We are down to the final nine in the €1,100 Unibet Open Paris Main event after a mammoth 14-hour Day 2. Seven of Sunday’s finalists will be competing on home soil, with just Italian Giuseppe Zarbo and Russia’s Alexey Dmitriev competing under different flags. The chip leader going in to Sunday’s final table is Omar Lakhdari with 4,000,000, more than a quarter of the chips in play.
The live stream starts at noon with commentary from 12:30 (on a half hour delay). You can follow all the action on Twitch, youtube and facebook as well as live updates on PokerNews.
With 480 entries, the final event of Unibet Open 2019 was also the biggest stop this year. Nearly 30 countries were represented with 60% of the field hailing from France. The #ShuffleUpAndBrie Unibet Open Paris started on Wednesday and is being held at Club Circus Paris.
Chip leader Lakhdari already has some $1.5 million in live tournament winnings and is ranked top of the Algeria all time money list. His best result on the Unibet Open tour came in 2015 when he took down the High Roller event in Cannes for €24,000. He also made the final table of the Unibet Deepstack Open Main Event in Divonne two years ago for €11,550.
Second in chips is French player Vladimir Nex on 2,595,000. His stack was given a boost when he bust Johann Zeitoun in tenth place with KK v A3. French veteran Michel Leibgorin had a rollercoaster day but survived to reach the final with a healthy 2,245,000. He was overall chip leader at the start of the day, after building up a 532,000 stack in Wednesday’s Paris edition Day 1.
Seat 1: Dung Le Quoc, France, 970,000
Seat 2 Omar Lakhdari, France/Algeria 4,000,000
Seat 3 Vladimir Nex, France 2,595,000
Seat 4: Malik Corbin, France 800,000
Seat 5: Michel Leibgorin, France 2,245,000
Seat 6: Giuseppe Zarbo, Italy 305,000
Seat 7: Hakim Chniyat, France 900,000
Seat 8: Alexey Dmitriev, Russia 720,000
Seat 9: Alexandru Danes, France 1,835,000
The 480 entries for the Main Event created a €460,800 prize pool with the winner receiving €89,070 along with the coveted Unibet Open trophy. A total of 63 players get paid with all nine final table players on Sunday guaranteed at least €8,550. Nearly 200 players qualified for the €1,000 + €100 Main Event online after winning their seats or full prize packages on Unibet Poker.
Five of Sunday’s finalists made it through to Day 2 after competing in the Paris edition Day 1 on Wednesday.
Among those who cashed on Day 2 were Unibet Ambassador David Lappin (26th – €3,570) and Tabish Zaman, who finished 29th for €3,190 after winning his package at Unibet UK Newcastle. Florence Allera, one of France’s top female players, went in to Day 2 as the shortest stack with just 11,800 but managed to build a huge stack before eventually busting in 42nd place for €2,540. Unibet Ambassadors Dara O’Kearney, Unibet Bucharest champion Traian Bostan, Unibet Open Cannes winner Quentin Lecomte and media influencer Dehlia de Jong all made Day 2 but failed to make the money; French veteran Roger Hairabedian was the unfortunate bubble boy.
Progressive Superknockout side event
There were 106 entries into yesterday’s €120 Progressive Knockout tournament creating a €9,755 prize pool. The top three players were all from Finland – winner Asmo Votkin, runner-up Pekka Ikonen and third-placed Toni Ojala. Among those who made the money were Unibet Belgian Ambassador Charlotte Van Brabander who came sixth for €590 and media influencer Dehlia de Jong, 12th for €200. A total of 13 players were paid.
Unibet Open Paris 2019 marks the tour’s second visit to the French capital. The first event took place in 2012 with Polish player Jaroslaw Barglik beating Swedish pro Kent Lundmark heads-up to take down the Main Event for €140,539. There were 439 entries in all, generating a €653,671 prize pool.
