Niinivaara, Siljander, and Vinaya Wins WSOP Circuit Tallinn Rings on Wednesday

Mathias Siljander

Wednesday was full of action and amazing emotions with three ring winners crowned at the 2025 WSOP Circuit Tallinn at OlyBet’s flagship home, Olympic Park Casino, and the Hilton Tallinn Park.

The day began with four ring events kicking off simultaneously at noon. The second and third opening flight of the €1 million guaranteed 2025 WSOP Circuit Tallinn €1,500 NLH Main Event with already 452 entries in the mix with two more opening flights to go on Thursday along with late registration remaining open for the first two blind levels of Friday’s Day 2, when the Main Event coverage kicks into full force at poker.pro.

Sweden’s Harem Rafat leads the way over the 144 survivors in the Main Event thus far with 359,500 in chips from his opening stack of 50,000, followed by the formidable Finn Luka Sorainen with 313,000 and the 2020 Kings of Tallinn Main Event champion Johan Karlsson with 310,500.

Finland’s Toni Niinivaara was the first player of the day to earn a ring in the three-day €555 NLH for €62,100. The 2019 Tallinn Summer Showdown Main Event champion and the 2024 Kings of Tallinn champion from Finland, Mathias Siljander, earned a ring on the OlyBet Poker live stream in the two-day €1,100 PLO4/PLO5 for €41,000.

The live stream then moved over to cover the €5,000 NLH. The one-day affair lasted around 17 hours before Norway’s David Vinaya won the largest prize thus far this festival, €94,280. All three ring winners also earned a trip to the WSOP Paradise, valued at $5,000.

In addition to the three rings awarded, two players earned trophies in side events. Finland’s Thomas Sjoholm-Christensen won the €350 NLH for €12,340, Tomi Arponen shipped the €200 NLH/PLO4/PLO5 Mix Turbo for €5,160, and the €1,100 8-Game ring event finished its opening day.

Read on to learn more about Wednesday’s action at the 2025 WSOP Circuit Tallinn at Olympic Park Casino and the Hilton Tallinn Park.

Toni Niinivaara Wins €555 NLH (€62,100)

Toni Niinivaara

The three-day €555 NLH attracted 744 entries to create a €353,400 prize pool. The third and final day witnessed 20 runners return, hoping to become the latest WSOP Circuit Tallinn ring winner.

Norway’s Ronny Albrigtsen may not have earned a win, but he laddered up significantly after a tremendous run as the short stack to start the day with a sixth-place performance worth €10,800.

Instead, Finland’s Toni Niinivaara joined the exclusive ring-winner club after defeating the Netherlands’ Roy Van Der Reijnst (second – €42,250) to earn the €62,100 top prize.

