Main Event
Day 1a Started
2017 Unibet Open Bucharest
Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2017 Unibet Open Bucharest
Buy-in
€1,100
Prize Pool
€486,940
Entries
502
Level
31
Blinds
125,000 / 250,000
Ante
25,000
Day 1a of the 2017 Unibet Open Bucharest Main Event Kicks off Today!
At 11 a.m. local time the Grand Ballroom of the luxurious JW Marriott Bucharest Grand Hotel will be filled with poker players who all aspire to become the latest Unibet Open Main Event champion in the 10-year anniversary edition of the popular tournament series. The event comes with a price tag of €1,100 and will be played as freezeout with two starting days and a guaranteed prize pool of €500,000.
The Unibet Open are heading to Bucharest for the second time after 2016 and the defending champion of the event is Traian Bostan, who defeated a record-breaking 603-entry strong field for a payday of €100,000. Since then, the tour has seen a new record in the European Open Special Edition as part of the Wynn Poker Classic in Las Vegas, and American poker pro Joe Serock came out on top of a field of 673 entries to claim the trophy and first-place payout of $113,059. Other Unibet Open champions in 2017 include [Removed:158] (Unibet Open London) and Kaarel Lepik (Unibet Open Copenhagen).
Day 1a of the €1,100 Main Event will feature a total of 11 levels of 60 minutes each with a break every two levels and a starting stack of 30,000, the registration remains open until the end of level seven and action concludes at approximately midnight local time. The PokerNews live reporting team will be right there to provide all the action from the floor until a champion is crowned.
As of 1 p.m. local time, Day 2 of the €2,200 High Roller will also recommence with 60 players out of 88 entries remaining. Japan's Katsuhiro Muto leads the survivors and other notables in contention include Mihai Manole, Vlad Darie, Dan Chisu, two-time Unibet Open champions Dan Murariu and Mateusz Moolhuizen as well as the Unibet ambassadors Dara O'Kearney and Espen Uhlen Jorstad among others.
Unibet Open Main Events at a Glance
| Year | Event | Buy-In | Entries | Prize Pool | Winner | Country | Prize | Prize in US$ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Warsaw | €1,650 | 120 | $176,244 | Stale Lokse | Norway | zł159,900 | $65,090 |
| 2008 | Madrid | €1,650 | 297 | €442,800 | Joao Barbosa | Portugal | €115,800 | $179,240 |
| Milan | €1,650 | 320 | Domenico Tinnirello | Italy | €121,000 | $173,953 | ||
| Warsaw | zł5,500 | 270 | $486,758 | Simon Johansson | Sweden | zł464,805 | $152,355 | |
| 2009 | Budapest | €1,650 | 360 | €539,550 | Alvaro Aspas | Spain | €135,000 | $170,104 |
| Algarve | €1,650 | 409 | €596,406 | Andre Dias | Portugal | €151,000 | $207,104 | |
| London | £2,750 | 266 | £665,000 | Thanh Doan | Finland | £187,000 | $305,326 | |
| Prague | €1,650 | 451 | €660,000 | Fuat Can | Sweden | €167,500 | $245,983 | |
| Warsaw | zł7,000 | 401 | zł2,566,400 | Jimmy Jonsson | Sweden | zł654,430 | $239,778 | |
| 2010 | Budapest | €1,650 | 460 | €690,009 | Anthon-Pieter Wink | Netherlands | €172,500 | $235,665 |
| Golden Sands | €1,650 | 394 | €591,001 | Dan Murariu | Romania | €150,705 | $184,182 | |
| Prague | €1,650 | 424 | €629,640 | Henri Ojala | Finland | €157,000 | $207,037 | |
| Valencia | €1,650 | 361 | €541,500 | Thomas Thang | Denmark | €138,080 | $191,626 | |
| London | £1,650 | 273 | £409,500 | Paul Valkenburg | Netherlands | £109,550 | $171,408 | |
| 2011 | Malta | €1,650 | 293 | €417,525 | Mateusz Moolhuizen | Netherlands | €117,000 | $163,075 |
| Barcelona | €1,650 | 387 | €551,500 | Rubén Sánchez Cebollada | Spain | €145,000 | $212,246 | |
| Dublin | €1,650 | 260 | €390,000 | Paul Vas Nunes | United Kingdom | €105,300 | $151,742 | |
| Riga | Ls1,650 | 308 | Ls307,238 | Peter Harkes | Netherlands | Ls62,829 | $119,878 | |
| 2012 | Prague | €1,650 | 254 | €377,190 | Filip Verboven | Belgium | €100,000 | $131,574 |
| Paris | €1,650 | 439 | €653,671 | Jaroslaw Barglik | Poland | €140,539 | $185,310 | |
| London | £1,320 | 315 | £378,000 | Pratik Ghatge | United Kingdom | £85,050 | $136,305 | |
| Saint Martin | €1,650 | 238 | €346,290 | Dan Murariu | Romania | €110,000 | $142,590 | |
| 2013 | Copenhagen | €1,650 | 336 | Dkr3,604,608 | Kassem Yassine | Sweden | €107,367 | $126,744 |
| Tróia | €1,650 | 242 | €362,995 | Dmitry Varlamov | Russia | €80,187 | $104,811 | |
| Cannes | €1,650 | 313 | €450,750 | Quentin Lecomte | France | €100,000 | $132,918 | |
| Riga | Ls2,271 | 208 | Ls218,400 | Rens Feenstra | Netherlands | Ls52,800 | $101,652 | |
| 2014 | Copenhagen | DKr8,250 | 406 | Dkr2,923,299 | Frederik Jensen | Denmark | DKr625,000 | $116,168 |
