We’re just over a week into the incredible 10-day Kings of Tallinn event, and we’re still reeling in the final numbers from this event. Consisting of 53 tournaments with buy-ins ranging from €60 to €3,000, the Baltics’ most thrilling event, held at the Olympic Park Casino located in the beautiful Hilton Tallinn Park Hotel, broke the guaranteed prize pools that were factored in beforehand by a mile. We take you on a journey back in time to summarize the top events and let you relive the great atmosphere of it all.

Mystery Bounties and More

The Kings of Tallinn organizers are well-known in regards of listening to its players. For this reason, a stunning three Mystery Bounty events were part of the schedule, from which the €150 GGPoker Flip&Go Mystery Bounty event, was the most electric of them all. Besides the glorious Main Event, High Roller and the €555 Championship, there were tons of different games available. Games such as PL Omaha and Sviten Special are not to be missed, but games as 8-game, Open Face Chinese and Soko, were also highly appreciated by the mixed games players who would attend the event.

An impressive 1,361 unique players, from 35 different countries managed to find their way to the capital city of Estonia, securing a total prize pool of a staggering €2,3 million for the whole event. The Main Event (€673.040), the High Roller (€218,456), and the €555 Championship (€262,730) were the biggest tournaments among them all. 

Main Event – It’s Coming Home!

The Main Event gathered an excellent 716 entries, and in the last stages of the event it was eventually Estonian’s Priit Parmasto who won the event, after a deal had been made with the last three contestants in the likes of the Fins Petteri Laiho and Antti Vetelainen. Just like in the first ever Main Event of the Kings of Tallinn, back in 2015, it was an Estonian walking away with the most honorable trophy along with the grand first prize of €97.400. Despite that, it wasn’t Parmasto who took home the biggest prize, as Laiho bagged a nice six-figure score of €102,500!

The last hand of the day would decide who would walk away with the title and an additional €15.000, which had to be kept on the side of the deal. It was Laiho who opened up the action to 700,000, on which Parmasto 3-bet to 2,000,000. Action was back on Laiho, who decided to put it all in the middle, and Parmasto snapped it off.

Petteri Laiho: 5 5
Priit Parmasto: 7 7

Laiho was looking for a 2-outer to be able to stay alive. Sadly for him, no help appeared on the board and we would have a winner in the likes of Parmasto:

2 K 2    10    3

With this hand a great Main Event came to an end. We gathered the final table payouts for you:

Place	Name	Country	Prize
1	Priit Parmasto	Estonia	€97,400*
2	Petteri Laiho	Finland	€102,500*
3	Antti Vetelainen	Finland	€90,000*
4	Davide Muccini	Italy	€40,040
5	Ignas Vaitulionis	Lithuania	€29,800
6	Aleksi Naski	Finland	€22,500
7	Sergejs Korobovs	Latvia	€17,600
8	Danius Antanaitis	Lithuania	€14,200
9	Albert Ostrovskij	Lithuania	€11,900

High Roller Became a Prey for Finland’s Kimmo Fagerhold

With a buy-in of €3.000, the High Roller was by far the biggest buy-in of the event series. As always in Tallinn, many well-known regulars would give acte de présence and try to take down the title. GGPoker’s ambassadors Nial Farrell and Anatoly Filatov, Roope Tarmi, Jussi Mattila, all entered the field of 83 entries.

Kimmo Fagerholm, an online poker regular from Finland, took down the whole lot by defeating GGPoker pro Anatoly Filatov. Who is Russians number #9 on the all-time-money-list. Filatov, with over $5 million in live cashes, of which two $1 million cashes, couldn’t find the win as Fagerholm just was on a streak. Fagerholm took home the grand first prize and can call himself the High Roller Champion of the Kings of Tallinn. Hereby the fesults:

Place	Name	Country	Prize
1	Kimmo Fagerholm	Finland	€ 63,156
2	Anatoly Filatov	Russia	€ 43,200
3	Ermo Kosk	Estonia	€ 29,800
4	Juho Suutari	Finland	€ 20,300
5	Mikko Ylämäki	Finland	€ 14,600
6	Ville Jantunen	Finland	€ 11,000
7	Casper Von Schantz	Finland	€ 9,100
8	Elias Suhonen	Finland	€ 8,000
9	Viktors Caikins	Latvia	€ 7,100

€555 Championship – Vive Le France

The Warm-Up Championship kicked off earlier in the week and it attracted a solid 559 entries, resulting in a massive first prize of €55,500. Ironically when thinking about the buy-in of €555. After a grind of 17 hours on day two, it was the Frenchman Benjamin Gros who secured himself a place in the history books by defeating Lithuanian Rokas Barzdzius. It was the first ever big scoop of Gros in his live poker career.

