€1,100 Main Event
Day 1a Completed
2018 Unibet Open Dublin
€1,100 Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2018 Unibet Open Dublin
Buy-in
€1,100
Prize Pool
€359,000
Entries
359
Level
29
Blinds
75,000 / 150,000
Ante
25,000
Level 10
: 1,000/2,000, 300 ante
The first of three starting days of the 2018 Unibet Open Dublin Main Event is in the books and the tournament is off to a decent start, as 97 players paid the entry fee of €1,100 at the Bonnington Hotel in the Irish capital. After ten levels of 60 minutes each, only 24 players bagged up and a trio pulled away at the top of the counts.
Elias Vaaraniemi participated only in his second Unibet Open Main Event ever and won his package for Dublin by earning challenge points on Unibet Poker. The Finn ended Day 1a as the chip leader with 379,200, beating Norway's Per Helge Gassand (367,000) and Henri Koivisto (330,500) for the top spot. Koivisto, an online Pot-Limit Omaha specialist with more than $270,000 in live cashes, entered late and earned his spot on the overnight podium with a late surge. In a key hand, he flopped a full house with jack-ten suited and fired three barrels, Graham Garside was unfortunate enough to flop an inferior full house with pocket tens and became the last casualty of the day.
Among the other big stacks and notables to bag and tag for the night were Thomas Fitzgerald (236,600), Kasper Mellanen (166,000), Pascal Rabany (124,000), Markus Heikkila (104,300), 2018 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event champion Jack Sinclair (64,700), Kevin "Kevmath" Mathers (55,000) and Charlotte Van Brabander (47,600).
Sinclair arrived just one day prior in Dublin and was on his way to the rail in the penultimate level of the night when he was all in and at risk with ace-ten against the pocket tens of Mark Rink and the pocket jacks of Guillaume Dupuy. However, an ace appeared on the river and Sinclair tripled up.
Several other well-known faces of the popular Unibet Open series were less fortunate and ran out of chips throughout the day. This includes former champions Martin Soukup and Mateusz Moolhuizen, along with 2018 EPT Barcelona 7th place finisher Mark Buckley, Irish poker legend Andy Black, Andrew Grimason, Andreas Hoivold, Georgios Tavoularis, Seamus Cahill, and Cathal Shine.
Two Unibet Poker ambassadors took to the felt in David Vanderheyden and Daiva Byrne, but both fell short of making Day 2 just yet. Byrne had dropped to 15 big blinds in the penultimate level of the night and lost a flip with pocket eights against the ace-jack suited of Nicolas Storm-Christensen.
All those that busted in the first of three starting days have another chance at making Day 2 in the turbo heat 1c, which kicks off on Friday, November 23, 2018 as of 2018. Another 10 levels will be played then, however, the level duration will be shortened to 20 minutes each.
Another three Unibet Open Side Event trophies were awarded throughout the day. The first tournament to finish was the €2,200 High Roller, followed by the €330 Deepstack Open and the €220 NLH Freezeout.
Benny Glaser Takes Down the €2,200 High Roller
Day 1 of the €2,200 High Roller wrapped up with 17 players out of 22 entries remaining and Unibet Poker ambassador Dara O'Kearney at the top of the leaderboard. The registration remained open and another five players opted to enter or re-enter, creating a field of 27 entries and a prize pool of €54,000. Only the top five spots were paid and notables to bust before the money included the Unibet Poker ambassadors David Lappin and Dara O'Kearney, Jack Sinclair, Kevin Killeen and UnibetPoker.fr ambassador Alexandre Reard.
Janos Kurtosi saw his aces cracked by the pocket treys of Benny Glaser and Glaser finished the job two hands later to send Kurtosi to the rail as last player without anything to show for. It didn't take long to set up the heads-up for the trophy between Glaser and Valentin Cristea. A topsy-turvy battle of more than two hours saw Glaser's 3-1 chip lead turned into a 1-3 underdog, but the three-time WSOP bracelet winner pulled back into a 7-1 lead. In the final hand, Glaser held king-jack suited and dominated Cristea with queen-jack. Three clubs on the board gave Glaser a flush and the title.
