Anton Vinokurov Wins 2018 Bucharest Unibet Open Main Event For €103,060 ($119,112)

The 2018 Unibet Open Bucharest €1,100 Main Event was held over a period of four days and attracted a player pool of 592 entries across three starting flights – Day 1A had 149 players, Day 1B drew 273 and Day 1C attracted a total of 170 entries. Besting the massive field was Russia’s Anton Vinokurov (cover image) who not only maintained the chip lead throughout Day 3 but was also responsible for the final table eliminations of Daniel Chutrov, Amir Shomron, Vitalijs Zavorotnijs, Adrian Ionescu, Florin Elisei and Cosmin Cimpeanu. Vinokurov took home the trophy and top prize worth €103,060 ($119,112) for his dominating win.

Vinokurov only recently come into prominence in the poker circles after his 13^th place finish in $400 No Limit Hold’em – Under Pressure Knockout at the Russian Poker Tour in 2016. With five live scores to his name, this win at the Main Event brought him his career-best score till date.

In the post-event interview, Vinokurov said, “I was playing good. Some of the other players were playing good, and some were not playing good. I believed when I started play today as the chip leader that I must make it to the final table and finish in the top three. Then when there were five players left, I knew I would win. I felt no other players could beat me.”

Out of the 182 survivors who made it to Day 2, only 17 made the cut for the final day.

Many players failed to make it in the money including Unibet Poker Ambassadors Dara O’Kearney, Alan “Hotted89” Widmann and Rauno “Estonian Jesus” Tahvonen along with Deddi Orpaz, Gerret van Lancker, and Alex Hendriks. Andrei Alecu became the unfortunate bubble boy at the event.

The other big names that were able to pick up a score include Georgios Tavoularis (21^st for €4,770), Anton Markov (43^rd for €3,140), Valentin Anghel (47^th for €2,985), Slaven Popov (52^nd for €2,830), Cristian Cirtog (60^th for €2,550), Marius Gicovanu (67^th for €2,300), Kevin Naegelen (72^nd for €2,070) and Unibet Poker Ambassador Fredrik Bergmann (80^th for €1,860).

Final Day Recap

The eliminations over the course of the day included Lucian Bera (11th for €8,620), Pawel Zoladkiewicz (12^th for €7,500), Arvin Vahdat (13^th for €7,500), Yaron Turgeman (14^th for €6,520), Unibet Poker Ambassador David Lappin (15^th for €6,520), Deivis Rinkevicius (16^th for €5,870) and Martin Wendt (17^th for €5,870).

Tomasz Kozub (10^th for €8,620) bubbled the nine-handed final table.

Final Table Chip Counts

1. Anton Vinokurov – 4,935,000

2. Florin Elisei – 3,820,000

3. Daniel Chutrov – 2,530,000

4. Cosmin Cimpeanu – 1,665,000

5. Amir Shomron – 1,460,000

6. Vojtech Susta – 1,445,000

7. Vitalijs Zavorotnijs – 1,185,000

8. Carmen Zainescu – 500,000

9. Adrian Ionescu – 225,000

Final Table Recap

The first to be dismissed from the nine-handed final table was the 2015 Unibet Open Glasgow Main Event champion Daniel Chutrov. He raised to 160,000 from early position with pocket rockets while chip leader Anton Vinokurov woke up with pocket queens and 3-bet to 450,000. Chutrov called to see the flop . Vinokurov took the lead with a flopped set of queens. Both players checked to see the turn where Vinokurov hit a full house, while Chutrov desperately needed an ace to get out of this hand. The latter bet 375,000 and Vinokurov called. The river brought and Chutrov moved all-in with his last 1,285,000 and Vinokurov snap-called.

Following Chutrov to the rail was Amir Shomron. Vinokurov raised to 180,000 with from middle position and Shomron called from his left holding . The flop fell . Both players checked to see the turn . Vinokurov hit a straight and Shomron had a flush draw. Vinokurov bet 150,000 and Shomron raised to 315,000. Vinokurov shoved all-in, covering Shomron, and the latter called putting his tournament life at risk. The river was the last straw for the Israeli as he was railed out in eighth place.

Soon after a 15 minute break, the seven remaining players returned to the felts and the action folded to Vinokurov, who moved all-in with from cut-off, while Vitalijs Zavorotnijs called from the big blind with . The board fanned out and Vinokurov flopped a pair of sixes resulting in Zavorotnijs’ seventh place elimination.

Immediately thereafter, Vinokurov once again moved all-in from middle position and this time, he was called by Vojtech Susta from the cutoff and Cosmin Cimpeanu from the button.

Anton Vinokurov

Vojtech Susta

Cosmin Cimpeanu

The flop and turn missed all three players. But the river gave Vinokurov and Cimpeanu top pair of kings but the latter had the better hand due to his ace kicker, and Susta had to exit in sixth place, while Vinokurov lost a sizeable lot from his healthy stack.

During level 27, Adrian Ionescu moved all in from under-the-gun with and Vinokurov woke up with pocket rockets and called. The community cards changed nothing for either player, leading to Ionescu`s exit in fifth place.

Down to four-handed play, the game progressed for a while before the next elimination came about. When Florin Elisei moved all in from small blind, Vinokurov called from big blind and both players tabled their cards.

Florin Elisei

Anton Vinokurov

The runout was . Elisei found a pair of nines on the board but it wasn’t enough to defeat Vinokurov’s pocket tens and Elisei was busted in fourth place.

With the last three players left, the only lady at the final table, Carmen Zainescu moved all in from the button holding . Cimpeanu called from the big blind with . The board ran out and Cimpeanu picked up a pair of jacks on the flop to eliminate the back-to-back Unibet Open Bucharest Ladies Event champion in third place.

The heads-up play between Cosmin Cimpeanu (3,525,000) and Anton Vinokurov (14,240,000) began with the latter starting off with a 4:1 lead. On the final hand of the event, Cimpeanu limped in from small blind with and Vinokurov checked from big blind with . The flop came and Vinokurv was in the lead with three-of-a-kind eights. Vinokurov check-called a bet of 325,000 from Cimpeanu to see the turn card . Both players checked to see the river which gave Cimpeanu a pair of queens. Vinokurov checked again and Cimpeanu bet 800,000. Vinokurov shoved all-in and Cimpeanu called putting his tournament life on the line. Cimpeanu pair of queens were no match for Vinokurov’s trip eights and he finished runners-up while Vinokurov was crowned the champion.

Final Table Results (EUR)

1. Anton Vinokurov – €103,060

2. Cosmin Cimpeanu – €64,050

3. Carmen Zainescu – €44,170

4. Florin Elisei – €32,720

5. Adrian Ionescu – €25,170

6. Voytech Susta – €19,360

7. Vitalijs Zavorotnijs – €15,490

8. Amir Shomron – €12,390

9. Daniel Chutrov – €9,910

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