2025 OlyBet Showdown Riga Voodoo SE Day 6: Michel Leibgorin Wins €555 Championship (€17,685)

March 28, 2025

The 2025 OlyBet Showdown Riga Voodoo Spring Edition €1,100 Main Event was heating up on Thursday for what promises to be a packed house over the weekend, with the final two of three opening flights played out with Estonia’s Ott Jaakson leading the way to start Day 2 with late registration remaining open for the first three blind levels of Day 2 with more than 100 entries already in the field. It was an action-packed day with three players earning trophies with France’s Michel Leibgorin winning the largest prize thus far this festival after shipping the three-day €555 Championship for €17,685.

The event was one of the largest in Latvian poker history with 169 entries creating a €79,325 prize pool. Leibgorin and Sweden’s Arasch Mirzai accomplished a rare feat as both players always held dominating stacks and were the top two on the chip counts to start Day 2 and the final table before finishing in the top two spots with Mirzai earning €13,070 despite missing out on the trophy.

Leibgorin is one of the most prominent names in attendance in Latvia with more than $2 million in cashes from The Hendon Mob and now will have more than 17 thousand good reasons (and a trophy) to have good memories of his poker experience in the Latvian capital of Riga.

Meanwhile, a pair of Finns joined Leibgorin in the winner’s circle Thursday evening. Janne Kahonen denied the start-of-Day 2 chip leader in the Main Event Jaakson a victory after defeating the Estonian heads-up in the €150 NLH to win the €3,450 top prize.

However, the other trophy might be a bigger story as Finland’s Joni Liimatta has been on a flag quest, meaning he flag hunts to cash in tournaments in as many different countries in the world. While most players hunt trophies, Liimatta would have been happy to walk away with a cash so his The Hendon Mob profile would be decorated with the Latvian flag. Liimatta got his cake and ate it too as he not only cashed but also earned the trophy in the €250 NLH Progressive Bounty for €2,053 plus bounties.

Read on to learn more about the sixth day of the 2025 OlyBet Showdown Riga Voodoo Spring Edition at Olympic Voodoo Casino.

Leibgorin and Mirzai Dominate to Earn Five Figure Hauls in the €555 Championship

The three-day Event #8: €555 Championship was full of action but two players consistently stood out throughout the event in France’s Michel Leibgorin and Arasch Mirzai. The duo avoided any big clash until the end as they cruised along to the top two spots while maintaining dominant stacks from the start of Day 2, with seemingly the biggest competition among the other players was who else could squeeze their way onto the podium.

Leibgorin won all the chips at the end to win the €17,685 top prize while Mirzai will go back to Sweden with a five-figure score of his own of €13,070. Latvia’s Sergejs Piratovs, who was proudly wearing the same lucky black t-shirt as can be seen in the lead image of this article throughout the three days of action, finished the best among the local crowd with a third-place performance worth €8,880.

Event #8: €555 NLH Championship Results

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1	Michel Leibgorin	France	€17,685
2	Arasch Mirzai	Sweden	€13,070
3	Sergejs Piratovs	Latvia	€8,880
4	Valeriy Hrachov	Ukraine	€6,920
5	Lasse Laukkarinen	Finland	€5,370
6	Baptiste Albert Jacques Caim	France	€4,180
7	Vygerdas Jonikas	Lithuania	€3,250
8	Klaudijus Bajoras	Lithuania	€2,630
9	Roberts Krīgers	Latvia	€2,120
10	Romāns Krasins	Latvia	€1,760
11	Joona Koivisto	Finland	€1,760
12	Hryhorii Meleshenko	Ukraine	€1,540
13	Manoel Assuncao Ferreira Gomes Filho	Brazil	€1,540
14	Ott Jaakson	Estonia	€1,360
15	Mārtiņš Priede	Latvia	€1,360
16	Mindaugas Grigaitis	Lithuania	€1,240
17	Algirdas Saveikis	Lithuania	€1,240
18	Harijs Ērglis	Latvia	€1,140
19	Edgaras Pipine	Lithuania	€1,140
20	Raivis Pučurs	Latvia	€1,140

