When play started today 267 players remained; some were looking to further increase their sizable stacks, whilst others were looking for a much-needed double up to give themselves a fighting chance. All were intent on making the top 72, the qualifying point at which you'd get paid.

Of course whilst a min-cash of £1,050 is better than a Glasgow kiss, having made it that far eyes understandably start to drift up the pay scale towards the £101,000 the winner will claim.

The bubble burst during level 15 when Liam Spence shoved the turn with top pair and an open-ended straight draw, only to find Michael Kemp already had the made straight. With that the floodgates opened and by the end of the day just 49 remained. Best placed to take a shot at the six-figure first placed payday is Chris Derrick, he had a great day at the felt running his start of day stack of 104,400 all the way up to 554,500

That Derrick has the chip lead heading into Day 3 is chiefly down to a huge pot he played against Charalampos Lappas. On a [5c][Qd][Jc] flop he check-shoved with [9c][8c] Lappas called with aces, but a ten on the river gave Derrick a 375,000 pot and sent Lappas tumbling out in 60th.

Other players to position themselves well during 'moving day' were Przemysław Dajer (368,000), Nicolau Villa-Lobos (353,500), Jamie Sykes (343,500) and Mikel Villaescusa (431,500). The fact the latter sits second is also down to cracking aces. This time they belonged to Liam Batey. On the very last hand of the night Villaescusa was all-in and at risk with [Ah][Qh] but made a flush to knock Batey all the way down to 83,500. Poker - it's a cruel game sometimes.

Two players were wearing the red spade with pride today, one each from Team PokerStars Pro and Pokerstars Team Online. Despite being a live tournament it would be Grzegorz 'DaWarsaw' Mikielewicz from PokerStars Team Online who would fair better than Team PokerStars Pro's Jake Cody.

Despite starting Day 2 with less than he started Day 1 with and being almost permanently below average, the Pole managed to keep enough traction to stay alive by winning small and medium pots. We didn't see him all-in at any stage of the day and come the end of the day he bagged and tagged 83,500. "I started the day with 15 big blinds and ended it with 15 big blinds," he said matter of factly.

Meanwhile Jake Cody just couldn't find a spot to spin up his 15,500 stack to something more considerable. And, when he eventually found a spot to move all-in over an active player's raise with [Kd][Js] he ran smack bang into Sunny Chattha's pocket aces.

There were four former UKIPT champions in the field today, each hoping to get one day and several hundred places closer to becoming the fourth double UKIPT winner. For both Richard Sinclair and Richard Evans that dream will have to wait until the tour touches down in Cork. But, both Jamie Burland and David Vamplew are still in contention, though they had contrasting days.

It was a day of grinding for Burland, an early double up gave him a workable stack, but he never had much more than average. That is until he doubled up near the end with queen-ten against ace-jack, spiking a ten on the flop to finish on 245,500. He seemed to enjoy himself nonetheless, especially when he was moved next to UKIPT2 Nottingham runner-up Brett Angell early on in the day, a table that contained Rob Yong too, until he bust shortly before the money.

In contrast Vamplew was almost permanently in the top five of the chip counts, he started the day with the fifth biggest stack and busted someone on the very first hand to with a set against top pair top kicker. Despite losing a 220,000 flip in the last level he finished with 316,000, good for sixth place. All this despite being sick, "Quick lemsip to keep me going," he tweeted as the bubble approached.

As well as Evans, Sinclair and Yong other notables who fell by the wayside during the carnage that is day two included: Jason Tompkins, Chris Dowling, Kevin Killeen, Dara O'Kearney, Nick Wealthall, Andrew Teng, Dom Kay and both Sunny and Chaz Chattha.

The remaining players will be back in action from 12 noon here at The Balmoral Hotel. Full chip counts of those who remain, including Brett Angell (286,500) Kevin Williams (160,000), Manig Loeser (183,500) and Thomas Ward (259,500), who's looking to make a second straight UKIPT Edinburgh final table, can be seen here. And you can see the Day 3 seat draw here.

You can catch up with all today's action and find out who's cashed and for how much by clicking on the links below, we'll be back tomorrow as we play down to the final table of eight.

Levels 9-12
Levels 13-16
Prize pool and Payouts

All photos are copyright of Mickey May, she hasn't had a Caesar salad for days so she'll give you a good dressing down should you steal her pictures.

4.23pm: Break time
The rest of the day's updates will appear in a new post.

4.20pm:Brett off to live Angells
Brett Angell busted just before the break to Jamie Burland.

Burland has been sat to the left of Angell for long periods this tournament, not a fun place to be. His exit hand came when he shoved for 188,000 from the small blind when the action folded to him. Burland made a quick call from the big blind.

Angell: [ah][5d]
Burland: [as][8c]

The board ran [3s][4s][kd][8d][6d] to pair Burland's eight. -- MC

4.15pm: Schmitt downed by Derrick
The chip stack of Chris Derrick continues to grow as he just eliminated Andreas Schmitt. The pot was opened to 20,000 by Isaac Opoku, Derrick three-bet to 50,000, Schmitt moved all-in from the small blind for 115,000 and after Opoku folded, Derrick made the call.

Derrick: [Kd][Kc]
Schmitt: [Ac][Qc]

The board came eight high and was bereft of clubs, whilst Derrick is closing in on one million as he has 975,000. -- NW

4.15pm: Vamplew vanquishes Coulahan
Gary Coulahan open-jammed for around 110,000 from early position, it passed to David Vamplew in the big blind and he didn't even bother asking for a count, before calling.

The bad news for Coulahan was confirmed as Vamplew rolled over aces, Coulahan had pocket eights so the [9s][7c][10d] flop wasn't exactly a bust for him. But he didn't hit on the [4d] turn or [9d] river and exited in 20th place. Meanwhile after that hand Vamplew is back up to 509,000. -- NW

4.05pm: Williams rockets to defeat
Kevin Williams looked very annoyed at himself after he five-bet jammed into Przemysław Dajer's aces.

Williams three-bet to 46,000 off the button only to see the Pole four-bet to 96,000 from the small. The original raiser folded but Williams jammed for around 400,000 chips and his face winced when he was snap-called.

Dajer: [as][ac]
Williams: [qd][th]

The board ran [kd][3h][3s][5d][7h]. The hand was over by the turn and Williams was already on his way. That put Dajer up to around a million chips. -- MC

3.55pm: Double double
Two double ups to tell you about...

First Vladislav Donchev doubled through Brett Angell, his [Ah][9h] getting there against Angell's [As][Qc] on the [6d][4s][9c][jd][8h] board. The Bulgarian's all-in was for 114,000, whilst Angell slips to 320,000.

And Andreas Schmitt three-bet all-in for 59,000 with [As][Qs] over the top of Jason Barton's 20,000 open. The ex-snooker player called off the extra with [Ah][8c] but was drawing semi-dead after the [Qh][8s][Js] flop. And Schmitt stayed alive on the [4c] turn and [2c] river. He's still short though, whilst Barton slips to 485,000. -- NW

3.45pm: Tsang toppled
Chihao Tsang is probably raging inside, he did a good job of hiding it though...

His exit was a tale of two hands. In the first, where he lost the vast majority of his stack he opened with [Kd][Kc] and called Stephen Eames shove of 97,000. The latter held [Ac][Kc] so liked the look of the [9c][5h][Qc] flop, he liked the [Ah] turn even more and the [7h] river left Tsang with just 26,000.

Two hands later he was in the big blind, but elected to pass, perhaps mindful of the pay jump between 22nd and 21st. But, he could wait no longer and on the next hand his remaining 16,000 went in with [Ad][8h] but was dominated by Darren Knaggs [Ac][Jh] and didn't improve. He exited in 22nd winning £2,280. -- NW

3.35pm: Today's exits
Below are the players who've busted so far today...

23rd, Darren Moore, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier - £2,280
24th, Paul van Oort, Netherlands, PokerStars Qualifier - £2,280
25th, Sameer Singh, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier - £2,280
26th, Roert Boon, United Kingdom - £2,280
27th, Owen Currie, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, £2,280
28th, Andrew Laurie, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier - £1,860
29th, Thomas Ward, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player - £1,860
30th, Mikel Villaescusa, Spain, PokerStars Qualifier - £1,860
31st, Jamil Ogunmakinawa, United Kingdom - £1,860
32nd, Greig Cushnie, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player - £1,860
33rd, Ryan Barr, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier - £1,860
34th, Michele Galatola, Italy, PokerStars Qualifier - £1,860
35th, James Tidey, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player - £1,860
36th, Manig Loeser, Germany, PokerStars Qualifier - £1,860
37th, Thomas Hall, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier - £1,650
38th, Tomasz Spodenkiewicz, Poland, PokerStars Qualifier - £1,650
39th, Lukasz Laska, Poland, PokerStars Qualifier - £1,650
40th, Oliver Weis, Germany, PokerStars Qualifier - £1,650
41st, Lewis Hunter, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player - £1,650
42nd, Liam Horgan, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier - £1,650
43rd, Andrew Ferguson, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier - £1,650
44th, Grzegorz Mikielewicz, Poland, PokerStars Team Online - £1,650
45th, Alan Gold, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player - £1,650
46th, Gary Lindsay, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player - £1,440
47th. Jason Esmail, Canada, PokerStars Qualifier, £1,440
48th, Liam Batey, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player - £1,440
49th, Dennis Henkes, Belgium, PokerStars Player - £1,440

3.25pm: Barton Busts Moore
Darren Moore walked into a bit of a cooler to bust.

He three-bet the active Isaac Opoku with pocket tens only for Jason Barton to move all in behind with pocket jacks. Opoku moved out of the way and Moore was priced in to call.

The board ran [2d][5c][9d][4h][ah] failing to improve both players. That pot rocketed Barton up to 480,000. -- MC

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 5,000-10,000, 1,000

3.17pm: Villa-Lobos has loads
The chip lead didn't belong to Issac Opoku for too long, he didn't lose it, it's just Nicolau Villa-Lobos won a pot to leapfrog him.

He opened to 17,000, David Vamplew three-bet to 38,000, Michael Kemp then cold-four bet to what looked like 102,000. Back on Villa-Lobos he moved all-in, Vamplew quickly folded and Kemp let out an exasperated sigh as he followed suit. -- NW

3.07pm: Ort of here
Paul van Ort was the first to be eliminated post redraw. He fell to Isaac Opoku who has leapt into the chip lead with 870,000 chips.

The two were heads up to a [4c][kc][5h] flop before all the chips went flying. Van Ort was actually ahead with [ah][qs] as his opponent had flopped a open ended straight draw with [6h][7h].

The board ran out [2d][8d] to make the Brit's straight. Van Ort banged his fist on the table in frustration before being led off to the payout desk. -- MC

3pm: Final three tables

Table 1
David Vamplew
Chihao Tsang
Gary Coulahan
Stephen Eames
Michael Kemp
Darren Knaggs
Nicolau Villa-Lobos
Alisdair Macrae

Table 2
Guido Braye
Andreas Schmitt
Isaac Opoku
Paul van Oort
Sébastien Guerlinze
Chris Derrick
Darren Moore
Jason Barton

Table 3
Przemysław Dajer
Brett Angell
Jamie Burland
Christian Bergstrom
James Sykes
Sylvester Kleian
Vladislav Donchev
Kevin Williams

2.55pm: Two players bust; redraw at 24
We're down to 24 players after the exits of Robert Boon and Sameer Singh. There will now be a redraw of the final three tables.

Boon shoved from the button with [ad][2d] and walked into the big blind's pocket eights. The board ran [5d][kc][2c][6s][5s].

Singh raised from under the gun and then shoved on a [4s][9d][6d] flop with [ah][5h]. It was a misstep though as Jason Barton had defended with pocket fours!

The full redraw will be coming up shortly. -- MC

2.50pm: Currie cooked
Owen Currie is the latest player to exit the tournament. He moved all-in for his last 47,00 from under-the-gun with [Ac][8c] and got a call from Christian Bergstrom who held [Ks][Qh].

A [Kd][4d][5s][Jh][2c] board eliminated Currie and boosted Bergstrom to 300,000. -- NW

2.45pm: Macrae rallies
A shortstacked Alisdair Macrae is now not quite as short as he once was. He three-bet all-in for 75,000 with pocket aces over the top of an open from Guido Braye. The Dutchman got a count then called off the extra with [Ks][Js]. A low board meant Macrae is now has more than 150,000, whilst Braye slips to 380,000. -- NW

2.40pm: Laurie's last stand
Andrew Laurie has just been Barry Greensteined out of this tournament.

The pot was opened to 17,000 by Przemysław Dajer, Laurie then moved all-in for 112,000 and after a bit of a tank Dajer made the call.

Dajer: [As][10d]
Laurie: [Qs][Qc]

The [2d][9d][6s][Kd][Ac] board was cruel on Laurie, taking his tournament life away on the river. -- NW

2.35pm: Donchev doubles
Vladislav Donchev is up to 145,000 after doubling through Stephen Eames. The former three-bet all-in from the big blind with [Ad][Qc] and Eames called from the button with [Ac][9h]. A [8h][Ah][6c][4s][8c] board kept the Bulgarian in front, whilst Eames slips to 140,000. -- NW

2.30pm: No back-to-back finals for Ward
Thomas Ward - who finished fourth at UKIPT Edinburgh in Season 2 - has just been eliminated in 29th place winning £1,860.

He was all-in for his last 145,000 with pocket sixes, but in bad shape against Paul van Oort's pocket nines. The [Qh][8s][Qs][4h][Jd] board kept the Dutchman in front and sent Ward to the rail. The Dutchman is up to 320,000 after that hand. -- NW

2.25pm: Chip counts
The top five at the start of Level 18 is as below, but you can see the chip counts of all the remaining players here. Whilst to see who's busted so far today click here.

Chris Derrick, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, 945,000
Nicolau Villa-Lobos, Brazil, 783,000
Michael Kemp, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, 637,000
Isaac Opoku, United Kingdom, 580,000
James Sykes, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, 510,000

2.16pm: Play continues
Cards are being shuffled, that means play is back underway. -- NW

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 4,000-8,000, 1,000

2.01pm: Break Time
Players are now on a 15 minute break. -- NW

2pm: Chris still crushing
As the first break of the day approaches Chris Derrick, who has roughly 900,000 is still in the lead. His nearest challenger appears to be Michael Kemp who has around 600,000. Tournament staff will be doing a full chip count of the 29 remaining players during the break. -- NW

1.55pm: Cushnie busts in three-way all in
Greig Cushnie busted in a hand that saw Guido Braye triple up and Owen Currie crippled to 70,000 chips. A lot of chips went in on the flop before the few that were left went in on the turn when the board read [8c][9c][th][ad].

Cushnie: [ac][6c] for a flush draw and gutshot draw.
Currie: [q][q] for a pair of queens
Braye: [q][j] for a flopped straight.

The river bricked and Braye scooped the lot. -- MC

1.45pm: Burland receives late Christmas gift
Jamie Burland has almost 500,000 chips after Ryan Barr made a move against him.

The two had made it to the turn of a [qs][qh][9c][6c] board. Burland bet and then called instantly when Barr made a big shove with [5c][5h]. Burland opened [as][qc] for trips and faded a five on the [2s] river. -- MC

1.40pm: Galatola sent to the gallows
Michele Galatola is the latest to fall after making a move with his short stack.

The action folded around to him in the small blind and he open shoved for around 60,000. Sylvester Kleian was in the big blind and made the call.

Galatola: [9h][3d]
Kleian: [ac][2s]

The board ran [jd][kh][as][5h][4h]. - MC

1.30pm: Guerlinze gets another double
It's been quite a day so far for Sebastien Guerlinze, he started the day on 62,500, ran that up to 270,000 and was down to around 150,000 at the start of the following hand.

I only caught the end of it but on a [9d][As][4s][10d] board there was about 45,000 in the pot, Guerlinze was up against Greig Cushnie and through a series of bets and raises the Belgian got his last 122,500 into the middle and Cushnie matched it.

Guerlinze: [Ad][8d]
Cushnie: [Qd][Jd]

They both had monster draws, but Guerlinze had one of the few hands that Cushnie didn't want to see. The [9s] completed the board to double the Belgian to 300,000 whilst Cushnie slips to 210,000. -- NW

1.21pm: Cushnie cripples Loeser, who busts soon after
Greig Cushnie has crippled Manig Loeser after the latter four-bet into the former's aces. Manig's surname was apt as he lost the rest of his chips soon after.

The German was under the gun and raised only to be three-bet by Cushnie in the next seat. The action folded back around to Loeser who shoved. Cushnie called all in for 141,000 total.

Loeser: [qs][js]
Cushnie: [as][ah]

The board ran [th][5c][5h][2h][8c] to give Cushnie a full double up. -- MC

1.15pm: Hall leaves the room
Another deep run for Tom Hall in a UKIPT has come to an end in 37th place, he was kind enough to tell me about his exit hand. "Jamie Burland opened under-the-gun to 10,500, I've got about 122,000, so 24 big blind and cram with pocket eights. The guy to my left (Ryan Barr) who had 104,000 moves all-in with pocket jacks and holds. That left me with 15,000 and I was out the next hand." That's four day threes for Hall, who's surely going to final one of these soon.

1.05pm: Weis busts in 40th
Oliver Weis couldn't win a big flip versus Isaac Opoku and departed in 40th place for £1,650.

We missed the pre flop action but he had committed all his chips from the big blind with [ad][ks] and was given a spin by Opoku in the small blind with [9d][9c]. The board ran a blank [ts][4d][2d][qs][6s] and Opoku is up to 470,000. -- MC

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 3,000-6,000 ante 500

1pm: Williams gets a double up
This is a strange hand, but I can promise that the way this hand plays out is true as Jamie Sykes, who's at the table, came into the media room to tell us the hand saying: "I need the world to know hands like this happen."

It folded to Kevin Williams in the small blind and from a stack of around 180,000 he opened to 12,000, from the big blind Mikel Villaescusa three-bet to 25,000. Back on Williams he four-bet to 45,000 and Villaescusa, in the words of Sykes 'snap peeled.'

The flop came [Q][9][8] with two spades, Williams tanked for ages and then led for 40,000, Villaescusa instantly jammed all-in and Williams sigh called all-in for his last 100,000.

Williams: [Q][3]
Villaescusa: [9][4]

The board ran [7][5] and Williams hand held to double him to around 360,000 whilst Villaescusa is down to 250,000. -- NW

12.55pm: Derrick increases stack despite ruling against him
The floor was called on Chris Derrick after he attempted to raise on the river in a big pot versus Przemysław Dajer. His raise was not in one motion and was ruled as just a call.

The two had made in to the river with a lot of chips in the middle and Derrick checked from the small blind. The board read [7d][4c][td][ah][kc] and Dajer bet 90,000 from the button. Derrick tried to raise to 200,000 but it turned out he had to just call. It didn't really matter as Dajer snap mucked to drop to 290,000. Derrick moved up to 630,000. -- MC

12.45pm: Always the bridesmaid
Andrew Ferguson, good friends with UKIPT winners David Vamplew, Max Silver and Nick Abou Risk, is out, he tweeted: "Busted 43rd QQ < AK :(," Silver tweeted back three minutes later. "Always the bridesmaid." -- NW

12.35pm: Vamos Vamplew!
David Vamplew is up to 375,000 after eliminating Liam Horgan. He opened under-the-gun and Horgan flat-called from the small blind. The [6d][10c][8c] flop was checked through and the [7h] fell on the turn. It checked to Vamplew, he fired out a bet of 18,000 and called when Horgan check-raised to 45,000. The [4h] completed the board Horgan jammed for 97,500 and Vamplew called.

Horgan: [Ad][2s]
Vamplew: [Kc][5c]

The Scot's combo-draw had got there on the river and Horgan had picked the wrong time to try and get a bluff through. -- NW

12.30pm: What a start for Guerlinze!
Sébastien Guerlinze was sat in his seat chuckling and with his arms shaped in an almost apologetic fashion. He's just taken out a player to see his stack increase to 270,000 from a starting stack of just 62,000, all in around 20 minutes of play.

The last hand saw him take out Grzegorz Mikielewicz. The PokerStars Team Online member had dropped to 65,000 from his starting stack of 85,000 after he missed a wet looking flop with ace high and elected to check-fold to a bet. The next hand he open shoved with [kd][qs] and was called by Guerlinze from the big blind with [ad][js]. The board ran [td][9s][2h][ac][2s] to end his hopes. -- MC

12.20pm: Double double then trouble
It was a rollercoaster, albeit short day for Canadian PokerStars qualifier Jason Esmail. His overnight stack of 87,500 was reduced to 10,000 when he ran ace-jack into Sébastien Guerlinze's pocket aces.

That's when the rollercoaster started going upwards though. First he doubled through Manig Loeser with [Ad][3d] against [8c][7c] on a [2d][8h][As][10d][6h] board. That got him up to 32,000, the very next hand he opened to 10,500, Stephen Eames set him all-in and Esmail said: " I call, I've got aces." Indeed he did, Eames [Ac][7s] didn't catch up and suddenly Esmail was back to something approaching his start of day stack.

And he wasn't going to sit on it, the next hand he opened to 10,500 and Guerlinze smooth called. The two of them saw a [3d][4d][6h] flop, check from Esmail, bet of 12,500 from Guerlinze, all-in from Esmail, snap-call from Guerlinze.

Esmail: [Ac][4h]
Guerlinze: [6s][6d]

"How do you always have the nuts against me," said Esmail when he saw Guerlinze's hand. The [Kd] and [Jc] completed the board. "This guys going to win," said Esmail pointing at Guerlinze. -- NW

12.15pm: From a potential second in chips, to second out
Liam Batey had high hopes for today minutes before the end of play last night. He had even higher hopes on the last hand of the night when he got pocket aces in against Mikel Villaescusa's [as][qh]. The latter made a flush and Batey came back third from bottom in the counts.

Things got worse for him today. We caught up with him at the payout desk and he told us he three-bet jammed [kd][9d] over the top of an open with ace-jack. He was called and soon out the door. You could tell from his face that hand last night was still playing on his mind. The fine line in poker that sees goes go from a potential second place in chips to second out the door the next day.

He was only beat to the payout desk by Dennis Henkes who was the first player put today. -- MC

12.05pm: Cards are in the air
Play has started here in Edinburgh, news on two early bust outs coming right up. -- NW

12pm: Derrick leads as sharks lurk
Just 49 players of the 612 who started remain in the main event of UKIPT Edinburgh. The money jumps will start to get bigger today as one by one the field is whittled down to the final table of eight.

Top of the pile as we head into Day 3 is Chris Derrick who has 554,500, whilst he has no major results or wins (yet) there's a host of players in the chasing pack who do. Two UKIPT champions are looking to double down, David Vamplew (316,000) and Jamie Burland (255,000) are both well placed to make a deeper run than they already have.

Whilst Jamie Sykes has had a couple of five figure scores in the live arena, his biggest win came when he won the Sunday Million on PokerStars, and Brett Angell and Thomas Ward know what it's like to make a UKIPT final table, Ward in this very city in Season 2.

Throw in the talents of players like Kevin Williams, Manig Loeser and Andrew Ferguson and this is shaping up to be a great day of poker. The start of day table draw is as below.

Table One
Oliver Weis,Germany,PokerStars Qualifier,119,500
Alisdair Macrae,United Kingdom,PokerStars Qualifier,143,500
Michele Galatola,Italy,PokerStars Qualifier,173,500
Sylvester Kleian,Netherlands,PokerStars Player,83,000
Darren Moore,United Kingdom,PokerStars Qualifier,95,500
Christian Bergstrom,Sweden,PokerStars Player,254,000
Jamil Ogunmakinawa,United Kingdom,169,000

Table Two
Liam Batey,United Kingdom,PokerStars Player,83,000
Lewis Hunter,United Kingdom,PokerStars Player,93,500
Jamie Burland,United Kingdom,PokerStars Qualifier,255,000
Lukasz Laska,Poland,PokerStars Qualifier,136,500
Vladislav Donchev,Bulgaria,PokerStars Qualifier,104,500
Ryan Barr,United Kingdom,PokerStars Qualifier,145,000
Nicolau Villa-Lobos,Brazil,353,500

Table Three
Grzegorz Mikielewicz,Poland,PokerStars Team Online,83,500
Manig Loeser,Germany,PokerStars Qualifier,183,500
Greig Cushnie,United Kingdom,PokerStars Player,152,000
Robert Boon,United Kingdom,161,500
Jason Esmail,Canada,PokerStars Qualifier,87,500
Sébastien Guerlinze,Belgium,PokerStars Qualifier,62,500
Stephen Eames,United Kingdom,PokerStars Player,256,500

Table Four
Gary Lindsay,United Kingdom,PokerStars Player,160,000
Przemysław Dajer,Poland,PokerStars Player,368,000
Chris Derrick,United Kingdom,PokerStars Qualifier,554,500
Andrew Laurie,United Kingdom,PokerStars Qualifier,260,000
Jason Barton,United Kingdom,PokerStars Qualifier,233,500
Tomasz Spodenkiewicz,Poland,PokerStars Qualifier,110,000
Sameer Singh,201,000

Table Five

James Tidey,United Kingdom,PokerStars Player,94,000
Guido Braye,Netherlands,PokerStars Qualifier,152,500
James Sykes,United Kingdom,PokerStars Player,343,500
Chihao Tsang,United Kingdom,PokerStars Qualifier,159,000
Owen Currie,United Kingdom,PokerStars Player,194,300
Dennis Henkes,Belgium,PokerStars Player,86,000
Kevin Williams,United Kingdom,PokerStars Player,160,000

Table Six

Andreas Schmitt,Germany,PokerStars Qualifier,53,000
Michael Kemp,United Kingdom,PokerStars Player,190,000
Paul Van Oort,Netherlands,PokerStars Qualifier,154,500
Liam Horgan,United Kingdom,PokerStars Qualifier,258,000
Thomas Hall,United Kingdom,PokerStars Qualifier,132,000
Andrew Ferguson,United Kingdom,PokerStars Qualifier,103,500
David Vamplew,United Kingdom,PokerStars Qualifier,316,000

Table Seven

Brett Angell,United Kingdom,PokerStars Qualifier,286,500
Isaac Opoku,United Kingdom,256,000
Alan Gold,United Kingdom,PokerStars Player,97,500
Darren Knaggs,United Kingdom,PokerStars Player,85,000
Mikel Villaescusa,Spain,PokerStars Qualifier,431,500
Thomas Ward,United Kingdom,PokerStars Player,259,500
Gary Coulahan,Ireland,PokerStars Qualifier,174,500

PokerStars Blog reporting team in Edinburgh: Marc Convey and Nick Wright. Photos by Mickey May.

