UK & Ireland's biggest and best live poker tour confirmed the final stops of the season 4 tour in six major cities today. Each event aims to be a spectacular can't-miss festival of poker with a huge selection of poker action. The New Year will kick off with the UKIPT Edinburgh main event starting 16 January, and the tour will then visit Dublin, Nottingham, Marbella, Isle of Man finishing with the Grand Final in London.

Multi-level Action

Staying true to the PokerStars word of listening to players, the buy-in level for Dublin and Isle of Man have been lowered while still maintaining great value for money with sizable guarantees making the tour even more accessible to those looking for the very best in live poker action. Aside from the UKIPT main event, at each location the tour also has a series of lower buy-in events at each stop. With big prize pools, tournament titles and Grand Final seats up for grabs at every event, the UKIPT will be keeping the entertainment and standards high in 2014.

For the full schedule of events of UKIPT Season 4, see below:

EDINBURGH 16TH - 20TH JAN
ASSEMBLY ROOMS £1000 + 100, £500,000 guaranteed

DUBLIN 27th FEB - 3RD MARCH
MANSION HOUSE €700 + 70, €350,000 guaranteed

NOTTINGHAM 7TH - 12TH MAY
DUSK TILL DAWN £1000 + 100, £1,000,000 guaranteed

MARBELLA 11TH - 15TH JUNE
CASINO MARBELLA €1000 + 100, €500,000 guaranteed

ISLE OF MAN TBC
VILLA MARINA £700 + 70, £350,000 guaranteed

LONDON TBC

4.25pm: Straight flushes and great calls just before the break
UKIPT Edinburgh Day 1A had reached the halfway point with four levels in the past.

Just before the break a rare sight was seen as Ronni Borg of Denmark made a straight flush to get up to 29,000.

Also doing well is Neil Rawnsley who made a great call to eliminate Jack Salter. The board read [Qs][6d][4h][8h][6s] and around 10,000 chips had ventured to the centre of the table.

Salter shoved for around 13,000 and he made a tank-call for most of his stack. It was a good call with pocket jacks as his opponent could only muster [as][td] for a bluff. That put Rawnsley up to 38,000. -- MC

4:15pm: Respect your Elder
EPT7 San Remo champion Rupert Elder is one of the alternates in the field today. His twitter feed suggests that he should've been recovering from an operation on a leg he broke in Las Vegas but a scheduling mix up means he's here in Edinburgh.

We're going to try and grab him on the break to find out exactly what went on. But what we do know for sure is that he has Jack Ellwood to his left and Andrew Hulme across the table. -- NW

4:10pm: Mortensen shoves; Derrick folds
A couple of hands to tell you about from different tables...

In the first Morten Mortensen shoved all-in for 5,600 over the top of a raise and a call. The original raiser folded but both players folded to give him the pot.

Meanwhile Chris Derrick was getting busy, raising it up to 1,125 over a raise to 400 and a call. He did get action though, first William Cheung cold called, the original raiser (Keith Christie) folded but Kevin Steward also called.

On the [2d][7d][Qh] flop Derrick continuation bet 1,600, Cheung folded, Steward check-raised to 3,600 and Derrick smooth called. On the [10d] turn Steward continued for 4,500 and Derrick folded. "You have queens or sevens?" asked Derrick, to which Steward nodded. "I folded an overpair," said Derrick.

4:05pm: Sykes up over 50,000
Jamie Sykes made a deep run in Nottingham, busting in 11th place and he looks set for another deep run.

Coolered another big stack KK vs AK on AKxxx in a 3bet pot, up to 50k and change. #stillaskillgame #UKIPTEdinburgh

— Jamie Sykes (@gotdeuces) January 16, 2014

4:00pm: Silver's run comes to an end
Max Silver's came sixth at EPT Prague in December for €160,200 and followed that up last week at the PCA with a ninth place finish for another $135,400. His incredible run in tournaments had to come to and end soon, and it turned out to be today.

He raced for his final chips with pocket eights but failed to stay ahead of an opponent's ace-queen.

He was joined on the rail by Aleksandar Sukalo, Joscha Rutert, Gordon Huntly and Anthony Hamilton. -- MC

3:50pm: Get in quick if you want to play Day 1A
There is only about 50 minutes left before registration closes on Day 1B of UKIPT Edinburgh, so if you're on your way or in the vicinity, you'd better hurry up! -- MC

3:35pm: Barber a cut above
The current chip leader is Lewis Barber, he's up to 48,500 after winning a pot against Ondrej Drozd. The latter raised to 450 from middle position and Barber peeled from the button. The [9c][4d][5d] flop checked through and the [Jd] fell on the turn. First to act Drozd took a stab at the pot but Barber called his bet of 700. The [3h] fell on the river, Drozd checked, Barber bet 1,000 and Drozd mucked his hand. -- NW

Blinds up: 100/200, 25 ante

2:25pm:Farrell falls foul of a bluff
Niall Farrell and Magnus Martin tangled in a chopped pot earlier and the two have locked horns together once more, with the former failing with a bluff.

The two had made it to the turn where the board read [4c][Jh][2s][Qc] where Farrell bet 800 from the big blind after Martin had checked from the small blind. Martin called and check-called another 2,025 on the [3d] river.

Farrell quickly opened [kc][tc][ for the bluff and lost out to Martin's [jd][ts]. He dropped to 7,600. -- MC

3:10pm: Table 13 - unlucky for some?
A new table, number 13, has opened up and it might prove unlucky for some. That's because it contains Jack Salter, who finished third at UKIPT4 London, Max Silver, who's UKIPT victory during Season 1 in Dublin is now not even in his top five cashes and Thomas Partridge, who won the PokerStars Baltic Festival in Tallinn in 2009.

This tournament has proven to be unlucky for Stephen Ng as he's the latest player to exit this tournament. The tournament board is showing that 104 of 108 entries remain. -- NW

2:55pm: Elvis has left the building
Bruce "Elvis" Atkinson was the latest player to depart after he ran a flopped top pair into Stephen Docherty's slow played pocket aces.

Atkinson called from second position, as did Docherty in the next seat, before David K Lappin raised to 525 from the small blind. Both opponents called to the [5c][9h][3c] flop where the action was checked to Docherty. He bet 1,500 and made a quick call when Atkinson shoved for 8,600 after Lappin had folded.

Atkinson: [ks][9s]
Docherty: [Ad][Ac]

The board ran out a blank [Th][7s].

Atkinson joined Mark Lane on the rail after he departed shortly before. -- MC

2:35pm: Chip counts
Some are up and some are down, here's the (rough) counts of the name and notables two levels into the tournament.

Jake Cody - 18,100
Phil Baker - 11,100
Ian LeBruce - 23,600
Leon Louis - 19,800
Jack Ellwood - 24,300
Niall Farrell - 28,000
Max Silver - 7,800
Andrew Ferguson - 31,900

Paul McTaggart - 9,400
Ben Jenkins - 13,800
Tim Davie - 29,500
Dean Lyall - 19,800
Neil Rawnsley - 19,000
Jamie Sykes - 18,000
Jack Salter - 17,000
Chris Derrick - 21,000
Thomas Ward - 28,000

2:25pm: A catch up with Max Silver
Max Silver is here playing Day 1A after making a quick dash from the Bahamas where he finished 9th in the PCA Main Event for $135,400. We caught up with him in the break to see how's he's feeling after getting so close to the final table, how he's feeling about the day so far and UKIPT Edinburgh in general.

"I feel pretty good, not so jetlagged and had a really good time at the PCA. I don't feel too disappointed with my result and am not angry about anything I did. It was a really good result and a lot of money, so yeah, I feel good!"

"I made some second best hands today and made one bluff at the end of level two that didn't work out. I wouldn't change any of my moves though and it's a long day ahead."

"I treat every event as separate, no matter what the buy in or the stature. This is a good event to win!"

Silver started level 3 with 7,800 chips. -- MC

Blinds up: 75/150

2pm: End of the level and a couple of exits
That's two levels in the books and the players are now on a 20 minute break. Although for two of them the break will be permanent, as Oliver McDonald and Nathan Gallagher
are both out. -- NW

1:50pm: Morten Mortensen doubles up
It looked like it might be a short day for Morten Mortensen, the Dane, who has final tabled an EPT and a WSOP event, was down to just 3,900 before doubling up through Mark Lane.

I only caught the action from the turn, but Lane bet 675 and Mortensen called. The river was the [5h] making a full board of [2c][5d][7h][jh][5h], Lane checked, Mortensen moved all-in for 2,650 and Lane called. Mortensen showed [Ah][Jd] and Lane mucked, but given that it was an all-in situation he was forced to show [10c][7s].

Pot to Mortensen then, he climbs to around 8,000, Jake Cody is at the same table he's down to 14,000, whilst Lewis Barber looks like he took most of Mortensen's chips as he's up to 37,000. -- NW

1:50pm: Silver lining for Rutert
After a great start, Max Silver's stack is on the slide. Yet again he had to lay down a hand on the river.

He was in a blind battle with Joscha Rutert and the two had made it to the river of a [4s][3h][2h][9c][2c]. Silver checked to face a 4,000 bet and took several minutes before he open-folded two black tens.

He dropped to 14,500. -- MC

1:40pm: Wrong seat Mr Lappin
Some players will do anything to get a good seat draw, just ask David K Lappin. Although, the opposite was true for Lappin as he accidentally sat down to the left of three aforementioned sharks: Andrew Ferguson, Paul McTaggart and Ben Jenkins.

Some might say his actual seat is just as hard though as he has Tim Davie and Dean Lyall to his right.

He was all-apologetic for sitting in the wrong seat but the tournament directors were in a forgiving mood. -- MC

1:25pm: No flops, no drops
It looks like the Scots reputation for being tight with money, extends to being tight with chips too. There have, thus far, been no eliminations on Day 1A, not unusual you may think given that each player starts with 400 big blinds. But, usually a couple of players bust out in the first level in a UKIPT, the victim of a cooler of perhaps unable to lay down a big hand.

Meanwhile, potential action tables include Jake Cody's, given that Morten Mortensen has sat down a few seats to Cody's left. And sat in a row at another table are Andrew Ferguson, Paul McTaggart and Ben Jenkins. Whilst Leon "Flippetyflop" Louis is a couple of seats to the left of Niall Farrell.

1:15pm: New level, new faces
Thomas Dunwoodie, Jack Elwood and Jamie Sykes have all decided to show their faces for the second level of the day. The number of players for today is fast approaching 90, with more expected to arrive through the afternoon.

Sykes had sat down a couple of seats to the left of Chris Derrick and to the immediate left of Jack Salter. While Elwood is a two to the left of Max Silver.

Silver's good start was halted ever so slightly when he admitted defeat and folded on the river in a three-bet pot.

He opened to 150 from the hijack and called when the small blinded Christopher Matthews three-bet to 400. Silver called another 400 on the [3d][9s][Ah] flop before both checked the [Qd] turn. Matthews fired 1,100 on the [Ts] river and Silver relinquished despite having his "favourite" hand. -- MC

Blinds up: 50/100

12.50pm: Stacked
There's plenty of well-known players in the field today, we'll be updating their chip counts and those of the chip leaders (when they emerge) throughout the day right here. As for now, well there's very little movement and no exits as of yet. -- NW

12:40pm: Aggressive Silver and tilted Farrell
Max Silver and Niall Farrell are both known to be aggressive players. They are sat on adjacent tables and both battled simultaneously in pots with differing results.

Silver was in the small blind and squeezed up to 650 after an open to 150 and a call in front of him. Both opponents called to a [5d][7c][3h] flop where all three checked.

Silver's delayed 1,100 bet on the [7d] turn was enough to force a fold from both opponents.

Meanwhile, Farrell was battling in a late position pot with Magnus Martin.

Farrell opened from the cut-off and was only called by Martin in the next seat. Farrell continued on a [Qh][Ts][Jd] board and called when raised by Martin.

Both players checked the [4c] turn before Farrell once again checked the over the [Kh] river to Martin, who bet 1,600. Farrell check-raised to 5,500 and was called.

Farrell opened [Ac][Kc] and chopped the pot with Martin who opened [Ah][Qc].

"Such a tilting river!" commented Farrell. -- MC

12:30pm: More faces
Despite most table playing five or six-handed there are plenty of UKIPT regulars at the felt. Irishman Phil Baker definitely fits that category, on a [As][10d][2d] he check-called a bet, "Irish call," he said as he did so. He also called a bet on the [9s] turn before making an Irish fold on the [3s] river.

Paul McTaggart has six UKIPT Main Event cashes to his name, he was busy filling out a waiver form whilst listening to Andrew Ferguson, who's on his immediate right, chat about the cost of car parking spaces in Edinburgh. There are two tables up on a raised stage, they're not feature tables as such, but one of them features Chris Derrick, who finished fifth here last year.

Whilst Andrew Hulme (same table as Max Silver) and Tim Davie are also in the field. -- NW

12:20pm: Who's about?
It's early days here in the Assembly Rooms and most of the tables are half full as players filter in the tournament room.

One player already here, who we thought would play tomorrow, was the aforementioned Max Silver. He seems in high spirits as he looks to continue his hot streak.

Also in the room are David Docherty, Niall Farrell, Thomas Ward, Andrew Ferguson, Gordon Huntly and Team PokerStars Pro Jake Cody.

The latter two of these players are sat at the same table and tangled in an early pot that made it to the river.

