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Daniel Jacobsen leads Day 1b of Unibet Open Malta

The ongoing Unibet Open Malta Main Event in the InterContinental Hotel in St. Julians, a seaside town in Malta, got 185 players coming in for the second and final starting flight. Put that with the 88 players of Day 1a, gave a field of 273 which got the total prize pool to €273,000. With the prizepool being distributed to the top 39 finishers, minimum cash will be €1,920 while the winner who will be declared on Sunday will score a payday of €60,090 along with the much sought after Unibet Open trophy.

It took ten levels of play (each 60 minutes in duration) for the final starting flight’s field to drop down from 185 to just 54. Denmark’s Daniel Jacobsen ended the day as chipleader holding a stack of 321,800. Jacobsen, could just as easily have been on his way out, holding just over 16,000 as action went into the 8th level of the day. He then went on an absolute heater in the final three levels to gain the overall lead.

Speaking about the hands that got him there Jacobsen first talked about a hand with Unibet’s Romanian pro Dan Marariu where he had pocket Aces, “He raised, I three-bet, he four-bet to 27,000 and I just called. The flop was ten-nine-six, the turn was an eight, and he got it in with jacks,” and was unable to best the bullets of Jacobsen.

“There was another hand: guy comes to my table with 100k. I raise in middle position, he three-bets, I call. Flop is jack-six-deuce, three spades, I have pocket nines with the nine of spades. He bets pretty big, and I call. The turn was the nine of clubs, he overbet shoved and I snap-called. He had pocket queens without a spade,” Jacobson said about the hand that launched him even further.

The others holding a substantial amount of chips lines up behind Jacobson including Jamie Munro (227,200), Thomas Eychenne (226,400), Kristof Segers (198,200) and Toby Locke (196,600). 2017 WSOP Main Event final tablist Jack Sinclair, who is a local resident, sits in 7th place with 176,400. 

Along with 28 survivors of Day 1a, a total of 82 players will return to battle it down for the title. Stay tuned to GutshotMagazine.com tomorrow to find out if Jacobsen does indeed go on to win the title.

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