Priit Parmasto Takes Down Record-Breaking Kings of Tallinn Main Event



Estonia’s Priit Parmasto is the King of Tallinn after he outlasted a record-breaking field of 716 entrants in the 2023 Kings of Tallinn Main Event. Prior to this event, Parmasto’s live tournament earnings weighed in at a shade under $5,500, with a €2,100 ($2,481) score being the Estonian’s largest. That result came in the 2021 Kings of Tallinn Main Event, when he finished in 27th place. Fastforward to 2023, and Parmasto has helped himself to the title of champion, in addition to €97,400 in prize money.

The 716-strong field created a €673,040, the largest in the history of the Kings of Tallinn. Parmasto’s victory marks the first time since Ranno Sootla captured the title in 2015 that the winner’s trophy remains in Estonia.

It was not only the €1,100 Main Event that was a roaring success but the festival as a whole. Some 1,361 unique players from 35 countries bought in 7,838 times across the 53 numbered events, which had buy-ins from €60 up to €5,300. Here is how Parmasto got his hands on the 2023 Kings of Tallinn Main Event title.

2023 Kings of Tallinn Main Event Final Table Results

Place Player Country Prize
1 Priit Parmasto Estonia €97,400*
2 Petteri Laiho Finland €102,500*
3 Antti Vtelainen Finland €90,000*
4 Davide Muccini Italy €40,040
5 Ignas Vaitulionis Lithuania €29,800
6 Aleksi Naski Finland €22,500
7 Sergejs Korobovs Latvia €17,600
8 Danius Antanaitis Lithuania €14,200
9 Albert Ostrovskij Lithuania €11,900

*reflects a three-handed deal leaving €15,000 for the champion

Albert Ostrovskij
Albert Ostrovskij

The final table kicked off with Lithuania’s Ignas Vaitulionis holding a sizeable chip lead, his 5,655,000 stack (94 big blinds) dwarfing that of the short-stacked Albert Ostrovkij (730,000). Obstrovskij was the first finalist heading to the cashier’s desk. Down to only 70,000 chips at the 50,000/100,000/100,000a level after losing with king-jack versus ace-jack, Obstrovskij was all-in with six-five from the big blind. Parmasto min-raised to 200,000 with pocket kings in the hijack, Sergejs Korobovs three-bet to 600,000 from the cutoff with pocket tens, and then called when Parmasto four-bet shoved for 1,500,000. An ace-high board kept Parmasto’s kings true, doubling his stack, and eliminating Ostrovskij from the tournament.

Dainius Antanaitis
Dainius Antanaitis

Less than 30 minutes later, Danius Antanaitis joined his fellow Lithuanian on the rail. Antanaitis opened to 690,000, leaving himself 500,000 chips behind. Antti Vetelainen moved all-in from the big blind, and Antanaitis called off the rest of his chips. It was ace-jack for the all-in player but a pair of red kings in the hole for Vetelainen. The kings held, and Antanaitis was gone.

Sergejs Korobovs
Sergejs Korobovs

Koborovs never recovered from the tens versus kings hand at the start of the final table, and he ultimately fell in seventh place. Korborov was down to around eight big blinds when he moved all-in for 1,300,000 with ace-queen from under the gun. Parmasto looked him up from the big blind with pocket eights, and those snowmen refused to melt, reducing the player count to six.

Aleksi Naski
Aleksi Naski

Those six became five with the untimely demise of Aleksi Naski of Finland. With blinds now 100,000/200,000/200,000a, Vaitulionis shoved from the small blind with ace-king, and Naski, who only had 215,000 left after posting the big blind, called with the dominated king-queen. Both players paired their king on the turn, but the river bricked, and Naski’s run ended.

Ignas Vaitulionis
Ignas Vaitulionis

Vaitulionis was the next player finding themselves with fresh air where their stack once stood despite winning Naski’s micro-stack. Vaitulionis found himself in something of a cooler spot against Parmasto. Vaitulionis three-bet all-in for 12 big blinds from the big blind after Parmasto had min-raised to 400,000 in the cutoff. Parmasto called, and revealed pocket kings, which were up against ace-king. The jack-high board failed to come to Vaitulionis’ rescue, and he had to make do with a still welcomed €29,800 fifth-place prize.

Davidi Muccini
Davidi Muccini

The remaining four players went on a scheduled break, but Davidi Muccini would not make it to another. Vetelainen open-shoved from the small blind, and Muccini considered his options before calling off the 1,900,000 chips, 7.5 big blinds, he was armed with. Muccini turned over king-four, but was in a world of pain against king-ten. Vetelainen’s ten-kicker played, and Muccini headed to the cashier’s desk.

The three surviving players paused the tournament clock, and discussed a deal. Those discussions proved fruitful, with the last standing trio securing between €82,400 and €102,500, while leaving an additional €15,000 for the champion.

Antti Vetelainen
Antti Vetelainen

Heads-up was set after a battle of the blinds between Vetelainen and Parmasto. Parmasto limped in from the small blind with ace-queen, and called a 10 big blind shove from Vetelainen, which he made with the dominated queen-jack. Both players missed the flop and turn, leaving Vetelainen drawing to one of three jacks on the river. The river was paint, but it was one pip too high, the queen of hearts resigning Finn to a third-place finish. Vetelainien’s €1,100 investment swelled into a €90,000 payday courtesy of the deal struck.

