2025 Kings of Tallinn Day 3: Stanislav Smeljov Wins Largest of 5 Titles on Saturday

2025 Kings of Tallinn Stanislav Smeljov
Stanislav Smeljov

The 2025 OlyBet Kings of Tallinn completed its third day of celebrations of the festival’s 10th anniversary with a massive bang at Olympic Park Casino and the Hilton Tallinn Park. The festival boasts tons of value via giveaways and an action-packed 64-event schedule that includes the €1 million guaranteed Kings of Tallinn €1,100 Main Event.

While we are still a week away from a player earning their spot on the Wall of Fame hanging prominently outside the TV table reserved for those that have won Kings of and Queens of events the past decade, five players from five different countries Uwound up striking gold in side events on Saturday.

The largest prize and most prestigious trophy awarded thus far will stay home in Estonia as Stanislav Smeljov defeated Norway’s Sondre Stormyr in the two-day Event #4: €350 NLH Kings of Tallinn Cup for €26,100.

In what turned out to be a glorious nine-hour affair, the Redtooth Invitational, part of the 2025 Kings of Tallinn, didn’t disappoint. A massive rail of nearly 40 people gathered, with many others watching on the Redtooth Poker live stream, witnessed Michael Ashton secure himself a Las Vegas package valued at €1,800. He will eventually be playing for a share of £25,000 and a chance at becoming the latest UK Pub Poker Champion from May 25-31. Our team at poker.pro was on the scene, live reporting the event for the first time in grassroots poker history.

Michael Ashton Wins Redtooth Invitational at 2025 Kings of Tallinn
Michael Ashton Wins Redtooth Invitational at 2025 Kings of Tallinn

Ukraine’s Artem Berliand won Event #8: €200 Open Face Chinese Pineapple for €4,035, Greece’s Enea Subashi shipped Event #9: €200 NLH Progressive Bounty for €2,920 plus bounties, and Norway’s Olaf Larsson won Event #10: €200 NLH/PLO/PLO5 for €6,880.

Read on to learn more about Day 3 of the 2025 Kings of Tallinn at Olympic Park Casino and the Hilton Tallinn Park or click on the links below to read about the event.

Stanislav Smeljov Wins Event #4: €350 NLH Kings of Tallinn Cup

The two-day Event #4: €350 NLH Kings of Tallinn Cup attracted 455 entries, including 90 entries on Day 2, to create a hefty €131,177 prize pool.

Stanislav Smeljov earned the title after battling through a talented field to earn the €26,100 top prize, eclipsing his previous largest tournament haul of €10,700 when he took fourth place at the 2024 WSOP Circuit Tallinn in Event #1: €250 No-Limit Hold’em Ring Event.

Norway’s Sondre Stormyr (second – €16,560) and Finland’s Joel Haapio (third – €11,800) also earned five-figure hauls and, like Smeljov, added valuable points to the OlyBet Team Competition leaderboard.

