Main Event
Day 3 Started
Main Event
Day 3 Started
Originally from Sydney, Paren Arzoomanian holds a UK passport, and now lives on the Isle of Man and works for PokerStars. Arzoomanian used to be a full time poker professional with ring games his bread and butter, although he did play the occasional tournament here and there. In fact, he has had quite a bit of success at the live felt. In 2009 he won the ANZPT Sydney Main Event for a staggering A$ 246,500 ($174,186). That year continued successfully as he also cashed in the WSOP Main Event finishing 511th for $23,196, while last year in the same tournament and finished 35th for £2,000.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Paren Arzoomanian | 2,257,000 |
James Walsh, 51, made it to the unofficial final table of nine as the shortest stack after admitting “struggling all day” only to find a last minute double through and a seat on the final. Walsh works buying and selling, only playing poker “for the craic” but has racked up a number of cashes over the last seven years, mainly in his home town of Galway. His introduction to poker was via sit’n’gos with friends around 10 years ago, and he enjoys playing not only hold’em but the Irish game “twenty-five.” Returning tomorrow with the shortest stack, Walsh says, “I’ll watch the money all the time. Watch those jumps!” while getting up and down regularly (for a sore hip, he says).
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
James Walsh | 220,000 |
Michael Fletcher is a 52-year old professional poker player who lives in the British seaside town of Blackpool. Although Fletcher has live tournament cashes dating back to 2004, and live cashes totalling more than $530,000, he prefers playing live cash games, but still dips his toes into the tournament scene on occasion. In 2006, Fletcher finished 18th in the PCA Main Event for $32,000 and already has one UKIPT final table appearance under his belt, finishing fourth in the Manchester Main Event for £20,300. He goes into this final table with 911,000 chips, enough to see him start in fifth place.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Michael Fletcher | 911,000 |
Rodger Reynolds, 46, hails from Birmingham in the UK. A self-employed poker enthusiast, Reynolds plays quite a bit of live poker. He recently cashed in an EPT Malta side event and last year also cashed at the World Series of Poker in the giant “Little One for One Drop” tournament. He's travelled the entire world to play poker, with a recent trip to Macau as one of the highlights. Reynolds does play online occasionally under the screen name 'Rawlett', the name of his old high school.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Rodger Reynolds | 715,000 |
Daniel Stacey hails from the UK and at 21 is a full time poker professional. He mainly plays online on PokerStars, specialising in tournaments. Stacey has attended four stops on the UK and Ireland Poker Tour, with cashes including a 6th place finish for £21,250 in this very tournament when it debuted in 2013. Anyone that has seen him play today will not be surprised by the fact he’s gone deep before; he played just about every hand when the tables were short-handed. He goes through to the final table second in chips behind Arzoomanian, half a million ahead of the next largest stack.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Daniel Stacey | 1,714,000 | |
John Lawson, a 55 year old taxi driver from Onchan, learnt to play poker with PokerStars employees when they first moved to the island ten years ago. He enjoys tournaments and PLO cash games, and won his seat to the Main Event in the first live satellite run at the casino here for just £40. His biggest poker achievements are coming second in a $50 Cruise Ship tournament for $1.5k and coming fifth in the £100 Turbo event at UKIPT4 Isle of Man for £1,250. Today has been surreal for him as he came back short stacked and told his partner to book lunch at 12:30pm! His wife is going to Manilla to see family in two weeks and he promised her he’d go too if he won enough money in the tournament. Looks like he’ll be joining her.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
John Lawson | 1,210,000 |
Elliott Hayes is a 24-year old hailing from Jersey who by day works in retail but by night likes to play a mixture of online cash games and tournaments, particularly at PokerStars. Elliott is in the Isle of Man with several of his friends from Jersey so is likely to be well supported when the final table commences. It was at PokerStars where Elliott has tasted the success the most, winning a couple of “The Big” nightly tournaments and one during the Carnival Series during the Billionth tournament celebrations.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Elliott Hayes | 1,033,000 |
Chris Swinden, 39, an executive chef for the Sefton Group, won his seat in the UKIPT Isle of Man Main Event via a £50 Lads Night In charity evening satellite. He’s turned his first UKIPT experience into a three-dayer, making the final table in middling chip position after a relatively smooth journey, having only been all in once. Starting in home games around ten years ago, the Isle of Man resident was introduced to poker by his father-in-law and now plays live infrequently but regularly, including trips to Vegas where he plays mostly cash.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Christopher Swinden | 515,000 |
Welcome back to PokerNews' coverage of the Season 5 edition of the UKIPT Isle of Man Main Event where at 12:00pm UK time, eight poker players return to their seats and lock horns in a battle for the title of champion.
Paren Arzoomanian is the man in pole position going into the final table, his 2,257,000 stack being by far the largest of any of his opponents, although 21-year old professional poker player, Daniel Stacey, has 1,714,000 chips and is going to be a fierce competitor when the cards are back in the air.
Stay tuned to PokerNews throughout Sunday as we bring you all of the action from Main Event, from the first cards being dealt to the trophy being lifted. Until play resumes, why not check out the chip counts and player profiles to familarize yourself with the eight finalists?
Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blind |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Christopher Swinden | Isle of Man | 515,000 | 26 |
2 | Elliott Hayes | Jersey | 1,033,000 | 52 |
3 | John Lawson | Isle of Man | 1,210,000 | 60 |
4 | Daniel Stacey | United Kingdom | 1,714,000 | 86 |
5 | Rodger Reynolds | United Kingdom | 715,000 | 36 |
6 | Michael Fletcher | United Kingdom | 911,000 | 46 |
7 | James Walsh | Ireland | 220,000 | 11 |
8 | Paren Arzoomanian | United Kingdom | 2,257,000 | 113 |
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Paren Arzoomanian | 2,257,000 | |
Daniel Stacey | 1,714,000 | |
John Lawson | 1,210,000 | |
Elliott Hayes | 1,033,000 | |
Michael Fletcher | 911,000 | |
Rodger Reynolds | 715,000 | |
Christopher Swinden | 515,000 | |
James Walsh | 220,000 |