Tapio Vihakas Leads Final 23 After Day 2 of the Tallinn Summer Showdown Main Event
Finland's Tapio Vihakas bagged a chip leading stack of 560,000 in chips on Day 2 of the Tallinn Summer Showdown �1,100 Main Event at Hilton Tallinn Park and Olympic Park Casino.
Among the nearly $300,000 in cashes accumulated by the Finn is a final table appearance at the very first Summer Showdown Main Event in 2017 where he took eighth place for �3,670.
Two other Finns are on top of the chip counts with 23 players remaining in Jussi Mattila with 528,000 in chips and Day 1 chip leader Mathias Siljander with a cool 500,000 in chips. Yesterday, Mattila predicted he would end Day 1 with 137,000 in chips midway through the day and bagged exactly that. He was a little off today with his prediction of 488,000 in chips but once again close.
Day 2 Recap
The second day began with late registration open for one blind level. The field grew from 168 entrants to 195 entrants to create a �185,250 prize pool and a �46,700 top prize. This crushed the record last year when the Summer Showdown Main Event attracted 165 entrants.
Eliminations took place at a fast and furious pace throughout the day. Siljander and Vihakis had the chip lead most of the day but Estonia's Kelly Limonova also had the chip lead for a time before she eventually bagged 450,000 in chips. Regardless of how things turn out for Limonova, she will have the honor of being the last woman remaining in the Main Event.
In addition, Limonova and Andres Loiv are the last two players remaining in the Last Longer Competition hosted by Olybet Poker for its qualifiers. The last player standing will be awarded a Battle of Malta Main Event ticket valued at �555.
The day was scheduled to end after eight blind levels of an hour each. However, when the eighth blind level of the day began with 28 players remaining and 23 guaranteed a min-cash of at least �2,180, the tournament director decided that for better or for worse that players would be in the money by the end of the day.
After the tournament was down to just 24 players, players were given a short break for a redraw and were instructed they would be hand for hand the remainder of the day. However, a cooler took place to end the bubble in just one hand.
Kim Lindstrom opened and was called by Siljander before Pasi Laihinen made a sizeable three-bet. Lindstrom folded before Siljander jammed. At the time, Siljander wasn't huge on chips and if his opponent called and he lost the hand, he would have had the one of the shortest stacks in play. Laihinen did indeed called and was well ahead with pocket aces to Siljander's king-queen suited. The flop was a safe one for Laihinen but he was stunned after the board gave his opponent a runner-runner flush to send him out on the rail in 24th place.
After players bagged chips, they were invited to the casino floor for the Players Party for free drinks and to be entertained by the Finnish band Higher Ground.
Day 3 of the Main Event will kick off at 12 p.m. local time tomorrow with 14:38 remaining in Level 16 with blinds at 2,500/5,000 and a big blind ante of 5,000. After this level, blinds will increase every hour as they have been throughout the event. The plan entering the day is to play down to a final table of eight players.
As was the case the past two days, the PokerNews live reporting team will be back on the floor to provide complete coverage tomorrow and beyond until a winner is declared.
Day 3 Seat Draw
| Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Markus Asikainen | Finland | 279,500 | 56 |
| 1 | 2 | Jussi Mattila | Finland | 528,500 | 106 |
| 1 | 3 | Igor Pihela Sr. | Estonia | 147,000 | 29 |
| 1 | 4 | Ranno Sootla | Estonia | 76,000 | 15 |
| 1 | 5 | Kelly Limonova | Estonia | 450,000 | 90 |
| 1 | 6 | Timo Ruuska | Finland | 135,000 | 27 |
| 1 | 7 | Algimantas Jablonskis | Lithuania | 82,500 | 17 |
| 1 | 8 | Andres Loiv | Estonia | 337,000 | 67 |
| 2 | 1 | Rain Heeringas | Estonia | 112,000 | 22 |
| 2 | 2 | Santeri Piiroinen | Finland | 181,500 | 36 |
| 2 | 3 | Jari Lahtinen | Finland | 313,500 | 63 |
| 2 | 4 | Jaakko Rajaniemi | Finland | 161,500 | 32 |
| 2 | 5 | Ahmed Ibrahimi | Morocco | 430,000 | 86 |
| 2 | 6 | Mathias Siljander | Finland | 500,000 | 100 |
| 2 | 7 | Dmitrijs Kornevs | Latvia | 184,000 | 37 |
| 3 | 1 | Aki Pyysing | Finland | 401,000 | 80 |
| 3 | 2 | Marius Morel | Estonia | 57,500 | 12 |
| 3 | 3 | Tarmo Tammel | Estonia | 171,500 | 34 |
| 3 | 4 | Markku Koplimaa | Estonia | 150,000 | 30 |
| 3 | 5 | Tapio Vihakas | Finland | 560,000 | 112 |
| 3 | 6 | Kim Lindstrom | Finland | 337,500 | 68 |
| 3 | 7 | Toomas Polli | Estonia | 175,000 | 35 |
| 3 | 8 | Peter Warfvinge | Sweden | 77,300 | 15 |
*Photos courtesy of Elena Kask / Tallinn Summer Showdown