UNIBET OPEN NEWS

The second half of the World Series of Poker seemed to keep its foot on the gas all the way through to the Main Event itself, bumping field numbers sky-high and bringing an influx of new players to Las Vegas who had their eyes on the big prize – the $10,000 No Limit Hold’em Championship event – but for whom perhaps two full months in the baking desert heat might have been a little too much.

Almost bang in the middle of the series, Hungary took another bracelet as Valdemar Kwaysser (left) won the $10,000 Pot Limit Hold’em Championship event for $617,214.  This continued the Europeans’ standout performance in Las Vegas this year, and marked one of many final tables which would be characterised by a multinational rail.  This really adds to the feeling that this truly is a World Series, with the hallways full of bad beat stories told in any number of languages – although it seems terms such as ‘check-raise’ and ‘threebet’ cross the barrier rather easily.  Also making deep runs in this tough 268-runner field were Tom Marchese, Peter Jetten, Daniel Stern and Alexander Kuzmin, and this won’t be the last we see of any of them, in all likelihood.  More Euro-success came at the hands of Sigurd Eskeland from Norway who beat Steve Sung heads up to secure his bracelet in the $2,500 Mixed Event, and Marcel Vonk, the surprise Dutch contender who took down over $500k for winning a huge 3844-entrant $1,000 No Limit tournament towards the end of the series.

Almost as many entrants as for the parallel PLHE tournament stumped up the $10k for the HORSE World Championship event – 241 – and the popularity of mixed game tournaments seems to be on the steady increase.  This event was won by Ian Gordon (right) who took the devilish prize of $611,666, narrowly pipping runner up Richard Ashby to the bracelet (which would have made a total of six for the UK).  The fifth one, incidentally, fell to Birmingham’s own Steve Jelinek, who won the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Eight-or-better event the previous week.  Two other Brits – Joel Ettedgi and Darren Sprengers – also made a deep run in this event and it would be surprising if the UK didn’t up the number of Omaha events it schedules in the local calendar in 2011.

Omaha has often been said to be a strong game for the European contingent, and it’s also gaining in popularity stateside every year.  Growing more prevalent online as the high stakes players have gotten their teeth into is as a cash game, the tournament form picked up a surprising number of entrants in almost every event.  460 players took a shot at the $5k PLO event, which fell to Chance Kornuth for just over half a million dollars, while the PLO World Championship event saw 346 runners compete for the $780,599 top prize.  This eventually went to Daniel Alaei after a long, tough final table which featured a truly international lineup (Miguel Proulx, Ville Mattila, Ludovic Lacay, Trevor Uyesugi, Stephen Pierson, Dmitry Stelmak, Alexander Kravchenko and Matthew Wheat).

If the Pot Limit Omaha Championship gained a lot of attention this year, it was overshadowed only by the elite $25,000 No Limit Six-Handed event, which seems to be put on the calendar so that pretty much every table is guaranteed to be a tough one and the props for taking it down are that much bigger.  This year they go to Dan Kelly (left) who won $1,315,518 along with his bracelet for beating some of the format’s most vigorous competitors.  Finishing third in that event was Frank Kassela, bumping him up the giddy heights of the Player of the Year leaderboard.  This is a great story in itself – Kassela had won two bracelets at the 2010 series already, and had only a few players behind him with any shot at taking POY glory away.  With John Juanda, Vladimir Schchemelev, Dan Heimiller, and James Dempsey out of the running after the crucial Main Event got underway, it was only Michael ‘the Grinder’ Mizrachi who held the possibility of overtaking the leader.  To do this, he’d have to go all the way.  And, at the risk of ruining the surprise of the Main Event recap, he’s in with a shot!

Two tournaments drew a lot of attention without being numbered events in the series itself – the Tournament of Champions and the Ante Up for Africa Charity Tournament.  The former was a 27-runner freeroll put on for the greatest of the great (as voted for by fans) and between them these players would have enough WSOP jewellery to sink a small ship.  Despite being a three-table affair, the televised TOC dragged on for many days (players went deep in other events; only a couple of levels were played per session) giving the rail around the Feature Table plenty of time to watch their favourites in action.  In the end, quietly proficient and hugely popular Huck Seed took the half million dollar top spot, with Howard Lederer coming second and Johnny Chan third.  $25k apiece went to the other finalists, Joe Hachem, Barry Greenstein, Daniel Negreanu, Jennifer Harman, Annie Duke and TJ Cloutier.

Meanwhile the Ante Up for Africa crew put on a show yet again, with celebrities, sport stars and poker pros combining at the tables in aid of a worthy cause.  Phil Gordon was the champion, winning $129,086, all of which he promptly donated to the charity.  Runner up Shannon Elizabeth has been a prominent supporter of this event, along with co-organisers Annie Duke and Don Cheadle and famous names such as Montel Williams and Evander Holyfield.

With the red carpet rolled up until next year, there was just the matter of the twelve-day marathon which is the $10,000 No Limit Hold’em Main Event to come.  This year even more tables were available for the flood of new faces and local veterans, qualifiers, sponsored pros and celebrities, all with their attention focused on the biggest poker game of the year.  An astounding 7,319 players took their seats over four start days, combining over two Day Twos and finally working their way down to just nine who will spend the next four months fretting about their huge final table to come.

