Attention women across the poker world! The 2026 Queens of Tallinn starts Thursday. Three days away. August 27-30 at Olympic Park Casino and Hilton Tallinn Park Hotel, and if you are a woman who plays poker and you are anywhere within reasonable travel distance of Tallinn this weekend, there is no better place to be.
I have been covering poker in Tallinn for years now. I have seen this festival grow from seven events in its debut edition in 2023 to where it stands today: twelve events across four days, a €555 Main Event, a Team Challenge, and a room that has its own energy the moment you walk through the door. The Queens of Tallinn is not just a women-only poker festival. It is the best women-only poker festival in Europe, and it is not particularly close.
- Read more: The 2026 Queens of Tallinn Returns to Estonia This Summer
- Read more: Queens of Tallinn: More Than Just a Poker Festival
Norway Is on a Run
Earlier this month at the WSOP Circuit Tallinn, Norway’s Vilde Ekren won the €350 NLH Queens Ring Event for €7,182, the coveted gold ring, and a trip to the WSOP Paradise in the Bahamas valued at $5,000 to become the second consecutive Norwegian to claim that title at this venue.
Norways’s Drea Karlsen won the same ring at the 2025 WSOP Circuit Tallinn at Olympic Park Casino for €6,480. Two Norwegian women, back-to-back ring winners, at the same casino where the Queens of Tallinn is about to take place. That is not a coincidence. It is a community that has been building for years, and this week it converges in one place.
Ekren’s win was impressive precisely because she had to go through a strong field including Karlsen herself, who made the money and sweated for a repeat before finishing 12th. The final table was five Norwegians deep. That tells you something about how seriously the Norwegian women’s poker community takes Tallinn as a destination, and it sets up a fascinating dynamic heading into this weekend.
- Read more: Norway’s Vilde Ekren Wins Queens Ring as WSOP Circuit Tallinn
- Read more: Drea Karlsen Wins WSOP Circuit Queens Ring
What Makes This Festival Different
The Queens of Tallinn was created by OlyBet and Teresa Nousiainen. It started as an idea that women deserved a serious poker festival built specifically for them, not a one-day ladies event tacked onto the end of a schedule designed for someone else. Three editions later, that idea has become a real thing with a real identity.
The atmosphere in the room is different from any other festival I attend. It is louder and warmer. Players who bust a tournament come back to rail for the person who knocked them out. Friendships form at a pace that does not happen at most events. And at the same time, the poker is serious. The Main Event field has grown every year. Last year’s €350 Main Event drew a record 96 entries to create the largest prize pool in the history of women-only poker in the Baltic region. Giedre Valgemäe won after a four-way deal, took home €5,690 and the Queens necklace that has become the festival’s most recognisable symbol.
This year the Main Event has been upgraded to €555, which means the prize pool will be bigger, the trophy will carry more weight, and whoever wins on Sunday will be a legitimate champion of a legitimate festival.
The Queens of Tallinn Champions
Despite the recent Norwegian domination in Queens events embedded in other festivals such as the country claiming back-to-back Queens ring winners the WSOP Circuit Tallinn, they have thus far been shut out of the winner’s circle at the Queens of Tallinn Main Event.
Lithuania’s Marta Porter, who calls the United Kingdom her home, won the inaugural Main Event when it was a €350 buy-in for €6,167 after being the last woman standing a field of 65 entries including defeating Estonia’s Caitlin Müür heads-up.
The buy-in was reduced to €250 in 2024 when 85 entries battled it out before Finland’s Saara Benlamine denied back-to-back titles to Lithuania after defeating Ausra Razmaite heads-up to earn the €5,148 top prize.
Giedre Valgemäe got Lithuania back on track in 2025, although Estonians might argue that this title belongs to them consider Valgemäe has called Estonia her home for many years. The buy-in was increased back to €350 with 96 entries getting into the mix. Valgemäe, was fresh off a massive online win after banking six-figures in the GGMasters at OlyBet Poker, agreed to a four-way deal before earning the trophy and the €5,690 top prize.
| Year | Main Event Winner | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 |  Giedre Valgemäe | Lithuania | €5,690 |
| 2024 |  Saara Benlamine | Finland | €5,148 |
| 2023 | Marta Porter | Lithuania | €6,167 |
- Read more: Saara Benlamine Crowned Champion at Queens of Tallinn 2024
- Read more: Giedre Valgemäe Claims Historic Victory in Queens of Tallinn Main Event
- Read more: From Small Town Dreams to the Queens of Tallinn: Giedre Valgemae’s Breakthrough Moment
The 2026 Queens of Tallinn Schedule
Twelve events across four days, with the €555 Main Event running Day 1 on Friday August 28, Day 2 on Saturday, and the Final Day on Sunday. Around it: the €80 NLH Deepstack Opening Event on Thursday evening, free satellites into the Main Event, the €200 PokerNews Queens Crown on Saturday, PLO4/5, a Progressive Bounty event, and a Saturday Night Turbo for anyone who wants to keep playing after a long day at the Main Event tables.
The Team Challenge runs across the entire festival, adding a layer of competition that extends beyond your own stack. Cash games run around the clock throughout the weekend, which is also worth noting for any male players who find themselves in Tallinn this week. You cannot play the women-only tournaments, but the cash games do not discriminate.
| Date | Time | Event |
|---|---|---|
| August 27 | 17:00 | 2026 Queens of Tallinn Meet and Greet |
| 17:30 | Event #1: €80 NLH Deepstack Opening Event | |
| 21:00 | Event #2: Freebuy Satellite to €555 Main Event (Five Seats GTD) | |
| August 28 | 12:00 | Event #3: Freebuy Satellite to €555 Main Event (Three Seats GTD) |
| 14:30 | Event #4: €555 Main Event Day 1 | |
| 21:30 | Event #5: €150 NLH KO | |
| 22:30 | Event #6: Freebuy Satellite to €200 PokerNews Queens Crown (Five Seats GTD) | |
| August 29 | 12:00 | Event #4: €555 Main Event Day 2 |
| 15:00 | Event #7: €200 PokerNews Queens Crown | |
| 17:30 | Event #8: Freebuy Satellite to €250 NLH Progressive Bounty | |
| 19:30 | Event #9: €150 PLO4/5 | |
| 21:30 | Event #10: €150 NLH | |
| 23:00 | Event #11: €80 NLH Saturday Night Turbo | |
| August 30 | 12:00 | Event #4: €555 Main Event Day 3 (Final Day) |
| 12:00 | Event #12: €250 NLH Progressive Bounty |
Three Days Away
The WSOP Circuit Tallinn just wrapped up at the same venue. The felt is still warm. Vilde Ekren has a ring. Norway has momentum. And in three days, the question of who is the best female poker player in Tallinn gets answered properly, over four days, with twelve events, a €555 Main Event, and a necklace that the winner will not take off for a very long time.
- Images courtesy of Elena Kask / OlyBet Poker
- Article originally produced at poker.pro.
