In one hour from now at 12 p.m. local time, the ballroom of the majestic JW Marriott Bucharest Grand Hotel will welcome players from near and far again for Day 1b of the €1,100 Unibet Open Bucharest Main Event. The prestigious tournament comes with a guarantee of €500,000 and yesterday's first flight already saw 236 players take to the tables, of which 63 bagged up and advanced to Day 2 on Saturday.
Leading the field thus far is Sweden's Markus Heikkila with 322,000, followed by Jakob Linden (287,000) and William Hens (285,000). Two-time Unibet Open champion Dan Murariu also made it through with very healthy 160,000 and has dashed out a challenge to Mateusz Moolhuizen for the race to become the first ever three-time winner of the circuit. Moolhuizen will be in action today with the likes of Dara O'Kearney, David Lappin and Ladies Battle champion Daiva Barauskaite all expected to join the action also.
All players will receive 30,000 in chips and a total of 11 levels of 60 minutes each will be played. There will be a break every two levels with a 60-minute dinner break at the end of level six, and the registration remains open until the cards are back in the air for level seven. The Unibet Open attendance record is set at 460 thus far, but this number will likely be shattered today. Yesterday's €115 Rebuy Satellite saw more than 300 entries and 27 tickets for Day 1b were given away.
Day 1b level structure
Level
Small Blind
Big Blind
Ante
1
50
100
-
2
100
200
25
3
150
300
25
4
200
400
50
5
300
600
75
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
11
1,200
2,400
400
The festival runs in cooperation with Pokerfest Romania and offers Side Events varying between €115 and €2,200, the latter being the two-day High-Roller with single re-entry on Saturday and Sunday. The PokerNews live reporting team will be on hand to provide all the action until the Main Event champion is crowned this weekend, so make sure to tune back in regularly.
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With around 6,300 in the middle, and the flop showing , a bet to 7,250 was spotted in front of Ekrem Tekin Seven and a short stack shoved for 11,200. Eamon Macnamee called and so did Seven. On the turn, Seven pushed and Mcnamee folded.
The short stack turned over his and Seven had that beat with , claiming the big pot after a blank on the river. Seven moved up to more than two times the starting stack.
A massive pot of 70,000 had already emerged over on table one in the corner and the board showed . Lucian Draghici moved all in and Flroin Ionut Ilies snap-called for another 14,100. Draghici tabled the and Ilies turned over for quads.
"Wow, wow, wow," Alexandre de Zutter in the nine seat gasped and the Frenchman himself also has a pretty big stack.
According to Alexandre de Zutter, he won a big pot against Guy Meller in the last level when defending his big blind to a raise to 1,600. On a flop of , de Zutter check-called a bet of 2,200 and then check-raised the turn from 4,500 to 9,800. Meller called and the appeared on the river.
De Zutter bet 16,000 and was called to show for a full house and big blind special, Meller had improved to a straight. Florin Ionut Ilies is the other big stack at the table not far behind. He raised the button and called the shove of Eli Lahem with . Lahem had and the board ran out .
Mihai Manole arrived on the same table with a healthy stack as well.
Some good and some bad news for the Belgian poker fans. Gaelle Garcia Diaz has been eliminated. Down to just five big blinds she shoved with and failed to improve against the of an opponent on a jack-high board.
Kiarash Nabavieh on the other hand bumped up his stack to massive 150,000 after flopping an open-ender with nine-seven off suit. He got the on the river for the nut straight and his over-bet of 50,000 into a pot of 30,000 was snap-called by an opponent with just another 5,000 behind.
According to a colleague, and also confirmed by Dara O'Kearney who watch the action unfold from one seat over, Peter Harkes had aces cracked to join the rail earlier in the level. Harkes raidsed to 3,500 in the cutoff and David Tobi called in the big blind. On the flop, Tobi bet 5,000 and Harkes raised to 12,500 with a stack of 30,000. Tobi called and the appeared on the turn.
Tobi now checked, then called the shove of Harkes with for the straight to see the pocket aces of Harkes down the drain. The river brought no split pot, and that was it for Harkes.
"Phewwww," Lee Egan let out after the end of the hand that saw him get through with a successful bluff. Egan check-called a continuation bet on the flop and then checked again the turn. His opponent Virgil Grecu fired another 15,000 and Egan called before instantly shoving the on the river.
Grecu eventually folded and Egan cheekily turned over his . "He didn't have anything to call with," Egan said in table chat, referring to his opponent, and joined the bigger stacks at his table.
Preflop, James Mitchell and Alexandros Papadopolos already invested 24,000 each and then headed to a flop of . Mitchell bet 27,000 in the hijack and Papadopolos called on the button.
The appeared on the turn and Mitchell shoved. His opponent asked for a count and then eventually called the shove for 73,400.
James Mitchell:
Alexandros Papadopolos:
The on the river changed nothing and the Greek tapped the table and said "nice hand", while Mitchell doubled into a big stack.
Dara O'Kearney and Daiva Barauskaite were watching the feed of the live stream table, which was on 30-minute delay, and also confirmed that both were in fact eliminated.
Apostolos Bechrakis had raised to 4,500 and two players called before Barauskaite shoved for 23,000. Action folded back to Bechrakis, who reshoved for 55,000 and forced folds from the other two.
Daiva Barauskaite:
Apostolos Bechrakis:
The board came and Bechrakis completed a runner runner flush to eliminate the Ladies Battle winner.
, a bet to 7,250 was spotted in front of Ekrem Tekin Seven and a short stack shoved for 11,200. Eamon Macnamee called and so did Seven. On the 
turn, Seven pushed and Mcnamee folded.
and Seven had that beat with 
, claiming the big pot after a blank 
on the river. Seven moved up to more than two times the starting stack.
. Lucian Draghici moved all in and Flroin Ionut Ilies snap-called for another 14,100. Draghici tabled the 
and Ilies turned over 
for quads.
, de Zutter check-called a bet of 2,200 and then check-raised the 
turn from 4,500 to 9,800. Meller called and the 
appeared on the river.
for a full house and big blind special, Meller had improved to a straight. Florin Ionut Ilies is the other big stack at the table not far behind. He raised the button and called the shove of Eli Lahem with 
and the board ran out 
.
of an opponent on a jack-high board.
on the river for the nut straight and his over-bet of 50,000 into a pot of 30,000 was snap-called by an opponent with just another 5,000 behind.
flop, Tobi bet 5,000 and Harkes raised to 12,500 with a stack of 30,000. Tobi called and the 
appeared on the turn. 
flop and then checked again the 
turn. His opponent Virgil Grecu fired another 15,000 and Egan called before instantly shoving the 
. "He didn't have anything to call with," Egan said in table chat, referring to his opponent, and joined the bigger stacks at his table.
on the river changed nothing and the Greek tapped the table and said "nice hand", while Mitchell doubled into a big stack.
