After three tournament days, a field of 366 entries has been whittled down to the last eight in the 2019 Unibet Open Sinaia €1,100 Main Event and six Romanians will face Unibet Poker ambassador Espen Uhlen Jorstad and 2016 Malta champion Martin Soukup to battle for the trophy, bragging rights and €71,000 top prize that comes along with it.
Both Soukup and 2016 Bucharest champion Traian Bostan have the chance to join Dan Murariu and Mateusz Moolhuizen as a two-time champion of the popular mid-stakes poker circuit and Soukup is in prime position as second in chips with 2,085,000. He only trails Cristian Grecu, who will enter the final table with 2,255,000. Bostan sits in the middle of the pack with 1,060,000, good enough for 42 big blinds as 18 minutes remain at blinds of 10,000/25,000 with a 25,000 big bind ante.
Stefan Drusca is in third place when the action resumes, holding 1,890,000 to his name. Fellow Romanians Toni Judet (1,165,000), Marius Gicovanu (885,000) and Catalin Moraru (800,000) are joined by Unibet Poker ambassador Espen Uhlen Jorstad (845,000), who reached the final table with the second-shortest stack.
2019 Unibet Open Sinaia €1,100 Main Event Final Table
Seat
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Cristian Grecu
Romania
2,255,000
90
2
Traian Bostan
Romania
1,060,000
42
3
Catalin Moraru
Romania
800,000
32
4
Toni Judet
Romania
1,165,000
47
5
Espen Uhlen Jorstad
Norway
845,000
34
6
Marius Gicovanu
Romania
885,000
35
7
Martin Soukup
Czech Republic
2,085,000
83
8
Stefan Drusca
Romania
1,890,000
76
The action resumes at 2 p.m. local time at the feature table in the New Montana Hotel and the level duration will be shortened to 45 minutes once six players remain, while the final three will battle at levels of 30 minutes each. The PokerNews team will provide all the action until a champion is crowned according to the live stream with hole cards displayed on a security delay of 30 minutes.
Martin Soukup raised to 60,000 with the and Catalin Moraru three-bet to 205,000 on the button with the .
Soukup gave it plenty of consideration before four-betting to 1,310,000, which covered the remaining stack of more than 30 big blinds of Moraru. Eventually, the call by Moraru for 1,015,000 followed and they were off to the races.
The board came and that sent Moraru to the rail in 8th place for €8,930.
Soukup further increased his lead on the way to a possible second Unibet Open title.
Cristian Grecu raised to 60,000 with the and Espen Uhlen Jorstad, who had posted the big blind ante, called with and 70,000 behind. Jorstad moved all in after the flop and Grecu flicked in the call with the flush draw.
The turn was a blank and the river gave Grecu, who was already ahead, a pair of nines. Jorstad had to settle for 7th place and a payday of €12,150.
Stefan Drusca ended up all in for 800,000 and Traian Bostan in the small blind went over the top.
Stefan Drusca:
Traian Bostan:
There was uproar on the flop as Drusca took the lead with top two pair, but he had to fade diamonds and a back door straight draw. The turn and the river indeed improved Bostan to a straight and that spelled the end for Drusca in 6th place for €16,545.
Cristian Grecu opened and Toni Judet jammed for the last 300,000 out of the small blind. Marius Gicovanu jammed the small blind and Grecu snap-called for 1,390,000.
Toni Judet:
Cristian Grecu:
Marius Gicovanu:
Gicovanu was asking for a seven and his wish was granted with the flop.
Neither the turn nor the river changed anything, and suddenly the field was reduced to the final three. Judet was ousted in 5th place for €21,664 and Grecu takes home €27,485.
Traian Bostan raised to 120,000 with the and Marius Gicovanu three-bet to 400,000 with in the small blind. Bostan jammed for 1,755,000 and Gicovanu asked for a count, then called.
One hand after his double up, Bostan was at risk again and remained in the lead on the flop. But the turn improved Gicovanu to a pair of tens. Bostan had spades and the two remaining eights as outs, but the river was not what he was looking for.