Place	Name	Country	Prize
1	Benjamin Gros	France	€ 55,500
2	Rokas Barzdzius	Lithuania	€ 37,500
3	Tarmo Tammel	Estonia	€ 22,200
4	Paulius Vaitiekunas	Lithuania	€ 16,200
5	Zydrunas Karcemarskas	Lithuania	€ 12,700
6	Alger Pissarev	Estonia	€ 9,540
7	Juuso Kauppi	Finland	€ 7,000
8	Janne Ojala	Finland	€ 4,790
9	LuigiShehadeh	Italy	€ 3,420

GGPoker Mystery Flip&Go

One of the many new events on the schedule of Kings of Tallinn was the €150 GGPoker Mystery Flip&Go tournament. A tournament which consisted out of two stages. The first stage was beind held throughout the whole week and it was a one-hand flip game. All together, 34 players lucked themselves into the final stage, which got played out as a standard tournament. However, the prestigious Mystery Bounties came in play.

Mystery Bounties often make it happen that another player as the first place finisher, is walking away with the biggest cash of the day. And this tournament was no different as Ranno Sootla, finishing 4^th overall, took home four bounties totaling €8.700, including the biggest bounty of them all of €5.000. 

Place	Name	Country	Prize
1	Keimo Suominen	Finland	€ 4,130
2	Egon Kaljulaid	Estonia	€ 2,813
3	Saulius Tumosa	Lithuania	€ 2,000
4	Ranno Sootla	Estonia	€ 1,450
5	Niall Farrell	Great Britain	€ 1,100

Make sure to play the next event at Olympic Park Casino in Tallinn – the popular Tallinn Summer Showdown July 24th and onwards.

Do you want to get all the information of the next Kings of Tallinn event whenever it will be released? Make sure to sign up for our newsletter here at PokerListings by clicking the letter on the right side of the page!

Photos by: Elena Kask & Tambet Kask.

It was the first time a multi-table poker tournament series was all mystery bounties, all the time, and the first running ended up exceeding the pre-series estimates by a small margin.

The first-ever all mystery bounty series is now in the books for 888poker and at the end of the two weeks of action, the event was a success. There was more than $2 million guaranteed in all the events which included 31 tracked events plus multiple side events.

With 30 numbered events plus the Main Event there were a total of 31 big games this series with a bit more than $1.1 million guaranteed between them. When the dust settled on the series nearly 34,000 entries were recorded for the big games with more than 24,000 unique entries across the poker games.

That put the total money collected at just shy of $1.175 million, about $50k higher than the guarantees for those games. There were a few overlays through the series as well, with the total prizes awarded at just over $1.2 million.

Almost two-thirds of the main games hit their guarantee, with 18 games collecting more money than promised. That did mean there was about $33.5k of overlay that had to be covered, but fees from the two biggest games alone covered that shortfall, with more than $65k of extra fees left over from the rest of the events.

888poker’s Mystery Bounty Festival Results Summary

Tracked Games	31	Total Prizes	$1,208,250
Beat Gtd	19	Total Overlay	-$33,465
Missed Gtd	12	Total Gtd	$1,123,000
Total Entries	33,895	Fees	$102,386.50
Entries	24,277	Over Gtd	$51,785
Rebuys	9,618	% Gtd Increase	4.61%

Players Love the Mystery

One thing was clear when the dust settled on the first-ever Mystery Bounty Festival on 888poker – players clearly love the mystery format. Given the popularity of the daily Mystery Bounty schedule on the client, that was no surprise, but the operator should still be pleased with the results.

There were more than 33,000 total entries across the two-week series with 24,277 unique entries. That meant $1,174,785 was collected over the 31 games, which was an increase of almost 5% over the pre-series guarantees of $1,123,000.

