Jevgenijs Zotovs Wins 2026 Kings of Tallinn Mini Main Event (€25,570)

The buzz at the 2026 Kings of Tallinn turned up another notch on Saturday, with packed houses at Olympic Park Casino and the Hilton Tallinn Park, setting the stage for a fantastic week to come as the bigger buy-in events approach.

The day boasted four different champions, headlined by Latvia’s Jevgenijs Zotovs, who defeated a record-breaking field of 903 entries, including 209 entries on Saturday’s Day 2 alone, to win the two-day €200 NLH Mini Main Event for €25,570, for the largest single tournament prize thus far this festival. Latvian players weren’t done here, as early in the evening, Konstantin Mikhailyuk defeated the formidable Norwegian Thor Morstol heads-up in the €200 PL 2-7 Triple Draw to earn €3,410.

The 2025 WSOP Circuit Tallinn ring winner Fabian Bartuschk earned a title in perhaps one of the toughest OFC fields in the world after defeating 77 entries to win the €6,650 top prize. Bartuschk was attempting to cash in as many countries as possible last year, and managed to impressively cash in 23 countries to be tied for third place with all-time Flag Hunter leader in Canada’s Dominik French, in the world in the 2025 The Hendon Mob Flag Hunter Competition. While this pales in comparison to another Koen Roos, who visited all three Baltic capitals in 2025 with 50 recorded cashes in different countries, it’s not too far behind American Wayne McGregor, who managed 23 cashes in different countries last year.

Last but not least, Lithuania earned its first title of the 2026 Kings of Tallinn after Mindaugas Satkauskas defeated the Netherlands’ Tobias Napel to win the €5,940 top prize.

In other news, two events completed their opening flights on Saturday. The €1,100 PLO4/PLO5 Deep Stack Mystery Bounty attracted 45 runners to create €22,500 in mystery bounties along with another €19,350 in the prize pool to be shared with the final six players returning on Sunday, with Finland’s Viljami Salakari bagging the overnight chip lead.

Meanwhile, the €350 Kings of Tallinn Cup attracted 388 entries during its first three opening flights to add €111,550 to the prize pool. Similar to yesterday’s Mini Main Event, Day 2 will allow new entries and re-entries during the first three 30-minute blind levels of the da,y with the action resuming Sunday at Noon and playing down to a winner. Romania’s Ionel Serbu will kick off the action with the chip lead over the 182 entries to bag a stack during an opening flight.

The marquee events are still to come, including the €1 million guaranteed Kings of Tallinn €1,100 Main Event. The inaugural champion, Ranno Sootla, has confirmed with Poker.pro that he will be joining the action for the Main Event, pulling him away for country pride and fun, from the amazing success he has had early this year in Asia, where he has won four trophies. We will learn more about Sootla’s success during the festival with interviews on both poker.pro and OlyBetEvents.com.

• Read more: Grähs, Björn, and Tamm Win First Trophies at 2026 Kings of Tallinn
• Read more: 2026 OlyBet Kings of Tallinn Opens Strong with Impressive Crowds
• Read more: Kings of Tallinn 2026 OlyBet Team Challenge Brings New Scoring and Bigger Rewards
• Read more: Learn Why You Shouldn’t Miss Opening Weekend at Kings of Tallinn (Feb. 5-16)
• Read more: OlyBet Announced Record 74-Event 2026 Kings of Tallinn Schedule (Feb. 5-16)
• Read more: 2026 Kings of Tallinn live reporting at poker.pro

Jevgenijs Zotovs Rises to Stardom

Day 2 of the €200 Mini Main Event proved to be full of excitement in what turned out to be a marathon of a day and evening. The event, which easily set a new record with 903 entries, creating a €142,764 prize pool. The top 111 players earned at least a €380 min-cash after the 2025 Kings of Vilnius €555 Championship winner Linas Bulksas exited when his jacks proved no good against two players holding big slick.

The final table was reached after Cypriot Georgios Tsouloftas exited in 10th place for €1,740. DanskPoker’s Thomas Quaade (seventh – €3,840), Kings of Tallinn stream producer Edgar Põhjamets (eighth – €2,960), and Finland’s Eemeli Särkiniemi (ninth – €2,244) were the early exits at the final table to set the stage for the bigger payouts.

The podium was reached after Norway’s Petter Richardsen (fourth – €9,050), Lithuania’s Sergej Sivcov (fifth – €6,550), and Spain’s Ismael Dominguez (sixth – €5,040) ran out of chips. Norway’s Andreas Lervik was the first player to earn a five-figure prize after bowing out in third place for €12,230, leaving Latvia’s Jevgenijs Zotovs and Greece’s Athanasios Kostouros heads-up for the title.

