12:20am: Day 1B is in the books
The second starting flight of UKIPT4 Nottingham2 has come to an end and it looks as if Jude Ainsworth is the overall chip leader with a massive 238,600. That's some way ahead of the average stack of 70,300. Roughly 118 players made it through the day. A wrap of the day's events is on the way. Day 1C starts at noon and we'll be back with all the action then. -- NW

12:05am: Last 4 hands
The clock was paused and each table will play 4 more hands before bagging up for the night. --MC

12am: Andros the giant
Andros Spyrou is up to 205,000 after making a good river value bet versus Lawrence Bayley.

Bayley was in the small blind and check-called a 6,300 bet to see the river of a [2h][8d][3d][9d][6h] board. Spyrou bet 12,500 and his opponent tank called but mucked upon seeing [jd][9s].

Richerd Kellet is also at the table and has gotten his stack up 220,000. -- MC

11:50pm: Tournament Snippets
- Team PokerStars Pro Christophe De Meulder is finishing the day strongly, he's up to 86,000.
- There are 126 players left and the average stack is 60,500
- Ashley Fawcett ducts might have sprung a leak as right now as his [Ad][Jh] lost out to Sam Onion's pocket jacks for his final 15,000. -- NW

11:40pm: Aqua man
Neil Raine has got a couple of the 25k Aqua coloured chips and he's very happy about it as it's the first time he's ever been in possession of them. He's got other chips too. In fact, he's up to 130,000 after winning a battle of the blinds.

Martin Hogarty completed from the small blind and called after Raine bumped it up to 3,200 from the big blind. The flop fell [9h][5s][ts] and both players checked to the [2c] turn. Hogarty led for 3,600 and Raine called before both players checked the [3d] river. Raine opened [4s][4d] and took the pot as Hogarty mucked. -- MC

11:30pm: He shoots he scores
Whilst Lawrie Sanchez might not be the only footballer (or ex footballer) in the field today he is the only one who's scored the winning goal in an FA Cup final. And he just hit the back of the net again as he doubled up in a hand against Winston Cotgreave.

The latter raised to 3,200 with [Ac][Kh] and called when Sanchez shoved for 15,000 with pocket tens. The [7d][Qc][Qd]9d][4s] board meant there was no dirty outdraw and Sanchez doubled. -- NW

11:20pm: Ainsworth continues his ascent
Jude Ainsworth continues to add chips to his stack...

Sleep deprived, half pissed and running shit hot. 230k @ukipt nott

— Jude Ainsworth (@jthaddeus13) May 8, 2014

11:15pm: Jamie Siiiiiighkes
Jamie Sykes had 70,000 with two levels to go. Less than an hour later and he's a tilting mess of a man at the bar. He vented to the blog as many souls do.

He lost a couple of pots before the pot that really irked him and left him with 5,000.

He bet 8,000 on the turn with the board reading [3][4][6][3] and his opponent called, leaving only 10,000 behind. The river fell as an eight and Sykes' opponent moved all in. Sykes called with pocket sevens and was shown ace-eight!

Sykes then picked up pocket eights soon after but failed to hold against ace-king.

Here he is in happier times:

Blinds up: 600/1,200, 200 ante

11pm: Last break of the night
That's the end of level nine and the players are on their last 15 minute break of the day. 136 of 419 players remain. -- NW

10:59pm: Chattha crippled in set up
Chaz Chattha has just been on the rough end of a cooler, raising pocket threes and betting 4,000/8,000/18,000 across all three streets of a [Th][7s][3d][Kc][Ad] board.

Emanuele Pani was the man who called every street, turning up pocket sevens for a superior set to shatter Chattha's hopes of winning a big pot.

Chattha down to 12,000 just before the break, whilst a rampaging Pani rises to 140,000. -- RS

10:58pm: A few chip counts

John Conroy - 49,000
Kevin Allen - 62,000
John Williams - 48,000
Joeri Zandvliet - 40,000
David Gent - 54,000
Dermot Blain - 44,000
Dean Clay - 26,000
Jonas Luack - 290,000
Duncan McLellan - 50,000
Richard Milner - 155,000

10:50pm: More fun with Finlay
Robert Finlay loves to be in the action, it didn't work out well for him second time around though.

He raised to 3,000 before EPT London finalist Kuljinder Sidhu three-bet to 9,000 out of his 54,200 stack. Finlay wasn't having any of it though and four-bet jammed. Sidhu snap-called all in and the cards were flipped up.

Sidhu: [kh][kd]
Finlay: [js][9s]

The flop came [jh][8d][8s] and it caused Sidhu to rise out of his chair. His ending was happy though as the board ran out [4h][qd]. Finlay dropped to 15,000. -- MC

10:42pm: Carnage at the felt
It's bad enough when variance conspires against you, but sometimes it just feels like the world and his wife want to see your nose rubbed in the dirt.

Emrah Yildiz just experienced that hopeless feeling.

The hand in question was pretty amazing.

It opened with Stuart Macdonald raising to 2,200, re-raised by Robert Finlay to 5,500 on the button.

Emrah Yildiz flat-called from the blinds and Macdonald elected to muck his hand.

Here's where the controversy began.

Described by Finlay as "a ninja muck," his cards were thrown so fast across the table, they collided with Yildiz' cards.

The tournament director was called and Yildiz hand was declared dead, enabling Finlay to win the pot uncontested.

Yildiz was not happy.

He complained bitterly about the situation and a mischievous Finlay now threw fuel on the fire by pretending to be upset at missing the chance to play out the hand...before exposing ten-eight offsuit with a laugh!

Yildiz exploded, banging the table, knocking his chips over before storming away from the table.

"He beat my KK with AQ earlier," Finlay said with a smile, explaining his decision to needle his opponent.

Finlay rises to 70,000, Yildiz drops to 54,000, though given his current disposition, he may be firing these into the middle sooner rather than later. -- RS

10:35pm: Ainsworth's Law
Jude Ainsworth is up to roughly 200,000 after eliminating Chun Law in a pot worth around 55,000. Law opened to 2,100 from early position and Ainsworth called on the button. On the [6d][8s][Js] flop Law checked, Ainsworth bet 3,600, Law shoved for 25,000 and Ainsworth snap called.

Ainsworth: [8c][8h]
Law: [Jc][9c]

The [kh] turn and [10s] river kept Ainsworth in front and as a result he's one of the front runners. -- NW

10:25pm: Sykes slipping
Jamie Sykes is a frustrated fellow. Not only did he not get an invite to Jamie Burland's wedding, he also lost two pots in a row to slip to 25,200.

He just shook his head when he lost a pot to Roston Drenthe, who rose to 60,000 and then he had to fold on the turn in a hand.

He and Lewis Swift were heads-up to the turn of a [qd][2s][6d][4s] board. Swift bet 4,400 and Sykes called. On the [ad] river, Swift led for 7,000 and Sykes folded. Swift opened pocket eights and raked in the pot. -- MC

10:15pm: Blind luck
From the expression on Terry Carter's face when he turned his hand over he hadn't looked when he shoved for eight big blinds from the small bind. He had [8s][8c] and had got looked up by Chun Hao Man from the big blind with [Qs][10h].
The [2c][5h][9d][7c][Js] board mean Carter wasn't got and he doubled up, much to the chagrin of Steve Watts who wanted to get involved from the button and would've spiked a jack on the river. -- NW

10:10pm: The beautiful game
Professional footballers have an all-too-short career before knee injuries, accumulated fatigue and just plain old father time catch up with them and the final whistle is blown.

What next? Well for some it is management, others become pundits whilst a healthy proportion flock to the poker tables to take part in an equally competitive, if less physically demanding challenge.

There are at least three high-profile ex and current footballers in the field here. Let's compare their progress:

Steve Watts. Watts has followed a successful career at a number of clubs including Sutton United and Leyton Orient by turning his hand as a poker professional following his retirement.

He hasn't managed to build any momentum here - his stack hovering around his 20,000 stack, though he'll be looking to score a late goal and take a larger stack through to Day 2.

Royston Drenthe. Drenthe is still plying his trade on the grassy felt at Reading, having played for Feyenoord and Real Madrid during his heyday.

He played Day 1a here, but wasn't able to survive the day, though his second bite of the cherry has proved sweeter - up to 45,000 as we approach the final levels of the day.

Lawrie Sanchez. Perhaps best remembered for scoring the winning goal in the 1988 FA cup final versus Liverpool, Sanchez followed a successful playing career with a stint in management and as a TV pundit.

He has 40,000 chips here, aided most recently by flopping a set in a three-bet pot versus Zigmantas Jockus, who held queens. -- RS

10:05pm: When your Lauck's in
Chip leader Jonas Lauck has further strengthened his position after eliminating Timotheos Timotheou. The latter committed his final 17,000 chips with [As][9h] but ran smack bang into Lauck's pocket aces. The [3h][2s][Ks][10h][3s] board was as safe as they come. 182 players remain. -- NW

Blinds up: 500/1,000, 100 ante

10pm: So long, farewell
An awful lot of big-name players have departed today so tomorrow could well be packed with sharks if they re-enter. Some recently departed:

Nick Hicks, Sunny Chattha, Riche Allen, Sebastian Saffari, Jack Salter, Alex Goulder, Andrew Seden, John Eames, Matt Davenport, Pieter de Korver, Albert Sapiano and Jamie Burland. -- MC

9:50pm: Williams folds to Kellett aggression
James Williams made a confident looking river bet in a hand versus Richard Kellett but looked pained when he was check-raised and eventually folded.

Around 27,000 sat in the middle and the board rested as [8h][jh][7d][5d][kc]. Williams bet 13,000 and was raised enough to cover his remaining 38,000.

"You've either played this ridiculously well or I've got the best hand," commented Williams.

He folded and Kellett blew air through his lips as he raked in a pot that got him up to around 90,000. -- MC

9:40pm: An orbit with Team PokerStars Pro Christophe De Meulder
The PokerStars Blog decided to stop by the last remaining Team Pro in the field and spend an orbit watching his progress. He started the orbit with a little over 30 big blinds and EPT Champion Pieter De Korver for company. This is how the table looked at the start of the orbit:

1.Neil Slade - 37,000
2.Andy Young - 33,000
3.Nick Bemmel - 53,000
4.Mark Gardner - 75,000
5.Peter Charalambous (from hand three) 10,100
6.Pieter De Korver - 55,000
7.Mathis Rose - 50,000
8.Gordon Goodall - 33,000
9.Christophe De Meulder - 20,000

The blinds for this orbit start at 300/600 ante 75 and the button begins in seat seven.

Hand one: Andy Young opened to 1,300 from early position, Pieter De Korver three-bet to 2,600 from the cut-off but folded when Young four-bet to 6,000.

Hand two: It passed to Mathis Rose in the cut-off and he opened to 1,200, Team PokerStars Pro Christophe De Meulder then three-bet to 3,400 from the small blind and Rose made the call.

The two players then cautiously took it in turns to check all the way down on a [10h][7h][8c][6h][4h] board and De Meulder was a little surprised to see that his [Js][10s] was the winner.

Hand three: Action folded to EPT5 Grand Final champion Pieter De Korver and he opened to 1,400 from middle position, De Meulder three-bet to 3,400 and De Korver smooth called with a high chip toss into the pot.

Both players checked the [Kc][6s][Js] flop and the [5s] fell on the turn. De Korver threw out a bet of 3,000 and De Meulder made the call. The [7d] completed the board, both players quickly checked and De Korver's pocket queens were no good against De Meulder's [Kd][9d].

Two in a row for the Team Pro.

Hand four: De Meulder made it a hat-trick of hands as he raised to 1,300 and then called a three-bet of 3,600 from Andy Young who was the small blind. On the [Qs][9h][8s] flop Young check-folded to a bet of 4,025 from De Meulder.

Hand five: Young immediately got some chips back in a hand that went all the way to the river. Pre-flop Gordon Goodall opened to 1,525 and picked up calls from Young (button) and Mark Gardner (big blind). Action was checked to the turn of a [Js][2s][Jh][6d] board at which juncture Goodall bet 2,100 and Young was the only caller.

The [7h] completed the board, Goodall fired out a bet of 6,000 and despite faking to move all-in he folded when Young check-raised to 15,000.

Hand six: The blinds were now 400/800 ante 100 and the first hand at the new level produced the biggest pot of the orbit. De Korver raised to 1,800 from under-the-gun and called when Nick Bemmel three-bet to 4,200. On the [6c][Kc][3h] flop Bemmel c-bet, De Korver check-raised small and Bemmel called.

There was now roughly 25,000 in the pot as the [Qd] fell on the turn, De Korver slowed down, checking to Bemmel who bet 12,000, call from De Korver. On the [7c] river Bemmel moved all-in for 20,500 and sent De Korver deep into the tank. It was Dutch on Dutch action and it would cost De Korver roughly two thirds of his stack to call. He looked back at his hand a number of times before folding [Ah][Ks] face-up.

Hand seven: Rose was involved once again, raising it up to 1,600 from under-the-gun, Mark Gardner three-bet to 3,500 from the button and Rose called the 1,900 extra. On the [Qs][4h][7c] flop Gardner bet 3,300 but folded when Rose made it 7,800 to go.

Hand eight: Bemmel raised to 1,700 from late position and Rose called from the big blind. A c-bet of 1,900 on the [9s][Jc][8d] flop was enough to earn Bemmel the pot.

Hand nine: On the last hand of the orbit we had another showdown and it was an all-in to boot. Action folded to Peter Charalambous and he moved all-in for 6,500 with [Ac][10c] and he got a call from Rose with pocket tens. The board was a rollercoaster as it came [Kc][4c][4s][2c][4h] and after going ahead on the turn Charalambous was felted by the river card.

So a good orbit for Team PokerStars Pro Christophe De Meulder, a painful one for Pieter De Korver and a very profitable one for Nick Bemmel. -- NW

9:30pm: Blind wars
The blinds now represent juicy chunks of many of the players stacks. The wars to claim them are becoming increasingly vicious - a slew of players falling in their bids to claim those uncontested chips in the middle.

Already half the field has been shorn - just 207 players now remain from the 419 who entered. -- RS

9:25pm: Pure Lauck
Jonas Lauck has risen from the pack to lead the charge - having accumulated an incredible 246,000 chips.

This puts him some way clear of his fellow players and although there are still 2 levels to play out this evening - he is the current favourite to head the field come the end of the day.

Lauck is one of those who exercised his option to re-enter the tournament having been eliminated yesterday, showing the interesting permutations this format can throw up.

In another tournament he would be just another name on the roster of also-rans. The re-entry system means his hope of UKIPT glory lives on. -- RS

9:10pm: Allen Downes Isaac
Kevin Allen moved up to around 80,000 chips after Isaac Downes emptied the clip in a semi-bluff and bluff move.

Downes opened from under the gun and was called in two spots, including Allen in the cut-off. The board ran out [tc][ks][5d][8s][5s] and Downes bet 2,200, 6,500 and all in for 21,000. Allen was the only caller and snapped off the river shove with [th][td] for a set.

Downes showed [ac][qc], got up from his seat, shook Allen's hand and made his exit. -- MC

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 400/800, ante 100

8.45pm: Take a break guys
The end of level seven signals the penultimate 15 minute break of the evening. Things are starting to get serious now - there are stacks rising from the pack like dinosaurs - looking to claw, chomp and trample their way to the top.

Come the end of the day who will be the T-Rex and who will be the small insect trapped in amber? Time will tell... see you all in 15.--RS

8:44pm: Brammer gambles, busts
Chris Brammer went for the lot but ended up with nothing. A few players have told the blog these past two days that they would play their draws aggressively as it's a re-entry. That's exactly what Brammer just did.

He raised from early position and called after Ronan Gilligan three-bet from the big blind. The flop fanned [3h][9d][th] and Gilligan led out into a 6,000-pot and called after Brammer shoved for about 26,000.

Brammer: [kh][js] for overs and a gutshot.
Gilligan: [qc][qd] for an over pair that are blockers to Brammer's draw.

Brammer picked up more outs on the [8s] turn but the [2d] river was a brick. -- MC

8:42pm: Hey Jude, take a small stack and make it bigger
Jude Ainsworth is going along well, but he just hit a minor bump in the road, doubling up tablemate Hak-hyun Lee.

Having raised the button to 1,200, Lee shoved from the small blind for his small stack of 8,600. Ainsowrth looked a little frustrated but then put in the additional chips with [ad][4c].

It turned out he wasn't in bad shape really, Lee showing down [Ac][5c] with a chop the most likely outcome from the hand.

Those thoughts were soon scotched though as an [As][5c][9d][Qs][Jh] board peeled off to give Lee two pair and award him the 17,500 pot.

Ainsworth down to a still-respectable 34,000... --RS

8:35pm: Moneymaker's cheesy dip

The man many give the credit to for the online boom in poker, Chris Moneymaker, has departed.

He's never really managed to gain traction today. It's been one long grind and his final move, a shortstack shove over the top of a David La Ronde raise, was to be his undoing.

La Ronde called with [Ah][Jh] leaving Moneymaker to table [6c][7c] - behind but live and in with a shot.

"Watch me double up with this piece of cheese," he told the rail.

The flop looked like it had a cheesy tinge to it, the [Ks][8h][5d] giving Moneymaker an open-ended straight draw.

The turn however was devoid of dairy assistance, coming the [8d] and the [Qd] on the river confirmed all the cheddar was heading La Ronde's way (up to 55,000).

"See you guys tomorrow!" Moneymaker said cheerfully as he brie-zed away. --RS

8:30pm: Lucky David Lappin up chips
What's better than flopping a set? An opponent flopping a smaller set is what.

David Lappin's stack is touching 110,000 after he and Ben Winsor both flopped sets. The chips went in on a [7][2][a] flop and Windor saw the bad news. He actually turned a flush draw but the river bricked to send him to the rail and the 60k-plus pot went the way of the Irishman. -- MC

8.20pm: Hemsworth out but looking to re-enter
"I got it all-in with jacks against ace-king," Simon Hemsworth told me as he wandered towards the bar, player bag in hand. That was enough of an indicator that he hadn't won this particular flip. "I flopped a set, but he (Phillip Corion) flopped a flush draw and go there."

He intimated that he wanted to play tomorrow but wasn't sure if the day was already full or not. The PokerStars Blog pointed him in the direction of the £50 re-buy satellite that's just started at Dusk Till Dawn. Seats for the winners of that are guaranteed and there's at least 20 guaranteed in the satellite. Late registration in that is open to 10pm so if you're in Nottingham come on down. -- NW

8.15pm: 419 come out for Day 1B
At the start of play we thought that the size of the Day 1B field might be roughly double that of Day 1A, which attracted 175 entrants. Well it smashed that number as 419 players showed up. Of those players 259 are still in their seats making the average stack 32,350. -- NW

8:10pm: Chip counts for returning players
Level 7 has started for all players. Here are some counts from those returning:

Danny Laming - 19,000
Sunil Mistri - 12,000
Richard Milner - 41,000
Sunny Chattha - 23,000
Jamie Sykes - 63,000
Tom Hall - 14,200
David La Ronde - 41,000
Richard Kellett - 30,000
Brett Angell - 7,600
Richie Allen - 13,000
Jack Salter - 16,000
Steve Watts - 21,000
Sam Grafton - 43,000

Paul Zimbler - 37,000
David Gent - 46,000
Basharat Mahmood - 91000
Royston Drenthe - 56000
George Alexander - 55000
Jamie O'Connor - 55000
Chris Lang - 54000
Ross Logie - 52000
Christian Solvag - 52000
Iaron Lightbourne - 48000
James Williams - 48000
Leo Mcclean - 47500
Shu Cai - 45000
Greg Hayles - 43000
Tom McCready - 17000

7.50pm: Pot less
As you'd expect the pace of exits has increased in line with the blinds and a number of big names have fallen by the wayside. Renee Xie, James Morris, Simon Deadman, Rhys Jones and Nick Slade are among those to have been eliminated recently. -- NW

7:35pm: Little victories
Another player to benefit from the breaking of 'table Moneymaker' is Simon Hemsworth. He's finally got his head about water.

Moved to a much better table and I'm now on 22k. Yes that is indeed over starting stack! #UKIPTNottingham

— Simon Hemsworth (@simonhemsworth) May 8, 2014

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 300/600 ante 75

7:26pm: Gryko and Adeniya depart
Richard Gryko and Martins Adeniya have both been eliminated.

Gryko got the last of his chips in with pocket tens but failed to stay ahead of Jack O'Neill's ace-jack.

Adeniya was a little perplexed by his exit. Daniel Tighe raised from the hijack and called after Adeniya three-bet all in for 20 big blinds with king-five. Tighe found a call with [7h][8h] and hit on an [as][3c][jh][7d][js] board. -- MC

7.20pm: Money on the move
The table that Team PokerStars Pro Chris Moneymaker was on has broken and he's now been moved to a new table. His new 'on felt friends' include Jude Ainsworth, Carlo Citrone and Kyriacos 'Greek Jack' Dionysiou. -- NW

7.05pm: Bull's Eye
UKIPT London winner Robbie Bull isn't setting the tournament on fire just yet, but his dream of becoming a double UKIPT champ is still well alive.

It helps to make a hand or two of course.

Moments ago, he raised from UTG to 1,000 and was called by Andrew Seden in the big blind.

The flop fell [Td][8h][8s], Seden checked and Bull led for 1,600. Call.

The turn was the [As] check, 2,200 from Bull and again Seden called.

Come the rivered [2s] the pattern continued. Seden checked, Bull pondered his decision in his usual quiet, deliberate fashion before firing out a further 3,600.

Seden threw out a 5k chip to call, only for Bull to table [8s][9s] for flopped trips.

It was good for the pot - Bull rises to 28,000, Seden drops to 9,500. -- RS

6:55pm: Gone for now, back tomorrow?
There's no easy way to say this but we lost so many players (49 to be exact) during the last level that we can't list them all. We can list some of them though and can tell you that: Rich Trigg, Matthias De Meulder, Jack Ellwood, Dean Lyall, Timothy Chung, James Tomlin, Alli Mallu and Iqbal Ahmed are all out. 297 players remain. -- NW

6:45pm: Tales from the hungry
Some snippets from around the room:

Kevin Williams once owned a very healthy stack. He has no stack now. A couple of nameless former table mates said of his demise:

"He gave them away!"

"He got a bit excited with nines."

Sam Grafton is doing better. He bet 5,000 on the turn of a [9s][3c][2c][5h] board and got an opponent to fold.

EPT Grand Final runner up Jack Salter also got an opponent to fold to move up to 26,000. He bet 9,225 on the river of a [9s][9c][ac][2d][th] board and showed pocket threes when his opponent folded.

"Showing my one bluff for the day. Get paid later!" added Salter. -- MC

6:40pm: Switcharoo
Those who were on break are now back in their seats playing level six, whilst the half of the field that have just completed that level are forming a queue at the buffet. -- NW

6:25pm: Big stacks and big names on break
The PokerStars Blog whipped round the tables of the players currently on break and got the counts of the names, notables and big stacks:

Chris Moneymaker: 15,300
Duncan McLellan - 56,000
Nick Slade - 3,600
Neil Raine - 42,700
Dara Davey - 33,700
Chaz Chattha - 43,525
Rhys Jones - 21,300
Simon Deadman - 14,000
James Browning - 27,500
Lefteris Stylianou - 67,700
Dominic Pierse - 66,000
Andros Spyrou - 58,175
Devraj Bhattacharya - 50,500
Steve Warburton - 9,000
Robbie Bull - 19,100
Andrew Chen - 43,400

Phillip Corion - 48,000
Dermot Blain - 6,600
Richard Gryko - 7,900
Jonas Lauck - 60,500
Martins Adeniya - 5,125
John Eames - 19,400
Pieter De Korver - 19,100
Ronan Gilligan - 43,800
Chris Brammer - 5,400
John Conroy - 51,300
Matti De Meulder - 3,700
Nick Hicks - 9,050
Patrick Lawless - 50,575
Jude Ainsworth - 23,000
Carlo Citrone - 36,100
Jamie Burland - 28,700

6pm: Things looking up for Burland
Jamie Burland is just on his one hour dinner break but he told us the day has gone reasonably well.

"I had a pretty tough table early on but made some better hands to get to 25,000. I've just been moved though - hopefully this table should be a bit better!"

Two other counts from the felt:
Paul Zimbler - 45,000
Alex Goulder - 8,000
-- RS

5.50pm Davenport fights back with spiked club
Matthew Davenport was looking tired and lacking a little fight, his chip stack depleted just a few moments ago.

When he went to war preflop with Adam Topping with [Ac][9s] and Topping turned over the superior [Js][Jd], it looked as though his tournament may have run its course.

A board of [5c][Qc][6d][8c] looked set to end his run - although crucially, he had picked up a club flush draw, giving him a plethora of outs to win the hand.

Naturally the [Jc] arrived on the river to give Topping a cruel set but Davenport the nut flush.

Davenport appeared to have already been resigned to his fate however, shaking hands with his opponent and preparing to leave the table.

The vocal Renee Xie came to his assistance. "No! NO! NO! You have a flush!" she said gesticulating at the board wildly.

The truth dawned on Davenport and he retook his seat for the remaining 30 seconds before his dinner break - now the proud owner of a playable 18,000 stack.

No doubt some sustinance along with reflection on his fortune may give him renewed vigour when he returns for level six. -- RS

5:50pm: Table of doom disrupted
The PokerStars Blog noted earlier that table 57, which contained Jamie Sykes, Martins Adeniya and David Gent, to name just three, was particularly tough. It's just been broken and UKIPT regular Dean Clay had this to say on that event: "I'm definitely not upset about that," no doubt in part because he'd just doubled up and fancied his chances of further building his stack at a different table. -- NW

5.45pm: Howard's way
Fair play to Michael Howard. He made a very hard call against Richard Trigg for all his chips, and in turn, left Trigg crippled.

Howard was out of position and checked across all three streets of an [8c][th][kh][8s][tc] board to the British pro who bet 1,700, 2,800 and all in for 13,100.

Howard check-called all the way, the river call all in took him a good bit of time though. "Good call," said Trigg before following it up with, "Wow!" after he saw his opponent's [jd][jh]. Trigg could only muster [ah][js] and dropped to 2,000 chips. -- MC

5:40pm: Split Dinner Break
As per yesterday, half the field are now taking a break to enjoy the DTD buffet whilst the other half play out level six. They'll swap places in one hour. -- RS

Blinds up: 200/400, 50 ante

5:35pm: Some chip updates
More than 80 players have busted out so far, but here are how some of the 327 remaining players are getting on: Christopher Wood (34,000), John Eames (14,000), Jamie Sykes (30,225), Steve Warburton (9,500) and Simon Hemsworth (17,500). -- NW

5:30pm: Fallen Warriors
The boulevard of broken dreams lies scattered with vanquished combatants. These men and women are the latest to see their hopes of UKIPT glory shredded to pulp:

337 Benjamin Jenkins
338 Darren Copus
339 Shahla Javadi
340 John Cozens
341 Matthew Townsend
342 Caicai Huang
343 Gordon Huntly

344 Armin Kleitsch
345 Patrick Clarke
346 Ronald Guevara
347 Dahe Liu
348 Kyle Maguire
349 Lee Dixon
350 Francois Goulet
351 Terry Jordon
352 John Haigh
353 Jimmy Cinquemani
354 Robert White
355 Jack Allen

--RS

5:25pm: Salter Passes Straight
Jack Salter was just faced with a tough decision on the river of a [Kc][2h][Qs][Ts][Jh] board, having led out for 2,000 and been raised to 6,400 by tablemate Philip Duffey.

"Hmmmm. Can you be bluffing sometimes here?" he mused out loud. A 2 minute period of thought was followed with Salter passing [Jd][9d] for the second nut straight - a decision that was instantly rewarded by his opponent showing down [As][Kc] for the nuts.

Salter's accurate decision-making processes have yielded a stack of 33,000 so far. Duffey has around 31,500 himself. -- RS

5:20pm: O'Kearney sees the funny side
It's fair to say Dara O'Kearney - who's on his second bullet in this tournament - is living up to the Irish reputation of looking on the bright side. His day so far was encapsulated by this hand against Leo McLean.

First all in but it's an anticlimax. Ak v Ak of Leo McLean. Chop chop. Grinding 8k still #UKIPTNottingham

— Dara O'Kearney (@daraokearney) May 8, 2014

But he's managed to find a silver lining:

Badenfreude. Malicious relief you get when your day is going shit at table but you read list of players on blog better than you already bust

— Dara O'Kearney (@daraokearney) May 8, 2014

5:20pm: Money follows money
Chris Moneymaker was as low as 1,600 one level ago but he's back up to 14,500 now and it appears the biggest road block he's faced this level is getting his lime successfully into his beer. -- NW

5:10pm: Nuts after nuts for McLellan?
"Come on, show this hand!" yelled Peter Charalambous after Duncan McLellan raked in a pot to move up to 63,000.

The UKIPT Isle of Man champion opened [as][6s] for the nut flush. "Nuts after nuts," added Charalambous. McLellan just smiled.

The action had been three-way to a [4s][ts][2s] flop and Richard Trigg saw his 1,200 bet called by both McLellan and Michael Howard.

On the [8c] turn the action checked around to Howard who bet 2,800. McLellan raised it up to 6,075 and both opponents folded. -- MC

4:53pm: Adeniya in the break
Full Tilt Poker Tour Ambassador Martins Adeniya was down to 11,000 in the second break. The blog caught up with him to find out about his day.

"My table's quite tough actually. I late-registered and have David Gent, Jamie Sykes and Danny Lamming with me. So far, I haven't been able to get anything going and have bluffed off half my stack. I'm slowly rebuilding at the moment but my timing has been a bit off so far.

"I feel like players are playing their draws a lot more aggressively because it's a re-entry tournament. I put on the pressure a lot at the start as it is a re-entry but it didn't work out. Now I'm playing it like a normal tournament." -- MC

4:40pm: Level four exits
A total of 28 players were eliminated during level four, amongst them were: EPT winner Zimnan Ziyard, WSOP bracelet holder Barny Boatman and Team PokerStars Online's Vicente Delgado.