| Tallinn | €1,100 | 262 | €248,900 | Mauri Dorbek | Estonia | €55,500 | $75,574 | |
| Cannes | €1,100 | 457 | €438,720 | Daniel Smith | United Kingdom | €88,000 | $114,059 | |
| London | £1,100 | 399 | £319,200 | Iaron Lightbourne | United Kingdom | £70,000 | $110,163 | |
| 2015 | Copenhagen | DKr8,250 | 404 | €389,948 | Theis Vad Hennebjerre | Denmark | DKr620,000 | $94,288 |
| Glasgow | £880 | 221 | £176,800 | Daniel Chutrov | Bulgaria | £43,000 | $66,030 | |
| Cannes | €1,100 | 411 | €394,560 | Julien Sitbon | France | €80,000 | $90,194 | |
| Antwerp | €1,100 | 321 | €321,000 | Mateusz Moolhuizen | Netherlands | €71,000 | $75,487 | |
| 2016 | London | £825 | 418 | £313,500 | Dave Shallow | United Kingdom | £62,000 | $86,747 |
| Malta | €1,100 | 292 | €292,000 | Martin Soukup | Czech Republic | €65,000 | $72,461 | |
| Copenhagen | DKr8,100 | 376 | €363,602 | Joni Liimatta | Finland | DKr525,000 | $79,571 | |
| Bucharest | €1,100 | 603 | €584,910 | Traian Bostan | Romania | €100,000 | $106,273 | |
| 2017 | London | £990 | 419 | £377,100 | [Removed:158] | Belgium | £71,950 | $89,722 |
| Copenhagen | DKr8,250 | 404 | Dkr2,908,800 | Kaarel Lepik | Estonia | Dkr562,300 | $84,527 | |
| Las Vegas | $1,100 | 673 | $665,866 | Joe Serock | United States | $113,059 | $113,059 |
Level: 1
Blinds: 50/100
Ante: 0
Day 1a Underway
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Unibet Open's Head Of Events Nataly Sopacuaperu and tournament director Kenny Hallaert introduced the first of two starting days to the players and the button was drawn on seat two. Among the early entries for the first day is Ben Bensimhon, who won a World Series of Poker International Circuit ring at the King's Casino not long ago.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
30,000 | 30,000 |
The Plan for the Day
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Day 1a and tomorrow's second starting day will play a total of 11 levels as confirmed by tournament director Kenny Hallaert. There will be a 15-minute break every two levels and the dinner break is scheduled at the end of level seven at approximately 6:45 p.m. local time, registration closes when level seven kicks off.
A Few More Faces in the Field
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
The field has grown to 119 since the level kicked off and among those to enter early on was Tomasz Kozub amongst others.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 |
Antonescu Takes from Bakshi
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Two bigger pots emerged on neighboring tables and Adrian Nica bet the 
turn for 3,500 into a pot of 5,500. His sole opponent was Samuel Madar from Israel and he folded.
On the table one over, the completed board showed 
and Nir Bakshi made it 2,000 to go with 4,500 in the middle. Ionut Antonescu didn't believe him and called to see Bakshi turn over 
for bottom pair. Antonescu had that beat with 
and scooped a decent pot early on.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
35,000 | |
|
|
32,500 | 2,500 |
|
25,500 |
Apostol Folds Aces
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Joining the action on the 
flop with 2,900 in the middle, Ioana Silvana Apostol bet 2,000 and table neighbor Florian Udila called, while Florian Farcas folded. On the 
turn, Apostol checked and called a bet of 2,000 by Udila before checking again the 
on the river. Udila bet 6,600 and Apostol quickly mucked the 
face up, Udila flashed the .
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
36,000 | 36,000 |
|
|
29,000 | 29,000 |
|
|
25,000 | 25,000 |
Luca and Diac Chipping Up
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
On the tail end of a hand between Catalin Diac and Simon Griffin, the latter paid off a bet of 3,600 by Diac on the river of an ace-high board. The fell on the river and that completed the nut flush of Diac, who flipped over 
and claimed the pot.
Catalin Luca chipped up one table over in a hand against Stefanita Fachete. Fachete raised to 300 on the button and Fachete called in the small blind. On the 
flop, Fachete check-called a bet of 500 before the 
turn was checked. Fachete bet the 
river for 1,000 and Luca raised to 3,000, picking up a call by his opponent. Luca turned over for a full house and that won the pot.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
36,000 | 36,000 |
|
|
34,000 | 34,000 |
|
|
26,000 | 26,000 |
|
|
24,000 | -6,000 |
More Names Added to the Field
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Among those to take a seat recently was also 2016 Unibet Open Copenhagen champion Joni Liimatta amongst others.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
30,000 | |
|
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 |