Zotovs bested his opponent to earn the €25,570 top prize, more than doubling his total live poker earnings tracked at The Hendon Mob. Although Kostouros was unable to win the trophy, he should still be thrilled with the overall outcome after taking home a tasty €17,060 runner-up prize.

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1	Jevgenijs Zotovs	Latvia	€25,570
2	Athanasios Kostouros	Greece	€17,060
3	Andreas Lervik	Norway	€12,230
4	Petter Richardsen	Norway	€9,050
5	Sergej Sivcov	Lithuania	€6,550
6	Ismael Dominguez	Spain	€5,040
7	Thomas Quaade	Denmark	€3,840
8	Edgar Põhjamets	Estonia	€2,960
9	Eemeli Särkiniemi	Finland	€2,244
10	Georgios Tsouloftas	Cyprus	€1,740
11	Artjoms Hromovs	Latvia	€1,740
12	Kevin Karenius	Finland	€1,380
13	Jukka-Pekka Nordman	Finland	€1,380
14	David Bright	United Kingdom	€1,220
15	Luka Potocnik	Slovenia	€1,220
16	Harri Karenius	Finland	€1,060
17	Artur Külanurk	Estonia	€1,060
18	Jani Lehto	Finland	€940
19	Vitalii Shcherba	Ukraine	€940
20	Ville Heiskanen	Finland	€940
21	Jerry Johannesson	Sweden	€840
22	Toomas Mäkikokko	Finland	€840
23	Alens Jansons	Latvia	€840
24	Algirdas Saveikis	Lithuania	€740
25	Remy Nestor	Estonia	€740
26	Danil Dokukin	Estonia	€740
27	Rene Cifuentes	Spain	€740
28	Matte Karjalainen	Finland	€660
29	Albert Ostrovskij	Lithuania	€660
30	Jevgenijs Sapronenko	Latvia	€660
31	Alger Avi	Estonia	€660
32	Arttu Koskinen	Finland	€580
33	Sakari Setälä	Finland	€580
34	Mikael Skantze	Sweden	€580
35	Klavs Garselis	Latvia	€580
36	Jussi Kivekäs	Finland	€580
37	Carl Sonesson	Sweden	€580
38	Frederick Higgins	United Kingdom	€580
39	Karita Koppinen	Finland	€580
40	Jon Jakobsen	Norway	€520
41	Arturs Putnins	Latvia	€520
42	Joel Jimenez	Spain	€520
43	Tuomo Korander	Finland	€520
44	Arasch Mirzai	Sweden	€520
45	Lauri Raadik	Estonia	€520
46	Onni Kuusimäki	Finland	€520
47	Jukka-Pekka Moilanen	Finland	€520
48	Joel Holmberg	Finland	€520
49	Lars Carlsson	Sweden	€520
50	Samuli Hietala	Finland	€520
51	Anna Kaminarova	Russia	€520
52	Simonas Juocys	Latvia	€520
53	Simonas Juocys	Lithuania	€520
54	Dmitri Dudakov	Estonia	€520
55	Kalju Raap	Estonia	€520
56	Espen Brukstuen	Norway	€460
57	Ole Martin Wang	Norway	€460
58	Linus Matsson	Sweden	€460
59	Andrius Mazeika	Lithuania	€460
60	Victor Prior Fernandez Amat	Spain	€460
61	Ernestas Stalemekas	Lithuania	€460
62	Oleksandr Sybirtsev	Ukraine	€460
63	Espen Hagen	Norway	€460
64	Gints Ozols	Latvia	€460
65	Sami Tuomaala	Finland	€460
66	Igor Pihela Sr.	Estonia	€460
67	Soren Juhl	Denmark	€460
68	Kari Martikainen	Finland	€460
69	Ville Krankkala	Finland	€460
70	Omer Shalhin	Israel	€460
71	Lars Hallqvist	Sweden	€460
72	Ralf Rogov	Estonia	€420
73	Jouni Knuutinen	Finland	€420
74	Svajunas Prismantas	Lithuania	€420
75	Tomas Bulksas	Lithuania	€420
76	Kalle Suvi	Estonia	€420
77	Maksim Paponov	Estonia	€420
78	Niko Penttinen	Finland	€420
79	Benyamin Canatan	Denmark	€420
80	Alf Hjärtberg	Sweden	€420
81	Linda Kinhult	Sweden	€420
82	Ralf Hamburg	Estonia	€420
83	Vili Turunen	Finland	€420
84	Fernando Duque	Spain	€420
85	Henri Schalin	Finland	€420
86	Hassan Halil	Cyprus	€420
87	Heikki-Aleksi Oksanen	Finland	€420
88	Elchai Ben Tov	Israel	€420
89	Michal Zagrodnik	Poland	€420
90	Marko Kolula	Finland	€420
91	Kasperi Pitkäkangas	Finland	€420
92	Kyee Sunny Browne	United Kingdom	€420
93	Tomi Arponen	Finland	€420
94	Kristian Hagevik	Norway	€420
95	Mats Forss	Sweden	€420
96	Andrei Mjagkov	Estonia	€380
97	Ardo Pinna	Estonia	€380
98	Silver Simulask	Estonia	€380
99	Simon Hassan	Sweden	€380
100	Mika Hellman	Finland	€380
101	Audrius Siaulys	Lithuania	€380
102	Urmas Mõttus	Estonia	€380
103	Ari Mustonen	Finland	€380
104	Dainis Sibirjanovs	Latvia	€380
105	Jake Marston	United Kingdom	€380
106	Ante Hallberg	Sweden	€380
107	Meelis Siimson	Estonia	€380
108	Audrius Navickas	Lithuania	€380
109	Alari Künnapuu	Estonia	€380
110	Johan Köhl	Sweden	€380
111	Tanel Tammela	Estonia	€380

