HOME / BLOG / PLAYERS / GALLERY / PREVIOUS EVENTS

Day 1B – The End

After ten levels of play, 34 players made it through to Sunday’s exciting finale of the Unibet Poker Open in Madrid. Together with the 29 players that made it through from day 1A, we will have 63 players battling it out primarily to reach the final table, and then of course the first prize of more than 100,000 euros. The best player on day 1A was Guillermo Gil, and he is still the over-all chip leader on 170k. The best player from day 1B, Sebastian Mortelmans, is third in the total list since Victor Escudero made 136,500 on day 1A and that is our top trio. Unibet’s Finnish poker pro Ville Wahlbeck is also in excellent shape on 86,700 which was good enough to be second best on day 1B. Best female player is Theresa Nousiainen from Finland with 56,600 and she will be 15th in the combined list for tomorrow. Norway has poker pro Stale Lokse still in the tournament on 40k and The Nordic Poker Team has still four players in the tournament. They are Helge Pedersen, Jan Henriksson, Brian Linnet and Dennis Lindmark. Team captain Mikael Norinder was the chip leader for most parts of day 1B, but after a couple of tough beats he lost most of his stack and was finally eliminated four minutes before the end of the day. Here is the list for day 1B survivors. Below you can also find the list from the 29 players that made it through day 1A:

1 Sebastian Mortelmans 135 100
2 Ville Wahlbeck 86 700
3 Domenico Tresa 80 200
4 Aleksi Enbuske 78 600
5 Thierry Boyeret 65 600
6 Okko-Juhani Kiiskilai 57 800
7 Teresa Nousiainen 56 600
8 Christer Jansson 55 400
9 Natalio Camacho 54 400
10 Gregg Delforge 53 500
11 Oscar Mendiola 52 600
12 David Camara 52 500
13 Marko Laine 51 300
14 Tomas Jonsson 50 800
15 Mikko Pennonen 50 500
16 Alvaro Marino 49 600
17 Ville Laakkonen 48 900
18 Tomeu Gomila 46 900
19 Helge Pedersen 46 500
20 Jan Henriksson 43 500
21 Ståle Lokse 40 800
22 Camilla Dennig 39 800
23 Ward Vandenbrouck 39 300
24 Alexander Beeckx 38 300
25 Gustavo Martín 32 600
26 Ilari Tanhokokallio 32 300
27 Laurens De Smith 28 400
28 Tabaszewsky Krzystof 28 100
29 Brian Linnet 26 600
30 Timo Paavo Kuivalainen 21 800
31 Jose Luis Picazo 20 100
32 Tom De Kriger 15 300
33 Piotr Majewski 13 500
34 Dennis Lindmark 11 300

Day 1A survivors:

1 Guillermo Gil 169 800
2 Victor Escudero 136 500
3 Per Hagman 95 200
4 Joa Vide Barbosa 79 300
5 Waldemar Szymanski 64 800
6 Juan Fernandez 63 300
7 Lars Erik Sollem 60 900
8 Armando Munoz 59 100
9 Rafael Lopez 51 900
10 Jonas Nielsen 48 600
11 Alvaro Aspas 47 900
12 Matias Tournier 46 100
13 Per Sjogren 44 100
14 Boudewijn Wubbels 41 700
15 Jose Espinar 41 000
16 Carlos Lopez 40 800
17 Tim Theodoor 37 400
18 Pedro da Silva 36 600
19 Ernesto Gimenez 30 900
20 Rasmus Hansen 30 200
21 Mikael Gustafsson 23 300
22 Simo Laitinen 21 600
23 Kairit Leibold 21 000
24 Jose Villaescusa 19 600
25 Erik Bergman 17 500
26 Manuelo Volpe 17 400
27 German Arcos 17 000
28 Henry Wiholainen 15 900
29 Francisco Carpio 9 200

Day 1B – Last Level of the Day

We have now reached the tenth level where the blinds are 500/1,000 with a 100 ante. There are 40 players with a good mix of nationalities remaining. Ville Wahlbeck has the biggest stack in the room at the moment with 93k followed by Aleksi Enbuske with 88k, Mikko Pennonen on 63k, David Camara on 59k, Theresa Nousiainen on 47k, Brian Linnet on 40k and many more of course. About one hour after the end of the day we will have the entire chip count for all the players that have made it through the day and will come back tomorrow for the big final.

