Finally, it has begun!
So, the action has just begun here in Riga, Latvia. Our man on the spot will take it from here. We’re glad to have Pierre from the poker community Prosharks aboard doing some live coverage right here from the tournament in Riga. Keep this post somewhere near and hit that refresh button every once in a while. Will try to bring you all the action..

Other coverage links:
GSOP Live Blog
Pierres at ProSharks

Live update photo gallery:

Live updates below:

01:28 Thank you for following the first day of play in Betsafe Rigged In Riga 2010. We will be back tomorrow for day 1B which starts at 14:00

01:27 the tournament leader, Niclas Gustavsson announces that we will break for the day since we now have reached 50 players!

01:22 Harold Timothy out in 51th place after a sick beat!

Harold Timothy raises to 4000, Henri Antikainen reraises to 9000. Harold Timothy goes all in for almost 50,000. Henri goes into the tank but eventually calls with A-8. Harold has A-K. Flop comes Q-7-3 rainbow, turn is a J and river is a……….. 8!!!

01:15 53 players remaining. Avrage is 54,500

01:07 Ok let’s go! Last level of the day. 800/1600 Ante: 200

00:52 Players takes a 15 minute break. After that we will contunie to play the last level of the night, 800/1600 Ante: 200

00:45 chipleader is Kenneth Matsson with 140,000

00:41 the two buddies Daniel Möller and Bengt Sonnert has 59,000 and 80,000

00:38 Dennis Bejendal on the other hand is looking strong with his 50,000 which is avrage

00:36 Magnus Pettersson says that he has been ice cold for the last hour. He only got 18,400 left

00:35 Swedish poker icon Ola Brandborn busted earlier

00:09 Mattias Werner busts out after he went all in with J-J. He was called by Q-Q. The jacks did not improve

00:03 Istvan Darabos out in 61th place

23:59 Stefan Weickner who was the chipleader for a while with 70,000 busted out earlier

23:58 Magnus Pettersson is down to 24,000

23:55 62 players left. Avrage: 46,774

23:52 Raise the blindsssss! 600/1200 Ante 100

23:34 Mats Årberg just busted out

23:25 Stanislovas Petkevicius raises under the gun, Henri Koivistu reraises all in for 9000. Yevgeni in the small blind calls, Stanislovas moves all in for 50,000. Yevgeni folds. Stanislovas has K-K and Henri has A-Q. An ace on the flop gives Henri the best hand and he tripples up!

23:20 We’re interviewing Eric “Mr Video” Vogel about his experiences of Rigged in Riga so far.

23:17 Blinds are now 500/1000 Ante: 100

23:11
Magnus Pettersson 35,000
Bengt Sonnert 68,000
Daniel Möller 43,000

23.03 A video summing up the welcome party we hosted yesterday.

22.58 We’ve been doing some interviews, with Eric Vogel who is Mr Video around here and also with Betsafe player Stefan Weickner. Should be up soon. Stay tuned lads! Pierre has no clue whats going on when someone puts a mick in his hand and tell him to do an interview

22.45 Interview with Super Mario in the Vienna suite

22:21 Stefan Weickner looses a 30,000 pot when a small stack moves all in. Stefan and one other guy calls. They both check to the river and Stefan shows 9-9. The other guy shows J-J and the all in guy wins the pot with A-A

22:20 Betsafe qualifier Stefan Weickner is one of the chipleaders with 68,000.

21:50 Vitalijs Larionovs raises to 800 from the button. David Katc reraises to 2100. Aleksi Kinnunen calls. Mads Årberg rereraises to 6300, all three players fold.

21.23 Day 1A is moving along and we are now under 100 players. We’re playing 10 periods today, and we’re currently at 5. Average right now is 30k and we have 96 players left.

20:43 Andreas Kovacs out in 116th place

20.34 A short update and interview with Erik from Betsafe who is the assistant tournament director.

20:33 Game on!! Blinds 300/600 Ante: 50. 116 remaining players. Avrage is 25,000

a href=”../files/2010/10/riggedinriga_divider.gif”>

Game will begin in two minutes!

19:36 The dinner break is for one hour

Niclas Gustafsson announces that in two minutes players will go on dinner break

An interview with Prit Van Der Wieringen from yesterdays betsafe-party

19:14 Ola Brandborn is aggressive at the moment. He is stealing alot of pots

19:13 Pim Van Der Wieringen, the winner of Rigged In Riga 2009 has enterd the building! He is just railing the tables today and will enter the tournament tomorrow!

19:10 Daniel Möller has 46,000 in chips. “The day is far from over” he says, indicating that he will not slow down

19:06 Patrick Heinsen out in 119th place

19:02 Dennis Bejendal looses a big pot and is now down to 10,000 in chips. He got reraised all in on the turn after he raised 6500. The board was 679T two diamonds, two clubs. Dennis folded.

18:55 Unknown player raises to 1200, Ola brandborn reraises to 3000, unknown player rereraises to 6000, Ola rerereraises all in, unknown player folds! Ola now has 30,000

18:48 Andre Braenden just went all in with 15,000 after a raise of 800. The hand after he went all in again after a raise and a call. Kenneth Sundahl calls with A-Q. Andre has K-J hearts. A king lands on the flop which knocks out Kenneth

The Swede Mikael Astedt took down a 10k pot after a big reraise on the flop which was 5-6-3 two clubs. He now has about 50,000 and is one of the chip leaders

New Blinds! 200/400 Ante: 50

This is what you are greeted by when entering the Royal Casino

18:14 in three minutes players will go on a 15 minute break

18:06 The Swedish pro Magnus Pettersson has about 17,000 in chips and tells the betsafeblog that he hasn’t picked up any cards so far

18:01 One of the monkeys in the cage ;)

17:36
Really a lot of blogging done from here, cameras all over the place. Great stuff. :)

17:34
A look at the bloggers corner. Packed! “Don’t feed the animals”.

17:36 A big all in pot a couple of minutes ago

17:26 Bengt Sonnert has increased his stack with another 10,000 and now has aprox 34,000

17:23 some controversy when the dealer accidentaly put the flop up to early. But our excellent tournament leader Erik Hedberg fixed the problem quickly

17:19 Raise the blinds! 150/300 Ante: 25. 134 players left

17:10 Bengt Sonnert has started the day pretty well and has about 24,000 in chips

17:00 Some shots from when the player’s are welcomed to Riga just a few hours ago.

16:54 Last year’s runner up Michail Schuliks is lookin concentrated defending his 13k stack.

One of the 17 tables of Day1A

16:22 Blinds are now 100/200. A total of 146 players enterd day1A. 144 of those are still in

16:16 Players has just come back from a 10 minute break. We are having trouble with the internet connection and the image uploader at the moment since i am live updating from an iPad. Apparently Wordpress and Apple doesn’t go hand in hand. But we are working on it!

16:05 “Gulkines” is here playing

15:56 Henri Koivistu is our first bust out. Henri went all in with K2 hearts on the flop 3-6-7 two hearts. His opponent called with 9-T hearts. Turn was a blank J and the ri er gave Henris opponent a straight with a black 8!

15:31 Dennis Bejendal, the swedish highstakes player is in Riga to claim another title to his belt

15:02 We are now up to 144 players with the late registration, and we are still waiting for the first bust out

14:47 The tournament area:

14:17 Hi everyone and welcome to the coverage of Rigged In Riga 2010 at the beautiful Royal Casino. Currently there are 130 players in Day1A. My name is Pierre and i love you all ;)