The Coolbear has already shared some heartful goodbye hugs and expressed farewell to the vibrant poker community in attendance for a thrilling first visit to the Chesterfield Poker Club and the Nordic Hotel Forum. 

Before we let the final winners of the Coolbet Open have their time in the sun, we would like to thank all the players who helped contribute to the fantastic vibe at the festival. You are all champions in our hearts, and we look forward to seeing you at our next Coolbet Open in 2025. 

Norway’s Anders Bjorkheim earned the festival’s spotlight on Saturday after he entered his name into the Coolbet Open history books after shipping The Coolbet Open €550 Main Event for €50,000 on the live-streamed feature table. However, several other players on Saturday and one more on Sunday also earned trophies to close out the 2024 Coolbet Open. 

Sturla Hiller Wins Mystery Bounty 

Norway’s Sturla Hiller is a treasured part of the Coolbet Open family, having attended many festivals. Hiller’s friends were thrilled when he shared that he advanced to the second and final day of the €440 Mystery Bounty when the envelopes began to be drawn. 

The event attracted 124 entries, creating a €24,506 prize pool along with €24,800 for the mystery bounty envelopes. The atmosphere was electric as players began to open envelopes until Hiller was the last player standing after defeating Finland’s Akseli Valaja heads-up to win the €5,550 top prize. 

Despite eliminating four players on the final day and winning the title, Hiller wasn’t the biggest winner. He was unable to find more than a €600 min-bounty on three of his envelopes, with the other envelope containing a bit more juice, a €1,400. This brought his total haul up to €8,750, including €3,200 in bounties. 

Meanwhile, while Vajala did miss out on his trophy he was easily the biggest cash winner in the event. Like Hiller, Vajala also eliminated four players. Lady luck was on his side as he collect the three biggest bounties of €5,000, €5,000, and €2,500 to supplement one min-bounty of €600 for €13,100 in total bounties. This is in addition to the €4,000 earned from the prize pool from his runner-up performance to earn a total of €17,100 for nearly double Hiller’s haul. 

Heidi Røneid Wins Coolbet Open Ladies Event 

Norwegian chess commentator Heidi Røneid is another long-time friend of the Coolbet Open to win a title on Saturday. Røneid joined the commentating booth during the 2023 Coolbet Open in Bratislava and it is fair to say her chess acumen crosses over to poker.

Røneid joined in on the action in the €150 Coolbet Open Ladies Event, which attracted 37 entries for a €4,845 prize pool and agreed to a deal with Sissel Naalsund during heads-up action with a €1,250 package to The Festival Ladies added to the event. Naalsund managed to earn a four-figure prize of €1,435 thanks to the deal after Røneid came out on top to win the trophy, The Festival package, and the €1,754 top prize. 

Tone Fester Becomes Second Woman Champion on Saturday 

Røneid wasn’t the only woman to win an event on Saturday as Tone Fester did the same in an event with men and women after hoisting the trophy in the €150 Coolbet Live Special. 

The Coolbet Live Special runs monthly at the Chesterfield Poker Club for the vibrant Estonian poker community. However, this Coolbet Live Special proved to be more special than usual as it was the largest to date, with 244 entries, creating a €31,952 prize pool. 

Fester earned the largest prize, according to The Hendon Mob, in an international poker tournament after defeating Joonas Laamanen during heads-up action. 

Jon Gurrutxaga Alba Wins €1,500 Masterclass 

Jon Gurrutxaga Alba is part of the Spanish poker community that has called Tallinn home for a number of years. On Saturday, he faced off against a talent group of 29 entries for a piece of the €37,975 prize pool in the €1,500 Masterclass and taught the field a lesson after shipping the event for €18,000. 

Local poker beast Steven Tool was the only Estonian to cash after bowing out on the podium in third place for €6,000. 

Meanwhile, a pair of Finnish players also cashed in the event, including runner-up Teemu Toikkanen (second -  €11,000) and min-casher Arto Lehtonen (fourth - €2,975). 

Ronny Olsen Wins Final Event 

While many players said their goodbyes Saturday evening, it wasn’t just the locals that stuck around for the only event on Sunday in the €150 Hyper Turbo Version of the Main Event. 

The event attracted 72 entries to create a €9,428 prize pool. Norway’s Ronny Olsen and local Estonian Toivo Ojasoo agreed to a heads-up deal to flatten the payouts, guaranteeing Ojasoo at least €2,413. 

Olsen went onto glory by defeating Ojasoo to collect €3,027 and the final trophy of the 2024 Coolbet Open. 

Once again, a special thanks to all of the players, and of course The Coolbet Open staff, for making the 2024 Coolbet Open a success. We couldn’t have done it without you, and we look forward to seeing you the next time. 

See all the winner photos here.

Author: Jason Glatzer

Photos: Elena Kask