The board read [2c][2s][7h][3h][4h] and Cody check-tank-folded to a 1,100 bet from Huntly.

Huntly is from Edinburgh but now resides in Thailand and has made the long trip to play his hometown tournament. His trip started well last night after he chopped the £150 Six-Max Event, with an official third place finish. -- MC

12pm: Welcome to UKIPT Edinburgh!
It's time to get the UKIPT on the road for 2014, the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh is the venue for the sixth stop of Season 4 and since the last event in Nottingham the schedule for the second half of Season 4 has been announced.

As for this stop, if there's one thing we've learned from the first three seasons of the UKIPT it's that the Edinburgh leg delivers. It delivers better than Mitchell Johnson (the Aussie bowler, not the lad who led after Day 1a of UKIPT4 Nottingham), although in Edinburgh of course the swings will be of the chip variety.

If you're looking for signs of who might be holding a novelty cheque above their head come Monday then history suggests that the winner of UKIPT Edinburgh will already have a reputation within the poker world or be about to establish one. Almost one year ago Nicolau Villa-Lobos went from first to worst to seal victory and a £101,000 payday. He's since gone on to finish second in the WSOPE High Roller for considerably more.

A season prior Fintan Gavin proved a very popular winner, the Irishman finally getting his hands on a PokerStars trophy almost three years after finishing runner-up at EPT5 Barcelona.

And back in Season 1 is where it all began for the UKIPT legend that is Nick Abou Risk as he won the first of his two UKIPT titles. But Edinburgh hasn't all been about the winners, Max Silver, Joeri Zandvliet, Thomas Ward, Jamie Dale, David Vamplew and Jamie Sykes are among those who've made the final table of the Main Event here in Edinburgh.

As has George Clyde-Smith, last year he was the UK's highest placed finisher at the 2013 Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure, this year that honour went to Max Silver (9th) although UKIPT Season 3 leader board winner Tom Hall (10th) ran him close. Both will be playing this week, although given their excursions in the Bahamas you suspect they'll play Day 1B. Hall, despite being up for thirty-six hours, played the six-max event last night!

As for Day 1A, well that's about to start.

Key UKIPT Edinburgh facts

- 20,000 starting stack
- Blinds starting at 25/50 for 400 big blinds
- One hour levels, we'll play eight today with no dinner break meaning play will end around 8.45pm
- Late registration is open until the start of level five - roughly 4.30pm.
- The Assembly Rooms is a cashless venue, you can only buy-in through your PokerStars account at the venue.
- Two starting days, then Days 2, 3 and 4 will be a combined field to a UKIPT champion (cue winner's photo, trophy swinging around, celebrations in the bar).
- There's still time to win your way to the event live at the venue in a £100 + £10 unlimited re-buy satellite. Full live tournament schedule here.

PokerStars Blog reporting team at PokerStars UKIPT Edinburgh: Marc Convey and Nick Wright. Photos by Rene Velli.

8:55pm: Leon Louis leads Day 1A field
Leon Louis bagged up 122,700 to lead the 55 remaining players from the 116 starters on Day 1A. A full wrap of the day's play coming up on the blog shortly. -- MC

8:40pm: Final four
The clock has been paused and the word is that players will be dealt four more hands before they're done for the night. -- NW

8:35pm: Ward bakes Phil to pass 100k
Thomas Ward may well have moved into the chip lead after he eliminated Phil Baker whilst holding pocket aces.

Baker opened to 2,000 from under the gun and called after Ward three-bet to 5,200 from the hijack. Both players checked the [Kh][Ad][3s] flop before Baker check-called a 6,400 bet on the [Qd] turn.

That left Baker with only 9,000 back and after he checked the [Qs] river, Ward asked him a question for the lot. He tanked for a minute before he called only to be shown pocket aces for top full house. Ward moved up to around 105,000. -- MC

8:20pm: What goes up must come down the Tannerhill
Brian Tannerhill has been sat on table one in seat one all day, and has also been leading Day 1A of late. His stack has fallen to around 102,000 after he lost a couple of small pots.

One was in a battle of blinds, the other was when he was caught bluffing against Tomasz Raniszewski, also in a blind battle.

Raniszewski completed from the small blind and Tannerhill checked his option to see a [6c][9c][Kh] flop. Both players checked to the [4d] turn where Tannerhill raised Raniszewski's 1,600 bet up to 3,500. Call.

On the [9h] river Raniszewski check-called Tannerhill's 4,600 bet. The latter could only muster a bluffing [Jd][Tc] and lost out to Raniszewski's [Kd][3h]. -- MC

8.05pm: Everyone loves a chopped pot.....not!
Andrew Teng and Dean Lyall got entangled in a four-betting shoving pot but it ended in an anti-climax.

After a 1,600 open from the hijack, Teng three-bet to 3,050 from the button and Lyall four-bet all in from the small blind. The original raiser folded but Teng made an immediate call. Both opened aces and chopped the pot.

Teng's stack rose a little 27,000 and Lyall's to 15,000. -- MC

7:55pm: Brian Tannerhill leads the field
As level eight begins the chip leader appears to be Brian Tannerhill. The Scotsman, who has $3,220 in live earnings, all of which came in Edinburgh, has a stack of around 110,000.

Blinds up: 400/800, 100 ante

7:45pm:I'll show you mine, if you show me yours!
It was an offer that Niclos Cardyn could hardly refuse. "I show one, you also?" asked Sven Wendt before he folded to a turn bet after previous aggression.

The pot started with a Cardyn raise to 1,500 from hijack and a Wendt big blind defend from Wendt. The flop fell [Ts][Jc][6s] and Wendt led for 1,000 and called when Cardyn raised to 3,500. On the [Qd] turn Wendt checked to Cardyn who bet 7,650.

Wendt tanked, had a joke around, made his offer and folded showing the [3d]. Cardyn allowed him to pick one and the [7d] was exposed. Cardyn moved back up to 29,000. -- MC

7:35pm: Gone
There's no easy way to say this, but If you had a betting slip with the name of: Enzo Gomez, Amit Patni, William Cheung, Daniel Brook, Keith Christie, Matas Cimbolas, Kyle Maguire, Christopher Matthews, Emran Hussain, Ian Walker, Robert Gregory, Vitezslav Filip, Morten Mortensen, Ronnie Ballantyne, Kia Ross, Paul Dixon, Mark Baxter, Pawel Swenarek, Callum Richardson, Antonio Crolla or John Boyle on it then you can tear it up as they're are all out. -- NW

7:20pm: Davie done for
A recent Day 1A casualty is Tim Davie, his former tablemate, David Lappin, gave me the details. "He lost a big one with aces against queens, all-in pre-flop. A queen came on the turn, That left him with about one big blind, he spun it up to around eight big blinds and then he busted. -- NW

7:10pm: More chip counts
A delve into the field has unearthed the following chip counts:

Andrew Hulme - 19,800
Jamie Sykes - 29,500
Phil Baker - 23,000
Ian LeBruce - 44,500
Andrew Ferguson - 16,000
Ben Jenkins - 29,400
Leon Louis - 51,000
Chris Derrick - 59,800
David Lappin - 9,250
Dean Lyall - 12,500
David Docherty - 29,000
Thomas Ward - 53,000
Thomas Partridge - 11,000
Nick Newport - 45,000
Nicholas Cardyn - 29,000
Rupert Elder - 17,700
Andrew Teng - 16,500

7:00pm: Jamie Sykes talks to the blog about his last two levels
The PokerStars Blog had lined up Jake Cody for a quick word in the break, but he was coolered and left the building. That left us with the next best thing, his roommate from last night and finalist last season here in Edinburgh, Jamie Sykes.

"It's been a rough couple of levels where I've lost two 20k pots; one jacks against ace-queen and then ace-queen versus three-four off on a ace-deuce-three flop. He bet-called the flop like a huge hero and I never begrudge anyone who shows that much heart. I felt like he deserved to win as he showed the most heart! I've only got top pair where he was really creative there!"

"I've got a pretty good table and I'm going to continue to play like I have done and hope to get in some good spots. You can't win it on day one, I'm going to try and steadily accumulate chips rather than try and run the table. I have an aggro-image from earlier so I think I'll get paid if I hit something."

6.50pm: Chip counts
As we enter the last two levels these are the top 10 chip stacks:

Patrick Weifels - 89,000
Brian Tannerhill - 85,000
Vytenis Salickas - 73,250
Andrew Moore - 66,250
Erdim Koz - 61,800
Daniiar Bakchiev - 61,000
Ondrej Drozd - 59,000
Leon Louis - 53,000
Colin Gillon - 50,325
Stephen Docherty - 46,850

Blinds up: 300/600, 75 ante

6.32pm: Break time
The remaining players are now on their final 15 minute break of the day. -- NW

6.25pm: Cody cut down
There was a Jake Cody shaped hole in the seat he'd previously occupied. I made the universal sign for 'gone' to Morten Mortensen and he nodded. "He got it in with aces against jack-ten on a 10-7-3 rainbow flop. His opponent (Daniiar Bakchiev) turned a jack. It was a big pot."

Indeed it was as Bakchiev is up to 52,600. As for Mortensen he's struggling along on 8,825 but that's better than it has been. "I got down to 3,500 on about the fifth hand of the day. So it's been a grind and a boring one at that." -- NW

6.15pm: Ace on the river
No, the poker book written by Team PokerStars Pro Barry Greenstein, it actually happened in between Philip Baker and Kovacs Gergo to stop the pot swelling more than it might've.

Baker opened from the button and just flat called when his Hungarian opponent three-bet from the big blind. The flop fanned [Jc][Jd][Th] and Gergo checked to Baker who wasted little time in betting 3,200. Call.

The turn fell as the [3s] and Baker bet 3,400 when the action was checked to him once more. Gergo called again before he checked for a third time on the [As] river.

"Terrible card for me!" said Baker as he checked behind and opened [Qd][Qc].

"No, great card for you!" responded Gergo as he showed [Kc][Kh]. Baker dropped to 25,500. -- MC

6:00pm: McTaggart busts
With six UKIPT Main Event cashes to his name it's fair to say the Paul McTaggart knows a thing or two about making a deep run. However, he'll have to wait until Dublin to make another one in a UKIPT Main Event as he's just busted.

Andrew Ferguson told me that McTaggart jammed Q-10 into the pocket kings of Paul Reaney for about 3,000 chips and got no help.

5:50pm: Ellwood has no choice but to settle for defeat
News reached us that Jack Ellwood busted in the last level in a strange hand recounted for the blog by Rupert Elder and Andrew Hulme.

Hulme opened to 700 before Andrew Moore misclick raised to 1,100, the consensus was he probably meant to make it 2,100 (Moore was away from the table as the story was being told).

Ellwood then four-bet to 2,150 and was called by Moore after Hulme folded. The rest of the chips went in on the flop containing a four, which had connected with Moore's pocket fours. Ellwood had aces and failed to catch up. -- MC

5:45pm: Exits
We're still at the stage of the day where the exits are a trickle rather than a torrent. Renzo Huerzeler, Sam Onions, Jack Ellwood (see above), Marc Hunter and Niall Farrell
are all out.

Blinds up: 200/400, 50 ante

5:35pm: Cardyn can't call
Nicolas Cardyn and Nicholas Newport tangled in a big pot that ended with the former laying down trip jacks.

The two had made it to the river with around 15,000 in the middle and a board that rested as [2h][Jd][Js][6h][Td].

Newport was under the gun and checked to face a 8,800 from his French opponent. He responded by moving all in for 19,225. Cardyn tanked for an age before he open-folded [as][Jc] face up. He begged Newport to show but the Irishman smiled and slid his cards to the dealer. Cardyn was left with 27,000, a healthy stack that may have affected his decision. -- MC

5.25pm: Barber cuts Cody's chips
Four players, including Lewis Barber (small blind) and Jake Cody (big blind) all put in 1,900 pre-flop, which suggested it was a three-bet pot and watched on as the dealer spread a [10s][5s][9c] flop, first to act Barber led for 3,600 and Cody was the only caller.

On the [9h] turn Barber bet 8,500 into a pot of roughly 15,000 leaving himself just 18,000 back. With action on Cody he began riffling a stack of black T100 chips that he'd removed from his stack of roughly 31,000. He then placed them to one side and took the red T500 chips from his stack. Another minute or so passed during which the bespectacled Cody cut a confused figure. Evidently someone at the table - although it wasn't Barber - had waited long enough for the Team PokerStars Pro to make his decision and called the clock.

As his countdown reached 15 seconds Cody pushed his cards towards the muck, pot to Barber. -- NW

5:20pm: Gomez gets there versus Rawnsley
Neil Rawnsley's good start was halted by Enzo Gomez after the latter turned a straight and engineered a full double up.

Rawnsley opened to 650 from mid position and was only called by Gomez in the small blind en route to a [Kd][8s][6s] flop. Rawnsley continued for 725 and was check-called to the [9h] turn. There, Gomez treated his opponent's second bullet for 1,300, to a raise to 3,500. Rawnsley stared at the board and made on the call.

On the [3d] river Gomez shoved for his remaining 9,200. Rawnsley went deep into the tank and went a darker shade of red as he pressurised himself into making a decision. He came and calling and was shown [7s][5h] for a straight by Gomez.

"Nice catch," said Rawnsley who dropped to 26,500. -- MC

5.05pm: LeBruce wins with ace high
They say home advantage is a tangible thing when it comes to poker and UKIPT Edinburgh is going pretty well for local boy Ian LeBruce thus far. The local lad, who when he's not playing poker is part of a business called Cappuccino Ads, recently won a UK entrepreneurs award and he had to get quite creative to win a pot Paul Dixon.

