Substantial Lead for Kriaučiūnas Heading Into Day 2 of the Historic KoV Main Event
What a week it has been at the 2024 Kings of Vilnius, with many new Lithuanian records set, including the first-ever Sviten Special event, the first-ever HORSE event, the largest side event, and the largest-ever High Roller prize pool.
The buy-in for the Kings of Vilnius €1,100 Main Event was also a first, as was the €250,000 guarantee, the largest in Lithuanian history. The guarantee has already been smashed, with 314 entries battling it out to create a €301,440 prize pool. The number of entries and the prize pool will continue to grow with late registration remaining open during the first two blind levels of Day 2, when the action resumes on Saturday at Noon.
Meanwhile, three new champions were crowned on Friday. The first side event introduced a new game to Lithuania for the first time in the one-day Event #25: €250 Sviten Special. Sviten Special combines both pot-limit Omaha and pot-limit 5-card draw in the same game. The event attracted 16 entries to create a €3,379 prize pool with Lithuania’s Linas Jautakis defeating Mindaugas Razmas to win the trophy and the €1,350 top prize.
The excitement grew throughout the day, especially for basketball fans who wanted to help celebrate OlyBet’s partnership with the Euroleague with 91 runners creating a €11,357 prize pool in Event #26: €150 NLH OlyBet x Euroleague Premium Sponsorship Celebration. Ramūnas Pocevičius defeated
Ricardas Stanevicius to earn the €3,320 top prize.
The final trophy of the day was claimed by Canada’s Gintas Dirse, who calls Lithuania his home the past few years. Dirse defeated Artūras Bliūdžius to earn the €3,733 top prize in Event #27: €250 NLH Turbo with the event attracting 52 entries to generate a €10,983 prize pool. Dirse shared a flip won it at the end where he called his shot.
“In my final hand, I had ace-ten against eights,” Dirse shared after the event. “I called out the ten of spade and the dealer revealed it straight out of the window.”
Read on to learn more about the historic 2024 Kings of Vilnius Main Event and the schedule for Saturday:
Mindaugas Kriaučiūnas Leads Main Event Entering Day 2
Lithuania’s Mindaugas Kriauciunas was recently at the final table of the 2024 World Series of Poker Circuit Tallinn €1,500 Main Event but didn’t have a long time to soak in the action after being the first one to head to the cashier in ninth place for €17,350.
Kriauciunas is now in an enviable spot as he heads into Day 2 of the inaugural 2024 Kings of Vilnius €1,100 Main Event with a substantial chip lead over the 105 opening day survivors with 388,000.
While no other player bagged more than 300,000 two other players achieved the 200K milestone to end the opening flights with Latvia’s Kristaps Sipols (201,000) and Lithuania’s Sigatas Raila (200,000) near the top of the leaderboard. Check out the top 10 chip counts entering Day 2 below and you can check out all the chip counts by clicking on the Chip Counts tab in our coverage.
| Position | Name | Country | Chips |
| 1 | Mindaugas Kriauciunas | Lithuania | 388,000 |
| 2 | Kristaps Sipols | Latvia | 201,000 |
| 3 | Sigitas Raila | Lithuania | 200,000 |
| 4 | Edgars Hauks | Latvia | 187,500 |
| 5 | Agnius Ismailovas | Lithuania | 187,000 |
| 6 | Marek Zigel | Lithuania | 187,000 |
| 7 | Egidijus Matonis | Lithuania | 186,000 |
| 8 | Audrius Laimelis | Lithuania | 185,500 |
| 9 | Simon Hassan | Sweden | 185,500 |
| 10 | Jonas Lapinskas | Lithuania | 181,500 |
Blinds will increase every 60 minutes instead of every 40 minutes throughout the rest of the event with Day 2 planning eight blind levels subject to change. New players will start with 30,000 in chips, which will be good for 15 big blinds to start the day with blinds beginning at 1,000/2,000 with a 2,000 big blind ante.
Live reporting coverage by this author begins on Day 2 of the Main Event. Check out the Day 2 seat draw and follow along the action of the 2024 OlyBet Kings of Tallinn €1,100 Main Event at Olympic Casino Lietuva.
2024 Kings of Vilnius Day 9 Schedule (Saturday, November 23)
While most of the buzz on Saturday will surround the Main Event, there will be four other events including the much-anticipated €80 NLH Queens at 3 p.m.
The two-day €555 NLH OlyBet Special begins at 5 p.m. followed by the one-day €250 PLO4/PLO5 Progressive Knockout at 8 p.m.
Players don’t necessarily need to be in Vilnius to play the final event on Saturday evening as it will be taking place online at OlyBet Poker with a trophy on the line in Event #30: €150 Kings of Vilnius OlyBet Online Progressive Bounty.
Check out the full schedule below and head to OlyBetEvents to see what is coming up the rest of the weekend.
| Time | Event |
| 12:00 | Event #23: €1,100 NLH Main Event Day 2 |
| 15:00 | Event #28: €80 NLH Queens, Ladies Only |
| 17:00 | Event #29: €555 NLH OlyBet Special Day 1 |
| 20:00 | Event #31: €250 PLO4/PLO5 Progressive Knockout |
| 21:00 | Event #30: €150 Kings of Vilnius OlyBet Online Progressive Bounty |