"Good luck, may the best win," Bostan said when he shook hands with Gicovanu and headed to the payout desk to collect €33,960 for his efforts. While he missed out on a second Unibet Open title, Martin Soukup is still in contention and about to head into a very deep-stacked heads-up against Gicovanu.
Martin Soukup open-shoved and Marius Gicovanu called for 2,090,000 after having invested the big blind ante also.
Marius Gicovanu:
Marius Soukup:
The flop left Gicovanu on think ice, but he picked up some outs with the turn. A blank followed on the river and Gicovanu was eliminated in 2nd place for €45,310.
As for Soukup, he has accomplished a very rare feat and became the third player to win a second Unibet Open title. He takes home €71,000 for his efforts and another trophy to add to his collection.
Another Unibet Open champion has been crowned at the New Montana Hotel and it was a familiar face on the winner shots, as Martin Soukup made history to become the third player to win a second Unibet Open Main Event title. Soukup joins Dan Murariu and Mateusz Moolhuizen as the only two-time champions, while 2016 Bucharest winner Traian Bostan fell short of exactly that feat and busted in third place.
Soukup defeated local player Marius Gicovanu in heads-up play after a fierce and very deep-stacked heads-up battle to claim the trophy once more and earn a payday of €71,000. Gicovanu applied relentless pressure throughout and that left him on the ropes three times. Twice he would double, but the third time he could not escape from elimination anymore to see Soukup emerge victoriously.
Quite remarkably, it is only the fourth cash for the Czech according to his Hendon Mob profile, and Soukup has played in 12 Unibet Open Main Events so far. All his cashes are exclusively from the Unibet Open, and the 33-year-old from Prague came close to a second title in the $1,100 European Open Special Edition in Las Vegas in 2017.
2019 Unibet Open Sinaia €1,100 Main Event Final Table Results
Place
Winner
Country
Prize (in EUR)
Prize (in USD)
1
Martin Soukup
Czech Republic
€71,000
$79,987
2
Marius Gicovanu
Romania
€45,310
$51,045
3
Traian Bostan
Romania
€33,960
$38,259
4
Cristian Grecu
Romania
€27,485
$30,964
5
Toni Judet
Romania
€21,665
$24,407
6
Stefan Drusca
Romania
€16,545
$18,639
7
Espen Uhlen Jorstad
Norway
€12,150
$13,688
8
Catalin Moraru
Romania
€8,930
$10,060
It was the second Unibet Open Main Event for Gicovanu, both times on Romanian soil, and the biggest score to date of the 29-year-old from Valcea was a runner-up finish in the 2017 EPT National for €372,349. Ultimately, Gicovanu ended up in the very same spot again and added another €45,310 to his poker resume.
Featured on the final table were six Romanians including Toni Judet, along with Unibet Poker ambassador Espen Uhlen Jorstad from Norway and eventual champion Soukup. The Unibet ambassadors Daiva Byrne, Dan Murariu and Dara O'Kearney were among those to cash and bust out on Day 3. O'Kearney entered the penultimate day with just 3/8 of a big blind and made two pay jumps, bowing out in 29th place. Esports streamer Alan "hotted89" Widmann also showcased his poker talent at the tables and finished in 28th place.
The special ski-edition was designed to give all qualifiers and poker enthusiasts from near and far a chance to take advantage of the winter activities in the popular Carpathian mountains with an additional tournament day scheduled for the €1,100 Main Event and starting times in the early afternoon. The festival at the New Montana Hotel was held in cooperation from PokerFest Romania. A total of 366 entries created a prize pool of €366,000 and the top 47 spots were paid.
2019 Unibet Open Sinaia Final Day Action
Cristian Grecu and Martin Soukup were the two chip leaders and the latter scored the first knockout of the day after he four-bet enough to put Catalin Moraru at risk. After some consideration, Moraru called it off with ace-king and Soukup held up with pocket eights to establish a solid lead with seven players remaining.