Janne Kahonen Wins First of Two Thursday Title for Finland in €150 NLH

The one-day €150 NLH attracted 105 entries to create a €12,967 prize pool. Several of the players that hit the rail on the final table joined the action in the €150 NLH while others opted to hop into the €1,100 Main Event. Sergejs Piratovs opted to get into the action with the same lucky t-shirt and managed yet another cash for two in the same day after chopping a min-cash of €290 with Poland’s Jakub Matusiak for both players to nearly earn their buy-in back with a €145 prize.

A pair of Norwegians and friends of poker.pro were battling at the final table with Vidar Assersen earning yet another cash in Latvia with an eighth-place performance worth €470, while Morten Bremseth nearly advanced to the podium in fourth place for €1,180.

This wasn’t the best of showings for the local crowd with Latvia’s Kaspars Avots performing the best with a sixth-place finish for €740 before Poland’s Michal Goral followed him to the payout desk with a slip worth €920 after finishing in fifth place.

The podium finish played out something similar to what we’ve seen play out many times over the past decade at Olympic Park Casino in Tallinn with two Finns and one Estonian remaining. Finland’s Samuel Saariaho bowed out in third place for €1,627 before his countrymate Janne Kahonen defeated Estonia’s Ott Jaakson (second – €2,370) heads to earn the €3,450 top prize.

2025 OlyBet Showdown Riga Voodoo Bounty €150 NLH Final Table

Event #17: €150 NLH Results

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1	Janne Kahonen	Finland	€3,450
2	Ott Jaakson	Estonia	€2,370
3	Samuel Saariaho	Finland	€1,627
4	Morten Bremseth	Norway	€1,180
5	Michal Goral	Poland	€920
6	Kaspars Avots	Latvia	€740
7	Viesturs Romanovskis	Latvia	€590
8	Vidar Assersen	Norway	€470
9	Aklilu Laitinen	Finland	€380
10	Enea Subashi	Greece	€330
11	Mikus Bergs	Latvia	€330
12	Toms Čivčs	Latvia	€290
13	Sergejs Piratovs	Latvia	€145
14	Jakub Matusiak	Poland	€145

Joni Liimatta Earns Flag and Trophy in the €250 NLH Progressive Bounty

The €250 NLH Progressive Bounty was the final event to kick off on Thursday with the field attracting 83 entries for a €17,347 prize pool including €8,300 reserved for progressive bounties.

A small Latvian rail emerged after Siarhei Fashchanka bubbled the event rooting for poker coach Matīss Celmiņš. Roberts Krīgers, who earlier in the day was the first out on the final table in the €555 NLH Championship, wound up witnessing the same result for his friend Celmiņš who got no further than a min-cash of €320 plus bounties.

Lithuania’s Vygerdas Jonikas (sixth – €620 + bounties), Ukraine’s Vitalii Boiko (seventh – €500 + bounties), and United Kingdom’s Daniel Stancer (eighth – €400 + bounties) were the next to go before the final Latvian in the field in Roberts Leja exited in fifth place for €760 + bounties.

Italy’s Edoardo Mancinelli just missed out on the podium after bowing out in fourth place for €970 leaving two Lithuanians in the way for Liimatta to earn his first Latvian flag with a trophy.

Svajunas Šeduikis earned €1,371 plus bounties for his Bronze finish which automatically resulted in Liimatta and Venckus to earn the €2,053 top prize from the prize pool with Liimatta earning the massive bounty at the end to go with his flag and his trophy.

