Eirik Kristiansen Wins The Festival in Tallinn Main Event (€56,100)
Norway's Eirik Kristiansen sat down at The Festival Tallinn Main Event final table and a minor blip aside, came out on top to capture the €56,100 top prize, his largest-ever score, the title of champion, and the all-important winner's trophy. Before this event, Kristiansen's live tournament earnings tipped the scales at only $2,209. That sum is far more substantial after he outlasted 551 opponents in this exciting Estonia-based event.
The Festival in Tallinn Main Event Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eirik Kristiansen | €56,100 |
| 2 | Jari Mahonen | €36,120 |
| 3 | Kristoffer Winterstein | €22,040 |
| 4 | Mikael Viggander | €16,200 |
| 5 | Jero Keitaanranta | €12,100 |
| 6 | Rando Liiber | €9,100 |
| 7 | Toivo Ojasoo | €6,700 |
| 8 | Gregory Partridge | €5,100 |
| 9 | Sascha Manns | €3,950 |
The final table lost its first player on the first hand of the day. Sascha Manns could not win a coinflip against Kristiansen, with the latter's king-jack melting Manns' snowmen.
Eighth place went to Gregory Partridge who also lost a coinflip against Kristiansen. All the chips went into the middle with Patridge holding ace-queen against the pocket jacks of Kristiansen. No help arrived for the ace-queen, and the players received a little more elbow room.
The final seven became six with the elimination of Toivo Ojasoo. Ojasoo committed the last of their chips having paired their ace on an all-diamond flop. Mikael Viggander called the shove with a flush draw, which came in on the turn.
A relative cooler of a hand sent Rando Liiber to the cashier's desk to collect the last four-figure prize of the evening. Liiber opened then four-bet all in with pocket jacks when six-handed but ran straight into the pocket queens of Kristoffer Winterstein. A jack on the flop looked to have secured a double for Liiber, but a queen on the turn left him drawing to a single out, which did not arrive.
Finishing in fifth place was Jero Keitaanranta who three-bet all-in with pocket fives only for Kristiansen to cold-call out of the blind with a superior pair of eights. A double paired board resigned Keitaanranta to an early visit to the showers, although it came with €12,100 in prize money.
Kristiansen then eliminated Viggander in fourth place when he flopped top pair and turned a straight when Viggander had turned an expensive bottom set.
Heads-up was set when Winterstein ripped in 22 big blinds from the button with king-six, and Jari Mahonen called from the big blind with king-queen. Winterstein was drawing dead on the turn.
The one-on-one battle between Mahonen and Kristiansen initially began with both players being cautious. However, the final hand threw that caution to the wind. A three-times the big blind raise with nine-five of hearts from Mahonen was three-bet by Kristiansen with queen-deuce, and called by Mahonen. a five-four-trey board saw Kristansen over-bet jam for almost three-times the pot, but Mahonen called. The turn bricked but the river completed Kristansen's straight, and secured him the title.