Another double up for a short-stack, this time a player pushed for about 3,500 and Martin Hansen quickly called on the button showing 
to his opponent's 
but the board came 
and we're still rigidly stuck on 29 players though the 3,500 Hansen lost is just a drop in the ocean as far as he is concerned.
There's just over six minutes left in the level. At the end of this level, the tournament will end for the night and the players will bag and tag. We'll have all the official counts for you straight off the bags then.
Following his near demise, Matt Nieberg has performed a recovery of Rocky-esque proportions by double doubling back up to 15,000. The second saw Dean Sanders push the small blind, before being instantly called by Nieberg in the big.
Despite being caught with his hand in the cookie jar, Sanders will have been relieved to be coin flipping, 
in surprisingly good shape against Nieberg's 
.
It was academic in the end, though, as the board came 
to keep Nieberg alive, and sink Sanders back down to 12,500.
Michael Leedham opened preflop from UTG and Keith Hawkins pushed all-in for 12,100 from late position. Leedham quickly called with 
in a classic coinflip (well, 57-43) against his opponent's 
The board came 
and Hawkins' two pair was better, boosting his stack to 25,000. Leedham has around 20,000 remaining.
With 28 players, the tournament staff have decided to finish for the day at the end of this level, one hour earlier than originally planned. The remaining players are currently coloring up some of the chips as otherwise there will not be enough green 25 chips to go around for Days 1b and 1c.
The reigning champion of this event, JP Kelly made a late surge towards the end of the day, and he has made it through as one of the few survivors from the 202 players that entered today. Other players who made it through include Keith "The Camel" Hawkins, EPT Copenhagen winner Anton Wigg, and November Niner Matthew Jarvis. The chip leader at the end of the day, however, is Jeppe Bisgaard with 49,000 chips.
Today's field included a swarm of prior bracelet winners including Marty Smyth, Lawrence Gosney, Antonio Esfandiari, John Juanda, James Dempsey, Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson and Jason Mercier. They're just spectators tonight, though, as nary a one of that list were able to make it through the day.
Tomorrow, we're expecting an even bigger field given that it is the weekend; with Sunday's Day 1c additions, we could even see a new record set for the biggest field in a major UK tournament.
Day 1b will start on Saturday at 12:00 p.m. local time. See you then!
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
49,000
12,000
|
12,000 |
|
45,600
28,600
|
28,600 |
|
||
|
|
41,000 | |
|
|
35,600 | |
|
27,800
6,800
|
6,800 |
|
|
27,400 | |
|
|
26,000 | |
|
24,700 | |
|
|
24,200 | |
|
23,900
2,900
|
2,900 |
|
23,800
15,300
|
15,300 |
|
||
|
21,800 | |
|
|
20,200
11,800
|
11,800 |
|
|
18,900 | |
|
17,800 | |
|
17,700
700
|
700 |
|
|
||
|
|
17,600 | |
|
17,100 | |
|
||
|
16,900
600
|
600 |
|
|
16,400 | |
|
|
15,800
12,800
|
12,800 |
|
|
14,900
11,900
|
11,900 |
|
14,700
800
|
800 |
|
|
13,900
900
|
900 |
|
13,800
26,200
|
26,200 |
Event #3: £1,075 No-Limit Hold'em
Day 1a Completed