Economic crises be damned – the turnout for the Main Event was huge and scattered throughout the massive Pavilion Room were almost every big name in poker you could think of.  Only 747 would see their efforts rewarded with a cash (minimum $19,263) however, and of those who made it that far, many leaders would rise and fall over the following four days.  Among those notably Johnny Chan on Day Three had amassed an impressive stack, and Matt Affleck, who ran deep last year, did it once again but fell just shy of final table glory.  Scandinavian hopes were dashed as Johnny Lodden scraped into the final day’s play but busted in 27th, while William Thorson who’d looked like a very strong contender throughout finished in 22nd.  Theo Jorgensen, too, had held a giant stack earlier, but was out on the penultimate day, along with Peter Jetten, David Benyamine, Alexander Kostritsyn and Tony Dunst.

Possibly the most tense bubble of the whole series – when ten drop to nine – took an immense amount of time to burst, dragging the last table deep into the night on Day Eight.  In the end Brandon Steven, who’d doggedly kept hold of his short stack throughout the six hours of play, lost it in a queens-vs.-AK flip to Matthew Jarvis to provide a final table which looks like this:

Jason Senti (7,625,000)
Joseph Cheong (23,525,000)
John Dolan (46,250,000)
Jonathan Duhamel (65,975,000)
Michael Mizrachi (14,450,000)
Matthew Jarvis (16,700,000)
John Racener (19,050,000)
Filippo Candio (16,400,000)
Soi Nguyen (9,650,000)

These players have all survived most of the war, but have one final battle left in November to decide who will take the most coveted bracelet of them all and the eye-opening $8,944,138 first prize.  In the meantime they may choose to relax, prepare mentally and physically, or dive straight in to the horde of tournaments coming up in Autumn both stateside and in Europe.  As circuit players return home and get over their jetlag, there’s always Unibet Open Prague just around the corner at the beginning of August to start the new season as the world of poker leaves Las Vegas – until next year.

WE would like to officialy announce that due to legal reasons Unibet Open Paris has been postponed for 2011.

The new venue for the final of the season is VENICE.

Details:
Date: 2nd-5th December
Buy-in – 2000 + 200 EUR
Cap – 350
Venue – Casino Municipale di Venezia
Address – Ca’ Vendramin Calergi
Cannaregio 2040 – 30121 Venezia, Italy
Website – www.casinovenezia.it

The months when it’s actually pleasant to live in northern Europe are precisely those during which the sprawling mega-series known as the WSOP rolls into town in Las Vegas, Nevada, drawing huge crowds for events ranging from Hold’em to Razz, triple draw and Omaha 8/b.  The temptation of playing one’s favourite niche game against eye-opening fields for big money is too great for a lot of European players, and they swap golden beaches, sunny city parks and country retreats back home for the singeing desert sun alternated with high-level air conditioning in the Rio casino for nearly two months of intensive poker.  At the end of the day the prizes everyone’s eyes are fixed on are the WSOP bracelets; and 57 of them will be awarded by the time the party’s over mid-July.

There has been a huge buzz this year around Europe’s best bets for bracelet glory (huge posters of Annette Obrestad, for example, adorn the hallways), and despite being overwhelmingly outnumbered there have been some impressive paydays for visiting players already, and we’re only half way through.  There’s so much going on at the Series that it’s well nigh impossible to keep an eye on everything, so here are some highlights from the events so far, with an especial glance at the movers and shakers from across the pond:

The World Series has taken in recent years to starting off with a bang – a huge $50k buyin ‘Poker Players’ Championship’ event which attracts every magazine-cover-gracing poker star who can stump up the cash or whose sponsor fancies giving the biggest of the big games a punt.  This year headlines were grabbed by the brothers Mizrachi, with both Michael and Robert making the final.  Michael Mizrachi took the title in the end (right), and over $1.5 million, while Robert had to settle for 5th, behind stalwarts of the game Vladimir Schmelev, David Oppenheim, and John Juanda.

May ended and June began with the rotating mix of super-large-field $1,000 and $1,500 No Limit Hold’em tournaments mingling with the $10,000 buy-in Championship Events in every discipline imaginable, as well as a surprising number of mixed-game tournaments which seem to grow in popularity every year.

In one of the first of the $1,500 events, the UK’s Praz Bansi took down his second bracelet and over half a million dollars, drawing an excitable rail and a lot of support from the British contingent.  The very next day they had another reason to cheer, as two UK players made the final of the $5,000 No Limit Hold’em Shootout event – the gregarious Neil Channing and Stuart Rutter (who’s been on a bit of a heater in recent months).  However they had to content themselves with second and third place respectively, as Joshua Tieman went on to take the title and the $441,692 which came with it.  France’s Nicolas Levi also made that final, finishing 5th behind Joseph Elpayaa.

