Paul Valkenburg from the Netherlands has won Unibet Open London, hoisting the trophy after three hard-fought days of poker at London’s Grosvenor Victoria Casino. He won £109,550, in the process dashing the high Bulgarian hopes resting on Simeon Naydenov (winner of the year’s Unibet Open Points Leaderboard), Yordan Mitrentsov and Dimitar Danchev, who all made the final table alongside him.
Wintry weather in the UK made several airports and train stations inaccessible at the start of the weekend, but that didn’t stop 103 players taking their seats on Day 1A in the well-insulated poker room in London’s Victoria Casino. Among them were previous Unibet Open champion Dan Murariu, and UK stars such as JP Kelly, Nik Persaud and Toby Lewis. Notable early clashes occurred between two of the most aggressive Polish players Pawel Chmiel and Maciej Rogacki who had the (mis)fortune to be sat one seat apart on the same table. Fireworks were inevitable, and neither ended up making Day Two. Nor did Murariu, despite a heroic comeback from 500 chips; he was eliminated by Iaran Lightbourne, one of the players in contention for the lead on the first day.
Runnar Lindepuu ended up at the top of the Day 1A survivors’ list (32 in all went through) and all first flight players now had a day off in London, plus the Unibet Open players’ party to look forward to. A full weekend of side events was also on the cards, including the Maria Poker Ladies’ Event, won by Sarah Berry. In fact the 24 hour card room at the Vic started out busy and only got busier, with cash games and supporters getting louder as the days wore on.
The tournament arena was nearly twice as full for the second flight, with 170 entrants sitting down to their 15,000 chip starting stacks. One of the toughest fields seen at a Unibet Open Main Event, those trying to build an early stack had to navigate tables dotted with pros: James Akenhead, Neil Channing, Mats Rahmn, Praz Bansi, Andrius Tapinas and Jeff Duvall amongst them. Day 1B was characterised by the aggression of players like Kenneth Dversnes and on the other side of the room Quoc Nguyen and Sean van Sluijs, who between them hoovered up most of the chips on the table they shared. It was Jose Vicente Besalduch Traigueros, however, who finished with the biggest stack overall: 132,000, a good 30,000 more than Lindepuu.
The field of 81 had to be whittled to 31 before anyone would receive any return on their tournament investment, with the first payout of £2,865 being the first rung on the cash ladder which would end a day later with the awarding of six figures, sterling. Yordan Mitrentsov, along with players like Atanas Georgiev, Sandip Pindoria and Dimitar Danchev, did not come back for the second day just to sneak into the money. All four of these players built serious stacks as the blinds rose and the field thinned, and on the bubble although Pantelis Pavlis held a big lead, they were bunched right behind him and any of them were in with a shot at a very deep run.
The final table was set in just eight levels on Day Two, after a money bubble that could have been missed 
with a blink. It rarely happens that two players are eliminated on different tables at the same time on the bubble, but Atanas Georgiev and Mark O’Connor managed it here in London. They left empty-handed, leaving the last few tables to play down with remarkable speed to just one. Among those who’d coasted through their start days but just fell short of the final were Christopher Ulsrud (15th for £4,095), Ramey Shaio, Richard Stubbs and Sandip Pindoria (pictured), while Nicolas Irving finished 10th, winning £5,735 after running his A-Q into Simeon Naydenov’s A-K.
One player now had the cushion of a sizeable chip lead – double his nearest rival’s stack and over a million total: Naydenov. The aggressive Bulgarian has already cashed four times this year on the Unibet Open tour, his best finish so far being 4th place in Varna for €47,280. To top that, he was going to need to finish in the top three, and that he did.
