Galvin Wins Bounty as Benlamine Leads 38 Survivors at the 2026 Queens of Tallinn Main Event

Day 2 of the 2026 Queens of Tallinn delivered everything a poker festival should deliver on its biggest tournament day. The €555 Main Event completed its opening flight on Friday at Olympic Park Casino, drawing 89 entries and sending 38 players through to Day 2 on Saturday. Finland’s Saara Benlamine, the 2024 Queens of Tallinn champion, ended the night as chip leader. In the evening’s side event, Ireland’s Mary Galvin denied Sweden’s Jenny Westerlund back-to-back Queens trophies in a result that had the rail buzzing. The atmosphere in the room has been exactly what the Queens of Tallinn delivers every year, and Saturday promises to be even better.

The day had a wonderful energy to it. The Queens of Tallinn attracts a player pool that genuinely wants to be here. You could feel it at the tables: players engaged, laughing between hands, focused when it counted, and sending good wishes to the players who busted rather than the silence that follows most tournament eliminations. The two Freebuy Satellites earlier in the day put more players into the Main Event field throughout the afternoon, keeping the room filled with new arrivals and fresh energy well into the evening.

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Former Champion Saara Benlamine Leads the Way

The €555 Main Event opening flight drew 89 entries, the strongest Day 1 field in Queens of Tallinn history with already a record-setting prize pool of €41,385 and counting. With a 30,000 starting stack and 40-minute levels, the day played out over six hours before the field thinned to 38 survivors who bag and tag for Saturday’s Day 2. The field that assembled was genuinely international, with players from Finland, Sweden, United Kingdom, Latvia, Germany, Estonia, France, Lithuania, Ireland, Denmark, Belarus, Norway, Switzerland, and beyond all represented. Late registration is open for the first three levels of Day 2, which begins at 12:00 noon on Saturday, meaning there is still time to join the field if you are in Tallinn and have not yet taken your seat.

There is a fitting symmetry to the fact that it is a former Queens of Tallinn champion sitting at the top of the counts. Saara Benlamine won the 2024 Main Event in this same room, at this same casino, and she ends Day 1 of the 2026 edition as chip leader with 187,500 chips. She knows what it takes to go deep here. She knows what the final table feels like. Coming back to lead the field as a former champion is the kind of story the Queens of Tallinn was built to produce.

Sweden’s Noelia Ivars Rico sits second with 165,600 chips (110 big blinds), a stack that puts her firmly in contention for a run to the final table after winning a freebuy satellite into this event on Thursday evening. Emma Oliver, known to everyone in the poker world as Emzy, a multiple Battle of Malta Ladies Event champion and one of the most recognized names in women’s poker in Europe, bagged 157,200 (104 big blinds) in third. Finland’s Outi Reinilä is fourth with 138,200 (92 big blinds). Latvia’s Kristiana Stauere rounds out the top five with 105,300 (70 big blinds).

Special mention to Evely Pihela, the Queens of Tallinn host and familiar face of the festival, who made it through Day 1 with 56,200 chips (37 big blinds). The crowd always has a soft spot for Evely at the final table and she has the stack to make Saturday interesting. Anne Bezdek, who qualified through Thursday’s Freebuy Satellite, survived Day 1 with 38,600 chips. Daiva Byrne, the Lithuanian poker professional based in the United Kingdom and founder of FLIP (Fantastic Ladies in Poker), who made the heads-up in Thursday’s Opening Event and kept the momentum going, bagged 23,400 chips (15 big blinds) and will need to find spots early on Day 2. Also still in the hunt: Giedre Valgemäe, the 2025 champion and a Lithuanian who now calls Estonia home, who bagged 72,000 chips (48 big blinds) and sits in a good spot to make a run at back-to-back titles. Marta Porter, the 2023 champion, a Lithuanian based in the United Kingdom, also advanced with 54,400 chips (36 big blinds). All three Queens of Tallinn champions who entered are still alive going into Day 2.

