Seat 1: Fridjon Thordarson, Iceland (PokerStars Qualifier) - 336,000
Fridjon Thordarson was meant to be "partying in London" this weekend but reckons his friends might have extended this period to allow for his making the UKIPT Cork Main Event final table. This is, amazingly, only the 35 year old's second live tournament, his first being another UKIPT event in which he also ran deep. Having arrived nine-handed with a micro stack after doubling Rhys-Davies, two timely double-ups of his own leave him in contention once again.

Seat 2: Pascal Töngi, Germany (PokerStars Qualifier) - 289,000
Töngi, originally from Frankfurt, resides in Zug, Switzerland where he is studying for an Economics degree. He turns 22 on Wednesday, so making the final table here in Cork is an early birthday present for him. He's been playing poker for fun for the last three or four years. This is his first UKIPT and he has loved everything about it. Before this he has played some of the bigger live tournaments in Switzerland and has started to pay online recently. His plan for the final table is to try to double up early and see where it takes him. With this result he is planning on coming to play the next leg in London.

Seat 3: Pawel Keller, Poland (PokerStars Qualifier) - 1,524,000
Polish psychology student Keller, 26, is used to holding the chip lead here in Cork, having traded it with Thomas Finneran several times today. These two chip-laden finalists have not played against each other for more than half a level, but Keller is undaunted, saying, "I've felt confident with my decisions and tomorrow will just try to play my best." This final table represents Keller's best result on the UKIPT so far, but he already has his sights set on London next month - and possibly the EPT beyond that. He enjoys the UKIPT, saying that it's the "best tour for the buy-in that I can afford right now."

Seat 4: Thomas Finneran, Ireland - 1,415,000
Thomas Finneran has a whisker under chip leader Keller's stack and modestly admits that he's been "running pretty well, having won most flips" to get this far. The 35 year old from Galway is an experienced live MTT player who has cashed on the EPT as well as at several events in Ireland, but a win here would represent his second biggest result (he came 7th at the Irish Open in 2007 for €75,000). Finneran has been playing poker for 10 years, mainly live, although has an Omaha FTOPS win under his belt, too. He says overall he is "feeling confident" and hopes things go well on the final table.

Seat 5: Alex Rhys-Davies, Ireland (PokerStars Qualifier) - 457,000
Rhys-Davies is a local Cork lad who plays poker full time. The 21 year old has played only three UKIPTs and the furthest he has progressed was Day 2. His strategy when playing Cork was just to cash, which meant he played more cautiously and remained patient. Having made it past the bubble, he decided to continue this approach and is very confident now having made the final table. He plays most of his poker online and if he wins UKIPT Cork, the money will go towards his travelling plans for later this year.

Seat 6: Nicholas Newport, Ireland (PokerStars Player) - 195,000
Nicholas Newport is 24 and resides in Dublin. He's been playing poker for three years and regularly plays UKIPT tournaments, his best performance coming in Season 1 in Killarney where he finished 10th. His UKIPT Cork experience has been a long and tiring one as his adrenaline is preventing sleep, so he's hoping for a restful night before play restarts tomorrow. If he wins, he plans firstly to repay his backers with the rest of the money going into his account for another day at the tables.

Seat 7: Deborah Worley-Roberts, USA (PokerStars Qualifier) - 795,000
Worley-Roberts originates from California but moved to the UK 18 years ago and now calls Hove, near Brighton, home. When she's not playing at nearly every UKIPT stop she's busy running her own computer security company. Worley-Roberts discovered online poker back in 2005 and ventured into the live arena in 2009. She much prefers playing live as the social aspect of the game is a real draw for her. This is Worley-Roberts' only UKIPT cash to date but she did win £8,800 for finishing 5th in a £1k side event at the UKIPT Grand Final at the end of Season 2. She's comfortable with her stack size heading into the final table and she plans to pick her spots very wisely.

Seat 8: Stephen McGrath, United Kingdom - 610,000
This is not only the second UKIPT that Stephen has played but also the second time he has made a final table. His first UKIPT Main Event was Dublin last May where he was runner -up, winning €60,000. Residing in Liverpool where he is an auditor for DHL he much prefers to play poker live so he can assess the other players and get a feel for things. If he wins UKIPT Cork, he plans to go on holiday with the family.

7.15pm: Adios Cork, hola London
Stay tuned for the wrap of today's final table, which will be on it's way shortly. There's not long to wait for the next stop of the UKIPT, which takes place in London March 5th-10th. Until then that's all folks. -- NW

6.51pm: Thomas Finneran wins UKIPT Cork
It's all over here in Cork, Stephen McGrath will have to settle for a second runners-up finish on the UKIPT as he couldn't overcome the deficit.

He had shoved once, showing aces and when he shoved again Thomas Finneran made the call.

McGrath: [6c][5c]
Finneran: [Qs][8s]

The [4s][8c][3d][8h][Qc] board gave the Irishman a full-house and a €55,440 payday whilst McGrath pockets €45,600 for his second place finish. -- NW

6.47pm: Finneran wins a big pot; McGrath down to seven big blinds
The pots big or small have continued to go Thomas Finneran's way and Stephen McGrath is now in real trouble. The biggest pot they contested played out like this...

Finneran limped from the button and McGrath checked his option.

Flop: [8h][Qd][4h] - check, check
Turn: [Ac] - check, check
River: [2s] - bet of 75,000 by McGrath, raise to 375,000 by Finneran, call from McGrath.

Finneran: [5h][3c] - for the rivered straight
McGrath: [Ah][10h] - for the flopped flush draw, turned ace and one pair.

After that hand McGrath is down to just seven big blinds. -- NW

6.43pm: Finneran in control
The last 15 minutes has seen no big pots played out, just a series of small pots, and at least 90% of them have been won by the Irishman.

For the most part, if Stephen McGrath's limped Finneran raised him off his hand; if McGrath raised Finneran three-bet him off his hand; if the hand made it to showdown, Finneran's high-card was enough.

The one pot McGrath did win saw him call a raise and lead on a [5d][8d][ts] flop. Finneran folded.

All that meant that McGrath dropped to around one million chips to Finneran's 4.7 million. -- MC

6.30pm: Passive play post-flop preserves chip stacks
There's been little chip movement over the last dozen hands with most betting and calling being done pre-flop with the players content, for the most part, to check hands down to the river.

In fact Stephen McGrath has been mostly limping on the button and thus far Finneran has been content to counter this strategy by simply taking free flops. The Irishman has been the more aggressive of the two, opening most buttons to 100,000, but post-flop he's been content to either see free cards or take small stabs at pots.

If anything he's edged slightly further ahead, but it's pretty much as you were. -- NW

6.15pm: Big loss for McGrath on the first hand
The first hand of heads up play has seen Thomas Finneran reclaim the chip lead.

He raised to 100,000 and Stephen McGrath called to see the [6h][8d][2h] flop come down. He led out for 100,000 and Finneran called to the [4s] turn where he faced a 200,000 bet. Finneran raised this up to 450,000 and McGrath was not to be budged and called.

On the river McGrath came out firing for a relatively small 150,000 and made the call with [jc][8h] when Finneran raised up to 750,000. McGrath's hand, which was basically a bluff catcher, was no good as Finneran had turned the straight with [7d][5d].

Finneran -- 3,900,000
McGrath -- 1,700,000

6.05pm: Deal
The player's negotiated a deal of sorts during the break in play, they've evened up the payouts a little bit by taking €5,000 off the top prize and adding it to second, which means the payouts now look like this:

1st. €55,440
2nd. €45,600

Both Thomas Finneran and Stephen McGrath are back in their seats and play is back underway. -- NW

6pm: Heads-up chip counts
The players still aren't back in their seats for heads-up play but we've been handed official chip counts it's

Versus...

5.50pm: Pawel Keller eliminated in third place (€24,960)
We're now heads-up here in Cork and the stacks are going to be pretty even as it was Stephen McGrath who eliminated Pawel Keller.

In what was to be the Pole's final hand in this tournament, he raised to 100,000 on the button and called when Stephen McGrath raised to 225,000 from the big blind.

On the [Kh][5d][5c] flop McGrath bet 250,000 and Keller called, on the [Jd] turn McGrath bet 300,000, Keller moved all-in for 992,000 and McGrath, who had 1,060,000 total made the call.

Keller: [Ad][7d]
McGrath: [As][Ks]

Keller needed to make his flush on the river but the [Js] completed the board meaning the start of day chip leader is out in third.

There's now a short break before heads-up play commences. -- NW

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

5.40pm: McGrath takes more from Keller and overtakes him
Pawel Keller asked and took an impromptu toilet break just now. It had the feeling of a snooker player leaving the Crucibal Theatre for a short break after loosing a frame of snooker he knew he should've won.

Keller raised to 80,000 from the button and called when Paul McGrath three-bet to 160,000 from the big blind. Both players checked the [3c][as][3d] flop to see the [qd] turn. McGrath led for 200,000 there and 200,000 on the [8h] river. Keller called both times and was shown [ah][kh] by the Brit.

He mucked and left at pace to the bathroom. He's down to 1.17 million chips and McGrath moved up to 1.61 million. -- MC

5.28pm: McGrath down further before doubling up part II
After getting looked up by Pawel Keller with third pair when he had a missed open-ended straight draw, Stephen McGrath then lost another big pot to the Pole.

From under-the-gun McGrath made it 100,000 to play, Keller called from the small blind and Thomas Finneran left them to it. The [3h][4c][7d] flop was checked through, the [Kd] fell on the turn and Keller check-called a bet of 75,000. The [9d] completed the board, Keller checked to McGrath who fired out a bet of 225,000, after about five seconds thought Keller announced all-in, McGrath mucked and Keller showed [Ah][Jc] for a brave bluff.

Four hands later Keller opened from the small blind to 80,000, McGrath piled for 579,000 total from the big blind and Keller made the call.

McGrath: [As][Qh]
Keller: [Ac][2h]

The [Jc][10c][Jh][5s][9s] board gave the pot to McGrath doubled to almost 1,200,000, whilst Keller dropped to around 1,600,000. -- NW

5.15pm: McGrath down further before doubling up
It got gloomier for Stephen McGrath before the light shone back on him with a double up.

First up he lost a pot to Pawel Keller when he raised to 100,000 and called when the Pole three-bet to 220,000. Keller led for 200,000 on the [jc][3s][ad] flop and McGrath folded.

A couple of hands later Keller opened to 80,000 from the button and was called by Thomas Finneran before McGrath shoved for 603,000 from the big blind. Keller called and that was enough to force out Finneran.

McGrath: [ad][2s]
Keller: [qh][th]

The board ran [3s][2d][kc][9d][6h].

Keller dropped to around 1.5 million after the loss. -- MC

5pm: McGrath,down but then back up again
Shortly after losing that big pot to Thomas Finneran, Stephen McGrath lost a small pot to Pawel Keller. The Pole raised to 80,000 from the button and McGrath defended from the big blind. The two players checked it down on a [8h][2h][6s][7c][qs] board, Keller showed pocket threes, the pair ahead of McGrath's [Jc][4c].

However, it didn't take long for McGrath to get them back he moved all-in three hands in a row, firstly from the small blind, then from the button and the third time over the top of a button raise from Keller.

I'd estimate he's back up to around 750,000. -- NW

4.50pm: The cream rises further
Thomas Finneran has stretched further clear at the top and, as a direct result, Stephen McGrath has been cut further adrift at the bottom.

McGrath opened to 80,000 from the button and Finneran peeled from the big blind to see the [5c][kd][jh] flop. McGrath continued for 80,000 and was soon check-raised up to 180,000. He tanked for a while and mutter a few words before he three-bet to 380,000.

In a flash Finneran announced he was all in. McGrath took a minute and folded to drop to 900,000 in chips. Finneran has broken the three million barrier and is up to around 3.3 million. -- MC

4.35pm: Irish cream at the top with just three left
There was little significant action in the five minutes prior to the end of level 25, with all three players winning their fair share of pots.

As we head into level 26 the chip stacks of the three players who remain are:

Pawel Keller, Poland, PokerStars Qualifier,1,934,000
Thomas Finneran, Ireland, 2,279,000
Stephen McGrath, United Kingdom, 1,410,000

So it's Ireland's Thomas Finneran who leads the way, but it's far closer than it has been for a lot of the final table. One double up for McGrath and he's the big chip leader, one double up for Keller and he'll have two thirds of the chips in play. Another elimination for Finneran and it's his to lose.

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

A clinical final table performance by Thomas Finneran means the UKIPT Cork title will return to Emerald Isle. A fun-filled week of poker climaxed when he defeated nearly man Stephen McGrath in a very short heads up battle at the end of a final day that took a little less than six levels to play out.

It's testament to the winner that those who know Finneran say the man only plays four big tournaments a year and somehow seems to make at least two final tables. A deal was struck before heads-up play began that saw €5,000 taken off the first prize and added to second. That meant Finneran took home €55,440 for less than four days work. This is his first UKIPT cash but he has had three deep runs at EPTs and made the final table of the prestigious Irish Open back in 2007. On his victory Finneran said, "This one feels the best because of the victory. It's hard to win anything these days as the players have improved a lot."

This result is his first major title and he knew his name would be on the trophy after a final hand that saw him call McGrath's shove holding [qs][8s]. McGrath, who was very short-stacked by this point despite starting the heads up battle as chip leader, opened [5c][6c] but failed to hit on the [4s][8c][3d][8h][Qc] board. Finneran described his heads up battle with the words, "I've played a fair bit of heads-up and worked on my game, it's important to do that as the difference between first and second is big, so I've worked on my game."

McGrath had a torrid time of it heads up and had to settle for being the bridesmaid once more after he finished second at UKIPT3 Dublin less than a year ago. Still, securing more than €100k for two cashes on this tour is a commendable achievement few will ever match.

Finneran came into the final table trailing only Pawel Keller in the chip counts. The PokerStars qualifier from Poland and Finneran had been trading the chip lead back and forth for the last couple of days and many expected them to be heads-up for the title. For a while today that opinion seemed wise as the two players stayed at the top of the counts as all fell around them. McGrath was a thorn in Pawel's side thoughout and overtook him before eliminating him. Pawel's final act saw him push with the nut-flush draw on the turn of a [kh][5d][5c][jd] board. McGrath called with ace-king and faded a diamond river.

Deborah Worley-Roberts was a character that no one will forget from this week on Ireland's south coast. She filled the tournament room with her fun-loving personality until she busted in 5th place. She flopped two pair in a hand with Keller only for the latter to hit a straight on the turn and that's when the chips went in. The UKIPT's first female champion will have to wait, as will its first Icelandic champion. Fridjon Thordarson, who finished one place higher in fourth, will surely be happy with his result as he was reduced to fumes on the final table bubble last night only to stage a remarkable comeback.

Ireland's other two representatives at this final table, Alexander Rhys-Davies and Nicholas Newport, were eliminated in sixth and eighth respectively. Newport ran pocket nines into the pocket aces of Finneran and Rhys-Davies couldn't come from behind with [ac][9h] to better Thordarson's [jc][jh]. That just leaves PokerStars qualifier Pascal Töngi who was left short by Thordarson and finished off by the champ. He pushed with [ah][5h] and was called by Finneran with [7h][5d] who went on to hit a seven to bust the German in seventh.

Here's a full run-down of the final table results and prizes:

1st. Thomas Finneran, Ireland, €55,440

2nd. Stephen McGrath, United Kingdom, €45,600
3rd. Pawel Keller, Poland, PokerStars Qualifier, €24,960
4th. Fridjon Thordarson, Iceland, PokerStars Qualifier, €19,360
5th. Deborah Worley-Roberts, United States, PokerStars Qualifier, 14,780
6th. Alexander Rhys-Davies, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, €10,510
7th.Pascal Töngi, Germany, PokerStars Qualifier, €7,885
8th. Nicholas Newport, Ireland, PokerStars Player, €5,910

If you read back through the coverage you'll notice that Finneran never featured in any huge pots that some of the other finalists had woven into their story. "I took on the short stacks all week, didn't really play any massive flips. There was one near the bubble with AK vs QQ but that was only for half my stack. The only time I've really been short is at the start of Day 2 when I came back with 10 big blinds," were the man's words that back this up.

The Irish poker community will be very proud of Finneran and so they should be as he's a worthy winner on this tour that heads to London next month. Three starting flights promise to help create a massive field with prizes to match. Satellites are running on PokerStars now. Until then we bid you goodbye from Cork.

To catch up on all the week's action and all the prizes won in the main event, please click on the links below:

Prize pool and payouts
Final table player profiles.
Keller in Pole position going to the final table
Finneran leads field heading into penultimate day
Fintan Gavin tops Day 1B field
Pascal Töngi tops the lot on Day 1A of UKIPT Cork

Photos are copyright of Mickey May and should be treated as such. She's just updated her operating system and can search out anyone who violates this.

PokerStars LIVE at The Hippodrome Casino officially launched last night with a champagne reception and twin freerolls. A media charity bounty tournament started the evening off, featuring Team PokerStars Pros Jake Cody, Victoria Coren and Liv Boeree, as well as celebrities including 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels' stars Dexter Fletcher and Jason Fleying. The £3,000 charity prize went to Jamie Klingler,Publishing Manager at ShortList Media who donated the winnings to CAH, a sub-group of CLIMB to help research for Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia.

That was followed up by the players event which was attended by a large slice of the UK's poker elite who battled more fiercely than one might have imagined for a launch party freeroll. This could have had something to do with the first place prize, a £5,000 seat into the EPT London Main Event. That was eventually claimed, perhaps unsurprisingly, by Scotland's all-time money winner David Vamplew. Not only has 'davidv1213' won EPT London for £900,000 before but he also followed that up by winning the inaugural UKIPT Champion of Champions tournament. London has been kind to the Scotsman.

PokerStars LIVE will now become an integral part of the vibrant 24 hour Hippodrome Casino, based in he world fampus Leicester Square in the heart of London's West End.

UKIPT London Day 1A started today live coverage of which can be found by clicking here.

6.40pm: Dinner break
That's the end of level six and the players are now on a one hour dinner break. The tournament board was showing that 108 players of the 194 who started remain. When they return the blinds will be 200 - 400 ante 50 and the average stack will be 26,950. You'll find level seven updates in a new post. -- NW

6.30pm: More exits
The rising blinds and antes continue to get in the way of players staying in the tournament, Parviz Tafreshi, Robert Haigh, Chris Love, Frank Bastow, Eamon Saryazdi, Renee Xie, Gabriel Tuna, Robert Glen, Albert Sapiano, Kevin Williams, George Hassabis and Thomas Dunwoodie are all out. -- NW

6.15pm: Tilbury toppled
I reached the table to see a [6s][6h][4h][Ac] board on the felt, there was a bet of 7,000 in front of Christopher Tilbury and a min-raise bet of 14,000 in front of Vincent Gabel. The former was now thinking over his options and took the most aggressive one, moving all-in for 31,600 total, snap call from Gabel.

