Anders Bjorkheim Wins the 2024 Coolbet Open Tallinn Main Event (€50,000)
Anders Bjorkheim from Norway is the winner of the 2024 Coolbet Open Tallinn €550 Main Event at the Chesterfield Poker Club in the capital of Estonia. It was the seventh edition of the live poker event by the local gaming company and the marquee tournament on the schedule drew a field of 504 entries across two starting days. The €244,440 prize pool was split among the top 62 finishers, most of which were hailing from several Scandinavian countries.
The Norwegian entered the final day eighth in chips out of 27 hopefuls with 30 big blinds and was responsible for the first three eliminations before capping off a strong performance by dispatching every single opponent on the final table to collect the €50,000 top prize. Despite his overwhelming lead during the late stages, the three-handed battle with eventual runner-up Keimo Suominen and third-placed Seyed Tabaei lasted for nearly four hours.
More than 150 players had qualified for the live poker stop on Coolbet and the vast majority of the field was hailing from Scandinavian countries, though some of the contestants came from as far as Japan, Chile, and South Africa. Einar Thorolfsson from Iceland fared the best among the qualifiers and made it all the way to sixth place, while the 2022 champion of this very event - Kaido Mikk - was eliminated in 8th place.
Final Table Result 2024 Coolbet Open Tallinn Main Event
| Rank | Player | Country | Prize (EUR) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anders Bjorkheim | Norway | €50,000 |
| 2 | Keimo Suominen | Finland | €30,550 |
| 3 | Seyed Tabaei | Sweden | €22,000 |
| 4 | Andre Mägi | Estonia | €17,500 |
| 5 | Vadim Guk | Estonia | €13,550 |
| 6 | Einar Thorolfsson | Iceland | €10,300 |
| 7 | Esko Brandt | Estonia | €7,775 |
| 8 | Kaido Mikk | Estonia | €5,800 |
| 9 | Taavi Pusa | Estonia | €4,665 |
Bjorkheim was responsible for the first three eliminations of the final day, albeit one without showdown as Eyjolfur Halldorsson only showed up one minute after he was blinded out. The Norwegian remained in the middle of the pack until the final table was reached only to then go on an incredible heater.
Once the nine-handed final table was set, all but one of the online qualifiers still in contention had all been sent to the payout desk. Leading the way was Keimo Suominen, who had cracked aces early in the day and then benefitted from an enormous three-way setup hand. Only Einar Thorolfsson was among the hopefuls and had the chance to become the first player from Iceland to win a Coolbet Open Main Event in the seventh edition.
Five players from Estonia were aiming to keep the trophy on home soil, including the 2022 champion Kaido Mikk. Unfortunately, Mikk followed Taavi Pusa to the payout desk and became the second casualty, ending his pursuit of a second title. He first lost almost his entire stack in a flip against Thorolfsson and busted right after.
More misery for Estonia followed when Esko Brandt ran pocket deuces into pocket sevens and had to settle for seventh place. Moments later, Thorolfsson was all-in with pocket jacks against ace-five suited and the red-hot running Bjorkheim struck got again with fives full of eights.
When the final five players returned from their next break, Bjorkheim was the run-away chip leader and continued his path of destruction by sending Vadim Guk to the rail with king-ten versus ace-nine.
It would come as no surprise that Bjorkheim was also responsible for the elimination of Andre Mägi, the final hope of the host nation to keep the trophy in Estonia. A cat with many lives, Mägi entered the final table with the far shortest stack and laddered up several spots. However, Bjorkheim came from behind with ace-seven versus ace-queen and Mägi's run ended in fourth place.
The first setback for the Norwegian came when he lost a flip with pocket nines against the ace-ten of Seyed Tabaei, who found two pair on the flop and a full house on the river to double into second place. From there on, the smooth sailing for Bjorkheim stopped and a three-handed grudge match unfolded that saw the stack sizes nearly evened out at some point.
Eventually, Bjorkheim switched gears again and pulled into a commanding lead while his two contenders for the title were suddenly frighting with short stacks. Tabaei ultimately had to settle for third place when his pocket nines were cracked and Bjorkheim entered heads-up as the odds-on favorite. It would only take a few minutes thereafter to determine a winner as an ace was enough for Bjorkheim to seal the victory.
He is the second Norwegian to win the Coolbet Open Main Event title in seven editions, six of which took place here in Tallinn. Bjorkheim follows into the footsteps of Mats Albertsen, who came out on top of an 589-entry strong field back in 2018.
History of the Coolbet Open Main Events
| Year | Location | Entries | Prize Pool | Winner | Country | Top Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Tallinn | 425 | € 205,525 | Sebastian Wahl | Finland | €50,100 |
| 2018 | Tallinn | 589 | € 285,665 | Mats Albertsen | Norway | €60,510 |
| 2019 | Tallinn | 531 | € 252,685 | Mathias Siljander | Finland | €60,100 |
| 2019 | Tallinn | 686 | € 332,710 | Ott-Kaarli Toome | Estonia | €71,700 |
| 2022 | Tallinn | 652 | € 312,960 | Kaido Mikk | Estonia | €65,700 |
| 2023 | Bratislava | 620 | € 300,000 | Ville Hakala | Finland | €60,000 |
| 2024 | Tallinn | 504 | € 244,440 | Anders Bjorkheim | Norway | €50,000 |
This wraps up the PokerNews live coverage from Tallinn, but the next major live poker events are just around the corner so be sure to check back regularly.