The European turbo-start to the 2010 Series was confirmed when the next event, the $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball, was won by Peter Gelencser from Hungary (left), who won over $180k and was the only non-north American to cash in this event, which, in fairness, isn’t found too often outside of this continent.  He was followed to the winners’ podium by Brit James Dempsey, who took down the $1,500 Pot Limit Hold’em event (the same won by his friend JP Kelly last year) after several hours of trying to concentrate while the most rowdy crowd seen so far cheered him on, despite being occasionally thinned as a couple were thrown out by security.  The decision in the wee hours of the morning to stop serving them alcohol was probably the only thing which kept any of them in there…

Back to the  World Championships, and two $10k buy-in Stud events drew big names galore in the hunt for a bracelet in a shorter field.  Men ‘the Master’ Nguyen won the 7-Card Stud Championship (there were 150 entries in this event) beating Brandon Adams heads up, while yet again Michael Mizrachi’s name pops up on a final (he finished 6th).  In the running for player of the year, the Grinder is cementing himself as a true all-rounder.  The 7-Card Hi-Low Split 8/better Championship drew 20 more runner than the high-only version, and this time it was Frank Kassela who emerged on top winning just under half a million dollars and pipping the permanent residents of the late stages of the niche games like Allen Kessler, Jennifer Harman, and John Juanda.  The Americans might still be dominating in this field, but cashers hailing from beyond the States included Kirill Rabtsov, Vladimir Shchemelev, Dario Minieri, Sergey Altbregin, and Alessio Isaia.

The next World Championship up for grabs was the $10k Deuce-to-Seven No Limit Lowball, and this fell to David Baker, with Eric Cloutier 2nd and Germany’s George Danzer in third.  Although a very highly rated player he’s yet to make a proper splash over at the WSOP, but he’s one of the young players I would tip to be a sleeper hit (or the poker equivalent) this year.  The other is Sam Trickett, who was pipped to a bracelet of his own in the $5,000 No Limit Hold’em event by the USA’s Jason Dewitt, who captured the title and $818,959.  The 792-strong field in this event was tough, and the young Englishman (who final tabled the same event in 2008, coming 4th) bettered his previous result but still couldn’t get his hands on the jewellery just yet.  Still, two of the lesser known names to watch out for in the second half of the Series…

Well known names everyone’s already watching out for include, of course, Phil Ivey (right), who picked up his eighth bracelet this week in the $3,000 HORSE event.  Playing five (limit) games (Hold’em, Omaha high-low 8/b, Razz, 7-card Stud, and Stud high-low 8/b) is widely regarded as a true test of general poker mastery, and Ivey was only one of several veteran players of all variants to make the hugely popular final table.  Bill Chen was his last rival, after John Juanda had another close call, finishing in 3rd, and last year’s WSOP Player of the Year Jeff Lisandro had also hit the rail.  The rumoured bracelet bets between Ivey and Tom Dwan (who earlier finished second to Simon Watt in a $1,500 NL event) have the media guessing, but Ivey would only comment that he was currently, “In the lead,” on that score…

Returning to the European theme, and it was France’s Vanessa Hellebuyck who won the $1,000 Ladies Event, beating over 1000 competitors to take her first bracelet.  Almost simultaneously, Richard ‘Chufty’ Ashby was winning the $1,500 7-card Stud event for $140,467.  He might more regularly frequent the nosebleed PLO cash games online, but the Omaha events this year have been dominated by Americans, with John Barch winning the $1,500 and Canada’s Miguel Proulx taking down the $2,500 (although the UK’s Michael Greco came 3rd and there was a 5th-6th double for Germany thanks to Joerg Engels and Karl Gal).  The $10k Omaha High-low 8/b World Championship went to Sammy Farha (again!) but look who nearly made it an early double – James Dempsey finished second to rapturous applause from the British crowd.

Other highlights included yet another bracelet for the UK courtesy of Mike Ellis, who ground down Christopher Gonzales to take $581,851 for first place having seen off over 2300 runners in another $1,500 No Limit event.  The Limit Hold’em World Championship was another hard-fought battle, giving Matt Keikoan the win over a tough final table which included last year’s phenom Brock Parker and, yet again, Michael Mizrachi.  To finish off, the Heads Up No Limit $10k Championship event was won by Ayaz Mahmood (left), who beat his final opponent Ernst Schmejkal of Germany in a best-of-three to win $625,674 and the bracelet.  Finishing in the top ten in this popular event were Jason Somerville, Alexander Kostritsyn, Vanessa Rousso, Faraz Jaka, and Ludovic Lacay, while there were cashes for the French star Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier and online pro Chris Moorman.

Of course it’s all still full-swing here in Las Vegas, and the Big One is yet to come, the $10,000 No Limit Hold’em Championship running from the 5th to the 17th of July.  Four start days, thousands of competitors, and a final table of millionnaires – despite the slightly dropped numbers for some of the early events this year, this one is going to be huge.  I’ll be keeping an eye on Europe’s best hopes, as well as the host of pros descending on the mammoth Pavilion room here at the Rio.  Viva Las Vegas.

The inaugural Unibet Open in Golden Sands, Bulgaria, has been won by Dan Murariu, of Romania, who takes home a cheque for €150,705, the trophy, and a triumphant poker story from the beachside resort.  With a breakneck speed start to this final table, the rail (which grew steadily over the day) had plenty to entertain them as the winner emerged from this starting lineup:

Dan Murariu (Romania) – 1,053,000
Lasse Nielsen (Denmark) – 756,000
Bjaerke Hansen (Denmark) – 605,000
Simeon Naydenov (Bulgaria) – 556,000
Alexandr Sharov (Russia) – 296,000
Mosjin el Yakoubi (Holland) – 249,000
Twan Bakens (Holland) – 176,000
Pedro Fanzeres (Portugal) – 169,000
Nicolas Dervaux (France) – 98,000

Murariu began in the lead, and ended up with all the chips in the tournament – but between these two points there was a fast-paced final played out with plenty of reversals of fortune, with more than one other player taking the lead.  Of the short stacks starting the final, it was Pedro Fanzeres eliminated first after racing his big slick against the pocket Tens of Simeon Naydenov.  Nicolas Dervaux had spent much of the previous day short stacked, and seemed unfazed by starting with five figures when the leader was over seven – he outlasted Mosjin el Yakoubi (8^th) but then took a stab at a triple up, all in with AQ against the 99 of Alexandr Sharov and the 55 of Twan Bakens.  In this most exciting hand of the first half, Dervaux spiked an Ace on the flop, but a five popped out tripling up the young Dutchman instead, and sending him to the rail in 7^th.

