Bezdek & Karlsen Crowned Champions; Solli Leads Tallinn Main Event Final Table

August 24, 2025

The penultimate day of the 2025 Queens of Tallinn at Olympic Park Casino was nothing short of electric. The €350 Main Event trimmed its way down to a star-studded final table of nine, headlined by Norway’s Christina Solli, who holds a commanding chip lead and has her sights set on the €7,200 top prize — a career-best score according to The Hendon Mob if she can close it out.

Away from the Main Event spotlight, two of the festival’s most familiar faces added new hardware to their collections. Finland’s Anne Bezdek, a regular at nearly every OlyBet stop in Tallinn, edged out Swedish poker journalist Lina Olofsson to win the €200 NLH PokerNews Queens Crown for €2,445. Just moments later, 2025 WSOPC Queens Event champion Drea Karlsen captured another title after topping the €200 NLH Open to All, banking €1,971.

Sunday’s Main Event finale will be broadcast live with cards-up coverage on the OlyBet Poker YouTube channel and Facebook page. The action will be called by Andreas “Wiseguy” Hoglund, who will be joined by a rotating lineup of special guests throughout the day.

Queens Record Shattered

Day 2 of the €350 NLH Queens of Tallinn Main Event saw 11 fresh entries pushing the total to 96 players, setting a new Baltic record for the largest women-only poker event. What makes this feat even more impressive is that the buy-in increased from €250 to €350, yet the field still grew year-over-year. This growth is a clear sign of the momentum women’s poker is gaining as these tournaments are no longer just spaces for only inclusion but also have become fiercely competitive stages where female players continue to raise the bar and inspire others to get involved.

Year	Entries	Prize Pool	Winner	Top Prize
2023	65	€19,246	Marta Porter	€6,167
2024	85	€21,793	Saara Benlamine	€5,148
2025	96	€27,677	???	€7,200

Path to the Final Table

Norway’s Christina Solli steps into the spotlight Sunday, with cards in the air at noon and the live stream following 30 minutes later. She holds a commanding chip lead at the €350 NLH Queens of Tallinn Main Event final table, already locking up €810 and with a €7,200 top prize still up for grabs.

The stage was set early Saturday evening as the field thinned. The United Kingdom’s Donna Stanton bowed out in 15th place, while the money bubble lingered longer than expected, with former OlyBet Poker host Evely Pihela falling just short in 14th place, unfortunately missing out on the guaranteed €650 min-cash awarded to the top 13 players.

Estonian poker tracker Siiri Saar and Sweden’s Lina Olofsson both locked up min-cashes, with Olofsson adding to her haul later by finishing runner-up in the €200 NLH PokerNews Queens Crown. The 2023 Queens of Tallinn Main Event champion from Lithuania, Marta Porter, sadly missed her chance at history of becoming the first two-time champion, coming up two spots short of the final table in 11th for €700. Norway’s Kjersti Jocumsen collected the same prize after bubbling the final table.

Solli Faces Difficult Road; Benlamine Looking to Repeat

Norway’s Christina Solli enters Sunday’s final table of the €350 NLH Queens of Tallinn Main Event in an enviable position with a commanding chip stack of 706,000. But Solli’s path to the title won’t be easy. The final nine feature a formidable international lineup from seven countries, each hungry to join the “Stairs of Fame” alongside 2023 champion Marta Porter and 2024 winner Saara Benlamine, a prestigious honor OlyBet Poker showcases at many of its major events.

Benlamine is looking to cement her legacy as the Queen of all Queens, currently sitting second in chips with 406,000 in the hunt for back-to-back titles. Sweden’s Elin Holmgren brings the Swedish crowd’s support with 335,000 in chips, while Germany’s Annika Abmayr, fresh off her €150 PLO4/PLO5 win on Friday, trails closely behind with 324,000.

Norway’s Elisabeth Harestad holds the middle ground with 289,000, followed by poker.pro’s own strategy expert Aytan Eldarova with 215,000. Eldarova had planned to head home Sunday, but it’s clear she’s happy to keep fighting for the crown.

Just 1,000 chips shy at 214,000 is start-of-the-day chip leader Helina Tamm from Estonia, with Lithuanian-born Estonian resident Giedre Valgemäe close behind at 210,000. Valgemäe made headlines last week by winning the $1 million guaranteed $150 GGMasters online on OlyBet Poker, taking home $142,054.

Rounding out the table is Estonia’s Annemar Rimmel, the short stack with 181,000 to start. This is still good for roughly 18 big blinds as the final table action resumes with 10 minutes remaining at the 5,000/10,000 (10,000) blind level, picking up exactly where it left off.

