Norway’s Noah Rogers turned a 16-big-blind stack into the biggest side-event title of the 2026 Kings of Tallinn Autumn Edition, winning the €555 Championship for €30,005, while Finnish legend Juha Helppi celebrated wildly after taking down the €350 DeepStack on the same day in the Estonian capital.
- Noah Rogers won the €555 Kings of Tallinn Championship for €30,005, beating a field of 319 entries.
- The 21-year-old started the final day seventh of 16 with around 16 big blinds.
- It was his second title of the festival, after the €200 NLH Turbo four days earlier.
- Two-time WSOP bracelet winner Juha Helppi won the €350 NLH DeepStack for €9,872.
- Four champions were crowned on Wednesday as the €1,100 Main Event got underway.
From Short Stack to Champion
Wednesday, 14 October, was one of the busiest days of the Kings of Tallinn Autumn Edition, presented by OlyBet at the Olympic Park Casino and the Hilton Tallinn Park. Four trophies were handed out, the €1,100 Main Event opened its first starting flights, and the €555 Championship — the festival’s largest side event so far — reached its conclusion.
That Championship drew 319 entries and a prize pool of €148,335. When the final day began with 16 players left, Rogers was far from the favourite. He sat seventh in the counts with 640,000 chips, roughly 16 big blinds, while Sweden’s Dennis Zetterman led with 1,390,000 — more than twice as many. Estonia’s Taago Tamm and Lithuania’s Marek Zigel were also among those holding sizeable stacks.
By the end of the night, though, it was the young Norwegian who held the trophy.
How the Final Table Played Out
Italy’s Mario Antonio Colavita was the first casualty of the final table, leaving in ninth for €3,140. Soon afterwards came the hand that changed everything for Rogers: a big river showdown against Estonia’s Siim Taliaru, which sent Taliaru out in eighth for €3,760 and handed Rogers the chip lead with close to half of the chips in play.
From there he kept his foot down. Rogers caught a queen on the river to eliminate Sweden’s Jawad Habib in sixth (€5,770), then beat Belgium’s Ben Devers in a pre-flop confrontation to send him home in fifth (€7,930). His main rival was Estonia’s Alger Pissarev, who knocked out Zigel in fourth (€11,130). Rogers then ended the run of the overnight leader, winning a pre-flop race on the river to eliminate Zetterman in third for €14,830.
A Heads-Up Battle That Swung Both Ways
The heads-up match began almost level, with Rogers holding 4.95 million chips to Pissarev’s 4.61 million. Rogers opened up a considerable lead early on, but the Estonian refused to go quietly, doubling up twice to bring the stacks back to near parity.
The decisive hand came after Pissarev raised before the flop and Rogers called. After a quiet flop, Rogers check-raised the turn to 850,000 and then moved all in on the river. Pissarev took his time before calling — only to find that Rogers had flopped two pair. Pissarev collected €20,290 for second place, while Rogers took €30,005 and the Championship trophy.
Why a check-raise on the turn works
Check-raising the turn and then shoving the river is one of the most polarising lines in no-limit hold’em. It usually represents either a very strong hand or a bluff, and it puts the opponent under maximum pressure for their whole stack. With two pair from the flop, Rogers was able to disguise his strength by calling pre-flop and waiting for Pissarev to keep betting — a classic way to extract value at a heads-up table where both players are trying to read the other’s aggression.
For Rogers, the victory capped a remarkable few days. He had already won the €200 NLH Turbo on 11 October, beating 32 entries for €1,868. Four days later he had two Kings of Tallinn Autumn titles to his name and the biggest score of the festival’s side events so far.
€555 Championship Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Noah Rogers | Norway | €30,005 |
| 2 | Alger Pissarev | Estonia | €20,290 |
| 3 | Dennis Zetterman | Sweden | €14,830 |
| 4 | Marek Zigel | Lithuania | €11,130 |
| 5 | Ben Devers | Belgium | €7,930 |
| 6 | Jawad Habib | Sweden | €5,770 |
| 7 | Edgars Hauks | Latvia | €4,530 |
| 8 | Siim Taliaru | Estonia | €3,760 |
| 9 | Mario Antonio Colavita | Italy | €3,140 |
Helppi Lets His Emotions Run Free
The other headline of the day belonged to one of the best-known names in Nordic poker. In the €350 NLH DeepStack, which attracted 134 entries and a prize pool of €38,632, Finland’s Juha Helppi came through to win the title and €9,872, defeating compatriot Jukka Ylitalo heads-up.