10.30pm: Day 3 ends
That's all for day 3. Przemysław Dajer managed to keep hold of his chip lead. Full details of all counts and a wrap of the day's play will be up shortly. -- MC

10.30pm: Isaac Opoku eliminated in 9th Place (£6,850)
It took two players to finish off the short-stacked Isaac Opoku and set our final table for tomorrow.

David Vamplew opened to 60,000 from under the gun before Opoku moved all in for 190,000 from the next seat along. Vladislav Donchev was on the button and called the initial raise, not seeing the all in. He still elected to call after his mistake was pointed out, as did Vamplew.

Both players checked all the way down the [th][8c][5d][kh][4d] board and the cards were revealed.

Vamplew: [2h][2s]
Opoku: [ad][2d]
Donchev: [3s][3d] for the pot and the scalp of the final table bubble boy. -- MC

10.20pm: Dajer and Vamplew - Part II
Ok this sequel isn't quite as good as the hand 35 minutes ago where David Vamplew six-bet all-in but it did reach the river.

Pre-flop Vamplew made it 60,000 to go from middle position and called after Przemyslaw Dajer three-bet to 115,000.

Flop: [9s][5h][8d] - check, check
Turn: [8d] check, bet of 130,000 from Dajer, call from Vamplew
River: [5d] check, bet of 210,000 from Dajer, tank then fold from Vamplew. -- NW

10.10pm: Tension - Part II
Usually the sequel isn't as good as the original, but in this case I think it was better.

Obviously tilted a touch by doubling up Guido Braye, Bergstrom three-bet all-in over the top of an open from Przemyslaw Dajer. Then the hand after it folded to him in the small blind and he opened to 70,000, only for Jamie Sykes to slide out enough 25,000 denomination chips to set him all-in.

"You're a crazy guy," Bergstrom said of Sykes, but not to Sykes, in fact mostly to himself. "You can do that with a lot of hands. You've been playing like a crazy guy the past 30 minutes.

At this point he stood up. "It's quite a bad call, but could be quite a good call," he said, without actually calling. "I feel weak if I'm going to fold, not because of my hand, but because of how long I've taken," he continued, before folding. -- NW

10pm: Braye doubles through Bergstrom
A double up now for Guido Braye at the expense of Christian Bergstrom. The Swede opened to 60,000 and then called when Braye moved all-in for 320,000.

Braye: [Kh][3h]
Bergstrom:[6c][6s]

The board ran [Kc][7s][5s][9c][As] and Bergstrom said: "Can I break something?" before shouting angrily in what I can only presume was Swedish.

He's down to 600,000 after that hand, whilst Braye is up to 675,000. -- NW

9.50pm: Tension
Just prior to the six-bet hand, there was a bit of needle between Jamie Sykes and Christian Bergstrom. The latter had raised pre-flop from the cut-off, Sykes flatted on the button and Vladislav Donchev did likewise from the big blind.

On the [6h][8d][9s] flop it checked to Sykes who bet 85,000, Donchev check-raised to 310,000 and Bergstrom then tanked. He tanked for so long that he said: "Sorry guys," to the table. He then took one look at Sykes and said: "I bet he snap-folds," Bergstrom then mucked his hand and as he predicted Sykes also mucked.

"Why you bet there?" asked Bergstrom
"Because I wanted to bet, I paid my money I'll play how I want." replied Sykes. -- NW

9.45pm: Vamplew six-bets all-in
Big pot now for David Vamplew who just took a bit pot from chip leader Przemysław Dajer. The action was started by Vamplew, he made it 60,00 to go from under-the-gun, two seats to his left Dajer three-bet to 115,000 total.

Back on Vamplew he slid out a four-bet, making it 260,000 total, Dajer now tanked, then emerged with a five-bet, making it 425,000 total. Back on Vamplew it was now his turn to tank, he decided to move all-in for what looked like 1,100,000 and Dajer mucked his hand.

9.30pm: Chip counts from the break
In chip order below are the counts of the final nine from the end of level 24. It's still Przemysław Dajer who leads the way.

Przemysław Dajer, Poland, PokerStars Player, 2,389,000
James Sykes, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player,1,675,000
David Vamplew, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier,1,086,000
Chris Derrick, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier,1,060,000
Christian Bergstrom, Sweden, PokerStars Player, 973,000
Vladislav Donchev, Bulgaria, PokerStars Qualifier, 735,000
Nicolau Villa-Lobos, Brazil, 436,000
Guido Braye, Netherlands, PokerStars Qualifier, 389,000
Isaac Opoku, United Kingdom, 298,000

9.23pm: Back from the break
The nine remaining players are now back in their seats. -- NW

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 15,000-30,000 ante 3,000

9.08pm: Break time
That's eight levels in the books and the players are now on a 15 minute break. -- NW

9.05pm: The Sykes and Braye show
It's been all about Jamie Sykes and Guido Braye since the unofficial final table started.

In the first of three big pots that they played Sykes made it 50,000, Braye three-bet to 125,000, Sykes four-bet to 250,000, Braye (who covered) moved all-in for an effective 856,000 and Sykes called.

Braye: [Qc][Qs]
Sykes: [As][Ah]

The board ran [10h][Qd][Ad][8s][Kd] and Sykes doubled to 1,750,000 whilst Braye slipped to 286,000.

The very next hand, Sykes opened to 50,000, Braye moved all-in for 286,000 and when it folded back to Sykes he got a count, thought it over and then called.

Braye: [Ac][Qd]
Sykes: [Qs][Js]

The [Ad][9h][As] flop all bit killed the hand, but the [3s] turn breathed some life into it, but the [Jd] river kept Braye well in front and he doubled.

The next hand...

Sykes raised to 60,000 and Braye smooth called, the two obviously waiting to the flop to go to war this time. That flop fell [5d][3h][Kd], Sykes c-bet 75,000, Braye instantly raised to 150,000, Sykes moved all-in and Braye folded.

So after all that Sykes is up to 1,600,000, whilst Braye is down to 330,000. -- NW

8.55pm: Final table re-draw
Here's the seat draw for the final nine, the eight who make the final table will stay in these seat's for tomorrow's final.

Nicolau Villa-Lobos
David Vamplew
Isaac Opoku
Przemyslaw Dajer
Christian Bergstrom
James Sykes
Guido Braye
Vladislav Donchev
Chris Derrick

8.50pm: Jamie Burland eliminated in 10th place (£4,770)
David Vamplew was at it again with pocket jacks as he used them to eliminate former UKIPT champion Jamie Burland.

Vamplew opened from the button and called when Burland moved all in for 444,000 from the big blind.

Vamplew: [js][jh]
Burland: [qd][jd]

The board ran [kh][3c][6s][7s][th].

Vamplew is now the only remaining UKIPT champion left in the field. The remaining nine players will now be drawn on to one table. -- MC

8.35pm: Sébastien Guerlinze eliminated in 11th place (£4,770)
Sébastien Guerlinze spent orbits trying to get his short stack in but too much action before him or bad hands stopped him be able to.

Finally the action folded to him and he moved all in for 219,000 and was called by David Vamplew.

Guerlinze: [kc][th]
Vamplew: [js][jd]

The board ran [as][7d][qc][7s][7h] to send the Belgian home. -- MC

8.25pm: Double double for Bergstrom
Christian Bergstrom was in bad shape until two quick double ups, both through Vladislav Donchev, has seen his stack rise to 1,100,00.

In the first hand his [as][qs] stayed ahead of Donchev's [qh][ts] on a [tc][td][ad][ac][jh] board.

Soon after Donchev's [as][jc] couldn't catch up to the Swede's [ah][kc] on a [6d][6s][ac][4c] board. Donchev dropped to 540,000 chips. - MC

8.20pm: Dajer dents Sykes; breaks two million chip barrier
A huge pot just played out between the two chip leaders with Przemysław Dajer coming out on top against Jamie Sykes. This pot took longer than the two eliminations on the other table and play was halted on that table as they needed a player from player one to balance the tables.

I missed the pre-flop action but the pot size suggested that Dajer had raised under-the-gun and been flat called by Sykes (cut-off) and Issac Opoku (big blind). On the [5d][6c][2h] flop it checked to Sykes, he bet 62,000, Opoku folded, Dajer check-raised to 140,000 and Sykes called.

The [8s] fell on the turn, bet of 220,000 from Dajer, call from Sykes. The [Kh] completed the board, after some contemplation Dajer slid out a bet of 320,000 which sent Sykes deep into the tank. He lent back in his chair, this was a real thinker. He took a look back at his cards - he had around 900,000 back - and eventually grimaced and mucked his hand.

At the end of that hand Dajer, with a stack of just over two million was moved to the other table. -- NW

8.20pm: Jason Barton eliminated in 12th place (£4,200)
Just like London buses another elimination happened very shortly after Sylvester Kleian's.

The action folded to Jason Barton in late position and he moved all-in for 355,000. Next to act Vladimir Donchev grimaced, he obviously had a hand he thought was close to the bottom of his calling range. After a bit of think he did make the call.

Barton: [Ad][6h]
Donchev: [As][8d]

The possibility of a chop was alive and well but the board ran [4c][2c][8h][Kc][10h] Barton wished everyone well before he exited. That's three deep runs now for Barton in UKIPT's but each time he's finished between 11th and 14th, it surely won't be long before we see him at a final table on the tour. -- NW

8.12pm: Sylvester Kleian eliminated in 13th place (£4,200)
Down to just 99,000 Sylvester Kleian moved all-in with [Ks][9h] over the top of an open from Guido Braye, the latter didn't even need a count before calling, not surprising as he had pocket queens.

The board ran [4s][Qs][6d][7h][2d] and Braye is now approaching the million chip mark. -- NW

8.08pm: Much needed double for Opoku
Isaac Opoku was one of the bigger stacks earlier in the day but he was on a downward spiral that just ended with a double up.

He moved all in for 180,000 from the cut-off and was called by Przemysław Dajer in the next seat. The blinds folded to leave it heads up.

Opoku: [7c][7h]
Dajer: [6c][6s]

Opoku was surprised to be ahead and a happy bunny after the board ran [td][9c][3h][ks][7d]. Dajer could afford the hit and still sits on 1,470,000. -- MC

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

7.55pm: Snippets
No massive hands of note or much action in the last 15 minutes but here are some snippets of what's happened at our final two tables.

- The two big stacks clashed with Jamie Sykes taking a pot from Przemysław Dajer. The former had opened under-the-gun and Sykes (cut-off) and Isaac Opoku (big blind) both called to see a [6d][3d][Kc] flop. A c-bet of 62,000 from Dajer was only called by Sykes. The two then checked down the [Qd] turn and [2h] river, Sykes showed pocket nines, whilst Djaer had [9][6] for a worse one pair hand.

- Isaac Opoku is now short on chips - he has perhaps 230,000 - this hasn't stopped him peeling to see flops though, but he's check folded the times he has played a pot.

- Vladimir Donchev has taken to simply shoving all-in if folded to him on the button. That's because both Sylvester Kleian and Christian Bergstrom are short stacked with 160,000 and 270,000 respectively.

- David Vamplew has been moved tables to balance them after Michael Kemp's exit. So both he and Jamie Burland, the only two former UKIPT winners left in the field, are now facing off on the felt. -- NW

7.41pm: Braye's strategy paying off
Guido Braye's tactics today seems to be to take a tight-aggressive line. He doesn't play many hands but when he does he plays them aggressively.

The action folded around to him in the cut-off and he moved all in for 423,000. Jason Barton was in the next seat and moved all in too. All others folded and the cards were on their backs.

Braye: [ah][jd]
Barton: [tc][th]

The board ran [5s][4h][jh][4s][qh] tp make Kleian the better two pair. -- MC

7.30pm:Darren Knaggs eliminated in 14th place (£3,509)
Darren Knaggs was the short-stack coming back into this level and now has no stack.

He open shoved for his last 182,000 from under the gun and was snap-called by Nicolau Villa-Lobos in the big blind.

Knaggs: [as][9s]
Villa-Lobos: [ac][th]

The board ran [jd][qh][td][5c][5d]. Knaggs was calling for a king but it failed to materialise for him. -- MC

7.23pm: Michael Kemp eliminated in 15th place (£3,509)
"I love ace-queen," said Jamie Sykes and well he might as he's just eliminated Martin Kemp with it and he also eliminated Alisdair Macrae with it earlier.

The pot was opened to 45,000 by Isaac Opoku, Sykes flat called from the small blind and Kemp moved all-in 457,000. Back on Opoku he swiftly folded but Sykes eyed up Kemp's stack then made the call.

Sykes: [Ad][Qh]
Kemp: [Ac][Kd]

The [10c][9d][5h] flop kept Kemp in front, but the [Qc] turn vaulted Sykes into the lead and he stayed there on the [8c] flop. As testament to how bunched the field is, Sykes is now second in chips, as would Kemp have been had he won the pot. -- NW

7.10pm: Chip counts updated
Przemysław Dajer is still the clear chip leader on 1,536,000 chips. The average stack is 30.6 big blinds but if you take out Dajer's stack from the equation the average is only 27.3 big blinds. See the full counts here.-- MC

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 10,000-20,000 ante 3,000

6.46pm: Break down
A tired looking field go off for a breather before level 23 starts.

6.45pm: Win some lose some for Kemp
Two big pots played out just before the break, as the title suggests Michael Kemp won one and lost one.

In the first Chris Derrick made it 35,000 to go from under-the-gun, Przemysław Dajer made flat called, Jamie Sykes then three-bet to 104,000 from the small blind, only for Kemp to cold four-bet to 185,000 from the big blind. One by one everyone folded and Kemp took the pot.

The second involved Djaer, who opened to 35,000 and Kemp, who flat called on the button. The flop fell [9d][7h][8h], c-bet of 45,000 from Djaer, raise to 103,000 from Kemp, call from Djaer. The [Ks] fell on the turn, it was checked to Kemp who fired 171,000, Djaer check-raised all-in and Kemp folded.

After that hand Djaer is up to around 1,450,000. We'll be geting full counts during the break. -- NW

6.44pm: Vamps extracts blood from Donchev
David Vamplew just had a lot of his stack at risk against Vladislav Donchev but managed to get a river bet through.

Donchev opened to 35,000 from the hijack and called when Vamplew three-bet to 79,000 from the cut-off. The flop fell [jc][as][8h] and Donchev check-called a 87,000 before both checked the [qs] turn. The board got really interesting on the [td] river and Vamplew bet around half of his remaining stack (190k) to force a fold from his opponent. Donchev down to 765,000.-- MC

6.40pm: Guerlinze finds a needed double
Sébastien Guerlinze found a double up at the richest bank in town.

He three-bet all in for 181,000 over the open of Przemysław Dajer. The chip leader took his time but made the call.

Dajer: [ad][ts]
Guerlinze: [as][qd]

The board ran [8s][2d][2s][6h][4v] to aid the man from Belgian. Dajer still very healthy on 1,220,000 chips. -- MC

6.33pm: Christian Bergstrom doubles through Nicolau Villa-Lobos
Another double up for the stack at risk just now, with Swedish player Christian Bergstrom doubling through Brazilian player Nicolau Villa-Lobos.

It was all-in pre-flop with Bergrstom shoving for 210,000 with pocket tens and Villa-Lobos calling with [Ad][Kd]. The [8c][3c][9c][8d][7s] board stayed low though to keep Bergstrom in front. -- NW

6.26pm: Chris Derrick doubles through Jamie Burland
Oh my, start of day chip leader Chris Derrick just hit a three-outer to stay in this tournament...

He opened to 32,000 on the button, Jamie Burland three-bet to 85,000 from the small blind, Derrick then piled for 411,000 and Burland called the all-in.

Derrick: [Qd][10h]
Burland: [Ac][Qc]

The window card was the [10d] and it was followed by the [Ks] and [2s] so Burland had a few more outs for the re-suck. But he missed them all on the [7h] turn and [7c] river. That pot boosts Derrick to 840,000 whilst Burland slips to 440,000. -- NW

6.20pm:Alisdair Macrae eliminated in 16th place (£2,900)
"Unlucky" said Jamie Sykes to Alisdair Macrae as he raked in the Scots chip stack.

The hand had started with a raise to 35,000 from Przemysław Dajer, Sykes then three-bet to 88,000, Macrae moved all-in from the big blind for 207,000 and after getting a count Sykes called.

Macrae: [As][Kh]
Sykes: [Ad][Qd]

The [3d][Jc][8d] flop gave Sykes a flush draw and it completed on the [7d] turn. The meaningless [8s] completed the board, boosted Sykes to 700,000. -- NW

6.16pm:Sylvester Kleian doubles through David Vamplew
From middle position David Vamplew raised to 32,000, Sylvester Kleian then moved all-in for 129,000 and when it got back to Vamplew he made the call.

Kleian: [Jh][Jc]
Vamplew: [Ah][4s]

The board came clean for Kleian as it ran [Kh][Qc][6s][4d][5c], he's up to 275,000 whilst Vamplew drops to 400,000. -- NW

6.08pm:Two table tournament

Table 1
Alisdair Macrae
Jamie Burland
Isaac Opoku
Przemyslaw Dajer
Sebastien Guerlinze
James Sykes
Michael Kemp
Chris Derrick

Table 2
Guido Braye
Darren Knaggs
Jason Barton
Cladislav Donchev
David Vamplew
Sylvester Kleian
Christian Bergstrom
Nicolau Villa-Lobos

6pm: Catch 22
The Average stack is 36 big blinds at the moment so any shoves from the shorter stacks have enough whack to dent the bigger stacks. This makes calls with marginal hands a lot less likely, therefore, all in showdowns have slowed. If the status quo stays the same then the next level promises more action. -- MC

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 8,000-16,000 ante 2,000

5.45pm: News in brief...
It's all gone a little bit quiet, no exits, few showdowns. But here's what I've seen of note in the last 15 minutes.

- Darren Knaggs moved all-in for 165,000 from the button. Although Jason Barton asked for a count and tanked he ultimately released his hand and the big blind followed suit.

- Przemysław Dajer has been chipping up, he raised then called a three-bet in position against Isaac Opoku, called the latter's c-bet on the [8h][Jd][Th] flop then took it down when he bet after he was checked to on the [2h] turn.

He then took a pot from Jamie Burland, Dajer had pocket tens and kinda liked the [10][6][6] flop, even more so because Burland had a 10 and paid off a river bet.

- And David Vamplew won the battle of people with the letters D and V for their initials. He three-bet Vladislav Donchev pre-flop, checked the [3d][Kh][6d] flop, then took it down with a delayed continuation bet on the [Qh] turn.

5.30pm: Bergstrom doubles down and back up again
Christian Bergstrom had a very swingy five minutes that saw him double up a player before he doubled back up himself.

The Swede raise-called Guido Braye's 283,000 shove with [9c][9d]. Bergstrom opened [as][kc] but failed to connect as the board ran [5d][js][jh][4h][4s]. He was frustrated and kicked his chair.

A few minutes later he open shoved for 130,00 with [ad][qd] and was called by Nicolau Villa-Lobos in the next seat with [ac][8c]. The board ran [kc][4h][jd][ah][5d] and the Swede was smiling again. Villa-Lobos dropped to 800,000. -- MC

5.20pm: Stephen Eames eliminated in 17th place (£2,900)
We're down to the final two tables here in Edinburgh as Stephen Eames has just been sent to the rail. He moved all-in for roughly 188,000 and next to act Christian Bergstrom made the call, everyone else folded.

Eames: [Jc][Jd]
Bergstrom: [Ad][Qd]

The board ran [7d][2s][Kc][8d][2d] and Bergstrom rivered the flush to eliminate Eames. There's now a short break whilst they do a re-draw for the final two tables. -- NW

5.10pm: High Roller Results
The high roller event came to a close today with the title going to David Phelma. Four players took home some money of the 18 players that entered yesterday. Thomas Patrtidge took home £3,495 for 4th place before the remaining players chopped and played for the extra £1,425.

Here's how the top three finished:

1st, David Phelam, Ireland - £11,425
2nd, Radoslaw Morawiec, Poland - £10,000
3rd, Gerald Karlic, Austria - £10,000
--MC

5pm: Not much to shout about
There has been a lot of raising and shoving going on this level but no player has had the goods to call, yet.

One hand that did make it to showdown saw Vladislav Donchev open from the button and Przemysław Dajer and defend from the blinds. The flop fell [jc][6h][8h] and Donchev's c-bet was only check-called by Dajer.

The two players checked through the [ac] turn before Dajer check-called a 102,000 bet only to be shown [ks][8s]. That put Donchev up to 850,000 and Dajer down to 740,000. -- MC

4.40pm: Derrick and Burland the first to break the million chip mark
Just 17 players remain in the UKIPT Edinburgh main event and two players now have more than a million in chips. Chip leader now, as he was at the start of the day, is Chris Derrick, he's on 1,095,000. But hot on his heels is Jamie Burland. The UKIPT1 Brighton Champion has 1,045,000 and knows exactly what it takes to win one of these.

The full chip counts are as below:

Chris Derrick,United Kingdom ,PokerStars Qualifier,1,095,000
Jamie Burland,United Kingdom,PokerStars Qualifier,1,045,000
Przemysław Dajer,Poland,PokerStars Player,980,000
Nicolau Villa-Lobos,Brazil,,888,000
Isaac Opoku,United Kingdom,818,000
James Sykes,United Kingdom ,PokerStars Player,604,000
Michael Kemp,United Kingdom,PokerStars Player,580,000
Jason Barton,United Kingdom,PokerStars Qualifier,578,000
David Vamplew,United Kingdom,PokerStars Qualifier,543,000
Guido Braye,Netherlands ,PokerStars Qualifier,380,000
Christian Bergstrom,Sweden ,PokerStars Player,312,000
Vladislav Donchev,Bulgaria ,PokerStars Qualifier,276,000
Alisdair Macrae,United Kingdom,PokerStars Qualifier,236,000
Stephen Eames,United Kingdom ,PokerStars Player,206,000
Sébastien Guerlinze,Belgium ,PokerStars Qualifier,195,000
Sylvester Kleian,Netherlands,PokerStars Player,176,000
Darren Knaggs,United Kingdom,PokerStars Player,129,000

PokerStars Blog reporting team in Edinburgh:Marc Convey and Nick Wright. Photos by Mickey May.

The most frantic of days at a UKIPT main event has come to an end as our final table of eight is set for tomorrow. A total of 49 players returned to the Balmoral today, all assured of a payday, but all with far bigger aims. Apart from a plateau in the middle of the day the play was fast and furious as players departed the Prince's suite one-by-one. One player determined not to go anywhere was the end of day chip leader, Przemysław Dajer, who came in with a healthy stack that just grew steadily all day to finish at 2,083,000. Here's how he and the other seven finalists will line up tomorrow:

Seat 1. Nicolau Villa-Lobos - 313,000
Seat 2. David Vamplew - 1,127,000
Seat 3. Przemysław Dajer - 2,083,000
Seat 4. Christian Bergstrom - 517,000
Seat 5. Jamie Sykes - 1,029,000
Seat 6. Guido Braye - 775,000
Seat 7. Vladislav Donchev - 1,700,000
Seat 8. Chris Derrick - 1,497,000

Dajer had added a couple of hundred thousand to his stack early on before he tangled with Kevin Williams in a huge pot that saw him break the one million barrier. He was in the small blind and cold four-bet the Brit's three-bet only to see Williams five-bet his remaining 40 big blinds with [qd][th]. Dajer had two black aces in the hole and you know the rest. From here the Polish player chipped up steadily with a couple of dips when he doubled up short stacks, then he tangled in a huge pot against one of his main rivals for the title in Jamie Skyes.

Dajer check-raised Skyes on a [5d][6c][2h] flop. Sykes called this bet and another 220,000 on the [8s] turn. There was no stopping Dajer on the [kh] river as he bet 320,000. The bet was for more than a third of what the former Sunday Million winner had left. After a good think Sykes decided to release and wait for a better spot. That win saw Dajer become the first player to topple the two million chip mark.

Sykes didn't have to wait long at all to find a better spot. Not long after David Vamplew eliminated Jamie Burland in 10th spot (jacks versus queen-jack) Skyes doubled after he found aces when the unlucky Dutchman, Guido Braye, found queens. The pot was worth 1,7500,000 and put the talented Brit, room mate of Team PokerStars Pro Jake Cody, in a good position before he dropped back into the pack in the last level. He will still be one of the favourites for the title tomorrow.

Vamplew and Burland were the only previous UKIPT winners coming into today, and if Vamplew goes onto win the double tomorrow it seemed fitting that it was he who knocked out Burland. He also eliminated Sébastien Guerlinze minutes before that and helps make up a very strong mix of players for what promises to be a very exciting final.

One player who was so close to being involved only to fall in the heartbreaking position of 9th was Isaac Opoku. He was down to less than ten big blinds when he made a stand with [ad][2d] but Vamplew and Vladislav Donchev teamed up to knock him out; the latter's pocket threes doing the fatal damage.

Those who came back today with high hopes at midday, only to be dashed throughout the afternoon and evening, were: PokerStars' Team Online Grzegorz Mikielewicz (44th), Thomas Hall (37th), Manig Loeser (36th), Brett Angell (18th) and Jason Barton (12th). All are talented players who play on the tour regularly, and all will be back and running deep again.