At the start, the final table looked like this:
Seat 1: Rene Freymann (Germany) – 169,000
Seat 2: Kirit Patel (United Kingdom) – 311,000
Seat 3: Dimitar Danchev (Bulgaria) – 368,000
Seat 4: Johnny Hansen (Denmark) – 389,000
Seat 5: Pantelis Pavlis (Greece) – 433,000
Seat 6: Yordan Mitrenzov (Bulgaria) – 390,000
Seat 7: Simeon Naydenov (Bulgaria) – 1,061,000
Seat 8: Jose Vincente Besalduch Traigueros (Spain) – 506,000
Seat 9: Paul Valkenburg (Holland) – 479,000
To win any tournament, once cards are on their backs everyone needs a little bit of luck. The best player in the world can be outdrawn, or can win in eye-wateringly lucky fashion. Simeon Naydenov certainly had his share of early good fortune, playing a game of chicken with Jose Vicente on a 7h-9d-5h flop, making the last high-pressure move all in with 6d-3d, instantly called by the Spanish player with his A-A. He spiked the straight, however, and went on to break the two million chip barrier before anyone else even hit his start-of-day total.
Dimitar Danchev, on the other hand, stands out as a player whose 8th place represented a combination of bad luck and bad timing, with the blame for the loss of his reasonable stack falling less on his shoulders than the deck. He doubled Freymann and then Patel (with As-Qc vs. 8-5 on a Q-8-5 all-spade flop) leaving him grinding a short stack. This went in preflop vs. Simeon Naydenov, both players showing A-K. However the slight difference in their hands (the suited vs. offsuit factor) made all the difference in the world in the end. Naydenov made a flush on the turn and sent his fellow Bulgarian to the rail.
When the blinds hit 10k/20k, most of the remaining players felt the pinch. All-in followed all-in, but every time the shorter stack’s hand either held or hit, meaning that seven players nearly made the dinner break. Pantelis Pavlis, however, busted out in 7th when his A-2 was picked off by Simeon Naydenov’s board-hitting K-Q. He took £13,515 for his performance here in London.
After the dinner break, the spotlight turned on Kirit Patel, as he took down pot after pot, only heading in the wrong direction briefly when doubling up Yordan Mitrentzov. He busted Rene Freymann in 6th, and edged into second place, although he was not to keep hold of it for long. Paul Valkenburg eliminated Johnny Hansen in 5th racing pocket eights against A-T, and started to get more involved. A key hand for him had been a call for his tournament life with K-T when Naydenov set him in from the small blind; it turned out he was dominating the aggressive Bulgarian and that double through sent him on his way to eventual victory.
Mitrentzov had more lives than a cat in this tournament, doubling up four-handed through Kirit Patel to drop the local player near the felt where he soon ran out of chips entirely. His 4th place finish for £28,665 was an impressive one considering he had made it through more than one tight spot with a short stack.
Three-handed it was popular Paul Valkenburg earning applause from the rail as he took down several pots, including a critical double up which effectively ended Simeon Naydenov’s trophy hunt. He went all-in preflop (a five-bet) and Naydenov found his A-Q did not stay ahead of Valkenburg’s K-J for long. Down to the felt, he was out in 3rd for £48,115 soon thereafter, leaving Mitrentzov and Valkenburg heads up.
The Dutchman held a three to one chip lead at this point, and soon held the lot, when a cool A-K vs. A-J set up got their stacks in preflop. A Jack on the flop sent the crowd crazy, but the King on the river increased the volume as this pair won the pot and the tournament for Paul Valkenburg. The trophy, the £109,550 first prize and the delight of his friends are his rewards; congratulations to him and everyone who has made the Unibet Open poker tour 2010 such a success.
Final results:
1st: £109,550 – Paul Valkenburg
2nd: £72,685 – Yordan Mitrentzov
3rd: £48,115 – Simeon Naydenov
4th: £28,665 – Kirit Patel
5th: £21,705 – Johnny Hansen
6th: £17,610 – Rene Freymann
7th: £13,515 – Pantelis Pavlis
8th: £10,240 – Dimitar Danchev
9th: £7,780 – Jose Traigueros
