German player Phil Gross has known many a success at Olympic Park Casino in Tallinn. In fact, all but one cashes on his Hendon Mob come from the Estonian capital. His largest-ever score is his runner-up finish in the Kings of Tallinn Summer Showdown Main Event for €72,000, while his first-ever live tournament victory came with a ring when he was victorious in the €555 Event. 

Now, he has set himself up for more glory as Gross bagged one of the biggest stacks across the three starting flights of the €555 Championship at the inaugural Kings of Tallinn: Autumn Edition. With 260,000 in his bag, he started Day 2 today at noon with 217 big blinds, having only the Frenchman Theophile George in front of him, who began with 273,700 chips. Estonian crusher Tarmo Tammel, who sits in tenth place on the hosting country's all-time money list, completes the podium with a stack of 229,400.

Start of Day 2 Top Ten Chip Counts

Rank Player Country Chip Count

Big Blinds
1 Theophile George France 273,700 228
2 Phil Gross Germany 260,000 217
3 Tarmo Tammel Estonia 229,400 191
4 Vasyl Laba Ukraine 209,900 175
5 Mikael Haapaniemi Finland 193,300 161
6 Timo Ruuska Finland 172,000 143
7 Alberto Martinez Gonzalez Spain 164,400 137
8 Tanel Evert Estonia 157,700 131
9 Nils Butevics Latvia 154,700 129
10 Rasmus Lundstrom Finland 153,900 128


In total, 194 players out of the 447 entries made it through to Day 2. However, late registration remains open until the start of Level 12 at 2:20 p.m. local time. The starting stack of 30,000 will be worth 15 big blinds at that point, and the live reporting is set to start at the same time. Day 2 is scheduled to play down to the final 16 players, and with 40-minute levels throughout, a long day is ahead for those who run deep.

Stay tuned as the action from Day 2 of the €555 Championship, as well as the prize pool and payout information, will be brought live to you in just one hour.