Tilbury: [Qc][6c]
Gabel: [4s][4c]

The [5s] completed the board, the stacks were counted down and it was established that Gabel just had Tilbury covered, the latter wished everyone good luck as he left the table, whilst Gabel now has over 62,000 and is up there with the chip leaders. -- NW

6pm: Tim meet Marty
Tim Clarke is now up to about 67,000, which is one of the (if not the) biggest stacks in the room. He is now sitting on the same table as Marty Smyth, a WSOP bracelet winner from a few years back. Smyth has about 20,000.

5.50pm: Bjorin draws good
Chris Bjorin has just sent Eamon Saryazdi to the rail. All the money was in on the flop of [10c][9s][5s] with Bjorin holding [jd][qs] and Saryazdi with [ac][as]. The [qh] turned and the [kh] rivered, filling the straight.

Neither of them had much. When Bjorin stacked it all up, he still only about about 10,500. But that's significantly more than Saryazdi who has an aces-cracked story. -- HS

5.45pm: Exits
There's no easy way to say this but: Philip Rahman, Adrian Smith, Damian Robertson, Timothy Dearing, Nicholas Hennessy, Hesham Elmelehy, Brian Peattie, Hamidreza Montazeri, Marc Wright, Mark Emmerson, Flori Alla, Justin Kyriakides, Rodolfo Da Silva Fernandes, Mark Llane, Regis Burlot, Takayuki Watanabe, Anthony Andreou, Neil McCulloch and Jonathan Spelman all failed to make level six of UKIPT London.

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 150-300 ante 25

5.30pm: Bastian blasted off pot by Lee
A curious pot just played out on one of the three tables still in use in the upstairs portion of the poker room. There was a limp under-the-gun from David Lappin - who was only playing 3,400 - a flat call in middle position and then a raise to 925 on the button from James Lee. The pot then took another twist when Bastian Blüm made it 2,600 total from the big blind. It quickly folded back to Lee and he made the call, the two of them saw a [jc][3h][kc] flop, bet of 3,200 from Blüm call from Lee.

Both players then checked the [3d] turn card, to see the [6h] completed the board, there was a quick check from Blüm, Lee then asked the dealer to spread the pot (roughly 11,250) before he bet 4,400. Back on Blüm he tanked before electing to fold his hand. "Did you have two queens," asked Lee to Blüm. A quick shake of the head revealed that whatever his holidng it wasn't two ladies. -- NW

5.15pm: Action table
Tables are being broken from upstairs down, which means table 16 is not long for this world. That's a shame for the spectators, but probably a relief for the players there. It's turning into a bit of a bloodbath.

Ryan Spittles remains the chip leader on the table, but it also features Katja Svendsen, who once went deep in EPT London during season four, Tim Clarke, who made his mark in Nottingham, Sergi Lloveras, who is showing a real tendency to mix it up, Tyrone Chan, who demonstrated his aggressive instincts earlier today, and Anthony Mowad, who may be the most assertive of all of them at the moment.

Here are a couple of hands:

Spittles opened to 650 from early position and Mowad called from the small blind. Chan squeezed to 2,825, which got rid of Spittles, but Mowad sprung some kind of trap and made it 8,000. Chan scuttled away.

A couple of hands later, Clarke opened, making it 650. Mowad called from one seat to his left and it was just the two of them to a [8c][9h][5c] flop. At around this point, a waitress brought a burger to Mowad, and Clarke bet 700. But the burger didn't dissuade Mowad. He called.

The [2s] turned and Clarke checked. Mowad took the initiative and bet 12,000. Clarke called. The river was [6h] and Clarke checked again. Mowad bet 4,000 and Clarke made what looked like a crying call.

Mowad turned over [5s][6s] and his rivered two pair won it. -- HS

4.50pm: Verses from Twitter
A few updates shamelessly lifted from twitter...

Neil Channing has managed to put someone on tilt, not for the first time I'd wager. "Got it all-in with AcKc, man had KK. Man who wasn't in the pot went on tilt. Up to 22k on a new table with @BigCityBanker," BigCityBanker is Noel Hayes for anyone wondering.

Elsewhere Kevin Williams is struggling, "Struggling to flop equity. 11k," he mused. And Ross Jarvis is finally above starting stack. "Just got moved to a table which is fiendishly tough to access. Still got 16k."

Lastly there's something quite funny about online grinders who play numerous tables at once not being able to follow the action on one. "Sigh just realised the guy who is cold calling everything pre has moved table," tweeted Scott Shelley. -- NW

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 150-300

4.25pm: End of the level
Players are now on a 15 minute break as level four has come to an end. -- NW

4.20pm: Chip leader and exits
The current chip leader appears to be Pia Jeppesen, she's up to a heady 55,000. Meanwhile there's no easy way to say this but: Viren Vadher, Victor Ilyukhin, Alfie Adam, Martin Comitti, Victor Ilyukhin, Sam Bayliss, Michael Stockley, Richard Gray, Karoly Kiss, Philip Clark, Georg Stehberger and Lynne Beaumont are all sitting on 55,000 less than Jeppesen. -- NW

4.15pm: Wright right
Marc Wright opened to 500 from under the gun and picked up two callers Gabriel Tuna on the button and Sadan Turker in the big blind. They all checked the [6h][4s][6c] flop, but Turker bet 625 on the [3d] turn. Wright was the only one to call. The river was [8d] and Turker stayed on the same line, betting 1,425. Wright called, forcing Turker to table [kd][10s]. Wright's [jd][jh] were good. -- HS

4.10pm: Registration closed
If you want to play Day 1A of UKIPT London, it's too late. You're going to need to play either of the two other remaining opening flights. Registration for today is closed and the tournament information screen shows 194 players, of which 165 remain. -- HS

4pm: Channing checks it down
There are still five tables in use in the upstairs room here at The Vic, one of them contains Neil Channing and he just played an interesting pot. There was a raise to 500 from under-the-gun, Avihay Ohana then made it 1,500 from two seats along, Channing flat called from the small blind and the original raiser folded.

The two players then checked it down on a [Ad][Jc][5d][8s][9c] board, Ohana showed pocket queens, whilst Channing revealed pocket kings, as he did so he leaned over the flop and pointed at the [Ad] and said: "That's a very bad card for me." -- NW

3.45pm: GG'd
Two big name exits to tell you about, both of whom have a surname beginning with the letter G. The tournament room is now a bit quieter and less colourful as Sam Grafton is out and he's been followed out the door by UKIPT Bristol runner-up James Greenwood.

Also free to wander in the spring sunshine are: Carlo Citrone, Paul Van Nunes, Rumen Nanev, Esther Bonding, Vlad Teodorescu, Andres Artiñano Muñoz, Paul Whyman, Simon Brooks, Russell Jones, Luke Flack, Eamonn Blake, Terence Jordon and Nicolas Irving. -- NW

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 100-200

3.30pm: Clarke clips Allen
A steaming Kevin Allen has just headed over to the cash-game area, sent packing by Tim Clarke. I didn't catch precisely what Allen said as he walked away from the table, but suffice to say, he didn't seem pleased.

Allen opened to 350 from mid-position and Clarke raised to 1,025 from the button. Allen called, which took them to a flop of [2d][jc][8d]. Allen check-called Clarke's bet of 900 and they saw a [5d] turn.

The pattern repeated as Allen checked, Clarke bet 1,700 and Allen called. That brought a [5h] on the river. Allen checked again and Clarke asked him for a count. Allen's 7,600 was the effective stack. Clarke announced he was all in, meaning Allen was facing a decision for his tournament life.

It took him a good long while to make it, but eventually he called. Clarke, with a combination of sheepishness and glee, tabled [10s][5s] for the rivered trips. Allen showed his [10d][10c], picked up his jacket and wandered away.

Clarke now has close to 30,000. The other big stack on that table is Ryan Spittles. He has 34,000. -- HS

3.15pm: Chip counts
I spotted a tired looking Kevin Williams peering out from under his hoodie, tired or not he was alert enough to mouth 'seventeen thousand,' at me. He's sharing a table with Chihao Tsang, he's up to 28,000. Whilst a couple of tables over Ross Jarvis is back to starting stack. "Starting stack in #UKIPTLondon. 4-bet bluffed, got shoved on by a guy with 73 offsuit. Could be perceived as 'got owned'."

3pm: Spittles gets some value
I only caught the river action, but with a complete board of [7c][7h][3s][9s][8s] on the felt Ryan Spittles bet 2,800 and Philippe Souki made a crying call. First to show, Spittles rolled over pocket queens, whilst Souki flashed pocket tens as he mucked.

Post hand discussion between the two players, plus the size of the pot, seemed to indicate Spittles got three streets of value from Souki. -- NW

2.55pm: Goetz gets Thew
Julian Thew has become our second high-profile faller here in London, finding a pair of jacks at precisely the wrong time. Ondrej Goetz, a PokerStars qualifier from the Czech Republic, had kings.

Goetz opened to 400, Thew three-bet to 1,100, Goetz four bet to 6,000 and Thew called. On a low flop, Goetz c-bet to 2,400 and Thew shoved. Goetz called.

This was all related to us by the young Czech player, who was also updating his Facebook page with details of the coup. Thew is out of here, got by Goetz. -- HS

2.45pm: Channing chooses Cheltenham
The Vic and Neil Channing go hand in hand, he's been playing in the cash games down here for years. So when the biggest tournament of the year rolls up at the end of this week - that's EPT London by the way - you'd expect him to be chomping at the bit to play a large tournament without all the assorted overheads that come with playing the tournament circuit.

But for Channing, a former bookmaker, two of his great loves collide next week as the Cheltenham Festival gets underway a week today. "I'm really excited about Cheltenham," he said. "And not as excited about EPT London, so I'll be skipping the poker."

A shrewd punter both in poker and on the horses, Channing's views on the festival are much in demand, so much so that he's already provided a preview podcast for @finalfurlongpod and he showed me a text he'd received to say it was already the second most popular on Soundcloud. -- NW

2.30pm: Fallen Engel
Registration remains open for another hour, but players are already busting with startling haste. Ari Engel has departed, taking his huge reputation back to the online tables. (One suspects he'll be back for the EPT Main Event, and more.)

With a pretty short stack already, Engel opened to 375 from the hijack and was three-bet to 1,000 by Andrey Veselov in the small blind. Engel shoved, Veselov asked for a count, and learned that it was 5,100 total. Veselov called.

Engel turned over [8s][8h] and tapped the table in appreciation of Veselov's decent call with [9d][9c]. The board ran [4h][jh][ac][as][qc]. -- HS

BLINDS UP. PLAYING 75-150 IN LEVEL THREE

2.10pm: Zero sum game
We've told you about some of the players running up big stacks, but what that means is there must be some players nursing short stacks, or at least shorter than they were two hours ago. Both UKIPT Bristol runner-up James Greenwood and Kevin O'Leary have dipped just under 10,000. They're sat side by side so at least have someone to recount their bad beats to.

They and the rest of the field are now on a 15 minute break. -- NW

2pm: The Wright stuff
One of the players on the ground floor is the talented Marc Wright, he final tabled EPT8 Berlin and has the ability to run up big stacks almost at will. That innate ability is already in evidence here in London as he's up to 24,000. --NW

1.45pm: River riddles remain unsolved
Two big pots to tell you about that went to the river and to showdown, with both callers ultimately making the wrong call.

On a [6c][Kd][Kh][5h][8d] board there was 8,000 in the pot and Ari Engel was facing a bet of 4,625 from Philip Campbell. The former looked back at his cards a number of times, all the while playing with a singular 5k chip. For a while its fate was undecided, but curiosity got the better of Engel and he flicked it in, Campbell showed pocket eights for the rivered full house and Engle mucked his cards.

Meanwhile, one table over a pot, that was about to become chunky, was playing out between Chris Welsh and Jonathan Slater. On the [Qd][4s][6d][8h][Qc] board there was around 2,300 in the pot, it was checked to Welsh who bet 975, Slater check-raised to 2,150 only for Welsh to come over the top by making it 5,500 total.

Now Slater took his time before saying call, but in a tone of voice that suggested he knew the game was up but was priced in, Welsh showed pocket fours and Slater sighed and mucked. The latter is now up to 30,000. -- NW

1.30pm: Shelley and Chan battle for supremacy
Scott Shelley, a WSOP-E bracelet winner, is on one of the newly-arranged tables in the upstairs area, and he has been quick to flex his muscles. However, there is a battle brewing for table captaincy with Tyrone Chan, as at least one of those two players seems to be involved in every pot. One suspects it's only a matter of time before they tangle.

Here are a couple of hands to give you an idea. First up, Georg Stehberger raised to 250 from the button. Shelley three bet to 625 from the small blind. Stehberger was the only caller and they saw a flop of [qd][3c][js].

Shelley bet 625, Stehberger folded and that was that.

Next up, Shelley raised to 200 from the button and took the blinds, but then he handed the baton to Chan. Stehberger opened to 250 again from the hijack ad this time Chan called from the small blind. It was just those two to a flop of [3h][qc][3c].

Chan bet 275, which Stehberger called, and they saw a [6s] on the turn. Chan bet 825 again and Stehberger called again, taking them to a [3s] river. This time Chan fired 1,325 and Stehberger had seen enough. He folded.

Chan, however, was itching for more. He raised to 225 from the button and picked up only one caller, Neil McCulloch in the big blind. The flop came [6c][2h][10c], McCulloch checked, and Chan bet 275. After McCulloch folded, Chan had the decency to show a [6h].

That was that, but one suspects there's more to come from this table today. -- HS

1.10pm: Allen on the up
One of the players I 'missed' on my first loop of the upper floor was Kevin Allen. The Brit has almost $250,000 in lifetime winnings and has had a good first level in London, he's up to 17,500. -- NW

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 50-100

12.55pm: He bluffed me
Fortunately for Jonathan Spellman he got bluffed in a very tiny pot, the bluffer, well that was WSOPE bracelet winner Scott Shelley. The latter opened to 125 from the cutoff and Spellman made the call on the button.

The action was then checked all the way to the river on a [Qh][Kd][8d][Ks][8c] board, before Shelley bet 100, Spellman laughed and then showed pocket sevens, for the counterfeited pair, Shelley chuckled and showed [5h][4s] as he took the pot. -- NW

12.45pm: Greek Jack grounds Fernandez
Kyriacos Dionysiou, known as "Greek Jack", looks like he may be a tight player of the older generation. But on the evidence of this pot, he is far from it. Indeed, he has just crippled Pablo Fernandez in a monster.

I didn't see the action, and there's pretty much no way of figuring out how about 11,000 chips made their way into the middle on a board of [3d][7h][qh][10d][as]. But theyt did, and then Dionysiou bet 2,500. Fernandez shoved, covering Dionysiou, but Greek Jack insta-called, splashing his chips into the middle.

Fernandez knew the game was up, turning over [ks][kd]. But one suspects he would have been shocked to see Dionysiou's [10c][7c].

Dionysiou had the smaller stack, a total of 8,900. Fernandez counted that out and handed them over, leaving him with about 475. Dionysiou, meanwhile, has closer to 30,000. -- HS

12.25pm: In on the ground floor
As already mentioned, play is split over two levels here at The Vic, with the majority of tables, 14 to be exact, are on the ground/lower floor. It's a wee bit tight between some of the tables I've already watched a couple of waitresses weave in and out of tight spaces in a manner that Ronaldo would be proud of.

Some of the faces they've weaved passed include: Dara O'Kearney, Albert Sapiano, James Greenwood, Marc Wright, Richard Sinclair and Sam Grafton. Those final two are sharing the same table, it'll be no surprise to tell you that Grafton was already holding court. -- NW

12.10pm: Filling up
Play is taking place on two levels of the Victoria Casino, with every table in the downstairs room currently full (all 14 of them) and a starting clutch of seven tables gradually increasing upstairs. Registration is open for three levels, so plenty of time to get down here and play.

On the subject of administration, starting stacks on the UKIPT are 15,000 and blinds begin at 25-50. Levels last for one hour, and there are 11 scheduled today. Click through for the UKIPT structure.

Nick Wright is currently peering over the faces in the downstairs room, attempting to highlight the big names. Upstairs, the players we recognise include Chris Bjorin, Neil Channing, Ross Jarvis and David Lappin. -- HS

11.55am: The day that was never meant to be
Morning all and welcome to London for the start of the biggest poker festival seen on these shores since, well, this time last season. Today we begin Day 1A of UKIPT London, which will morph into EPT London at the end of the week. Each of those tournaments brings a whole host of side action, which makes this a spectacular fortnight of poker.

This day was never actually meant to be. The UKIPT event was originally scheduled to follow its usual path: two day ones, followed by day two through to a final on day four. But the capacity restrictions, combined with the enormous field expected, means we will have the lesser-spotted Day 1C on Thursday. Yep, that's three day ones, which will combine to a single day two on Friday.

In order to squeeze them in for Friday, we will need to play some loooooong day ones; 11 levels to be precise. Stick with us for all the action here, though. We'll still be up. -- HS

Reporting team in London: Howard Swains and Nick Wright. Photos by Mickey May (except the one of the London Eye, which has Stoddart's name written all over it.

1.05am: Day 1A is done
That ladies and gentleman is the end of the first of three monster Day ones at UKIPT London. According to the tournament clock just 45 of the 194 players who began today with 15,000 chips have made it through to Day 2. A wrap of the day's play is on its way. -- NW

12.55am: Last four hands
The clock has been paused and four more hands will be played before players bag and tag for the night.
12.50pm: Fewer tables, fewer hands, fewer bust outs
The action has slowed considerably in this level, as far as we can tell just two players have suffered the double barrelled hurt of busting before the end of the day but after the last tube. They are: Nurullakhon Nazrullaev and Caroline De Weerdt.

Roughly 15 minutes left to play. -- NW

12.40am: Mistake leads to profit
Kamal Choraria opened to 2,800 from under-the-gun, it folded to Nicholas Jamieson on the button and he, not seeing that Choraria had raised slid out a bet of 2,500, the dealer informed him of the prior action and he made up the extra 300, both blinds folded.

The [6d][6s][Ks] flop was checked by both players, on the [5d] turn card Choraria fired out a bet of 4,800, call from Jamieson. The [5h] filled out the board, Choraria fired a second barrel, this time 5,500 and, after a brief think, Jamieson made the call. This led to a 'snap muck' (as the kids call it) from Choraria and Jamieson took the pot without having to show his cards. -- NW

12.30am: One for the showreel
If you want a one-hand indication of the way poker is played these days, this one ought to do it. Ben Jackson, our tournament chip leader, got things started, raising to 2,500 from the cut-off.

Alex Lindop called from the small blind, and Daniel Charlton gave them both a spin from the big blind.

The flop came [7d][10c][9d] and all three players checked. The turn was the [10h] and Lindop bet 5,300. Only Jackson called.