The latter hand fired 1,100 on the turn of a [4h][9s][3s][3c] board and Lebruce called to created a pot of around 6,200 as they went to a [10d] river. Dixon led out of 1,650 and after tanking for some time LeBruce made the call. Dixon was hesitant to show so LeBruce did the honours, rolling over his [Ah][Qd], which was good. Some call that.

4.50pm: Operating room or Assembly Rooms, with Rupert Elder
The saying, "Break a leg!" is something one would say to another person when they want to wish them luck on a venture about to be embarked.

At the WSOP in 2012 former EPT San Remo winner Rupert Elder actually did break a leg and had to have screws inserted into his leg. Elder was due to have those screws out today, but he's playing here instead.

PokerStars Blog caught up with him in the break to get to the bottom of the story, and this is what he had to say:

"I thought I had a hospital appointment at 7:30am to have the screws taken out of my leg but it turned out I was due in three days ago to have a pre-op assessment. I misread the letter though and they had actually rescheduled it. I went to the hospital and they told me my operation had been cancelled and they booked me in for a new one."

"I didn't sleep last night as well as I must've been nervous. I got home at 9:00am and decided to come and play this and it's going well so far; I've only played 50 minutes of a level and have 32,000!"

Break a leg, Rupert! (Not literally). -- MC

4:35pm: Halfway home
Four levels down, four more to go before the Day 1A players can bag their chips. If that process were taking place right now the player with the most to bag would be Vytenis Salickas. He's got 77,000 after getting mighty lucky to eliminate Paul Davies. I didn't see the hand but Tim Davie told me that Davies flopped a set of fives on an [A][5][3] flop, Salickas set him in with [A][K] and hit running cards to make a bigger full-house. Ouch.

Here's a look at some other chip leaders and the stacks of the notables in the field today:

Patrick Weifels - 65,000
Erdim Koz - 43,000
Jake Cody - 32,000
Phil Baker - 18,000
Ian LeBruce - 25,000
Jack Ellwood - 9,500
Leon Louis - 43,000
Andrew Ferguson - 24,600
Ben Jenkins - 25,000

Paul McTaggart - 3,350
Tim Davie - 47,000
Dean Lyall - 5,600
Rupert Elder - 32,000
Neil Ranwnsley - 38,000
Chris Derrick - 20,500
David Lappin - 23,600
Thomas Ward - 35,600
David Docherty - 17,000

Late registration is now closed, the board shows that 101 of 116 entrants remain although we'll bring you confirmation of the total numbers for today shortly. -- NW

PokerStars Blog reporting team at PokerStars UKIPT Edinburgh: Marc Convey and Nick Wright. Photos by Rene Velli.

If the PCA is the traditional start to the year on the EPT then Edinburgh is the traditional* start to the year on the UKIPT. Whilst the PCA might have cleared up once and for all that which starting day you choose matters for little and that it's really a matter of personal preference, 116 players plumped for Day 1A here in Edinburgh. After eight levels of play that number had been reduced to just 55 and its Leon Louis who leads with 122,700.

*yes we know it's only the second season in a row but how else do traditions start?

The long-time grinder, who has live results dating back to 2007, shot to prominence in 2013 when he final tabled the $10,000 WCOOP Main Event. That score earned him $159,975 but it's a far cry from his usual game online. "I play hyper-turbo heads-up sit and gos on PokerStars," he told PokerStars Blog. And he's one of the best as Louis is a regular at the $100-$300 level.

He won his biggest pot of his day against Ian LeBruce, with kings against ace-jack on a jack high board, LeBruce finished with chips, but with just 3,800 is bottom of the pile.

Another familiar face was just pipped at the post by Louis as Thomas Ward finished on 119,000. The UKIPT4 London runner-up and UKIPT2 Edinburgh fourth place finisher found that irresistible combination to enjoy a braw day at the felt. "I ran really good and played well too," he told PokerStars Blog. "I won a 100k pot with aces against kings which helped." And Ward was honest about the opportunities he's been afforded since cashing for £118,000 in London back in March. "It's allowed me to travel and play more events, which is something I wanted to do."

Other players who enjoyed a decent day included: Patrick Weifels (98,500), Brian Tannerhill (95,900) and Ben Jenkins (88,500). "I god moded the last level," the Full Tilt Poker Ambassador told me. "I won a flip and a big pot with aces against a pair and a draw."

Flying the Red Spade with pride today was Team PokerStars Pro Jake Cody, the Englishman was even early (perhaps in preparation for impending fatherhood?) doing a series of interviews for local and national press. Sadly for Cody, his night ended early too. Though at least he dispelled the myth that he 'always gets there' as he lost with pocket aces against the jack-ten of Daniiar Bakchiev. The chips went in on a 10-7-3 flop and Cody looked likely to take the pot of over 50,000. A jack on the turn sent the pot Bakchiev's way and kicked Cody to the rail.

Although Cody was the only representative of Team PokerStars in the field today, he wasn't the only EPT Champion but he should've been. At the WSOP in 2012 former EPT San Remo winner Rupert Elder broke a leg and had to have screws inserted into his leg. "I thought I had a hospital appointment at 7:30am to have the screws taken out of my leg but it turned out I was due in three days ago to have a pre-op assessment. I misread the letter though and they had actually rescheduled it. I went to the hospital and they told me my operation had been cancelled and they booked me in for a new one."

That misread was a lucky break (sorry) for Elder as he navigated his way through the day to finish on 41,300. Other notables who'll be back for Day 2 include Nicholas Newport (33,100), Andrew Teng (27,100) and Chris Derrick (51,500).

Of course simply having a reputation or being in form isn't enough to carry you through eight hours of poker. You'd be hard pressed to find a player from the UK in better form than Max Silver. Just this week he finished ninth in the PCA Main Event, in December he placed sixth at the mammoth EPT Prague, in November he took down the £2,000 High Roller at UKIPT4 Isle of Man and perhaps the biggest achievement of the four he somehow managed to get Vanessa Selbst to deal when they chopped the £2,000 UKIPT4 London High Roller in October.

Those scores total around $480,000 but today they counted for zero as Silver was bounced less than halfway through the day. We caught up with him prior to that and he was in good spirits, especially about his near miss at the PCA. "I don't feel too disappointed with my result and am not angry about anything I did. It was a really good result and a lot of money, so yeah, I feel good!"

The last of Silver's stack went to Jack Salter, who finished third at UKIPT4 London, however Salter wouldn't be long for this tournament either. Other big names to fall during the opening flight included: Jamie Sykes, Paul McTaggart, Niall Farrell, Morten Mortensen, Jack Ellwood and Phil Baker.

You can see a complete list of Day 1A survivors here and relive today's action by clicking on the links below.

Levels 1-4
Levels 5-8

That's it from Day 1A, we'll be back for Day 1B from noon, when the B will undoubtedly stand for 'bigger' as we expect a bumper Day 1B field here at the Assembly Rooms in Central Edinburgh.

All photos are copyright of Rene Velli

4:23pm: End of the level
That's the end of level four, you'll find level five updates in a new post shortly. -- NW

4:20pm: Easy come. easy go for Antony Hallam
On the river of a [3d][5d][8d][9s][Jd] board Antony Hallam (under-the-gun) bet 3,600, his lone opponent was David Phelan. "Did you get there again?" asked Phelan as he hovered the chips over the betting line. Eventually he dropped them over the line, Hallam showed [Ac][Kh], but Phelan showed [10s][9d] to take the pot.

On the next hand there was 2,350 in the pot by the time he and Steve O'Dwyer made it to the [7c][10s][2h] flop. O'Dwyer bet 1,350 only for Hallam to check-raise to 2,800. After a bit of a stare the EPT9 Grand Final winner released his hand. -- NW

4:15pm: Killeen loses out to O'Dwyer and Thomson
Two lost pots on the trot have seen Kevin Killeen's stack drop to around 9,000.

First up, Steve O'Dwyer opened to 550 from under the gun before Kevin Thomson three-bet to 1,100 from two seats along. Killeen was in the big blind and four-bet to 1,800. O'Dwyer moved out of the way before Thomson shoved for his last 2,600. Call.

Killeen: [8d][8h]
Thomson: [Ad][Js]

The board ran [As][Jd][7c][Qs][Ah] to fill Thomson up.

The very next hand, Killeen and O'Dwyer battled in the blinds and O'Dwyer's aggression in position won him the pot. Killeen gave up to a 1,900 bet on the turn of a [7c][8c][4s][Tc] board. O'Dwyer moved up to 41,000. -- MC

4:05pm: Two-pair gets it done for Bertram
Gary Bertram got put in a difficult spot by Philip Gould but he successfully wriggled out of it.

On the turn of a [2d][3h][Kc][7c] board an in position Bertram bet 1,200, Gould check-raised to 2,700 and Bertram smooth called. There was no 7,100 in the pot as the [9c] completed the board. Gould didn't hesitate to fire out a bet of 4,600 and Bertram didn't take too much longer to call, "Two-pair," said Bertram turning over [Kh][2c], it was good as Gould mucked his hand. -- NW

3:55pm: The old call then five-bet
A curious hand just played out on table eight involving four different player and a five-bet!

The action was started by Graham Carter, he made it 450 to go from under-the-gun+1, Viktor Leonov flat called from the cut-off, only for Sean Prendiville to make it 1,000 to play from the button. The small blind passed, but Ho Yin Lee then cold four-bet to 2,100 from the big blind.

After Carter folded, Leonov then made it 7,450 to go and everyone folded. Pot to Leonov. -- NW

3:50pm: Double up for Michal Wesolowski
"Re-raise all-in," said the dealer as UKIPT4 Isle of Man winner Duncan McLellan pushed his stack of 15,600 over the line. He'd decided to isolate the all-in shove of 2,300 of Michal Wesolowski and for a while it looked like it might be three's company as Jordan Wong tanked on the button. However, with Wong eventually folding it was time for a showdown.

McLellan: [Ac][10c]
WesolowskI: [Kh][Qh]

A [8d][Qs][7s][2h][5h] board gave WesolowskI a much needed double up and dropped McLellan to 13,300. -- NW

3:40pm: Thanks for the call
James Walsh is a player who likes to have a giggle at the table, especially when he has a big stack or a Guinness in his hand. There's no Guinness to be had but he's smiling again after doubling up.

Viktor Leonov opened to 450 from mid position and was called by Ho Yin Lee on the button before Walsh shoved from the small blind for 4,325. Leonov folded but Yin called after some pretend folding antics from Walsh.

Walsh: [ks][kc]
Yin: [6c][6s]

The board ran [9s][5d][Ah][9c][5h].

"Thanks for the call," said a beaming Walsh. -- MC

3:25pm: Zero Sum game
It's been a good start for some...

Level 3 of #UKIPTEdinburgh just started and I'm up to 55k from 20k starting, this is fun.

— Manig Loeser (@swordfish007) January 17, 2014

And a bad start for others...

#UKIPTEdinburgh a disaster sofar haha! Ran 3 barrel bluff in nice spot but got called after a long tank :( we got 7k at 75/150 so can spin

— Chris Ferguson (@chrisferg89) January 17, 2014

Blinds up: 100/200, ante 25

3:10pm: Team Online time
Dale Philip and Mickey Petersen are here representing PokerStars Team Online this week and one is looking fresher than the other.

Philip made the most of being at the PCA and was pictured tubing on the lazy river just a couple of days ago. It's also his birthday today, so we were not surprised to see him yawning shortly after turning up. He was sat on 18,500.

Petersen, as we wrote earlier, is at a tricky table and will need to be as fresh as possible to succeed. He took Aaron Spence off a hand to move up to 22,000.

Spence rose to 450 from early position and was called by Petersen (mid position) and Phillip Huxley (button) en route to a [3d][4s][5s] flop.

Spence continued for 950 and only Petersen called to the [2s] turn. He checked it over to Petersen who bet 1,650. Spence procrastinated for a while and open-folded pocket jacks. -- MC

2:55pm: Chip counts
With only two levels in the books there's not been that much movement but here are the chip counts of some of the names and notables:

Martins Adeniya - 31,500
Sin Melin - 21,500
Dominik Nitsche - 18,800
Dave Shallow - 14,600
Sean Prendiville - 19,300
Richie Lawlor - 14,300
Sunny Chattha - 19,000
Liv Boeree - 28,000
Dara O'Kearney - 26,500
Tom Hall - 19,800
David Vamplew - 11,050
Keith Hawkins - 22,000
Simon Deadman - 27,000
Ludovic Geilich - 32,100
Julian Thew - 33.500
Kevin Allen - 15,500
Duncan McLellan - 16,800
Emmett Mullin - 25,500

Tim Slater -34,000
Chaz Chattha - 16,000
Sam Grafton - 17,000
Dermot Blain - 36,500
Kevin Iacofano - 14,250
Kevin Williams - 11,000
Kevin Killeen - 16,700
Steve O'Dwyer - 24,600
Ollie Schaffmann - 32,000
Vicky Coren - 23,000
Mickey Petersen - 24,000
Fraser Macintyre - 23,000
Chris Ferguson - 9,000
Steve Watts - 16,000
Deborah Worley-Roberts - 29,500
Andy Black - 28,000
Daragh Davey - 15,000
Richard Evans - 26,000

2:45pm: Boeree off to a strong start
Liv Boeree was one of the late comers, taking her seat near the end of level two. It's not taken her long to get going though as she's up to 28,000 already. She told the PokerStars Blog that she got three streets of value with jacks on a 9-2-2-2-K board and has won a couple of other pots too. -- NW

2:40pm: A catch up with Tom Hall
Tom Hall, like Max Silver yesterday, has travelled to Edinburgh from the Bahamas after just missing out of the PCA Main Event final table. His tenth place finish won him $112,400 but he was devastated at the time and gave one of the most moving exit interviews ever seen on the EPT. The blog caught up with him during the break to see how he is now.