Next to head to the rail was Espen Uhlen Jorstad. The Unibet ambassador from Norway had locked up his second Unibet Open cash and saw the vast majority of his stack vanish when eventual runner-up Marius Gicovanu cracked his pocket jacks with pocket fives. A five on the flop left Jorstad on just five big blinds and he was unable to spin them up, bowing out in 7th place when he came up short with queen-six versus queen-nine suited.
Stefan Drusca took over the lead early on, but lost a big flip with ace-king suited against the pocket jacks of Gicovanu. Drusca would have to settle for 6th place when he got it in with ace-queen against the pocket kings of Traian Bostan. An ace and a queen appeared on the flop while Traian had a flush draw, and instead made the runner-runner nut straight.
The field was reduced from five to three in a big three-way all in. Toni Judet three-bet jammed his short stack with ace-king and Gicovanu isolated with pocket sevens. Initial raiser Grecu snap-called with pocket kings, but a seven appeared right away on the flop to give Gicovanu another crucial set.
Down to the last three, two former champions were still in the running for the repeat victory. Bostan ended up very short in chips and doubled twice, but lost a flip with pocket eights against the ace-ten of Gicovanu to set up the duel for the title and trophy.
While Gicovanu had done the most work to reach the heads-up stage and entered it with a slight chip lead, it was all about Soukup. Every significant big pot was sent over to the Czech and Gicovanu found himself on the ropes three times. He managed to double up twice, but fell short of the win when his king-ten ended up second-best to Soukup's ace-five.
2019 Unibet Open Sinaia Festival Highlights
Event
Buy-In
Entries
Prize Pool (in EUR)
Winner
Country
Prize (in EUR)
Prize (in USD)
esports Battle Royale XII
-
9
€10,000
Kevin “Rotterdam” van der Kooi
Netherlands
€4,900
$5,534
High Roller
€2,200
41
€79,540
Andy Hills
United Kingdom
€27,040
$30,535
Main Event
1,100
366
€366,000
Martin Soukup
Czech Republic
€71,000
$79,987
QUEEN RULES
€90
28
€2,175
Daiva Byrne
United Kingdom
€800
$904
DSO Cup
€550
172
€83,420
Antti Tiainen
Finland
€11,837*
$13,375*
*deal of the last four players and flip for the trophy
The festival in cooperation with PokerFest kicked off with the Battle of Champions, an invitational event that was won by [Removed:402]. The next day belonged to the esports streamers, as the Tag Team Championship and esports Battle Royale XII determined their champions on the live stream table. John "Swifty" Pyle and Alexandre Reard earned the bragging rights and Pyle came narrowly close to make it back-to-back wins as he finished second to Kevin "Rotterdam" van der Kooi.
While the Main Event took over the spotlight in Sinaia, several Side Events crowned their champions and Reard's wife Aurelie won a €150 Turbo Side Event for €2,600 on their 15 year anniversary. Alexandre went on to dominate the €2,200 High Roller from Day 1 and all the way to just five players remaining on Day 2 before finishing second to Andy Hills.
After her deep run in the Main Event, Daiva Byrne took over her hosting duties in the QUEENRULES Ladies Event and ended up winning the trophy and €800 in a field of 28 entries.
Last but not least, the €550 DSO Cup attracted a field of 172 entries to create a prize pool of €83,420 and the top 23 spots were paid. Dara O'Kearney, who cashed in the €1,100 Main Event as well, finished 7th for €3,050 and the final four players agreed to a deal. The three Romanians Ionut Decher, Andrei Epure and Catali, as well as Finland's Antti Tiainen flipped for the trophy, which Tiainen won with eight-three off suit.
That wraps up the PokerNews updates from the festival in the Carpathian mountains. The next Unibet Open takes place in London in May 2019, and the online satellites are already available on Unibet Poker.
Photos courtesy of Tambet Kask and Elena Kask/Unibet