356 Zimnan Ziyard
357 Nicholas Athanasiou
358 Alan Brown
359 Danny Blair
360 Javed Ullah
361 David Orrin
362 Colin Tang
363 Alan Mansbridge
364 Leon Campbell
365 David Rawnsley
366 Sarah Hannan
367 Raimon Kruytzer
368 Glyn Cooke
369 Carl Boreham
370 Matthew Kirk
371 Vincent Campbell
372 Brandon Sheils
373 Thomas Dunwoodie
374 Amar Hussona
375 Tony Vu
376 Barny Boatman
377 Brendan Olidi
378 Aleksandras Voisnis
379 Graham Aimson
380 Paul Mctaggart
381 Nico Hutcheon
382 Thomas Zhang
383 Vicente Delgado

4:40pm: Some gassing with Grafton
PokerStars.tv caught up with UKIPT stalwart Sam Grafton to talk about a busy live poker schedule, SCOOP and why he has so much fun at UKIPT events. He's going well so far at UKIPT4 Nottingham2 as he's up to 41,000. -- NW

PokerStars Blog reporting team at PokerStars UKIPT Nottingham2: Marc Convey, Rod Stirzaker and Nick Wright. Photos by Danny Maxwell.

Day 1B of the £1,000,000 guaranteed UKIPT Nottingham saw 419 players pack themselves into Dusk Till Dawn's opulent surroundings to take their shot at the title and huge prizes on offer.

In typically English fashion, the weather forecast was inclement but the torrential downpour outside the doors couldn't dampen the fireworks within the casino - an incendiary day seeing the chip counts of the leading players fluctuate wildly throughout.

By the time ten action-packed levels had come and gone, just 113 remained and it was wily campaigner Jude Ainsworth who had mastered the field - his 238,600 stack topping the chip counts in the final reckoning.

Ainsworth has a well-established reputation at the felt, but his late bullish run up the chip counts was not without a few shaky moments and slices of luck, as he revealed.

"I got jacks in against kings for 24,000 and hit a jack on the river," he said. "That got me to 50,000 and then I ran super hot for two hours. "

Snapping at his heels come the finale were Richard Kellett with 228,700 and Jonas Lauck with 220,500. Kellett in particular is having an incredible week.

Having finished runner-up in the High Roller just yesterday, he's well set to write his page into the history books when he returns for Day 2 hunting his second title of the week.

The full chip counts come the end of play can be found here.

Amongst the many recognisable faces in contention today were Full Tilt Poker Ambassadors Martins Adeniya, the well-heeled Ben Jenkins and Dermot Blain.

They all showcased well-honed skills at the felt, but whilst Jenkins' and Adeniya's charges faltered midway through the day, Blain finished up with a respectable 70,000 which will stand him in good stead when he resumes his tilt at the title Saturday.

Team PokerStars Pros Christophe De Meulder and Matthias De Meulder had mixed fortunes at the felt - Matthias crashing out before the finish though his twin Christophe fared better - bagging up a handsome 106,000 come the close of the day.

Perhaps the biggest marquee name to grace the field was the man many credit with kickstarting the poker boom, 2003 WSOP Main Event Champion and Team PokerStars Pro Chris Moneymaker.

He proved unable to emulate his 2003 success on this occasion - his day a tough grind before David La Ronde (who bagged up 90,000) polished him off late on. Fortunately for Moneymaker and his many fans, he'll have a second chance to do it all again tomorrow should he use his second bullet to play Day 1C.

One man who demonstrated the potential of this double chance format was Royston Drenthe. The Reading footballer had an ignominious exit on Day 1A but rolled his sleeves up and came out fighting on day 1B, running his stack up to 101,600 when the stacks were tallied.

Drenthe was part of a trio of players with footballing credentials who survived the day. Both Lawrie Sanchez (81,000) and Steve Watts (102,000) also showed commendable panache to negotiate the many tricky obstacles they faced during the day.

Day 1B may have proved explosive but Day 1C could eclipse it yet, with another horde of players set to descend on Dusk Till Dawn to do battle at the felt. Amongst the many names slated to play, we can expect PokerStars' Liv Boeree, Fatima Moreira de Melo and possibly Chris Moneymaker if he claims his second bite of the cherry.

They'll have a veritable army of hungry grinders to march through and it will be fascinating to see who can best ride the waves of variance and stake their claim for the UKIPT title.

We'll resume at 12 o'clock sharp to play out the final Day 1 of the week. If it can match the drama we witnessed today, we can guarantee a gripping day of action. We can't wait. See you there!

For links to the updates from levels 5-10 click here.

For links to the updates from levels 1-4 click here.

Photos supplied by Danny Maxwell.

What are you doing here? All the cool kids are following the updates in this new post here.

4.40pm: Time for a break
Another two levels have been played out and it's time once more to pause for breath. We'll be back in 15 minutes for the resumption of level 5. See you then. -- RS

4.38pm: Staff of Excellence
With all the chips flying around and high calibre poker being played out, it's easy to overlook the hard work being done by Dusk Till Dawn's assorted staff.

The complex logistics of running a tournament of this size have been handled with great authority by the organisers, the waitresses are buzzing around like dervishes, taking orders and delivering food, the dealers are keeping up a brisk pace of hands and overall it's been a exemplary show of how to organise a tournament.

Congratulations all you busy bees! -- RS

4:30pm: Gray clouds gathering
Not a weather report, but an account of the almost-demise of Andrew Gray, who became embroiled in a preflop coup with Nicholas Macnaughton. The second nuts for Gray - pocket kings - was unfortunately just a smidgen behind the pocket aces of Macnaughton.

Macnaughton duly took the spoils from the cooler, rising up to 38,000 whilst Gray looked a little disconsolate with 4,500. He'll have his work cut out to recover from such an unpromising postion. -- RS

4:20pm: Nines a Crowder
Will Crowder is one of a number of recent bustouts from Day 1C of this tournament. He shoved for 2,775 with [Kd][4h] but ran into the [Ac][Ks] of Sandiep Khosa.
Liam Batey, Caicai Huang, James Mitchell and Alex Goulder are other recent casualties. -- NW

4:15pm: Gordon Blows a part of his stack
Chris Gordon got off to a rip-roaring start but just lost his biggest pot of the day to drop back to 48,000, still a tidy amount.

Peter Blow raised to 525 from first position and was called by Gordon and three other players. The flop fell [4d][3h][8c] and the action was checked to Gordon who bet 825. Only Blow called before both checked the [6h] turn. Blow led for 2,500 on the [2s] river and Gordon called before mucking upon seeing [8s][8d] appear from Blow's hand. -- MC

4:05pm: Yet more chip counts
There are so many big names in the field today that it's impossible to keep track of them all, here though are a few counts from the floor:

Craig McCorkell - 24,800
Paul Foltyn - 14,200
Richard Evans - 16,500
Roberto Romanello - 35,000
Zimnan Ziyard - 15,600
Fintan Gavin - 20,300
Daniel Stacey - 24,000

3:55pm: Orlando Blooms
Orlando Anderson has made hay during an impressive first three levels, running his stack up to an commanding 65,000 which may well be good for the chip lead at this stage. -- RS

3:50pm: Tierney dethrones King
Miguel King has been buffeted from pillar to post in the opening levels, and finally his tournament has been brought to a close.

A series of raises ended with King pushing his final 3,550 into the middle - Jim Tierney the only man brave enough to take on the King.

With pocket sevens, King was no doubt hoping for a flip to propel him back into contention but when Tierny flipped a dominating pair of nines, it looked as though he was about to lose his crown.

A board of [Qh][Td][6d][4d][6h] confirmed his deposition and Tierney was left smiling with an impressive 34,000 as King collected his belongings and departed. -- RS

3:47pm: It's Miller time
Andrew Miller is not here to mess about. He's going to be in the action, and when he plays, he plays big.

Joe Greenfield called the blog over to tell us about a funny couple of hands.

Greenfield himself opened to 450 from under the gun and the action folded around to Miller who moved his 50,000 chips over the line with pocket sevens. Greenfield had aces, called all in for 18,000, and said thank you very much to a double up.

The very next hand the action folded to Miller on the button and he moved all in with king-jack. Danny Blair was in the big blind and called once he looked down at jacks. Miller went on the make a straight and Blair's stack was decimated and he was on the rail soon after. Miller moved back up to 36,000. -- MC

3:40pm: It's for charity
UKIPT4 Nottingham 6-max champion Ben Mayhew is no stranger to prop bets, if you ever share a table with him ask him about the pineapple and sand bet. Anyway, we digress, he's also a man of his word and thanks to taking on a challenge from a friend whilst inebriated he's at Dusk Till Dawn today selling raffle tickets whilst dressed in the cocktail waitress outfit that the female valets wear.

"It's a side bet from Wednesday," he told the PokerStars Blog. "It was more of an 'I bet you won't do it' bet than a wager. I'm not making any financial gain from this," he added. But the charity Emmanuel House certainly will. There are 1,000 raffle tickets for sale at £20 each, half the proceeds are going to the charity and half towards UKIPT seats meaning nine people will win a seat to a UKIPT. And if you do win you don't even have to use it for a main event, the £1,100 can be split into portions to play side events.
Well done Ben for his part in proceedings, as he said: "It's not easy dressing up like this." -- NW

3:30pm: More chip counts
Given how packed the club is it's quite hard to access some of the tables but here are a smattering of counts from some of the tables we can get at:

Liv Boeree - 28,000
Mick Graydon - 26,500
Kevin Williams - 17,800
Thomas Ward - 43,000
Martins Adeniya - 19,000
Alex Goulder - 18,800
Liam Batey - 13,000
Devilfish - 13,400
Sunny Chattha - 16,000
Peter Barrable - 17,600
Nick Hicks - 16,300

Blinds up: 100/200 ante 25

3:25pm: Hard luck Storey (et al)
The modern day poker player plays a fast and furious brand of poker. Twenty thousand chips can disappear in pretty swift fashion - as the following players have found out during the early levels: -- RS

496 Jason Quince
497 Patrick Wharam
498 Glen Storey
499 Leszek Matonóg
500 Greg Hayles
501 Ronan Gilligan
502 Julian Thew

503 Jonathan Kalmar
504 Min Ji
505 Peter Falahee
506 Ian Simpson
507 Alan Lewis
508 Adam Harsanyi
509 Tony Gray
510 Tim Mole
511 Mohammed Istakhar Sadiq
512 Stephen Spring
513 Lautaro Guerra
514 Christopher Goodson
515 Ludovic Geilich
516 Chris Day
517 Brett Angell
518 Albert Sapiano
519 Nik Stylianou
520 Craig Dowsett
521 Carolyn Gray
522 Anthony Galloway
523 Mindaugas Bacevicius
524 Jeraint Hazan
525 Johnny Kurcaba Sorensen
526 Richard Paul
527 John Kabbaj
528 Fabio Esposito
529 Dan Gallagher
530 Tristan Churcher

3:15pm: No guardian Angell for Brett
Brett Angell was an early member of the sad-faced busted party after he found himself in a horrible pre flop spot.

Robert Malvasi raised to 350 from under the gun before an active Tom Langley three-bet to 850 from mid position. Angell flat called before Luke Diaper four-bet big to 5,850 out of a 26,000 stack.

The action folded back around to Angell who though for a while before shoving for 23,000 with pocket kings. Diaper had aces, made the call, and flopped a full house on an [a][2][2] flop. -- MC

3:05pm: Melting Snow
Karl Snow has had a rocky start to the day falling to 14,000.

Most recently, he looked to turn things round, raising to 350 from middle position, flat-called by Derek Collinson in the blinds.

The board peeled [Ad][Td][4h] - Collinson checked and Snow led for 875. Collinson now sprung into action, making a check-raise to 1650. Snow thought for a few moments before calling.

The dangerous-looking [4d] on the turn saw both players check before the [5d] appeared on the river.

Collinson checked, Snow led for 2,000 and Collinson called.

[Ah][Qd] for a cautiously-played second nut flush for Collinson and Snow could only muck, flashing the slightly-inferior [Jd] as he did.

"Ace-jack?" asked Collinson fishing for a little info. Snow merely shook his head a little glumly.

Collinson up to an impressive 38,000, Snow down to 14,500.

Karl Mahrenholz is sharing the felt with these two and has 18,000. -- RS

2:50pm: Kimber slips back, Jenkins stays snug
Jeff Kimber has had to lay down a couple of hands after being the original aggressor and is down to 18,700 as a result.

He didn't get to see his opponent's hand in the first hand but knew he made the right decision on the second one.

He opened to 400 from mid position and was called by Stephen Weatherall (cut-off) and Thomas Piccirilli (button) en route to a [ad][th][9h] flop. Kimber continued for 600 and Weatherall was the only caller.

Kimber bet 900 on the [7h] turn and Weatherall called once more. The latter bet 1,500 on the [6c] river after Kimber slowed to a check and then showed [kh][5h] for a flush when the Geordie folded.

Jenkins, meanwhile, is still folding like a boss and maintaining a 19k-stack. -- MC

2:40pm: Chip counts
A few chip counts from around the room:

James Mitchell - 11,000
Karl Mahrenholz - 14,600
Ian Simpson - 15,500
Maria Demetriou - 21,000
Matti De Meulder - 18,500
Fatima Moreira de Melo - 33,000
Ross Jarvis - 11,150
Tim Blake - 15,300
Deborah Worley-Roberts - 27,000
Ben Jenkins - 19,350

2:32pm: Kimber on the up; Jenkins playing tight

23k from 20k first break at #ukipt happy enough after the set under set accident. @FTPBenJenkins played 1 hand, raise utg, passed to 3b lol

— Jeff Kimber (@jeffkimberpoker) May 9, 2014

2:27pm: Nick talks to Liv
Talking about coming second in Edinburgh, happy for vicky but deep down she was a double winner, 3 Team PROs have 4 EPT titles..and general banter:

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 75/150

2:00pm: Break it up!
Wow. What a start to the final Day1 of this megalith of a tournament. The players will need their 15 minutes to refresh after that hectic opening. We'll be back soon for level three. --RS

1:55pm: Julian drops a Thew
At that tricky "table of death" with Barny Boatman, Joe Grech and James Greenwood, Julian Thew hasn't got to grips with his table just yet.

Most recently he lost a few chips, raising pre-flop then firing 400, and 1,100 on flop and turn before checking the river on the [Kh][8h][7s][3c][2s] board.

His opponent called every street before checking back the river to expose [9s][8d].

Julian nodded it was good and he falls to 15,000. Boatman and Grech have also taken small dents to their stacks in the early stages, down to 16,000 and 18,000 respectively. -- RS

1:50pm: Out kicked and kicked out
Mindaugas Bacevicius is the latest player to see their hopes of UKIPT glory dashed before the first break. He committed his chips with [A][9] on the turn of an ace high, three club board. His opponent Glenn Brouwer had [A][K], neither player had a club and Bacevicius didn't hit his three outer on the river.

494 of 502 players remain. -- NW

1:40pm: Kabbaj cooked
John Kabbaj is one of those players who successfully manages to fly under the radar despite having had a lot of success! The Brit won a bracelet at the 2009 WSOP in a $10,000 pot-limit Hold'em event - that's not easy - and has over $2,500,000 in lifetime earnings. He rarely makes an appearance on the UK circuit and his dalliance with the tournament today was a brief one as he's just been eliminated.

He held pocket tens and his opponent - Paul Dixon - had [Ad][Kd] the [Ac][8d][4d][10c][Jd] board meant Kabbaj turned a set, but Dixon spiked a flush on the river. The table he was at intimated that the final chips went in on the river. -- NW

1:36pm: Demetriou back to starting stack
Maria Demetriou had dropped down to 16,000 but won a pot with two-pair to get back to around starting stack.

She raised from the cut-off and was called by Richard Harris and Fabio Sperling in the blinds.

The flop fell [3d][ad][9h] and Demetriou continued for 250. Harris called but Sperling raised to 775. Demetriou called before another raise came in, from Harris and up to 2,100. It was enough to scare off Sperling but not Demetriou, who called.

No more chips ventured to the centre of the table as both players checked the [7h][js] turn and river. Harris opened [as][qd] but lost out to Demetriou's [9d][7d] for two-pair. -- MC

1:30pm: Healthy, wealthy and wise
During a quick break in play, Chaz Chattha explained he's cottoned on in recent times to the impact of good health on your poker game:

"Long days can really affect you and you want to be fresh coming into the final levels. It can be a really good time to pick up chips if you're feeling good at the end of the day." -- RS

1:28pm: Spicy start for Chili
Maria "chili" Demetriou is a familiar face to the Dusk Till Dawn patrons, a number of impressive results on her poker CV.

She has had an unfortunate opening to the day, running her top,top into quads, though she limited the damage by check-calling every street.

Down to 16,000, Maria's beaming smile tells you she is far from perturbed by her inauspicious start. --RS

1:25pm: Spotted
It doesn't take much effort to earn your spotters badge here in Nottingham. Wherever you look in Dusk Till Dawn you spot a recognisable poker face, over on table 11 you'll find EPT Loutraki champion Zinman Ziyard, a few tables along sits UKIPT2 Newcastle runner-up Raj Verma, if you looked up and to the right you'd spot Eleanor Gudger, fresh from her third place finish in the UKIPT High Roller, she's to the right of Dean Lyall, so she could be in for a mentally tiring day.

James Greenwood - runner-up at UKIPT3 Bristol - is one of the poker 'babies' sharing the table with Julian Thew, Joe Grech, Barny Boatman and Gordon Huntly. Whilst elsewhere Jon Kalmar has taken a break from the cash game to play this tournament and is seated with Fraser McIntyre. -- NW

1:18pm: It's official! £1 million guarantee broken
Dusk Till Dawn has managed to squeeze in 468 players so far today. If you add that to the 419 entrants from yesterday and the 175 from Day 1A you end up with 1,062.

That equates to £1,062,000 in the prize pool and it's still growing! Congratulations to all involved in making this happen, especially the tireless owner of Dusk Till Dawn, Rob Yong and his team. -- MC

1:15pm: In the V.I.P and at the bar
Such is the demand for seats that if a table can fit in a space then Dusk Till Dawn are using it. That means there are four tables in the V.I.P area and three in the bar area. Among the very important persons are Jeff Kimber, Deborah Worley-Roberts and Ben Jenkins.
Whilst you'll find Kevin Williams and Brett Angell straining their eyes in the bar area trying to not misread their hand. -- NW

1:10pm: Esposito straightened out
Another exit to tell you about and Fabio Esposito was the victim of a very chilly deck. By the turn of a [8][9][X][7] board he held a straight with [6][5] but his opponent - Vincent James - had the nuts with [J][10]. "He thought about it for a while before calling it off," said another player at the table. - NW

1:05pm: An alternate chat with Chaz Chattha
Day 1C sold out a couple of days ago, so all those wanting to get it today will be alternates - only able to get in when a player busts. Kind of like a one out one out policy.

Chaz Chattha is No.50 on that list so is patiently waiting for his second chance after he busted late yesterday. He spoke with the blog about his day yesterday, being an alternate and the size of the field.

"I started off the day really well and by level 6 I had 70,000, which was double the average at the time. The last two levels went really bad for me; I lost a couple of flips, hit a set-under-set which crippled me and I busted the last level of the day.

"I don't mind how long it takes to get in today. I'm quite a tight player and I don't get too involved in early levels. Even if it takes to level 4 to get in, I'm happy with that.

"It's an amazing turnout and must be one of the biggest fields ever recorded for a 1k on the UK poker scene. The winner must be looking at a quarter-of-a-million which is amazing." -- MC

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 50/100

1:00pm: Supply and demand
The massive demand for seats to the UKIPT has left DTD heaving with alternates, waiting anxiously to jump into vacated seats and start building a stack to put themselves in contention.

With 20k starting chips it could be a long wait before we see a rash of eliminations however, and Simon Trumper has announced they are opening up some additional tables to cope with the fervour created by the tournament's huge guarantee..

Four more tables in five minutes; a further four in twenty - DTD are going above and beyond to ensure they satisfy most, if not all, the players who've taken the time to travel down for their shot at glory. --RS

12:50pm: Will Irish eyes be smiling?
The number of Irish players in the field at UKIPT Nottingham has noticeably increased today. Chris Dowling, Fintan Gavin, Fergal Nealon, Ronan Gilligan and Mick Graydon are just some of the Irish cream beginning their road to potential UKIPT glory today.

In Nottingham playing day 1c today of the £1m guaranteed #UKIPTDTD gonna be a big field.

— Mick graydon (@BIGMICKG1) May 9, 2014

Ukipt Notts a go-go, just 1 bullet in the chamber is all I need

— Fergal Nealon (@midnitekowby) May 9, 2014

12:45pm: Roberts settles for good start
Full Tilt Poker Tour Ambassador Martins Adeniya is back for more, as is his table mate Jamie Roberts.

Roberts is up to 26,000 after flopping a set versus an opponent. He open raised to 150 and was called in one spot before a player on the button squeezed up to 525.

Roberts was the only caller to a [tc][6d][2h] flop where he check-called an 850 bet. Both checked the [as] turn before Roberts led for 1,675 on the [3c] river. His opponent tank called but mucked upon seeing Roberts' [2d][2c] for a baby set. -- MC

12:30pm: Stars in our midst
Amongst the notable faces here to vie for the title are PokerStars SportStar Fatima Moreira De Melo, Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott and Jeff "jaffacake" Kimber.

De Melo was a highly decorated hockey player for Holland, winning Gold, Silver and Bronze at the Olympics in her time. She has done a good job of transferring her array of skills from the hockey field to the poker tables, having already racked up $345,975 in winnings during her time at the felt.

Ulliott is one of the true legends of the game. "Devilfish" is 2nd on the England all-time money list with $6,200,000 in live winnings. Whether cracking bawdy jokes or gathering chips with aplomb, Ulliott is an entertaining figure whenever he's at the tables.

2007 World Heads-Up Champion Kimber is one of the UK's form players with a series of impressive results over the last two years leaving no one in the poker world with any doubts as to the qualities of his game. He'll be another man to watch closely as the day pans out. -- RS

12:30pm: One out
It took less than 30 minutes for the first exit of the day and that ignominious award goes to Tristin Churcher. He'd already lost around 5,000 to Jonathan O'Brien when he got involved in a three-bet pot with Alan Kenny. The latter held queens and bet the king high flop, call from Churcher. Kenny turned a set of queens and the chips flew in with Churcher's ace-king drawing dead. Kenny is the early chip leader. -- NW

12:15pm :Three men and a bunch of poker babies
Barny Boatman, Gordon Huntly and Julian Thew have all entered once before this week. Their luck was out on previous days so they're back today to try again and all have been sat at the same table.

The latter two of these tangled in a pot that saw Thew win with a straight. He and Huntly made it to the river of a [qd][7s][6d][5h][8c] board with 3,050 already in the middle. Huntly check-called 1,500 and mucked upon seeing Thew's [9d][7d] for a straight. -- MC

12pm: The calm before the storm
If Day 1B was a tropical cyclone then Day 1C is set to be a hurricane of epic proportions. Yesterday 419 players began and just 113 were left when the winds died down. The final starting day usually attracts more players, if that happens today then the £1,000,000 guarantee should be eclipsed given that 175 players took their shot on Day 1A.

This is the first ever UKIPT Main Event that has allowed a re-entry, the Day 1B field was bolstered by a number of players taking their second shot at this event. We expect the same to occur today as a number of those vanquished on Day 1B will be back for more today, amongst them are Jack Salter, Matti De Meulder and Ben Jenkins.

Whilst players of the caliber of Dave 'Devilfish' Ulliott, Liv Boeree and Roberto Romanello are taking their first shot at UKIPT glory today. Despite the heaving numbers play is underway on time here at Dusk Till Dawn.

Key UKIPT Nottingham Facts:

- 20,000 starting stack
- Blinds starting at 25/50 for 400 big blinds
- One hour levels and we'll play ten today.
- This is the final Day 1 then on Saturday survivors will merge for Days 2, 3 and 4 until a winner is crowned (cue winner's photo, trophy swinging around, celebrations in the bar).
- The £330 UKIPT Nottingham Cup starts at 19.00, it carries a £100,000 guarantee and there are two start days.
- Full UKIPT schedule here

PokerStars Blog reporting team at PokerStars UKIPT Nottingham2: Marc Convey, Rod Stirzaker and Nick Wright. Photos by Danny Maxwell.

11:50pm: Day 1C is over
The end of level 10 signals the end of the day. We expect Ben Miller to be the man who leads the field with around 270,000. Also flying high is previous UKIPT winner Joeri Zandvliet with 205,000.

The players are currently baggin' and taggin' and we'll have the full counts up shortly along with a wrap post from the day. For now though, thanks for following...

11:40pm: Snapshot from the felt
Other interesting stacks and their recent activity:

Devilfish - 65,000 - last seen raise folding [Ah][Th] when he was three-bet (he was shown A-K)

"Ace-ten of hearts - best hand I've seen for a while" he added.

Daniel Pastor - 160,000 - last seen knocking out a tablemate with A-Q v T-J to bolster his stack further.

Andrew Seabright - 135,000 - looks like he's settling down to bag up a big stack overnight. -- RS

11:25pm: Deadly aggregate
With many of the sharks having negotiated their way through the field there are some tough tables with threatening stacks out there.

One of the toughest sees Thomas Ward(90,000), Tim Blake(65,000), Karl Mahrenholz(50,000) and big-stacked Ben Miller(160,000) pitting their wits against each other.

It looks as though there is an air of caution at the table - one or two perhaps hoping the table breaks and they get an easier time of it. -- RS

11.15pm: Champions and chip counts
Four UKIPT champions are still in the field today as we approach the final 30 minutes of play. Top dog amongst that quartet is Joeri Zandvliet, the Dutchman has a stack of 160,000. Almost a hundred thousand back is Alan Gold on 64,000, Richard Evans has 40,000 whilst Fintin Gavin is the shortest of the four with just 30,000.

Other selected counts as the day winds down are: Joe Walsh (50,000), Martins Adeniya (58,000), Devilfish (65,000), Paul Foltyn (80,000), Jeff Kimber (41,000) and Matti De Meulder (28,100). -- NW

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 600-1,200 ante 200

11:00pm: Break down!
Well nine tough, outrageously packed levels are in the can.

Just one more remains and we'll be back after 15 minutes to complete what has been a record-breaking day. See you soon. --RS

10:58pm: Leading the way
There are plenty of players with their dreams trampled to dust. In contrast, here are some of the leaders who can still dare to believe:

Jordan Cousins(*) - 205,000
Orlando Anderson - 160,000
Tom Brady - 120,000
Linda Willix - 102,000

* Cousins is having the sort of day dreams are made of. Down to 6,000 just a few levels ago, he has hit a super heater and risen to what is likely to be the chip lead at this stage.

"I work 60 hours a week so don't get to play much poker. This is my first UKIPT and I've been feeling a bit rough, but I'm starting to feel a bit better now!".-- RS

10:56pm: Maguire shown the money
Kyle Maguire's fortunes have just taken a sharp uptick - sending the luckless Michael Graydon to the rail.

It was one of those tournament staples - a standard flip [As][Qd] for Graydon [Ts][Tc] for Maguire.

The hand looked in the balance till the turn - the board peeling off [7c][4h][6c][Td][4d] to give Maguire a winning set.

He rises to 75,000, Graydon drops to zero chips. -- RS

10:55pm: Amy gets Trodden on
Amy Trodd flopped top-top but ran into a set to drop back to 29,000.

She opened to 2,400 from early position and was called by Angelo Milioto (button) and Alan Gold (big blind) en route to a [7d][ks][9c] flop.

Trodd continued for 4,400 and was raised to 9,400 by Milioto. Gold moved out of the way before Trodd shoved. Milioto made an immediate call all in for 34,200.

Trodd: [ac][kc] for top pair, top kicker.
Milioto: [9h][9d] for middle set.

The board ran out [kd][4c] so send the chips Milioto's way. -- MC

10.45pm: Boeree busts
Liv Boeree is not happy and it's not because she's just busted by running kings into aces for her last 30,000. She's still raging about an incorrect fold she made earlier (see 10pm post). "It's the worst fold of my life, I could've had the chip lead." She then looked on the bright side. "At least I've got the worst fold of my career out the way." -- NW

10.35pm: Demetriou shoves
Maria Demtriou is up to 25,000 after getting a three-bet shove through. She opened to 2,100 on the button, Zak Lawson three-bet 5,100, but folded after Demetriou shoved for 19,000. -- NW

10:25pm: It's all about the money, first prize tops £200,000!
This UKIPT Nottingham has officially become the richest stop ever in the four seasons of the tour.

The 1,223 (1,058 unique) players helped to create a £1,223,000 prize pool. The top 183 players will receive a minimum of £1,770 and if you make the final table you'll be guaranteed £20,800. The top prize is a whopping £218,300! For a full breakdown of prizes click here.

The blog caught up with Dusk Till Dawn card room manager Simon Trumper to get his reaction:

"We already held the record for the biggest UKIPT with £1,137,000 in the £700 buy in event which had 1,625 runners. It was always our goal to break that and we've done that!

"It's a massive achievement and I'm over the moon for PokerStars and the UKIPT but also for all our staff. We have 50-60 staff who work here on a weekly basis and we bring a lot of extra regular staff here because we keep hosting these massive events.

"I'm really proud of everyone and I just hope the rest of the weekend is a success." --MC

10.10pm: Stacks of information
Fatima Moreira de Melo - 71,600
Craig McCorkell - 9,000
Chris Gordon - 95,000
Joeri Zandvliet - 95,000
Tim Blake - 60,000
Carlo Citrone - 23,000
Maria Demetriou - 25,000

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 500-1,000-100

10:05pm: Original Sin washed away
Full Tilt Poker Ambassador Sin Melin has ground her stack hard today, but was never really able to gain traction.

Her exit saw her move all-in for thirteen big blinds from early position with [Kd][Qd] - only to pick up a dominating caller with [As][Kc].

Her prospects looked bleak but when the board came [Td][9s][3c], she had picked up some additional outs to spike. The [Ad] on the turn now gave her a flush draw and a gutshot - but a sad [5h] brick on the river couldn't turn the tables round for her.

She finished with a smile however and the effervescent Melin is in the mood to enjoy the rest of her evening now her tournament hopes have been scuppered. -- RS

10pm: Boeree folds best hand, misses chance to grab lead
Team PokerStars Pro Liv Boeree was close to the chip lead but open-folded the best hand in a duel versus Gary Fisher, who claimed the lofty position for himself.

Tarique Imam opened proceedings with a 2,100 raise from the hijack and was called by Fisher in the next seat and Wenbin Chen on the button before Boeree squeezed to 7,500 from the small blind.

Only Fisher called to the [7h][ad][3h] flop where he faced a 9,500 c-bet from Boeree. Call. The turn came as the [2c] and Boeree fired for 9,500 and quickly faced a raise to 50,000. She had around 52,000 back so the raise was for stacks effectively.

"Flop a set?" she asked after thinking for a minute.

"Couldn't deny it," responded Fisher. "You shove you get to see, you fold you get to see."

