Veli-Pekka Penttinen Wins Kings of Tallinn Main Event

Before arriving at OlyBet Poker’s Kings of Tallinn festival, Finland’s Veli-Pekka Penttinen had never come close to a six-figure live score. In fact, you would have to scroll back to 2014 to find his last five-figure cash on The Hendon Mob, and even that result was still below €13,000.

Poker, however, has a way of rewriting resumes.

Penttinen navigated a 1,033-entry field to capture the Kings of Tallinn Main Event title and €149,775 ($178,187) after a three-way deal at Olympic Park Casino. He initially locked up €113,820, while runner-up Tal Barasofsky secured €112,775 and third-place finisher Gary Fisher banked €97,000.

With €35,955 and the trophy still in play, the Finn closed it out to secure the biggest score of his career.

_{Photos courtesy of Elena Kask / OlyBet Poker}

Penttinen Becomes Royalty in Estonia

Penttinen began the final day inside the top third of the chip counts, sitting fifth among the 16 returning players. By the time the final table was set, however, the Finn had surged into the chip lead, with €80 satellite qualifier Christina Solli close behind.

Habib Brahim was the first casualty of the final table in ninth place, before Penttinen picked up the short stack of Athanasios Kostouros in eighth when his queen-nine got there against king-nine.

Solli rode the swings that inevitably come at a final table but could not mount one last climb. Her eight-seven suited ran into Penttinen’s pocket jacks, ending her run in seventh as the last woman standing.

Petteri Laiho and Alexis Lucarini followed in sixth and fifth respectively before Penttinen completed a hat-trick of final table knockouts. Shaul Weinstein moved in for his final nine big blinds with pocket sixes and was close to doubling until Penttinen spiked an ace on the river.

Just two big blinds separated Penttinen and Tal Barasofsky three-handed, with Gary Fisher completing the trio.

The final three agreed to a deal that saw Penttinen lock up the largest share (€113,820), narrowly ahead of Barasofsky (€112,775) and Fisher (€97,000), with €35,955 and the trophy still to play for.

Fisher was next to fall after his full house was second best to Penttinen’s superior boat, setting up heads-up play.

The final hand saw Barasofsky four-bet jam A♠5♠ for 48 big blinds, and Pettinen calling with 8♥8♣. The 8♠3♣2♠ flop hit both players hard with Pettinen’s set looking to hold against Barasofsky’s combo draw. Bricks arrived on the turn and river and Pettien was crowned the 2026 King of Tallinn.

Kings of Tallinn Main Event Final Table Results

_{Reporting credit: poker.pro}

2026 Kings of Tallinn Winners

The 2026 Kings of Tallinn festival once again produced big numbers across the board, drawing a little over 8,400 entries across the schedule and generating roughly €3.49 million in prize pools. First-place payouts combined to distribute just shy of €750,000.

Beyond Penttinen’s Main Event triumph, there were several other notable results. Martin Zobel captured the €555 Kings of Tallinn Championship for €53,520, while Erik Friberg topped the €5,000 High Roller for €71,700.

Iaroslav Boiko (€38,700) and Luka Sorainen (€38,500) also scored notable victories in four-figure buy-in events, with Einars Muhajevs adding a €34,070 win in the €3,000 PLO High Roller.

There were two double champions at this year’s Kings of Tallinn.

Konstantin Mikhailyuk won €200 PL 2-7 Triple Draw) and €200 PL Razz Progressive Bounty events. Aitor Rabal also bagged two titles, taking down a €200 NLH DeepStack Progressive Bounty and a €350 NLH DeepStack Turbo.

Calum has been a part of the PokerNews team since September 2021 after working in the UK energy sector. He played his first hand of poker in 2017 and immediately fell in love with the game.

Calum has written for various poker outlets but found his home at PokerNews, where he has contributed to various articles and live updates, providing insights and reporting on major poker events, including the World Series of Poker (WSOP).