The final weekend of the 2025 WSOP Circuit Tallinn arrived in style with a packed house both in the tournament arena at the Hilton Tallinn Park and the cash games at OlyBet’s flagship home, Olympic Park Casino on Friday.
Lithuania’s Karolis Kutkauskas managed a substantial lead in the WSOP Circuit Tallinn €1,500 Main Event after winning back-to-back massive pots, one of which sent two-time WSOP bracelet winner and poker legend Juha Helppi to the rail just before players bagged chips to lead the 78 remaining players.
The Main Event established a new gold standard for OlyBet’s live events, with a record-breaking prize pool. After late registration ended on Friday’s Day 2, 888 entries smashed the €1 million guarantee to create a €1,138,860 prize pool.
Meanwhile, two other ring events kicked off their opening days. The €555 Sviten Special set a new prize pool record as well for this variant, with 113 entries creating a €53,675 prize pool. The final 17 players returning to action on Saturday have already locked up at least €1,130 while playing on Saturday for the €14,035 top prize, the coveted gold ring, and a trip valued at $5,000 to the WSOP Paradise in the Bahamas at the end of the year. Sweden’s Patric Mattsson will kick off the action with the chip lead in hopes of securing the first-ever WSOP gold ring in Sviten Special.
The two-day €1,100 Mystery Bounty attracted 210 entries for a €199,500 prize pool, including €105,000 set to be awarded in mystery bounty prizes. A total of 41 players are set to return to the big stage on Saturday, with Lithuania’s Andrius Mazurkevicius bagging up the overnight chip lead. The top 31 players will earn at least €1,050. The mystery bounty prizes will be revealed after the money bubble breaks, with players keeping their eyes on the €22,550 top prize.
Two players earned side event trophies on Friday. Lithuania’s Gintautas Danilevicius agreed to a three-way deal with Norway’s Johannes Cleven and Rohan Oberoi before earning the trophy, the €3,000 top prize, and tons more in progressive bounties.
Finland’s Mikko Levänen earned the trophy in the €200 PLO6 for €3,150 to wrap up Friday’s tournament affairs at the 2025 WSOP Circuit Tallinn.
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Wild Ending for Karolis Kutkauskas to Snag Chip Lead in Main Event
The crown jewel of the 2025 WSOP Circuit Tallinn, the €1,500 Main Event, was full of excitement throughout the day. A total of 125 new entries got into the mix during the first two blind levels of Day 2 to bring the field up to 888 entries for a new OlyBet-record prize pool of €1,138,860.
The top 138 players were in the money after Sweden’s Cao Bang Doan hit the rail on the bubble for at least a €2,850 min-cash. The 2025 Kings of Tallinn champion Kaspars Butans hit the rail near the end of the day in 83rd place for €2,950 with Malta’s Matthew Micallef, Finland’s Luka Sorainen, two-time WSOP Circuit Tallinn ring winner Roope Tarmi, Finland’s Mathias Siljander, and Estonian poker beast Urmo Velvelt among those collecting a min-cash payout slip.
However, it was a wild ride for Lithuania’s Karolis Kutkauskas on the final blind level of Day 2. Juha Helppi was the first big victim after he flopped a set with sevens only to lose his stack on the turn when Kutkauskas completed his gut-shot straight draw with jack-eight suited and faded Helppi from improving to a full house or quads on the river.
Kutkauskas wound up with a gift of sorts when Ruslan Stserbjuk exploded his stack on 10♦5♦2♠ flop with K♠7♠ before Kutkauskas called with Q♦2♦ with bottom pair and a flush draw. Blanks came the rest of the way, leaving Kutkauskas with a substantial chip lead on the field.
The top ten on the leaderboard entering Day 2 is full of big names. The €5,000 NLH ring winner David Vinaya (865,000) and the runner-up in Latvia’s Ritvars Cekalins (955,000) are both in the top ten.
Finland’s Rasmus Lundström always appears to be in the mix in OlyBet Events, and this one is no different, with a stack of 1,055,000. Lundström relieved this author in the commentating booth after bagging his stack to announce the high-octane action in the €10/€25 NLH ring game stream broadcast across OlyBet social media and the PokerPro World YouTube channel.
Others in the top ten include the formidable Stephen Groom (1,745,000), Finland’s Elias Vääräniemi (1,295,000), Ireland’s Andrew King (1,125,000), Estonian legend Igor Pihela Sr. (1,015,000), and Finland’s Tero Laurila (865,000) and Two-time WSOP Circuit ring winner Kestutis Jungevicius (865,000).
The action resumes on Saturday at Noon with blinds at 10,000/15,000 with a 15,000 big blind ante and will play down to a final table of nine hopefuls for the title on the live stream on Sunday.
| Place | Player | Place | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Karolis Kutkauskas | Lithuania | 3,150,000 | 210 |
| 2 |  Stephen Groom | England | 1,745,000 | 116 |
| 3 |  Elias Vääräniemi | Finland | 1,295,000 | 86 |
| 4 |  Andrew King | Ireland | 1,125,000 | 75 |
| 5 | Rasmus Lundström | Finland | 1,055,000 | 70 |
| 6 |  Igor Pihela Sr. | Estonia | 1,015,000 | 68 |
| 7 |  Ritvars Cekalins | Latvia | 955,000 | 64 |
| 8 | Kestutis Jungevicius | Lithuania | 865,000 | 58 |
| 9 | Tero Laurila | Finland | 865,000 | 58 |
| 10 |  David Vinaya | Norway | 865,000 | 58 |
2025 WSOP Circuit Tallinn Day 9 Schedule (Saturday, August 2)
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
| 12:00 | Event #5: WSOPC €1,500 NLH Main Event Day 3 |
| 12:00 | Event #9: WSOPC €555 Sviten Special Final Day |
| 12:00 | Event #46: €200 NLH Deep Stack |
| 13:00 | Event #10: WSOPC €1,100 NLH Mystery Bounty Final Day |
| 13:00 | Event #11: WSOPC €3,000 NLH Day 1 |
| 14:00 | Event #47: €200 NLH Queens |
| 17:00 | Event #48: €350 PLO4/PLO5 Progressive Bounty |
| 19:00 | Event #49: €555 NLH, 8-handed |
| 20:00 | Event #12: WSOPC €350 Online Ring Event |
| 21:00 | Event #50: €200 NLH Turbo |
- Photos courtesy of Elena Kask / OlyBet Poker
