The always entertaining Steve Watts was nurturing the short stack throughout the day and got a barrage of all-ins through uncontested. The first time Watts did get called it was over right away.
Watts' final 35,000 went in with and a player looked him up with . The board brought a trey but also a jack to sent the Brit packing.
40 different nations were represented among the 419 entrants, with the United Kingdom unsurprisingly delivering the most poker enthusiasts. With 135 players, the UK is far ahead of the second strongest nation, which is Finland (27). Sweden (25), The Netherlands (24) and France (23) rounded out the top 5.
Countries such as Malaysia, Vietnam and Iraq were represented among the other nations, making this Unibet Open a very international affair.
A player in late position opened to 5,300, Krishna Nagaraju called on the button and [Removed:158] called from the small blind. Nicholas Hennessy was in the big blind, but hasn't shown up today yet.
The flop was and after Van Lancker checked, the initial raiser bet 7,000. Both Nagaraju and Van Lancker called. The on the turn was checked to Nagaraju, who bet 23,400 with around 65,000 behind. Van Lancker moved all in, the initial raiser folded and Nagaraju called after some deliberation.
Krishna Nagaraju:
[Removed:158]:
Nagaraju was drawing dead against Van Lancker's flush and left the tournament area before the even fell on the river.
A few hands later, Van Lancker also won in a three-bet pot against Krzysztof Jaguscik and is now sitting behind a towering stack of 465,000.
The last remaining Unibet Ambassador Charlotte Van Brabander opened to 5,500 from the hijack. Dean Hutchison three-bet to 12,500 on the button and Van Brabander called. The flop was and Van Brabander check-called a 7,500 bet from the Scotsman.
The turn brought the and now Van Brabander quickly led out with a bet of 16,500. Hutchison's action was fast-paced as well and he called. On the river, Van Brabander checked and Hutchison quickly shipped in his remaining stack of 43,000.
It was a decision for nearly all of Van Brabander's remaining chips, but the Belgian couldn't find a call and folded after ten seconds.
Start-of-the-day chipleader Terry Jordon wasn't able to enjoy the top spot for long, as he just tumbled down the leaderboard. It was Farook Ghafoor who scored a full double up through the former chipleader.
After hefty preflop action, which also featured Neophytos Neophytou, Ghafoor got his stack of 83,000 in with against Jordon's . The board ran out which gave Ghafoor a lot more to work with.
At 12 p.m. local time, the race to the money will commence on Day 2 of the 2017 Unibet Open London Main Event. After two starting days and ten levels of 60 minutes each, 419 players in total gathered to try and win the first stop of the tour's tenth season. 122 hopefuls bagged up chips and are still in the hunt to become the latest winner of the popular tournament series.
Terry Jordon (356,000) will start the day in pole position, after making a big hero call yesterday that propelled him towards the lead. Giulio Mascolo (327,600) and [Removed:158] (305,800) round out the top three. Notables left include the sole remaining Unibet Ambassador Charlotte Van Brabander (76,000), who's left without teammates in her quest for glory. Two-time winner Mateusz Moolhuizen (176,000) is also still in contention and in the hunt for his third title.
The blinds will start in level 11 at 1,200/2,400 with an ante of 400. All levels will be 60 minutes with a dinner break scheduled after the sixth level of the day. 62 out of 122 players will finish in the money and take home at least £1,700 but all eyes are on the first prize of £71,950, which will be awarded on Sunday night.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be there to provide all the action until a winner is crowned on Sunday. You can also watch everything unfold on the Unibet Open live stream, starting at 3:00 p.m. on a security delay of half an hour as well.
and a player looked him up with 
. The board brought a trey but also a jack to sent the Brit packing.
and after Van Lancker checked, the initial raiser bet 7,000. Both Nagaraju and Van Lancker called. The 
on the turn was checked to Nagaraju, who bet 23,400 with around 65,000 behind. Van Lancker moved all in, the initial raiser folded and Nagaraju called after some deliberation.
even fell on the river.
and Van Brabander check-called a 7,500 bet from the Scotsman.
river, Van Brabander checked and Hutchison quickly shipped in his remaining stack of 43,000.
against Jordon's 
which gave Ghafoor a lot more to work with.
