Giulio Spampinato Tops Strong Day 1a Turnout of 2022 Unibet Open Malta Main Event
The return of the Unibet Open brand to the live poker circuit has been a resounding success so far. After a hiatus of more than two and a half years, the popular mid-stakes tour headed to the Mediterranean island of Malta for the fifth time in history and eyeballs a record turnout. The first of three starting days in the 2022 Unibet Open Malta €1,100 Main Event attracted a field of 120 entries of which 33 players advanced to Day 2.
Another two chances remain for poker enthusiasts from near and far to join the action in the five-star Intercontinental Hotel in St. Julians. However, all those who bowed out on Day 1a are only permitted to use their single re-entry in the turbo heat 1c as of 9pm local time on Friday, September 30, 2022.
Leading the way after 11 levels of 60 minutes each is Italy's Giulio Spampinato with a stack of 260,000 and Szymon Bujok (226,500) is the only other player to run up the 30,000 starting stack more than seven-fold. Among the big stacks at the end of the night are also Baard Dahl (163,000), Mark Vella (147,500), former EPT Malta Main Event runner-up Mats Karlsson (142,000) and Domenico Gala (138,000).
Unibet Poker saw three brand ambassadors in the mix but only one of them made it through to bagging and tagging. Alexandre Reard lasted all but ten minutes after he bowed out in a setup hand and then watched his wife Aurelie finish third in the PKO Side Event. Monica Vaka was also unable to advance while David Lappin holds the shortest stack of all survivors with 29,500.
Chip leader Spampinato won the arguably biggest pot of the day in a battle of the blinds in which he knocked out Julius Kettunen when the Finn overplayed trips and could not get away from it. Bujok consistently built his stack and spent the final three levels of the night on the live stream feature table, where he preserved his prime position for Day 2 without any major drama.
Among the notable casualties that have one more shot to accumulate chips were online casino games streamer Killian Desnos, two-time Unibet Open champion Mateusz Moolhuizen, Ian Simpson, Malta's very own "poker mama" Jackie Cachia, Pavlos Xanthopoulos, Pierre de Almeida, Janos Kurtosi, Luigi D'Alterio, and WSOP bracelet winner Jonathan Pastore.
Some 80 Unibet Poker online qualifiers and high-volume players have not redeemed their entry for the flagship tournament of the five-day series yet, which points to an even bigger turnout for the second regular starting day as of noon local time.
The record attendance in the four stops of the Unibet Open on Malta so far stands at 327 entries and was set during the last edition back in 2019. However, that number may very well be eclipsed and you can find out if that happens right here on PokerNews. Day 1b commences at 12pm local time and the turbo heat will run concurrently in the late evening before all survivors then combine to a single field the next day.