The river was [4h] and now Lindop counted out a mighty 18,800, something close to a pot-sized bet. Jackson called it, though, and Lindop showed [js][8s] for the flopped straight.

Jackson was beaten, but showed them [10d][6d] for his top trips.

So there you have a raise with crap, a couple of light defends, a slow-played top pair, a slow played straight, a slow-played top trips, and then a polarising pot-sized river bet, with a crying call. Etc., etc. That's the way they do it. -- HS

12.20am: Top of the pops
As we approach the final hour of the day, here are the chaps with the chips:

Benjamin Jackson United Kingdom 195,000
Philippe Souki United Kingdom 165,000
Adrian Veghinas Romania 130,000
Patrick Simcoe United Kingdom 124,500
Scott Shelley United Kingdom 115,000
Tristan Taylor United Kingdom 108,400
Vincent Gabel Belgium 98,900
Daniel Moosah United Kingdom 97,400
Mathew Perry United Kingdom 85,000

12.15am: Let's look on the bright side...
...at least James Finigan, Edward Roger, Calvin Fagan, Nikodimos Protopapas and Ondrej Goetz can get the last tube home. They are out. -- HS

12.05am: And another chip leader
Ben Jackson's quiet domination of Day 1A continues apace. He now has about 180,000, which is leading at this stage. -- HS

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 600-1,200 ante 100

12am: Diaz dented by Scarman
As he was stacking up something like 50,000 chips, Mark Scarman said, "I just didn't think he had anything." He was talking about a hand he had just played against Adrian Diaz of Spain, which resulted in a double up for Scarman.

Scarman had opened from the cut off, then called Diaz's three bet from the small blind. "He'd been doing that a lot," Scarman said, defending his flat call with what would soon be revealed to be [ks][8s].

But that's getting ahead of ourselves. After the pre-flop jousting, the flop came [4s][7h][8d] and Diaz checked. Scarman shoved, for what turned out to be 22,600.

Scarman seemed shocked that he was even being asked to count out his bet, and was even more surprised when Diaz called. The third surprise came when Diaz tabled [8h][5h] for top pair, smaller kicker, plus inside straight draw (and, I suppose, backdoor hearts).

But none of those came in on the [8c][jd] turn and river. Scarman got the full double up and now has a decent stack going into the last level of the day. -- HS

11.50pm: Chip leader
As things stand the chip leader is Adrian Veghinas, he's on 122,000, seems like having a broken arm hasn't stopped him picking up a lot of chips. -- NW

11.40pm: Fun on fifth street
Two hands now that saw players put to tough decisions on the river...
In the first there was roughly 18,000 in the pot and a complete board of [4h][4d][10d][Ah][Jh] was on the felt. It was Dara O'Kearney who faced a decision as he had been set all-in for his last 27,500 by Cesar Garcia Dominguez.

He went deep into the tank but eventually elected to fold his hand and preserve the rest of his stack.

Meanwhile on an adjacent table there was a blind on blind battle going on. There was a pot of roughly 29,000 in the middle, which was surrounding a [3h][9h][8h][5s][8s] board, Diego Ivan Arbuello had fired out a bet of 19,000 and action was on Mark Gardner. After a short while Gardner totted up the requisite calling chips and slid them into the pot, Arbuello rolled over pocket threes whilst Gardner showed [Ad][9d] as Arbuello took the pot. -- NW

11.30pm: Lindop straightened out by Jackson
Alex Lindop went into the following hand with a spring in his step. He had just flopped a straight flush with his [as][5s], which connected rather nicely with the [2s][3s][4s] spread in the middle of the table. (He didn't get massive value, but was still grinning about it.)

However, all of what he won, and more, was soon heading to Ben Jackson after the following coup.

Jackson opened to 2,100 from the cut off and Lindop called from the big blind. Only those two were interested, and they went to a flop of [4d][js][9h]. Lindop checked, Jackson bet 2,200 and Lindop called.

The turn was [5s] and Lindop checked again. Jackson be 4,700, which Lindop called, taking them to a [9c] river. Only now did Lindop take the lead. He bet 10,000. Jackson was unperturbed, however, and counted out 33,800.

Lindop seemed very tempted, but eventually folded. "Show the bluff," he said. "I had a nine."

Jackson neither showed his hand nor responded in any way. We will never know. -- HS

11.20pm: Clarke clips Turker
Tim Clarke does not quite have the monstrous stack he had earlier this afternoon, but he is still looking strong. And he is still getting heavily involved when given the chance.

There was 5,300 in the pot pre-flop, which suggests a bet and a call, with Clarke in the cut off and Sadan Turker in the big blind. Most likely Clarke opened and Turker defended.

The flop was [ac][7d][3c] and when I arrived, there was 5,800 in front of Turker and 9,500 in front of Clarke. This suggests a check-raise from Turker after Clarke's c-bet, but then a three bet from Clarke over the top of that. (This might not be precisely what happened, but it fits the visible facts.)

Anyhow, Turker called, taking them to a [10d] turn. Turker checked, Clarke bet 11,500 and now Turker tanked long and hard again. Eventually he folded, leaving Clarke to stack up about 75,000 chips.

But Turker, and readers of PokerStars Blog, seemed intrigued as to what Clarke could be playing there.( And what Turker could check-raise, call and then fold.) -- HS

11.15pm: End of the chapter for Channing
Neil Channing is one of the latest exits from this tournament, as are Nicholas Meng, James Rann, Robert Garfield, Jan Nakladal, Vikrum Mehta and Allen Richie. -- NW

11pm: Chip counts
A few chip counts as we move into level 10: Scott Shelley (75,000) he told me, "I called with bottom pair on the river for my tournament life in a 70k pot," given his stack he was obviously right. Chris Welsh (90,000), Richard Sinclair (23,000), Marty Smyth (22,000), Nik Persaud (40,000) and Tim Clarke (39,000). -- NW

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 500-1,000 ante 100

10.45pm: Down to 60
There's no easy way to say this but: Angus Buckle, Paul Byrne, Carlo Gabriele, Andrey Veselov, Nathan Davies, Marc Hunter, Chris Bjorin, Pia Jeppesen, Simon Randall, João Paiva, Michael Panteli and Chihao Tsang are all reasons why the field of 194 that started today is now down to 60. -- NW

10.35pm: Okie Doke
Dara O'Kearney - known to many in poker circles as 'Doke' just got a treble up and is now back above average stack, my thanks to David Lappin for relaying some of the specifics of the hand.

There was an open from early position from a player with [Ad][8d] he had been moved by the time I got there so I don't have his name, O'Kearney flat called from a stack of 16 big blinds (16,000) and Vikrum Mehta also called.

So three to a flop of [3d][4c][Jd], c-bet of 2,300 from the opener, flat call from O'Kearney, raise to 5,600 from Mehta, re-raise to 13,600 from the original raiser, call all-in from O'Kearney, call from Mehta.

There was now a side pot of around 4,000 as the [8s] fell on the turn. Having now picked up a pair to go with his nut flush draw the original raiser moved all-in for around 25,000, Mehta, who had around 35,000 back folded. The river was a blank and O'Kearney's hand held up. -- NW

10.25pm: Lappin loses with the ladies
"Back down to 4k for the 3rd time today. This time its serious. 4bbs," tweeted David Lappin, a short time ago. I saw him standing on the rail and as I suspected it wasn't good news. "I actually had pocket queens but ran into pocket aces," he told me. He's now stood railing his friend Dara O'Kearney, which was fortunate as he recounted a big pot that O'Kearney just played. -- NW

10.15pm: Latest exits
There's no easy way to say this but: Mohammad Ali, Darren Woodcock, David Welch, Daniel Watson, Hugo Felix, Michael Doverklint, Gary Mills, Ruslanas Rudycevas, Alistair Voyvodech, Samuel Newman, Avihay Ohana, Callum Gordon, Katja Svendsen and Christopher Jones have all been knocked out. -- NW

10pm: Top 10 at 10
Here are the top 10 chip stacks as level nine gets underway, there's three players over 100,000 and it's Daniel Moosah who leads the way.

Daniel Moosah , United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, 115,000
Tristan Taylor, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, 105,000
Vincent Gabel, Belgium, PokerStars Qualifier, 103,000
Adrian Veghinas, Romania, PokerStars Qualifier, 99,000
Arkady Kielman, United Kingdom, 87,000
Benjamin Jackson, United Kingdom, 79,000
Adrian Diaz, Spain, 78,000
Jerome O'Shea, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, 67,000
Ryan Spittles, United Kingdom, 66,000

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 400-800 ante 100

9.40pm: Break time
The players are now on a 15 minute break. -- NW

9.35pm: Simcoe says give me trips
Patrick Simcoe has just eliminated Angela McFarquhar in a hand that started pretty even but had it been a fight would've been stopped on the flop.

The majority of the chips went in on a [Q][Q][6] flop, Simcoe showed [K][Q] whilst McFarquahar held pocket jacks. She got no help on the turn or river and exited the tournament whilst Simcoe is up to around 45,000. -- NW

9.25pm: Double for Pour leaves Żbikowski poor
Fowzi Pour has just doubled through to 12,600 to leave Mateusz Żbikowski with a similar amount. The former held [Kc][Qc], the latter [Qh][8h] and was thus pushed the pot when the board ran [Ah][4d][Qd][2h][4c]. -- NW

9.15pm: Chipless
There's no easy way to say this but: Mathieu Dubois, Alex Lambrou, Mike London, Noel Hayes, Charalampos Lappas, Christopher Snelling, James Lee and Simon Hemsworth are all free to concentrate on football rather than poker right now. -- NW

9pm: Huge double for Tristan Taylor; breaks 100,000 mark
An absolute monster hand now, one that left Kenneth Walshe with just one solitary chip, but no chair as he abandoned it and just walked off. But after the following hand you might not blame him.

The victor in the hand was Tristan Taylor and as he was stacking his chips he recounted the hand to me. There was a raise from middle position, Taylor flat called on the button with [6s][5s], only for Walshe to 'three-bet small', Taylor was the only caller. On the [2c][3d][Js] flop Walshe bet, in Taylor's words, small and again Taylor made the call. The [4h] turn card was gin for Taylor, even more so when Walshe led 'big', Taylor moved all-in and Walshe called with what turned out to be [Ac][Ah].

Just to rub it in the [As] completed the board, Taylor started the hand with around 51,000 so after that double up he's up to around 103,000 and is the chip leader. -- NW

8.45pm: Big stacks
Both Vikrum Mehta (72,000) and Chris Welsh (77,000) have over 70,000 and are two of the biggest stacks in the room at present. -- NW

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 300-600 ante 75

8.30pm: Squeeze gone wrong
More on that Ross Jarvis exit now, having been down to 10,000 at the dinner break it didn't get any better for the Brit. "All going downhill. 3bet AQ, missed flop and folded to a raise. 5500," he tweeted. Then eight minutes later: "Out of #UKIPTLondon. Squeezed all-in with 33 for 15BBs, called by 77. Really disappointing." -- NW

8.20pm: Gone
There's no easy way to say this but: Edward Keljik, Arrash Zafari, Vladislav Varlashin, Ivan Tikhov, Kevin O'Leary, Philip Campbell, Shah Athar, Darren Hill, Hao Xiaolong, Arun Kumar Sood, Athir Ali, Michael Chaffe, Kyriacos Dionysiou, Anthony Mowad, Ross Jarvis, Dawid Paczka, Alexander Elias, Karim Smires and Tyrone Chan are all in the half of the field that have exited this tournament.

Just 97 of the 194 players who started the day remain. -- NW

8.05pm: Chip counts
A look around the room reveals the following chip counts: Nik Persaud (33,000), Scott Shelley (14,000), Chihao Tsang (37,000), Dara O'Kearney (24,450), Pia Jeppesen (23,000), Marty Smyth (24,700) and Neil Channing (24,700). -- NW

7.50pm: Lappin at the double
It didn't take David Lappin long to get a boost post-dinner break. "Got the double... 24k. #ukiptlondon," tweeted the Irishman who recently went deep in EPT Deauville. -- NW

7.40pm: Back in their seats
The remaining players are back in their seats, they can get comfy seeing some flops and turns, whilst on the TV screens in front of them it's almost certain that Ronaldo and co will be doing some flopping and dropping to the floor, genuine or otherwise. In both realms it's definitely game on. -- NW

Reporting team in London: Howard Swains and Nick Wright. Photos by Mickey May.

It was a long and gruelling day at UKIPT London, a fact supported by the raw stats. We started with 194 players, we played 11 levels of an hour each, and we finished with a mere 43 left. That was pretty heavy going.

Ben Jackson still looked fresh as a daisy, however, even as the clock ticked past 1am. The reason? A chip-leading stack of 197,700, which will be a nice number to conjure with over the coming couple of days. Jackson, like all today's survivors, can now sit back as two other opening flights take centre stage.

This is one of those lesser-spotted tournaments with three first days, which gives an indication of how popular this event has become. We'll likely have more than 800 and possibly much closer to 1,000, each stumping up the £700 entry fee. Watch this space.

The list of today's survivors -- which can be seen in full on the chip-count page -- also includes the big stacked Phillippe Souki (159,800), Matt Perry (137,900).

Marty Smyth (42,200) is also still there, as is Richard Sinclair (65,400), Scott Shelley (109,500) and Tristan Taylor (101,200).

But it does not include some of the leading lights of the UK poker scene, including Julian Thew, Neil Channing, Chris Bjorin, Sam Grafton and Carlo Citrone, who all bust. Nor will Ari Engel, from that country called "the internet" be back. He also perished early.

We're not going to hang around here too long. Bed beckons. But check out how it all played out through levels 1-6 and then levels 7-11. And be back at noon tomorrow, sharp.

Photos from UKIPT London are (c) Mickey May.

1pm: Kickstart for Kimber
A good start for UKIPT stalwart Jeff Kimber: "

Ukipt London day one. Table draw coulda been kinder but off to a quick start. Flopping sets is something I could get used to

— Jeff Kimber (@jeffkimberpoker) March 6, 2013

He's right about his table draw too, he's got Joeri Zandvliet to his direct left, Richard Blacklock one seat further along and Tim Chung to contend with. -- NW

12.50pm: Packed...with talent
Forgive us for another 'who's here' post but there's a boat load of talent packed in to The Vic today and it'd be remiss not to mention them. So without further ado, also in the field today are (deep breath): Brett Angell, Dave Shallow, Devron Hasselnook, Fergal Nealon, Team PokerStars Pro George Danzer, Jamie Burland, Jan Combes, two-time UKIPT winner Joeri Zandvliet, Keith Hawkins, Paul McTaggart, Paul Zimbler, Raul Paez, Robin Keston, Rory Liffey, Stephen McGrath and Sunny Chattha.

Crowded. -- NW

12.40pm: Of all the tables in all the world...
Another table worth watching today features Mickey Petersen, also of Team Online, who has been drawn on the same table as his girlfriend, Elena Stover. Petersen tweets as @mickeydp, while Stover is @thegroupie. They have already started the Twitter banter, so follow them both to keep up with their progress.

Petersen is probably better known on the international circuit than Stover -- an EPT title will do that -- but Stover has better pedigree on the UKIPT. Her 148th place at Nottingham earlier this season (for £1,480) is one result more than Petersen has on this tour.

12.30pm: On the second floor...
The upstairs tables are also packed with talent today, including Team PokerStars Pro's Henrique Pinho, over here from Portugal to take on the best of the UK and Ireland. There's also Nick Wealthall, Willie Tann, Joe Grech, Steve Watts, Jan Combes, Barny Boatman, Deborah Worley-Roberts and Team Online's Dale Phillip. Among many others. -- HS

12.20pm: Spotted
The play, as it was yesterday, is split over two floors here at The Vic. There's a full compliment of 14 tables in use on the lower floor - this will likely remain the case for much of the day as players will be moved from the upper to lower floor to fill the gaps as players bust out throughout the day.

There's a number of familiar faces dotted around the tables - some of which are hard to reach - they include EPT7 London champion David Vamplew and Surinder Sunar - both sharing the same table. Also getting friendly at the same table are Jack Sambrook and Tom Ward. The top two in the UKIPT Leaderboard - Neil Raine and Tom Hall - are also both in the field today as are Jeff Duvall and Jason Barton. -- NW

12.05pm: Shuffle up and deal
Cards are in the air here in London, 300 is the tentative number of players in the field so far today. Of course not all are seated right now, in fact I saw Karl Mahrenholz weaving his way towards his seat a few minutes after kick off. He, and many others no doubt, will boost the total number of runners today to north of 300. Late registration is open for three levels, approximately 3.15pm GMT. -- NW

12 noon: Second time around
According to this morning's television news, Kate "Windsor" Middleton is entering the second trimester of her pregnancy. We know the feeling. Today is Day 1B of UKIPT London, the second of three opening flights in this tournament. When Kate gets through her endeavours, she will deliver the heir to the English throne. Similarly, we will reach Day 2 of this poker extravaganza.

Don't be sceptical; it's exactly the same thing.

We will, today, be in the presence of some poker royalty. "Queen" Victoria Coren is playing. Also Kevin MacPhee will be in the field, plus Team Online's Dale Phillip. And Marc Convey. We'll take a wander through the room shortly to get a full overview of who is with us. We're expecting more than yesterday's 194.

Play begins at noon, with 15,000 starting stacks and blinds at 25-50. We will play 11 one-hour levels, with a 60-minute dinner break at the end of level six. Stick with us. -- HS

Reporting team in London: Howard Swains and Nick Wright. Photos by Mickey May.

1.20am: Day 1B is in the books
So the second of the three starting flights of UKIPT London is done and dusted. A total of 414 players joined the 194 who played Day 1A and with around 450 players expected for Day 1C that should take the total number of runners up to somewhere around 1,050. Whichever way you look at it you can file this tournament in the 'huge' file.

We'll be back for Day 1C at noon, but before that a wrap of today's play will be forthcoming and we'll get overnight chip counts up here. -- NW

1am: Last five hands
The tournament clock has stopped and they are playing the last five hands of the day.

12.55am: Late night bulletin
A few snippets of news here as time ticks down on Day 1B of UKIPT London...

Unlike the average poker player, tournament organisers are a risk-averse bunch. Knowing that the card room of the Victoria Casino could seat only about 430 players, they scheduled three opening flights of UKIPT London and made each of them last 11 levels. That ensured we dusted off enough players to allow the Day 2 field to fit in.

So it is that after Day 1B, which attracted 414 players, we remain tonight with fewer than 100 of them, less than a quarter of the field. Singing loudest among them is the appropriately named Luke Bird, who hit a straight flush to double up at the mid-point of the afternoon and then went on a charge tonight. Bird bagged 196,800.

Bird, who comes from Chingford and works in the travel industry, qualified for £22 on PokerStars and is playing the biggest tournament of his career. "It has been a brilliant experience so far," Bird said.

