Andrew Hills raised from under the gun and picked up three callers. On a flop of , Paul Rickard in the big blind bet 800 and Hills as well as Lukasz Cygan called. Rickard Larsson on the button had other plans and raised to 2,600. Rickard and Hills were the only callers.
The fell on the turn and Rickard checked, Hills bet 5,800 and this time only Larsson called. The on the river was checked through and Hills flipped over for a straight to win a decent pot.
There are up to 150 players registered now, though quite some of them have not taken a seat yet. Among those to join recently were Aleksandar Spadijer, Gary Fisher, High Roller champ Julien Sitbon, Aki Pyysing and Grosvenor sponsored player Andrew Hills.
Spadijer raised to 300 in the small blind and Fisher called in the big blind. On a flop of , a bet of 400 did the trick for Spadijer.
Table five seems to be determined to create plenty of action and this time it were Colin Heus and George McDonald that clashed in a fairly big pot in the first level of the day. On the turn the duo invested 5,500 each and the fell on the river. Heus bet 10,000 and McDonald eventually folded.
The 2016 Unibet Open Malta champion Martin Soukup has taken a seat on the same table as Peter Jaksland and one table over is Unibet Poker ambassador Daiva Byrne along with Neophytos Neophytou and Simonas Eigminas. Mike "The Bookie" Hill has also been spotted and the screens already show a total of 140 entries, nearing the field size of Day 1a.
On the three-way flop of , 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.
Stark bet the 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.
Mark "Valkia" Purdy, Unibet Poker ambassador Ian Simpson and the two Unibet Open Bucharest finalists Henrik Tellving and Christopher Heidelbacher highlight the first batch of notables that have been in their seats in the first level of the day.
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.
would have seen his hand come up second best anyways as Stark doubled with a straight.
, Paul Rickard in the big blind bet 800 and Hills as well as Lukasz Cygan called. Rickard Larsson on the button had other plans and raised to 2,600. Rickard and Hills were the only callers.
fell on the turn and Rickard checked, Hills bet 5,800 and this time only Larsson called. The 
for a straight to win a decent pot.
, a bet of 400 did the trick for Spadijer.
turn the duo invested 5,500 each and the 
fell on the river. Heus bet 10,000 and McDonald eventually folded.
, 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.
for the six-high straight by Lebor.
