.

Players are on their first break of the day. It is scheduled for 15 minutes but it could take longer as one table is moving downstairs to the casino floor as the first televised feature table of the Main Event.

You will be able to check out the stream by clicking on our stream tab when it goes live and also watch it on the OlympicPokerClub Twitch channel while following along with our coverage.

Level 2: 100/100 (100)
Entries: 87/88

It was looking possible that all players would make the first break for the first time in a Main Event in Tallinn in the recent past. That wasn’t meant to be as Rain Heeringas found himself without a stack more than halfway through the second blind level.

Level 2: 100/100 (100)
Entries: 86/86

Max Avela called a four-bet by Kasparas Klezys before both players checked the 4 J 3 flop. Klezys then bet 3,500 after the 4 turn paired the board. Avela called and the 2 put three diamonds on the board on the river.

Klezys bet 9,000 leaving himself just 6,200 behind. Avela went into the tank for a couple of minutes before he said to Klezys: “I am just trying to figure out if I can bluff you.”

Avela eventually tossed in one chip to call and won the hand when his 8 8 were more than good against Klezys’ A 10 .

Max Avela – 39,000
Kasparas Klezys – 6,200

Level 2: 100/100 (100)
Entries: 77/77

Sergei Kuznetsov three-bet preflop to 1,600 from the big blind and was called by Johannes Cleven from under the gun, Tanel Merida from the button, and Martin Zobel from the small blind to bring four players to the 9 2 4 flop.

Zobel checked before Kuznetsov fired out for 4,700. Cleven called and it was heads-up to the Q turn after both Merida and Zobel folded. Kuznetsov looked down at his chips before betting 7,700. Cleven quickly folded and Kuznetsov showed the Q for at least top pair before the dealer awarded him the pot.

Sergei Kuznetsov – 35,000
Johannes Cleven – 23,000

Level 2: 100/100 (100)
Entries: 68/68

The tournament director Teresa Nousiainen snagged the microphone to make a few announcements. One of those announcements was about a new grilled buffet to provide more food options for players.

The buffet costs just €10 and is served right in the poker room from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Bon appétit!

Level 1: 100/100
Entries: 40/40

Max Avela bet 3,000 into a pot of a bit more with the 5 Q 7 J J on the board. Mattias Priolo called before Zakhar Galper folded.

Avela immediately turned over the Q J for a rivered full house. Galper flashed that he folded the J for trips and Galper only showed the A for a flush.

“River helped everyone,” Avela remarked to the table as he collected the pot.

Max Avela – 35,000
Zakhar Galper – 30,000
Mattias Priolo – 24,000

Level 1: 100/100
Entries: 30/30

We had to do a double take when we saw Risto Suurpõld in street clothes playing the Main Event. We are used to seeing Suurpold, just not at the tables, as he was the casino manager at Olympic Park Casino before leaving more than a year ago.

Tournament Director Teresa Nousiainen shared with PokerListings that Suurpold was given a present when he left Olympic for a Main Event ticket for the Kings of Tallinn. This ticket was pushed back multiple times before Suurpold got into action today.

Suurpold has more than a starting stack after winning the following hand against Tarmo Anton:

Anton opened for 400 from the cutoff and was called by Suurpold from the button. The 2 7 A flop provided some action with Anton continuing for 300 before he called a raise by Suurpold to 1,200. The 7 turn paired the board on the turn. Suurpold bet 1,200 after Anton checked and won the pot without a showdown after Anton folded.

Level 1: 100/100
Entries: 27/27

Henri Wagner checked the river with the J Q 3 Q J on the double-paired board. Sandris Mukans fired out about a pot-sized bet of 1,500 and moments later Wagner found the call. Mukans turned over J 9 for a full house. Wagner apparently didn’t have the same or a better full house and mucked his hand.

Sandris Mukans – 35,000
Henri Wagner – 26,000

Level 1: 100/100
Entries: 23/23

Arvo-Mart Elvisto check-called a bet of 500 by Anna-Mari Hursti with 800 in the pot and the 2 10 8 on the board. Another check came from Elvisto after the J turn. Hursti bet 1,000 and Elvisto paused for a moment before raising to 3,200. It didn’t take too long for Hursti to fold and the dealer awarded Elvisto an early pot.

Arvo-Mart Elvisto – 32,000
Anna-Mari Hursti – 28,500

Level 1: 100/100
Entries: 18/18

Day 1a has kicked off with a tidy field of 18 players. This number will grow significantly throughout the day with late registration not closing until after the first blind level of Day 2.

Emmi Juutilainen, Peter Warfvinge, and Niklas Warlich are among the players registered for Day 1a before the start of the action.

Welcome to the PokerListings coverage of the 2022 Tallinn Summer Showdown €1,100 Main Event at Olympic Park Casino and the adjoining Hilton Tallinn Park.

The Main Event features two opening flights, both taking place today, with Day 1a kicking off at noon followed by a turbo Day 1b at 8 p.m.

Players will start with 30,000 in chips equating to 300 big blinds for the first two blind levels and will have plenty of opportunities to build a monster stack with late registration not only open throughout both opening flights but also during the first blind level of tomorrow’s Day 2. The tournament boasts a deep structure with hour-long blind levels. The main exception to this rule will be on Day 1b, which is described as a turbo flight but still provides plenty of time to make moves with 30-minute blind levels. Players will bag their stacks after eight blind levels of play. The shorter days allow players to also enjoy the plethora of side events on the schedule.

History of the Tallinn Summer Showdown Main Event

Players were itching for something new during the summer as they didn’t want to wait a year for the popular Kings of Tallinn during the summer time.

Finnish tournament director Teresa Nousiainen, who coincidentally was also the tournament director of The Festival Series Tallinn a couple of weeks ago, saw the potential and created the Tallinn Summer Showdown in 2017. Unlike many other festivals that went on hiatus during the pandemic, the Tallinn Summer Showdown was able to host its event every year thanks to restrictions lifted throughout Northern Europe during the summer season.

Finland’s Jukko Koskela navigated through a field of 127 entries during the inaugural Main Event in 2017 to win the €33,200 top prize. Since then, three big names in poker with Jargo Alaväli, Mathias Siljander, and Scottish poker phenom Niall “Firaldo” Farrell were all crowned champions from 2018 to 2020.

Last year was the biggest Tallinn Summer Showdown event of them all when Kristian Zitting bested a field of 286 entries to win the €56,500 top prize.

Thursday’s Schedule

Players will have no shortage of options today on what to play as in addition to the Main Event and the nonstop cash games, today also features plenty of side event action including the €250 Pot Limit Sviten Special at 3 p.m., the €440 5 Card PLO PKO at 9 p.m. and the €120 Short Deck at 10 p.m.

In addition, players will have a chance to get into the Main Event cheaper than the advertised €1,100 buy-in with a €20 rake-free satellite taking place just before the Main Event begins at 11:30 a.m.

Last, but not least, Spain’s David Comeron leads the final 37 players in the €550 SSD, which will begin its second and final day shortly after players bag chips on Day 1a of the Main Event at 9 p.m.

Stay tuned at PokerListings as we bring you the action of Day 1a of the Tallinn Summer Showdown Main Event.