Eventually Boeree open-folded [ac][3d] for two-pair and was shown [as][kd]! That put Fisher up to 145,000. -- MC

9.55pm: Tom Tom's heading in the right direction
Two of the biggest stacks in the room belong to Thomas Ward and Tom Brady. Ward has 102,000 whilst Brady is sitting pretty with 90,000. -- NW

9.50pm: Slusarek departs
Both Patryk Slusarek and Jason Beazley have made deep runs on the UKIPT this season but only one of them is still in this tournament. That's because Slusarek, who finished seventh at UKIPT4 London, has just been eliminated by Beazley, who was third at UKIPT4 Edinburgh.

All the chips went in on the turn of a [3s][4d][Js][7d] board with Beazley holding [Ks][7s] and Slusarek [Qs][10s] no queen or ten appeared on the river and Slusarek is gone. -- NW

9.45pm: Brutal run out stacks two
Kevin Lee just had what might be the run out of his life, sending Tim Hong Wong and Rick Advani to the rail in a remarkable hand.

The three tangled preflop - Wong and Advani holding [9h][9d] and [Jh][Jc], whilst Lee had two overs in [As][Kd].

Lee looked dead and buried when the board fell [9s][Js][Kc] - both his opponents flopping a set - but the [Kd] and [Ah] on the turn served to deliver him a highly unlikely get-out-of-jail card, leaving a shell-shocked Wong and Advani bemoaning their luck as they joined the growing throng of also rans at the bar.

Meanwhile Lee rises to 55,000... -- RS

9.40pm: Ambler walks tall

Dave Ulliott is holding court at his table - as you might expect - but even he was pressed into silence moments ago with George Achillea contemplating a tough river decision.

The hand opened with Meli Vincent raising to 1,600 from under-the-gun, Ambler putting his first bullet of pressure on by re-raising to 4,100.

Achillea called, as did Vincent.

The board fell [8c][8s][2s] - Ambler firing again for 5,700 - called by Achillea, Vincent folded.

The turn was the [7s] and Ambler chose to pull the trigger once more - 8,300 this time. Achillea considered this bet a little more carefully, getting a count of his opponent's stack - before again calling.

Come the [2d] river, Ambler unloaded the clip - betting 21,000 - enough to set Achillea all-in.

Devilfish had been in the midst of a story at this point but Achillea asked if he could give him a quiet minute to think. Devilfish happily obliged.

"Tens any good?" he asked hopefully, though Ambler was in no mood to volunteer any free information.

Eventually Achillea decided he would fold and live to fight another day - 16,500 his remaining stack. Ambler meanwhile stacked up his newly-won chips with a smile - up to 55,000. -- RS

9.35pm: The numbers are in
Drum roll please...

A total of 629 players entered the third and final starting flight taking the total number of entrants across all three days to 1,223. That means that the total prize pool is £1,223,000 which is a UKIPT record! We'll bring you the payout structure as soon as it's made available. What a fantastic effort by everyone at PokerStars and Dusk Till Dawn. -- NW

9:30pm: Make a wish, stars are falling
The big names continue to fall as Day 1C rounds the final bend of the day.

Sam Grafton, Daniel Charlton, Dave Nicholson and Roberto Romanello are no longer with chips. Grafton said, "I got policed off the table!"

Nicholson is primarily a cash game player and will hope some big games get going again over the weekend so he can get his teeth into. -- MC

9:25pm: De Meulder missed a trick as Rivera doubled
Matthias De Meulder said he would've knocked out Benjamin Garcia Rivera but Farooq Lone successfully isolated to help him double up.

The Team PokerStars Pro raised to 1,800 from mid position before Rivera three-bet all in for 5,900. Lone was in the small blind and raised to 12,000, enough to force De Meulder to fold.

Rivera: [6h][6d]
Lone: [ad][qs]

The board ran [3s][3h][9s][jd][7c] to safely see the sixes hold. -- MC

9.15pm: Hawes takes the chip lead
Richard Hawes is playing 100,000 which makes him the chip leader. He won a big pot against Fergal Nealon to climb to that total. -- NW

9.05pm: Up down and all around
As the PokerStars Blog has been told many times poker is a zero sum game, for everyone who loses 20,000 chips, someone gains them. With that in mind the chip counts of the names and notables are spread further than an internet rumour.

Most though are in the 'plus' column. UKIPT4 Galway winner Alan Gold is up to 56,000, that's one thousand less than Dean Lyall who's had a decent stack all day. At the other end of the spectrum Team PokerStars Pro Matti De Meulder has dipped to 18,000. In between these two extremes you'll find: Joeri Zandvliet (45,000), Karl Mahrenholz (32,000), Roberto Romanello (27,500), Surinder Sunar (28,000), Deborah Worley-Roberts (40,000) and Fergal Nealon (44,000). -- NW

Blinds up: 400/800, 100 ante

8:45pm: Break down and give me 15
The players are on a 15-minute break.

8:40pm: Geilich and Ellwood bust
Jack Ellwood and Ludovic Geilich have also hit the rail. The detail for Ellwood's exit are unknown but Geilich filled the blog in.

There was a raise to 1,200 and a call from the small blind before Geilich squeezed all in for 11,000 (13 big blinds) with ace-six. The opener called with pocket jacks and held. -- MC

8:25pm: Bar bound
Tournament poker can be a rough ride. Here are the recent players to have fallen overboard - their chances drowning in the murky, frothy waters of variance.

369 Manuel Bardon
370 Robin Sjogren Knutas
371 Adam Forsyth
372 Doig Rudling
373 Paul Delaney
374 Michael Corrigan
375 Robert Malvasi
376 Alan Brown
377 Edward Overall
378 Dave Reed
379 Andreas Constantinou
380 Tom Clark

381 Sandiep Khosa
382 Zimnan Ziyard
383 Nick Smith
384 Arjanit Kondaj
385 Robertas Vaitkevicius
386 Anonymous
387 John Burberry
388 Lisa Mccabe
389 Chris Kearney
390 Colburn Tomlin
391 Richard Nelson
392 Humberto Guerra
393 Adam Lulat
394 Ole Andre Sletteng
395 Thomas High
396 Stephen Ralph
397 Benjamin Jenkins
398 Gianni Romano
399 Pablo Martin-romo Ruiz -- RS

8:35pm: Pastor with chips
Fintan Gavin's table was already an interesting one and the verbal quotient has just risen with the arrival of the newly-grizzled Sam Grafton sporting his wildman beard.

An interesting hand played out that saw Jack Salter raise from early position to 1375, called by Gavin and Pastor in position.

The flop fell [Kc][Qh][5h] - Salter checking before Gavin led for 2,000. Pastor called and everyone else passed.

The turn was a potentially-flush-completing [9h]. Unperturbed Gavin now bet out 4,000. Pastor called.

Come the [Jh] (the fourth heart, note) on the river, Gavin moved all-in for around 8,000. Pastor called instantly.

"Oh dear," said Gavin, ready to get his things. "One pair."

Pastor proudly showed down [Qs][Tc] for the straight.

"Oh wait, i have a straight also!" said Gavin. "Sorry about that!" - He tabled [9s][Tc] and the pair split the pot.

Gavin looked bemused at the call following his three bullet volley. "I must have the worst reputation in Europe. How can he call there!"

Pastor remained impassive - his stack up to 45,000; Gavin remains a little short with 15,000. -- RS

8:30pm: Prass-ing his luck
The on-air live crew who may have been faced with repeatedly trying to pronounce Prassanna Suryanarayanan's surname should he have run deep in the tournament are currently breathing a sigh of relief.

He has succumbed - taking a shot at a double through by grappling unsuccessfully with Costas Sarris preflop.

His [Ts][Js] was behind but live versus Sarris' [Ah][Kh] but neither man made a pair over the [2s][2c][3d][4h][4s] board and Sarris took the pot and the scalp by virtue of his superior kicker.

Good game sir. -- RS

8:25pm: Hall and flipaments
Tom Hall waited patiently to get in the tournament and he just managed it as registration closed. Was it worth it? Probably not, as he lasted less than half a level. Arron Fletcher kindly filled the blog in on the hand.

Mathis Rose opened and was called in one spot before Fletcher squeezed to 3,500. Hall then four-bet jammed for around 20,000 and only Rose called with pocket queens. Hall opened ace-king and failed to hit.

Other Brits to hit the rail recently include Ben Jenkins, Ben Davies, Nick Hicks, Barny Boatman and Ben Jackson. -- MC

8.15pm: A few counts
Team PokerStars Pro Liv Boeree is on the table nearest the rail and there's been a few fans eagerly watching for most of the day. It's certainly not put her off her stride though as she's up to 40,000. Louise Duffy was running a 'Big 2' card school in the poker tent at Dusk Till Dawn last night, she's in action today but has dipped a little below starting stack as she's got 19,000 and Tom Brady, who final tabled the Irish Open is 2013, is going along swimmingly with 45,000. -- NW

8.10pm: Martins Adeniya - superman comes to the supermarket
Full Tilt Poker Ambassador Martins Adeniya is the most helpful supermarket staff member ever. I'll explain.

You know when you're in a supermarket and you ask where you can find the beef jerky* and a member of staff merely points you in the general direction before getting back to their work. The poker equivalent of that is when you ask a player how much they're playing and they say 'about 40' or 'somewhere around 50'.

When the PokerStars Blog asked Martins Adeniya how much he was playing he didn't respond like that though, he dutifully cut down his stack and told us that he was playing exactly 61,250. That's the supermarket equivalent of taking you to the aisle, pointing out the product and any other similar products. Mr Adeniya we salute you. - NW
*or whatever it is you can't find.

8pm: Various chip counts
Tim Davie - 5,300
Jakub Szczotka - 82,000
Edward Overall - 73,000
Nick Hicks - 20,400
Carlo Citrone - 59,000
Dave Ulliott - 69,000
Chris Dowling - 26,000

Paul Foltyn - 38,000
Roberto Romanello - 17,000
Sin Melin - 13,000
Jeff Kimber - 33,000
Fergal Nealon - 40,000
Tom Hall - 20,000
Patrice Brandt - 62,000
Tomasz Kozub - 61,000
Peter Mok - 59,000
Steve Mulcair - 58,000
Costas Sarris - 48,000
Krzysztof Wolanski - 48,000
Fatima Moreira de Melo - 47,000
Christopher Kadji - 44,000
David Milby - 44,000
Nathan Davies - 43,000
George Baldock - 40,000
Zak Lawson - 39,000
--MC/RS

Blinds up: 300/600 ante 75

7.50pm: Seyadi doubles
Ferhad Seyadi threw his final 2,050 chips into the middle of the table with the manner of a man who thought that even if he doubled up it would matter for little as he'd still be in danger. He rested back into the bosom of his seat to wait for his fate.

One by one they folded until action reached Jack Shutt and he announced call. With a flick of the wrist Seyadi showed pocket tens, he would only have to dodge the one over card as Shutt held [As][9c]. And dodge it he did as the board ran [4h][2h][Kd][Jc][3c] to double him up. -- NW

7:40pm: Williams runs into a house
It's okay, he was hurt a bit but Kevin Williams is still intact and alive with 18,500 chips.

He was battling heads-up with Jonathan Slater and they had made it to the turn with the board reading [8d][td][8c][4c]. Slater checked from under the gun and called when Williams bet 4,500 from the next seat. The board completed with the [as] and Williams thought long and hard about betting again but checked behind.

Slater opened [tc][th] for a flopped full house. Williams nodded and smiled as he slid his cards to the dealer. -- MC

7.35pm: Gudger gone
Down to around 9,000 in chips Eleanor Gudger, who finished third in the UKIPT High Roller on Wednesday, committed her chips with [9d][9h] and found a willing caller in the shape of Dave Maudlin. The Teesider had pocket queens and they stayed ahead on a [4s][Kh][7s][Jd][Kd] board and she took her leave from the tournament arena. -- NW

7:28pm: Stroke of luck
Tim Blake is one of the more genial players you'll meet on the circuit. Always quick with a one liner or joke, he brings a levity to the felt few can match.

Blake has recovered from a recent stroke and this might have knocked the stuffing out of many a player, but the ever-optimstic Blake bounced back with his trademark black humour.

"I'm having a good time - feeling really well. After my stroke I think a little bit of my brain got damaged. Now I'm actually starting to understand how all these young kids are playing!"

At his dinner break, he's reached a healthy 32,000, primarily as a result of having run aces into jacks for a double-through. -- RS

7:18pm: Fraser frowns on exit
EPT Madrid runner-up Fraser McIntyre came back from dinner with just 4,075 and didn't waste much time in getting them in the middle. He found a premium had too with ace-king suited.

He was called by an opponent also holding ace-king suited who went on to make a flush. McIntyre was actually all smiles on defeat and will probably head to the bar or jump in a big cash game. -- MC

7.15pm: Ward once again ahead of the pack
The average stack in the tournament is 26,000 so that makes Thomas Ward's stack of 46,000 almost double the average. And it's a position Ward is used to on the UKIPT as his 10 Main Event cashes mean he has the most main event cashes in the history of the tour. Here's his roll of honour:

UKIPT1 Coventry - 34th
UKIPT2 Edinburgh - 4th
UKIPT3 Galway - 54th
UKIPT3 Newcastle - 57th
UKIPT3 Edinburgh - 29th
UKIPT3 London - 2nd
UKIPT4 Marbella - 62nd
UKIPT4 Galway - 46th
UKIPT4 Isle of Man - 31st
UKIPT4 Edinburgh - 45th

His biggest cash, and near miss to a UKIPT title, came in London in Season 3 when he lost heads-up to Sergio Aido for the title. His runner-up finish was good for £116,845 and he told the PokerStars Blog in Edinburgh in January that it had enabled him to travel more and play more live events.

He'll have to keep on his toes though as his nearest rivals have eight main event cashes and great UKIPT pedigree. They're none other that UKIPT3 leader board winner Tom Hall, UKIPT3 Online Qualifier of the Year Dara O'Kearney and former king of the UKIPT cashes Rupinder Bedi.

Will Ward hang onto his lead? Only time will tell. -- NW

7:10pm: Salter kicks Gavin
Jack Salter's kicker helped him win a pot off Fintan Gavin who was dominating him pre flop.

Salter raised from the cut-off and called after Gavin three-bet him from the next seat. The flop fell [2s][qd][3d] and both players checked to the [jh] turn where Salter check-called a 4,400 bet. The board completed with the [6s] and both players went back to checking.

Gavin opened [ac][kh] but lost out to Salter's [ks][qs]. Gavin dropped to 16,000 and Salter rose to 25,000. -- MC

7pm: Slater burns Wicks
Jonathan Slater is up to the dizzy heights of 48,000 after winning a chunky pot against Daniel Wicks. The former bet 10,000 on the river of a [5c][Jh][Kh][3h][As] board, Wicks called but sent his cards into the much when Slater showed [Jd][Jc] for a flopped set. -- NW

6:55pm: Leading the fray
The 50% of players currently tucking into the buffet have been analysed, assessed, sorted and typed up.

Here are the players leading the charge along with some of the more familiar names:

Watch out second tranch of soon-to-be-dinnering players. You'll be next to fall under our numerical microscope. -- RS

Linda Willix 63,000
Dean Lyall 58,000
Martins Adeniya 57,000
Kenneth Coote 51,250
Tom Brandy 51,000
Toni Pettersson 48,000
William Elliot 47,000
Orlando Anderson 46,000
Thomas Ward 46,000
Ismail Yusuf 45,500
Jack Shutt 45,000

Brian Warren 45,000
Paul McTaggart 40,000
Neil Kilgour 37,000
Jamie Roberts 37,000
Barny Boatman 34,000
Deborah Worley-Roberts 34,000
Fintan Gavin 24,000
Andrew Seden 20,500
Jeff Kimber 20,075
Ben Jenkins 19,900
Jack Salter 19,700
Zimnan Ziyard 11,200
Fraser McIntyre 4,075

6:50pm: Grafton: He's loud, proud and not an alternate anymore
It's taken until after dinner for Sam Grafton to get in the Main Event, but he's in for level 6 with those who've just finished their dinner break.

He's been drawn at the same table as Fintan Gavin and EPT Grand Final runner-up Jack Salter. He's out of position to both and says the challenge will be, "Fun." --MC

6:45pm: Tag
We're not saying the entire field is tight-aggressive, not in the slightest. But the half of the field that have just played level six are now on dinner break, whilst the other half of the field have returned to their seats to play level six, -- NW

6:40pm: Fintan's a fan
Fintan Gavin has played more UKIPT's than most, and even won one, so when the man speaks you should listen.

This is a amazing tournament. Well done @UKIPT @ @rob_yong best ever #UKIPT

— Fintan Gavin (@fintangavin) May 9, 2014

6:30pm: Exits
There's no easy way to say this but the dream is over for: Ross Jarvis, Charles Chattha, Ellie Biessek, Lawrence Gosney, Gordon Huntly, Jason Herbert and Diego Gomez. -- NW

6:25pm: Kamel gets there
"Always get there, Tam!" said David McConachie to Tamer Kamel after he paid the EPT9 London finalist to help him up to 21,000.

Was it a case of him let him get there, though?

Kamel raised from under the gun and was called by McConachie in the next seat and three other players. The flop fanned [2h][9d][8h] and McConachie bet 1,650. Michael Cummings (button) and Kamel called to the [5d] river.

Kamel led for 3,500 and only McConachie called after tanking. Kamel opened [6c][7c] for a straight, beating out McConachie's set with [2c][2s]. -- MC

6:15pm: Tournament titbits
- Chris Moneymaker is now in the tournament and he's been sat to the direct left of Richard Evans. The affable Welshman, who won UKIPT3 Dublin and €75,500 after qualifying for just €15 and then won the UKIPT Champion of Champions to get entry to every stop this Season lent over to the PokerStars Blog and whispered. "I'm sitting next to Chris Moneymaker!" Evans has him outchipped as he's up to 27,500.
- Chris Dowling is up to 27,000 and Craig McCorkell has 25,000.
- Sin Melin just moved all-in for 3,950 over the top of a 1,000 chip open. Her opponent folded an ace and she said: "You had an ace what's that about?" before adding. "I had an ace too." -- NW

6:05pm: Gavin as good as he gets
You can't keep a good man down and Gavin has continued his recent recovery, picking up several pots in quick succession to rise to over 21,000.

Firstly he peeled a raise from Niall Murray after Craig Goddard had called on the button from the big blind.

The flop came [Ts][7c][6s] - Murray led out 825 and Goddard and Gavin both called.

The [7s] on the turn saw all three check before the final [Td] was checked to Goddard(wielding an impressive 57,000) who bet out 2,250 in position.

Gavin called, turning up [As][7h] for a full house, which was good versus Goddard's bluff with [Ad][Kh].

Next up Gavin called a raise from Nick Lynn in position - leading out the [Ks][6s][5h] board for 1,150 which Lynn check-called.

The turned [6h] saw both players check before Lynn now fired out 2,000 on the draw-completing [9s] river. Gavin made a quick call and Lynn mucked quickly.

"I'd show your cards against him!" chided Salter. (16,000) "Against the other players that's ok, but not against this guy," he said, eliciting a chuckle from Gavin as he swept up the pot to reach 26,000. -- RS

6pm: Huntly squeezed to death
Gordon Huntly was up to a high of 38,000 but he busted after a "funny old day."

William Elliot raised from under the gun before Leon Narinsakchai three-bet from the button. Huntly was in the small blind and shoved for 9,025. Elliot called but Narinsakchai folded.

Huntly: [qs][td]
Elliot: [as][ad]

It was a case of bad timing for Huntly and he failed to get out of trouble on the [ks][5d][8d][8c][qc] board.

Barny Boatman's stack was shrinking earlier bur he's got himself up to 34,0000. Partly due to hitting quads, apparently. -- MC

5:50pm: Death by Devilfish
"I'm bashing them up kid," said Dave 'Devilfish' Ulliott to the PokerStars Blog as a mass of unstacked chips sat in front of him. When he was done stacking them it looked like he had around 54,000. -- NW

Blinds up: 200/400, 50 ante

5:40pm: Nealon and Lyall up with the leaders
The first half of the day has been kind to Fergal Nealon and Dean Lyall. They've got 55,000 and 58,000 respectively and are up there with the chip leaders. Other selected counts include:
Barny Boatman - 41,000
James Greenwood - 16,000
Joe Grech - 18,500
Gordon Huntly - 8,800
Eleanor Gudger - 21,400
Tim Wong - 30,000
Fraser McIntyre - 4,400

5.30pm: Moneymaker bemused by inclement conditions
"Does it ever not rain in England?" asked Chris Moneymaker - a question many of the natives ask themselves from time to time.

"When the sun comes out, it's like everyone's saying 'What's this thing?!'"

He'll be pleased to know the grey clouds outside have cleared temporarily, leaving Nottingham bathed in golden sunshine - just in time for him to play out the tournament inside. -- RS

5.25pm: Gavin a laugh
Genial Irishman Fintan Gavin has seen his 20,000 stack reduced to 6,000 over the first four levels. It was looking like an early bath for Gavin, but he's managed to recoup some of those losses, refusing to fold pocket fours on an 8-8-x board versus an aggressive opponent and being rewarded for his obstinacy with his opponent showing down a pair-less ace-ten.

Gavin survived through turn and river and is back to 13,000 and back in with a shot. -- RS

5:15pm: Don't mess with Adebayo!
"I've been waiting for this!" shouted Adebayo Odetoyinbo after he raked in double up chips.

He was heads up with Brendan Keenan to a [jc][6c][kc] flop. Keenan had 1,625 out in front of him and Odetoyinbo raised to 6,000. Keenan took a while before shoving and Odetoyinbo snap called all in for 17,000.

Odetoyinbo: [kd][jh] for top two pair.
Keenan: [ks][td] for top pair.

The board ran out [ts][3h]. Keenan was left with 33,400. -- MC

5pm: Joe Walsh - talkSPORT freeroll challenge winner
Back in April PokerStars and talkSPORT ran a series of freerolls to win a seat to UKIPT4 Nottingham2. 252 players qualified for the final, there was one seat up for grabs and Joe Walsh, 34 from Cork was the last player standing. "I qualified to the final at my second attempt I think," he told the PokerStars Blog. "The final took about three hours, I can't remember any specific pot where I got lucky but I don't think I was ever in the top ten until the final table, but then I just gradually crept up."

And it was a rare foray to the felt for Walsh as he's busy studying Computer Science. "I used to play a fair amount of small stakes poker but I don't get to play much poker these days as I'm in college and busy with exams. I've actually got an exam on the day of the final table, but I wasn't expecting to win!"

And he may well have to skip that exam as he's off to a flying start. "This is my first UKIPT, I'm playing really tight and I'm up to 30,000." Good luck Joe.-- NW

4:55pm: Fatima is back and she wants a WIN!!
PokerStars SportStar Fatima Moreira de Melo chats to UKIPT Host Nick Wealthall about her ambitions in Nottingham.

4:50pm: The Moneymaker is back
UKIPT4 Nottingham is booming and the man partly responsible for starting the poker boom back in 2003 - Chris Moneymaker - is back for more.

He's still some way down the alternate list but should get in before dinner break. --MC

Key UKIPT Nottingham Facts:

- 20,000 starting stack
- Blinds starting at 25/50 for 400 big blinds
- One hour levels and we'll play ten today.
- This is the final Day 1 then on Saturday survivors will merge for Days 2, 3 and 4 until a winner is crowned (cue winner's photo, trophy swinging around, celebrations in the bar).
- The £330 UKIPT Nottingham Cup starts at 21.00 local time, it carries a £100,000 guarantee and there are two start days.
- Full UKIPT schedule here

PokerStars Blog reporting team at PokerStars UKIPT Nottingham2: Marc Convey, Rod Stirzaker and Nick Wright. Photos by Danny Maxwell.

The richest ever UKIPT stop was created today after an epic Day 1C. A massive 629 players squeezed into Dusk Till Dawn today helping to bring the total number for the Main Event up to 1,223 players.

After ten levels of play 24-year-old Ben Miller came out on top of the chip counts with an impressive 264,200. He'll head into Day 2 as the overall chip leader and spoke to the blog at the end of play:

"I got in halfway through level four and just decided I was going to go for it rather than grinding like I usually would. A couple of big bluffs and a couple of big calls got me most of my stack. I'd decided if I didn't get in to level six I wasn't going to play.

"I trade equities for a living and due to work Day 1C was the only day I could play, I turned up at midday thinking there'd be a few alternates! I've played a few UKIPT's and came fifth at a UKIPT Series event in London. Poker is a serious hobby for me and I love trips abroad to play. I play cash more than tournaments. I love the UKIPT and how the events are set-up and run."

Jordan Cousins is playing his first ever UKIPT, as 60-hour working weeks keep him busy normally, and he is loving the experience. He won a £250 tournament credit in a DTD tournament and used that towards his buy in. He was down to 6,000 at one point but went on a huge upswing to end the day second in chips with 234,900.

The red spade was represented by Liv Boeree, Chris Moneymaker, Mattias De Meulder and Fatima Moreira de Melo today and the team had mixed results. Moneymaker busted a second bullet and Boeree busted her one and only. She was one call away from claiming the chip lead at the time and was punished by running kings into aces a short while after.

De Meulder and Moreira De Melo travelled over from the continent and are through with 57,300 and 124,700 respectively. "Today was awesome, I had a great time and I even got a little love note from someone!" the Olympic star said of her day.

The Full Tilt Poker Tour Ambassadors were out in force today. Sin Melin, Ben Jenkins and Martins Adeniya were all aiming to join Dermot Blain in Day 2 but only Adeniya managed to get through with 51,400.

The players of note to look out for on Day 2 include two-time champion Joeri Zandvliet (205,400), Daniel Pastor (177,700), Richard Evans (82,000), Paul Foltyn (53,600), Dave Ulliott (50,000), Thomas Ward (80,000), Karl Mahrenholz (50,900), Chris Gordon (128,500) and Richard Evans (82,000).

There was a fear that recreational players would be at a disadvantage with this stop being a re-entry tournament but of the 1,223 entries only 165 were on their second chance. On Monday one person will walk away with a huge £218,300 payday and a shiny new trophy. In total, 183 players will leave with a minimum £1,770. For a full breakdown of all the prizes click here.

The big numbers up top will only add to the disappointment of those missing out on the money. The likes of Roberto Romanello, John Kabbaj, Julian Thew, Alex Goulder, James Mitchell, Andrew Badecker, Tom Hall, Ludovic Geilich and Craig McCorkell all departed today (some for the second time) and will have to wait until UKIPT Marbella next month for their next shot of glory on the tour.

For many, the tournament proper starts tomorrow. All 333 remaining players from the three starting flights will be under one roof and the race to the money is on. The plan is to play eight or 10 one-hour levels and the bubble should burst midway through the day.

UKIPT Host Nick Wealthall gives us a quick, fun and charming summary of all the action from the previous 3 days.

Make sure you check back in from 12pm BST for all the day's big stories. Click below for all today's updates, chips counts and Day 2 seat draw.

Levels 1-4.
Levels 5-10.
Prize pool information.
Day 2 chip counts.
Day 2 seat draw.

Photos credited to Danny Maxwell

4:18pm: Break time
A tense 15 minutes away from the baize for many a short stack. You'll find level 15 updates here. -- MC

4:15pm: Cody and Lappin double up
Jake Cody and David Lappin both managed to get a needed double up with 186 players still remaining.

Cody moved all in for 15,100 with [ad][qc] and was called by his recent nemesis Paul Jenkinson who held [as][ks] in the big blind. The board ran a Cody friendly [qh][3c][ah][td][3s].

Lappin told the blog he's up to 16,000 after his pocket kings were good for a double versus an opponent's queen-five. Lappin had a sweat on [q][4][6] flop but the turn and river bricked. -- MC

4:10pm: Zandvliet prospers amidst falling stars
The proximity of the bubble puts a lot of ICM pressure on players. Can they afford to go to showdown when folding might mean a sure pay cheque?

Joeri Zandvliet (415,000) has been applying maximum pressure to his table, raising frequently and attacking three-bets with abandon. He's chipping up to great effect.

In contrast here are some other notable names down at the bottom end of the chip spectrum with that cruel money-less cut-off point approaching.

This is how they are getting on:

Cody - 20,000 - very short and options dwindling, Cody is looking for the right spot to either pick up the blinds or double-through.

It's looking like a tough grind for the worldwide superstar as he hunts down this UKIPT cash.

Thomas Middleton - 38,500. Moments ago Middleton shoved and although Royston Drenthe in the big blind looked tempted to get involved ("Am i going to make my first bad call of the tournament?" - he asked himself), he did fold showing K-7.)

Middleton showed him pocket jacks with a toothy grin!

Martins Adeniya - 62,000. Martins has a little more breathing room than these but is still only one decent-sized pot away from elimination. We caught him sidling over to Jake Cody for a chat.

Noticing his small stack, he asked," They got you to huh? What was your high point?"

Cody told him he'd been at 180,000. "Yeh i was at 250,000 before," Adeniya revealed. "Depressing isn't it?" -- RS

3:55pm: Cody doubles down, Foltyn doubles up
Two of Britain's finest, Jake Cody and Paul Foltyn, have experienced very different fortunes as the tournament approached the bubble.

Cody dropped to less than ten big blinds after he made the wrong call versus Paul Jenkinson. Cody called a check-raise on a [6h][td][3c] flop before Jenkinson shoved for 72,000 (into 95k) on the [kd] turn. Cody tanked before calling with [kh][js], behind to his opponent's [as][ad]. Jenkinson survived the [6d] river.

While Cody was tanking, Paul Foltyn was shoving his last 38,200 in with [ad][9d]. Michael Cummings woke up with [ac][ks] in the next seat and made the call. No worry for Foltyn though as he made quads on the [qs][tc][9c][9h][9s] board! -- MC

3.45pm: Double elimination avoided
Winston Cotgreave is out in 187th place after shoving with [Qs][Js] for 23,000 and running into two dominating hands. He got called first by Jack Allen who held [As][Js] and then Alan Kenny re-shoved for 40,000 with [Ad][Qc] and Allen called the extra.
The [9c][10c][6d][2h][6s] board kept Kenny in front and sent Cotgreave to the rail. -- NW

3.35pm: Angels and Demons
Some players are profiting from the early stages, whilst others are faltering - following the many divergent paths tournament participation can lead down.

At the moment the winners include:

Tim Blake, who has had a successful morning - up to 135,000.
Jude Ainsworth - up to 475,000 - most likely the chip lead.
Daniel Pastor with 330,000 - steadily accumulating chips like an unstoppable force and
Ben Mayhew - still flying high with 320,000.

In contrast, faring worse are the recently eliminated Amy Trodd, WIllie Tann, Alex Lindop and Richard Milner.

