High Roller
Day 1 Started
UK & Ireland Poker Tour Galway
High Roller
Day: 1
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
UK & Ireland Poker Tour Galway
Buy-in
€2,000
Prize Pool
€69,840
Entries
36
Level
15
Blinds
2,500 / 5,000
Ante
500
Welcome to the Full Tilt Poker UKIPT Galway Festival!
Welcome to the Full Tilt Poker United Kingdom & Ireland Poker Tour Galway Festival! This 60-event series kicked off on July 27, but there's still a week's worth of great action beginning with today's €2,000 UKIPT High Roller. The PokerNews Live Reporting Team is on hand to live report today's action, and will also provide updates from the €1 million guaranteed UKIPT Galway Main Event and €10,000 UKIPT Super High Roller later this week.
The €2,000 UKIPT High Roller Championship, which is Event #44 on the schedule and set to kick off at 6:00 p.m. local time, will be played eight handed and will feature a single re-entry option. One man we expect to see in action is FTP Professional Gus Hansen, who has been one of the stars here in Galway over the past week. The "Great Dane" won Event #8 €1,000+€100 UK vs. Ireland Heads-Up Championship where he played some memorable matches against the likes of Max Silver and Dave Nicholson.
Hansen has kept busy not only playing poker (including a runner-up finish in yesterday's €35+€5 Daily Grind tournament), but also by playing a plethora of other games — billiards, Pacman, etc. — in the FTP Galway Players' Lounge. He also took time out of his "busy" schedule to accept the keys to the city from Galway Mayor Padraig Conneely.
Last month, Full Tilt Poker announced the names of four Tour Ambassadors to represent the online poker room at all stops of the UKIPT, including here in Galway. They include Martins Adeniya, Sinem Melin, Dermot Blain and Ben Jenkins, all of who will play online at Full Tilt Poker as Red Pros. Here's some more information on each of the ambassadors:
Martins Adeniya
Adeniya first discovered a love of poker while studying business at the University of Bath and quickly worked his way up from low-stakes home games to multi-tabling $10/$20 NL Hold’em online. After earning over $180,000 for a third place finish in the FTOPS Main Event, Martins decided to focus 100% on poker and has since become a familiar face on the live circuit with multiple WSOP and EPT cashes under his belt.
Dermot Blain
Blain is one of Ireland’s best-known professional players, bursting onto the poker scene with a stunning triumph in the 2009 APPT Macau Main Event netting him just over $540,000. His record also includes a fifth-place finish in the 2011 WSOP Europe Main Event for more than $365,000 and lifetime live tournament earnings of over $1.3 million.
Ben Jenkins
Jenkins has played professionally since 2009, with career highlights including a chop of PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up and a number of significant final table appearances. A keen sports fan, Ben is delighted to have the opportunity to represent both Full Tilt Poker and the British poker community on this year’s UKIPT tour.
Sinem Melin
Melin is one of Britain’s rising female poker stars, having final tabled both the 2011 UKIPT Brighton Main Event and the 2013 GUKPT London Main Event. She loves to follow high-stakes poker action both online and live and is very proud to act as a Full Tilt Poker Tour Ambassador for UKIPT Season 4.
“These Tour Ambassadors will help redefine what it means to represent a poker site,” said Dustin Iannotti, Full Tilt Poker’s Senior Manager of Pro, Celebrity & VIP Marketing. “These players are working with us to create exciting new live experiences that will leave UKIPT players with memories that extend well beyond the felt.”
While you wait for our live coverage to begin, which will be in a few hours, we recommend you check out this video in which PokerNews' own Kristy Arnett, Sarah Grant and Laura Cornelius track down the UKIPT Ambassadors in order to gain a spot as the girl who gets to cover the UKIPT Galway tournament. Which girl will be here in Galway? Watch to find out!
Level: 1
Blinds: 50/100
Ante: 0
Shuffle Up and Deal!
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Our coverage of the Full Tilt Poker UKIPT Galway Festival is underway as cards are now in the air here at the FTP Village. It's called that because unlike other venues — which tend to be either casinos or convention centers — this tournament series is being held an exclusive makeshift village next to the harbor.
Essentially a series of interconnecting tents make up the compound including one devoted to tournaments and cash games and another to the Players' Lounge. The latter is full of numerous entertainment options including an FTP heads-up station, billiards, table hockey, a full-service bar, bean bag lounge and numerous arcade machines. Oh, and late at night there's music to be enjoyed.
We'll be keeping an eye on what's going on in the Players' Lounge throughout the evening, but for now we'll turn our attention to the tournament action.
