After a long 13 1/2 hour day of 11 blind levels of an hour each, Victor Amat moved to the top of the pack with 1,300,000 in chips to lead the final 17 players heading into the final day of the 2022 Tallinn Summer Showdown €1,100 Main Event.
Amat is one of several players from Spain that for the past few years has called Tallinn their home and is lately often playing all the big festivals at Olympic Park Casino and the adjoining Hilton Tallinn Park. The money bubble lasted more than an hour before Amat delivered a cooler to Andre Magi. Magi committed his stack with queens on the turn with two fours on the eight-high board only to be drawing to one out unsuccessfully with Amat showing queen-four.
Estonia's Igor Pihela Sr., who plays just about every Main Event at Olympic Park Casino along with his son Igor Pihela Jr., is the only other player entering the final day with a seven-figure stack of 1,153,000. Pihela delivered a huge cooler to Daragh Davey after the money bubble broke in a pot of nearly 1 million in chips. Pihela bet jammed for five times the pot on the flop with king-five suited for a flush draw and got there to leave Davey on fumes when his kings were unable to hold against Pihela's eventual flush.
Estonia's Gert Laanemets (850,000) and Latvia's Juris Hlibovs (776,000) are next on the leaderboard. All four of the top players will start the final day at the same table. However, once one player is eliminated there will be an early table redraw tomorrow with two tables of eight players each. Meanwhile, Lithuania's Paulius Jucys (553,000) also cracked the top five on the end-of-Day 2 leaderboard.
There will be no table redraw to start the day as one will take place soon after with 17 players remaining at the eight-max tables. The live stream will begin once the final table of nine players is established when one last redraw will take place. Here is a look at the seat assignments to start the final day:
| Table | Seat | Player | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 2 | Paulius Jucys | 553,000 | 46 |
| 2 | 3 | Mikael Andersson | 328,000 | 27 |
| 2 | 4 | Gytis Lazauninkas | 298,000 | 25 |
| 2 | 5 | Seppo Parkkinen | 260,000 | 22 |
| 2 | 7 | Glen Gaines | 462,000 | 39 |
| 2 | 8 | Kaspar Laursoo | 278,000 | 23 |
| 3 | 2 | Thomas Jakobsen | 435,000 | 36 |
| 3 | 4 | Ranno Sootla | 354,000 | 30 |
| 3 | 5 | Toni Ojala | 190,000 | 16 |
| 3 | 6 | Frode Alfredsen | 502,000 | 42 |
| 3 | 7 | Ermo Kosk | 294,000 | 25 |
| 3 | 8 | Henri Juutilainen | 378,000 | 32 |
| 8 | 1 | Victor Amat | 1,200,000 | 100 |
| 8 | 2 | Igor Pihela Sr. | 1,153,000 | 96 |
| 8 | 6 | Juris Hlibovs | 776,000 | 65 |
| 8 | 7 | Gert Laanemets | 850,000 | 71 |
| 8 | 8 | Janne Nevalainen | 271,000 | 23 |
The two opening flights on Thursday attracted 248 entries of which 131 players bagged into Day 2. Another 37 entries were added during the first blind level of Day 2, after which late registration closed with a final field of 285 entries for a €267,900 prize pool.
A total of 133 players remained at this point and the eliminations early on were taking place at a fast and furious pace with just 34 players scheduled to take home at least a min-cash of €2,100. This was close to the record-setting Tallinn Summer Showdown Main Event that took place last summer when Kristian Zitting defeated a field of 286 entries to win the €56,500 top prize.
The action slowed down significantly near the money bubble and nearly came to a halt of the action money bubble before Andre Magi became the final player in the Main Event to go home without a payday.
Emmi Juutilainen became the last woman standing finishing in 16th place when her ace-queen didn't win a flip against jacks. However, ace-queen was still Juutilainen's hand. For a short while, she was at the same table as her husband Henri Juutilainen, who found a bag of 378,000 in chips for the final day.
The duo tangled it up in what might be described as an unavoidable spot. Emmi jammed for 15 big blinds with ace-queen suited and was called by Henri with aces before the money. Perhaps in some households, this would be a recipe for disaster but the duo shared they play each other as they would anyone else when at the same table. That being said, Emmi celebrated in delight after she nailed a flush to double through Henri.
The final 17 players have locked up at least €2,400 with payouts going up big and fast with tomorrow's winner slated to be rewarded a whopping €62,400 top prize along with the coveted Main Event trophy. Here is a look at all of the Main Event payouts:
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | € 62,400 | |
| 2 | € 42,300 | |
| 3 | € 28,300 | |
| 4 | € 21,300 | |
| 5 | € 15,800 | |
| 6 | € 11,400 | |
| 7 | € 8,700 | |
| 8 | € 6,300 | |
| 9 | € 5,050 | |
| 10 | € 5,050 | |
| 11 | € 4,250 | |
| 12 | € 4,250 | |
| 13 | € 3,500 | |
| 14 | € 3,500 | |
| 15 | € 2,800 | |
| 16 | € 2,800 | |
| 17 | € 2,400 | |
| 18 | Kshitij Kucheria | € 2,400 |
| 19 | Nicolas Bruno Courbin | € 2,400 |
| 20 | Paulius Vaitiekunas | € 2,400 |
| 21 | Daragh Davey | € 2,400 |
| 22 | Alex Podadera Lianes | € 2,400 |
| 23 | Sandris Mukans | € 2,400 |
| 24 | Mathias Olof Christensen | € 2,400 |
| 25 | Eduard Kruglov | € 2,100 |
| 26 | Emmi L. A. Juutilainen | € 2,100 |
| 27 | Kwan Shun Sam Lau | € 2,100 |
| 28 | Tomi Petri Bondarew | € 2,100 |
| 29 | Max August Avela | € 2,100 |
| 30 | Aleksei Vandyshev | € 2,100 |
| 31 | Audrius Laimelis | € 2,100 |
| 32 | Eero Ilari Lehtinen | € 2,100 |
| 33 | Justina Andriukeviciute | € 2,100 |
| 34 | Zakhar Galper | € 2,100 |
The action will resume tomorrow at noon on the casino floor with blinds at 6,000/12,000 along with a big blind ante of 12,000 and increase every hour until a winner is crowned. Stay tuned at PokerListings to see who will win the 2022 Tallinn Summer Showdown Main Event.
*Images courtesy of Tallinn Summer Showdown photographer Elena Kask.