Day 1B – Chipcount in the Middle of the Night

We have just started the eighth level of day 1B at Unibet Open in Madrid and there ar e 65 players left where the blinds are 300/600 with a 75 ante. Still in chip leading position is Mikael Norinder, now at 78k. Natalio Camacho is secone on 50k and Alexander Beeckz from Belgium is third with 48k. Here is a chip count of some of the players still in on day 1B.

Mikael Norinder 78k
Natalio Camacho 50k
Alexander Beeckz 48k
David Camara 47k
Taneli Tiikkaja 45k
Piotrek Majewski 42k
Ville Wahlbeck 41k
Alvaro Dracula 40k
Brian Linnet 40k
Timo Kuivalainen 37k
Mikko Pennonen 35k
Christer Jansson 34k
Patrik Hirvanen 32k
Cyrl Pigeard 31k
Sebastian Mortelmans 30k
Ilari Tahkokallio 30k
Theresa Nousiainen 30k
Oscar Martinez Elinhu 29k
Bo Sehlstedt 28k
Ståle Lokso 27k
Pelle Svendsen 24k
Magnus Söder holtz 23k
Tomeu Amatos 21k
Patrik Nilsson 18k
José Piké 12k
Agustin Sevilla 9k
El Cabezon de Eiche 8k
Raul Paez 5k

Day 1B – Cyril Pigeard Wins Big Pot

There is one French player left on day 1B and that is Cyril Pigeard. Sitting just behind him is Taneli Tikkaja from Finland who has been “running the show” for the last couple of hours. The Finn was up to 90k, being the outright leader, but now he has doubled up three players at table 10 and is down to 61k, but is still in a good position of course. In the hand Taneli raised to 6k from the button holding 88, Pigeard went all-in with 22,500 in the small blind and short stacked Jan Vellemans in the big blind AA but had only 4,600 left. Nothing special on the board and Vellemans tripled up to 14k, Pigeard’s kings gave him the side pot of 38k and Taneli headed to the bar for a consolation beer. Taneli won the Helsinki Freezeout last year and is also a good friend of Ville Wahlbeck who doubled up five minutes ago when he went all-in on the flop K94 holding KJ and got a call from an opponent with KT. Another 9 on turn and a 5 on the river gave Ville the 25k pot. Since Tikkaja lost his lead, former chip leader Micke Norinder is back in that position with 64k. The TV table continues to attract a lot of attention and everyone seems to have fun over there. Cecilia Nordenstam wasn’t having as much fun on her table since she was bleeding all the way down to a really short stack. She decided to get her chips in raising all-in with Q9 in late position, but unfortunately the player in the big blind had pocket kings and Cecilia will have find another way to have fun in Madrid tonight.

Day 1B – We are Down to 100

After a well-deserved dinner buffet, the players came back to the poker room, and as yesterday in the Unibet Open in Madrid, the tempo picked up immediately. Usually players with short stacks comes back from dinner breaks with a plan – double up or going home. One of the players that got the worst of it, was former Idol jury member Peter Swartling who lost a couple of pots before getting bad beated with an all-in with pocket jacks losing to QJ. “I did a pretty questionable play just before dinner and I was more or less forced to do something. A bit boring that I couldn’t win with the jacks, but as so many times before, jacks are a hand that can cost you a lot”, says Peter who now aims to have a night in Madrid instead. We have a very interesting TV-table with Theresa Nousiainen, who just doubled up through Mikael Norinder to win a 29k pot. Mikael is still in ok shape with 35k. If he had won that coin flip, he would have been in perfect position to run all the way to the final table. Also on the table is Finnish TV star Jussi Heikelä with 25k, Swedish radio star Kjell Eriksson with 15k and some more Spanish players. More updates to come shortly.