"I'm still a little bit jet-lagged but it's nice just to be playing another tournament. It's surreal being back in the UK as I was in the Bahamas such a short time ago. It is good to be back again and I have all the options open to me again at the beginning of a tournament, and will roll off the confidence I've gained."

"I'm able to take this tournament as a whole new thing. If it was a 10k it might be a bit of a push to get through it, but I've had a lot of experience in these so it's not a problem for me." -- MC

2:20pm: 260 in so far
With two levels and a break left to register, 260 players have entered so far on Day 1B. Team PokerStars Pro Liv Boeree was one of the latest to enter. -- MC

Blinds up: 75/150

2pm: Break time
The players are now on a 15 minute break. -- NW

1:58pm: More exits
Joseph Lalor, Frank Wellens, John Gillett, Mark Bamber and Nick Cole are all out before the first break. Both Bamber and Cole were eliminated on the table that contains Deborah Worley-Roberts and Michael Piper and Piper told PokerStars Blog about their exits.

Bamber made a straight with J-5 on a 10-9-8-Q board, but Paul Kerr had K-J for a better one. And Cole flopped top pair, top kicker only to run into top two pair. So there's a lot of chipped up players on that table, including Piper who's up to 32,000. -- NW

1:50pm: Worley-Roberts on the up
Deborah Worley-Roberts is up to 28,000 after she allowed Paul Kerr to bet into her on three streets before she became the aggressor.

Kerr opened to 300 from the button and bet 350, 1,000 and 2,000 on a [Tc][Qd][9h][4c][3h] board. Worley-Roberts was in the small blind and just called all the way before she raised to 6,000 on the river.

Kerr smiled at her and told her she had it before mucking. -- MC

1:40pm: Ask Sam anything
UKIPT regular Sam Grafton has made the trip from London to Edinburgh to play in this event. The PokerStars Blog know this because they had a chat with him when he arrived late last night. But, also because of the following tweet:

Yes I'm playing UKIPT. Yes I'm wearing a hoodie. Yes I'm folding a lot. Anything else anyone wanna know.

— Sam Grafton (@SquidPoker) January 17, 2014

The PokerStars Blog can attest that Grafton is a very good conversationalist, an excellent tweeter and has strong views on many poker topics. Go on ask him something. -- NW

1:35pm: A win is hard to repeat
It's hard to win one UKIPT title as it is; winning two is a whole other type of challenge. Isle of Man champion Duncan McLellan is finding that out today.

The flop was out as [ac][7s][3h] and McLellan bet 550 from second position, into three players. Two of them called to the [jd] turn where the action was checked to Michal Wesolowski. He bet 800 and was only called by McLellan before the board completed with the [6s].

McLellan check-called a 1,100 bet but mucked and dropped to 13,200 upon seeing Wesolowski's [ad][9d]. -- MC

1:25pm: Straight flush
I missed the hand but Gareth Teatum just flopped a straight flush! But, perhaps he didn't win as big a pot as he'd like as when he was stacking his chips he said: "I played it wrong." Either way the [10s][9s] was in front of him and had connected very nicely indeed with the [6s][7s][8s] flop.

What a pretty hand. -- NW

1:10pm: Mickey meet Vicky
The 'late' table mentioned below is now a whole lot tougher as Team PokerStars Pro Online Mickey Petersen now occupies the one seat, he's across the felt from Team PokerStars Pro Vicky Coren. Petersen has Fraser Macintyre on his direct left, whilst Phil Huxley sits to the direct right of Coren. Completing a terrifying line-up is UKIPT Nottingham runner-up Ollie Schaffmann, he's on Coren's direct left. -- NW

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 50-100

1pm: Sasek showing his intentions; two go early
It takes a big move to surprise the uber-aggressive Ludovic Geilich and his eyes were wide open when his neighbour, Milan Sasek, made his move.

He was battling heads-up with John Gillett and the two players took to a [5h][4c][2c] flop. Gillett was in the small blind and had 5,700 out in front of him. Sasek wasted little time in shoving for around 23,000.

Gillett was taken just as much by surprise as Geilich, event to the point where he might've thought the move unfair. He had little choice but to fold.

There are two players with no choice early on though as you need chips to have choices in the main event. Mark Barnber and Donatas Didika have already been eliminated. -- MC

12:45pm: Table mates
With so many big names in the field today the law of averages dictates that a few of them will be seated around the same nine handed table and indeed there are few interesting tables dotted about the tournament arena. At one such table you'll find Tom Hall, David Vamplew and Keith Hawkins. The latter two are side by side with Vamplew having position.

UKIPT Champion of Champions Richard Evans and Daragh Davey have joined Sin Melin and Andy Black to form an early contender for table of death. Whilst poker journalist Dave Woods has found himself at the same table as a Team PokerStars Pro.

Just starting UKIPT Edinburgh. Vicky coren two to my left. We're on the 'late' table. It's like being back at school

— Dave Woods (@DaveJWoods) January 17, 2014

12:35pm: Good start for Slater
"I finally got my bink," said a beaming Tim Slater to the PokerStars Blog. The UKIPT2 Newcastle fifth place finisher is fresh off a £42,500 win from last weekend and he's off to a good start here in Edinburgh after winning a 12,000 chip pot on the very first hand.

"I raised to 125 with queens, Ade (Adebayo Odetoyinbo) made it 425 to play, Chaz (Chattha) made it 1,500 and I peeled," he told the PokerStars Blog. "The flop was Q-9-3, he bets 1,600 and I call. Jack on the turn, Chaz checks, I bet 2,400 and he calls. The river is a five, he checks, I bet 6,000, he folds aces face up and I show him the queens because I like him." -- NW

12:25pm: A scene still emerging
There are many players waiting in line to get their seat assignment so the make up of a lot of tables is still to be decided.

Steve O'Dwyer, for example, is a lone figure at this table - not a sight his future tablemates will want to see.

UKIPT Isle of Man champion Duncan McLellan has the dangerous Kevin Allen sat directly to his right and tour ambassador Sin Melin will need some headphones to cope with the lively Andy Black.

Melin took an early hit when she battled an aggressor from under the gun. He bet 300 on the turn of a [6d][Ts][As][9c] board and she called before both checked the [kd] river. He opened [ac][jd] and took the pot as Melin mucked. -- MC

12:10pm: Big names, same chip stack
As usual a glance down the provisional Day 1B player list has unearthed a slew of big name players, who've all opted to play the second of two starting days. The following players aren't necessarily in their seats yet, but they're all down to play: Steve O'Dwyer, Andy Black Ben Mayhew, Dave Shallow, Dara O'Kearney, Daragh Davey, David Vamplew, Deborah Worley-Roberts, Dominik Nitsche, Duncan McLellan, Fintan Gavin, Fraser Macintyre, JP Kelly (deep breath), Julian Thew, Kevin Allen, Kevin Iacofano, Kevin Killeen, Manig Loeser, Richard Evans, Sam Grafton, Sean Prendiville, Simon Deadman and Sunny Chattha, -- NW

12:00pm: Shuffle up and deal
The ever efficient UKIPT Tournament Director Toby Stone has got the action underway right on time. -- MC

11:50am: Second flight about to sprout wings
Welcome back to the beautiful Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh for Day 1B of the UKIPT, the first of many stops to come in 2014. Day 1A attracted 116 players but today's number is expected to dwarf that. The tournament room holds 32 tables and most, if not all, will be in use.

Only Jake Cody represented the Red Spade yesterday whereas today, Vicky Coren, Liv Boeree and Dale Phillip will be looking to fare better and make day two. Word on the Edinburgh street is that it's Phillip's birthday today, so we're wishing him a day full of big hands that hold up.

Full Tilt Poker Tour Ambassadors, Sin Melin, Dermot Blain and Martins Adeniya will also be in attendance along with a host of big-name players.

Tom Hall, fresh(ish) from his PCA adventure (10th in the Main Event for $112,400) has made the long journey as he tries to earn points in an attempt to defend his UKIPT Season 3 player of the season title.

A new year with fresh ambitions, and poker room packed full of professionals and amateurs alike, offer a fantastic environment for a full day of action-packed poker.

Key UKIPT Edinburgh facts
- 20,000 starting stack
- Blinds starting at 25/50 for 400 big blinds
- One hour levels, we'll play eight today with no dinner break meaning play will end around 8.45pm
- Late registration is open until the start of level five - roughly 4.30pm.
- The Assembly Rooms is a cashless venue, you can only buy-in through your PokerStars account at the venue.
- Two starting days, then Days 2, 3 and 4 will be a combined field to a UKIPT champion (cue winner's photo, trophy swinging around, celebrations in the bar).

PokerStars Blog reporting team at PokerStars UKIPT Edinburgh: Marc Convey and Nick Wright. Photos by Rene Velli.

9.10pm: Day 1B is in the books
The players are slowly filing out of the tournament room and into the Edinburgh night. Roughly 150 of them made it through to Day 2 and they'll join the 55 survivors from Day 1A from noon tomorrow.

It looks like David Vamplew, who finished fourth here last year in his home town, has the Day 1 chip lead as he finished on 146,200. A full wrap of the days play is on the way. -- NW

8.50pm: Last four hands
The clock has been stopped and each table will play four more hands before play ends for the night.

8:35pm: No icing on the cake for Philip
Birthday boy Dale Philip couldn't stage a miraculous last level comeback, although he gave it a good go

Busto. Spun 3K stack to 13K then shoved T5s into the blinds from the button at BB800/100ante. Bit light. Couldn't beat A9o. #UKIPTEdinburgh

— Dale Philip (@Daleroxxu) January 17, 2014

8:35pm: Chip counts
As the day winds down here's a look at some of the stacks...

Eldon Orr - 135,000
Manig Loeser - 51,000
Dominik Nitsche - 27,000
Liv Boeree - 74,000
Julian Thew - 38,000
Ludovic Geilich - 78,000
Dermot Blain - 46,000
David Vamplew - 32,000
Keith Hawkins - 16,000
Tom Hall - 66,500
Emmett Mullin - 49,000
Richard Evans - 21,000
Dale Philip - 6,000 (got one double up with A-Q against A-J)
Kevin Killeen - 28,000
Sean Prendiville - 27,000
Ollie Schaffman - 33,000
Fraser Macintyre - 50,000
Louis Salter - 25,000
Tim Slater - 37,000
Simon Deadman - 12,600
Kevin Allen - 13,400

8:30pm: Grafton starting to get the Crab sweats
Earlier today Sam Grafton offered his friend Dave Shallow a bet.

Gave CrabMaki 200/1 on him finishing Day 1 chip-leader. Kinda worried how eager he was to hand over £5. He currently has 12k

— Sam Grafton (@SquidPoker) January 17, 2014

With the wager agreed to Shallow set about building his stack and although he's not close to the current chip leader at the moment, he is just one double up away from being a contender as he's got 62,000. -- NW

8:25pm: Outdraw fules expletive filled rant
James Metcalf was not happy, not happy att all. He'd just seen a pot of some 55,000 slip from his grasp on a sick turn and river.

It was a three-way pre-flop all-in affair, Metcalf had pocket kings and the best of it. Shortest of all with around 10,000 was Dominic Davidson who had [Ad][10d] whilst Dominic Mahoney was at risk with jacks, he had more than Davidson meaning there was a 22,000 chip side pot between Mahoney and Metcalf.

The [qd][4h][9s][10s][10h] board was a particularly brutal way to get outdrawn and Metcalf let out a few f-bombs in frustration. He's still got chips though. -- NW

8:20pm: Doke doubles
UKIPT Season 3 Online Qualifier of the Year Dara O'Kearney was all-in and at risk for 19,2000 with [Ad][Qs. He was up against Richard Pearson's pocket sevens and on this occasion the overcards prevailed as the board came [Jh][Qc][5s][2c][6h]. "Oh to run like Doke," said Pearson as O'Kearney took the pot. Pearson is down to 22,000. -- NW

8:15pm: Orr wants more
The current chip leader is Eldon Orr he's got 135,000 and got his latest boost in a hand against Steve O'Dwyer. There had clearly been betting on more than one street as O'Dwyer bet 12,000 into a pot of 21,000 on the river of a [2c][9d][4h][Qs][10h] board. Orr tank called and O'Dwyer simply mucked his hand, he's down to 9,000. -- NW

8:10pm: Coren Canned
It was a very unlucky end for Team PokerStars Pro Vicky Coren after she lost with jacks versus jacks.