Final Result €2,200 High Roller
Place Winner Country Prize (EUR) Prize (USD) 1 Benny Glaser United Kingdom €20,680 $23,586 2 Valentin Cristea Romania €12,850 $14,657 3 Paul Jux Holderness United Kingdom €8,860 $10,106 4 Seamus Cahill Ireland €6,560 $7,482 5 Michael Mazilu Ireland €5,050 $5,760
Four Irishmen Top the €330 Unibet Deepstack Open
The €330 Unibet Deepstack Open (DSO) attracted a field of 155 entries to create a prize pool of €46,500 and the top 23 spots were paid. Day 1 bagged up once the money bubble burst and 23 players remained to play down to a champion. Among those that cashed before the final table were the Unibet Poker ambassadors Dan Murariu (23rd place, for €520) and Fredrik Bergmann (17th place, for €660), Tomas Geleziunas (15th place, for €730) and Sesay Sulaiman (10th place, for €970).
Among the eight finalists were five Irishmen and they made up for the top four spots after notables such as Mihai Manole and Dennis Kleinleugemors departed in 8th and 5th place respectively. The final four cut a deal and played for another €1,200 to the winner. Sean O'reilly was the chip leader at the time of the deal agreement but ultimately finished second to Samuel Baneham while taking home the most money in the event.
Final Result €330 Unibet Deepstack Open
| Place | Winner | Country | Prize (EUR) | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Samuel Baneham | Ireland | €7,490* | $8,541* |
| 2 | Sean O'Reilly | Ireland | €8,537* | $9,735* |
| 3 | John Keown | Ireland | €6,114* | $6,972* |
| 4 | Peter O'Dowd | Ireland | €5,379* | $6,134* |
| 5 | Dennis Kleinleugemors | Netherlands | €2,840 | $3,239 |
| 6 | Michael Farrelly | Ireland | €2,180 | $2,486 |
| 7 | Alexandru Cinca | Romania | €1,740 | $1,984 |
| 8 | Mihai Manole | Romania | €1,400 | $1,596 |
*includes deal of the last four players
Last but not least, the €220 NLH Freezeout attracted a field of 66 entries and the top 9 spots were paid. Finland's Jari Hurri ended up as the bubble boy, among those to cash were Aurelie Reard and Mick Graydon. Right after Graydon's exit in 3rd place, the remaining duo chopped and Apostol Beg held the chip lead to claim the trophy.
Day 1b of the €1,100 Main Event kicks off at 12 p.m. local time and a big field is expected with plenty of Unibet Poker ambassadors and Unibet Open esports gamers in action. Day 1c follows as of 9 p.m. local time and the survivors of all three starting days combine for Day 2 on Saturday. As usual, the PokerNews live reporting team will be on the floor to provide all the action.
Level 10
: 1,000/2,000, 300 ante
Full chip counts and recap to follow.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
379,200
9,200
|
9,200 |
|
||
|
367,000
27,000
|
27,000 |
|
330,500
30,500
|
30,500 |
|
236,600
81,600
|
81,600 |
|
166,000
86,000
|
86,000 |
|
157,900
107,900
|
107,900 |
|
124,000
-11,000
|
-11,000 |
|
123,000
-17,000
|
-17,000 |
|
116,300
-53,700
|
-53,700 |
|
110,400
25,400
|
25,400 |
|
104,300
-53,700
|
-53,700 |
|
80,400
40,400
|
40,400 |
|
70,600
-19,400
|
-19,400 |
|
68,300
-6,700
|
-6,700 |
|
64,700
-25,300
|
-25,300 |
|
||
|
|
61,200
16,200
|
16,200 |
|
57,800
39,800
|
39,800 |
|
55,900
-49,100
|
-49,100 |
|
55,000
-8,000
|
-8,000 |
|
47,600
-42,400
|
-42,400 |
|
44,800
-10,200
|
-10,200 |
|
43,700
-16,300
|
-16,300 |
|
|
30,300
-9,700
|
-9,700 |
|
|
12,700
700
|
700 |
Level 10
: 1,000/2,000, 300 ante
In the penultimate hand of the night, Elias Vaaraniemi raised to 5,300 from early position and then faced the all ins of Kasper Henrikson and Ana Raluca Bulboaca. Vaaraniemi opted to fold and Raluca Bulboaca was the player at risk.
