The action was both fun and intense on Friday as the final weekend of the 2026 OlyBet Showdown Vilnius Ace Breaker launched at Olympic Casino Lietuva.
The €1,100 OlyBet Showdown Vilnius Ace Breaker Main Event captured the attention of players and poker fans throughout the day, with live reporting at poker.pro continuing until a winner is crowned. An additional 32 entries hopped into the field during the late registration period, bringing the field to 183 players and a hefty €173,850 prize pool. The action went deep into the money with the top 23 locking up at least a €2,210 min-cash before the final 12 bagged their stacks for Saturday’s final day, each guaranteed €3,500 but eyeing the €39,260 top prize.
The remaining Main Event field is largely a home crowd, outside of overnight chip leader and Vilnius Ace Breaker side event winner Jarmo Luokkala from Finland, and the short stack, Evaldas Narmontas, who is proudly waving the Norwegian flag.
The Festival Series Founder Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk also came into town to check out the lay of the land for the upcoming The Festival Weekend at Olympic Casino Vilnius on May 28–31. Watch out, flaghunters—Franke has made it look easy and may have just stepped up the game with a fresh trophy-hunting challenge. Franke, along with some friends, including this author, jumped into the €200 PL Sviten; it may have taken an entry (or five) to finally build a stack, but once he did, it was clear with four players remaining who the eventual champion would be as he cruised to the trophy and the €2,068 top prize.
Franke was not the only hero on Friday at the 2026 OlyBet Showdown Vilnius Ace Breaker, as Lithuania’s Tomas Kovalenka shipped the €350 NLH Progressive Bounty for €3,778 plus bounties, while Raimondas Žilėnas earned a trophy of his own after winning the €200 NLH for €2,197.
Stay tuned as poker.pro continues to bring you all the key moments and stories from the 2026 OlyBet Showdown Vilnius Ace Breaker, including live reporting of both the €555 NLH Championship and the €1,100 Main Event.
- LIVE REPORTING of the €1,100 Main Event at poker.pro
- LIVE REPORTING of the €555 NLH Championship at poker.pro
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- Read more: Rasmus Sihvonen Wins Second Vilnius Trophy in OlyBet Showdown Vilnius Ace Breaker €250 Opening Event
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- Read more: Rasmus Sihvonen Wins 2025 OlyBet Showdown Vilnius Ace Breaker Main Event
Luokkala Leads Main Event
The 2026 OlyBet Showdown Vilnius Ace Breaker is approaching its peak. There are two days left in the festival, and tomorrow, January 17, will be the big one, as the €1,100 Main Event wraps up.
Day 2 of the tournament commenced at noon today, and the 52 players who’ve advanced through the various starting-day flights were accompanied by a bunch of other contestants, as late registration was open during the first two 60-minute levels of Day 2. When late registration closed at the end of Level 14, the floor could confirm the numbers. A total of 183 entries had created a €173,850 prize pool. The top 23 players would all secure a €2,210 min-cash, and the winner will take home €39,260.
Perhaps, this has been the strongest-ever OlyBet Showdown Main Event field, with players such as 2025 WSOP Circuit Tallinn Main Event champion Jenny Westerlund, 2020 Kings of Tallinn Main Event champion Johan Karlsson, 2025 WSOP Circuit Tallinn ring winner Fabian Bartuschk, 2025 Kings of Tallinn €5,000 High Roller champion Kęstutis Jungevičius, and 2024 Vilnius Ace Breaker Main Event champion and 2024 Kings of Tallinn Main Event champion Edgaras Kausinis. The list of prominent names can be made much longer. After a marathon Day 2, though, only 12 players have secured their ticket to the final day, set to commence at 12:00 on Saturday, before a winner is eventually crowned in the evening.
Finland’s Jarmo Luokkala is the chip leader going into Day 3, playing 900,000 (i.e., 45 Big Blinds). Breathing down his neck is Lithuanian WSOP bracelet winner Gediminas Uselis, a very skillful player who surely will be able to do some damage with his 833,000 stack. To be honest, all remaining players have displayed great poker skills throughout the tournament and have earned their seats at the finale.
