Monday delivered plenty of thrills at the 2025 OlyBet Showdown Riga Voodoo Autumn Edition, as the second-largest event of the festival, Event #9: €555 NLH, kicked off its first of two opening flights at Olympic Voodoo Casino. The two-day affair drew 81 entries on Day 1a, with many more expected during Tuesday’s Day 1b and through the first two levels of Day 2 on Wednesday before late registration closes.
After 12 levels of play, Israel’s Alexander Kosman bagged the lead, spinning his 30,000 stack into a commanding 243,500. Close behind were 2024 Queens of Tallinn Main Event champion Saara Benlamine of Finland (220,000) and Estonia’s Stanislav Šmeljov (202,000), giving the Day 1a survivors some powerful stacks heading into Day 2.
Meanwhile, Latvia began chasing Finland down on the festival’s trophy leaderboard. Finland entered Monday with three titles compared to Latvia’s one, secured on Sunday by Jānis Ērglis in the €350 NLH Progressive Bounty for €4,070 plus bounties. However, local favorite Juris Bonders added another trophy for the home country after defeating the United Kingdom’s Mark Adams heads-up in Event #10: €250 PLO5, earning €2,170.
Read on for the highlights of Day 3 at the 2025 OlyBet Showdown Riga Voodoo Autumn Edition.
- Read more: 2025 OlyBet Showdown Riga Voodoo Spring Edition Establishes New Gold Standard in Latvia
- Read more: The 2025 OlyBet Showdown Riga Autumn Edition Brings the Heat to Riga
- Read more: Nine Days in Poker Heaven at the 2025 OlyBet Showdown Riga Autumn Edition
- Read more: 2025 OlyBet Showdown Riga Voodoo AE Day 1: Semi Rantanen Earns First Trophy
- Read more: 2025 OlyBet Showdown Riga Voodoo AE Day 2: Vili Turunen Wins Opening Event
Juris Bonders Wins Sole Trophy on Monday in €250 PLO5
Players battled in satellites and Day 1a of the €555 before Event #10: €250 PLO5 kicked off as the final event of the day. The tournament attracted 26 runners to create a €5,434 prize pool, with the top four players banking at least a €760 min-cash for more than triple their buy-in.
Latvia’s Jānis Ērglis was looking to make it two trophies in two days but bowed out short of the money in sixth place before his countrymate Oskars Zalāns exited in fifth place on the stone-cold bubble. Fellow Latvian Raimonds Švāns was the first player to cash for fourth place for €760 in this event.
Finland’s trophy count of three was guaranteed to stay the same on Monday after Finland’s Pasi Kuosmanen exited in third place for €980, leaving Latvia’s Juris Bonders and the United Kingdom’s Mark Adams heads-up for the title. Bonders defeated his opponent to earn Latvia’s second trophy this festival along with the €2,170 top prize, while Adams banked €1,524 for his runner-up performance.
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Juris Bonders | Latvia | €2,170 |
| 2 |  Mark Adams | United Kingdom | €1,524 |
| 3 |  Pasi Kuosmanen | Finland | €980 |
| 4 | Raimonds Švāns | Latvia | €760 |
2025 OlyBet Showdown Riga Voodoo Autumn Edition Schedule (Tuesday, Sept. 23)
Monday will begin with a €20 satellite guaranteeing five seats to the €250 NLH Progressive Bounty at noon. The target event will begin three hours later at 3 p.m. and will award the sole trophy for the day.
Many players are expected to pile into the second and final opening flight of the €555 NLH Championship at 6 p.m., while others will join in on the action in the €80 Mega Satellite. This guarantees at least four seats to the €1,100 Main Event, which will be live reported at poker.pro.
Check out Monday’s schedule below or head to the 2025 OlyBet Showdown Riga Voodoo Spring Edition landing page at OlyBetEvents to check out the full schedule and more.
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
| 12 p.m. | Event #12: €20 NLH Satellite to €250 NLH Progressive Bounty (Five Seats Guaranteed) |
| 3 p.m. | Event #13: €250 NLH Progressive Bounty |
| 6 p.m. | Event #9: €555 NLH Championship Day 1b |
| 9 p.m. | Event #14: €80 Mega Satellite to €1,100 Main Event (Four Seats Guaranteed) |
