Strachinescu Leads 75 Survivors After Day 1b; O'Kearney With Decent Stack
The second starting day of the 10-year anniversary edition of the Unibet Open is in the books and another 335 players ponied up the buy-in of €1,100 Main Event at the luxurious JW Marriott Bucharest Grand Hotel to boost the total field to 502 entries. The guarantee was met and, minus the 3% fees for staff, a prize pool of €486,940 was set with the top 71 spots earning at least €1,880 for their efforts while the winner will take home the trophy and first-place payout of €90,925.
Until then it is still a long way to go and yet another Romanian player ended up on top of the chip counts after 11 levels of 60 minutes each. Only 75 hopefuls bagged up and will join the 39 Day 1a survivors to make for 114 survivors in total for Day 2 here in Bucharest. Marian Strachinescu emerged as the Day 1b and overall chip leader after bagging up massive 345,000. Strachinescu's biggest cash so far is a third place in the PokerFest Mamaia Season 3 €600 Main Event back in 2013 for a payday of €13,250.
Strachinescu is followed by fellow countryman Vladut Paun (326,500) and the two Dutchmen Tom Vogelsang (308,000) and Teun Herman (288,000), while other big stacks include Ionut Voinea (254,000), Avi Cohen (252,500), Yasen Dichev (248,000), Stephane Allard (243,000) and Alexander Ioan (239,000). Most of the Unibet Poker representatives took to the tables on Day 1b and three of them will be back tomorrow: Unibet Poker ambassador Dara O'Kearney made it through with 234,000, eSports Star Kevin "Papaplatte" Teller bagged up 130,000 and David Lappin will return with a stack of 90,000, which is just below the average.
Among those Unibet Poker representatives to join the rail throughout Day 1b were the eSports Stars Andrey "Reynad" Yanyuk, Sophia "Djarii" White, Fabien "Kioshima" Fiey, Thijs "Thijs" Molendijk, Fredrik "dbergie" Bergmann, Anssi "AndyPyro" Huovinen, Alan "Hotted89" Widmann and the ambassadors Rauno Tahvonen and Ian Simpson. Widmann was the first to fall when his pocket kings got cracked by the ace-king suited of Simeon Todorov, while White ran with king-ten suited and top pair on the flop in pocket aces. Simpson was caught bluffing and Tahvonen failed to hold up with pocket queens against a suited ace of Tom Vogelsang in the late stages of the day.
There were also several former Unibet Open champions in action today and all but Dan Murariu (51,500) were ousted. Mateusz Moolhuizen's nut flush draw and gutshot straight draw could not get there against two pair and defending Bucharest champion Traian Bostan never managed to run up a stack either. Kaarel Lepik and Peter Harkes busted in the last two levels of the night, while Dmitry Varlamov and Martin Soukup were also among the casualties. Further notables that busted today include Viliyan Petleshkov, Michael Magalashvili, Yngve Steen, Viliyan Petleshkov and €2,200 High Roller champion Olvedo Heinze.
The action resumes at 12 p.m. noon local time on Saturday, December 2nd 2017, with level 12 and blinds of 1,500/3,000 and a running ante of 500. A maximum of 11 levels of 60 minutes each or down to the nine-handed final table are scheduled for the penultimate day in Bucharest, whichever of the two comes first. A break every two levels and a dinner break after the end of the sixth level will see bagging and tagging take place at approximately 1 a.m. local time at the latest. As usual the PokerNews live reporting team will provide all the action from the floor and the live stream of the feature table on the Unibet Poker Twitch Channel commences in the third level of the day.
