Kristoffer Skolem Leads Coolbet Open Main Event as 39 Remain
The Coolbet Open €550 Main Event at Olympic Park Casino and the Hilton Park Hotel has thus far been an enormous success.
The tournament attracted 368 entrants from the two opening flights with 264 advancing to Day 2. With late registration open until the first blind level of Day 2, the field ballooned to 425 entrants to generate a massive prize pool of €206,125.
First place is slated to win a whopping €50,900 with each of the 39 players advancing to the third and final day on Saturday each guaranteed a payout of €1,155.
Norway's Kristoffer Skolem is in the driver's seat with a huge stack of 994,000 and blinds starting off at 4,000/8,000 with an ante of 1,000. Not too far behind Skolem are Finland's Sebastian Wahl (829,000) and Norway's Alen Coralic (707,000). Notable in the top of the standings is Dutchman Sander van Wesemael, who boasts over $700,000 in lifetime winnings. 'The Weasel,' as he is affectionally known, sits in fourth with 573,000.
Day 2 ended after Estonia's Ave Lepik finished in 40th place to bubble the tournament when her ace-king didn't out flip the pocket jacks held by countrymate Jaagup Luhakooder.
Lepik didn't walk away empty-handed. The Coolbet Open awarded an additional €30,000 in prizes in the Main Event on top of the prize pool. For bubbling the tournament, Lepik was awarded a free Coolbet Open Main Event ticket valued at €550 the next time the festival takes place in October.
Notable players to start the day but not survive were Kim Christensen, who began the day as the chip leader, and Day 1a chip leader Dmitri Zatsik. Also not surviving were Coolbet founder Jan Svendsen, Carmen-Elina Vist, Jon Kyte, Espen Uhlen Jorstad, and Jussi Mattila.
The final day kicks off at 12 p.m. with 39 hopefuls battling it out in hopes to win the first-ever Coolbet Open Main Event trophy and the €50,100 top prize. Live streaming commentated by Andrew "Picasso" Hedley will begin once the field is trimmed down to 24 players which will be available in our coverage under the Live Stream tab.
*Lead image courtesy of Juhani Tyrisevä.