Day 1 Chip Counts

Position	Player	Country	Chips	BBs
1	Saara Benlamine	Finland	187,500	125
2	Noelia Ivars Rico	Sweden	165,600	110
3	Emma Oliver	United Kingdom	157,200	104
4	Outi Reinilä	Finland	138,200	92
5	Kristiana Stauere	Latvia	105,300	70
6	Dita Upeniece	Latvia	103,000	68
7	Anja Henry	Germany	102,600	68
8	Christel Piller	Estonia	99,900	66
9	Susanna Haapasalmi	Finland	94,600	63
10	Agnese Barca	Latvia	84,800	56
11	Doris Sooläte	Estonia	83,200	55
12	Phenporn Laatikainen	Finland	82,600	55
13	Karita Koppinen	Finland	81,900	54
14	Hassiba Haimiche	France	79,000	52
15	Celine Rolando	France	77,100	51
16	Giedre Valgemäe	Lithuania	72,000	48
17	Marita Mägi	Estonia	71,500	47
18	Mary Galvin	Ireland	70,700	47
19	April Kent	United Kingdom	68,700	45
20	Annika Abmayr	Germany	60,100	40
21	Iryna Tsikhanskaya	Belarus	59,200	39
22	Evely Pihela	Estonia	56,200	37
23	Pernille Jordan	Denmark	55,000	36
24	Sabina Zalite	Latvia	54,900	36
25	Marta Porter	Lithuania	54,400	36
26	Vita Veidemane	Latvia	53,400	35
27	Sophia Elter	Germany	43,600	29
28	Anca Eggenberger	Switzerland	41,800	27
29	Katariina Ingerma	Estonia	41,700	27
30	Karen Muir	Ireland	40,400	26
31	Anne Bezdek	Finland	38,600	25
32	Inese Petrova	Latvia	38,000	25
33	Daiva Byrne	Lithuania	23,400	15
34	Celine Eidsto-Nyland	Norway	21,600	14
35	Svajune Petkeviciene	Lithuania	21,200	14
36	Aiste Jakutiene	Lithuania	19,600	13
37	Viktorija Rakejevaite	Lithuania	13,200	8
38	Angela Rogan	Ireland	11,000	7

Mary Galvin Denies Westerlund Back-to-Back Queens Trophies

The evening side event was the €150 NLH with €40 Traditional Bounties, and it produced one of the results of the week. Ireland’s Mary Galvin won the trophy, defeating Sweden’s Jenny Westerlund, who was fresh off winning her second WSOP Circuit gold ring after shipping the WSOPC Slovakia Ladies Event a few weeks ago, heads-up to claim the title. Westerlund was aiming for her second Queens victory in as many years after shipping the Queens of Tallinn Opening Event last year.

Galvin took home €1,745 for first, with Westerlund receiving €1,160 for her runner-up finish. Lithuania’s Giedre Valgemäe, the defending Main Event champion who had also advanced in the Main Event earlier in the day, finished third for €820. The full field generated a €5,825 prize pool with €2,880 in bounties across the tournament, totaling €8,705.

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Westerlund won the 2025 Queens of Tallinn Opening Event and arrived this week as one of the tournament’s most recognizable names. Back-to-back Queens trophies would have been a remarkable story. Galvin had other ideas. Ireland has had a strong showing at this year’s festival and this result adds to it. A very worthy winner.

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1	Mary Galvin	Ireland	€1,745
2	Jenny Westerlund	Sweden	€1,160
3	Giedre Valgemäe	Lithuania	€820
4	Mari-Liis Joa	Estonia	€600
5	Liisi Voltri	Estonia	€430
6	Thais Matencio	France	€360
7	Hibiki Tomita-Kiik	Japan	€290
8	Noelia Ivars Rico	Sweden	€230
9	Agnese Barca	Latvia	€190

Saturday at the Queens of Tallinn

Day 2 of the Main Event starts at 12 p.m. noon on Saturday August 29. Late registration is open for the first three levels, so anyone still looking to join the field has a window. The 38 survivors, along with those entering and re-entering, play down to a final table, which will be commentated live on stream with Jason Glatzer calling the action on Sunday.

Saturday also carries the €200 PokerNews Queens Crown at 2:30 p.m., one of the festival’s standout events and a chance for players who did not make it through the Main Event to keep competing for hardware. A Freebuy Satellite to the Sunday €250 NLH Progressive Bounty fires at 17:30, followed by the €150 PLO4/5 at 19:30, the €150 NLH at 9:30 p.m. which is open to all players, and the €80 Saturday Night Turbo at 11 p.m. to close the night out.

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