2025 Vilnius Ace Breaker Day 6: Roman Kulijev Wins High Roller

Thursday brought a new energy to the 2025 OlyBet Showdown Vilnius Ace Breaker at Olympic Casino Lietuva. Not only did the two-day Event #16: €1,100 High Roller set new records for a side event with this buy-in with 96 entries creating a €91,200 prize pool but the start of the three-day Event #20: OlyBet Showdown Vilnius Ace Breaker €555 Main Event was bustling with 138 entries battling it out on the first of three opening days.

Roman Kulijev was easily the star of the day after defeating an all-Lithuanian final table in the €1,100 High Roller to earn the €24,180 top prize in an event live reported at poker.pro. Fellow Lithuanian Simas Karaliunas won the second trophy of the day after shipping the one-day Event #21: €250 NLH Progressive Knockout for €1,270 plus bounties. This was also the final event for our friend and flag hunter Maureen Bloechlinger. While she was busy working during the day, she was busy trying to collect her Lithuanian flag, which appears evasive. The ribbing from both staff and players was friendly and Bloechlinger shared that she is looking forward to her next visit to the Lithuanian capital, hopefully this time with better success.

While Lithuanians dominated both of these events, the same isn’t true in the Main Event. Finland’s Rasmus Sihvonen and Latvia’s Raivis Pucurs led the 49 survivors.

Read on to learn more about Day 6 of the OlyBet Showdown Vilnius Ace Breaker at Olympic Casino Lietuva or click on the links below to read about the action during the first five days and be sure to check out the poker.pro coverage of the Main Event starting at Friday when cards are in the air at Noon with Day 1b.

• Read more: PokerPro to Cover OlyBet Showdown Vilnius Ace Breaker Live
• Read more: Vilnius Zabarauskas Wins First Trophy
• Read more: Vilius Zabarauskas Wins Second Trophy
• Read more: Out-of-Towners Break Local Streak
• Read more: Steinn Thanh Du Karlsson Defeats WSOP Bracelet Winner
• Read more: Jonas Lapinskas Goes From Cracked Aces to a Trophy

Kulijev Shines the Brightest Thus Far

Roman Kulijev wasn’t a house hold name yesterday but certainly is one today after defeating a talented field of 96 entries in the €1,100 High Roller to win the €24,180 top prize.

Kulijev went from zero to hero as he qualified for this event via an €80 satellite hosted earlier in the week. He was down to just a single big blind and not only turned that into a satellite win but then won the High Roller despite starting the second and final day with slightly over a starting stack.

Players were in the money for at least a €2,550 min-cash after Sigitas Raila ran his ace-deuce into the big slick of Mindaugas Kriaučiūnas. It wasn’t smooth sailing for Kriaučiūnas as he entered the final table with just a single big blind after an unsuccessful bluff against runner-up Paulius Kostickis during which time 2020 Fisherman Challenge winner Martynas Račinskas and 2024 Kings of Vilnius and WSOP Circuit Tallinn Main Event champion Aurimas Stanevičius hit the rail.

Kulijev began the final table with 2024 Triton Jeju champion Paulius Vaitiekūnas and Kostickis just behind. Kriaučiūnas was unable to pull off a Cinderella story and was the first player on the rail at the final table in ninth place for €2,830 after ace-six failed to pull ahead of the nines held by Kostickis.

There was an early bump in the road for Kulijev as Kazimieras Ramaška was asking for a snowmen with his eights. He not only hit his eight which was enough to beat Kulijev’s queen-ten suited but doubled up with a full house.

However, Kulijev got his stack back while delivering a bad beat to eliminate Egidijus Matonis in eighth place for €3,280 after spiking an ace on the flop with his ace-duece to get ahead of his opponent’s nines.

Meanwhile, Ramaška continued his momentum. Mindaugas Grigaitis jammed a short stack with ace-nine and was unable to hold against Ramaška’s king-seven to exit in seventh place for €4,380.

Vaitiekūnas temporarily took the lead shortly after when his nines won a flip against ace-ten to eliminate Aivaras Kerušauskas in sixth place for €5,050. However, Kulijev regained the lead and never looked back after he got his revenge against Ramaška when his queen-seven suited with middle pair held against Ramaška’s backdoor flush draw and two live cards with king-nine suited on the jack-seven-four flop for Ramaška to lose his stack in fifth place for €7,300.

Kulijev then took a massive chip lead to start three-handed player after eliminating 2025 Vilnius Ace Breaker trophy winner Kęstutis Jungevičius in fourth place for €9,300 after the Jungevičius made a brave call with nines with an ace and a pair on the board after the river only to lose to the monstrous full house Kulijev who flopped a set with ducks.

Kulijev began the three-handed action with more than double the stack of both his opponents combined. However, early momentum went to Vaitiekūnas after his ace-five got there against Kulijev’s sevens but this was short-lived. A few hands later, Vaitiekūnas committed his stack with king-jack and this time was on the rail on third place for €12,310 after not improving against Kulijev’s ace-deuce.

The heads-up affair lasted exactly just one hand with Kulijev holding more than a 10:1 chip advantage. Kostickis three-bet jammed his eight remaining big blinds with king-deuce and was ahead of the ten-seven suited Kulijev called with. It was looking like Kostickis would earn some breathing room after flopping a king however, he was drawing dead and had to settle for the healthy runner-up prize of €16,870 after Kulijev improved to a straight on the turn.

