PHOTO: Valgemäe Crowned Queen of Tallinn, Dominates Record-Breaking Main Event After 4-Way Deal

The popular Queens of Tallinn festival, dedicated exclusively to female players, brought four days (August 21-24) of poker action, featuring a packed schedule of tournaments and cash games. This was the third edition of the event hosted at Hilton Tallinn Park & Olympic Park Casino, spotlighting women in poker. OlyBet organized a total of 11 tournaments, creating an exhilarating atmosphere throughout the event.

In the opening Deep Stack Opener event, Jenny Westerlund, fresh off her Main Event victory at WSOPC Tallinn, continued her impressive run. Just three days after her triumph there, she finished second in the Poker-SM Swedish Championship and then secured another trophy at the start of this festival. On Friday, Annika Abmayr took down the €150 PLO4/PLO5, on Saturday Anne Bezdek won the €200 NLH Queens Crown, and on Sunday Elisabeth Harestad claimed the €250 NLH Progressive Bounty title - notably, Harestad also finished 8th in the Main Event final.

Record-Breaking Main Event
 

The Main Event, with a €350 buy-in, attracted a record 96 entries and generated a prize pool of €27,677 - the largest women-only event in the Baltic region. Impressively, despite the increase in buy-in from 2024 (from €250 to €350), the field grew year-on-year. The final stage welcomed the top nine players, with Norway's Christina Solli as the chipleader.

The final table, however, turned in favor of the local hero Giedre Valgemäe. Starting as a short stack, she climbed her way up: first with a crucial double-up against Solli, and later eliminating the Norwegian leader in 7th place. After a deal among the last four players, the game's pace accelerated, and though the title and an extra €1,800 were still at stake, the conclusion came swiftly.

In the moment of the deal, chipleader Aytan Eldarova suffered an unhappy suckout, pocket TT against A7s, and was the first to leave from the remaining four. She was followed shortly by Elin Holmgren, who dwindled down to just 6bb and couldn't manage a double-up, leaving the tournament to enter heads-up.

Giedre Valgemäe entered heads-up with a slight 3:2 advantage, which her opponent Annika Abmayr quickly erased. However, Valgemäe carried her momentum through, defeated her last opponent, and denied her another title (Abmayr had won the €150 PLO4/5 event just three days earlier). The runner-up took home €3,890, whereas champion Giedre Valgemäe secured €5,690 - the largest win in the history of the Queens of Tallinn series!

Final Table Results:

Finally, we bring you exclusive footage straight from the Queens of Tallinn 2025 event, in collaboration with PokerPro and the event photographer, Elena Kask. Check out snapshots from the tournaments and the festival atmosphere in the attached photo gallery (all photos © Elena Kask, PokerPro, FB/OlyBetPokerEvents):