€1,100 Main Event
Day 1a Completed
2019 Unibet Open Sinaia
€1,100 Main Event
Day: 1a
Level 8
: 400/800, 800 ante
Day 1a of the 2019 Unibet Open Sinaia €1,100 Main Event is in the books and the ski-edition of the popular midstakes live poker tournament circuit is off to a good start thanks to 120 entries on the first of three starting days for the festival highlight.
Only half the field made it through the eight levels of 60 minutes each and UK's Nikolay Ponomarev bagged up the lead at the New Montana Hotel, while two-time Unibet Open champion and Unibet Poker ambassador Dan Murariu is on track for another deep run on home soil.
Ponomarev topped the 56 survivors with a stack of 141,200, Finland's Johannes Vaeisaenen follows close behind with 139,500. Best local player on the first starting day is Andrei Jambor, who scored a dramatic late knockout with queens versus aces when he rivered the flush against top set and soared up all the way to 135,500.
Other big stacks and notables who already punched their ticket for Day 2 include Razvan Bizera (120,300), Padraig O'Neill (110,100), Gilles Huet (99,200), Anko Hoogendijk (96,700), Ionut Voinea (78,300), Eduard Norel (74,600), and Mihai Niste (68,100). The sole Unibet ambassador who bagged and tagged was Dan Murariu, who advanced with an above-average stack of 77,700.
Less fortunate were David Lappin and Quentin Lecomte, who both ran out of chips and will have to re-enter in the turbo heat 1c in order to join Murariu for Day 2. The list of Day 1a casualties also contains Tomasz Kozub, Johan Goslings, Christopher Cunliffe, Narcis Gabriel Nedelcu, Mateusz Moolhuizen, Georgios Tavoularis, Florian Duta, Robert Vukovic and Antoine Saout.
The day started with around 80 players in their seats and the only two-time champions Moolhuizen and Murariu were battling for another chance to make it three Unibet Open titles. For Moolhuizen, the first attempt came to an end in level six when his queen-high flush draw didn't get there. Sandor Hadnagy called in a battle of the blinds with ace-ten for the second pair and further improved to two pair on the river.
Adrian "NMPfan" Nica was the first player to boast a six-figure stack after a double knockout with ace-king suited versus king-queen and a short stack with nine-seven suited. Andrei Spataru flopped best with top two pair when the bigger side pot emerged, but Nica spiked an ace on the river to make the best hand. The second half of the day wasn't as kind to the Romanian, but he made it to Day 2 with 58,000.
In the final level of the night, 2017 Unibet Open Bucharest runner-up Robert Vukovic lost a flip with queens against the ace-king of Tymur Kasilov. Ultimately, more than half of the field bowed out and can take another shot the following day in the turbo heat. A bumper field is expected for Day 1b and the action will be streamed on the Unibet Poker Twitch channel.
"Rotterdam" Wins esports Battle Royale XII - "Swifty" and Reard Tag Team Champions
Two of the popular Side Events took place today and claimed the spotlight of the feature table. First, the Tag Team Championship crowned a champion and it were Alexandre Reard and John "Swifty" Pyle who claimed the bragging rights and a deluxe treatment at the spa.
After a short break, all nine esports streamers were back in action with Pyle right back at it. He seemingly couldn't lose an all in showdown on the way to back-to-back victories. However, his bid came short by one spot as Kevin "Rotterdam" van der Kooi took the lion's share of the €10,000 prize pool. The top three were supposed to be paid and the final four contenders made a bubble deal to ensure €300 to the fourth-place finisher.
That happened to be Kevin "Papaplatte" Teller, and he was followed by Radu "Rdu" Dima. Once the bubble had burst, van der Kooi was the overwhelming chip leader and reduced the field from three to one in consecutive hands. First he sent Dima to the rail with 
versus 
as the board came 
to give the Dutchman two pair. In the very next hand, Pyle held and two live cards against the 
of van der Kooi. On a board of 
, the esports Battle Royale XII champion was crowned in van der Kooi.
Final Result esports Battle Royale XII
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (in EUR) | Prize (in USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kevin "Rotterdam" van der Kooi | Netherlands | €4,900 | $5,519 |
| 2 | John "Swifty" Pyle | United States | €2,900 | $3,266 |
| 3 | Radu "Rdu" Dima | Romania | €1,900 | $2,140 |
| 4 | Kevin "Papaplatte" Teller | Germany | €300 | $338 |
Most of the esports streamers will join the action on Day 1b of the €1,100 Main Event, which kicks off at 3 p.m. local time on Thursday, February 14th. The third and final heat with 20-minute levels then starts at 10 p.m. local time. Both starting days will feature eight levels and six levels of late registration, only players that busted in the previous two flights can re-enter and entirely new participants can also enter and re-enter once on Day 1c.
Tune back in for more action from here in Sinaia, as PokerNews will be your one-stop-shop for the remainder of the festival.