The average entries across the series was more than 1,000 per game, including rebuys, so it was pretty clear that players were all in on the mystery. While there were 12 games that missed their guarantees, the final numbers show a clear profit for the operator in addition to big prizes for players.

Two Big Winners From the Main

As always, the Main Event was the big draw in this series. With the opportunity to win $30k in a single hand on Day 2 and 3 of this big game, the Main Event appeal was a pretty easy mystery to solve.

As the series capper, it had the biggest guarantee and was almost certainly always going to be the biggest game in terms of prizes. That turned out to be the case with more than 2,000 entries and a guarantee-busting prize pool of $310,050.

The big appeal of the mystery format is the bounty phase as it is often the case that the winner of a Mystery Bounty tournament isn’t the player who makes the most money. That was the case this time around as well with Costa Rica’s “Charles3rd” ending their run in 14^th place but walking away with the biggest payday of the game.

They picked up the biggest bounty of the series, $30k, plus a couple of others for a total bounty haul of $33,979.61, and a final prize total of $35,228. That was almost $10k more than the $25,262.88 won by the winner of the Main Event, “pivnoypuzec” from Montenegro, which included more than $3,100 in bounties.

2023 Mystery Bounty Festival Main Event Results

1. “pivnoypuzec” (Montenegro) … $22,103.65 + $3,159.23 in bounties = $25,262.88
2. “Ibet1X2” (Sweden) … $16,133.04 + $1,359.21 in bounties = $17,492.25
3. “2pacnrw16” (N/A) … $11,859.70 + $7,749.53 in bounties = $19,609.23
4. “schimpfer” (Germany) … $8,786.74 + $679.60 in bounties = $9,466.34
5. “AntonTsi” (Ukraine) … $6,498.03 + $3,329.14 in bounties = $9,827.17
6. “BritiyLobok” (Kazakhstan) … $4,849.51 + $3,068.93 in bounties = $7,918.44
7. “Panxetillo” (Andorra) … $3,633.13 + $979.61 in bounties = $4,612.74
8. “VladRon13” (Ukraine) … $2,752.86 + $339.80 in bounties = $3,092.66
9. “Zebest7r” (Canada) … $2,096.65 + $1,829.13 in bounties = $3,925.78

14. “Charles3rd” (Costa Rica) … $1,248.39 + $33,979.61 in bounties = $35,228

Brazil Wins Most Titles but Montenegro Punches Above its Weight

In the national race, it was poker powerhouse Brazil that took down the most titles in this series with ten total wins. The South American nation of 214 million people is one of the fastest growing poker markets in the world, so it was little surprise to see them top the list.

Montenegro, with four titles and tied with the UK for second place, was more of a dark horse. The tiny nation of less than 650,000 people captured four titles in this series, including the top spot in the Main Event.

To put that into perspective, the 10 titles for Brazil works out to about one title for every 21 million people, while UK’s four was a trophy for every 16.75 million people. Montenegro, on the other hand, took home one trophy for every 155,000 people, about 100x better than the UK’s trophy rate.

There had never been an online MTT festival that was exclusively Mystery Bounty games before this recent series from 888poker. After the success of this first running however, it will almost certainly not be the last Mystery Bounty Festival players see.

It’s time for the Polish Poker Days in Bratislava at the Banco Casino. Last edition was a great success and this time they will be trying to top that massive field of 3,630 players. It looks like the Poles will arrive a bit later in the week as it looks now it’s like a Porsche. Speeding up slowly, but when its finally going, it goes like a beast. The Polish Poker Days will last for 10 days straight and has an amazing amount of nine starting flights, with a 200.000 Guaranteed Prize Pool.

Day 1A

The day counted 73 registrations in total, of whom 7 players advanced to the second day, behind held upcoming Saturday. It was Ioannis Nanos who bagged the chiplead with 792,000 chips, soon followed by Andreas Roll with 659,000 in chips.

