Day 1a: 32 Players Qualified for Day 2 of the Unibet Open Bucharest Main Event
It was a long opening day of the €1,100 Unibet Open Bucharest Main Event at the JW Marriott Bucharest Grand Hotel, as 11 one-hour levels were needed to complete the first flight of the tournament. But out of the 120 entrants recorded, 32 players managed to reach the end of the day and qualify for Day 2.
Among these players, there are not one but two chip leaders, with Iulian Gaman and Koen Roos both bagging 211,000 chips. In a top ten dominated by Romanian and Dutch players, Iulian Leonte (204,000) and Jan Teunis (200,500) are the two other players to end the day with more than 100 big blinds.
Day 1a Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Iulian Gaman | Romania | 211,000 | 106 |
| 2 | Koen Roos | Netherlands | 211,000 | 106 |
| 3 | Iulian Leonte | Romania | 204,000 | 102 |
| 4 | Jan Teunis | Netherlands | 200,500 | 100 |
| 5 | Evert Bos | Netherlands | 192,500 | 96 |
| 6 | Silviu Pana | Romania | 181,500 | 91 |
| 7 | Alexandru Ersen | Romania | 153,000 | 77 |
| 8 | Jozsef Hegyi | Hungary | 152,000 | 76 |
| 9 | Stefan Gheorghe | Romania | 148,000 | 74 |
| 10 | Sebastian Ionita | Romania | 135,000 | 68 |
Sebastian Ionita filled his bag with 135,000 chips, which is slightly more than 2023 EPT Cyprus Eureka Main Event runner-up Eduard Norel, who finished the day with 118,000 chips.
Lower down the chip counts, 2011 Unibet Open Malta and 2015 Unibet Open Anvers winner Mateusz Moolhuizen is still in the race for a third win, as he'll be back on Day 2 with 74,000 chips, two blinds more than Gabriel Gavrila (70,000).
Gabriel Radulescu, Herli Olop (66,500) or Emil Gramatikov (51,000) ended the day between 25 and 30 blinds, while Olavi Paluviir and Alex Kuniszyk brought up the rear with 49,000, 47,500 and 36,000 chips.
Tomorrow, Friday, December 1, the Main Event continues with Day 1b and Day 1c. At noon local time, Day 1b will follow the same format as Day 1a, with 11 levels of 60 minutes to qualify for Day 2.
Then, at 8 p.m., Day 1c Turbo will start with 20-minute levels. This third and last flight is expected to be busy, as players already eliminated will have the opportunity to use their only reentry on Day 1c.
As always, stay tuned into PokerNews for all the updates on the Unibet Open Bucharest Main Event and all the other best events happening around the world!