Hot Start in the Baltic Winter at the OlyBet Showdown Vilnius Ace Breaker
Hot Start in the Baltic Winter at the OlyBet Showdown Vilnius Ace Breaker
The second edition of the OlyBet Showdown Vilnius Ace Breaker kicked off with a huge bang on Saturday with Eligijus Asmena winning the first trophy in the €150 Saturday Knockout and Dominykas Morkunas snagging the overnight chip lead in the two-day €350 Warm-Up.
The OlyBet Showdown Vilnius Ace Breaker boasts 26 numbered events from Jan. 27 until Feb. 4, highlighted by the €555 Main Event starting on Tuesday and the €1,100 High Roller starting on Friday at Olympic Casino Lietuva, located in the heart of the beautiful Lithuanian capital of Vilnius.
Read on to learn more about what transpired on the opening day:
Eligijus Asmena Hoists First Trophy in Saturday Express Knockout
Eligijus Asmena may not be a household name for poker enthusiasts as he came into the Vilnius Ace Breaker with just one recorded cash on his The Hendon Mob profile for €380 back in 2019 when he final tabled a small side event at the Vilnius Open Championship.
What a difference a day makes, as Asmena can now witness his name entering the Lithuanian poker history books as he won the first trophy of the 2024 OlyBet Showdown Vilnius Ace Breaker late Saturday evening after agreeing to a deal with Liudas Slikas during heads-up action in Event #3: €150 NLH Saturday Express Knockout after Zydrunas Karcemarskas hit the rail on the podium in third place for €760. Slikas collected €1,495 plus any bounties, while Asmena earned exactly €1 more from the prize pool along with the trophy for a total haul of €1,496 plus bounties.
OlyBet Showdown Vilnius Ace Breaker Event #3: €150 NLH Saturday Knockout
78 entries, €9,891 prize pool (including bounties)
- Eligijus Asmena (Lithuania) – €1,496
- Liudas Slikas (Lithuania) – €1,495
- Zydrunas Karcemarskas (Lithuania) – €760
- Arunas Jocius (Lithuania) – €610
- Kristijonas Radvila (Lithuania) – €490
- Tadas Gencerauskas (Lithuania) – €380
- Vidmantas Pupininkas (Lithuania) – €320
- Dovydas Maldutis (Lithuania) – €250
- Mantas Narmontas (Lithuania) – €150
** Prizes above do not include knockout prizes. **
Dominykas Morkunas Leads the Warm-Up
The two-day Event #1: €350 NLH Progressive Bounty Warm-Up was the marquee event on Saturday with 139 entries coming out in full force on the opening day to create a €42,590 prize pool including €13,900 set aside for the progressive bounties.
Just 26 hopefuls survived the 14 blind levels of 30 minutes each on the opening day. Sunday’s excitement continues at 12 p.m. but not every player will go home happy with just the top 17 players guaranteed at least a payout of €460. The top two places will take home a hefty prize of €6,050 plus the valuable progressive bounties they earn along the way.
Dominykas Morkunas finds himself in an enviable spot as he managed to parlay his 25,000 opening stack on Friday into a chip-leading stack of 526,000, which is good for 132 big blinds with the action resuming at 2,000/4,000 with a 4,000 big blind ante. Martynas Kaulakys also advanced with more than 100 big blinds with 453,000. However, after these two players, there is a bit of a gap with Gerardas Luksenas (238,000), Aleksandr Naumov (189,000), and Airidas Bagdzevicius (185,000) rounding out the top five players.
Check out the seat draw below for the final day of Event #1: €350 NLH Progressive Bounty Warm-Up:
| Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
| 2 | 1 | Ridas Bitauskas | Lithuania | 76,000 | 19 |
| 2 | 2 | Olegs Petrovskis | Latvia | 41,000 | 10 |
| 2 | 3 | Marek Zigel | Lithuania | 173,000 | 43 |
| 2 | 4 | Mantas Stankevicius | Lithuania | 102,000 | 26 |
| 2 | 5 | Eimantas Ciuryla | Lithuania | 148,000 | 37 |
| 2 | 6 | Laurynas Cerniauskas | Lithuania | 86,000 | 22 |
| 2 | 8 | Kazimieras Ramaska | Lithuania | 167,000 | 42 |
| 2 | 9 | Airidas Bagdzevicius | Lithuania | 185,000 | 46 |
| 3 | 1 | Andrius Mazeika | Lithuania | 61,000 | 15 |
| 3 | 2 | Mikalojus Ramanauskas | Lithuania | 101,000 | 25 |
| 3 | 3 | Vytautas Kacerauskas | Lithuania | 98,000 | 25 |
| 3 | 4 | Ignas Misiunas | Lithuania | 71,000 | 18 |
| 3 | 5 | Serhii Leonov | Ukraine | 50,000 | 13 |
| 3 | 6 | Tomas Gudaitis | Lithuania | 89,000 | 22 |
| 3 | 7 | Arturas Dauksevic | Lithuania | 92,000 | 23 |
| 3 | 8 | Martynas Kaulakys | Lithuania | 453,000 | 113 |
| 3 | 9 | Vytautas Sapogas | Lithuania | 34,000 | 9 |
| 4 | 1 | Justinas Adomauskas | Lithuania | 183,000 | 46 |
| 4 | 2 | Linas Petruskevicius | Lithuania | 65,000 | 16 |
| 4 | 3 | Aleksandr Naumov | Lithuania | 189,000 | 47 |
| 4 | 4 | Dominykas Morkunas | Lithuania | 526,000 | 132 |
| 4 | 5 | Paulius Kostickis | Lithuania | 28,000 | 7 |
| 4 | 6 | Rafal Surpicki | Lithuania | 44,000 | 11 |
| 4 | 7 | Zydrunas Karcemarskas | Lithuania | 76,000 | 19 |
| 4 | 8 | Jorge Nestor De La Torre Plascencia | Mexico | 95,000 | 24 |
| 4 | 9 | Gerardas Luksenas | Lithuania | 238,000 | 60 |
Sunday Schedule (Jan. 28, 2024)
The action resumes at 12 p.m. for the second and final day of Event #1: €350 NLH Progressive Knockout Warm-Up, but this won’t be the only trophy awarded on Sunday, Jan. 28.
Two more trophies will be awarded on Sunday, including in Event #4: €250 Bounty Hunter starting at 1 p.m. and Event #6: €120 Two-Games Turbo (ROE) starting at 8 p.m.
Value hunters also should take note that another €30 Mega Satellite to Day 1a of the €555 Main Event kicks off at 6 p.m., providing players a chance to battle in what promises to be the biggest event of the festival for a fraction of the cost.
Best of luck to all of the players at cracking aces on Sunday in the OlyBet Showdown Vilnius Ace Breaker at Olympic Casino Lietuva and stay tuned tomorrow for the next daily recap.