Photos courtesy of Tambet Kask and Elena Kask/Unibet
Level 8
: 400/800, 800 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
141,200
11,200
|
11,200 |
|
||
|
139,600
-400
|
-400 |
|
135,500 | |
|
120,300
10,300
|
10,300 |
|
111,400
1,400
|
1,400 |
|
110,100
65,100
|
65,100 |
|
||
|
105,200
105,200
|
105,200 |
|
99,200
40,200
|
40,200 |
|
98,200
-11,800
|
-11,800 |
|
96,700
11,700
|
11,700 |
|
82,600
-13,400
|
-13,400 |
|
|
81,000
81,000
|
81,000 |
|
80,000
20,000
|
20,000 |
|
78,300
-1,700
|
-1,700 |
|
77,700
7,700
|
7,700 |
|
||
|
77,500
7,500
|
7,500 |
|
|
76,500
35,500
|
35,500 |
|
74,600
14,600
|
14,600 |
|
71,300
-48,700
|
-48,700 |
|
71,200
15,200
|
15,200 |
|
|
70,900
-14,600
|
-14,600 |
|
68,300
18,300
|
18,300 |
|
68,100
-17,900
|
-17,900 |
|
67,300
2,300
|
2,300 |
|
|
67,000
7,000
|
7,000 |
Level 8
: 400/800, 800 ante
After his double up in the last hands of the night, Bogdan Nicolae seemed poised to bag an above-average stack but that dream was shattered in the final hand. In a three-bet pot, Nicolae flopped top set with aces on 
and he then got his stack in after the 
turn. Andrei Jambor looked him up with 
and spiked the 
on the river.
Dehlia de Jong has also lost quite some chips at the end. "The good news is I made it to Day 2, but I bluffed away half of my stack," she said upon bagging and tagging. Jambor skyrocketed to a possible chip lead and the full counts are to follow shortly.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
135,500
65,500
|
65,500 |
|
28,400
-41,600
|
-41,600 |
|
Busted |
Level 8
: 400/800, 800 ante
Alexandru Gavrilut opened to 2,000 in the hijack and Bogdan Nicolae on the button jammed for 26,500. Gavrilut eventually called and it was a flip for Nicolae.
Bogdan Nicolae: 
Alexandru Gavrilut:
The board came 
and Nicolae spiked a queen to double.
One table over, Sergiu Covrig four-bet shoved over a three-bet to 5,200 by Daniel Dolcic and the Croatian folded, claiming he folded pocket nines in table chat after the hand was over.
Georgios Tavoularis was already on the rail by then, having lost his shorter stack to Per Helge Gassand just before bagging and tagging.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
70,000
-30,000
|
-30,000 |
|
|
55,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
|
43,000
18,000
|
18,000 |
|
||
|
25,000
-65,000
|
-65,000 |
|
Busted | |
Level 8
: 400/800, 800 ante
Day 1a is coming to a close and the clock has been stopped with 58 players remaining out of a field of 120 entries. Among those to bust just before the last hands of the night were Petrache Dumitru, James Noonan and Conny Regnell.
All other hopefuls have another four hands to play before bagging and tagging.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
Busted | |
|
|
Busted | |
|
Busted | |
|
|
Busted | |
|
|
Busted |
Level 8
: 400/800, 800 ante
Ionut Voinea and Dan Murariu on the button created a pot of 10,000 to the 
turn and Voinea checked to the two-time Unibet Open champion and Unibet Poker ambassador. Murariu bet 6,200 and Vionea opted to check-raise to 20,000 for a decent portion of his remaining stack.
That ended the hand right there, as Murariu folded. Both players remain well above the average in the final level of the night.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
80,000
10,000
|
10,000 |
|
|
70,000
-7,000
|
-7,000 |
|
|
||
Level 8
: 400/800, 800 ante
Tymur Kasilov clashed with Robert Vukovic and it was a classic flip that decided over the fate of the Croatian.
Robert Vukovic: 
Tymur Kasilov: 
The 
flop favored Kasilov and he remained in the lead thanks to the 
turn and river run out.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
60,000
60,000
|
60,000 |
|
Busted |
Level 8
: 400/800, 800 ante
Several players are gunning for the Day 1a chip lead and Nikolay Ponomarev just strengthened his bid when he dragged in a pot without showdown against Dwayne Sluis. The latter bet the 
turn for 18,000 and Ponomarev check-shoved to force a fold.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
140,000
29,000
|
29,000 |
|
|
130,000
20,000
|
20,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
120,000
35,000
|
35,000 |
|
|
110,000
-5,000
|
-5,000 |
|
|
110,000
25,000
|
25,000 |
Level 8
: 400/800, 800 ante
Eirik Gravdal is still in contention, but his brother Anders Gravdal has just been eliminated. Conny Regnell and Bjorn Samuelsson have been left very short as of recently, which also applies to Per Helge Gassand. On the same table, Georgios Tavoularis three-bet shoved for 21,000 into an open raise by Dan Murariu and got through with it.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
23,000
-11,000
|
-11,000 |
|
|
13,000
-22,000
|
-22,000 |
|
13,000
-12,000
|
-12,000 |
|
|
10,000
-15,000
|
-15,000 |
|
|
Busted | |
|
|
Busted | |
|
|
Busted |