The Unibet tournament held in Cannes announced its winners. The first place is taken by the British professional player Daniel Smith. He managed to overcome the other 457 players who joined the tournament.
In the final ‘battle’ he stood against the Danish player Mikael Nielsen who took second place. Daniel is an often Dusk till Dawn attendant and up until now had a personal record of more than $5,000 winning from an impressive amount of single events. He has now surpassed his record by winning the Uni Bet Open and getting $100,000.
Each of the participants of the tournament joined by paying $1,400 as an entrance fee, amassing a prize pool equal to €440,000 (or $560,000).
Daniel Smith stood against pro players such as Michael Nielsen and Mauri Dorbek. Nielsen had a considerable chip lead at the start but Smith managed to change his position from having a short stack to stepping up his game and gaining advantage through straight-up action, with his eyes on the prize.
The Last Nine on the Table
One of the finalists was the French representative – Alain Roy, who is known for winning the PPT Main Event – Partouche Poker Tour. In the French poker tournaments top listings he is on 9th place in terms of overall money won. He had amassed more than 1.7 million chips starting at the Uni Bet finalists’ table. He finished on 3rd place after Michael Nielsen got a stronger hand with Kings and Queens.
Nielsen managed to dominate another known player, Davor Pavic. Pavic has won over $130,000 in the Uni Bet Open back in 2011 and has participated in Uni Bet events six times. This time, he finished on fourth place.
The second pro player who has been at finalists table in Uni Bet events in the past was Krzysztof Stuchlik. He took the 5th place last year at the Troia Unibet Open, earning $26,000. This year he lost to Davor Pavic when his 3h, 5d and 4d with pocket queens could not withstand Pavic’s wheel.
Michael Nielsen and Daniel Smith were left together at the table to fight for the big prize. Smith had a considerable advantage when betting started, with more than eleven million chips against the 2.5 million of Nielsen. However, Nielsen slowly turned the tides after getting an early double.
Then, Nielsen was forced to go all in and Smith managed to beat his hand with pocket kings, holding Queens and Kings. He says that was the “easiest” hand of his life.
Other names worth mentioning are Guiseppe Zarbo and Frederik Jense, both of whom had participated in former Uni Bet Open championships.
The Next Uni Bet Open Tournament
The next Uni Bet Open tournament will be hosted by Aspers Casino located in London. The fee for registration will again be $1,4000 (or €1,1000) with a maximum of five hundred players allowed to sign-in. The event will be the 30th of its kind and the biggest Unibet Open Event until now, with €250,000 guaranteed starting prize money for the finalists.
