The Coolbet Open Is Home: Three Winners Crowned and a Massive Mystery Bounty Field on Opening Day

The Coolbet Open is home. After more than four years away, the ninth edition of one of the most beloved poker festivals on the Baltic calendar has returned to Olympic Park Casino in Tallinn, running September 1-6 alongside the Hilton Tallinn Park Hotel. Tuesday was the opening day and the feeling in the room was exactly what you hope for when a festival comes back to where it all began: packed tables, familiar faces, new ones too, and the kind of energy that only builds when a community of fun players that the Coolbet brand attracts converges in a place that means something to them and feels like home.

The last time the Coolbet Open was at Olympic Park Casino was May 2022, when Estonia’s Kaido Mikk won the fifth edition Main Event in one of the most dramatic final table performances in the festival’s history. Mikk came from behind in a nearly five-hour heads-up battle against Finland’s Mikko Ylämäki to claim €65,700 from a 652-entry field worth €312,960, a record prize pool at the time. That was the last Coolbet Open at this venue before the series moved to Bratislava and then to other Tallinn venues for the next three editions. Now the ninth edition is back where the roots are, and everyone inside Olympic Park Casino on Tuesday felt it. Eight editions, eight different champions, and the ninth is underway.

• Read more: Coolbet Open Returns to Tallinn and Olympic Park Casino for Ninth Edition
• Read more: The Ninth Coolbet Open Is One Week Away and Here Is Why You Should Be There
• Read more: Tallinn Beyond the Felt: Top Things to Do During the 2026 Coolbet Open at Olympic Park Casino

The Vibe Was Back on the Opening Day

Opening day attendance was excellent. The tables were full from early in the afternoon and stayed full well into the night. The combination of Olympic Park Casino’s poker room and the Hilton Tallinn Park next door gives the Coolbet Open its comfortable setting players are used to from the earlier editions. The room breathes. Players can move. The vibe is free.

The international mix on Day 1 was strong. Estonians, Finns, Swedes, Norwegians, a Brazilian, an American, Dutch, French, German, and Icelandic players all at the tables on the first day. The Coolbet Open has always drawn a genuinely international field and Tuesday confirmed the ninth edition is no different. If Tuesday is the appetizer, Wednesday is when the main course arrives: the €550 NLH Coolbet Open Main Event fires its first starting flight at 12:00 noon.

Follow all the action on the poker.pro live reporting hub and on Coolbet Open’s social media channels for chip counts, updates, and everything happening at Olympic Park Casino throughout the week.

Andres Abakanov Wins the €200 PL Sviten

The Sviten is always one of the opening day highlights at the Coolbet Open, a split-game format that has grown in popularity combining both five-card draw and five-card Omaha in the same game. The event drew both the Omaha specialists and the mixed game players who know that the first day of a festival is the right time to play something a little different. Estonia’s Andres Abakanov earned the opening trophy and €2,578 top prize after defeating Sweden’s John Hagstrand heads-up from a 52-entry field that generated an €8,398 prize pool.

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1st	Andres Abakanov	Estonia	€2,578
2nd	John Hagstrand	Sweden	€2,110
3rd	Jari Mähönen	Finland	€1,220
4th	Björn Lindberg	Sweden	€870
5th	Matti Karonen	Sweden	€660
6th	Jarkko Suokas	Finland	€530
7th	Jami Juutila	Finland	€430

Rudolfs Vosvenieks Wins the €200 NLH Warm Up

The Warm Up drew the biggest field of the evening side events, attracting 97 entries and producing a €15,666 prize pool. Latvia’s Rudolfs Vosvenieks took it down, beating Germany’s Stefan Bormann heads-up for a €4,605 top prize. A field of 97 on the opening evening with a massive field competing simultaneously in the Mystery Bounty. In other words, the Coolbet Open community showed up on Day 1 and the Warm Up was the evidence.

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1st	Rudolfs Vosvenieks	Latvia	€4,605
2nd	Stefan Bormann	Germany	€2,990
3rd	Sander Kukk	Estonia	€2,065
4th	Petri Nikkinen	Finland	€1,500
5th	Even Kristiansen	Norway	€1,110
6th	Veeti Vehmasaho	Finland	€840
7th	Jari Hurri	Finland	€685
8th	Daniel Axelsson	Iceland	€570
9th	Miila Uusi-Pietilä	Finland	€480
10th	Mattias Kluge	Sweden	€410
11th	Carl Ehrström	Finland	€410

Sigurdur Fridriksson Wins the €250 PLO4

Iceland’s Sigurdur Fridriksson won the €250 PLO4 from a 56-entry field, beating Norway’s Anders Bjorkheim heads-up for €4,009. Bjorkheim, who won the 2024 Coolbet Open Main Event, had to settle for runner-up this time. Fridriksson’s €4,009 top prize from a €11,704 prize pool was the biggest individual score of the three completed events on Tuesday.

