Level 26: 20,000/40,000 (40,000)
Entries: 10/564

Ilya Nikiforov just hit the rail moments before the break at the TV table. The action will resume one player away from the final table after a short 15-minute break.

Level 26: 20,000/40,000 (40,000)
Entries: 11/564

Phil Gross doubled his short stack before doubling it again in the following hand.

There wasn't much in the pot when Mikael Haapaniemi checked-raised the flop from 75,000 to 300,000. Gross jammed for 670,000 and Haapaniemi called.

Phil Gross:
Mikael Haapaniemi:

Both players had the same flush draw with Gross drawing to the nuts. However, Gross was behind Haapaniemi's sevens if no spade came with both players holding blockers to each other. The turn was irrelevant but the river pushed Gross ahead with a better pair.

"Yes!" said Gross as his rail cheered.

Level 26: 20,000/40,000 (40,000)
Entries: 11/564

Mikael Haapaniemi jammed from the small blind. Tapio Aaltonen (pictured below) looked down at his cards and called off his stack of 350,000.

Tapio Aaltonen:
Mikael Haapaniemi:

Haapaniemi didn't soar past Aaltonen's big slick on the and Aaltonen let out a big smile after doubling his stack instead taking a bad beat and going to the rail.

Level 26: 20,000/40,000 (40,000)
Entries: 11/564

GGPoker Ambassador Anatoly Filatov (pictured below) had a bit of bad luck losing two hands while he was ahead when the action was down to two tables. Moments ago, he lost a crucial flip and hit the rail in 12th place for €5,300 as follows.

Filatov three-bet jammed for 650,000 from the big blind and was called by Urmo Velvelt who opened from middle position.

Anatoly Filatov:
Urmo Velvelt:

Velvelt connected not only connected but improved to a full house on the board to oust the most accomplished player that was remaining in the field.

Level 26: 20,000/40,000 (40,000)
Entries: 12/564

Juho Heiska hit the rail at the TV table during the opening moments of Level 26 in 13th place for €4,500.

He got it in from the cutoff with suited against Ville-Matti Keranen's . You can check out the hand on the stream at OlyBet.tv.

Level 25: 15,000/30,000 (30,000)
Entries: 13/564

"Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in," is a famous saying from the Sopranos. That saying applies to Tomi Arponen (pictured below) after he delivered GGPoker Ambassador Anatoly Filatov a bad beat.

Mikael Haapaniemi opened for a min-raise from the button before Arponen three-bet shoved for 365,000 from the small blind. Filatov four-bet shoved for close to 1,000,000 and Haapaniemi got out of the way.

Tomi Arponen:
Anatoly Filatov:

It looked like we would be down to a dozen players but we remained at a dirty dozen but not without some drama. Nothing fancy happened on either the flop or the turn. Arponen began to stand up and even wished a player a 'good game' before shock came across on his face with the spiking the river to pull ahead of Filatov with a full house.

The rail around the outer table erupted as well. Filatov appeared to take it all well and just continued along with his massage despite suffering two bad beats this blind level in all-in and call situations.

Level 25: 15,000/30,000 (30,000)
Entries: 13/564

Phil Gross three-bet shoved over the open by Anatoly Filatov for 375,000 and Filatov called.

Phil Gross:
Anatoly Filatov:

Gross was asking for a jack and none came on the flop. He shouted from joy after the turn pushed him ahead and now begged the dealer not to deal a queen. Instead, it was the completing the board for Gross to double with two pair.

The final 13 players are on a short 20-minute break. Blinds will increase to 15,000/30,000 with a 30,000 big blind ante when the action resumes.

Level 24: 10,000/25,000 (25,000)
Entries: 13/564

Yet another elimination happened at the TV table. This time it was the formidable Feras Abid hitting the rail in 14th place for €4,500.

Level 24: 10,000/25,000 (25,000)
Entries: 14/564

Phil Gross (pictured below) defended his big blind from the under the gun open by Urmo Velvelt before he jammed the 145,000 in chips he had remaining on the flop. Velevelt quickly called and the cards were turned over with Gross at risk.

Phil Gross:
Urmo Velvelt:

Gross was grossly behind and that didn't change on the turn. However, the improved him to two pair to stay alive and double his stack.

"I am the best!" shouted an entertaining Gross at the table.

Velvelt appreciated the humor and was the first to laugh.

Level 24: 10,000/25,000 (25,000)
Entries: 14/564

Table redraw or no table redraw, it seems fireworks are taking place once again at the TV table as we are down to just 14 hopefuls Karolis Kutkauskas (pictured below) and Siim Suviste (pictured below Kutkauskas) hit the rail.