€1,100 Main Event Day 2 Seat Draw
| Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Victor Kait | Israel | 62,500 | 21 |
| 1 | 2 | Jorma Vuoksenmaa | Finland | 36,000 | 12 |
| 1 | 3 | Christopher Heidelbacher | Romania | 129,500 | 43 |
| 1 | 4 | Vladimir Borkunov | Russian Federation | 47,000 | 16 |
| 1 | 5 | Nikolay Ivanov | Bulgaria | 53,500 | 18 |
| 1 | 6 | Andreas Steiner | Switzerland | 132,500 | 44 |
| 1 | 7 | Eric Wasylenko | Canada | 119,000 | 40 |
| 1 | 8 | Jean-Serge Baril | Canada | 87,000 | 29 |
| 1 | 9 | Henrik Tellving | Sweden | 202,500 | 68 |
| 2 | 1 | Robert Vukovic | Croatia | 223,000 | 74 |
| 2 | 2 | Johan Goslings | Netherlands | 27,000 | 9 |
| 2 | 3 | Arnold Hodatov | Israel | 94,500 | 32 |
| 2 | 4 | Bartlomiej Gorzolka | Poland | 134,000 | 45 |
| 2 | 5 | Catalin Luca | Romania | 164,000 | 55 |
| 2 | 6 | David Lappin | Ireland | 90,000 | 30 |
| 2 | 7 | Vladut Paun | Romania | 326,500 | 109 |
| 2 | 8 | Anton Markov | Bulgaria | 98,000 | 33 |
| 2 | 9 | Marcus Friman | Sweden | 112,000 | 37 |
| 3 | 1 | Linus Hjulstrom | Sweden | 28,000 | 9 |
| 3 | 2 | Silviu Baltateanu | Romania | 210,000 | 70 |
| 3 | 3 | Pavao Veza | Croatia | 157,000 | 52 |
| 3 | 4 | Jozsef Liszkovics | Romania | 165,500 | 55 |
| 3 | 5 | Ionut Zota | Romania | 164,500 | 55 |
| 3 | 7 | Cosmin Nedelea | Romania | 157,500 | 53 |
| 3 | 8 | Vasile Zagon | Romania | 34,000 | 11 |
| 3 | 9 | Ionut Voinea | Romania | 254,000 | 85 |
| 4 | 1 | Olli Roos | Finland | 134,500 | 45 |
| 4 | 2 | Catalin Pop | Romania | 55,000 | 18 |
| 4 | 3 | Dor Lan | Israel | 104,000 | 35 |
| 4 | 4 | Jan-Willem Nijmeijer | Netherlands | 93,500 | 31 |
| 4 | 5 | Anatoli Halca | Romania | 238,000 | 79 |
| 4 | 6 | Stan Solomon | Romania | 116,000 | 39 |
| 4 | 7 | Kevin Teller | Germany | 130,000 | 43 |
| 4 | 8 | Mikolaj Zawadka | Poland | 66,000 | 22 |
| 4 | 9 | Marius-Serban Moldoveanu | Romania | 66,000 | 22 |
| 5 | 1 | Lucian Mantu | Romania | 77,000 | 26 |
| 5 | 2 | Age Spets | Norway | 61,500 | 21 |
| 5 | 3 | Dan Murariu | Romania | 51,500 | 17 |
| 5 | 4 | Marian Strachinescu | Romania | 345,000 | 115 |
| 5 | 5 | Ciprian Filipiuc | Romania | 72,000 | 24 |
| 5 | 6 | David Stonehouse | United Kingdom | 68,000 | 23 |
| 5 | 7 | Neculai Macovei | Romania | 78,000 | 26 |
| 5 | 8 | Georgios-Angelos Tavoularis | Greece | 138,500 | 46 |
| 5 | 9 | Emanuel Flesner | Romania | 70,000 | 23 |
| 6 | 1 | Ohana Shlomo | Israel | 160,000 | 53 |
| 6 | 2 | Vinod Jadav | United Kingdom | 153,000 | 51 |
| 6 | 3 | Martin von Zweigbergk | Finland | 129,500 | 43 |
| 6 | 4 | Oscar Tompsett | United Kingdom | 180,000 | 60 |
| 6 | 5 | Remi Gallot | France | 53,000 | 18 |
| 6 | 6 | Razvan Cetanas | Romania | 247,000 | 82 |
| 6 | 7 | Tiago Santos | Portugal | 97,000 | 32 |
| 6 | 9 | Alexandru Iliescu | Romania | 20,500 | 7 |
| 7 | 1 | Vlad Cojocariu | Romania | 52,000 | 17 |
| 7 | 2 | Bogdan Ionescu | Romania | 128,000 | 43 |
| 7 | 3 | Tim Bruneel | Belgium | 52,500 | 18 |
| 7 | 4 | Laurentiu Marius Bunica | Romania | 147,500 | 49 |
