£1,100 Main Event Day 1a | 2023 UKIPT Blackpool

07-14-2023 01:24 UTC

End of Day 1a Chip Counts (full)

Matt Warburton

Level 15 : Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante

Player	Chips	Progress
Sam Grafton	342,000 172,000	172,000

Dale Hancock	269,000 79,000	79,000
Jessica Pilkington	249,500 69,500	69,500
Steven Mckeown	238,500 73,500	73,500
Ali Zia	219,500 60,500	60,500
Bradley Rawson	205,500 30,500	30,500
Beihao Wang	195,000 25,000	25,000
Joshua Musson	173,000 56,000	56,000
Bradley King	173,000
John Farrell	129,000 7,000	7,000
Neil May	116,000 28,000	28,000
Maz Bako	91,000 36,000	36,000

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07-14-2023 02:00 UTC

Sam Grafton Leads After Day 1a of UKIPT Blackpool Main Event

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Matt Warburton

Level 15 : Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante

Day 1a of the PokerStars UKIPT Blackpool Main Event, running at The Sandcastle Grosvenor Casino, has now concluded. A total of 80 entries were made to the flight. Of those, 12 players made it through to Day 2 and into the money.

PokerStars Team Pro player Sam Grafton finished the flight as the chip leader with 342,000. Grafton was close to busting early on before accumulating a large stack midway through the day and building from there. He also eliminated Feridun Genyman on the bubble to wrap up the day.

Dale Hancock finished the day in second place with 269,000 chips. Hancock got his big break earlier in the year when he won £60,000 at the WPT at Dusk Till Dawn in Nottingham. Hancock will be well positioned for a run at his next major cash come Day 2.

In third place, and not far behind Hancock was Jessica Pilkington with 249,500 chips. Pilkington is a regular on the circuit with $322,539 in recorded live tournament earnings.

Steven Mckeown and Ali Zia round out the top five. Two PokerStars qualifiers, Joshua Musson and Bradley King, also made it through to Day 2.

End of Day 1a Chip Counts

Rank	Player	Country	Chip Count
1	Samuel Grafton	UK	342,000
2	Dale Hancock	UK	269,000
3	Jessica Pilkington	UK	249,500
4	Steven McKeown	UK	238,500
5	Ali Zia	UK	219,500
6	Bradley Rawson	UK	205,500
7	Beihao Wang	China	195,000
8	Joshua Musson	UK	173,000
9	Bradley King	UK	173,000
10	John Farrell	Ireland	129,000
11	Neil May	UK	116,000
12	Maz Bako	UK	91,000

At the end of Day 1a, the prize pool in the UKIPT Blackpool Main Event stands at £89,240.

The Main Event will continue with Day 1b, the second of three starting flights, which commences Friday at 12 p.m. local time. Day 1c will also be running later on, starting at 6 p.m. local time.

PokerNews will be bringing you live updates of Day 1b straight from the tournament floor.