The period immediately preceding Dervaux’s elimination had been dominated by the quiet aggression of Lasse Nielsen, who briefly held the chip lead before doubling up a lucky Sharov whose dominated Qh9h hit a flush against his AQ, and then doing it again with Sixes against Sharov’s Aces.  Nielsen stopped raising every hand after this, and it was the turn of Bjaerke Hansen to shift to high gear after getting crippled by Simeon Naydenov.  He moved in preflop three hands in a row (with the blinds getting big by this point that gave him a real boost) and then called all-in on the fourth hand with A9.  This stayed in front of Naydenov’s A6 and he sent the lone Bulgarian finalist to the rail in 6^th.

After this rather eyebrow-raising comeback, he shot way past his previous stack when a nonbelieving Twan Bakens shipped all his chips in with Sevens preflop, only to find Hansen with Queens.  His enthusiastic rail had to content themselves with their man taking fifth and €36,938 – not too bad for a weekend’s work.  The overnight chip leader was noticeably quiet while this carnage was wreaked on the rest of the table, the patient Murariu biding his time and seemingly unwilling to generate life-threatening pots with the other big stacks.  Out of all of them, he was the only one not to dice with elimination in the first four levels, starting with a million, and holding onto it with a vice-like grip, unfazed, it appeared, by the rise and rise of Bjaerke Hansen.

Hansen, meanwhile, busted Simeon Naydenov in dramatic style, calling his threebet preflop with Aces and letting him bluff off his stack with Q8 on an AJT flop.  The slim hope of a straight fading, Naydenov hit the rail and collected €47,280 for 4^th.

Three handed, Hansen applied pressure to the two shorter stacks, and it was Lasse Nielsen who finally succumbed, after dropping to around the 10bb mark and making the necessary shoves to try to get back into contention.  In the end he called when Dan Murariu moved in on him with pocket Fours – Murariu held T6 which was still a couple of live overcards.  Sure enough, the Six came on the flop to bust Nielsen and get to the heads up stage.

With over €50k difference in prize money between first and second, it was no wonder it took several levels for Murariu and Hansen to fight it out to the end.  Long periods of back-and-forth small pots meant that for several hours they were pretty much even in chips.  A key hand for Murariu, however, saw him turn the nut flush while Hansen rivered the second nuts, and a chunky 460k changed hands on the river alone.  With the momentum once more, Murariu still didn’t have an easy ride to the title.  Comfortable with setting his opponent all-in to pile on the pressure, Hansen gave it a good shot, but finally doubled Murariu up when he made this move with A6 and ran into Murariu’s pocket Sevens.

After that it was a matter of minutes before another all-in preflop confrontation finished Hansen off (his Q8 suited running into Murariu’s Queens) and he settles for second, while the Unibet Open Ambassador for Romania gets the giant cardboard cheque and the winner’s interview.  He’d previously finished fifth at both the Vilamoura Unibet Open and the London leg (for £38,500) back in 2009, but this win represents his largest so far.  The trick seems to be to keep making final tables, and eventually you take one down…  We’ll probably see him at the next Unibet Open event in Prague this August, but for now, thanks to the Grand Casino, Golden Sands for hosting a spectacular week of poker, and to all the staff, TV crew and players who make the tour what it is.

Final Results:

1st – €150,705 – Dan Murariu
2nd – €97,515 – Bjaerke Hansen
3rd – €65,010 – Lasse Nielsen
4th – €47,280 – Simeon Naydenov
5th – €36,938 – Twan Bakens
6th – €25,118 – Alexandr Sharov
7th – €18,617 – Nicolas Dervaux
8th – €13,298 – Mosjin el Yakoubi
9th – €10,638 – Pedro Fanzeres

It took nearly twelve 1-hour levels to decide who the final nine players to battle tomorrow for the title and the lion’s share of the prizepool would be, but they are now set.  Without further ado, let us present:

Dan Murariu (Romania) – 1,053,000
Lasse Nielsen (Denmark) – 756,000
Bjaerke Hansen (Denmark) – 605,000
Simeon Naydenov (Bulgaria) – 556,000
Alexandr Sharov (Russia) – 296,000
Mosjin el Yakoubi (Holland) – 249,000
Twan Bakens (Holland) – 176,000
Pedro Fanzeres (Portugal) – 169,000
Nicolas Dervaux (France) – 98,000

120 players returned today, some fresh from surviving yesterday’s second flight, and some having had the benefit of a day in the sun at the beach to prepare them.  Only 45 were going to see a return on their €1,500 investment, however, and it was a real battle over the course of the day.  Some of those starting in the upper chip echelons held their ground (and then some – Dan Murariu was relentless, busting players left and right) but Peter Pedersen (the overnight leader) made a relatively early exit and gave Fotilas Aristotelis a nice boost.

