Day 5 of the 2025 OlyBet Showdown Riga Voodoo Autumn Edition brought in tons of action to players around the world on Wednesday at Olympic Voodoo Casino. Not only did the much-anticipated 2025 OlyBet Showdown Riga Voodoo Autumn Edition €1,100 Main Event begin its first of three opening flights, but three players were awarded trophies.
Latvia’s Jānis Meņģelis earned the biggest win thus far this festival after defeating American Xavier Luis Lyu heads-up to win the two-day Event #9: €555 NLH Championship for €19,845.
Finland’s Semi Rantanen is making a name for himself in Latvia. He shipped the first trophy of the festival after winning the one-day Event #4: €150 NLH for €1,720. On Wednesday, Rantanen bagged himself a second trophy after winning the one-day Event #17: €250 PLO4/PLO5 Progressive Bounty for €1,580 plus bounties.
Dutch flag hunter Koen Roos came to Riga eagerly after his Latvia flag at The Hendon Mob. He not only earned his flag but will also have a trophy to help remember the experience after winning the one-day Event #18: €200 NLH for €2,970.
In the Main Event, a total of 34 entries hopped into action on Day 1a, with 12 players advancing to Day 2 after 12 levels of play. Follow the live reporting team at poker.pro, where Christoffer Karlén is on-site, bringing poker fans all the biggest hands and updates from the Main Event.
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Jānis Meņģelis Wins €555 NLH Championship After Two-Hour Heads-Up
The two-day €555 NLH Championship established a new record for this event in Latvia with 185 entries, including 26 entries, while late registration were still open on Wednesday’s Day 2 for a €87,875 prize pool. This eclipsed the previous record established in March during the 2025 OlyBet Showdown Riga Voodoo Spring Edition, when France’s Michel Leibgorin won the lion’s share of the €79,325 prize pool after defeating a field of 167 entries to win the €17,685 top prize.
The event provided tons of action with 40-minute blind levels on the second day. Eventually, Latvia’s Roberts Krīgers bubbled the event, leaving the final 26 players in the money for at least a €1,120 min-cash for more than double their buy-in. While Krīgers was left empty-handed this time, he has made his mark in his home country this year by winning the 2025 OlyBet Showdown Riga Voodoo Spring Edition €1,100 Main Event for a whopping €33,300 and will still have a chance to become the first two-time champion of this prestigious event with Day 1b and Day 1c running on Thursday.
Another big champion at an OlyBet Showdown experienced a different type of bubble as the 2025 OlyBet Showdown Vilnius Ace Breaker €555 Main Event champion from Finland Rasmus Sihvonen was eliminated one spot shy of the final table in 10th place for €2,040.
Meanwhile, Finland’s Saara Benlamine, who became well-known in OlyBet circles after winning the 2024 Queens of Tallinn, began the internationally-flavored final table, boasting players from seven different countries with the chip lead. She was unable to parlay this into a victory and instead bowed out in fifth place for a healthy prize of €5,490.
Estonian poker veteran Stanislav Šmeljov was the next to go in fourth place for €7,120 before the start-of-the-day chip leader from Lithuania Eimantas Adomavičius exited in third place for €9,150.
This left American Xavier Luis Lyu and local hero Jānis Meņģelis heads-up for the title. No deal was made, and the duo battled for nearly two hours. Lyu began the heads-up action with the chip lead, but Meņģelis whittled away and eventually had more than double the stack of Lyu when the final hand took place.
Meņģelis shoved with ace-four suited from the button before Lyu called off his 10 big blind stack with jacks. It was looking like stacks would be evened up after a five-five-five flop and a ten on the turn. However, an ace spiked the river to improve Meņģelis to a full house to win the trophy and the €19,845 top prize, while Lyu earned €12,840 for his impressive runner-up performance.