Lurking behind is a familiar face: Tom Hall, who bags 181,600 tonight. Hall is currently in second place in the UKIPT Player of the Year leader board for season three, and could win the whole thing with a deep run in London. It depends, of course, on what Hall's closest challenger, Neil Raine, manages here, but Hall has certainly started well in his quest for the prestigious accolade. (Raine is out of the main event, but there are a lot of side events that still qualify.)

There are plenty others hot on his heels tonight, including Daniel Rudd (161,500), David Vamplew (99,800), Kevin MacPhee (25,500), Andrew Teng (119,200), Karl Mahrenholz (41,500), Patryk Slusarek (159,000) and Willie Tann (78,300). Team Online's Dale Philip also made it through the day, finishing with 25,500. He was the only "Red Spade" to make it through after Team PokerStars Pro's newest recruit, Leo Margets, busted late in the day.

She found good company on the scrapheap. John Duthie lasted precisely one hand. His friend Barny Boatman lasted about one level more. Nick Wealthall, Luke Schwartz, Steve O'Dwyer, Martin Jacobsen, Richard Ashby and even Marc Convey couldn't last the day.

Then Team PokerStars Pro lost Vicky Coren, George Danzer and Henrique Pinho, before Mickey Petersen, of Team Online, headed home too.

But let's celebrate those who remain. The counts of the survivors will be on the chip-count page as soon as we know them.

Tomorrow will be the biggest day of them all -- upwards of 420 players, I reckon -- and then we will know what they're all playing for too. It's likely to be a lot of dough.

Check out how it all played out in levels 1-6 and then levels 7-11. Join us again at noon Thursday for more of the same.

6.40pm: Dinner break
The players are now on a one hour dinner break. You'll find level seven updates in a new post. -- NW

6.35pm: Lots of chips
There's lots of chips on Liv Boeree's table, unfortunately not many of them belong to her. She's struggling on just 5,400 whilst there's towers being constructed all around her. Fintan Gavin has 29,000, Onur Dag has almost 70,000 and Anton Wigg has 60,000. -- NW

6.25pm: There's no easy way to say this...
...etc. Arnór Freyr Guðmundsson, Lee Atherton, Sotirios Koutoupas, Alex Zeligman, Stavros Kalfas, Julien Sitbon, Daniel Laidlaw, Simen Birkelund, Alain Graff, Julian Stuer, Antonis Poulengeris, Iain Brassell, Martin Wainsztein, Jonathan Prince, Mikal Blomlie, Yury Gulyy, Luke Reeves, Thomas Finneran, Alan Gold, Christopher Ferguson, Ali Iftikharali, Lian Pettman, Simon Mikek and Walter Buss are also out.

Roughly 330 of 491 players remain, although the total number of entrants for today is still unconfirmed -- HS

6.15pm: Look on the bright side
At least Kai Hong Lui, Dave Penman, Richard Lord, Jen-Yue Chiang, Luciana Manolea, Mark Segal, Sander Jansen, Ricky Lawson, Hui-Chen Kuo, Knut Ekvardt, Sam Greenwood, Kenneth Coote, Steffan Tveit, Michael Schneider, Neils Van Alphen, Andries Swart, Charles Clark, Nick Abou Risk, Jay Coshan, Nigel East, Jeffrey Rossiter, Karl Rudwall, Irenijus Daukantas, Oliver Weis, Miltiadis Kyriakides, Ales Marcic, Joe Hindry, Anika Johannsdottir, Rudy Blondeau, William Morrison, Aleksandar Abutovic, Weikang Wang, Cina Farazdaghi, Jason Wheeler, Mattia Tagliavini, Paul Mallett, Faraz Iqbal, Saoud Al-Azba, Panayiotis Theodoulou, Frank Jean de Busscher, Mathew Ace, Alexander Mark Rhys-Davies, Mats Rosén, Ivo Frans Hermans and Harprit Gurnam can beat the rush to the surrounding restaurants.

There's a one-hour dinner break at the end of this level. -- NW

6pm: Tureniec found, hidden behind chips
Michael Tureniec moves in mysterious ways. They are highly successful mysterious ways, but mysterious nonetheless. No one saw him arrive, no one saw him move when his table broke, and he's been missing in action all afternoon. Now he's been found, and he has a stack of 75,000. That's probably the chip lead.

He is also now on the same table as Mattias De Meulder, although the Belgian Team PokerStars Pro has only 6,500 chips at this stage. He's going to need to get busy. Christophe, over the other side of the room, has 17,000. -- HS

5.50pm: We've lost Lodden
Team PokerStars Pro Johnny Lodden has been eliminated, his conqueror was Nick Hicks and he filled me in on the Norwegian's exit hand. "He opened 8-9 under-the-gun and I defended with 8-4 suited on the button. The flop came Q-8-4, he bet, I raised and he called. The turn was a blank, he check-raised all-in and I called. The pot was roughly 25,000." -- NW

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 150-300 ante 25

5.40pm: Jude jettisoned
Having lost half his stack early on Jude Ainsworth had worked his way back up to 11,600 only to bust in a flip.

5.35pm: Five-bet shove
After an open to 700 and a flat call, David Sonelin made it 2,000 to go from the button. It passed to Christopher Brown in the big blind, he made it 4,600 total, only for Sonelin to ship all-in for 17,825 once it had passed back to him. This sent Brown into the tank, he eventually decided he didn't want to play anymore and mucked his hand. -- NW

5.25pm: Highs and lows
Thomas Pettersson has a stack of about 64,000, which I'd say is close to the lead at this stage. Gordon Huntly, meanwhile, is sitting in the bar having run ace-king into kings. He's now looking to overcome jet lag and get into some more tournaments in this festival. -- HS

5.15pm: Roothlus is ruthless
More chips for Adam Levy who just finished off Jussi Häkkänen after taking the majority of them moments earlier (see 5pm post). Down to just under 4,000, Häkkänen moved all-in pre-flop with [Ah][10d] and Levy made the call with [Ac][Qd]. The [2h][2c][6s][9c][As] board kept Levy in front and he now has almost 45,000. With that exit the field dips under 400 for the first time today. - NW

5pm: Häkkänen pays Levy
I was over by table three to check on the progress of Grzegorz Mikielewicz, otherwise known as Team Online's "DaWarsaw". But a pot was brewing between Jussi Häkkänen and Adam Levy, which quickly took centre stage.

Häkkänen opened from the hijack, making it 600; Levy three bet the cut-off, making it 1,600 and Häkkänen four bet to 3,200. Levy now flat called.

The flop was [jh][6d][7c] and Häkkänen led for 3,100. Levy called. Then the [5h] turned. Häkkänen bet 13,000, leaving himself only shrapnel behind, and Levy under-called. (Levy, it turned out, had about 4,000 less than Häkkänen.)

Levy tabled [as][ah] and Häkkänen was behind, but had outs, with his [7h][9h]. But the [ks] was a blank, giving Roothlus the full double up, to close to 40,000.

DaWarsaw, by the way, has about 31,300. -- HS

4.50pm: Latest casualties
There's really no easy way to say this, but if you hear from Paul Berende, Alex Evans, Caicai Huang, Mateusz Matla, Calvin Anderson, Romain Chauvassagne, Samuel Ducoin, Jeremy Pantin, Nicolau Pacheco Villa-Lobos, Mariusz Filosek, Mark Miller, Patrick Fortin, Hung-Tu Wang, George Trigioris, Chung Hoang, Nasrulla Babayev, Emmett Mullin, Hugo Severino Loureiro, Jan Petersen, Jakub Groblewski, Giuseppe Sammartino, Javier Gomez Zapatero, Pawel Brzeski, Hasan Anter, Seyed Moussavi, Waheed Ashraf, Dirk Wenkemann, Egidijus Stasiulaitis, Richard Evans, Steven Warburton, Ami Barer, Ludovic Lacay, Andreas Alexandrou, Mantas Bagocius, David La Ronde, Sam Macdonald, Aleksandras Rusinovas, Ankush Mandavia, Luke Martens, Euan Cameron, George Meitanis, Gianluca Mattia, Antony Osborn, Timothy Frans Alofs, Andrew King, Alejandro Perez Torres and Pierre Neuville in the next few minutes, they're only likely to tell you a bad beat story. They're all out. -- HS

4.40pm: More chip counts
More counts, this time from the upper level of the tournament room: Chris Dowling (18,300), Chris Ferguson (11,500), Jason Wheeler (5,000), John Eames (14,000), Kevin Iacofano (12,800), Thomas Finneran (6,700) and Liv Boeree (18,825). -- NW

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 150-300

4.20pm: Break time
The players are now on a 20 minute break. -- NW

4.05pm: Beauchamp notches one for the smart set
William Beauchamp has come dressed in his best bib and tucker, a lovely suit and tie with slicked down hair. He just got involved in a pot against Carlo Savinelli, who is instead rocking the hoodie stylings of the modern pro.

In this instance, it was the suit and tie that won the day, but it was quite an odd hand. Savinelli made it 400 from under the gun and Beauchamp three bet to 1,100 a couple of seats to his left. Savinelli four bet to 2,400 and Beauchamp called.

The flop came [9d][3h][6h] and Savinelli led for 1,200. Beauchamp then shoved all in, which was 23,000. But it was Savinelli who had the effective stack, about 9,000.

Savinelli looked perplexed, but also looked crestfallen. He folded. -- HS

4pm: Guerra on the offensive
Although James Akenhead has been eliminated, the table he vacated still features Fintan Gavin, John Eames and Jakub Michalak, the latter of whom finished second at IPT Sanremo not so long ago. It's was always likely to be full of action with that line-up, although from a sample size of two hands, it's Borja Guerra who is proving to be the most active.

Michalak opened one pot from early position, making it 450, and Milorad Dobrijevic three-bet to 1,150. Guerra, in the small blind, made it 2,325 and both others folded.

Next hand out, Guerra was at it again. Dobrijevic opened this time, making it 500 to play. Guerra three bet again from the button, to 1,125. Dobrijevic called.

The flop came [kd][7s][4d] and Dobrijevic bet 1,850, which Guerra called, taking them to a [2s] turn. Check, check. The [2c] came on the river and it went check, check again.

Dobrijevic turned over his [9c][9d], with which he had good reason to think might be a winner. It wasn't. Guerra had [ks][qh] which was better. --HS

3.55pm: Chip counts
Although some of the tables on the lower tournament floor are fiendishly difficult to reach nothing stops me getting a chip count, here's a bunch of them: Adam Levy (29,000), Ben Vinson (14,200), Calvin Anderson (3,600), David Docherty (20,000), Grzegorz Mikielewicz (34,000), Joep van den Bijgaart (24,800), Marius Lietuvninkas (17,600), Nick Abou Risk (9,000), Paul Berende (10,500), Rupinder Bedi (30,000), Russell Carson (15,300), Simon Deadman (9,800) and Joao Nunes (12,000). -- NW

3.45pm: Evans above
I saw UKIPT3 Dublin champion Richard Evans standing on the rail and sensing a story ambled over for a chat. "No good," he told me. "I ran kings into the aces of Anton Wigg." It wasn't a pre-fop wham bam thank you Mam kind of cooler though, there was betting on all three streets on a low board, Evans told me. Before adding, "That's the fourth tournament in a row that I've ran kings into aces. -- NW

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 100-200

3.30pm: Billy Chattaway, chip magnet
Billy Chattaway got his stack up to more than 25,000 after eliminating Charlotte Van Brabander earlier (see 2.25pm update). And he continues to collect chips of all varieties.

In a recent pot, Dirk Wenkemann opened to 300 from early position and Chattaway made it 750 from the button. Kelly Peters called from the big blind, and Wenkemann also called.

They were three way to a flop of [kc][8h][6c] and it was checked to Chattaway. He bet 1,750 and both others folded.

"Does anyone want some chips?" said Jonathan Prince, suddenly, to the rest of the table. "I'm not going to eat them." He then proffered a plate of French fries, previously accompanying a burger, to all comers.

"I'll have them," said Chattaway and collected a new load of chips, potato-style, to add to the plastic/clay mix he had already accumulated.

"Did she give you any sauce?" Chattaway asked.

3.25pm: Atherton not out
It's been a good season on the UKIPT for Lee Atherton, he's had three deep runs, finishing 15th in Nottingham, 8th in Dublin and 30th in Newcastle. However, he's going to have his work cut out in London as his tough starting table just got even tougher.

Literally surrounded by Floppinell, Livb & now Mad Marvin..Had easier table draws..#LowestFormOfWit #UKIPTLondon

— Lee Atherton (@leeavy) March 7, 2013

3.20pm: Akenhead ousted with aces
The ROI of everyone left in the field has just gone up a notch as the dangerous James Akenhead has busted: "Busted the last 3 tournaments with As, you think the poker gods are trying to tell me something?" he tweeted upon his exit. -- NW

3.10pm: Romanello flush with chips
EPT winner Roberto Romanello is on the 'feature' table - well what will become the EPT Live Webcast table from Sunday and he just put on a bit of a show.

He and Peter Veale saw a monotone [10c][5c][4c] flop, Romanello bet 400 and Veale made the call. The [3c] further increased the likelihood of a flush, but both players checked to see the [Ac] complete the board. First to act, Romanello bet a chunky 1,625 and after tanking for a while Veale folded the [Jc] face up, Romanello just mucked his cards as he took the pot. The Welsh wizard is up to 16,000. -- NW

2.55pm: Chip counts
Here's how some of the names and notables have fared over the first two and a half levels: Emmett Mullin has dropped to 13,175, Jamie Sykes is up to 20,350, Martin Mulsow (17,500) and Fintan Gavin (14,900) are to the direct left of the Eames/Akenhead combo meaning that's a nasty corner to have to navigate for the rest of the table.

Team PokerStars Pro Johnny Lodden is down to 13,400, fellow Team Pro Christophe De Meulder has 13,450, Max Silver is up to 23,600, he's two seats to the left of Sam Holden (14,700) and Jack Ellwood has 12,200. The dangerous players on table 34 have all chipped up, Rhys Jones is on 27,000, Lee Atherton has 19,000 and Olivier Busquet is on 26,750, he's taken a break from reading his book (Quiet by Susan Cain in case you were wondering). -- NW

2.45pm: Cody and Boeree hanging tough
It must be somewhat unnerving to be playing poker with a huge hop-up banner of yourself staring back at you, but that's the situation Team PokerStars Pro Jake Cody finds himself in as there's a massive picture of him right in his eye line.

It's not affecting his game right now as he's up to 17,300, which is a little more than Liv Boeree, she's currently getting a massage and is down to around 13,175. -- NW

2.35pm: Out, out, out
No messing: Kevin Monroe, Amir Mozaffarian, Jesus Javier Sanchez Blanco, Steven Harding, Alexander Clark, Michael Hoerl, Roberto Spagnuolo and out. -- HS

2.25pm: Worst-case scenario for Van Brabander
Poker is a cruel game. Just ask Charlotte Van Brabander, who is already out of this tournament. (Just ask us, actually. We don't get to see her play anymore. It was all too brief.)

I arrived to the table to find a pot suggesting some pre-flop action and flop already peeled out on the felt: [5d][9d][2s]. Van Brabander bet 900 at it and Billy Chattaway raised to 2,250. After a moment's deliberation, Van Brabander called.

The [2c] turned and Van Brabander checked. "How much do you have?" said Chattaway and Van Brabander sorted her chips into neat piles, totalling about 10,000. Chattaway had something very similar in his stack and announced a bet of 2,800.

Van Brabander wasn't frightened by that. Indeed, she raised to 6,600. Chattaway shoved and it was a pretty straightforward call now for Van Brabander. She tabled [ks][kc].

Chattaway had [7d][8d] for a flush draw and an inside straight draw--a 23% shot at this stage. And he hit it. The river was [qd] which left Van Brabander tapping the table and walking away.

Van Brabander tweeted earlier that her worst-case scenario was to go shopping at Victoria's Secret in London. If you're a store assistant in London today, prepare for Charlotte's arrival. -- HS

2.15pm: Umbrellas please...
London is a beautiful place when it's rainy and overcast. Lucky for Wojciech Lozowski, Menikos Panagiotou, William Kassouf, Olof Haglund, Anthony Long, Fergal Cawley, Philippe Barouk and Raphael Dubost that they now have all afternoon to explore it. They are among the early fallers from action so far. -- HS

BLINDS UP: PLAYING 75-150 IN LEVEL 3

2pm: Break
That's two of the 11 allotted levels done and dusted, see you in 15. -- NW

1.55pm: Second times the charm?
There are a few players in the lower tournament area who are looking to make their second UKIPT final table of season three. On table nine is Joe Roberts, the youngster finished third at UKIPT3 Galway back in February 2012, he's up to 20,500 here in London. One table over is Barry McMahon, the fourth place finisher at UKIPT3 Nottingham is on the Bedi/Berende table and is up to 20,000 early doors.

Lastly we have Wojtek Barzantny, he hasn't just made final tables this season, he's won two of the things, taking down UKIPT Online and UKIPT Bristol back to back in a memorable week in November 2012. He's up to 19,900 after the first two levels. -- NW

1.40pm: And still they keep coming
As we observed earlier, Olivier Busquet has now been spotted in today's field. I can't think of the last time he must have played a tournament with a buy-in of £700. But he has now been joined by Martin Finger, Anton Wigg and Michael Tureniec, all of whom have been spotted around the tables on the upper floor.

Diego Gomez, last seen dressed as a lion at the final table of EPT Prague, is also here. Today, his wacky accessory is a single-pane, plastic ski-mask. It's relatively mundane given his previous get-ups. -- HS

1.30pm: The curse of table 31
About this time yesterday afternoon, table 31 was the temporary home of John Duthie and Barny Boatman - "temporary" being the operative word. Neither of them lasted very long. Indeed Duthie bust on the first hand he played, later observing: "It couldn't have been briefer."

Poker's Bermuda Triangle is having its mysterious way again today: Louis Manson has already busted from there, with Akshay Reddy apparently the beneficiary. "Seat open, table 31!" bellowed the dealer, as a list of alternates shuddered at the prospect of sitting around the cursed table. -- HS

1.20pm: Field just got tougher
As if the field wasn't loaded enough already, another of the late comers is none other than Olivier Busquet, famed high stakes online player and purveyor of poker commentary that is almost universally praised. Expect to hear him on the live EPT webcast at some point during EPT London.

He's sharing a table with Rhys Jones, Lee Atherton and Tudor Purice. -- NW

1.15pm: First and last
Back In December 2012 I had the pleasure of covering the PokerStars Eureka Prague event and watched on as Menikos Panagiotou was the last man standing from a field of 644.
Today I witnessed what I believe people would term 'extreme variance' as he became the first player to exit Day 1C of UKIPT London.

There was a limp from under-the-gun, then it folded to Jose Lopez in the cut-off and he raised it up to 450, was flat called by Hasan Anter and Panagiotou made it 2,075 to go from a stack of around 5,500. It folded back to Lopez, he moved all-in for around 8,000 and when it came back to Panagiotou he shrugged and called all-in.