Stacks with blinds 6,000/12,000, 12,000 big blind ante:

1. Ioannis Nanos 792,000
2. Andreas Roll 659,000
3. Michal Nanos 585,000
4. Sime Nakikj 452,000
5. Jovana Keljacki 206,000
6. Tomas Martini 186,000
7. Stefan Hulin 39,000

Day 1B

The second starting day attracted a stunning 168 entrants, of which 17 players would advance to the second day. Every starting day, roughly 10% of the field will advance and will already secure a min-cash as well. It was Lukas Matusky with a massive 922,000 chips, bagging for the overall chiplead. With a big gap to the second placed Pavol Melichar (688,000), and Alin Chirila (579,000) it is safe to say that Lukas did his very best at Day 1B.

Stacks with blinds 6,000/12,000, 12,000 big blind ante:

1. Lukas Matusky 922.000
2. Pavol Melichar 688,000
3. Alin Chirila 579.000
4. Andria Pop 569,000
5. Jakub Machak 493.000
6. Marius Rusu 414.000
7. Jan Belaj 382.000
8. Oliver Mihajlovski 380.000
9. Walter Szwarzinger 380.000
10. Peter Maric 376.000
11. Miroslav Janek 324,000
12. Quanshe Gao 303,000
13. Dawid Drobiński 289,000
14. Miroslav Biznar 240,000
15. Michał Rutkowski 146,000
16. Damian Siewert 131,000
17. Ihar Khursin 104,000

Day 1C is currently ongoing and has already 195 entrants. At 23:00 CET today, day 1D will kick off. Tomorrow there will be two tournament starting flights as well, and Friday event three starting flights! We took notice from the fact that many Poles will arrive tomorrow in Bratislava, which is promised to be an absolute mayhem!

Missing the Boat?

Can’t you make it this week to Bratislava? Do not worry at all, Banco Casino is the home of many festivals and the next upcoming event is the Cyprus Series Of Poker, starting directly after the Polish Poker Days! With another nine starting days, it is certain that all staff and floor managers of Banco Casino have to be well rested up to make this a fantastic show like they always do. You want to get excited already? Check the following teaser:

You want to know what’s all on the agenda next week? Hereby the full guide:

It is the month of March, many people have already packed their bags for their upcoming summer vacations. People can’t wait to leave for the sunny south from the cold places where they live. Escaping reality a bit, searching for comfort and relaxation. Not sure where you want to go yet? Don’t worry, PokerListings just might have the right match for you with their very own live poker Championship. This time held at Portomaso Casino on the sunny island of Malta!

Qualify Yourself Already on PokerStars

Since the last edition at Dusk Till Dawn Pokerclub in Nottingham (UK), PokerListings partnered with PokerStars to offer qualifiers on their site. With an extremely fine structure with deep stacks and fine blind levels, a low buy-in of only $22, you can easily secure your upcoming poker trip in advance due to travel. PokerStars is still THE concept in the poker world, with huge player pools from all around the world. A perfect environment for poker players to make it happen. That one-timer will be coming soon and might set you on a plane to St. Julians, Malta.

The PokerListings Championship takes place from 14-17 May, with an amazing total of three starting flights and one final day. The package is worth $620, inluding hotel and the buy-in of the event. With only $22 to enter, the satellite is available for any kind of bankroll, and with 1 rebuy and 1 add-on as a backup to build up a monster stack, the chances of winning a package will suddenly become very realistic. Hereby more information about the package:

PokerListings Championship Package $620

• 3-night hotel in Malta for two people.
• Buy-in to PokerListings Championship worth € 250.
• All breakfasts included.

Top Results of Previous Editions of Pokerlistings Championship

Location: Banco Casino, Bratislava (Slovakia)

• Buy-In: €220
• Entries: 194
• Prize Pool: €36.860

Place	Name	Country	Prize
1	Jeraint James Hazan	United KIngdom	€ 7,375.00
2	Dan Gunnar Joakim Olin	Sweden	€ 7,000.00
3	Yannick Werner Gia Schumacher	Germany	€ 4,425.00

Location: Olympic Casino Hilton Park, Tallinn (Estonia)

• Buyin: €250
• Entries: 252
• Prize Pool: €54,432

Place	Name	Country	Prize
1	Kalle Ly	Sweden	€10,736
2	Antony Jay Kauzloric	Estonia	€10,736
3	Richard Koppel	Estonia	€6,560

Location: Banco Casino, Bratislava (Slovakia)