Konstantin Mikhailyuk Wins €200 PL 2-7 Triple Draw

While it isn’t often you will see anywhere in the world a dedicated pot-limit 2-7 Triple Draw tournament, this event is becoming increasingly popular in Tallinn, where 72 entries got into the mix in the €200 PL 2-7 Triple Draw to create a €11,383 prize pool.

Finnish journalist and poker beast Aki Pyysing shared with poker.pro for his delight in making the final table.

“Jason, I am perfect in this poker format,” shared Pyysing to this author. “I am also perfect at the 2026 Kings of Tallinn.”

“Was this your first-ever event in this format?” we asked.

“I just arrived and entered the event and now at the final table,” Pyysing said with a smile.

We wished him the best of luck and reminded him that winning the event would put a heavy stamp on his statement, as he would be perfect with a trophy.

As it turned out, Pyysing did have a deep run despite not having a deep stack and took fourth place for €1,160 before fellow Finn Onni Huttunen took third place for €1,600.

Norway’s Thor Morstol nearly added another trophy to his growing collection but settled for the runner-up prize of €2,270. Meanwhile, it was Latvia’s Konstantin Mikhailyuk, who will have his winner’s photo taken on Sunday after earning all the props with a victory worth €3,410.

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1	Konstantin Mikhailyuk	Latvia	€3,410
2	Thor Morstol	Norway	€2,270
3	Onni Huttunen	Finland	€1,600
4	Aki Pyysing	Finland	€1,160
5	Jussi Julkunen	Finland	€850
6	Andres Aro	Estonia	€700
7	Raimonds Svans	Latvia	€570
8	Ville-Matti Keränen	Finland	€450
9	Aleksandr Arutjunov	Estonia	€373

Flag Hunter Turned Trophy Hunter as Fabian Bartuschk Wins €350 OFC

The €350 Open Face Chinese Pineapple set a new OlyBet gold standard with a record-breaking €22,199 prize pool generated from the 77 entrants.

It was one of the toughest fields in recent memory, with all the OFC and mixed-game enthusiasts ready for a battle of the minds. The Swedish poker pals of Lena Björn (ninth – €720) and Eva “Chic” Jiretorn (seventh – €1,110) were unable to repeat finishing first and second as they did on Friday in the €200 Baducey/Badacey, but did manage another payout and more team points for the 2026 OlyBet Kings of Tallinn Team Challenge.

The Festival Series founder Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk (fourth – €2,270) and Finnish OFC guru, who even invented his own format of the game, Risto Pönniö (sixth – €1,360,) also finished in the money.

Germany’s Fabian Bartuschk continued to pile on chip,s witnessing the demise of Finland’s Jyri Meriverta (third – €3,110) before defeating Ukraine’s Artem Berliand (second – €4,430) in heads-up action.

As previously mentioned, Bartuschk was busy hunting flags last year, but he may have upgraded to a more prestigious trophy-hunting competition, having won his third event across three countries. Bartuschk won the €250 NLH Wrap-Up for €2,421 at the 2026 OlyBet Showdown Vilnius Ace Breaker in mid-January. His next victory is likely his most memorable of the year thus far, but we will find out in an exclusive interview in the next few days, after winning a WSOP gold ring to match the one he earned over the summer in Tallinn, with a victory in the 2026 WSOPC Es Saadi Marrakech Resort 6,000 MAD Pot Limit Omaha for 250,000 MAD ($27,269).

