Three Former Champions in Contention on Day 3 of the 2019 Unibet Open Sinaia

Razvan Sabau

After an extensive bubble period at the end of Day 2, the 2019 Unibet Open Sinaia €1,100 Main Event special ski-edition has seen a field of 366 whittled down to the last 47 hopefuls at the New Montana Hotel and all of them are guaranteed at least €2,085 for their efforts. All eyes are set on the top prize of €71,000 and the bragging rights that come along with it, and three former champions remain in contention.

Leading the field into Day 3 is Razvan Sabau with 741,000, closely followed by Ran Shahar (735,000) and Cristian Grecu (711,000). Further notables with big stacks include Silviu Baltateanu (612,000), Oerjahn Winther (481,000), Gilles Huet (343,000) and Jean-Serge Baril (318,000). Evangelos Bechrakis (228,000), Aku Joentausta (172,000) and Toni Judet (172,000) are also in the mix.

Team Unibet will be represented by the ambassadors Espen Uhlen Jorstad (240,000), Dan Murariu (132,000), Daiva Byrne (23,000), Dara O’Kearney (3,000) as well as popular streamer Alan "Hotted89" Widmann (72,000). Murariu, who triumphed in Varna in 2010 and Sint Maarten in 2012, is one of three former Unibet Open winners in contention. Traian Bostan (330,000) emerged victorious on home soil in Bucharest in 2016 and 2013 Malta champion Martin Soukup (227,000) will also aim to add a second title to his poker resume.

Day 3 will kick off at 3 p.m. local time with blinds of 4,000/8,000 and a big blind ante of 8,000. Due to the longer bubble in the early morning hours, the early action is expected to be fast-paced and the penultimate tournament day aims to reduce the field to the final table for the big showdown on Sunday.

Three other Side Events will run throughout the day with Alexandre Reard leading the field into Day 2 of the €2,200 High Roller, the start of the €550 DeepStack Open Cup and the €80+10 QUEENSRULES Ladies Event hosted by Daiva Byrne.

As usual, the PokerNews team will be on the floor to cover all the Main Event action and the live stream on the Unibet Poker Twitch channel runs on a security delay of 30 minutes with hole cards displayed.

Main Event Day 3 Seat Draw

Table Seat Player Country Chip Count Big Blinds
5 1 Iulian Tataru Romania 121,000 15
5 2 Corentin Ropert France 84,000 11
5 3 Evangelos Bechrakis Greece 228,000 29
5 4 Gilles Huet France 343,000 43
5 5 Cristian Grecu Romania 711,000 89
5 6 Tomas Ksenevicius Lithuania 91,000 11
5 7 Dan Murariu Romania 132,000 17
5 8 Ran Shahar Israel 735,000 92
           
6 1 Steven Vollers Netherlands 532,000 67
6 2 Silviu Baltateanu Romania 612,000 77
6 3 Sorin Radulescu Romania 114,000 14
6 4 Padraig O’Neill Ireland 33,000 4
6 5 Dmitrii Prusov Russia 203,000 25
6 6 Nicolae Suciu Romania 162,000 20
6 7 Solomon Stan Romania 120,000 15
6 8 Espen Uhlen Jorstad Norway 240,000 30
           
7 1 Alan Widmann Germany 72,000 9
7 2 Daiva Byrne Lithuania 23,000 3
7 3 Pavel Alexandru Romania 125,000 16
7 4 Eirik Lunde Norway 77,000 10
7 5 Dara O’Kearney Ireland 3,000 0
7 6 Adrian-Sorel State Romania 100,000 13
7 7 Mihnea Potcoava Romania 258,000 32
7 8 Aku Joentausta Finland 172,000 22
           
8 1 Andrei Dobrescu Romania 26,000 3
8 2 Toni Judet Romania 169,000 21
8 3 Nikolay Ponomarev United Kingdom 63,000 8
8 4 Dan Petrea Romania 181,000 23
8 5 Marius Gicovanu Romania 134,000 17
8 6 Antti Tiainen Finland 108,000 14
8 7 Traian Bostan Romania 330,000 41
8 8 Tudor Bartha Lazar Romania 214,000 27
           
12 1 Denis Simionel Moldova 265,000 33
12 2 Tomas Montrimas Lithuania 76,000 10
12 3 Catalin Moraru Romania 106,000 13
12 4 Bogdan Sovaiala Romania 225,000 28
12 6 Oerjahn Winther Sweden 481,000 60
12 7 Jean-Serge Baril Canada 318,000 40
12 8 Martin Soukup Czech Republic 227,000 28
           
13 1 Stefan Drusca Romania 589,000 74
13 2 Johannes Vaeisaenen Finland 275,000 34
13 3 Iulian Bleau Romania 136,000 17
13 4 Alexandru Palievici Romania 146,000 18
13 5 Lennaert Joostens Romania 106,000 13
13 6 Razvan Sabau Romania 741,000 93
13 7 Razvan Bizera Romania 642,000 80
13 8 Marc Wilkens Netherlands 231,000 29