More drama is guaranteed as the bubble approaches... --RS

3:25pm: Twin engine failure for the De Meulders
The Muelder brothers have both been cut from the roster within moments of each other.

The family tragedy began with Christophe running afoul of Jude Ainsworth's pocket kings with his [Ad][Kc] for his 80,000 stack. Harsh cooler.

Ainsworth grows into an ever more intimidating chip monster with well over 400,000.

Matthias' tale was less unfortunate but equally depressing from a family Meulder point of view.

With just 25,000, he went for the blinds with [Kh][6h] - only for Andrew Chen to pick him off the [As][Tc] and survive the showdown.

Chen rises to 260,000 and the De Meulders can take some solace in the fact they have some fraternal sympathy awaiting them at the bar. --RS
3.30pm: Hugging or exploiting the bubble?
Here are some counts of the great and the good with just 10 players to go before the money bursts. Some are in a very healthy position to put pressure on the bubble whilst others are jut trying to survive:

Devilfish - 175,000
Richard Kellett - 80,000
Jake Cody - 180,000
Neil Raine - 330,000
Tom Middleton - 45,000
Fatima Moreira de Melo - 160,000
Paul Foltyn - 45,000
Martins Adeniya - 65,000
David Lappin - 40,000
Ben Vinson - 320,000

3:20pm: Chen beating up on Young
Andrew Chen is playing this UKIPT and has gone under the radar somewhat this week. Chen may not be very well known to the UK poker playing public but he's a force to be reckoned with on the global stage and is 12th on Canada's all-time money list with more than $3.3million in winnings.

He tangled, and won, two pots off Andrew Young to move up to 195,000.

In one pot Chen bet out for 22,500 on the river of a [9c][6d][7h][9h][8c] board and was heroed by Young with [6s][2s]. Chen opened [qh][th] for a straight and took the pot.

Shortly after the two had made another river heads up. Chen's 10,000 bet was called by Young on the turn before both checked the river with the board reading [2h][2d][qd][3d][4c]. Chen's aces beat out Young's nines. -- MC

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 1,500/3,000, ante 400

3.15pm: This one goes up to 11?
Thomas Ward holds the record for the most number of UKIPT main event cashes. The UKIPT3 London runner-up is hoping to make it 11 here in Nottingham. He's clinging on though as when we last looked he had just 26,000 to his name. -- NW

3.10pm: Bubble fast approaching
Players continue to perish at a frightening pace and we're down to just 205 players. With 183 players getting paid the bubble is firmly in sight. However, sadly for these players its they who've caused that to be the case as: David Barnes, Louis Salter, Steve Warburton, Shelley Bedi, Tom Langley and Michael Wellend are all out. -- NW

3.08pm: Chen the Leon tamer
Andrew Chen has a string of superb results on his CV. Accomplished, experienced and unfazed - he must be a nightmare to share the felt with.

Moments ago, we saw James Glossop raise to 5,500 from the button - called by Chen in the small blind before big blind Leon Narinsakchai squeezed to 16,000 from the big blind.

Glossop laid it down but Chen proved harder to shift and made the call.

The flop came [Qs][Ts][5s] and Chen made a quick check. Narinsakchai got a count of Chen's stack before dropping three 5,000 chips over the line.

Chen's turn to get a count, he considered thoughtfully and quietly for a few moments before announcing "all-in".

Narinsakchai couldn't stand the pressure and lost interest in the pot, folding and leaving Chen to stack the chips and move to 160,000. Narinsakchai down to 90,000 -- RS

3:05pm: Bailey on the rise
Winner of the award for the longest name with the fewest vowels - Krzysztof Blaszczyk - has fallen victim to Ed Bailey - his ace-ten failing to overcome Bailey's pocket sevens.

Bailey is smiling and up to 90,000 but there's some work to be done if he is to challenge the leading pack. -- RS

3pm: Ainsworth back in charge
Jude Ainsworth finished Day 1B as the chip leader and is now back on top of the chip charts after winning a big pot against Christophe De Meulder.
Ainsworth opened to 4,800 from under-the-gun, De Meulder called on the button and the two of them took a [4c][7h][5d] flop. First to act, Ainsworth bet 5,600, De Meulder made it 14,500 to go and Ainsworth smooth called. The [Kh] hit the turn, Ainsworth decided to lead for 25,000 and this time De Meulder was the one to smooth call.

The [9s] fell on the river, Ainsworth checked to De Meulder who slid out a bet of 42,200. Ainsworth then counted on the call from his stack and placed it in his hand. He then leant forward, stared at the board and worked his way back through the hand. Eventually he plonked the chips over the line, "Nice hand," said De Meulder who opened [Ah][10h] for ace high, Ainsworth showed [9h][8h] for a pair of nines and said: "I'm glad the heart didn't come."
Ainsworth is up to roughly 400,000 whilst De Meulder slips to 90,000. -- NW

2:55pm: Spyrou spins down and out
Andros Spyrou came in to Day 2 with a massive 211,900 but all have disappeared.

He was down to around 24,000 when he shoved from the small blind. Jose Benedi, and his big stack, called from the big blind.

Spyrou: [8h][8s]
Benedi: [kd][9s]

The board ran [ac][kh][7h][jd][4s]. Spyrou was on his way after he saw a king appear on the flop. Benedi has gone from less than 100k up to 340,000 in less than three levels! -- MC

2:40pm: Zandvliet making waves again
Joeri Zandvliet has made four UKIPT final tables and has won two titles. He's amassed another big stack here in Nottingham and spoke to the blog in the break:

"My day's going pretty well so far, I got up from 200k to 280 so that's very good. It's been a little bit swingy but good.

"My table started off very good but Jake Cody and a couple of other better players moved in when a couple of others moved out, so that made it tougher. I just got moved to another table and Jake is sat in the exact same seat, two to my left. There's also a couple of other good players whom I know pretty well so we'll see how it goes.

"Anyway, 280k is a very good stack with the blinds going to 1,200/2,400 so I'm very happy!" -- MC

2.35pm: Bubbling under
The bubble could burst sooner than expected as we're down to 233 players, of which 183 make the money. Recent exits include: Stu Barnett, Daniel Laming, Philippe Souki, Fintan Gavin, Joey Lovelady and Dermot Blain. -- NW

2:30pm: Mayhew the Hart-breaker
Ben Mayhew has had a highly productive morning, picking up a huge pot in what he described as a "gift."

The hand in question saw Mayhew raise with [Qd][2d] on the button, called by (we think) David Hart in the big blind.

The flop fell [Ad][9s][8d], Hart led for 7,500 and Mayhew called.

The turn was the [Ts] - Hart firing out 18,000 this time - again called by Mayhew.

Finally the [6d] arrived on the river and Hart shoved for 90,000. Snap-call from Mayhew with the second nut flush - Hart could only table an aggresssively-played pair of sevens for the straight.

Mayhew rises to 310,000 which could well be good for the chip lead at this stage and he's in the mood to go deep.

"It's work now, I'm in serious mode," he told us. -- RS

2:25pm: A chat with Chris Moneymaker
The Tennessee native might not be a fan of the UK weather, but he sure likes their poker tournaments. The 2003 WSOP Champion discusses UKIPT and SCOOP in this chat with Nick Wealthall.

2:15pm: Peter rides the chip Roche
Stuart Barnett and Peter Roche just went to war prior to the break - Roche emerging victorious from the showdown.

Deservedly so, really, as he had the superior hand in pocket queens - Barnett's pocket tens failing to spike over the [6h][5h][2c][As][Kh] board.

When they counted the stacks, Barnett's 83,000 stack had Roche outchipped by a gargantuan 400 chips, leaving Roche flying high with 168,000 and Barnett needing a miraculous spin-up to get back into contention. -- RS

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 1,200/2,400, ante 300

2pm: Break time
The players are on their first 15-minute break of the day.

2pm: That was Swift for Mok
Lewis Swift's stack has moved passed the 300k-mark after he flopped a straight flush versus an opponent who flopped a set.

Peter Mok was the unlucky player who flopped a set of nines on [8h][9h][qh] flop. Swift had [th][jh] and took the scalp and a 230,000 pot. -- MC

1:55pm: Taxi for Devilfish
Dave 'Devilfish' Ulliott is regaling his table with tales of taxi journeys gone wrong and it may soon be time for Devilfish to get a taxi from Nottingham as he's down to 63,000. Some at the table are enjoying his monologues more than others. Jordan Cousins, playing his first UKIPT, is to his immediate right and laughing along with Ulliott. Whereas Mitch Johnson, a seasoned campaigner, gave the blog a smirk and a look to suggest he'd heard this one before. Johnson has 160,000, Cousins 260,000 and Dan Williams, who's come all the way from Canada to play this has 65,000. -- NW

1:53pm: Second precious metal smelted and felted
If you happen to be named after a lavish metallic element, it's likely to have been a bad morning for you here at DTD.

First Max Silver was melted into ingots, now Full Tilt Galway's champion Alan Gold has also been thrown into the furnace.

Most of his chips saw him squeeze with ace-king following a raise and two flat calls. The original raiser now moved all-in for 73 with jacks and Gold made the call.

He lost the resultant flip and with his smattering of chips left over were evaporated a hand or two later.

"Nevermind," he said cheerfully as he marched off to the bar. -- RS

1:45pm: Demetriou downed
Maria Demetriou worked so hard to build back up from a low of 4,000 yesterday but it wasn't to be today as she's been eliminated.

She told the blog that she was down to 15 big blinds and in the small blind with [kh][th]. An opponent raised from late position and she three-bet all in. He called with ace-jack and held. -- MC

1.40pm: Some counts
Both the De Meulder twins are off to a good start on Day 2 of UKIPT4 Nottingham2. Christophe has added roughly 50,000 to his start of day stack as he's up to 155,000, whilst Matti has climbed to 83,000. Team PokerStars SportStar Fatima Moreira de Melo has lost some ground but she's still comfortably stacked with 105,000. Elsewhere Full Tilt Ambassadors Martins Adeniya and Dermot Blain are still in with 150,000 and 79,000 respectively.

And Jude Ainsworth, who's at the same table as Christophe De Meulder is up to 245,000. -- NW

1.35pm: Cody sends Leslie packing
Team PokerStars Pro Jake Cody is up to 175,000 after busting Leslie Packer from the tournament. Packer opened to 5,000 from the cut-off, Cody three-bet the button to 11,700 and Packer smooth called. On the [Q][9][5] flop Cody v-bet 13,000, Packer jammed for 50,000 and Cody made the call. The triple-crown winner had [Qs][10s] and held against Packer's [Jc][9c].

Cody is at the same table as Joeri Zandvliet, the two-time UKIPT champion is up to 300,000 and one of the chip leaders. -- NW

1:30pm: Howden enjoys Saffari
Chris Howden was down to 22,600 and picked up pocket kings in the perfect spot to double up.

Krzysztof Blaszczyk opened the betting with a raise to 4,000 from mid position before Sebastian Saffari three-bet to 9,000 from the hijack. Howden was in the big blind and four-bet all in. Saffari called after Blaszczyk folded.

Howden: [kc][ks]
Saffari: [ts][tc]

The board ran [4c][8h][5s][jc][3h]. Saffari dropped to 102,000. -- MC

1:20pm: Hawes falls in first furlong
Richard Hawes is another man who hasn't managed to negotiate his way out of the early stages.

"Under-the-gun raised to 4,000 and a short stack went all-in for 15,000," he told us.

"With ace-king, I just shoved all-in for my 45,000 and the guy under-the-gun found pocket kings. That was that! It's a bit disappointing to travel down and bust so early but what can you do?," he said.

"Lol donkaments," he added with a touch of melancholy. -- RS

1:17pm: Silver mined by Kassam
Max Silver has succumbed in classic flip fashion to Rehman Kassam.

He gave us a quick, curt prosaic description of his exit.

"I had AK versus jacks. I didn't win!"

Rehman Kassam removes a major threat from his table and rises to 110,000. -- RS

1:15pm: Kimber talks to the blog
Jeff Kimber had made it through today, but with below average, he has work to do today. He spoke to the blog about his day yesterday and his plans for today.

"It was a real struggle to be honest. I was card dead but had good fun sitting next to Ben Jenkins. It was good fun but my day was testament to the good structure; card dead, didn't play any big pots and didn't get any big hands. I still had around starting stack around the last level and I got a double up with jacks versus nines. With 58,000 I still have enough to play with now.

"Obviously you don't want to be blinding into the money but the job is to get some money back for two days work and then make a run at getting a big stck for the final. I think I've cashed in one UKIPT in six or seven attempts and never made a final table. It's about time I did and this is the big one and the right one to do it!"

Kimber's into the second level of the day and has tweeted his progress so far:

First level report. Raised once, got 3b folded. Seen one flop. Lost. Won 0 hands. Got 15bb and having a wonderful time

— Jeff Kimber (@jeffkimberpoker) May 10, 2014

1.05pm: Bull busted by Mayhew
Ben Mayhew won the battle of the UKIPT champions at table 14 as he eliminated Robbie Bull at the end of the previous level. "Robbie raised the button to 3,200 with [A][7], I three-bet from the big blind to 6,900, he shoved for about 30,000 and I called," he told the PokerStars Blog. "It was actually a good flop for him," Mayhew continued. "as it came [K][6][6] but I turned a nine." -- NW

1pm: Streaming for the exits
The first level Day 2 of a UKIPT is brutal, filled with bust out after bust out and cries of "seat open." This curious phenomenon holds true no matter how many (or few) levels you play on Day 1.

In the opening 60 minutes of play 50 players have busted out of the tournament, they include: Martin Mulsow, Richard Hawes, Shaun Conning, Robbie Bull, Vicente Delgado, David Clifton-burraway and Martin Sutcliffe. -- NW

Blinds up: 1,000/2,000, 300 ante

12:58pm: Jordan tries to slam dunk
Jordan Cousins has started today as he finished yesterday, trying to run over his opponents. One pot he tried it didn't work out well for him though.

He raised to 3,300 from the hijack and George Phiniotis defended his big blind en route to a [4s][3s][7h] flop. Cousins continued for 6,200 but was check-raised to 15,000. His response was to shove but he winced when Phiniotis called all in for 46,700.

Phiniotis: [6h][5d] for the nut straight.
Cousins: [th][3h] for bottom pair and back door flush draw.

Cousins was drawing live on the [jh] turn but the [7s] river changed nothing. Cousins took the knock but is still standing strong with around 220,000. -- MC

12:55pm: Double strength Cody
It's been a flying first level for Jake Cody as he's up to 130,000 which is almost double his start of Day 70,000. He's played an interesting hand which he's recounted on his twitter feed - @JakeCody - and he's running another of his #playwithjake competitions as a result. -- NW

12:50pm: Lacey terminated
With the blinds rising to a serious level, players are looking to gamble their stack up to a worthy amount or go out swinging - it's been a fast start.

One elimination of note includes Stephen Lacey, who shoved over the top of a Richard Horton button raise from the big blind for around 30,000.

Horton looked a tad uncomfortable but made the call with pocket sevens - flipping versus Horton's [Ad][Qs].

His pocket pair slender advantage held over the [Th][9c][6c][Kd][6s] board and he sent a sad Lacey to the rail. -- RS

12:45pm: Good start for Raine

Playing day 2 if ukipt Nottingham good start so far up to 243k bb1600 around 300 left @UKIPT #UKIPtnottingham

— Heffs976 (@neilraine) May 10, 2014

12:40pm: Clay clobbered
Dean Clay is another early casualty on Day 2 although he told the PokerStars Blog he's sticking around to play the £330 Nottingham Cup at 7pm this evening. He was also kind enough to tell us about his exit hand: "I min raised with pocket kings from a stack of 30,000 and Sebastian Saffari peeled from the big bling. The flop came [7][8][9], I c-bet, he set me in and given the hands he can have I called. He had [8][7] and I didn't get there. -- NW

12.35pm: Coming out swinging
The seating draw has thrown up a number of eye-catching matchups.

Table 11 sees Day 1B's chip leader, Jude Ainsworth, match up versus Thomas Ward, the man who holds the record for the most UKIPT cashes. Throw talented London stalwart Daniel Laming into the picture and we can expect fireworks from this table.

Table 14 hosts an interesting blend of characters. The quiet, efficient but deadly 2013 UKIPT London winner Robbie Bull and boisterous Ben Mayhew have almost polar opposite personalities, but both have undoubted skills at the felt and the chips to showcase those skills.

Will it be the Bull the deadly assassin or Mayhew, the man who spent most of yesterday dressed as a waitress, who will come out on top?

Perhaps the table of death is table 15 which hosts 2010 UKIPT Dublin winner Max Silver, online dynamo Matthias De Meulder, the highly-capable Andrew Chen and local favourite Maria "chilli" Demetriou. It will take some astute footwork to avoid the field of landmines lying in wait here.

Another super-tough table boasts the combined talents of Alan Gold , 2013 Galway Poker Festival Main Event champ, online superstar and EPT Barcelona champion Thomas Middleton and Full Tilt Poker Ambassador Martins Adeniya. Definitely one to watch.

Lastly we have Richard Kellett, 2nd in this week's High Roller tournament and well-stacked going up against Full Tilt Poker Ambassador Dermot Blaine. With Richard Gryko also lurking with bad intentions at this table, no one's going to get an easy ride here.

The permutations are fascinating and we can't wait to see how this unpredictable day unfolds. -- RS

12:25pm: Vinson gets there, gets paid
Great Start for Ben Vinson. A flopped pair backed into a straight to see his stack rise to 235,000.

He was battling with Daniel Gagne and it looked as it there had been a three-bet-call pre flop before a [3h][jh][kd] flop appeared. Gagne was in the small blind and led for 7,600 and was called by Vinson (hijack).

The turn was the [9c] and Gagne fired for 11,200. Vinson called once more before he bet 27,800 on the [qc] river when Gagne checked to him. Gagne called and mucked upon seeing Vinson's [jd][td] for a straight. -- MC

12:15pm: Starter for ten
10 players have bitten the dust in the opening 15 minutes here at Dusk Till Dawn as the start of Day 2 carnage commences. Ross Loggie, Leo Mcclean, Dean Lyall and Karl Mahrenholz are amongst the players who find themselves on the rail. -- NW

322 David Capon
323 Karl Mahrenholz
324 Dean Lyall
325 Thomas Blair
326 Rahim Tadj-saadat
327 Harprit Singh Gurnam
328 Nicholas Mingoia
329 Syed Zaidi
330 Leo Mcclean
331 Ross Loggie

12pm: What goes up must come down
For the past three days we've all been focused on how high the number of entrants might climb to. Today the question is how far that number will drop.

When late registration closed yesterday the total number of runners had reached 1,223 creating a record UKIPT prize pool. Just 331 of those players return today and the first number on everyone''s mind is 183. That's the number of players who'll share in the £1,223,000 prize pool. A min-cash is worth £1,770, they should start getting dished out around level 15 today. Of course given that this event was a single re-entry event a min-cash might not be enough for some.

And for others a min-cash might not be enough because their expectations, given their chip stack at start of play, are far loftier. Leading the way is Ben Miller, the Day 1C chip leader will start with 264,200 in chips whilst Day 1B chip leader Jude Ainsworth starts second with 238,600. Other players who are well positioned are: Richard Kellett (228,700), Neil Raine (180,900) Alex Spencer (171,900) and Ben Mayhew (134,900)

The Red Spade is five strong heading into Day 2, leading that charge is Team PokerStars SportStar Fatima Moreira de Melo the Dutch gold medal winner starts with an above average 124,700. Both De Meulder's are also through, Christophe has bragging rights with 106,000, whilst Matti has 51,200 and Jake Cody stars with 70,000. Meanwhile Team Online member Vicente Delgado has some work to do with 39,500.

We think the plan is to play 10 levels today although it may be reduced depending on the rate of exits. You can see the Day 2 seat draw here, cards are in the air at noon.

PokerStars Blog reporting team at PokerStars UKIPT Nottingham2: Marc Convey, Rod Stirzaker and Nick Wright. Photos by Danny Maxwell.

11:30pm: Benito leads at play's close
That's all from Nottingham for today. Play will resume at 12pm BST tomorrow where play will continue until a final table of eight is reached. Juan Benito leads the way with 1,473,000 but there is a long way to go yet. A full recap, chip counts and the Day 3 seat draw will be up on the blog shortly. -- MC

10:53pm: Last four hands
Each table will play four more hands before play ends for Day 2.

10:50pm: Middy busts to Vinson
Tom Middleton will be off to drown his sorrows at the party after he was eliminated by Ben Vinson.

Vinson raised with ace-queen and called after Middleton three-bet all in for 220,000 with jack-ten. The board offered no help for the EPT London champion. -- MC

10:40pm: Meet Scott Kateian - all the way from Seattle
"I love the diversity of poker in Europe," drawled Scott Kateian with a smile, whilst simultaneously winning the award for the happiest man ever to have busted a poker tournament. The American, who flew all the way from Seattle to play this tournament, has just busted out in 67th place but had a beer in hand and smile on face.

And it's to do with his refreshing attitude to poker. "There's no business about this trip, I do this because I love poker. I'm conscious of being profitable but to me it's an adventure."

And he's been on quite an adventure recently, having finished 18th in the Irish Open, before flying back to Seattle and then here to Nottingham this week to play. He's also played in Macau and Lithuania recently. "Even with no English spoken at the tables you can understand the language of poker," he told the PokerStars Blog. As to his next adventure, well he hasn't decided yet. -- NW

10:35pm: Zandvliet gets some back by busting Baxter
Joeri Zandvliet's stack has moved back up to 680,000 after he eliminated the super short-stacked Mark Baxter.

Zandvliet opened to 21,000 and called after Baxter shoved for 60,000.

Zandvliet: [ad][7d]
Baxter: [ks][js]

The board ran [2d][7h][th][4d][6d] to make the Dutchman a pair of sevens. -- MC

10.20pm: Watts wobbles then recovers
Poker can really mess with your mind, Steve Watts was close to winning a 600,000 pot one moment and then on the precipice of being eliminated soon after.

First he lost a 600,000 chip pot blind on blind with [A][J] against Terry Carter's [A][10] when Carter spiked a 10. Then he shoved all-in for his remaining 140,000 over the top of Joe Greenfield's 20,000 chip open. Greenfield tanked for an age before deciding to call off about half his stack.

Greenfield: [8s][8h]
Watts: [Ad][8d]

"Any diamonds about," said Chaz Chattha who was railing his friend. Indeed there were as the board ran [Jd][9d][6d][9h][7h] board to double Watts to around 300,000 whilst Greenfield was left with 100,000. -- NW

10.10pm: Elliot closing in on a million

William Elliot has almost a million chips after winning a pot against another big stack in the shape of Joeri Zandvliet.

The Dutchman opened to 21,000 and called when Elliot three-bet to 45,000 from the big blind. On the [9s][3d][8s] flop Elliot c-bet 45,000 and Zandvliet made the call. The [Ac] fell on the turn, Elliot slowed down check-calling a bet of 78,000 from Zandvliet. On the [Kh] river Elliot fired out a bet of 201,000 and Zandvliet mucked without too much hesitation. As he did Elliot showed pocket aces for top set. -- NW

10:05pm: Champ watch
It's impressive that four UKIPT champions are still in the field with 62 players remaining. More impressive is that three of those players are winners from this season and the fourth - Joeri Zandvliet - is a two-time champion and made the Dublin leg final table as well this season.

As they enter level 19 here are their counts:

Duncan McLellan - (UKIPT4 Isle of Man)-105,000
Dean Hutchison - (UKIPT4 Edinburgh) 455,000
Ben Mayhew - (UKIPT4 Nottingham1) 180,000
Joeri Zandvliet - (Mr. two-time) 860,000
--MC

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 5,000/10,000, ante 1,000

9.50pm: What time is it? Break time
The end of level 18 has arrived and the players can take a small, relaxing hiatus in which to chat, smoke, re-organise and plan their strategy.

We'll be back in 15 minutes for level 19. -- RS

9:45pm:Who's out in front? Just William
William Elliott is the man who has galloped out in front of the field - his stack an impressive 880,000.

His thunderous ascent to the top of the rankings came in a big hand where he opened the button with pocket fives and was three-bet by the small blind.

He made the call - only for the flop to come a set-tastic [9s][5h][2h].

His opponent led for 50,000 and Elliott gave a speech about finding out where he was with his overpair before raising to 100,000.

His opponent moved all-in for around 380,000 and Elliott called.

His opponent had more outs than Elliott might have liked, holding [Ah][3h] for a straight flush draw however most of the shivers that might have been running down Elliott's spine were squashed on the full-house-completing [9c] on the turn.

With just one out standing between him and the chip lead, the river bricked and a happy Elliott was left beaming with his newly-won mountain of chips.

The twinkle in his eye suggests he may be nursing some embryonic hopes of taking this title down. --RS

9.35pm: Brutal rivers for Buchanan and Maudlin
They say your poker dreams can drown in the river and that prophecy came true for Algernon Buchanan and David Maudlin in quick succession.
Buchanan open shoved for 89,000 with [As][Qs] and got a call from Ashfaaq Taus, who also had [Ad][Qc]. But two flush draws proved better than one as the board ran [2c][9c][6h][3c][6c] to give Taus a flush.

Then Maudlin got his last 160,000 in with pocket eights against Sebastian Saffari's [Ac][Ks]. It was looking good for him until fifth street but the [6d][6s][10d][Jc][Kc] board favoured Saffari in the end. -- NW

9:25pm: Ryan spits Gordon out of the tournament
Talented Londoner Chris Gordon, who came 13th at UKIPT Edinburgh in January, has been eliminated by the equally talented Ryan Spittles.

Gordon was down to his last 150,000 when he shoved from the button with [kh][th], after the action folded around to him. Spittles was in the big blind and made the call (out of a 500k stack) with [ah][7h] and held. -- MC

9:10pm:Mayhew misfires as he unloads the clip
Ben Mayhew was flying high not so long ago, but has lost a chunk of his stack running a bluff that didn't quite work.

Holding K-Q he was three-bet preflop by Richard Horton, making the call.

The flop fell [Ad][2d][2s] and Mayhew led out with a small bet which was called.

The turn was the [7s] and Mayhew once more fired - this time for 38,000.

Call.

The river was the [6d] and Mayhew fired once more - his third barrel a meaty 64,000.

Horton was less keen on calling this, tanking for some time about whether to call what was 60% of his remaining stack.

Eventually he did call though, Mayhew tapped the table to signify defeat and Horton showed him pocket kings.

"I like my thinking in the hand," said Mayhew. "I think his call was a curious one rather than a "Yes, i think I'm good here" one. I wish I'd bet a bit bigger on the river."

Mayhew down to 230,000, Horton up to 260,000. --RS

Blinds up: 4,000/8,000, 1,000 ante

8.50pm: Ward cashes again
As mentioned below Thomas Ward has just been eliminated from the main event and he was kind enough to tell the PokerStars Blog what happened. "I'd just doubled up the hand before and I've now got 22 big blinds. The cut-off (Lewis Swift), who was new to the table, opened to 14,000 I three-bet to 36,000 from the button with pocket kings and he called. The flop was [6][4][2] I c-bet 37,000, he made it 40,000 on top and I moved all-in for 102,000. He called and he's got pocket sixes.

Not the result Ward was looking for but he'd been short stacked for much of the day and grinded his way into the money for a record 11th UKIPT Main Event cash. -- NW

8:45pm: Big names starting to tumble
The ever consuming jaws of variance care not for your reputation or standing.

The following notable players have fallen into their indiscriminate clutches in recent times.

Gone are erstwhile chip leader Jude Ainsworth, record-breaking UKIPT casher Thomas Ward, Canadian wonderkid Andrew Chen and the man who led the Day 1A chip counts Mauricio Baez.

Just 77 remain now and the atmosphere is coming to a boil. --RS

8:40pm: Pastor scuppered in huge pot
Daniel Pastor has been steadily building a giant stack all day, but his stack and hopes just went ablaze moments ago.

Ramey Shaio was the happy recipient. It looked as though the chips all went in on a [9][8][4] board - Pastor holding [K][J] and Shiao [9][8] for top two.

The board was efficiently swept away and we were unable to see whether Pastor had some additional equity in the form of a flush draw - but the net result was defeat for Pastor and a giant 600,000 stack for Shaio who will rank amongst the chip leaders at this stage.

Blake also going well at this table - now up to 320,000... --RS

8.30pm: Arvin accumulates Ainsworth's stack
Arvin Ravindran is the new chip leader because he's just busted Jude Ainsworth in a 600,000 chip pot. It all went in pre-flop with Ravindran opening on the button, Ainsworth three-betting from the small blind, Ravindran four-betting to 70,000, Ainsworth shoving for 300,000 and Ravindran calling his shove.

Ainsworth: [A][Q]
Ravindran: [A][K]

The board ran 10 high to eliminate Ainsworth and give Ravindran a stack of roughly 700,000. -- NW

8:22pm: Royal Adebayo
Adebayo Odetoyinbo is an interesting character that many London-based players know all about him. He's fearless and willing to take on any calibre of opponent. Jude Ainsworth is beginning to find that out.

Odetoyinbo raised to 12,000 from mid position and Ainsworth peeled from the big blind to see a [5d][3d][9h] flop. The Irishman led out for 14,000 and witnessed Odetoyinbo snap-shove for around 220,000. Ainsworth looked confused, gave a wry smile and released his hand.

A few hands before that Odetoyinbo had a lot less chips but he made a royal flush to his great joy. "I didn't think they existed!" commented Odetoyinbo. -- MC

8:20pm: Blake and Roche battle
Tim Blake may count himself a little fortunate to still be in proceedings following a battle with Peter Roche.

The hand saw Blake raise [Kd][Qd] and Roche re-raise him ["again!"].

He flat called to see a king high flop. Blake was happy to get his chips in on this beneficial flop - only for Roche to call with ace-king.

We'll leave it up to Tim Blake to finish off the story.

"I hit a queen on the turn!" he giggled. "He went ****** mental!"

One couldn't help but be swept up in the infectious delivery from Blake, though Roche was clearly somewhat hard done by here poker-wise.

"He's not talking to me now. I usually end up sending people home talking to themselves!"

