Adam Kharman Wins Kings of Tallinn Main Event and Team Competition

The 2022 Kings of Tallinn was a massive success with 25 trophy events attracting more than 3,000 entries with more than €1 million in prize pools and bounties awarded.

The poker action was buzzing from Sept. 12-18 at Olympic Park Casino and the adjoining Hilton Tallinn Park with a robust tournament and satellite schedule designed by Tournament Director Teresa Nousiaisen along with cash games running around the clock.

Australian poker globetrotter Adam Kharman was easily the star of the festival as he not only defeated a field of 328 entries in the Kings of Tallinn €1,100 Main Event for €64,280 but also won the Kings of Tallinn Team Challenge as part of Team Duce alongside teammates Zachary Duce, Rasmus Sepping, and Michael Behnert.

“I’m so happy,” shared Kharman to PokerListings after winning the Main Event. “Lots of time and energy go into poker and so grateful it has rewarded me. I think I played really well except at the start of the event when I had to re-enter. I played well, ran well, and had no bad beats. Nice way to win!”

Adam Kharman Wins Kings of Tallinn Main Event

The Kings of Tallinn Main Event was a deep and well-structured no-limit hold’em affair  with hour-long blind levels throughout the event. The event was live reported from beginning to end by PokerListings and attracted 328 entries to create a €308,820 prize pool with the top 39 players securing at least a €1,900 min-cash.

Adam Kharman finished sixth in the Kings of Tallinn Main Event last year and shared with PokerListings around the start of the penultimate day that he was looking to do even better this year. Not only did he do better, but he went on to win the Main Event for €64,280 after defeating Kurt Skimmeland in one of the most commanding performances in an international Main Event in Estonian history.

Kharman came into the final table with the chip lead and never let go going coast-to-coast as the table captain while also eliminating four final tablists en route to victory with Skimmeland eliminating the other three players. It wasn’t easy picking for Kharman as it was the final table featured lots of talent including the red-hot Algirdas Saveikis, who recently won the Euro Poker Million for €172,850, WSOP bracelet winner Vincas Tamasauskas, and Finnish poker legend Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies.

All three of these players were never able to get anything going along with the rest of the final table thanks to the relentless aggression displayed by Kharman until his strategy changed during heads-up play against Skimmeland.

“I was able to leverage my stacks against the next biggest stacks and put pressure on the players I knew I could put pressure on,” Kharman shared about his play. “It was nice having the short stacks around for a while.”

• Read the Kings of Tallinn Main Event recap and live reports.

2022 Kings of Tallinn Final Table Results

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1	Adam Kharman	Australia	€64,280
2	Kurt Skimmeland	Norway	€48,150
3	Algirdas Saveikis	Lithuania	€35,510
4	Vincas Tamasauskas	Lithuania	€25,050
5	Jordi Baixas	Spain	€18,930
6	Ilari Sahamies	Finland	€14,130
7	Marius Olsvik	Norway	€10,650
8	Ville Heikki Juhana Konttinen	Finland	€7,860

Kharman Wins Team Competition

As we already mentioned, Adam Kharman not only won the Main Event but his victory helped Team Duce win the coveted Team Challenge competition for a share of the €15,360 top prize alongside teammates Zachary Duce, Rasmus Sepping, and Michael Behnet.

Kharman wasn’t the only player on the team to win a trophy on the team as fellow Aussie Sepping also won a big event after defeating a field of 278 entries to win the Kings of Tallinn €550 for €27,140.

Meanwhile, Timon Pojat, featuring Akseli Paalanene, Ilari Tahkokallio, Heikki Piira, and Arto Loikkanen, finished runner-up in the Team Challenge for €5,120.

Mattila and Haider Win Two Side Event Trophies Each

Many eyes were on the side events with each non-satellite event attracting at least 12 entries contributing to points on the Team Challenge leaderboard.

Players from far and near won trophies including local Estonian Ilya Nikiforov agreeing to a deal with fellow Estonian Igor Pihela Jr. en route to win the Kings of Tallinn €3,000 High Roller for €36,390.

Lithuanians showed their presence with not only two players from the small Baltic country winning trophies but also with Albert Ostrovskij, Domas Juozėnas, Giedrė Stepulionienė, and Laurynas Černiauskas all finding Kings of Tallinn gold in side events.

