Veipans Hoists Trophy as Liljengren Leads Final 44 in OlyBet Riga Showdown Voodoo Bounty Main Event

Friday was full of action with a packed house from the start of the day in the inaugural OlyBet Showdown Riga Voodoo Bounty at the luxurious Olympic Voodoo Casino, located in the heart of the Latvian capital of Riga.

Denmark’s Nikolaj Liljengren is aiming for his largest cash in a live international poker event as he leads the final 44 players in the €350 Main Event Mystery Bounty.

While many players from the home country of Latvia are still in the mix in the Main Event, the outlook for a Latvian champion in a multi-day event looks better in the €250 NLH Deep Stack Progressive Bounty with Kaspars Butans and Kaspars Renga on the top of the leaderboard with 13 players remaining out of a field of 86 entries.

Latvia’s Nils Veipans finally earned a trophy to match his friends in 2024 WSOP Circuit ring winner Harijs Erglis and Edgars Beizaks in terms of bragging rights after winning the €150 PLO4/PLO5.

Meanwhile, poker players were entertained by a brilliant house band that kicks off every Friday evening at the Olympic Voodoo Casino, mixing poker players and others together for an enjoyable evening for those taking a time out from the poker tables.

Read on to learn more about what transpired on Friday in the 2024 OlyBet Riga Showdown Voodoo Bounty.

Liljengren Leads Main Event

The €350 Main Event Mystery Bounty attracted another 52 entries during the opening moments of Day 2. The 302 total entries exceeded all expectations to create €91,325 in prizes including €46,025 in the prize pool and €45,300 in mystery bounties.

Players ended the day in the money for at least a €290 min-cash with mystery bounty envelopes set to ignite the crowd on Friday as they begin to reveal mysterious prizes earned after a player eliminates one of their opponents.

Denmark’s Nikolaj Liljengren was in the lead with 639,000 when the day ended with Andrius Ultinas bubbling. Four Latvians are just behind Liljengren, including Rihards Rusanovs (553,000), Vasilijs Aleksejenko (540,000), Sergejs Piratovs (529,000), and Valters Ludborza (409,000).

The action is set to resume at 1 p.m. on Saturday with blinds at 2,000/5,000 (5,000) with blinds increasing every 40 minutes until the inaugural OlyBet Riga Showdown Voodoo Bounty Main Event champion is crowned. Players will be competing for a €9,200 top prize from the prize pool with a potential for much more depending on which mystery bounty envelopes they collect. Check out the top 10 chip counts to start the day below:

Veipans Wins Coveted Trophy

Latvia’s Nils Veipans lights up a poker room wherever he goes. He has been battling in every event in hopes of winning a trophy, especially after his friends have already added one of the beautiful trophies to their collection.

Veipans had one close call a couple of days ago when he had a massive chip lead with three players remaining in the €150 Wednesday Rush. He wound up finishing in third place in that event won by his friend Edgars Beizaks. Yesterday, Beizaks struck out in the Main Event and immediately hopped into two-day €250 Deep Stack Progressive Bounty. He had a mountain of bounties in front of him, but bowed out in that event as well before the money.

The last chance saloon on Friday had a much different outcome for Veipans. He had the chip lead most of the way and was the shorter of the two stacks after Latvia’s Aleksandrs Orlovs ousted Lithuania’s Kestutis Jungevicius to take the lead.

While Veipans was open to a deal as his heart was set on the trophy rather than the prize pool, but Orlovs opted to play it out. Veipans stormed into the lead before eliminating Orlovs to earn the €2,468 top prize and his place in the Latvian poker history books.

The €150 PLO4/PLO5 attracted 66 entries, creating a €8,237 prize pool. The top nine players earned at least a €266 min-cash.

Day 8 (Saturday, September 21) Schedule

Saturday is shaping up to be the busiest day yet at the OlyBet Riga Showdown Voodoo Bounty, with seven events scheduled to keep players on their toes.

Kicking off at noon, the €250 NLH DeepStack Progressive Bounty will enter its final day, followed closely by the final day of the €350 Main Event Mystery Bounty at 1 p.m.

At 5 p.m., expect a strong turnout for the €80 NLH Queens event, designed to celebrate women in poker. For those looking for a bargain, a €1 satellite at 1 p.m. guarantees three seats—essentially the price of a candy bar.

Also, at 1 p.m., players will battle in another affordable €20 satellite for the upcoming €555 Mystery Bounty, which kicks off its first of two days at 4 p.m.

As the night unfolds, the action continues with the €150 NLH Progressive Bounty starting at 8 p.m. Of course, those looking for something different can rest assured that cash games will continue to run throughout the day and evening.