Blake up to 150,000, Roche down to 200,000. --RS

8.15pm: Exits. So many exits
Almost 100 players have busted since the money bubble burst, you can see the entire list of prizewinners here. But here are the finishing positions of some of the well-known players: Fatima Moreira de Melo (96th), Kevin Allen (105th), Martins Adeniya (111th), Dave Ulliott (112th), Royston Drenthe (126th), David Lappin (134th), Dara Davey (138th), Paul Foltyn (148th), Lawrie Sanchez (169th), Paul Zimbler (177th), Jeff Kimber (179th) Jake Cody (181st) and Richard Evans (183rd). -- NW

8.05pm: Kellett looking good once again
It's been an up and down day for Richard Kellett and as far as he's concerned right now he's heading in the right direction. He'd been as low as 80,000 earlier but is now up to 440,000. Elsewhere Lewis Swift has 425,000 and Jonathan Slater has 90,000. -- NW

8pm: Double up for Dominic
Down to just 43,000, Dominic Mahoney shoved from middle position and Jack Allen looked him up from the big blind. Mahoney rolle over [Ad][As] and was a dominating favourite against Allen's pocket tens. The [Qd][8c][5h][6d][6h] rolled off safely for Mahoney and he got a much needed double up. -- NW

7:50pm: Back to a different kind of chips
Cards are back in the air and level 17 is under way. -- NW

Blinds up: 3,000/6,000, 1,000 ante

6:50pm: Winner, winner chicken dinner!
Well the end of level 16 means we are six levels into the day. That means the remaining 98 players get a 60 minute break to eat, digest and refresh.

We'll do likewise. See you in sixty minutes for the final four levels of the day. -- RS

6:48pm: Moreira de Melo struck down by the ladies
As described Fatima has been on somewhat of a rollercoaster. This continued as she got it in with [Js][Jd] versus the [Ad][Ks] of Tim Blake.

Both likeable characters and both holding roughly 50% equity in the pot, it was perhaps justice that the board came [7s][5d][4h][3s][6c] to chop the pot between the pair.

This proved to be a temporary reprieve as a few hands later she pushed her 70,000 into the middle, only for David Green to call her with pocket queens.

She failed to spike over the [Ks][7h][3c][6c][2s] board and that meant she was left to gather her belongings and leave.

"Good luck all," the genial PokerStars SportStar said as she departed.

Green rises to 220,000...--RS

6:40pm: Double Dutch; Royston out, Fatima yo-yoing
The fortunes have been mixed post bubble for the two Dutch sports stars, Royston Drenthe and Fatima Moreira de Melo.

Drenthe busted in 125th place after his ace-eight was sucked out on by an opponent's ace-deuce that made a straight on the river.

Moreira De Melo has a tad over 70,000 after an up-and-down level. Her aces were cracked by an opponent's queen-ten after they got all in on a queen-high flop. She was annoyed as her opponent accidently raised to 12,000 after she had already opened the pot to 10,000. He didn't announce it though so it went as a call. He went on to turn two-pair and she dropped down to 40,000.

Her level ended on a high though when she doubled back up with ace-king versus fours, getting there on the river. -- MC

6.30pm: Chip counts
Joeri Zandvliet leads with 620,000 but how's your favourite player in the field doing?

Here are a selection of chip counts:

Fatima Moreira de Melo - 92,000
Chris Gordon - 175,000
Dean Hutchison - 205,000
Kevin Allen - 40,000
Ryan Spittles - 185,000
Tim Blake - 130,000
Sebastian Saffari - 420,000
Andrew Chen - 340,000
Mike Thomas - 400,000
Duncan McLellan - 255,000
Tom Ambler - 190,000
Mike Panteli - 370,000

Ben Vinson - 520,000
Thomas Ward - 90,000
Jude Ainsworth - 400,000
Arvin Ravindran - 540,000
Jonas Lauck - 420,000
Steve Watts - 80,000
Matthew Barnett - 380,000
Joeri Zandvliet - 620,000
Neil Raine - 435,000
Martins Adeniya - 135,000
Tom Middleton - 120,000
Mitch Johnson - 350,000
Mauricio Baez - 108,000

6:25pm: 110 and falling...
Just 110 players remain now, a frenzy of eliminations since the money spots were breached shearing a third of the field away in quick smart fashion.

Shortstacks are dangling by a thread - their hopes of survival resting on winning some key showdowns.

Richard Dawson wasn't able to survive his sweaty moment - a desperation lunge with [Kh][5s] running into Mike Thomas' [As][Ah].

A board of [9h][6h][8s][Jd][6h] saw him heading to the rail.

Better news for fellow shortstack Richard Horton, who fired his remaining 45,000 into the middle with [As][Jh] only for the big-stacked Ben Mayhew to find [As][Ks] and look ready to deliver the death blow.

Horton ran good though, a board of [9h][6h][8s][Jd][6h] containing the requisite spiked-jack and he could breathe a sigh of relief - up to 105,000.

6.05pm: Fish fried
"Good luck boys, you'll need it," said Dave 'Devilfish' Ulliott as he took his leave from the tournament after busting to Mitch Johnson.
In the hand in question Johnson raised to 10,500 on the button and Devilfish peeled from a stack of roughly 60,000. On the [8c][Qh][10d] flop he said: "You got me kid," before moving his chips over the line, albeit three stacks of chips one at a time. The dealer went to call the floor but Devilfish stopped him: "He (Johnson) knows what I mean, ask him if he wants a ruling."

Before the dispute could escalate Johnson put enough chips over the line to call and it was time for showdown.

Devilfish: [9d][8h]
Johnson: [Ad][10s]

The [5d] turn and [6c] river kept Johnson in front to boost him to 350,000 whilst Ulliott headed for the door. -- NW

Blinds up: 2,500/5,000, 500 ante

5:55pm: Mayhew and Ainsworth the kingpins
Ben Mayhew and Jude Ainsworth are having a personal battle to accumulate chips. At present it's Ainsworth with the slight edge - his stack over 600,000 - but Mayhew is rapidly making ground, stepping on the accelerator and moving over 550,000.

The battle for UKIPT domination is on...-- RS

5:50pm: Roche still in the joint
Peter Roche remains a potential UKIPT Nottingham champ as we push through the money spot.

He just sent one of the table shortstacks to the rail, his [Jd][9d] holding versus the desperation shove with [9c][Tc] of his opponent.

The board of [Jd][2s][5c][6s][9d] moves Roche to 140,000. --RS

5.40pm: Williams wamboozled - but gets monkey off his back
Dan Williams is a familiar presence on both the UKIPT and Eureka tours, which doesn't mean much until you consider that he lives in Canada. Despite success in side events he's never cashed in a main event on either tour until now.

And he's feeling a little bitter as he had his aces cracked by an opponent's ace-king which four flushed in a pot worth 200,000. -- NW

5:30pm: Cody canned
Jake Cody got fortunate to make it into the money but didn't last that long once the bubble burst.

The Team PokerStars Pro told the blog that he's won a couple of pots to chip up to 70,000 before he three-bet all in from the button with ace-king after an under-the-gun open. The small blind woke up with pocket tens, made the call, and navigated a safe board. -- MC

5.20pm: Evans first out in the money
Richard Evans is the UKIPT Champion of Champions which means he's completely freerolling the fourth season of the UKIPT. He's just got his first return on that freeroll as he's first out in the money here in Nottingham. He shoved his remaining 11,000 in with [6d][4c] from the small blind and David Lappin called with [Kc][4d]. Evans was out of his seat before the [10c][9s][9d][Kh][2s] board had completed. -- NW

5.10pm: Edward Clark bubbles UKIPT4 Nottingham2
The bubble has burst and Edward Clark is out in 184th place. He had 4,000 of his 4,500 chips in the middle as the big blind and after Richard Gryko raised to 8,000 from middle position and everyone else had folded he tossed his singular chip into the middle to signify a call.

There was then a wait whilst the rest of the hands played to their conclusion, hand for hand rules dictate that if there's an all-in cards stay face down until all other hands have concluded. This took some 10-15 minutes as Neil Raine was playing a big pot and there was also the Patrice Brendt hand in progress. During this time a swell of players gathered around Clark's table. "It's like torture, said Clark," to those watching. Martins Adeniya, Alex Spencer and Jake Cody were just three of the watching players who were debating whether you should fold, leaving yourself just 500 and hope another player busted.

After Brendt had doubled up, the hands were turned over, [Jh][4d] for Clark and [5d][5h] for Gryko. The [8s][9h][6c][4c][5s] board kept Gryko in front and burst the UKIPT bubble. Everyone else is now in the money. -- NW

5:05pm: Adebayo ruffling feathers
Adebayo Odetoyinbo is a familiar name to patrons of the london poker scene. Outspoken and brash, he never shies away from a confrontation and has a habit of courting controversy as a result.

He got all up in the grill of one of his tablemates moments ago, raising to 12,000 from middle position. His opponent started thinking in the big blind, only for Adebayo to suddenly move all-in!

This caused consternation from the tanking player and the tournament director was called.

He ruled that Odetoyinbo had to receive a warning but that the other player's only choice was to call or fold.

Eventually he decided to fold, though he wasn't happy at Odetoyinbo's antics. The pair argued furiously for several minutes.

"You must be the most hated man since Nigel Farage."

"Wah wah wah, everyone's a cry baby when Ade's doing better than them," countered Odetoyinbo.

Tempers rising whilst the bubble plays out. -- RS

4:55pm: Brandt survives big scare to double on the bubble
Patrice Brandt was one of two players all in on the bubble and his hand was called out over the PA system first.

He had three-bet all in for 32,000 from the cut-off after Ben Mayhew had opened from early position. Call.

Mayhew: [kc][jd]
Brandt: [9d][9s]

The board ran [8d][qs][3d][ks][9c].

Mayhew took the lead on the turn but the river offered up a late Dallas-esque twist on the river. It caused some cheers and clapping, including Mayhew who pumped fists with Brandt. -- MC

4.45pm: The bubble has burst
Details coming shortly. -- NW

4.30pm: Ainsworth leads on the bubble
The atmosphere in the poker room is tense, you could cut it with a playing card. The reason? It's bubble time. 186 players are left in and 183 make the money.

It's leading to pained folds all round and this was evident in a hand between Jude Ainsworth and Adebayo Odetoyinbo. Ainsworth, who has a mountain of chips worth roughly 580,000 in front of him, raised to 6,000, Odetoyinbo three-bet to 16,000 from a stack of 92,000 only for Ainsworth to four-bet to 41,500 total.

Back on Odetoyinbo he went into the tank, he tanked for the last four minutes of the level and then continued into the break. Eventually Ainsworth had enough and called the clock. As time ticked down Odetoyinbo folded saying: "I'm 90% sure I'm ahead but as it's the bubble I'll fold." To which Ainsworth responded: "I'd never usually call the clock there, but I want a break!"

With that Ainsworth breaks the 600,000 chip mark, he's the man to catch as we head into level 15. -- NW

PokerStars Blog reporting team at PokerStars UKIPT Nottingham2: Marc Convey, Rod Stirzaker and Nick Wright. Photos by Danny Maxwell.

Day 2 of UKIPT Nottingham saw the 331 felicitous survivors of the three opening days return to clash swords once more at Dusk Till Dawn. The atmosphere in the casino has been charged and potent all week long and today continued in the same vein.

With a prize pool in excess of £1 million, a host of established and potential stars thronged the casino and a day of unrelenting, fascinating poker played out in DTD's lavish milieu.

Juan Benito was the man who boldly snatched his chance for glory, bagging up 1,473,000 when play was brought to a halt after nine levels.

He will return for Day 4 with Ben Vinson (1,216,000) and Willie Elliott (1,178,000) in close pursuit and a pack of talented hotshots such as form horse Ryan Spittles (1,115,000), the experienced Tim Blake (837,000), double UKIPT winner Joeri Zandvliet (690,000) and this week's High Roller runner-up Richard Kellett (490,000) ready to seize their opportunity should the chance present itself.

For full chip counts at the close of play click here.

Before Benito could claim his tag as end of day champion however, the bubble needed to be played out.

Naturally this was a tense period - a litany of silent prayers offered up to the poker gods by the nail-biting shortstacks. Finally, Edward Clark was the man whose entreaties fell on stony turf; Richard Gryko delivering the blow that felled him, relegating Clark to the ignominious bubble spot.

Hard luck for Clark but the cheer that rang round the casino from the remaining 183 players could be heard as far as the local Chiquitos. Arriba!

At least Clarke was in laudable company finishing cashless, joined as he was by a list of eminent players including Fintan Gavin, Full Tilt Poker Ambassador Dermot Blain, and previous UKIPT champs Robbie Bull and Max Silver.

Team PokerStars Pro Jake Cody fared better, slipping through the bubble with a micro-stack to secure a cash before joining the rail later in the day.

A similar fate befell PokerStars SportStar Fatima Moreira de Melo, Full Tilt Poker Ambassador Martins Adeniya and 2013 EPT Barcelona champion Tom Middleton, all three cashing in before crashing out.

With payouts guaranteed, the battle was on for chip dominion.

Jude Ainsworth had come into the day with a fulsome stack and fiercesome reputation and though he held the chip lead for some time, his regular sparring with tablemate Arvin Ravindran eventually proved his undoing. The irrepressible Ben Mayhew meanwhile vacillated between big stack and short stack before settling on 647,000 - which could yet be the platform that sees him mount a charge at the title.

Andrew Chen, Dave Ulliott, Jeff Kimber, Paul Foltyn and Thomas Ward can return home with their heads held high and their wallets bulging despite exiting. Ward in particular should feel great pride, having added a record 11th UKIPT Main Event finish to his CV, underlying his undoubted talent in this format.

For a snappy view of how Day 2 played out, here's an exciting video featuring the incomparable Nick Wealthall to summarise it for you.

We'll return tomorrow for Day 4 - the roster of potential UKIPT champions rapidly diminishing as the tension ramps up. Play begins at 12 o'clock as per and we'll be playing down to the final table.

There will be a live feed available tomorrow so you can follow the action as it happens through a variety of media. Live stream will be available on the following:

pokerstars.tv
youtube.com
and Facebook.com

Interact with commentators Marc Convey and Nick Wealthall via twitter using #UKIPTLive!

Tomorrow's seat draw can be found by clicking here and the full payout list can be found here.

With the excitement growing and an unforgettable page of history about to be scribed, you'd be crazy to miss out. We hope to see you there!

To read updates from levels 15-19, click here.

To read updates from levels 11-14, click here.

Photos courtesy of Danny Maxwell

4.56pm: Break time
The players are now on a 15 minute break. You'll find level 24 updates in a new post shortly. -- NW

4.55pm: Cater gets a huge double up
On the last hand before the break Terry Carter got a huge double up at the expense of Daniel Bushell. He raised to 53,000 from early position and called when Carter three-bet to 128,000 from the hi-jack. On the [10h][5d][Qd] board Carter bet 140,000 and Bushell smooth called. The [3c] fell on the turn, Carter bet 150,000 into a pot of 593,000, Bushell moved all-in and Carter snap called all-in for 666,000 total.

Carter: [Kh][Ks]
Bushell: [Ac][Qc]

The river was the [2s], Carter doubled to 1,925,000 whilst Bushell slipped to 181,000. - NW

4:45pm: Ravindran eliminated in 21st place(£7,140)
Arvin Ravindran has suffered hugely at the hands of Duncan McLellan today and his torture has been brought to an end by that very man.

He raised preflop from the small blind - McLellan calling from the big blind.

Come the [Kd][8s][Ks] board, Ravindran checked, McLellan led and Ravindran went all-in for his smallish stack.

A quick call followed from Mclellan, unsurprisingly as he showed down [Kc][9d] for trips to Ravindran's pocket tens. In a coffin, there was to be no escape as the [5s] and the [7h] on turn and river buried Ravindran alive.

"I gave all my chips to one man (McLellan)," he said after elimination. "When I was behind I called and when I was ahead I folded. He owned me basically!"

We are now down to 20 players and the final table looms ever closer... --RS

4:40pm: A catch up with Sin Meilin
Full Tilt Poker Ambassador Sin Melin is currently doing commentary on the #UKIPTLive stream - listen here - and earlier she chatted to Nick Wealthall about all things poker.

4:30pm: Taus is toast (22nd - £7,140)
Ben Vinson and Ashfaaq Taus just went to the races - the pair holding pocket[7h][7d] and [Kd][Qd] respectively.

The flop looked great for Vinson, peeling [Jc][7c][4c] to give him a set and although the [Th] gave Taus a slender ray of hope of the turn, his straight draw bricked on the [2s] river and he was left handing over the vast proportion of his stack to Vinson.

Vinson moves to 790,000.

Taus meanwhile put his remaining pittance in next hand but there was to be no wonderful spin-up - his [Ts][7s] unable to best Trevor Pearson's [Ad][Jh] at showdown. (Pearson up to 900,000.)

He bows out in 22nd place, collecting £7,140. --RS

4.25pm: Lewis Swift eliminated in 23rd place £7,140)
Ouch! Lewis Swift, who satellited into this tournament for just £30, has just been ejected from this tournament by a cruel river.
He raised, then called a 3-bet from Juan Benito before check-calling a bet from the Spaniard on a [Jh][5s][6d] flop. The [8h] fell on the turn, Swift jammed for 298,000 into a 467,000 pot and after a long think Benito made the call. Swift showed pocket fives for the flopped set, whilst Benito had pocket sevens for a straight draw as well as two outs for a bigger set. The river was the [9d] which meant that Benito rivered the straight and eliminated Swift. -- NW

4:15pm: Mitch Johnson eliminated in 24th place (£5,980)
"That was pretty standard," said UKIPT host Nick Wealthall in the commentary booth as Mitch Johnson shook hands with everyone before leaving the table.
He'd shoved for 278,000 from the button with [Jc][9c] and Juan Benito called with [As][10h]. The board ran [5h][4d][6c][Ah][8h] and Benito added more chips to his burgeoning stack. -- NW

4:05pm: More for McLellan
UKIPT4 Isle of Man champion Duncan McLellan is up to 1,800,000 after winning a huge pot against Arvin Ravindran. Pre-flop McLellan opened to 54,000 from under-the-gun and Ravindran smooth called from the big blind.

On the [4d][8d][6s] flop McLellan c-bet 83,000 and Ravindran flat called. On the [8s] turn Ravindran elected to lead for 135,000 and McLellan smooth called. The [9d] completed the board, Ravindran fired out 225,000 and McLellan went into the tank for over two minutes before calling.

Ravindran opened [Qd][6d] for the rivered flush, whilst McLellan showed [4s][4h] for a full house. He's up to 1,800,000 whilst Ravindran is down to 223,000. -- NW

3:55pm: Final three tables
The players are now back in their seats and action is under way once more. Here's how the final three tables line-up. Chip counts can be seen on the chip count page.

Table 22

22 . 1 . Juan Benito - 2,500,000
22 . 2 . Ramey Shaio - 1,600,000
22 . 3 . Dafydd Williams - 1,100,000
22 . 4 . Jonas Lauck - 1,200,000
22 . 5 . William Elliot - 2,400,000
22 . 6 . Lewis Swift - 750,000
22 . 7 . Mitchell Johnson - 320,000
22 . 8 . Terry Carter - 1,000,000

Table 23:

23 . 1 . Duncan Mclellan - 950,000
23 . 2 . Anthony Flynn - 525,000
23 . 3 . James Glossop - 540,000
23 . 4 . Leslie Vernon Kearney - 395,000
23 . 5 . Derek Murray - 495,000
23 . 6 . Daniel Bushell - 1,700,000
23 . 7 . Tim Blake - 1,025,000
23 . 8 . Arvin Ravindran - 575,000

Table 25:

25 . 1 . Angelo Milioto - 700,000
25 . 2 . Benjamin Carpenter - 1,000,000
25 . 3 . Joeri Zandvliet - 1,400,000
25 . 4 . Trevor Pearson - 550,000
25 . 5 . Ryan Spittles - 1,400,000
25 . 6 . Ben Vinson - 400,000
25 . 7 . Ashfaaq Taus - 500,000
25 . 8 . Matthew Simpson - 950,000 -- RS & NW

3.35pm: Sebastian Saffari eliminated in 25th place (£5,980)
There's now a short break as there's a complete re-draw for the final three tables...
After Daniel Bushell opened to 40,000, Juan Benito called on the button and Sebastian Saffari did likewise from the big blind. On the [10c][10h][Kh] flop Saffari open shoved for roughly 250,000 with [5h][3h] and Benito snapped him off with [Jd][10d]. The board ran out [3c][Kd] and Saffari left the table. -- NW

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 12,000-24,000-3,000

3:24pm: Simpson rides Lauck
Matthew Simpson just secured a full double-through, raising preflop to 40,000 and picking up two callers including Jonas Lauck.

Lauck check-called flop and turn of the [Kd][3h][3c][9h] board for 50,000 then 80,000 before leading for 80,000 himself on the [8c] river.

Simpson thought about it before moving all-in for his last 300k. Lauck called - only to get the bad news that Simpson had pocket aces.

He couldn't best this and Simpson rises to 850,00. Lauck though takes a hit and is down to a still healthy 1,100,000. -- RS

3:15pm: Not complaining
Joeri Zandvliet has zoomed up to 1,300,000 in this level having started it with just 472,000. He told the PokerStars Blog: "I shoved with A-2 over the top of a button open. He had A-Q and I hit a two. I won a few small pots and then I called a 14 big blind shove with A-J and hit a jack against A-Q. So, I'm the last one to be complaining." -- NW

3:10pm: Nottingham Cup update
The £330 £100,000 guaranteed UKIPT Nottingham Cup is playing to its conclusion today. It total in attracted 422 runners and 33 players remain. The prize pool topped out at £126,600 and £24,500 of that is reserved for the winner.

Big names left in include: Royston Drenthe, Deborah Worley-Roberts, Dara Davey, Matt Davenport, Kelly Saxby and Dominic Mahoney. -- NW

3:05pm: The Blake Report
Tim Blake has been dishing out some insight into the intricacies of his plans when deep in tournaments. It made for illuminating listening.

Blake: "I didn't know what to do when I came back today. I've got chips! Now I'm going to have to learn some strategy. Normally I come back with this much [he put his thumb and forefinger together as close as possible] It's shove, fold, shove, go home!"

Blake has 675,000 -- RS

.

3:00pm: Young gun runs out of bullets
Andy Young has fired his final salvo in this tournament - his exit having a whiff of misfortune about it.

Angelo Milioto shoved the button for around 220,000 and Young made a good call with [Ah][9d] for his remaining 140k-ish chips from the big blind.

He had Milioto's [Ac][5c] in rough shape but a board of [Kh][Jd][5c][8s][8c] saw him crash out to the rail. He stood blinking and bemused at his table for a few moments - his brain reeling from having to accept the reality that his tournament was over.

Miliot rises to 450,000. -- RS

2.55pm: No repeat for Mayhew
Like London buses two UKIPT champions have been busted out of this tournament in quick succession. After Daniel Bushell opened to 40,000, Ben Mayhew three-bet to 115,000, Bushell made it 225,000 total, Mayhew shoved for 550,000 and Bushell got a count before calling.

Bushell: [Ac][Kd]
Mayhew: [Ad][Qs]

The [8d][Kh][5h] flop left Mayhew drawing thin, the [4d] turn left him drawing dead and the [9c] river completed the board. So no repeat for Mayhew, but another deep run. -- NW

2.45pm: No double for Hutchison
UKIPT4 Edinburgh champion Dean Hutchison has just been eliminated from the tournament. He shoved for 243,000 from the hijack with [Qh][Jc], Daniel Bushell looked him up with pocket sevens and held on the [4s][3h][6s][Ah][4d] board. -- NW

2:35pm: Chip counts from the break
Here are the chip counts of the 32 remaining players from the break, Jonas Lauck leads with almost two million, whilst Toni Pettersson is the short stack.

Jonas Lauck, Germany, 1,999,000
William Elliot, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, 1,900,000
James Glossop, United Kingdom, 1,610,000
Daniel Bushell, United Kingdom, 1,451,000
Juan Benito, Spain, PokerStars Qualifier, 1,314,000
Ramey Shaio, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, 1,270,000
Ryan Spittles, United Kingdom, 1,252,000
Dafydd Williams, United Kingdom, 963,000
Trevor Pearson, United Kingdom, 922,000
Terry Carter, United Kingdom, 903,000
Richard Kellett, United Kingdom, 844,000
Ashfaaq Taus, Netherlands, PokerStars Qualifier, 810,000

Ben Mayhew, United Kingdom, 759,000
Tim Blake, United Kingdom, 754,000
Duncan McLellan, United Kingdom, 737,000
Sebastian Saffari, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, 692,000
Lewis Swift, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, 687,000
Arvin Ravindran, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, 670,000
Benjamin Carpenter, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, 595,000
Ben Vinson, United Kingdom, 580,000
Anthony Flynn, United Kingdom, 488,000
Leslie Kearney, United Kingdom, 480,000
Joeri Zandvliet, Netherlands, PokerStars Player, 472,000
Matthew Simpson, United Kingdom, 462,000
Jonathan Slater, United Kingdom, 380,000
Mitchell Johnson, United Kingdom, 379,000
Derek Murray, Ireland, 370,000
Dean Hutchison, United Kingdom, 362,000
Angelo Milioto, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, 328,000
Andy Young, United Kingdom, 294,000
Ian Ogilvy, United Kingdom, 170,000
Toni Pettersson, Finland, 167,000

2:25pm: First time caller
Sun journalist Lexi Finnigan played her first ever poker tournament at UKIPT Nottingham, find out how she fared and what she thought about the event in this video.

Blinds up: 10,000/20,000, 3,000 ante

2:00pm: Break time!
Wow, a topsy-turvy two levels have seen the field whittled down to 32 players.

It looks as though Willie Elliott is the man leading the pack with 1,700,000. There'll be a short 15 minute interruption in which the players can reload their poker guns and we'll back for level 22 soon.

1.55pm: Queens favour Carpenter
Earlier today Ben Carpenter lost a big flip with queens to ace-jack but the poker gods just evened out the variance as he took a big pot from Ducan McLellan with the ladies.
After Ramey Shaio opened to 35,000, McLellan three-bet to 63,000, Carpenter shoved for 277,000 and after Shaio folded McLellan made the call.

Carpenter: [Qc][Qd]
McLellan: [Ad][Kd]

The [Qs][10h][Jh] flop was a doozy, it gave McLellan the nuts, but Carpenter had a re-draw. The [10d] turn filled Carpenter's house and the inconsequential [5h] fell on the river. Carpenter is up to 600,000 whilst McLellan is down to 620,000. -- NW

1:50pm: Mclellan fights back
If Mclellan was suffering following his beat earlier, he hasn't responded by crawling into his shell.

In stark contrast, he is showing some real aggression to pick up chips and maintain some momentum.

Moments ago Dafydd Williams raised from middle position to 35,000, Mclellan going on the attack from the big blind with a 3-bet to 61,000.

The board fell [Qd][2h][4h] and Mclellan led for 58,000 - Williams making a quick call.

Come the [Ac] on the turn, an undaunted Mclellan now fired a second bullet - a full stack of 5k chips totalling 100,000.

Williams mucked quickly and Mclellan defiantly turned over [5c][2s]!

A real see-saw battle is developing at table 14...Mclellan up to 850,000, Williams down to 950,000... -- RS

1.40pm: A few counts
Here's a few counts from around the room:

William Elliot - 1,600,000
Joeri Zadvliet - 450,000
Ben Vinson - 630,000
James Glossop - 1,300,000
Ryan Spittles - 925,000
Dean Hutchison - 300,000
Juan Benito - 1,300,000
Daniel Bushell - 1,125,000
Mitch Johnson - 280,000 -- NW

1.30pm: Pal not a friend of Ravindran
Rupom Pal just lost a classic race at the feature table to bust out of UKIPT4 Nottingham2. He was all-in with pocket jacks against Arvin Ravindran's [Ad][Kc]. Jake Cody liked the jacks but for once Cody was wrong as the board ran [8d][2c][Kd][4c][6d] to boost Ravindran to around 750,000. -- NW

1.20pm: Raine and Watts depart
It wasn't as long a day as Neil Raine and Steve Watts had hoped as they've both been knocked out here in Nottingham.

Raine three-bet shoved pocket eights from the big blind for 160,000 over the top of Matthew Simpson's button open. Unfortunately for Raine, the button raiser had the goods as he held pocket kings. The [2c][9s][5d][4h][Qh] board kept Simpson in front and he's up to 650,000.

Whilst Watts opened under-the-gun with [K][Q] off of 320,000 and got his chips in against Jonas Lauck on a two diamond queen high flop. Lauck held [Ad][10d] and spiked the ace on the turn to eliminate Watts. - NW

1:15pm: Winners and Losers
Recent exits include Shane Cotter, Jack Allen, Steven Watts, William Chattaway, David Hart and Jonathan Peacock.

Still in and experiencing mixed fortunes are Lewis Swift, up to 1,100,000 after a very useful morning.

Tim Blake hasn't run quite as well, down but not out with 650,000.

Ben Mayhew has sent several opponents to the rail and is currently up with the leading pack with over a million chips.

1:05pm: Brave call injures McLellan
Duncan Mclellan just showed great skill to pick up a great position in a spot where many would have wilted - though the poker gods were not to reward him on this occasion.

The hand in question saw Daffyd Williams raise from the cut-off and Mclellan re-raise to 98,000 from the big blind. Williams now moved all-in for 518,000 and Mclellan was put to a tough decision with pocket sixes and 1.2 million chips behind.

Eventually he decided this would be a good spot and made the call - rewarded when Williams showed him the "at-it" [Kh][2h].

The gods tipped the equity tables against him however, Williams spiking over the [Ad][7c][3d][Kd][7h] board to take down the welcome 1.1 million chip pot.

Mclellan looked rueful, shaking his head in disappointment - his stack back to a less-impressive 650,000. -- RS

Blinds up: 8,000/16,000, 2,000 ante

12.50pm: Grass in Greene
David Greene just got a much needed double up at the expense of Ben Carpenter. The latter opened with pocket queens and called when Greene shoved for 130,000 with [Ad][Js]. The [2s][4h][3h] flop gave Greene some additional outs, he spiked one of his original ones on the [As] turn and held on the [Kc] river to double to 283,000. -- NW

12.40pm: No luck for Frankie
Chin Chai Koh - better known as Chinese Frankie - was one of those players looking to spin up a stack early on Day 3 to get back in it. Unfortunately for him he in his last 10 big blinds with [Kh][Jh] and ran into Lewis Swift's [Ac][Qc].

The [Ad][4h][Kd][8c][4d] board gave the pot to Swift and he's up to almost a million as a result. -- NW

12.30pm: Elliott catches Campbell
Vincent Campbell was left cursing the poker gods after losing a race and his tournament life as a result.

He was all-in with pocket nines against William Elliot's [As][Ks] and it was score one for the over cards as the board came [3c][Ad][4h][Kd][Ac] to eliminate him in 46th place. -- NW

12.25pm: Mayhew sends Panteli packing
After Ben Mayhew opened from under-the-gun Mike Panteli moved all-in for 168,000 total. It folded back to Mayhew who took his time before calling.