Panagiotou: [10c][10s]
Lopez: [Qs][Qc]

The [6h][7s][6c][9c][As] board kept the Spaniard in front and Panagiotou tapped the table as he left. -- NW

1.10pm: Table chat
Most noise on the lower level of the tournament room today is coming from the aforementioned table 10, where Paul Berende is sitting next to Rupinder Bedi. Those two are getting on like a house on fire, but the conversation also includes Eshed Esh Hadaya and Berende's German neighbour (whose identity is as yet unknown). The subject is the German tax laws and whether poker winnings are subject to a government levy. As a self-confessed "losing player", even the man who lives there doesn't seem to know.

The conversation ended, however, when a pot started brewing just a couple of hands into level 2. Spencer Lawrence opened to 225, Samuel Ducoin called to his left, Bedi called in late position and the big blind called too.

All of them checked the [9c][jh][9h] flop and then Lawrence bet 500 on the [8s] turn. Ducoin and Bedi called. The river was [2s] and Lawrence bet 1,000. Only Ducoin called this time and Lawrence showed [jc][ks], which was good.

Re-commence the chatting. --HS

BLINDS UP: PLAYING 50-100 IN LEVEL 2

1pm: Mutual respect
There's a bit of a love-in going on over on table 26...

Still with over five million in live winnings between them and probably more online then it's a mutual respect based on solid reasoning. -- NW

12.55pm: Luck of the Irish
A fortuitous turn of events just now for Chris Dowling

12.45pm: Small time, big time
As previously mentioned it really is a star-studded field today as players in town with EPT as their main priority rub shoulders with players who 'grind' the UKIPT.

Nowehere is this better encapsulated than on table 10. In seat six sits Rupinder Bedi. The part-time player (although serious hobbyist is more accurate) holds the record for most cashes in UKIPT main events - seven at the last count - and is, when work allows, a permanent fixture on this tour.

To his immediate left sits Paul Berende and it wouldn't surprise me if this was the Dutchman's first ever UKIPT main event (barring the EPT/UKIPT London mash up that occurred at the end of Season 1). The Dutchman is though a regular fixture on the EPT and events of that ilk. In fact his biggest result to date is a fifth place finish in the €25,000 High-Roller event at the 2010 EPT Grand Final, he's got another four six-figure cashes to back that up though. -- NW

12.30pm: The EPT is just a wannabe UKIPT
As we get closer to the start of the European Poker Tour event in London, which is shamelessly piggy-backing on the success of the UKIPT, the tournament floor is beginning to resemble that of the pan-European jamboree. Indeed, there are at least five EPT champions in our midst today: Ludovic Lacay, Roberto Romanello, Liv Boeree, Jake Cody and Toby Lewis. Yesterday, David Vamplew and Kevin MacPhee made it through to day two (even if Vicky Coren couldn't). And Anton Wigg and Michael Tureniec are also on our list today, even though I haven't spotted either of them yet.

There are also at least two players in the field who have previously been at the World Series of Poker Main Event final table: Sam Holden and James Akenhead.

And the ranks of Team PokerStars Pro has yielded another couple of familiar faces: Joao Nunes and Juan Manuel Pastor, from Portugal and Spain respectively. -- HS

12.15pm: All star cast
Right about now, we usually list the stars we have spotted in the crowd to give you an idea of the field playing today. But there's not enough space. It's a star-studded field and no mistake. Head on over to the chip-count page to get a flavour.

The starting stack is 15,000 and they'll play 11 one-hour levels, the same as has happened on the two previous opening flights. The UKIPT main event tournament structure page will tell you all you need to know about that.

12 noon: And it just gets bigger
For the past two days, the Grosvenor Victoria casino in Edgware Road has been filled to the rafters with poker players, anteing up £700 for their seat at UKIPT London season three. Today we are attempting the impossible: to cram in even more.

It is the final opening flight of this event, Day 1C. And there will likely be significantly more than yesterday's 414 players at least attempting to join the party. The official capacity is 450, but that would mean 10-handed play on all of the 45 tables. It is highly likely. And then there will be alternates for the first three levels.

Team PokerStars Pro will be swelling the ranks: Jake Cody, Liv Boeree, Chris De Meulder and Mattias De Meulder are here. Two more Belgians: Charlotte van Brabander and Pierre Neuville are also in London. There are a wealth of Team Online coming too. We'll catch up with all of those later.

Stick around as we assess the field. It will likely represent that rarest commodity: quality and quantity. -- HS

Reporting team in London: Howard Swains and Nick Wright. Pictures by Mickey May.

1.15am: Moving on to Day 2
That ladies and gentlemen is the end of three monster Day ones here in London. Around 33 hours of play have reduced a field of 1,099 to under 250. They'll return at noon tomorrow, as will we. In the meantime a full wrap of the day's play will be forthcoming as will overnight chip counts. And if we're really lucky we'll be privy to the re-draw and whack that up on the blog too. -- NW

1.05am: Closing stages
They're into the last few hands of the night.

1am: Dosh
One of the most important pieces of information has been released right at the end of the day. Here's the prize structure for this mammoth tournament:

1 £156,800
2 £104,600
3 £63,560
4 £44,870
5 £33,680
6 £22,490
7 £15,050
8 £12,691
9 and 10 £10,450
11 and 12 £8,200
13 and 14 £5,970
15 and 16 £4,480
17 to 24 £3,730
25 to 32 £2,985
33 to 40 £2,610
41 to 48 £2,240
49 to 64 £1,870
65 to 88 £1,640
89 to 112 £1,420
113 to 144 £1,200

There were 1,099 runners and a prize pool of £746,221. -- HS

12.45am: Bye bye
Our final batch of fallers for tonight include: Andrey Gulyy, Nick Hicks, Oliver Fabian, Julian Schultheis, Rhys Jones, Vera Lynn Kelleher, Robert Price, David Sonelin, Elchin Rustamov, Andrew Bell, Yoni Basin, Anton Wigg, Griffin Benger, Atanas Gueorguiev, Andrew Boccia, Warwick Brindley, Robert Tinnion, Grzegorz Mikielewicz, Michael Jones, Garcia Fernandez, Gurdev Millan, Dennis Camille, Panu Heikki Miettinen, Christopher Grant, Nikola Kolega, Mads Amot, Sam Onions, Samir Patel, Mantas Visockis, Craig Burke, Radoslaw Wielewicki, Mark Roovers, Romain Paon, Frank Williams, Peter Landgren, Tamas Novak, Kirit Patel, Matej Kalcic, Frank Romanello, Louis Silver, Roel Van Gestel, Joep van den Bijgaart, Roberto Romanello, Ramin Hajiyev, Kelly Peters. Night, night to them. -- HS

12.35am: English only
"You've got to blog about this," Kevin Finnie - a man with a thick Scottish accent - told me as I wandered past his table.

The Scot, who had an excellent UKIPT Cork, winning a side event and finishing 18th in the main event continued, "When I was on a table upstairs I've leaned round to talk to my mate on the rail and asked him to order me a gin and tonic and the dealer's gone to me 'English only at the table.'" After establishing that it was OK for me to print that a Scotsman was after a gin and tonic (type of tonic not established) he got back to playing poker. He's doing pretty well too as he has 120,000. -- NW

12.20am: News in brief
A few snippets from around the room...
- Liv Boeree flatted an open from Gianluca Escobar and they saw an interesting [Ah][10d][Kh] flop, Escobar led for 2,800, Boeree made it 6,000, Escobar made it 13,000 and Boeree, sensing the game was up, released her hand.
- PokerStars Team Online's Grzegorz Mikielewicz is out, he kindly came all the way to the press room to tell us just how. He made a bad bluff to slop to 6,000, then three-bet all-in over a min-raise with pocket eights, his opponent was priced in with Q-10 and duly turned a queen to eliminate the Pole.
- Oliver Price fans, your man is a modern day Lazarus. We'd earlier reported him as being out, but had erroneously been handed his ID card.
- 130 players remain. -- NW

12.05am: We've seen this fella before
We're deep into the last level of the day, the last level of all the day ones, in fact. Michael Tureniec, who enjoyed the first eight levels from heaven, has seen his stack dwindle of late, pegging him back to about 90,000. But there's another very familiar face taking his place at the summit of the counts: Wojtek Barzantny, this year's UKIPT sensation.

In case you forgot, Barzantny won the UKIPT online tournament, with the final table in Bristol. And then a few days later, he won the UKIPT Bristol main event. That's two UKIPT tournaments back-to-back. He is this year's Nick Abou Risk and is currently sitting with about 185,000. -- HS

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 600-1,200 ante 100

11.55pm: Break time
The players are now on their last 15 minute break of the day. -- NW

11.45pm: Felted
Like a meteor hurtling through the atmosphere these players have burned bright, but ultimately crashed to Earth: Joe Roberts, Jukka Becklof, Karl Cosby, Julian Hirt, Christopher Ahrens, Roy Rimmer, Bruno Pereira, Benjamin Winsor, Wes Farrell, Jan Josef Curylo, Cosimo Sabatini, Richard Milne, Christopher Brown, Concepcion Tacoronte, Marius Lietuvninkas, Predrag Kecojevic, Guy Tomaselli, Darius Zapolskis, Antti Maatta, Ramey Shaio, Lasse Aastad Kjøs, Justin Sevilla, Dhanesh Chainani, Milorad Dobrijevic, Vytautas Milvydas, Justas Semaška, Benjamin Raven, Richard Chadwick, Peter Veale, Andrew Phouli, Nicholas Crisp and Mohammed Ashfaq are all out of UKIPT London.

Roughly 150 players remain. -- NW

11.35pm: Mad Marvin making moves
Of all the difficult to reach spots in two rooms full of difficult to reach spots, Marvin Rettenmeier occupies the most difficult of them all. For any other player, it wouldn't be worth the hassle in seeking him out, but this is Marvin Rettenmeier we're talking about, the reigning Bluff Player of the Year.

True to form, Rettenmeier rewarded our persistence in tracking him down. Not only was he sitting with one of the biggest stacks in the room (of course), but he was involved in a pot, which he won (of course). It wasn't a big one - his c-bet on a king high board was enough to shake the two-pre-flop callers - but the additional chips built his stack to 136,000. That's a lot, and they are in dangerous hands. -- HS

11.30pm: Levy dry
Adam Levy is another big name player to fall by the wayside today, but his elimination hasn't made table three any softer as he was swiftly replaced by table didn't get any easier as he was replaced by EPT6 Copenhagen winner Anton Wigg, he's two seats to the left of Juan Manuel Pastor and three to the left of Grzegorz Mikielewicz. The Pole is rapdily sliding downwards, he's got just 8,000. -- NW

11.20pm: Two EPT winners sat in a row
The quality of players in the Day 1C field is potentially the highest we've ever had on a UKIPT, with many players commenting on the tough table draws that they encountered. One such tough table right now is table seven.

In the 10 seat sits Toby Lewis, winner of EPT7 Vilamoura, he's playing a stack of 34,000 and to his direct left sits Team PokerStars Pro Liv Boeree, winner of EPT6 San Remo, Boeree's fortunes continue to go upwards, she's now on 45,000. With the aforementioned 'raise happy' David Sonelin also at table seven we'll definitely be keeping an eye on this one. -- NW

11.10pm: Nunes rises and falls
Joao Nunes began his trip to London this week by entering the Vertical Rush charity run up Tower 42 in the City. We'll have more about that later in the week. He has not scaled any great heights with his chip stack today, though, and every time he seems to be adding a few storeys, he gets pegged back down again.

No sooner had he got his chips past 30,000 (double his starting stack) than the following pot occurred. It cost him a chunk, which he gave to Michael Jones. Nunes opened to 1,700 from early position and Jones called. It was only those two.

They went to a [7h][2c][qd] flop and both checked. The [ah] turned and Nunes check-called Jones's bet of 2,600. The [6s] rivered and now Nunes check-called Jones's bet of 6,300.

Jones took a while to reveal his hand: [7s][7d]. It was good, unsurprisingly enough. -- HS

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 500-1,000 ante 100

11.05pm: Sonelin plays is fast and loose
Without fail, every time I have looked at table seven this afternoon, David Sonelin has been raising pre-flop. And without fail, he has then been three-bet off it. Either this is a very anomalous coincidence or, more likely, he really has been opening an enormous percentage of pots.

Just recently, true to form, he opened from the button and then Christopher Brown, who has sat two to Sonelin's left all day, shoved from the big blind. It was only about 6,000 or so, so Sonelin called.

The Swede showed [jc][4h], going some way to prove the theory that he is opening fairly light. Brown, who obviously knew this, had [ad][2d].

But the best hand couldn't hold. The flop came [jc][10s][10c][7s][6c] and Brown went broke. Sonelin soldiers on. -- HS

11pm: Spinning
Jamie Sykes had 9,800 at the start of this level, he's now got considerably more than that

10.55pm: Young, talented and British
Three very talented young British players are sharing a table in one of the few tables still in use on the upper floor. Both Ben Jackson (7th UKIPT Online) and Jamie Dale (3rd UKIPT2 Edinburgh) have finalled a UKIPT before and Rick Trigg is the number one ranked online tournament player in the UK. They've got 71,000, 37,000 and 60,000 respectively. -- NW

10.50pm: Liv vs LivB
Team PokerStars Pro Liv Boeree and Olivier 'LivB' Busquet are sat at the same table, just two seats apart in fact, with the American having position on Boeree.

It's not the first time they've shared a table, Boeree got the better of heads-up specialist Busquet in the NBC Heads-Up Championship a couple of years ago and as things stand she's getting the better of him again (not that we can put this down to any pots that they've clashed in). Both though are below average, Boeree on roundabout 30,000 and Busquet on 22,500. They've also got Jonathan Prested at their table, he's got 47,000 and the ability to run up stacks as we saw at UKIPT Bristol this season. -- NW

10.35pm: Wigg doubles
After Onur Dag opened to 1,600 from the button, few will have been surprised to see the ultra-aggressive Anton Wigg make it 3,200 from the small blind. That bunch included Romain Paon who smelled a good opportunity for a four bet from the big blind. He made it 11,000.

Dag folded but Wigg shoved for what was something close to 20,000. Paon called before the chips could be counted fully and showed [9c][9s]. But he was behind Wigg's [js][jc] and never caught up.

Wigg gets the double up. He has about 56,000 now. He is dangerous to be around. -- HS

10.25pm: There's no easy way to say this...
But such is the sheer volume of spent player ID cards, representing every player who has bust in the past few minutes I can't list them all. However, I can tell you that: Stavros Kalfas, Sebastian Gohr, Yann Dion, Lalit Khajuria, Daiva Barauskaite, Max Silver, Christian Andersson are Robert Gorodetsky are all definitely out of UKIPT London. -- NW

10.10pm: Team Pro clinging on. To the bar
Jake Cody is propped at the bar, nursing a glass of whiskey. Actually, maybe it's whisky. I can't tell without tasting. Either way, he's out, a fact confirmed by his recent Tweet:

Team PokerStars Pro haven't received their usual blanket coverage this afternoon, mainly because each and every one of them has been wedged in a difficult to reach corner for long periods. Cody has now wriggled out of his, but Joao Nunes, Liv Boeree and Grzegorz "DaWarsaw" Mikielewicz are still in the tournament.

Nunes has 15,500, Mikielewicz 32,000 and a couple of hours ago Boeree tweeted that she had 22,000. She still does. -- HS

10pm: Chip counts
UKIPT stalwarts David Docherty, Rupinder Bedi and Jamie Sykes are all still going, albeit with contrasting fortunes...

BLINDS UP. PLAYING 400-800 (100 ANTE) IN LEVEL 9

9.45pm: Take 15
Congratulations to everyone who has made it through level eight - the usual length of a UKIPT Day 1 - you've technically made Day 2. Take a 15 minute break, you've earned it. -- NW

9.40pm: Zero sum game
What goes up must come down and whilst some players now have six figure stacks, others are wondering what happened to theirs. Some of those currently eyeing up the side event schedule are: Martin van de Poel, Marcin Wydrowski, Simon Deadman, Alain Bauer, Mo Muse, Max Greenwood, Russell Carson, Inda Bjornsdotter, Emma Jones, Ronnie Gustafsson, Richard Haile, Samir Tageldin, Daniel Jaszczuk, Andrew Stellos, Bogdan Kovacevic, Goran Mandic, Jorge Ufano, Adam Blakley, Mark Shepherd, Luis Rodriguez, Damase Verlinde...

Alan Wilde, John Eames, Loizos Protopapas, Joe Greenfield, Michael Aston, George Stewart, Diego Gomez, Vitor Pinho, Mike Ramsay, Stepas Tindžiulis, Kevin Iacofano, Samuel Gilbert, David Yan, Murad Akhundov, Steven Raeside, Thomas Butcher, Matthias Tikerpe, Ioannis Triantafyllakis, Martin Finger, Andrew Sweeney, Robbie Renehan, Walter Treccarichi, Paul Senter, Alistair Smith, JP Kelly, Imraan Ladak, Radoslav Lukaev, Stacy Coore and Jomeen Karim as they are all out. -- NW

9.30pm: Some of the smaller stacks. (And one big one)
A few counts: Adam Levy: 24,000, DaWarsaw: 36,000, Joao Nunes: 19,300, Roberto Romanello: 13,500, Ismael Bojang: 78,000. -- HS

9.20pm: Tureniec is unstoppable
Sometimes the big-name pros come to "smaller" tournaments like this and badly struggle. They either can't find the motivation to play lower than their normal game, or they realise it's not quite the cake walk they expected.

Michael Tureniec is no such character. Despite regularly playing the biggest tournaments in the world (and often winning them), he has come to UKIPT London this week and is destroying it. He has a stack of close to 200,000 already, which is more than either of the leaders from either of the earlier day ones managed.

He is currently mixing it up with, among others, the Canadian pro Jason Duval. But even Duval (no stranger to the big games himself) can't stop the Tureniec juggernaut.

This hand started when Duval opened to 1,200 from under the gun and Tureniec called from the cut off. Cheng-Wei Yin called from the big blind and they saw a flop of [6c][3c][jd]. Yin and Duval checked, and only Duval called Tureniec's 2,200 bet.

The [4h] turned and Duval checked again. Tureniec bet 4,800. Duval called. The river was [5h] and after Duval checked, Tureniec tacitly checked by rolling over [9c][9h].

Duval frowned and folded. -- HS

9.10pm: Chip counts
Some of the 260 players still alive and kicking here on Day 1C of UKIPT London are: Toby Lewis (40,000), Wojtek Barzantny (43,500), Roberto Romanello (12,500), Olivier Busquet (34,000), Jack Ellwood (55,000), Jamie Sykes (29,500) , Liv Boeree (12,600), Jake Cody (22,000), Marvin Rettenmaier (37,000), Grzegorz Mikielewicz (30,000), Joep van den Bijgaart (26,000), Marius Lietuvninkas (17,000), Rupinder Bedi (60,000), Adam Levy (26,000) and Anton Wigg (42,000). -- NW

8.55pm: Brotherly love
I spotted Christophe De Meulder sitting in a cash game, in the same seat that Barny Boatman was in yesterday no less, a sure sign he was out. His brother Matthias was down to just 6,500 and in trouble. I wandered over to watch the hand involving Craig Burke (see below) and by the time that had finished Matthias was telling his brother how he went bust.

