Slack Tops Day 1a of 2022 UKIPT London £1,100 Main Event; Talbot and Grafton Advance
The return of the PokerStars United Kingdom and Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT) to London is off to an excellent start. After 153 entries in the £2,200 High Roller set a new record for the iconic Hippodrome Casino in the English capital the day prior, the marquee £1,100 Main Event followed right into the footsteps with a solid turnout on the first of three starting days.
A total of 191 entries on Day 1a generated a prize pool so far and an even bigger field is expected for the second regular starting day, which follows on Friday, April 8, as of noon local time. Upon completion of 13 levels of 50 minutes each, it was Ben Slack who topped the leaderboard. He was certainly not slacking in the last two levels as he scored a double through Antoine Saout before knocking out Shay Salih to bag and tag 479,500.
Close behind on the leaderboard is Alberto Speranzoni with 465,000 while London resident Alexios Zervos (425,000) follows in third place. Above average stacks also belong to Ori Hasson, Youness Barakat, Alex Jennings and Gary Miller.
Four PokerStars ambassadors also entered Day 1a and two of them made it through in Sam Grafton and Parker Talbot. After he found no joy on the first bullet, Talbot re-entered and became a short stack before securing multiple double-ups to advance with 198,000. The start for Grafton was much better but he needed a late surge to follow just behind Talbot on the leaderboard with 193,000 in chips.
Steve Enriquez and Benjamin Spragg were not as fortunate, as both were among the many notable casualties throughout the day. Enriquez was caught bluffing while Spragg's flopped trips sevens was no good when he ran into the full house of Denas Pranaitis. Both of them are expected to join the action once more on either Day 1b or the Turbo Heat 1c, in which Ramon Colillas shall also appear as well. The Spaniard was on the final table of the £2,200 High Roller and didn't jump into the £1,100 High Roller after his elimination.
As far as notable casualties on Day 1a were concerned, they included the likes of Alex Goulder, Kully Sidhu, Andy Wilson, David Lopez Llacer, Dan Wilson, Antoine Labat, Brandon Sheils, PokerStars Live at the Hippodrome Pro Chris Da-Silva, David Docherty, Matthew Davenport, and poker commentator Joe Stapleton, among others.
Most of them will very likely be back in action in the remaining two starting flights. Day 1b with 50-minute levels kicks off at noon local time while the Turbo Day 1c with 30-minute levels follows as of 6pm local time. The PokerNews live reporting team will be back then to provide as many of the key hands as possible for the first UKIPT stop since November 2016.
flop propelled Salih into the lead, which he kept throughout the 
turn and 
river.
flop, Salih checked and so did Lalor. Alexios Zervos bet 7,500 and Salih folded, Lalor check-raised to 30,000 and Zervos came along.
turn and 
river were checked for Zervos to flip over 
. Lalor had that beat with 
and Saout's 
were only briefly exposed. Zervos was left with the head shaking after seeing the cards of Lalor but remains the biggest stack at the table, which no longer contains Alex Goulder.
flop on which Sheils check-raised from 7,500 to 19,500 with Miller coming along.
turn, Sheils bet what appeared to be 52,000 with one T-500 chip behind for Miller to shove and Sheils to call it off.
river was not enough.
. Taylor only had the 
and found no help on the 
turn improved Lalor to a flush and the 
fell on the river, Talbot then added "ah, that's why" before heading to the registration desk. He shall be back soon, arriving at his new table with the fresh pint of beer in the hand.