Tomorrow play will resume at midday and one player will walk away six-figures richer. Here's a reminder of the money on offer for all the final table spots:

1st. £101,000
2nd. £61,000
3rd. £37,400
4th. £27,350
5th. £21,150
6th. £17,000
7th. £12,850
8th. £9,750

The jumps are big and that's what makes tournament poker so exciting. Please join us back here then when we will have every big hand, bust out and talking point. Goodnight from a chilly Edinburgh.

To catch up on all today's action and see who finished where click on the links below:

Level 17-20.
Level 21-25.
Prize pool and payouts.

Use of all photos should be credited to Mickey May. Be warned, her ancestors once conquered these shores and she's up for another battle.

3.20pm: Break time
The players are on a 15-minute break. Updates from here will appear in a new post.

3.10pm: Chip counts
After those two big pots in the past 20 minutes here are the current chip counts

Nicolau Villa-Lobos - 4,000,000
David Vamplew - 2,250,000
Vladislav Donchev - 1,450,000
Przemysław Dajer - 1,390,000

3.05pm: Przemyslaw Dajer doubles through David Vamplew
After eight hands that involved more walks than flops and showdowns combined we had some action.

It folded to David Vamplew in the small blind and he moved all-in for an effective 690,000, Przemyslaw Dajer didn't take long to call, all-in for 690,000 he was the at risk player.

Vamplew: [Js][5s]
Dajer: [Ah][10d]

The [10c][Kd][7h] flop kept the Pole in front, the [8s] turn card gave Vamplew a gut shot to go with his pair outs but he missed them all on the [6d] river. -- NW

2.50pm: Huge pot sees Villa-Lobos double through Vamplew to claim lead
It was a big one and took more than ten minutes to play out. The result saw a new chip leader emerge.

David Vamplew opened to 120,000 and Nicolau Villa-Lobos defended his big blind to see a [5s][2h][6s] flop fall down. Vamplew continued for 250,000 and Villa-Lobos called.

The [kc] appeared on the turn and Vamplew fired 430,000 at the pot. Villa-Lobos took a little longer this time before he check-called again to see the [ah] river. Without hesitation Villa-Lobos moved all in for his remaining 1,220,000. The move took Vamplew by surprise and the longest tank of this final table ensued.

Vamplew was trying to figure out what it all meant and sporadically looked at his opponent as if he was a dying puppy. Eventually he made the call and the Brazilain jumped out of his seat and revealed [4s][3s] for straight. What a flop that was for him. Vamplew opened [ts][th] and dropped to 2,900,000. Villa-Lobos started this final table with 313,000 chips and now he has 3,900,000 - wow. -- MC

2.35pm: Vladislav Donchev doubles through Nicolau Villa-Lobos
The stacks of Vladislav Donchev and Nicolau Villa-Lobos are now much closer together as the former has just doubled up through the latter.

Donchev open-shoved from the button for 745,000 and Villa-Lobos called quickly and David Vamplew turbo mucked from the big blind.

Donchev: [Ah][Kd]
Villa-Lobos: [As][10s]

On a day when the worst hand has got there often in all-in situations, despite having the best of it Donchev could take nothing for granted. The [5h][5s][7c] flop opened up the possibility of a chop as well as an outdraw, but the [6c] turn and [2s] river kept Donchev in front. He's up to 1,550,000 whilst Villa-Lobos slips to 2,100,000. -- NW

2.25pm: Updated chip counts
David Vamplew - 4,375,000
Nicolau Villa-Lobos - 2,900,000
Przemysław Dajer - 1,030,000
Vladislav Donchev - 825,000

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 30,000-60,000, ante 5,000

2.15pm: Pressure grows on Dajer and Donchev
Przemysław Dajer and Vladislav Donchev are both on around 950,000 and below the 20 big blind mark with the new level on the horizon.

Dajer has been trying to get chips but he keeps getting shoved on, on a day that nothing has gone right for him so far.

Donchev lost a bunch of chips to Nicolau Villa-Lobos after he peeled an under the gun raise from the Brazilian whilst in the big blind. Both players checked the [4s][2c][4h] flop before Donchev check-called a 130,000 bet on the [jh] turn. Both players checked the [jh] river and Villa-Lobos opened [ah][5c]. Dochev smiled as he flashed the [kd] and mucked. -- MC

2.05pm: Vamplew over four million
Well that big pot between David Vamplew and Przemyslaw Dajer did happen. From the button Vamplew made it 100,000 to go, Dajer three-bet to 240,000 from the small blind but folded when Vamplew moved all-in. After that hand Vamplew has more than four million, whilst Dajer is down to 1,025,000. -- NW

1.55pm: Huh? No exits
Action has slowed, as of course it had to, after the frantic opening 75 minutes. In the past eight hands there's been just one flop. There's still been a fair bit of three-betting going on and you sense it's only a matter of time before David Vamplew and Przemyslaw Dajer play a big pot. -- NW

1.40pm: Chris Derrick eliminated in 5th place (£21,150)
Long-time leader from earlier days, Chris Derrick, has seen his ride come to an end in 5th place. He was eliminated by Nicolau Villa-Lobos but the real damage was done by Vladislav Donchev the hand before.

David Vamplew opened to 100,000 before Donchev moved all in for 740,000 from the small blind and Derrick followed suit for a little more from the big blind. Vamplew folded to leave them heads up.

Donchev: [4h][4c]
Derrick: [kc][qd]

The board ran [8c][8h][3d][jd][7d] to miss Derrick's hand.

He had 115,000 left the next hand and in they went, to be called by all four opponents. They all went on to check down the [5d][4h][2c][6d][4d] board. Derrick opened [ac][4s] for trips but was unlucky that Villa-Lobos held [5c][3h] for a straight. -- MC

1.25pm: Chip counts
Below are 100% accurate chip counts from the break, David Vamplew and Nicolau Villa-Lobos have two thirds of the chips in play between them.

Nicolau Villa-Lobos, Brazil, 2,430,000
Przemyslaw Dajer, Poland, PokerStars Player, 1,410,000
David Vamplew, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, 3,610,000
Chris Derrick, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, 980,000
Vladislav Donchev, Bulgaria, PokerStars Qualifier, 710,000

1.20pm: Back from the break
The players are now back in their seats and play is underway once more. -- NW

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 25,000-50,000 ante 5,000

1.05pm: More for Vamplew
There's just no stopping David Vamplew right now as he just won the last pot before the break.

He opened to 80,000 and got calls from Vladislav Donchev (button), Chris Derrick (small blind) and Nicolau Villa-Lobos (big blind). The dealer fanned a [5c][7c][9s] flop, Vamplew c-bet 160,000 and Donchev was the only caller.

The two of them then checked down the [5h] turn and [Jh] river Vamplew showed [4c][4d] which was good to take the pot.

The players are now on a 15 minute break, we'll be getting official chip counts during it. -- NW

12.55pm: Jamie Sykes eliminated in 6th place (£17,000)
This is fast becoming the David Vamplew show. He just got somewhat lucky to eliminated the dangerous Jamie Sykes is a cold hand.

Sykes opened the pot with an under the gun raise to 85,000 and Vamplew three-bet to 183,000. The action was back on Sykes who four-bet to 325,000 then called all in for around 1,200,000 chips when Vamplew shoved.

Sykes: [kd][kc]
Vamplew: [as][kh]

The [5d][ts][7s] was safe for Sykes.

The [js] turn opened up half the deck for Vamplew's hand now and prompted Sykes to say. "You have far too many outs, you have to miss!"

The river fell as [ah] to send a spike through Syke's house. He took the loss well and wished everyone luck. As he walked off we heard him say, "Yawn" to his railing buddy, Team PokerStars Pro Jake Cody.

Vamplew is up to 3,600,000 chips now and on fire. -- MC

12.45pm: Guido Braye eliminated in seventh place (£12,850)
We have a new chip leader and it's home town hero David Vamplew.

He opened to 80,000 from mid-postion, Jamie Sykes flat called on the button and Guido Braye then moved all-in for 451,000 total. Back on Vamplew he asked Sykes for a count (1,200,000) and then moved all-in for around 1,900,000, Sykes instantly folded.

Vamplew: [Ah][Ad]
Braye: [Kc][Js]

It was all over by the turn of the [2c][4d][7s][2s][Kh] board and Braye shook everyone's hand before walking to the payouts desk. With 2,300,000 Vamplew now has the chip lead. -- NW

12.35pm: Big guns firing chips
The players are not here to hang around today, that's for sure. David Vamplew and Jamie Sykes were both all in after pre flop raising wars.

The first hand saw Chris Derrick opened to 80,000 from cut-off before Vamplew three-bet to 183,000. Przemysław Dajer was in the small blind and put out a four-bet to 285,000. Derrick folded but Vamplew tank-shoved for 1,350,000. The Polish chip leader made a considered fold.

The very next hand Vladislav Donchev opened before Derrick three-bet and Jamie Sykes four-bet all in. Donchev folded but Derrick made the call. Both players opened pocket jacks and the pot was split. -- MC

12.28pm: Christian Bergstrom eliminated in eighth place (£9,750)
It's been an entertaining start to the final table and we've just lost our first player. Even the exit was exciting as it involved a three-way all-in.

The action folded to Christian Bergstrom and he moved all-in for 421,000 from mid-position. It folded to Vladislav Donchev who asked for a count and then called. Fold from Chris Derrick, but Nicolau Villa-Lobos then announced that he too was all-in. The Brazilian had 594,000 in total and Donchev called off the extra. Showdown!

Bergstrom: [Kd][Qd]
Donchev: [6c][6d]
Villa-Lobos: [Qs][Qc]

The [Jh][8s][5s] flop kept Villa-Lobos out in front, the [7c] turn gave Donchev more outs to a double knockout, but the [10d] completed the board and changed nothing.

What a start then for Villa-Lobos who 30 minutes ago had just 313,000 and now has more than 1,600,000. -- NW

12.20pm: Braye put to the test; becomes the short stack
Guido Braye has become the short stack of the final table after David Vamplew put him to the test for his entire stack.

Vamplew opened to 80,000 from early position and was only called by the Dutchman en route to a [js][6c][3s] flop. Vamplew continued for 80,000 and was snap-raised up to 160,000 by Braye. Vamplew shoved and Braye had to admit defeat with a fold. He dropped to 440,000, Vamplew grew to 1,350,000. -- MC

12.10pm: Quads help Villa-Lobos to an early double up
It took only two hands for Nicolau Villa-Lobos to double up and be back in with a shout of the title.

He three-bet all in for 285,000 from the button after Chris Derrick opened to 80,000 from the cut-off. "Go in then, I call" said Derrick.

Derrick: [2h][2c]
Villa-Lob: [4h][4d]

The board ran [8d][qc][4s][9c][4c] to make the Brazlian quads! Not a bad start. -- MC

12.03pm: Shuffle up and deal
Tournament director Toby Stone has introduced all the players and cards are in the air. -- MC

11.50am: Final table day
Welcome back to the final day here in Edinburgh. Four days of poker action has seen us whittle a field on 612 players down to out final eight. All are still in with a shot of claiming a £101,000 new year present. With more than 20% of the chips in play Przemysław Dajer is the man to catch. Many eyes will be on local poker hero David Vamplew as he tries to add a home town UKIPT title to his London crown. Play is due to kick off very shortly but for now find out a bit more about our players below:

Seat 1: Nicolau Villa-Lobos, Brazil - 313,000
Nicolau Villa-Lobos's introduction to poker in 2007 came in dramatic fashion after heart surgery meant that he had to give up the sports he enjoyed - surfing, skateboarding and football - for six months. Villa-Lobos, 24, is a part-time poker player, cinema producer and student, enjoying playing in his first UKIPT. His best previous live result was an impressive 77th in the WSOP in 2012 for $88,070 but to win UKIPT Edinburgh coming back from the shortest stack would be even better.

Seat 2: David Vamplew, United Kingdom, (PokerStars Qualifier) - 1,127,000
At just 25-years-old David Vamplew is already top of the all-time Scottish money winners list and needs little introduction. Born in Fife, but now living in Edinburgh, Vamplew took down UKIPT/EPT London in October 2010 for £900,000. Technically that means he can become the fourth member of the exclusive double UKIPT winner's club should he take down the £101,000 first prize tomorrow.

Although he says the victory wouldn't be as big as the London win he said: "I'm more excited that it's one of the only big events in Scotland." The Scotsman made the trip straight from the PCA and cheekily said: "I need seventh to get me out of it for the year."

Seat 3: Przemysław Dajer, Poland - 2,083,000
The chip leader going into the final table is 24 year old Przemyslaw Dajer from Szczecin in Poland who started playing poker three years ago via online freerolls. Nowadays he's trying out the pro lifestyle and his first foray into larger-sized buy-in tournaments here in Edinburgh has already paid off. He says he can't believe he made it as far as the final table but hopes to play a good game tomorrow, helped by his chip advantage.

Seat 4: Christian Bergstrom, Sweden - 517,000
Christian Bergstrom travelled from Stockholm to play in the UKIPT Edinburgh Main Event, and has made the final table, guaranteeing him a cash of at least £9,750. Bergstrom has played poker as a competitive amateur for eight years, playing a mixture of tournament and cash games, live and online. His stack took a big hit near to the end of the day with the emergence of a three-outer (in Guido Braye's favour) which means he will be one of the short stacks going into Day 4. However, after an evening off he will be supported by his rail of friends who also travelled over to play as he attempts to capture the title.

Seat 5: Jamie Sykes, United Kingdom - 1,029,000
Jamie Sykes, 24, hails from Leeds and plays online poker professionally. Sykes has attended two other UKIPTs; this is his first cash on the tour and to win would amount to smashing his live tournament winnings record. He rarely plays live poker, saying that coming out here represented a "burst of work ethic" and that in the future he was going to play every stop on the tour. Despite a rollercoaster journey to the final, Sykes admits, "I've played so many tournaments online that I'm used to it," adding that sharing a table with Kevin Williams and Jamie Burland earlier on was good fun - just one of many chatty line-ups he enjoyed playing with during his run to the final.

Seat 6: Guido Braye, Netherlands (PokerStars Qualifier) - 775,000
Guido Braye is a 52 year old data manager from Amstelveen (near Amsterdam); the final table of UKIPT Edinburgh is already guaranteed to be his biggest live poker result to date. But, amusingly, it should never have happened at all. He qualified for UKIPT Newcastle, cashing in 60th place, and travelled with his girlfriend. However, she didn't want to head to Edinburgh, so Braye, who qualified online, tried to switch his ticket to the London leg, but was not permitted to. So, he travelled alone and has now made the
final table.
Braye took the game up four years ago, when his nephew took him to a bar where they played poker. He says that should he win the tournament he'd go to the BMW garage and buy an X5! Away from the table he's a keen squash and golf player. He names Ruben Visser and Paul Berende as players he looks up to.

Seat 7: Vladislav Donchev, Bulgaria (PokerStars Qualifier) - 1,700,000
Bulgarian Donchev is another to fly straight from the PCA to Edinburgh (via London) to take part in the UKIPT. The 25 year old professional poker player from Sofia, is playing in only his eighth live tournament and this is his first cash. Given that he's second in chips going to the final it could well be worth waiting for.
As well as the PCA he's previously taken part in the PokersStars Eureka poker tour, when taking a break from playing tournaments online - his main game. He's only been playing for two and a half years and away from poker likes to play football with friends. If he doesn't win he says David Vamplew and Przemysław Dajer are the two most likely to.

Seat 8: Chris Derrick, United Kingdom (PokerStars Qualifier) - 1,497,000
Although Chris Derrick currently lies third in chips, he originally planned for a holiday around his trip to UKIPT Edinburgh, figuring, "I'll probably bust day one, and my wife and I will have a nice holiday." Instead, he's made the final of his first ever big live tournament, and his wife has had to settle for the rail for one more day. Derrick, 29, is from Bangor, Northern Ireland, and has been an online poker professional for 6 years, playing under the screen name 'BornSurvivor' after a now somewhat-regretted fascination with Bear Grylls. He specialises in MTTs having graduated from the 180-man sit-and-goes but is keen on the live experience. "I love the one hour levels, and the fact you can make moves."

PokerStars Blog reporting team in Edinburgh (in order of number of times their laptop has died today) : Marc Convey (once) and Nick Wright (never, I have a Mac). Photos by Mickey May (never, has a Mac also).

4.45pm: Nicolau Villa-Lobos wins UKIPT Edinburgh(£101,000); Vladislav Donchev eliminated in 2nd place (£61,000)
The most amazing final table comeback the UKIPT has ever seen was completed with the elimination of Vladislav Donchev. The Bulgarian was down to less than ten big blinds when he shoved from the button. Nicolau Villa-Lobos looked down at his hand and made a quick call.

Donchev: [qh][7h]
Villa-Lobos: [ac][qc]

The final board of the tournament ran [9h][4d][9s][3d][ah].

An amazing final table that will be wrapped up in a new post for you very soon. We'll see you in Cork in a few weeks time. -- MC

4.35pm: More for Villa-Lobos
Now showdowns as yet, but Nicolau Villa-Lobos has increased his lead, Vladislav Donchev is now down to around 900,000. -- NW

4.25pm: Cards back in the air
Play is back underway. -- NW

4.20pm: Heads-Up chip counts
So, going into heads-up play Nicolau Villa-Lobos has a massive chip lead. The Brazilian has 7,910,000, whilst Vladislav Donchev has 1,230,000. One double up and Donchev suddenly has stack that can do some damage though. Meanwhile it's been a remarkable transformation for Villa-Lobos who was the short stack coming to this final table, but has spun his 313,000 into 7,910,000.

4.15pm: Przemysław Dajer eliminated in third place (£37,400)
We're now heads-up in Edinburgh as Przemysław Dajer just got very unlucky to exit this tournament.

From the button Nicolau Villa-Lobos opened to 160,000, Dajer then moved all-in for roughly 1,350,000 and after crunching the numbers Villa-Lobos made the call.

Villa-Lobos: [As][4s]
Dajer: [Ac][Jh]

The board ran [6d][5c][8s][Jd][7h] and the river card completed Villa-Lobos's straight.

There's now a 10 minute break before heads-up begins, during which we'll get official chip counts, but without counting I can tell you it's Villa-Lobos - a lot, Vladislav Donchev - not so much. -- NW

4.10pm: Villa-Lobos extends lead at Donchev's expense
The last two hands Vladislav Donchev has been on the button he's min raised and both times Nicolau Villa-Lobos has peeled from the small blind. Both times the Brazilian won the pot.

The first hand was checked all the way to the river of a [9d][3s][jc][6h][8d] where Villa-Lobos lead for 165,000. Fold.

The next orbit hand was also checked all the way down its [2s][7d][ac][tc][2h] board and once more Villa-Lobos led for 165,000. This time Donchev called. He was shown [9d][td] by his opponent and mucked to drop to 1,180,000 chips. Villa-Lobos up to 6,400,000 or there abouts. -- MC

4pm: Chop
You sense that if either Przemysław Dajer or Vladislav Donchev are to stand a chance heads-up against Nicolau Villa-Lobos then one of them is going to have to take one for the team, double the other one up and bow out in third place. They just had a go at that but the hand ultimately ended in a chop.

From the small blind Dajer made it 180,000 to go, Donchev shoved from the big blind for 1.490,000 and after getting a count the Pole made the call.

Dajer: [Ks][Qh]
Donhev: [Kh][Qs]

The [Jd][8d][10c] flop meant the two of them chopped the pot, with the meaningless [8c] and [Qc] completing the board. -- NW

3.45pm: David Vamplew eliminated in 4th place (£27,350)
The David Vamplew show only ran for half a season then. His fall from dominant position to bust happened to the same player who started the downward trend.

Vamplew opened to 180,000 and called all in for around 2,400,000 when Nicolau Villa-Lobos shoved from the big blind.

Vamplew: [th][ts]
Villa-Lobos: [as][kh]

The board ran [8d][2h][ks][6d][2s] to pair the Brazilian's king. Vamplew's double UKIPT quest is over for this event. Villa-Lobos showed some class as Vamplew left by saying to him, "You were the best player in the field I played with." He's up to around six million in chips now. -- MC

3.35pm: Final four face-off at UKIPT Edinburgh
In a frantic first three levels four half of the final table were sent packing. So that leaves the other 50%, four players from four different countries.

The title will go to either a Scot, a Pole, a Brazilian or a Bulgarian. Three of those would be firsts for the UKIPT whilst if Daivd Vamplew takes it down, it'll be a second UKIPT title for him and he'll become the fourth double UKIPT winner.

As it stands it's Brazil's title to lose as Nicolau Villa-Lobos is out in front with 3,450,000 but David Vamplew (2,410,000) and Przemyslaw Dajer are just one double up from the lead. And last, but not least, Vladislav Donchev (1,490,000) is by now means out of it, he's still got 18 big blinds to dent the other stacks with.

PokerStars Blog reporting team in Edinburgh (in order of their excitement about the snow that's falling outside) : Nick Wright (childlike wonderment) and Marc Convey (teenage like sulking) Photos by Mickey May .

At 12pm today Nicolau Villa-Lobos started the final table as the short stack with just 313,000 of the 9,140,000 in play. Less than five hours later he had them all, a trophy and a six-figure boost to his bank balance. It's fair to say the 24-year-old boy from Brazil, who only took up poker when he had heart surgery six years ago, can cut it on a cold snowy afternoon in Edinburgh in January.

"Today was another day and I was in the small blind so knew I had an orbit to play," he said after winning. "I had spirit and very good vibrations from my friends in Brazil; everybody was supporting me a lot and sending me messages. I'm happy, very happy."

Making quads on the second hand to double up helped of course, fifteen minutes later he had a near treble up when his queens held against the pocket sixes of Vladislav Donchev and [Kd][Qd] of Christian Bergstrom. The Swede exited in eighth and Villa-Lobos jumped to second in chips. But the first half of this final table was all about the player he, and everyone else, trailed.

Although he came to the final table fourth in chips, all eyes were on David Vamplew and he didn't disappoint. The UKIPT/EPT London champion was going for a second UKIPT title, in his home city no less, in the city where he learnt to play. To emphasise this he wore a Edinburgh University Poker Society top, several members of that society were on hand to witness the Scot bash up the field.

He had clashed a number of times with chip-leader Przemyslaw Dajer in the latter stages of play on Day 3 and the two of them were soon at it again. A successful five-bet shove gave him near chip parity with the Pole. And when he found aces to eliminate Guido Braye in seventh, we had a new chip leader.

The Scot, who joked pre-final table that he needed seventh to get him out of it for the year made sure that he did far better than that when he eliminated Jamie Sykes in sixth place. The latter was being railed by house mate and friend Team PokerStars Pro Jake Cody.

The two young guns went to war pre-flop, Vamplew five-bet shoved for an effective 1,200,000 with [As][Kh] and Sykes was only too happy to call with pocket kings. The Scot turned a flush draw and rivered an ace to send the dangerous Sykes back to England. The final table wasn't yet an hour old.

There was just no stopping Vamplew, he would take care of Chris Derrick in fifth soon after, although the donkey work was done by Vladislav Donchev who shoved with pocket fours and held against Derrick's [Kc][Qd]. The Day 2 chip leader took home £21,150 for his efforts in Edinburgh.

So with half the final table eliminated Vamplew had almost 50% of the chips in play. His nearest rival was Villa-Lobos and the two of them would play a tournament defining pot, in a hand that lasted almost ten minutes.

From under-the-gun Vamplew min-rasied to 120,000 and Villa-Lobos defended his big blind. The latter called bets of 250,000 and 430,000 respectively on the [5s][2h][6s][Kc] board before open-shoving for 1,220,000 on the [Ah] river.

After the longest tank of the final table Vamplew called, Villa-Lobos had [4s][3s] for the flopped straight, Vamplew pocket tens. That pot gave Villa-Lobos a chip lead that he would never relinquish. "I just had the nuts and the flush draw in the hand against David," said Villa-Lobos. "I think I confused him with the line that I took. And after the all in on the river I started to breath more heavily and rub my palms, I'm sure he noticed that. I'm not sure if that's what made him call but maybe."

After that nothing went right for Vamplew, he doubled up Dajer but was still second in chips when he yet again played a big pot with tens against Villa-Lobos. The Brazillian had ace-king and paired his king to win a five million-chip pot and eliminate Vamplew in fourth.

So now it was the start of final table short stack against the players who had been one and two at the start of the day. With two-thirds of the chips in play Villa-Lobos was not going to be pushed around and he raise-called when Dajer shoved for 17 big blinds with [Ac][Jh]. His [As][4s] was dominated but a [6d][5c][8s][Jd][7h] board gave him a fortuitous straight and a 6.5:1 chip lead going into heads-up play against Vladislav Donchev.

The Bulgarian had almost got to heads-up play unnoticed, coming into play with 1,700,000 he had lost a chunk to Villa-Lobos in the hand that eliminated Bergstrom and then never got back above his starting stack. He wouldn't manage that heads-up either. Down to less than 10 big blinds he shoved with [Qh][7h] and Villa-Lobos snapped with [Ac][Qc]. Five cards later the most amazing comeback this tour has ever seen was complete.

UKIPT Edinburgh Final table results:

1st. Nicolau Villa-Lobos, Brazil, £101,000
2nd. Vladislav Donchev, Bulgaria, PokerStars Qualifier, £61,000
3rd. Przemysław Dajer, Poland, PokerStars Player, £37,400
4th. David Vamplew, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, £27,350
5th. Chris Derrick, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, £21,150
6th. James Sykes, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, £17,000
7th. Guido Braye, Netherlands, PokerStars Qualifier, £12,850
8th. Christian Bergstrom, Sweden, PokerStars Player, £9,750

To catch up on today's turbo final table and who finished where you can click on the links below. To catch up with actual turbo final tables you can find all TCOOP reports here. Qualifiers for the main event of UKIPT Cork, which takes place February 14th-18th, are running now and available on the client. Until then we're all off to get Samba lessons.

Levels 26-28
Level 29

All pictures are copyright of Mickey May, her boots could do extensive damage to anyone who chooses not to credit her.

If you're a fan of the UKIPT as it has been for the past three seasons, you might want to sit down. Things are about to change in a very big way. This tour is about to get real.