He'll no doubt be joining his brother in a cash game before long. -- NW

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 300-600 ante 75

8.40pm: The trials and tribulations of ace-jack
Ace-Jack can be a tricky hand to play and it was the unifying factor in two all-in hands that just occurred...

In the first Daniel Dodet got a treble up, he was all-in for four thousand with [Ad][Qd] and got called in two spots. On the turn of a [10h][Ac][9h][3c] board Grzegorz Mikielewicz could wait no longer to bet, he led out and the third player folded, Mikielewicz showed [Ah][Js] and didn't get there on the [9s] river. He's back down to 30,000 now.

Meanwhile on the upper floor Gary Coulahan was all-in with ace-jack and up against the pocket fives of Craig Burke. The small pair held up and Burke, who's third on the UKIPT leader board, is up to 18,000. He'll need to finish in the top two here though to win the thing though. -- NW

8.35pm: There's no easy way to say this...
...but the tournament staff just handed us a pile of spent player ID cards, representing every player who has bust in the past few minutes. After comparing the numbers with our Excel spreadsheet of the day's starters, we have determined that Ashley Patterson, Ben Jones, Pawel Keller, David Rawnsley, Paulius Mikaliunas, Florian Lehmann and Julian Adamson are out. -- HS

8.30pm: Black aces lose, black aces win
Two hands on two different tables. Two different levels of the tournament floor in fact. But the unifying characteristic was two black aces, although there were differing outcomes for their holders.

First up, downstairs, Salman Behbehani opened to 1,000 from under the gun. Emma Jones called on the button and it was only those two to a flop of [4c][5d][4d]. Behbehani bet 1,100 and Jones called.

They both checked the [6h] turn, and then Behbehani checked the [3d] river. Jones bet 1,600 and Behbehani called. Jones then tabled [ad][10d] for the rivered flush, and Behbehani open-mucked his [ac][as] just to prove he hadn't been raising with air.

Then upstairs, Danny Samson opened to 1,050 from under the gun and it was only Elchin Rustamov who called in the cut off. The flop came [9h][5s][jd] and Samson bet 1,500, which Rustamov called.

There was to be no more betting through a turn of [2s] and a river of [10h] however. Samson showed his [ac][as] and they were good. -- HS

8.20pm: 1,099
The total number of runners at UKIPT London has been confirmed at 1,099, the 491 runners from today, adding to the 414 from Day 1B and the 194 from Day 1C. We'll bring you confirmation of the prize pool when we have it. -- NW

8.10pm: Holden straightened out
There will be no second UKIPT final table of Season 3 for Sam Holden as he's just busted from this tournament. He'll be back for the EPT though later this week.

8pm: Déjà vu
For the second UKIPT in a row Inda Hronn Bjornsdotter has been knocked out of UKIPT in exactly the same manner, I mean the same pre-flop action, identical flop, same street suckout.

In this hand (as in Nottingham) she raised with ace-king, got re-raised pre-flop and just flat called. On the [A][K][9] flop she led out, her opponent shoved (with a similar stack to hers) and she called all-in. Her opponent showed [A][9] and duly hit a nine on the turn to melt the hopes of this Icelandic player and send her tumbling out of the tournament. -- NW

7.45pm: 300!
Refreshed, fed and just over half way through the day, the remaining 300 players are now back in their seats for level seven of the allotted 11. And it seems Diego Gomez thinks he might get coolered at some point, that's the only reason we can think of for him wearing ski googles.

Reporting team in London: Howard Swains and Nick Wright. Pictures by Mickey May.

There was a lot that was familiar about Day 1C at UKIPT London, similar to the two days gone before, and similar to the entire season. There was a huge field -- 491 players to be precise -- and they tried to play 11 one-hour levels. But only about 20 per cent of them would make it through the day.

When they bagged up at the end, the leader had a commanding lead: 275,900 chips, which was about 18 times what he started with. And perhaps the most familiar aspect about the whole shebang was that man's identity. It was Wojtek Barzantny, the German player who has already won two events on this season's tour.

This, though, is the big one. It's the UKIPT Grand Final, the curtain raiser for the EPT London festival. And if Barzantny were to win this event, he would have beaten 1,098 others (the total field was only one player shy of eleven hundred) and earned himself £156,800. That's the biggest share of a £746,221 prize-pool, announced when all the bean-counters had done their counting tonight.

He said he got lucky with eights, when he beat pocket tens. (That was an 80 big blind pot.) And then an ace-king held against an aggressively-played [Qs][Jd]. That put him into the lead, and he'll be overall leader tomorrow, when day two will begin after three attempts to get through day one.

Although only a combined field of fewer than 250 players remain, there is some awesome strength in their midst. Just looking at the players who survived today -- Liv Boeree (33,000), Marvin Rettenmeier (129,900), Olivier Busquet (45,900), Ben Vinson (125,500), Joao Nunes (23,700), Rupinder Bedi (43,000) and Juan Manuel Pastor (65,400) for example -- you can see that the big stars have flocked to London for this one. (Michael Tureniec led for almost all of the day, but dusted off a 200,000 stack in the final few levels.)

Also some of the lesser-known lights, such as Wei Deng Wang (213,400), David Urban (162,400), Chris Dowling (131,300) also put themselves in a good position to make a run for the money tomorrow. With 144 players due to be paid, the bubble should burst before dinner.

The mighty have, of course, also fallen. We said hello then waved goodbye to Jake Cody, Charlotte Van Brabander, Matthias and Christophe De Meulder, Anton Wigg, Pierre Neuville, Russell Carson, JP Kelly, Jude Ainsworth, Sam Holden, James Akenhead, Paul Berende, Toby Lewis and plenty of others.

You can see how it all played out through levels 1-6 and then through levels 7-11. And check out the names and stacks of all the survivors on the chip-count page.

Be back tomorrow at noon. Sharp.

NEW POST!
Head over to a new post for updates from level 16 onwards.

4.25pm: Break time
In the 40 minutes since the bubble burst 24 players have been eliminated. The 120 remaining players are now on a 15 minute break. Tournament staff are going to do a comprehensive chip count of those who remain during this break and we'll upload it when we receive that info. -- NW

4.20pm: Erm what do you call this?
So used is Kevin MacPhee to running up a big stack that he's not quite down with the terminology for a short stack, that or he's being ironic.

Either way the salient point is that he's still in. -- NW

4.10pm: Min-cash for Mat
Another quality player who'll have to settle for a min-cash is Mat Frankland he jammed his last eight big blinds in with ten-nine suited and ran into pocket jacks. -- NW

4pm: In the money but out of chips
A couple of early min-cashers both of whom have pocketed £1,200. On the bubble George Clyde-Smith lost a 330,000 chip pot to Jack Young when he ran kings into aces. He was down to just 1,300 in chips and committed that blind the first hand after the bubble had burst, Seun Oluwole raised and then called when Maciej Stachniuk three-bet.

On the [Jh][8c][Kc][7s][8h] board Oluwole called two streets before tanking when Stachniuk moved all-in for 43,000 on the river, eventually he folded and Stachnium showed pocket fives. Now Clyde-Smith, still blind, revealed his hand one card at a time, first up was the [10s] a pretty good card on that board, he then flipped the second which was the [Ac]. "Aw man I had a good hand too, how didn't I win," said Clyde-Smith as he left the table.

Also out is WSOPE bracelet winner Scott Shelley, he was all-in for his last 56,000 with [Ac][Qd] and up against Tom Hall's pocket jacks. The pair held up on a [5h][7d][8d][9h][7h] board and Hall's attempt to overtake Neil Raine at the top of the UKIPT leader board goes on. -- NW

3.45pm: Bubble burst
Well this is a bit weird, but it turns out that the bubble has burst without anyone knowing how come. When Kenneth Aldridge went bust, as described below, the tournament officials then announced that hand-for-hand play would begin. They thought that 145 players then remained (144 will be paid). However a count of the room showed that there were only 144 players, meaning the bubble had actually burst. Whether it was Aldridge who burst it, or someone else on the other side of the room, we will never know. -- HS

3.35pm: One off the money as Aldridge busts
There's no easy way to play pocket jacks, as Kenneth Aldridge found to his cost. He has gone bust one spot before the bubble.

Aldridge raised to 7,000 from under the gun and it was called by Patrick Simcoe, two seats to his left. Marco Maroli then raised from the small blind, making it 16,000 and the action came back to Aldridge.

He looked anguished here, glancing back at his hand time and again, and playing with a stack of about 50,000. What a spot; only two places off the money. Eventually he opted to call, and Simcoe did the same.

The flop fell [7h][10h][6s] and only now did Aldridge choose to shove all in. Simcoe called, but Maroli let it go.

Aldridge now tabled his pocket jacks: [jd][js] and he was actually still ahead of Simcoe's [5h][6h]. But by the time the [7d] had turned and the [kh] rivered, Simcoe had made his flush and Aldridge was out.

Although he's not particularly well known on this side of the Atlantic, Aldridge is quite a player back in the States. He has a World Series bracelet to his name, and has also had a runner-up finish on the WPT. But he won't be cashing for the first time on the UKIPT. -- HS

3.30pm: Out of Reddy's
Finishing in 147th place is Akshay Reddy, he was all-in with [As][5s] but ran into Waldemar Essig's pocket eights. An eight on the flop sealed the deal. Two more to go. -- NW

3.25pm: One step closer
Make that three from the money...

Alek Nazareet's black tens were no good against Onur Dag's black aces, but it was better news for Marco Conti, he doubled through chip leader Salman Behbehani with [Ah][Kh] against pocket jacks, all-in on a king high flop. -- NW

3.20pm: Four from the money
Drip, drip, drip... it's slowed down considerably as you'd expect because we're just a few places from the money. Four to be exact. The blind increase will of course make some short stacks even shorter and ensure they need to take a stand sooner rather than later.

Talking of short stacks it's not been a good day so far for Wojtek Barzantny, he's dropped to 110,000, whilst on the same table Yucel Eminoglu is up over 200,000. Whilst Olivier Busquet's resurgence continues, he's up to 150,000. -- NW

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

3.05pm: Bubble stacks
A few counts of those stil involved as we get ever nearer to the bubble, just 150 remain at present, with 144 getting paid. Dara O'Kearney has 64,000, Chris Dowling is on 200,000, Rick Trigg is up to 275,000, Jamie Burland is hanging tough with 92,000, Jonathon Prested has 270,000, Juan Manuel Pastor has cracked the six figure mark, just he has 102,000,Tristan Taylor has 180,000 and Wojtek Barzantny has 210,000. -- NW

3pm: More for Clyde-Smith
George Clyde-Smith - 11th place finisher at the PCA - has just padded his stack with the 27,000 that formerly belonged to Mark Scarman. The latter three-bet all-in with [Kd][5d], Clyde-Smith called the extra with pocket nines and held on a [8d][9s][Kh][3c][3s] board. He's up to 160,000. -- NW

2.50pm: JMP flying the flag
Following Liv Boeree's elimination, Juan Manuel Pastor is the last remaining Team PokerStars Pro in the field. He has about 70,000 chips.

2.44pm: Twitter tilt
She wasn't the stone-cold bubble, but Liv Boeree has just busted very, very close to the money. Over to you, Twitter:

2.40pm: One in, one out
A double up for a short and an elimination for a short stack to tell you about...

There was an open to 5,000 and three callers - including Luke Bird - before Gary Fisher moved all-in for 41,700 from the big blind. The original raiser and first caller got out the way, Bird tanked for a bit before folding (what he later said was king-jack) and then the last caller - Sadan Turker - asked for a count. After doing the maths in his head Turker announced call.

Turker: [9c][9d
Fisher: [Ad][Ah]

The board came [Jh][Qc][Jc] - queue table thump from Bird - [8s][7h] at this point Fisher, who had averted his gaze from the table said: "Am I safe? I couldn't look."

Indeed he was. "Not a bad spot to pick up aces," someone quipped as he took the pot.

Meanwhile, the mound of chips in front of Ben Jackson continues to grow as he picked up kings and picked off short stacked Mityók Ernő's shove with [Qd][9h]. The Hungarian made a fight of it before ultimately losing on the [4c][8s][7h][6h][As] board.

157 remain. -- NW

2.35pm: Let's look on the bright side...
...at least none of Stephen Burt, Jack Ellwood, Jamie Dale, Robert Cooper, Richard Pearce, Ashton Clayton, Lucky Nguyen, Dirk Markmann, Matthias Gude, Tsun Wong, Alex Lindop, Charles Akadiri, Carl Spicer, Harry Jaderberg, Stuart Schabram, Robert Finlay, Gianluca Escobar, Peter Searle, Darren Moy, Pawel Zawadowicz, Derrick Wall, Oscar Dharmshi, Marvin Rettenmaier, Adam Forsyth or Richard Glading can become the bubble boy here in London. They are long gone.

Speaking of the bubble, though, that is bobbing into view. There are about 150 players left and the money kicks in at 144. -- HS

2.20pm: Counts
It's a dangerous word to type, "counts". You have to be very careful to press all the keys firmly, otherwise you can get yourself sacked.

Anyway, the tournament staff have conducted some chip counts during the break. Here are the leaders at this stage -- approximately, at least:

Salman Behbehani 288000
Georgios Zisimopoulos 285000
Philippe Souki 274000
Lukas Nemec 266500
Weideng Wang 260000
Mark Gardner 234000
Yiannis Liperis 230000
Richard Trigg 230000
Yucel Eminoglu 225000
Jose Maria Galindo Lopez 220000
Patryk Slusarek 220000
Wojtek Barzantny 218500
Jonathon Prested 215000
Tristan Taylor 190000
Vincent Gabel 186000
Richard Hoadley 185000
Ismael Bojang 185000
Sergio Espina 180000
Jeremy Wray 180000
Markus Hedin 175000
Stephen Rawle 175,000
Olivier Busquet 170000
Paul Kerr 168000
Jay O'Toole 165000
Bart Besselink 165000
Jack Salter 162200
Simon Trowse 158800
Waldemar Essig 156000
Ben Vinson 155000
Richard Milne Snr. 145000
Jack Young 145000
Benjamin Jackson 145000
Gavin Keane 139000
Richard Blacklock 137000
Daniel Marks 135000
Gabriel Carter 135000
Robert Godmon 135000
Ali Sarkeshik 129000
Dray Simpson 128000
Arvydas Merfeldas 120000
Adrian Veghinas 120000
Jason Lavallee 120000
Bas De Laat 120000
Diego Ivan Arbuello 115000
Guy Goossens 115000
Paul Friel 110000
Wim Neys 110000
Daniel Laming 110000
Onur Dag 104000
Marco Maroli 102000

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 50-100

2.01pm: Break time
The remaining players are now on a 15 minute break, sadly for Niklas Landgren, Robert Akery, Karl Mahrenholz, David Phelan, John Stokes, Kristian Linnell, Ben Young, Andrey Malyshev, Srdjan Pavlovic, Jamie Sykes, Osaretin Ubebe, Neophytos Neophytou, Phillip Bird, Jennifer Isaac and Team PokerStars Pro Joao Nunes they all found level 13 unlucky as they're out.

Roughly 160 players remain. -- NW

2pm: Rettenmeier departs
It was brief and not so beautiful for Marvin Rettenmeier today. He ebbed away during the opening couple of levels and then, after opening from the button with ace-five, he then called Simon Trowse's jam from the big blind for about 25 BBs. Trowse had ace-ten, which held.

Team PokerStars Pro's Joao Nunes is also now missing in action. He had a short-stack which, presumably, is now in the possession of someone else.

1.55pm: Not so Lucky; not so Nguyen
There is a glitch in the matrix: Lucky Nguyen is out. He was down to his last 4,500 and got it all in from early position. Paul Leckey called from one seat to his left, Liv Boeree called from the button, but then Ali Sarkeshik raised to 20,000.

"I'm protecting you, sir," he said to Nguyen.

All of the others folded and Sarkeshik said, "I don't know what else to do with this hand." He turned over [qd][qc]. Nguyen had [10h][4h].

He was going to need some help here, but he got some help with a [ad][3s][5c] flop. The [4d] added another few outs, but the [8c] sealed his fate. Off he went. -- HS

1.50pm: Top Marks
Daniel Marks pointed at Olivier Busquet's stack and said "quadruple up," Busquet had about 97,000 in front of him, that's up from his start of day 45,900, so chances are he dropped before he got that quadruple up. As for Marks he has 160,000. -- NW

1.40pm: Chip leader
The new chip leader is Salman Behbehani, he's up to 320,000 after winning a monster pot from Daniel Rudd.

With a complete board of [8h][Qd][4c][6d][4h] on the felt Behbehani moved all-in for 107,100 into a pot of roughly 95,000. After getting a count of the all-in bet Rudd cut out the calling chips from his stack - he himself was a big stack with roughly 210,000 total - then pushed the calling chips over the line. Behbehani instantly revealed pocket queens for a flopped set and rivered full house, whilst Rudd mucked his cards.

With that monster pot Behbehani - with almost four times the average - is almost certainly the chip leader. -- NW

1.30pm: Boeree bounces back, and back down again
Liv Boeree tweeted earlier that she has "run into a huge setup" and was only just still alive. But when we wedged ourselves into the servers' hatch beside her massively inaccessible table in the corner of the mezzanine floor wandered past earlier, it seemed she had rallied somewhat. She had about 42,000 in front of her, an increase of about 9,000 on her overnight position.

She also obligingly put in a pre-flop raise, making it 4,300 from mid position and picked up only Ali Sarkeshik with the call on the button. The flop came [3c][9h][9d] and Boeree bet 4,500.

"Raise," said Sarkeshik, and made it 10,000. Boeree folded instantly.

"I flopped a full house," Sarkeshik said.
"No you didn't," said Boeree, starting off a period of claim/counter-claim about his Sarkeshik's holding. It was irrelevant, though. That was that. Sarkeshik won the pot and Boeree is back down to 33,000, her day two starting stack. -- HS

1.25pm: The fallen
During the opening level roughly 48 players were eliminated, so we're down to the last 200 here in London. That's around 50 off the money, although don't expect it to burst this level.