2025 Queens of Tallinn €350 NLH Main Event Final Table Seat Draw

Seat	Player	Country	Chips	Big Blinds
1	Elisabeth Harestad	Norway	289,000	29
2	Aytan Eldarova	United Kingdom	215,000	22
3	Helina Tamm	Estonia	214,000	21
4	Saara Benlamine	Finland	406,000	41
5	Annika Abmayr	Germany	324,000	32
6	Elin Holmgren	Sweden	335,000	34
7	Annemar Rimmel	Estonia	181,000	18
8	Christina Solli	Norway	706,000	71
9	Giedre Valgemäe	Lithuania	210,000	21

Anne Bezdek Wins €200 NLH PokerNews Queens Crown

PokerNews was in the house, but not in their usual reporting role. Instead, they hosted the €200 NLH PokerNews Queens Crown, drawing 45 entries and building a healthy €7,115 prize pool.

Many familiar faces from the Main Event, whether busted early or bagging chips, jumped into this action-packed side event, including 2024 Queens of Tallinn champion and final table contender Saara Benlamine. Unfortunately for Benlamine, she fell just short of a payout position, as players from five countries claimed the six paid spots.

Estonia’s Kristel Daniel secured third place for €1,140, while Norway’s Kjersti Grini took fourth with €850. Finland’s Saara Ylianttila earned €600 for fifth, and Lithuania’s Viktorija Rakejevaite rounded out the payouts in sixth with €450. That left OlyBet Poker festival hero Anne Bezdek and Sweden’s Lina Olofsson, known to many as one of the top Swedish poker reporters and a key contributor to poker.pro’s live coverage at prior events, to battle it out heads-up.

In a friendly yet fierce duel, Bezdek ultimately claimed the trophy and €2,445 top prize, while Olofsson walked away with a solid €1,630 for her runner-up finish.

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1	Anne Bezdek	Finland	€2,445
2	Lina Olofsson	Sweden	€1,630
3	Kristel Daniel	Estonia	€1,140
4	Kjersti Grini	Norway	€850
5	Saara Ylianttila	Finland	€600
6	Viktorija Rakejevaite	Lithuania	€450

Drea Karlsen Beats the Women (and the Men)

Norway’s Drea Karlsen celebrated her birthday in style on Friday at the 2025 Queens of Tallinn held at Olympic Park Casino. While she just missed out on the money in the €350 NLH Queens of Tallinn Main Event during Day 2, finishing 18th, Karlsen more than made up for it later that day by jumping into the €200 NLH Open for All event.

Karlsen’s summer was already impressive, having claimed a coveted WSOP Circuit gold ring and a $5,000 Ticket to Paradise at the 2025 WSOP Bahamas after winning the €350 NLH Queens event at the WSOP Circuit Tallinn. She also took home a trophy in the €80 Queens side event at this year’s OlyBet Showdown Vilnius.

In the €200 NLH, Open for All event, attracting 34 entries and a €5,491 prize pool, Karlsen proved her dominance once again. This time in a mixed field open to both men and women. Three female players and two men reached the money spots. With the two men, Greece’s Enea Subashi (third, €990) and Norway’s Vidar Assersen (fifth, €490), eliminated, the title was guaranteed to a woman.

The 2023 Queens of Talliinn Main Event champion Marta Porter hit the rail in between the two men in fourth for €670, leaving Karlsen and Finland’s Riitta Sahala to battle heads-up for the trophy. Karlsen emerged victorious, claiming the €1,971 top prize, while Sahala settled for a respectable €1,370 runner-up finish.

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1	Drea Karlsen	Norway	€1,971
2	Riitta Sahala	Finland	€1,370
3	Enea Subashi	Greece	€990
4	Marta Porter	Lithuania	€670
5	Vidar Assersen	Norway	€490

2025 Queens of Tallinn Day 4 Schedule (Sunday, Aug. 24)

Emotions will run high as the final day of the 2025 OlyBet Queens of Tallinn unfolds Sunday at Olympic Park Casino. The festival’s nine remaining hopefuls, led by Norway’s Christina Solli, will take to the felt with cards in the air at noon, battling live on the stream for the coveted title of Queens of Tallinn Main Event champion.

While the Main Event final table plays out, the final event of the 2025 Queens of Tallinn will unfold as dozens of women vie for glory in the €250 NLH Progressive Bounty event, featuring €100 for bounties.

Best of luck to every player poised to write the final chapter of what promises to be an unforgettable conclusion to the 2025 Queens of Tallinn.