Main Event
Day 1b Started
2016 Unibet Open London
Main Event
Day: 1b
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2016 Unibet Open London
Buy-in
£750
Entries
418
Level
26
Blinds
40,000 / 80,000
Ante
10,000
Welcome to Day 1b of the 2016 Unibet Open London Main Event
The second starting day of the £875 buy-in Unibet Open London Main Event at the iconic Grosvenor Victoria Casino in London is scheduled to get underway in less than 30 minutes at 12:00 local time. In yesterday's first flight, 186 players joined the field with 51 survivors making it through to Day 2.
The Czech Republic's Jan Riha dominated yesterday's action holding onto the chip lead since the dinner break with his stack bouncing between 250,000 and 300,000 chips most of the time. He ended the day with a formidable 298,800 chip stack.
Unibet also sponsored three eSports players yesterday in Craig Shannon, Byron Bernstein, and JJ Janssen, plus Belgium's Charlotte Van Brabander. Unibet representatives informed us that more eSports stars will be in action today.
As it is a Friday, we expect more players to enter in the second and last opening flight when compared to yesterday including French poker player and Unibet Poker pro Quentin Lecomte. Players once again will begin the day with 30,000 chips with blind levels increasing every hour providing plenty of play. If yesterday is any indication, the average stack was over 50 big blinds throughout the entire day.
Also on today's schedule is the two-day £330 buy-in Unibet Open London Deepstack Event at 20:00. Players begin this event with 20,000 start chips with blind levels increasing every 30 minutes.
Level: 1
Blinds: 50/100
Ante: 0
Shuffle Up and Deal
The tournament director just announced to the dealers to shuffle up and deal. The big board shows 174 players currently registered for Day 1b with a line of about 40 players waiting to get their seat assignments. Late registration will be open until around 16:30 or until the first cards of Level 5 are dealt.
Sam Grafton Among Players in Attendance
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Among the players just taking their seats is British poker pro and Unibet Poker friend Sam Grafton. Grafton, was excited to be back near home to play at the Victoria Casino, which he refered to as "The Wembley Stadium of Poker".
Grafton also mentioned he always gets a "buzz" coming back to the Vic as it's where he first got his roots into the game of poker. He mentioned he used to get excited to play alongside some of the big names in European poker such as Neil Channing.
The British poker player is now one people get a buzz playing alongside with. The RunItOnce poker training instructor is approaching almost $500,000 career live tournament cashes according to The Hendon Mob.
However, he might even be better known on the online felts where he is known as "samsquid" on PokerStars and "TheSquid" on PocketFives. According to PocketFives, Grafton is now approaching almost $4 million in career online tournament cashes.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
30,000 |
Former Unibet Open Main Event Champ Peter Harkes Joins the Field
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Dutch poker player Peter Harkes has also been noticed among the field for Day 1b which is now approaching 200 players. Harkes nailed down most of his $165,148 in career live tournament poker winnings by appearing on two final tables which includes one win in previous Unibet Open Main Events.
In August 2011, Harkes banked €23,400 ($33,720 ) with a fifth place finish in the Unibet Poker Main Event in Dublin and he followed this up with a victory in the Unibet Poker Riga Main Event for Ls 62,829 ($119,878).
Harkes also appeared on the final table in a Unibet Open Bounty Event in February 2012 collecting €850 ($1,118) for a third place finish.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
30,000 |
Field Reaches 194 Players
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
The field in Day 1b is already at 194 players with that number expected to continue to grow as the day goes on. As expected, the field is already bigger than yesterday when 186 players battled it out in Day 1a.
Ian Simpson Ships a Small Pot
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Among the players in the field is the United Kingdom's Ian Simpson. We just saw him take down a pot of around 2,000 chips to get back to his starting stack when his 
gave him top pair. Simpson checked all streets, however, his opponent who mucked his cards at the end of the hand fired out bullets on the flop and turn when checked to him.
Simpson is approaching $1 million in live tournament cashes. While this isn't his first time playing at the Unibet Open, a good amount of his success has come at the PaddyPower Irish Open.
In 2012, Simpson took fourth place in the Irish Open Main Event for €107,500 ($141,623) before winning the event a year later for €265,000 ($339,604). Simpson also had another six-digit haul in 2013 when he took second place in the UKIPT London Main Event for £106,869 ($173,277).
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
30,000 |
Level: 2
Blinds: 100/200
Ante: 25
Slow Start For eSports Star Daniel Kapadia
Level 2
: 100/200, 25 ante
All of the eSports stars in attendance yesterday were unable to make it to the second break. Today could be different as eSports sensation Daniel Kapadia appears geared up for action. During the first blind level, Kapadia lost a few small pots but not his composure.
However, when comparing a poker to eSports he did admit that the former does move "a bit slower."
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
28,200 | 28,200 |