Unibet Open Bucharest: Gabriel Gavrila leads Biggest Ever Unibet Open

Christian Zetzsche Live Reporter

Dec 02, 2016 4 min read Last updated Dec 03, 2016

It was indeed a record-breaking day at the Unibet Open Bucharest festival inside the JW Marriott Bucharest Grand Hotel, as once again the Grand Ballroom was bursting with players.

All tables were used for Day 1b of the �1,100 Main Event and after registration had closed, a massive field of 367 entrants took part on Day 1b to boost the overall attendance to 603 participants, shattering the previous record of 460 entries. The 603 players created a prize pool of �584,910. The payouts will be announced when the action resumes as of 12 p.m. local time for Day 2 and 156 hopefuls are still in contention.

Position	Player	Country	Chip Count
1	Gabriel Gavrila	Romania	432,000
2	Alexandre de Zutter	France	382,000
3	Dan Ionut Hila	Romania	291,500
4	Henri Vaisanen	Sweden	284,000
5	Dejan Govedi	Sweden	269,000

After 63 players had bagged up on Day 1a, another 93 made it through today and local player Gabriel Gavrila (lead photo) amassed a monster stack of 432,000. He's followed by Alexandre de Zutter, who consistently built his stack over on table one and even cracked the aces of Mihai Manole with ace-king to bag up 382,000. Dan Ionut Hila follows in third place with 291,500 while other big stacks include Eugen Chiva (267,000), EPT12 Grand Final �25,750 High Roller champion Alexandru Papazian (232,500) and Jozsef Liszkovics (219,000).

Joni Liimatta also made it into the top 10 after the second starting day and the Finn is on track to possibly win back-to-back Unibet Open titles after already emerging victorious in Copenhagen just a few months ago. Liimatta was a big stack throughout the day and will return for Day 2 with very healthy 236,000. Other notables advancing from Day 1b were James Mitchell (174,000), Jeroen van Belzen (168,000), Martin Wendt (165,600), Jessy Marillaud (132,000), Nicolay Langfeldt (111,500), Dehlia de Jong (97,000) and Quentin Lecomte (69,500).

Plenty of other familiar faces from the international poker circuit took to the felt as well but failed to bag up chips. Ian Simpson joined the rail after the first two levels and two-time Unibet Open champion Mateusz Moolhuizen joined him not much later.

Ga?lle Garcia Diaz had a kicker problem with ace-ten versus ace-king and former champion Peter Harkes shoved with pocket aces into a straight to join the rail as well. Florin Ionut Ilies had a huge double early on with quads sevens, but ran out of chips on the same table as de Zutter. Daiva Barauskaite's ace-jack faced the isolation of Apostolos Bechrakis with jack-eight suited and the Greek made a runner runner flush over on the feature table, while popular Irishmen Gary Clarke, David Lappin and Dara "Doke" O'Kearney were all eliminated as well.

In the last few hands of the night, former big stack Yossef Shmuel Shmerling got it in with ace-queen against ace-jack on a jack-high flop and failed to improve. Andrei One joined the rail in spectacular fashion after bluffing off his chips with queen-four suited and a busted gutshot; Erno Suominen looked him up with ace-deuce suited for aces and sixes.

When all was said and done for the night, 93 survivors bagged up chips. They will be back for level 12 and blinds of 1,500-3,000 with a running ante of 500. Another 11 levels of 60 minutes each are scheduled for Day 2 to cut down the hopefuls considerably; about half of the remaining players are expected to cash in the Main Event. Saturday will also feature Day 1 of the single re-entry �2,200 High Roller. The tournament kicks off at 4 p.m. local time.

Mateusz Moolhuizen did not make it through to Day 2

Make sure to follow the PokerNews live updates to find out who makes history at the record-breaking inaugural Unibet Open Bucharest this weekend!