2025 OlyBet Showdown Riga Voodoo Spring Edition €250 NLH Progressive Bounty Final Table

Event #18: €250 NLH Progressive Bounty Results

Place	Player	County	Prize
1	Joni Liimatta	Finland	€2,053
2	Steponas Venckus	Lithuania	€2,053
3	Svajunas Šeduikis	Lithuania	€1,371
4	Edoardo Mancinelli	Italy	€970
5	Roberts Leja	Latvia	€760
6	Vygerdas Jonikas	Lithuania	€620
7	Vitalii Boiko	Ukraine	€500
8	Daniel Stancer	United Kingdom	€400
9	Matīss Celmiņš	Latvia	€320

Event #14: €1,100 NLH Main Event Day 2 Chip Counts

Rank	Player	Country	Chips	Big Blinds
1	Ott Jaakson	Estonia	302,300	302
2	Jesper Hansen	Denmark	202,000	202
3	Yevhen Pavlenko	Ukraine	165,000	165
4	Elvijs Ķergalvis	Latvia	129,300	129
5	Arasch Mirzai	Sweden	121,400	121
6	Edoardo Mancinelli	Italy	113,300	113
7	Egidijus Matonis	Lithuania	110,700	111
8	Min Sung Lee	South Korea	108,900	109
9	Joona Koivisto	Finland	99,000	99
10	Genādijs Šutkovs	Latvia	94,500	95
11	Hryhorii Meleshenko	Ukraine	94,200	94
12	Edgaras Pipine	Lithuania	87,100	87
13	Kaspars Butāns	Latvia	84,400	84
14	Dan Korsunskyy	Ukraine	81,700	82
15	Michel Leibgorin	France	79,000	79
16	Jurgis Beinoras	Lithuania	73,700	74
17	Edgars Strads	Latvia	72,300	72
18	Ritvars Čekaļins	Latvia	72,300	72
19	Gatis Pele	Latvia	72,200	72
20	Jordi Baixas	Spain	71,800	72
21	Veli-Pekka Alakorva	Finland	70,600	71
22	Matīss Celmiņš	Latvia	63,300	63
23	Jakob Pilgaard	Denmark	60,700	61
24	Martynas Mockevičius	Lithuania	59,200	59
25	Rasmus Sihvonen	Finland	55,500	56
26	Ēriks Krūmiņš	Latvia	55,300	55
27	Andrei Silencov	Moldova	53,600	54
28	Kaspars Jakubonis	Latvia	52,100	52
29	Harijs Ērglis	Latvia	50,400	50
30	Raivis Pučurs	Latvia	50,300	50
31	Jevgēnijs Zotovs	Latvia	50,000	50
32	Dominykas Ruškys	Lithuania	47,100	47
33	Kristaps Sipols	Latvia	46,000	46
34	Vladislavs Petrovs	Latvia	43,700	44
35	Areks Dzintars	Latvia	43,400	43
36	Roman Petelytski	Ukraine	42,400	42
37	Aleksieemil Heikkinen	Finland	42,100	42
38	Audun Arild	Norway	30,000	30
39	Audrius Laimelis	Lithuania	29,900	30
40	Adria Comas I Roura	Spain	26,500	27
41	Rytis Pranarauskas	Lithuania	25,700	26
42	Klaudijus Bajoras	Lithuania	22,400	22
43	Maksims Azarjancs	Latvia	22,100	22
44	Petteri Laiho	Finland	22,000	22
45	Kristian Haugen	Norway	21,800	22
46	Mindaugas Grigaitis	Lithuania	20,500	21
47	Kristjan Maasalu	Estonia	20,400	20
48	Valeriy Hrachov	Ukraine	19,900	20
49	Ignas Navickas	Lithuania	14,200	14
50	Vidar Assersen	Norway	12,400	12

2025 OlyBet Showdown Riga Voodoo Spring Edition Schedule (Friday, March 28)

While players will be busy during the early part of the day battling and late entering the Main Event, two other players will earn trophies on Friday, March 28 in two one-day events.

The €350 NLH DeepStack Progressive Bounty kicks off at 4 p.m. with players each having a €100 progressive bounty on their heads followed by the €150 NLH at 9 p.m. Of course, cash games will be running throughout the weekend for what promises to be a packed house.

Check out Friday’s schedule below, or head to the 2025 OlyBet Showdown Riga Voodoo Spring Edition landing page at OlyBetEvents to check out the full schedule and more.