• Buy-In: €250
• Entries: 140
• Prize Pool: €29.925

Place	Name	Country	Prize
1	Manuel Blaschke	Austria	€7,335
2	Michele Marzi	Italy	€4,565
3	Mathijs Rust	Netherlands	€3,665

Location: Dusk Till Dawn Pokerclub, Nottingham (UK)

• Buy-In: £120
• Entries: 140
• Prize Pool: £37.151

Place	Name	Country	Prize
1	Colin Lovelock	United Kingdom	£5,020
2	Russell Bowman	United Kingdom	£5,225
3	Jeraint “JJ” Hazan	United KIngdom	£3,856

Do you want to be up to date in regards of all possible information about upcoming events? Make sure to sign up for our newsletter via our Newsletter pop-out on the right side of the screen!

Player stories, interviews, tournament results, event announcements, promotional offers, you see them every day on the internet in one of the many poker media outlets that are there to support the industry we all care about so much.

However, what many players don’t know is what effort it takes to set up media outlets, organizing live events, and everything what comes along with that. For live events, there are so many people who support the entire event from the location itself, or from a distance. Not to mention the months of preparation needed to have everything arranged from start to finish.

With PokerListings Diaries, we’re going to put a different spin on this. We take you with us into the world of working in the poker world. A world in which it is a real pleasure to work, and where memories last forever!

Chapter I : Live Reporting With Melvin Schroen

For the past two years, I have been working with PokerListings and always have been responsible for creating content for our websites www.pokerlistings.nl and www.pokerlistings.com. Along this amazing job, which I rolled into thanks to the amazing Martin ‘Franke’ von Zweigbergk, I got the opportunity as well to be part of The Festival Series. An incredible epic live event which just recently had its 4^th stop and this time in Nottingham, UK.

At two of the previous events, in Tallinn and Bratislava respectively, I had been working as an event host, and being responsible for organizing side events such as the Flip ‘n Go’s, and the Cash Game Challenge. But mostly, supporting the players with all their questions, and running around to help any other colleague who could use a hand. To be an addition to the poker community is something I really admire to do, and it is always a true honor to learn from top professionals in the likes of the owner of The Festival Series Martin ‘Franke’ von Zweigbergk, and my manager at PokerListings; Mauritz Altikardes. For the stop in Nottingham, the job description was about to change.

Rise and Shine; Nottingham

Already from the previous stop at Banco Casino in Bratislava, I knew that I would come along for the next The Festival Series stop, planned in February 2023 in Nottingham. Me, a 34-year-young Dutchman, who is currently living in Poland and being in the IT-business as a daily profession, I consider working in the poker industry as a true passion. The love for the game is immense, and the likes for the people which it attracts is full epicness.

After months of preparation, in terms of creating content and promoting satellite events for players, it was finally time to travel to the poker heaven of UK, the Dusk Till Dawn Pokerclub from owner Rob Yong. A place where I had never been before, and where the desire towards it was immense as its just wonderful to be around English people. Throughout all my life, I had about only good experiences with English folks, in both my personal life and professional life. I could not wait to set foot once again in the UK, first time after the Brexit.

12^th of February, extremely early in the morning, I said goodbye to the loved ones back home, and set foot towards Warsaw Chopin Airport, to finally head to London-Luton Airport. After a pleasant flight, going back in time, finally arrived around 8:00 AM in Luton, where I had to take a bus to the local train station, and from there onwards to Nottingham. Luckily, I noticed just on time that my train was leaving from a different platform, and together with some other folks I made it just on time to take a seat in the right train. After a nice travel of around 1,5 hour, I arrived at my final destination. The place where legendary Robin Hood grew up, Nottingham.

After dropping off my belongings at the my hotel, the Park Plaza hotel, I made way to meet the magical duo Franke and Mau. Ironically enough, they were involved in a heated battle of Open Face Chinese poker (Just for you guys, hereby the rules of OFC), being held at a typical English place called Josephine’s Tea Lounge & Bistro, close to the main square. They weren’t here without a valid reason, as the hospitality package holders would also visit this place later in the week. After having had a cup of english tea and couple nibbles, and after seeing a blood shedding battle between the two, we finally went on the road towards Dusk Till Dawn Pokerclub.