Petteri Laiho
Petteri Laiho

Parmasto started the one-on-one battle with Petteri Laiho holding a two-to-one chip lead, and it took only two hands to press home that advantage. On the 147th hand of the final table, and with blinds of 175,000/350,000/350,000a, Laiho min-raised to 700,000, Parmasto three-bet to 2,000,000, only for Laiho to jam for 8,700,000. Parmasto called, and turned over pocket sevens, which had Laiho’s pair of fives crushed. The board ran out sans fives or unlikely straights, busting Laiho in second-place for €102,500, and leaving a delighted Parmasto to receive a €97,400 payout, the winner’s trophy, and a place in the Kings of Tallinn history books.

Full 2023 Kings of Tallinn Results

Expand the table below to check out the full list of results from the 2023 Kings of Tallinn festival. They include victories for Kimmo Fagerholm, who defeated Anatoly Filatov heads-up in the €3,000 High Roller event, a result worth €63,156.

Irish legend Fintan Gavin also found himself in the winner’s enclosure, taking down the €660 No-Limit Hold’em Mystery Bounty tournament.

Event Entrants Prize Pool Champion Country Prize
€60 NLH Kings of Tallinn Special 264 €13,200 Grigori Belimov Estonia €3,012
€120 NLH Independence Day Special 350 €32,900 Ralf Rogov Estonia €4,910
€555 NLH Championship 559 €262,730 Benjamin Gros France €55,500
€250 4-Card PLO 8-Max 100 €20,680 Marius Morel Estonia €5,860
€250 NLH PKO 140 €29,792 Espen Sandvik Norway €3,450 plus bounties
€250 PLO/PLO5 PKO 148 €31,494 Ronny Albrigsten Norway €3,650 plus bounties
€250 NLH 8-Max 132 €27,298 Onni Huttunen Finland €6,820
€150 NLH 8-Max 106 €12,953 Lauri Niemi Finland €3,480
€150 GGPoker Flip&Go Mystery Bounty 306 €37,293 Keimo Suominen Finland €4,130 plus bounties
€350 NLH Opening Event 208 €61,589 Jaako Tirkkonen Finland €14,600
€250 NLHE Short Handed 6-max 158 €32,674 Jarmo Salonen Finland €7,450
€350 8-Game 68 €20,135 Tuomas Roppanen Finland €6,340
€150 NLH Celebrity Special 331 €40,448 Mark Metsla Estonia €7,585
€440 4&5 Card PLO Mystery Bounty 117 €43,992 Sondre Lunde Norway €5,800 plus bounties
€1,100 Kings of Tallinn Main Event 716 €673,040 Priit Parmasto Estonia €97,400
€250 Sviten Special 55 €11,374 Tony Westby Norway €4,100
€350 NLH/PLO 8-Max 131 €38,789 Kasper Mellanen Norway €10,400
€550 NLH 8-Max 99 €46,530 Maciej Komorowski Poland €12,000
€250 4&5 Card PLO PKO 174 €35,983 Toni Mykkanen Finland €3,700 plus bounties
€350 5 Card PLO Hi/Lo 6-Max 77 €22,800 Hannu Penttinen Finland €5,700
€150 NLH Turbo 205 €25,051 Fuad Gotovusa Sweden €6,500
€250 NLH Deep Stack 246 €50,873 Sander Leigri Estonia €11,000
€1,100 4&5 Card PLO Championship 74 €69,560 Kaspars Butans Latvia €18,580
€440 NLH PKO 154 €57,904 Jaagop Luhakooder Estnia €5,680 plus bounties
€150 PLO 4/5/6 Card 173 €21,141 Eero Ahola Finland €4,700
€250 Triple Draw 6-Max 50 €10,340 Ville-Oskari Turja Finland €3,520
€350 Open Face Chinese Pineapple 41 €12,140 Henri Antikainen Finland €4,635
€3,000 NLH High Roller 6-Max 83 €218,456 Kimo Fagerholm Finland €63,156
€120 Queens of Tallinn 95 €91,20 Ingrid Pall Estonia €1,780
€440 4&5 Card PLO PKO 162 €60,912 hai Hoang Finland €5,200 plus bounties
€120 Finnish Five Card Stud 35 €8,140 Timothy Dallas United States €2,800
€660 NLH Mystery Bounty 151 €85,164 Fintan Gavin €8,650 plus bounties  
€150 NLH Turbo 154 €18,819 Anton Askolin Finland €3,417
€250 NLH PKO 105 €19,740 Arvo-Mart Elvisto Estonia €1,850 plus bounties
€150 Turbo Version of Main Event 101 €12,342 Erno Suominen Finland €3,390

The 2023 Kings of Tallinn has only just ended but players are already planning their assault on the 2024 edition! Stay tuned to PokerNews to discover exactly when that festival will be.

All imagery courtesy of the excellent Elena Kask and Tambet Kask





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