PlacePlayerCountryPrize
1 Toni NiinivaaraFinland€62,100
2 Roy Van Der ReijnstNetherlands€42,250
3 Raivis PucursLatvia€29,250
4 Risto PärnatEstonia€20,650
5 Kristers MuhinsLatvia€14,750
6 Ronny AlbrigtsenNorway€10,800
7 Svajunas PrismantasLithuania€8,000
8 Roberts KrigersLatvia€6,100
9 Kenneth SvendsenNorway€4,700
10 Hryhorii MeleshenkoUkraine€3,700
11 David MarfilSpain€3,700
12 Gonzalo PerezSpain€2,950
13 Baptiste CaimFrance€2,950
14 Maksim PetrovEstonia€2,950
15 Martin PiikEstonia€2,950
16 Zigmas PekarskasLithuania€2,450
17 Maikel HominEstonia€2,450
18 Anton MarkachevRussia€2,450
19 Jamie BrentIreland€2,450
20 Casimir SeireFinland€2,450
21 Christoffer Munk JensenDenmark€2,450
22 Jawad HabibSweden€2,450
23 Aleksandre ApryanGeorgia€2,450
24 Harem RafatSweden€2,450
25 Nico FrennSwitzerland€2,000
26 Jack MarkusSweden€2,000
27 Lukas PoskusLithuania€2,000
28 Jimmy DewerdtFrance€2,000
29 Saulius TumosaLithuania€2,000
30 Peter KvisthammarSweden€2,000
31 Christian SteinboNorway€2,000
32 Krists KaupeLatvia€2,000
33 Thomas LeyrerGermany€1,750
34 Miko MiettinenFinland€1,750
35 Meelis UusenFinland€1,750
36 Gintaras NagliusLithuania€1,750
37 Vetle HolumNorway€1,750
38 Ardo PinnaEstonia€1,750
39 Osku KarttunenFinland€1,750
40 Jussi JulkunenFinland€1,750
41 Tõnis ViikEstonia€1,500
42 Saara BenlamineFinland€1,500
43 Andris RasinsLatvia€1,500
44 Hendrik UiboEstonia€1,500
45 David KozmaHungary€1,500
46 Taago TammEstonia€1,500
47 Aleksander TimoninEstonia€1,500
48 Petri HärkönenFinland€1,500
49 Andrei MjagkovEstonia€1,350
50 Ritvars CekalinsLatvia€1,350
51 Aleksandr DaniltsenkoEstonia€1,350
52 Akseli PaalanenFinland€1,350
53 Mario FenaroliSwitzerland€1,350
54 Serhii ChalapUkraine€1,350
55 Linus EnglundSweden€1,350
56 Miika TöyräsFinland€1,350
57 Min Guk KimSouth Korea€1,250
58 Mairo ToriEstonia€1,250
59 Janis VasiljevsLatvia€1,250
60 Marijus DirgelaLithuania€1,250
61 Petter RichardsenNorway€1,250
62 Artur KülanurkEstonia€1,250
63 Rasmus LundströmFinland€1,250
64 Borja MartinezSpain€1,250
65 Tomi ArponenFinland€1,150
66 Grigory ZimaRussia€1,150
67 Simon Hesserud PerssonSweden€1,150
68 Janno PikkatEstonia€1,150
69 Aurimas StaneviciusLithuania€1,150
70 Yann Le FriouxFrance€1,150
71 Jyrki LampinenFinland€1,150
72 Vygerdas JonikasLithuania€1,150
73 Lars EketrappSweden€1,100
74 Oliver GambleDenmark€1,100
75 Mikael HaapaniemiFinland€1,100
76 Arkadiusz LiszewskiPoland€1,100
77 Victor VozianRomania€1,100
78 Audrius NavickasLithuania€1,100
79 Mika SurakkaFinland€1,100
80 Gatis PopovsLatvia€1,100
81 Jan VernerCzech Republic€1,100
82 Rohan OberoiSweden€1,100
83 Lasse AarninsaloFinland€1,100
84 Ralf MikkEstonia€1,100
85 Dmitri MarsalokEstonia€1,100
86 Matthew MicallefMalta€1,100
87 Stanislovas VinicenkaLithuania€1,100
88 Andres LõivEstonia€1,100
89 Herli OlopEstonia€1,100
90 Egidijus MatonisLithuania€1,100
91 Alvils BijonsLatvia€1,100
92 Kaius KiidliEstonia€1,100
93 Ismael DominguezSpain€1,100
94 Alexander NordenSweden€1,100
95 Joel LehtinenFinland€1,100
96 Luka SorainenFinland€1,100
97 Vladimiras MeckovskisLithuania€1,100
98 Ranel KäsiEstonia€1,100
99 Kimmo KurkoFinland€1,100
100 Markku KoplimaaEstonia€1,100
101 Marko VestEstonia€1,100
102 Joel HaapioFinland€1,100
103 Tommi YlönenFinland€1,100
104 Timmy AnkerDenmark€1,100
105 Mounir TajiouSweden€1,100
106 Riku OksanenFinland€1,100
107 Kaspars ZilgalvisLatvia€1,100
108 Siim KabelEstonia€1,100
109 Arasch MirzaiSweden€1,100
110 Janne OjalaFinland€1,100
111 Fred MartensEstonia€1,100
112 Ishak NoyanSweden€1,100

Mathias Siljander Wins Ring and Passes $1 Million at The Hendon Mob

Mathias Siljander

Finland’s Mathias Siljander is a bit of a legend at Olympic Park Casino. The Finn has come to most of the major poker festivals in the Estonian capital and consistently runs deep, whether playing with two cards or, in this case, four and five cards.

Siljander cemented his status as a local poker hero with a memorable victory on the live stream in the €1,100 PLO4/PLO5 ring event for €41,000. This was enough to catapult Siljander past the elusive $1 million mark in total tracked cashes at The Hendon Mob after defeating countrymate Aleksi Lindholm (second – $27,150) heads-up.

