Alexander Beeckx Leads Last 15 After Day 2 of the 2015 Unibet Open Antwerp
The second and penultimate day of the €1,100 Unibet Open Antwerp Main Event at "De Shop" saw the remaining 100 players from a 321-entry field return to the tables for eight levels of one hour each. Just 15 hopefuls remained when it was all said and done, with local player Alexander Beeckx in the lead on 1.625 million in chips.
With many short stacks remaining upon the restart, it was of no surprise that 19 players were sent to the rail in the first level, including Grzegorz Wyraz, 2013 Unibet Open Cannes champion Quentin Lecomte, Pascal Vos, Philip Meulyzer, Tobias Peters, and Ruben Visser.
Peters ran with an overpair into the flopped set of Marcel Luske early on and never recovered, eventually jamming the 
into the 
of Jorgen Jerneskog to bust.
Pieter de Korver failed to score his first cash in a Unibet Open main event and was joined on the rail by Tim Verbon after the former shoved with the 
from the button and the latter reshoved the 
in the small blind. Micael Emanuelsson woke up with pocket queens in the big blind and his hand held up.
Emanuelsson also sent Rolf Slotboom to the rail with tens versus eights, and Micha Hoedemaker fell at the same time on a different table.
Luske, the "Flying Dutchman," was another prominent casualty in Level 14 after losing his short stack in a flip with ace-king versus pocket sevens.
Hans Sybrandi doubled into the lead with the 
for an open-ended straight and flush draw against Emanuelsson, while Moolhuizen lost a big pot to a two-outer after having flopped trips with the 
.
Bart Lybaert, Matthias de Clercq, Raoul Refos, and Farid Chati all fell before the money, and the bubble then burst in Level 16.
Mihai Ani Leon shoved for 10 big blinds with the 
and Beeckx called from one seat over with the to find a king on the flop. Another five players, including Niels de Wijs, busted in the remainder of the level, 31 hopefuls headed to the dinner break.
When they came back to the tables, hell broke out and 15 players were sent to the rail within one hour. Jessy Marillaud lost a flip with ace-queen against the pocket tens of Sybrandi, and then the comeback of Moolhuizen started. The Dutchman sent Andrew Gillett, Ramon Ligthart, and Hakan Wingskog packing, before Beeckx took the lead on the feature table after turning a flush with the 
in a three-way pot. Despite losing some to the flopped flush of Sybrandi, he kept most of it.
Originally, it was planned to bag up when only 16 participants remained, but since everyone busted so quickly in the first seven levels it was decided to play one more level. Only one further elimination took place and again Moolhuizen had the best of it.
In the second-to-last hand of the night at the end of Level 18, Cornelis de Jong moved all in for the size of the pot after the river of a 
board. Moolhuizen had been the initial raiser in the three-way hand and tank-called to see his opponent turn over the 
for a busted straight draw, claiming the pot with the 
for aces and sevens.
Seven of the remaining 15 players won their entry for the stop in the "Diamond City" through Unibet including Moolhuizen (1.365 million), Sybrandi (1.3 million), Paul Vergeer (649,000), Gordon Plomp (535,000), Ian Simpson (469,000), Erik Loschan (340,000), and start-of-the-day chip leader Niko Koop (301,000). Laurens de Smet (225,000) earned his package through the rewards program.
Micaelsson doubled up just before the end against Simpson and claimed 770,000 in chips; Marco Herman (712,000), Koen Lauwereys (461,000), David Janssen (360,000), Vincentius van Oosterhout (316,000), and Tom Dingenen (154,000) completed the line up for the final day in Antwerp. All of the remaining hopefuls have €4,150 locked up for their efforts, but all eyes are set on the first-place payout of €71,000 and the shiny winner's trophy.
Moolhuizen is the only former Unibet Open winner remaining and has the chance to become only the second player to win two Unibet Open titles.
The action will resume Sunday at 1 p.m. local time with Level 19 where the blinds will be 8,000/16,000/2,000. The event will play down to a winner on Sunday and the PokerNews Live Reporting team will provide live updates all the way through.
While you wait, check out the following feature video from the Unibet team with 2015 World Series of Poker November Niner Pierre Neuville.