Yesterday a total of 147 players entered Day 1a of the Unibet Open Malta 2016 Main Event. Today it's time for Day 1b, and we expect it to be even bigger!
Another 10 levels are on the schedule, with a 60-minute dinner break after the 6th level. All the players start with a 30,000 starting stack and blinds at 50/100. The 10th level of the day will be 1,000/2,000. Play should be done for the day around midnight.
Tonight it's also time for the Unibet Open Welcome Drinks. So if you've played on Day 1a, or find yourself on the rail before the days end, head over for some drinks with all the players and crew.
PokerNews.com will be on site for live updates again, so check back in an hour as Day 1b kicks off at noon.
From the hijack Petri Rossi opened for 700 and his neighbor Sam Grafton three-bet to 2,050. Action folded back to Rossi and he made the call to see a flop heads up.
On Rossi checked. Grafton answered with a bet of 3,700 and Rossi made the call.
The hit the turn and Rossi glanced at his stack, picked up his last three chips, and pushed all in for 10,025 total. Grafton leaned back, and tossed in some chips to make the call.
Rossi:
Grafton:
The on the river was a blank and Rossi made his exit.
From the hijack Griffin Benger made it 1,000 to go and Tomasz Kozub, who finished runner up in the Unibet Open London back in 2012, made the call from the big blind.
Both players quickly checked on and the fell on the turn. Kozub checked, and called Benger's 1,500 bet.
The completed the board and Kozub checked for the third time. Benger bet 3,000 and Kozub called. Benger showed which resulted in a quick muck from Kozub.
Despite winning this small pot, Benger is down a lot since the last time we checked up with him. His 40,000 stack is still above average though.
From middle position, Nerchaubough Tachajian limped in for 600. Christian Ostfelt in the cutoff made it 2,000 and his neighbor Nicolas Proust made the call. Both blinds folded, Tachajian made the call to make it three-handed.
The flop came and all of them checked. The on the turn saw Tachajian check again. Ostfelt bet 2,500 and both Proust and Tachajian called.
The completed the board and Tachajian checked again. Ostfelt bet 10,500 with 19,000 behind and Proust instantly folded. Tachajian thought about it for a bit longer, but folded as well in the end.
On a flop of we saw big blind Jonas Gustafsson check. His neighbor, under the gun player Johan Guilbert, checked as well and action was on hijack Michal Danka. Danka made a bet of 3,600 and Gustafsson folded right away. Guilbert made the call however.
The on the turn was checked by both. The completed the board and Guilbert checked. Danka bet 7,300 and Guilbert went into the tank. Deep. Very deep. About 5 minutes or so passed before he tossed in a single 5,000 chip to call.
Danka showed his and Guilbert was happy to take it down with his .
From middle position, Filip Bukovsky opened for 4,000. Action folded to Jonas Gustafsson in the big blind and he called.
The flop came and Gustafsson checked. Bukovsky made a bet of 5,000 with about 33,000 behind. Gustafsson slid forward a big stack of yellow 5,000-chips. Bukovsky tanked for about two minutes and called.
Filip Bukovsky:
Jonas Gustafsson:
The on the turn hurt Bukovsky and the on the river didn't change a thing anymore. "Unlucky bro" Sam Grafton said. Exit for Bukovsky.
Sam Grafton shoved his last 25,000 to the middle and Romain Nardin on the button made the call. Dzmitry Stukach in the big blind called all in for about 20,000 and it was time for the three men to open their cards.
Sam Grafton:
Romain Nardin:
Dzmitry Stukach:
The board ran out and Grafton made his exit. Stukach in the meantime, just about tripled up.
Day 1b of the 2016 Unibet Open Malta Main Event saw another 145 players flock to the brand new tournament room of Casino Malta in the InterContinental Hotel. Once again 10 levels of play were on the schedule.
Things got off to a quiet start, with most of the tables silently playing cards without much uproar or excitement. That was except for Table 2, where Rene Kuhlman and Hormiz Kamil blasted away at each other with friendly, but loud, banter. It was Team Holland versus Team Sweden, and for most of the day the two and their table mates battled it out with a lot of laughs.
Table 2 was the sole table with an above-average audio level, before Global Poker League commentators Griffin Benger and Sam Grafton entered the room. The two continued the fun and games they've showcased on the GPL live streams the past few weeks.
The rivalry started with Grafton declining Benger a swap, and the two took jabs at each other via twitter all day. Grafton big timing his pall Benger on the swap must have motivated the latter to do well. Benger played just about every other hand and won most of them. Benger gathered a sizable stack early on, while Grafton was diminished to the role of short stack. Grafton eventually busted in the last level of the day when he pushed his ace-nine into ace-jack and kings. Benger, in the meantime, lead the tournament with a stack of 180,000. He ended the day with 174,200, not quite leading anymore, but still one of the bigger stacks in the room.
Both Kuhlman and Kamil busted in the tail end of the day, with Kuhlman losing kings to ace-jack and Kamil losing ace-queen to Benger's flush draw with five-three.
Forty-three players survived Day 1b and will return on Saturday for Day 2 of the Unibet Open at 12 p.m. local time. Combined with the 50 players that survived Day 1a, a total of 93 return to battle it out for that first-place prize of €65,000. Thirty-six players will get into the money, a stage of the tournament that should be reached halfway through Day 2. In fact, the goal is to play to a final table on the penultimate day.
PokerNews.com will again be on site for coverage of all the action, so stay tuned.