Gvido Valters Wins Gold on Monday at the OlyBet Showdown Riga Voodoo Bounty
Monday witnessed many new players file into the Olympic Voodoo Lounge, located in the heart of the Latvian capital of Riga, to battle in the OlyBet Showdown Riga Voodoo Bounty from Sept. 14-22.
While Japan’s Yuri Ishida earned her Latvian flag, she fell one place shy of victory after Latvia’s Gvido Valters won the only trophy of the day in the €150 NLH Monday Express.
In other news, Lithuania’s Rimantas Boguzas secured the overnight chip lead in the two-day €250 NLH Deep Stack Mystery Bounty with WSOP Circuit ring winner Harijs Erglis just behind in hopes of securing his second trophy of the festival.
Meanwhile, four players punched their tickets to the €350 NLH Main Event Mystery Bounty via a €20 rebuy and add-on satellite guaranteeing three seats.
Read on to learn more about Monday’s Day 3 of the 2024 OlyBet Showdown Riga Voodoo Bounty at Olympic Voodoo Casino:
Valters Denies Ishida a Trophy
The fast-paced €150 NLH Monday Express was the final event of Monday to kick off and the only event awarding a trophy on Monday. The event attracted 22 entries to create a €2,746 prize pool with the top four players earning at least a min-cash of €384.
While Scotland’s Andrew Leathem joined the flag hunters for battle, he bubbled the event in fifth place. Leathem didn’t need the flag to add to his diverse The Hendon Mob profile and was witnessed rooting on her friend in Yuri Ishida to earn her stripes in Riga.
Ishida tried to earn her flag in several events over the past couple of days only to come up empty but now can play the rest of the series with less pressure after taking runner-up for €769 after both Latvia’s Askoldus Uldrikis (third – €494) and Italys’ Luigi Rizzi (fourth – €384) were out of gas.
Gvido Valters defeated Ishida heads-up to win the trophy and the €1,099 top prize. This continued the trend of local dominance, with the first five trophies staying on Latvia’s soil.
| Place | Name | Country | Prize |
| 1 | Gvido Valters | Latvia | €1,099 |
| 2 | Yuri Ishida | Japan | €769 |
| 3 | Askolds Uldriķis | Latvia | €494 |
| 4 | Luigi Rizzi | Italy | €384 |
Boguzas Wins Mystery Bounty
The two-day €250 NLH Deep Stack Mystery Bounty attracted 76 entries on its opening day with just 11 players surviving into Tuesday’s Day 2. Players will resume action already with at least a €220 min-cash secured with the hopes of winning the €2,481 top prize.
It will be a high-octane affair on Tuesday with many emotions from the players and spectators as mystery bounty envelopes will be opened and could determine who the biggest cash winner in this event.
Lithuania’s Rimantas Boguzas bagged the overnight chip lead after parlaying his 30,000 opening stack into a massive pile of 400,000 in chips.
Meanwhile, 2024 WSOP Circuit Tallinn ring winner Harijs Erglis shared with us before the start of play how he was hungry for a second trophy. Whether his determination pays off is left to be seen but, so far, so good for the Latvian as he advanced with 324,000 to start the day just behind Boguzas.
The action resumes at 4 p.m. on Tuesday. Check out the full seat draw and chips counts for the final 11 players:
| Table | Seat | Name | Country | Chips | Prize |
| 3 | 1 | Jānis Velkeris | Latvia | 112,000 | 14 |
| 3 | 3 | Mykyta Ivanov | Ukraine | 164,000 | 21 |
| 3 | 4 | Jarmo Luokkala | Finland | 180,000 | 23 |
| 3 | 5 | Raimo Reimann | Estonia | 118,000 | 15 |
| 3 | 8 | Martin Lehesalu | Estonia | 57,000 | 7 |
| 3 | 9 | Gatis Popovs | Latvia | 316,000 | 40 |
| 4 | 2 | Rimantas Boguzas | Lithuania | 400,000 | 50 |
| 4 | 3 | Ilvars Gudrimovičs | Latvia | 282,000 | 35 |
| 4 | 5 | Vasilijs Aleksejenko | Latvia | 282,000 | 35 |
| 4 | 7 | Andrius Mažeika | Lithuania | 45,000 | 6 |
| 4 | 9 | Harijs Ērglis | Latvia | 324,000 | 41 |
Day 4 Schedule (Sept. 17, 2024)
The action continues on Tuesday at the 2024 OlyBet Showdown Riga Voodoo Bounty with an inclusive €10 rebuy and add-on satellite to the €150 Celebrity Special.
The €150 Celebrity Special will begin at 8 p.m. this evening with bounties on local celebrities. This event displayed tons of fun and excitement during many festivals in Tallinn including the upcoming Kings of Tallinn Autumn Edition in October.
Before that, players will enjoy mingling with the celebrities in an open Celebrity Event Meet-up. Many of those assisting behind the scenes with the festival, including this author will be in attendance, so come on by to join in on the fun regardless of whether you join the action in the Celebrity Special or spectate.
Meanwhile, as already mentioned, the €250 NLH Deep Stack Mystery Bounty will play out its final day at 4 p.m. to add to the already exciting day.
Best of luck to all of the players, and check out Tuesday’s schedule below:
| TIME | EVENT # | EVENT |
| 13:00 | 10 | €10 Satellite to Event #11, €10 Rebuys & Add On |
| 16:00 | 8 | €250 NLH DeepStack Mystery Bounty Final Day |
| 18:00 | SPECIAL | Celebrity Event Meet Up at the Casino, |
| 20:00 | 11 | €150 NLH Celebrity Special |
