The ninth edition of the Coolbet Open fires in one week on September 1-6 at the luxurious Hilton Tallinn Park Hotel and the home of poker in Northern Europe, Olympic Park Casino. If you have been on the fence about making the trip to Tallinn this autumn, here is the case for getting off it.
Living in the Baltics, I have been going to live poker festivals in Tallinn for years and take special pride in poker events in the Baltics. Tallinn is one of the best poker cities in Europe, and the Coolbet Open is just one of the reasons why with tears shed when it temporarily moved homes. This year the festival comes back to Olympic Park Casino, the venue where it all started in 2018, and it brings a schedule that gives every kind of player a reason to show up.
A Homecoming Eight Years in the Making
The first Coolbet Open was played at Olympic Park Casino in May 2018. Finland’s Sebastian Wahl won the €550 Main Event for €50,100 from a 425-entry field. It was a proper start for a festival that nobody quite knew the scale of yet. Eight editions and a pandemic later, the Coolbet Open has been to Bratislava, back to Tallinn at a different venue, and now back to where it belongs. There is something satisfying about that. The casino that built this festival is getting it back, and the players who have been coming since the early editions know exactly what that means for the atmosphere.
The last two editions were played at now-closed Chesterfield Poker Club in Tallinn. Anders Bjørkheim won in 2024, Guillermo Cifuentes in 2025. Both good results, both good festivals. But Olympic Park Casino next to the Hilton Tallinn Park Hotel is a different experience. The space is bigger, the production is better, and the location puts the hotel and the poker room within walking distance of each other. That combination makes a week-long festival feel like a week-long festival rather than a series of logistics problems.
Why the Schedule Works
Thirty-plus tournaments across six days. That sounds like a lot until you look at how the week is structured, and then it makes complete sense. The €550 Main Event runs three starting flights on September 2, 3, and 3 (evening), with Day 2 on September 4 and the final day on September 5. That means however you arrive, there is a starting flight that works for you. Miss the first one, take the second. Miss both, take the evening. The Main Event is designed for people who have lives outside of poker.
Around it sits a schedule built for players who want more than just the Main. The €350 NLH Deepstack Mystery Bounty kicks off Day 1 on September 1, and nothing beats the thrill of a live Mystery Bounty at a festival. You are in a room full of hundreds of players, not knowing what is in the envelope, and suddenly the tournament has a layer that a standard event never can. The €350 PLO4/5 Deepstack Mystery Bounty runs later in the week on September 4-5 for the Omaha crowd.
The mixed game content is where the Coolbet Open has always stood apart. The €200 PL Sviten on September 1 is the best possible way to open a festival. Sviten is the most action-packed poker format you can play, and it has a devoted following in Northern Europe that makes the field genuinely competitive without being impenetrable. The €250 T.O.R.S.E.S. on September 2 is a proper mixed game for players who know what they are doing. The €200 Open-Face Chinese Pineapple on September 5 gives the OFC community a home for the day. The €1,100 NLH Deepstack on September 4-5 is the high-water mark for players who want a bigger buy-in without leaving Tallinn for a different series. And a Golf and Poker Tournament on Saturday evening is exactly the kind of thing that makes a festival feel like more than a poker room.
Players Are Already Coming In From the Online Series
The Coolbet Open Online ran August 10-23 with 14 events and a live package draw at every single final table. That is 14 separate chances to win a €1,600 package including hotel accommodation September 1-6, a €550 Main Event ticket, €200 in travel money, and a Coolbet gift. Those packages have been won. Those players are coming. The online series has already done what it was designed to do: build the field before anyone has registered on-site, and give players across Northern Europe a route in that does not require a €550 bankroll decision on a Tuesday evening.
For everyone else, satellites are available on-site throughout the week. The €80 Mega Satellite on September 2 guarantees ten Main Event seats. The €20 satellite on September 1 guarantees five. If you want to play the Main Event and you get to Tallinn on Day 1, you can satellite your way in before the first flight even closes.
