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Imre Leibold, a professional player from Estonia, has been playing poker for around six years. He plays poker both online and live. “I like all [poker] games,” explains Imre, “I’ve recently become fascinated with Hi/Lo games, Stud/8 and Omaha/8.”

The Estonian from Tallinn competes in more tournaments than ring games and has had some impressive poker success. Imre has four WSOP cashes and made the final table in the $1000 S.H.O.E event at the 2007 World Series, which he ranks as his biggest poker victory.

In April Imre took part in the bankroll challenge promotion on the Estonian site. He started with €50 and made it over €1,000 playing turbo-STT’s at Unibet Poker and writing on the blog about it. Through this he won a seat to Unibet Open Madrid tournament.

Imre comments on previous Unibet Open:

- Unibet Open Madrid was a very well organized tournament. Everything worked smoothly and although I was very skeptical about the structure at first - I really thought the tournament could not been finished in 2 days - Unibet staff proved I was wrong.

- The field didn’t look too strong and there definitely was a good value for tournament experts. Many people didn’t look too comfortable in deep-stack situation and I witnessed way too many shallow all-in confrontations at the very early stages. I would probably would have witnessed even more, but I got eliminated soon after dinner break, I don’t even remember what happened, I guess somebody sucked out on me… or I did something stupid myself, lol.

- Still, it wasn’t really the end for me, because my wife Kairit made the final table and I had the time of my life cheering for her. It was such pure fun, that the next time we will play a big event together I have to concentrate twice as hard not to get carried away by the idea to just drop out, take a beer and watch her pushing the guys around.

- We had a great time in Madrid and will definitely have a great time in Milan too.

João Barbosa from Portugal, who plays under the alias “joaob” on Unibet Poker, is the champion of the latest Unibet Open event which took place in Madrid during May 2008.

João became a Poker pro less than a year ago. Since then he won 105,000€ in Madrid after a deal in the heads-up and also claims to have good results online, specially No Limit cash games on Unibet Poker. He recently joined the Unibet team, and will be seen on most of the EPT’s.

Before he decided to commit to Poker, he graduated in Computer’s Engineering in 2006 and had started a pHD in the same area. He decided to drop it off and play poker full time, to take the most advantage of the profits, lots of new experiences and travelling which Poker allows him to have.

Says João of his experiences:

- I had an amazing experience in Madrid. It was the highest buy in tournament I had played so far. At first, I didn’t have any expectations but to have a good experience and enjoy. I started poorly and had less than half of my stack after an hour of play, but then things started going my way and I made it to the first place. I never felt too much pressure and was able to be focused all the time.

- After Madrid I played the Main Event of the WSOP, but unfortunately I was out on Day 1 although I think I played well. This season I will play most of the EPT’s thanks to Unibet, the first is Barcelona just before Unibet Open Milan.

- In Milan, I will surely do my best to be as close as possible to my previous result. 

We would like you to meet Rune Vika from Norway. In the Unibet poker client he is known as fiskegarn (fishing net). Clearly he hopes to catch some fish before the day is over…

Rune took part in Unibet Norway`s Euro 2008 poker promotion on the Norwegian site. The 1st prize for this campaign was a trip for 2 people to New York. When we called Rune up to congratulate him on his winnings he said thank you and then added: Can I change the New York trip for a seat at the Unibet Open, please?

That shows exactly what the poker team is hoping for; that Unibet Open is shaping up to become a poker happening that poker players want to be part of!

Rune is 45 years old, and originally comes from Oslo, the capital of Norway. Today he lives with his wife and two children in Sörumsand, just north of Oslo.

What is your ambition with Unibet Open?
- I want to play as good as I can. If lady luck is with me I am confident I will get a chance to end up in the money. But to be friend with Lady Luck over 3 days is probably very hard. I don’t have any experience playing these kinds of tournaments, but believe me I am so looking forward to it!

What kind of tournaments have you played earlier?
- Two years ago I took part in the Norwegian Championschips (played in Gotheburg, Sweden). That was a good experience, but I didn’t end in the money. Other than that I have played small tournaments in local poker clubs. These are tournaments with 40 players. The blinds and actions goes much faster I reckon.

What will be the big challenge for you at Unibet Open?
- Most definitely to get used to the long blind intervals. Even tough I consider being patient as one of my strength – that will really be tested with these long blinds intervals. I know that when I get tired I can rush judgments and go wrong. I need to stay focus and if possible will practice on that.

Tell us about your poker alias at Unibet Poker?
- My alias is “fiskegarn” (fishing net). There is nothing more to it than that I hope to catch some fish…

You have been with Unibet since May 2005. What do you think about our poker product?
- For me it has only been Unibet. I started playing when Unibet was part of the B2B network. When you changed to Prima (MicroGaming) I was doubtful if I should go with you because I liked playing at B2B. But I came along and within the first month at Prima I had won 5 tournaments. I like everything with Unibet. You have nice campaign, good bonuses, a variety of games and the possibilities to be entertained are so many. Even tough I don’t play as much poker as before Unibet remains my favourite!

Do you play other poker games than Texas Hold`em?
- Oh yes. Hold`em is actually not my favourite game. I prefer Omaha High/Low and who knows maybe I can beat Jan Olav Sjåvik at that game one day? Or maybe not?

Get to know Jan Olav Sjåvik, aka TheBalrog in the Unibet poker client. Jan Olav is Team Norway`s sponsored poker pro` here at Unibet.

Jan Olav has won close to $2.000.000 throughout his poker career but is hungry for much more.  He has won four big live tournaments so far in his career and hopes to finally do a very good performance during Unibet Open. Both Warszawa and Madrid saw Jan Olav eliminated early.

Jan Olav used to work as a journalist for a horse racing magazine in Norway and played cards for fun in his spare time during the 1990s. But the more he played poker the better he became and it was just a matter of time before he put his journalist pen and notepad safely in the desk drawer and left the desk.

In the summer of 2001 he won the European Poker Championships and collected $180.000 for the job. A month later he won the Grosvenor UK Open Poker Festival. The guy had a talent for poker!

About a year ago Jan Olav signed a sponsor deal with Unibet and became our poker ambassador of Norway. Jan Olav has helped us push poker in the far outmost region in Europe and is a true poker celebrity.

His schedule is poker 24/7. Prior to Unibet Open Milano Jan Olav will play EPT Barcelona and just after the final table on the 21 of September he will be on the plane to London to play the HORSE at WSOPE.

- 2008 has not been a good year for me so far but I hope to find my shape and form during the Autumn. From being totally locked into playing Limit and No Limit Hold`em only I have started to play 7 Card Stud and HORSE. I really love playing the HORSE games and did very well in this event during WSOP in Las Vegas, Jan Olav tells us.

- I have taken part in the first two Unibet Open tournaments and I am looking forward to Milano. In Warszaw I was unlucky and was eliminated early on. In Madrid I can only blame myself for not getting higher on the score board. I really enjoy these tournaments and if the progress continues the players can look forward to one hell of a weekend in Lugano. Madrid was almost as good as it gets.

- The level of the players at Unibet Open is not as good as the level of players playing EPT, WPT and WSOP, but in poker the difference between the best and all the rest is not that big and everyone can win. I do hope that I can use my experience better this time around. Most of the opponents lack the technical strength, so hopefully I can use this to my benefit?

So if you end up on the same table as TheBalrog at least you are a little prepared for what is awaiting you.

Hey!

Welcome to the Players section. Here we will post information about some of the players who will be taking part in the Unibet Open Milan, at the Casino di Campione. We are currently compiling the info, so check back soon, more details coming up…

Linda