People Arriving
![[user76023]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Like a petrol tank, we're slowly filling up here at the Full Tilt Poker village in Galway. We started with just a few tables but they're already filling up with the likes of Kevin Williams who finished 77th at this year's WSOP Main Event and former UKIPT winner Sergio Aido Espina. The latter bagged over £200,000 at the UKIPT/EPT festival in London earlier this year including over £144,000 for winning the UKIPT main event, besting 1098 other players.
There's late registration for the next few hours, plus this tournament has a single re-entry if you suffer a painful outdraw.
The Irish Poker Championship Final Table
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
It's worth noting that the Irish Poker Open final table is playing out at the feature table as the High Roller gets under way. That event, which has a buy-in of €2,300+€200, attracted 52 entries and created a prize pool of €119,600. There are actually some notables still in contention in that event including Steve O'Dwyer and Max Silver. It's safe to assume that both of those players would be in action in our event if they weren't busy competing for a €39,450 first-place prize.
Here's a look at the players remaining at the IPC final table and their approximate chip counts:
| Rank Country | Player | Chip Count | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | IE | Steve O'Dwyer | 453,000 |
| 2 | UK | Thomas Hall | 260,000 |
| 3 | UK | Ian Gascoigne | 198000 |
| 4 | IE | Trevor Dinneen | 152,000 |
| 5 | UK | Max Silver | 136,000 |
| 6 | IE | Marc Macdonnell | 96,700 |
Welcome to the Party
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
20,000 | 20,000 |
|
20,000 | 20,000 |
|
|
20,000 | 20,000 |
|
20,000 | 20,000 |
|
20,000 | 20,000 |
|
20,000 | 20,000 |
|
20,000 | 20,000 |
|
|
20,000 | 20,000 |
|
20,000 | 20,000 |
|
20,000 | 20,000 |
|
20,000 | 20,000 |
|
20,000 | 20,000 |
|
|
20,000 | 20,000 |
|
20,000 | 20,000 |
|
|
20,000 | 20,000 |
|
|
20,000 | 20,000 |
|
20,000 | 20,000 |
|
20,000 | 20,000 |
|
20,000 | 20,000 |
|
20,000 | 20,000 |
|
20,000 | 20,000 |
|
|
20,000 | 20,000 |
|
|
20,000 | 20,000 |
|
20,000 | 20,000 |
|
20,000 | 20,000 |
It’s All Business.
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
The High Roller is underway.
There was little chatter as the casually dressed poker sharks strolled in to take their seats at one of the four tables in action so far. Registration is still open.
As one player collected his seat draw the tournament director was confirming the structure over the Tannoy.
“Twenty thousand starting stack, blinds start at 50/100. One re-entry allowed.”
“Oh, there’s a re-buy?” The player asked. It sounded like he’d have it to hand if needed.
As play got going, an open to 225 was taking down the blinds uncontested as the High Rollers begin to assess their competition. We saw a few flops in the opening half hour but only one go to the river with two players checking and showing ace rag for a chopped pot.
The action is relaxed but focused. One or two may be on i-pads, or in one case playing a Smurf game on their phone, but make no mistake with these players…
It’s all business.
Blain Gets a Good Start
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Full Tilt Ambassador Dermot Blain has picked a nice little pot for a good start. He was check-called on the turn of an 
board to the tune of 1,100 from the big blind. The 
came on the river and the big blind checked again, Blain bet out 2,500 this time and the scare card proved enough to force his opponent to fold.
Blain vs. Dorey Over at Table 8
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
We happened upon a decent pot over at Table 8. We caught the action on the river with a board reading 
and about 4,100 in the pot. Full Tilt Poker Ambassador Dermot Blain had checked from the small blind and William Ranulf Dorey took the opportunity to bet 2,075 from the big. Blain, who burst onto the poker scene with a win in the 2009 APPT Macau Main Event for $540,000, gave it some thought but ultimately released his hand.
Despite duking it out in that hand, both Blain and Dorey have gotten off to good starts and are above the starting stack. Here's a look at the rest of the Table 8 lineup:
Table 8
| Seat | Players |
|---|---|
| 1 | Daniel Tighe |
| 2 | Ian Cordts |
| 3 | Dermot Blain |
| 4 | -empty- |
| 5 | -empty- |
| 6 | William Ranulf Dorey |
| 7 | Pratik Ghatge |
| 8 | Zsolt Vasvenszki |
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
21,300 | 1,300 |
|
|
21,000 | 1,000 |