Andreas Backlund Wins 2026 OlyBet Showdown Tallinn €1,100 Main Event (€37,848)

Andreas Backlund

Saturday’s penultimate day at the 2026 OlyBet Showdown Tallinn ushered in tons of thrills and excitement at Olympic Park Casino as the action moved to the casino floor, with the final 17 players battling in the €1,100 Main Event.

Two Finns, Kyösti Isberg and Andreas Backlund, dominated the headlines late in the Main Event as the clear chip leaders throughout the final table of the Main Event. Isberg had a more than 8 to 1 chip advantage to start the heads-up action according to the live reports in Estonian at jokker.ee, before Backlund came roaring back. The duo agreed to a deal to split the remaining prizes with both players guaranteed €34,848 while playing for an additional €3,000 and the trophy, before Backlund made history in becoming the first OlyBet Showdown Tallinn Main Event champion to bank the €37,848 top prize.

In other news, Finland’s Rasmus Lundström won the two-day €350 NLH Deepstack Mystery Bounty for €14,171 including a cool €10,000 in mystery bounties. Finland’s Atso Lindell shipped the €200 NLH Epicbet Mystery Bounty for €7,464 including €4,750 in bounties. Estonia’s Sten Kramer hoisted the trophy in the €200 PLO4/PLO5 Progressive Bounty for €1,001 plus bounties.

Meanwhile, two unique events also took place on Saturday. The Festival Series Founder Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk shipped the €65 Sportsbook Competition, an event in partnership with Epicbet and The Festival Series for €450 plus a ticket valued at €125 a similar competition during an upcoming The Festival Series stop.

Latvia’s Kriss Reikstins was the virtual hero of the day as he won the €150 OlyBet Showdown Tallinn Online Progressive Bounty for €1,932, including €1,024 in bounties.

A Comeback for the Ages for Backlund

The three-day OlyBet Showdown Tallinn €1,100 Main Event attracted 210 entries to create a €199,950 prize pool. The action was deep in the money with Finland’s Kyösti Isberg leading the final 17 entries to start the final day, with eventual champion Andreas Backlund not too far behind in third place.

Lithuania’s Albert Ostrovskij battled throughout the final day with a short stack before eventually losing his stack in 10th place for €4,260 to set the stage for an intense final table battle. Finland’s Jukka Juvonen ended yet another deep run in ninth place for €4,945, and immediately headed to enter the €200 Mystery Bounty to try for a different trophy.

Norway’s Helge Bjorlow (sixth – €9,040), Lithuania’s Egidijus Matonis (seventh – €7,275), and Latvia’s Janis Apinis (eight – €6,025) were the next to collect payout slips. Chips continued to shift around during five handed play before Sweden’s Kristoffer Winterstein bowed out in fifth place for €11,845. While Winterstein was hungry for the trophy, it does prepare him for bigger things to come in his upcoming poker trip to Taiwan.

Poland’s Mateusz Dabkowski ended his impressive run in fourth place for €15,525 before Sweden’s Henrik Jeppsson, tennis coach of none other than poker.pro live reporter Christoffer Karlen, hit the rail in third place for €20,365.

Kyösti Isberg and Andreas Backlund

Isberg held a commanded heads-up chip lead against Backlund, but Backlund didn’t back down with the chip lead going back and forth. The players agreed to a deal with both players earning at least €34,148 and the winner awarded an additional €3,000 and the trophy.

Backlund had Isberg on crumbs after doubling through his opponent with aces against ace-ten on a jack-ten-four rainbow flop according to jokker.ee before taking the rest when ten-nine got there against ace-nine to win the €37,148 top prize.

PlacePlayerCountryPrize
1Finland Andreas BacklundFinland€37,148
2Finland Kyösti IsbergFinland€34,148
3Sweden Henrik JeppssonSweden€20,365
4Poland Mateusz DabkowskiPoland€15,525
5Sweden Kristoffer WintersteinSweden€11,845
6Norway Helge BjorlowNorway€9,040
7Lithuania Egidijus MatonisLithuania€7,275
8Latvia Janis ApinisLatvia€6,025
9Finland Jukka JuvonenFinland€4,945
10Lithuania Albert OstrovskijLithuania€4,260
11Italy Mario ColavitaItaly€4,260
12Latvia Kriss RiekstinsLatvia€3,785
13Estonia Martin KeskkülaEstonia€3,785
14Finland Veli-Pekka PenttinenFinland€3,325
15Finland Masse MirzaFinland€3,325
16Sweden Alf HjärtbergSweden€2,975
17Estonia Dmitri DudakovEstonia€2,975
18Finland Janne NevalainenFinland€2,710
19Estonia Stepan MoissejevEstonia€2,710
20Finland Jari MähönenFinland€2,710
21Finland Jan-Mikael KesänenFinland€2,455
22Estonia Alger PissarevEstonia€2,455
23Iceland Runar RunarssonIceland€2,455
24Estonia Meelis AhmanEstonia€2,250
25Estonia Otto PukkEstonia€2,250
26Finland Nico SegersvenFinland€2,250
27Latvia Vadims MilovsLatvia€2,250

Rasmus Lundström Wins €350 NLH Mystery Bounty

Rasmus Lundström

The two-day €350 NLH Deepstack Mystery Bounty attracted 98 entries, creating €28,861 in prizes including €14,700 in mystery bounties.