The UK & Ireland Poker Tour announced today that it will be hosting new events in new places, leaving the UK entirely, and guaranteeing £500,000 for every main event.

To kick off the season in style, the UKIPT will be crossing the sea to Marbella on the Costa del Sol in Spain. The partnership with the Estrellas Poker Tour will be a full week-long poker festival June 13-17 with a €1,000 buy-in main event.

As if that's not enough to brighten your day, the tour has some real fun things lined up for the rest of the year. In August, UKIPT Galway will be home to a special "poker village" for a two-week festival during Galway Race Week. Among the highlights: a one-week Cash-Game Festival, the Irish Bridge Masters, and the inaugural UK vs Ireland Heads-Up Championship.

In October, the tour will head to London to the opulent Grand Connaught Rooms in Covent Garden, followed by a visit to the Isle of Man in November. Following the massive success of the Nottingham event in Season 3, the UKIPT will head back to the Dusk Till Dawn poker club in December where the schedule will include the very first 6-Max main event in the history of the UKIPT.

Here's a look at the schedule as it stands today.

Marbella
June 13-17
Casino Marbella
€1,000 + €100

Galway
August 8-12
Volvo Race
€1,000 + €100

London
October 2-6
Connaught Rooms
£1,000 + £100

Isle Of Man
October 31-Nov 4
Villa Marina
£1,000 + £100

Nottingham (6-max)
November 28-Dec 2
Dusk Till Dawn
£1,000 + £100

For more information and the confirmed schedule, keep your eye on the UKIPT website, which will be updated soon.

Brad Willis is the PokerStars Head of Blogging

8.55pm: Day 1A is done
Play has just ended here in Cork, roughly 58 players made it through from the 143 who started. A full wrap of the day's play will be on its way shortly. Whilst full chip counts of those who remain will be posted within the next hour. -- NW

8.40pm: Webber a hero until the end
Seth Webber book-ended his day by winning another crucial pot after the one that helped him double up at the start of play (see 12:15pm post).

He was heads-up to the turn of an [as][ah][kd][7d] board. Webber led for 2,500 and was raised up to 6,050 by Olli Vahala. He called and checked the action over to the Finn on the [2d] river. "How much you have?" bellowed Vahala to wake up those suffering fatigue. When he got the answer (23,550) he shoved his 36,000 into the middle.

Webber took his time and then made a great call with [ac][qd]. Vahala had been bluffing and could only show nine high with [8c][9s] -- MC

8.35pm: Last three hands
The tournament clock has been paused and the players will play three more hands. Phil Peters just added another 9,175 to his stack by eliminating Ciaran O'Learey. The latter shoved from the button with [10d][6d], Peters calling with [Ad][Qd]. The board ran [Ac][Ks][3c][Kd][Ah] to eliminate him. -- NW

8.30pm: Tongi has tons
Pascal Töngi appears to be the chip leader, the German has got a stack of 115,000. That's three and a half times the average, which is currently 33,500. -- NW

8.15pm: Exits
As time ticks down so does the number of players left in the tournament, just 67 players remain. The latest players to bust are: William Champion, Brett Angell, Joel Beverley, Matej Kalčič, Mantas Puidokas, Richard Fernandes, David Dean, Andrew Sweeney, Joshua Hart, Tim Bettingen and Fintan Hand. -- NW

8.05pm: Make it Raine
More chips for Neil Raine, who was as low as 4,000 two hours ago but now has around 60,000.

He got his latest boost when he tangled in a pot with Dennis Smit. The Dutchman opened from the cut-off to 1,200, Raine three-bet to 2,600 from the button, Smit re-raised to 5,700 and Raine made the call. The dealer fanned a [3h][4s][Ks] flop Smit c-bet 4,400 and Raine smooth called. The [6h] hit the turn, Smit fired out 8,600 only for Raine to move all-in for roughly 38,000 total. Back on Smit he got a count, checked his own stack which was similar to Raine's and then elected to fold. -- NW

8pm: Chip counts
As we enter the last hour of the day here's how some of the names and notables are faring: Dermot Blain (45,000), Mick McCloskey (24,000), Paul McTaggart (10,000), Seth Webber (38,000), Mantas Puidokas (5,000), Kevin Killeen (19,000), Richard Haile (34,000), Richard Sinclair (22,000), Brett Angell (8,000), Gary Clarke (27,000), James Noonan (14,000) and Padraig O'Neill (23,000). -- NW

7.55pm: Webber entangles O'Donoghue
Seth Webber doubled up in the first level of play and, from what we've witnessed, has had a pretty steady day since. He has around 35,000 chips after hitting a river card in a hand versus Liam O'Donoghue.

The latter raised off the button and Webber defended his big blind to see a [7h][3h][5s] flop appear. He checked-called a 850 c-bet before both players checked the [7s] turn. On the [qc] river Webber led for 1,850 and O'Donoghue called after some thought.

"I got lucky, man" said Webber as he opened [ks][qd]. O'Donoghue mucked. -- MC

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 300-600, ante 75

7.45pm: Turn sweat
A big pot between Tom Hall and Nima Saken Shaft just played out on Table nine and it was one that left Hall sweating.

The action was started by Padraig O'Neill who raised to 800 from middle position, Hall flat called and Saken Shaft then raised to 2,650 from the cut-off. Back on O'Neill he quickly folded and Hall then went into the tank.

He eyed up Saken Shaft's stack, the German had approximately 16,000 more behind, Hall covered and he elected to set Saken Shaft all-in. The latter shrugged then called all-in. "Ace-queen," said Hall sheepishly sensing he must be behind. But, Saken Shaft also had ace-queen, [As][Qh] to be exact. The [Js][3h][7h][8h] board mean that by the turn Saken Shaft was freerolling, but the [4d] completed the board meaning they chopped the pot. -- NW

7.33pm: All the sevens
With 77 minutes left to play there are 77 players remaining! -- MC

7.30pm: 'You've just got to run good'
The title was what a humble Neil Raine said to us after he eliminated a short stack to rise to 48,000 chips. We're not being fooled by the man who's spent more time on the canvas today than Rocky.

His victim was Paul Delaney who got his last 3,000 or so chips in with [kc][jc]. Raine opened [th][td] and the sweaty board ran [qh][8d][9c][ah][ad]. -- MC

7.25pm: Power outage
Seems Nicky Power was right to be pessimistic about his chances of making Day 2 as he's just been knocked out. No details just a cry of seat open and Power scuttling off away from the table. -- NW

7.20pm: Hall gets more oats
Tom Hall seems to have two main poker faces from what I've observed. The first is one of indifference; this is his default setting. The second is one of immense pain, this is reserved for when he hates life or is put in a weird spot. Both came to the fore in a recent hand against Alek Nazareet.

From the button Nazareet made it 900 to go and Hall defended from the big blind. The [10d][10c][2c] flop was checked to Nazareet, he bet 1,200 and Hall made the call. The [4h] hit the turn, check from Hall, bet of 2,000 from Nazareet, call from Hall.

The [Qc] completed the board, Hall riffled some chips contemplated a bet and then checked it once more, Nazareet took his time before betting 2,450. At this juncture Hall took off his headphones and the painful look took over. "Weird spot," he said. Eventually after running the hand through his head he called. "I have a pair," said Nazareet showing [5c][2d], Hall rolled over [Ac][4d] to win the pot. He's up to 36,000 whilst Nazareet is down to 30,000. -- NW

7.15pm: Killeen grinding
Kevin Killeen was slumped in his chair maybe trying to stay under the radar on two counts. Slumped or not he just managed to win a small pot whilst out of position.

He peeled a late position raise from the big blind to see a [kc][8h][5d] flop appear. He check-called a 900 bet before he took up the intuitive with a lead for 2,000 on the [21d] turn. It did the job as his opponent admitted defeat. That put Killeen up to 12,000 chips. -- MC

7.05pm: So long, come again
Rodrigo Zimmermann, John Chambers, Derek Baker, Adrian Cazacu, Aidan Butler, Mark Flanagan, Charlie Harvey, Joseph Lalor, Larry Brennan, Darren Roe, Dominque Vennettilli, Eldon Orr, Chris Dowling have all departed. -- MC

6.55pm: Power shortage
Ireland's Nicky Power doesn't rate his chances of making Day 2. "6k two levels left - can I make it hmm 25/75," he tweeted. -- NW

6.50pm: Just call him the comeback kid
You want to know what it takes to lead the season 3 Player of the Year Race and be in with a chance of winning packages for all Season 4 events? Just ask the current leader Neil Raine. He might tell you to never give up.

Three times today he was knocked down to around 4,000 chips. The first two times he recovered to his starting stack only to fall back again. His third comeback has taken him to more than double starting stack though! He Tweeted:

" Got 32k on the second break just doubled up 108> 44 on 882 board I 5 bet the flop he called #ukiptcork". -- MC

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 200-400, ante 50

6.30pm: Break time
The players are now on a 15 minute break. -- NW

6.20pm: Derrick builds a bigger Wall; Töngi crumbles
Derrick Wall found a nice spot and a willing customer to aid him in quest for a double up.

Pascal Töngi was under the gun with around 20,000 chips and Wall was in the big blind with 16,450 chips. It didn't take long for both of them to get their chips in.

Wall: [ks][kc]
Töngi: [jc][jd]

The board ran [9h][3h][ad][kd][qd] to end the hand by the turn. -- MC

6.10pm: News in brief
Here's a few snapshots of what's happening around the room...

- The aforementioned tough table (see 5.05pm post) has indeed broken, Padraig O'Neill is now sat to the right of Tom Hall and the two of them just clashed in a pot. The action was started by O'Neill, who raised to 600 under-the-gun, Hall three-bet to 1,375 and after getting a count of Hall's remaining stack (about 9,000) O'Neill made the call. The flop fell [8s][5c][Qh], check, bet of 900 from Hall, call from O'Neil. The [2s] fell on fourth street, O'Neill checked again and folded to Hall's double barrel bet of 1,850.

- Richard Sinclair, who's freerolling Season 3 due to winning the Champion of Champions event, is going well he's up to 27,000. He's yet to cash on the tour during Season 3 but he's going the right way about putting that right here.

- Brett Angell is down to just 4,000, he moved all-in and Ciaran O'Learey looked like he was going to call but eventually elected to fold. -- NW

6pm: Can't catch a break; won't give in
Every time Neil Raine thought he was getting back in the game something like the following that he Tweeted happened:

"ak into kk for 20k after guy says "you haven't got aces have you?" Hating life, surprisingly people don't have to 4 bet without aces!!! 4k."

This is the third time he's been down to 4,000 chips, can he mount one more comeback? -- MC

5.50pm: There were here, then they were gone
Registration closed at the end of level 3 and the numbers were counted, tallied and whatever else they do with the lists. The final number of entrants for today was confirmed as 143. It was a little less than hoped but tomorrow is expected to be much bigger.

Those not part of the "IN" group anymore include: Ciaran Cooney, Patrick Beuter, Jim O'Neill, Marc Radgen, Jonathan Bell, Alan Kelleher, Fergal Cawley, Neil O'Dowd, Marcin Podskarbi, Teri Lau, Lukasz Roczniak, Adrian Nuñez Paradelo, Sami Vahala, Steven Bartley, Killian Whelan, Noel O'Brian, Daniel Rygielski, Robert Glen, Ivan Ivanov, Ciaran Burke and Dhanesh Chainani. -- MC

5.40pm: Doverklint dents Puidokas
It might be the UKIPT but poker is a global game and Sweden just tangled with Lithuania in a pot. Representing Sweden in this instance was Mikael Doverklint he raised it up pre-flop to 700 and got a call from Lithuanian player Mantas Puidokas. The [Ah][9s][8s] flop was checked through and the [9h] hit the turn.

First to act Puidokas bet 800, call from Doverklint. The [3d] completed the board, both players checked it down, Puidokas showed [Kh][Qs] whilst Doverklint opened [5h][3h] for the flushing hand which turned into a rivered one pair. After that hand Doverklint has over 40,000. -- NW

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 150-300, ante 25

5.30pm: Farrell won some battles but lost the war
Dennis McCartney lives in Belgium and travels around with his wife to different spots. These spots have two prerequisites: there has to be a poker tournament taking place for him to play and decent enough shopping to keep his wife happy. Cork fitted their brief for this week.

McCartney was sat next to, but out of position to, Niall Farrell. The two tangled in a lot of pots with the latter using position to get the better in most of them. It was the last battle that counted the most though and McCartney was victorious.

Wouter van der Peijl opened from mid position with ace-nine and a sneaky McCartney flatted with kings from the small blind before Farrell squeezed all in from the big blind with ace-jack. Van der Peijl re-shoved and McCartney made an easy call and busted both players to move up to 28,000 chips. -- MC

5.15pm: Sick Bragg
The call was, "All in and call." The table was number three and the players were Anthony Bragg and Brett Angell.

The hand had reached the turn where the board read [9s][ts][ks][2c]. It was here that Angell made his move with only to be called by Bragg.

Angell: [as][jd] for nut flush draw and straight draw.
Bragg: [tc][9c] for two pair.

The board came [td] to fill up Bragg to a full house and a 25,000 stack. The active Angell dropped to 17,000. -- MC

5.05pm: Hang tough
Table 14 definitely has a claim to being the toughest table in the room right now, but its inhabitants seem to be enjoying themselves nonetheless.

In seat one sits Neil Raine, he also sits atop the UKIPT leader board. In seat four is James Noonan, Irish blogger Danny Maxwell informs me he's a wizard who's meant to be the next big thing in Irish Poker, one to keep an eye on then. Which is something seat six - Padraig O'Neill - gets to do all the time as Noonan is his roommate here in Cork, O'Neill finished fifth earlier this season in Dublin. And just to keep things interesting in seat eight is Irish Poker legend Nicky Power.

The fun and games may stop soon as we suspect Table 14 will be one of the next tables to break. -- NW

4.55pm: Chip counts
I've just done a sweep of the room and can tell you the approximate chip counts of the following players: Chris Dowling (12,800), Dermot Blain (28,000), Gary Clarke (18,400), Jamie Flynn (14,000), Mantas Puidokas (11,000), Mick McCloskey (20,000), William Champion (16,000), Paul McTaggart (4,300), Richard Haile (22,800), Richard Sinclair (22,600), Seth Webber (29,000), Tim Bettingen (14,000), Tom Hall (21,000), Kevin Killeen (10,500) and Padraig O'Neill (33,000). - NW

4.50pm: Lucky seat, lucky double
The superstitious amongst us would love to get drawn in seat 0707. Patrick O'Donoghue was drawn there and just got lucky to double up.

Karl Thompson opened to 900 from under the gun and made an easy call when O'Donoghue shoved for 2,000 from the button.

Thompson: [ah][kh]
O'Donoghue: [kc][tc]

The board ran [ks][9h][ts][4c][6h] to make O'Donoghue two pair. Thompson shook his head but he's still on 40,000 chips so he'll be okay for now. -- MC

4.42pm: Back to the grind for Raine
Neil Raine dropped to a short stack early and managed to recover that deficit before he took another blow. He Tweeted:

"Down to 4k after a German got there on j45 with 67 for 50bbs on the flop #ukiptcork."

This level he's mostly been in shoving mode and that has helped him get back up to 7,500. We saw him move all in from the big blind after there had been a raise to 675 and a flat call. The squeeze worked as both opponents folded. A few more of those and he'll be right back in it. -- MC

4.30pm: Half the day is done
Four levels of the allotted eight are in the can here in Cork and 120 of the 140 players who started remain.

Of course the stack to blind ratio will continue to dwindle, but for now the average stack is almost 60 big blinds. Sadly for the following players their stack is at zero as they've failed to make it to the second half of the day: Genie Shields, Paul Desgrippes, Tomasz Litewka andTorsten Diers have all busted out here in Cork.

For the remaining players though the action continues and cards are back in the air.

PokerStars Blog reporting team in Cork (and their randomly generated Valentine Name) : Marc Convey (Chopper) and Nick Wright (Cheeky Chops). Photos by Mickey May (Snuggle Bum).

Small but perfectly formed was how someone described Day 1A of UKIPT Cork earlier and we have to agree. The 143 entrants may have been lower than expected but the day offered a lot and was played in a relaxed jovial mood synonymous with the people who inhabit these shores. This didn't mean that it was all fun and games; there was poker to be had and chips to be won.

Pascal Töngi topped the remaining 58 players to lead the Day 1A field. The PokerStars qualifier told the PokerStars Blog that two big hands defined his day. First up he made a set over set to win a huge pot and then late on an opponent decided to five-bet all in with pocket fives. Töngi called with kings went on to make a flush after his opponent had turned a straight. He finished on 124,500.

Irish poker players like a gamble and there was a fair amount of that from the off. It took no time at all to lose our first player Within 15 minutes of the start Richard Garner got married to his pocket aces only to run in to the set of threes of Seth Webber. The South African managed to ride those chips all the way to last few hands where he got himself entangled in another crucial pot. He had made trip aces but was severely put to the test by Finnish player Olli Vahala who set him all in on the river with nine high! Webber figured it out, made the call and makes Day 2 with an above average 65,300.

Other players also through to Day 2 include: Richard Sinclair (52,600), Stephen McGrath (82,400), Mick McCloskey (32,400), Dermot Blain (37,700), Karl Thompson (99,400), Paul McTaggart (9,100), Gary Clarke (38,000) Tom Hall (41,900) and Neil Raine (43,300).

If you're were looking for inspiration; a tale of never giving up; a man who has something in his grasp and doesn't want to let go, then look at the last name on the list above. Raine's top of the Season 3 leaderboard at present and knows he's not too far away from receiving a passport to all Season 4 events. When you're in this position and keep getting knocked down 4,000 chips, you don't give up. Three times he found himself in this spot and all three times he fought back. The third time was obviously his most successful comeback and he managed to finish on a very healthy stack.

There were those that found themselves in a similar position to Raine but failed to make a comeback. The familiar faces of Alex Ferguson, Niall Farrell, Nicky Power, Tim Bettingen, Brett Angell and Chris Dowling kindly all left €700 in the prize pool for others to fight over.

They'll be many more lots of €700 to play for tomorrow as we expect, as per usual, a much bigger field to be in attendance. Team PokerStars Pro will put in force with Jake Cody, Liv Boeree and Team Online's Dale Phillip already bought in. Play will start at 12pm GMT and yet again we'll be playing eight one-hour levels. Until then we wish you goodnight from Cork.

To see the overnight counts and catch up on all the day's action please click on the links below.

Day 1A chip counts.
Levels 1-4.
Levels 5-8.

All pictures are copyright of Mickey May. You don't want to steal her pictures as you should see the damage she can do with a cork!

4.22pm: Half time break
The players are on a 20-minute break. Come back and join us for the second half of the day in a brand new post.

4.20pm: Theirs is a Guinness
There's a no drinking policy in the tournament room this week but the below may well search out the bar after busting:

David Minshull, Evgeni Nikolov Sterev, George Clyde-Smith, Huy Hang, Jonathan David Peacock, Graham Parkin, Peter Murphy, Valdas Lobinas, Dainius Dubickas, Sinem Melin, Nicholas Galtos, Yu Kao Chou, Finnur Hrafnsson and Tom Wiesner. -- MC

4.15pm: Short, double, treble, double
No that's not the drinking habits of your average Irishman on a Friday night, but the tale of the last 30 minutes of this tournament for Dara O'Kearney. And it all played out on twitter.

"Down to fumes after flop set < turned gutter of a Daniac." (26 mins ago)

"Doubled aq v Daniac a5. Then trebled ak > t8 and a3. Back up to 6500 (19 mins ago)

"Boom. Doubled again aces > threes." (11 mins ago).

After all that excitement he's back up to around 13,000. -- NW

4.10pm: Milner falls in a state of Furey
Ronan Milner was short and had a good spot to shove. He didn't like what he shoved into though and he was out the door soon after.

He was in the cut-off and shoved with [ah][td] after Kieran Furey had opened from under the gun. Furey called with [ts][tc] and held on a [ks][9c][5h][8s][8c] board. -- MC

4.05pm: Chip counts
A smattering of chip counts, some big, some small, some...you get the idea: George Clyde-Smith (3,300), Thomas Kitt (19,500), Julian Thew (11,300), Nick Newport (14,300), Nelius Foley (19,000), Phil Baker (9,800), Kevin O'Leary (3,800), Fintan Gavin (39,000) and Hasmukh Khodiyara (13,700). -- NW

4pm: Quick fold from Phillip
Over the past few years a lot of players who were online success stories started to appear on TV in live games where they would take a very long time over decisions. A prime example was Tom Dwan who would take micro-seconds to make decisions online and then tank for several minutes over one decision in a live setting.

Would this be the case with PokerStars Team Online's Dale Phillip? Would it.....

He raised from early position and was only called by Matt Heap on the button en route to a [7h][5d][4d] flop. Phillip continued for 700 and was called to the [8d] turn. Phillip checked and snap-mucked when he saw Heap reach for chips. Now that's internet style decision making for you.

Phillip dropped to 10,400 as Heap rose to 32,000. -- MC

3.55pm: Goat faster stripes
It's not been a good day so far for Sean 'The Goat' Prendiville, late leaving for the tournament the Dublin based player got caught speeding, only arriving during level 3 and now he's been eliminated from the tournament.

He told me: "Ya man in the checked shirt (Rory Hogan) had three-bet two hands in a row and shown ace-king and aces. The next hand I raised with queens to 450, he three-bets to 1,600 and I call. The flop is [Q][8][7] and it goes check, check. The turn was an ace, I bet and he called. The river card was a seven, I bet, he shoved, I called and he's got pocket aces."

A brutal way to exit and almost unbelievably Prendiville's travelling companion Rory Brown has also been eliminated and his exit hand was also queens into aces. -- NW

3.40pm: Twitter update
David K Lappin is turning his day around. His latest Tweet read: "Back 2 almost 12k after doubling w QQ v AK aipf. Tompkins is rocking the 'bad' Beats by Dre after I got myself in2 a verbal spat! #UKIPTCork."

Dara O'Kearny is half that man. He Tweeted: "Down to 6k after an annoying hand where I called a guy bluffing the best hand #ukiptcork."

Another player in mild trouble is Rory Brown. His Tweet read, "Down to 9k after stationing QQ on a K high board, and losing some small battles #UKIPTCork." -- MC

3.35pm: Thompson makes a good call
Calling three barrels from an under-the-gun raiser is pretty tough, even more so when the river bet is for almost 60% of your stack, but that's what Gary Thompson just did in a hand against Ben Senior.
Pre-flop Senior raised and picked up five callers, including Thompson who was in mid-position. The flop fell [2s][Jh][2c] Senior bet 825 and Thompson was the only caller. The [5h] came on fourth street, bet of 1,750 from Senior, call from Thompson. The two of them saw the [9s] complete the board, Senior emptied the clip, betting 4,800. This sent Thompson, who had 8,300 total, into the tank. Eventually he emerged with a call, Senior showed [Ac][Qd] whilst Thompson tabled [Ah][Jd] to claim the pot. -- NW

3.25pm: Please come again
The rate of eliminations felt less than yesterday during the first two which was surprising as today's field in that much bigger. Thing are starting to turn around on that front though.

Recent eliminations include: Daniel Myers, Paul Reaney, Stephen Westlund, Barry McMahon, David McCaul, Donald Elliot, Bongard Samuel, PJ Walsh, Simon Maher, Anthony Reilly, Efthimiadis Georgios, Fraser R. Bellamy and Andrew Abernethy. -- MC

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 100-200

3.10pm: Boeree flush with chips
Liv Boeree has broken through the 20k-chip barrier after rivering a flush against Alberto Mejas.

The action was four-way to a [4s][7h][qd] flop where all four players checked. The turn brought the [ks] and it was here that Mejas' delayed 675 c-bet was only called by Boeree. The river came [5s] and Mejas led again for 1,050. The Team PokerStars Pro pulled out some raising chips and made it 3,025.

Mejas couldn't let go of his [kc][qh] and made the call. Boeree opened [as][ts] and scooped. -- MC

3pm: Leader board race hotting up
The top three finishers in the UKIPT leader board win entry to events in Season 4 of the UKIPT. The winner will get entry and hotel to all Season 4 events, the runner-up gets entry to four events and third place gets entry to two events.

Yesterday the current top two made it safely through to Day 2, Neil Raine (43,300) and Tom Hall (41,700) both have above average stack. Third placed Craig Burke will be hoping to follow in their footsteps today he's just above starting stack on 15,300 as it stands. -- NW

2.50pm: Chip counts
With a quarter of the day done and the average stack still pretty much starting stack let's have a look at how some of the names and notables have got on over the first 120 minutes: Jason Tompkins (21,000), Rupinder Bedi (11,700), Emmett Mullin (17,800), Fergal Nealon (11,800), Jamie Dale (11,500), Marc Macdonnell (13,800), Mick Graydon (14,500), Ollie Schaffmann (18,900), Owen Robinson (23,000), Przemysław Dajer (9,900) and Trish Mallin (18,500). -- NW

2.40pm: Walsh got Harraghy
The naughty kids corner as my colleague Nick Wright coined it has gotten a little better behaved after James Walsh took out Gerard Harraghy.

The two of them got all in on a flop containing a king, an eight and one club. Harraghy held king-jack of clubs for a pair and back-door flush draw but was behind to Walsh who held king-eight for two pair. The board ran out clubs to make Harraghy a flush and that prompted Walsh to shout, "Oh boll##ks!"

What he had failed to realise that the final club also filled him up. Cue embarrassed look as Harraghy walked off into the distance. Walsh up to 18,000. -- MC

2.25pm: The fallen, featuring Jamie Sykes
Tadhg Ryan, Colin Eric Lovelock, Peter Wigglesworth, Rory Macdonald and Jamie Sykes all busted in level one.

Ryan was unlucky whereas Sykes' bust in slightly more bizarre fashion.

Ryan was heard telling a friend that it was a set over set scenario that cost him his tournament life.