Several other storylines emerged at the final table. Georgia’s Andria Gogelidze won the first PLO ring in the two-day Event #2: €555 PLO4/PLO5 for €27,100 and nearly did the unthinkable by winning a ring in the €1,100 PLO4/PLO5. He fell out in third place for €18,300 just after Frank Visser, who in the Winter was at the Kings of Tallinn reporting for poker.pro, busted in fourth place for $13,150.

Meanwhile, last year, Riku Koivurinne won a trophy in this event, followed by a ring in a side event. This time, he won a trophy on the first day in the €350 Open Face Chinese Pineapple and was aiming for back-to-back victories in the €1,100 PLO4/PLO5. His deep run ended in sixth place for €6,900.

Finland’s Roope Tarmi also aimed for a historic achievement. Tarmi won a ring both at the WSOP Circuit Tallinn in 2023 and repeated it in 2024. The Finn was aiming for three years in a row, but will need to try to get a ring in a different event after exiting in ninth place for €3,850.

The €1,100 PLO4/PLO5 attracted 185 entries, creating a €175,750 prize pool. Check out the full payouts below:

PlacePlayerCountryPrize
1 Mathias SiljanderFinland€41,000
2 Aleksi LindholmFinland€27,150
3 Andria GogelidzeGeorgia€18,300
4 Frank VisserNetherlands€13,150
5 Renars SkanisLatvia€9,250
6 Riku KoivurinneFinland€6,900
7 Antti VeteläinenFinland€5,350
8 Samir LemminiFinland€3,850
9 Roope TarmiFinland€3,850
10 Michel KarimSweden€2,900
11 Aklilu LaitinenFinland€2,900
12 Antti SuominenFinland€2,550
13 Viljami SalakariFinland€2,550
14 Fredrik LindströmFinland€2,550
15 Eetu SepponenFinland€2,300
16 Henrik OstbyNorway€2,300
17 Nicklas DehliDenmark€2,300
18 Mikael KoistinenFinland€2,300
19 Markus RistolaFinland€2,300
20 Joona KoivistoFinland€2,200
21 Francisco RacioneroSpain€2,200
22 Veikka Keto-TokoiFinland€2,200
23 Toni RavnakSerbia€2,200
24 Christoffer Munk JensenDenmark€2,200
25 Kai LehtoFinland€2,200
26 Lauri LiuttulaFinland€2,200
27 Akseli HosiaEstonia€2,200
28 Mariusz MedlewskiPoland€2,200
29 Henri OjalaFinland€2,200

David Vinaya Wins €5,000 NLH (€94,280)

David Vinaya

The €5,000 NLH attracted some of the top players in the world including the likes of Juha Helppi, cash game beast Markkos Ladev, chess grandmaster Ottomar Ladva, and one of Lithuania’s brightest poker minds, Gytis Lazauninkas.

While none of those four made the winner’s circle, the nine players from eight different countries who cashed all joined the TV table, where the action continued until the wee hours of the morning.

David Vinaya was the star of the show after defeating Latvia’s Ritvars Cekalins (second – €59,750) heads-up to earn the €94,280 top prize, the largest single prize thus far this festival.

The event attracted a banner field of 64 players for a €297,984 prize pool with the full payouts listed below.

PlacePlayerCountryPrize
1 David VinayaNorway€94,280
2 Ritvars CekalinsLatvia€59,750
3 Juan Carlos Vecino DuenasSpain€39,850
4 Chaofei WangChina€28,100
5 Casimir SeireFinland€20,950
6 Roman PetelytskyiUkraine€16,650
7 Richard KoppelEstonia€14,200
8 Juho SuutariFinland€12,700
9 Kestutis JungeviciusLithuania€11,504

2025 WSOP Circuit Tallinn Day 7 Schedule (Thursday, July 31)

TimeEvent
12:00Event #5: WSOPC €1,500 NLH Main Event Day 1d
12:00Event #36: €80 NLH Satellite to €750 NLH Progressive Bounty & Mystery Bounty (5 Seats GTD)
13:00Event #8: WSOPC €1,100 8-Game Final Day
15:00Event #37: €750 NLH Progressive Bounty & Mystery Bounty
19:00Event #5: WSOPC €1,500 NLH Main Event Day 1e
19:00Event #38: €200 PL Deuce to Seven Triple Draw
20:00Event #39: €350 NLH Progressive Bounty
22:00Event #40: €80 Satellite to €1,100 NLH Mystery Bounty (7 Seats GTD)
  • Photos compliments of Elena Kask / OlyBet Poker.
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