PlacePlayerCountryPrize
1 Stanislav SmeljovEstonia€26,100
2 Sondre StormyrNorway€16,560
3 Joel HaapioFinland€11,800
4 Aklilu LaitinenFinland€9,070
5 Dmitri ZatsikEstonia€6,850
6 Tommi LankinenFinland€4,920
7 Ville RutanenFinland€3,810
8 Darius-Valentin NeagoeFrance€3,116
9 Sultans ErtinhajevsLatvia€2,660
10 Robert KaggerudNorway€2,260
11 Darren KennedyCanada€2,260
12 Oleh PritsakUkraine€1,940
13 Markus YlänneFinland€1,940
14 Phil GrossGermany€1,660
15 Henri WagnerFinland€1,660
16 Christoffer KasparSweden€1,430
17 Veikka Keto-TokoiFinland€1,430
18 Adrian ZiemichodPoland€1,240
19 Dmitri DamaskinEstonia€1,240
20 Sebastian WahlFinland€1,240
21 Svajunas PrismantasLithuania€1,090
22 Henri OjalaFinland€1,090
23 Juho SuutariFinland€1,090
24 Jyrki LampinenFinland€960
25 Sander LeigriEstonia€960
26 Thuy Anh DaoVietnam€960
27 Glen GainesUnited Kingdom€960
28 Marten RimmelEstonia€860
29 Andrei-Sorin SpataruRomania€860
30 Mykhailo MikhalovUkraine€860
31 Robertas SpakisLithuania€860
32 Janne KotirantaFinland€780
33 Niko HeikkinenFinland€780
34 Mikael HaapaniemiFinland€780
35 Ville LönngrenFinland€780
36 Petteri LaihoFinland€780
37 Leino PillerEstonia€780
38 Pascal PflockGermany€780
39 Kent WulffSweden€780
40 Max RotkoFinland€700
41 Markku IhamäkiFinland€700
42 Valentin FrancoisFrance€700
43 Silver SimulaskEstonia€700
44 Roope TarmiFinland€700
45 Pasi LaihinenFinland€700
46 Rail AgeniEstonia€700
47 Vivian SalibaBrazil€700
48 Egon KaljulaidEstonia€700
49 Joni RantamäkiFinland€700
50 Victor Prior Fernandez AmatSpain€700
51 Andrei MjagkovEstonia€700
52 Thomas De LeirisFrance€700
53 Vidar AssersenNorway€700
54 Oskar OjaveerEstonia€700
55 Timo KoivusaloFinland€700

Artem Berliand Wins Event #8: €200 Open Face Chinese Pineapple

The Event #8: €200 Open Face Chinese Pineapple created tons of fun and excitement as the game allows for plenty of banter with no bluffing allowed. The event attracted a field of 87 entries to generate a €13,755 prize pool with the top 11 players earning at least a €360 min-cash.

Some of those well-known for their OFC prowess over the years were unable to get much going in this event. Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk bubbled the event, while Risto Ponnio hit the rail a bit earlier. Norway’s Johnny Johansen, known to travel to festivals just to play OFC, squeaked into the money with a min-cash while friends of poker.pro Borge Dypvik and Tarjei Forus each laddered up a spot to earn €460.

Sweden’s Lena Bjorn was the first out on the podium to collect €1,810. The night before, she was practicing OFC with Scott “Pokerbrahs” Kenyon and Eva “Chic” Jiretorn. Shortly after, Artem Berliand won the €4,035 top prize after defeating Jonas Nilsen (second – €2,630) for the trophy.

PlacePlayerCountryPrize
1 Artem BerliandUkraine€4,035
2 Jonas NilsenNorway€2,630
3 Lena BjörnSweden€1,810
4 Topias WahlbeckFinland€1,320
5 Sami PeisanenFinland€980
6 Riku KoivurinneFinland€750
7 Aku LaajusFinland€590
8 Borge DypvikNorway€460
9 Tarjei ForusNorway€460
10 Nikolay PonomarevUnited Kingdom€360
11 Johnny JohansenNorway€360

Enea Subashi Waves Greek Flag in Event #9: €200 NLH Progressive Bounty

Greece’s Enea Subashi has been coming to just about ever major festival at Olympic Park Casino over the past couple of years. In October, he had a deep run in the 2024 Kings of Tallinn Autumn Edition €1,100 Main Event before bowing out in third place for €55,200.

While Subashi has had many deep runs in international events in Tallinn, he finally got a monkey off his back with his first live poker victory recorded at The Hendon Mob. He denied Ukraine a second title of the day after defeating Oleksandr Tarashevskyi heads-up to win the big bounties at the end with both players earning €2,920 from the prize pool. The PKO affair attracted 221 entries to create a €34,940 prize pool that included €17,680 in progressive bounties.