Panteli: [Ah][Js]
Mayhew: [2d][2c]

The ducks quacked loudest on the [6d][10h][2h][Ad][8s] board and Panteli departs in 47th, whilst Mayhew climbs to 815,000. -- NW

12:20pm: Doubles all round - Murray back in the game
It's been a good start for the shorties.Derek Murray has turned his fortunes round to gain a 350,000 stack, winning his all-in showdown with pocket jacks versus the [Ad][Td] of Jack Allen.

Allen is short now and will be hoping the good fortune befalling the small stacks continues just a little longer... -- RS

12:15pm: Horton adrenalized by double
Richard Horton came into the day as one of the shorter stacks with 157,000, but his chances have been given a boon in the opening level.

Ramey Shaio put the pressure on preflop but Horton was up to the task, getting his stack in with [Ac][9h] - Shaio showing down a cheeky [5s][6s].

The board fell an ominous [Qd][6d][2d] to give Shaio a pair and Horton resignedly stood up from his seat, ready to vacate to the bar with a hard luck story.

His recriminations were put on ice however as the turn and river came the [3s] and [9s] to save his bacon at the last.

Horton up to 300,000 - Shaio takes a hit - down to 350,000. -- RS

12.05pm: Benito bluffs
The first hand on the feature table saw Juan Benito take a pot and he showed the bluff to boot. "Always nice to see the chip leader show a bluff," said Nick Wealthall in the commentary booth. -- NW

12pm: Spain leads, England expects
If chip leader Juan Benito looks over his shoulder he'll see a pack of angry bulldogs nipping at his heels and attempting to reel him in.

For whilst "El bigotes" (Moustache) has a formidable stack of 1,473,000 the next seven in the chip counts all hail from this fair isle. Best placed of the chasing pack is Ben Vinson. The young British professional has a glowing reputation based on aggression and fearlessness. He finished fourth last time the UKIPT was in town back in November and will stack up 1,216,000 at the start of play.

The player who denied Vinson that title in November was Ben Mayhew, he's still on for a second UKIPT title and is firmly in the chasing pack with 647,000 and Dean Hutchison (501,000) could score the same double as his hope as still alive. Mayhew, Benito and Hutchison will all start under the glare of the TV cameras as there's a live stream from midday today.

You can watch it through the links below please get involved on twitter by using the #UKIPTLive. Marc Convey and Nick Wealthall will be your commentators and Jake Cody will be joining them in the booth at 1pm.

pokerstars.tv
youtube
and Facebook

This is the feature table at the start of play:

Dean Hutchison, United Kingdom , 501,000
Daniel Bushell, United Kingdom, 376,000
Mitchell Johnson, United Kingdom, 339,000
Juan Benito, Spain, PokerStars Qualifier, 1,473,000
Ben Mayhew, United Kingdom, 647,000
William Chattaway, United Kingdom, 191,000
Mike Panteli, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier 233,000

You can see the Day 3 seat draw in its entirety here, keep an eye on this page for chip counts and this one for payouts

There are more exciting subplots that could come to fruition today, Joeri Zandvliet (690,000) could make yet another UKIPT final table in a search for a third UKIPT title, the talented Ryan Spittles, who starts fifth in chips, could turn one of his many deep runs into a very deep run and Tim Blake (873,000) might prove that old guys can play too.

Cards are in the air at noon, it should be a cracker.

PokerStars Blog reporting team at PokerStars UKIPT Nottingham2: Marc Convey, Rod Stirzaker and Nick Wright. Photos by Danny Maxwell.

10.50pm: Final table seat draw and chip counts
It's William Elliot who leads the final table whilst Trevor Pearson will begin as the short stack. Cards are in the air at 2pm but because of the live stream, they and subsequently we, will bring you coverage from 3pm. You can watch the live stream on, YouTube, Facebook and pokerstars.tv

Seat 1: Trevor Pearson, United Kingdom, 965,000
Seat 2: Anthony Flynn, United Kingdom , 2,495,000
Seat 3: Duncan McLellan, United Kingdom, 3,320,000
Seat 4: Ramey Shaio, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, 1,770,000
Seat 5: Juan Benito, Spain, PokerStars Qualifier, 4,385,000
Seat 6: Angelo Milioto, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, 2,455,000
Seat 7: Ryan Spittles, United Kingdom , 3,305,000
Seat 8: William Elliot, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, 5,625,000

10.20pm: Terry Carter eliminated in ninth place (£16,100)
Nine handed play lasted precisely one hand and that was because a total cooler has set the final table of eight.

Terry Carter three-bet shoved for 1,030,000 with pocket kings and Ryan Spittles cold called with pocket aces.

The [3h][2d][Ks][Ad][5d] board was an absolute heart breaker for Carter as first he sucked out and then he was sucked out on. Just like that the final table is set. The PokerStars Blog will bring you overnight chip counts and the seat draw shortly. Also, stay tuned for a wrap of the days play. -- NW

10pm: Dafydd Williams eliminated in tenth place (£13,445)
Another all-in at the feature table and this time the short stack didn't survive.

Dafydd Williams shoved for 700,000 with [Kd][Qs] and William Elliot looked him up with [Ac][Jh].

The [Ad][8c][10c][10s][7d] board gave the pot to Elliot and sent the young Welshman crashing out in tenth. There will now be a short delay whilst the nine remaining players are redrawn for the unofficial final table. -- NW

9.50pm: Ryan Spittles doubles through Juan Benito
On the first hand back from the break Ryan Spittles, who's been very patient, got the double up he'd been waiting for.

Juan Benito opened to 160,000, Angelo Milioto called and Spittles then moved all-in for 945,000 back on Benito he made the call and after a tank Milioto folded.

Benito: [Ad][Js]
Spittles: [Ac][Ks]

The [5h][4d][5c][2s][9d] board kept Spittles in front and he's up to roughly 2,000,000. -- NW

9.45pm: Chip counts
Here are the chip counts of the final 10 players as level 28 gets underway. It's still start of day chip leader Juan Benito who lead.

Table 1:

1, 2, Ramey Shaio, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, 2,115,000
1, 5, Anthony Flynn, United Kingdom , 2,215,000
1, 6, Trevor Pearson, United Kingdom , 710,000
1, 7, Terry Carter, United Kingdom , 1,250,000
1, 8, Duncan Mclellan, United Kingdom , 3,500,000

Table 3:

3, 2, Ryan Spittles, United Kingdom , 805,000
3, 4, William Elliot, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, 4,765,000
3, 5, Juan Benito, Spain, PokerStars Qualifier, 5,510,000
3, 6, Dafydd Williams, United Kingdom , 870,000
3, 7, Angelo Milioto, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, 2,630,000

Blinds up: 40,000/80,000, 10,000 ante

9.30pm: Break time
Level 27 has come to an end and the 11 remaining players are now on a 15 minute break. -- NW

9.25pm: Side event news
The Nottingham Cup is heads-up and it's Matthew Davenport against David Williams for the title. -- NW

9.15pm: Angelo Milioto doubles up
Angelo Milioto is up to the dizzy heights of 30 big blinds after doubling through Juan Benito. The Brit shoved for 880,000 with [Qc][Qs] and Benito looked him up with [Kh[Jd].

The [10h][10d][8d][3s][5s] board kept the queens in front and Milioto's patience paid off. -- NW

9.05pm: Terry Carter doubles through Ramey Shaio
A bit of a cooler this one...

Terry Carter opened to 200,000 on the button, Ramey Shaio shoved for an effective 950,000 from the big blind and Carter snap called.

Carter: [Qc][Qd]
Shaio: [Jh][Jc]

It was premium against premium and the ladies held on the [10d][8c][10s][7s][3s] board. Carter is up to roughly 2,000,000. -- NW

8:55pm: Milioto double
Juan Benito has been crushing the feature table in recent times - picking the perfect times to value bet and bluff - his stack growing rapidly.

Angelo Milioto did manage to knock some of the wind out of his sails however - running his jacks against Militio's [Ah][5c] preflop successfully - the board running out [9s][2h][9c][7c][9d].

Milioto back to 1.2 million, Benito still has a huge 3.8 million stack. --RS

8:50pm: McLellan survives hairy moment
Duncan McLellan has ridden the waves of variance with authority today, though he's had his lucky moments.

Another of those moments just arrived to save him when it looked like he could be heading to the exit.

Firstly, McLellan lost a chunk of his chips betting the streets with [8s][Ts] on a [Js][9h][4c][Ks][5d] board versus Ramey Shaio. Shaio did well to pick off his bluffs, including a chunky 275,000 on the river with [Jc][Qd].

Short now, McLellan shoved the very next hand with [4s][3s] from the small blind - only to run into Shaio's [Ah][8d].

The flop was a doozy however peeling off [Js][Ts][5s].

"Not a bad flop for me," was the understated response from McLellan.

Shaio was already counting out chips to pay him off and the turned [Tc][Jc] didn't alter things in his favour.

McLellan up to 1,200,000 Shaio down to 1,900,000... -- RS

8.45pm: Tim Blake eliminated in 11th place (£13,445)
Due to a couple of moves gone wrong Tim Blake was down to just 355,000 and committed his remaining six big blinds with [Qc][9d]. He got a call from William Elliot and the Scotsman was in front with [Ac][7d], although one of his aces had been folded by Juan Benito, who was in the big blind.

The [4d][10c][2c][Jc][9c] board meant Blake rivered a flush, but Elliot a bigger one and with that Blake's tournament was over.
With one more elimination the unofficial final table of nine will be set. -- NW

Blinds up: 30,000/60,000,10,000 ante

8.35pm: James Glossop eliminated in 12th place (£12,100)
Down to just 600,000 James Glossop shoved for [Ad][2c] and he got a call from William Elliot who held [5s][5c].

The [8s][3s][10d][6h][6c] board kept the pair in front and sent Glossop to the rail. Eleven players left. -- NW

8.25pm: Trevor Pearson doubles through Duncan McLellan
Another double up, this time from the outer table...

Ramey Shaio opened to 110,000 from early position, Trevor Pearson flat called and Duncan McLellan then moved all-in. Shaio folded but Pearson snap called.

Pearson: [Kd][Kh]
McLellan: [5c][5d]

The [Ad][10s][2d][8h][7h] board was clean as far as Pearson was concerned, he was all-in for 745,000 so climbs to 1,500,000 and McLellan drops to 750,000 after losing that hand. -- NW

8.15pm: Tim Blake doubles through William Elliot
"All-in and call," was the cry from the feature table and it was Tim Blake who was at risk. He'd raised to 100,000, William Elliot had three-bet to 250,000 and called when Blake shoved form 850,000.

Blake: [Kc][Ks]
Elliot: [Ah][Jc]

The [8c][8h][4h][8d][3c] board kept Blake in front and he climbed to 1,800,000. -- NW

8.05pm: Murray hits the rail in 13th spot(£12,100); Carpenter in 14th place(£10,850)
Benjamin Carpenter was eliminated just after the break and Derek Murray followed him swiftly onto the pain train.

Murray's exit was particularly unfortunate. His stack for much of the last two levels has restricted the poker moves available to him - it's been push or fold and he'd been keeping himself afloat with infrequent shoves.

Finally he was looked up, Anthony Flynn raising from middle position to 120,000 then calling Murray's 640,000 shove all-in.

Flynn had stumbled though, his [8c][8d] a significant dog to Murray's [Ts][Tc].

The board peeled off [Qd][6h][4c] and it looked like Murray was about to book his double-up. Then disaster struck.

The [8s] arrived on the turn. Flynn's whole body stiffened - you could see he was repressing the urge to let out some sort of exclamation of joy out of respect for his opponent.

The river was the [5c] and Murray was out - just like that. He took the beat well and headed to the cash desk...we continue 12-handed... --RS

7.55pm: Chip counts
Here are the chip counts for the final two tables at the start of level 25

Table 1:

1, 1, Derek Murray, Ireland, 705,000
1, 2, Ramey Shaio, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, 2,315,000
1, 3, Dafydd Williams, United Kingdom, 1,890,000
1, 5, Anthony Flynn, United Kingdom, 1,620,000
1, 6, Trevor Pearson, United Kingdom, 785,000
1, 7, Benjamin Carpenter, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, 960,000
1, 8, Duncan Mclellan, United Kingdom, 1,855,000

Table 3

3, 1, Tim Blake, United Kingdom, 715,000
3, 2, Ryan Spittles, United Kingdom, 1,555,000
3, 3, James Glossop, United Kingdom, 970,000
3, 4, William Elliot, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, 3,960,000
3, 5, Juan Benito, Spain, PokerStars Qualifier, 4,700,000
3, 7, Angelo Milioto, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, 755,000
3, 8, Terry Carter, United Kingdom, 1,585,000

Blinds up: 25,000/50,000, 5,000 ante

7.30pm: Break time!
That brutal elimination leaves us 14-handed. The players are taking a 15 minute break but we'll be back shortly for level 25. See you then!

7:25pm: Vinson eliminated in 15th spot(£10,850)
Duncan McLellan has been the bane of many a player today and Ben Vinson is the latest player to fall foul of this season's UKIPT Isle of Man champion.

The hand saw Vinson open from middle position to 80,000 and McLellan flat-call from the small blind.

The board fell [Jc][9c][3s] - McLellan checked and Vinson continuation bet 80,000. Call.

The turn was the innocuous-looking [3d] - check from McLellan and Vinson had a pause and think before firing out 160,000.

Suddenly McLellan sprung into action with a check-raise to 340,000 - Vinson quickly moved all-in for his remaining stack. Snap-call from McLellan with [3h][5h] - and a cruelly outdrawn pair of pocket kings for Vinson.

Facing elimination, there was no redemption for Vinson on the [Qh] river and he positively raced out of the tournament arena with his coat when his exit was confirmed.

McLellan rises to 2 million - the dream of double UKIPT triumph gaining credibility with every big pot the man wins. --RS

7.20pm: Williams takes a big one from Shaio
Ramey Shaio and Dafydd Williams just played a huge blind on blind pot. Shaio raised to 95,000 and Williams called.

On the [10d][8d][2s][5s][Ac] board Shaio bet every street for 83,000, 235,000 and 290,000 respectively. Williams called the first two and then shoved the river for 948,000 total.

Shaio tanked for over seven minutes before folding what he said later was two pair, Williams showed [Qd][7d] for the busted flush draw. -- NW

7.10pm: Joeri Zandvliet eliminated in 16th place (£9,600)
The wait for a triple champion goes on as Joeri Zandvliet has been eliminated in sixteenth place. He three-bet all-in for 850,000 over the top of James Glossop's open and William Elliot's flat call. Glossop got out the way but Elliot made the call.

Elliot: [Ah][Jd]
Zandvliet: [Ks][Kd]

The board ran [3h][7s][4s][6h][As] and Zandvliet's tilt at a third title was at an end. -- NW

6:57pm: Zandvliet loses blind battle
Folded to Joeri Zandvliet in the small blind, he simply moved in against the shortstacked Angelo Milioto.

Milioto took a few moments but made the call with [Kh][9c] - a solid call given Joeri was likely to be applying pressure with a wide range there.

He proved that by showing down [Tc][7h].

The board was a roller coaster of excitement - Milioto looking safe on the [9d][5s][3c] flop before the [Th] hit the turn - Zandvliet powering into the lead.

Finally though equity justice was served as the [Kc] spiked to double Milioto to 700,000. --RS

6:50pm: Outer table chip count

Here's how they are lined up with their chip counts on the outside table. It's a cautious game out there at the moment. No one wants to miss out on this historic final table and perhaps due to the closeness of many of the stacks, we haven't seen many confrontations so far.

1 Derek Murray 650,000
2 Ramey Shaio 2,200,000
3 Dafydd Williams 900,000
4 Ben Vinson 800,000
5 Anthony Flynn 1,400,000
6 Trevor Pearson 550,000
7 Benjamin Carter 950,000
8 Duncan McLellan 1,600,000
--RS

6.25pm: James Glossop doubles through Angelo Milioto
There was 300,000 in the pot by the time James Glossop, Angelo Milioto and Tim Blake saw a [9c][10c][6s] flop. From the small blind Glossop simply open shoved for 504,000, Miilioto snap called and Blake then tank folded.

Glossop: [8c][7h]
Milioto: [10h][9h]

The [Ks] turn and [Kd] river gave Glossop a big double up to 1,300,000, whilst Milioto is down to 344,000. -- NW

6.15pm: Seat draw and chip counts
Table one:

1, 1, Derek Murray - 560,000
1, 2, Ramey Shaio - 2,600,000
1, 3, Dafydd Williams - 1,300,000
1, 4, Ben Vinson - 1,200,000
1, 5, Anthony Flynn - 1,100,000
1, 6, Trevor Pearson - 900,000
1, 7, Benjamin Carpenter - 600,000
1, 8, Duncan McLellan - 1,200,000

Table two:

3, 1, Tim Blake - 983,000
3, 2, Ryan Spittles - 1,183,000
3, 3, James Glossop - 654,000
3, 4, William Elliot - 3,112,000
3, 5, Juan Benito - 3,770,000
3, 6, Joeri Zandvliet - 1,606,000
3, 7, Angelo Milioto - 1,043,000
3, 8, Terry Carter - 1,936,000

6.10pm: Shaio takes one from Carpenter
Ben Carpenter opened to 60,000 from middle position and Ramey Shaio smooth called from the big blind. On the [8h][4h][5c] flop both players checked and the [7h] fell on the turn. First to act Shaio led for 85,000 and Carpenter made the call. The [9s] completed the board, Shaio bet again, this time 157,000. Carpenter looked back at his cards and then placed one chip over the line to signify a call. Shaio showed [8c][6c] for the straight, Carpenter nodded and mucked his hand. -- NW

6pm: Back from the break
Play is back underway here in Nottingham. -- NW

5.45pm: Murray doubles through McLellan
At the same time as Matthew Simpson was eliminated a hand played out on another table between Derek Murray and Duncan McLellan.

Murray moved in for 312,000 with [8c][7c] and McLellan looked him up from the big blind with [Ad][4c]. The board came [10c][6s][7d][5d][Kc] and McLellan said: "Nice hand." -- NW

5.40pm: Matthew Simpson eliminated in 17th place (£9,600)
We're down to the final two tables now as Matthew Simpson has just been eliminated by Ben Vinson. Down to 275,000 Simpson committed his chips with pocket eights and Vinson had him in deep trouble with pocket kings. The board came [10c][6s][7d][5d][Kc] and they'll now be a short break for a re-draw to the final two tables. - NW

5:35pm: Kearney eliminated in 18th place(£8,350)
Tim Blake was looking a little downbeat - his stack reduced to 400,000 and looking very vulnerable.

It all turned round for him in an instant though - a couple of all-ins winning the blinds before he saw the similarly short-stacked Leslie Kearney jam himself from middle position.

"I call," said Blake quickly, flipping up [Ah][Td].

He was favourite versus the [Kc][Jh] of Kearney who tapped the table acknowledging a good call.

He needed his equity edge to hold however and it duly did over the [8h][4c][3h][9d][8d] board.

"Nice playing with you guys," said Kearney as he departed - a buoyant Blake boosted to 925,000.

Blake got the thumbs up from a watchful Willie Tann on the rail.

"The power of the ace, Willie!" --RS

5.25pm:Chip counts
Here are the current chip counts in table order to see them in chip order click here.

Table 2:

2, 1, Juan Benito, Spain, PokerStars Qualifier, 3453000
2, 2, Ramey Shaio, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, 2600000
2, 3, Dafydd Williams, United Kingdom, 1548000
2, 4, Benjamin Carpenter, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, 1168000
2, 5, William Elliot, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, 2862000
2, 8, Terry Carter, United Kingdom, 1877000

Table 13

13, 1, Duncan McLellan, United Kingdom, 1947000
13, 2, Anthony Flynn, United Kingdom, 681000
13, 3, James Glossop, United Kingdom, 575000
13, 4, Leslie Kearney, United Kingdom, 466000
13, 5, Derek Murray, Ireland, 323000
13, 7, Tim Blake, United Kingdom, 784000

Table 14

14, 1, Angelo Milioto, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, 740000
14, 3, Joeri Zandvliet, Netherlands, PokerStars Player, 1301000
14, 4, Trevor Pearson, United Kingdom, 1180000
14, 5, Ryan Spittles, United Kingdom, 1586000
14, 6, Ben Vinson, United Kingdom, 879000
14, 8, Matthew Simpson, United Kingdom, 489000

5.15pm: Daniel Bushell eliminated in 19th place (£8,350)
It's all gone wrong for Daniel Bushell who couldn't recover from losing a huge pot to Terry Carter at the end of level 23.

He three-bet all-in for 190,000 with [As][7h] and got looked up by Ramey Shaio who had opened to 60,000. Shaio held [Ad][2d] and made a wheel on the [5s][4d][4c][3c][Ah] board to eliminate Bushell. -- NW

5.05pm: Jonas Lauck eliminated in 20th place (£8,350)
Jonas Lauck and Ramey Shaio just played a huge 2.1M pot and the denouement is that Lauck's luck has run out.

He was all-in for just over a million with pocket nines and up against Shaio's [As][Qh]. The [10h][Qd][7s][8h][7h] run out favoured Shaio and h's up to 2,400,000. -- NW

5pm: Final 20 back for more
We're back under way here in Nottingham and Juan Benito leads the way with 3,453,000. He's currently on the feature table and you can watch that live with #UKIPTLive here.

They'll be another re-draw when we get down to 16 players. -- NW

PokerStars Blog reporting team at PokerStars UKIPT Nottingham2: Rod Stirzaker and Nick Wright. Photos by Danny Maxwell.

Dusk Till Dawn opened its opulent doors once more to host UKIPT Nottingham - Day 3 seeing the remaining 49 players returning to fight their way down to the final table. With the record £1,223,000 prize pool looming ever closer, the battles at the felt were unrelenting and brutal. Bad beats, classic play and key coin flips all combined to carve the field down to just eight brave souls who will return to contend the title tomorrow.

Juan Benito was the chip leader coming into the day and during a full day's coverage at the live feature table, he kept his momentum going with more than a few inspired plays to reach the final second in chips with 4,385,000.

It was Willie Elliot however who finished the day atop the counts with 5,625,000. Some dazzling play from the humble Scot saw him best his competition and he'll return as favourite when the remaining combatants resume tomorrow..

Before those plucky eight could claim their final table berths however, there was a feast of poker to be played out.

Joeri Zandvliet came into the final straight as one of the top dogs - his pedigree as double UKIPT champion unquestionable. The Dutchman did manage to squeeze into the last two tables but couldn't quite leap the final hurdle - the rampaging Willie Elliot dusting Zandvliet's kings off with ace-jack on his way to securing the chip lead.

Ben Vinson has long been recognised as a real talent of the UK poker scene though he too was to feel the wince of cracked cowboys before the day was out - Duncan McLellan the man to deal the pain this time.

UKIPT Isle of Man winner McLellan was a thorn in the side of his tablemates all day. Unpredictable and fearless, he attacked his table with abandon, an approach that was eventually rewarded as he made the final table with a very handy 3,320,000 in chips.

This week's High Roller runner-up Richard Kellett was ready to add to his bulging mantelpiece, though he had to make do with his second cash of the week when his campaign hit the skids midway through the day.

Tim Blake has been on the poker scene since pterodactyls thronged the skies but he turned back the clock to show the kids this senior player had game. His skills took him as far as 11th spot and although he fell tantalisingly short of the final table, his infectious sense of humour never left him even following defeat.

Ryan Spittles was the man who finally brought proceedings to a close, an incendiary hand seeing his pocket aces face off against Terry Carter's kings. The flop brought a king, then an ace to amazed whoops and shouts from the enthusaistic rail as the drama unfolded - Spittles winning the hand to reach the final with 3,305,000.

If that was not enough excitement, it later transpired Anthony Flynn folded queens during the same hand - a judicious move that kept his dream alive.

For the full list of payouts through the day, click here.

Here's how the final eight will line up when they return tomorrow:

Seat 1: Trevor Pearson, United Kingdom, 965,000
Seat 2: Anthony Flynn, United Kingdom , 2,495,000
Seat 3: Duncan McLellan, United Kingdom, 3,320,000
Seat 4: Ramey Shaio, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, 1,770,000
Seat 5: Juan Benito, Spain, PokerStars Qualifier, 4,385,000
Seat 6: Angelo Milioto, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, 2,455,000
Seat 7: Ryan Spittles, United Kingdom , 3,305,000
Seat 8: William Elliot, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, 5,625,000

Play will start at 2:00pm and there'll be a stream on a one-hour delay running from 3:00pm. You can watch the show on the below links and you can interact with the commentary team of Marc Convey, Nick Wealthall and special guests(including Chris Moneymaker) on twitter using #UKIPTLive. There might even be prizes!

Here's the links for tomorrow's live streams:

Pokerstars.tv
Youtube.com
and Facebook.

Here's a video recap of the day's play, hosted by Nick Wealthall.

Tomorrow, one man will become a UKIPT legend when they collect the £218,300 first place prize for winning UKIPT Nottingham. History is in the offing and this is your chance to watch it unfold live.

We'll see you tomorrow as the race for glory plays out.

To read updates from levels 24-28, click here.

For updates from levels 20-23, click here.

Photos courtesy of Danny Maxwell.

Here are the details of the eight players who will today go looking for the title of UKIPT4 Nottingham2 champion. Here's a review of how they got here. Remember and you can follow along on UKIPTLive.

Seat 1: Trevor Pearson, United Kingdom - 965,000

Trevor Pearson, 56, is no stranger to risk, reward and late nights, working as he does - alongside his wife of 35 years, Caroline - as a self-employed commodities trader from his home (which is four miles from the nearest town).
Leaving private cash games behind over 10 years ago, he now finds time to squeeze online tournaments into his hectic schedule "day or night" as he and his wife trade, sometimes 24 hours a day in tag-team. He considers his stamina a bonus in the world of poker, and looks forward to his wife railing him on the final table as he tries to turn a short stack into a win.

Seat 2: Anthony Flynn, United Kingdom, 2,495,000

This is a rare foray into UKIPT territory for 42-year-old self-employed dad of three Anthony Flynn. But when the Stratford-Upon-Avon resident does play he usually does well, finishing 10th at a UKIPT Series event in July 2013. He also came fifth in the Sunday Million last June winning $56,000 - finishing the tournament on his phone as his laptop was playing up! Flynn also plays in a local league in Stratford-Upon-Avon and he expects half a dozen friends, some of whom travelled with him to play this event, to be on the rail tomorrow.

Should his pre-start "feeling" about the event come to fruition, he says his eldest daughter, who turns 18 on Tuesday, will get a new car, his 16-year-old daughter a new wardrobe and his 15-year-old son a trip with Dad to the World Cup in Brazil.

Seat 3: Duncan McLellan, United Kingdom - 3,320,000

Duncan McLellan is no stranger to success on the UKIPT, having won the inaugural UKIPT Isle of Man Main Event this season for £94,090. He followed that victory with a win in the last £300 Nottingham Cup (for £9,800) and has been busy winning satellites to everything from EPT Prague to the accompanying High Roller where he made Day 2. He credits his success in part to having picked up a book he names as, "'The 50 worst things that Hellmuth ever said' or something...it's a fantastic book. Cost me $50
online but then I went on to win tournaments. Three years ago I didn't know the rules!" McLellan is in good shape chip-wise, and says that he's now playing for the win. "I don't want to come 7th."

Seat 4: Ramey Shaio, United Kingdom (PokerStars Player) - 1,770,000

Professional poker player Ramey Shaio has racked up six years of poker experience despite being just 27. He splits his time between the online and live tables, but doesn't
travel the live circuit often. The exceptions are for the World Series, where he narrowly missed out on a bracelet in a $1,500 NL Hold'em event in 2012, coming 3rd for
$182,521, and Dusk Till Dawn. "When they're guaranteeing £1 million, how can I not?" Although he lost some chips in the last levels - doubling people up - he intends to come back with his 25bb and try to take the title, with a secondary plan to "have fun...a party if I win."

Seat 5: Juan Benito, Spain (PokerStars Qualifier) - 4,385,000

Juan "El bigotes" (the Moustache) Benito is a 23 year old Spaniard now living in Bournemouth looking for his first major win to catapult him on to the international tournament circuit in earnest. He currently makes his money online on PokerStars playing MTTs, but loves to play live and has done since he first started playing with
friends. Benito has been at the top of the chip counts all day, and has turned a £100 satellite on PokerStars into a guaranteed minimum payout of £20,800. Nottingham
represents his second foray into the UKIPT; his first was in Marbella, an event he plans to play again this year.

Seat 6: Angelo Milioto, United Kingdom (PokerStars Qualifier) - 2,455,000

Angelo Milioto, 43, is a sales director for a glazing company who has turned a passion for poker into a lucrative online pursuit. He started playing poker when he lived in Spain, in a local bar with friends. His first UKIPT experience almost ended 16-handed when he was down to 5bb, but he's turned his stack around and is looking forward to the final. This result will be his best to date, and his three children will be watching eagerly as he has already promised 10% of his winnings to them. With the rest, he'd like to play a few more live events but also do the sensible thing of paying off some of the mortgage and the tax man.

Seat 7: Ryan Spittles, United Kingdom - 3,305,000

Ryan "Scotty77" Spittles is recognised as one of the UK's up-and-coming talents both live and online, although his results have, so far, been mainly on the virtual felt. He started playing around six years ago, and improved his game to the point where instead of losing money he was racking up MTT wins and playing cash games professionally (which he's done for four years). His best live cash to date was for $19,015 in WPT Prague, but winning a major tournament remains something he eagerly aspires to do. He's also a poker TV celebrity, analysing hands and helping others improve their game.

Seat 8: William Elliot, United Kingdom (PokerStars Qualifier) 5,625,000

Chip leader William Elliot, from Galashiels in Scotland, stormed through Day 3 and has turned a £162 satellite win into a real title shot. A full time carer for his older, disabled brother, Elliott started playing poker after watching Late Night Poker and diving into UKIPT Newcastle with his brother as "a pair of fish". "Fergal Nealon put his arm round my shoulder and gave me a lot of tips - I soaked it up like a sponge," he recalls. Elliot's now friends with Ludovic Geilich and other Scottish players and cites them as the reason he's in this position today. Although he won the Scottish Poker Series recently for £12,000, winning this event would be "life-changing."

6.55pm: Double for Duncan! McLellan wins second UKIPT title
He's done it! The bricklayer from Corby has claimed his second UKIPT title in seven months!