Martin Currie was the man who did the damage and he told the PokerStars Blog that Coren four-bet shoved with black jacks. He looked up her up with red jacks and four hearts rolled out on the board. If she could've only connected in the same way, is what she'll be thinking tonight. -- MC

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 400-800, 100 ante

7:55pm: No Day 2 for...
Iani Tulica, Luke Greaves, Huseyin Houssein, Dale Moon, Gajanthan Kamalanathan, Charles Chattha, Richard Lawlor, Mark James, Ben Jones, Philip Gould, Gavin McGuire, Damon Lum, Stewart Kirby, David Maudlin, Christopher Barron, Kevin Thomson, Hasmukh Khodiyara, Lucas Reeves, Rihards Krūziņš, Paul Dunne, Marcin Milde, Weland Holroyd, Phillip Huxley, Peter Jaksland, Joe Hindry, Paul Munro, Rory Brown, Jelle van Riesen, Andrew Mackenzie, Marko Laine, Mark Wagstaff, John Durkin, Paul Kelleher, Duncan Mclellan, Martin Mcgeough, Richard Kellett, Mark Suddes, Simon Fuller, Chris Hendry, Akshay Reddy, Johnny Barr, Enrico Frattaroli, Christofer Ryås, Patrick Uzan, Benjamín García Rivera and Oskar Prehm. -- MC

7:50pm: Erm, it's my birthday
I'm sure it's in the rules somewhere that if it's your birthday then you win flips. Not in Team PokerStars Online's Dale Philip's case though.

Lost huge flip AK < QQ all in pre. Down to 3K at BB600. Crippled. #UKIPTEdinburgh

— Dale Philip (@Daleroxxu) January 17, 2014

7:45pm: Stacey sent packing
It's been quite a UKIPT Season for Daniel Stacey so far. He qualified to UKIPT London for £100 and then finished 11th for £8,480. That performance, meant he won the Full Tilt last longer, meaning he won a package to UKIPT Isle of Man. He then proceeded to finish sixth there, banking £21,250.

But, things haven't gone his way in Edinburgh as he's just been eliminated. He moved all-in for 7,300 with [9d][9c] over the top of Ben Glanton's 1,500 open. Next to act Dave Wearing isolated by raising all-in with [Ah][Ks], Glanton tanked and then folded, claiming ace-king.

The board came [3s][Jh][4s][5h][2d] and Stacey drowned on the river. -- NW

7:35pm: Stacked
Table 2 is stacked in more ways than one. In terms of chips, the first two bust outs happened at that table and it's probably been playing the deepest ever since. It now contains the two biggest stacks in the room. David Gallagher is the chip leader with around 91,000, it's very likely his boost came from Daniel Charlton who's dropped from 75,000 to 55,000.

As for the second biggest stack, well that's still Mickey Petersen, the table he was at just broke and he's been moved to the two seat at Gallagher's table (he's in seat nine). Also at that table is Vicky Coren, "not enough," were her words to the Blog during the break. She had 11,000 then and has since dropped to around 5,000. -- NW

7.25pm: Black end for Andy
The tournament room is a lot quieter after the elimination of Andy Black, and it was a bit of a cooler that ousted him too.

Michael Kane was down to less than 9,000 when he moved all in. Steve O'Dwyer made the call, and then called again when Black shoved behind him.

Kane: [7h][7c]
O'Dwyer: [ad][as]
Black: [qs][qh]

The board ran [2h][8c][2s][7d][kc] to make Kane a set for the triple up.

"I actually made money in the hand!" said O'Dwyer who moved up slightly to 47,000. -- MC

7:10pm: Top 10 stacks
During the break the PokerStars Blog did a lap of the room to unearth the biggest stacks in the field with two levels to play. Leading the way is none other than Mickey Petersen. The Dane, who is a member of Team PokerStars Online, has 81,300 (135.5 big blinds) and leads from Sindre Haugen who has 74,300.

Liv Boeree is also going well, the Team PokerStars Pro has 68,200 and is currently in sixth place.

Mickey Petersen, 81,300
Sindre Haugen, 74,300
Daniel Charlton - 74,000
Ludovic Geilich - 74,000
Eldon Orr - 69,575
Liv Boeree - 68,200
Graham Carter - 68,000
James Bott - 67,000
Waheed Ashraf - 67,000
David Lloyd - 65,600

7:05pm: Birthday boy Philips talks to the Blog
The tournament has kicked back into life with level 7. The Blog caught up with PokerStars Team Online's Dale Philip in the break. It's his birthday and he's playing a UKIPT in his hometown - the man needed to have his say about that and his recent trip to the PCA.

"It's my hometown and birthday so everything should be going my way today but unfortunately I'm a little under starting stack. I'm still waiting for the birthday/hometown run-good and hopefully it's going to come!"

"I was at the PCA for meetings and media training for PokerStars. I wasn't expecting to play anything but I jumped in a $1k PLO tourney and came second! I played in it while I had time off one evening and it was nice to make some money."

"Overall I had a great time and got to meet up with all the pros I normally only get to chat to online; I got some sunshine in and messed around in the water park and came back with a nice little score to get 2014 off to a great start!" -- MC

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 300-600, ante 75

6:50pm: Piper busts just before the break
Just before the break Michael Piper, who finished fourth at EPT6 San Remo, busted.

Meh gg couldnt find a fold on the river in a big pot, happy with my play tho

— Michael Piper (@wazzbert) January 17, 2014

The players are now on a 15 minute break, when they return they'll play two more levels. -- NW

6:45pm: Turner tickles the table
All the players at table 16, including Kevan Turner, were laughing and joking. The aforementioned Turner was the one who'd caused the chuckling to break out as from under-the-gun he'd moved all his big chips over the line in a one fluid motion. They totalled perhaps on 4,200, he'd left his green chips behind the line. So he was all-in, only he wasn't. "In my head I'm all-in," he said as one by one his opponents folded.

It reached Stewart Kirby in the big blind, he tanked then moved all-in for around 9,000, Turner put on a little show before calling.

Turner: [Jh][Jc]
Kirby: [Ac][Jd]

The board ran [qd][2h][5c][3d][8c] to double Turner up and reduced Kirby to just 3,800. -- NW

6.38pm: Piper can't beat sixes
Michael Piper was the aggressor in the hand but didn't connect with the board enough to beat Daniel Charlton's pocket sixes.

Piper opened to 850 from the hijack and was called by Vicky Coren (cut-off), Charlton (button) and the big blind.

Piper continued for 950 on the [2h][3c][3s] flop and was only called by Charlton. Both players went on to check the [jc][7s] turn and river and Piper mucked upon seeing his opponent's hand. He dropped to 22,000. -- MC

6:35pm: The numbers are in
Tournament director Toby Stone just confirmed to the PokerStars Blog that the total number of entrants in the tournament is 427.

That means 316 players took to the felt today, of those 316 just 225 remain. We've yet to receive the official prize pool information but will upload it when we do. -- NW

6:25pm: Heffs in the house
Late registration closed at the start of level five and one player who only just made it was UKIPT3 leader board runner-up Neil Raine.

New ukipt lateness record broken one day and 4 hours late only had 7 mins till end of late reg #UKIPTEdinburgh #madeit

— Heffs976 (@neilraine) January 17, 2014

6:15pm: Exits
It's often said people don't start opening up until the antes kick in, we've now had two full levels in which antes have been in play and the pass of exits has ticked upwards during the last 120 minutes. The following all lost their chips during that period: David Knight, Hannes Rask, Giorgos Gkionis, Fernando dos Santos Nogueira, Rok Rotar, Kevin Iacofano, Mark Mckluskey, Mark Spellman, Donald Rae, Niall Murray, William Mcclure, Antonis Poulengeris, Mikal Håland, Yucel Eminoglu, Gareth Teatum, Christopher Johnston, Duncan Taylor, Shaun Hegarty, Leonard Readle, Simon Appleby, Edwin McNaughton, Raphael Wieczorek, Christopher Ferguson and James Thomson. -- NW

6pm: Melin wishes she was a hero
Full Tilt Poker tour ambassador Sin Melin is angry, angry with herself for not folding to a river bet.

The action was three-way to the river of a [2d][Ad][8d][6c][9s] board and there was a 7,000 bet, and a call, in front of her. She tanked for a minute before making the call.

"Nuts," said one opponent before opening [kd][9d].

"Yeah, I had a flush as well, couldn't make a hero fold."

"How big was your flush?" asked Andy Black.

"Nine," was Melin's response. She dropped to 9,500.

[Editors note: Melin's still a hero to us] -- MC

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 200-400, 50 ante

5:45pm: Action follows Petersen to Boeree
Team PokerStars Online's Mickey Petersen was drawn at a very difficult table first up, containing Vicky Coren and Fraser Macintyre to name but two. The table was broken and the stars were dispersed around the room.

When Petersen landed at a new table, it was no better, as he found himself along side Team PokerStars Pro Liv Boeree and tour ambassador Martins Adeniya.

Boeree seems to be bossing the table and her stack is showing the benefits. It's touching 50,000 after three small pots won on the bounce. The first one was a simple raise and take of the blinds and antes, the next two she had to wait until her flop c-bets were good to oust her opponents.

The table has promise while it's together as Petersen has around 37,000 and Adeniya a touch over thirty. -- MC

5:40pm: Chip counts
Another orbit of the room and another batch of chip counts...

Martins Adeniya - 35,300
Sin Melin - 26,000
Dominik Nitsche - 15,400
Dave Shallow - 5,700
Sean Prendiville - 23,600
Richie Lawlor - 19,700
Deborah Worley-Roberts - 16,500
Daniel Stacey - 6,400
Sunny Chattha - 35,500
Liv Boeree - 51,600
Dara O'Kearney - 20,600
Tom Hall - 46,600
David Vamplew - 13,900
Keith Hawkins - 8,000
Simon Deadman - 17,500
Julian Thew - 36,500
Duncan McLellan - 12,000
Vicky Coren - 25,000

Emmett Mullin - 38,000
Tim Slater - 35,000
Chaz Chattha - 10,300
Kevin Allen - 5,025
Sam Grafton - 27,000
Dermot Blain - 26,650
Phillip Huxley - 9,600
Steve O'Dwyer - 29,450
Dale Philip - 21,300
Ollie Schaffmann - 28,000
Dave Woods - 15,500
Michael Piper - 21,200
Mickey Petersen - 37,500
Fraser Macintyre - 43,000
Josh Logan - 58,000
Deborah Worley-Roberts -
Andy Black - 15,000
Daragh Davey - 7,600
Richard Evans - 19,700

5:15pm: Kings work for Kerr
Paul Kerr survived a lot of pre flop action and made it to the river to win a decent pot with pocket kings.

He opened to 725 from second position and was called in one spot before Michael Piper three-bet to 2,100. Daniel Charlton was on the button and put in a four-bet to 4,200.

Both Kerr and Piper called to a [2s][5d][Qs] flop where all three checked. That was the invite Kerr needed to lead for 6,000 on the [7c] turn. Piper moved out of the way to let Charlton call.

The board completed with the [4h] and Kerr wasted little time in betting 7,000. Charlton didn't seem confident ad he flicked in the call. Kerr opened [kh][kd] and took the pot as Chartlon flashed pocket jacks before mucking. -- MC

4:55pm: Pulled pots
Some post-flop aggression proved profitable for a couple of players just now as it saw them take down a pot apiece.

In the first Daniel Stacey led out for 1,350 from the big blind on a [2c][5h][Jh] flop, Jen Yue Chiang flat called, only for Andrew Hall to make it 5,200 to go. Stacey thought long and hard before folding, Chiang just folded hard.

On another table I picked up a hand involving Tom Hall and David Vamplew. The former had bet 800 on a [8s][Qs][9d] flop and been flat called, Vamplew then raised to 2,300. Hall asked the EPT winner for a count of his remaining chips (7,000) before folding, as did the other player. Pot to Potter Vamplew. -- NW

4:50pm: Dominik Nitsche: Professional flag hunter
Dominik Nitsche likes to chase Hendon Mob country flags. He's second only to Casey Kastle for most flags accrued. The German starlet has been attending the PCA for five years and finally managed to get a Bahamian flag last week in a $1,100 Turbo tournament. The thing is he chopped the bubble for $970 so the flag cost him -$130 to win. The blog caught up with Nitsche about his flag hunting at the PCA and how's he's feeling now he's here in Edinburgh.

"$130? I wish I'd just lost $130! All in all it must've cost me.... I don't want to even think about it, fives years of buy ins add up! It was worth it in the end, and to do it win a min cash - everyone does it that way!"

"I'm not ready for this tournament as I'm really tired. I decided to stay an extra day (in the Bahamas) to go to the beach and the pool because I was playing tournaments (unsuccessfully) everyday before then. "

"I kind of regret my decision as I got in yesterday at 5pm and fell asleep, which was not a good idea, as I woke up at 10pm and went back to bed again at 6am. I'm extremely tired and I'm on my second drink of the day with a lot of caffeine in there. Hopefully I can wake up and start beating these guys up. Right now I'm down to 15k, which is not a good start, but we'll see what happens." -- MC

4.30pm: Four more to go
The remaining players are now back in their seats and the fifth level of the day is underway. A reminder of the plan for the tournament:

Key UKIPT Edinburgh facts

- 20,000 starting stack
- Blinds starting at 25/50 for 400 big blinds
- One hour levels, we'll play eight today with no dinner break meaning play will end around 8.45pm
- Late registration is open until the start of level five - roughly 4.30pm.
- The Assembly Rooms is a cashless venue, you can only buy-in through your PokerStars account at the venue.
- Two starting days, then Days 2, 3 and 4 will be a combined field to a UKIPT champion (cue winner's photo, trophy swinging around, celebrations in the bar).