Sykes came over in the break to explain how a missclick cost him dear. He took to a king-six-four (two hearts) flop with an opponent and called a bet to see a second flush draw come with the eight on the turn. His opponent led for 550 and Sykes threw out a 1k chip and a small denomination chips wanting to call. The raise to 1,100 was forced and Sykes' opponent picked up on the error and raised to 3,500. Sykes now decided to push his remaining 8,000 in with king-queen and his opponent called with eight-four to bust him. -- MC

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 75-150

2.05pm: Break
The players are now on a 20 minute break. -- NW

2pm: Chip counts
A few counts from around the room: Robbie Bull (17,500), Neil Rawnsley (10,000), Chris Derrick (16,000), Ronan Gilligan (13,600), Sinem Mellin (8,800), Thomas Kitt (18,500), Kevin O'Leary (20,000) and Hasmukh Khodiyara (15,100). -- NW

1.54pm: Bad but could be worse for K Lappin
When you're at a hard table you'd like it of your big hands hold up. David K Lappin is in that spot but it seems as if he could've lost a lot more chip. He just Tweeted:

"Down to 11,500 after losing biggish pots with QQ, AA + being pipped with J10 v the Q10 of @blaaaaaah666 who of course got max value. #UKIPT." -- MC

1.50pm: Chop
It's fair to say that Phil Baker is carrying on the grand tradition of Irish folk who love a natter and to be fair to him he's a pretty entertaining orator. He's at the same table as Julian Thew and as he was regaling the table with a story about the time he organised a charity tournament that Jamie Gold played in, a pot went all the way to showdown.

The action was started by Nick Newport who raised to 225 from the cut-off, both blinds - Yoan Ricci and Mark Baxter - came along for the ride. The flop fell [8h][Ah][6h] c-bet of 300 from Newport, two calls. The [7d] was checked through and the [2d] completed the board. First to act Ricci bet 600, Baxter folded, but Newport made the call, Ricci rolled over [As][4h] and Newport showed [Ac][4c] for a chop.

At the moment Baker is down to 6,700, Thew is up to 16,000 and Newport has 20,000. -- NW

1.44pm: Welcome to Fintan Gavin's world
There are people in life that make you think, "How did they get away with that?" Fintan Gavin is one of those people.

The larger than life character, and former UKIPT Edinburgh champion, is the new chip leader after he busted Terry Plummer after taking a Fintan-style line in the hand.

Evgeni Nikolov Sterev limped from under the gun before Gavin raised to 250 from the next seat. The action folded all the way around to Plummer in the small blind who three-bet to 800. Sterev folded before Gavin moved all in for 21,000 chips! Call!

Gavin: [ac][ah]
Stammer: [ks][kh]

The board ran [jd][6d][qd][9s][6h] to hand Givan the big pot after he faded all those diamond outs. -- MC

1.30pm: First man down
Yesterday it took only 15 minutes to lose a player whereas we had to wait until the second level today.

Tim Farrelly was the unfortunate player after he busted with aces in a four-bet pot. The flop came ten-high with all spades and the chips went in. His opponent had pocket tens for top set but Farrelly had the [as] in his hand. The board bricked out and Farrelly was on his way. -- MC

1.20pm: Literally flying the Team PokerStars flag
Of the three members of Team PokerStars Pro and PokerStars Team Online in the field today only one of them missed a flight and one of them has paid for his flight using FPPs.

"I've got about a million of them saved up," Dale Philip told me. "I plan to pay for all my travel and accommodation this year using them," he added. After the first level he's down to 13,625. But the Edinburgh native told me that the flight here was cheaper than the one to Edinburgh, given that he'd flown back from Thailand to play his hometown UKIPT.

Meanwhile Cody, who's sitting in the 'lucky' seat that Seth Webber occupied yesterday, has unlike the South African not managed to double up during the opening level. He's a couple of hundred under starting stack.

Whilst Liv Boeree, who's sharing a table with Irish online wizard Daragh Davey, is up to 17,400. -- NW

1.15pm: Tough but chatty Corner
Gerard Harraghy, Deborah Worley-Roberts and James Walsh are all sat next to each other on table 27 in the far corner of the room. It's a good job they're over there as they talk so much they might put other players off if they were in the middle of the room!

All three of them were involved in two hands just now and Harraghy was the only one left disappointed.

First up was Worley-Roberts who called an early position raise from David McCaul
whilst sat in the small blind. The big blind came along for the ride too but he ducked out of the way on the [2s][js][7d] flop when Worley-Roberts check-called a 300 c-bet.

The turn appeared as the [6c] and Worley-Roberts check-called a 600 bet before she led for 1,600 on the [8c] river. McCaul raised to 3,500 and that took her back. "That good, eh?" she said and then made the call regardless. It was good asMcCaul announced that he had ace high and mucked upon seeing Worley-Roberts' [as][2c] for trips.

"My friend here said sometimes you've got to play sh#t to win."

She may well have been referring to Walsh who piped in with, "I'll tell you so: you're ready for this tour!"

Walsh was smiling then and he was also smiling at the conclusion of the next hand he played out with Harraghy.

Harraghy raised from the hijack and Walsh was the only caller from one more seat along. He also called a 150 c-bet on the [ac][jc][kc] flop. On the [qh] turn Harraghy checked to Walsh who bet 200 whilst saying, "Tricky this one." Call.

The river fell as [5d] and Walsh bet 200 with the added commentary, "I'll try two more."

Harraghy called and mucked upon seeing Walsh's [ks][th] for a straight.

Worley-Roberts - 21,000
Harraghy - 9,000
Walsh - 15,500
--MC

1.05pm: 211 and rising
Players continue to trickle upwards, 211 is now the total according to the tournament clock. One of those latecomers is Julian Thew, he's taken a pew to the left of Nick Newport. -- NW

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 50-100

12.55pm: Tough Crowd
All time UKIPT cashes leader Rupinder Bedi must hate coming to Ireland to play on the UKIPT. At the first event of Season 3 in Galway he found himself on a really tough table at the start of Day 1 and it's much the same story in Cork.

To his direct right is David K.Lappin, whilst two to his left is UKIPT Galway champion Emmett Mullin and to Mullin's direct left sits Jason Tompkins, the dangerous Irishman who finalled EPT San Remo in October and finalled UKIPT Dublin in Season 2. -- NW

12.43pm: Who's more lost?
Jamie Sykes, who finished 6th at UKIPT Edinburgh last month, turned up halfway through level 1 and looked a little flustered.

He went on to explain how he got lost after getting bad directions from a local who, turned out, was trying to direct him to a hotel two miles away.

"I've lost Jake (Cody) too!" said Sykes. "He missed his flight yesterday and flew in this morning."

It's quite amusing that Cody made it to his seat before Sykes despite having to fly in this morning. -- MC

12.35pm: Spotted
Seems the majority of the big names all go together prior to this event and decided they were going to play Day 1B. As well as the names mentioned in the opening post (see 12.05pm) the following familiar faces are also playing today: Mick Graydon, Owen Robinson, Rupinder Bedi, Emmett Mullin, Hasmukh Khodiyara, Jamie Dale, Jamie Sykes, Neil Rawnsley, Oliver Schaffmann, Przemysław Dajer, Thomas Kitt and Trish Mallin. -- NW

12.25pm: Gone fishing; got tangled in the line
"Lost 5k to him in the first hand," said George Clyde-Smith nodding towards Wes Farrell. "Going fishing," he continued.

This was said just after Clyde-Smith won a small pot back off Farrell.

The action was three-way to a [9h][qs][3c] flop and the action checked to Farrell on the button who bet 150. Clyde-Smith was the only caller and the two went on to check down the [6h][7c] turn and river. Farrell opened [kc][tc] for king high but lost out to his opponent who had got there with [7s][8s] for a rivered pair of sevens. -- MC

12.10pm: Day 1B is go
Cards are in the air here in Cork, roughly 170 players in the field so far. -- NW

12.05pm: B is for bigger
Welcome to Day 1B of UKIPT Cork, as the title suggest we're expecting the final number of runners to surpass the 143 players who participated on Day 1A.

From my vantage point at one end of the tournament room I can see players from tables 1 to 26 filling in the waiver forms that all players are obliged to sign. To put that in perspective we only reached table 18 yesterday.

Among the big names expected today are Team PokerStars Pros Liv Boeree and Jake Cody, whilst PokerStars Team Online will be represented by Dale Philip.

There's some Irish Cream that'll be hoping to rise to the top here in Cork, Jason Tompkins, Nick Newport, Daragh Davey, Dara O'Kearney, David Lappin, Marc Macdonnell and Fintan Gavin are all in the field today.

We're just a minute or so away from starting here, cards in the air soon.

PokerStars Blog reporting team in Edinburgh (in order of how many times they went to Fantasy Land last night) : Marc Convey (once) and Nick Wright (zero). Photos by Mickey May (what's Fantasy Land?).

8.55pm: Day 1B is done
At that's a wrap for Day 1B of UKIPT Cork, roughly 101 of the 244 players have made it through. We think Fintan Gavin may well be the chip leader, confirmation of that and the rest of today's action coming up in the end of day wrap. -- NW

8.45pm: Last three hands
The clock was paused with 14 minutes left and each table will play three more hands before play ends for the night. -- MC

8.40pm: Cody Canned
Jake Cody couldn't mount the comeback. The Team PokerStars Pro was down to around 6,500 and called all in from the big blind with queen-ten when Dara Fitzgerald set him in from the small blind. The latter hel ace-jack and held. -- MC

8.35pm: Derrick looking for back to back final tables
Chris Derrick was one of the dominant figures at last month's UKIPT Edinburgh, eventually finishing 5th, and he's starting to make his move late on here after a double up.

The flop was out as [jh][4h][2s] and he and Daniel Ward got the chips in. Ward opened [5c][4c] and was ahead of Derrick's [ah][qh] for a flush draw. The board ran out [ts][9h] to save Derrick on the river. He's up to 36,000. -- MC

8.20pm: How bad does Fintan Gavin run?
He thinks pretty bad as he hit quads when he didn't need to. Others might think differently to the former UKIPT Edinburgh champion who is the current chip leader on 110,000 chips.

He was raking in huge pot that saw him eliminate Xia Ke and filled the PokerStars Blog in on the action.

Gavin raised from the cut-off and four-bet when Ke three-bet off the button. Xe called to see a [2c][2h][6s] flop appear and when Gavin led for 9,000 he moved all in for 26,000 with ace-ten. Seeing as Gavin was sat with [6h][6c] he wasn't afraid to call.

The board ran out [6d][js] to make him quads! Gavin turned to a table mate after Ke had left and said, "How bad do I run? I make quads when I don't even need to!" -- MC

8.08pm: The level is up but the below don't have the chips to play
Allen Joy, Paul Fitzpatrick, Paul Leckey, Nelius Foley, John Stokes, Roland van der Struik, David Connolly, Adrian Gray, Daniel Banton, David Price, Chris Pyke, Jaye Renehan, Willie O'Brien,Gary Hughes, Noel Christopher Murphy, James Rushton, Nikita Novikovs, Gediminas Matas, Denis Murphy, Jamie Daly, Mark Baxter, Noel O'Sullivan, Damian Hunter, Jed Tribe, Ray Foley, Mike Ryan, Ronan Gilligan, Takayuki Watanabe, Alexander Popp, Noel Dillon, Jamie Dale and Przemysław Dajer. -- MC

8.05pm: Both champs going strong
The two remaining UKIPT champions in the field today are both going strong and I just saw both of them take down a pot.

UKIPT3 Galway winner Emmett Mullin bet 3,875 on the river of a [6s][Ac][8c][7c][Jh] board after a tank his opponent called but mucked when Mullen showed [Ad][9d], Mullen is up to 49,000.

At the same time as that was happening Fintan Gavin was eliminating Allen Joy, the latter shoved for less than 2,000 with [Jc][6h], Gavin called with [Ad][7h] and his hand held on the [Qh][4c][Qs][10d][10s] board. The UKIPT2 Edinburgh winner has 55,000. -- NW

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 300-600, ante 75

7.56pm: O'Deary for O'Leary
Kevin O'Leary busted from a nearby table and told us of his exit: "Aces can't beat jack-seven!" he said after he got his last 6,000 or so in. -- MC

7.53pm: A bluff turned into value for Worley-Roberts?
This hand is one for the UKIPT Day 1B scrapbook, and it enabled Deborah Worley-Roberts to rise up to around 60,000 in chips.

The hand started with a mid position raise to 950 from Marius Stauga and calls from Worley-Roberts (hijack) and the big blind. The flop came [4c][jd][2d] and Stauga's 1,300 c-bet was only called by Worley-Roberts. As the [2c] came down Worley-Roberts stared at Stauga as he bet 2,100. She called very quickly to see the [3h] river.

Worley-Roberts' stance didn't off put Stauga from empting the clip with a 2,600 bet. It's what happened next that was a little bizarre: Worley-Roberts raised to 8,000 and was called fairly quickly.

"Ace high," announced a resigned sounding Worley-Roberts and she held her cards face-down and ready to muck. It was not her mucking though but Stauga! Ace-high was good for the pot and Worley-Roberts raked in those chips with her jaw almost resting on the rail of the table. -- MC

7.47pm: O'Kearney still spinning
It's been some comeback for Dara O'Kearney here in Cork. The Irishman was down as low as 1,000 earlier but now has 55,000. "Steady progress to up past 55k without showdowns at #ukiptcork," he tweeted minutes ago. -- NW

7.40pm: More for Philip
Level 7 has indeed been lucky for PokerStars Team Online's Dale Philip as he now has exactly 54,325 after a set over set coup. "Set over set a tough player to stack him. 77 vs 55 on 752 flop, all in on K turn. Up to 54,325 which is double average." The tough player Philip refers to was Matt Heap.

The online grinder has now been joined on table 10 by Team PokerStars Pro Liv Boeree, she's slightly below average on 22,400. -- NW

7.30pm: Room 101
With 143 players remaining in the field today that means 101 have been sent to the rail. The latest of those is Jamie Dale who tweeted. "Bust ukipt cork didnt play great was down to 18 bigs rejammed KT from SB v btn open he had JJ geeg."

Refreshing to hear a player admit to not playing well rather than getting unlucky. -- NW

7.25pm: More for Nealon
It's all going Fergal Nealon's way at the moment, James Rushton open shoved for around 8,000 with [As][9d] and Nealon called from the big blind with pocket sevens.

A [10d][3s][6c][2h][3d] board kept the Irishman in front and he's now up to around 80,000. -- NW

7.20pm: Philip picks off the bluff
There was roughly 2,750 in the pot and a complete board of [8s][10d][10c][7c][Js] on the felt, Dale Philip (small blind) led for 1,250 only for Noel Dillon (cut-off) to make it 3,500 total. Back on Philip he tanked for sometime before announcing call. "Good call," said Dillon as he tabled [Ad][Qd], Philip showed [Kh][Jh] to claim the pot, he's up to 37,000 now. -- NW

7.15pm: Gavin still going strong
Fintan Gavin has been moved to Jake Cody's table, who's back down to 6,500, and chugging along nicely.

He opened to 850 from late position and was called in three places before a [9c][qd][qh] dominated the table centre. Gavin continued for 1,600 and was only check-called by Dara Fitzgerald in the big blind.

The turn appeared as [5c] and Gavin bet 3,200 when Fitzgerald checked to him again. Fitzgerald folded and Gavin flashed the [9d] whilst saying, "I flopped it." He's up to 44,000 as a result. -- MC

7.05pm: Bull-ied
UKIPT Bristol third place finisher Robbie Bull just got six bet off a pot, he tweeted: "35k going into 200/400. Average is 25k. Some European lad 6 bet shoved 100bbs in my eye with the 910ss #itwasgood." -- NW

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 200-400, ante 50

6.42pm: Break time
The players are now on a 15-minute break. -- NW

6.40pm: Team Pro Update
Liv Boeree and Dale Philip are trotting along very nicely on 29,000 and 31,500 respectively, but what of Jake Cody?

The shiny new team member wanted to be part of Kool and the Gang rather than the grind his day had been so far. He's halfway there after a double up put him into black for the day.

Xia Ke opened to 650 from under the gun and was called by Paul Quinn in the next seat before Cody jammed 7,700 in from the cut-off. Ke folded to leave Quinn to make the call.

Quinn: [qs][qh]
Cody: [kd][kh]

The board ran a blank [5h][4d][jc][2s][6s]. -- MC

6.35pm: Chip counts
Here's a few chip counts at the end of Level 6: Hasmukh Khodiyara (19,500), Dara O'Kearney (25,500), Fintan Gavin (38,000), Ollie Schaffmann (7,900), Chris Derrick (9,700), Neil Rawnsley (7,000), Ronan Gilligan (5,800) and Jamie Dale (5,300). -- NW

6.25pm: The curse is lifted
Fergal Nealon had joked to me that the eight seat at his table - the one to his left - was cursed as three players, including Jamie Sykes and James Walsh, had been eliminated whilst sitting in it today.

The latest player to take the hot seat is David Croke, he was quickly informed by Nealon of the curse, but it seems he may have broken it as he just won a huge three way pot with pocket kings against the ace-queen of Robert Boon and the pocket nine of another player. That is until he turned to Nealon and said: "As soon as you told me about it I physically swapped the chair with one from another table!"

We'll be keeping a close eye on table 12 seat five - which is where he put the 'cursed' chair - to see if it continues. As for Croke he's up to 48,000 after winning that big pot. --NW

6.15pm: Another double for Nealon
After getting lucky to hit a three outer on James Walsh, Fergal Nealon has just doubled agin and is now the likely chip leader as he has 70,000. He tweeted. "And we have lift off-70k, guy opens button,i 3bet 10s bb to 2.4k playing 33k,he makes it 9k playin 40,I ship he calls with kqss. Faded 2 overs and fdraw on turn aswell." -- NW

6.05pm: Walsh washed away
James Walsh has just been eliminated from the main event, with Fergal Nealon the man who took most of his chips.

The latter filled me in on the hand, "There was a raise from under-the-gun to 650, I'm next to act and flat called with ace-king. Then James made it 4,000, it folds back to me, I've got about 16,000 and he's got a little more. I moved all-in and he calls with kings. I got lucky and turned an ace. I've flatted there to make something like that happen, I can't put him on aces or kings and don't think he makes it that big with queens. I got lucky though."

Just a couple of hands later Walsh shoved for his last 2,000 with [Js][10s], Robert Boon called with [Ad][Qc] and only moved further in front on the [Qh][3c][Ad][Qd][6c] board, he's on 49,000 and is one of the chip leaders. -- NW

5.55pm: That tingly feeling
Deborah Worley-Roberts is having a great day. After her "naughty corner" table broke she has integrated into main event society with great success to her stack.

A lot of chips had made it into the middle before a [kc][jc][3d] flop appear in front of her and her heads up opponent, Darren Fuller.

Fuller checked from under the gun to face a 4,200 bet from Worley-Roberts in late position. Fuller had the look as if he was about to pull the trigger but elected to fold.

"Arrghh, when you grabbed the bottom of your stack I thought you were going to shove. I got all tingly in my knickers!"

Moving on, Worley-Roberts moved up to around 40,000 chips. -- MC

5.45pm: Chip counts
There are 176 players left in today from the 244 that started meaning the average stack is currently 20,795. Here's which side of that line some of the names and notables are on right now: Daragh Davey (18,000), Rupinder Bedi (15,600), Emmett Mullin (12,500), Fergal Nealon (33,000), Jamie Dale (10,075), Przemysław Dajer (12,400), Trish Mallin (20,300), Craig Burke (37,000), John OShea (15,800), Julian Thew (19,500), Nick Newport (18,300), Nelius Foley (29,800) and Liv Boeree (25,000). -- NW

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 150-300, ante 25

5.35pm: On the move
Level five has certainly upped the pressure on the short stacks and eliminations are at a plenty as a result.

Sean Davey, Kyle Johnston, Koray Suler, Paul Campbell, Huy Nguyen, Wayne O'Donnell, Padraig Maguire, Marc MacDonnell, Joe Cahill, Roman Dohnal, Kim Andreasen, Gungor Kiyasetin, Declan Connolly, Gabriel Girigan and Gary Thompson all moved in the wrong direction. -- MC

5.20pm: Keeping up with the Robinson's
Owen Robinson shot to prominence during the first season of the UKIPT. He made three deep runs including finishing fourth at UKIPT Nottingham. Those performances helped him scoop two Irish Poker awards in 2010, as the Wexford man won the awards for Break Out Year and Player of the Year.

It's been a while since we've seen him on the tour but he's going well here in Cork as he's up to 27,000. -- NW

5.15pm: Catch the SlowDoke
As well as the UKIPT Season 3 leader board contest that we eluded to earlier there's also a UKIPT3 Best Online Qualifier leader board to be won.

Currently leading the way is Dara 'SlowDoke' O'Kearney who has won a total of 59 packages to the seven UKIPT events that have been played this season. That impressive haul puts him 10 clear of second placed MidniteKowby and a further four clear of Timmmy182 who's in third.

The online qualifier of the year will be awarded a package to a UKIPT Season 4 tournament of their choice (excluding EPT London), a seat at the UKIPT Season 3 Champion of Champions and a limited edition trophy commemorating their achievement. -- NW

5.12pm: Not Tompkins' day
It's fair to say that today was not the talented Jason Tompkins' day. He Tweeted his bust:

"N bust.... Sigh! Harsh day... 8 bigs kj

One thing for sure is that he'll be back. -- MC

5.10pm: Nine lives for Kitt
I just saw Thomas Kitt get a much needed double up, he three-bet jammed for 5,550 over an 800 open from Huy "Samurai" Nguyen. After a brief think Nguyen made the call.

Kitt: [9c][9h]
Nguyen: [4d][4c]

The [7s][3h][Qd][8s][7c] board kept Kitt in front, he's up to roughly 11,500 whilst Nguyen slips to 2,100. -- NW

5.05pm: The bottom line of UKIPT Cork
Registration has closed on Day 1B of UKIPT Cork bringing the total number of players to 387. Those fine folks helped generate a total prize pool €262,773.

Breaking that amount down and the top 48 players will receive a minimum of €1,315. If you're lucky enough to reach the final table on Monday then €5,910 will be locked up. All eyes will be on the €60,440 that the lucky winner will take home though. -- MC

4.55pm: Stubborn as a Bull
Robert Bull made a good call to Benjamin Senior to eliminate him from the tournament.

The action folded around to Bull in the cut-off and he raised to 600. Senior was in the big blind and moved all in for 5,575. Bull took his time and decided the right decision was to call.

Bull: [ad][jd]
Senior: [8d][8c]

Off to the races as the board ran [7h][js][2s][ts][3d] to pair Bull's ace. -- MC

4.40pm: Second half kicks off
The half time break is over, oranges have been eaten (probably), cigarettes have been smoked (almost certainly) and bad beat stories from the 44 or so players who've been eliminated already today have been exchanged (definitely).

We've had the total number of players for Day 1B confirmed at 244 players meaning that the total number of players in UKIPT Cork is 387.

For the 200 or so who remain in action today there are still four levels to negotiate before they've made Day 2. Among those hoping to still be checking, betting and folding come the end of level eight are: Oliver Schaffmann (10,000), Neil Rawnsley (5,000), Chris Derrick (27,000) and Ronan Gilligan (18,900).

We were expecting a bigger field today and we got what we wished for as 244 players - 101 more than Day 1A - paid their money and took their shot at the €770 main event here in Cork.

This meant when all was said and done the 387 runners created a prize pool of €262,773 and come Monday night someone will be holding a novelty cheque for €60,440 and dreading the prospect of being interviewed by UKIPT host Nick Wealthall. Still, rough with the smooth hey. The full payout structure can be seen here, those who finish in the top 48 will get paid.

Much like yesterday today's players had to negotiate eight one-hour levels to progress to Day 2, the player who managed that most successfully today was a familiar one. It is UKIPT2 Edinburgh champion Fintan Gavin who leads the way. He bagged up 107,000 overnight and the signs that he might have a good day came during level one, when he got an early double up with aces.

He shoved all-in for 21,000 over the top of Terry Plummer's 800 chip three-bet, Plummer held kings and that was that. The Irishman, who's creative style makes him a nightmare to play against at the best of times, is an absolute terror when he has chips as the rest of the field found out to their cost.

Other players who enjoyed a cork popping day were: Dave Clarkson (99,200) Fergal Nealon (69,100) and Julian Thew (59,300)

There were three players in the field today who were proudly sporting the Red Spade but only two progressed to Day 2. Leading the two who did when play recommences at 400 - 800 ante 100, will be Dale Philip, the PokerStars Team Online member finished on 50,200. He got a big boost to his stack during level seven when he eliminated Matt Heap in a set over set coup.

For Liv Boeree and Jake Cody - the two members of Team PokerStars Pro in the field - their days were markedly different. In the case of Boeree she was, for the most part, above the average stack line all day before slipping back in the last two levels to finish on 20,900. Whilst for Cody, he barely got above starting stack all day and busted with around 30 minutes left to play.

There was strong Irish contingent in the field today, including two UKIPT champions in the aforementioned Fintan Gavin and Emmett Mullin. The latter found himself on a tough starting table that included Jason Tompkins, Rupinder Bedi and David K.Lappin. None of that quartet would make Day 2 although Mullin almost did until a bluff went wrong. With just minutes remaining in the day he moved all-in on the river of a [9h][7c][Qh][3c][Ac] board with [10h][4h], Darren Fuller tanked for ages but eventually made the right call wtih [Ad][Qd].

But, there are many Irish contenders through to Day 2, they include: Dara O'Kearney (43,800) and Mick Graydon (25,500).

With just 100 players making it through to Day 2 we lost more big names along the way. One player in particular who'll be cursing his luck is Sean Prendiville. The Dubliner was running late for this tournament and in his haste to get here picked up a speeding ticket on the way. Then within an hour he was out, running a set of queens into a set of aces. Incredibly Rory Brown - who shared a lift with Prendiville - also ran queens into aces at the same time on a different table and the two were free to return to Dublin at their leisure.