Day 1B – More Doubling up by Legato and Eriksson

With 20 minutes to go before the dinner break, 122 players are still in the tournament. Liliana Burbano eliminated a player with pocket aces where she did bet every hand until the river with rags on the table. She is now among the chip leaders with 31k. Bo “Legato” Sehlstedt from Sweden called a raise pre-flop holding “the ducks” (pocket deuces), and saw the flop 82 with two spades. All the money went in, but Sehlstedt was not far ahead since his opponent table QJ of spades for a flush draw and a gut-shot draw. Blnak turn and river eventually gave Sehlstedt the big pot and the Swede is now up to 26k. Kjell Eriksson continues to have fun. He doubled up again against Conny Hillbom after a raise pre-flop with kings, where Hillbom called holding pocket tens. The flop came 998, Kjell bet out 3k, Hillbom went all-in and got called. The q on turn gave Hillbom a gut-shot straight, but the 8 on the river gave the radioman a pot of 17k. Still they are all behind the tournament chip leader who is Mikael Norinder on 38k.

Day 1B – Norinder Doubles up in Style

Unibet team captain, king, flagship, and more, Micke Norinder, was earlier down to 7k, but had worked his way back to 14k when this hand came. Theresa Nousiainen was in the big blind, Micke raised from late position to 750 with blinds on 100/200. Cut-off called and Juan Manuel Pastor on the button raised to 4,500. The blinds folded and Micke went all-in for 12,500, cut-off folded and the player on the button called after a couple of seconds deliberation. Norinder showed his AQ of clubs and was behind his opponent’s pocket jacks. With some support from fans on the rail, Micke kept his spirit up flopping a flush draw on the K43 flop. The turn closed the deal with a six of clubs, and to rub it in, Pastor got trips on the river as the jack of clubs showed up to tease the Spaniard who is now down to 2k. Norinder is now in command on the table with just under 30k.

Day 1B – Dilba Eliminated

After a very promising start, where Swedish singer Dilba eliminated poker pro Peter Eichhardt and was up to almost 20k after flopping a flush against Peter’s set, she continues to play aggressively, but ran into tough opposition. In her final hand she checked her option from the big blind with four limpers holding 97 of spades. The flop came T98 rainbow, Dilba bet 800, the player behind her called, Unibet’s Kristian Nylén raised to 2,500, and Dilba called after some consideration. Then the player behind her went all-in for another 7,500, Nylén folded and Dilba called after several minutes in the tank. Her opponents showed QJ for the nut straight. The turn brought a six, giving the singer a straight, but lower than her opponent’s, and the tournament was over.

Day 1B – Kjell Doubles up

Well known Swedish radio profile, Kjell Eriksson, is in Madrid to play one of his first live tournaments. He qualified through Unibet by beating TV profile Patrik Ekwall in a heads-up final after a thrilling celebrity tournament a few weeks ago. After dropping down to 4k early on, Kjell recently doubled up holding pocket queens against his opponents pocket eights on a 456 flop. Kjell is now back to 9k and is having a great time. “This is so much fun. I felt a bit insecure earlier, but now when I am back, the rest of the table is in trouble”, says Kjell with a great smile. Kjell also gets some attention from the photographers since he is wearing the ugliest sun glasses ever seen in a poker room.

