LEVEL UP: BLINDS 75-150

2.22pm: Back from the break
The remaining players are now back in their seats and level three is underway.

There’s no easy way to say this but: George Stewart, Marinos Mina, Richard Heelas, Kevin Steele, Dag Ahlse, Michael Watson, Gareth Parry, Darren Sweeney, Stephen Kenna, Roman Dohnal, Romero Borze, Daniel Perez, Jamil Ogunmakinwa, Michalis Michael, Julian Thew and Tomlin Colburn are not back in their seats as they were all eliminated during the first two levels. — NW

2.02pm: Break time
That’s two levels in the books, players are now on a 20 minute break. — NW

1.50pm: Blain picks one off
When you think of Ireland and poker, names like Padraig Parkinson, Fintan Gavin, Roy Brindley and Andy Black come to mind. There are all of the chatty, eccentric, up for the craic type personalities but there is another rarer breed of Irish poker player, the get it quietly type.

One player who fits that mould is Dermot Blain, no table histrionics, no fuss just impeccable table presence and consistency. The young Irishman has a string of impressive cashes to his name including winning the APPT Maccau Main Event in 2009 and a fifth place finish in the WSOPE Main Event in 2011.

I just saw a hand that encapsulated all this, he called a raise of 275 from Matthew Gilmartin and the two of them checked all the way to the river on a board of [2s][Qs][6c][8h][Jh]. At his juncture Gilmartin threw out a bet of 400, no insta-call here from Blain, he made a face that looked like he was chewing a wasp, thought for about 15 seconds and then called.

Gilmartin showed [8s][7s] but Blain had [Ac][Js] to take the pot. — NW

Dermot Blain

1.35pm: One for the cameras
Small round of applause for Damien Quinlivan who just three-barrel bluffed [8h][5h] into a [ad][jd][5d][6s][3s] board. Well, I assume it was a bluff. That would be some pretty thin value betting if not.

Mike Hill had opened the pot for 225 and had picked up three callers, including Quinlivan in the small blind and Mark Spelman in the big.

Flop: [ad][jd][5d]
Quinlivan led 450 and was called by Spelman. The others passed

Turn: [ad][jd][5d][6s]
Quinlivan fired another 1,000 into the pot. Spelman called again.

River: [ad][jd][5d][6s][3s]
Quinlivan confidently – perhaps too confidently – threw 2,600 into the middle. Spelman tank-folded.

Quinlivan took a look at his cards, looked up, caught my eye and showed the table the bluff. Bravo, sir. It was one for the cameras. Mike Hill was still chortling as I walked away. — RD

Mike Hill looking for his fourth UKIPT final table

1.10pm: Tables chips and exits
The table draw has thrown up the odd doozy, which we’ll be keeping an eye on. Like table 42 where Dean Lyall, Jeff Burke, Bastiaan Van Den Brink and Daiva Barauskaite are sat in a row. That table has already seen one elimination, earlier we reported how Van Den Brink had doubled up but didn’t have the name of the first player out. We can now report that the unlucky player to exit was Antonius Van Venrooij.

Meanwhile Richard Sinclair (18,000) and Iwan Jones (17,000) have got off to good starts whilst things have gone south so far for Julian Thew (7,000) and Nick Newport (13,900). — NW

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 50-100

12.50pm: Seat open
By this time on Day 1A two players (including Nick Abou Risk) had been sent to the rail, both as the result of aces versus kings (although the kings won on one occasion). Today it took a bit longer to lose the first player, around 50 minutes in fact.

The identity of the eliminated player is unknown but Bastiaan Van Den Brink was the beneficiary and he told me what happened: “I opened the button with [10][9], he three-bet with [10][5] and I called. The flop came [9][7][5] he c-bet, I called. The turn was a ten he fired a second barrel and I called. The river was a blank, he shoved all-in and I called.”

So two pair against smaller two pair accounts for the first player today, much more interesting than boring aces versus kings. — NW

12.35pm: Walking the floor
This looks to be a great event to play. A lot of players that you might not want to see at your table – think of the likes of Jake Cody, Matt Perrins, JP Kelly, James Keys, Chris Brammer, Rupiner Bedi – aren’t here because of the upcoming World Series, some have headed out early, and because of SCOOP, which has been hitting some unbelievable numbers.

That’s a chunk of tough players who would severely reduce your tournament expectation so to the 500 or so that are playing this €770 main event, well done, you’ve made a fantastic decision.

Among the players today that do have some previous are EPT winner Julian Thew, EPT and UKIPT regular Dermot Blain, Dean ‘deanosupremo’ Lyall and SCOOP hero Sam ‘SamSquid’ Grafton. We’ll be catching up with Grafton at the break to speak to him about his $234,193 bink. He doesn’t know it yet, but we will.

Thew is at a table nearby sporting a small red and yellow dollar bill badge. It’s not a bounty button, it’s a lucky charm from one of his kids: “I thought I’d check out its luckbox potential. I’ll give it a couple of hours,” said Thew.

Fifteen minutes of the first level remain. — RD

Julian Thew

12.20pm: Who’s here?
There’s a much larger field today than yesterday and amongst the 300 or so runners is a sprinkling of stardust. So far I’ve spotted EPT winner Julian Thew, UKIPT Champion of Champions Richard Sinclair who’s resplendent in his usual Day 1 Ed Hardy hoodie.

Also spotted were UKIPT Galway runner-up Ronan Gilligan, UKIPT Nottingham S2 fourth place finisher Tim Bettingen, Paul Jackson, Nicholas Newport and UKIPT Killarney champion Femi Fakinle.

True to form Fakinle was involved in a pot as I passed his table, he bet 600 on the river of a [8c][6d][8h][4h][9s], his opponent called but mucked when Fakinle showed [8s][6h] for a full house. Keep an eye on the chip counts page, where we’ll be keeping track of the names, notables and big stacks as stories develop on Day 1B. — NW

Femi Fakinle

12pm: And we’re off…
The clock is running/the cards are in the air/add your own ‘the tournament has begun’ euphemism here. — RD

11.50pm: Day 1B revving up
Today’s looking like a busy one. Plenty of players milling around and making their way to the tables. We had 199 player yesterday, 91 of whom made it through the eight one-hour levels. We’ll be playing the same today: no dinner break and done by 9pm. Lovely. The board is currently showing 300 players so we can expect a field of 500-plus.

We can break the news that the defending champion Dutchman Joeri Zandvliet will not be defending his title. He’s in Ibiza at the Estrellas Poker Tour trying win a new one instead.

Loading up the starting stacks

PokerStars Blog reporting team in Dublin (in order of score out of ten they give Ballymaloe relish): Rick Dacey (8 – it’s tangy, tasty and just a little bit naughty) and Nick Wright (7 – it’s no Devonian chutney, but it’s close).

Tags: 2011 | action | Battle of the Planets | european | julian-thew | news | TOC | wcoop | WSOPE

When Cornelius Ryan put pen to paper on the book that would become the John Wayne vehicle The Longest Day, one can feel safe to say he had never attended UKIPT Nottingham season three. If he had, one suspects his novel and then movie portraying the D-Day landings could at best have been called The Second Longest Day.

Here at Dusk Till Dawn, we have just wrapped the third flight of the first day of this monstrous poker tournament: three sets of 11 one-hour levels, plus dinner and other breaks, stretched over 42 hours (if commute and admin is taken into consideration too). Take that Cornelius. And you Marion.

Following Marcin Milde and Ken Isaksen into the exclusive club of day one chip leaders tonight is Chris Brammer, whose 180,800 was the most accumulated by any player today. Brammer was the first player to double up what seems like months ago, getting set over set in the first orbit. He purred like a well-oiled machine from there.

Chris Brammer: a very familiar face at the top of the charts

Brammer, the UKIPT season one leaderboard champion seems set to return to the top echelons after a cash-less season two.

It was a day on which no one player really ran away with it, and so the likes of Don Campbell (166,600), Gareth Teatum (160,000), Tim Clarke (159,900), Nathan Kieley (153,000) and Richard Young (152,900) are also close behind.

Don Campbell: will also be safe cycling home

Gareth Teatum: not far behind

The good news for all those hardy souls is that their continued success will be worth a packet. The official numbers were calculated at the mid-point of the day and we soon learned that 1,625 players had each parted with £700 to join the fun. That created a prize pool of £1,137,500, of which £210,400 will go to the winner. Full details of the breakdown is on the prizepool page.

Mandatory arty shot

The stars also came out to play, and we saw the likes of Jake Cody, Toby Lewis, Julian Thew, Kevin MacPhee, Max Silver, Nick Abou Risk and Dave Ulliot in the day 1C field. But none of them would last the day. The Team PokerStars Pros Victoria Coren and Marcel Luske also came and went.

Jake Cody, on a fleeting appearance

Victoria Coren: came and went

But the famous livery will still be modelled on day two by Liv Boeree and Jude Ainsworth. The former was an early chip leader after being the beneficiary of what even Boeree conceded was a cold deck. By the end she had been pegged back to 25,200.