The final hand of heads-up play was an absolute cooler. On the button Angelo Milioto opened to 350,000 with [Qs][6h] and Ducan McLellan called with [8c][7c]. The [5c][6d][6s] flop gave Milioto trips, but McLellan an open-ended straight draw. It was checked to Milioto, he bet 350,000, McLellan check-raised to 920,000 total and Milioto just smooth called.

The [4d] on the turn completed McLellan's straight, but he played it cute checking to Milioto, his trap work as Milioto bet 1,300,000, McLellan moved all-in and Milioto snap called. The [Ad] on the river was a blank card and McLellan completed a fantastic double. He collects £202,372 for the win and it was also a fantastic performance by Angelo Milioto, he wins £143,728 for his efforts here in Nottingham.

It's been a whirlwind final table, one that lasted less than four hours to make it the fastest UKIPT main event final table in history. Stay right here for a full re-cap of the final table. -- NW

Blinds up: 80,000/160,000, 20,000 ante

6.45pm: Done deal!
Before heads-up play began the two players cut a deal. The original payouts were:

1st. £218,300
2nd. £127,800

This is the deal they've done:

Duncan McLellan - £168,372
Angelo Milioto - £143,728

Left to play for: £34,000

6.20pm: Heads-up chip counts
The players are on a 20 minute break before the start of heads-up play, this is how they stack up:

Seat 3: Duncan McLellan, United Kingdom, 17,440,000
Seat 6: Angelo Milioto, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, 6,930,000

6.15pm: Trevor Pearson eliminated in third place (£89,900)
We're now heads-up at UKIPT4 Nottingham2 as Trevor Pearson has just been eliminated in third place and there wasn't much he could do about his fate.

After Duncan McLellan opened to 375,000 on the button with [Ac][Kc], Pearson moved all-in for 2,180,000 with [Ah][Js], cue the snap call from McLellan. A low board of [2d][5c][7s][9h][9c] kept McLellan out in front and he now takes a big chip advantage into heads-up play.

6.05pm: Chip counts
These are the three handed chip counts, Duncan McLellan has over half the chips in play.

Seat 1: Trevor Pearson, United Kingdom, 3,360,000
Seat 3: Duncan McLellan, United Kingdom, 14,120,000
Seat 6: Angelo Milioto, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, 6,890,000

5.55pm: Deal talk
Play stopped for about a minute as the players discussed flattening the payout structure a bit. They decided to play out the rest of the level before taking discussions any further. -- NW

5.45pm: Milioto takes one from Pearson
The two short stacks aren't shy about getting involved in pots, no laddering here! Trevor Pearson opened to 500,000 on the button with pocket nines and Angelo Milioto peeled from the big blind with [Ac][3c].

He flopped the best hand on the [6s][As][2c] flop, no action though and no betting either on the [4d] turn. Milioto could wait no longer though, he fired out a bet of 500,000 on the [8h] river, Pearson looked him up and saw the bad news. -- NW

5.40pm: Pearson shoves
The shortest stack at the final table is Trevor Pearson but he's doing his best to go about changing that. He just shoved all-in for 3,405,000 with pocket jacks over the top of Angelo Milioto's [Ad][9h]. The latter got a count but folded his hand.

The next hand Pearson picked up ace-ten and raised to four big blinds from the button, Dara O'Kearney, who's replaced Chris Moneymaker in the booth said: "That's a bit unorthodox as usually you'd raise smaller as you've got a strong hand and want some action."

Then a couple of hands later he defended from the big blind with [Kd][Jd] when Angelo Milioto raised from the small blinds with [7c][6c]. Both players connected with the [3c][6h][Kh] flop Milioto bet 305,000 but folded when Pearson raised to 900,000.

He's up to 4,600,000, whilst Milioto is down to 5,700,000. -- NW

5:34pm: Elliot succumbs in 4th spot (£67,000)
Willie Elliot has been at the heart of almost every pot that has played out at this final table and he just played the biggest pot of the tournament - though it was to be his last action at the final table.

A button/ big blind war broke out, the pair going heads up to a [Ac][2c][8h].

Holding [3c][3d] - Elliot checked the board and McLellan led out for 525,000 with his [As][3s] for top pair. Elliot made the call and the [Ah] came on the turn.

A great card for McLellan, he made a sneaky check behind for deception when Elliot checked to him.

The [Ad] on the river was some card - McLellan making quads. With the pot at 1.8 million, once Elliot checked, McLellan decided to go for full value, leading out for a 2 million bet - over the pot.

Elliot now made his fatal move. He announced all-in, waving his hand forward and a triumphant McLellan insta-called, victory slamming his hand over on the table.

Just like that, Willie Elliot was eliminated! He's been an exciting, fun character at this final table and has made a host of new friends with his full steam style but he bows out in 4th, leaving us three-handed for the title.

McLellan now has 13 million chips - over 50% of the chips in play and the dream of a new double UKIPT champion is on!

Remember you can interact with the stream on twitter using #UKIPTLive and give your thoughts on that hand-- RS

5:15pm: Fatima Moreira de Melo on final table strategy
Team PokerStars SportStar Fatima Moreira de Melo finished runner-up at UKIPT4 Isle of Man earlier this season. The player who beat her was Duncan McLellan, she offers her thoughts on final table strategy in this interview with Nick Wealthall.

Blinds up: 60,000/120,000, 20,000 ante

4:55pm: End of level chip counts
The four remaining players are now on a 20 minute break, here's how they stack up right now:

Seat 1: Trevor Pearson, United Kingdom, 3,490,000
Seat 3: Duncan McLellan, United Kingdom, 7,835,000
Seat 6: Angelo Milioto, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, 6,730,000
Seat 8: William Elliot, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, 5,865,000

4:50pm: Elliot on the slide
What goes up, must come down is a term that applies to William Elliot's stack right now. He's lost the chip lead to Duncan McLellan and lost some chips to Angelo Milioto.

After Milioto opened to 275,000 under-the-gun with pocket tens, Eilliot three-bet to 675,000 on the button with pocket twos. Both players were playing around 60 big blinds and after Milioto confirmed that fact he elected to move all-in.

"Against this particular opponent I would've four-bet intending to get it in," said Chris Moneymaker in the commentary booth. "By moving all-in you take away the chance of Elliot doing something stupid."

After getting a count of the all-in Elliot elected to fold his hand, he's actually slipped to third in chips after that hand. -- NW

4:40pm: McLellan puts the breaks on Elliot
With chips to play with now, McLellan is starting to ramp up the aggression, three-betting a 225,000 open from Willie Elliot to 500,000. Call from Elliot.

Holding [Ks][Td], he was actually in great shape versus McLellan's [Kc][7h] but McLellan showed the power of initiative, his 610,000 continuation bet on the [Ad][9s][5s] board working well - Willie folding and McLellan sweeping up another important pot. -- RS

4.35pm: Can McLellan do it again?
Before the start of play UKIPT host Nick Wealthall caught up with UKIPT4 Isle of Man champion Duncan McLellan. Can he win a second UKIPT title?

4.35pm: Ryan Spittles eliminated in fifth place (£51,700)
Down to just over 11 big blinds Ryan Spittles was the clear short stack and he moved his stack of 1,115,000 over the line with [Ks][Jd], it folded to Angelo Milioto in the big blind who got a count and then made the call with [Ad][10s].

The [7c][4s][6d][6h][Qh] board bought the wrong kind of paint for Spittles and he shook hands with the four remaining players before leaving the table. -- NW

4:30pm: Chip counts
It's been a breathtakingly fast start to this final table, just five players remain and Duncan McLellan is now a legitimate challenger to Willie Elliot.

Seat 1: Trevor Pearson, United Kingdom, 3,670,000
Seat 3: Duncan McLellan, United Kingdom, 7,560,000
Seat 6: Angelo Milioto, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, 3,035,000
Seat 7: Ryan Spittles, United Kingdom , 1,185,000
Seat 8: William Elliot, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, 8,920,000

4:25pm: Juan Benito eliminated in 6th place (£38,400)
Yesterday, Benito looked like a real threat for the title, making some outstanding plays and being rewarded by coming into the final table well-placed in second.

Variance has not been his friend today though and his journey has come to a close, the dangerous Duncan McLellan causing the damage.

The key hand saw McLellan open to 250,000 with [9h][9c] from the hijack, only for Benito to pop it up to 500,000 from the button.

McLellan loves to go to war and he did so once again, pushing allin for his 4 million stack - Benito making a quick call for his 3 million stack.

A huge 6 million pot would be settled by a flip - and it was McLellan who rode his luck best - a board of [Th][7h][8d][9s][Qd] seeing him take the pot down with a set.

The Spaniard's run ends in 6th then, but a nice score of £38,400 and some newly won fans for his exciting style is his reward for the deep run.

The game continues 5-handed, Willie Elliot still holding the chip lead, although McLellan is now a real threat to the Scotsman...-- RS

4:22pm:Angelo Milioto doubles through Juan Benito
After Willie Elliot opened to 225,000, Juan Benito smooth called and Angelo Milioto moved all-in for 13 big blinds with [9c][9h]. Eliot folded his [10s][7h] but Benito made the call with pocket sixes.

The dominating pair held on the [2h][Qh][Js][8s][Qs] board, Milioto is up to 3,045,000 whilst Benito drops to 2,960,000. -- NW

4:20pm: Crucial double for Pearson
Willie Elliot has finally lost a significant pot.

He raised from the hijack to 275,000 with [Ad][7s], called by Pearson in position with [Kh][Qh] - Pearson with jjust 1.4 million back.

A perfect board for Pearson peeled off coming [Ks][5d][3c] and so when Elliot shoved, he made a snap call for his remaining stack.

Turn [3s], river [8h] means a double for Pearson and Elliot falls below ten million for the first time in a while.

That hand leaves the chip stacks as follows:-

William Elliot - 9,265,000
Duncan McLellan - 4,415,000
Juan Benito - 4,305,000
Trevor Pearson - 3,690,000
Ryan SPittle - 1,355,000
Angelo Milioto - 1,340,000 -- RS

4:15pm: Anthony Flynn eliminated in seventh place (£29,300)
It folded to Anthony Flynn in the small blind and he moved his 12 big blind stack into the middle with [Ac][7s], Duncan McLellan was in the big blind, he looked down at [Qh][Jh] and made the call from his stack of around 32 big blinds.

The [4s][3d][4h][Qd][4d] board meant McLellan turned the best hand and Flynn was no longer in. -- NW

4:05pm: Benito pulls a Willie
Juan Benito looks like he's learnt a few tricks off Willie Elliot.

Pearson just opened to 325,000 with [8s][8c] and Benito applied the pressure this time, moving all-in for Pearson's 18 big blind effective stack.

With [5s][5h], Pearson would have been in a great spot if he had called...but he didn't feel it and laid his hand down - Beinto's aggression seeing him rise over 4 million chips, Pearson drops to 1,400,000. -- RS

4pm: Ramey Shaio eliminated in eighth place (£20,800)
Given the amount of pressure William Elliot has been putting on players when they've open raised, Duncan McLellan opted to simply move all-in for his 30 big blind stack with [4d][4s]. Next to act Ramey Shaio moved all-in for 1,185,000 with [Ad][Qh] and everyone else got out the way. The [7c][6h][3h][5d][9h] board made McLellan a straight and Shaio is the first man out at the final table. -- NW

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 50,000-100,000-10,000

3:55pm: McLellan puts a stop to Elliot's run
Someone other than Willie Elliot just won a pot, but it took an all-in shove to do it. Elliot opened to 180,000 with [As][Js], McLellan called with [Kc][9c] on the button and Juan Benito did likewise with [9s][9d] from the big blind.

"Duncan's flopped the world," said Nick Wealthall when the flop fell [10c][2c][Ks]. It was checked to Elliot who fired out a bet of 280,000, McLellan jammed for 1,385,000 and after getting a count Elliot folded. -- NW

3.50pm: Thew on final tables
Julian Thew is on the rail supporting Ryan Spittles. Thee EPT Baden champion has played a few final tables under the TV spotlights and had this to say on them: "There's definitely more nerves than usual and no one wants to be the first one out."

So did Spittles ask Thew for any advice before the final table started? "Do the opposite of what I would do is what I told him," said Thew with a smile. - NW

3:45pm: The Counts
William Elliot - 10,050,000
Juan Benito - 4,020,000
Angelo Milioto - 2,065,000
Anthony Flynn - 1,830,000
Ryan Spittles - 1,755,000
Duncan Mclellan - 1,715,000
Trevor Pearson - 1,600,000
Ramey Shiao - 1,375,000

3:40pm: WIllie continues to crush
This man is unbelievable...it's great fun to watch.

Elliot knows there is so much ICM pressure on the players that it is really tough for them to call all-in - their stacks being so short and balanced with each other.

Elliot shoves three hands in a row, firstly over a McLellan raise to 175,000 - with Q-9 (McLellan forced to fold [Jc][Tc])

Next up Spittles raised [Ks][Jc], again Elliot pushes his 10 million stack into the middle([Qs][9h] again) and Spittles lays it down.

Pocket threes for Elliot in the next hand - and we knew what was going to happen. He shoved, they all folded and he has risen to 10.5 million in chips!

"This is god-mode and beast-mode combined" - Nick Wealthall. -- RS

3:25pm: Trevor Pearson doubles through Ryan Spittles
From early position Ryan Spittles opened to 160,000, Trevor Person moved all-in for 800,000 with [Ad][Js], Spittles got a count and tanked a little before calling it off.

Pearson rolled over [Ad][Js], whilst Spittles showed [Qc][Jh]. Although Spittles had a 27% chance of eliminating Pearson, Fatima Moreira de Melo gave the game away in the commentary booth that Trevor Pearson was going to double up as she''d seen it in real time (the cards up final table is being broadcast on a one hour delay).

And Pearson did double as the board came [Jd][6h][2s][10h][4d] he's up to 1,700,000, whilst Spittles drops to 1,900,000. -- NW

3:15pm: Aggressive Elliot sets the tone
WIlliam Elliot has clearly come to the Final Table looking to stamp his authority on proceedings. He has the chip stack and the heart to do so and so far, his strategy is working perfectly.

The first hand he worked his magic on Ryan Spittles. Spittles raised the button to 165,000 with [As][Kc] - only for Elliot to three-bet with [Ac][3d].

Spittles made the lower variance move of simply flat-calling rather than building a huge preflop pot - though that opened the door for Elliot, who led out on the [8d][7s][5s] board and picked up the pot with the worse hand.

Next up to be put through the Elliot grinder was Duncan McLellan. McLellan raised pocket [5s][5d] to 215,000 only for Elliot to apply the pressure once more - making it 480,000 with [Ah][7s].

McLellan made the call with Nick Wealthall on commentary anticipating McLellan might make his signature move of check-raising in a three-bet pot.

The board came [8d][8s][9c] - check from McLellan and Elliot bet out 430,000.

Wealthall showed he was a shrewd judge of character as McLellan now check-raised to 1,100,000. That was that you might have thought.

Er, no.

Willie Elliot pretty quickly announced "all-in" with a nonchalent wave of his hand! Incredible heart and McLellan couldn't find it in himself to call, meaning Elliot rises to 8,200,000, McLellan down to 1,700,000.

Is the big man going to just run over the table here? He's up to 9,000,000 which is over a third of the chips in play. --RS

2:55pm: UKIPT Nottingham Final Table
Just eight players are left standing after five corruscating days of poker.

With a huge first place prize of £218,300, a hyped-up rail, and some real talent facing off across the felt, this should be a fascinating denouement to this record-breaking UKIPT.

The players will line up as follows - William Elliot leading the charge:
Seat 1: Trevor Pearson, United Kingdom, 965,000
Seat 2: Anthony Flynn, United Kingdom , 2,495,000
Seat 3: Duncan McLellan, United Kingdom, 3,320,000
Seat 4: Ramey Shaio, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, 1,770,000
Seat 5: Juan Benito, Spain, PokerStars Qualifier, 4,385,000
Seat 6: Angelo Milioto, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, 2,455,000
Seat 7: Ryan Spittles, United Kingdom , 3,305,000
Seat 8: William Elliot, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, 5,625,000

Extended profiles of the final eight players can be found by clicking here.

The payout spots will be as follows - there's some big cashes on the line:

1st. £218,300
2nd. £127,800
3rd. £89,900
4th. £67,000
5th. £51,700
6th. £38,400
7th. £29,300
8th. £20,800

Good luck one and all. We're moments away from the start so let's get this final underway.

To follow live feed from the final table, there are a variety of options open to you:

PokerStars.tv
Youtube.com
and Facebook

Updates brought to you by NIck Wright and Rod Stirzaker
Photos courtesy of Danny Maxwell..

1,223 players arrived a week ago at the doors of Dusk Till Dawn to contend UKIPT Nottingham's record-breaking £1,223,000 prize pool. Six days of power poker later and just one was left proudly standing with all the chips in front of him - that man being Duncan McLellan.

In picking up the trophy, McLellan created his own slice of poker history, becoming the fourth double UKIPT champion and the first United Kingdom player to achieve this prestigious accolade.

Following his illustrious win, McLellan said, "I feel great, fantastic. I'm thrilled to bits!"

The fastest, and possibly most exciting UKIPT final table ever, saw him scorch to victory in just shy of three hours 49 minutes. Eclipsing Max Silver's four hour victory at UKIPT Season 1 Dublin, it was the latest record to tumble in what has been a ground-breaking event.

McLellan's path to glory was not without its rocky moments however.

""I got off to a bad start - I was nearly out in an hour," he explained.

The early stages were all about Willie Elliot. The Scotsman came into the final as the chip leader and he wielded his stack like a sledgehammer, smashing his way to a gargantuan 10 million in chips without a showdown.

One memorable hand in particular was a classic - Elliot fearlessly three-bet bluffing with ace-high post-flop to push McLellan out of the pot through sheer brute force.

At this point, it looked like there might be only one winner but McLellan had other ideas. He started to make inroads into Elliot's lead by winning a coin flip to eliminate Ramey Shaio.

McLellan's pocket fours held versus Shaio's [Ad][Qh] to send the professional player home in eighth position, good for £20,800.

With Elliot going on the attack regularly, the others were scrabbling for chips and Flynn became McLellan's second victim of the final when his shortstack shove from the small blind with [Ac][7s] couldn't hold versus big blind McLellan's [Qh][Jh] - a queen spiking to send the self employed dad of three to the rail.

Flynn had promised his children a flash car, a new swanky wardrobe and a trip to Brazil for the world cup if he won. With £29,300, rather than £200k+ in his back pocket, they might have to settle for a BMX, some new socks and a pack of Panini stickers but Flynn's family can be proud of their dad after such an impressive deep run.

Juan Benito was one of the stars of the run-in to the final table. The Spaniard's imaginative approach saw him well-placed when the day began, but he became another McLellan victim - falling the wrong side of a key coin flip (ace-king versus nines) to bust in sixth for £38,400.

Professional player Ryan Spittles experienced a day of frustration, finally pushing with [Ks][Jd], only to be picked off by the [Ad][Ts] of Angelo Milioto. Just fifth spot for £51,700 for Spittles, but his burgeoning reputation gets another boost and this talented poker player seems to have a golden future ahead of him.

Willie Elliot's huge bluff against McLellan early in the tournament worked to perfection, however his second attempt had a less auspicious result, resulting in the likeable Scotsman's downfall.

He turned a small full house with pocket threes into a check-raise all-in bluff on the river - only to run into a monster - McLellan triumphantly snapping Elliot's shove with quad aces.

The rail was temporarily stunned into silence. The man who'd entertained the crowds with his addictive no-holds-barred style had fallen in fourth spot - £67,000 Elliot's meaty reward for his brave assault on the title.

Another knockout feather in McLellan's already well-stocked cap, he now held 50% of the chips in play and had become a big favourite for the title.

Trevor Pearson had been quietly effective throughout the final table. He entered the day shortstacked and one of the favourites to be shunted out in the early going but milked his stack for all it was worth to reach the final three.

Further progression proved a bridge too far, but his patient approach yielded a third place finish for £89,900 - McLellan applying the finishing touches for his fifth elimination of the final.

That left Milioto and McLellan vying for the title heads-up. The pair did a deal to flatten the large pay jumps - McLellan taking a guaranteed £168,372 - Milioto £143,728 and they played it out for an even £34,000.

McLellan had a healthy chip advantage and was not to be denied the title.

The final hand was an unavoidable cooler - McLellan making a straight to cooler Milioto's trip sixes and this incredible tournament had come to a close in quick smart fashion.

Sales Director Milioto finishes a creditable second and McLellan wins £202,372 becoming the latest man promoted to that elite pantheon of double UKIPT greats.

"It was hard work, harder than the Isle of Man," McLellan told commentator Nick Wealthall afterward.

He elaborated on his bullish style, and explained this historic win might open a few more opportunities but it wouldn't go to his head.

"I had no fear of going broke. You can't win a tournament without getting your chips over the line. This has just been a weekend away really. I want to go out to Vegas and play the main event but I'll be back on the scaffold tomorrow!"

UKIPT4 Nottingham2 Main Event
Entrants: 1,223
Prize pool: £1,223,000
Places paid: 183

1st. Duncan McLellan, United Kingdom, £202,372
2nd. Angelo Milioto, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, £143,728
3rd. Trevor Pearson, United Kingdom, £89,900
4th. Willie Elliot, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, £67,000
5th. Ryan Spittles, United Kingdom, £51,700
6th. Juan Benito, Spain, PokerStars Qualifier, £38,400
7th. Anthony Flynn, United Kingdom, £29,300
8th. Ramey Shaio, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, £20,800

For a list of all the other payouts, click here.

That wraps up our journey to crown the UKIPT Nottingham champion. Next stop in the tour is UKIPT Marbella, the main event taking place June 11th-15th. We'll see you there in the sun for the next chapter in the tour but for now thanks for following! It's been a truly brilliant event.

All photos are copyright of Danny Maxwell

Well, how about this?

The UKIPT Series at PokerStars LIVE London at the Hippodrome is ready to fire back up...and this time, it's going to be dealing more than two cards to each player.

That's right, friends. The UKIPT Series is going to Omaha!

Starting on May 23, the £250 re-entry tourney will kick off as a Pot-Limit Omaha event. There are two starting days to give you a chance at a UKIPT Series title. Here's what you need to know:

Starting Stack: 20,000
Blinds: 30 Mins

May 23 14:00 PL - Omaha UKIPT Series Day 1A** - 1 Re-entry per day permitted £250 + £25
May 24 14:00 PL - Omaha UKIPT Series Day 1B** - 1 Re-entry per day permitted £250 + £25
May 25 12:00 PL - Omaha UKIPT Series Day 2 CLOSED
May 25 14:30 NL - Holdem Weekly Deepstack £100 + £10

Want to get in even cheaper? PokerStars is running satellites every day at 15:17 and 17:47 ET. You can buy in to those for £11 - £55 or enter cheaper feeder satellites for as little as £1.10.

For more information, visit the UKIPT Series page.

Brad Willis is the PokerStars Head of Blogging

I want you to look at this photo. I want you to study it as if you were an anthropologist. I want you to feel the abject lust in Nick Wealthall's heart. I want you to live the sick discomfort in Fatima Moreira de Melo's gut.

Look at it....

LOOK AT IT!

Alright. Now that you have a sense for it, it's time to tell you that there is a brand new show on PokerStars.tv. Hosted by the zany Nick Wealthall, the UKIPT show takes you behind the scenes--and in some cases, right up in in the face--of the UKIPT players.

The first episode is below.

Enjoy!

Brad Willis is the PokerStars Head of Blogging

4:35pm: Break time
The 14 remaining players are now on a 15 minute break. You'll find level 18 updates in a new post shortly.

4:25pm: Like London buses
We waited 75 minutes for an elimination and then two came along at once...

Overnight chip leader Sidney Oppong was one of those to perish, losing out in a hand against Clifford Jacobs. The latter raised to 21,000 under-the-gun and Oppong flat called from the big blind.

On the [7s][Ac][7c] flop Jacobs continued for 20,000 and Oppong flat called. On the [4d] turn Oppong moved all-in 26,500 and after getting a count Jacobs made the call.

Jacobs: [Kc][Kh][10h][4c]
Oppong: [Ad][Jc][10s][Jd]

The [Ks] river gave Jacobs the win and a stunned Oppong said: "Seriously," before leaving the table. At the same time on the other table Stephen Lennon was eliminated meaning 14 players remain.

4:15pm: Mason granted extension to tournament life
The all-ins are going the way of the at risk players at the moment with Grant Mason the latest to get a double up. His came on table one which has definitely been the quieter, action wise, of the final two tables.

And the hand started true to form with a limped pot meaning four players saw a [10s][Jc][6s] flop. It was checked to Marc McFadden who bet the pot (24,000), Mason (big blind) then moved in for 38,500, Deborah Rogers got a count before passing and McFadden called the extra.

McFadden: [Qc][9s][8c][6d]
Mason: [Jh][10h][4s][3d]

McFadden had a lot of outs to eliminate Mason, he turned more as fourth street was the [2d], but he missed them all on the [Ad] river.

Still 16 remain.

4pm: Richard goes Wild at treble up
Richard Wild is up to the giddy heights of 130,000 after getting a treble up. He moved all-in for 30,000 on a [10c][3d][Kh] flop and both Stephen Pearce and Toran Nicholls called.

They checked it down on the [8h] turn and [9s] river. They both announced two-pair but Wild held [Qs][Jd][10d][7d] for a straight.

Blinds up: 3,000/6,000

4pm: Hudson trusts his head
Patrick Hudson just made a nice multi-street call to take a chunky pot from former chip leader Stephen Pearce.

Hudson raised to 12,000 under-the-gun and Pearce flat called from the button, neither player bit on the [Jd][9s][2s] flop and the [Jc] fell on the turn. Hudson checked, Pearce bet 20,000 and Hudson smooth called. The [9c] completed the board, Hudson checked again, Pearce doubled the stakes to 40,000 and Hudson tank-called. "You win," said Pearce and Hudson showed [Qc][Qd][6h][8s] for a gutsy call.

He's up to 235,000 and looks to be chip leader.

3:50pm: Nicholls in no mood to check
I just caught the end of a curious hand just played on table two. It seems Adam Owen raised, Stephen Pearce flat called and Toran Nicholls, who was in the blinds meant to call but due to an error was forced to min-raise. It was clear he only meant to call so Owen raised the pot, Pearce folded and Nicholls said: "I'll just flat," and called the 65,000 leaving just 62,500 back.

The flop came [3d][4c][3s], Nicholls moved all-in and Owen requested a count. After getting the count and mulling it over Owen elected to fold. Nicholls showed [Q][9][8][5] for a bluff and took the pot. Owen said that he didn't think Nicholls had been angle shooting but that he didn't have a hand he could call with.

3:40pm: Adeniya's roller coaster continues
At the start of play Martins Adeniya was the shortest stack of the 29 players who remained. He then went on a heater to get back to average but has since slipped again.

A few moments ago he found himself all-in pre-flop for around 15,000 and he picked up two callers. On the [8s][4d][3h] flop Axel Briend moved all-in for 40,000 and Deborah Rogers got out the way. The Full Tilt Ambassador rolled over [As][Ah][6h][2c] whilst Briend showed [Qc][Qs][Jd][2d]. A [9c] turn and [8c] river didn't change a thing and Adeniya tripled to around 46,000.

Blinds up: 2,500/5,000

3:30pm: Seven good for Wild
"And he gets there," said a player at table two as Richard Wild hit the river to stay alive. He raised to 14,000 on the button from a stack of 25,000, Toran Nicholls set him in and Wild called all-in.

Wild: [Ac][9c][10s][5h]
Nicholls: [Qd][Qc][9d][Ks]

It was another close encounter with Nicholls a 58% favourite to have his hand held up. The poker gods had other ideas though as the [8h][4d][4c][Js][7d] board gave Wild a straight on the river.

3:20pm: Jacobs doesn't get aces cracked
There were a couple of limps before Sidney Oppong potted it on the button, from the big blind Clifford Jacobs then moved all-in for 63,500. The two limpers got out the way but Oppong made the call.

Jacobs: [Ad][As][Jc][2s]
Oppong: [Kc][Kh][3h][2d]

The best hand held as the board ran [9h][Jd][2h][10c][10s], Jacobs up to roughly 136,000 whilst Oppong is down to 55,000.

3.10pm: Final two tables
Louis Schwartz has just been eliminated by Toran Nicholls which means they'll be a short break whilst the players redraw for the final two tables.

16 players left, 11 get paid.

3pm: Price of poker going up
The average stack right now is 84,705, or just over 21 big blinds. In hold'em some see 20 big blinds as a decent shoving or re-shoving stack. In pot-limit Omaha of course it's not usually possible to move all-in with that kind of stack so it'll be interesting to see what happens now the stacks are getting shallower.

Blinds up: 2,000/4,000

2:50pm: Oudshoorn ousted
Down to a handful of big blinds, Wesley Oudshoorn committed them with [Kd][4h][4s][Js]. He found a caller in the shape of Lee Kitchiner who held a dominating [Ks][Kc][10c][8d].

The [Kh][2h][Qh][2c][Ac] board kepy Kitchiner in front and sent the Dutchman tumbling out. John Hayes has also been eliminated, meaning that 17 players remain.

2:35pm: Chip counts
Here are the chip counts of the remaining 19 players, it's still Stpehen Pearce who leads, with 180,000. Full Tilt Poker Ambasadors Martins Adeniya and Sin Melin find themselves in the middle of the pack.

Stephen Pearce, United Kingdom, 180,000
Adam Owen, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, 132,000
Patrick Hudson, United Kingdom, 130,000
Toran Nicholls, United Kingdom, 116,000
Louis Schwartz, United Kingdom, 115,000
Richard Wild, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, 95,000
Marc McFadden, United Kingdom, 78,000
Sidney Oppong, United Kingdom, 68,000
Clifford Jacobs, United Kingdom, 61,000
Sinem Melin, United Kingdom, Full Tilt Poker Ambassador, 57,000
Martins Adeniya, United Kingdom, Full Tilt Poker Ambassador, 53,000
Lee Kitchiner, United Kingdom, 52,000
Samuel Welbourne, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, 52,000
Axel Briend, France, 50,000
Deborah Rogers, United Kingdom, 42,500
Stephen Lennon, United Kingdom, 41,500
Grant Mason, United Kingdom, 37,000
Wesley Oudshoorn, Netherlands, PokerStars Player, 27,000
John Hayes, United Kingdom, 11,000

Blinds up: 1,500/3,000

2:15pm: Break time
That's the end of level 12 and with that the remaining 19 players are on a 15 minute break.

