Rytis Sandaras Leads OlyBet Vilnius Showdown €150K GTD Main Event

The action heated up on Tuesday at Olympic Casino Vilnius with the €150,000 guaranteed OlyBet Vilnius Showdown €555 Main Event kicking off the first of its starting days.

Rytis Sandaras led the way in the Main Event with his brother Aistis Sandaras also near the top of the leaderboard after Day 1a.

Meanwhile, Denmark’s Jacob Witt earned the only title of the day after shipping the €120 NLH Tuesday Knockout Express.

Check out Tuesday’s highlights from the OlyBet Vilnius Showdown Jacks of June.

“Domination Nation” For Lithuanians in the Main Event

The action was buzzing at Olympic Casino Vilnius with a strong start to the OlyBet Vilnius Showdown Jacks of June €555 Main Event with Day 1a attracting a banner crowd of 169 entries to cover more than half of the €150,000 guarantee.

After 12 blind levels of 40 minutes each, just 59 players from the field survived with the top 30 players all from the local country of Lithuania.

Rytis Sandaras led the way after parlaying his opening 30,000 chip stack into a massive pile of 283,000 in chips. His brother, Aistis Sandaras also had a strong day and finished in sixth place on the leaderboard with 147,000. In between the brothers on the leaderboard were Paulius “Mellow-Peach” Mikaliunas, Aurelijius Sipavicius, Klaudijus Bajoras, and Mantas Stikelis.

Mikuliunas had a “peach” of a hand late in the day when he flopped quad treys with pocket threes and got paid off to win a massive pot.

Meanwhile, on the other end of the spectrum was Turkey’s Ant Gokcek, who has called Lithuania his home for many years. He bagged just one chip valued at 5,000, which although is minuscule, is better than many other players that fired one or more bullets only to come up empty-handed on Day 1a.

“I will win this,” Gokcek said after he put his single chip in a bag. “I just need to double up a few times in the first few hands.”

While the odds are against Gokcek making a run, he did manage to qualify earlier in the day via a €30 satellite, and we wish him the best of luck in making his predicted Cinderella story a reality.

While the stakes are serious, the atmosphere is nothing but fun, with players enjoying banter throughout the day. Additionally, if a player cracks pocket queens, kings, or aces, while holding pocket jacks throughout the Main Event, they will be awarded a special Jacks of June cocktail.

Wednesday boasts the final two opening flights, with Day 1b kicking off at noon with the same 40-minute blind levels as Day 1a, followed by the turbo-charged Day 1c featuring faster 25-minute blind levels. The players can re-enter throughout the opening flights and during the first level of Thursday’s Day 2 when blind levels are increased to one hour each.

• Head to our dedicated OlyBet Vilnius Showdown Jacks of June blog to see the final chip counts, some of the biggest hands of the day, and more.

Jacob Kitt Wins €120 NLH Tuesday Knockout Express

While most of Tuesday was about the Main Event, with the casino hosting both Day 1a and two Main Event satellites, the nightly event had a title on the line.

Event #14: €120 NLH Tuesday Knockout Express attracted 26 hopefuls battling it out for €2,548, including €1,300 in the bounty pool.

Five players cashed in this event with four Lithuanians making the money. However, the title went to Denmark after Jacob Witt defeated Donatas Sauliunas to win the €448 top prize along with any €50 bounties collected along the way.

Event #14: €120 NLH Tuesday Knockout Express Results

Wednesday, June 5 OlyBet Vilnius Showdown Jacks of June Schedule