Day 1a = Done
Ladies and gentlemen, that is your lot for Day 1a! A total of 201 players took to the felt today, including EPT Baden winner Julian Thew, EPT Grand Final runner up Lucille Cailly, Master Classics finalist Micke Norinder and former Unibet Open winners Pratik Ghatge, Peter Harkes and Daniel Smith. With tomorrow’s Day 1b likely to be even larger than Day 1a, we can safely say at this stage that the £250,000 guarantee will have been smashed come the close of registration tomorrow, and we will be very surprised indeed if the numbers don’t crush the 315-strong field that this event drew back in 2012.
Happy birthday to us – 30 Unibet Opens and still going strong!
At the close of play, just 68 players remained, with relatively unknown UK player Nathan Dippie topping the chip counts on 356,500. Also in contention are two-time Unibet Open finalist Tim van de Riet (202,100) and UKIPT and WSOP $1,500 finalist Ryan Spittles (181,600). Full chip counts for all the Day 1a survivors are now up on the chip counts page.
Tomorrow at noon we’ll be back at Aspers Casino in the heart of London’s East End for the second and final start day of what promises to be one of the biggest and best Unibet Opens ever. Join us here on the blog from noon local time for all the action, direct from the tournament floor.
