212 players convened at the Prague Hilton for the start of the Czech leg of the Unibet Open. The atmosphere before the tournament was buzzing, although the grand (and cavernous) surroundings of the hotel itself threatened to drown the optimistic pre-game poker chatter until the players convened in the ballroom, a more intimate but still impressive space where glittering chandeliers hover above the tables. Most of these tables ended up being filled (the rest slowly grew cash games like mold on bread) and the ten one-hour levels raced by.
There were a number of well-known names who made the trip to Prague but didn’t make it too deep in the tournament – Sorel Mizzi springs to mind immediately. His phenomenal form recently didn’t extend to the Main Event, although there are many worse things to have to do than spend early August in Prague, seeing the sights or drinking beer or playing the occasional side event. Others who’ll have these same opportunities (i.e. are busto) are Peter Dalhuijsen, and Golden Sands winner Dan Murariu, whose exit means we’ll have a new champion this time round.
One player who is no stranger to all stages of a Unibet Open tournament – including the final table – is Joachim Buch. The young Norwegian made back-to-back finals and took third placetwice in a row – this time his start to the event is more dramatic, having shot up to over 75k. Meanwhile Marius Bobinas actually leads the entire field with around 130k.
Other big stacks include that of Sidsel Boesen, who finished as the runner up in this year’s Women’s Event at the WSOP – she held on to a stack way above average for most of the early levels, before bumping it up over 50k as the hours wore late. Also watch out for Daniel Pettersen and Tor Nossum who will be stacks to watch out for on Day Two when the field combines to play down to a final. Meanwhile, there’s another whole start day, which begins at 2pm tomorrow and live coverage will begin then too (streaming from the feature table at 4pm). The full chip counts for remaining players will be posted here before tomorrow begins.
