The Festival Weekend Presents the First Stop of 2026: Vilnius!
The Festival Weekend is a concept part of The Festival Series which was released in 2025. With two stops being held in Tallinn, it was yet to see how the players would receive this setup. A Festival event, but then smaller, more cosy, but with plenty of different kind of formats available. Hold'em is an remains the anchor of every tournament schedule, but as you know, mixed games cannot be missed at The Festival Series, neither does it at our Weekend stops!
The very first Festival Weekend of 2026 is being held at the Olympic Casino in Vilnius, marking a ‘return to Olympic’ after a four-year break since we organized our last event with this iconic brand in the Baltic region.
The Festival Weekend was brought to life to experiment with a variaty of poker formats. The first event had mainly Hold'em included, but finished it off in style with an Open Face Chinese tournament. The second event was fully focused on the great game that is called Sviten Special, with a few Hold'em tournaments on the side. Now, as we are entering a new year, with three Weekend stops on the schedule, it's time to take it up a notch.
The Festival Weekend - Vilnius
The Festival Weekend in Vilnius is being held from May 28th until May 31st at the Olympic Casino venue. Players can expect a whopping total of 12 tournaments, including the multi-day €555 NLH Main Event PKO event, as well as a two-day €350 TORSES Mixed Games Main Event. And for sure it's not just these tournaments that will make you sit at the edge of your seat, in this article, you will find out what other tournaments are all included.
What to think about the €350 Sviten Special tournament? Or a €150 Baby TORSES event? Or what about a NLH Freezeout tournament, or KO and Bombpot tournaments? Literally everything is included in this event, and it's being promised to be a blast! Below you can find the official tournament schedule of The Festival Weekend - Vilnius Edition.
€555 NLH Main Event PKO
The NLH Main Event will be played with a buy-in that will sound familiar for the fans of Olympic Casino. Over the years, they have been organising many tournaments with a buy-in of €555, hence also our decision to apply this buy-in to the Main Event. To make the tournament more worthwhile for players, we have added the Progressive Knockout feature to it, which will give players the chance to already arrive in profitland before the chips are even bagged and tagged at the end of the opening flight.
The tournament is a multi-day tournament like any other Main Event, and will have a total of three opening flights. On Thursday and Friday, there will be normal flights with a starting stack of 50,000 chips, and 30-minute blind levels. Expect a long day ahead, as it will be played down to in-the-money (ITM), which will be set on 12,5% of the field.
Especially for the locals who are working throughout the week, there is a Hyper flight available on Saturday morning. From 11:00 local time onwards, players can enjoy this flight with a starting stack of 50,000 chips, and 10-minute blind levels. This flight is promised to be fireworks, as bounties will fly left, right, front, and center.
Day 2 of the Main Event is scheduled to start at 15:30 on Saturday afternoon, with blind levels set on 40 minutes. Once the final table is reached, the day will end and play will resume on Sunday at 12:00 local time.
>> Qualify Online for The Festival Series events in 2026!
€350 TORSES Mixed Games Main Event
For the mixed games lovers out there, and fans of the popular Festival TORSES event, there will be more than enough to play for! The €350 TORSES Mixed Games Main Event will come with a starting stack of 30,000 chips, and 30-minute blind levels. As you are used to from The Festival events as well, there will be plenty of space in the early stages of the tournament. For the ones who are not familiar with the format TORSES, here are the games that are included:
- T: 2-7 Triple Draw
- O: Omaha 8-or-better
- R: Razz
- S: Seven-card Stud
- E: Seven Card Stud Eight-or-Better
- S: Sviten Special
Note: All games will be played in Fixed-Limit
If you are really interested in this game, but having in your mind that €350 is a bit above your budget, then we have another option for you with Baby TORSES Surpreme! This is the 'mini version' of the TORSES Mixed Games Main Event, and comes with a starting stack of 25,000 chips, and 20-minute blind levels. It will actually be the first-time ever in The Festival Series history, to organise this newly introduced tournament.
Travelling to Vilnius
Despite the fact that it will be the first time for us as well hosting an event in Vilnius, we did our homework when it comes to travelling. Thanks to its good air, rail, and road connections with the rest of Europe, Vilnius has a very approachable geographic location. Flying is the fastest and most popular option, with direct or one-stop flights from countries such as the Netherlands, and Germany. From Nordic countries including Finland, Norway, and Sweden, travelers often fly through Helsinki or Stockholm.
For visitors from nearby countries such as Latvia and Estonia, travelling by bus or car is especially practical, with frequent services available from Tallinn that are affordable and comfortable. Railway connections from Germany, Poland, and neighboring countries are also improving in the past years, offering a more sustainable and scenic alternative. So if you are in for a journey, look around the web and find yourself a nice train connection!
We would recommend to take a plane in most of the cases. This is by far the fastest connection, and will make it happen that you won't miss anything of the first The Festival Weekend of 2026!