Friend of poker.pro, Finland’s Rasmus Lundström, has been battling it out all week, and got to celebrate a huge haul of €14,171 after winning the event for €4,171 and opening €10,000 in mystery bounty prizes.

A pair of Latvians were also on the podium with Jevgenijs Sapronenko earning €3,500, including €800 in bounties, for his runner-up performance. Meanwhile, third-place finisher Kristaps Sipols earned the second largest prize of €5,770 in this event thanks to fortuitious mystery bounty pulls.

PlacePlayerCountryPrizeBountyTotal
1Finland Rasmus LundströmFinland€4,171€10,000€14,171
2Latvia Jevgenijs SapronenkoLatvia€2,700€800€3,500
3Latvia Kristaps SipolsLatvia€1,870€3,900€5,770
4Lithuania Ernestas StalemekasLithuania€1,360€0€1,360
5Finland Akseli ValajaFinland€1,000€0€1,000
6Norway Gine BroderudNorway€760€0€760
7Sweden Tommy ErikssonSweden€620€0€620
8Finland Hanli XiongFinland€510€0€510
9Estonia Oskar OjaveerEstonia€430€0€430
10Estonia Evgeny VyalEstonia€370€0€370
11Finland Joona NyholmFinland€370€0€370

Atso Lindell Wins €200 NLH Epicbet Mystery Bounty

The €200 Epicbet Mystery Bounty attracted 129 entries to create €22,434 in prizes including €10,320 in mystery bounties, and also an added The Festival Series package valued at €1,600.

This event typically takes place monthly outside of festivals with a €150 buy-in. Despite the local crowd enthuiastically battling at Olympic Park Casino, they were shut out of the bigger prizes after the final Estonian Veiko Kadak was eliminated in ninth place for €2,070, including €1,750 in bounties for the largest bounty haul outside of the eventual champion.

Finland’s Atso Lindell was the star of the event after defeating Sweden’s Susanne Pettersson heads-up to bank €7,464 including €4,750 in bounties.

PlacePlayerCountryPrizeBountiesTotal
1Finland Atso LindellFinland€2,714€4,750€7,464
2Sweden Susanne PetterssonSweden€1,810€1,000€2,810
3Norway Aina RamdahlNorway€1,260€1,000€2,260
4Sweden Ingvar LinneSweden€910€500€1,410
5Finland Joona NyholmFinland€700€0€700
6Finland Akseli ValajaFinland€550€1,300€1,850
7Latvia Artjoms HromovsLatvia€450€0€450
8Finland Johan AlenFinland€380€0€380
9Estonia Veiko KadakEstonia€320€1,750€2,070
10Sweden Patrik FalkSweden€270€0€270
11Estonia Aivar RozeEstonia€270€0€270
12Brazil Paulo VirgolinoBrazil€240€0€240
13Sweden Alf HjärtbergSweden€240€0€240
14Estonia Andrus AumeesEstonia€210€0€210
15Finland Ville-Matti KeränenFinland€210€0€210

Sten Kramer Wins €200 PLO4/PLO5 Progressive Bounty

The €200 PLO4/PLO5 Progressive Bounty witnessed 37 entries, adding €5,976 in prizes including €2,960 in bounties. Estonia’s Sten Kramer and Finland’s Riku Tuukkala faced off heads-up, with both players already locking in the €1,001 top prize from the prize pool.

Kramer won the heads-up battle to win the trophy and the final big bounty after defeating his opponent.

PlacePlayerCountryPrize
1Estonia Sten KramerEstonia€1,001
2Finland Riku TuukkalaFinland€1,001
3Denmark Michael JantzenDenmark€614
4Finland Timo KoivuniemiFinland€400

2026 OlyBet Showdown Tallinn Schedule (Sunday, April 19)

Players will say their final goodbyes and see you laters on Sunday for the final day of the 2026 OlyBet Showdown Tallinn. The action on Sunday takes place on the casino floor and will begin with the second and final day of the €350 OlyBet Special at Noon before moving onto the €200 NLH Wrap-up at 2 p.m.

Thank you to all the players in attendance for the inaugural OlyBet Showdown Tallinn. Stay tuned for one final article on the festival on Monday, and get ready for the OlyBet Showdown Vilnius right around the corner from May 9-17.

TimeEvent
12:00Event #39: €350 NLH OlyBet Special Day 2 (Final Day)
14:00Event #43: €200 NLH Wrap-up
Andreas Backlund
  • Lead image courtesy of Elena Kask / OlyBet Poker
  • Article originally produced at poker.pro.

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Jason Glatzer

Jason Glatzer is a seasoned poker player, journalist, commentator, and content creator with over a decade of experience in the industry. His journey in poker began in the 1980's playing for pennies on kitchen tables and enjoying stud game in the 1990s in Atlantic City, before transitioning to online poker in the early 2000s. Glatzer's career in poker media took off at PocketFives, which led to opportunities with PokerNews and other prominent poker media outlets. Throughout his career, he has covered major poker events, and has contributed to various poker publications as a writer, editor, and live reporter.