Liv Boeree: What might have been

Ainsworth played a much more patient game, weathering a tough early table that also featured MacPhee, but then gliding through the gears, particularly in the last few levels, and ending with 97,600. It’s not exactly Ainsworth’s natural game to be circumspect, so that late move has put him right into contention.

Jude Ainsworth: It’s not that bad

The full list of chip counts will appear on the chip-count page when they are made official. And you can drift off into the land of nod by reading our level-by-level updates by clicking the links below.

Levels 1-4 updates
Levels 5-7 updates
Levels 8-11 updates

Day two resumes at noon tomorrow, when all the survivors will be under one roof for the first time. We will also be under that same room, notebooks and pens in hand.

Until then, goodnight.

Photos for PokerStars Blog from Nottingham by Mark Gregory/PhotoShy.

Tags: Baltic Poker Festival | featured-video | france poker series | liv boeree | news | pokerstars macau | russian poker series | SCOOP | tcoop | wcoop

8pm: Fallers

Players continue to bust out in their droves on Day 1C, is there something we don’t know? Anyway…

There’s no easy way to say this but if Colin Young, Derek Collinson, Jason Savage, Chris Bingham, Martin Hanham, John Dalby, David Gassian, David Burn, Akhil Avasthy, Peter Higgins, Rukes Ahmed, Anthony Pugh, Jonathon Prested, Jake Cody, Ganesh Bathmanathan, Yigit Isilsoy, Richard Milton, Matt Perrins, David Kristiansen, Richard Sinclair, Jamie Coles, Darren Farr, Thomas Syversen, Wayne Penford, Ian Wright, Ian Bradley, Frank Flanagan, John Murray, Martin Donoghue, David Louden, Andrew Miles or Luke Fields claim they can’t come home right now because they’re in the tournament they’re lying.

And if John Gallagher, Andrew Mcbean, Fintan Gavin, Matt Mcgetrick, Sean Davey, Christopher Goodson, Christopher Whitnall, Andrew Teng, Weland Holroyd, Philip Butt, Adrian Smith, Gary Shaw, Pawell Kapczynski, Andreas Valhjalt Afeldt, Jonathan Bowers, Nicolai Kolandjian, Natalie Riley, Kevin Parkes, Patricia Mclean, Arkadiusz Liszewski, Robert Malvasi , Mohammed Istakhar Sadiq, Dave Ulliott, Jehan Zaib, David Rawnsley, Barry O Shea, Kevin Macphee or Damian Collins try to swap a percentage with you in this tournament, walk away swiftly. — NW

8.30pm: Big boys. And girl
It’s not immediately obvious who is the outright individual chip leader in this tournament at the moment, but I’d be amazed if there’s a table with more chips on it than No 38.

Veronika Pavlokova (still the most likely candidate for leader) is there, sitting in the one seat with 74,000. But also sharing the felt are Benjamin Jenkins, with 64,000, Spyros Mouzoura, with 64,000 and Martin Donoghue, with 32,000. Toby Lewis is also there, with a smaller stack but a much bigger reputation. — HS

8.25pm: Chip counts
Team PokerStars pro Jude Ainsworth is on 28,750, Chris Brammer has 38,000, Nik Persaud currently has 24,000 which is 2,000 more than Emmett Mullin. Dusk Till Dawn owner Rob Yong is still in, although he’s short with just 6,400, Neil Channing has 11,000 and Jon Kalmar is on 26,600. — NW

8.20pm: Cody eliminated
I think we may have cursed Jake Cody as he’s now out. I didn’t catch the hand with my own eyes but am told that Cody had [A][J] on the button and
Edward Roger found queens in the small blind. There was action pre-flop and the rest went in on a [J][10][4] flop and Cody failed to catch on the turn or river. Roger now has a stack of about 65,000. — NW

8.10pm: Sinclair sunk
The curse of the champion of champions continues for Richard Sinclair as he’s just been eliminated from this tournament.

The Scotsman opened to 900, Przemek Piotrowski three-bet to 2,000, Sinclair moved all-in for 8,150 and Piotrowski made the call.

Sinclair: [Ad][Kd]
Piotrowski: [10d][10h]

The flop of [8s][10c][7d] saw Sinclair up and out of his seat before the dealer completed the board with the [Kh][Qc].

Word also reaches us that Matt Perrins is out, losing with ace-king against the pocket nines of Spyros Mouzoura. — NW

8pm: Sharky
As mentioned earlier (see 7.25pm update), the unofficial feature table today features Jake Cody. He is sitting near the rail and has a fan club of poker aficionados watching and learning from the master. Cody has more than 30,000 chips, so that’s plenty for him to do some damage.

Also on the table, however, is Edward Gascoigne, who has about 60,000 chips and a few mates of his own watching on. — HS

Jake Cody

Edward Gascoigne

7.50pm: Perrins slips back
It’s been a bit of a grind so far today for Matt Perrins, if he managed to snaffle a few chips they seem to be gone soon after and that pattern has continued. “Had 18k at dinner just lost ak vs a5 1st hand back for 12k… Down to 12k.” — NW

7.45pm: Tough for tufat
Andrew Teng is out, continuing his luckless streak in UKIPT Main Events. The man known as “tufat” has made hay on numerous other tours, and recently came third in a High Roller event in Galway. But he hasn’t yet cashed in main events under this particular banner.

The hand that did the damage this time was against Charles Flynn and would probably be notated on message boards and/or Twitter as “JJ < 77 all in pre". Flynn had opened with the sevens, Chen shoved, Flynn called all in.

A seven flopped and that was a bad card for Teng. He went out soon after. — HS

7.40pm: Back as one
The remaining 327 players are now all back in their seats and playing level seven. This and four more still to navigate in order to get to Day 2. — NW

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 200-400 50 ante

7.30pm: Slowly does it
This is called the post-prandial slump. After the chaos of the earlier levels, action is notably slower now with the only half of the field at the table those who have pigged out on fish and chips, chicken or something else. Even the table featuring Sam Razavi and Andrew Teng is quiet. Well, the action is, but Razavi is keeping the volume up with bursts of song punctuated by anecdotes from Frankie and Benny’s restaurant where he spent his break. (Reading between the lines, it doesn’t get a Razavi Star for Cuisine.)

The only pot of note kind of fizzled out. Gavin Powell opened to 725, Charles Flynn, one seat to his left in the hijack, made it 1,750 and when it was folded back to Powell, he four bet to 3,750.

There was a match hovering somewhere near the touchpaper, but Flynn folded and again we plod on slowly. The rest of the field is due back in 10 minutes, and things will likely pick up after that. — HS

7.25pm: Chips for Cody
There’s quite a crowd gathered around table 11. It may be that it’s because it’s the closest table to the rail and to the cash desk, but it’s more likely because it cotains Jake Cody. While the Rochdale youngster may be a member of the exclusive triple crown club (EPT, WPT and WSOP title/bracelet) he’s yet to win a UKIPT main event, although he did win the high roller here last year.

And, he just added 7,000 or so to his stack after eliminating Christopher Goodson. It was Goodson who was first into the pot, he raised to 725, Magnus Martin flat called and Cody then raised to 2,300 from the big blind. Back on Goodson he moved all-in for 7,275 total, Martin folded and Cody called almost instantly.

Cody: [Ad][Kd]
Goodson: [Kc][Js]

The board ran out [9s][Qh][Ac][2d][8d] and Goodson shook Cody’s hand and said, “Good game,” as he walked off. Cody is up to 28,000. — NW

7.15pm: Tasty table
Table 38 is definitely one to keep an eye on as not only does it contain Veronika Pavlikova (seat one) but also EPT winner Toby Lewis (seat two), WSOP Bracelet winner Matt Perrins (seat four) and Ben Jenkins (seat seven). — NW

7.05pm: Stacking up
There appears to be a group of players all on around the 55- 60,000 mark, which whilst no the chip lead is more than double average. They include: Bayazit Zorlu (55,000), Arturs Daugis (54,000), Phil Goron (56,000) and George Hassabis (60,000). — NW

6.55pm: In Memorium
There’s no easy way to say this, but there have been so many players busting since the last time we could find no easy way to say what you know we have to say that we’re going to have to find no easy way to identify about 45 names, and then find no easy way to say that another 45 have busted. There’s really no easy way to do this.