Those who've been eliminated include: Mohammed Suhail, Paul Reaney, Najib Kamand, Eshed Esh Hadaya, William Chattaway, Nikhil Persaud, Ashfaaq Taus, Nicky Katz, Steven Gray, Saulius Simkus, Arkadiusz Liszewski, Greg Macdonald, Mark Pusey, Ricardo Manuel Moreira Dos Santos, Daniel Bass, Benjamin Zola, Eleftherios Sinnos, Kamal Choraria, Eddie Tasbas, Pedro Oliveira, Daniel Charlton, Leandro Gaone, Jeffrey Rogers, Daniel Cascado Silveira, Nimisha Rattan, Chris Cancelliere, Philipp Teipel, Jerome O'Shea, Andrew Flintoff, Philip Long, Rinaldo Aquino, Fintan Gavin, Meenakshi Subramaniam, Mark Mccluskey, Jonathan Rees, Mateusz Żbikowski, Svein Skovli, Rupinder Bedi, Fowzi Pour and Bastian Blüm. -- NW

1.15pm: Marvin mangled
Marvin Rettenmeier started today with about double the average stack - and about a hundred times the average reputation. The reputation is still intact (he has a lot of credit in that regard) but the stack is severely diminished. He now has only about 45,000 after losing a huge pot to Mathew Perry.

The full details are a little scant but by the time I arrived to the table, there was at least 25,000 chips in the middle beside four cards already exposed: [8h][9s][3s][2h]. It seemed as though Rettenmeier had bet 6,600 at this and Perry had shoved, for 44,000.

Rettenmeier was now in the tank, but eventually emerged to make the call. Perry showed [qh][qd] and Rettenmeier had [kc][9h], top pair not good enough.

The [jd] came on the river and Perry completed his double up. Rettenmeier will have to start the long grind again. -- HS

1.10pm: News in brief
A few flavoursome cuts from early on Day 2...

9.20pm: End of play
Play has ended here in London, with 49 players left in the mix. They've bagged and tagged their chips and wandered off into the night/the bar/a cash game. We'll be doing the same just as soon as we've finished the sparkling end of day wrap. That and full chip counts will be on the way shortly. -- NW

9pm: Last three
The final 49 players are playing the last three hands of the night. A full wrap will follow soon.

8.48pm: Tomasz Kolodziejski doubles through William Beauchump
After Tom Hall opened to 16,000 on the button, William Beauchamp flat called from the small blind, only for Tomasz Kolodziejski to move all-in for 188,500 from the big blind. Back on Hall he swiftly passed but Beauchump made the call.

Beauchump: [5c][5s]
Kolodziejski: [Ah][9d]

The board ran [8d][Js][9c][3d][2c] and the Pole flopped a pair to stay alive, he doubled up to almost 400,000, whilst Beauchump slips to 200,000. -- NW

8.45pm: The continuing flight of Luke Bird
We mentioned earlier today that we'd be keeping a close eye on Luke Bird, the Day 1B chip leader. He had a rocky time of it in the early levels, slumping to about 80,000. But he has now hit his high water mark of about 500,000 after eliminating Neil Ryder.

This hand was a case of [kd][9d] for Ryder and pocket queens for Bird. Bird actually ended up with a full house - and a bowl of chips. They arrived just as Bird was stacking up his chips of the other kind.

Bird came over to explain how it's been today: "Everything is a bonus," he said. "I've played some good poker and I think I've confused some people." It is not often you see a player enjoying his poker quite so much as this - and after qualifying for £20, who can blame him? -- HS

8.40pm: Old friends? Not really
Shahin Baharan and Georgios Zisimopoulos were two of the original players on table four at lunchtime today, and they played almost all day together. That was until the latter sent the former to the rail in a monster pot: Baharan had [ac][jd] and Zisimopoulos had [as][ah]. The pot was worth 600,000 and they are all now in front of Zisimopoulos. -- HS

8.35pm: Hello huge stack. This is my huge stack
Olivier Busquet was moved to the same table as Sergio Espina - and each immediately wanted to know the size of the stacks in front of them. Espina asked first, and Busquet said that he had about 700,000. "You?" Busquet said. "About the same," came the reply. They weren't lying. -- HS

8.30pm: Hall threatening to rain on Raine's parade
Neil Raine, are you sitting comfortably Sir? Tom Hall has a stack of around 400,000. Why is this significant I hear you ask, well Tom Hall is second on the current UKIPT leader board and needs a 36th place finish or better to overtake Neil Raine who is currently top.

A 400,000 stack is average for when 41 players remain, so Hall is ahead of pace, but there's a lot of poker to be played before then. -- NW

8.25pm: Wim Neys doubles through Gary Fisher
After Gary Fisher opened from early position, Luke Bird flat called and Wim Neys then moved all-in for 91,500. Action was on Fisher, but before he could act Bird said something, I didn't hear exactly what he said, but it's essence was that Neys didn't have to worry about him. This of course is bad etiquette and would have a direct effect on Fisher's decision.

So the floor was called, the situation explained and Bird given a warning, back to the poker then and Fisher called.

Fisher: [Ad][Qc]
Neys: [Ad][As]

The board came [9c][3c][6h][7d][2d] and Neys doubled up to around 200,000 whilst Fisher slips to 390,000. -- NW

8.20pm: No Pettersson
Owing to some kind of administrative cock up, we told you earlier that Thomas Pettersson was the chip leader at the last break. Problem is, he's out. And was never in at that stage. So we've expunged all mention of him from the post below. Sorry Pettersson fans. -- HS

8.10pm: Under/Over
The last level of the day in under way, 62 players remain and the average stack is 266,000. The Pokerstars blog educated uneducated guessta pridicti forecast is that 51 players will make it through the day.

Fancy playing along at home? Tweet @UKIPT with your guess for the total number of players at the end of this level, no prizes just glory. -- NW

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

7.55pm: De Laat, take that
Timothy Slater is out. He open shoved for 64,500 and so very nearly got it through. Everyone folded all the way round to Bas De Laat in the big blind, and even he looked tempted to discard his hand.

But he didn't. He called for what amounted to at least 75 per cent of his stack. And he was right to. De Laat had [7c][7h] to Slater's [2h][2c]. The board was bare and Slater slips away. -- HS

7.50pm: Fisher gets chips with catch of the day
All-in and call was the cry from table two, quick were my feet as I moved in to get a better view. Cards were already on their backs, [Ad][7d] in front of Gary Fisher - all-in for 215,000 - and [6s][6h] in front of Issam Kamand.

By the time I reached the table the dealer was placing the river card of a [6d][Ks][Jd][10c][Qc] board on the felt, Kamand who was obviously sweating diamonds, missed the fact that Fisher had rivered a straight to win the pot. Post-hand discussion along the lines of "I knew you were flushing," and "I knew that you knew I was flushing," indicate that the chips likely went in on the flop. After that hand Fisher climbs to around 450,000 whilst Kamand is down to 45,000. -- NW

7.40pm: The great survivor
Say what you like about Juan Manuel Pastor but this Team PokerStars Pro has some staying power. I'd be amazed if he's had more than the average stack at any time in this tournament, but you just can't get rid of him - as Neil Ryder just discovered to his cost.

After Mark Gardner opened from early position, Pastor moved all in for his last 52,500. Ryder, a couple of seats to his left, shoved over the top, but only covering Pastor by about 40,000.

Gardner got out the way and so the two short stacks turned over their hands. Presumably Ryder was feeling pretty good with [ac][kc] against Pastor's [ks][qd]. But the community cards became more ominous as they were gradually revealed: [js][5s][3h] first, then [8s] and then, of course, another spade on the river.

Pastor's flush kept him alive. Ryder is on life support. -- HS

7.20pm: Chip counts
We've been handed chip counts hot of the presses and have flowed them into the chip counts page.

The current top five look like this:

Jason Duval, Canada, PokerStars Player, 625,000
Sergio Espina, Spain, 525,000
Richard Milne Snr., United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, 475,000
Thomas Ward, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, 417,500

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

6.55pm: Break
The players are now on their last 15 minute break of the day. -- NW

6.50pm: Payouts
As mentioned below we're down to 78 players, those who busted between 80th and 112th can be seen below. We'll be updating the payouts page as we go.

80th. David Docherty, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, £1,640
81st. Graham Lengthorn, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, £1,640
82nd. Marco Maroli, Italy, £1,640
83rd. Alan Dickens, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, £1,640
84th. Yucel Eminoglu, United Kingdom, £1,640
85th. Mark Southwood, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, £1,640
86th. David Makous, United States, £1,640
87th. Timothy Clarke, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, £1,640
88th. John Higgins, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, £1,640

89th. Jon Warmerdam, Netherlands, PokerStars Qualifier, £1,420
90th. Arkady Kielman, United Kingdom, £1,420
91st. Simon Mattsson, Sweden, PokerStars Qualifier, £1,420
92nd. Richard Hoadley, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, £1,420
93rd. Benjamin Jenkins, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, £1,420
94th. Craig Grant, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, £1,420
95th. Sean Robertson, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, £1,420
96th. Dray Simpson, Canada, £1,420
97th. Andrew Teng, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, £1,420
98th. Tom O`Hanlon, Ireland, PokerStars Player, £1,420
99th. Patryk Slusarek, United Kingdom, £1,420
100th. Lukas Nemec, Czech Republic, PokerStars Player, £1,420
101st. Gavin Keane, Ireland, PokerStars Player, £1,420
102nd. Arvydas Merfeldas, Lithuania, PokerStars Player, £1,420
103rd. Seun Oluwole, United Kingdom, £1,420
104th. Jay O'Toole, Ireland, PokerStars Qualifier, £1,420
105th. Mark Goulding, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, £1,420
106th. Adrian Veghinas, Romania, PokerStars Qualifier, £1,420
107th. Marko Kolega, Croatia, PokerStars Qualifier, £1,420
108th. Marty Smyth United Kingdom, £1,420
109th. Martin Bader, United Kingdom, £1,420
110th. Martin Dench, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, £1,420
111th. Adam Toulson, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, £1,420
112th. Willie Tann, United Kingdom, £1,420

6.30pm: Docherty busts to Friel
There are 78 players left at UKIPT London and an average stack is now worth an approximate 41 big blinds. After some frenetic action either side of the bubble, things have slowed as we crawl towards the end of the day.

The predilection now for min-raising, especially in the deep stages, means that many pots go like this: an early position min-raise, a call from the big blind, a raggy flop, a check from the big blind, a standard c-bet, a fold. Imagine that for five days and through 1,099 players and you've got an EPT or an UKIPT event. Let's all go home.

That said, there are the occasional explosions. Paul Friel has just knocked out David Docherty in a bit of a grim one. Friel opened from the hijack (a min-raise to 10,000), Docherty shoved for 86,900 from the cut-off, and Friel called.

Friel: [js][qs]
Docherty: [ad][qc]

The flop came [kh][8c][9h]. The turn was [qh]. But, yep, there was the [jc] on the river to send Docherty out of the door. Friel now has 330,000 approx. -- HS

6.20pm: Give my regards to Broadway
Ah the old suck and re-suck, David Docherty and Chris Dowling got it all-in pre-flop for a 200,000 chip pot, with Docherty the one at risk, with K-Q and dominated by Dowling's A-K. The Scotsman flopped broadway but Dowling rivered a queen to chop the pot. -- NW

6.10pm: Burland meed Bedi
UKIPT1 Brighton winner Jamie Burland has not only made the money here in London, he's tied a record formerly held by Rupinder Bedi. I'll let Jamie explain...

5.55pm: Better the devil you know
With just 90 players left now, the average stack is a shade over 183,000. Two players who have way more than that and are, by our guesstimation, the top two stacks in the tournament are Jason Duval (666,000) and Olivier Busquet (650,000). The former is at a particularly chip laden table, to his direct right is Roar Aspas (350,000). According to Luke Bird, who's also at the table, Duval won a big pot with queens against ace-king to get his hands on that chip leading stack. -- NW

BLINDS UP: PLAYING 2,500-5,000 IN LEVEL 17

5.40pm: Magic Espina
After Patryk Slusarek bust to Jamie Burland, several other players around the table intimated that their particular slab of felt had become something of a mortuary in recent minutes. I don't know any of the details, but it seems that there must have been some enormous pots there.

Sergio Espina, for example, was counted at 285,000 during the last break, but now has about 560,000. That is the chip lead at the moment. He must have been incredibly busy. -- HS

5.35pm: Jacks win, jacks lose
Almost simultaneously, two players bust from neighbouring tables, one losing with jacks and the other losing against them.

Patryk Slusarek was the player who lost with them. He jammed over the top of Jamie Burland's early-position open. Burland called with [ac][jh] and the one over-card was enough. The board ran [9h][qc][5c][9s][ah] and so Slusarek's [jc][jd] went in the muck and he headed home. (Burland stacks up about 260,000 now.)

Andrew Teng was the player to lose against jacks. He had ace-nine and shipped his small stack in. Issam Kamand called and this time the one over-card wasn't enough. Teng headed out the door. -- HS

5.30pm: Tough table
There's a few UKIPT 'regs' all sharing the same table at the moment: Dara O'Kearney, Tom Hall, David Docherty and Chris Dowling are all sat around the same oval baize covered structure right now. -- NW

5.25pm: Chip counts
Full chip counts from the start of level 16 are now in the chip counts page, Jack Young (352,000), Richard Milne Snr (342,000), Shahin Baharan (330,000) Ismael Bojang (325,000) and Tom Hall (320,000) are the current top five. -- NW

5.20pm: Min-cash heroes
Below is a list of the players who have cashed but crashed so far in the UKIPT including Kevin MacPhee and Wojtek Barzantny. We're 99% sure these are in the correct order. The 1% doubt comes because the payouts system is currently down meaning no one who has cashed has been entered into the official system just yet. However, tournament director Toby Stone has been personally handing out the finishing position cards to the eliminated players and collecting their player I.D cards at the same time and it'd be wrong to doubt the TD.

113th. Mathew Perry, United Kingdom, £1,200
114th. Paul Zimbler, United Kingdom, £1,200
115th. Ashley Thompson, United Kingdom, £1,200
116th. Korab Alaj, Belgium, £1,200
117th. Oliver Morgan, United Kingdom, £1,200
118th. Kevin MacPhee, USA, PokerStars Qualifier, £1,200
119th. Daniel Marks, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, £1,200
120th. Nathan Lee, United Kingdom, £1,200
121st. Andrew Keep, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, £1,200
122nd. Kevin Finnie, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, £1,200
123rd. Jonathan O`Brien, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, £1,200
124th. Adrian Diaz, Spain, £1,200
125th. Robert Malvasi, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, £1,200
126th. Borja Guerra Denche, United Kingdom, £1,200
127th. Markus Hedin, Sweden, PokerStars Player, £1,200
128th. Dean Clay, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, £1,200
129th. Samuel Welbourne, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, £1,200
130th. Mark Baxter, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, £1,200
131st. Marco Vasconcelos, United Kingdom, £1,200
132nd. Nicholas Vazquez, United States, £1,200
133rd. Spencer Lawrence, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, £1,200
134th. Salman Behbehani, Kuwait, PokerStars Player, £1,200
135th. Richard Blacklock, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, £1,200
136th. Jordan Dungey, United Kingdom, £1,200
137th. Jose Duarte Martins Vieira, Portugal, £1,200
138th. Wojtek Barzantny, Germany, PokerStars Player, £1,200
139th. Bart Lybaert, Belgium, PokerStars Player, £1,200
140th. George Clyde-Smith, Jersey, PokerStars Qualifier, £1,200
141st. Dávid Urban, Slovakia, PokerStars Qualifier, £1,200
142nd. Mathew Frankland, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, £1,200
143rd. Scott Shelley, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, £1,200
144th. Jack Salter, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, £1,200

5pm: Champs with chips
Down to just 20,000 Korab Alaj moved all-in with [Ac][Kd] and found a customer in the shape of Joseph Mcerlean who held [As][3s]. The [7h][3h][Jc][Qh][Qd] board saw the Belgian go from first to worst and become another in the money finisher. -- NW

4.50pm: Champs with chips
Deep into this tournament three UKIPT champions remain in contention for a second such title. I just saw Jamie Burland make a pained fold, he was in the big blind and was getting pretty good odds to call a 15,900 all-in, "I've got a pretty bad hand," he said before folding, he's got roughly 100,000.

Richard Sinclair is down to roughly half that as he has 55,000, whilst David Vamplew has 95,000. He had more but just surrended 23,000 of his stack to Tom Hall. There was a raise to 8,000 from the cut-off, Hall flat called on the button and Vamplew raised to 23,000 from the small blind, the original raiser folded, as did Vamplew when Hall moved all-in, he's got nearly 300,000 now. -- NW

4.40pm: Past the half way mark
After those monstrous Day 1s, the plan for today is a more leisurely eight levels. That means that now we've entered level 16, the fifth of today, we have turned the bend and are starting the long home straight.

We have also now burst the bubble, so everyone is now in the money. The identities of the players busting from now on will appear on the payouts page.

In a moment, we'll also be getting full counts for the remaining 118 players. They will be fed onto the chip count page in due course.

Our previous chip leader, Salman Behbehani, lost a load of his chips in the previous level, which means Richard Trigg, below, is now probably the tournament leader. Hold on for a little while as the counts are made, then we will know for sure. -- HS

Reporting team in London: Howard Swains and Nick Wright. Photos by Mickey May.

During its first four days at the Grosvenor Victoria Casino, UKIPT London has shown us what a peculiar game poker can be. Just when we were readying to proclaim that the cream of the crop always rises to the top, and tell you how Marvin Rettenmaier or Wojtek Barzantny have continued to dominate, they both bust with barely a min-cash between them. (Barzantny bust in 138th place; Rettenmeier before the money.)

And then just as we shifted our tack to celebrate the eternal rise of the unheralded internet qualifier, the likes of Olivier Busquet and Jason Duval begin building huge stacks to swing our attention back to the pros.

When they finally bagged up tonight, after eight levels during which nearly 200 players went broke, it was actually Sergio Aido, a solid pro from Spain, who had the most. Aido has won a WPT National Series event in Barcelona, and has cashed on the EPT (in Prague). Here he will carry 946,000 into Day 3.

Other than Aido, there is, as there always will be, a healthy smattering of big names and a bunch of folk seeking their breakthrough performance. In short: it's a poker tournament.

The best idea is simply to look on the chip-count page to see who is still in and how much they have, then look at the payouts page to see who made it through the bubble but not until the end of the day. (Kevin MacPhee is one; Marty Smyth and Andrew Teng are others.)

Anyone not on either of those lists will have to wait for another tournament to show us what they're worth. (The likes of Liv Boeree and the aforementioned Rettenmaier were eliminated before the money kicked in.)

The top five chip counts are as follows:

Sergio Aido - 946,000
Georgios Zisimopoulos - 816,000
Olivier Busquet - 741,000
Jonathon Prested - 660,000
Jason Duval - 624,000

Some of the more familiar names still in with a shot include...

Tom Hall (currently second in UKIPT leader board): 345,000
Chris Dowling (two-time UKIPT final table player): 311,000
Dara O'Kearney (all time Irish legend): 232,000
Jamie Burland (UKIPT Brighton winner): 223,000
Juan Manuel Pastor (Team PokerStars Pro): 175,000

Tomorrow's plan is to play down to a final table of eight, where all will have their eyes locked on the first prize of £156,800.