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1st	Sigurdur Fridriksson	Iceland	€4,009
2nd	Anders Bjorkheim	Norway	€2,550
3rd	Mika Hautakangas	Sweden	€1,720
4th	Joni Väistö	Finland	€1,250
5th	Kristian Dahl	Norway	€960
6th	Pekka Ikonen	Finland	€715
7th	Kirsi Jurvansuu	Finland	€500

Mystery Bounty Heads to Day 2: Göthlin Leads 39 Survivors

The headline event of the opening day was the €350 NLH Deepstack Mystery Bounty, and it delivered. Three hundred and three entries generated €89,234 in total prizes, split between €43,784 in the prize pool and €45,450 in mystery bounties. That is a serious number for a Day 1 event at any Baltic festival and the largest field of the opening day by a significant margin. All 39 survivors heading into Day 2 are already in the money with a guaranteed minimum cash of €350 each. The top prize is €8,884 and the top mystery bounty envelope is worth €8,000, meaning the overall winner could collect close to €17,000 before it is all over.

The mystery bounty envelopes do not open until Day 2, which means every elimination from here carries a surprise attached. That format mechanic, more than anything else, is what keeps a final table of a Mystery Bounty electric from the first hand to the last. The 39 players heading into Day 2 all know the envelopes are coming. Sweden’s Göran Göthlin leads the way with 593,000 chips (74 big blinds), just ahead of Norway’s Eirik Bjorbak with 570,000 and France’s Yanis Sahli with 551,000. Estonia has a strong presence in the top ten with Kasso Laasik fourth and Janis Kähr fifth.

Position	Player	Country	Chips	BBs
1	Göran Göthlin	Sweden	593,000	74
2	Eirik Bjorbak	Norway	570,000	71
3	Yanis Sahli	France	551,000	68
4	Kasso Laasik	Estonia	500,000	62
5	Janis Kähr	Estonia	448,000	56
6	Simon Stenbäck	Finland	430,000	53
7	Anders Karlsen	Norway	350,000	43
8	Frederico Alves Dos Santos	Brazil	342,000	42
9	Simon Hesserud Persson	Sweden	312,000	39
10	Raymond Forsland	Norway	270,000	33
11	Robert Perelman	United States	263,000	32
12	Kert Hallik	Estonia	256,000	32
13	Atte Franssila	Finland	250,000	31
14	Olaf Larssen	Norway	249,000	31
15	Anu Lilja	Finland	243,000	30
16	Per Indersund	Norway	239,000	29
17	Danil Lebedev	Russia	223,000	27
18	Paula Ensink	Netherlands	219,000	27
19	Toni Vuolle	Finland	215,000	26
20	Erik Põlluveer	Estonia	210,000	26
21	Tomas Lindell	Finland	202,000	25
22	Keimo Suominen	Finland	194,000	24
23	Mario Jürgens	Estonia	192,000	24
24	Conny Eriksson	Finland	190,000	23
25	Julia Kuusijärvi	Finland	190,000	23
26	Heikki Haapasaari	Finland	189,000	23
27	Phenporn Laatikainen	Finland	163,000	20
28	Jari Rättyä	Finland	148,000	18
29	Dmitri Dudakov	Estonia	137,000	17
30	Viacheslav Novoselov	Russia	110,000	13
31	Martin Zobel	Germany	105,000	13
32	Edgars Hauks	Latvia	102,000	12
33	Marita Mägi	Estonia	92,000	11
34	Martin Häidberg	Estonia	77,000	9
35	Ole Johnny Karlsen	Norway	74,000	9
36	Rune Greaker	Norway	61,000	7
37	Benny Hagberg	Sweden	58,000	7
38	Adrian Ghezerian	Sweden	31,000	3
39	Andrei Mjagkov	Estonia	31,000	3

What Is Coming on Wednesday

Wednesday is the biggest day so far. poker.pro is the official English media partner for the 2026 Coolbet Open, and Christoffer Karlén is on the ground handling all live reporting throughout the week with a focus on the €550 Main Event. Christoffer has been one of poker.pro’s most active live reporters across the European circuit in 2026 and he knows the Coolbet Open community well. All chip counts, eliminations, and key hands will be published at the poker.pro live reporting hub as the action happens.

The Mystery Bounty Final Day fires at 13:00 with 39 players returning, envelopes in hand, ready to see what fate has tucked inside. At 12:00, the €550 NLH Coolbet Open Main Event Day 1A fires, the first of three starting flights and the event the entire festival has been building toward. Christoffer Karlén will be live reporting every key hand and elimination at poker.pro from the moment the cards go in the air. Late registration for Day 1A runs through the first six levels. If you are in Tallinn and you have not yet sat down, Wednesday noon is your first opportunity to write yourself into the 2026 Coolbet Open Main Event story. And if you miss that one, Day 1B follows on Thursday and Day 1C on Thursday evening. There is no excuse not to play.

Keep following all coverage at poker.pro and on the Coolbet Open social media channels. The ninth edition is home and it is only getting started.

• Images courtesy of Elena Kask / Coolbet Open
• Article originally produced by Jason Glatzer at poker.pro.