Julian Selinger Wins Record-Breaking WSOP Circuit Tallinn Main Event
He came back from a huge heads-up deficit to beat Roy van der Reijnst and take the €210,000 top prize
Julian Selinger won the 2026 WSOP Circuit Tallinn €1,500 Main Event at Hilton Tallinn Park Hotel & Olympic Park Casino after outlasting Roy van der Reijnst in a four-hour heads-up finish. He took home €210,000, a $5,000 WSOP Paradise package and a WSOP Circuit Main Event ring after topping a record field of 977 entries and a record prize pool of €1,253,002.
PokerNews reported that Selinger started the final table in the middle of the pack. He opened by knocking out Feras Abid, then later doubled two opponents in quick succession and slipped to the shortest stack with six players left before climbing back into third when van der Reijnst won a big flip against start-of-day leader Egidijus Matonis.
Matonis was out shortly after that, and van der Reijnst then eliminated David Marfil. At one point three-handed, van der Reijnst held nearly 80% of the chips in play, but Selinger fought back by doubling through him and then sending Kai Lehto out in third place.
The heads-up began with even stacks, and van der Reijnst was first to build a meaningful lead. Selinger answered with a run of successful bluffs and a bluff-catch, only to fall back to just three big blinds when a key flip went van der Reijnst’s way.
He still completed the comeback. Selinger won three consecutive all-ins to regain the chip lead, and the match ended when van der Reijnst called off with two pair against Selinger’s rivered straight. Van der Reijnst finished second for €140,500.
Day 2 had already shown how deep the event ran, trimming 147 returning players to 24 contenders. Selinger led that stage with 5,170,000 chips after busting Guillermo Gordo in 25th place, while van der Reijnst bagged 3,800,000 and David Marfil followed with 4,435,000.
Selinger said after the long finish that he was “beyond exhausted” and said he had been tired for hours, even while being “really happy and insanely grateful to be here.” Van der Reijnst also carried a small bit of story to the table, using an electronic candle he found in his coat pocket on Day 2 as a card protector all the way to the end.
