Main Event
Day 1a Started
2015 Unibet Open Antwerp
Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2015 Unibet Open Antwerp
Buy-in
€1,000
Prize Pool
€321,000
Entries
321
Level
28
Blinds
80,000 / 160,000
Ante
20,000
Welcome to Day 1a of the 2015 Unibet Open Antwerp
The first of two starting days of the €1,100 Unibet Open Main Event in Antwerp will get underway in one hour from now at 12:00 local time at "De Shop". The event venue is not far away from the port of the "Diamond City" in Belgium and offers plenty of space for poker enthusiasts to showcase their talents at the tables.
No cash buy-ins are allowed at the venue itself and would have to be done at the partner casino in Blankenberge, players can use a debit card, credit card or funds on their Unibet account in order to register in Antwerp.
In September, Frenchman Julien Sitbon took down the Unibet Open Cannes €1,100 Main Event at Casino Barriere after defeating a 411-entry strong field to claim a payday of €80,000. Whether or not the defending champion will also make it to Belgium is currently unknown, but many of the other regulars of the circuit such as Mateusz Moolhuizen, Peter Harkes and Pieter de Korver are planning to participate.
The first tournament day will play up to 10 levels of 60 minutes each with a starting stack of 30,000 chips and the PokerNews live reporting team will be there to cover all the action until a winner is crowned on Sunday.
All Unibet Open Winners so far at a Glance
| Month | Year | Location | Winner | Country | Prize in € |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| December | 2007 | Warsaw | Stale Lokse | Norway | 38,956 |
| May | 2008 | Madrid | Joao Barbosa | Portugal | 115,000 |
| September | 2008 | Milan | Domenico Tinnirello | Italy | 121,000 |
| December | 2008 | Warschau | Simon Johansson | Sweden | 120,170 |
| March | 2009 | Budapest | Alvaro Aspas | Spain | 135,000 |
| May | 2009 | Algarve | Andre Dias | Portugal | 151,000 |
| July | 2009 | London | Thanh Doan | Finland | 187,000 |
| September | 2009 | Prague | Fuat Can | Sweden | 167,500 |
| December | 2009 | Warsaw | Jimmy Jonsson | Sweden | 161,271 |
| March | 2010 | Budapest | Anthon-Pieter Wink | Netherlands | 172,500 |
| June | 2010 | Golden Sands | Dan Murariu | Romania | 150,705 |
| August | 2010 | Prague | Henri Ojala | Finland | 157,000 |
| October | 2010 | Valencia | Thomas Thang | Denmark | 138,080 |
| December | 2010 | London | Paul Valkenburg | Netherlands | 121,820 |
| March | 2011 | Malta | Mateusz Moolhuizen | Netherlands | 117,000 |
| June | 2011 | Barcelona | Rubén Sánchez Cebollada | Spain | 145,000 |
| August | 2011 | Dublin | Paul Vas Nunes | United Kingdom | 105,300 |
| December | 2011 | Riga | Peter Harkes | Netherlands | 90,016 |
| February | 2012 | Prague | Filip Verboven | Belgium | 100,000 |
| May | 2012 | Paris | Jaroslaw Barglik | Poland | 140,539 |
| September | 2012 | London | Pratik Ghatge | United Kingdom | 106,730 |
| March | 2013 | Copenhagen | Kassem Yassine | Sweden | 107,367 |
| June | 2013 | Tróia | Dmitry Varlamov | Russia | 80,187 |
| September | 2013 | Cannes | Quentin Lecomte | France | 100,000 |
| December | 2013 | Riga | Rens Feenstra | Netherlands | 74,976 |
| March | 2014 | Copenhagen | Frederik Jensen | Denmark | 83,750 |
| June | 2014 | Tallinn | Mauri Dorbek | Estonia | 55,500 |
| September | 2014 | Cannes | Daniel Smith | United Kingdom | 88,000 |
| November | 2014 | London | Iaron Lightbourne | United Kingdom | 96,000 |
| February | 2015 | Copenhagen | Theis Vad Hennebjerre | Denmark | 83,115 |
| June | 2015 | Glasgow | Daniel Chutrov | Bulgaria | 58,986 |
| September | 2015 | Cannes | Julien Sitbon | France | 80,000 |
| December | 2015 | Antwerp | TBA | TBA | TBA |
Level: 1
Blinds: 50/100
Ante: 0
Some Early Notables
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Among those to have taken their seats early on were for example Dan Glimne, Niko Koop and Manuel Zapf. 2015 Unibet Open Cannes finalist Joachim Kleiven has also made it over here to Antwerp as well.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 |
Koop Active Early On
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Niko Koop raised to 300 from under the gun and was called by both players in the blinds to see a flop of 
. Koop continued for 450 and just the player in the small blind check-called before they checked down the 
on the turn. On the 
river, the opponent of the Russian bet 650 and Koop studied the board briefly before giving up the hand.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
29,300 | -700 |
The Field is Growing
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
The screens have been updated and now show 74 entrants. Among the latest notables, Charlotte van Brabander and Oanh Bui have entered the competition and are about to get their seat cards.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 |
Gabel Stealing the Blinds
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Vincent Gabel successfully stole the blinds after raising to 250 from the cutoff and picking up one caller in the big blind. On the flop 
, the opponent of the Belgian check-folded to a continuation bet and Gabel raked in the chips.
Other notables have taken their seats in the meanwhile in Alex Hendriks, Dieter van Itterbeeck and Guy Goosens.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
30,500 | 500 |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
|
30,000 |
Two Pair for Kadirbaks
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Joining the action on the river of a board 
, Berry van Dooren led for 1,000 and about half the pot. Firoz Kadirbaks raised to 3,500 from one seat over in the big blind and was called to announce two pair, flipping over the 
. Van Dooren mucked and then paid off his opponent.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
35,000 |
Gabel Playing His Cards
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Once again Vincent Gabel opened to 250 from the cutoff and this time both players in the blinds called. On the flop 
, the action was checked to the Belgian and he bet 550. The player in the small blind called and the 
on the turn was checked down. On the 
river, Gabel made a delayed second barrel for 1,025 and that did the trick to enforce a fold from his opponent.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
31,500 | 1,000 |