Two more flights are in store for players today at Unibet Open Paris Main Event with Day 1b kicking off at 10am and then a turbo Day 1c starting at 8pm. Day 1c is open to new players, but is the only flight open to players re-entering in the Main Event.
The Club Circus is expected to be packed with players, Ambassadors and more as the latest flight of Unibet's return to the French capital gets underway!
There will be 12 levels on Day 1b. Six 45-minute levels, followed by six 60-minute levels. There will be twenty minute breaks after levels 3, 6 and 10 with a 60-minute dinner break after level 8.
Late registration is open until the start of Level 7.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for continued coverage and live updates!
Yesterday saw a group of nine influencers and esports stars compete in the 15th edition of the Battle Royale, vying for a share of a €10,000 prize pool. In the end it was professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player Fabien "kioShiMa" Fiey who walked away with the top prize of €4,700.
He defeated fellow CS:GO pro Melania Mylioti heads-up. Mylioti took home €2,800 while third-place finisher and former model Avori Henderson won €1,900.
French Starcraft player and caster Alexandre “FunKa” Verrier was able to pocket €600 thanks to a four-handed deal.
Position
Name
Occupation
Payout
1
Fabien "kioShiMa" Fiey
CS:GO Player
€4,700
2
Melania Mylioti
CS:GO Player
€2,800
3
Avori Henderson
Model
€1,900
4
Alexandre "FunKa" Verrier
Starcraft player
€600
The others who competed were Charles “NOI” Lapassat, Yoan “ToD” Merlo, Anastasiya “monkeyism” Bila, Kevin “RotterdaM” van der Kooi and Vitalii “V1lat” Volochai. They will all be taking part in the Main Event today, and we will be keeping an eye out for them when they jump into the field.
Dara O'Kearney has started positively, albeit slowly, to the Unibet Open Paris Main Event, chipping up by just 400 chips over the opening three levels.
"Steady, steady," he said. Yesterday O'Kearney was one of several players here in Paris to tour the neighbouring Parc des Princes, home stadium of Paris Saint [Removed:361].
"It was incredible," said O'Kearney. "They took you in the away dressing room the route the players come in. Then out onto the pitch, well, obviously not on the pitch.
"I actually went to a concert there back in 1996 but this tour was pretty cool."
Having lived in Paris during the 90s, O'Kearney says that Paris as a city hasn't really changed.
"I really love the city. It's exactly the same as it was. Streets and everything are the same. In Dublin there are areas of the city and streets that have been torn down and remodelled, but in Paris nothing has changed."
Mateusz Moolhuizen is obviously in the Christmas spirit even before December has begun, as he was sporting a rather fetching Christmas tree hat earlier in the day.
Unfortunately, due to French gaming regulations, he was unable to continue wearing the hat and the Christmas spirit came to an end all to a soon.
Luckily, Moolhuizen is still in the tournament with double starting stack midway through the day.
A bumper field of 143 players on Day 1b, and a further 112 on Day 1c, brought the total number of entries in the Unibet Open Paris Main Event to 480 here at the Club Circus.
This is 41 players more than the last time the tour visited Paris when Poland Jaroslaw Barglik took down the tournament for €140,539.
The remaining players will all be eagerly awaiting the prize pool for the 2019 edition, with 21 players advancing from Day 1b to join the 42 who had already locked up their places with yet more still to come from Day 1c.
By the end of the twelve levels on Day 1b it was Vladimir Nex who bagged the chip lead with 436,000.
Cedric Zaks (342,000) and Michael Erbil (302,000) were the only other players over 300,000 in chips, whilst early chip leader Zaman Tabish survived bagging up a healthy 264,000 in chips.
Player
Country
Chip Counts
Vladimir Nex
France
436,000
Cedric Zaks
France
324,000
Michael Erbil
France
302,000
Tabish Zaman
United Kingdom
264,000
Alexy Dmitriev
Russia
243,000
Unibet Poker Ambassadors Espen Jorstad and Dara O'Kearney both played and bust on Day 1b, with the Norwegian busting early whilst O'Kearney ran ace-jack into ace-king midway through the day.
Isabel Baltazar, Dominique Terzian, Kamel Atoui and Mateusz Moolhuizen also bust, and will have to make it through Day 1c if they are to reach Day 2.
Day 2 begins at 11am local time with the plan to play down to a final table of nine. The entire day will be live-streamed on a 30-minute delay from 13:20. Stay up-to-date with all the action from the French capital right here on PokerNews.
It was the last chance for many players to book their places into the Unibet Open Paris Main Event Day 2, and the Turbo Day 1c attracted 112 entries.
They included several Unibet Poker Ambassadors, and while Alexandre Reard, Ian Simpson and Dan Murariu missed out, the latter as one of the final eliminations of the evening, Dara O'Kearney (53,000) and David Lappin (170,000) advanced with Lappin second in chips.
The chip leader from Day 1c is Jeffrey Nolten (196,000) with Lappin, Dex De Jong (161,000), Badr Douch (155,000) and Alexis Fleur (154,000) behind him.
Player
Country
Chip Count
Jeffrey Nolten
Netherlands
196,000
David Lappin
Ireland
170,000
Dex de Jong
Netherlands
161,000
Badr Douch
Morocco
155,000
Alexis Fleur
France
154,000
Other notables advancing included Kalidou Sow (107,000), Mathieu Selides (91,000), Roger Hairabedian (53,000) and Pierre Merlin (38,000).
Players to miss out included Finnish poker legend Patrik Antonius, Isabel Baltazar, Smain Mamouni and Erwann Pecheux.