However, Steve Watts, Richard Berridge, Renaldo Büschi, Teddy Brogan, James Walsh, Georg Beiske, Vincent Meli, Kevin WIlliams, Richard Teatum, Fintan Gavin, Asif Warris, Thomas Grundy, Alastair Kerr, Bernie McGinlay, Jamie Rhind, John Stokes, John Broad, James Scott, Kuljinder Singh, Martin Currie and Paul Simmons are not in their seats as they're all out. -- NW

PokerStars Blog reporting team at PokerStars UKIPT Edinburgh: Marc Convey and Nick Wright. Photos by Rene Velli.

So much fun was had in the Assembly Rooms yesterday, that it was decided to do the same thing all over again. A bunch of players were gathered together in a room, given 20,000 chips and a time limit of eight hours to go after each other. Their reward for survival was a place in Day 2 of the UKIPT Edinburgh, where they will meet with fellow survivors from Day 1A.

All players were created equal but some ended more equal than others. Former UKIPT/EPT London champion and finalist here last year, David Vamplew ended the most equal of players today as he bagged up a remarkable 146,200. All the more so because at the last break he had just 14,000!

At the end of play he told the blog, "I started winning hands and then someone re-jammed ace-eight when I had pocket queens. I won a few small pots after that to get to 40 big blinds and that allowed me to open up and play a lot more hands. People were sitting back and I put my foot down. I won a pretty big pot on the last hand as well when a guy bluffed off his stack and I had second pair, called, and got him!"

Day 1B attracted a total 311 players (147 survived), which, added to the 116 players from Day 1A brought the total up to 427. That means the remaining 202 players will be fighting it out for a share of the £500,000 prize pool. The last 63 players will be guaranteed £2,060 and winner will take home £93,900.

Team PokerStars Pro had a mixed day at the office. It was a good day for Liv Boeree as she finished with 115,100. She arrived midway through level two and her stack was never in any danger throughout the day. She told the blog, "I could've had 150,000 but I lost a 40,000-chip pot with two-pair against a flush draw, in the last."

Mickey Petersen was chip leader for a while today but the Team Online member dropped back to finish with a still very healthy 69,500.

The same cannot be said for Vicky Coren's day. She drew the most difficult table in the room to start, survived it, only to get really unlucky late in the day at her second table. She was expecting a chopped pot with Martin Currie after both tabled jacks. You just know it's not your day when you get four-flushed though.

One day you hope/expect to be your day is your birthday. Dale Philip was certainly hoping that but his birthday luck was out. The el classico of flips is ace-king versus queens and he lost one of those. It left him crippled and he wasn't able to recover.

Full Tilt Poker Tour Ambassadors Dermot Blain (44,500) and Martins Adeniya (42,000) made it through and will be joined by Sam Grafton (32,400), Steve O'Dwyer (9,600), Emmett Mullin (82,000), Tom Hall (55,700), Ludovic Geilich (96,500), Eldon Orr (114,600), Bayazit Zorlu (98,700), Dominik Nitsche (34,900), Dave Shallow (62,900), Tim Finne (35,800), Julian Thew (42,300) and Graham Carter (120,500).

The remaining days have been made a lot easier for those left in by the fact the following fell today: Tour Ambassador Sin Melin plus, Chaz Chattha, Andy Black, Kevin Iacofano, Michael Piper, Rory Brown, John Kalmar and Chris Ferguson.

Play will resume at midday tomorrow where the tournament will make the money. To catch up today's action, read the Day 2 chip counts and seat draw, please click the below links:

Levels 1-4.
Levels 5-8.
Day 2 chips
Day 2 seat draw

Until then, it's good night from Edinburgh.

4.20pm: End of the level
That's the end of the fourth level of the day, you'll find level 13 updates in a new post shortly. -- NW

4.10pm: Painful exit for Campbell
Down to just 21,000 Paul Campbell committed his chips with [Ac][7s] and was up against Jason Beazley's [Qd][10h].

A [4c][8c][3d][6s][10c] board saw Beazley spike the river to send Campbell to the rail. -- NW

4.10pm: Raised tables and raised stakes?
There are three tables up on a raised stage here at the Assembly Rooms, the tournament room is usually a theatre. They're no different from any other table in the room, they're not feature tables or anything like that but there do seem to be a number of well known players seated around those three tables.

As well as the table containing David Vamplew, Dominik Nitsche et al (see below), the following players are also up on the stage performing: Neil Raine (99,000), Liv Boeree (135,000), Andrew Teng (101,000), James Williams (106,000), David Lappin (65,000), Nick Newport (95,000) and Ben Jenkins (77,000). -- NW

4:05pm: New table, same problems for Vamplew
Overnight chip leader David Vamplew hasn't had the best of days. If he was hoping a table change would help, he was wrong.

For starters, here's how he and the other big names at the table stacked up when he first arrived:

David Vamplew - 90,000
Dermot Blain - 110,000
Dominik Nitsche - 99,000
Jonathan Lundy - 95,000
Dean Lyall - 22,000

Nitsche is one of Vamplew's best friends in poker, and it was he who caused him more pain as the two tangled in hand.

Nitsche opened to 4,500 and Vamplew called in position en route to a [9h][5c][Jh] flop. Nitsche continued for 7,000 and called after Vamplew raised to 1,700.

No more chips ventured into the middle as they checked the [8c][Jc] turn and river down. Vamplew opened [ah][4h] for a missed flush draw, losing out to Nitsche's [Qc][Ts] for a straight.

Vamplew dropped down to 53,000 as Nitsche rose to 130,000. -- MC

3:55pm: Chip leader
Arron Fletcher has a stack of 255,000 in front of him and that makes him the man to catch. -- NW

3:40pm: Szczotka sets up a double up
Jakub Szczotka just got a much needed double up at the expense of Russell Wood. The Pole raised to 4,000 from under-the-gun, Leon Louis flat called from middle position and Wood did likewise from the big blind.

On the [6c][10s][5c] flop Wood led for 6,000 and both players called. The [4h] fell on the turn, Wood bet 12,000, Szczotka moved all-in for 30,000, Louis passed but Wood called the extra.

Wood: [Jd][Jc]
Szczotka: [10h][10c]

The Pole had flopped a set and Wood was drawing to just two jacks, the river wasn't one of the two outs he needed. -- NW

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 1,000/2,000, 300 ante

3:30pm: Parton looking for a new hero
They say you should never meet your heroes, even if they are poker ones. It seems that Sam Grafton may well have been Andrew Parton's poker hero. We say "have" because Grafton just sucked out on Parton to bust him.

The action folded to Parton in the small blind and he raised to 4,800. Grafton peeled from the big blind to see a [jh][8c][5d] flop where he faced a 6,000 c-bet. He responded by raising to 12,300 and calling Parton's shove.

Parton: [ac][as]
Grafton: [jd][qc]

Parton was in great shape to double up but the board ran out [9h][ts] to make Grafton an unlikely straight. "Unlucky, bud. Really unlucky," said Grafton with an out-stretched hand. He moved up to 105,000. -- MC

3:25pm: Have a craic at qualifying for Dublin
Max SIlver, Joeri Zandvliet, Richard Evans, you? The next UKIPT event takes place in Dublin between February 27th and March 3rd and you could be the next UKIPT Dublin champion, qualifiers are running now...

#UKIPT Dublin sats are here! Qualify for as little as €1.10; 4 seats up for grabs tonight. Head to Events>More>UKIPT on @PokerStars for more

— UKI Poker Tour (@UKIPT) January 18, 2014

3:15pm: Bust outs
Just 114 players remain as the following players have all been eliminated recently: Chris Wood, William Elliot, Ross Elliott, Andrew Moore, Dara O'Kearney, Brian Tannerhill, David Nicol, Ross Hamilton, Michael Lewis, Keith Douglas, Robert Swikker, Michael Bourke, Andrew Abernethy, Andreas Høgh, Lewis Barber, Richard Evans, Sean Prendiville, Dominic O'Brien, Kay Wookey, Stephen O'Dwyer, Mikko Väisänen, Stephen Burke, George Phiniotis, David Lloyd, Antony Hallam, Milan Stanislav, Julian Thew and Barry Blackwood. -- NW

3:10pm: Vamplew woes not as bad as O'Dwyer's
David Vamplew lost a couple of small pots on the bounce to drop to less than 125,000, but that's a whole lot better than O'Dwyer's zero.

O'Dwyer lost a big flip to Michael Kane, with pocket queens versus ace-king. O'Dwyer will most likely seen in the High Roller tournament later.

Kane used those chips to barrel Vamplew off a hand. The action was four-way to a [2d][Kd][4h] flop and only Vamplew called Kane's 5,000 bet. The former EPT champion called another 10,000 on the [6s] turn but admitted defeat when faced with a 25,000 bet on the [ac] river. Kane moved up to 123,000.

The next hand Vamplew opened to 3,200 before tank-folding to Andrew Hulme's 35,000 shove. -- MC

2:55pm: Big pot for Boeree
My thanks to Richard for telling the Blog the action up until the river in the following hand...

It was Blacklock himself who got the action started, raising to 3,200 from under-the-gun, he picked up calls from Milan Šašek (hijack), Neil Raine (cut-off) and Liv Boeree (big blind).

On the [Jc][9c][9d] flop Blacklock checked, Šašek bet 4,800 and Boeree was the only caller. The [4s] fell on the turn Šašek bet 11,800 and Boeree again check-called. The [7d] completed the board again Boeree checked, Šašek fired a third barrel, this time 22,200, Boeree responded by moving all-in for roughly 70,500.

With action back on Šašek the Czech PokerStars Qualifier went deep into the tank, checking and re-checking his hand before eventually electing to fold. He's down to 144,000 whilst Boeree climbs to roughly 152,000. -- NW

2:45pm: Chattha takes quiet line
Sunny Chattha moved up to around 70,000 after he almost flopped a royal flush. He decided on the cautious/trappy line when the board paired though.

His 3,200 raise from second position was called by Nicolas Cardyn (button) and Viktor Leonov (small blind). The flop came [9d][qd][ad] and all three players checked to the [qs] turn where Cardyn bet 5,400 when the action was checked to him.

Only Chattha called to the [4d] river where both players checked. A sheepish looking Chattha opened [kd][td] and scooped the pot as Cardyn mucked. The Frenchman dropped to 62,000. -- MC

2:25pm: Chip leaders
As level 11 gets underway these players are the chip leaders from the 144 players who remain:

Ondrej Drozd - 231,200
Andrew Niven - 176,000
Leon Louis - 168,000
David Vamplew - 165,000
Patrick Weifels - 160,000
Vytenis Salickas - 158,000
Adam Picken - 155,000
Thomas Hall - 145,500
Francisco Minguez - 140,000
Thomas Ward - 140,000
Daniel Charlton - 138,500
Alan Brown - 133,500
Ludovic Geilich - 131,000
James Williams - 125,000

2:20pm: Whatever the stakes, O'Dwyer is your man
Before UKIPT Edinburgh, Steve O'Dwyer was last seen at the PCA playing the $100,000 buy in Super High Roller Event, the $10,000 Main Event and the $25,000 High Roller Event.

The PokerStars Blog caught up with him in the break to see how he's adjusting to playing a smaller buy in event and how he's coping with being a short stack on Day 2.

"I love the game. No matter what the stakes, I try my hardest. It's different playing much lower stakes with a different type of field but I enjoy everything no matter where I am. I just enjoy everything."

"I started with 9,600 and I've got 53k now! I'm running pretty good though; I got lucky with ace-king against kings. I'm happy!"

2:10pm: Exits
These players failed to make the first break of the day as: Gary Bertram, Wai Kiat Lee, Erik Mertens, Robert Balaz, Paul Febers, Lloyd Muir, Steven Heron, Jiri Adamek, Gergő Kovács, Milorad Dobrijevic, James Bott, Lorenc Boci, Emrah Yildiz, Ellie Biessek, Mohamed Dawood Anuar, Benjamin Picken, Erdim Koz, Garry Smith, Stephen Docherty, Oliver Schaffmann, David Phelan, Gareth Derbyshire, Ross Loggie, Sven Wendt and Daniiar Bakchiev are all out. -- NW

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 800-1,600, 200 ante

2:02pm: Break it up in there
The remaining players are having their first 20-minute break of the day.

2pm: Ferguson felled
"At least they're suited," said a very short stacked Andrew Ferguson as he stood up. He was all-in with [7h][2h] for a few thousand and up against Michael Kane's [Qs][9c].

The [js][kh][7d] flop was a decent one for Ferguson, but Kane took the lead on the [Qc] turn and the [Ac] river kept him in front. -- NW

1:50pm: Derrick Downed
Chris Derrick had three deep runs in the UKIPT in 2013, with one final table, but 2014 hasn't gotten off to the same start.

He open shoved for 12,600 from the cut-off before Nathan Davies moved all in from the small blind and Anthony Galloway called all in for 21,400 from the big blind.

Derrick: [ad][4d]
Davies: [ac][9s]
Galloway: [3d][3c]

The board ran [js][4s][3h][8c][jh] to make Galloway a set for a near triple up. Derrick wished everyone luck before he departed and Davies dropped to 30,500. -- MC

1:40pm: Selected chip counts
Mickey Petersen - 73,000
Tom Hall - 116,000
Leon Louis - 110,000
Ludovic Geilich - 76,000
David Docherty - 39,000
Richard Evans - 60,000
Sean Prendiville - 20,000
Sam Grafton - 70,000
Julian Thew - 22,000
Daniel Charlton - 123,000
Thomas Ward - 150,000
Emmett Mullin - 85,000
Tim Slater - 45,000
Andrew Ferguson - 24,000

Andrew Hulme - 27,000
David Vamplew - 144,000
Steve O'Dwyer 32,000
Kevin Allen - 37,000
Andrew Teng - 34,000
Nicholas Newport - 47,000
David Lappin - 26,000
Ben Jenkins - 60,000
Dermot Blain - 54,000
Dean Lyall - 80,000
Dominik Nitsche - 55,000
Jon Lundy - 105,000
Liv Boeree - 124,000
Neil Raine - 41,000
Dara O'Kearney - 34,000

1:25pm: Adeniya defeated despite being dominant
Martins Adeniya has been eliminated despite getting his chips in good.

