Tapio Vihakas Leads Final Table of Tallinn Summer Showdown
The penultimate day of the Tallinn Summer Showdown �1,100 Main Event was fast and furious with the 23 returning players battling down to a final table of just eight players in a little more than three hours.
There is a massive gap between the top of the field and the rest. Finland's Tapio Vihakas will enter tomorrow with a chip leading stack of 1,659,000. He will be closely followed by countrymates Mathias Siljander with 1,590,000 and Jussi Mattila with 1,581,000.
The rest of the final eight don't even have one-quarter of the chips of any player in this Finnish trio with Estonia's Toomas Polli (342,000), Morocco's Ahmed Ibrahimi (285,000), Finland's Kim Lindstrom (178,000), Finland's Aki Pyysing (148,000), and Lithuania's Algimantas Jablonskis (83,000) all entering the day with shorter stacks.
Day 3 action
With the money bubble breaking on the last hand of Day 2, all 23 returning players on Day 3 were guaranteed at least a �2,180 payout. Rain Heeringas was eliminated on the first hand of the day with Marius Morel following him to the cashier shortly after before blinds went up.
The first full blind level of the day witnessed many players hit the rail including Timo Ruuska, Jaakko Rajaniemi, Markku Koplimaa, and Ranno Sootla.
Blinds increased again and the eliminations didn't slow down the next hour with Kelly Limonova, Dmitrijs Kornevs, Peter Warfvinge, Andres Loiv, Jari Lahtinen, and Tarmo Tammel all leaving their seats. Loiv was the last remaining player in the field that qualified at Olybet Poker and won a seat to the Battle of Malta �555 Main Event in October for winning a contest hosted by the online poker room.
The blinds increased again and for the only time today there was no player eliminated for the first 30 minutes of the level. Pandemonium then broke loose with three players going out in succession to end the day including Markus Asikainen (11th - �3,800), Igor Pihela Sr. (10th - �3,810), and Santeri Piiroinen (ninth - �4,440).
Final Table Seat Draw
| Seat | Player | Country | Chips | Big Blinds (Level 19) | Big Blinds (Level 20) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Algimantas Jablonskis | Lithuania | 83,000 | 8 | 7 |
| 2 | Toomas Polli | Estonia | 342,000 | 34 | 29 |
| 3 | Ahmed Ibrahimi | Morocco | 285,000 | 29 | 24 |
| 4 | Jussi Mattila | Finland | 1,581,000 | 158 | 132 |
| 5 | Tapio Vihakas | Finland | 1,659,000 | 166 | 138 |
| 6 | Mathias Siljander | Finland | 1,590,000 | 159 | 133 |
| 7 | Aki Pyysing | Finland | 178,000 | 18 | 15 |
| 8 | Kim Lindstrom | Finland | 248,000 | 25 | 21 |
*3:53 remaining with blinds at 5,000/10,000 and a big blind ante of 10,000
The action kicks off tomorrow at 1 p.m. local time with 3:53 minutes remaining in Level 19 with blinds at 5,000/10,000 and a big blind ante of 10,000. All of the returning players are guaranteed a payout of at least �5,130 and with their eyes on the top prize of �46,700.
We will be covering all the action of the final table on a 30-minute delay and you will also be able to watch with hole cards at PokerNews by clicking on the Live Stream tab that will appear in our coverage when it is live.
*Images courtesy of Elena Kask / Tallinn Summer Showdown.