- €1,100 Main Event recap written by poker.pro live reporter Christoffer Karlén.
- Check out all of the 2026 OlyBet Showdown Vilnius Ace Breaker €1,100 Main Event action in the poker.pro live reporting.
| Rank | Player | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Jarmo Luokkala | Finland | 900,000 | 45 |
| 2 |  Gediminas Uselis | Lithuania | 833,000 | 42 |
| 3 | Jurgis Ragauskas | Lithuania | 643,000 | 32 |
| 4 | Justinas Adomauskas | Lithuania | 520,000 | 26 |
| 5 | Martynas Mockevicius | Lithuania | 518,000 | 26 |
| 6 | Deividas Daubaris | Lithuania | 447,000 | 22 |
| 7 | Kornelijus Smilingis | Lithuania | 393,000 | 20 |
| 8 | Vytautas Semaska | Lithuania | 292,000 | 15 |
| 9 | Audrius Stakelis | Lithuania | 268,000 | 13 |
| 10 | Deividas Butnoras | Lithuania | 238,000 | 12 |
| 11 | Povilas Jakutis | Lithuania | 236,000 | 12 |
| 12 |  Evaldas Narmontas | Norway | 184,000 | 9 |
Franke the Trophy Hunter Wins €200 Sviten
Sviten Special is a fun game invented in Sweden that is similar to Drawmaha, which was believed to be invented in parallel in the USA. The game combined both five-card draw and five-card Omaha, leading to a ton of action in a split-pot format.
Sweden’s Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk is a big fan of all mixed games, with Sviten, Chicago, and Open Face Chinese Poker being amongst his favorites. Franke, who founded The Festival Series, for his love of all games, arrived to Vilnius for the first time from Tallinn with the Kings of Tallinn commentator Andreas “Wiseguy” Hoglund and others. Hoglund, this author Jason Glatzer, and Franke all planned for the Sviten Special to be our first event during the 2026 OlyBet Showdown Vilnius Ace Breaker.
Franke was perhaps having a little too much fun in the beginning, as five of the 32 total entries for a €5,168 prize pool. However, the fifth time was the charm, and before lon,g Franke had a stack and was near the top of the leaderboard.
While Hoglund advanced to the final table, he was the first player to lose his short stack. 2025 OlyBet Showdown Vilnius Ace Breaker Main Event champion and 2026 OlyBet Showdown Vilnius Ace Breaker €555 NLH Championship winner Rasmus Sihvonen opted not to defend his title while late registration was still open on Day 2 of the €1,100 Main Event, and instead joined the Sviten. He managed a deep run before exiting in sixth place, with Latvia’s Raimonds Svans bubbling in fifth place.
Finland’s Väino Ketvell, who already had a PLO title under his belt this festival, and Franke held all the chips, while this author, Jason Glatzer, and the first-ever Sviten Special champion on Lithuanian soil at the 2024 Kings of Vilnius, Linas Jautakis, were looking for spots with their short stacks. The entire dynamic changed shortly after. Franke, who was playing a polarizing style, fired out a huge pot-sized bet. Ketvell, whose stack was at risk, felt the pressure, knowing Franke is more than capable of bluffing, and called off his stack with a strong, but not strong enough, hand to exit in fourth place for €720.
Franke took care of the rest of the field as well. He first eliminated this author in third place for €930 before hugs and congratulations were shared after Franke eliminated Jautakis in second place for €1,450 to win the title and the €2,068 top prize.
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk | Sweden | €2,068 |
| 2 | Linas Jautakis | Lithuania | €1,450 |
| 3 | Jason Glatzer | Lithuania | €930 |
| 4 | Väino Ketvell | Finland | €720 |
Tomas Kovalenka Leads the Lithuanian Domination in the €350 PKO
The one-day €350 NLH Progressive Bounty attracted a lucky 88 runners, creating €25,916 in prizes, including €8,800 in progressive bounties.
A Lithuanian winner was guaranteed with just five remaining after Sweden’s Johan Ekdahl was eliminated in sixth place for €1,010 plus bounties.
