In one hour from now at 12:00 local time, the second starting day of the first-ever €1,100 Unibet Open Main Event in Antwerp will get underway at "De Shop" near the port of the Diamond City. Cash buy-ins for the Freezeout tournament are only available at the official partner casino in Blankenberge while debit cards, credit cards and funds from the Unibet account are accepted to register for the event at the venue itself.
On yesterday's Day 1a, a total of 125 players took part and only 35 of them bagged up chips. Niko Koop from Russia claimed a commanding lead with 385,000 chips, more than double of second-placed Maksym Lavrov on 191,000.
Today's field is expected to be around double the size with many of the more than 200 Unibet qualifiers joining the action. Other notables who are already confirmed include Koen de Visscher and the two former Unibet Open champions Mateusz Moolhuizen and Peter Harkes.
All players receive 30,000 in chips and a total of 10 levels of 60 minutes each will be played. The late registration is open until the start of level five and the Day 1b blind structure can be found below.
Level
Small Blind
Big Blind
Ante
1
50
100
2
100
200
25
3
150
300
50
4
200
400
75
5
300
600
100
6
400
800
100
7
500
1,000
100
8
600
1,200
200
9
800
1,600
200
10
1,000
2,000
300
As usual, there will also be a live stream of the feature table on Twitch with a security delay of 30 minutes as of level three. The PokerNews live reporting team will be there to provide updates from the tables until a winner is crowned on Sunday, so make sure to tune in regularly.
Leonardo Armino raised from under the gun and Amit Girdhari then three-bet from one seat over to get called by Ian Simpson in the big blind only. On the flop , Simpson check-called a bet worth 3,000 and the dealer then burned and turned the . Simpson checked, Girdhari bet 7,000 and faced a check-raise all in to call it off.
Girdhari:
Simpson:
The Dutchman was already drawing dead, making the a formality, and the hyper aggressive playing style of Simpson paid off early.
After a raise by the player in under the gun, Kevin vandersmissen called on the button and do sid Davy de Cooman in the big blind. On the flop, the action was cheked to Vandersmissen and he bet 1,400. Only de Cooman called and the came on the turn and de Cooman check-called a bet worth 2,600.
With the appearing on the river, de Cooman bet 1,000 and Vandersmissen raised to 5,000 before he was met with an instant all in. Vandermissen called it off with for two pair while de Cooman had rivered a straight with to claim the pot of "Civel".
Johan Verhagen and Kees van Brugge already battled last week during the Master Classics of Poker and Verhagen is a very aggressive player by default. The player on the button opened, van Brugge three-bet from the small blind and Verhagen then four-bet before snap-calling van Brugge's shove.
It was a very unfortunate timing for van Brugge to get it in with , as Verhagen had the waiting ... .
Krisztian Arvai opened to 1,600 from early position and serial qualifier and November Niner Pierre Neuville three-bet to 3,600 with a total stack of 10,400. Arvai moved all in and the Belgian snap-called.
Arvai:
Neuville:
The flop changed nothing, but the on the turn now gave the Hungarian a gutshot and a flush draw. Sure enough the dealer burned and turned the and that completed the flush. Neuville left his chair with the usual smile, shook hands with his opponent and wished him good luck.
Peter Harkes got his last 27 big blinds in with over on the feature table and Marc Dogge looked him up with the . The board ran out and that was it for the Dutchman.
Dogge became one of the bigger stacks in the room and also the clear chip leader on the feature table.
The second starting day of the €1,100 Unibet Open Antwerp Main Event attracted a field of 196 entries in "De Shop" to create an overall field of 321 entries for the first-ever stop in Belgium's "Diamond City." After 10 levels of 60 minutes each, only 65 players bagged up chips and resulted in exactly 100 survivors for Saturday's Day 2. The top 36 spots will get paid at least €2,087, and all eyes will be set on the Unibet trophy and first-place payout of €71,260.
Ian Simpson, champion of the 2013 Irish Open, bagged up 292,800 in chips for the lead after Day 1b, and he was closely followed by Mateusz Moolhuizen with 274,900. Moolhuizen, the Dutchman, was one of only two former Unibet Open champions that advanced to the second day. The other was Quentin Lecomte, but the Frenchman will be looking for an immediate double up when play resumes on Saturday because ehe finished on just 19,500 in chips.
It seemed like it was meant to be for Simpson, as he was responsible for the first elimination of the day after flopping a set of fives against Amit Girdhari's ace-queen. The money went in on the turn, and Girdhari was eliminated.
Other notables and big stacks that advanced through the second starting day included David Janssen (202,400), Krisztian Arvai (157,400), Tobias Peters (147,600), Laurens de Smet (128,300), Jonas ten Cate (126,700), Johan Verhagen (121,700), Jessy Marillaud (108,800), Marcel "The Flying Dutchman" Luske (101,000), Johan Goslings (74,700), Micha Hoedemaker (68,800), Rolf Slotboom (64,500), Ruben Visser (63,600), Philip Meulyzer (51,000), Raoul Refos (40,600), and Pascal Vos (27,400).
Kevin "Civel" Vandersmissen's two pair on the flop ended up second best to the of Davy de Cooman, who rivered a straight to bust the Belgian. Then, 2015 Master Classics of Poker fourth-place finisher Kees van Brugge ran into the pocket aces of Verhagen.
Pierre Neuville, a member of the recent World Series of Poker November Niner, had his pocket aces cracked by Arvai's . The Hungarian four-bet shoved into the short stack of Neuville and made a runner-runner flush.
Peter Harkes, one of the three former Unibet Open champions participating today, lost a flip over on the feature table with pocket sixes against the ace-king of Marc Dogge. Other notables that didn't make it included Raf de Wever, Paul Berende, Alina Volodina, Szymon Bujok, Dennis Lavrijsen, Anaras Alekberovas, Walter Buss, Niels van Leeuwen, Koen de Visscher, 2015 Cannes finalist Jussi Heikela, and Sam Grafton.
Day 1a chip leader Niko Koop remained as the overall leader and will headline the remaining 100 survivors on Saturday. Play will commence at 12 p.m. local time when action resumes in Level 11 at blinds 1,200/2,400 and a running ante of 300. The seat draw for Day 2 will be published in the morning and the paid places will be reached during Day2. All those that bust early can find some consolation in the Unibet players party next door.
That's all for now, but be sure to tune back into the PokerNews on Saturday for more live coverage.