Justas Vaičiulionis Leads Final 13 in OlyBet Showdown Riga Voodoo Main Event

The final weekend of the 2026 OlyBet Showdown Riga Voodoo Spring Edition will showcase tons of action, including the conclusion of the three-day €1,100 Main Event at Olympic Casino Voodoo.

Lithuania’s Justas Vaičiulionis, who began Day 2 with the chip lead, will enter the final day of the €1,100 Main Event with the chip lead over the 13 survivors with €2,910 already locked up, with all players with their eyes on the coveted trophy and the €34,950 top prize.

Two players earned trophies on Friday. Latvia’s Andrejs Nozdrins defeated Kristaps Zarāns heads-up to win the €1,963 top prize in the €200 PLO4/PLO5. Meanwhile, Jukka Juvonen defeated Latvia’s Klāvs Garselis heads-up in the €200 NLH Turbo to earn the €2,371 top prize.

The poker.pro live reporting, headlined by Richard Hayes, will begin at Noon when cards are in the air for the final day of the €1,100 Main Event.

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Justas Vaičiulionis Maintains Lead into Final Day Main Event

Day 2 of the OlyBet Showdown Riga Voodoo Spring Edition €1,100 Main Event is in the books, and Justas Vaičiulionis of Lithuania has preserved his start-of-day chip lead to top the standings, as 13 qualifiers progress to the final day.

Vaičiulionis bagged up 727,000 after producing a composed performance throughout the day. He holds a reasonable lead over his closest challenger, fellow countryman Albert Ostrovskij (667,000), while Ryhor Karapanau of Belarus (491,000) completes the podium places.

The 2025 Kings of Tallinn Main Event champion Kaspars Butāns of Latvia (172,000) and Mateusz Oscilowski of Poland (195,000) bring up the rear of the field, but they are not in the danger zone, with plenty of play remaining before a champion is crowned. 

€1,100 Main Event End of Day 2 Chip Counts

Place	Player	Country	Chips	Big Blinds
1	Justas Vaičiulionis	Lithuania	727,000	60
2	Albert Ostrovskij	Lithuania	667,000	55
3	Ryhor Karapanau	Belarus	491,000	40
4	Artūras Kesleris	Lithuania	416,000	34
5	Ņikita Žarovs	Latvia	377,000	31
6	Pāvels Spirins	Latvia	320,000	26
7	Georgios Orestidis	Greece	290,000	24
8	Roberts Krīgers	Latvia	285,000	23
9	Nico Marraffa	Italy	268,000	22
10	Viktors Čaikins	Latvia	258,000	21
11	Ville Keranen	Finland	221,000	18
12	Mateusz Oscilowski	Poland	195,000	16
13	Kaspars Butāns	Latvia	172,000	14

All players have secured a minimum payday of €2,910, but will surely have their sights firmly set on the chunky first-place prize of €34,950.

Remaining Payouts

Day 2 Action

A total of 48 players had qualified from the starting flights among 139 entrants, but with late registration open for two levels in Day 2, a further 19 buy-ins brought the total to 158 entries, creating a €150,100 prize pool.

The poker.pro CEO Jason Glatzer caught heat early, storming from near the bottom of the standings into the top ten by the first break, where Vaiciulionis was sitting in third, behind Ville Keranen and Artūras Kesleris.

Kesleris came to the fore for a period of time, applying constant pressure to opponents, to the extent that Jani Makinen was forced to fold the turned nut flush on a river paired board.

Vaiciulionis returned to the top of the standings when he caught Kristaps Sipols on a bluff, and Pāvels Spirins joined him after cracking Audrius Siaulys rockets with a rivered one-card straight, the chips hitting the middle when Siaulys was drawing dead.

The bubble loomed after the second break, and big stacks Vaiciulionis and Kesleris made hay while the sun shone during this period, dominating their respective tables. 

Yaniv Peretz was the unfortunate player to leave empty-handed, running snowmen into Ostrovskij’s pocket tens, guaranteeing all players a €2,150 payday.