Main Event Seat Draw Day 2

Table	Seat	Player	Country	Chip Count
1	1	Asbjorn Elvevold	Norway	132,500
1	2	Stefan Razvan Magda	Romania	35,000
1	3	Nuno Miguel Carvalho	Portugal	135,000
1	4	Traian Bostan	Romania	157,000
1	5	Bogdan Diaconu	Romania	129,500
1	6	David Tobi	Israel	152,500
1	7	Georgios Angelos Tavoularis	Greece	215,000
1	8	Romain Grange	France	59,000
1	9	Florin Pandilica	Romania	40,000
?	?	?	?	?
2	1	Anthony Mitchell Duane	USA	186,500
2	2	Farook Ghafoor	Sweden	94,500
2	3	Sorin Irinel Lica	Romania	167,500
2	4	Cezar Catalin Chivulescu	Romania	71,500
2	5	Eszter Fabian	Hungary	28,000
2	6	Alexandru Sautner	Romania	186,500
2	7	Gabor Bank	Hungary	75,000
2	8	Mark Rink	Netherlands	65,000
2	9	Vasile Claudiu Sabou	Romania	135,000
?	?	?	?	?
3	1	Moti Merdler	Israel	38,000
3	2	Constantin Daniel Georgescu	Romania	118,500
3	3	Roi Koko	Israel	122,500
3	4	Tillmann Meier	Germany	55,000
3	5	Avi Hamo	Israel	119,500
3	6	Mihai Sebastian Parnica	Romania	102,000
3	7	William Hens	Netherlands	285,000
3	8	Nicolay Langfeldt	Norway	111,500
3	9	Solomon Stan	Romania	34,000
?	?	?	?	?
4	1	Viliyan Petleshkov	Bulgaria	50,000
4	2	Martin Wendt	Denmark	165,500
4	3	Gur Sabag	Israel	44,500
4	4	Jonathan Spicer	United Kingdom	115,000
4	5	Alexandru Papazian	Romania	232,500
4	6	Virgil Grecu	Romania	42,500
4	7	Florin Carmil Rusu	Romania	213,000
4	8	Iustin Cojocaru	Romania	113,000
4	9	Gabriel Gavrila	Romania	432,000
?	?	?	?	?
5	1	Luciana Manolea	Romania	100,000
5	2	Quentin Lecomte	France	69,500
5	3	Constantin Cosmin	Romania	180,500
5	4	Roei Motola	Israel	186,500
5	5	Zoltan Boszormenyi	Hungary	93,500
5	6	Razvan Florian Stircu	Romania	58,000
5	7	Ozgur Arda	Turkey	110,000
5	8	Ilan Buskila	Israel	81,000
5	9	Aurellian Nicusor Chirieci	Romania	78,500
?	?	?	?	?
6	1	Marius Asanache	Romania	144,500
6	2	Ionut-Alin Tambura	Romania	191,000
6	3	Bogdan Petrascu	Romania	105,000
6	4	Alexandros Papadopolos	Greece	115,000
6	5	Jakob Linden	Sweden	287,000
6	6	Daniel Wittikko	Sweden	67,500
6	7	Dan Glimne	Sweden	59,000
6	8	Akseli Paalanen	Finland	35,000
6	9	Cristian Dan	Romania	77,500
?	?	?	?	?
7	1	George Damian	Romania	70,000
7	2	Gert Bransteert	Belgium	108,500
7	3	Jeroen van Belzen	Netherlands	168,000
7	4	Cristian Cirtog	Romania	134,000
7	5	Dan Murariu	Romania	160,000
7	6	Lucian Tofan	Romania	30,500
7	7	Radu Lungu	Romania	38,500
7	8	Cristian Mihai Taran	Romania	21,000
7	9	Mate Mecs	Hungary	84,500
?	?	?	?	?
8	1	Jussi Perlinen	Finland	136,500
8	2	Ronnie Espensen	Denmark	38,500
8	3	Lachezar Petkov	Bulgaria	33,000
8	4	Constantin Florin Bitan	Romania	155,000
8	5	Yosef Boker	Israel	79,500
8	6	Andrei Boghean	Romania	135,000
8	7	Ovidiu Florian Ciuciuc	Romania	119,000
8	8	Iulian Bogdan Nastase	Romania	97,500
8	9	Avi Osezikli	Israel	79,500
?	?	?	?	?
9	1	Ioana Silvana Apostol	Romania	47,000
9	2	Nasser Khelifi	France	64,000
9	3	Gusti Adrian Sas	Romania	44,500
9	4	Viorel Chelariu	Romania	65,500
9	5	Bart Francois	Netherlands	121,000
9	6	Cristian Tardea	Romania	56,000
9	7	Ovidiu Roman	Romania	42,500
9	8	Kobi Maymon	Israel	119,500
9	9	Eugen Chiva	Romania	267,000
?	?	?	?	?
10	1	Dejan Govedi	Slovenia	269,000
10	2	Vasile Paul Plastoi	Romania	190,000
10	3	Henri Vaisanen	Finland	284,000
10	4	Sebastiaan Uijtendaal	Netherlands	73,500
10	5	Anton Haeggblom	Finland	121,000
10	6	Jozsef Liszkovics	Hungary	219,000
10	7	Razvan Lucian Cetanas	Romania	69,500
10	8	Markus Heikkila	Sweden	322,000
10	9	Kiarash Nabavieh	Belgium	107,500
?	?	?	?	?
11	1	Joni Liimatta	Finland	236,000
11	2	Aldo Monteleone	Italy	232,500
11	3	Sidi-Mohamed Nouar	France	227,000
11	4	Omer Azulay	Israel	38,500
11	5	Gheorghe Caplescu	Romania	202,000
11	6	Niculae Eremia	Romania	138,000
11	7	Doron Shako	USA	123,500
11	8	Erno Suominen	Finland	212,500
11	9	Cosmin Ionut Petcu	Romania	151,000
?	?	?	?	?
12	1	George Adrian Stanescu	Romania	99,000
12	2	Daniel Sochanek	Sweden	186,000
12	3	Laurentiu Florin Dumitru	Romania	85,000
12	4	Catalin Morariu	Romania	101,500
12	5	Martin Klejna	Czech Republic	107,000
12	6	Jessy Marillaud	France	132,000
12	7	Andreas Hagen	Norway	42,500
12	8	Cosmin Cimpeanu	Romania	102,000
12	9	Juho Launonen	Finland	62,500
?	?	?	?	?
13	1	Elvis Petcu	Romania	135,500
13	3	Leon Mihai Ani	Romania	83,000
13	4	Barnabas Nagy	Hungary	66,500
13	5	Denis Adamskii	Russia	23,500
13	6	Jakub Groblewski	Poland	43,000
13	7	Avi Zur	Israel	44,000
13	8	Slaven Popov	Bulgaria	75,500
13	9	Eero Lehtinen	Finland	50,500
?	?	?	?	?
14	1	Shilo Jerusalem	Israel	81,000
14	2	Adrian Stefan Calusaru	Romania	62,500
14	3	Asaf Goldfeld	Israel	48,000
14	4	Nikita Malinovski	Russia	104,500
14	5	Quentin Laurentjoye	France	150,500
14	7	Alexandre de Zutter	France	382,000
14	8	Danut Marius Dinca	Romania	143,000
14	9	Mariusz Niski	Poland	106,000
?	?	?	?	?
15	1	Gordon Plomp	Belgium	148,000
15	2	Dan Ionut Hila	Romania	291,500
15	3	Tristan Guiodo	France	178,500
15	5	Michal Sobanski	Poland	40,500
15	6	James Mitchell	United Kingdom	174,000
15	7	Denis Ioan Poteras	Romania	95,000
15	8	Apostolos Bechrakis	Greece	108,000
15	9	Krzysztof Idziak	Poland	166,000