Anyhow, this lot have bust: Jamie Wilkinson, Dean Elwell-Deighton, Gavin Talbott, Mark Chantler, Masaki Kawano, Michael Welland, David Zermon, Albin Boruc, Teresa Clark, Adrian Gray, Zachary Ford, Ian Wright, Tomas Trampota, Jakub Kyrian, Tomas Pleticha, Mark Warnock, Andrija Martic, Venkata Gireesh Kumar Desu, Vamshi Chaitanya Vandanapu, Andrew Phillips, Jaroslaw Lipien, Nick Ramsey, David Barraclough, Peter Self, Gary Peniket, Gladys Long, Charlotte Godwin, Radoslaw Kopec, Petter Brunell, Umar Khan, Ben Farman, Stephen Mckay, Neville Oates, Ashley Chase, Colin Bidwell, Paul Romain, Jean-Pierre Gazian, Frode Hoel, Ashley Patterson, Mark Spellman, Rhys Jones, Thomas Horton, Dean Lyall, William Dorey

As have this lot:
Mark Goodchild, Richard Iwan Strittmatter, Inderpal Doshanjh, Charles Chattha, Jace Swift, Russ Cochran, Paul Davies, Mohammed Suhail, Carl Grant, Paul Senter, Michael Shaw, Victoria Coren, Vincent Isoz, Pat West, Claire Robinson, James Walsh, Nigel Hannan, Charles Snowden, Branimir Barac, Nicholas Gibson, Julian Thew, Edward Ash, Allan Muggleton, Borui Xu, John Keown, Jamie Roberts, Jonny Gawith, Christopher Brider, Cina Fara, Nicholas Abou Risk, Kiyas Gungor, Douglas Macqueen, Mosjin El-Yakoubi, Casper Kyhl, Thor-Erik Hoftaniska, Joe Laming, Joop Sjouwerman, Gregoire Monnay, John Dunford, Ryan Spittles, Colette Murphy, Rickie Silcock, Max Silver, Alan Oakley, Mark Wates.

The tournament board is showing that 345 players remain from the 517 who sat down today, and with only 40 minutes left on registration, time is running out. Get yourself down here. You’ll get a 15,000 starting stack, and all those sharks listed above are already gone. — HS

6.40pm: Second sitting
The first half of the buffet feasters have returned to their seats. The second half have now joined the long queue to get their fill. This is now the second half of the last dinner break of the week. The plan for the last three days is to play something like eight levels, right through. — HS

6.30pm: New chip leader
Earlier (see post at 2.50pm) I introduced you to Czech sensation Veronika Pavlikova. She recently won a PokerStars France Poker Series event.

Veronika Pavlikova

Well she’s at it again here in Nottingham as with 75,000 she’s the probable chip leader. — NW

6.20pm: Easy for Emmett
UKIPT Galway champion Emmett Mullin has unsurprisingly been letting his hair down since winning €100,000, “Aye I’ve done plenty of partying,” he told me. “I played the Irish Open and I’m trying to settle down and get back to it,” he added.

Emmett Mullin

It’s going well so far in Nottingham as he’s got around 36,000. — NW

6.15pm: Stealing from the chop
There was hardly anything in the pot – about 1,200 only suggesting three players limped pre-flop – taking them to a board of [kd][kh][js]. But then it seems as though the fireworks flew. Huang Guoxun had 900 in front of him, Richard Milton had 3,500 in front of him and Anthony Woolley was all in for 9,550.

Huang called, which gave Milton the opportunity to get away. Woolley tabled [kc][5c] and Huang nodded a sigh of relief. His [ks][4h] was behind, but this was a certain chopped pot, right?

Wrong.

The [10s] turned and the [5s] rivered. Woolley got it all to himself. — HS

6.05pm: Lewis, Liv and more
Toby Lewis was one of many who got into today’s tournament as an alternate. He might though be the only one who flew in from Vienna to be here.

He only got in during level three and he’s had a up and down time of it so far, “13k to 20k to 12k and now 24k,” he tweeted.

Team PokerStars pro Liv Boeree has just been moved tables. She took 55,600 with her. Matt Perrins – who was eagerly awaiting the introduction of antes – is up to 19,600, and with 19,000 James Mitchell has a similar stack to the WSOP bracelet winner.

Chris Brammer (29,400) and Sam Razavi (23,625) are two of the notables who are currently on their dinner break. — NW

5.55pm: Roberts roasts Mulders
After a limp from under the gun, Joe Roberts made it 900 from the hijack. Roberts came third in Galway a few weeks back and is on a UKIPT heater. Johannes Mulders was prepared to put Roberts to the test, though, and announced that he was all in for 8,025. The decision passed back round to Roberts, who said, “Call?” slightly quizzically, as if he was actually asking a question.

Joe Roberts

If he was doubting his decision, it turned out to be the right one. He tabled [9h][9c] and was ahead of Mulders’ [kd][qc] even before the flop – [5s][9d][ah] – gave him a set. The turn was [10s] and, well, look what came on the river: [9s]. Quads were good to take Roberts up to about 26,000. Mulders is out.

Liv Boeree is still table captain over there, mind you. She has about 55,000. Funnily enough, we have a photograph of Boeree from today.

Liv Boeree at UKIPT Nottingham season three

Why is it that even brand new photographers to the poker game head straight to Boeree’s table. — HS

5.50pm: Ainsworth doubles up
This post does exactly what it says in the title. I just saw Team PokerStars pro Jude Ainsworth score a near double up and eliminate William Dorey in the process.

Dorey was on the button and min-raised to 600, Ainsworth three-bet to 1,650 from the small blind, Dorey jammed all-in for just less than 10,000 and Ainsworth made the call.

Dorey: [Jd][10c]
Ainsworth [8s][8h]

The board ran [Kh][9d][Kd][8d][9s] and Dorey was drawing dead on the river, Ainsworth said: “There’d been a bit of history,” as he stacked his chips. Ainsworth up to 26,000 — NW

5.40pm: Food!
Earlier Kevin MacPhee tweeted that he couldn’t find the food button, given the context he meant fold, but it acts as a nice little segway to the fact that half the field are now attempting to find the food button as they’re on dinner break. The other half continue and play level six. — NW

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 150-300 25 ante

5.35pm: Thew through
In a bad few minutes for former EPT champions, Julian Thew has also left the building. Jake Cody, Toby Lewis and Liv Boeree are still in, but Kevin MacPhee is also on the sidelines.– HS

5.30pm: Coren crushed
Greg Howard has just accounted for Victoria Coren, sending the Team PokerStars Pro to the rail with flush-draw over flush-draw that became flush over flush. According to Howard, who was stacking up Coren’s remaining chips, Coren raised from the cut off to 700. David La Ronde called in the small blind and that persuaded Howard to call from the big.

They saw a flop of [5d][7d][7s] and La Ronde bet 850. Howard called and Coren moved all in for her last 6,000. La Ronde got out the way of that but Howard called with [kd][3d]. Coren had [jd][qd] and so if the flush had come, Coren would have been beaten. — HS

5.25pm: News in brief
Here’s a few snippets of what’s been happening on the tournament floor…

- Jamie Roberts is out, “I lost a 50k pot with queens against ace-king,” he told me
- Michael Piper is up to, “running good at getting people to do what i want,” he tweeted.
- Jeff Kimber has 40,000 a bit of a cryptic tweet but it seems a set of nines gave him a boost.
- Matt Perrins is on 16,000 and Toby Lewis has 11,000 both courtesy of recent double ups. — NW

5.20pm: Gift of the Gav
Fintan Gavin has racked up almost $1,400,000 in career earnings and I just saw a little flash of how he’s done that.

Grzegorz Matla opened to 650 on the button, Gavin three-bet to 1,700 from the small blind only for Rob Angood to make it 4,250 from the big blind. It passed back to Gavin and he made the call, leaving himself perhaps 11,000 back.

The flop was [Ah][9c][Js] and Gavin took the initiative, leading out for 6,000, Angood gave a sigh and extravagantly folded, by tossing his cards a couple of feet in the air towards the dealer. As he took the pot Gavin rolled over pocket fives and Angood made a face that suggested he folded the best hand. — NW

5.10pm: No Silver lining
I was about to write about how Max Silver and Jake Cody were sat at the same table but, Silver, who was down to 11,000, has just been eliminated. He tweeted, “Out. B3b ai on 983ss with JT and ran into 33. Gl all.”

Jake Cody though is very much alive, he’s got just above 15,000, I just saw him raise to 750 from the button and win the blinds uncontested. — NW

5pm: There’s no easy way…
…either to say this or to write it, but all of this lot will not be winning UKIPT Nottingham. They are the latest eliminees: Jamie Coonan, Endre Sagstuen, Femi Fakinle, Bayazit Zorlu, Gordon Happer, George Stewart, Winston Jones, Deborah Worley-Roberts, Jamie Birdsey, Sandiep Khosa, Adam York, Nicholas Prycem, Satnam Sandhu, Albert Rolander, Lloyd Bridge, Gavin Flynn, Chris Bulmer, Mateusz Warowiec, Dean Hendry, Ronan Gilligan, Daniel Charlton, Alex Rhys Davies, Tim Blake, Michael Horne, Alasdair Smith, Ben Martin, George Clyde-Smith, Firat Baltaci, Ifzal Mohammed, Yordan Petrov, Michal Polchlopek, Craig Betteridge, Anooj Sareen, Simeon Zacharias. — HS

4.50pm: 1603 and rising
The total number of players is now 1,603 one of the latest to take their seat in the tournament is none other than Dusk Till Dawn owner Rob Yong. He’s sat to the right of Jack Ellwood who is up to 24,000. — NW

4.40pm: Abou Risk out
Earlier Nick Abou Risk had spun his stack of 2,000 up to 8,000 but he’s now out. “Well that was fun… Out! KK < TT of Mr. R.Angood bvb to get me back to starting stack," he tweeted.