Level 24: 10,000/25,000 (25,000)
Entries: 16/564

The clock has stopped as the action is down to just two tables. There will be a redraw after Roberts Rumba dusted off his small stack with ace-trey to Kai Lehto's nine-seven after a seven hit the turn.

The final 16 players locked up at least €4,500 and the plan of the day is for players to bag up their stacks when the final table of nine players were reached.

Level 24: 10,000/25,000 (25,000)
Entries: 17/564

Kai Lehto three-bet jammed the button for 670,000 and was called by a frustrated Roberts Rumba from the big blind.

Kai Lehto:
Roberts Rumba:

It was a classic coin flip with Rumba pulling ahead after the flop and the turn. However, the spiked the river for Lehto to double his stack.

"Why is this always happening?" Rumba asked after losing yet another flip. 

Rumba did double up his crumbs a short while later when his ace-deuce was good against jack-four but this didn't add too much breathing room to his stack.

Meanwhile, mayhem must be taking place at the TV as both Vygerdas Jonikas and Vlads Dolgilevics hit the rail under the lights and camera.

Guillermo Gordo Cifuentes hit the rail at the TV table in 20th place for €3,900. You can check out the action at OlyBet.tv. 

Level 23: 10,000/20,000 (20,000)
Entries: 20/564

It was a blind-on-blind battle between Roberts Rumba and Tapio Aaltonen with Altonen getting his 470,000 stack in the middle from the big blind and getting called by Rumba.

Tapio Aaltonen:
Roberts Rumba:

Both players had premium cards in a cooler of a hand for Rumba. Aaltonen doubled his stack after the dry board kept ace-king ahead of ace-queen.

Level 23: 10,000/20,000 (20,000)
Entries: 20/564

Igor Pihela Jr. just hit the rail around the same time Tomi Arponen doubled through Siim Suviste. The table shared that he min-raised with ace-jack. Flopped top pair but ran into a flush held by the player in the big blind.

Level 23: 10,000/20,000 (20,000)
Entries: 21/564

Siim Suveste min-raised from early position. Tomi Arponen (pictured below) three-bet the button to 130,000. Suveste ripped it in with a four-bet that covered the 630,000 Arponen had in his stack. Arponen called to create a pot north of 1 million in chips with Arponen at risk.

Tomi Arponen:  
Siim Suveste: .

Suveste improved to top pair on the flop but Arponen had that dominated with a set of cowboys. Arponen still had a sweat with a ten to Broadway for Silveste along with some backdoor outs. But the turn and river were drama free for Arponen to take a huge chunk from Suveste's stack.

Level 23: 10,000/20,000 (20,000)
Entries: 21/564

Nick Penning (pictured below) came back from dinner break with just half a big blind. He folded a few hands until he tossed it in blind from under the gun.

Tapio Altonen limped from the small blind and Siim Suviste checked back his option from the big blind.

Tapio check-folded facing a bet of 25,000 from Suviste after the landed on the flop and the cards were turned over.

Nick Penning:
Siim Suviste:

Penning was shocked at what he turned over but he was behind the two pair held by Suviste. Neither the turn nor the river helped start a Cinderella story for Penning and the tournament was down to 21 players.

Level 23: 10,000/20,000 (20,000)
Entries: 22/564

Herli Olop had an amazing run. But sometimes, good things must come to an end. Olop lost most of his 210,000 stack to Feras Abid after his eights were unable to win a flip against king-jack. Soon after, he lost the rest on another flip with sevens against Tomi Arponen's queen-jack.

Players are on a one-hour dinner break. We will update the full chip counts during the second half of the break. Bon appétit!

Level 22: 10,000/15,000 (15,000)
Entries: 23/564

Phil Gross three-bet from the small blind preflop to bring the pot close to 200,000 after Mikael Haapaniemi called from the button.

Gross was quietly speaking in a whisper to Haapaniemi throughout the hand including after he continued for 100,000 on the flop. Haapaniemi called and Gross jammed the turn for 318,000.

Haapaniemi went into the tank and asked for a count. He appeared to be in pain about what to do and checked his cards more than once while also occasionally responding to the small talk by Gross.

Eventually, Haapaniemi folded and asked Gross if he'd show his hand.

"You can watch it on TV later," joked Gross as he was on the feature table earlier today.

A few seconds later, Gross showed his for an overpair to the board as the dealer began pushing the pot to him.

Meanwhile, Hendrik Diegenant hit the rail shortly before this hand in 24th place.

