2016 Unibet Open Malta

Main Event
Day: 1b
Event Info

2016 Unibet Open Malta

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
k4
Prize
€65,000
Event Info
Buy-in
€1,000
Prize Pool
€292,000
Entries
292
Level Info
Level
26
Blinds
40,000 / 80,000
Ante
10,000

Griffin Benger Ends the Day as One of the Bigger Stacks in the Room

Level 10 : 1,000/2,000, 300 ante
Griffin Benger
Griffin Benger

Day 1b of the 2016 Unibet Open Malta Main Event saw another 145 players flock to the brand new tournament room of Casino Malta in the InterContinental Hotel. Once again 10 levels of play were on the schedule.

Things got off to a quiet start, with most of the tables silently playing cards without much uproar or excitement. That was except for Table 2, where Rene Kuhlman and Hormiz Kamil blasted away at each other with friendly, but loud, banter. It was Team Holland versus Team Sweden, and for most of the day the two and their table mates battled it out with a lot of laughs.

Table 2 was the sole table with an above-average audio level, before Global Poker League commentators Griffin Benger and Sam Grafton entered the room. The two continued the fun and games they've showcased on the GPL live streams the past few weeks.

The rivalry started with Grafton declining Benger a swap, and the two took jabs at each other via twitter all day. Grafton big timing his pall Benger on the swap must have motivated the latter to do well. Benger played just about every other hand and won most of them. Benger gathered a sizable stack early on, while Grafton was diminished to the role of short stack. Grafton eventually busted in the last level of the day when he pushed his ace-nine into ace-jack and kings. Benger, in the meantime, lead the tournament with a stack of 180,000. He ended the day with 174,200, not quite leading anymore, but still one of the bigger stacks in the room.

Both Kuhlman and Kamil busted in the tail end of the day, with Kuhlman losing kings to ace-jack and Kamil losing ace-queen to Benger's flush draw with five-three.

Forty-three players survived Day 1b and will return on Saturday for Day 2 of the Unibet Open at 12 p.m. local time. Combined with the 50 players that survived Day 1a, a total of 93 return to battle it out for that first-place prize of €65,000. Thirty-six players will get into the money, a stage of the tournament that should be reached halfway through Day 2. In fact, the goal is to play to a final table on the penultimate day.

PokerNews.com will again be on site for coverage of all the action, so stay tuned.

TableSeatPlayerChip Count
101Sacha Stankovic30,900
102Romain Nardin174,200
103Peter Harkes60,100
104Hannu Seppala73,600
106Clint Sammut165,000
107Mateusz Moolhuizen156,800
108Charlo Azzopardi244,200
109Quentin Lecomte56,700
    
111Sander Van Wesemael105,100
112Joseph Said76,500
113Orjahn Winther143,400
114Michal Danka37,000
115Tomasz Kozub45,100
116Tim Van Meene18,800
117Sami Pulliainen148,300
119Simon Griffin47,900
    
121Nicolay Langfeldt163,800
122Sami Skold139,200
123Arne Coulier123,300
124Przemyslaw Wolowiec94,800
125Vitalii Belyaev91,300
126Jonas Gustafsson127,500
127Sandra Flygare29,700
128Jonathan Bradley9,000
129Erik Georg Albinsson51,700
    
131Mikko Raissnen34,100
132Daniel Chutrov51,700
133Tomas Soderstrom45,400
134Jari Suuronen64,800
135Leandre Omeir35,400
136Kristi Kirs106,000
137Dzmitry Stukach50,000
138Dawid Paczka107,800
139Bas De Laat96,000
    
141Johan Goslings41,400
142Mads Junker63,900
143Gabor Bank78,500
144Robertas Zebrauskis46,700
145Rafal Zgadzaj114,500
146Glenn Marcher80,800
147Jan Lovgren122,400
148Dario Marinelli114,400
149Griffin Benger174,300
    
151Rasmus Tarbensen97,300
152Stichel Van Der Kristoff39,300
153Dejan Vogrin204,200
154Margo Solnik55,200
155Tuukka Meklin163,800
156Niko Koop111,400
157Jeroen Buls61,300
158Christian Ostfelt151,400
159Toni Ojala20,700
    
161Nicolas Storm105,200
162Alexander Van Der Werf22,000
163Boris Kuzmanovic12,100
164Jaroslaw Barglik60,700
165Martin Soukup42,200
166Thomas Wiesen131,100
167Piotr Marzejon50,700
168Daniel Thaller139,400
169Erik Scheidt292,200
    
171Mariusz Czarnojan82,400
172Kristoffer Skipper Rasmussen95,000
173Kwok Wing Tang162,900
174Toralf Holmestrand93,100
175Mathias Christensen221,200
176Miroslav Hrivnak47,400
177Pekka Ikonen86,800
179Rosi Massimiliano63,600
    
181Julien Aretuse54,600
182Tomislav Brnas80,800
183Auke Attema63,900
185Herman Van Den Meerendonk77,700
186Krzysztof Dembek55,000
187Piotr Zawadzki68,100
188Jorma Vuoksenmaa25,900
189Tomasz Kotlowski174,500
    
191Stefan Mattsson213,800
192Mark Taylor65,000
193[Removed:158]112,800
194Eetu Vehvilainen73,100
195Martin Wendt79,800
196John Forst93,100
197Irena Macesovic232,800
198Cirtog Cristian73,500
    
201Emil Westerberg70,900
202Kristof Segers101,300
203Lauri Laanvee47,500
204Daniel Chevalier104,800
205Christopher Kiefert62,300
207Ivan Neytchev147,200
208Pierre Chambon87,800
209Cornelis De Jong91,100

Tags: Griffin BengerRene KuhlmanSam Grafton