Arrived at the premise, my main location for the next 8 days, I directly got to meet the owner of it all, Rob Yong. A very pleasant person to meet. And after having wondered around inside, it was time to open up my laptop and getting started to prepare for my first ever day of taking care of the live report for PokerListings. When the evening fell, most of the crew members were already gone as it had been a long day for them already, but I remained on site to finish off a couple of contents, and to read through all event information of the coming period once again. First day was in the books. With having met so many great people, and having seen familiar faces of The Festival Series crew and finished all my preparations for the day to come plus writing a recap of Day 1A which took place at Sunday. It was decided not to make reporting from 1A as it was arrival day basically. After all that, I called it a day and moved back to the hotel to drop off my stuff. It was time to explore the city a bit and that’s exactly what I did. Nottingham night life is very active, but to be part of that, was not in my agenda at all, as the first day of real work was coming close. So I left my dancing shoes tidy as they were.

PokerListings Championship Blog

Day 1 of the PokerListings Championship, an event being part of The Festival Series since the beginning, and where always a big number of players is battling it out to finally crown a Champion. With a low buy-in of just £ 120 and a guaranteed prize pool of £ 25.000, it was going to be a complete mayhem, with the first starting flight already behind us. And oh boy, it did! But first it was time to hit the roads with fellow Festival Series colleague and friend, Mairo ‘Estonian Weirdo’ Toom, hereby some pictures of the short sightseeing tour we had:

During the early days of this event, I was given the freedom to get used to the grand backdrop of live blogging, and as time progressed, I got into the right rhythm. It’s not rocket science, of course, but hitting the right chord with a blog is pure art. That is my ambition in live blogging, and I will also continue to strive to continuously improve myself.

I don’t consider myself an ‘ABC blogger‘, purely because I like to improvise. My own experience as a player, and following dozens of live blogs about the EPT and WSOP and so on, has given me a better understanding of what the reader wants to see, which is important to players. That’s what I focus on. During these first days I tested everything necessary to find the right gear. Partly because of the great people that come to The Festival Series, it really made my work a real pleasure. Poker players are generally very approachable, but if they also become familiar to you, then it’s a win-win situation for me. I like being social, especially a bit of banter here and there, it makes working at such festivals really interesting, but it can also backfire on you. Meaning, poker players love to talk. Bad beats, previous tournaments, any kind of situation in the current game, upcoming games, online poker, it can become very endless conversations. Which is absolutely amazing off course, but when working as a live reporter at a festival, time is key to success.

With the starting flights being an absolute banger with 383 entrants, accumulating a prize pool of £ 37.151. The second day kicked off with just 57 players remaining, which gave me a more comfortable spot to focus on blogging actual action at the tables. If you would like to qualify for the next PokerListings Championship by the way which will be in sunny Malta at Portomaso Casino, head over to our Facebook Page for more information, as satellites are already running! All players were so kind in general and helped me to be up to speed when it had to be, and dealers even assisted in getting chip counts and what not, all very cool. With the Main Event also kicking off, it was promised to be a busy day for me, but the focus relied on the PokerListings Championship.

When going to the final table, after a long day already, I came in touch for the first time with ‘’stream blogging’’. I can tell you, rewinding is needed in certain hands, as it might not seem to go that fast, to be able to note down everything and to put it online, requires the needed attention. After all, it all went well, and with an amazing winner of the whole event in the likes of Colin Lovelock, and a true warrior in the name of Russel Bowman as a runner-up, it had two great personalities finishing on the top spots. It was an absolute banger of a final table and I am glad such a nice personality like Colin took it down. I will see you back in Malta as you took home a package as well for the next Festival Series!

As the first big event had finished and I absolutely loved every single bit of it in regards of the Blogging, I met some many players, in which loads qualified themselves through Unibet and PokerStars for example, an incredible ambiance! Now, it was time to get going with the Main Event. Loads of players were expected and the guaranteed was going to be crushed once again. But more about that in the second chapter of these diaries. I will go more into detail about some fun moments, poker action, and everything concerning the job: Live blogging.

Hope you enjoyed the first part of my PokerListings Diary. Stay tuned for more to follow!

