Award-Winning Unibet Poker Belgian Championship Will Return Aug. 30
Unibet Poker announced last month that their highly anticipated Unibet Poker Belgian Championship (UPBC) is set to return on Aug. 30 at the seaside resort of Blankenberge.
The 2018 edition marks the third year of the UPBC, which received the honors of Event of the Year at the Belgian Poker Awards held at Casino de Spa April 14. The inaugural UPBC Main Event in 2016 saw Belgium’s Fabrice Lestrade best a field of 407 to win €40,107.
During last year’s award-winning series, the Main Event drew 457 entries, including several big names like November Niner Pierre Neuville, Matthias and Christophe de Meulder, two-time Unibet Open champion Mateusz Moolhuizen and Unibet Ambassadors David Lappin and David Vanderheyden. The field generated a prize pool of €305,500 and finished with Germany’s Heinrich Pauker winning the top prize of €42,325.
“This year’s Unibet Poker Belgian Championship is set to be even bigger than last year’s award winner. We’ve added two more days to the schedule and now have a third turbo start flight for the Main Event," said Nataly Sopacuaperu, Unibet Open’s Head of Events and Sponsorship. "The Unibet Poker Belgian Championship is going from strength to strength and its success demonstrates just how much enthusiasm there is for great poker events on home soil."
2018 Unibet Poker Belgian Championship Details
The expanded 2018 event schedule includes seven events over four days, wrapping up on Sept. 2. The flagship UPBC €550 buy-in Championship Main Event starts on Aug. 30 with the first of three starting flights at 1 p.m. Two more flights kick off on Aug. 31 at 1 p.m. and 8 p.m. and players can re-enter as many times as they like.
Levels on Day 1a and 1b, as well as Day 2, will last 45 minutes, increasing to 60 minutes for the third and final day. Players hoping to get into the event at a discount can fire up one of a number of online satellites at a variety of buy-ins, offered daily at Unibet Poker.
Besides the Main Event, players can participate in an array of side events as well as two super satellites for the Main Event. Among the side events are a €80 buy-in Ladies Event, a two-day €220 No Limit Deepstack, a €110 No-limit Hold’em Turbo and a €110 single re-entry Progressive Super Knockout.
Another November Niner, Belgium’s Kenny Hallaert will again be running the event. Hallaert, who also serves as tournament director for the Unibet Open, had another stellar year in 2017 at the poker tables. He scooped an impressive four awards at the Belgian Poker Awards, including awards for Performance of the Year, Online Player of the Year, People's Champion and GPI Player of the Year.
“We’re absolutely thrilled that the Unibet Poker Belgian Championship won Event of the Year at the Belgian Poker Awards and of course we are all blown away by Kenny Hallaert’s very well-deserved recognition,” said Sopacuaperu. “To win four awards is really incredible and we are so proud that such an amazing personality is at the helm for our flagship events.
Unibet Player of the Year Race
The recently-launched Unibet Player of the Year race is the first to combine live and online events. Up for grabs for Player of the Year winners are €2,000 Unibet Open packages and dozens of online satellite tickets. At the end of the season, the top four live players, the top four online players and the leaderboard winner from the Unibet Deepstack Open will all compete in the Battle of the Champions playoff to determine the overall Unibet PoY.
Players can earn points for the race simply by entering the UPBC Main Event, as well as for entering any 2018 Unibet Open Main Event or the Main Events at the Unibet UK Poker Tour and the Unibet Romanian Poker Series.
Upcoming Events
Besides the Unibet Poker Belgian Championship, two more Unibet events are on the horizon.
The next series is the Unibet Open Malta, run together with Casino Malta at the Intercontinental Hotel in the seaside town of St. Julian’s from May 16-20. At this unique event, the Unibet Open and the Deepstack Open are joining forces and kicking things off with the two-day €330 buy-in Unibet Deepstack Open Cup on May 16.
Unibet Open Bucharest will run in Romania’s capital city before the UPBC - August 2-5 at the luxurious JW Marriott Bucharest Grand Hotel. Unibet’s third foray into Bucharest will be headlined by the €1,100 Main Event with plenty of side events on offer.
For more information on Unibet Open events, you can head to their .
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