Level 22: 10,000/15,000 (15,000)
Entries: 24/564

Touko Berndtson (pictured below) jammed the button for about five big blinds and was called by Igor Pihela Jr. from the big blind.

Touko Berndtson:
Igor Pihela Jr.:

The flop improved Berndston to a pair but it wasn't as big of a pair as his opponent's paired-up jack. Neither the turn nor the river were cards Berndtson wanted to see and there will be a three-table redraw for the remaining 24 players after he hit the rail.

The action is resuming very soon and we will wait until the upcoming dinner break after this blind level to update the full chip counts of all remaining players.

Level 21: 7,000/14,000 (14,000)
Entries: 25/564

As is the case in most well-structured tournaments, there becomes a time when the action slows down before it heats up again.

After a flurry of eliminations, the action was slow most of Level 21. Patrick Schratz (pictured below) was one of two players to hit the rail during the level. 

There will be a table redraw after we lose one more unfortunately sole from the Main Event.

Level 21: 7,000/14,000 (14,000)
Entries: 26/564

Kristian Larsson (pictured below) was all-in from the big blind when Touko Berndtson limped from late position and Igor Pihela Jr. limped from the small blind to see the flop.

Pihela Jr. check-called a min-bet of 140,000 by Berndstson before both players checked the turn.

The river completed the board. Pihela Jr. checked again. Berndston fired out for 55,000 and Pihela's cards went into the muck nearly as fast as Berndston chips went into the pot.

Larsson turned over the which didn't get the job done against Berndtson's . Meanwhile, Anna-Mari Hursti just hit the rail right before this hand. She was not only the last woman standing in the Main Event, but also the €555 Championship.

Level 20: 6,000/12,000 (12,000)
Entries: 29/564

Jari Saviaho three-bet jammed for 250,000 from the button and was called by Siim Suviste from the small blind before Edgars Beizaks (pictured below), who originally opened, four-bet shoved for 450,000. Suviste asked for a count and about 30 seconds later found a call.

Jari Saviaho:
Edgars Beizaks:
Siim Suviste:

"Oh nice," Saviaho said about his ace being live. "Ace!"

While Saviaho needed some help it seemed like a dream spot for Beizaks as even if the ace came Silveste had only one out for a set. So, it seemed at least the side pot was in Beizaks' pocket. Dreams were shattered for Beizaks, but he took it well, after the case jack popped up on the board for Suviste to send Saviaho and Beizaks to the rail while likely taking the chip lead.

Players went on break shortly after this hand. We will update some of the top stacks from around the room during the break.

The following players including the start-of-the-day chip leader Juan Carlos Vecino Duenas (pictured above).

Level 19: 5,000/10,000 (10,000)
Entries: 40/564

There was a 700,000 pot with the chips getting in on the river with the on the board. James Noonan turned over the for a full house. 

He was on the losing end of the pot as Kristian Larsson (pictured below) turned over for a better full house to earn a full double-up.

Level 19: 5,000/10,000 (10,000)
Entries: 46/564

Mauri Dorbek was running back and forth between the €150 GGPoker Flip&Go Mystery Bounty and the Main Event. Although he likely would have wished to continue this pattern, he will now be able to focus solely on the Mystery Bounty where he has some chips after losing his short stack in the Main Event.

Dorbek jammed for 45,000 from middle position and was called by Roberts Rumba.

Mauri Dorbek:
Roberts Rumba:

Dorbek stood up and looked ready to run as soon as he saw how dominating his opponent's hand was. He stuck around to watch both the flop and the turn as he was drawing eight outs to a chop. The river paired the board and Dorbek hit the rail in 47th place. We wish him the best of luck in the Mystery Bounty!

Players are on their first break of Day 3. Blinds will increase to 5,000/10,000 with a 10,000 big blind ante when the action resumes.

Level 18: 4,000/8,000 (8,000)
Entries: 49/564

Roberts Rumba four-bet jammed for 178,000 from the hijack and was called by Ilya Nikiforov from the button.

Roberts Rumba:
Ilya Nikiforov:

It wasn't looking great for Rumba although oddly enough he gained some outs despite a king hitting the flop on the flop as now he had four jacks to draw to instead of three queens.

The turn didn't create any drama. However, Rumba shouted "yes" in delight after the river completed his Broadway draw to double his stack instead of hitting the rail.

The following players including Harri Seppa (pictured above) banked €2,200 in the Main Event with the remaining field locking up at least a €2,400 payout.

Level 18: 4,000/8,000 (8,000)
Entries: 56/564

Kaspar Laursoo (pictured below) four-bet jammed from the small blind. One player folded before GGPoker Ambassador Anatoly Filatov appeared to get his hand caught in the cookie jar.