Elsewhere Sam Razavi is up to 32,000, Chris Dowling has 20,000, Jude Ainsworth is down to 10,000 and Mehtab Shabir appears to be the early chip leader with 65,000. – NW

4.30pm: Into level five
That’s the end of that break, and we are now progressing into level five. Vicky Coren may have wished the break had come a few minutes earlier as she lost a big chunk of her stack just at the end.

Coren is sitting close to media row, and we heard her say, “Ah, straight flush. Nice hand sir. Easy game.” And she soon headed to Twitter to confirm it: “Oh for heavens’ sake! Straight flush for my opponent, nice hand sir… Down to 10k now, need a change of fortune to buck these odds.”

Vicky Coren on day 1C

Follow Vicky at @VictoriaCoren. It’s good, because she often tweets about stuff that is nothing to do with poker.

Coren’s demise also gives us the opportunity to introduce our new photographer for the day, Mark Gregory. With poor Mickey May laid up sick, Gregory has been drafted in. His first subject was Coren, who he also then tracked outside on the break for a private shoot.

Cheers.

Reporting team in Nottingham: Howard Swains and Nick Wright. Photos: Mark Gregory.

Tags: action | Baltic Poker Festival | cash | European Poker Tour | events | france | jude ainsworth | julian-thew | news | nottingham | TOC | world-series

After a hiatus of something like five months, during which the UKIPT morphed temporarily into the EPT and then celebrated with a Champion of Champions event, regular season action reconvened this afternoon in Galway, the start of season three.

And it was good to be back.

The buy-in was a princely €700+€70 and the action was much the same. We started day 1A with 298 players, finished it with approximately 145, and the leader is Thomas Finneran, who crammed 89,600 into his bag.

That represents a near six-time increase of his 15,000 starting stack after a day on which the action was, of course, frantic.

Thomas Finneran, leader at the end of day 1A

One of the neat coincidences today was that the first player to hit the headlines in season three was last to trouble reporters during season two: Joeri Zandvliet. The Dutchman was the champion in Dublin last September, which was his second UKIPT title. However when he came to our attention during the first level of day 1A in Galway, it meant that he was the first man out. It’s not quite such a desired position.

Joeri Zandvliet, blink and you miss him. (Mickey May didn’t blink)

Zandvliet’s elimination began a drip, drip of players towards the door, which soon became a torrent. Jude Ainsworth, of Team PokerStars Pro, was swept away, likewise plenty of other familiar faces including Julian Thew, Fintan Gavin, Liam Flood, Jon Kalmar and Mick Graydon.

Fintan Gavin, out

Jude Ainsworth, out

The former champion Padraig Parkinson lasted all the way to the end, bagging up 16,600. Another man with a UKIPT title, Gareth Walker, also endured. He has 30,700. Somewhat higher up the ladder are Emmet Mullin (84,900), George Stoddart (84,400), James Estrop (83,300), Filip Hanusek (81,600) and Luca Franchi (79,700), who has a big following back home in Italy. Here’s your man:

Luca Franchi, Italy’s favourite

All of them are chasing Finneran, though. He is an EPT regular, with a handful of five-figure scores to his name. If he continues today’s form all the way to the final, he’ll be on for the biggest result of his career.

All of the remaining day 1A players are free to do as they please tomorrow as another mighty clutch of hopefuls begin day 1B. Rumours suggest that there could be more than 400 players joining the fray, who will go through the same eight one-hour levels, beginning at noon.

As ever we will be here to bring you all most some as much of the action as we can manage. In the meantime, look back on today with our level-by-level posts.

Levels 1-2 updates
Levels 3-4 updates
Levels 5-6 updates

Goodnight.

All PokerStars Blog photography from Galway is ©Mickey May.

Tags: Asia Pacific Poker Tour | eureka poker tour | france poker series | italian poker tour | news | pokerstars | pokerstars macau | Super Tuesday | tournaments | wbcoop | World Series of Poker

8pm: Movers and shakers
We’re into the last level of the night and as the blinds get bigger so do the swings, amongst the recent movers and shakers are: Phil Baker (64,000), Gavin O’Rourke (35,000), Thomas Ward (36,000) and Luca Franchi (48,000). For selected chip counts please click here.

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 300-600 ante 75

7.50pm: Too many outs accounts for Thew
You’d often back Julian Thew in even the tightest spots. He’s already hit one one-outer today (detailed at 6.40pm during level six updates), but even he could wriggle out of this one.

Folded to Thew in the cut-off, there was something pre-meditated about his shove with his final 5,850 chips. Ignotas Vainoras didn’t have to think too hard about his insta-call one seat to Thew’s left. He had [kh][kd].

Thew had [qc][9c] and although the flop brought hope – [3h][6s][9d] – the turn [8s] and river [7c] didn’t help. Thew departs. — HS

7.40pm: Double up or go home
It’s moving day or the moving level or something and whilst some double up some go home, here’s one of both:

Adrian Kelly had already put 2,500 into the pot when Pawel Walczak moved all-in for 8,700, Kelly got a count then called off the extra:

Kelly: [Ad][Kd]
Walczak: [Tc][Th]

Flop: [10d][9h][Ks] – something for everyone
Turn: [Qc] – Phil Baker, who wasn’t even in the hand physically winced at this card
River: [3c]

A double up for the Pole, whilst Kelly is down to 8,000.

Sadly for Ian Lebruce his tournament has come to an end he told me that Mateusz Warowiec did the damage and that it’s the second time that he’s knocked him out of a UKIPT. — NW

7.30pm: Flipping hell
A lot of us poker advocates like to claim that the tournament game is not just about big flips. And it’s not. But sometimes it is – especially nearing the end of a day, with a medium-sized stack and when a decent pair goes up against ace-king.

Stevie Higgins just knocked out Aurelijus Genevicius when the former had [ah][kh] and the latter had [jd][js]. Higgins opened for 1,050, Genevicius made it 2,050, Higgins shoved, covering Genevicius’s 6,000 additional chips, and the Lithuanian player called.

The board ran [9h][ac][4c][qc][ks] and Higgins won this flip, sending Genevicius to join the surge to the door. — HS

7.20pm: Exits
About a third of the field has bitten the dust thus far as the board is showing that 200 of the 298 players who started remain (although we suspect this number to be lower). Amongst those to have been left free to hit the bar are: Fred Oudshoorn, Benjamin Martin, Vinny O’Toole, Vinny Cosgrove and Dave Curtis. — NW

7.10pm: Jordan big up top
I did a whip round of the tournament floor during the last break and these lucky sods appear to be the current chip leaders: Gary Jordan (77,000), Filip Hanusek (68,400), George Stoddart (64,600), Sergi Monferrer Trevejo (62,400) and Joe Byrne (61,600). — NW

7.05pm: Hitting the final stretch
Players have returned from their break for the final two-hour stretch of day 1A. The tournament information board shows that 200 people remain, from a starting field of 298 today. I’d be very surprised if any fewer than 40 players depart in the coming 120 minutes. Plenty of folk have returned from this particular sojourn carrying glasses of liquid that do not look much like water. That will likely mean action. — HS

Claas Stoob: popular in the Blog comments box, and still going strong

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6.45pm: Half a dozen done
The first six levels of the day have flown by and there’s just two more to go. Join us in a new post in 20 minutes. — NW

6.40pm: One out will Thew it
Lucky lucky Julian Thew. ‘I hit a one outer,” he told me. “A Dutch guy (Reinier Slabbekoorn) who’d been active raised and I moved all-in for 20 big blinds with [A][5], he called with pocket kings and I hit an ace, the other two had already been folded. I’ve got 16,200 and it feels like 100,000.’ If a change of footwear doesn’t do it a one outer certainly will. — NW

6.35pm: Guinness is good for you
Przemysław Piotrowski was away from table 19 for a while, and when he returned, he was clutching a pint of familiar black liquid. “That cures bad beats,” said his neighbour Paul McGovern, who may or may not have seen his Polish adversary just take a hit. — HS

From Pole to Pole people love the black stuff

6.30pm: We’re watching you watching us
A big hello to Dara O’Kearney, who takes the prize as the first player spotted in today’s field reading PokerStars Blog updates on his smart phone. O’Kearney is currently on about 31,000 and has earned himself a place on our chip-count page where we’ll track his progress. — HS

Dara O’Kearney

6.25pm: Hill climbing
Mike Hill, who I believe is tied on three with Joeri Zandvliet for most UKIPT final tables, has had a bit of a boost but still finds himself below average on 19,000. “I won a flip,” said Hill in a manner as unflappable as his playing style. — NW

6.20pm: And one more
On the subject of chip leaders, Nick Bemmel has about 62,000, which probably puts him top of the tree. — HS

6.10pm: Chip leaders
There are a few players approaching or over the 50,000 mark. Amongst them are Ross Johnson (51,000) and Phil Baker (47,000). I just saw Baker take down a pot with little resistance, having opened to 800 he picked up three callers, he then c-bet the [8s][4c][3d] flop and got no action. Baker seemingly running over the table with his cards rather than his mouth today as he’s unusually quiet. He’s got Gavin O’Rourke for company at his table, he’s on 29.750. — NW

6pm: Flood sunk
Another notable name in these parts, Liam Flood, is now also out. He is now striding around the tournament area in his trademark suit and tie. He wants to be careful though: the floor-staff are also impeccably turned out here and he might well be called over to give a ruling. — HS

5.50pm: Exits
Amongst the latest casualties are: Paul Lucey, Paul Delaney and Fergal Nealon. — NW

210 players remain and the average stack is 21,285. — NW

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 150-300 ante 25

5.45pm: Wright lays death’s finger on Baldwin
No sooner has Nick Wright declared him PokerStars Qualifier of the Day than Alfie Baldwin is out. It truly is the kiss of death.

