Riga is the final destination of 2026’s Baltic poker summer and it is arriving this week. The Festival Weekend Riga, powered by OlyBet Poker, opens at Olympic Voodoo Casino on Thursday September 10 and runs through Sunday September 13, bringing the third and final stop of the 2026 Festival Weekend series to Latvia’s capital for the first time. After Vilnius in May and Tallinn in July, the Baltic trilogy comes to its conclusion at one of Northern Europe’s finest poker venues. And if that is not enough reason to book a flight to Riga, consider this: the OlyBet Showdown Riga Voodoo Autumn Edition fires on September 19, just six days after the Festival Weekend closes. Riga is the place to be this month.
- Read more: The 2026 Festival Weekend Vilnius Shapes the Lithuanian Poker Landscape
- Read more: Gerardas Lukšėnas Wins The Festival Weekend Vilnius Main Event
- Read more: The 2026 Festival Weekend Tallinn Schedules Feature More Mixed Games Than You Could Ask For
- Read more: Ville-Matti Keränen Wins The Festival Weekend Tallinn €555 Main Event Mystery Bounty
- Read more: The Festival Tallinn 2026: November 20-29 at Olympic Park Casino
- Read more: Your Guide to the 2026 OlyBet Showdown Riga Voodoo Autumn Edition (September 19-27)
The Third and Final Festival Weekend of 2026
The Festival Series, founded by Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk and in partnership with Olympic Casino for 2026, built its Baltic calendar around three stops in three capitals. Vilnius went first, May 28-31 at Olympic Casino Lietuva. Lithuania’s Gerardas Lukšėnas won the €555 NLH Main Event PKO from a 159-entry field for €7,905, defeating Liutauras Armanavičius heads-up in what became one of the home crowd highlights of the Lithuanian poker year. The event drew four champions on its opening day including a record-breaking Sviten field in Lithuania.
Tallinn followed, July 1-5 at Olympic Park Casino, where Finland’s Ville-Matti Keränen won the €555 Mystery Bounty Main Event for €12,660 in official prize money plus €13,500 in bounties, fighting off a final table that included Australian chip leader Jarrod Coughtrie and Lithuanian two-day leader Marijus Dirgela. The Festival Weekend Tallinn produced some remarkable moments throughout including a €55,000 Friendly Sit’n’Go that Ranno Sootla won for €5,000, and a visit from poker streamer Gambledore. Now Riga completes the trilogy.
Riga is the series debut in Latvia, confirmed by The Festival’s own preview page: “Another debutant to 2026’s bumper schedule.” The Festival Weekend has been to Vilnius. It has been to Tallinn. Now it comes to Olympic Voodoo Casino for the first time, and the city deserves its moment. Olympic Voodoo Casino is the largest casino in the Baltic States, set inside the Radisson Blu Latvija Conference and Spa Hotel, the largest hotel in Riga with over 500 rooms and a central location a short walk from the Old Town. Riga is one of the great European cities for poker and life away from the tables, and a four-day festival here gives players the perfect combination of serious tournament poker and one of the continent’s most underrated capitals.
The Main Event: €555 Mystery Bounty
The headline event is the €555 Mystery Bounty Main Event, which runs across three Day 1 starting flights before Day 2 on Saturday. Day 1A fires Thursday at 15:00 with a 40,000 starting stack and 30-minute levels. Day 1B follows Friday at 13:00 in the same format. Day 1C on Friday evening at 19:00 is a Turbo with 15-minute levels for players who want the fast path to Day 2. Day 2 on Saturday plays with 40-minute levels from noon. The mystery bounty format means every elimination from Day 2 onwards carries an envelope, and those envelopes can reshape the entire leaderboard in a single hand. Online satellites are running now on OlyBet Poker with seats available from Centrolls.
Sunday’s €200 NLH Sunday Brunch includes an added package to The Festival Tallinn 2026, running November 20-29 at Olympic Park Casino. And a €30 satellite at 15:00 on Sunday guarantees two €550 tickets directly into The Festival Tallinn Main Event. Win on Sunday in Riga, play the full Festival in November. That is a compelling reason to stick around for the closing day of what promises to be a strong weekend.
And Then There Is Tallinn in November
The Festival Weekend Riga is the last of the three 2026 Baltic Weekend stops, but it is not the end of The Festival Series’ relationship with Olympic Casino or with the Baltic poker community this year. The partnership between The Festival Series and Olympic Casino runs all the way through to November, when The Festival Tallinn 2026 returns to Olympic Park Casino for a full ten-day festival from November 20-29. This is not a weekend edition. This is the real thing: the flagship Baltic event, with a full schedule, a bigger Main Event, and the complete Festival Series experience that Vilnius, Tallinn, and Riga have all been building toward throughout the year.