| 7 | 5 | Guy Ohayon | Israel | 245,000 | 82 |
| 7 | 6 | Marius Pertea | Romania | 177,000 | 59 |
| 7 | 7 | Ionut Dobre | Romania | 97,000 | 32 |
| 7 | 8 | Tudor Bartha Lazar | Romania | 324,000 | 108 |
| 7 | 9 | Razvan Constantin | Romania | 205,500 | 69 |
| 8 | 1 | Andrei Pirlanescu | Romania | 147,000 | 49 |
| 8 | 2 | Alexander Ioan | Germany | 239,000 | 80 |
| 8 | 4 | Gheorghe Serban | Romania | 60,500 | 20 |
| 8 | 5 | Ronnie Espensen | Denmark | 69,000 | 23 |
| 8 | 6 | Tudor Purice | Romania | 252,500 | 84 |
| 8 | 7 | Veselin Petrov | Bulgaria | 100,000 | 33 |
| 8 | 8 | Tom Givony | Israel | 77,500 | 26 |
| 8 | 9 | Daniel Stoian | Romania | 110,000 | 37 |
| 9 | 1 | Teun Herman | Netherlands | 288,000 | 96 |
| 9 | 2 | Vlad Ruxandari | Romania | 185,500 | 62 |
| 9 | 3 | Sorin Caraciobanu | Romania | 86,500 | 29 |
| 9 | 4 | Catalin Diac | Romania | 104,000 | 35 |
| 9 | 5 | Stilian Atanasov | Bulgaria | 78,500 | 26 |
| 9 | 6 | Cristian Tardea | Romania | 39,000 | 13 |
| 9 | 7 | Arne Bollmann | Norway | 51,500 | 17 |
| 9 | 8 | Aris Tourlakis | Greece | 247,500 | 83 |
| 9 | 9 | Bojan Zidar | Slovenia | 130,000 | 43 |
| 10 | 1 | Stefan Gheorghe | Romania | 210,500 | 70 |
| 10 | 2 | Emil Gramatikov | Bulgaria | 87,500 | 29 |
| 10 | 3 | Andrei Grimberg | Romania | 325,500 | 109 |
| 10 | 4 | Pit Hemmerling | Luxembourg | 121,000 | 40 |
| 10 | 5 | Ran Azor | Israel | 211,000 | 70 |
| 10 | 6 | Rico Leestemaker | Netherlands | 39,500 | 13 |
| 10 | 7 | Corentin Schmauch | France | 79,500 | 27 |
| 10 | 8 | Katsuhiro Muto | Japan | 105,000 | 35 |
| 10 | 9 | Alexandru Arnautu | Romania | 84,500 | 28 |
| 11 | 1 | Jenny Israel | France | 38,500 | 13 |
| 11 | 2 | Arvi Vainionkulma | Finland | 84,500 | 28 |
| 11 | 3 | Symeon Stergiopoulos | Greece | 160,000 | 53 |
| 11 | 4 | Joris Hermans | Belgium | 138,000 | 46 |
| 11 | 5 | Yonatan Koko | Israel | 135,500 | 45 |
| 11 | 6 | Josef Machiach | Israel | 107,000 | 36 |
| 11 | 7 | Iulian Iacob | Romania | 283,500 | 95 |
| 11 | 8 | Stefanita Fachete | Romania | 118,500 | 40 |
| 11 | 9 | Amir Shomron | Israel | 204,000 | 68 |
| 12 | 1 | Jose Luis Capdevila | Chile | 163,000 | 54 |
| 12 | 2 | Dara O'Kearney | Ireland | 234,000 | 78 |
| 12 | 3 | Stephane Allard | Belgium | 249,000 | 83 |
| 12 | 4 | Mihail Rablou | Romania | 140,000 | 47 |
| 12 | 5 | Cornel Oleniuc | Romania | 39,500 | 13 |
| 12 | 6 | Ionut Mihaila | Romania | 156,000 | 52 |
| 12 | 7 | Tom Vogelsang | Netherlands | 308,000 | 103 |
| 12 | 8 | Pasquale Grimaldi | Italy | 114,500 | 38 |
| 12 | 9 | Gheorghe Costache | Romania | 164,000 | 55 |
| 13 | 1 | Zion Mashiah | Israel | 47,500 | 16 |
| 13 | 3 | Ionut Asanache | Romania | 62,500 | 21 |
| 13 | 4 | Sergiu Cornea | Israel | 47,000 | 16 |
| 13 | 5 | Adrian Chivu | Romania | 98,000 | 33 |
| 13 | 6 | Yizhaq Sagi Gal | Israel | 59,000 | 20 |
| 13 | 6 | Rafi Yzhak Poor | Israel | 55,000 | 18 |
| 13 | 7 | Avi Cohen | Israel | 252,500 | 84 |
| 13 | 8 | Yasen Dichev | Bulgaria | 248,000 | 83 |
| 13 | 9 | Ionel Tanase | Romania | 124,500 | 42 |