Welcome to Day 1b of the 2018 Unibet Open London £990 Main Event
Day 1b of the 2018 Unibet Open London £990 Main Event will kick off at 11 a.m. local time at the iconic Grosvenor Victoria Casino in London and the venue, known to most poker players simply as "The Vic" is expecting a busy day. Yesterday's first starting flight saw 147 entries take to the tables and 36 of them bagged up with Clement Tripodi in the lead with 275,000.
The 7th ever Unibet Open to take place in London aims to set a new record and best the 419 entries of 2017, in which Belgium's [Removed:158] emerged victorious to take home the trophy and a payday of £71,950. Van Lancker won't be able to defend his title after running out of chips in the penultimate level of Day 1a. However, Bhavin Khatri, who finished 5th and 2nd at "The Vic" in the previous two years, is off to a flying start once again and bagged up 249,000 last night.
Most of the eSports Battle Royale VIII participants already took part with mixed results on Day 1a, as were the majority of the Unibet Poker representatives. The Unibet Poker ambassadors Ian Simpson and Daiva Byrne will certainly be in action today, though.
Unibet Open Events in London at a Glance
| Year | Buy-In | Entries | Prize Pool | Winner | Country | Prize | Prize in US$ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | £2,750 | 266 | £665,000 | Thanh Doan | Finland | £187,000 | $305,326 |
| 2010 | £1,650 | 273 | £409,500 | Paul Valkenburg | Netherlands | £109,550 | $171,408 |
| 2011 | £1,320 | 315 | £378,000 | Pratik Ghatge | United Kingdom | £85,050 | $136,305 |
| 2014 | £1,100 | 399 | £319,200 | Iaron Lightbourne | United Kingdom | £70,000 | $110,163 |
| 2016 | £825 | 418 | £313,500 | Dave Shallow | United Kingdom | £62,000 | $86,747 |
| 2017 | £990 | 419 | £377,100 | [Removed:158] | Belgium | £71,950 | $89,722 |
All players will receive 30,000 chips in this Freezeout tournament and a total of 11 levels of 60 minutes each are scheduled with a break every two levels. There will be a dinner break after the end of level six, and the registration closes at the start of level seven at approximately 6.30 p.m. local time. Bagging and tagging for the night is expected just after midnight.
Day 1 Level Structure
| Level | Small blind | Big blind | Ante |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 50 | 100 | 0 |
| 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 |
A live stream of the feature table will kick off as of level three on a security delay of 30 minutes on the Unibet Poker Twitch channel, and the PokerNews live reporting team will provide all the action from the tournament floor.
, Karl Stark checked in the small blind and Benjamin Lebor in the cutoff bet 500. Stark check-raised to 1,500 and Lebor was the only caller.
turn for 2,800 and Lebor called before the Swede then bet the 
river for 10,000. Lebor min-raised to 20,000 and Stark called after brief consideration to get shown 
for the six-high straight by Lebor.
. The scream of excitement came from Tamas Tomozi, who had rivered a full house with 
, and he had cracked the pocket aces of his table neighbor to score a full double.
on the river was a formality, further improving Skarbo to a flush.
, Soran Talan in the small blind checked and Domien Fierens bet 1,500 in the hijack. Julien Sitbon raised to 5,100 and Talan called, Fierens folded.
turn for 8,500 and Sitbon almost immediately moved all in. Talan asked for a count and the shove was for 32,000 in total, sending the Swede into the think tank. "I show you one card if you want, you choose," Sitbon said in table chat and added soon after "I don't bluff you."
turn both players checked and Jaksland bet the 
river for 6,500. Jiang reluctantly called with 
and Jaksland was caught bluffing with the 
.
flop. He could all but gasps "kings?" The 
turn and 
, Lukasz Cygan was all in for 6,200 with the 
and the table neighbor Paul Dunne called with 
. The 
turn and 
river were both blanks and Cygan doubled.
versus 
.
and Lebor held up to double into an above-aberage stack.
