The 2019 Unibet Open London Main Event has broken records for the biggest field, biggest first prize and biggest prize pool.
There were a total of 456 entries into this week’s flagship £990 buy-in event, creating a total prize pool of £410,400 – a good £30,000 more than the tournament’s previous record achieved in 2017.
In addition to the prestigious trophy, this year’s Unibet Open London champion will walk away with a record £80,200 first prize. A total of 63 players will be paid out, with a minimum cash worth £1,800.
The festival is taking place May 22-26 at the Poker Room at the iconic Grosvenor Victoria Casino on Edgware Road. It’s the Unibet Open’s eighth visit to the UK capital.
A total of 141 players made Day 2 of the Main Event with Unibet ambassador Alexandre Reard the start-of-day chip leader. Still in contention – with just 87 players left – are Unibet’s Belgian ambassador Charlotte Van Brabander and Twitch streamer Fabien ‘kiocsgo’ Fiey
There are 11 60-minute levels scheduled for today unless the final table of nine is reached earlier.
The Unibet Open Live Stream kicked off on Twitch and facebook at 14:30 BST. Also on today’s schedule are the £500 Unibet DSO, the £110 #QUEENRULES Ladies and the £220 Turbo Bounty. There are a dozen tournaments on the schedule overall.
Big names who competed in this year’s Unibet Open London include Unibet Ambassadors Ian Simpson, David Lappin and Espen Uhlen Jorstad plus two-time Unibet Open champions Dan Murariu and Mateusz Moolhuizen. UK stalwarts Jeff Kimber, Laurence Houghton, Willie Tann and James Mitchell also competed as did Martin Soukup, another two-time champion, who won the first Unibet Open of 2019 in Sinaia. The record-breaking field featured players from all over the world including some 160 qualifiers who won full prize packages online at Unibet Poker.
Unibet Open London history
2018: Andreas Wiborg, Norway, won £56,807; 349 entries, £314,100prize pool
2017: Gerret Van Lancker, Belgium, won £71,950; 419 entries, £377,100 prize pool
2016: Dave Shallow, UK, won £62,000;418 entries; £313,500 prize pool
2014: Iaron Lightbourne, UK, won £70,000; 399 entries; £319,200 prize pool
2012: Pratik Ghatge UK, won £85,050; 315 entries; £78,000 prize pool
2010: Paul Valkenburg, NL, won £109,550; 273 entries; £255,000 prize pool
2009: Thanh Doan, Finland, won £187,000; £584,910 prize pool
