Unibet Open Copenhagen: Haci Bayram Leads the Day 1b Runners
Day 1b of the Unibet Open Copenhagen attracted a field of 223 players. Together with the 152 that played on Day 1a, that made for a total of 376, and when the day was done it would be Haci Bayram from Denmark who collected the most chips, turning a 30,000 starting stack into 285,500.
A slate of big hands played out during the day, with Emma Wikberg getting it in with a set against the top pair and top kicker of one of her opponents as one of the early highlights. Tina Christensen, another Unibet Open regular, also doubled up early but in the end came up short and busted during the penultimate level of the day.
Two-time Unibet Open champion Mateusz Moolhuizen flew over from Barcelona for this tournament. He played in Barcelona all week but couldn't pass on the chance to become the first 3-time champion and made his way to the sunny Danish capital to try his luck at another Unibet Open.
Moolhuizen initially did well, picking up pots left and right, but had a small setback losing king-queen to queens in a blind vs. blind battle. A good call with second pair in a three-bet pot catapulted him back into safe territory, but unfortunately in one of the last hands of the day he lost a 200,000 pot with ace-king against aces and ended with 9,700 in chips, just five big blinds.
Another familiar face on the tournament circuit, Jorn Walthaus, also made an appearance at the Unibet Open. The Dutchman, living in Bali these days, flew over to battle it out on the felt here in the Nordics. He gathered 106,000 in chips by the time the day was done.
As registration closed the prize pool was announced. A total of DKK 2,707,200 (�363,595) is to be divided amongst those in the money, with the winner walking away DKK 525,000 (�70,514) richer. A total of 53 players will be cash in this tournament, meaning a little over 14 percent of the field is getting paid here in Copenhagen. No uproar to be heard about that.
A total of 82 players survived Day 1b. Together with the 52 that survived Day 1a that makes for 134 players that will start Day 2 tomorrow, with 81 players until we hit the money. A full list of the Day 2 table draw can be found in our live reporting pages.
Play will get underway at noon local time again, with the goal to play down to a final table of nine. Whether that objective will be reached or not remains to be seen. PokerNews will be on the floor for continuing coverage of the Unibet Open Copenhagen.
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