Congrats to Roman Kulijev for an epic victory in the 2025 OlyBet Showdown Vilnius Ace Breaker at Olympic Casino Lietuva.

2025 Vilnius Ace Breaker Event #16: €1,100 High Roller Results

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1	Roman Kulijev	Lithuania	€24,180
2	Paulius Kostickis	Lithuania	€16,870
3	Paulius Vaitiekūnas	Lithuania	€12,310
4	Kęstutis Jungevičius	Lithuania	€9,300
5	Kazimieras Ramaška	Lithuania	€7,300
6	Aivaras Kerušauskas	Lithuania	€5,650
7	Mindaugas Grigaitis	Lithuania	€4,380
8	Egidijus Matonis	Lithuania	€3,280
9	Mindaugas Kriaučiūnas	Lithuania	€2,830
10	Aurimas Stanevičius	Lithuania	€2,550
11	Martynas Račinskas	Lithuania	€2,550

2025 Vilnius Ace Breaker Event #21: €250 NLH Progressive Knockout Results

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1	Simas Karaliunas	Lithuania	€1,270
2	Ernestas Stalemekas	Lithuania	€1,270
3	Mindaugas Kriaučiūnas	Lithuania	€820
4	Vasilijus Piskunovas	Lithuania	€580
5	Steinn Thanh Du Karlsson	Iceland	€420

2025 Vilnius Ace Breaker Event #20: €555 Main Event Day 1a Chip Counts

Place	Player	Country	Chips	Big Blinds
1	Rasmus Sihvonen	Finland	227,500	91
2	Raivis Pucurs	Latvia	202,000	81
3	Vilius Žamžickas	Lithuania	170,000	68
4	Darius Kvedaras	Lithuania	158,000	63
5	Vadims Milovs	Latvia	154,000	62
6	Jari Mahonen	Finland	147,500	59
7	Aleksandr Naumov	Lithuania	147,000	59
8	Egidijus Oleinik	Lithuania	144,000	58
9	Tadas Šimas	Lithuania	141,500	57
10	Lukas Kviecinskas	Lithuania	131,500	53
11	Saulius Tumosa	Lithuania	124,000	50
12	Arminas Skardžius	Lithuania	123,000	49
13	Raivo Grislis	Latvia	122,000	49
14	Julius Griežė	Lithuania	115,500	46
15	Dominykas Jezerys	Lithuania	112,500	45
16	Vitalijs Tarhanovs	Latvia	105,000	42
17	Vytautas Kačerauskas	Lithuania	98,500	39
18	Dalius Ulevičius	Lithuania	95,500	38
19	Paulius Zakas	Lithuania	95,500	38
20	Mindaugas Grigaitis	Lithuania	91,500	37
21	Bartosz Gorski	Poland	89,000	36
22	Ian Morris	United Kingdom	88,500	35
23	Karolis Kutkauskas	Lithuania	88,000	35
24	Martynas Kaulakys	Lithuania	82,000	33
25	Martynas Miliauskas	Lithuania	80,000	32
26	Mindaugas Simkus	Lithuania	79,500	32
27	Tomas Jagela	Lithuania	74,000	30
28	Aurimas Bagdonas	Lithuania	71,000	28
29	Grzegorz Zimnoch	Poland	70,500	28
30	Jurgis  Beinoras	Lithuania	70,000	28
31	Elvinas Vitkevičius	Lithuania	68,500	27
32	Ričardas Bartašius	Lithuania	64,000	26
33	Ofir Yakim	Israel	54,500	22
34	Vilius Zabarauskas	Lithuania	54,000	22
35	Alexey Mishuk	Israel	53,500	21
36	Andrius Mažeika	Lithuania	51,500	21
37	Saulius Strasevičius	Lithuania	50,000	20
38	Aušra Razmaitė	Lithuania	48,500	19
39	Jevgenijs Sapronenko	Latvia	47,000	19
40	Virginijus Lapėnas	Lithuania	43,500	17
41	Gintaras Naglius	Lithuania	43,500	17
42	Darius Svirskas	Lithuania	41,000	16
43	Edvinas Grimalis	Lithuania	40,000	16
44	Aleksandras Rusinovas	Lithuania	39,500	16
45	Dainius Kudarauskas	Lithuania	34,000	14
46	Robertas Mikuta	Lithuania	26,500	11
47	Dominykas Chrypa	Lithuania	26,000	10
48	Rokas Barzdžius	Lithuania	20,000	8
49	Doroslav Rasiukevič	Lithuania	20,000	8

2025 Vilnius Ace Breaker Schedule Day 7 (Friday, Jan. 31)

The weekend is here and the action continues to heat up at the 2025 OlyBet Showdown Vilnius Ace Breaker at Olympic Casino Lietuva. The final two opening flights of the €555 Main Event take place at 12 p.m. and 8 p.m. Players will still be able to get into the action on Day 2 and you can follow along the reports at poker.pro in our dedicated live blog.

Meanwhile, not one, but two trophies will be awarded on Friday in the €150 Sviten at 1 p.m. and the €150 NLH OlyBet x Euroleague Premium Sponsorship Celebration at 6 p.m. that this author plans to hop into this evening.

Check out Friday’s schedule below or read our introduction of the Vilnius Ace Breaker festival to see the full schedule.