They weren't alone in losing all their chips as Jamie Dale, Kevin O'Leary, George Clyde-Smith, Jamie Sykes, Marc MacDonnell, Sinem Melin, James Walsh, Ronan Gilligan and Nelius Foley all suffered the same fate.

The 158 remaining players will be back in their seats at noon tomorrow as we play first to the money bubble of 48 and then beyond, in what we suspect will be another eight level day. We'll have the overnight chip counts and the seat draw up before play restarts. Keep an eye on 'the widget' to the right for both.

To catch up with the eight levels of play from Day 1B or catch up with what occurred on Day 1A click on the links below.

Levels 1-4
Levels 5-8
Tongi tops the lot

All photos are copyright of Mickey May and should be credited as such.

4.20pm: Break time
The remaining 73 players are off on a 15-minute break. Updates of level 13 and beyond can be found here. -- MC

4.15pm: O'Kearney the pre flop master
Dara O'Kearney is having a great day after a couple of pre flop showdowns have helped him up to 92,000 chips.

First he Tweeted: "Aces to the rescue. Double up thru Eoin Olin ak. 88 left. 62k. Average 64k."

The news got better for him as he took to Twitter again: "At > k8o blind on blind. 92k. Plan is to just keep getting it all in pre at #ukiptcork 80 left. Average 70k." -- MC

4.10pm: Nealon on the up
The up and down day of Fergal Nealon continues, this time the trend is upwards. "Up to 37k after getting a cold 4 bet thru with 15bbs! 77 left/48 paid #ukiptcork," he tweeted. -- NW

4.05pm: We enjoyed having you
The following are not part of the 77 remaining players: Kevin Killeen, Antonis Poulengeris, Finnur Hrafnsson, Zac Sloper, Peter Evans, Joe O'Toole, Wes Farrell, Alek Nazareet, Derek Cunningham, Tony Collins, Vijay Ramanand, Nikita Novikovs, Mick McCloskey, Damian Robertson, Hauke Frass and Daniel Ward. -- MC

3.55pm: Gavin getting them back
More chips for Fintan Gavin now as he eliminated a short stacked Vijay Ramanand, the latter shoved with [Ac][4s] and Gavin made the call with pocket nines. "You're well ahead," said Ramanand, "I hope you hit your four," responded Gavin. And Gavin's words proved prophetic as Ramanand did indeed river a four, but it wasn't enough to save him. Gavin's now up to 95,000. -- NW

3.52pm: Hall moved Olin, busts
Thomas Hall won't be adding any more points to aid his quest to win the UKIPT Season 3 Leaderboard after he busted to Eoin Olin.

Olin opened to 3,200 and made a considered call when Hall shoved for 25,200 from the big blind.

Olin: [ad][jd]
Hall: [qh][td]

The board ran a roller-coaster [7c][ad][kc][jh][jc] to make Olin a full house. -- MC

3.45pm: Philip takes a hit
Mini-setback for PokerStars Team Online's Dale Philip just now as he made a good call, but lost the pot.

He opened to 3,600 with [2s][2h], Michał Ozimek moved all-in for 24,000 with [As][7h] and after tanking Philip called it off.

The [8s][5s][9d][4s][9s] board meant that they both went runner-runner flush but Ozimek had the better flush to win the pot. After that hand Philip is down to 72,000. -- NW

3.40pm: Newport flush with chips
Nick Newport, a very dangerous player indeed, is up to 210,000 after winning a huge pot against Sameer Singh.

I only caught the flop action but on a [Qh][9s][4h] flop Newport bet 6,900, Singh made it 16,000, Newport made it 29,100, Singh shoved for an effective 90,000 and Newport made the call.

Singh: [4c][4s]
Newport: [Kh][9h]

The [10h] pinged off on the turn to give Newport the lead and he stayed there on the [Ks] river. After that hand Singh is down to around 15,000. -- NW

3.35pm: Gavin Rebounds in lucky fashion
Fintan Gavin has doubled back up and was very lucky to do so.

He had 40,000 chips and with ace-king again he went to war. Alistar Carins was his opponent in the hand and he also had ace-king. What happened next left Carins furious and Gavin extremely sympathetic and apologetic.

Gavin opened [ah][kd] to Carins' [ad][kc] and the pot was odds-on to be chopped. Not so as the board ran out [qh][th][qs][7h][2h] to make Gavin a flush. The only saving grace for Carins was that he still had 80,000 chips left after the hand. -- MC

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 800-1,600 ante 200

3.20pm: Irish setbacks
Setbacks for three of Ireland's most talented players left in this tournament to tell you about.

Fintan Gavin is now down to roughly 34,000 he lost a monster 95,000 chip pot with ace-king against Rob Lyons's pocket queens, all-in pre-flop.

Dara O'Kearney has taken a hit, "First major setback after letting Noel Magner get there. 31500. 92 left. 48 paid. Average 61k," he tweeted.

And Fergal Nealon is going to have to show more bouncebackability, "Down to 21k :( #comebackno.2please," he tweeted minutes ago. -- NW

3.15pm: Blain busts out
The dangerous Dermot Blain is another faller here in Cork. The APPT Macau winner was down to just 7,700 and moved all-in with [Qc][Jd], Patrick Humphreys was lying in wait with [Kh][Qd] and his dominating hand held up on the [2s][4c][4s][5h][10c] board. -- NW

3.10pm: Let's go Philip, let's go
PokerStars Team Online's Dale Philip has enjoyed this level so far. He Tweeted:

"Won a preflop all in AQ > A8 for 53k pot. Up to 79k. 96 players left, avg is 59k. Let's go. #UKIPT."

edit: Philip now has six figures, "Just cracked the 100k mark. Just. 100,400." - -- MC

3.05pm: Roman has less numerals
A curious hand just played out between Aurel Claudio Roman and Nikita Novikovs, one which ended with Team PokerStars Pro Liv Boeree calling the clock on Roman.

The Romanian opened for 6,600 (5.5 big blinds) from the cut-off from a total stack of roughly 20,000 (16.66 big blinds), next to act Novikovs moved all-in for 30,500, Boeree passed what she later said were pocket eights and then the tanking began.

The Romanian, who already had a fair amount of his stack invested, took his time so much so that after more than five minutes in the tank Boeree and right hand neighbour Dennis Smit discussed calling the clock and after more time elapsed Boeree did indeed do just that.
As time ticked down on the allotted minute Roman showed the [Ad] and folded his hand.

Edit: A few hands later he did take a stand, Johan Modschidler shoved with [Qc][10c], Roman called with pocket eights but was out the door when Modschilder flopped a ten and turned another. -- NW

2.55pm: See you at the party later
Those who might/should be drowning their sorrows later are: Emlyn Long, Seth Webber, Richard Pearson, Diarmaid Kennedy, Pim Gieles, Marinos Mina, Alan Sexton, Nima Saken Shaft, Craig Burke, Niall Henderson, Ryan Smith, Diarmuid Ryan and Niamh Peters. -- MC

2.50pm: Sinclair C.60(k)
Jovial Irishman Fintan Gavin isn't the only former UKIPT champion left in the field here in Cork, Richard Sinclair who won UKIPT2 Newcastle is also still in.

He's got roughly 60,000 now after eliminating Richard Pearson, the latter was all-in for around 14,000 with [Kd][Qh] and Sinclair was ahead with [Qs][Qd]. A dry [7s][2h][8c][4h][9d] board gave Sinclair the pot and reduced the field to the last 100 runners. -- NW

2.45pm: Two doubles and a bust out for Clarke
Three players were all in at almost the same time on three different tables; all three were racing but all three couldn't win.

Gavin Stevens moved all in for 16,500 with [ad][qs] and was called by Kieran Furey who woke up with [jd][jh] in the big blind. The board ran [4c][7d][ts][qh][4s] to pair Stevens' queen. Furey dropped to 57,000 after the loss.

Robbie Renehan was down to 15,500 when he shoved with [qs][th] from the button. David Croke was in the small blind and tank called with [3h][3s] but failed to hold through the [qs][9s][4d][5h][5d] board.

The one player who was all in and failed to win his race was Gary Clarke. He shoved with ace-queen and was called by Conrad Schormann who held jacks. The jacks stayed ahead to help the German rise to 115,000 chips. -- MC

2.35pm: Boeree busts one
First hand back from the break Liv Boeree got an almost double up and eliminated John Scott in the process.

The latter opened from under-the-gun Boeree defended from the big blind, on the [8d][Qc][Ah] flop Scott c-bet, Boeree check min-raised, Scott shoved and Boeree made the call, Scott's all-In bet on the flop was 28,900.

Scott: [Ad][Kd]
Boeree: [As][Qc]

The [7h] turn and [9h] river were blank as far as the hand was concerned and Boeree now has a stack of around 65,000. -- NW

2.25pm: Chip daddies
With 112 players remaining the below list shows the players who are in the top two stacks at their table:

Andrew Grimason -- 165,000
John Keown -- 161,800
Pascal Töngi -- 145,000
Chris Derrick -- 142,000
Patrick Humphreys -- 112,000
Sameer Singh -- 110,000
Fintan Gavin -- 109,000
Liam Chevalier -- 103,000
Kevin Smith -- 97,000
Kevin Callebaut -- 95,000
Mick McCloskey -- 95,000
Cahal Heapes -- 94,700
Aparicio De Campos Sanchez -- 94,500
Julian Thew -- 92,000
David Connors -- 90,000
Alek Nazareet -- 90,000
Conrad Schormann -- 86,000
Fergal Nealon -- 78,000
Aidan Connolly -- 76,600
Johnny Kivits -- 70,000
Stephen Freeman -- 66,000
Kevin Finnie -- 65,000
David Clarkson -- 64,000
Kieran Furey -- 62,800
Noel Magner -- 60,000
Nicholas Newport -- 56,000
Karl Thompson -- 49,000
Seamus Birt -- 45,500
-- MC

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 600-1,200, ante 100

2.03pm: Break down and give me 20
The players are on their first 20-minute break of the day. -- MC

2.01pm: Bull booted
Robbie Bull was eliminated just before the break after running into a big hand behind him.

He was down to less than 10,000 chips when he shoved with [qh][tc] from the button. Hasmukh Khodiyara was in the big blind and shoved as well, with [ah][ks].

The board ran a blank [jh][4c][4s][9d][3s]. -- MC

2pm: Tongi hanging tough at the top
Over the first two levels start of day chip leader Pascal Töngi has increased his stack of 124,500 to around 160,000 and so is likely still one of, if not the chip leader. We'll be getting counts of the big stacks on the first break so will now who's top of the chip charts for sure then. -- NW

1.55pm: Cochrane crushed by Hall
"I like his play," said Tom Hall to me after he eliminated Glen Cochrane from this tournament to boost his stack to around 55,000.

In the hand in question Cochrane limped the button with [Qh][10h], Hall made it 3,200 from the big blind with ace-queen and then called all-in when Cochrane crammed for 23,000. The flop came ace high and although it also contained a ten, Cochrane didn't hit his two outer. -- NW

1.45pm: Boeree gets a boost
I'd noticed that Liv Boeree's stack had gone from just under 13,000 to almost 30,000, I smelt a double up had occurred and indeed it had. "I had A-7 blind on blind against his (Dennis Smit's) A-6 and doubled up," she told me. -- NW

1.35pm: The down's and up's of Fergal Nealon
It's been a rollercoaster of a first 90 minutes for Fergal Nealon here on Day 2 in Cork.

The Irishman is looking for his first cash in the UKIPT main event and came back with an above average stack of 69,100. However, it then went a bit wrong. "Just lost ak

1.30pm: Gavin gives back
Fintan Gavin is back below the 100k-mark after he tried, and failed, to get an opponent off pocket aces.

Paulius Mikaliunas opened from the hijack and Gavin defended his big blind. The board ran out [9d][9s][tc][ts][4h] and Gavin bet 2,000, 2,800 and 5,800 on each street. Mikaliunas called all way and opened [ac][ad] after Gavin announced he had ace high at showdown. Gavin down to around 95,000. -- MC

1.25pm: Straight up chop
It folded to Robbie Bull in the small blind and the third placed finisher at UKIPT Bristol moved all-in for around 15 big blinds, from the big blind Hasmukh Khodiyara, fifth place finisher at UKIPT3 Nottingham took a look at his cards then made the call.

Bull: [Qc][7c]
Khodiyara: [Ac][Js]

The board ran [7h][5c][6d][8d][9d] and the straight on board meant the two players chopped the pot. -- NW

1.15pm: Dale dented
A dent somewhere between scratch and flesh wound just now for PokerStars Team Online's Dale Philip. "Lost allin pre to shorter stack. AT < 77. Flopped the T, opponent was halfway out the door but went runner-runner flush. Down to 45k," he tweeted from @Daleroxxu. -- NW

1.10pm: Derrick continues Day 1 trend
Chris Derrick had a very strong finish to his day yesterday and he's carried that form into today as he's already up to 130,000 chips.

He was heads up with Niall Henderson to the turn of a [2s][6c][2d][jh] board and saw a 2,900 bet called. It was a relatively small bet as 8,500 had already made it into the middle; his 13,500 river bet, after a [9c] had dropped, was anything but. Henderson made the call and Derriick showed him the bad news as he opened [jc][jd] for a full house. Henderson mucked. -- MC

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 500-1,000 ante 100

1pm: Boeree's stack dwindling
Coming into Day 2 Team PokerStars Pro Liv Boeree had a stack of 20,900, sadly for her the opening level has seen it dwindle downwards, she's now got just 12,600.

She could therefore only look on with envy as two players at the table played a pot bigger than her stack. There was a bet of what looked like 3,800 in front of John Keown (button) which suggested he'd three bet over an open from Dennis Smit (middle position). Back on Smit he elected to re-raise, making it 8,100 in total, after some deliberation Keown made the call.

The flop fell [7s][Ad][3h] and a c-bet of 6,200 from Smit was enough for him to win the pot. --NW

12.55pm: Show me the way to go home
For moving day to work a lot of players have to bust and a flurry have already made their exit. Those to go so far include: John Mackey, Robert Molloy, David Maudlin, Liam O'Donoghue, Michal Plichta, Szymon Gajda, Jason Kemp, Alberto Mejias, Rory Hogan, Ciaran Heaney, Patrick Kelleher, Olli Vahala, Dave Path, Dawid Paczka, Dan Rankin, John Percival and John McGrath. -- MC

12.52pm: Good day for Daragh
It's been a good start to the day for Daragh Davey, "I've gone from 14k to 56k in 20 mins without being allin and called," he tweeted. Impressive stuff. -- NW

12.47pm: Talking of tough tables...
Julian Thew has now been moved to the same table as PokerStars Team Online's Dale Philip and Mick Graydon. And Thew and Graydon have already clashed in a big pot. The latter told me he held pocket kings, Thew had ace-queen and it all went in pre. The cowboys held to boost Graydon to 64,500 and cut Thew's stack down to roughly 30,000. -- NW

12.42pm: Hall starts strong in leaderboard quest
Neil Raine is leading the UKIPT Season 3 Leaderboard but is closely followed in the race by Thomas Hall. The former popped by the latter's table before play started and jokingly asked Dara O'Kearney to do him a favour and knock Hall out.

That hasn't happened so far, and in fact it's Hall who's been busy knocking players out. There was a limp before Hall raised to 2,000 and Trevor Dineen shoved for 12,700. The limper folded and Hall called.

Hall: [4d][4h]
Dinned: [as][kc]

The board ran [jh][3h][2s][4c][kd] to make Hall a set. He's up to 56,000 chips.

A short while after Hall was given a one orbit penalty for some exposed card controversy. He took the punishment very well. -- MC

12.40pm: Tough tables
There's a couple of tough tables in the random seat draw today, table 11 in particular jumps out at us. Seated there at the start of play were: Dermot Blain, John O'Shea (since knocked out), Neil Rawnsley, Ollie Schaffmann, Pascal Tongi and Dave Maudlin. Not many spots there.

And those drawn at Table 10 along with Hasmukh Khodiyara, Richard Sinclair and Robbie Bull may be inwardly cursing their luck. -- NW

12.30pm: League of Nations
We've just received the nationality breakdown of the 387 entrants in the main event of UKIPT Cork, below's the top five, no surprise to see Ireland and then the UK at the top of the charts.

As for those players literally carrying a nations hopes on their shoulders a big hello to: Seth Webber (South Africa), Khristolyubov Arseny Ginadwicz (Tajikistan), Lapan Ginadij Stepanowicz (Ukraine), Dhanesh Chainani (Singapore), Takayuki Watanabe (Japan), Bongard Samuel (Israel), Zsolt Nemes (Hungary), George Efthimiadis (Greece), Kasper Kiisler (Estonia), Kim Andreasen (Denmark), Roman Dohnal (Czech Republic), Gary Johnson (Canada) and Nicholas Galtos (Australia).

Ireland - 174
United Kingdom - 120
Germany -13
Poland -13
Netherlands -12

12.20pm: Kozikowski runs into a Wall
The old suck and re-suck, providing entertainment for those not in the hand since day dot...

Andrzej Kozikowski (big blind) and Derrick Wall (cut-off) were heads-up to a [Js][7c][6h] flop, it checked to Wall who c-bet, Kozikowski made it 3,800, Wall re-raised to 6,700, Kozikowski came over the top to 12,800, Wall moved all-in for jut over 28,000 and before his chips were across the line Kozikowski had called.

Wall: [Kh][Kd]
Kozikowski: [Jc][6c]

Turn: [Ks]
River: [10h]

The stacks were counted down,Wall just had Kozikowski covered and eliminated the Pole. -- NW

12.10pm: McTaggart can go back to bed
Paul McTaggart was the first player to be eliminated today in hand that played out a little odd.

The action folded around to Aurel Claudio Roman on the button and he raised to 2,400 before McTaggart shoved for 8,800 from the big blind. Roman seemed a little surprised by the move and didn't make a quick call or fold; he sat there for five minutes, stroked his beard, asked for a count twice, and generally procrastinated a lot.

Finally he elected to call with [5c][5s]. McTaggart opened [ah][7h] and managed to pick up a flush draw on the [5h][8c][th] flop but failed to get there as the board ran out [qs][7s].

McTaggart left quickly as Roman sat there and pumped both fists and stared at each table mate with a big smile across his face. All he got back from Team PokerStars Pro Liv Boeree was a jaw-dropped expression. -- MC

12pm: Gavin looking for double trouble
Welcome back to Day 2 of UKIPT Cork for what is commonly referred to as moving day here on media row. We'll start with 158 players today our guess is that the final number, after what we suspect will be eight levels of play, will be somewhere around 36.

One man who could have as significant impact on that number is Fintan Gavin, he bagged up 107,000 last night to claim the Day 1B chiplead and sits second overall behind Day 1A chip leader Pascal Tongi. The Irishman has been a thorn in the side of plenty of players over the years and his unpredictable style has led to many a mistake by his opponents. He's looking for his second UKIPT title having won back in Edinburgh in Season 2.

He won't have it all his own way though today, there's plenty of Irish Cream and talent from elsewhere left in the mix. Team PokerStars Pro Liv Boeree (20,900), PokerStars Team Online's Dale Philip (50,200), Julian Thew (59,300), Fergal Nealon (69,100) and Seth Webber (65,300) are just a few of those left in. The full Day 2 seat draw can be seen here.

Cards are in the air now, let the carnage begin.

PokerStars Blog reporting team in Cork: Marc Convey and Nick Wright. Photos by Mickey May.

8.50pm: Nealon down to dust
It's been an up and down day for Fergal Nealon, he's secured his first UKIPT main event cash but it looks like ultimately ending on a downer as he's got just seven big blinds left.

He told me: "I raised ace-jack in the cut-off and the big blind (Derrick Wall) shoved for 19 big blinds with kings, I called and the kings held."

However he's still in as are 33 other players, just 15 minutes to go in the day. -- NW

8.40pm: Doverklint dents Boeree
I didn't see how it went in but pre-flop Michael Doverklint got his last 80,000 in with pocket jacks and Liv Boeree matched that amount holding [As][Qs]. The [2c][9d][Jh][Kd][5c] board doubling Doverklint to roughly 160,000, whilst knocking Boeree's stack down to 120,000. -- NW

8.30pm: Fear the Finneran
The new chipleader is Thomas Finneran, he tweeted: "Just bust @peterswellman have 460k. Avg is 160k." -- NW

8.20pm: Online and live, both are still alive
As we enter the last 45 minutes of the day Team PokerStars Pro Liv Boeree and PokerStars Team Online's Dale Philip are both still going. The Scotsman tweeted: "Going into last level of day. 82,200 at BB4000. 36 players left."

Whilst I actually had to get up to get a count of Boeree's stack (200,000) but I'm glad I did as the EPT San Remo winner, who is sporting a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle t-shirt, told me, when questioned, that her favourite turtle is Michaelangelo.

She'll get her chance to be a 'party dude' later as the UKIPT party starts at 9pm. -- NW

8.15pm: Chop chop
Two interesting hands that both ultimately ended in chops to tell you about...

Hand one: Phil Peters opened to 6,000 on the button, Dylan Roberts three-bet to 13,500 from the big blind and Peters made the call. On the [6s][Js][2s] flop Roberts c-bet 7,000, call from Peters. The [Qs] fell on the turn and both players checked to see the [9s] complete the board. Again both players checked, Roberts showed [Ac][Ad], whilst Peters showed [6c][6d] for the flopped set. However, with a flush on board they chopped the pot. "I'm cursing because I haven't got a spade when that flop comes," said Roberts. "Turns out I'm behind anyway!"

Hand two: Pascal Tongi opened from the button and Dara O'Kearney defended from the big blind. On the [10s][Jh][As] flop O'Kearney check-called a bet of 6,500 from Tongi. The [Qd] turn was checked through before the [10d] completed the board. At this juncture O'Kearney led out for 15,000 and Tongi quickly called, O'Kearney showed [Ks][Js] for the monster flop hand and turned straight, whilst Tongi was equal to him with [Kd][2s].

Just 35 players remain here in Cork. -- NW

8.05pm: Sinclair sinks with disappointment
Richard Sinclair had been utilising his chip-leading stack very well since the bubble burst, involving himself in a lot of pots. This gave him a very loose image that would help him get paid if he found a big hand in a good spot. One can't get aces to always hold up though!

Kevin Callebaut was his opponent in the hand and had a 139,000-chip stack. The chips went in pre flop and the hands were on their backs.

Sinclair: [ad][as]
Callebaut: [kc][ks]

The board ran [3h][9s][kd][2h][5d] to make the Belgian a set. Sinclair is back in the pack with 195,000 chips. -- MC

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 2,000-4,000, ant 400

7.50pm: Nine lives for O'Kearney
Dara O'Kearney just sucked out on chip leader Pascal Tongi to stay alive in this tournament. The action was started by Tongi, who raised to 6,000, O'Kearney then shoved for 47,200 and Tongi made the call.

O'Kearney: [9c][9h]
Tongi: [10c][10s]

The [2d][9s][7s][7h][Ac] board gave O'Kearney a full-house and he's up to 100,000 whilst Tongi slips to around 300,000. -- NW

7.43pm: Big Mick, No Stack
One of the danger men left in the field, Mick Graydon, has been eliminated.

The Irishman has been struggling for the last few levels but made it through the bubble, stayed patient and waited for a good hand, and then busted.

Alexander Rhys-Davies opened to 6,600 from under the gun and was called in one spot before Graydon moved all in for around 50,000 from the small blind. Rhys-Davies moved all in behind and that was good to get it to heads up.

Graydon: [qc][qs]
Rhys-Davies: [ah][kd]

The board ran [9h][9c][3c][ks][6h] to pair Rhys-Davies' king on the turn. -- MC

7.30pm: Two bust outs and a double up
Three showdown hands to tell you about that happened in quick succession...

Hand One: Ollie Schaffmann is out, he told me: "It was a blind on blind battle, we were playing about 75,000 deep. I made it 7,000 from the small blind, the big blind made it 19,500, I moved all-in with ace-king and he called with tens. The board ran queen high, pretty standard. Still it's another flag, my first Irish one."

Hand Two: Down to just 6,500 Larry Cloney moved all-in with [8c][6c] and Rob Lyons made the call with [Ah][Kh]. The [4c][7s][Qh] flop gave Cloney additional outs, the [10c] turn even more, but he missed them all on the [3d] river.

Hand Three: Eoin Olin opened in early position to 6,500, Johnny Kivits moved all-in for 63,100 from late position and when it folded back to Olin he made the call.

Kivits: [Js][Jc]
Olin: [Ah][Kh]

The board ran [7s][3d][4d][6c][4c] to keep the Dutchman in the lead, he's up to 130,000 whilst Olin slips to 60,000. -- NW

7.27pm: First big blow for Derrick
Chris Derrick has enjoyed a pretty stress-free tournament so far, chipping up consistently. That was until he lost a 320,000-chip pot to Kieran Furey.

The chips were being passed to Furey at the end of the hand, his pocket jacks still face-up in front of him. Derrick's nine-seven had been mucked after it was inferior on the [7c][jc][qd][7h][th] board.

Luckily for Derrick he's still left with an above average 160,000 to play with. -- MC

7.20pm: First three exits
For at least three players a min-cash is as far as they will go, the first two were eliminated before the break as they played one more hand before going on break. All of the following collect €1,315

48th - Alan Wilson, United Kingdom
47th - Paul Corrigan, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier
46th - Paulius Mikaliunas Lithuania  PokerStars Qualifier

7.10pm: Chip updates
A full rounds of chips counts were done during the break. Click here to see the list.

This is how the top ten looks:

Richard Sinclair -- 346,000
Pascal Töngi -- 344,000
Thomas Finneran -- 337,500
Chris Derrick -- 291,000
Nicholas Newport -- 240,000
Pawel Keller -- 220,000
John Keown -- 195,000
Cahal Heapes -- 185,000
Philip Peters -- 184,000
Alexander Rhys-Davies -- 181,000
--MC

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 1,500-3,000, 300

6.45pm: Julian Thew bubbles UKIPT Cork
The bubble did not take that long to burst and the unfortunate recipient of 49th place is Julian Thew.

