Ville Hakala Wins CBO Bratislava Main Event

Finland’s Ville Hakala etched his name into the Coolbet Open history books on Sunday evening after he defeated Egypt’s Maged Aziz heads-up in the €300,000 guaranteed Coolbet Open Bratislava €550 Main Event to win the €60,000 top prize at Banco Casino Bratislava.

Hakala not only became the first player to hoist the trophy at a Coolbet Open Main Event held in Slovakia but also the sixth overall Coolbet Open Main Event champion. Half of the Coolbet Open Main Event champions are now from Finland with Hakala joining the likes of Sebastian Wahl (May 2018 - €50,100) and Mathias Siljander (May 2019 - €60,100) in that exclusive club. Hakala put on a final table clinic eliminating player after player en route to a dominating victory.

The Main Event trophy isn’t the only one Hakala will bring home to Finland as he also proved he is more than a one-trick pony by also winning the €165 8-Game for €3,055 earlier in the week.

Meanwhile, Coolbet ambassador and Twitch streamer Ylva “Jevakim” Thorsrud also had an event to remember as she notched her single biggest live tournament cash of €25,190 thanks to a remarkable third-place podium finish. She wasn’t the only female at the final table as Austria’s Jasmine Schuster had an incredible eighth-place performance for €5,090.

2023 Coolbet Open Bratislava Main Event Final Table Results

Coolbet Open Bratislava Main Event Final Day Action

Ville Hakala was not among the favorites entering the third and final day of the 2023 Coolbet Open Main Event as he came into the action in ninth place out of the 16 players remaining in the 620 entry field. Instead, fellow Finn Jaakko Hokkanen came into the action with the chip lead with more than quadruple the stack of Hakala.

Daniel Shaker, Oskari Piira, Brandon Mifsud, Keito Kaljulaid, Jaroslav Peter, Roy Sorknes, and Coolbet streamer Jonatan Wedde all fell short of the final table with Mifsud’s exit coming as the biggest surprise as he came into the final day in third place before bad luck struck live at the live streamed feature table commentated by Stig Moen and Jason Glatzer.

Hakala was in fourth place with Israel’s Yehuda Yosef holding a commanding by the time the final table began with eventual runner-up Maged Aziz making a remarkable comeback as the short stack with just nine big blinds.

Norway’s Oeystein Stai began the final table in third place before things began to fall apart mostly due to bad luck. Stai had Hakala covered when his cowboys couldn’t get there against rockets. The Norwegian got the rest of his chips in with ace-ten and was the first player on the rail at the final table after not improving against ace-ten.

The short-stacked players kept doubling their stacks until Hakala woke up with aces again to take the chip lead with Jasmine Schuster not making magic with her big slick to hit the rail in eighth place.

Hakala cemented his chip lead after winning in a huge flip to eliminate Florian Fuchs in seventh place in what could have determined the direction of the tournament after his opponent’s big slick bricked the board against eights.

The rampage continued as Hakala eliminated Yosef, Rafael Ben, and the start of the day chip leader Hokkanen in succession before he let Aziz do the dirty work in eliminating Ylva Thorsrud.

Hakala held more than double the stack of Aziz before adopting a small-ball limping strategy during heads-up action. Aziz’s stack was deteriorating when he jammed ace-four unsuccessfully into Hakala’s tens to fall one player shy of the title. Despite missing out on the trophy and the glory, the only Egyptian in the field also had a day to be proud and will go home with a healthy €38,690.

Congrats to Hakala for winning the inaugural Coolbet Open Bratislava Main Event title!