Ottomar Ladva
by John Bain
Born June 17, 1997 in Haapsalu, Estonia, Ottomar is a chess Grandmaster and a four-time Estonian Chess Champion–winning the title in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2018!
In 2013 at 15 years old, he was the youngest player to win the Estonian Chess Championship.
Ottomar was one of 70 players who entered the $25,000 buy-in Super High Roller poker tournament. Ottomar didn’t pay the full $25k buy-in. Actually, he paid only $530 to enter a satellite tournament he won with 3,259 players. The prize was a $25,000 ticket to the Super High Roller!
At the $25,000 buy-in Super High Roller, Ottomar fought through the 70 players who entered to find himself Heads-Up against one of the best poker players in the world–Justin Bonomo!
Justin Bonomo
$53 Million in Winnings!
Justin Bonomo is #2 on the All-Time Poker Money List with $53 million in winnings! The $53 million total in winnings puts him behind only Bryn Kenney.
The 35-year-old Justin Bonomo, born September 30, 1985, is an American high-stakes professional poker player who lives in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
He became the youngest player at a televised final table in the poker world on February 19, 2005, during the inaugural year of the French Poker Open in Deauville, France. He was only 19 years old at the time. A poker prodigy!
The poker prodigy was about to meet the chess prodigy!
The Winning Poker Hand!
At the beginning of the Heads-up clash with Jason Bonomo at the final table, Ottomar was at a 1 to 4 disadvantage in chips.
After a two-hour Heads-Up battle, Ottomar managed not only to survive but to be ahead in chips.
On the last hand of the tournament, Justin Bonomo had Q♥J♠ pocket cards, with which to make the best poker hand with the five shared cards to come on the board.
Ottomar the chess Grandmaster had A♣J♣ pocket cards!
The Turn & River Cards
When “the turn” card came–the fourth shared card on the board–was a 10♣, Bonomo with his Q♥J♠ pocket cards went all-in!
Ottamar snap-called and the players turned-over and revealed their pocket cards.
The chess Grandmaster with his A♣J♣ pocket cards had the Top Pair (J’s) with an A♣ Top Kicker and a Flush ♣ Draw when he called the poker legend Bonomo’s all-in!
Justin Bonomo also had the Top Pair (J’s) but with a Q♥ kicker and an open-ended straight draw–if a 8♦♥♠ or K♦♥♠ came on the river, Bonomo would win the hand. Only six cards in the deck could beat Ottomar!
If an 8♣ or K♣ came on the river, however, Bonomo would make his straight but lose to Ottomar’s flush draw!
On the River–the fifth and last shared card on the board–a “nothing-card” came, and Ottomar won the hand and the tournament with Top Pair (J’s) and his top kicker the A♣!
Ottamar Ladva the chess Grandmaster was suddenly $525,089 richer!
Ottamar Ladva at the chessboard!
It’s your move!
Your Path from Chess to Poker Starts Here!
Beginner’s Book – Chess Rules For Students
Chess Rules For Students is a workbook for students learning the game of chess and for beginning students returning to the game. No previous knowledge of chess is necessary. Parents unfamiliar with chess will find this booklet a valuable guide to their child’s new interest.
Chess Rules For Students is designed with students, coaches, and parents in mind. Reading level is appropriate for grade-school use. All major rules of chess are covered, and algebraic notation worksheets are included. Each page is in easy-to-use worksheet format.
A student-friendly Answer Key makes self-correction fun!
Beginners & Intermediate Book – Checkmate! Ideas For Students
Checkmate! Ideas For Students is a workbook for beginning and intermediate students. Checkmate! covers the tactics used in checkmate attacks with clear explanations, diagrams and arrows to pinpoint the key features.
Unlike many other basic checkmate books, Checkmate! categorizes the checkmates by the tactics used to force the checkmate–like Pins, Sacrifices, Removing the Guard, Attraction, Clearance and Attacking Flight Squares–rather than only the checkmate pattern itself.
The worksheets and Answer Key are clear and simple for the student to use, and easy for the parent, teacher and coach to correct! Fun!
Intermediate & Advanced Book – Chess Tactics For Students
Chess Tactics For Students is a workbook containing 434 carefully selected problems in worksheet format. Chess Tactics has been extensively field tested with elementary, middle-school, and high-school students over a four-year period.
This book is ideal for independent seat work as well as for homework and classroom instruction.
The worksheet format and Answer Key enable self-correction with minimal dependence or direct help from a chess teacher, coach, or parent.
There’s quite a poker boom going on among chess players in the last few years and it might go even crazier now as Estonian chess grandmaster Ottomar Ladva wins 6-Max Super High Roller for $525,089 ! An already amazing achievement makes everything even more impressive if we tell you that he qualified from only $530! First, he bought into $530 satellite and won $2,650 satellite ticket, which he turned into a $25,500 seat for Super High Roller. For the win he had to fight against Justin Bonomo in HU, while being more than 2:1 behind in chips. After multiple hours he finally finished with a check mate and took home $525,089 first place prize. Mike McDonald even suggest that he might be one of the best chess-poker crossover players right now.