Juris Liepins Wins 2024 OlyBet Showdown Riga Voodoo Bounty Main Event

Congratulations to Latvia’s Juris Liepins for winning the inaugural OlyBet Showdown Riga Voodoo Bounty €350 NLH Main Event Mystery Bounty for €9,200 plus mystery bounties on Saturday evening at the luxurious Olympic Voodoo Casino, located in the heart of the Latvian capital of Riga.

Liepins entered his name in the Latvian poker history books for winning the largest poker tournament on Latvian soil in more than a decade and keeping the most prestigious trophy of the 2024 OlyBet Showdown Riga Voodoo Bounty festival.

Meanwhile, Latvia’s Vita Veldemane became royalty for a day as she cruised to victory in the ladies-only €80 NLH Queens for €507. Ingus Arajs also snagged a trophy in the €150 NLH Progressive Bounty for €888, plus a ton of bounties. Latvia’s Kaspars Butans made it four for four for Latvians on Saturday after shipping the two-day €250 NLH Progressive Bounty for €1,995 plus bounties.

The €555 NLH Mystery Bounty attracted 46 entries, with just seven players returning for the final table. When the action resumes at 1 p.m. on Sunday’s final day, they will already be in the money and ready for mystery bounty pulls.

Read on to learn more about Saturday’s penultimate day in the 2024 OlyBet Riga Showdown Voodoo Bounty.

Liepins Keeps the Main Event Trophy Home

The three-day €350 Mystery Bounty Main Event exceeded expectations with 302 entries creating a €46,025 prize pool with another €45,300 on the line in mystery bounties on the final day.

The 44 players to return on the final day were already in the money with the action down to about half the field on the first break when some excitement took place with this author putting on a show on the center stage with the fun mystery bounty pulls.

Players battled away until Latvia’s Dmitrijs Arsuns bubbled the final table in 10^th place for €890 plus bounties.

The final table was an all-Baltic affair with five players from the home country of Latvia and two each from Lithuania and Estonia.

The final three players were from different countries after Latvia’s Danis Rozitis, Lithuania’s Aivaras Kerusauskas, Latvia’s Rihards Rusanovs, Estonia’s Viacheslav Kovalev, and the Latvian duo of Artjoms Hromovs and Sergejs Piratovs all exiting at the final table.

Kovalev, notably, had an interesting style of bounty pulls where it appears the prizes were talking to him as he was collecting some of the bigger bounties on the center stage.

Lithuania’s hopes of bringing the trophy one country south were dashed after a prolonged three-way battle, resulting in Deividas Butnoras exiting on the podium, leaving Liepins and Estonia’s Kristjan Maasalu heads-up for the title.

Liepins rail roared in delight as he eventually defeated Maasalu to win the €9,200 top prize and any bounties he collected throughout his final day journey.

Day 9 (Sunday, September 22) Schedule

As we approach the final day of the festival, there’s a bittersweet feeling in the air. However, the excitement isn’t over just yet!

The €555 Mystery Bounty kicks off at 1 p.m., and players will soon be tearing open envelopes, hoping for some big surprises. Also starting at 1 p.m. is the €150 NLH DeepStack Turbo for a last chance for players to win a coveted trophy.

To cap off this thrilling festival, players are invited to participate in the inaugural Autumn Edition of the Kings of Tallinn. A €60 satellite at 4 p.m. guarantees two seats to the highly anticipated €500,000 guaranteed Kings of Tallinn €1,100 Main Event.