I don’t think we’ve ever seen a happier Unibet Open winner than Mr. Jaroslaw Barglik.
Barglik became a big stack on Day 2, largely by abusing the epic bubble period – during the two hours it took for the bubble to burst, Barglik’s stack increased from roughly 300k to 900k through the medium of extreme aggression. He would stay a big stack for the rest of the tournament.
Barglik started Day 3 as chip leader, and he was still in the lead when they reached the final table. He had a 2:1 chip lead over Kent Lundmark when they went heads up, and although Lundmark took the lead for a while, Barglik soon doubled back through and was back in the lead. Lundmark was a tough opponent, though, and even when Barglik got him all in with K-5 against aces, it looked for a moment as though Lundmark might double back through. But it was not to be for the Swede, and while the EPT Barcelona champion had to make do with second place, Barglik got to lift the coveted trophy and take home the €140,539 first prize.
This represents Barglik’s biggest live tournament score by a very, very long way – his previous tournament best was little more than €2,000. But the pure joy in evidence as he hoisted the trophy – his face completely expressionless throughout the tournament up until that point – was not something that just mere money could elicit.
Barglik announced that the very first thing he intended to do was to take a long bath – but I suspect the swarm of Polish friends and supporters who mobbed him as the final card was dealt may have other ideas for him this evening. As they wander off into the midnight Paris streets, all that is left is for us to extend massive thanks to the Cercle Cadet poker club and everyone else involved in running this hugely successful tournament.
The next Unibet Open Online takes place on July 29th, and after a break for the summer the next Unibet Open live event will take place in London from September 13-16. Satellites are running online now at Unibet, as well as for the 5th Anniversary special edition on the sunny Caribbean island of St Maarten in December. So, mes amis, this isn’t really goodbye – more au revoir.