The three Weekend stops were, in many ways, a warm-up act for November. Players who discovered The Festival Series in Vilnius in May, or came through Tallinn in July, or are arriving in Riga this week for the first time, now have a clear next destination on the calendar. The Festival Weekend Riga is where the Baltic circuit ends for 2026. The Festival Tallinn in November is where the year reaches its conclusion. Qualify through the Sunday satellite at the Riga Weekend, through OlyBet Poker online, or register directly at thefestival.com.
The Festival Weekend Riga Full Schedule
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
| Thursday, September 10 | |
| 13:00 | Event #1: €30 Satellite to Main Event (Unl. Rebuys + Add-on, 2 Seats GTD) |
| 15:00 | Event #3: €555 Main Event Mystery Bounty Day 1A |
| 17:00 | Event #2: €350 PLO4/PLO5 BOMB Pot (Button Round Each, 8-Handed) |
| 19:00 | Event #4: €150 Blackjack Tournament (Winner Takes All) |
| 21:00 | Event #5: €200 NLH Progressive Bounty (€60 Progressive Bounties) |
| Friday, September 11 | |
| 12:00 | Event #6: €30 Satellite to Main Event (Unl. Rebuys + Add-on, 2 Seats GTD) |
| 13:00 | Event #3: €555 Main Event Mystery Bounty Day 1B |
| 14:00 | Event #7: €350 PLO4/PLO5 PKO (Button Round Each, 8-Handed) |
| 19:00 | Event #3: €555 Main Event Mystery Bounty Day 1C (Turbo) |
| 21:00 | Event #8: €150 OmahaJack |
| Saturday, September 12 | |
| 12:00 | Event #3: €555 Main Event Mystery Bounty Day 2 (Closed) |
| 13:00 | Event #9: €200 NLH 7-2 Estonia Special (incl. INES Rule) |
| 16:00 | Event #10: €350 Dealers Choice All PL (PLO HiLo8, BigO, PLO4, PLO5, PLO6) |
| 20:00 | Event #11: €200 NLH Big Bounty |
| Sunday, September 13 | |
| 12:00 | Event #12: €200 NLH Sunday Brunch (Added Package to The Festival Tallinn 2026) |
| 15:00 | Event #13: €30 Satellite to The Festival ME Tallinn (2x €550 Tickets GTD) |
A Side Event Schedule Worth Staying For
The mixed game lineup at The Festival Weekend Riga is one of the most interesting parts of the schedule. Thursday brings the PLO4/PLO5 BOMB Pot at 17:00, a format where every hand is a button-straddle bomb pot played eight-handed: mandatory action, big pots, no folding before the flop. Friday has the PLO4/PLO5 PKO at 14:00, adding a bounty layer to the same format. Saturday’s €350 Dealers Choice All PL rotates through PLO Hi-Lo 8, Big O, PLO4, PLO5, and PLO6, rewarding players who can move between Omaha disciplines. The €200 NLH 7-2 Estonia Special with the INES Rule on Saturday means making or calling a successful 7-2 bluff earns a bonus from every player at the table. Friday night’s OmahaJack at €150 adds another unique variant. Thursday’s Blackjack Tournament at €150 with a winner-takes-all prize pool gives casino game fans their moment too.
The OlyBet Showdown Is Just Around the Corner
Players who make the trip to Riga this week would be extremely well advised to check their calendars before booking the return flight. The 2026 OlyBet Showdown Riga Voodoo Autumn Edition fires September 19-27 at this same Olympic Voodoo Casino, just six days after The Festival Weekend closes. Nine days, 26 tournaments, a €1,100 NLH Main Event, a €555 NLH Championship, and 24/7 cash games. poker.pro will be on the ground throughout the OlyBet Showdown with live reporting on the final day of the €555 Championship and all three decisive days of the €1,100 Main Event, plus daily recap articles throughout.
The autumn 2025 OlyBet Showdown Riga produced a remarkable Main Event champion in Lithuania’s Arunas Satkus, an amateur more accustomed to €55-€250 buy-ins who stepped up to the €1,100 and outplayed a 150-entry field for €33,330, defeating Germany’s Konstantin Farber in a memorable heads-up after Farber had recovered from less than a big blind with nine remaining. The 2025 €555 Championship was won by Latvia’s Jānis Meņģelis for €19,845 from a record 185-entry field, defeating American Xavier Luis Lyu heads-up. Both editions confirmed what OlyBet’s Riga festivals deliver: serious structures, diverse international fields, and results that surprise.
The Festival Weekend September 10-13. The OlyBet Showdown September 19-27. Both at Olympic Voodoo Casino. Riga has built itself into one of the Baltic’s genuine poker destinations and this month is the proof of it. Qualify online at OlyBet Poker or register at the door. poker.pro will be producing daily recap articles throughout The Festival Weekend Riga, covering every winner, every key hand, and everything that matters from each day of the festival. All recaps will also be published at OlyBetEvents.com, just as they were during The Festival Weekend Vilnius and The Festival Weekend Tallinn. Bookmark both and follow along.