"I have a very bad hand," Filatov said.

A few players couldn't hold back their laugh and shortly after Filatov called.

Kaspar Laursoo:
Anatoly Filatov:

Laursoo was still ahead in the hand after the safe flop. However, he got out of his chair and began to gather his belongings after Filatov paired up on the turn. The river didn't get Laursoo back into the hand and he hit the rail early on Day 3.

Level 17: 3,000/6,000 (6,000)
Entries: 59/564

Yesterday's start-of-the-day chip leader Vlads Dolgilevics (pictured below) opened from the cutoff and was called by Vygerdas Jonikas from the button. 

WSOP bracelet winner Espen Sandvik ripped it in for 25 big blinds. Dolgilevics called and Jonikas folded.

Espen Sandvik:
Vlads Dolgilevics:

Dolgilevics won the flip after his queen found a friend on the board to eliminate the formidable Sandvik.

It is also time to say goodbye to Sandvik as after the hand he shared he will be leaving today to spend time with some of his family in Norway. As always, it was a pleasure to watch you compete throughout the week and we hope to see you at the WSOP Circuit Tallinn on Sept. 14-24.

The following players (including Jargo Alavali pictured below) min-cashed the Main Event for €2,000. The remaining 64 players each locked up at least €2,200 with many more pay jumps to come.

Level 17: 3,000/6,000 (6,000)
Entries: 64/564

Grantas Naujokas jammed his short stack of 13,000 from the button. Mauri Dorbek (pictured below) three-bet to 40,000 from the small blind and it was a heads-up showdown with Naujokas at risk after Maksim Rusinov folded from the big blind.

Grantas Naujokas:
Mauri Dorbek:

Naujokas bricked the board to lose his short stack to Dorbek.

"Good game," Naujokas said with a smile showing good sportsmanship.

Meanwhile, Matias Kesanen, poker streamer Jargo Alavali, Konstantin Arber, Kalle Parkkinen, and Martin Piik all recently hit the rail.

Level 16: 2,000/5,000 (5,000)
Entries: 69/564

Sebastian Van Wonterghem open-jammed for 59,000 from middle position and was looked up by Matias Kesanen.

Sebastian Van Wonterghem:
Matias Kesanen:

While it was a coin flip when the chips went in, the board gave Van Wonterghem a hand to remember as he improved to quad sevens.

"Only quads," Edgars Beizaks said.

Meanwhile, Julian Herold and Hyunsil Park were the first two players to hit the rail on Day 3.

While we didn't witness Beizaks' "epic hand" he shared he had a big hand to start the day.

"I got a walk the very first hand," Beizaks said with a smile.

Level 16: 2,000/5,000 (5,000)
Entries: 71/564

The action has kicked off for Day 3 with just a few minutes remaining in Level 16. The big blind stacks listed in the seat draw are based on Level 17 as Level 16 will be history very soon.

Best of luck to all of the remaining Main Event players. The t.v. table began from the beginning. We will not report off the t.v. table today but you can check out the action at the OlyBet.tv website on a 30-minute delay with Andreas Hoglund hosting the action.

Juan Carlos Vecino Duenas (pictured above) is among the Spanish poker community that has lived in the Estonian capital of Tallinn for a number of years. The pressure is on, as Duenas comes into the penultimate day of the 2023 Kings of Tallinn Summer Showdown €1,100 Main Event with a chip-leading stack of 709,000 good for 118 big blinds when the action resumes. Duenas is closely followed by the start of Day 2 chip leader Vlads Dolgilevics (674,000) with Nils Linden (558,000) and Mikael Haapaniemi (536,000) also more than halfway to becoming chip millionaires.

The Day 2 action ended with the final 71 players in the money for at least a €2,000 min-cash. However, today players will be moving up the payout ladder until eventually on Sunday the last player standing will win the €108,260 top prize. You can check out the full payouts by clicking on the Payouts tab within our coverage.

Blinds will begin at 3,000/6,000 along with a 6,000 big blind ante and increase every hour. The day's plan is to play down to a final table of nine players but it is possible that the day will end sooner depending on the pace of play.

The microphone was carefully stored away and the pen and pad you are used to are back with Jason Glatzer resuming the live reporting duties the rest of the way. The Day 3 action kicks off at noon on Saturday and we will be right along with you reporting many of the biggest hands, bad beats, and, of course, every payout ladder. As if this isn't all, there will be a televised feature table from the start of the day which you can view at olybet.tv and on a variety of Facebook channels.

Best of luck to all of the players!