Here’s how it happened:

Tomas Geleziunas opened from under-the-gun to 750 and Claas Stoob called. Damien Quinlan, who had only recently joined the table, moved all in for his last 5,500-ish and Baldwin then looked down at jacks in the big blind.

He moved all in over the top for about 16,000 but was in a bad way when Geleziunas instantly called. Stoob folded, so it was three of them left, all with pocket pairs.

Quinlan had the shortest stack, and had fives. Baldwin had the medium stack, and had jacks, but Geleziunas covered them both with his aces. Quinlan managed to survive, when he flopped a five. But the side pot went to the aces of Geleziunas, sending Baldwin out. — HS

5.30pm: PokerStars Qualifier of the Day
Meet Alfie Baldwin, 31, from London. He’s our adopted PokerStars Qualifier of the Day. The Londoner won his package to UKIPT Galway at the very last minute, snagging a seat in a qualifier just a week ago. He’s got a hot hand at the moment though as in December he had his biggest ever cash in an event in Prague where he won $35,500. Alfie combines playing poker with his career as a picture editor and has one UKIPT cash to his name thus far.

PokerStars qualifier Alfie Baldwin

At the moment our intrepid qualifier has just popped his head above starting stack and has 15,200. He’s sharing a table with Andy Bradshaw, Annette O’Carroll (20,150), Claas Stoob (41,800) and Ernst Hermans (21,700). The latter is a player who Baldwin describes as ‘tasty’ and Hermans results back this up as he has more than $660,000 in lifetime winnings. — NW

5.20pm: Walker doubles
Whilst some familiar names are going home, the sole surviving UKIPT champion in the Day 1A field has doubled up. Gareth Walker, who took down UKIPT Nottingham in Season 2 tweeted: ‘Waited for aces, they came, got it in vs @RoscoJohnson AK and held.’ Walker up to around 20,000 after that coup. — NW

5.15pm: More stars are snuffed out
It’s been a bad hour or so to be an established player here in Galway as Fintan Gavin, Mick McCloskey, John Kalmar and Mick Graydon have all bust, in addition to Jude Ainsworth. There will likely be some tasty cash games tonight. — HS

No more pins in the hat of Mick McCloskey

5.10pm: Ainsworth ain’t worth anything
Jude Ainsworth was the only Team PokerStars Pro in the field today, which makes him the first Team PokerStars Pro to hit the rail. Ainsworth has a PhD in biochemistry from the National University of Ireland right here in Galway, and he’s going to have a few hours to catch up with his old lab mates after an early elimination from this tournament.

He opened from mid-position and was called in the big blind by Gavin Keana. The two of them were alone to a [6h][2h][3c] flop, which Keana checked. Ainsworth bet 1,125 and Keana raised to 8,000, which was more than Ainsworth had behind.

Ainsworth seemed to be contemplating folding, but eventually called. However his [5h][5s] was behind Keana’s [7h][7s] and he couldn’t hit any of his outs on the [as][3s] turn and river.

The pain ends for Jude Ainsworth

Vicky Coren and Liv Boeree, other members of Team PokerStars Pro from UK and Ireland, both beam out from posters on the edge of the tournament room, but it remains to be seen whether either will make an appearance on day 1B. — HS

5.05pm: Graydon not flush with chips
I missed the pre-flop action but Mick Graydon (big blind) and John Keown (middle position) created a pre-flop pot of roughly 2,200 and the flop fell [10d][Kd][9d].

First to act Graydon led for 1,300, call from Keown. The turn was the [2h] bet of 3,000 from Graydon, call from Keown. The [Kh] completed the board, this time Graydon checked to Keown who bet 4,975 and after getting a count of the bet from the dealer Graydon tossed in a single blue 5k chip.

Keown revealed [Tc][Ts] and Graydon mucked his hand in frustration before saying words to the effect that he had a flush. After that hiccup Graydon is down to 4,500. — NW

4.55pm: Exits
In the opening four levels we lost 50 players (roughly 17% of today’s field) amongst the latest bust outs are: Fergus Beirne, Conor Murphy, Ramunas Skardzius and Andris Reševskis. — NW

4.50pm: Premium hands, differing results
So, as promised here are a couple of hands from the end of the last level. Both involved big pairs against under-pairs, but the results were somewhat different.

First up, we passed by table four just as John Ward was betting all his 9,300 stack into a pot of 9,550. The board read [10s][kd][10h]. Fergus Beirne was in the tank with an almost identical stack to that of Ward, and after a short while made the call. He turned over [9d][9c] was in some pain against Ward’s [as][ah].

Nothing weird happened on turn and river and that was that for Beirne.

Moments later, there was a similar-seeming hand playing out on table 14. This time Andris Reševskis and Mark Southcott were the players involved, with stacks of close to 10,000 each, both in the middle.

The board was all the way to the river – [8h][9c][2c][4h][js] – and Reševskis was looking for the exit. His [kd][kc] had been outdrawn by Southcott’s [2d][2h]. — HS

4.45pm: Beyond half way
We’ve still got some action to report from the end of the last level, which we’ll get to in a moment. But we’ll kick off this new level with the following:

We’ve just had a word on media row with Colin Myott, who is going along nicely on day 1A here in Galway. He tells us there are folk following his progress from home, and we can report that he’s currently sitting with about 18,000 chips. (Starting stack was 15,000.)

We know Graham Parkin also has some followers – thanks for the comment Tim Berry. Parkin is faring even better. He has 39,500, which is more than double his starting stack.

There were close to 300 players starting here today, so it’s obviously impossible for us to keep updated with everyone at all times. However, if there’s anyone in particular you’d like us to look out for, please leave a comment in the box below and we’ll do our best to track their progress.

And if you have a bit of biographical information about them too, that’s all the better to aid the coverage. We can also be bribed with Jaffa Cakes. — HS

The UKIPT’s youngest entrant*, with Andrew Bradshaw

*Important legal point: this boy is not really playing.

Reporting team in Galway: Howard Swains and Nick Wright

Tags: Asia Pacific Poker Tour | Battle of the Planets | dealer | european | polish | portugal poker series | season 2 | UKIPT | world cup of poker | World Series of Poker

3.30pm: Numbers
With the start of level four that means late registration for Day 1A of UKIPT Galway has ended. So I can confirm that there’s a total of 298 runners on Day 1A which is 32 more than played this event last season. Although last seasons event had the slightly higher buy-in of €1,000, if there are more than 82 runners tomorrow (which there will be) then the prize pool will surpass last seasons €266,000. — NW

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 100-200

3.20pm: Exits
There’s been a steady stream of exits during level three with another 10 players being eliminated. Amongst those unlucky few were: Micahel Leen, Piotr Majewski and UKIPT Edinburgh third place finisher Jamie Dale. — NW

3.10pm: Battle of the blinds 2012 style
Back in the olden days of poker – you know, like 10 years ago – a battle of the blinds usually meant little more than a speculative raise from the small blind and then a hurried fold if there was any resistance, perhaps with a ticking off for having been caught with ones fingers in the cookie jar. (If anything else happened, it was clear the players were packing two big hands and then it would likely result in a big old shove and a couple of sets of rolled eyes about how lucky/unlucky they had been.)

These days things aren’t quite so cut and dried, and pots tend to swell much more slowly. There’s also no guarantee that anyone has anything approaching “a hand”.

Such may well have been the case just now, when Mick Graydon and his neighbour Nicholas Newport got involved. Folded to Graydon in the small blind, he raised to 425. Newport, in the big, defended with a three bet to 1,050.

Michael Graydon, UKIPT Galway day 1A

Graydon four bet to 2,650 and Newport five bet to 4,150. Only then did Graydon whip his cards from under his trademark Alsation dog protector and toss them in the muck.

Graydon’s action, of course, suggested he was quite packing the premium hand his four bet had intimated. And although we never saw Newport’s cards, it’s far from certain he was holding aces or kings either. Yep, the game has changed. — HS

3pm: Chip counts
Here’s a few more chip counts: Mike Hill (16,175), the Englishman saying: ‘I think I might have left the tournament in the bar last night,’ Mick Graydon (16,000), the Irishman deep in conversation with Nicholas Newport who’s two to his left. Ben Martin has 19,000 and is, as usual, looking composed and focused. At the other end of the scales Jon Kalmar (11,000) and Padraig Parkinson (24,000) both are definitely the captains of their respective tables when it comes to banter. — NW

Irish poker legend Padraig Parkinson

2.55pm: Up and down with Jude Ainsworth
Jude Ainsworth is pretty much impossible to read. We’ve seen him play tournaments both online and off, for buy ins of €500 to €10,000, and yet we’re no closer to knowing the formula he uses to put together his glittering list of cashes.