The buy-in was modest for a player of Helppi’s standing, but the celebration was anything but. After the final hand, the Finn let his emotions run free and celebrated with real euphoria — a reminder that even decorated veterans still feel the thrill of lifting a trophy.
Helppi’s record speaks for itself. He is a two-time WSOP bracelet winner, and his first bracelet came in the 2019 $10,000 Limit Hold’em Championship in Las Vegas, where he beat Mike Lancaster in a heads-up battle lasting around four hours to take $306,622 from a field of 118. He also has history in Tallinn: he won the Kings of Tallinn Main Event in 2018.
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Juha Helppi | Finland | €9,872 |
| 2 | Jukka Ylitalo | Finland | €6,650 |
| 3 | Alfonso Lopez Delgado | Spain | €4,620 |
| 4 | Rohan Oberoi | Sweden | €3,360 |
| 5 | Indre Martoviciute-Kasten | Lithuania | €2,590 |
| 6 | Timo Tamminen | Finland | €2,030 |
| 7 | Antoine Vranken | Netherlands | €1,660 |
| 8 | Arkadiusz Liszewski | Poland | €1,390 |
| 9 | Torben Beltz | Germany | €1,180 |
Two More Champions on Wednesday
Lithuania’s Andrius Baublys came into Day 2 of the €1,100 NLH Mystery Bounty as chip leader with six players left and turned that advantage into a commanding win. The event drew 47 entries for a base prize pool of €20,210 plus €23,500 in mystery bounties. Baublys collected €7,010 in prize money and €12,500 in bounties, a total of €19,510. Runner-up Mark Metsla of Estonia also did well from the bounty draw, taking €11,000 in bounties on top of his €4,600 payout.
The €350 PLO4/PLO5 Double Board Bomb Pot, one of the more unusual formats on the schedule, drew 89 entries and a prize pool of €25,659. Lithuania’s Albertas Voisnarovic took the title and €7,529, ahead of Israel’s Shaul Weinstein (€4,900).
What is a double board bomb pot?
In a bomb pot, every player puts chips in before the flop and the hand goes straight to the flop with no pre-flop betting. In a double board version, two separate boards are dealt and the pot is split between the best hand on each. Played with four- or five-card Omaha hands, the format produces huge pots and plenty of action, which is why it has become a popular side event at European festivals.
The Main Event Gets Underway
Wednesday also marked the start of the €1,100 Main Event, which carried a €500,000 guarantee and four starting flights. Day 1a at the Hilton Tallinn Park drew 124 entries, with 38 advancing; Finland’s Mikael Haapaniemi led with 256,000 chips, ahead of Estonia’s Tiiu Naar (242,800) and Sander Leigri (230,500). On Day 1b, 48 entries produced 19 survivors, led by Sweden’s Johan Creutz, the 2016 Kings of Tallinn Main Event champion, with 174,000.
Earlier in the week, Greece’s Emmanouil Chalkiotis won the €250 Mini-Main for €19,875 from 555 entries after a heads-up deal, Latvia’s Marcis Zeltmatis took the €1,100 PLO4/PLO5 Championship for €17,340, Lithuania’s Paulius Turcinskas won the €350 Kings of Tallinn Cup for €12,602, and Estonia’s Romet Mildov captured the €200 DeepStack Celebrity Special for €7,659 — an event that featured 1998 WSOP Main Event champion Scotty Nguyen.
How the Festival Ended
When the Main Event reached its conclusion at the end of the festival, it was Lithuania’s Grantas Naujokas who claimed the title and €104,310. Creutz, the Day 1b leader, added the €3,000 High Roller to his Tallinn record. Scotty Nguyen, a popular guest throughout the week, survived the Main Event bubble but fell with pocket aces before the final nine was set.
For Rogers, though, the Autumn Edition will be remembered as the week a 21-year-old from Norway won two trophies in four days — and proved that 16 big blinds can be more than enough when the cards and the decisions fall into place.