The pot opened with a raise from Daniel Charlton before the Full Tilt Poker tour ambassador shoved from the small blind. Ross Hamilton was in the big blind with [kh][qs] and shoved as well. Charlton called with ace-king and soon saw Adeniya had the same hand.

The dealer fanned a [5d][9h][qd][9s][6s] board so send Adeniya packing. Hamilton rocketed up to 95,000 with his lucky break. -- MC

1:10pm: Exits
A few exits to tell you about...

First Mickey Petersen eliminated Sung Hee Yun. The latter was all-in pre-flop for around 7,000 with [10c][7c] and in bad shape against Petersen's [Kc][6c] which even had her suit covered. That would prove crucial as the [2c][5d][3c][2s][5c] board gave them both a flush.

Elsewhere, Kevin Killeen was all-in for 17,000 with [6s][6c] against Michael Kane's [Qc][Qd]. The dominating pair held up on the [3d][2c][10c][2h][As] board.

Also out are: Christopher Thomson, Andrew Hawksby, Ryan Hutchison, Jordan Wong, Rupert Elder, David Chau, Marc Foggin, Fraser Macintyre, Jon Warmerdam, Alexander Tong and John Thain. -- NW

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

1pm: Would Thew believe it?
Julian Thew has dropped just below 10,000 after he was unlucky against Viktor Leonov after a pre flop all in showdown.

Frederico Silva opened to 2,000 from early position and was flat called by Leonov in mid position before Thew raised to 4,200 from the big blind. Silva folded but Leonov shoved for 29,200. Call.

Thew: [qh][qc]
Leonov: [ah][qd]

The board ran [kc][7d][th][jh][3h] to make Leonov a straight.

Thew hardly reacted as he paid out his opponent and assessed the damage to his stack. -- MC

12:45pm: Twitter update
So much goes on at the start of a Day 2 that it's impossible to catch it all. Thankfully twitter is on to hand to help.

The blog noticed that Steve O'Dwyer was up to 20,000, double his start of day 9,600. It seems he got a boost from eliminating Ian LeBruce.

@UKIPT @PokerStarsBlog awkward when you bust before you say cards are in the air...! (Shoved A8 into @steveodwyer's AA!) gl gl all!

— Ian LeBruce (@LeBruce) January 18, 2014

Dara O'Kearney won a big flip late last night and has won another one early today. The Dan he refers to is Dan Wilson.

67k. Still flipping well. Aqs>tt to knock out Dan. Gg #UKIPTedinburgh

— Dara O'Kearney (@daraokearney) January 18, 2014

And Jon Lundy, who got off to a good start today, is not liking his table draw.

Stupid table! Lyall, nitsche (probs spelt wrong), Blaine! All have pos on me #ukiptedinburgh @PokerVIP

— Jonathan Lundy (@JonPokerVIP) January 18, 2014

12:40pm: Woods chopped down
Poker journalist Dave Woods has been eliminated by Day 1A chip leader Leon Louis in a flip.

Lois opened to 2,000 from early position and called after Woods shoved for 21,000 from mid position. Call.

Louis: [as][ks]
Woods: [3c][3s]

The board ran a Louis friendly [kc][8c][7d][6d][kc].

"You've got to win your flips," said Woods, who busted in his first all in of the tournament. Louis moved up to145,000.-- MC

12.35pm: Exits
As per usual a lot of players have exited in the opening 30 minutes of Day 2. Louis Salter, Keith Hawkins, Daniel Wilson, Katja Svendsen, David Gallagher, Saman Ziarati, David Shallow, Magnus Martin, Donald Koh, Stuart Giulian, James Metcalf, Ian Le Bruce, Danny McHugh, David Price, Paul Delaney and Dan Rankin are all out. -- NW

12.25pm: Lundy loving life
At the start of play Jon Lundy had a very healthy almost double average stack of 83,300, he's now in the six-figure club after eliminating Steven Turner. With a complete board of [5d][Js][Jh][3d][2s] and over 20,000 in the pot, Lundy set Turner in for his final 18,000.

The PokerStars Qualifier mulled over the decision for a while before dropping his stack over the line, Lundy rolled over [Ah][Jd], Turner nodded to indicate it was good and flashed pocket nines before exiting the stage.

He's not the only early casualty on Day 2 as Ewan Le Marquand, Nicholas Lynn and Andrew Good are all out. -- NW

12:15pm: Sneaky Sunny doubles up
Sunny Chattha got the start he was after by sneakily playing pocket jacks.

David Gallagher opened to 2,500 from early position and was flat called by Chattha in the small blind before Ryan Hutchison squeezed to 8,000 from the big blind. Gallagher called the raise but Chattha surprised them both by moving all in for 47,400.

Hutchison took his time and moved in as well, which was enough to oust Gallagher.

Chattha: [jd][jc]
Hutchison: [ad][kc]

The board ran [qd][js][7s][3d][Qc] to make Chattha a full house. Hutchison dropped below 20,000. -- MC

12:05pm: Table 13: Unlucky for most
Steve O'Dwyer and Ian LeBruce were two of the shortest stacks coming back today with less than ten thousand. Being drawn at the following table would have hardly filled them with fresh optimism:

Seat 1. Pat Murray - 29,400
Seat 2. Andrew Hulme - 23,900
Seat 3. Andrew Ferguson - 32,700
Seat 4. Kevin Killeen - 10,000
Seat 5. Michael Kane - 39,000
Seat 6. David Vamplew - 146,200
Seat 7. Stephen O'Dwyer - 9,600
Seat 8. Andrew Hall - 31,700
Seat 9. Ian LeBruce - 3,800

Good luck one and all! -- MC

12.01pm: Cards in the air
Action is underway bang on time. -- NW

12pm: Day 2, the day of doom
If Day 1 was a gentle introduction to this tournament Day 2 is anything but. Of the 427 players who came to Edinburgh 202 remain, that means 47% of the field are still in. By the end of the day roughly 45 players will remain meaning almost 80% of the remaining field will be culled today.

For the majority of those their efforts will be in vain as they'll leave empty handed, but with 63 players getting paid, for some their loss of chips will come with financial recompense.

One player who'll be expecting to still be around for Day 3 is David Vamplew. The EPT7 London winner is top of the all-time Scotland tournament winnings list and is also top of the UKIPT4 Edinburgh field. His stack of 146,200 means he's the only player left who has a stack bigger than what the average stack will be when the money bubble bursts (135.500).

Other players hoping to turn big stacks into big cash include: Leon Louis (122,700), Thomas Ward (119,000) and Team PokerStars Pro Liv Boeree (115,000). Whilst Mickey Petersen (69,500) also flies the Red Spade and Ludovic Geilich (96,500), Emmett Mullin (82,000) and Richard Evans (19,200) are chasing a second UKIPT title.

Play is about to start, strap yourself in for eight more levels of action, you can see the seat draw right here. We expect the money bubble to burst late in level 14 or during level 15.

PokerStars Blog reporting team at PokerStars UKIPT Edinburgh: Marc Convey and Nick Wright. Photos by Rene Velli.

9:10pm: Play ends for the day
No more players busted through the last four hands. A full wrap of the day's play will be up on the blog shortly.

9:03: Last four hands
The last four hands will be played at each table and then play is over for the night.

9:02pm: Boeree busts Raine
Team PokerStars Pro Liv Boeree and Neil Raine were the two smallest stacks at their table and they went to war in a pre flop all in showdown.

Boere opened ace-jack and flopped a jack to eliminate Raine and his pocket eights. -- MC

9pm: Huge cooler, huge pot
Patrick Weifels must've felt untouchable a while ago, as he was clear chip leader. Then he lost a pot and gave up the chip lead at his table to Jonathan Lundy. Then the two of them clashed in the biggest pot of the tournament. It left Weifels holding his head in his hands and Lundy as massive end of day chip leader.

Lundy raised from under the gun and was called by Weifels in the next seat before Nicolas Cardyn squeezed from the button. Lundy responded by four-betting and then Weifels moved his big stack all in!

Cardyn folded but Lundy said good luck and called.

Lundy: [as][kh]
Weifels: [ac][kd]

The two players smiled at each other, expecting a chop. Then the dealer flew through the board and delivered [ac][js][8s][6s][9s].

She dealt at such speed that it took a few seconds for it to sink in that Lundy had made a flush. In less than a level, Weifels had gone from clear chip leader to out. He looked distraught and understandably so. Lundy hand a mound of chips to count but he could have more than 750,000 chips. -- MC

8:50pm: Williams wakes up with a monster
The tournament is stuck on 40 players remaining after another double up. James Williams was the beneficiary in a cold hand that cost Andrew Teng.

The action folded around to Teng in the small blind and he raise-called Williams' 88,500 shove from the big blind.

Teng: [8s][8d]
Williams: [kh][kd]

The board ran [9c][2c][js][3h][as].

Williams said he saw a king and was ready to go, before he saw the other one too! Teng dropped to 110,000. -- MC

8:40pm: Weifels can lose
Patrick Weifels is human after all and is able to lose chips. The chip leader doubled up Vytenis Salickas to drop back to 320,000 chips - still a very big stack.

Salickas opened to 10,000 and then moved all in for 88,500 after Weifels three-bet to 24,000 from the button. Call.

Weifels: [Qh][Qd]
Salickas: [6h][6d]

The board ran [js][7h][9c][2d][kd]. -- MC

8:20pm: Big slick no good for Leonov; fours no good for Spence
Viktor Leonov found big slick but ran into aces to bust.

Chip leader Patrick Weifels opened from under the gun and called after shoved from the button.

Leonov: [as][ks]
Weifels: [ac][ad]

The board ran [jd][6d][2s][td][kd] to see Weifels hand hold up. He's up to an impressive 440,000.

Moments later, Aaron Spence made his move with pocket fours, but was called by an opponent holding pocket eights. The board ran [ah][qh][6h][7d][ad] to send him home. -- MC

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 2,500/5,000, 500 ante

8.05pm: Chip counts
Below are the chip counts of some of the players left in...

Tom Hall - 125,000
Sam Grafton - 75,000
Daniel Charlton - 315,000
Tim Finne - 132,000
Nicos Nicolaou - 325,000
Arron Fletcher - 210,000
Patrick Weifels - 375,000
Thomas Ward - 70,000

Nicolas Cardyn - 145,000
Mickey Petersen - 110,000
David Lappin - 105,000
Andrew Niven - 295,000
Caicai Huang - 203,000
Liv Boeree - 70,000
Andrew Teng - 195,000
James Williams - 68,000
Neil Raine 138,000

8pm: Charlton snookers Louis
Day 1A chip leader Leon Louis has just been knocked out, but he got it in good against Daniel Charlton.

The latter opened to 8,500 from the cut-off, Louis three-bet to 21,000 on the button, Charlton set Louis in for what looked like somewhere over 100,000 but less than 130,000 and Louis made the call.

Charlton: [As][Jc]
Louis: [Ad][Qs]

The [Js][5c][7h][4c][10h] board meant Charlton hit his kicker to kick Louis out of the tournament and climb to 315,000. -- NW

7:55pm: Newport falls down in 54th
It was a battle of the flush draws between Nicolas Newport and Ronni Borg although, the chips did all go in pre flop.

Newport moved all in for his last 36,000 from early position and Borg followed him in for not much more, from the cut-off.

Newport: [ac][kc]
Borg: [as][ts]

The board ran [js][9c][3s][Jc][2s] to make Borg a flush. -- MC

7.45pm: Packed full of talent
"What a line-up we've got here," said Sam Grafton as Mickey Petersen wandered over to take his seat a couple to the right of Grafton.

And the Londoner is right, Petersen now occupies the five seat, Tim Finne is in seat six, Grafton in seat seven, Daniel Charlton is in seat eight and Leon Louis is in seat one!. -- NW

7.35pm: More exits
Short stacks who clung on to make the money are now trying to double up to make more money. Not all of them are being successful in their endeavor though...

Russell Wood moved all-in for 18,000 from early position with [As][Kc] and David Lapping looked him up from the big blind with [Kd][10d]. The [4h][8c][Jh][9s][7s] board giving Lappin a straight - he's up to 82,000.

And Dean Lyall was almost all-in in the big blind so he put in his final 2,000 with [Ks][Jd] which was still less than Chris Gordon's open with [Ad][Qh]. The latter's hand held on the [3h][6d][10c][Qs][Qd] board to send Lyall out.

54 remain. -- NW

7.30pm: First three in the money, but out
We expected a lot of all ins after the bubble burst and the players didn't disappoint.

Adam Picken went in 63rd after he three-bet shoved from the big blind with [ac][kd]. Andrew Teng had raised from the button with [td][9d], called, and hit on the [3s][2d][4d][Ts][2s] board.

Next to go was Gerard Hickey. He flopped two-pair with ace-eight but, unfortunately for him, David Stonehouse had pocket aces for top set and took all his chips.