What we have learned, however, is that no one else can read him either. Putting him on a hand is a fool’s errand. The confusion he manages to instill in all opponents often means that he stands a much higher chance of being called than most, even when he is packing the goods.

We saw earlier that he had queens cracked by 7-8 in a four-bet pre-flop bet. Bu the better news for the Team PokerStars Pro is that he has just managed to double up to about 8,500 with big slick.

Raymond Daly opened to 475 from early position and Paweł Brzeski called from mid. Ainsworth, sitting on the button, shoved for 4,150 and Daly called. (Brzeski didn’t.)

Ainsworth tabled his [ad][kc] and Daly showed [ac][qc]. Any fears of an outdraw were reduced on a [kd][ks][4c] flop, and the [2s] turn finished it in Ainsworth’s favour.

He is still only just north of half his starting stack, while Daly could afford the hit. He has in the region of 19,000 even after that coup. — HS

2.50pm: Keeping up with the kidz
Whisper it quietly but Julian Thew is now one of the elder statesmen of the UK poker scene. (Does this apply to anyone who has a Hendon Mob database entry pre Chris Moneymaker?). Regardless he’s keeping up with the kids in more ways than one today as he’s sporting a rather natty padded coat complete with furry hood. ‘It’s to keep warm,’ he protested.

He’s a little below starting stack, he recently tweeted: ‘plodsville central; 14k…technical adjustments necessary; have changed footwear,” rumours that his new footwear is a crocs n’ socks combo are as yet just that, rumours. — NW

Julian Thew

2.40pm: Ace-king?
Filip Hanusek opened the button to 425 and David Sommerfield three bet, to what looked like 1,700, from the small blind. Hanusek called and it was the two of them to the flop.

The dealer exposed [ad][7h][8c], which Sommerfield checked. Hanusek bet 1,250 and Sommerfield called. The pattern repeated almost precisely on the [qc] turn, ie, Sommerfield checked, Hanusek bet 1,700 and Sommerfield called.

The river was [2s] and we went through it, with a bit of tinkering, again. Check from Sommerfield, Hanusek bet 2,1250 and then pause. Sommerfield counted out the call, which would leave him with 6,325 if he was wrong.

After a couple of minutes pondering, eventually Sommerfield decided to throw the call into the middle. Hanusek tabled [as][qh] and Sommerfield looked to the sky and mucked. — HS

2.35pm: Gift of the Gav
In another hand that took place at the very end of level two, I saw Fintan Gavin scoop a nice pot of around 7,000.

There was betting on the flop and turn of a [Jh][Jd][Jc][6d] board before both Michael Leen and Gavin checked the [Kd] river: ‘I hope you’ve got nines and not jacks,” said Gavin as he showed [Th][Tc], ‘I was chasing,’ said Leen as he showed [As][Qs]. Gavin up to 22,000. — NW

2.30pm: Hey Presto
I only caught the river action but just before the break Nicholas Newport got max value from a flopped set. With the board showing [Ah][8s][5c][9h][4d] and around 11,000 in the middle, Newport had set his opponent (Anibal De Campos Sanchez) all-in for around 9,500. After tanking for about two minutes Sanchez announced call, Newport showed [5s][5h] and Sanchez mucked.

“Nice hand, you went for max value” said a table mate. ‘Yeah I had him on A-K, A-Q or A-J,” replied Newport. — NW

2.25pm: Spelling salvation
At the end of the last level, we got news that both Vladislav Saveliev and Anibal De Campos Sanchez had been knocked out. Nothing personal, but that’s a weight off the mind of us weary typists.

Noel Hayes is also out. His name is much more agreeable to the tournament reporter, but it wasn’t to be for the Irishman either. — HS

2.20pm:Usually you win the pot
During the break I found Joeri Zandvliet and he talked me through his exit hand: ‘A guy opened to 125 there were two callers and I called with pocket sixes. Then another player made it 600 to go and there was three callers including me.

‘The flop was [3][4][5] and we checked to the raiser who bet 1,200 and I was the only caller. The turn was an eight and he bet 1,800 into a pot of 5,000, I raised to 4,800 and after some thought he called. The river was a jack and I shoved 9,000 into 13,000 and he called with a set of fours. I’m 100% certain he would have folded aces, kings or queens in that spot. Usually I win that pot but pocket fours is a weird hand to have there!’ — NW

Joeri Zandvliet – still smiling

Reporting team in Galway: Howard Swains and Nick Wright. Photos by Mickey May.

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2pm: Two down, six to go
That’s the end of the first couple of levels, and players are being sent away for their first 20-minute break of the day. There’s a new initiative in place to persuade the players to depart the tournament room as quickly as possible: “Free T-shirts available at the Welcome Desk!”

There’s nothing quite like free stuff to get poker players scurrying in a certain direction. That and a nicotine addiction, of course.

Join us in a new post for the continuation of the action. — HS

1.55pm: A start to the action
Things are gradually coming to the boil, especially on table 10 where at least two players have departed. The main person to profit has been Claus Stoob, who is sitting with something like 38,000 and change, significantly more than double his starting stack.

Also on that table is Andrew Bradshaw, who is playing his characteristically action-packed game. Annette O’Carroll just made a standard opening raise from mid-position and Bradshaw moved all in – for about 8,000 – from the small blind. O’Carroll didn’t fancy risking that much at this stage. The blinds are 50-100 in level two, remember. — HS

1.45pm: Exits
Thanks to the hard working team behind the scenes we’ve got our hands on a provisional seat draw which means we can put names to numbers. Not only does that enable us to more accurately report on hands but we can also tell you who’s been eliminated so far. As well as Joeri Zandvliet, Derek Murray, Xue Yun Wu, Mark Spellman and Tim Davie have all been sent to the rail. — NW

1.35pm: Zandvliet first out
Earlier we reported that 3103 was the first player out, we can now put a name to that face thanks to UKIPT Nottingham champion Gareth Walker. I wandered past his table and he told me: “It was Joeri who was first out,” that’d be Joeri Zandvliet, two-time UKIPT champion. Somewhere Nick Abou Risk is smiling. As for Walker he’s down to about 13,800. — NW

1.25pm: New buy in, new approach
It should be mentioned that the buy in for this tournament is €700 (+€70), which represents an increase from previous years, where a seat cost €500 (+€50). The hike in buy in might be one explanation for the slow start to proceedings here in Galway, where only two players have bust in the first 90 minutes of play.

It’s doubtful that the extra €220 has really contributed that much, as anyone who has ever attended an EPT will attest to lunacy in the opening levels, where everyone is parting with more than €5,000. But something has to be to blame. — HS

1.15pm: Chip counts
There’s been little movement in the first hour (just the one player gone) but here’s how some of the names and notables stack up: Alfie Baldwin (14,925), Dara O’Kearney (15,800), Ian LeBruce (17,500), Jamie Dale (17,000), Jude Ainsworth (6,700) Julian Thew (13,000), Liam Flood (16,375), Mick McClosky (14,700), Nicky Power (14,000) Phil Baker (15,200) Piotr Majewski (16,700) and Thomas Ward (14,800). We’ll be updating the chip counts page throughout the day. — NW

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 50-100

1pm: Ainsworth takes a hit
Team PokerStars Pro Jude Ainsworth doesn’t seem to have much luck on home soil in UKIPT events. He’s down to around 6,700 after losing a hefty pot. I didn’t see the hand, just the showdown, but his opponent held [8c][7h] and the board included four clubs. Ainsworth had a face that looked like he was ahead to the river.

Edit: A tweet from Jude (@Jainsworthpoker) reveals that he had pocket queens in the above hand. — NW

Jude Ainsworth, no respect for reputations

12.55pm: Dream flop
What kind of flop do you want to see when you call a raise, in position, with [qs][3s]? A queen and not too much action? A couple of spades, perhaps, and play it strong?

Even Wiejie Zheng probably couldn’t have dreamed for what he did end up seeing: [3h][3d][3c] and an opponent betting into him.

In the event, his adversary smelled a rat and lost the minimum with his [6h][6d]. Zheng called the flop bet, they both checked the turn and then Zheng raised the 1,025 bet on the river to 3,050 and got a crying call.

That call was especially disciplined. The river was the [6c], so it was quads against a boat for a pot of less than 10,000. Wild? Not so.– HS

12.50pm: From EPT to UKIPT
The last UKIPT event (excluding EPT London) was way back in September and took place about two and a half hours east of here in Dublin. Since then a number of UKIPT regulars have had sizable scores at EPT events.

Mick ‘BigMickG’ Graydon, who was Ireland’s first ever Supernova Elite, came eighth at EPT Deauville at the beginning of February. The Irishman will be hoping for at least a repeat of his performance at this tournament in 2009 when he finished fourth.

