Unibet Open: 164 Players Advance to Day 2

After Day 1A attracted 225 players to take their seats in Cannes, expectations for Day 1B were big and, sure enough, the organizers in Barriere Le Croisette casino were not left disappointed, as the number on the board was showing 233 by the time Level 4 has finished and late registration was finalized.

Some of the big names that decided to test their luck yesterday include Unibet Ambassador Paul Valkenburg, French poker legend Paul Testud, WSOP bracelet Antonin Teisseire, Alain Roy as well as Unibet’s own Tommy Mandel and the legend Thor Hansen.

We're very pleased to have a legend of the game playing #UnibetCannes, best of luck to Thor Hansen! … http://t.co/uSWnoBoibQ
— Unibet Open (@unibetopen) September 19, 2014

By the time players were dismissed to seek the nutrients, 174 were still standing tall (although some more than others). Alexandre Reard was leading the way at that point, but there was still plenty of play left and more than enough time for things to swing either way.

It was couple levels later that Unibet blogger ‘Danafish’ announced to the people of the internet that Day 1 was over. Bagging the biggest stack was Pierre Menes who was somehow able to eclipse the 500k mark, well ahead of the second place Andorran national Mr. Julia Vassort-Salvans who bagged 340,000, passing the Day 1A chipleader by around 100K. These two will be starting today as dominant chip leaders and try their hardest to turn these tournament betting discs into actual cash. Some players may be suffering consequences of the last night’s Unibet Open Player’s Party but nothing couple cups of coffee won’t make go away.

Total number of entrants when it was all said and done was 457, meaning that the cap was broken – but there will be no complaints from players, as the prize pool generated amounted to €438,720. Fifty four players will be making the money, with very nice €88,000 reserved for the top dog.

Total of 164 players will be taking their seats at the tables very soon and continue their battle for the place at the final table. Some of the players who failed to make it into these 164 yesterday include Radek Scisel, Marko Mikovic, Thor Hansen and Unibet Ambassadors Paul Valkenburg and Dan Glimne.