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1	Fabian Bartuschk	Germany	€6,650
2	Artem Berliand	Ukraine	€4,430
3	Jyri Merivirta	Finland	€3,110
4	Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk	Sweden	€2,270
5	Veli Hyttinen	Finland	€1,660
6	Risto Pönniö	Finland	€1,360
7	Eva “Chic” Jiretorn	Sweden	€1,110
8	Henri Tanskanen	Finland	€889
9	Lena Björn	Sweden	€720

Mindaugas Satkauskas Wins €200 NLH Turbo

The €200 NLH Turbo kicked off at 10 p.m. with a fast 10-minute blind structure. The quick nightly format was popular with 151 entries, creating a €23,873 prize pool with the top 17 players earning at least a €410 min-cash.

Lithuania’s Mindaugas Satkauskas earned the €5,940 top prize after defeating the Netherlands’ Tobias Napel (second – €3,870) during the heads-up action.

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1	Mindaugas Satkauskas	Lithuania	€5,940
2	Tobias Napel	Netherlands	€3,870
3	Matts Rundby	Sweden	€2,760
4	Karri Ilmari Uusi-Äijö	Finland	€2,060
5	Tuomo Korander	Finland	€1,570
6	Tarjei Forus	Norway	€1,250
7	Ziga Klopcic	Slovenia	€1,030
8	John Ivares	Sweden	€850
9	Jori Myllyneva	Finland	€683
10	Aleksi Heikkinen	Finland	€570
11	Teemu Leivo	Finland	€570
12	Julius Kettunen	Finland	€500
13	Joel Holmberg	Finland	€500
14	Alari Künnapuu	Estonia	€450
15	Timo Lämsä	Finland	€450
16	Sergei Oganesjan	Estonia	€410
17	Semi Rantanen	Finland	€410

2026 Kings of Tallinn Schedule (February 8)

On Sunday, February 9, five fresh Kings of Tallinn titles will emerge, highlighted by the €350 Kings of Tallinn Cup wrapping up its second and final day, starting at noon. Like Day 2 of Saturday’s €200 Mini Main Event, it offers late registration and re-entries through the initial three 30-minute blind levels.

Day 1b of the €555 NLH Kings of Tallinn Championship, which was won last year by Denmark’s Benyamin Canatan for €66,050, launches alongside Day 1c at 7 p.m., while a women-only Freebuy Satellite for the €250 Queens event fires at 4 p.m.

The €1,100 PLO4/PLO5 DeepStack Mystery Bounty plays its decisive final day from 1 p.m. with just six players remaining, paving the way for mixed-game enthusiasts in the brand-new €350 TORSE tournament, a twist on classic HORSE, swapping limit hold’em for 2-7 triple draw.

Mixed-game action heats up further with the €350 Dealer’s Choice High Only, where competitors pick from no-limit hold’em, pot-limit Omaha (4-, 5-, or 6-card variants), pot-limit stud, or pot-limit Sviten to keep strategies sharp.

Value seekers can jump into the €80 Milestone Satellite at 3 p.m., securing seats to any €555 buy-in tournament on the schedule.

Check out the full schedule for Sunday below and head to the Kings of Tallinn landing page at OlyBetEvents.com to review the full schedule, sign up for the OlyBet Team Challenge, a player’s guide, and more.

Time	Event
12:00	Event #2: €200 NLH Kings of Tallinn Mini Main Final Day, Late Reg. Closing at 13:50
13:00	Event #11: €350 Open Face Chinese Pineapple, 3-handed, Final 4 Play with One Sitting out
14:30	Event #9: €350 NLH Kings of Tallinn Cup Flight 1B, Plays 10 Levels Day 1
17:00	Event #12: €1,100 PLO4/PLO5 DeepStack Mystery Bounty Day 1, Button Round Each, Mystery Envelopes Introduced Day 2, 8-handed
17:30	Event #13: €80 NLH Mega Satellite to €555 Kings of Tallinn Championship, 10 x €555 SEATS GTD!
19:00	Event #14: €555 NLH Kings of Tallinn Championship Flight 1A, Plays 9 Levels Day 1
19:00	Event #15: €200 PL 2-7 Triple Draw, 6-handed
20:00	Event #9: €350 NLH Kings of Tallinn Cup Flight 1C, Plays 10 Levels Day 1
22:00	Event #16: €200 NLH Turbo

• Photos courtesy of Elena Kask / OlyBet Poker
• Article originally produced at poker.pro.