And Team PokerStars Pro Jude Ainsworth had a deep run at EPT Prague before ultimately busting in 14th place. Both are in the field today. — NW

12.45pm: And now they start
And no sooner was that last post written than the first player was sent to the rail. At the moment all we know about him/her is that they carried the player ID 3103. Hard luck if you had that number in the sweepstake, your man is down. We’ll endeavour to fit a name to the number as soon as possible. — HS

12.40pm: Shock horror
This is Ireland, land of the black stuff, four-leaf clover and some notoriously wild poker players. But after a perfectly punctual start, at 12 noon on the dot, we made it all the way to 12.30pm – a full 30 minutes – without a single elimination. — HS

12.30pm: Chip leader?
Tour regular Ian LeBruce is situated at the ‘feature table’, so called because it’s the one that’s closest to media row. He just wandered over did a little fist pump and mouthed ‘Seventeen thousand five hundred,’ at me. Early chip leader? Probably. You can check out all the chip counts here. — NW

12.20pm: Spotter’s badge
A few players I’ve spotted on my first lap of the room/with the help of the players list: Two time UKIPT winner Joeri Zandvliet, one time UKIPT winner Gareth Walker, Irish legends Liam Flood, Phil Baker, Padraig Parkinson, Mick Graydon and Mick McCloskey. And International bright young things Piotr Majewski, Nicholas Newport, Jamie Dale and Thomas Ward. Stacked. — NW

12 noon: Away we go
Morning all. There’s a “first day back at school” feeling on the west coast of Ireland today as the UKIPT reconvenes for its first event of season three.

Here were are back in Galway, one of a handful of stops that has featured on every season so far. The first event here was won by the local legend Padraig Parkinson, and last year the UKIPT-legend-in-the-making Nick Abou Risk won his second title.

Nick Abou Risk celebrates victory in Galway

Were expecting similar excitement today as at least 250 players gather for day 1A. Talk is that we may make it all the way to 750-800 over the two starting flights.

We’ll play eight one-hour levels, no dinner break, which means the well-stocked bars should spend the rest of the day filling up with black stuff.

And on we go.

Reporting team in Galway: Howard Swains and Nick Wright.

Tags: 2011 | australia | belgian poker series | european | European Poker Tour | italian poker tour | latin-america | Super Tuesday | TOC | tournaments

8.50pm: Split banquet
The introductory part of the gridiron is going on banquet shiver pronto. Unused degree 7 & 8 announce human clique up forthwith. — RD

8.38pm: Burland up further depressed
Burland is up to 43,000 besides attitude a puny dejected about hardly having also. The UKIPT Brighton conqueror told us that he had preoccupied a 40,000 caldron beside flyer-monarch to hero-sovereign unconditional-in pre-fizzle, which would acquire given him a famous mound at this proposition in the date. He objective astray a tiny wager to David Connors, who had brake-called depressed on a [2s][kc][6c][td][2c] accommodate accompanying [ks][js] to declare a 8,000 caldron. Connors is up to 55,000. — RD

8.20pm: Climbing up that Elevation
Rife UKIPT leaderboard forehead smuggler Mike Knob has ethical doubled up at the cost of Bait Urdiales. The Mancunian raised to somewhere among 600 plus 1,000 (there was merely a solitary nugget 1,000 chisel on the felt in oppose of him), Barry Donovan trio-bet to 2,800 further Worry Urdiales next moved total-in for 12,475. Spine on Bank moreover he moreover moved sum-in, for 9,400 total also Donovan got absent the method.

Pile: [Qc][Qs]
Donovan: [Jh][Jc]

The tribunal of [7s][9c][8s][4c][Ad] was a conservative united for Mound, Donovan was eliminated directly posterior. — NW

Mike Dune – ago to an typical stow

8.06pm: Astray in rendition
Gloss online qualifier Robert Borzyszkowski is currently stood six feet begone from hellos schedule looking a miniature thoughtful. A crisp curvaceous foe had called from the chop-away which he had opinion was an total-in, he pushed in after further threw hellos crackerjack-matriarch on their abet (so I heard). Hellos antagonist, who held cavity sevens, had indeed righteous called pre-loser however positive to originate the elect anyway (well, you would). Borzyszkowski won the extremity moreover was therefore docked a undivided-ammunition punishment. — RD

7.55pm: No standpoint, content
Brett Angell ripe messenger-up at UKIPT Nottingham in a scope o

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5.41pm: ‘No more joli’
Lucien Cohen is dancing in his chair singing the same ditty over and over. It goes something like this: “Oo, oo, oooo, pahba ba ba, c’est joli.”

“No more Joli,” said a slightly irritated looking Pieter de Korver, who is currently sat just behind De Korver. The request appears to have been ignored.

Will Fry is up to 240,000 after busting Ivan Freitez. — RD

5.32pm: Lewis and Freitez out
That’s three of this season’s champions that have fallen with Toby Lewis and Ivan Freitez joining Ben Wilinofsky on the rail. That said, Wilinofsky is not on the rail, he’s massaging Anton Wigg. It’s a slightly surreal slight. And Pascal Perrault is also out. — RD

5.26pm: Correction
Make that 43, EPT2 Grand Final winner Jeff Williams is out. — SB

5.25pm: Numbers
44 players remain. — SB

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 600-1,200, ANTE 100

5.20pm: Wigg whams ElkY
Anton Wigg opened in early position, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier raised to 7,200 in the cut off before Wigg raised to 18,700 and ElkY raised again. Wigg shoved for 111,900, ElkY called. It was all very straight forward.

Wigg [qh][qc]
Grospellier [as][kd]

The board came [3s][7d][4c][4d][tc]. Wigg doubles to nearly 230,000. ElkY crippled though, down to 4,500. – SB

5.10pm: One Constant
Constant Rijkenberg and Jason Mercier are now on the “fun” table. Rijkenberg opened a pot for 1,600 from under-the-gun which Alexander Stevic called, as did Mike McDonald on the big blind for a flop of [4s][9h][3h].

McDonald checked, Rijkenberg bet 2,300 and both Stevic and McDonald called for a [9s] turn. Again McDonald checked to Rijkenberg who bet 5,300. Stevic then raised to 12,000 which McDonald raised to 23,200. Rijkenberg passed to Stevic who called for a [4h] river card.

McDonald dumped in another 32,100 into the middle. Stevic tanked, and passed. McDonald, as the rules of the table dictate, showing one card, the [8s]. McDonald up to 115,000. Stevic down to 73,000. – SB

5.08pm: Another faller
EPT Baden champion Julian Thew is out.

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 500-1,000, ANTE 100

5.04pm: Romanello ruining French relations
I’m not entirely sure what’s going on at the TV table but it seems that Roberto Romanello has taken exception to the fact that Jan Boubli isn’t playing truth or dare. Someting to do with top to bottom or bottom to top.

“Sometimes you have to put your foot down in life,” said Romanello trying to force Vicky Coren to badger Boubli into answering. She quickly declined. Lively action which you can follow at EPT Live. — RD

Roberto Romanello

5pm: You can take the boy out of the poker room, but…
During the break I walked past Galen Hall who was saying, without a hint of irony: “Each time you win with seven-deuce you win €700, that’s a third of your tournament equity.” It’s a fair point and also shows how poker players just can’t turn off! — RD

4.52pm: Wilinofksy out
Ben Wilinofsky just ran [ah][kd] into the [ad][ac] of Reuben Peters. No miracle outdraw and Peters chips up to 180,000. — RD

4.42pm: Back into the action
We’ve lost Nicholas Chouity to Michael Tureniec but it was Will Fry who largely did the damage. “I kept donk calling him because he kept paying me off. He said to me, ‘How did you win an EPT?’,” said a very amused Fry, who is now sat on 180,000. — RD

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 400-800, ANTE 50

4.16pm: Eight rooms, three flights of stairs, 1 minute 46 seconds
That is our journey to the CoC room. And what did I see on my most recent trip?

Tim Vance was up on his feet stabbing the air with his sunglasses in the direction of Jens Kyllonen. Vance is quite a character and should he get chips he’ll cause a lot of problems. He’s above his starting now…

Will Fry had spoken to me before the tournament and said that his strategy was basically to wind people up. It seems to be working. He’s up to 160,000 after raking in a pot with a straight against last year’s Grand Final winner Nicholas Chouity who threw his arms up in frustration. “He’s beating me in every pot!” he ranted before telling the table at large the hands Fry has beaten him with.

Jason Mercier has taken the seat vacated by Vladimir Geshkenbein and instantly accepts invitation into the seven-deuce game. — RD

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 300-600, ANTE 50

4.05pm: Geshkenbein out
Geshkenbein is out, all-in against Anton Wigg with only one card of each hand face up, Wigg’s jack to Geshkenbein’s king. Wigg made the flush though, both players turning over sevens, Wigg’s being a crucial spade. Handshakes all round for the entertaining Snowfest winner. We’re already starting to miss him. – SB

Vladimir Geshkenbein

4pm: Geshkenbein playing a blinder
This “last day of term” tournament continues with more commotion on the fun table, where Vladimir Geshkenbein was just all-in. Anton Wigg did the calling, showing a respectable [js][qh]. Geshkenbein was waiting for the cameras to arrive before showing. When he did he turned over [7d][2s].