2025 Kings of Tallinn Enea Subashi
Enea Subashi
PlacePlayerCountryPrize
1 Enea SubashiGreece€2,920
2 Oleksandr TarashevskyiUkraine€2,920
3 Lauri NuginEstonia€1,960
4 Jarkko SuokasFinland€1,400
5 Ossi KrankkalaFinland€1,020
6 Roberts LejaLatvia€780
7 Karri Uusi-ÄijöFinland€630
8 Tony NybergFinland€520
9 Theodoros AmpelikiotisGreece€430
10 Siim SikkEstonia€370
11 Vygerdas JonikasLithuania€370
12 Agneta NordenstamSweden€330
13 Robin HoggUnited Kingdom€330
14 Teet PuuritsEstonia€290
15 Tomi ArponenFinland€290
16 Janis MuitinieksLatvia€260
17 Jukka KalliokoskiFinland€260
18 Espen KristofferstuenNorway€240
19 Jukka MoisioFinland€240
20 Märt SikkarEstonia€240
21 Leonidas GeorgopoulosGreece€220
22 Oskari PiiraFinland€220
23 Darius TamuleviciusLithuania€220
24 Algirdas SaveikisLithuania€200
25 Jouni HuovilaFinland€200
26 Nikita ZarovsLatvia€200
27 Stef HackNetherlands€200

*Prizes exclude bounties

Olaf Larssen Ships Event #10: €200 NLH/PLO/PLO5

The final trophy event in Event #10: €200 NLH/PLO/PLO5 proved popular. After each orbit, games rotated, with 204 entries creating a €32,252 prize pool.

After Vidar Assersen hit the rail in third place for €3,290, Glen Gaines was in a unique spot after already having a deep run earlier in the day in the €350 NLH Kings of Tallinn Cup before exiting in 27th place for €960.

Gaines was the final player to win a Tallinn Summer Showdown Main Event in 2022 for €62,400 before it was rebranded as part of the Kings of Tallinn. Gaines nearly added his first trophy this week but settled for the runner-up prize of €4,600. Meanwhile, Olaf Larssen got the job done to win the first trophy for Norway this festival.

Place
1 Olaf LarssenNorway€6,880
2 Glen GainesUnited Kingdom€4,600
3 Vidar AssersenNorway€3,290
4 Kaspar LaursooEstonia€2,510
5 Niklavs ZindulisLatvia€1,920
6 Constantin LauFrance€1,460
7 Sauli HaapaniemiFinland€1,180
8 Juuso KauppiFinland€972
9 Mark AdamsUnited Kingdom€800
10 Lorenc BociGreece€690
11 Paul HildenSweden€690
12 Yurii ZabrodotskyiUkraine€610
13 Jari MähönenFinland€610
14 Antti SuominenFinland€540
15 Per-Thorben KastenGermany€540
16 Sondre LundeNorway€480
17 Ville KrankkalaFinland€480
18 Steinn Thanh Du KarlssonIceland€440
19 Valdis SkudraLatvia€440
20 Georgi VoometsEstonia€440
21 Jami MunukkaFinland€400
22 Henri OjalaFinland€400
23 Markku IhamäkiFinland€400
24 Tapio AaltonenFinland€370
25 Juho SuutariFinland€370
26 Henri SchalinFinland€370
27 Antti RaasuFinland€370

2025 Kings of Tallinn Schedule Day 3 (Saturday, Feb. 22)

Five trophies were awarded on Saturday and five more will be awarded on Sunday with a packed schedule featuring a healthy mix of no-limit hold’em and mixed game events alike.

The final two opening flights of the three-day Event #7: €555 NLH Kings of Tallinn Championship take place at 12 p.m. and 7 p.m. In addition, the night will end with a €150 Mega Satellite awarding at least 10 seats to the €1 million guaranteed Main Event.

Check out Sunday’s schedule below or head to the OlyBetEvents.com landing page to see the full schedule and more.

TimeEvent
12:00Event #7: €555 NLH Kings of Tallinn Championship Day 1c
12:00Event #13: €350 HORSE
14:00Event #14: €200 NLH DeepStack
17:00Event #15: €200 PL 7 Card Stud/7 Card Stud Hi-Lo
19:00Event #7: €555 NLH Kings of Tallinn Championship Day 1d
19:00Event #16: €200 NLH Progressive Bounty
21:00Event #17: €350 Dealer’s Choice High Only
22:00Event #18: €150 Mega Satellite to the €1,100 KoT Main Event (10 x €1,100 Seats GTD)

*Photos courtesy of Elena Kask

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