Day 1B – Great Play by Rookie Liliana

The Unibet Open has reached its first break on day 1B and one of the female qualifiers, Liliana Burbano from Colombia, who actually won an internal Unibet Staff tournament, has been showing some great skills despite being less experienced than most of her opponents in the poker room. Calling a raise from the big blind with 97 of hearts, Liliana flops a straight when T86 comes on the board. Liliana bets out 1k, her opponent with pocket eights for trips, raises to 3.500, Liliana re-raises to 7k, opponent goes all-in and gets a quick “nuts- call” which stands as the turn and river are blanks. Liliana is now at 21k. Kristian Nylén, also working for Unibet, is enjoying himself at table 10. He has increased his stack slightly to 10,700. Here is a chip count at the beginning of the third level:

Jani Karke 24k
Liliana Burbano 21k
Ville Wahlbeck 16k
Frej Rutensköld 12k
Bo Sehlstedt 12k
Rasmus Edenfall 12k
Brian Linnet 12k
Daniel Geccer 12k
Theresa Nousiainen 12k
Valeria Rodriguez 11k
Cecilia Nordenstam 11k
Åge Spets 10k
Peter Swartling 10k
Mikael Norinder 8k
Albin Sandqvist 7k
Dregen 5k
Alexander Stevic 4k
Kjell Eriksson 4k
Jani Kallionalusta 4k

Day 1B – Evil Elimination for the Team

There was an extra prize instigated for the player who was eliminated first from day 1B. Unfortunately it was Nordic Poker Team member Micke Eriksson from Sweden that received the nice consolation prize – a watch. And it was in a very uglyto go. One player raised pre-flop, Micke called with pocket sevens, another player re-raises to 800 and both players calls. Flop comes A87 giving Micke trips, first player checks, Micke bets 1k, third player raises to 3,500, first player goes all-in “with an extreme pulse”, as Micke tells us. After some consolidation Micke calls, third player folds and the Swede is behind his opponent’s 88 for higher trips. Micke is out, but he will have a nice watch with him back to Sweden. “I can’t feel too bad about the hand. I sort of knew that he had a monster hand, but he had been very active early and I hoped to see a flush draw, a straight draw or maybe AK, A8. Now I made a bad decision, but that is just how it is in poker”, says Micke Eriksson. Ten minutes later it was time for a severe bad beat story for another member of the team, Rigo Nyfjeld from Denmark. Rigo calls a pre-flop raise with 43 of hearts. Flop comes 933 with two diamonds, Rigo’s opponent bets pot and Rigo calls. Turn is 2 of diamonds and both players checks. River is 4 of diamonds, giving Rigo a full house, his opponent bets 2,500, Rigo goes all-in and gets an immediate call and is shown the 44 for a rivered full house, higher than Rigo’s. A very bad beat for Rigo who was off to a great start and had 14k before this hand that finished his Madrid adventure. “It won’t get any sicker than that. I was almost certain he had the ace of diamond for a flush. How can he play his fours like that”, says a very disappointed Rigo before leaving the poker room.

Day 1B – Interesting Tables

As mentioned earlier, the poker room at the Casino Gran Madrid is filled with well-known faces. One of the toughest tables in the room is table 10 with Peter Eichhardt, Dilba Demirbag and Unibet’s Kristian Nylén seated together. Another tough one is table 2 with Micke Norinder, fellow Nordic Poker Team member Jani Kallionalusta and Theresa Nousiainen, both from Finland. Micke has started in his normal aggressive fashion and is the early tournament chip leader with 15k. Sitting to the right of Micke is last year’s winner of the Finnish TV-show “Idol”, Ari Koivunen. Some of the players are fashionably late as always. Ville Wahlbeck, who sits at the same table as Norway’s Age Spets, and Ilari Sahamies arrived half-way through level one, but other Finnish stars like Jasper Paakkonen and Jani Karke was here on time.

Day 1B – Star studded field

29 players survived day 1B and today we have 162 players that will do their best to join them on Sunday’s Final Day. Many of the biggest names in the Unibet Open plays today. Finland is represented by Ilari Sahamies, Theresa Nouisianen, Ville Wahlbeck and Jasper Paakkonen. Norway has Jan Olav Sjavik, Stale Lokso and Age Spets. Sweden is represented by Peter Eichhardt, Alex Stevic, Peter Swartling, Frej Rutenskold, Dilba Demirbag, Cecilia Nordenstam, Bo Sehlstedt and of course Unibet’s own Mikael Norinder. We will follow all the action throughout the night here in Madrid.