Meanwhile it was a good day for the Finns, with many making the money, and three starting in the top ten counts, but none made the final table this time.  The final has two chipped-up Danes, however, in the form of Nielsen and Hansen, although Murariu has already broken the million chip mark and will take some fighting.  A quick look back to the bubble, which held over the dinner break with short stacks holding their breath to see which three would leave without at least a €2,216 payday, and it was Pavel Trutnev who took the dubious honour.  Finding Queens vs. Kings at this crucial time, Trutnev left a sort of vacuum into which a flurry of players threw their small stacks.  The big hand match-up put paid to several promising stacks, like that of Josef Samanek (Aces cracked by Kings), and Daniel Pena (Queens into Kings), while at the eleventh hour Lasse Nielsen busted Eero Laivonen when he picked up Aces vs. Kings.

There was some serious short-stack grinding going on as the final table was about to be set, with Lukasz Wasek doubling to survive four times, until finally busting in 11th, at the exact same moment when on the feature table Yuliyan Kolev met the felt in 10th.  This shock ending to what was otherwise a fairly slow-paced countdown to the final let everyone leave the Grand Casino by 4am, and hopefully they’ll all be fresh and ready to play again at 2pm tomorrow.  Top prize is over €150,000, and this lineup is guaranteed to bring some play to the Featured Final.  We’ll be covering it right here at unibetopen.com.

When the doors to registration finally closed at 4pm today here at the Grand Casino, Golden Sands, a total of 203 players had taken their seats in the €1,500 Unibet Open Main Event Day 1B.  This was a slight increase on yesterday’s runners, bringing the total number of entrants up to an impressive 394, and the prizepool a cool €591,000.

There were a number of recognisable names in today’s field – EPT Champ Pieter de Korver, Ylva Thorsrud, Mats Rahmn and Claus Nielsen were cheerfully playing continually through the early levels, and a surprising number of famous Belgians – Matthias and Christophe de Meulder, Miss Belgium Alizee Poulicek and film star Axel Daeseleire (who got off to a cracking start) graced the second flight, too.

It took a while today for big stacks to really get going, but once they did there was no stopping them.  Taking their turn at the top during the later levels were several French players, including Alain Pasqualini, Nicolas Ragot and Samphane Phomveha, although Pasqualini had some run-ins with overpairs which saw him drop from the very top spot.  Also steadily maintaining chunky stacks were Jerry Pussinen, Fotilas Aristotelis and Trifon Kaburov, but at the end of the day Peter Pedersen was the one to catch, and no one did, as he rocketed up to 99,600 at the end of the day.

Several players in today’s flight have been attending the Unibet Open tour’s events in recent times, among them Imre and Kairit Leibold of Estonia.  While Imre has previous final table experience here at the UO, it was Kairit who made Day Two this time round, including spending a spell on the streamed Feature Table.  She may be shortish stacked with around 18k, but this is No Limit Hold’em and tournaments have been won with the proverbial chip and chair.

A strange twist in the Day 1B counts means that apart from the leader and a couple of shorties, most of the field of 65 is kind of in the middle bracket with around average!  So many with 30-40k will join the much more unevenly dispersed lot from Day 1A; full chip counts for the ends of days are posted on the live update page as soon as we receive them.

The combining of the field means that tomorrow will see all remaining players reconvene and redraw and recommence battle – down to the money and beyond.  45 of them will see a return on their investment, with the first payout being €2,216, all the way up to the giddy heights of the title, which brings with it €150,715 in prize money!  Of course the final table will lie in wait on Day Three, but tomorrow promises to be action-tastic from the start.  Join unibetopen.com for live coverage from 2pm local time.

The threatened rain here in Golden Sands, Bulgaria, did no more than that, and it was a beautiful day to stay indoors and play tournament poker for all 197 players who had bought, qualified, last-minute-satellited, or borrowed the buy-in to get into the €1,500 Main Event.  10,000 chips and hour levels meant a good amount of play, at least to begin the day, but that didn’t stop the attrition rate being pretty high.  Finnish TV presenter Jussi Heikela was the first elimination (understandable with Aces against Queens on a Queen-high flop) and over 100 others were to join him on the rail over the course of the ten levels of play.

Several recognisable faces were spotted at the tables at the start, but not at the end, like Budapest Unibet Open winner Anthon-Pieter Wink (who was, however, seen in the €300 Pot Limit Omaha during the last few levels – 10/10 for total poker immersion today), Michal Wisniewski, Kristijonas Andrulis, Alex Martin, and Jens Kyllonen to name just a few.

The flurry of eliminations which brought the field to under 80 around level Eight may have been in part inspired by the neighbouring Welcome Drinks – it’s hard to ignore the faint but insistent beat coming from the bar, and perhaps the double-up-or-go-home/out attitude hit the short stacks around 10pm… A couple of players at this hour had everything to play for, though, building the sort of stacks that could challenge the lead when the final hand was dealt, which is of course an encouraging way to start on Saturday when the field brings together both Day One survivors.

Among those who spent time in the upper chip echelons: Sebastian Mortelmans, who took an early lead and kept a decent stack until dropping  right at the end, Luis Petersen and Boudewijn Wubbels (pictured), who built solid if not towering stacks and held on to them during the middle stages, and late-emerging chip monsters Simeon Naydenov and Daniel Pena, who cracked the 60k mark before anyone else.

