The Festival Series Tallinn is off to an amazing start with a packed house at Olympic Park Casino and the adjoining Hilton Tallinn Park with a plethora of cash games running and tournaments, including the €550 Main Event, on the second day.
Germany’s Stefan Bittger was the star of the first of four flights of The Festival Series Tallinn €550 Main Event after bagging the chip lead with 188,700 in chips. Bittger had a big stack near the end of the day before catapulting into the chip lead when he nailed a flush against Latvia’s Juris Hlibovs.
Spain’s Juan Carlos Vecino Duenas appeared to be primed to be the Day 1a chip leader as he accumulated 215,000 in chips at one point after eliminating Leif Karlsson and a few hands later sending Lithuania’s Aivaras Smaidziunas. However, he lost some chips during the final blind level and will need to settle for a healthy second-place stack of 179,500.
Vambo Laud (161,500), Eric Wasylenko (156,700), and Igor Pihela (118,300) were the only other players to parlay their 30,000 starting stacks into six figures by the end of the action of the day.
Meanwhile, Norway’s Espen Sandvik is just behind this crew with a sixth-place stack of 92,300. Sandvik was debating at the beginning of the day whether to enter today or not. However, he instead decided to play the €115 8-Game event, a format in which the Norwegian won a WSOP Europe gold bracelet a few years ago. He was unable to get much going in this 8-game event and late-registered Day 1a in the Main Event with just a little more than an hour remaining. He made the most of his time and will now have the next couple of days to enjoy side events with the knowledge of a healthy stack for Friday’s Day 2.
Final Day 1a Chip Counts
| Name | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|
| Stefan Bittger | 188,700 | 118 |
| Juan Carlos Vecino Duenas | 179,500 | 112 |
| Vambo Laud | 161,500 | 101 |
| Eric Wasylenko | 156,700 | 98 |
| Igor Pihela | 118,300 | 74 |
| Espen Sandvik | 92,300 | 58 |
| Arkadiusz Liszewski | 90,400 | 57 |
| Tihomir Yanev | 89,800 | 56 |
| Rando Liiber | 71,700 | 45 |
| Marlon Andrey Lopez Martinez | 65,500 | 41 |
| Meelis Ahman | 63,300 | 40 |
| Gints Ozols | 60,900 | 38 |
| Richard Koppel | 56,800 | 36 |
| Aleksandr Gazenfus | 55,700 | 35 |
| Ylva Thorsrud | 55,500 | 35 |
| Jarkko Kuusisto | 48,400 | 30 |
| Juris Hlibovs | 44,500 | 28 |
| Madis Ormisson | 39,600 | 25 |
| Andres Lõiv | 37,100 | 23 |
| Toomas Hunt | 35,800 | 22 |
| Marty Vazov | 23,300 | 15 |
| Dmitri Dudakov | 15,000 | 9 |
Day 1a attracted 58 entries with 22 players bagging stacks into Day 2.
Side Events and Much More
The day began for many players with the VIP Beer Tasting Tour, which included beer pong, a tasty meal, and plenty of beer. For others, the day began in the casino with cash games still running from the night before and plenty of side events to choose from.
In addition, both the €250 Blackjack and €250 Roulette Championships kicked off today with players noticeably enjoying the action.
Main Event Resumes Wednesday at Noon
Our live reporting will resume on Wednesday at noon for the start of Day 1b. Of course, we will continue to update the many side events both in and out of the casino including plenty of photos and videos to complement our reporting. Stay tuned to follow the action from beginning to end.