16	1	Bo Joakim Hedelin	Sweden	42,000
16	2	Zhiping Zeng	China	169,000
16	3	Elena Grigorescu	Romania	54,000
16	4	Daniel Balaiasa	Romania	110,500
16	5	Jorma Vuoksenmaa	Finland	79,500
16	6	Martin Soukup	Czech Republic	107,000
16	7	Lee Egan	Ireland	125,000
16	9	Anti Reinthal	Estonia	58,000
?	?	?	?	?
17	1	Daniel Juul	Denmark	38,000
17	2	Plamen Todorov	Bulgaria	116,000
17	3	Melech Prozan	Israel	59,500
17	4	Eli Heath	United Kingdom	250,000
17	5	Yonatan Koko	Israel	85,000
17	6	Olof Haglund	Sweden	63,500
17	7	Tomas Lindberg	Sweden	171,000
17	9	Benny Kneepkens	Netherlands	36,000
?	?	?	?	?
18	1	Adrian Bizineche	Romania	158,000
18	2	Dan Alexandru Nistor	Romania	55,000
18	3	Dan Serban Borlan	Romania	21,500
18	5	Alexandru Neculae	Romania	28,500
18	6	Ville Malinen	Finland	105,000
18	7	Dehlia de Jong	Netherlands	97,000
18	8	Martin Tsankov	Bulgaria	103,500
18	9	Vinod Jadav	United Kingdom	41,000