As usual, the Finnish players were out in full force with Joel Holmberg, Arto Lehtonen, Jari Hurri, Risto Pönniö, and Jarkko Suokas all going home with a trophy. Meanwhile, Jussi Mattila will take back to Finland two trophies as he not only won the €150 Celebrity Event for €7,235 but also won the €250 Team Event alongside fellow Finns Veli-Pekka Alakorva, Henri Schalin, and Heikki Heinonen.

Austria’s Bernhard Haider also won two trophies after shipping the €120 PLO Mix 4, 5 & 6 Cards for €3,650 and the €150 OlyBet Special for €5,322.

Germany’s Fabian Bartuschk, Norway’s Nicolai Vold, American Richard Randolph Jr., Slovakia’s David Berdis, Scotland’s Kevin Wood, Spain’s Juan Carlos Vecino Dueñas, and Poland’s Bartosz Mielczarek and Arkadiusz Liszewski also were victorious in side events at the 2022 Kings of Tallinn.

2022 Kings of Tallinn Results

Event	Entries	Prize Pool	Winner	Country	Prize	Notes
Event #2: €350 Opening Event	166	€49,152	Albert Ostrovskij	Lithuania	€13,010
Event #3: €250 DeepStack Mystery Bounty	280	€31,584	Fabian Bartuschk	Germany	€7,634	Not including Bounties
Event #5: €150 Celebrity Event	284	€34,704	Jussi Mattila	Finland	€7,235
Event #6: Kings of Tallinn €550	278	€130,660	Rasmus Sepping	Australia	€27,140
Event #9: €440 8-Game Championship	38	€14,288	Joel Holmberg	Finland	€5,360
Event #10: €250 NLH 8-max	140	€28,952	Nicolai Vold	Norway	€5,329	Three-way Deal
Event #11: €120 PL Omaha 4/5	90	€8,460	Richard Randolph Jr.	United States	€2,520
Event #13: Kings of Tallinn €1,100 Main Event	328	€308,320	Adam Kharman	Australia	€64,280
Event #14: €250 5 Card PLO & Draw	31	€6,410	Sampo Ryynänen	Finland	€2,950
Event #16: €440 Progressive Bounty	136	€25,568	Bartosz Mielczarek	Poland	€5,609	Not including Bounties
Event #17: €250 Team Event	14	€2,895	Veli-Pekka Alakorva, Henri Schalin, Heikki Heinonen & Jussi Mattila	Finland	€1,737
Event #19: €350 OlyBet DeepStack	209	€61,884	Arto Lehtonen	Finland	€13,215
Event #20: €1,100 PL Omaha Championship	32	€30,080	Arkadiusz Liszewski	Poland	€12,030
Event #21: €660 Mystery Bounty	88	€24,816	Domas Juozėnas	Lithuania	€6,940	Not including Bounties
Event #22: €120 Win the Button	114	€10,716	David Berdis	Slovakia	€2,900
Event #23: €120 PLO Mix 4, 5 & 6 Cards	180	€16,920	Bernhard Haider	Austria	€3,650
Event #25: €350 Open Face Chinese Pineapple	29	€8,587	Kevin Wood	Scotland	€3,435	Heads-up Deal
Event #26: Kings of Tallinn €3,000 High Roller	39	€104,481	Ilya Nikiforov	Estonia	€36,390	Heads-up Deal
Event #27: €60 Ladies Event	72	€3,456	Giedrė Stepulionienė	Lithuania	€1,076
Event #28: €150 OlyBet Special	228	€27,862	Bernhard Haider	Austria	€5,322
Event #29: €550 Senior’s Championship	31	€14,880	Jari Hurri	Finland	€6,090
Kings of Tallinn €150 Online PKO Event	85	€11,475	Juan Carlos Vecino Dueñas	Spain	€2,895 + $1,050 WSOP Online Ticket	Not including Bounties
Event #30: €250 PL 2-7 Triple Draw	19	€3,929	Risto Pönniö	Finland	€1,960
Event #31: €250 NLH 8-max	120	€24,816	Jarkko Suokas	Finland	€5,406	Three-way Deal
Event #32: €120 Turbo Version of the ME	80	€7,520	Laurynas Černiauskas	Lithuania	€2,390
Kings of Tallinn 2022 Team Challenge	39	€20,481	Duces of Tallinn	Australia	€15,360

*Images courtesy of Kings of Tallinn photographer Elena Kask