The Festival Series Weekend Vilnius, powered by OlyBet Poker, got underway at Olympic Casino Lietuva on Thursday, May 28, with a lively opening day that set the tone for the first stop of the 2026 trio of festival weekends in the Baltic capitals. Four players were crowned champions, giving the series an immediate burst of momentum inside the Lithuanian capital.
From the opening bell, the atmosphere reflected what The Festival Series is known for: a welcoming mix of recreational players and experienced grinders, plus a schedule built for broad appeal. As the first of three Festival Series stops this year, Vilnius delivered early winners and signaled the start of another summer of action-packed poker across Europe.
Italy’s Simone Fumagalli, Lars Ridell, Marko Keskel, and Andreas Hoglund were all crowned champions on the opening day, while the €555 Main Event PKO attracted 64 entries on its opening day with Kęstutis Jungevičius leading the 8 survivors as a chip millionaire.
- Read more: The Festival Series Weekend Vilnius Begins Thursday
- Read more: The 2026 Festival Weekend Vilnius Shapes the Lithuanian Poker Landscape
Simone Fumagalli Wins Largest Sviten Special Event in Lithuanian History
The €350 PL Sviten was the first trophy event to kick off on Thursday. Sviten Special is a split-pot game with growing popularity throughout Europe and beyond, where players need to make the best five-card draw for one half of the pot and the best pot-limit Omaha hand for the other half.
The event broke a Lithuanian record for this poker variant with 43 entries creating a €12,664. The favored Scandinavians, including The Festival Series Founder Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk, who won a Sviten trophy earlier this year at the 2026 OlyBet Showdown Vilnius Ace Breaker, were all out of chips after Jari Virta hit the rail in third place for €2,030.
Two Italians were battling for the title before Simone Fumagalli shipped the bacon for €4,293, leaving Giorgio Savignone with the healthy runner-up prize of €2,790.
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Simone Fumagalli | Italy | €4,293 |
| 2 | Giorgio Savignone | Italy | €2,790 |
| 3 |  Jari Virta | Sweden | €2,030 |
| 4 | Vinci Pasquale | Italy | €1,520 |
| 5 |  Ville Hakala | Finland | €1,140 |
| 6 |  Attila Erdei | Hungary | €890 |
Lars Ridell Wins €200 NL Crazy Pineapple
The €200 NL Crazy Pineapple attracted 14 entries with the top three players earning a share of the €901 prize pool after a three-way deal was agreed upon.
Finland’s Markus Kaerpijoki and Sweden’s Benjamin Bingstroem each earned the €680 min-cash, while Lars Ridell went on to earn the trophy and the €901 top prize.
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lars Ridell | Sweden | €901 |
| 2 | Markus Kaerpijoki | Finland | €680 |
| 3 | Benjamin Bingstroem | Sweden | €680 |
Marko Keskel Leads the Estonian Clean Sweep in the €150 Blackjack Tournament
The Festival Series is more than just a poker festival; it also boasts events outside of poker, including the €150 Blackjack Tournament on Thursday. A dozen players got in the mix to create a €1,458 prize pool.
Players waving the Estonian flag crushed the rest of the field, led by Marko “Naxer” Keskel, who earned the trophy and the €1,000 top prize. The Festival Series photographer Mairo “EsotnianWeirdo” Toom (second – €440) and The Festival Series videographer Nikita “Hellsjesus” Valts (third – €250) rounded out the payout tables.
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Marko “Naxer” Keskel | Estonia | €1,000 |
| 2 | Mairo “EstonianWeirdo” Toom | Estonia | €440 |
| 3 | Nikita “Hellsjesus” Valts | Estonia | €250 |
Andreas “Wiseguy” Hoglund Wins €150 PLO4 Madness (Bomb Pot Feature)
We usually see Andreas “Wiseguy” Hoglund behind a microphone at poker events. This time around, the microphone was left at home, and Wiseguy instead made history on the tables by winning the inaugural €150 PLO4 Madness (Bomb Pot Feature) on Lithuanian soil for €2,344. The event plays like normal pot-limit Omaha most of the time, but periodically the action moved to double-board bombed pot.
The event attracted 62 entries, awarding €7,657 in prizes, with the top seven players earning a piece of the payout.
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Andreas “Wiseguy” Hoeglund | Sweden | €2,344 |
| 2 |  Robertas Jasnauskas | Lithuania | €1,943 |
| 3 |  Granit Haziraj | Norway | €1,110 |
| 4 |  Michal Rudnik | Poland | €790 |
| 5 | Franco Galli | Italy | €600 |
| 6 | Albertas Voišnarovič | Lithuania | €480 |
| 7 | Rita Paus | Lithuania | €390 |
The Festival Weekend Vilnius Day 2 Schedule (May 30)
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
| 12:00 | €555 Main Event Day 1B PKO |
| 13:00 | €350 Big O |
| 21:00 | €200 Texas Freezeout |
- Article originally published at poker.pro
- Photos courtesy of The Festival Series
