EPT TALLINN: KAISER ROLLS THROUGH THE COMPETITION

PHOTO/SOURCE: POKERNEWS.com

EPT Tallinn was all Ronny Kaiser's. The Swiss PLO cash game specialist took control of this tournament on Friday and he never, ever looked back.

It was a quick final table for sure. Eliminations were coming left and right and, once we hit heads up play, Kaiser's chip lead proved to be insurmountable.

Kaiser's win is his second PTPR Score of the year. Stuart Fox, Sami Kelopuro and Jeff Sarwer also collected their second PTPR Scores this season.

Gregorz Cichocki, Jani Sointula and Lari Sihvo were other notables finishing in the Top 18 this tournament.

Final Table Payouts:
Ronny Kaiser €275,000
Grzegorz Cichocki €180,000
Raigo Aasmaa €110,000
Jani Sointula €80,000
Stuart Fox €55,000
Erlend Melsom €45,000
Sami Kelopuro €35,000
Arvi Vainionkulma €25,000


PTPR PREMIER EVENT
Pokerstarts.com European Poker Tour Tallinn
EPT Tallinn NLH Main Event
August 2-7, 2011

Swisshotel Tallinn | Estonia
Buy-in: $6,080 | Prizepool: $1,533,565 | Entries: 282

FINAL RESULTS:
RONNY KAISER 127
GREGORZ CICHOCKI 77
RAIGO AASMAA 47
JANI SOINTULA 37
STUART FOX 32
ERLEND MELSOM 27
SAMI KELOPURO 27
ARVI VAINIONKULMA 12
JOHAN VAN TIL 12
VICENZO APICELLA 12
LARI SIHVO 12
KONSTANTINOV VALEREVISH 10
JEFF SARWER 10
ROLANDS NORIETIS 10
VOJTECH RUZICKA 10
OLEG EPP 7
KJARTAN BERGUR JONSSON 7
VITALY GRIGORYEV 7

EPT TALLINN: CAN'T MISS SWISS - KAISER RETAINS LEADS AS FT PLAY IS SET

PHOTO/SOURCE: POKERNEWS.com

Looks like Ronny Kaiser is the man to beat at EPT Tallinn. For the second straight day, Kaiser is the chip leader. Kaiser is going to collect his second PTPR Score of the season, having picked up a small cash at the WPT Vienna High Rollers event in March.

There are some seasoned veterans hoping to knock off Kaiser come Sunday. Jani Sointula is as recognizable as they come, Stuart Fox is a name that most remember and Sami Kelopuro is coming off a strong showing at the WSOP - including a runner-up finish in the 10K Pot Limit Omaha Championship.

Final Table Seat Assignments/Chip Counts:
1 - Grzegorz Cichocki - 2,059,000
2 - Raigo Aasmaa - 904,000
3 - Jani Sointula - 769,000
4 - Stuart Fox - 514,000
5 - Arvi Vainionkulma - 258,000
6 - Sami Kelopuro - 1,325,000
7 - Erlend Melsom - 365,000
8 - Ronny Kaiser - 2,394,000


PTPR PREMIER EVENT
Pokerstarts.com European Poker Tour Tallinn
EPT Tallinn NLH Main Event
August 2-7, 2011

Swisshotel Tallinn | Estonia
Buy-in: $6,080 | Prizepool: $1,533,565 | Entries: 282

PTS AT STAKE:
EPT Champion 127
Runner-Up 77
3rd position 47
4th position 37
5th position 32
6-7th position 27
8th position 12
JOHAN VAN TIL 12
VICENZO APICELLA 12
LARI SIHVO 12
KONSTANTINOV VALEREVISH 10
JEFF SARWER 10
ROLANDS NORIETIS 10
VOJTECH RUZICKA 10
OLEG EPP 7
KJARTAN BERGUR JONSSON 7
VITALY GRIGORYEV 7

EPT TALLINN: KAISER TAKES THE LEAD IN ESTONIA

PHOTO/SOURCE: POKERNEWS.com

We are down to three tables at EPT Tallinn. On Saturday, 24 players will take their seast inside the Swisshotel in the hopes on making it to Sunday's Final Table and earn their chance at EPT stardom.


Ronny Kaiser has taken over the chip lead. He is the only player with over 1 million chips. Kaiser has over 300,000 more chips compared to second place Grzegorz Cichocki and over 550,000 more chips than third place player Jani Sointula.

You may recognize the name Jani Sointula ... but, you will absolutely know who he is when you see his picture. Sointula has been around for years and has a recognizable look for sure!

Our "player to watch" Irene Baroni had a tough end to the day - reports indicate she was the last player eliminated today and won't be part of the final 24 players.

Notable players remaining:
Ronny Kaiser Switzerland 1194000 (Chip Leader)
Jani Sointula Finland 640000
Jeff Sarwer Canada 156500
Stuart Fox UK 115000
Praz Bansi UK 103500

Eliminated players today include:
Irene Baroni, John O'Shea, Joe Ebanks and Anders Berg.