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Jānis Meņģelis | Latvia | €19,845 |
| 2 |  Xavier Luis Lyu | United States | €12,840 |
| 3 |  Eimantas Adomavičius | Lithuania | €9,150 |
| 4 |  Stanislav Šmeljov | Estonia | €7,120 |
| 5 |  Saara Benlamine | Finland | €5,490 |
| 6 | Tomas Bulkšas | Lithuania | €4,270 |
| 7 | Jānis Vasiļjevs | Latvia | €3,400 |
| 8 |  Bahadir Hatipoglu | Turkey | €2,840 |
| 9 |  Mathies Boesen | Denmark | €2,420 |
| 10 | Rasmus Sihvonen | Finland | €2,040 |
| 11 | Edgaras Truskauskas | Lithuania | €2,040 |
| 12 | Tommi Hakala | Finland | €1,770 |
| 13 | Mārcis Mednis | Latvia | €1,770 |
| 14 |  Jonas Klaus | Germany | €1,560 |
| 15 | Jari Mahonen | Finland | €1,560 |
| 16 | Liutauras Armanavičius | Lithuania | €1,370 |
| 17 | Alex Heinonen | Finland | €1,370 |
| 18 |  Jon Gurrutaxada Alba | Spain | €1,220 |
| 19 |  Daniele D’angelo | Italy | €1,220 |
| 20 | Artur Kulanurk | Estonia | €1,220 |
| 21 | Kaspars Mamons | Latvia | €1,120 |
| 22 |  Hryhorii Meleshenko | Ukraine | €1,120 |
| 23 | Jevgēnijs Kritiņins | Latvia | €1,120 |
Finland’s Semi Rantanen Wins Second Trophy
The one-day Event #17: €250 PLO4/PLO5 Progressive Bounty attracted 59 entries to generate €12,331 in prizes, including €5,900 reserved for progressive bounties.
Players from five different countries earned at least a €400 min-cash after Juris Bonders and the United Kingdom’s Mark Adams exited first at the final table. As a fun fact, Bonders and Adams just faced off heads-up for the title in Event #10: €250 PLO5 on Monday, with both players securing four-figure cashes before Bonders went on to ship the event for €2,170.
Meanwhile, the big news from this event was that Finland’s Semi Rantanen earned his second trophy this festival after defeating Sweden’s Serguei Palomera heads-up. Both players earned the €1,580 top prize, with Rantanen collecting the big bounty at the end. On Saturday, Rantanen shipped Event #4: €150 NLH for €1,720. Time will tell whether Rananen can complete a hat-trick with a third trophy this festival.
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Semi Rantanen | Finland | €1,580 |
| 2 |  Serguei Palomera | Sweden | €1,580 |
| 3 | Sven Reimaa | Estonia | €1,021 |
| 4 | Jānis Jemeļjanovs | Latvia | €760 |
| 5 | Danila Slabov | Lithuania | €600 |
| 6 | Juris Šaicāns | Latvia | €490 |
| 7 | Phenporn Laatikainen | Finland | €400 |
Koen Roos Earns His Flag (and Trophy) in €200 NLH
The Netherlands’ Koen Roos has spent his year traveling around the globe collecting different country flags at The Hendon Mob. A flag is earned every time a player cashes in a reported international event. Roos came to mind with one goal in mind – to earn a flag.
Instead of just a flag, Roos denied Lithuania its first title this festival, with Justinas Fišeris taking second place for €1,900 after his Lithuanian countrymate Robertas Špakis earned the third-place prize of €1,271, by winning the trophy and the €2,970 top prize.
The one-day Event #18: €200 NLH attracted 54 entries to create a €8,721 prize pool with the top seven players earning at least a €450 min-cash after Latvia’s Roberts Leja bubbled the event in eighth place.
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Koen Roos | Netherlands | €2,970 |
| 2 | Justinas Fišeris | Lithuania | €1,900 |
| 3 | Robertas Špakis | Lithuania | €1,271 |
| 4 | Askolds Uldriķis | Latvia | €900 |
| 5 | Anssi Aska | Finland | €680 |
| 6 |  Baptiste Caim | France | €550 |
| 7 | Roope Keminen | Finland | €450 |
2025 OlyBet Showdown Riga Voodoo Autumn Edition Schedule (Thursday, Sept. 25)
Wednesday boasts tons of action, including the final two opening flights of the Main Event at 12 p.m. and 8 p.m. Day 1b will boast a dozen 40-minute blind levels while Day 1c will play faster with a 25-minute clock. Players will also be able to enter and re-enter during the first two blind levels of Friday’s Day 2.
The poker.pro live reporter Christoffer Karlen will be bringing the Main Event action to your phone or desktop in the 2025 OlyBet Showdown Riga Voodoo Autumn Edition live reporting blog.
In addition to the Main Event, players will have two opportunities to win trophies on Thursday in the €200 NLH at 4 p.m. and the €250 NLH Progressive Bounty at 9 p.m.
Check out Thursday’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 #16: €1,100 NLH Main Event Day 1b |
| 4 p.m. | Event #19: €200 NLH |
| 8 p.m. | Event #16: €1,100 NLH Main Event Day 1c (Turbo) |
| 9 p.m. | Event #20: €250 NLH Progressive Bounty |
