Paulius Zilinskas Wins OlyBet Showdown Vilnius Ace Breaker Main Event
The Main Event trophy is staying home in Lithuania after Paulius Zilinskas defeated Titas Gancierius heads-up in the OlyBet Showdown Vilnius Ace Breaker €555 Main Event on Friday evening at Olympic Casino Lietuva, located in the heart of the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius after the duo agreed to a deal before the start of heads-up play with still the trophy and a chunk of cash to play for.
Zilinskas began the final day in the bottom half of the 14 players remaining but climbed up to third place when the nine-player final table began after Rokas Asipauskas, Edgaras Truskauskas, Povilas Jakutis, Ant Gokcek, and Jokubas Jancevicius all hit the rail.
The Main Event attracted a banner field of 371 entries for a €178,080 prize pool to make it the second largest €555 Main Event in Lithuanian poker history.
Main Event Final Table Results
- Paulius Zilinskas (Lithuania) – €34,805*
- Titas Gancierius (Lithuania) – €28,000*
- Egidijius Dovidaitis (Lithuania) – €16,950
- Rolandas Aglinskas (Lithuania) – €12,865
- Audrius Laimelis (Lithuania) – €9,890
- Dominik Ostrowski (Poland) – €7,660
- Arnas Bazys (Lithuania) – €5,755
- Robertas Sakinis (Lithuania) – €4,375
- Bahadir Hatipoglu (Turkey) – €3,340
*Reflects heads-up deal at final table with €5,005 extra to the winner.
Head to the dedicated OlyBet.tv Main Event blog to view full results.
Main Event Final Table Recap
The action was fast and furious to start the day with the final table reached in just a little more than 1 1/2 hours of play. Rolandas Aglinskas began the day with the chip lead but not everything went his way as Egidijus Dovidaitis was with the chip lead when the final table began with Gancierius and eventual winner Zilinskas not too far behind.
Dovidaitis padded his chip lead early into the final table after his pocket rockets were more than good against big slick to send Turkey’s Bahadir Hatipoglu to the rail in ninth place for €3,340.
It took well north of an hour for the next player to go. That doesn’t mean there wasn’t the possibility of someone hitting the rail sooner as Gancierius nearly sent Aglinskas packing but his cowboys didn’t hold against big slick.
Instead, Robertas Sikinis was the next to hit the showers in eighth place for €4,375 after also running into rockets similar to the first final table elimination of Hatipoglu. The only difference was that Sikinis had queens instead of big slick.
Less than 30 minutes later, Audrius Laimelis sent Arnas Bazys packing in seventh place for €5,755 after his queens held against ace-ten.
Shortly after, it was an all-Lithuanian affair. Poland’s Dominik Ostrowski found himself short on chips and was out in sixth place for €7,660 when his king-eight didn’t get there against Aglinskas’s big slick.
Laimelis was easily the short stack at this point but was back into the mix after tripling up. The feel-good was short-lived as he got tangled up with Zilniskas before calling off with a lower straight in a big pot to exit the Main Event in fifth place for €9,890 while giving Zilinskas his first taste of the chip lead.
About 30 minutes later, two players hit the rail quickly in succession. Gancierius got his revenge for the bad beat earlier when his ace-trey suited defeated nines to send Aglinskas to the cashier in fourth place for €12,865.
Moments later, Dovidaitis was out in third place for €16,950 when he was unable to win a flip with big slick against Zilinskas’s queens.
Zilinskas had a small lead over Dovidaitis. The duo agreed to a deal before heads-up play commenced guaranteeing Zilinskas €29,800 and Gancierius €28,000 with still the trophy, the pride, and €5,005 from the prize pool to play for.
The heads-up battle lasted nearly 1 1/2 hours by itself. Zilinskas started hot before doubling up Gancierius. However, he won a few small pots and one decent one and had Gancierius on the ropes before the final hand took place. There was betting by Gancierius all the way down with king-trey but he was out of chips in second place for €28,000 with Zilinskas calling with ace-four after connecting with top pair on the flop.
A massive congrats to Paulius Zilinskas on a historic win in the OlyBet Showdown Vilnius Ace Breaker Main Event for €34,805.
Read more about the biggest hands in the 2024 OlyBet Showdown Vilnius Ace Breaker Main Event
Other Results on Friday
In addition to the Main Event, two side events kicked off on Friday evening at Olympic Casino Lietuva.
Aliaksei Padrez defeated a field of 72 entries including Gedimas Danunoras (second – €3,150) in Event #21: €250 Friday Special Celebrating OlyBet x Euroleague Basketball Sponsorship to win the trophy and the €4,827 top prize. Tigrans Vilums also finished on the podium in third place for €2,330 with all three aforementioned players awarded special Euroleague gifts as part of the celebration of the OlyBet and Euroleague partnership A total of €15,207 was awarded in this fun event with the top eight players banking at least a €590 min-cash.
Meanwhile, Event #20: €1,100 NLH High Roller proved to be popular on its opening day with 65 entries adding €62,400 to the prize pool. Late registration will remain open during the first blind level of the day, giving this event a chance at becoming the largest €1,100 High Roller in Lithuanian poker history with the record currently standing at 70 entries battling during last year’s Vilnius Ace Breaker. Latvia’s Eriks Krumins leads the way on the opening day after transforming his 50,000 opening stack into 349,000. OlyBet.tv will be live reporting the final day as soon as cards are in the air at 1 p.m. when cards are in the air so be sure to check out our live blog.
Saturday Schedule (Feb. 3, 2024)
Although the Main Event is in the books, Olympic Casino Lietuva is expecting a packed house on Saturday. We already mentioned the final day of the €1,100 High Roller commences at 1 p.m., but this is not all as there are three other side events on Saturday.
Ladies are getting ready to battle it out for a trophy in the €60 Queens of Vilnius kicks off at 2 p.m. This is the lowest buy-in of the festival to allow all female poker players of different skill levels a chance to Vilnius Ace Breaker glory.
The final multi-day event in the two-day €350 OlyBet Special kicks off its opening day at 3 p.m. with the €150 Saturday Express beginning at 8 p.m.
Best of luck to all of the players at cracking aces on Saturday in the OlyBet Showdown Vilnius Ace Breaker at Olympic Casino Lietuva and stay tuned tomorrow for the next daily recap.