As we were waiting for what would prove to be his final hand in this tournament, he told me that he'd lost a chunk to Richard Sinclair a short while ago with pocket queens against pocket jacks when Sinclair rivered a jack.

And it would be Sinclair who would get the last of his chips, the UKIPT2 Newcastle winner made it 5,400 to go from under-the-gun and called when Thew moved all-in 41,100 total. After waiting for all the other tables to finish their hands we got the big reveal.

Thew: [3c][3h]
Sinclair: [5s][5h]

The [10c][Kd][9d] flop saw the crowd of spectators joking for a chop, the [4c] turn ended any chances of that and the [Qc] river ended Thew's run in this tournament.

That hand happened right at the end of level 14 and players are now on a 15 minute break. -- NW

6.40pm: Gavin soft bubbles as Smith gains revenge
Kevin Smith was very unlucky to double up Fintan Gavin earlier but he just got his revenge to bust him two spots off the money.

Smith opened to 5,000 and called when Gavin three-bet to 10,500. On the [6s][4h][7s] flop Gavin open-shipped for around 30,000 with pocket kings and Smith called with pocket fives.

The board ran out [8s][3d] to make Smith's straight. Gavin wished everyone the best of luck before he made off.

The bubble period is now in play and that means all tables are playing hand-for-hand. -- MC

6.30pm: Finneren busts a shortie
Thomas Finneran is up to 340,000 chips after he busted Aparicio Sanchez.

He raised from the button and then snap called when Sanchez shoved for around 40,000 from the big blind.

Finneran: [ad][as]
Sanchev: [4c][4d]

The board ran [qc][5d][2d][3h][ts]. Sanchez almost wriggled out of the mess but it was not to be. -- MC

6.25pm: Big names but do they have big stacks?
With the bubble firmly in sight, here's how some of the big names and UKIPT notables that are still left in are getting on, the average stack is 110,500: Liv Boeree (140,000), Stephen McGrath (45,000), Dara O'Kearney (67,000), OIlie Schaffmann (77,000), Fintan Gavin (60,000), Richard Sinclair (250,000), Dale Philip (70,000), Julian Thew (130,000), Mick Graydon (73,000), Fergal Nealon (85,000), Neil Rawnsley (40,000), Nick Newport (240,000) and Neil Raine (95,000). -- NW

6.20pm: Finneran flips good
Thomas Finneran has just flipped Nick Bell out of this tournament in 52nd place. The action was started by Bell who made it 4,800 to go, Finneran three-bet to 11,200, Bell then made it 45,000 to go which shocked Finneran. "Forty-five thousand," he said out loud. "How much do you have behind?" he then asked. "It's about half my stack," said Bell. After a brief dwell Finneran moved all-in and Bell made the call.

Finneran: [Qs][Qh]
Bell: [As][Kd]

The [10h][4c][Jc][6h][7h] flop kept Finneran in front. -- NW

6.12pm: Close but no cigar for....
David Clarkson, Sameer Singh, Noel Magner, Simon Nash, Jim O'Callaghan, Michał Ozimek, Patrick Humphreys, Denise Fusciardi, David Corduff, Nick Bell, Patrick McFadden, Richard Haile and Hasmukh Khodiyara. -- MC

6.05pm: Lose one, win one, for Boeree
Liv Boeree was happy to release a hand (correctly) against Fridjon Thordarson before she made Gavin Stevens release his hands minutes later. At the end she was sat on around 160,000 chips.

The board rested as [9d][as][5c][kh][8d] and Boeree checked to Thordarson who bet 19,600 into the 24,000 pot. Boeree snap folded and was shown pocket eights by Thordarson!

The next hand Boeree was on the button and three-handed to a [tc][3h][7h] flop. Stevens was the aggressor and continued for 8,000; only the Team PokerStars Pro called. On the [kh] turn Stevens checked to face an 11,000 bet than he was unable to call. -- MC

6pm: More for Derrick
On a [Qs][Qd][Qc] flop Simon Nash moved all-in for his last 30,000 into a similar sized pot and was snap called by Chris Derrick.

Nash: [Ah][Jc]
Derrick: [Ks][Kh]

The [3h] turn and [4c] river kept Derrick in the lead and the rich get richer with Derrick closing in on 275,000, whilst everyone else moves one place closer to being €1,315 richer. Just 55 remain. -- NW

5.55pm: Big stacks play cautiously
Being so near the money (eight spots off) it's understandable that big stacks would play cautiously against each other. That's exactly what happened between Thomas Finneran and Chris Derrick.

The former made it 5,000 to go from under the gun and was only called by the latter on the button. Finneran continued for 5,500 on the [8h][5d][ac] flop and Derrick called. Both players checked the [jd] turn before Finneran check-folded to a 13,500 bet on the [3d] river. That put Derrick up to about 220,000 and Finneran down to 165,000. -- MC

5.40pm: O'Kearney taking time out from online grind
Dara 'SlowDoke' O'Kearney is currently leading the UKIPT3 Best Online Qualifier leader board, with an immense 59 packages won across the seven events that have been played so far.

He's still just one tabling though here in Cork as he's one of the 61 players still left in. "Blinds just went 1200/2400 with 300 ante at #ukiptcork 61 left, 13 from bubble. Average 92k. Me 79k."

Since O'Kearney's tweet there's been three exits and just 58 remain. -- NW

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

5.30pm: Humphreys finished by Finnie
After an open to 4,000 from Pascal Töngi in early position, Kevin Finnie flat called from the cut-off only for Patrick Humphreys to move all-in for 32,000 from the small blind. "No," said Tongi as he folded, but Finnie decided he was priced in and gave Humphreys a spin.

Finnie: [Ac][Qh]
Humphreys: [5d][5s]

The board ran [10d][Js][As][3h][3s] to eliminate Humphreys. -- NW

5.20pm: BigMickG a little smaller
Not a good level for Mick 'BigMickG' Graydon, who became Ireland's first ever SuperNova Elite a few years ago, "Terrible level. Down to 41k av. is 77k," he tweeted in the fashion you'd expect from someone used to multi-tabling and multi-tasking. -- NW

5.10pm: We'll miss you all
More bust outs: Johan Modschidler, Aidan Connolly, Stephen Freeman, Dennis McCartney, Jamie Browne, Alistar Carins, Darren Fuller, Alek Nazareet, James O'Connor, Emmett Davis, Dennis Smit, Marius Stauga and Robbie Renehan. -- MC

5pm: Instant service for Raine
Neil Raine stopped to tell us how he was all in not long ago but managed to win a race to double up.

He three-bet all in for around from the big blind with ace-king after Kevin Finnie opened with pocket nines. Finnie called but lost the pot after the first card out was an ace. He's still going well on 105,000 chips. -- MC

5.25pm: Chip counts
Here's the top five counts from the break

Pascal Töngi, Germany, PokerStars Qualifier, 230,000
Chris Derrick, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, 212,800
John Keown, Ireland, 195,000
Andrew Grimason, Ireland, 180,000
Nicholas Newport, Ireland, PokerStars Player,173,000

To see counts of all the remaining players click here. -- NW

4.47pm: New barriers broken by Keown
John Keown is up to 210,000 chips after he forced Seamus Birt off a hand on a [5s][8d][qs] flop. Somehow 40,000 chips had made it into the middle before Keown led into Birt for 25,000. Birt tanked for a good while and then folded. Keown flashed pocket jacks and raked in the pot. -- MC

4.37pm: Pots and stakes getting bigger
With four of the eight allotted levels of today in the books just 73 of the 158 players who started Day 2 remain.

That means the bubble - when 49 players remain - is probably a good two and a half levels away from being in effect, but it's probably already in the minds of many of the players left in.

A min-cash is worth €1,315 so not to be sniffed at, especially if you're a qualifier who's got in for a fraction of the €770 entry fee.

The players, including Team PokerStars Pro Liv Boeree (105,000) and PokerStars Team Online Dale Philip (75,500) are re-taking their seats now. During the break tournament staff did a comprehensive chip count of everyone left in and we'll get that information up on the blog as soon as possible.

PokerStars Blog reporting team in Cork (in order of the man crush they have on Glen Murray right now) : Marc Convey (cartoon birds and hearts fluttering above his head) and Nick Wright (meh, takes more than 26 goals to impress me). Photos by Mickey May (Glen who?).

You don't get many more action-packed days on the UKIPT than a Day 2. Cork had it all: a glut of eliminations, swingy stacks, huge suck outs and a famous bubble boy.

We returned today with 158 players and after an action-fuelled eight levels of poker that number was whittled all the way down to 33. One man stands alone at the top of the counts and his name is Thomas Finneran, he bagged up 465,000 chips. The only other player to accumulate more than 400k was Pawel Keller who finished on 406,000.

The major talking point of the day surrounded the fact that one of the nicest men in poker bubbled. Normally there would be a lot of sympathy for Julian Thew but that was dampened by the fact he travelled to these shores on the back of a £40,000 tournament win last week. Leading up to his exit hand he and Richard Sinclair had battled in a couple of hands that saw chips leave Thew's stack and travel over to Sinclair.

The climax of that battle came when Thew three-bet all in for around 20 big blinds with pocket threes after Sinclair had opened from under the gun with pocket fives. The latter called and survived the [tc][kd][9d][4c][qc] board.

That catapulted Sinclair into the chip lead and he was looking odds-on to finish the day on around half-a-million chips until he got his aces cracked with an hour left in the day's play. Kevin Callebaut held kings and flopped a third to win the near 300k-chip pot. The former UKIPT Newcastle champion survived the day heads to Day 3 with 189,500 chips.

It was a fine day for those wearing the red spade of PokerStars. Team PokerStars Pro Liv Boeree came back with around 20k and built most of the day and cruised into the money. She had a setback in last level of the day but will be back for Day 3 with 93,000. "Today was confidence building, I played my ass off, played really well. It was fun," said Boeree of her day.

Team Online's Dale Philip had a great first few levels but then suffered at being to the right of Thew in the period to leading up to the bubble. He dug his heals in though and secured his first ever UKIPT cash at only his third attempt. He'll be hoping to spin up his 57,500 chips tomorrow. Philip had this to say at the end of play, "I was looking for a spot to double up near the end. There were spots were the math would've made it correct to shove the top 60% of hands, but I was getting the bottom 30%."

There were many winners and losers today. Those who we won't be seeing tomorrow but will still be satisfied at making the money include: Mick Graydon, Ollie Schaffmann, Neil Rawnsley, David Connors and Eoin Olin.

Then there were those players who came back with high hopes today only to have them dashed. Paul McTaggart was the first player out today and he was joined on the rail by the likes of Thomas Hall, Gary Clarke, Seth Webber, Mick McCloskey, Craig Burke, Owen Robinson, John O'Shea Dermot Blain and Fintan Gavin. The last of these had a typical day for him: up, down and out in a blaze of glory just short of the money.

After making such good progress today, tomorrow promises to be a very short day. We have to reach a final table of eight and we can't imagine that taking more than five hours. Today's drama was all about making the money; tomorrow the stakes are upped as who of the remaining players doesn't want to be part of the final table fan-fair on Monday?

Play will again start at 12pm GMT and we implore that you join us. If you want to catch up on all today's action or see the overnight chip counts then please click on the relevant link below. Whilst the Day 3 seat draw can be seen here.

End of day chip counts.
Levels 9-12.
Levels 13-16.

All photos are copyright of Mickey May. Infringe that and you'll need the luck of the Irish to survive her stare alone.

4.26pm: Break time
How time flies. Two more frantic levels have passed and a 15-minute break is needed to catch breath. You'll find level 21 updates in a new post here. -- MC

4.25pm: Kevin Callebaut eliminated in 14th place (€2,960)
Deborah Worley-Roberts really packed her magazine full of bullets today as she's taken out another player, one Kevin Callebaut.

Thompson opened to 22,000 from under the gun before Callebaut shoved for 79,000 from the next seat. Worley-Roberts was in the small blind and called which was enough to force out Thompson.

Worley-Roberts: [kc][qh]
Callebaut: [ah][kh]

The board ran [qs][td][8c][4c][qd] to make the lady three queens. She's up to around 385,000 chips. -- MC

4.15pm: Lee crippled
Jason Lee is down to fumes after he doubled up Karl Thompson.

He open-shoved for 127,000 from under the gun and Thompson moved all for 110,000 from mid position. All other players folded to leave it heads up.

Lee: [ah][th]
Thompson: [td][tc]

The board ran out [3h][9c][6d][kc][ks].

Lee was left with 17,000 and managed to double up the next hand, he's still in deep trouble though. -- MC

4.05pm: Jamie Harrington eliminated in 15th place (€2,299)
It folded round to Jamie Harrington on the button, he moved all-in for around 160,000 with [Ad][6h] and Thomas Finneran made the call from the big blind with [Ac][8c].

A [3s][2s][5d] flop gave Harrington additional outs, the [8s] turn took some away and the [Ks] river kept Finneran in front. After that hand Dylan Roberts was moved tables for balancing purposes and Finneran is up around 900,000. -- NW

3.55pm: The Lyons sleeps tonight in 16th place (€2,299)
Rob Lyons has been booted out after the cooler of all pre flop coolers.

He three-bet all in over the top of a Stephen McGrath raise and the call was very quick in coming.

Lyons: [kd][ks]
McGrath: [ad][ac]

The board ran [5s][qs][tc][as][3d] to bust him in very unfortunate circumstances. -- MC

3.45pm: Redraw for the final two tables
Table 1
1. Stephen McGrath
2. Jamie Harrington
3. Alexander Rhys-Davies
4. Thomas Finneran
5. Nicholas Newport
6. Pascal Tongi
7. Fridjon Thordarson
8. Rob Lyons

Table 2
1. Deborah Worley-Roberts
2. Karl Thompson
3. Kevin Callebaut
4. Dylan Roberts
5. Derrick Wall
6. Cahal Heapes
7. Pawel Keller
8. Jason Lee
--MC

3.42pm: John Keown eliminated in 17th place (€1,970)
And we're now down to our final two tables in Cork as John Keown lost a second big pot in succession to bust from this tournament. He open shoved for around 160,000 with [Kh][Jh] and was looked up by Pascal Tongi who held [Ah][Js]. The board ran out [9d][4s][3h][Qc][5s] and they'll now be a short break whilst there's a re-draw for the final two tables. -- NW

3.38pm: Keller over a million
Chip leader Pawel Keller has about 1,200,000 after winning a pot against Deborah Worley-Roberts. The American made it 20,000 pre-flop and both Keller and Kevin Callebaut made the call.

Flop: [Jc][4c][Jh] - bet of 30,000 from Worley-Roberts, call from Keller
Turm: [3c] - bet of 44,000 from Worley-Roberts, call from Keller
River: [10c][8c] check, check

Worley-Roberts announced ace-high and showed [Ad][Ks], whilst Keller opened [10c][8c] to win the pot. -- NW

3.35pm: Finnie fiddles for the last time
Kevin Finnie has been eliminated in 18th place after got his chips in dominated versus Stephen McGrath.

McGrath raised from the hijack and called when Finnie shoved from the big blind.

Finnie: [7d][7h]
McGrath: [8s][8c]

The board ran [2c][3d][3s][th][6s]. Finnie congratulated McGrath and went off to collect his money. McGrath up to around 430,000. -- MC

3.25pm: Roberts the ladies man
A double up for Dylan Roberts now, who must be the most suspicious man in the room as every time he's all-in and called he stands up and gets ready to leave, even when he's miles ahead as he was against John Keown.

Roberts had raised the button with [Qs][Qd], Keown three-bet all-in from the big blind with [8d][7d] and Roberts snapped him off. The board ran [5s][Ah][9h][3c][2d] to keep Roberts in front. His all-in was for roughly 155,000, he's now up to 320,000 whilst Keown slips to 170,000. -- NW

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

3.20pm: Boeree busts to Icelander
Liv Boeree made an aggressive move and it didn't pay off and she busted.

Fridjon Thordarson opened to 16,000 from the cut-off and called when the Team PokerStars Pro three-bet all in for 137,000 from the small blind. The big blind was absent so Boeree was only worrying about Thordarson.

Thordarson: [td][th]
Boeree: [kd][7s]

Boeree needed, and asked for, help but it failed to materialise on the board than ran [9d][9h][qh][5c][jd].

She wished everyone the best of luck and said goodbye. -- MC

3.15pm: Lee doubles up
A short-stacked Jason Lee just got a much needed double up courtesy of Kevin Callebaut. The former shoved from the button for his final 60,000 with [Ad][Jd] and Callebaut called from the big blind with [Kd][10h].

The [Jh][9d][6s][Ac][6c] board boosted Lee to around 130,000. "Online you know the queen comes on the river," quipped Deborah Worley-Roberts as Lee raked in the pot. -- NW

3.05pm: Bad timing busts Kivits
Johnny Kivits was down to his last 56,000 when he shoved from second position and he was unlucky to run into a monster behind him.

Kevin Finnie was sat with [ah][ac] and made the call. Kivtis opened [ad][2s] and the board ran [8h][7h][qh][td][kd] to send him on his way. Finnie upped to 290,000 after that. -- MC

3pm: Smith sails away
Kevin Smith's deep run at UKIPT Cork has come to an end after Thomas Finneran took him out.

There was a raise to 16,000 from Pascal Töngi before Smith three-bet all in for 119,000. Finneran was in the small blind and called after some serious thought. Töngi folded to leave them to it.

Smith: [tc][9h]
Finneran: [ac][qd]

The board ran [7s][qh][8d][3h][3s]. The flop helped both players but Finneran faded the out to bust Smith. -- MC

2.55pm: McGrath coolers Callebaut
The last remaining Belgian in this event is Kevin Callebaut, he put a couple of coolers on Richard Sinclair to find himself in the upper echelons of the chip counts, but he just got a taste of his own medicine.

From early position Stephen McGrath, who's looking to make his second Irish UKIPT final table of the season, raised to 16,000, he was flat called by Pawel Keller and Callebaut then three-bet to 35,000. Back on McGrath he put 80,000 of his 154,000 into the middle, Keller folded, Callebaut moved all-in and McGrath called all-in.

McGrath: [Kc][Ks]
Callebaut: [Qc][Qd]

The [Kd][8c][As] flop all but sealed the deal, the [2s] turn card gave McGrath a lock on the hand and the meaningless [9c] rolled off on the river. After that hand McGrath is up to 330,000 whilst Callebaut slips to 350,000. -- NW

2.45pm: Thompson's fans go wild on the rail
Karl Thompson's rail was a happy place after their man doubled up to 180,000 chips.

Liv Boeree opened to 16,000 from the hijack before Alexander Rhys-Davies three-bet to 37,000 from the button and Thompson shoved for 79,000 from the big blind. The Team PokerStars Pro folded to leave Rhys-Davies to call quickly.

Rhys-Davies: [jc][jh]
Thompson: [qh][qd]

The board ran [ad][as][7s][2h][7h] as cheers of "KARLOS" were heard from the rail. Rhys-Davies dropped to 160,000. -- MC

2.30pm: End of the road for Grimason
Going into level 19 Andrew Grimason was the shortest stack and he didn't take long to make a stand. He moved all-in from the button for 57,000 with [Kc][8h] and was looked up by Derrick Wall who held [As][10d].

Grimason was happy that both his cards were live, but he couldn't get there on the [4c][4d][10s][3d][2h] board. -- NW

2.22pm: Chip counts from the break
Here are the chip counts of the remaining 22 players

Pawel Keller, Poland,PokerStars Qualifier, 772,000
Thomas Finneran, Ireland,513,000
Deborah Worley-Roberts, USA, PokerStars Qualifier, 484,000
Kevin Callebaut, Belgium, PokerStars Qualifier, 461,000
Pascal Töngi, Germany, PokerStars Qualifier, 350,000
Derrick Wall, Ireland, 333,000
Alexander Rhys-Davies, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, 315,000
Nicholas Newport, Ireland, PokerStars Player, 312,000
John Keown, Ireland, 307,000
Dylan Roberts, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, 284,000
Kevin Finnie, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, 226,000
Cahal Heapes, Ireland, 174,000
Liv Boeree, United Kingdom, Team PokerStars Pro,168,000
Stephen McGrath, United Kingdom, 166,000
Kevin Smith, United Kingdom, 157,000
Jamie Harrington, Ireland, 122,000
Fridjon Thordarson, Iceland, PokerStars Qualifier, 109,000
Rob Lyons, Ireland, 100,000
Jason Lee, Ireland, 75,000
Johnny Kivits, Netherlands, PokerStars Qualifier, 75,000
Karl Thompson, Ireland, 62,000
Andrew Grimason, Ireland, 58,000

2.02pm: Break time
After a frantic first two levels everyone needs a 20-minute breather. -- MC

2pm: Lucky Liv lives
Team PokerStars Pro Liv Boeree is back in business after finding herself in trouble only to hit a perfect flop.

The action folded around to her in the small blind and she shoved for 82,500. Andrew Grimason was in the big blind and called in a flash.

Boeree: [js][7d]
Grimason: [ah][kc]

The board ran [jh][jd][7s][6d][ad] and a happy Boeree survived. -- MC

1.50pm: I thought I was behind
Dylan Roberts had his coat on and was standing up, but he soon sat back down when he saw that he was in fact ahead, let's rewind.

Pascal Tongi opened to 12,000 and then called when an out of position Roberts three-bet to 38,000. The flop fell [5h][7h][9c] Roberts moved all-in for 110,000 and Tongi snapped him off.

Roberts: [Jh][Jd]
Tongi: [10s][7s]

The [2c] turn and [2d] river kept Roberts in front and his coat was on the back of his chair before the next hand was dealt. He's up to around 300,000 now. -- NW

1.40pm: Kivits and Deb the destroyer knock out Schormann
A one-two knockout blow for Conrad Schormann now, with Johnny Kivits and Deborah Worley-Roberts taking his chips.

He lost the majority of them to Kivits, after Pawel Keller opened to 15,000, Schormann moved all-in for roughly 90,000 only for Kivits to move all-in behind him for around 65,000, Keller left them to it.

Schormann: [Qs][10s]
Kivits: [Ks][Kc]

The [7d][8d][5c][Ac][9s] board kept Kivits in front and left Schormann with around 25,000. A few hands later they went in with [7s][5h] Worley-Roberts called with [Qs][10s] and stayed in front on the [Qc][3s][3c][Ks][2s] board. "Deb's the destroyer," quipped Kevin Finnie to her. -- NW

1.35pm: How did Grimason not go broke?
Andrew Grimason said he's free-rolling now after he bet-called with a full house and was shown quads by Derrick Wall.

The two were heads up to the turn and Wall called an 18,000 bet to head to the river. The final board read [jh][7s][7c][as][kd] and Grimason led for 16,000 and was raised up to 60,000.

"I'll just call," said Grimason and opened [jc][jd] for a full house. To everyone's amazement Wall opened [7d][7h] for quads! Grimason is still in with 155,000 and Wall is up to 385,000. -- MC

1.30pm: Raine checks out in 24th
UKIPT leader board leader Neil Raine has added some more points to his total here in Cork, but he's just been eliminated from the main event.

Deborah Worley-Roberts opened from the cut-off, Raine shoved for 36,000 total from the small blind and Worley-Roberts called off the extra.

Worley-Roberts: [Qs][10h]
Raine: [Js][10s]

The [7c][Qd][2c][4h][Qc] board ruled emphatically in Worley-Roberts favour and her fantastic start to the day continues. -- NW

1.27pm: Worley-Roberts finishes off Derrick
Deborah Worley-Roberts doubled up through Chris Derrick not long ago and just now she finished off the job.

Pawel Keller opened before Derrick moved all in for 160,000 and Worley-Roberts moved all in as well. Keller folded to leave them to it.

Derrick: [js][qd]
Worley-Roberts: [qs][qc]

The board ran [ts][8h][as][8c][7d] to send the chips Worley-Roberts' way. She's up to 420,000. -- MC

1.25pm: Even Stevens
A button versus big blind cooler to tell you about now...

Kevin Smith (button) who had 106,500 and Gavin Stevens (big blind) who had 105,500 got all their respective chips in the middle pre-flop and when the hands were turned over it was easy to see why.

Smith: [As][Qs]
Stevens: [Js][Jd]

The [4s][3d][6c][Ah][9d] board saw Smith turn into the lead and given that he had Stevens covered by the slimmest of margins we're down to just 25 players here in Cork. With one more exit we'll be down to the final three tables. -- NW

1.20pm: Sinclair out cold to Callebaut
Richard Sinclair must really dislike Kevin Callebaut at the moment after the Belgian collared him for the second time this tournament.

Sinclair had his aces cracked by Callebaut's kings last night in a monster pot and now he ran top full house into quads!

Around 100,000 chips had made it into the river by the time the board rested as [2h][th][td][kc][2d]. Callebaut led for 70,000 and snap-called when Sinclair shoved for 115,000.

Sinclair opened ace-ten for a full house but Callebaut opened [2c][2s] for quads and is up to around 500,000 chips. -- MC

1.18pm: O'Kearney KO'd
Despite his recent double up Dara O'Kearney couldn't mount a comeback in this tournament.

In his exit hand Andrew Grimason opened to 14,000 on the button with [As][Qc], O'Kearney three-bet shoved with [Ks][Qh] for around 105,000 and Grimason who just had him covered made the call.

The [5h][4d][10s][2s][4c] board kept Grimason in front and boosted him to over 200,000. -- NW

1.12pm: Killer Keller up to 750k after busting Furey
Kieran Furey is out after a cooler saw him lose his last 170,000 chips to Pawel Keller.

Furey three-bet called off his stack with [qd][qc]. He was is trouble as Keller opened [kh][kd] and the board ran [td][4d][as][8h][ac] to rocket the Poiish player up to 75,000 chips. -- MC

1.10pm: Newport state of grind
Nick Newport is settling in for the grind today as he just coolered Phil Peters out of this tournament.