However, leading the pack at the end of the day were Jussi Nevanlinna (over 89,000) and Yulian Kolev (also over 80k) along with Thomas Svendgaard who had an excellent last couple of levels, plus Simeon Naydenov.  Notably stacked over 50k is the implacably consistent Joachim Buch, who, not content with back to back 3rd place in Unibet Open events, ground a small stack for a long time before plumping it out at the end.  Full chip counts coming soon.

The second batch of players ready to take on Day 1B of Unibet Open will be starting up at 2pm local time tomorrow, and we’ll be watching and bringing live updates, streaming from the Feature Table (from 4pm) and video, photos – the big picture.

As satellites for Unibet Open Prague start up to send players August’s event, final preparations for the Bulgarian leg of the tour get underway as the beach resort of Golden Sands gears up to host another sell-out €1,500 tournament.  Although direct online buy-in and satellites are no longer available in this final week, if you’re near the Black Sea around Varna you can still buy in at the venue ( International Hotel Casino), or take your chances in the Super Satellite running on the 2nd June at 6pm (€200 +€20, one rebuy).

Package winners can bring guests to share their double room on mini-holiday, and if they fancy a shot at the Main Event prizepool this might be the best way to sneak in at the last minute… plus there will be side events to entertain the busted or the insatiable.  Thursday night sees a deepstacked €300 +€30 Pot Limit Omaha event kick off the side action, while on Friday Maria Poker hosts another Ladies’ Night tournament (€100 +€10).  Saturday night brings the €500 +€50 10k stacked No Limit freezeout, and the trip is wrapped up with a €100  rebuy tournament on Sunday guaranteed to keep the action at the tables generated until the very last minute.

Live reporting, streaming, twitter, videos etc. will be up on the Unibet Open site throughout the tournament, and recaps of every day will be featured here in the News section, to keep everyone missing out on the action first hand in the loop as the Main Event progresses.  To view the live update options, click here.

Good luck if you’re headed out to Golden Sands; bring your party hat and possibly your swim trunks (you never know) for the Unibet Open welcome drinks on Thursday evening and be sure that the Player Party on Saturday night will be one to remember.  Congratulations to all package winners and get ready to shuffle up and deal!

Satellites just started!
Secure your seat now, by playing the satellites!
Packages won through satellites are worth €2,750 and will include:

•  Accommodation for 4 nights
• Buy-in to the event – €1500 + €150
• Spending money towards travel expenses (€350)
• Breakfast and dinner daily during the tournament 

Qualify now!

Picking up poker at the start of the millennium, which sounds like some kind of new year’s resolution come very good, Swede Mats Rahmn has spent the last decade racking up results and joining the Unibet circuit as a popular professional player.  In 2004 he turned pro, and since then has gone on to tally up an impressive string of results, even landing himself one of those most coveted poker accessories, a WSOP bracelet (for the $1,500 No Limit event in 2006).

He’s been in attendance at every Unibet Open event since Budapest 2009, and has high praise for the London leg that year: “The production was the best by far and the tournament was run smoothly which made for a good experience.”  However, “Locationwise, Algarve was the best with perfect weather, plus a really nice hotel and bay area.”  He’s probably going to favor the beachside location of the Golden Sands event, then, as the casino has a glass wall with views out over the ocean…  His best result at a Unibet Open has been 15^th, in Budapest this year, where he took down €5,520 in sight of the final.

We asked him what makes a good poker player, and he responded, “Something that´s really important which people tend to forget, is a genuine interest in the game. If you really love poker you are more likely to improve your game because you will be more interested to learn, both from playing and by talking with others about poker, than a player who just sees poker as an opportunity to make a quick dollar.”

Taking his own advice, he admits to enthusiastically taking up another game which somehow has inexplicably captured the imagination of poker players from Phil Ivey to Patrik Antonius, and spawned prop bets galore.

“I´ve just started playing golf and I really like the game. Although it´s frustrating to be really bad at something I´m hopefully improving my game rapidly and eventually end up somewhere on the fairway from time to time!”

Swedish pro and Unibet Ambassador Micke Norinder is a fixture on the live circuit, a gregarious and universally friendly figure at the table but also a player to be reckoned with.  His results over the last few years (he’s been playing professionally for five years, and for Unibet for three) have been in a variety of disciplines, leading to an equally wide variety of currencies being given back to him as he made, among other finishes, a fifth place at the Amsterdam Masterclassics in 2007, an EPT final table in Prague the same year, a WSOP Limit Hold’em shootout 11th place and 6th in the Pot Limit Omaha Event in Stockholm in 2009.

Norinder maintains that the most important factor in becoming a good poker player is, “Management, both money and feelings,” and this concise advice seems to have stood him in good stead.  His well-managed globetrotting has earned him over $300,000 in tournament winnings, however he’s yet to top the field at one of the Unibet Open events at which he’s a constant fixture.