PTPR PREMIER EVENT
Pokerstarts.com European Poker Tour Tallinn
EPT Tallinn NLH Main Event
August 2-7, 2011

Swisshotel Tallinn | Estonia
Buy-in: $6,080 | Prizepool: $1,533,565 | Entries: 282

PTS AT STAKE:
EPT Champion 127
Runner-Up 77
3rd position 47
4th position 37
5th position 32
6-7th position 27
8-11th position 12
12-15th position 10
16-18th position 7

EPT TALLINN: WHERE HAVE ALL THE STAR PLAYERS GONE?

PHOTO/SOURCE: POKERNEWS.com

My apologies, I may has spoken too soon! Less than 24 hours after celebrating the fact that we had a good number of star players in the hunt at EPT Tallin well, looks like I may have jinxed most of them as it certainly wasn't the best day for star players in Estonia.

Gone are Day 1 front-runners Dmitry Vitkind, Martin Jacobson and Fatima Moreira de Melo (add the names Kelly, Eames and Vamplew to the list); and while Maksim Kolosov and Roberto Romanello still have chips, there are still in trouble heading into Day 3 play.

Hey, at least Praz Bansi and Anders Berg (the other two players featured in yesterday's post) have some respectable chip stacks.

Swede Nikolas Liakos has the most chips heading into Friday's play. Oh, and one name to keep an eye on is Irene Baroni. Baroni (pictured) had a great showing at IPT San Remo earlier this week and she is looking pretty solid with a 257k+ chip stack after Day 2.

Here are notable players still alive:
Nikolas Liakos 460,200 (Day 2 chip leader)
Jani Sointula 333,300
Irene Baroni 257,600
Oscar Lima 124,400 (Day 1 chip leader)
Praz Bansi 120,200
Jeff Sarwer 102,900
Roberto Romanello 80,800
Anders Berg 80,800
Arnaud Mattern 58,200
Maksim Kolosov 47,800
Fernando Brito 46,600
John O'Shea 44,800
Joe Ebanks 41,600
Stuart Fox 33,300

Notable Day 2 eliminations include:
Dmitry Vitkind, Sam El Sayed, JP Kelly, John Eames, Martin Jacobson, Natalia Nikitina, Pierre Neuville, Fatima Moreira de Melo, Richard Toth, Marcin Horecki, Juha Helppi, Rupert Edler, Annette Obrestad and Ville Wahlbeck.


PTPR PREMIER EVENT
Pokerstarts.com European Poker Tour Tallinn
EPT Tallinn NLH Main Event
August 2-7, 2011

Swisshotel Tallinn | Estonia
Buy-in: $6,080 | Prizepool: $1,533,565 | Entries: 282

PTS AT STAKE:
EPT Champion 127
Runner-Up 77
3rd position 47
4th position 37
5th position 32
6-7th position 27
8-11th position 12
12-15th position 10
16-18th position 7

PTS AT STAKE: BIG NAMES TOP THE CHARTS AFTER DAY 1 AT EPT TALLINN

PHOTO/SOURCE: POKERNEWS.com

The 2011-12 European Poker Tour Season is now open for business! EPT Tallinn is upon us and we've got some star players coming back for Day 2 after the completion of both Day 1's.

Of the 282 players who registered for the Main Event, Maksim Kolosov, Dmitry Vitkind, Roberto Romanello, Martin Jacobson, Praz Bansi, Anders Berg and Fatime Moreira de Melo all have healthy chip stacks heading into Thrusday's Day 2 play.

Here are notable players with at least 50k in chips:
Oscar Lima 132,000 (chip leader)
Maksim Kolosov 102,725
Dmitry Vitkind 92,000
Roberto Romanello 83,175
Martin Jacobson 74,650
Praz Bansi 73,975
Anders Berg 70,000
Fatime Moreira de Melo 63,000
David Vamplew 57,500
Stuart Fox 57,450
John Eames 56,300
Juha Helppi 52,800
Ville Wahlbeck 52,675
JP Kelly 52,450

Notable Day 1A and 1B eliminations include:
Kevin Vandermissen, Michael Tureniec, Sebastien Ruthenberg, Per Linde, Toby Lewis and defending EPT Grand Final Champion Ivan Freitez.


PTPR PREMIER EVENT
Pokerstarts.com European Poker Tour Tallinn
EPT Tallinn NLH Main Event
August 2-7, 2011

Swisshotel Tallinn | Estonia
Buy-in: $6,080 | Prizepool: $1,533,565 | Entries: 282

PTS AT STAKE:
EPT Champion 127
Runner-Up 77
3rd position 47
4th position 37
5th position 32
6-7th position 27
8-11th position 12
12-15th position 10
16-18th position 7