In a 300,000 chip pot, which all went in pre-flop Newport had pocket kings, Peters [Ad][Kd]. The [4c][9s][Jd][3s][Js] board kept the pair in front and Newport is up to 360,000. -- NW

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 3,000-6,000 ante 500

1.05pm: It's alright DOK
A double up just now for Dara O'Kearney who we learnt today is colour blind (might explain the shirt and tie combo). He open shoved for 53,500 with pocket threes from middle position and Cahal Heapes gave him a spin with [Kd][Qs]. The board came a suitably low [8h][7s][4s][2d][6d] to boost him to 110,000 whilst Heapes slips to 150,000. -- NW

1pm: Greensteined
If it's not a poker verb then it should be, I refer to being knocked out of a tournament by an ace on the river, the name of Team PokerStars Pros poker book. It's a fate that just befell Sweden's Michael Doverklint.

He open shoved with pocket queens and was called by Kevin Finnie who held [As][Kh], the [8d][2h][3h][3s][Ad] board boosting Finnie to 290,000 and sending Doverklint tumbling out. The Swede saved the dealer a job by launching his stack in the air towards Finnie, causing Deborah Worley-Roberts - who's to the right of Finnie in the two seat, to reach her arms around her chips in case any of Finnie's new found stack flew in there.

I should add Doverklint didn't do this in a malicious or aggressive manner, but it caused a stir nonetheless and Doverklint apologised before he left the table. - NW

12.55pm: 'Superb' call helps Worley-Roberts double
Deborah Worley-Roberts had three-bet folded in a hand before but she wasn't going to lay down so easily the very next hand.

Chris Derrick opened to 10,000 from second position and was only called by Worley-Roberts in the hijack. The board ran out [qd][9c][tc][th][4c] and Derrick bet 11,000, 21,000 and all in on each street.

Worley-Roberts called the first two bets quickly; the river bet, for her remaining 103,500, took a lot more consideration though. After a couple of minutes she made the call with [ah][qh] for two-pair. Derrick opened [2d][2s] and dropped to 204,000 in chips. Worley-Roberts took all the plaudits from her table mates who said she made a superb call. -- MC

12.45pm: Lots of all-ins, no calls
Not a lull in action so to speak, but a lull in significant action. There's been lots of all-ins, but be they straight up shoves, or three-bet all-ins they've all got through. Jason Lee and Conrad Schormann are just two of the players who've padded their stack with the all-in move. -- NW

12.35pm: Two times a lady
Liv Boeree isn't the only lady hoping to become the first ever female UKIPT champion here in Cork, Deborah Worley-Roberts is also hoping to crack that particular nut.

It was quite a day for the American yesterday, she was as low as eight big blinds at one point before spinning that up to 227,000 to be ninth in chips when play started today.

She almost risked half of that just now as Kevin Finnie open jammed for around 120,000, Worley-Roberts contemplated the call for a minute or so before releasing her hand.

She's had some bad luck on the tour this year, nice to see her running well for once. -- NW

12.25pm: Lyons doubles again
There must be something in Rob Lyons' tea as he's doubled yet again. The shortest stack coming back today is up to around 120,000 now and back in with a real chance.

He moved all in over the top of a shove from his neighbour, Jason Lee, and the cards were flipped up.

Lee: [tc][ts]
Lyons: [jh][jd]

The board ran [3c][5h][2c][as][qd]. Lee's the one struggling on 55,000 chips a a result. -- MC

12.20pm: Boeree busts Philip
A bit of sponsored pro on sponsored pro action here as Team PokerStars Pro Liv Boeree has just bust PokerStars Team Online's Dale Philip.

Boeree opened to 10,000 with [Qc][7c] and called after Philip shoved for 26,000 with [Ad][9h]. The board came a cruel [Jh][2h][6d][5h][7s] to eliminate the Scotsman. He said yesterday he wanted to play the PLO side event which starts at 2pm, so he might make it a double cash today. -- NW

12.15pm: Nealon the first man down
Fergal Nealon was the first player to be eliminated today after he was rivered by Chris Derrick.

The action folded around to Derrick in the small blind and he open-shoved into Nealon who had less than 80,000 by that point. Nealon looked down at pocket fours and called all in.

Derrick opened [9d][5d] and got there on the [qh][2s][2h][8c][9s] board. The river seemed like a dagger in the side of Nealon who winced. -- MC

12.10pm: Lyons lives
The shortest stack coming back today was Rob Lyons, he didn't take long to get his remaining 35,000 over the line and when he did Dale Philip gave him a spin.

Lyons: [Qs][Qd]
Philip: [7d][7s]

"How do you have queens there," said Dale, before the dealer spread [Ad][5h][6d][4h][4s] on the felt, Dale is now down to around 30,000. -- NW

12.05pm: Uh-oh turns into phew for Philip
Dale Philip really didn't wait long to make his move. His stack went into the middle on the first hand and Dara O'Kearny quickly followed him in from the next seat. "Uh-oh," went Philip knowing he was in trouble.

Philip: [ah][9d]
O'Kearny: [as][jh]

The PokerStars Team Online needed the board to come to his rescue and it did when it ran [kh][ts][2h][th][2c] for a chop. -- MC

12pm: Shuffle up and deal
Cards are in the air.

11.55am: Fineran leads the way; Boeree and Philip still in
Welcome back to Day 3 of UKIPT Cork where we are a hop, skip and a jump away from a final table. The remaining 33 players will renew their battle and their quest is to make it to the final eight and therefore tomorrow's shenanigans. After a barnstorming day yesterday Thomas Finneran leads the way with 465,000 chips.

If yesterday was moving day for everyone, today is spin-up day for Team PokerStars Pro. Liv Boeree is in the better shape with 93,000 but she'll be looking to pull up trees from the off. Team Online's Dale Philip is in even worse shape with 57,500 and will need to make a very early move.

Cards will soon be in the air. -- MC

PokerStars Blog reporting team in Cork: Marc Convey and Nick Wright. Photos by Mickey May.

6.10pm: Dylan Roberts eliminated in ninth place (€4,270)
The final table of eight has now been set as a short stacked Dylan Roberts couldn't recover from his earlier set back.

From under-the-gun he moved all-in for 130,000 with pocket sevens only for Pawel Keller to wake up with pocket kings in the big blind.

A [10c][8c][5c][8s][Kd] board later and Roberts was gone and with his elimination play ends for the day.

It's going to be a close run thing for overnight chip leader between Keller and Thomas Finneran. A full wrap of this turbo charged day will be on the way shortly. -- NW

6.05pm: The comeback kid
Everyone thought Fridjon Thordarson was going to bust fairly quickly after being crippled but two double ups later he's proving everyone wrong.

The first hand he found [kc][ks] after Deborah Worley-Roberts had raised with [ah][jd]. The board ran [8c][tc][6h][th][4c].

A few hands later he moved all in for 162,000 with [6d][6c] and Dylan Roberts moved in behind with [ad][kh]. The board ran [8s][2h][3c][9s][7c] and all of a sudden Roberts is the short stack with around 140,000. -- MC

6pm: Final table re-draw
The final nine have combined around one table, with one more exit the final table of eight will be set, however the players who make the final will stay in these seats tomorrow.

1. Fridjon Thordarson
2. Pascal Tongi
3. Pawel Keller
4. Thomas Finneran
5. Dylan Roberts
6. Alexander Rhys-Davies
7. Nicholas Newport
8. Deborah Worley-Roberts
9. Stephen McGrath

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 8,000-16,000 ante 2,000

5.50pm: Alexander Rhys-Davies doubles through Fridjon Thordarson
At the same time as the Derrick Wall elimination hand was in progress a huge pot played out on table one. In fact this hand took longer than the other, so at the point the Wall/Keller hand reached the all-in stage, they had to keep their hands face down so as not to affect the hand that was still in progress.

From under-the-gun Alexander Rhys-Davies raised to 28,000 and Fridjon Thordarson called from the button. On the [Jh][10h][10s] flop Rhys-Davies bet 28,000 and Thordarson called.

The [2s] fell on the turn, check from Rhys-Davies, bet of 51,000 from Thordarson, check-raise all-in of 182,000 total from Rhys-Davies and then a long old tank from Thordarson.

So long in fact that TD Toby Stone paused the clock, eventually though Thordarson announced call.

Rhys-Davies: [Qs][Qd]
Thordarson: [Ac][Js]

The river was a blank and Rhys-Davies doubled through, whilst Thordarson was left with just 51,000.

As the tournament was down to nine players, there was then a short break when the final nine combined around one table. -- NW

5.40pm: Derrick Wall eliminated in 10th place (€4,270)
It folded to Derrick Wall in late position, he announced all-in and two seats to his left Pawel Keller made the call. The former's all-in was for 205,000.

Keller: [Ac][Qd]
Wall: [7h][7c]

The [Kd][6d][4d] flop gave Keller a boat load of outs, the [Qc] turn saw Wall take on water and the [8d] river sunk him. Meanwhile a huge hand was playing out on the other table...--NW

5.35pm: Cahal Heapes eliminated in 11th place (€3,615)
From under-the-gun+1 Thomas Finneran opened to 25,000, he almost got it through uncontested, but when the action reached Cahal Heapes in the big blind he moved all-in for 249,000. Call from Finneran.

Heapes: [Jc][Jd]
Finneran: [7s][7c]

The board ran [Kc][5h][4s][3h][6h] and Heapes banged the table in frustration at the river suck out, but soon regained his composure to wish everyone else good luck. -- NW

5.30pm: Big pot poker helps Worley-Roberts to double
There was no hanging around from Deborah Worley-Roberts in a hand that doubled her up to a top-three stack.

Chip leader Pawel Keller opened to 24,000 off the button and Thomas Finneran (2nd in chips) and Worley-Roberts called from the blinds.

The flop fell [jd][6c][7c] and Worley-Roberts moved all in for a massive 416,000 chips. Keller though for 30 seconds and called. Finneran left them to it.

Worley-Roberts: [7s][6s] for two-pair.
Keller: [ac][kc] for nut flush draw.

Keller said he called as he thought Worley-Roberts had a smaller flush draw and that's why he called. Worley-Roberts covered her face with her scarf as the board ran out [3s][9d] fading all outs. Both are on around 920,000 chips now. -- MC

5.25pm: Karl Thompson eliminated in 12th place (€3,615)
Pocket tens had been Karl Thompson's friend today but that very hand came back to eliminate him.

He open-shoved his last 116,000 in with [td][tc] and was called by Thomas Finneran in the big blind. He opened [as][kd] and made two-pair on the [kh][ac][4d][6h][6d] board. -- MC

5.15pm: Oh boy!
With the elimination of Jason Lee, there was just five players on table two. So, as the next big blind on table one Thomas Finneran was moved to table two. And, wouldn't you know it he was put to the direct left of Pawel Keller. Those two are the two chip leaders and between them they have around 40% of the chips in play.

It could get messy...--NW

5.10pm: Jason Lee eliminated in 13th place (€2,960)
From under-the-gun+1 Pawel Keller opened to 25,000, next to act Jason Lee moved all-in for roughly 125,000 and after getting an eyes on count of Lee's stack the chip leader made the call.

Lee: [Js][Jh]
Keller: [Kc][Jd]

The [Kh][2c][7d][10c][Ac] board eliminated Lee and more than one person uttered the word 'sick' as the chip leader added even more to his stack. -- NW

5pm: It's a shoving game
There haven't been too many flops of late. Almost all of the action has been pre flop.

There was one all in showdown between Nicholas Newport and Pascal Töngi but it was an anti-climax as both had ace-king and chopped the pot. -- MC

4.45pm: Chip counts
Below are the counts of the 13 remaining players at the start of level 21. It's still Pawel Keller who leads the way, he's followed by start of day chip leader Thomas Finneran. Those two are some way clear of the chasing pack.

Pawel Keller, Poland, PokerStars Qualifier, 1,265,000
Thomas Finneran, Ireland , 900,000
Stephen McGrath, United Kingdom, 520,000
Deborah Worley-Roberts, USA, PokerStars Qualifier, 449,000
Nicholas Newport, Ireland, PokerStars Player, 400,000
Pascal Töngi, Germany, PokerStars Qualifier, 380,000
Derrick Wall, Ireland, 338,000
Dylan Roberts, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, 310,000
Cahal Heapes, Ireland, 277,000
Fridjon Thordarson, Iceland, PokerStars Qualifier, 260,000
Alexander Rhys-Davies, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, 240,000
Karl Thompson, Ireland,155,000
Jason Lee, Ireland, 76,000

4.45pm: Wall of chips gets smaller
Just before the break Derrick Wall lost back to back all-in pots, so he was probably glad of the 15 minute break to regroup.

The first one is going to be one the smarts the most as he held [Qh][Qs] against Cahal Heapes who was all-in for 108,000 with [Ac][10h]. The [Kc][6s][8h] was safe enough, the [Ad] turn put Heapes in the lead and the [2h] river kept him there.

Then on the very next hand Jason Lee was all-in for 36,000 with [Kh][9h], Wall already had 10,000 invested in the big blind and called off the extra with [Qh][5s]. The [Jh][4d][10h][8c][4h] board kept Lee alive. Despite those setbacks Lee still has 338,000, almost 30 big blinds.

PokerStars Blog reporting team in Cork: Marc Convey and Nick Wright. Photos by Mickey May.

Much like the Foxtrot today was a day that went slowly, then quickly, then slowly again before a turbo burst at the end meant that in a little over five levels the field was reduced from 33 players to the final eight.

Despite all the big pots, suckouts and chip swings the top two going into today remained in those positions throughout the day, the only thing that's changed between the end of Day 2 and Day 3 is that their positions have been reversed.

When the players take their chips out of the bags tomorrow it'll be Pawel Keller who has the most strenuous task, he bagged up 1,524,000 to lead the way. The Pole is just 6.875 big blinds ahead of Ireland's Thomas Finneran who has 1,415,000. At the end of Day 2 Finneran's lead over Keller was a shade under 12 big blinds, between them the two of them have over 50% of the chips in play.

Whilst they both made serene progress today, that progress was achieved in different manners. For Keller it seemed he was stamping out players left right and centre. A pot where he found kings against Kieran Furey's queens helped him become the first player to cross the million-chip barrier. Apt then that finding kings and eliminating Dylan Roberts in ninth would end the day and once again make him chip leader after he had lost that privilege to Finneran.

Meanwhile Finneran seemed to just be picking up small pots here and there, then with two tables left he went on a rush. He took care of Jamie Harrington (15th), Karl Thompson (12th) and Cahal Heapes (11th) to claim the chip lead, but for the final hand of today he'd still have it. He does though have position on the Pole tomorrow which could be crucial in determining a winner.

The two chip leaders weren't the only two to have a hot hand on Day 3 here in Cork. Enter Deb's the Destroyer - better known as Deborah Worley-Roberts. She had spun eight big blinds all the way up to 229,000 to be ninth in chips when play started today. By the end of the first two levels she had almost 500,000. This was in part down to eliminating Neil Raine, but mostly down to a superb call she made against the Chris Derrick.

Facing a bet for her tournament life on the river of a paired and flushing board that read [Qd][9c][tc][th][4c] and, having been fired into on every street, Worley-Roberts made the call with [Ah][Qh]. She had Derrick's pocket twos crushed and soon ended his chances of making back to back final tables. The American ended the day on 795,000 and sits third overnight. Can she become the first female winner of a UKIPT main event?

Two players hoping to make their first UKIPT final table today were Team PokerStars Pro Liv Boeree and PokerStars Team Online's Dale Philip. The latter was the shorter of the two and the first of the duo to bust. He kept the chips in the family though as Boeree eliminated him with [Qc][7c] against his six big blind shove with [Ad][9h], queen on the river.

For Boeree it was a day where she got to put her pre-flop skills into practice and work on her shoving ranges, given that she rarely had over 25 big blinds. She looked to be heading out when she pushed for just under 14 big blinds with [Js][7d] from the small blind into big blind Andrew Grimason's [Ah][Kc]. However, a [Jh][Jd][7s] flop connected rather nicely with her hand.

However she couldn't repeat the trick, when 80 minutes later with the big blind sitting out she jammed for 17 big blinds with [Kd][7s] from the small blind over the top of Fridjon Thordarson's cut-off open. The Icelander called with pocket tens and the pair held to eliminate Boeree in 19th place.

The EPT6 San Remo champion wasn't the only winner on a PokerStars tour to fall today, Richard Sinclair winner of UKIPT2 Newcastle and UKIPT2's Champion of Champion event was positively coolered out of this tournament in 29th place by Kevin Callebaut with top full house against quads. We also lost both the UKIPT 3 leader board leader (Neil Raine 24th) and the UKIPT3 Best Online Qualifier leader Dara O'Kearney.

As well as the three aforementioned players tomorrow's final table will feature Stephen McGrath, he'll be hoping to go one better than he did at UKIPT3 Dublin when he finished runner up to Richard Evans. The Everton fan is fourth overnight with 610,000. That's one place ahead of Alexander Rhys-Davies (457,000). As well as a first female winner of a UKIPT main event we could have the first Icelandic winner as Fridjon Thordarson comes back with 336,000 tomorrow, Pascal Töngi (289,000) could score another German victory on Season 3 of the UKIPT.

And a short stacked Nick Newport (195,000) is an experienced campaigner with a major tournament victory to his name so should not be discounted. After all we all know what happened in Edinburgh.

UKIPT Cork Final Table:

1. Fridjon Thordarson, Iceland, PokerStars Qualifier, 336,000
2. Pascal Töngi, Germany, PokerStars Qualifier, 289,000
3. Pawel Keller, Poland, PokerStars Qualifier, 1,524,000
4. Thomas Finneran, Ireland, 1,415,000
5.Alexander Rhys-Davies, Ireland, PokerStars Qualifier, 457,000
6. Nicholas Newport, Ireland, PokerStars Player, 195,000
7. Deborah Worley-Roberts, USA, PokerStars Qualifier, 795,000
8. Stephen McGrath, United Kingdom, 610,000

The final table starts at noon with just under 44 minutes of Level 22 remaining, to catch up on all today's action, the day's that went before it and who's cashed so far click on the links below.

Levels 17-20
Levels 21-22
Day 2
Day 1B
Day 1A
Prizepool and payouts

Last night was the player's party, we'll leave you with three mages from there. Don't ask.

All photos are copyright of Mickey May and should be credited as such

4.23pm: Break time
The players are on their second 15-minute break of the day. Updates from here on in will be in a new post. -- MC

4.20pm: McGrath moves up in chips
A series of small pot wins have seen Stephen McGrath move closer to second place in the chips counts on 1.45 million.

A couple he won without showdown and then he took down one off each player at showdown.

He limped into Pawel Keller's big blind who checked his option. Keller bet 50,000 on the [8c][7d][qh] flop and McGrath check-called. Both players checked the [6d] turn before McGrath led for 100,000 on the [5c] river. Keller folded and McGrath showed down [9c][ts] for a straight even though he didn't have to.

Two hands later he and Thomas Finneran played a limped pot as well. Post flop they checked all the way to the river of a [qd][8d][kd][jd][9c] board where Finneran led for 100,000. McGrath called with [qc][5d] for a bay flush and it was enough as Finneran mucked.

Finneran is down to 2.2 million and Keller is down to 1.9 million. -- MC

4.05pm: Chip counts
These are rough counts but these are the current standings:

3. Pawel Keller, Poland, PokerStars Qualifier,1,900,000
4. Thomas Finneran, Ireland, 2,750,000
8. Stephen McGrath, United Kingdom, 1,200,000

3.55pm: Fridjon Thordarson eliminated in fourth place (€19,360)
More chips for chip leader Thomas Finneran as he just eliminated Fridjon Thordarson in fourth place.

On the button Thordarson moved all-in for 392,000, it passed to Finneran in the big blind who asked: "Do you want a call?" "A bit of both," replied Thordarson. After cutting out the calling chips and seeing what he'd have left Finneran did indeed make the call.

Finneran: [Kd][10h]
Thordarson: [Kh][2h]

The board ran out [Kc][4h][7d][6h][Jd] and Finneran faded the flush outs to hold up and move to around 2,750,000. -- NW

3.45pm: Finneran flying
Maybe he's full of confidence after that last big pot win; maybe he's picking up a rush of cards. Whatever the reason Thomas Finneran has put the metal to the floor and is up to around 2.5 million.

He battled in a pre flop raising war with Pawel Keller and came out victorious. Keller opened to 60,000 off the button and then four-bet to 350,000 after Finneran three-bet to 160,000 from the button. Finneran calmly five-bet to 650,000 and his Polish opponent was forced to fold.

A short while after Fridjon Thordarson opened to 63,000 from the button and was called by Keller in the small blind before Finneran squeezed to 200,000 from the small blind.

The very next hand after that Keller opened to 60,000 off the button but folded when Finneran three-bet to 160,00 in the small once again.

Keller has dropped to 2.1 million and Thordarson has around 500,000. -- MC

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 15,000-30,000 ante 3,000

3.30pm: McGrath moves all-in
Fridjon Thordarson has taken a real battering this last couple of orbits, he opened to 52,000 from under-the-gun and Stephen McGrath defended his big blind. The flop fell [3c][Ad][8h], it checked to Thordarson who fired 78,000, McGrath moved all-in and Thordarson folded. As he took the pot McGrath showed [9s][8s]. -- NW

3.20pm: Finneran wins a big pot
Thomas Finneran is all smiles after hitting what opponent Fridjon Thordarson called a "lucky river," to win a sizeable pot from the Icelander.

Pre-flop it was Thordarson who got the action started, he made it 52,000 from under-the-gun, then called after Finneran raised to 137,000 out of the small blind.

On the [3s][3c][2h] flop Finneran bet 90,000 and Thordarson made the call. The [9s] fell on the turn, bet of 180,000 from Finneran, call from Thordarson. The [Jd] fell on the river, both players checked and Finneran opened [Qd][Jh] whilst Thordarson showed [Ac][8h].

After the hand was over Thordarson said: "When the nine hits why bet so high?"
"I thought you might have something like a pair of sixes and would fold," replied Finneran. After that hand Finneran is up to 1,950,000 whilst Thordarson slips to 600,000.-- NW

3.10pm: Deborah Worley-Roberts eliminated in 5th place (€14,780)
Deborah "Debs the Destroyer" Worley-Roberts from yesterday was the one destroyed today. She was eliminated by Pawel Keller in a hand that was a bit of a cooler.

Keller opened to 50,000 off the button and Worley-Roberts defended her big blind to see a [td][3h][8c] flop appear.

Keller continued for 60,000 and Worley-Roberts check-called to the [jc] turn. Worley-Roberts had around 400,000 back and check-snap-shoved when her Polish opponent fired a second barrel for 90,000. Pawel was taken aback but called as soon as he regained his senses.

Worley-Roberts opened [ts][8s] for two pair and when she saw Keller's [qd][9c] she said in despair, "He's got it! He's got it! I'm dead."

The river came [qs] and she was indeed dead. The UKIPT's wait for a female winner will have to carry on until another time. Keller has more than 2.4 millions chips now. -- MC

2.55pm: Fridjon Thordarson gets one through
From under-the-gun Thomas Finneran opened to 55,000, both Deborah Worley-Roberts and Stephen McGrath called before Fridjon Thordarson made it 187,500 from the small blind. Pawel Keller and Finneran quickly folded but Worley-Roberts was not so quick to act.

She first got a count of McGrath's chips (he covered) before electing to fold, McGrath now took even longer to make his decision, it seemed he really didn't want to let go of his hand. Eventually though he did fold and post hand discussion between McGrath and Worley-Roberts suggested that they both had pairs and that McGrath had folded pocket tens, whilst Worley-Roberts passed pocket fives. However, as we know no one tells the truth at the poker table. -- NW

2.45pm: Stephen McGrath doubles through Pawel Keller
From the button Stephen McGrath moved all-in for 377,000, Fridjon Thordarson folded from the small blind, but Pawel Keller called from the big blind, on their backs.

McGrath: [As][9c]
Keller: [Kd][Jd]

The [4c][Qd][2h][3s][Ah] board kept McGrath in the lead and he doubled to around 780,000. -- NW

2.40pm: Keller aggressive pre flop, passive post flop
Pawel Keller has been the most aggressive pre flop player since they've returned but he's been happy to be passive post flop.

He raised to 50,000 from the button and Deborah Worley-Roberts defended her big blind. Both players checked all the way down the [qs][9h][4d][qc][qh] board. Keller said he had king high and lost out to Worley-Roberts' ace-nine.

A short while after Keller three-bet to 125,000 after Fridjon Thordarson had opened to 50,000. Keller called and both players checked the [kc][9h][qc][2s][qh] board through its entirety. It was a chop as both had ace-ten. Thordarson had the [ac][tc] for a royal flush draw and said he hoped Keller would've made a move on the flop. -- MC

2.25pm: Back we go
Players are now back in their seats, chip counts from the break were as follows:

1. Fridjon Thordarson, Iceland, PokerStars Qualifier, 1,006,000
3. Pawel Keller, Poland, PokerStars Qualifier, 2,209,000
4. Thomas Finneran, Ireland, 1,523,000
7. Deborah Worley-Roberts, USA, PokerStars Qualifier, 507,000
8. Stephen McGrath, United Kingdom, 377,000

It's still Pawel Keller and Thomas Finneran who lead the way, but Fridjon Thordarson has moved into third place. -- NW

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

2.10pm: Alexander Rhys-Davies eliminated in sixth place (€10,510)
It had been a good orbit for Alexander Rhys-Davies, he'd got a walk and shoved twice (showing [Ad][Kh] on one occasion) to increase his stack to almost 400,000.

However it all unravelled on the last hand before the break. He moved all-in and this time he got a taker, in the shape of Fridjon Thordarson.

Rhys-Davies: [Ac][9h]
Thordarson: [Jc][Jh]

A [9s][4d][8s] flop gave him some hope, but it came [2d][Qd] to eliminate him from the tournament in sixth place. The five remaining players are now on a 15 minute break. -- NW

2.06pm: McGrath and Keller continue their duel
Stephen McGrath and Pawel Keller seem to have it in for each other today as they continue to battle. They just played out three pots and the score was 2-1 to Keller.