When asked about this in particular, he said, “I’ve participated in every Unibet Open event since the start. But my statistics for day two are so bad. I think it´s better that I comment in the live-stream.”  He is a welcome addition to the live-stream commentary booth, a born talker and regular blogger, with a straight-talking attitude which makes him just that little bit more unpredictable than many pundits.  However, despite the Swedish action-generator’s willingness to explain the action on TV or comment on the poker world, it’s hard to imagine him keeping off the felt in Bulgaria for long. Although he reminisces fondly about the 2009 Portugal leg of Unibet Open: ” I think Algarve was very nice. We had a lovely boat trip and a lot of sun,” he admits to, “Looking forward to Golden Sands and Valencia this year.”

Speaking of boats, his personal passion outside of the poker arena is, unusually, just that.  “My big hobby is my boat (ship). It´s a big 43 feet Azimut with flybridge. I will spend the most of the Swedish summer in it. I like to fish.  I will try to catch a lot of fish this summer, both in the sea and at the poker table.”

Pedro Guedes, winner of the €500 side event at Unibet Open Budapest in March for €16,200, tells Unibet about his start in poker, first place finish in Hungary, and how he got from one to the other (via the beach…)

How and when did you first start to play poker?

I started to play poker about two years ago in the company of friends but I was not really aware of the rules at the time. At the moment I am having lessons with a player from the Unibet Team Pro from Portugal André “Wade” Santos.

What was your first big live tournament?

I had previously participated in a tournament in Estoril (Portugal) last year where I lost with pocket aces! But I have to say that the biggest one was Unibet Open in Budapest because the competition was tough but always passionate – especially for people that like adrenaline.

What was the reaction at home when they heard that you had won the side event?

They were happy for the excellent result. My wife knew how many hours of study I have dedicated to the game and that I was really determined to get a good result on the tournament.

On average, how many hours do you play on a daily/weekly basis? Any good results?

I play a bit every day because all my friends play as well. As for results, nothing special, but I definitely have lots of fun!

What is more exciting – the poker game or the winnings?

First of all I have to say playing poker and studying other players – that can always be unpredictable. Obviously it is very rewarding to reach some ITMs [cash].

What tournaments do you like the most? Online or live?

Well when it comes to Unibet Open it is very difficult not to like it because you will breathe poker 24 hours a day with the sound of chips going on the background. But I think in online poker you can feel your maximum potential when you manage to beat a field of 2000 to 3000 players. Online you are able to find all varieties of poker every day at anytime.

What is your opinion on Unibet’s live tournaments?

I would definitely recommend them, not only for the money but also because you are able to interact at the table and make friends with players from other countries.  The entire tournament is made with players in mind and all is at hand so we can relax and play.

Which player are you most afraid of live and online?

Well… I would have to say myself because we can play against other opponents all the time on the same table for 2 to 3 hours but we have to always be very concerned about our actions all the time.

Do you adopt an alternative image for live tournaments?

I usually wear glasses and headphones so I can isolate myself in my world, without ever losing any bit of what is going on at the table. Of course at home I do not wear glasses and the hat.

At which website do you like to play?

Unibet. The graphics are very simple and quick and the level and variety of players is accessible and relaxed.

What is your nick?

GBROTHER

Why did you choose that nick?

It means G for Guedes brother.

Do you think poker is a game of skill or luck?

Skill at 99% and 1% luck because you will need to get more chips in a crucial part of the tournament when you push your stack to the middle of the table. Without strategy and knowledge of the game and your opponents you end up not lasting very long.

You set an example for the younger generation – what advice can you give them?

If they are starting on poker then start playing in play money and study the game a bit. Today there is always good advice on how to play on most of the online rooms. Always play with moderation and peace. When the weather is good play at the beach!

Dan Glimne has so many strings to his gaming bow it’s practically a harp.  The Swedish poker expert, author, gaming pundit and inventor can be found commentating on the action, travelling the world in search of gaming experiences from Cuba to Hong Kong, or sat at the felt putting theory into practise at Unibet Open.

Having played five Unibet Open tournaments so far, he has yet to make his mark on the leaderboards, although he’s enjoyed previous success at the WSOP and Master Classics of Poker (at which he came third in 2005 for over €35,000).  He has, however, been known to go deep in a side event or two on the tour, most recently and perhaps unexpectedly the Maria Poker Ladies’ Event at Unibet Open Budapest in March, where he finished as runner-up!

When asked what he thought it took to succeed in poker these days, he replied, “Mental discipline, and a willingness to absorb new ideas and constantly improve your game. Winning at Texas hold’em ten years ago, live or online, was no problem; but these days the competition is fierce and everyone studies poker theory.”  He’s been playing long enough to have an overview of the game’s development too – as he recounts with almost glamorous underworld detail, “I still remember the illegal so-called “black clubs” in Sweden, where you had to knock on secret doors and identify yourself before stepping into those smoke-filled rooms…”  Playing seriously for 20 years, Glimne recalls a time before the present boom which has been so beneficial for students of the game, making online celebrities out of its top players (his opinion on who Isildur1 may or may not be is also floating around the internet).