2:05pm: Pearce shows the bluff
"That's my first bluff of the day," said Stephen Pearce as he showed [9d][9h][5d][6h] after betting the turn of a [2s][10h][7s][As] board. He'd bet 10,000 into a pot of 19,200 and both his opponents laid their hands down.

"You were winning," said Sidney Oppong, who was one of those Pearce had forced off the pot. -- NW

1:50pm: Swingy games
Pot-limit Omaha is known as a swingy game and overnight chip leader Sidney Oppong knows that better than most as he's now down to 48,000 after losing a big pot to Patrick Hudson.

Pre-flop Oppong raised to 4,800 and both Hudson and Stephen Pearce smooth called. On the [2c][Jd][4c] flop it was checked to Hudson, he bet 12,000 and Oppong was the only caller. The [10c] fell on the turn, Hudson fired out 15,000 and again Oppong smooth called.

The [8d] completed the board, Hudson set Oppong all-in, after a lengthy period in the tank Oppong folded, Hudson showed him [Ac][9c] - the nuts - as he took the pot. He's up to 150,000 after that hand. He trails Pearce though who, with 200,000, is the chip leader.

Blinds up: 1,200/2,400

1:30pm: Melin puts the hurt on Smith
"I feel ill," said Ashley Smith as he walked away from the table having been eliminated from the tournament by Full Tilt Poker Ambassador Sin Melin.

The pot was three-way to a [8c][10h][Jh] flop Wesley Oudshoorn was the other player, he led for roughly 12,000, Smith called that bet and was all-in and Melin also called. The [As] fell on the turn, Oudshoorn checked, Melin moved all-in and after a brief think Oudshoorn folded.

Melin: [Kd][Qd][6s][6c] - for a turned straight
Smith: [Ac][10c][10s][Qs]

Smith had flopped a set but was now hoping he'd hit his full house re-draw or river a chop. Despite being in the lead Melin was only 52.5% to win the hand, Smith was 42.5% to win and there was a 5% chance of a chop. The [9s] was not one of his outs though, Melin raked in the chips and she's now back up to 105,000.

1:20pm: Pearce hits house to take chip lead
Stephen Pearce is the new chip leader after winning a huge pot against David Phelan. Pre-flop Pearce limped, Phelan raised to 7,000 from the small blind and Pearce smooth called.

On the [6h][8h][7d] flop Phelan bet the pot (16,000), Pearce moved all-in for 57,300 and after checking his cards a couple of times and then called the extra.

Phelan: [Kc][Ks][10d][9d]
Pearce: [10c][8c][8d][7s]

Phelan was ahead with the straight but Pearce had a big re-draw. He hit it on the [6c] turn and the [5h] river was a brick. He's now up to 130,000 whilst Phelan is down to 19,000.

edit: Phelan was unable to mount a comeback and exited soon after. And Adam Pan-Latimer is also out.

1:10pm: Adam vs Adam
Adam Owen just spiked the river to double through Adam Pan-Latimer, The former check raised all-in on a [10h][Jh][3s] flop with [Q][Q][K][2] and Pan-Latimer called with [Kc][Jc][10c][8c]. The turn was a blank, but a nine on the river filled Owen's straight. He's up to 60,000 whilst Latimer drops to 32,000.

12:55pm: Down to 24, time for a re-draw
The exits of Ryunosuke Mason-Brown, Ilan Elghanian and Joe Roberts mean we're down to 24 players. Roberts was very unlucky to exit, losing out to Martins Adeniya in the following hand.

He was all-in and at risk with [Ad][As][10d][Jd] and up against Adeniya's [Jd][10c][7d][2d]. "You've got him pretty locked," said another player at the table. Indeed Roberts had a 64% chance to win the hand. The [2s][5d][2c] flop was gin for Adeniya though and the [9d] turn and [4h] river kept the Full Tilt Poker Ambassador in front.

Roberts took the beat in good grace and even joked about it via twitter.

Got rofled out of the plo AAJTddd vs JT72dd all in pre. I've definitely got it in in worse shape before!

— Joe Roberts (@RealJoeRoberts) May 25, 2014

12:45pm: More for Martins
It's been a terrific start for Martins Adeniya as the Full Tilt Poker Ambassador just nearly tripled up to get his stack almost back to average.

By the time I reached the table his opponent's cards were face down but his [Jc][9c][9d][10c] was clearly visible. It had connected rather nicely with the [7s][6d][Qc][8c][6h] board.

He was all-in for 19,200, he eliminated Roberto Dona and severely dented Juan Ares who is now down to 12,000.

Blinds up: 1,000/2,000

12:30pm: Man down
Blogger's curse strikes again... David Gallagher is the first man out today. 28 players remain and they'll be a complete re-draw when that number gets down to 24.

12:20pm: No exits as yet
Whilst pot-limit Omaha is meant to be an action game there have, as yet, been no exits so far on Day 2.

Blinds up: 800/1,600

12:05pm: Double up for Adeniya
Martins Adeniya was the shortest stack of the remaining 29 players at the start of play and it didn't take the Full Tilt Poker Ambassador long to get his remaining 8,900 chips in the middle. Joe Roberts, who finished third at UKIPT3 Galway, was the man to take him on.

Adeniya: [As][10s][10h][3h]
Roberts: [Ad][Ks][Jh][2d]

It was basically a flip with Adeniya having 50.5% equity, the [Qs][Qh][5s] flop made Adeniya a 80% favourite and the [3s] turn gave him a lock on the hand. He doubles to around 21,000 whilst Roberts slips to around 12,000.

12pm: Cards are in the air
Play is under way here at The Hippodrome Casino in the heart of London. A reminder that 29 players remain and 11 will get paid. Here's what they're playing for:

1st - £ 4,800
2nd - £ 3,415
3rd - £ 2,235
4th - £ 1,720
5th - £ 1,360
6th - £ 1,065
7th - £ 840
8th - £ 655
9th - £ 500
10th - 11th £ 435

11:52am: Day 2 seat draw, chip counts and pay outs
Here's how the remaining 29 players will line up when play starts. You can see the start of day chip counts in chip order here and the payout structure right here.

Table 1:
1, 1, Adam Owen, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, 16,800
1, 2, Marc McFadden, United Kingdom, 67,200
1, 4, Adam Pan-Latimer, United Kingdom, 86,900
1, 5, Patrick Hudson, United Kingdom, 60,200
1, 6, Sinem Melin, United Kingdom, Full Tilt Poker Ambassador, 99,900
1, 7, Wesley Oudshoorn, Netherlands, PokerStars Player, 27,000
1, 8, Stephen Pearce, United Kingdom, 66,300

Table 2:
2, 1, Deborah Rogers, United Kingdom, 59,700
2, 2, Richard Wild, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, 97,800
2, 3, Ilan Elghanian, United Kingdom, 13,000
2, 4, Clifford Jacobs, United Kingdom, 39,900
2, 5, Ashley Smith, United Kingdom, 37,900
2, 7, Lee Kitchiner, United Kingdom, 39,500
2, 8, John Hayes, United Kingdom, 26,200

Table 3
3, 1, Joe Roberts, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, 21,200
3, 3, Martins Adeniya, United Kingdom, Full Tilt Poker Ambassador, 8,900
3, 4, Roberto Dona, Italy, 14,400
3, 5, Toran Nicholls, United Kingdom, 78,800
3, 6, Juan Ares, Spain, 39,100
3, 7, Axel Briend, France, 47,100
3, 8, Sidney Oppong, United Kingdom, 114,100

Table 4
4, 1, Grant Mason, United Kingdom, 39,000
4, 2, Daniel Gallagher, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, 42,200
4, 3, David Phelan, Ireland, 17,000
4, 4, Andrew Norman, United Kingdom, 33,700
4, 5, Samuel Welbourne, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, 64,600
4, 6, Ryunosuke Mason-Brown, United Kingdom, 33,700
4, 7, Louis Schwartz, United Kingdom, 99,500
4, 8, Stephen Lennon, United Kingdom, 29,900

11:50am: Day 1B: Omaha lead for Oppong
As expected Day 1B drew a bigger field with 36 players showing up to play, six of those players, including Full Tilf Poker Ambassador Martins Adeniya, entered twice meaning there were 42 entries in total.

By the end of nine levels 18 players remained including the overall chip leader. Sidney Oppong ended the day on 114,100, his nearest rivals on Day 1B were Louis Schwartz (99,500) and Adam Pan-Latimer (86,900).

They along with Martins Adeniya (8,900) and Joe Roberts (21,200) and 13 other Day 1B survivors will be back at noon today.

11:49am: Day 1A: Sin for the win?
The first start day attracted 25 players but with five players taking advantage of the ability to re-enter the total number of entrants swelled to 30.

After nine levels of potting and re-potting just 11 players made it through the day, Leading the way was Full Tilt Poker Ambassador Sin Melin. She turned her starting stack of 20,000 into a massive 99,000 to lead from Richard Wild (97,800). As you'd expect in a game such as pot-limit Omaha her ascent to the top was a combination of skill and luck. She one outered EPT Live commentator Marc Convey to get her hands on a decent stack.

That major outdraw meant Convey was one of those who failed to make it to Day 2 but he was in good company as two-time UKIPT champion Joeri Zandvliet fired two unsuccessful bullets, UKIPT Series 2 champion Gabriel Dragomir hit the rail and Sam Grafton's grind came to a halt. Here's the full list of those who did make it through.

Sinem Melin, United Kingdom, Full Tilt Poker Ambassador, 99,900
Richard Wild, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, 97,800
Toran Nicholls, United Kingdom, 78,800
Marc McFadden, United Kingdom, 67,200
Stephen Pearce, United Kingdom, 66,300
Daniel Gallagher, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, 42,200
Clifford Jacobs, United Kingdom, 39,900
Grant Mason, United Kingdom, 39,000
Wesley Oudshoorn, Netherlands, PokerStars Player, 27,000
John Hayes, United Kingdom, 26,200
David Phelan, Ireland, 17,000

They were joined by the Day 1B survivors.... -- NW

11:48am: Welcome to the first ever pot-limit Omaha UKIPT Series event
Four cards good, two cards bad.

Yes for the first time ever the UKIPT Series is doubling the number of hole cards a player gets and laying on some pot-limit Omaha action. None of your hold'em nonsense here at The Hippodrome Casino please and thank you.

Apart from the fact you get four hole cards and must use two, and exactly two, to form your five card hand it's pretty much as you were. It's still the same structure as a UKIPT Main Event, although there will be no antes in play, the levels are still 30 minutes long and the survivors from Day 1A and 1B will now combine to play to a winner today.

Cards are in the air at 12pm, if you need a little refresher on the rules of pot-limit Omaha then here's a handy guide that PokerStars made earlier.

PokerStars Blog reporting team: Nick Wright. Photos by Nika Zbasnik and Gregory Davies

It is my solemn duty to report to you today that the UK & Ireland Poker Tour is leaving the UK. And Ireland, for that matter.

Let it sink in. Feel the loss. Embrace it. Done? Good. Because it's coming back soon. It just needs a holiday.

Yes, friends, it's time for the UKIPT to go on vacation to Marbella.

Once again, the UKIPT has joined forces to provide the sunniest European poker vacation you'll find. Running June 9-15, the week-long festival will offer a UKIPT/ESPT €500,000 guarantee Main Event, a €2,200 High Roller and the Marbella Poker Cup.

Alongside the big poker tournaments, there will be side events, parties, and a special football contest (for those living under a rock, the World Cup is starting soon) that will earn the winner a trip to EPT Barcelona. The contest will involve a special free-to-enter Flipout tournament.

Satellites for Marbella packages are running now on PokerStars.

For full details on the festival, visit the UKIPT Marbella page.

Brad Willis is the PokerStars Head of Blogging

8.45pm: Martins Adeniya wins UKIPT Series 5 (£4,800); Samuel Welbourne second (£3,415)
It's all over and Full Tilt Poker Ambassador has pulled off a magnificent Day 2 comeback to win the title. He was the shortest stack of the 29 remaining players who began the day but he's the only one left with chips now.

In the final hand he limped from the button, Samuel Welbourne raised the pot to 90,000 and Adeniya made the call. "You'll probably get me here," quipped Welbourne. The flop fell [2h][6c][9s], Welbourne took his time before betting the pot (180,000), Adeniya then re-raised the pot, which was enough to set Welbourne all-in and Welbourne called all-in for roughly 550,000 total.

Adeniya: [Ah][8s][7h][5c]
Welbourne: [Kd][Kc][Qd][8c]

Despite not currently being in the lead Adeniya was a 59% favourite to win the hand and the title. The [5d] turn card meant he was now a 100% favourite as it gave him an unbeatable straight and the meaningless [4h] completed the board.

Cogratulations to Martins Adeniya on winning the UKIPT Series 5 and £4,800 and commiserations to Samuel Welbourne who finished runner-up collecting £3,415.

8.37pm: 100% accurate counts
Just before the break Samuel Welbourne pulled off a nice river bluff, getting Martins Adeniya to lay down a full house on a four diamond paired board.

So as play gets back under way Welbourne has 665,000 and has closed the gap significantly on Adeniya who now has 755,000. So there's just three big blinds between them.

Blinds up: 15,000/30,000

8.22pm: Break time
We've reached the end of level 22 and the two players are now on a 15 minute break.

8.18pm: Heads-up chip counts
As heads-up play gets under way the chip counts are as follows:

Martins Adeniya, United Kingdom, Full Tilt Poker Ambassador, 980,000
Samuel Welbourne, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, 440,000

8.15pm: Patrick Hudson eliminated in third place (£2,235)
Despite getting one double up Patrick Hudson couldn't recover from losing that big hand to Martins Adeniya and it was the Full Tilt Poker Ambassador who finished him off.

Hudson was all-in for roughly 200,000 with [Qh][Jc][10c][4s] and in trouble against Adeniya's [Ac][As][10d][9c]. The best hand held on the [Qd][8d][4h][2s][2d] board and we're now heads-up.

8.05pm: Martins Adeniya doubles through Patrick Hudson; then Hudson doubles through Adeniya
For the first time at this final table we have a new chip leader and it's Full Tilt Poker Ambassador Martins Adeniya.

He limped the small blind, Patrick Hudson raised to 69,000 from the big blind, Adeniya re-potted virtually all-in, Hudson re-raised and Adeniya called all-in, he was at risk for 394,000 total.

Adeniya: [Ac][Ks][8c][7s]
Hudson: [As][Kc][8d][2c]

The [3s][7h][Ah][6d][4h] board meant Adeniya made two pair and has almost 800,000 whilst Hudson, the long time chip leader, dropped to 121,000. However, not for long as a couple of hands later he doubled through Adeniya.

In that hand he was all-in pre-flop for 121,000 with [Ac][Kh][3c][9c] whilst Adeniya had [9h][5d][8c][6d]. The [5c][As][10h][Kc][7d] board gave Hudson a crucial double up to survive.

8pm: Deborah Rogers eliminated in fourth place (£1,720)
The wait for a female UKIPT Series champion goes on as Deborah Rogers has just been knocked out in fourth place.

She had blinded down to just 42,000 and had to put 24,000 of that in blind as she was the big blind. It folded to Martins Adeniya in the small blind, he raised enough to set her in and Rogers put in the extra.

Adeniya: [Kh][Js][2s][5s]
Rogers: [Qs][Jh][3h][5d]

The [4c][8s][7h][Jd][9s] board meant both had a pair of jacks but Adeniya's kicker played. He's up to 390,000.

Blinds up: 12,000/24,000

7:45pm: Clifford Jacobs eliminated in fifth place (£1,360)
With the average stack being under 20 big blinds with eight players left this final table was always going to have a sprint finish and it's already been cut in half in an hour as just four players remain.

The latest player to lose his chips was Clifford Jacobs, he three-bet all-in from the big blind for just over 100,000 with [Ah][Qd][6d][4d] and Patrick Hudson, who already had 40,000 in the pot, looked him up with [Kh][Kc][Js][7d].

The [9d][5h][Qh][3s][8c] board meant that Hudson increased his chip lead over the rest of the field, whilst Jacobs collects £1,360 for finishing fifth.

7:35pm: Richard Wild eliminated in sixth place (£1,065)
And then there were five...

The pot started slowly with Samuel Welbourne limping from the small blind and Richard Wild checking his option in the big blind, It exploded on the [Js][Qs][5h] flop though as Welbourne bet 30,000, Wild moved all-in for around a pot sized bet and Welbourne instantly called.

Welbourne: [Kc][10h][9h][6d]
Wild: [Qc][Jh][Jd][2s]

Wild was in front but not for long as the [8c] turn gave Welbourne a straight. He now needed the board to pair for his own suck out, but the [9s] river kept Welbourne in front.

7:25pm: Chip counts
An exciting level has seen the field reduced to six. Despite that there's no change at the top as Patrick Hudson is still top dog.

Clifford Jacobs, United Kingdom, 125,000
Martins Adeniya, United Kingdom, Full Tilt Poker Ambassador, 260,000
Deborah Rogers, United Kingdom, 215,000
Patrick Hudson, United Kingdom, 400,000
Samuel Welbourne, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, 255,000
Richard Wild, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, 130,000

Blinds up: 10,000/20,000

7:15pm: Stephen Pearce eliminated in seventh place (£840)
It's like London buses...

Down to just 64,000 Stephen Pearce raised to 56,000 from the button, Samuel Welbourne set him in from the small blind and Pearce called the extra.

Welbourne: [Ad][10h][4c][Kd]
Pearce: [Js][3c][8s][8d]

A [Kh][5h][9d][As][Kc] board meant Welbourne made a full-house to eliminate Pearce.

7.10pm: Grant Mason eliminated in eighth place (£655)
Just a couple of hands after doubling up to stay alive Grant Mason lost an all-in to bust in eighth.

He raised on the button with [9c][8d][7s][6d] and called all-in after Patrick Hudson had set him in from the small blind with [Qc][Qs][3h][6s]. The [Qh][Jh][8c][9s][Js] board meant Hudson made a house and means Mason finishes in eighth place.

7pm: Grant Mason doubles through Martins Adeniya
Despite winning 80,000 in a hand that didn't go to showdown against Patrick Hudson, that's about the only thing that's gone right for Martins Adeniya at this final table as he just lost another all-in.

This time it was Grant Mason at risk, all-in for about 50,000 with [Jc][10h][9s][3d] and behind to Adeniya' s [Ah][Qc][10c][7s]. But, the [Kh][Qd][9h][3c][10s] board doubled Mason to around 100,000, whilst Adeniya slips back to around 160,000.

Blinds up: 8,000/16,000

6:50pm: Deborah Rogers and Richard Wild double through Martins Adeniya
On the first two hands of eight handed play Deborah Rogers there we've had an all-in and call involving Martins Adeniya.

In the first he raised to 25,000 with [Ad][Qd][8s][7h] and called when Deborah Rogers moved all-in for 101,000 with [Kc][Kh][3s][3c]. A [Jc][9d][Qs][6h][4s] board kept her alive.

On the very next hand Richard Wild raised from a stack of 57,000, Adeniya set him all-in and Wild called it off.

Adeniya: [Ad][As][2d][4s]
Wild: [Ah][Jd][10c][9d]

The board ran [Jc][10d][3c][8d][7d] and Wild doubled to 130,000 whilst Adeniya is down to 134,000.

6:40pm: Final table chip counts
Here are the counts of the final eight players, Patrick Hudson leads, but Martins Adeniya is hot on his heels.

Clifford Jacobs, United Kingdom, 206,000
Martins Adeniya, United Kingdom, Full Tilt Poker Ambassador, 294,000
Deborah Rogers, United Kingdom, 101,000
Grant Mason, United Kingdom, 68,000
Patrick Hudson, United Kingdom, 393,000
Stephen Pearce, United Kingdom, 162,000
Samuel Welbourne, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, 140,000
Richard Wild, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, 57,000

6:25pm: Toran Nicholls eliminated in ninth place (£500)
Down to just over five big blinds Toran Nicholls got his chips in with [6s][5h][7s][7c] and was at risk against Martins Adeniya who held [Ad][As][2d][4s].

The Full Tilt Ambassador's hand held up on the [9s][2h][Ac][10c][2c] board and we're down to the final table of eight.

There will now be a 15 minute break before the final table commences.

6:15pm: Unofficial final table seat draw
Here's how the final nine line up, chip counts are approximate.

Clifford Jacobs, United Kingdom, 290,000
Martins Adeniya, United Kingdom, Full Tilt Poker Ambassador, 230,000
Toran Nicholls, United Kingdom, 65,000
Deborah Rogers, United Kingdom, 130,000
Grant Mason, United Kingdom, 102,000
Patrick Hudson, United Kingdom, 370,000
Stephen Pearce, United Kingdom, 135,000
Samuel Welbourne, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, 140,000
Richard Wild, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, 67,000

6:05pm: Axel Briend eliminated in 10th place (£435)
The unofficial final table is set and it was third time unlucky for Axel Briend who is out in tenth.

He was all-in for just over 50,000 with [Ks][5c][10c][10h] and up against Grant Mason, who had [Ad][10d][2h][Jd]. Mason only just had Briend covered and won the hand as the board came [9h][3d][8s][4s][Ad].

There's now a re-draw and the players will assemble around one table, but the final table is officially eight handed meaning we're not quite there yet.

5:50pm: Pearce doubles up; Jacobs takes big pot
Two big hands, one on each table to tell you about.

On table one Stephen Pearce called Axel Briend's pre-flop raise of 35,000 and then shoved for 51,000 on the [5h][3c][9c] flop. After getting a count Briend looked him up.

Briend: [Ac][Ad][8h][9h]
Pearce: [Qs][Js][9d][4d]

The [10d] and [Qd] completed the board meaning Pearce doubled up and left Briend very short.

And Toran Nicholls is down to 50,000 after losing a pot against Clifford Jacobs. The latter three-bet to 75,000 over Patrick Hudson's 20,000 open, Nicholls smooth called and Hudson got out the way.

There was no betting until the river of a [Kh][10h][Kd][4s][5c] board, at which point Jacobs moved all-in for 45,000 and Nicholls folded.

5:50pm: Briend doesn't do bubbles
With 12 players left Axel Briend was all-in on the bubble and survived. Just now he was all-in and at risk of bubbling the unofficial final table and survived.

After a raise to 30,000 from Grant Mason in the small blind, Briend shoved for 45,000 from the big blind and Mason called the extra.

Mason: [Qh][Qd][2h][2d]
Briend: [Kc][8c][9c][9h]

The [Jc][4h][3d][Ks][5d] board meant Briend spiked a king to survive and doubled to 90,000 whilst Mason is down to 75,000.

5:40pm: Adam Owen eliminated in 11th place (£435)
During the bubble Adam Owen lost a big pot to Patrick Hudson (that didn't go to showdown) and he couldn't recover.

He's the first player out in the money, no details but Toran Nicholls is back up to 160,000 so seems the likely beneficiary.

5:30pm: Welbourne gets another double through Nicholls
Samuel Welbourne just got another double up through Toran Nicholls.

Welbourne was all-in for 66,000 with [Kd][Qd][Kc][2c] and had the best hand as Nicholls had [7c][7s][3c][5s]. "Give me the nut low," said Nicholls, but the dealer favoured Welbourne on the [Qs][Jh][Qh][Ah][2s] board to drop Nicholls back into the danger zone.

Blinds up: 5,000/10,000

5:25pm: Marc McFadden bubbles UKIPT Series 5
Just one hand after doubling up Axel Briend, the unfortunate Marc McFadden couldn't get a double up of his own.

He got his final 81,000 in pre-flop with [As][Qd][Jh][10s] and Martins Adeniya took him on with [Ad][Ah][10c][5s]. The Full Tilt Poker Ambassador had only 4,000 more than McFadden so it was a crucial hand for both of them.

The [2c][3c][6d][7c][Qs] board gave McFadden no help and he was eliminated in 12th place. Everyone else is in the money.

5:20pm: Briend survives bubble
It didn't take long for an all-in and call on the bubble. Frenchman Axel Briend was all-in for 24,000 with [Ac][Ah][9h][7h] and he was called by Marc McFadden who had [Kc][Kd][9c][6h].

Despite the board getting progressively worse Briend held on the [5c][3s][7s][10c][Js] board.

5.10pm: Sin Melin out in 13th
We're now on the bubble and it's Full Tilt Poker Ambassador Sin Melin who has gone in 13th place.

She told me, "I was down to 35,000 and got it in with [10][10][K][X] and ran into aces. I flopped a flush draw and a pair but that was it."

Her chips went to the other remaining lady in the tournament Deborah Rogers.

5:05pm: Welbourne doubles up
Samuel Welbourne and Toran Nicholls now have similar sized stacks as the former has doubled through the latter.

Welbourne was all-in and at risk for 38,000 with [Ks][Js][9s][9h] and up against Nicholls's [Ad][6d][5h][5s]. The at risk player flopped a straight on the [Qc][8c][10h] flop and held on the [10c] turn and [3d] river.

4:55pm: Chip counts
Here are the chip counts of the final 13 players, Clifford Jacobs and Patrick Hudson have a lead over the chasing pack.

Clifford Jacobs, United Kingdom, 280,000
Patrick Hudson, United Kingdom, 265,000
Axel Briend, France, 154,000
Adam Owen, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, 130,000
Richard Wild, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, 129,000
Toran Nicholls, United Kingdom, 115,000
Deborah Rogers, United Kingdom, 105,000
Grant Mason, United Kingdom, 86,000
Stephen Pearce, United Kingdom, 85,000
Marc McFadden, United Kingdom, 75,000
Sinem Melin, United Kingdom, Full Tilt Poker Ambassador, 65,000
Martins Adeniya, United Kingdom, Full Tilt Poker Ambassador, 54,000
Samuel Welbourne, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, 38,000

4.50pm: 13 left, 11 get paid
There were two big hands that played out just prior to the break...

In the first Adam Owen doubled through Samuel Welbourne with [8s][8d][7d][5d] against [5s][4d][Ad][10h]. The [8c][2d][Ac][4c][Jc] board boosting Owen to around 130,000 and dropping Welbourne to around 38,000.

Then on the other table Full Tilt Poker Ambassador Sin Melin doubled through Lee Kitchiner. Both were short stacked, the money went in on a [4c][7s][10s] flop, Melin held [As][Qs][5c][5d], she was ahead but barely as Kitchiner had [Ks][9c][8c][3s]. The [4h] turn and [10d] river changed nothing doubling her to 65,000 whilst Kitchiner had less than two big blinds and was out shortly afterwards.

PokerStars Blog reporting team: Nick Wright. Photos by Nika Zbasnik and Gregory Davies

Experts in the field of pot-limit Omaha will tell you it's a game that has far bigger swings than no limit Hold'em and it's a sentiment that Martins Adeniya will no doubt agree with this evening.

The Full Tilt Poker Ambassador was dead last of the 29 remaining players when Day 2 got under way. He had fewer than nine big blinds to start the day, 45 minutes later he had 60, which was an average stack and apart from a wobble with 16 players left he never looked back. "I like the swinginess when it's going my way!," he said with a grin on his face and trophy in hand.

The manner of victory was perhaps the biggest surprise, Adeniya is an accomplished PLO player who is comfortable playing up to $5/$10 cash games online. He found himself heads-up against another proficient pot-limit player in the shape of Samuel Welbourne. The 30-year-old from Brighton has been playing for a living for six years and alternates between playing live and online.

Whilst Adeniya started with the heads-up chip lead, Welbourne had reduced the deficit to around three big blinds before the final hand. On the last hand of this first PLO UKIPT Series Adeniya limped for 30,000 off a stack of 755,000, Welbourne raised to 90,000 from his stack of 655,000 and Adeniya made the call.

The chips all went in on a [2h][6c][9s] flop, Welbourne had [Kd][Kc][Qd][8c] he was ahead but only on points against Adeniya's [Ah][8s][7h][5c], which was actually a 59% favourite to win the hand. The [5c] turn card gave Adeniya an unbeatable lead and he took the title.

For a large part of the day Patrick Hudson looked the most likely to take the title as he played almost flawlessly, mixing aggression, control and hand reading to reach the summit with 16 players left. It was lead he hung onto until three players remained when he got involved in a huge pot against Adeniya. They had similar hands and, whilst Adeniya was a favourite, there was a 40% chance of a chop but Adenyia prevailed and Hudson never recovered, exiting in third.

So, 29 players from the 72 entrants returned for Day 2 action at noon, each hoping to finish in the top 11 places and get a return on their investment. Before we reached that juncture Joe Roberts, Day 1 chip leader Sidney Oppong and Full Tilt Poker Ambassador Sin Meilin had all been jettisoned from the tournament.

But, Adenyia had recovered significantly enough that he actually burst the bubble, with Mark McFadden the unfortunate 12th place finisher. Before the official final table was set we'd lose Adam Owen (11th), Axel Briend (10th) and Toran Nicholls (9th), Briend got a significant return on his outlay as he satellited into this tournament at The Hippodrome Casino on Friday night.

It had taken a little over six and a half hours to go from 29 to 8, it would take only a touch over two to go from eight to one. The average stack when the final table got under way was 15 big blinds and the action was non stop.

Inside an hour we said goodbye to Grant Mason in eighth - he qualified in a freeroll at The Hippodrome Casino - Stephen Pearce (7th), Richard Wild (6th) and Clifford Jacobs (5th). At this point Deborah Rogers, who has results going all the way back to 1999, was still in with a chance to become the first ever female UKIPT Series champion. But ultimately she fell, like many did today, to the unstoppable Martins Adeniya to finish in fourth.

UKIPT Series 5: £275 PL Omaha Main Event
Entrants: 72
Prize pool: £17,460
Places paid: 11

1st. Martins Adeniya, United Kingdom, Full Tilt Poker Ambassador, £4,800
2nd. Samuel Welbourne, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, £ 3,415
3rd. Patrick Hudson, United Kingdom, £ 2,235
4th. Deborah Rogers, United Kingdom, £ 1,720
5th. Clifford Jacobs, United Kingdom, £ 1,360
6th. Richard Wild, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, £ 1,065
7th. Stephen Pearce, United Kingdom, £ 840
8th. Grant Mason, United Kingdom, £ 655

For Adeniya his first major PLO title sets him up nicely for a summer of bracelet hunting in the heat of Las Vegas that will contain a few PLO tournaments. As for the UKIPT we're off to a different kind of heat as the tour now moves to Marbella. The €500,000 guaranteed €1,000 + €100 Main Event runs June 11th-15th and satellites are running now.

Tonight though belongs to Adeniya and in the classic race situation that is trophy or money I think you know which means more to him tonight.

PokerStars Blog reporting team: Nick Wright. Photos by Nika Zbasnik and Gregory Davies