The Unibet Belgian Poker Championship 2019 Main Event kicked-off today as the sun shone on Casino Blankenberge.
Day 1a of the €550 buy-in event achieved 99 entries, and at the end of the twelve 45-minute levels, it was Dutchman Gerrit Blackaert who rose to the top, having turned his 50,000 starting stack into a massive 385,000.
Miguel Coussement (357,000), and Jeffrey Drooghenbroodt (341,000) follow not far behind, with William ‘HensiePensie’ Hens (239,000) and Philippe Bracq (191,000) completing the top five counts.
Two-time Unibet Open champion Mateusz Moolhuizen (pictured above) (168,000) and Belgium all-time money list #2 Pierre Neuville (122,000), who needed three bullets to advance, will also return to Day 2 action on Saturday, August 31.
Unibet ambassador David Vanderheyden (pictured below) hit the rail when he saw aces cracked by kings shortly before the second break of the day.
Defending champion Christophe De Meulder headed to the exit doors not long after when Antonio Garcia called his semi-bluff shove holding king-queen on a queen-ten-eight-seven board, and no help came for De Meulder’s nine-eight on the river.
Other familiar names who were unable to survive all twelve levels were former Belgian Poker Championship final tablist Alexis Longhe, Arne Coulier, Danny Maes, Anko Hoogendijk, and Dehlia De Jong, who fell in the final level.
Follow all the action from Blankenberge here with us over the next three days. Tomorrow (Friday, August 30) will see Day 1b and Day 1c Turbo get underway, and the players take their final opportunity to qualify for Day 2.
See you back here for all the action from 1 pm local time!
Reporting by Aaron McBride
