Main Event
Day 1a Completed
Main Event
Day 1a Completed
The UKIPT arrived at a new venue with the first ever event based in the Isle of Man. Of course, it was no coincidence that the island is also host to the headquarters of PokerStars, very much making this “home territory” as far as the organisers of the UKIPT were concerned.
On Day 1a, 113 players entered the tournament but after eight levels of fast-paced action, it was Dara O'Kearney who was left as the chip leader going into Day 2 with 112,100. The Irishman had a very slow start, dropping down to around 18,000 midway through the day before he flew up to the very top in the last couple of levels. Indeed, for most of the day it looked to be Niall Farrell who would dominate the counts, the Scotsman was the first player to break six-figures before losing several large pots towards the end.
With many of the Team PokerStars Pros flying in from Barcelona today after a special advertising shoot, it was left to Team PokerStars Online players Mickey Petersen and Andre Coimbra to fly the flag for the company. Coimbra was eliminated late on in the day against Caleb Sheridan, a member of the Rational Group Staff (the parent company of both PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker).
There were lots of Rational Group Staff members playing in this event, a special one-off dispensation for people who work for PokerStars or Full Tilt Poker and are usually not allowed to playing events online or live organised by either company. In an effort to show full transparency, all staff members were fully kitted up with special staff patches featuring the famous three-legged symbol of the Isle of Man.
Despite the expectation of this tournament drawing a smaller field than usual, it had not stopped several notable big names from entering the field, especially with the potential of a big overlay. Dominik Nitsche, who finished third in the WSOPE Main Event barely a week ago was back grinding on Day 1a, having already got his first ever Manx flag with a min-cash in the £150 6-Max event the night before.
Also appearing was [Removed:17], the New Zealander had finished 12th at EPT London and started off incredibly well as the early chip leader before losing a sizeable pot to Mickey Petersen. Yan made it through the end with 39,800.
People who won't be coming back on Saturday include Full Tilt Poker Tour Ambassador Dermot Blain, the Irishman lost a big pot with a set to Sam Razavi's straight draw and was never able to recover. American Jason Wheeler ran top pair into top pair that held a better kicker while UKIPT Galway finalist Daragh Davey's fate was exactly the same. David Docherty's exit, meanwhile, was much more simple, running into Priit Brikker's . Zoe Gillings was also on hand to try her luck in the event but the Olympic snowboarder's tournament was curtailed rather early when she ran queens into Razavi's aces about halfway through the day. Razavi finished the day with an entirely respectable 61,600.
Despite only 54 players having made it through the day, there were lots of players who also have successfully navigated the minefield of the first eight levels to come back for Day 2. These include: Mickey Petersen (46,200), Alexander Schilt (101,400), Niall Farrell (73,600), Jamie O'Connor (105,900), and Chris Straghalis (102,300).
With only 113 players for the first start day, the field is expected to be huge for tomorrow, especially given that 387 players will be needed just to meet the £500,000 guarantee. There will be numerous Team PokerStars Pros getting involved tomorrow including the newly crowned WSOP Player of the Year Daniel Negreanu, Jason Mercier, Liv Boeree, Vanessa Rousso and Jake Cody.
The PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be back tomorrow at 12pm local time for another eight levels of fun as we watch some of the biggest stars in poker make their UKIPT debut!
Meanwhile, since it's Halloween, we'll leave you with a spooky video from Laura Cornelius....
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Dara O'Kearney | 112,100 | |
Jamie O'Connor | 105,900 | |
Chris Straghalis | 102,300 | |
Alexander Schilt | 101,400 | |
Caleb Sheridan
|
90,300 | -4,700 |
Robbie Bull | 87,700 | 52,700 |
Karl-Fredrik Stromberg | 81,600 | |
Matthew McKenzie | 76,300 | |
Niall Farrell
|
73,600 | |
Tim Michels | 68,100 | |
Sam Razavi | 61,600 | |
Samuel Nova
|
53,800 | |
Kovacs Gergo | 53,000 | |
Christoffer Stahle | 52,700 | |
Lynne Beaumont | 51,100 | |
Ludovic Geilich | 49,300 | 6,300 |
Dominik Nitsche
|
48,800 | |
Thomas Ward | 48,200 | |
Mickey Petersen | 46,200 | 11,200 |
Sean O`Neill | 45,400 | |
Oliver Deacon | 43,900 | |
Paul McTaggart | 40,500 | -3,500 |
[Removed:17] | 39,800 | |
David Lloyd
|
39,300 | |
Dahe Liu | 38,300 |
The players are currently playing the last 5 hands of the day, the clock has been stopped and after that they will be bagging up.
Niall Farrell's role of table captain has taken a bit of a dent and he has sent a fair amount of his chips the way of Dara O`Kearney. Since moving to Farrell's table O'Kearney has played only three hands, all against Farrell and won all three.
Farells mission to regain his stack looks in bad shape with not much time left.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Daniel Tighe | Busted | |
Nigel Holliday
|
Busted | |
Gerald McCann
|
Busted | |
Linda Willix
|
Busted | |
Ronaldo De Oliveira
|
Busted | |
Joan Hadley | Busted |
Dominik Nitsche had recently taken a decent sized pot from big stack Niall Farrell, and Farrell expressed his determination to get his stack back to what it had been before this unfortunate incident. He had just taken down the previous hand with a raise and a c-bet on a flop of getting a fold from the blind defender. Now Nitsche opened the pot for 1,700 and Farrell called, looking for revenge. Things were complicated by Paul McTaggart though who called on the button, while the blinds folded.
A flop of and Nitsche checked. Farrell bet out for 2,600 and while McTaggart called Nitsche folded. on the turn. Farrell picked up a single blue T5000 chip from his stack and flicked it just ahead of him. McTaggart wasn’t convinced though and called. The river was the . Had that changed anything? Farrell certainly didn’t give the impression that it had as he now took two blue chips and nonchalantly flicked out his bet of 10,000. It was getting very expensive now for McTaggart who seemed to lose confidence in his hand. He knew that Farrell knew this too and a roll of the eyes turned onto a smile as he let his hand go.
Farrell decided to teasingly show one card and turned over the , insisting that the other one was much better; but it was already in the muck.
An unfortunate river for Dominik Nitsche, he check-called a 3,500 bet on the end of a board against Paul McTaggart, the latter turning over for a rivered straight. Nitsche showing for trips that improved only to the same straight.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Paul McTaggart | 44,000 | 16,000 |
Dominik Nitsche
|
26,000 | 7,000 |
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Mark Emmerson
|
Busted | |
Adam Saunders
|
Busted | |
Owen Shiels | Busted | |
Steven Rough
|
Busted | |
Maris Gelsbergs
|
Busted | |
Marc Macdonnell | Busted | |
Mark Warnock
|
Busted | |
Richard Baldwin
|
Busted |
We are now on the last 60 minute level of Day 1a.