Patrick “pads1161” has a unique approach to achieving poker goals. Anyone who watches his entertaining and educational Instagram stories will see someone hyper-driven to make the next session their best while also having a blast.

Anyone would have seen a poker pro playing at the highest stakes possible, showing regular sessions of 20+ tables running, or giving an hour-by-hour update at the biggest live high-roller tournaments running.

You would have also been privy to some incredible high-stakes poker strategy or even a few clips of Gandalf bopping his head to funky jazz music.

Whatever Pads did, he was having fun and also breaking personal poker achievements at each step of the way.

The partypoker ambassador has shown no signs of slowing down as he continues to battle in the biggest tournaments in both live and online poker.

How Leonard Achieved His Best Year in Poker

At the start of 2022, this mindset was in effect. Pads were determined to make this year a personal best in poker.

Making that a reality was going to be a tall order; Pads, currently ranked 54th in PocketFives Rankings, is one of the most successful poker players of all time and one of the best current online poker players.

He has previously captured the no.1 spot in the PocketFives rankings, and has been on an online poker tear since 2020. During COVID, a peak time for online poker, he went on to finish 17th at the $10,300 partypoker LIVE MILLIONS event at Dusk Till Dawn, capturing $40,000 just before lockdown ensued.

When partypoker ran a bumper online series during this period, Leonard recorded multiple final table appearances in both the Poker Masters series and the WPT Online Championships. This form would continue with him winning multiple SCOOP and WCOOP titles.

In 2020, he recorded his largest ever online cash when he won $1.6 million in the GGPoker WSOP Online Circuit High Roller; in 2021 alone, he won two SCOOP and two WCOOP titles.

But he found 2022 to top the rest somehow. He told PokerListings how this year was his best, what it was like to win his first WSOP bracelet, and his goals for making 2023 his best poker year yet.

“2022 was probably the best year of my career, at least the most memorable,” Leonard says. “I won a few titles, including the SCOOP overall leaderboard and a WSOP bracelet, as well as being very involved in the WSOP Main Event (online).

“Basically, everything I wanted ten years ago I did in this year, and I can’t ask for more really.”

Leonard won a WSOP bracelet, capturing the one piece of poker silverware that had eluded him since his poker career began around a decade ago. It also saw him play in one of the most memorable WSOP events of the 2022 schedule.

Winning WSOP Gold With Espen Uhlen Jorstad

The unique fashion of this came in that it was not in some short-field high roller or mixed-game event. It was in one of the most popular WSOP events on the schedule, the $1,000 Tag Team, which saw 913 tag teams enter.

Even more unique was that his partner during this event was none other than WSOP Main Event Champion Espen Uhlen Jorstad, who won this bracelet unbeknownst that he would be winning another in two weeks.

An Instagram post looking for a partner led to this duo; from then on, the rest was history.

“It was a unique experience, intense and relaxing at the same time,” Leonard recalls. “Relaxing in the sense that you can literally tag out after focusing for so long, but when you’re in the hot seat, you want to give it everything.”

What was so fascinating about this fun free-for-all of a tournament was how tough it became down the stretch: with a few tables left, Triton regular Punnat Punsri, online crusher Joao Viera, WSOP Ladies Champion Jessica Teusl and the UK high-stakes pro Harry Lodge were all left in.

Down the stretch, even Jorstad credits Pads with “absurd plays,” things like folding Tens to a 3-bet and getting shown Aces or giving up Jacks and seeing the opponent has Queens. Every play was correct, putting them in a shout heading to the final table.

“You’re less likely to be autopiloting on social media or not looking for live tells as you don’t want to let your partner down. We came in a short stack, but we were extremely confident.”

A heads-up battle for all the marbles ensued against a top US poker duo in MTT crushers Corey Paggeot and Jamie Kerstetter, both of whom have found regular success on WSOP.com over the past few years.

“I told Espen numerous times that I just couldn’t see any iteration of the simulation that we live in that we wouldn’t win.”

More absurd plays were made, including a ridiculous 5-bet shove by Jorstad with AJ off-suit – all would result in Espen and Pads holding gold WSOP bracelets at the end.

After the bracelet win, Pads would round off his WSOP series, coming 22nd in the GGPoker WSOP Main Event Online for $91,488 and finding 7th place in the Deepstack Championship for $47,405.