In between appearing on the live mike, Glimne recently made a series of short videos called Dan Glimne’s Poker Curiosities for Unibet Open in Budapest, relaying in his inimitable style (and Swedish accent) stories from Binion’s in Vegas, the early greats, apocryphal tales and that Sting worked in a funeral parlour before moving into music (part of his Curiosities Part 3 – What Players Did Before They Went Pro…).  His interest in all aspects of the game of poker is infectious and doesn’t stop at the door of the cardroom.  In his own words:

“I have been in the games industry in the wide sense for thirty years now, writing books, working as a consultant in the casino sector, and inventing board and card games with over 1.5 million sold in over twenty countries. Apart from poker I play mainly mahjong (one World Championship and two European Championships, apart from playing the brutal cash game form of the game in Hong Kong clubs), Othello (third in the Swedish Championship) and a variety of others for pleasure. And I collect pretty much everything in the way of dice and dice-related objects, which has led to some pretty interesting encounters with – among other people – witch doctors in South Africa and santeria priests in Cuba. One day, when I am ready, that collection will be put on exhibit in a museum. I guess I would have to say that gaming is a life-long love affair for me!”

London’s Les Ambassadeurs Casino was the host this week of one of the most gruelling poker games ever committed to film – the non-stop 48 hour high stakes cash session known as The Big Game.  Homegrown favourites like Neil Channing, Roland de Wolfe, Luke Schwartz and Andrew Feldman took on a wide selection of very well-known trans-Atlantic competitors, like Phil Laak, David ‘Viffer’ Peat, Isaac Haxton, Justin Bonomo and Jennifer Tilly.  Wild cards were thrown into the deck in the form of several satellite and freeroll entrants, who quickly found that £5,000 was a short stack indeed on a table where players occasionally found themselves with 1000 big blinds.  Meanwhile a stream of pros and high-stakes regulars waited patiently on the list for their turn at the felt and on camera – some for over a day as the stamina of the original lineup was put to the test.

Although many may have come with the inkling to stay and play continuously for two days straight, only one actually managed it, and he was also the biggest winner in the game.  David ‘Viffer’ Peat will be instantly recognised by High Stakes Poker viewers (and he’s come across Laak in that context too) and from the very first hand he stepped on the gas and ran the tank dry to the final card dealt.  His continual activity and fearless style soon left the ever-changing lineup with a big headache, and despite suffering some hefty setbacks he came out nearly £150,000 ahead.

The initial sit-down favoured by the players was either £10k or £20k (the latter being the max, the blinds starting at £25/£50 but soon escalating with the inevitable straddles), and it was quickly apparent that no dust was going to gather on those chips.  The first to take a big lead was Jennifer Tilly, who was unfazed by Viffer’s constant pressure and finished her nine-hour session with £33,000 more than she sat down with.  She topped the leaderboard of winners for most of the time the game ran, joined by formidable female opponent Laurence Grondin whose £20k profit announced her arrival to players to whom she was a worryingly unknown quantity.

There was a twist in the tail for everyone who wanted to keep their seat for long, however.  In a reality-TV style endeavour to mix it up, every few hours all the players in the Big Game had to vote on which of them to send to the rail, winner or loser, and welcome a new face.  Recent arrivals were immune from eviction, as was the most aggressive player in the preceding session.  This meant that Viffer was never in danger of losing his permanent place, but it did mean that a succession of people found themselves in the eye-watering position of coming to the table, losing chunks of money, and then getting voted off it again.  This was especially harsh for the reluctant leavers, like Dusty ‘Leatherass’ Schmidt, and later (briefly) Neil Channing and Isaac Haxton.  Tony G proved himself the master of the tactical vote, but also mixed up his (comparatively) brief time on the table with flair and a permanent massage.

Schmidt’s voted exit from the game came as a blessing in disguise, perhaps, for commentator Jesse May, who found a hitherto-untested but very capable co-commentator who proved his own stamina with over a day straight talking over the action with him.  Popping in and out for a shot at the mic (and a fascinating real-time view of the table’s hole cards and action) were also Justin Bonomo, Andrew Feldman, and Irish Open winner James Mitchell.  While no one came close to the profit shown by Viffer, Phil Laak made a good showing (and some rather unorthodox plays which had the table in knots at times) with around £25k, and Bodo Sbrzesny, Ellis Reuben, Paul Zimbler, Tilly and Grondin all leaving ahead.   The whole dramatic session will be shown over sixteen 45 minute episodes, and with bluffs, outdraws and the Seven-Deuce game wreaking havoc on the table all the way through, it should be a thrilling ride.

Direct buy-in for the next Unibet Open event which will take place at Golden Sands in Bulgaria from the 3^rd-6^th of June is now open!  You can now reserve your seat at this beachside extravaganza of poker and parties well in advance, and guarantee that your section of the felt is held for you.  If you’re more of a last-minute globe-trotter, or want to take part in one of the many online satellites which could bag you a Bulgaria package for a tiny price-tag, then now is the time to start qualifying.

Every Sunday at 20:30 CET Unibet run a €275 +€25 super-satellite with five packages guaranteed!  With a 5k starting stack and 15 minute levels, the same skills which take players through four live days at Unibet Open reward at least five people per week with the full trip, accommodation for five nights and a chance at a title and six-figure payday.  If that doesn’t fit your poker budget, satellites to the weekly final are running all week long, starting with €5 rebuys or €30 freezeouts straight in, or you can even start with a freeroll!  Whatever your tournament bankroll, a place at Unibet Open Golden Sands can be won over the next six weeks.  Each event on the Unibet Open tour welcomes greater numbers of qualifiers to the excitement of competing in the live arena for huge prizes – whether it’s your first live event or a regular stop on the tour, the atmosphere and competition in Golden Sands will be the best yet.

Full details on how to qualify, and information on all levels of satellites can be found here.