You can see how all this played out through levels 12-15 (the first four played today) and then through levels 16-19 (the final four).

Good night from all in London, including from Luke Bird and father. Bird Jnr, who qualified for about £20, is having the time of his life during this tournament, and goes into Day 3 tomorrow still in the mix. He has 466,000 and a brilliant story to tell.

Photos from UKIPT London © Mickey May.

1.40pm: Aido reassumes lead in personal Spanish duel
Sergio Aido began today as chip leader, but by the end of the first level, he wasn't even the Spaniard with the most chips in the field. That was mainly because of Cesar Garcia's excellent start, rather than anything Aido had done.

Anyhow, Aido has now retaken the lead in both the tournament and the duel between the two Spaniards, and has sent Jonathon Prested to the rail. This was another case of aces cracked, among the cruellest ways to be banished from a tournament.

As related by other players at the table, Aido opened from the hijack and Prested three bet from the big blind. Aido called. The flop came [4h][9h][7d] and Prested bet 65,000. Aido called.

The [2h] turned and all the money went in. It was a check from Prested, a bet of 185,000 from Aido, then a jam from Prested and a call. Prested's aces had been out-flopped by Aido's [7s][9s] and the [3c] didn't help him.

Aido now has a stack of about 1.7m, which is probably just ahead of Wim Neys'. -- HS

1.50pm: Exits

We're down to four tables because these players have been eliminated...

33rd. Thomas Hall, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, £2,610
34th. Tomasz Kolodziejski, Poland, PokerStars Qualifier, £2,610
35th. Onur Dag, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, £2,610
36th. Vilius Urbaitis, Lithuania, PokerStars Player, £2,610
37th. Jeremy Wray, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, £2,610
38th. Marco Conti, Italy, £2,610

1.45pm: Hall busts, leader board quest continues
Good news now for Neil Raine as Tom Hall has just busted out of the main event. He was down to 161,000 and moved all-in with [Kc][6h] when it folded to him on the button. Pretty standard, but his timing was off as Anthony Jacobs was waiting in the small blind with aces.

The [8s][6c][3c] flop gave him a sweat but Hall missed the [3h] turn and [9c] river, he's picked up some valuable leader board points, but has gone to late-reg the high roller in search of more. -- NW

1.40pm: Trowse trousers chunk from Busquet
Olivier Busquet is not having the best of times today and he has just doubled up Simon Trowse, who now sits with the best part of 500,000. Trowse opened to 25,000 from early position and it was folded to Busquet in the big blind. He announced that he was all in, covering Trowse, but the young Brit quickly called.

Trowse: [qc][qd]
Busquet: [ad][jc]

The board ran [6d][jd][6s][4c][2h] and the pocket pair held up. Trowse counted his stack -- 235,000 -- and Busquet counted out that much to hand over. Busquet has about 430,000 still, so no real time for panic. -- HS

1.20pm: Exits
Here's the players who have exited so far today...

39th. William Beauchamp, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, £2,240
40th. Jason Duval, Canada, PokerStars Player, £2,240
41st. Ryan Spittles, United Kingdom, £2,240
42nd. Jeffrey Hakim, Lebanon, PokerStars Player, £2,240
43rd. Roar Aspas, Norway, £2,240
44th. Jack Young, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, £2,240
45th. Damian Mularczyk, Poland, PokerStars Qualifier, £2,240
46th. Tomas Pleticha, Czech Republic, PokerStars Player, £2,240
47th. Daniel Laming, United Kingdom, £2,240
48th. Maciej Stachniuk, Poland, PokerStars Player, £2,240
49th. Vincent Gabel, Belgium, PokerStars Qualifier, £1,870

1.10pm: Tens again
There was a hint of deja vu about this hand as, for the second time already today, Cesar Garcia Dominguez found pocket tens in late position and a short stack moving all in before him. This time it was Ryan Spittles who had already jammed, moving in over an open by Anthony Jacobs.

Spittles was all in for 166,000 and Garcia over-jammed to isolate. Jacobs folded. Spittles had [qh][10h], which was only one over card to Garcia's [10c][10s]. Spittles picked up a flush draw on the [2h][kh][8c] flop, but it didn't come in on the [2s] turn and the [jc] river.

Spittles departs and the Spanish player adds about couple of hundred thousand to his stack. -- HS

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 6,000-12,000 ante 1,000

1pm: Bink for Bart Besselink
Like a golfer with only 12 sticks in his bag, Luke Bird was left one club short...

He opened to 35,000 from early position, Bart Besselink put out 45,000 but said call, there was some confusion over whether he meant to raise or call, but as 45,000 was an under-raise, regardless of Besselink's intentions it went as a call. Next to act William Beauchump moved all-in for 161,000, Bird also moved in and Besselink snap called all-in too. It was a three way...

Bird: [6d][6c]
Besselink: [As][Ad]
Beauchump: [Ah][Jd]

The [3c][9c][2c] flop gave Bird a flush draw, "find the club, find the club," he started saying repeatedly, the [2s] hit the turn and the [3s] completed the board, and the aces held up. Besselink had 173,000 to start the hand so there was no side pot between Bird and Beauchump. -- NW

12.45pm: He did it his Neys
We have a new chip leader - and then some. It's Wim Neys, who has gone from his overnight stack of 304,000 to at least 1.2m. "This used to be a table of medium stacks," said Jeremy Wray, two seats to his right. "Now he has them all."

Most recently, Neys sent Jason Duval to the rail. Duval apparently lost a lot of his huge stack to Neys earlier, and then got unlucky when his pocket queens lost to Neys' [as][jh] through a board of [7c][8c][10d][9c][kc]. Duval would have had serious intentions of making the final table today, and now he's out.

Tristan Taylor, sitting to Neys left, said, "There's something about you just makes me want to call" by way of explaining how come Neys has been paid off with almost all of his big hands today.

Neys is now a hot favourite for the final table, especially if this streak continues. -- HS

12.35pm: Aces in hold up shocker
Three hands that went to showdown to tell you about...

Tomas Pleticha was eliminated in 46th place when he shoved with [Ah][Kh] and got called by Wim Neys with [As][Ac]. The bullets held up on a [10s][9h][2s][3c][2d] board in a pot worth around 450,000.

Next to feel the wrath of aces was Damian Mularczyk, he moved all-in for 120,000 with [Ac][Qd] when it folded to Guy Goossens in the big blind so quick was his call that his chips left scorch marks on the felt, no surprise then to see him turn over [Ah][Ad]. A [Qc][10h][8d] flop gave Mularczyk a glimmer of hope, but he missed his outs on the [6d] turn and [10h] river.

Meanwhile... after Luke Bird had raised to 22,000, Jack Young moved all-in for around 120,000, Georgios Zisimopoulos then asked for a count of Bird's stack (about 330,000), before moving all-in, Bird got out the way to leave them heads-up

Young: [As][4d]
Zisimopoulos: [Ah][10h]

The [jc][3h][2h] flop was an interesting one, the [9h] turn bought the flush draw in and left Young drawing dead before the [4d] river rolled off. With that pot Zisimopoulos moves towards the million chip mark. -- NW

12.25pm: Straight from the horse's mouth
Dara O'Kearney is one of the most prolific Irish players, both in terms of tournament cashes and on social media. He is tweeting almost every hand he is playing, so be sure to follow @daraokearney for latest updates from him. We'll obviously do our best to follow him too, but you can't beat Twitter for instant updates. (You could also follow @pokerstarsblog too.)

O'Kearney has about 245,000 at the moment - and a lot of pedigree to take it through the day. -- HS

12.20pm: Busquet pays off
Olivier Busquet has just lost two pretty big pots. On the first, there was about 110,000 in the middle and they were all the way to the river: [4d][10d][8s][jh][8h]. Florian Bussmann bet 45,000 and Busquet called. Bussmann tabled [ks][10h] and Busquet mucked.

There are equally few details about the second hand, but again it was Busquet who lost it. With a board of [qh][js][3d][10c][8c] revealed, Simon Trowse had [ac][9s] exposed in front of him and was counting out his full stack of 147,000, which Busquet was expected to pay. I'm afraid I don't know how any of the money went in, or when, and Busquet's expression is equanimous at all times. But there was just the whiff of an outdraw about this one. -- HS

12.10pm: One man down
When you return with a relatively short stack, as Maciej Stachniuk did today, and then lose some of it, your open shoving range is pretty wide. Any pair, any ace, and possibly a whole lot more in position. Within the first couple of orbits, Stachniuk found pocket twos and shoved, but when he heard Cesar Garcia Dominguez re-shove from the button, he must have known he was in trouble.

Garcia tabled [10d][10c] and Stachniuk's [2d][2c] didn't find any help on the [qc][qh][ac][jc][kd] board. He is our first player out today. -- HS

12.05pm: Raine brings the pain
We've been reporting that Tom Hall needed to finish 35th or higher to win the UKIPT Season 3 leader board, but whilst Hall has been busy going deep in the main event, Neil Raine has been getting busy in the side events, in which you can also earn points towards the leader board.

A 7th place finish in a £100 turbo event earned him another 22.5 points, meaning that Hall, as it stands, need seventh or better to win the leader board. He can't do that today of course as we play to the final eight.

It's Day 3 of UKIPT London and our plans no longer depend on the levels we will play. Today's action will end only when we have reached our final table of eight players, no matter how long that takes.

We return with 49 players, which means 41 need to be eliminated before the day is done. That could take anything between about five and 15 levels. (Smart money is on something like eight.)

Can some of the biggest names of the game -- the likes of Olivier Busquet, Jeff Hakim and Dara O'Kearney -- make it? Or will some of the first timers, like Luke Bird, go all the way?

What about the UKIPT stalwarts Tom Hall, Jamie Burland, Chris Dowling or Richard Trigg? Or the overnight chip leader, Sergio Aido? Stick with us as we find out.

Play begins at noon. You can find updated chip-counts on the chip-count page, and eliminations as they happen on the payouts page. All the hands fit to print (read: all the hands we manage to observe) will be described in this post.

Reporting team in London: Howard Swains and Nick Wright. Photos by Mickey May

When we looked at the field at the end of Day 2 last night, we realised that our final table (due to be decided at the end of Day 3) could take pretty much any complexion. There were a host of established big names still around, plus a host of unheralded qualifiers. There were a load of familiar UKIPT faces and a bunch of talented mid-stakes players with the ability to have their breakout performance this week.

When we now look at that final table, having eroded the field sufficiently today to sit around it, we can see that there was room for representatives of all of those groups. Except the established stars.

Here's how they will line up as they go looking for that first prize of £156,800:

Seat 1 - Guy Goossens, Belgium, 1,250,000
Seat 2 - Patrick Simcoe, UK, 1,234,000
Seat 3 - Chris Dowling, Ireland, 2,262,000
Seat 4 - Wim Neys, Belgium, 3,270,000
Seat 6 - Cesar Garcia, Spain, 1,156,000
Seat 7 - Tom Ward, UK, 2,474,000
Seat 8 - Philippe Souki, UK, 2,402,000
Seat 9 - Sergio Aido, Spain, 1,748,000

As you can see, it's one of those tables balanced in fascinating fashion, with the UK and Ireland (the hosts of the tour) providing half the competitors and Spain and Belgium offering a couple each of their finest.

It is one of the latter who leads the charge: Wim Neys, better known as "weyo13" online. Railed for long portions of the day by Matti and Christophe De Meulder, Neys went on a tear through the field almost from the off. He started with only 300,000 but was first through the million when he knocked out Jason Duval, and he pretty much mopped up anyone who dared tangle.

Neys also accounted for Olivier Busquet, the most feared player still in the field overnight, but who endured a torrid Day 3 and busted in 21st. The likes of Jamie Burland (31st), Richard Trigg (20th) and Dara O'Kearney (18th) also fell by the wayside. And Juan Manuel Pastor, the last remaining Team PokerStars Pro, went out in ninth.

All the information on prizewinners to date is on the prizewinners page.

The final table begins at 12.30pm GMT tomorrow (Sunday), half an hour after the EPT Day 1A begins. It will be chaos in the Vic tomorrow. I suggest you pop down to check it all out.

You can scroll through all the fun from Day 3 in our big, long, live-coverage post. And the player profiles will be on the site in the morning too.

Then come back tomorrow as we play to a winner.

Photos from UKIPT London © Mickey May.

Here's some more information on the eight players contesting today's UKIPT final table.

Seat 1: Guy Goossens, Belgium - 1,250,000





Belgian player Guy Goossens, 50, has a formidable live tournament record - of the past eight live events he's played, he's made the final table in six. He alternates live tournaments - mainly in Belgium - with high stakes online PLO cash games under the moniker 'jumbosmotos'. He owns Moto's Goossens which is a large motorbike shop near Antwerp but a passion for the game of poker has propelled him comfortably to the final table of the biggest live poker event in the UK capital.

Seat 2: Patrick Simcoe, United Kingdom (PokerStars Qualifier) - 1,234,000





Patrick Simcoe, 48, from Oxford, qualified for the UKIPT London Main Event for just £22. He started playing poker for 5p chips in a pub with friends, but has started taking the live game more seriously recently, making two final tables (and over £12,000) at Dusk Till Dawn in 2012. Simcoe, a manager for British Gas, admits he's got the bug and has been to Vegas three times during WSOP season. The UKIPT final represents the biggest cash of his poker career, but he says he still plays with his friends in the pub and would continue to do so should he win.

Seat 3: Chris Dowling, Ireland (PokerStars Player) - 2,262,000





Although Chris Dowling works in distribution and has a family to occupy his time, in his own words he plays a lot. That is backed up by the fact that this is the Irishman's third UKIPT final table. He'll be hoping to go better than the 6th and 7th places he achieved in Nottingham and Cork respectively in Season 2. When not travelling the tournament circuit his main game is pot-limit Omaha cash that he prefers to hold'em. He'll be followed by, amongst others, UKIPT3 Cork winner Thomas Finneran, whom he counts among his closest friends in poker.

Seat 4: Wim Neys, Belgium (PokerStars Qualifier) - 3,270,000





Wim Neys, better known as 'wejo13' online, bulldozed through Day 3 despite starting with one of the shorter stacks, and was the first to top a million chips after knocking out Jason Duval. Neys has keen supporters on the rail in the form of Team PokerStars Pros Christophe and Matthias De Meulder and although already successful on the virtual felt, a win here would represent his best live result - his biggest live prize (€25,650) was won last year in Valencia on the Estrellas Poker Tour where he finished 4th.

Seat 5: Cesar Garcia, Spain (PokerStars Qualifier) - 1,156,000





This is the first UKIPT Main Event for Cesar Garcia, a 23 year old professional poker player from Gran Canaria and he is very excited at having made the final table. He's had a good tournament so far, and he's feeling very confident. It may be his first UKIPT, however Garcia is a regular on the EPT circuit and with some success: he came 6th in EPT Berlin in Season 9. Garcia, following the final table, will also be playing the EPT Main Event.

Seat 6: Tom Ward, UK (PokerStars Qualifier) - 2,474,000





Tom Ward, a 26 year old professional poker player from Aberdeen, is a regular on the UKIPT circuit having qualified for all the Main Events this season except Cork. Although the long Day 1 was tough going mentally, he'd not been in much danger until just before making the final table. This will be his second UKIPT final table as he came 4th in UKIPT Edinburgh Season 2. He's had three cashes in Season 3 and when asked about his feelings on playing the final table, in which he has the second biggest stack, he said that he was feeling confident and excited.

Seat 7: Philippe Souki, UK - 2,402,000





Philippe Souki is the only one of the finalists who can really be called a local lad, his day job being playing cash right here at the Vic in the heart of London. Having recently graduated, Souki, 24, now plays almost exclusively live cash games - 'almost' because he could not resist a stab at the UKIPT taking place right on his doorstep. Although he doesn't want to pursue the tournament route even if he wins the title, he does want to win in order to top James Greenwood's performance at UKIPT3 Bristol (he came second). "I'm going to one-better him," he said, pointing to Greenwood on the rail.

Seat 8: Sergio Aido, Spain, 1,748,000





Sergio Aido started Day 3 as the chip leader and remained in amongst the biggest stacks while 41 players hit the rail. Aido, 24, is a professional poker player but has only recently started playing live. His results are, however, already impressive, including a 1st place at the WPT National Series in Barcelona last October worth €88,500. He is looking forward to the final which he notes will be interesting because all players have chips to play with.

The UKIPT High Roller resumes today with 28 players battling it out for the £101,950 first place prize. All the remaining players are now in the money with Martin Hanowski best positioned to make the final table with a chip-leading 528,000 stack. Team PokerStars Pros George Danzer and Vicky Coren are both thriving, as are Gordon Huntly, Byron Kaverman and Zimnan Ziyard.

The field is stacked with talent with multiple title EPT winners and online legends. The £2,000 event started yesterday with 219 players today, making it the biggest High Roller of UKIPT history pulling together a huge £424,860 prize pool. There won't be live coverage of the event but we post up final results come the end of play.

Table one
1. Gautam Sabharwal, India, 180,600
2. Jason Gray, Australia, 116,000
3. Joao Barbosa, Portugal, 157,100
4. Hamad Almannai, Qatar, 96,800
5. Marvin Rettenmaier, Germany, 50,200
6. Marc Daubach, Belgium, 131,400
7. Albert Daher, Lebanon, 91,500

Table two
1. George Danzer, Germany, Team PokerStars Pro, 234,900
2. Martin Hanowski, Germany, 528,000
3. Chris Moorman, UK, 146,600
4. Gordon Huntly, UK, 431,000
5. Thomas Hall, UK, 115,300
6. Jude Ainsworth, Ireland, 72,300
7. Christopher Frank, Germany, 214,000

Table three
2. Max Greenwood, Canada, 128,400
2. Zoltan Purak, Hungary, 198,400
3. Vincent Gabel, Belgium, 28,500
4. Mikhail Petrov, Russia, 159,500
5. Byron Kaverman, USA, 274,300
6. Yann Dion, Canada, 202,600
7. Vicky Coren, UK, Team PokerStars Pro, 188,300

Table four
1. Karl Rudwall, Sweden, 63,200
2. Diego Gomez Gonzalez, Portugal, 132,400
3. Atanas Gueorguiev, Bulgaria, 41,800
4. Wojciech Lozowski, Poland, 34,200
5. Zimnan Ziyard, UK, 212,000
6. Werner Fenne, Norway, 41,900
7. Alain Bauer, France, 89,000

UKIPT High Roller payouts
1. £101,950
2. £67,980
3. £41,410
4. £32,930
5. £25,490
6. £18,050
7. £14,230
8. £10,620
9-10. £7,650
11-12. £6,800
13-14. £5,950
15-16. £5,100
17-24. £4,250
25-32. £3,400

Rick Dacey is a staff writer for the PokerStars Blog.