You’ll be aware by now that there’s a bet going on, worth €100 from each player, to any other player who wins a hand with seven-deuce. This opportunity certainly wasn’t going to pass by Geshkenbein uncontested.

The flop…

[7h][7c][6h].

The table erupted in cheers and laughter as €100 notes began to flutter in Geshkenbein’s direction. For his part, he’d stood, arms aloft before making a thrusting motion with his pelvis. The turn came [ad], the river the [2d].

“Nuts,” said Geshkenbein, still alive. – SB

3.55pm: First faller
Salvatore Bonavena is the first player to depart, something I only discovered after I’d warmly said “Hi Salvtore!” as I passed him coming down the stairs.

He got his money in on the turn with the board reading [9d][ad][2d][kc]. Harrison Gimbel called, showing [kd][8d] to Bonavena’s ace-king. The [2c] on the river sent Bonavena on his collision course with the thoughtless blogger on the stairs. – SB

Salvatore Bonavena
3.50pm: Table draw
Here you go, folks. Her’s that table draw, but you can eliminate two players; Salavatore Bonavena and… the next KO is about to be revealed.

1. Sandra Naujoks EPT5 Dortmund Team PokerStars Pro
3. Jeff Williams EPT2 Monte Carlo
4. Kevin Stani EPT7 Tallinn
5. Jan Skampa EPT6 Prague
6. David Vamplew EPT7 London
7. Roland de Wolfe EPT3 Dublin
8. Kent Lundmark EPT7 Barcelona

1. Constant Rijkenberg EPT5 San Remo
3. Michael Martin EPT5 London
4. Michael Tureniec EPT7 Copenhagen
5. Jason Mercier EPT4 San Remo Team PokerStars Pro
6. Noah Boeken EPT1 Copenhagen Team PokerStars Pro
7. Pascal Perrault EPT1 Vienna
8. Mats Iremark EPT2 French

1. Tim Vance EPT4 Copenhagen
3. Bjorn-Erik Glenne EPT3 Barcelona
4. Rob Hollink EPT1 Monte Carlo
5. Antonio Matias EPT6 Vilamoura
6. Julian Thew EPT4 Baden
7. Jens Kyllönen EPT5 Copenhagen
8. Kevin MacPhee EPT6 Berlin

1. Andreas Hoivold EPT3 Dortmund
3. Pieter de Korver EPT5 Monte Carlo Team PokerStars Pro
4. Christophe Benzimra EPT6 Warsaw
5. Toby Lewis EPT7 Vilamoura
6. Rupert Elder EPT7 San Remo
7. Brandon Schaefer EPT1 Deauville
8. Galen Hall 2011 PCA

1. Salvatore Bonavena EPT5 Prague Team PokerStars Pro
3. Harrison Gimbel 2010 PCA
4. Will Fry EPT5 Hungarian
5. João Barbosa EPT5 Warsaw
6. Ivan Freitez EPT7 Grand Final
7. Lucien Cohen EPT7 Deauville
8. Nicolas Chouity EPT6 Monte Carlo

1. Reuben Peters EPT4 Dublin
2. Roberto Romanello EPT7 Prague
3. Michael Eiler EPT7 Vienna
4. Vicky Coren EPT3 London Team PokerStars Pro
5. Michael Schulze EPT4 Warsaw
6. Liv Boeree EPT6 San Remo Team PokerStars Pro
7. Jan Boubli EPT2 Barcelona
8. Ben Wilinofsky EPT7 Berlin

1. Mike McDonald EPT4 German
3. Arnaud Mattern EPT4 Prague Team PokerStars Pro
4. Anton Wigg EPT6 Copenhagen
5. Alexander Stevic EPT1 Barcelona
6. Vladimir Geshkenbein EPT7 SnowFest
7. Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier 2008 PCA Team PokerStars Pro
8. Maxim Lykov EPT6 Kyiv Team PokerStars Pro

There’s a great atmosphere here – I’ve only been at one tournament similar, and that ended up very messy indeed. — RD

3.47pm: Give me seven deuce
At least three players are at least €500 up already today from the seven-deuce game; Elky, Max Lykov and Alexander Stevic. Each time a player wins with [7][2] a flutter of green €100 notes is tossed at the grinning bluffer. It’s being played at just one table from what I can see. It’s likely to spread… Arnaud Mattern is begging for seven deuce. — RD

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 250-500, ANTE 50

3.40pm: Lykov in control
On a board of [th][qh][5c][6h][6s], and with 10,000 in the middle, Max Lykov was assessing his options. Then he bet 300. This caused great mirth at the table. Mike McDonald, in the hand with him, raised to 7,300 before Lykov raised again to 18,200. More laughter.

“I call,” said McDonald.

“Six,” replied Lykov, showing [ad][6d].

“Yeah, I figured,” said McDonald.

Pot to the Russian. – SB

3.30pm: The fun table
It’s pretty clear that the fun table is the ElkY table, with the likes of Arnaud Matter, Mike McDonald, Max Lykov and Vladimir Geshkenbein all getting into the spirit of things.

For a start the hands are played a lot faster than you’d ordinarily see. On a flop of [4s][kd][9c] Geshkenbein 300 under-the-gun, ElkY Grospellier 600 one seat along, Lykov called, another seat along, Geshkenbein called.

The turn came [3h]. Geshkenbein bet 300, Grospellier raised to 1,225 forcing Lykov out. Geshkenbein called for a [9h] river card. Geshkenbein checked, then open surrendered, folding his six-deuce face up to save Grospellier the time. The Frenchman showed pocket jacks.

Vladimir Geshkenbein drained his glass. “Sir,” he said, looking at the dealer. “where is the nice person who’ll bring us alcoholic drinks?” – SB

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 200-400, ANTE 50

3.20pm: Great banter
This is a €100,000 freeroll with 50 runners, that’s €2,000 a head. Not bad for a one day turbo, eh? All our 50 champions won more than that when they claimed their title and the ensuing levity on the tournament floor is not hard to see. Will Fry is trying to wind up both Ivan Freitez and Lucien Cohen; “I’m going to stack you,” he said to the pair, or perhaps it was “whack,” which would give an entirely different meaning.

The next table along has Anton Wigg, Arnaud Mattern, Elky, Max Lykov and Vladimir Geshkenbein and it’s the last two mentioned that just played a bizarre hand against each other where Geshkenbein open mucked on the [7s][5s][4h][3c][2s] river. Lykov showed king-high.

“Nice bluff call on the turn,” said Geshkenbein, “you made me open muck.”

“Open folding, that’s pretty strong,” said Betrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier with a smile. This is going to be a fun tournament. — RD

3.05pm: Prop bets, get your prop bets
EPT presenter Michelle Orpe is asking players at each table if they have any prop bets, not unlike a cinema ice cream vendor. Galen Hall has ideas, starting with the first hand of every new level played with one hole car face up. Then he suggests every four-bet should be accompanied by a shot, every five bet should be played shirtless. Lose the five bet and someone else wears your shirt. – SB

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 150-300, ante 25

3pm: Coren takes an early lead
EPT London winner Vicky Coren has taken an early lead here at the Champion of Champions after shoving the river of a [5c][kd][3d][4d][ks] board into Jan Boubli. The Frenchman drops to 52,000, Coren up to 147,000. A seat draw is on its way, currently getting cobbled together in the hot box that is the EPT Grand Final press room.
The players are starting with a huge 100,000 stack for 500 big blinds.– RD

2.50pm: The last seven years
It’s all a bit strange walking around the tournament room today, with every work trip I’ve made in the past six years represented by every single player. My life is literally flashing in front of my eyes.

That said it’s pretty impressive out there, seven tables filled with “notables”, although I nearly just accused Bjorn-Erik Glenne (complete with moustache) or being an impostor.
One player of note, but who is easy to miss, is Alexander Stevic, winner of the first ever EPT event back in Barcelona, in Season 1.

Remember, players start with 100,000 chips with rapid-fire 20 minute levels taking us through to a winner tonight. Every player qualified in a satellite (buy-ins between €3,000 and €10,000), and stands to win a share of the €100,000 prize pool made up of EPT buy-ins. — SB

2.40pm: Cards in the air
Play gets under way.

2.30pm: Change to the structure
News is that we’re ditching the first levels and going straight to blinds of 300-600. No, forget that. We’re starting at 100-200. — SB

2.20pm: Say cheese…

Champions in the Champion of Champions

2.10pm: No harm keeping it authentic
In keeping with EPT tradition, we will be starting late today. But don’t forget, the entire event is available to watch on EPTLive. — SB

2pm: Welcome to the Champion of Champions
If there was a Super Bowl feel to yesterday’s main event finale, then there’s a summer barbeque with your friends feel to the Champion of Champions.

Old friends have returned to swap war stories and talk shop, a room in which wherever you look walk players whose names are followed by the name of an EPT leg in brackets.

Casino Gran Madrid (we’re round the back)

We’ll be bringing live updates from all the action at this most exclusive event, the first of its kind, with €100,000 worth of EPT packages up for grabs. The full draw and window dressing coming up. — SB

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