Grogan Wins Final Trophy and Kings of Tallinn Ticket to Conclude OlyBet Showdown Riga Voodoo Bounty

Heartfelt goodbyes were said, including by this author, as the inaugural OlyBet Showdown Riga Voodoo Bounty concluded on Sunday with its final events at Olympic Voodoo Casino.

Two players went home thrilled about winning the festival’s final two trophies, including Arturas Dudcenka, who won €10,190, including mystery bounties in the two-day €555 NLH Mystery Bounty. This was easily Dudcenka’s largest cash at The Hendon Mob, coming into the festival with $2,572 in total poker earnings.

While Dudcenka collected the biggest cash prize, many will say Ireland’s James Grogan was the star of the day. Grogan spent some time saying farewell to his friends as they were heading home or to their next destination one by one before entering the fast-paced €150 NLH Deep Stack Turbo. He won that event for €1,254 before deciding to also join the final event of the festival in the €60 NLH Satellite to the upcoming 2024 Kings of Tallinn Autumn Edition €500,000 guaranteed €1,100 Main Event. He then went on to win that alongside Latvia’s Kaspars Avots to cap off a remarkable day for Grogan.

OlyBet would also like to thank all of the hard-working staff. However, the players made this possible, so a massive congratulations to bringing poker back in a big way to the Latvian capital of Riga. We look forward to welcoming you during the next big festival.

Arturas Dudcenka Wins €555 NLH Mystery Bounty

The €555 NLH Mystery Bounty attracted 46 entries on its opening day on Saturday. The action resumed on Sunday with the final seven players, each already in the money for a portion of the €10,580 prize pool and anticipating mystery bounty pulls with a total of €11,500 ready to be claimed.

While it was domination nation for the home country of Latvia most of the way, this event took a much different turn than the norm. The four Latvian players at the final table were the first to hit the rail including the likes of Vladislavs Petrovs, Kristaps Zalitis, Romans Kiriļenkovs, and Keiriss Maris guaranteeing that a player from a foreign country would win the penultimate trophy of the festival.

Ukraine’s Yevhen Pavlenko was ousted in third place leaving Norweigan poker beast Vidar Assersen and Arturas Dudcenka heads-up for the title. Dudcenka came out on top to win one of the largest prizes of the festival after earning his opponent’s chips.

Grogan Wins Gold and a Satellite

Ireland’s James Grogan is one of the nicest guys this author knows on the poker tour having attended many festivals in a variety of countries. Nice guys don’t always finish last as Grogan proved on the final day of the festival by coming out on top of a 28-entry field in the final trophy event, the €150 NLH Deep Stack Turbo to win the €1,254 top prize.

The rest of the €3,494 prize pool remained in Latvia as Dainis Rozitis, Janis Mengelis, Ruslans Agafonovs, and Raivis Fedins headed to the payout desk before Grogan was ready for his winner’s photo.

This was not all as we already mentioned, Grogan had a day to remember as he also won a seat to the 2024 Kings of Tallinn Autumn Edition Main Event in the final event of the festival to cap off a remarkable day.

Kings, Kings, and Queens

If you missed out on the fun in Riga, rest assured there are even bigger festivals to cap off an amazing year of poker in Tallinn and Riga.

The team at OlyBet is set to welcome you to Tallinn for the first Kings of Tallinn Autumn Edition to build on the success of the brand from October 18-27, 2024 with a record-breaking 59 numbered events at Olympic Park Casino and the adjoining Hilton Tallinn Park.

For the first time, the Kings brand will leave Estonia and head to Lithuania for the inaugural Kings of Vilnius, which will feature 32 events, including the €250,000 guaranteed €1,100 Main Event, from Nov. 15-24 at Olympic Casino Lietuva.

We also recommend that women reserve Nov. 28 to Dec. 1 on their calendars as the ladies-only festival The Queens of Tallinn will announce its schedule soon.

Best of luck on the felts and we look forward to welcoming you for some hot poker action soon.