Ana Raluca Bulboaca: 
Kasper Henrikson: 
The board came 
and the kicker played to let the online qualifier from Romania double just before bagging and tagging.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
90,000
20,000
|
20,000 |
|
|
12,000
12,000
|
12,000 |
Level 10
: 1,000/2,000, 300 ante
On the tail end of a hand between Per Helge Gassand and Michael Tucknott, the former bet the 
river for 20,100 and Tucknott called. Gassand showed the 
and that won the pot.
Right after, the clock was stopped with 12 minutes remaining in the level and the last three hands were drawn.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
340,000
65,000
|
65,000 |
|
|
85,000
5,000
|
5,000 |
Level 10
: 1,000/2,000, 300 ante
Mark Buckley ended up all in and at risk with 
against the 
of Elias Vaaraniemi and the board of 
counterfit both pocket pairs to let Vaaraniemi win with nine-high.
Another Finn shot up the leader board in Henri Koivisto and he scored a big pot when flopping a full house against Graham Garside. It was a rough setup for Garside, who held 
on a board of 
and called two bets by Koivisto before jamming the river only to see Koivisto turn over the in the showdown.
"What can you do? I had a feeling you had it," Garside said in table chat and shook hands with his opponent before heading to the rail.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
370,000
60,000
|
60,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
300,000
155,000
|
155,000 |
|
Busted | |
|
|
Busted | |
Level 10
: 1,000/2,000, 300 ante
In the final level of the night, the remaining field is getting smaller and smaller with Guillaume Dupuy and Gilles Segers among the most recent casualties.
Segers jammed for around 20 big blinds on the button and ran with into the 
of big stack Per Helge Gassand in the big blind. The board of 
brought no help for the Belgian and he was gone. Dupuy departed moments later from a different table and then it was Jakub Groblewski who moved all in blind on blind against Jaakko Kayhko.
Jakub Groblewski: 
Jaakko Kahyko: 
The board came 
and Groblewski rivered a pair to remain in contention.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
275,000
45,000
|
45,000 |
|
|
55,000
8,000
|
8,000 |
|
|
40,000
-5,000
|
-5,000 |
|
|
Busted | |
|
|
Busted |
Level 10
: 1,000/2,000, 300 ante
Kevin "Kevmath" Mathers ended up all in and at risk out of the big blind for the last 29,500 and that forced out big stack Elias Vaaraniemi. However, Feargus Murphy had three-bet from the cutoff and called it off to set up the following showdown:
Kevin Mathers: 
Feargus Murphy: 
The 
flop gave Murphy a flushdraw, and Mathers asked for a red card when the fell on the turn. Two red nines would have been quite cruel for the essential source of all things poker on social media, however, the river was no threat to let Mathers double.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
63,000
6,000
|
6,000 |
|
|
60,000
-40,000
|
-40,000 |
Level 10
: 1,000/2,000, 300 ante
Mark Buckley defended his big blind against the under-the-gun raise of Elias Vaaraniemi and check-called a bet of 6,100 on the 
turn. Buckley also checked the on the river and Vaaraniemi made it 11,800 to go. Buckley studied his opponent carefully and called, but promptly mucked when he was shown the 
by Vaaraniemi.
Two hands later, Buckley opened to 4,200 on the button and Vaaraniemi three-bet to 15,700 out of the small blind, which ended the hand right there.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
310,000
15,000
|
15,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
105,000
-30,000
|
-30,000 |
Level: 10
Blinds: 1,000/2,000
Ante: 300