The Main Event Winners Table Tells You What You Need to Know
Eight editions. Eight different champions. No repeat winners. Finland leads the way with three titles, including Sebastian Wahl, Mathias Siljander, and Ville Hakala, with Norway claiming two through Mats Albertsen and Anders Bjørkheim. Estonia’s own Ott Toome, who is now the Coolbet Poker Manager, and Kaido Mikk have both won it on home soil, which never gets old in a room full of local supporters. Spain got its first Coolbet Open champion last year through Guillermo Cifuentes. The breakdown tells you the field is genuinely international and genuinely open. Nobody owns this tournament yet, which is exactly how it should be nine editions in.
| Year | Winner | Country | Prize | Entries |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 |  Guillermo Cifuentes | Spain | €48,400 | 493 |
| 2024 |  Anders Bjørkheim | Norway | €50,000 | 504 |
| 2023 |  Ville Hakala | Finland | €60,000 | 620 |
| 2022 |  Kaido Mikk | Estonia | €65,700 | 652 |
| 2019 (Nov) | Ott Toome | Estonia | €71,700 | 686 |
| 2019 (May) | Mathias Siljander | Finland | €60,100 | 531 |
| 2018 (Oct) | Mats Albertsen | Norway | €60,510 | 712 |
| 2018 (May) | Sebastian Wahl | Finland | €50,100 | 425 |
The 2026 Coolbet Open Schedule
| Date | Time | Event |
|---|---|---|
| September 1 | 12:00 | Event #1: Freebuy Satellite to €350 Coolbet Open Deepstack Mystery Bounty (Five Seats GTD) |
| 15:00 | Event #2: €350 NLH Deepstack Mystery Bounty Day 1 | |
| 18:00 | Event #3: €200 PL Sviten | |
| 20:00 | Event #4: €200 NLH Warm-up | |
| 21:00 | Event #5: €250 PLO | |
| 22:30 | Event #6: €20 Satellite to €550 Main Event (Five Seats GTD) | |
| September 2 | 12:00 | Event #7: €550 Main Event Day 1a |
| 13:00 | Event #8: €80 Mega Satellite to €550 Main Event (10 Seats GTD) | |
| 13:00 | Event #2: €350 NLH Deepstack Mystery Bounty Day 2 (Final Day) | |
| 14:00 | Event #9: €250 T.O.R.S.E.S. | |
| 16:00 | Event #10: €250 Progressive Bounty | |
| 18:00 | Event #11: €200 PLO5/PLO5 Hi-Lo | |
| 20:00 | Event #12: €350 Deepstack | |
| 21:30 | Event #13: €200 Jevakim’s Hyper Turbo | |
| September 3 | 12:00 | Event #7: €550 Main Event Day 1b |
| 12:00 | Event #14: €80 Satellite to €1,100 NLH (Three Seats GTD) | |
| 13:30 | Event #15: €100 Icelandic Private Tournament | |
| 14:00 | Event #16: €250 PLO4/5 Progressive Bounty | |
| 16:00 | Event #17: €200 NLH | |
| 19:00 | Event #18: €200 Five-Card Mix | |
| 19:30 | Event #7: €550 Main Event Day 1c | |
| 20:00 | Event #19: €200 Leffern’s Hyper Turbo | |
| 22:00 | Event #20: €150 Satellite to €1,100 NLH (Five Seats GTD) | |
| September 4 | 12:00 | Event #7: €550 Main Event Day 2 |
| 13:00 | Event #21: €80 Last Chance Satellite to €1,100 NLH (Three Seats GTD) | |
| 17:00 | Event #23: €150 Coolbet Ladies | |
| 17:00 | Event #22: €1,100 NLH Deepstack Day 1 | |
| 18:00 | Event #24: €350 PLO4/5 Deepstack Mystery Bounty Day 1 | |
| 20:00 | Event #25: €200 NLH Supreme | |
| 22:30 | Event #26: €200 NLH/PLO4 Hyper Turbo | |
| September 5 | 12:00 | Event #7: €550 Main Event Day 3 (Final Day) |
| 13:00 | Event #27: €200 Open-Face Chinese Pineapple | |
| 13:00 | Event #24: €350 PLO4/5 Deepstack Mystery Bounty Day 2 (Final Day) | |
| 13:00 | Event #22: €1,100 NLH Deepstack Day 2 (Final Day) | |
| 15:00 | Event #28: €350 Deepstack (With Added Prizes) | |
| 18:00 | Event #29: €250 PLO4/5/6 Progressive Bounty | |
| 21:00 | Event #30: Golf and Poker Tournament | |
| 22:30 | Event #31: €200 Sycksbe’s Hyper Turbo | |
| September 6 | 12:00 | Event #32: €200 Coolbet Closer Hyper Turbo |
poker.pro will be on the ground throughout the week with live reporting, chip counts, and daily recaps from Olympic Park Casino. One week. Tallinn. See you there.
- Images courtesy of Elena Kask
- Article originally produced at poker.pro.