Priit Vanem and Martin “Franke” Von Zweigbergk were the first players to depart in the money, while the 2025 Kings of Vilnius Main Event winner Mantas Bagočius was next to go, after missing an up-and-down draw against Vaiciulionis.

Ostrovskij subsequently held in a flip against Viesturs Osis to send the Latvian to the rail, and then found a huge river call against Kesleris to vault up the standings. 

Spirins got lucky to dispose of Darius Narmontas with a dominated ace when he flopped two pair after Narmontas jammed from the small blind, and Uldis Lejnieks followed him out the door when he lost a flip to Nikita Žarovs.

Glatzer had gotten short and busted to Karapanau in 14th in another blind-on-blind confrontation, but despite over 90 minutes of play left, his was the last elimination of the day, with play becoming extremely cagey in the latter stages, with pre-flop three-bets generally being respected.

Before the close of play, Viktors Čaikins found some heat to double twice in quick succession, while Georgios Orestidis doubled in the last hand of the day against Karapanau, setting the stage for the players to return for the final showdown.

Day 3 will kick off at noon on March 21 at Olympic Voodoo Casino, Riga, with the clock set to 60-minute levels. poker.pro will be on the floor from cards in the air until the trophy is lifted, so stay tuned to see whether anyone can deny Vaiciulionis a wire-to-wire victory.

• €555 NLH Championship reports and live coverage by Richard Hayes.

Andrejs Nozdrins Wins €200 PLO4/PLO5

The €200 PLO4/PLO5 attracted 46 entries, creating a €7,429 prize pool. A three-way deal between three Latvian players was agreed after the Kings of Tallinn commentator Andreas “Wiseguy” Hoglund from Sweden exited in fourth place for €890, guaranteeing the final three players at least €1,693, with €300 remaining to be played for.

Kristaps Zarāns and Juris Bonders both collected €1,693, while Andrejs Nozdrins went on to earn the trophy and the €1,963 top prize.

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1	Andrejs Nozdrins	Latvia	€1,963
2	Kristaps Zarāns	Latvia	€1,693
3	Juris Bonders	Latvia	€1,693
4	Andreas Hoglund	Sweden	€890
5	Priit Vanem	Estonia	€670
6	Kaspars Renga	Latvia	€520

Jukka Juvonen Wins €200 NLH Turbo

The €200 NLH Turbo attracted 41 entries, creating a €6,622 prize pool. The final eight players in this event were uniquely split between just two countries, Latvia and Finland. Finland was at a 3:2 advantage by the time the money bubble broke in this fast-paced event featuring a 10-minute clock, and before long, Finland’s Jukka Juvonen and Latvia’s Klāvs Garselis were battling it out in heads-up action.

Juvonen defeated Garselis to add yet another Baltic trophy to his collection, while piling another €2,371 to his already more than $500,000 in live tournament cashes in events tracked by The Hendon Mob.

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1	Jukka Juvonen	Finland	€2,371
2	Klāvs Garselis	Latvia	€1,660
3	Sonja Sarkkamaa	Finland	€1,190
4	Ingus Anšēvics	Latvia	€810
5	Toni Jarvisalo	Finland	€590

Saturday is full of action at Olympic Voodoo Casino with a busy day planned from the start. The €1,100 Main Event will resume for its final day at Noon at the same time as the final day of the €350 NLH Deepstack Progressive Bounty. Many women will pop in around the same time to enjoy a satellite costing just €10 that guarantees at least three seats to the €150 NLH Queens, which begins a few hours later a 4 p.m.

The final multiday event of the schedule in the two-day €350 NLH OlyBet Mystery Bounty begins at 1 p.m., with the evening bringing the €250 NLH at 7 p.m. and the €200 PLO4/PLO5 at 9 p.m.

The final trophy of the day is up for grabs for anyone with an account at OlyBet Poker, regardless of whether the player physically attended the OlyBet Showdown Riga Voodoo Spring Edition in the €150 OlyBet Showdown Riga Online Progressive Bounty. If curious, this event will also award a trophy and ship it to any player not in attendance.

Check out today’s schedule below and head to OlyBetEvents.com to learn more about the full schedule, a player’s guide, and more.

• Article originally produced at poker.pro.