Max Silver
Top British poker pro Max “SHAPOSNOVE” Silver has won the first 2020 Unibet Open Online for €77,320.
In a thrilling finish, Silver beat Twitch streamer and Unibet regular Jamie “jamnix_90” Nixon heads-up to snag the top prize in the €1,100 buy-in tournament. There were a total of 373 entries in the “high” version of the Unibet Open creating a total prize pool of €392,750 – nearly double the €200,000 guarantee.
Silver, who has amassed more than $4.8 million in live tournament winnings and is currently ranked 12th in the UK all-time money list, has never played online on Unibet before but finished 16th in the last live Unibet Open Main Event – in his home city of Dublin in February.
Silver, 29, describes himself as an all-round live and online grinder but is also the founder of the popular SnapShove “short stack” poker app which has had more than 100,000 downloads since its launch four years ago.
Silver said: “This was my first ever time playing on Unibet so I had no expectations going in. It was one of the most fun final tables I ever had. When you have most of the chips in play, you get to apply a lot of pressure so I played most of my hands and won most of them. Delighted to win!
“I’m familiar with Jamie but this was our first time battling. He had a tough seat on my direct right and handled himself in a tricky ICM spot very well. I’m very impressed – and congrats to him.
“I’ll probably be playing higher buy-in events like this on Unibet going forward – definitely a good site to add to my arsenal. I miss live poker a bit, but it’s been great to spend so much time with my wife and two kids. It’s also spurred me to play more online tournaments which has ended up working out well!”
Jamie Nixon, 29, who finished eighth at Unibet Open Dublin in February, won €55,055 last night for his runner-up finish – his biggest ever cash. He said: “I wasn’t going to play yesterday as I had a banging migraine but decided to pull myself together and go for it as I loved my first Unibet Open in Dublin this year. I’m absolutely buzzing that I did and I’m proud of the way I managed to ladder up with Max and his huge stack to my left.
“This is insane money for me and hopefully the first of many. Thanks to all of my stream viewers for the virtual rail – despite not streaming this event. And a big shout-out to Unibet for a great event as always.”
Unibet Ambassadors Ian Simpson and Espen Jorstad both cashed in the Unibet Open Main Event, finishing 22nd and 35th respectively.
The overall Unibet Online Series leaderboard was won by “P.I.” with Unibet Ambassador David Lappin winning the “high” leaderboard, and finishing second overall to snag €2,700 in tournament tickets.
Lappin said: “I genuinely gave it my all in the Series. I played all 88 tournaments, cashed 34, made 10 final tables and had three top 3 finishes. I didn’t think that my consistency could be matched but in the end it was bettered by “P.I.”. All I can do is take my hat off to P.I. who, if I’m right is a Finnish player who plays Unibet Opens. He crushed it and he deserves his title.”
“AlwaysInduce” took down the €100 buy-in Low version of the Unibet Open for €14,267 after outlasting a 377-entry field. The €72,474 prize pool was nearly three times the £25,000 guarantee. A total of 62 players made the money with a min cash worth €315.26.
The €1 buy-in Nano version of the Main Event attracted 638 entries with 116 players paid. XplayX took it down for €339.46.
The Unibet Open marked a spectacular finale for the €1 million guaranteed Unibet Online Series VIII which got underway on May 1. The weekend’s Unibet Open festival featured several special events including a two-hour set from celebrated DJ Kris Dhen and a special Unibet Open Ladies Talk on Sunday hosted by Unibet Ambassador Monica Vaka.
The festival will culminate with the first ever Unibet Open online quiz this Thursday (May 28) at 20:00UTC. With great prizes on offer, the quiz will give players the chance to test their knowledge skills against fellow Unibet fans as well as Unibet Ambassadors. Capacity is limited to 1,500 players so do register now on MyQuiz.org with quiz code 228382.
You can join quiz hosts David Lappin and Kat Arnsby via the Unibet Poker Twitch stream – to chat, interact, or just answer the questions.
The Unibet Online Series comprised a total of 132 events with more than a €1 million in prize pool guarantees. All UOS winners win a seat into the exclusive €5,000 Champions Showdown freeroll taking place on Wednesday (May 27.)
Nataly Sopacuaperu, Unibet’s Head of Events & Sponsorship, said: “We are thrilled with how well the Unibet Open has worked as an online event and many thanks to all our players who have shown such enthusiastic support for its online debut. Massive congrats too to our latest champion Max Silver.
“The three-tier format for the online version of the Unibet Open means it’s accessible to a very wide range of players. All our events this year will now be held online with Fall and Winter Unibet Opens to be held later on in 2020.”