It is fitting that Leonard went on to win the Grand MILLIONS Online event, a partypoker flagship tournament that attracts the best of the best. Beating names like Nacho Barbero, Niklas “Lena900” Astedt, Samuel Vousden, or Christoph Rudolph is something Pads prepares for every Sunday, so this one came as no surprise.

The MILLIONS is one of Europe’s most prestigious poker events, both live and online. The MILLIONS Online KO event attracted almost 1,500 poker players, all vying for the top spot. Being a $1,000 buy-in, it brought both the high-stakes known crushers and talented mid-stakes pros who wanted to make a name for themselves.

It speaks volumes of Leonard’s ability to continue to develop his poker game to today’s standards. On a Day 2 that saw players like Yuri Dzivielevski, Gianluca Speranza, David Yan, and Thomas Muehlocker, he still found a way to get 5th in a hyper-competitive online event.

He is showing no signs of slowing down this year too. All poker operators are boosting their weekly schedule, including Leonard’s online home in partypoker: the site has redone its recurring online events to boost guarantees, creating prizepools of over $3 million each month.

Patrick Leonard’s Poker Plans for 2023: Prepare to Win

So, how will Pads grind and study to make this year comparable?

“My goals are revolved around three key parts of the year,” says Patrick Leonard.

“The Online Series in May and the partypoker MILLIONS Online, where I’ll be grinding 20-30 tables and battling against the best in the world – just intense grinding.

“Then, the WSOP for seven weeks after the Online Series, a period of non-stop poker tournaments.”

“Then the Online Series in September, where I’ll once again play every day, 20-30 tables, battling against the best in the world.”

Anyone who follows Patrick Leonard’s Instagram will know that it’s common for him to have this many tables going during a big series. You will be within reason to ask how someone can grind the highest, most intense stakes possible every time they take to the online felt.

“The most important thing is that I enter this period with the right tools physically, mentally, and strategically,” says Leonard.

“I can get more volume in those ten weeks than most players ill in the entire year, and bulking volume like this is one of my strongest skills.

“So between the Online Series in May and now, I’m preparing, getting ready, grinding Sundays, and improving mindset-wise, performance-wise, and physically every day.”

Why Pads Still Loves Poker

When you speak to many mid-stakes and high-stakes pros, they view online poker as a job. Something better than the doldrums of a 9-5 but not something they relish to attack every day.

The lack of enthusiasm and the satisfaction of grinding a win-rate makes poker unenjoyable. You won’t find that attitude with Leonard or other top online pros who battle with him in final tables on Sundays.

When talking about how he gained this driven, disciplined, and consistent approach to his poker career, Leonard points to how he views the online grind.

“I read somewhere that once you change from doing something as your hobby to doing it as your job, you lose a lot of the fun about what you do,” Leonard points out.

“For me, I was so lucky to have big scores early in my career that I always focused on what motivated me and played for fun rather than for money.

“I chased PocketFives leaderboards initially, then SCOOP & WCOOP leaderboards, then live high rollers, then back to online – I just go with the flow.

“I don’t feel like this is a job; I just do what I want to do every day, and most days, that learning, thinking, and playing poker.”

“It’s easy to come across as having fun on Instagram rather than it looking staged because it’s literally me doing what I want to do.”

What Success in Poker Means

If you view poker as an arduous climb up a mountain, Pads reached the top a while ago, kicking off his journey back to 2012 when he won a €220 WPT Marbella event for €2,395.  When it comes to success in poker, Leonard looks at it in one word: longevity.

“Anybody can win a leaderboard, anybody can win a bracelet, anybody can win a large amount of money playing poker,” Leonard points out. “But the people who are here year in and year out for over a decade, finding a way to battle, showing up, are the ones in poker that I see as successful.

“Growing up as a 20-year old aspiring poker player, I really loved hearing about Daniel Negreanu, Barry Greenstein, Erik Seidel, Doyle Brunson, grinders and stories rather than guys who won the Main Event,” Pads identifies.

“Moneymaker stories never really appealed to me, but guys who grinded in the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City or the Vic in London then took their bankroll to Vegas, those stories really intrigued me and still do.”