English people sometimes refer to extreme cold weather as “Baltic.” When I landed in Tallinn in the afternoon on Saturday 25 February 2023 the weather app on my smartphone told me the temperature was -7 degrees celsius. So here by the Baltic Sea I am experiencing some justification for that phrase!
And to think just the day before I was in Malta at a beach cafe and people in swimwear were enjoying splashing around in the sea while others in similar apparel were sipping cool drinks…
Tallinn has long been a desired poker destination for me, it has a reputation for mixed games populated by Estonian locals, Finns who come over by ferry and various other Northern European types looking for action.
Day 1: Good company, great beer, profitable poker but no mix
Late at night in the casino I got myself on a waiting list for a dealers choice cash game and then bumped into my friend Jason Glatzer and his Irish friend James. James immediately bought me a nice Leffe Blond, a beer I described in Poker: All the Games podcast episode #23, which also discussed the excellent poker game Archie. I spent a couple of hours chatting and drinking with James after Jason had gone to bed. When James eventually left I decided to jump into a 2/2 euro 4/5 card PLO cash game. When I left the table at 7am I was $260 better off, which was nice, but more importantly I had a great time chatting and playing with Estonians and Finns.
Day 2: Tough table, still no mix
Again I jumped into a 2/2 PLO game. This time the dealers choice cash game looked more like it would get going as there were 6 people on the waiting list and others showing an interest. However after a couple of hours the game disappeared from the list of games on the app used to book seats. I enquired and apparently the casino didn’t have enough dealers to offer a table. The PLO game was tougher than the previous night and the players less sociable, so I left the table at that point and with a tiny profit not even enough to buy two of those beers I had been drinking the night before.
Day 3: Still no mix, PLO still profitable
Nothing much to say beyond the above. A dealers choice table did “open” at one point with 7 players on the waiting list, but I was one of only 2 players who showed up to the table so the casino quickly decided to close down the table again. Another 220 euro profit on the PLO table and then bed.
Day 4: 8 Game tournament
My first tournament of the week was one I had been looking forward to. 8 game is a nice mix of games that most people have at least some experience of. I played with some excellent players including my Italian friend Stefano Lagorio and enjoyed the experience immensely. Sadly I couldn’t make any of my better hands hold up and made a couple of hero calls I might have thought better about on my way to busting the tournament not long after re entries had closed. Early night in the middle of the week was probably a good thing!
Day 5: Sviten Special tournament, rough PLO cash game
Sviten Special being the subject of my book, I am keen to take a title in a tournament of this variety in a festival at some point. In pursuit of this I made two entries but didn’t get into the money. In the main I was happy with how I played and got my money in ahead and freerolling on several occasions and except for one early hand where I busted a short stack I was outdrawn on the Omaha side of the hand every time, which meant I could never get a stack going. There were some awesome players in that field including Stefano who I had played with the day before, and he was able to make it into the money.
After busting the tournament I played some dealers choice cash for the first time in the week. There was a local player who insisted we stick to a limited choice of games - Pot Limit games: Omaha, Omaha Hilo, Crazy Pineapple, Sviten Special, Sökö, 7 Card Stud and 7 Card Stud Hilo, plus No Limit Hold Em. The table was pretty tough, no one giving anything away and the group not particularly willing to engage in light hearted conversation… the table didn’t last long and when it broke I was 80 euros the poorer. I then went on to lose another 110 euros on a PLO table, all down to one hand where I bet flop and turn ahead of a lower straight and with me also holding a set, then checked back having rivered a back door flush to see my opponent turn over a higher back door flush.
Day 6: NOW you’re talking!!
I arrived at the casino with the waiting list for dealers choice already full (I had registered online earlier) and the table opened almost immediately. Straight away we agreed to make the table “Super Dealers Choice” which means we can play any game we can describe! My friend and excellent poker player George Sandford sat to my immediate left (nice to meet you George, but I would rather you sat somewhere else!) and his Slovakian friend and fellow poker pro Alan to his left. Drinks were ordered straight away and the espresso Martini tasted so good… actually, drinks flowed all night long, and along the way I had a couple more espresso Martinis, a few tequila slammers and another cocktail I cannot remember the name of. We played some amazing poker variants and had some great laughs and I left the following morning 800 euros better off. That night was worth the journey on its own!
Day 7: No real action, time for a drink
Expecting another night of mixed games action, I turned up at the casino having already put my name on the waiting list for a cash game and excited to get started again. Sadly, this wasn’t to be as the casino manager informed me they had already reached their capacity with the NLHE and PLO cash games. The dealers choice game was shortly after removed from the list despite 5 of us having put our names down already. I did sit in a PLO game for a couple of orbits, but my friend Teemu Hietala messaged me and invited me for a drink with him in the casino. This sounded like a nice end to the week so I left immediately!
Summarising…
Apart from the one night at the super dealers choice table there was not the mixed games action I had expected when I took the four hour flight into the frozen north. I did have a great time, met up with friends from all over Europe and elsewhere and played some fun games. It is probably unlikely that I will visit Tallinn again, I don’t have an unlimited travel budget and need to maximise the enjoyment from my investment. For players who prefer tournaments, or PLO cash, I definitely recommend future Kings of Tallinn events.
Financially, I did net a positive at the poker tables but it didn’t cover my expenses. If I had not played any tournaments I would have made a nice profit even after flights, accommodation and food and drink. Something to learn for future poker trips…