After two starting days with 11 levels of 60 minutes each, the 10-year anniversary edition of the Unibet Open has seen a total of 502 entries for the €1,100 Main Event at the JW Marriott Bucharest Grand Hotel in ther heart of the Romanian capital and 114 hopefuls remain in contention for their share of the prize pool of €486,940. Only the top 71 spots will receive at least €1,880 for their efforts while the winner will take home the trophy and first-place payout of €90,925.
Leading the field into Day 2 is 1b chip leader Marian Strachinescu with 345,000 while three other countrymen follow next in Vladut Paun (326,500), 1a chip leader Andrei Grimberg (325,500) and Tudor Bartha Laza (324,000). Three non-Romanian players made it into the top ten thus far with the two Dutchmen Tom Vogelsang (308,000) and Teun Herman (288,000), as well as Avi Cohen (252,500), while Tudor Purice (252,500) will return to the tables with nearly two times the average.
Other notables still in contention include Yasen Dichev (248,000), Stephane Allard (243,000), Alexander Ioan (239,000), Ran Azor (211,000), Jose Luis Capdevila (163,000), Eric Wasylenko (119,000), €2,200 High Roller runner-up Katsuhiro Muto (105,000), Age Spets (61,500), Catalin Pop (55,000) and Johan Goslings (27,000).
Three players will represent Unibet Poker on the penultimate day of the tournament: Unibet Poker ambassador Dara O’Kearney has 234,000, eSports Star Kevin "Papaplatte" Teller bagged up 130,000 and Unibet Poker ambassador David Lappin (90,000) still has 30 big blinds worth when play resumes. Only one former Unibet Open Main Event champion made it through and that is two-time champion Dan Murariu with 51,500.
The action resumes at 12 p.m. noon local time with level 12 and blinds of 1,500/3,000 and a running ante of 500. A maximum of 11 levels of 60 minutes each or down to the official final table are scheduled for the penultimate day in Bucharest, whichever of the two comes first. There will be a break every two levels and a dinner break after the end of the sixth level, and the live stream of the feature table will start in the third level of the day on the Unibet Poker Twitch Channel with a security delay of 30 minutes.
Stay tuned for more as the PokerNews live reporting team is on the floor for all you need to know from the 10-year anniversary edition of the Unibet Open!