Juozas Kirjanovas (third – €2,560 plus bounties), Svajūnas Šeduikis (fourth – €1,800 plus bounties), and Vladimiras Mečkovskis (fifth – €1,300 plus bounties) collected their payouts shortly after leaving Tomas Kovalenka and Paulius Katinas heads-up for the title.
Both heads-up players already locked up the top €3,778 from the prize pool, along with any bounties they collected, to advance to the event’s final stage before Kovalenka won the massive bounty at the end to win the trophy.
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tomas Kovalenka | Lithuania | €3,778 |
| 2 | Paulius Katinas | Lithuania | €3,778 |
| 3 | Juozas Kirjanovas | Lithuania | €2,560 |
| 4 | Svajūnas Šeduikis | Lithuania | €1,800 |
| 5 | Vladimiras Mečkovskis | Lithuania | €1,300 |
| 6 | Johan Ekdahl | Sweden | €1,010 |
| 7 | Tomas Bassus | Lithuania | €800 |
| 8 |  Herli Olop | Estonia | €650 |
| 9 | Jurgis Beinoras | Lithuania | €520 |
| 10 | Kjell Sterner | Sweden | €460 |
| 11 | Toni Järvisalo | Finland | €460 |
Raimondas Žilėnas Wins €200 NLH
The €200 NLH was a turbo-charged affair attracting 38 runners to create a €6,137 prize pool. The final seven players were from either Lithuania or Finland, including Lithuania’s Audrius Navickas and Finland’s Jami Juutila exiting on the final table empty-handed.
Finland’s Väino Ketvell notched his second min-cash of the day with a fifth place finish for €550 to follow-up his fourth-place performance in the €200 Sviten. Two Lithuanians followed to the payout desk, with Gintaras Naglius securing third place for €1,100 and Tomas Pinkevičius earning the fourth-place prize of €750.
Raimondas Žilėnas earned the second title for the home country on Friday after defeating Finland’s Marko Hynynen (second – €1,540) heads-up to win the trophy and the €2,197 top prize.
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Raimondas Žilėnas | Lithuania | €2,197 |
| 2 | Marko Hynynen | Finland | €1,540 |
| 3 | Gintaras Naglius | Lithuania | €1,100 |
| 4 | Tomas Pinkevičius | Lithuania | €750 |
| 5 | Väino Ketvell | Finland | €550 |
2026 OlyBet Showdown Vilnius Ace Breaker Schedule (Saturday, January 17)
Players are gearing up for a big day with the 2026 OlyBet Showdown Vilnius Ace Breaker €1,100 Main Event, live reported at poker.pro, playing down to a winner, with the action kicking off at Noon.
However, this is just the start of the day, as the final multi-day event of the festival, the two-day €350 NLH OlyBet Special, also kicks off at Noon.
Meanwhile, a female winner is guaranteed to be crowned on Saturday with the €150 NLH Queens kicking off at 4 p.m. Many will be coming early, as a €10 satellite at Noon guarantees at least four seats to this event.
Trophy hunters will also have their opportunities in three other events, one of which you don’t need to be at the casino to play. The €200 NLH/PLO4 Button Round of Each begins at 7 p.m., while the €150 NLH Bounty kicks off at 9 p.m.
Meanwhile, players will also head online at OlyBet Poker at 9 p.m. as well for the €5,000 guaranteed €150 OlyBet Showdown Vilnius Online Progressive Bounty.
Check out today’s schedule below or head to the OlyBet Events website for the full schedule.
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
| 12:00 | Event #16: €1,100 NLH Main Event Day 3 |
| 12:00 | Event #25: €350 NLH OlyBet Special, 2-Days Event |
| 12:00 | Event #26: €10 NLH Satellite for Queens, 4 x €150 Tickets GTD! |
| 16:00 | Event #27: €150 NLH Queens, Women Only |
| 19:00 | Event #28: €200 NLH/PLO4, Button Round Each |
| 21:00 | Event #29: €150 NLH Bounty, €50 Bounties |
| 21:00 | Event #30: €150 OlyBet Showdown Vilnius Online Progressive Bounty, €5,000 GUARANTEED! |
- Images courtesy of OlyBetEvents / Viktorija Makovskaja
- Article originally produced at poker.pro
