A heady mix of sun, sand, poker and parties came together this December 3-7 as the Unibet Open descended on the tropical paradise of St Maarten to celebrate its fifth anniversary with a spectacular festival of poker at the Sonesta Maho beach resort. As a special treat to celebrate the tour’s birthday, the week culminated in the crowning of Unibet Open legend Dan Murariu as the first ever two-time Main Event champion, securing him a place in the history books as well as the €110,000 first prize.
The €1,500+150 Main Event drew a total of 238 players from all around the world, all eager to take a shot at Unibet Open glory and also take full advantage of the Caribbean beaches and bars just moments from the Casino Royale. To allow players ample time to soak up the sun, the tournament was extended to four days with two start days (five days in total), with play starting every day at a leisurely 4pm.
Day 1a saw a distinguished field of 135 take to the felt, including Arnaud Mattern, Dominik Nitsche and Erich Kollmann, as well as former Unibet Open winners Peter Harkes, Jimmy Jonsson and Jaroslaw Barglik. Young Hungarian Zoltan Barabas was in the lead when play finished, just in time to make it to the first of four parties hosted by Unibet over the week – a poolside Pirates of the Caribbean–themed affair featuring crab racing and beer pong with rum instead of beer.
Having a particularly good time was the lady who organised all the parties – Unibet Open president Ewa Kwiatkowska. After five years heading Europe’s most entertaining poker tour, Ewa is moving on to a new position at Unibet and St Maarten was her final event. She was thanked by Unibet Open staff and players in an emotional video broadcast in the casino.
Some of the players may have been feeling a little groggy following the party, but 103 of them made it to the Casino Royale for Day 1b including Ruben Visser, Paul Valkenburg, Jean Paul Pasqualini, Mateusz Moolhuizen and Tim Verbon. Another young Hungarian, Emil Hegedüs, finished up at the top of the Day 1b chip counts, beating his fellow countryman Zoltan Barabas’ Day 1a score. It was Hegedüs who led the Main Event field as they went into Day 2.
Unibet Open St Maarten was not just about the poker – the Unibet Casino and Sportsbook were both running the live finals of their respective online competitions during the week. The Live Betting Championship saw the top six Unibet players flown out to St Maarten to compete live for the €5,000 first prize on brand new iPads. The event was won by Kjell Petersson, who triumphed over the second place finisher by a margin of just 50 cents. Petersson lapped up the €5,000 but everyone got a little something – four places paid out, and all the qualifiers got to keep their iPads as well as enjoy a week in the Caribbean courtesy of the Unibet Sportsbook.
Back to the Main Event, and Day 2 saw the field decimated from 164 to 42 – briefly interrupted to everyone’s amusement by tournament director Thomas Kremser and all the dealers Gangnam Style flash-mobbing the tournament floor. Jamaican player Dueval Fenton was the chip leader by the end of play, and Dan Murariu had by this point also accumulated a dangerous stack. Murariu’s only rival for the Leaderboard, Tomasz Kozub, also remained in the running.
Only 27 places paid out, and the bubble burst just a couple hours into the day when Stefanita Fechete smacked his pocket jacks into Michel Fardel’s pocket aces to a round of applause – everyone remaining in the field was in the money and guaranteed a minimum of €2,100. Most notable among the early exits was Unibet Open London runner up Tomasz Kozub whose elimination in 19th place secured Dan Murariu first place on the 2012 Leaderboard.
Day 3 chip leader Dueval Fenton was eliminated in 15th place; Sander Langezaal, who’d already had an incredibly good week after asking his girlfriend to marry him the day before the tournament (she said yes!) finished in 13th place for €3,500, which will pay for a pretty good honeymoon. Romanian poker powerhouse Mihai Manole took 11th place, and after a long period of ten-handed play, Antti Karkkainen was knocked out by Fardel in 10th place to bring us to the final table.
As always at Unibet Opens, the final table was an international affair. Michel Fardel, from Switzerland, was the chip leader going into the final and the only player to break the million chip mark; Day 2 chip leader Emil Hegedüs from Hungary was hot on his heels with 931,000. Dan Murariu from Romania was playing his unprecedented sixth Unibet Open final but was not the only UO final table veteran – Italian Ruggiero Scommegna was playing his second, after taking second place in Prague earlier this year. A Swede, a Pole, a Ukrainian, a Frenchman and a Dutchman made up the rest of the final as they headed into the final day.
It would only take three and half levels for Murariu to emerge victorious.
First to succumb was Scommegna in ninth place (€6,690), his chips ending up in Fardel’s stack when Fardel’s pocket nines out-flipped Scommegna’s A-K just a few minutes into play. David Gabrielsson was next in eighth place (€10,000) – he shoved with Q-7 in the small blind but Dan Murariu called with K-9 in the big blind and held. Murariu’s stack was now looking healthy, although he was still far behind massive chip leader Fardel.
Kamil Paluszkiewicz pushed with A-Q over a raise from Emil Hegedüs holding pocket fours but he failed to hit anything, exiting in seventh place for (€13,800); Paolo Rodrigues found pocket fours a few hands later and moved in but this time Hegedüs had found pocket tens. The Dutchman took €17,600 for sixth place.
Fifth place was taken by Maksym Lavrov, who went all in with K-6 from the big blind to a raise from Dan Murariu in the small blind. Murariu’s A-Q stayed ahead, and he took the chip lead for the first time. Olivier Robveille’s chips went to Emil Hegedüs when he was eliminated in fourth place (€26,000) with A-9 against Hegedüs’ 9-9, but it would be Hegedüs who went out next in third place (€31,000). Hegedüs lost a massive pot to Murariu, check-calling bets on every street of a Q-7-T-7-9 board before mucking to Murariu’s pocket aces on the river. A few hands later, Hegedüs moved in with A-J against Murariu’s pocket sevens but failed to hit, and Murariu and Michel Fardel were heads up.
Murariu had a roughly 4:1 chip lead over Fardel when the heads up began, and within minutes it was over. Murariu raised from the button and Fardel called from the big blind holding T-8. Fardel check-raised all in on the eight-high flop, and Murariu called him with pocket kings. The turn river blanked, and Murariu was soon raising his second Unibet Open trophy, in plenty of time to make it to the last of the four Unibet player parties. In taking this down, Murariu also secured his place at the top of the 2012 Leaderboard, winning packages into all of next year’s events.
The Unibet Open will be back next year, kicking off in Copenhagen March 7-10. Qualifiers are running now from freeroll up – win your seat and join Dan Murariu on Europe’s most exciting poker tour in 2013.