Whilst this hand was playing out, Matthew Ireland was busy getting eliminated in 61st place a few tables down. -- MC

7.15pm: Carl Falconer bubbles UKIPT Edinburgh
The players are in the money here in Edinburgh as Carl Falconer has bubbled this event in semi-brutal fashion.

He moved all-in from the button for 14,000 with [Ad][6c] and Ashiq Abdullah made the call from the big blind with [3h][2h]. The [8d][Jh][4s] flop was safe enough for Falconer but the [5h] turn gave Abdullah maximum outs going to the river. And the river was the [3s] giving him the winning hand.

The two players shook hands and Falconer left the table. -- NW

7.10pm: Hand for hand play resumes
Here are the top six stacks with play still on the bubble:

Patrick Weifels - 360,000
Ondrej Drozd - 310,000
Nicos Nicolaou - 280,000
Andrew Niven - 261,000
Frederico Silva - 255,000
Dean Hutchison - 245,000

Blinds up: 2,000/4,000, 500 ante

6:50pm: Break time
It's going to be a long 15 minutes for the short stacks, the players are now on break. -- NW

6:45pm: Heaney gets a double up
Ciaran Heaney is the latest player to double up on the bubble...

Pre-flop he opened to 6,000 in early position and Jason Beazley called from the button. The [Kd][7d][8c] flop was checked through and the [Js] landed on the turn, Heaney bet 18,500 and Beazley made the call. The [5h] completed the board, Heaney checked, Beazley set him all-in for 81,700 and Heaney called.

There then followed a few minutes where hands at the other tables had to be completed before the cards could be exposed, when the time came Beazley showed [Jc][7c] for two-pair but Heaney had pocket jacks for the turned set. -- NW

6:30pm: Picken and Galloway survive
There have already been two all-in and calls on the bubble. Here's what happened...

First Adam Picken moved all-in for 8,800 with pocket kings and picked up a call from Milan Šašek, who held [Ac][Qs]. The [2h][6c][2d] board kept him in front. "Deuce on the turn," whispered Thomas Ward behind me and indeed the [2c] fell on the turn meaning another on the river would counterfeit Picken's pair. But the river was the [9h] meaning hie survived.

On another table Thomas Galloway three-bet shoved for 36,400 with [Kc][Qs], Patrick Weifels was the original raiser and he called the extra with [5d][3d]. The [2c][Jc][4h][Qc][5h] board ruled in Galloway's favour and the bubble continues. -- NW

6:15pm: Nitsche, Blain and Vamplew all bust
Three big names, three exits just before the bubble.

Dominik Nitsche was the first to go, according to his tablemates Nitshce called a raise with A-10 after Caicai Huang opened with A-4. She bet all three streets of a A-K-4-A-J board and Nitsche called all-in on the river.

As for Vamplew he shoved around 55,000 with pocket sevens but ran into the aces of Chris Gordon. And Blain had previously doubled up Vamplew to leave himself with just over a big blind. That went in with [8s][3s] against Ho Yin Lee's [Kh][Qd]. The [Js][7s][4h][2d][9c] board just about missing Blain to cause his demise.

Their exits mean we're now on the bubble. -- NW

6:10pm: Bamber and others depart
Andrew Niven saw his stack hit 180,000 after he eliminated John Bamber.

Bamber was short and shoved with [ah][qh] but was unfortunate to run into Niven's [ks][kc]. The board ran [ac][kd][8c][7s][6c].

Also out are: Dominik Nitsche, Dominic Davidson, Benjamin Bauer, Waheed Ashraf and Bayazit Zorlu. -- MC

6:05pm: Carter got
Graham Carter is the latest player to bust, he shoved for around 30,000 from the small blind with [qc][8c] and ran into Nicos Nicolaou's [As][Jc] in the big blind. The [10h][4d][9d][Kc][3d] keeping Nicolaou in front. -- NW

5:55pm: Exits
We're down to 73 players here in Edinburgh, Manig Loeser, Brent Burnett and Robert Schulz the latest to fall. -- NW

Blinds up: 1,5000/3,000, 400 ante

5:45pm: Boeree and Lappin fold; Vamplew shoves
Some snippets from the stage...

After Milan Šašek raised to 4,800, Liv Boeree three-bet to 13,000 on the button and Šašek made the call. They checked all the way to the river on a [2s][8s][Jd][8c][4d] board at which juncture Šašek bet 14,400. Boeree gave him a good stare down but eventually folded.

One table along Dominik Nitsche opened to 5,000 but folded when David Vamplew moved all-in for roughly 40,000. And on table one David Lappin opened to 5,500 from the small blind and Ronni Borg made the call. On the [8s][Jd][Jh] flop Lappin c-bet 6,100 and Borg called. On the [9s] turn Lappin checked, Borg bet 8,100 and Lappin folded. -- NW

5:35pm: Allen and Turnball Depart
Kevin Allen admitted he'd been shoving all day, so wasn't too disappointed when he was eliminated.

He three-bet all in for around 45,000 after Dean Hutchison opened. Call.

Hutchison: [kc][ks]
Allen: [7h][7s]

The board ran [5d][4d][qd][3c][9s]. Hutchison moved up to 190,000.

Seconds later, Andrew Turnbull departed. His ace-ten faired badly against Tom Hall's ace-king. Hall's stack moved up to 250,000. -- MC

5:20pm: Grafton gets a double; Finne doesn't win
I joined the action to see Sam Grafton (big blind) all-in for 41,500 with [9h][9d] and Daniel Charlton (under-the-gun) having raise/called with [5d][5c]. The [Ac][6c][6s][Jc][10d] board kept Grafton in front and he doubled. He and Charlton are clearly friends and he gave him a bit of a ribbing for his call. "I suppose I could've fours," said Grafton, before adding. "What kind of strategy is, "I'll give you a spin."

It was all good natured though, Grafton now up to 85,000, Charlton down to 135,000.

On the table behind them Tim Finne and Yiannis Liperis were involved in a hand. I don't know exactly when the money went in but Finne was sending 24,500 the way of Liperis. The board was [jd][6c][10h][Kc][2s], Liperis had [Ac][Qc], Finne [Ac][Kh]. Given that Liperis has 100,000 and Finne 65,000 it clearly wasn't an all-in pre-flop hand. -- NW

5:10pm: Bubble Psychology
With the tournament around 15 spots from the money, it's likely that certain players will try to make moves to accrue chips, leveraging on the financial psychology of the situation.

Dominik Nitsche tried such a move but Ho Yin Lee picked him off.

They were heads up to the river where a [kc][4c][7h][ks][4h] board rested. Lee bet 11,000 from the button and faced a raise to 35,000 from the big blind from Nitsche. Lee called with [jd][4d] beating Nitsche and his [8h][7d].

Lee's stack rose to 160,000, whereas Nitsche's dropped to 95,000.

Neil Raine may have been trying the same thing on Liv Boeree. He wasn't looked up though. They were heads up to the turn of a [ks][5s][kh][7h] board and Raine bet 20,000. Call. On the [8h] river Raine shoved for around 80,000 and Boeree quickly folded, preserving her 125,000-stack. -- MC

4:55pm: Chip leaders
During the break tournament staff did a comprehensive chip count of everyone left in. We'll be flowing that in to our chip count page shortly.

But as a taster I can tell you that Patrick Weifels (272,000), Arron Fletcher (247,000) and Paul Kerr (240,000) are the top three. And that Andrew Hulme, Ludovic Geilich and Majid Iqbal have all gone out in level 13. -- NW

4:50pm: Blain not disappearing anywhere soon
Full Tilt Poker Tour Ambassador Dermot Blain has been making steady progress here on Day 2. He does find himself at a tricky table though with the bubble fast approaching. He had a word with the Blog during the second break of the day.

"My day's going pretty good. I came back with 44k, lost a flip early with king-queen against tens, so wasn't looking good then. I went on a heater though and went from 20k to 120k. I've got 100k now after getting caught making a small bluff, but it's all good."

"The two players either side of me (David Vamplew and Dominik Nitsche) are two of the best players left in the tournament, so I won't be getting too out of line. I have a stack that will serve me well, I'll have to reassess if I drop down to around 60,000. I'm not playing to go crazy on the bubble; I'll just play hands with value. " -- MC

4:40pm: Bubble approaching, just 85 remain
As level 13 gets underway it will prove to be unlucky for a number of players. That's because 85 remain and just 63 will get paid. The bubble shouldn't burst in this level but in level 14 or 15.

For the following players though their tournament is already over: Richard Blacklock, Sunny Chattha, Andrew Parton, Andrew Hedley, Mark Hawks, Andrew Laurie, Emmett Mullin, Tim Slater, Padraig McDonagh, Josef Šnejberg, David Docherty, Marius Øvretveit, Paul Corrigan, Andrew Hall, Jonathan Lynas, Richard Pearson, Paul Campbell, Colin Gillon, Rohil Chavda, David Wilkes, Dave Wearing, Kaida Zhao, Craig Sayers, David McGlone and Sam Laurence. -- NW

PokerStars Blog reporting team at PokerStars UKIPT Edinburgh: Marc Convey and Nick Wright. Photos by Rene Velli.

The second day of a UKIPT is always the one that shapes the tournament as around 80% of the players who navigate their way through Day 1 fail to make Day 3. By the end of play a stack that would've been good for the Day 1 chip lead is about 50% of the average Day 3 stack. So it's not surprising that often the end of Day 2 chip leader wasn't even 'on the radar' at the start of day.

And so it proved today as Jon Lundy had a Super Saturday to lead the remaining field of 36 with a stack of 771,000. The 26-year-old Geordie is known within the poker community as one of the true grinders and puts many a full-time players volume to shame. "I relocated to Edinburgh in August to take a job in the poker industry, but still manage to put in 100,000 hands a month playing 16 tables of cash at the same time."

Today he showed that he wasn't too shabby when just playing one table, Lundy had come into the day with 83,300 and was in 16th chip position. However, he didn't get off to the best start as he was drawn on the same table as Dermot Blain, Dean Lyall and soon had Dominik Nitsche for company. "It was impossible, it was a super tough table, " he told the PokerStars Blog. "Fortunately I moved tables as I was the next big blind, that was a lucky break."

Halfway through the day he was still struggling though as he was in 60th place of the 85 remaining players. "I managed to chip up on the bubble to 180,000," said Lundy but his second lucky break wouldn't come until 15 minutes from the end of play. In a five-bet all-in pre-flop pot Lundy clashed with Patrick Weifels, who was the second biggest stack at his table. They both had ace-king but crucially Lundy had the ace of spades, four spades on board saw him win a monster pot and send Weifels to the rail.

He wasn't the only one to perform the chip trick of exponentially growing your stack on Day 2 but he has a big chip lead from Ondrej Drozd (425,000), Ben Glanton (375,000), Michael Kane (363,000) and David Stonehouse (365,000) who round out the top five.

Players of the caliber of: Timothy Finne (205,000), Sam Grafton (163,000), Tom Hall (113,000), James Williams (109,000), Nicolas Cardyn (95,000) and Andrew Teng (93,000) might not have big stacks but they are all still in the mix.

As for Team PokerStars, both Mickey Petersen and Liv Boeree were in action today and they'll both be in action tomorrow.

For Boeree, who came in fifth in chips, you suspected her competitiveness would mean she'd be downbeat with a day that saw her start with 115,000 and end with 150,000. But after a buoyant last level in which she busted Neil Raine she was in high spirits. "I'm really happy, I was card dead the entire day and missed a bunch of flush draws," she told the Blog. "I'm super happy I was hanging in there and now I have a playable stack."

As we saw last year when Nicolau Villa-Lobos went from worst to first at the final table whilst you're still in, you've still got a shot.

As for Petersen, his day seemed to progress more smoothly, even if he never reached the heights of Boeree, he was, until the end at least also spared the lows. Nonetheless, he'll be coming back for his third UKIPT Day 3 in a row tomorrow. He finished 32nd in Isle of Man and 36th in Nottingham. Having already equaled his performance in Nottingham he'll be hoping his 99,000 will carry him further tomorrow. That stack equates to around 15 big blinds, the perfect stack for an 'online' player surely?

One of the headlines on any Day 2 of the UKIPT is the bubble. We reached that stage late in level 14 - the sixth level of the day - Adam Picken, Thomas Galloway and Ciaran Heaney all doubled up on the bubble before Carl Falconer became the 64th place finisher. His 3.5 big blind shove with [Ad][6s] was called by Ashiq Abdullah with [3h][2h]. A three on the river sent Falconer home empty handed.

They say there's a curse of the chip leader in poker tournaments, in that the player who leads after Day 1 never goes on to win the tournament. It struck again in Edinburgh, Day 1B chip leader David Vamplew endured a torrid time of it today and was out before the money kicked in. Whilst Day 1A top dog Leon Louis fared a little better before getting knocked in 51st place, good for £2,230.

Part of the problem for Vamplew today was that he found himself on two tough tables, however some of his toughest opponents that he faced today suffered the same fate as he did: Steve O'Dywer, Dominik Nitsche and Dermot Blain were a trio of top players to be left potless. Whilst elsewhere Ben Jenkins, Dara O'Kearney, Richard Evans, Emmett Mullin, Keith Hawkins, Dave Shallow, Martins Adeniya and Julian Thew also busted before the money.

Whilst Neil Raine (37th, £2,570), Caicai Huang (42nd, £2,230), David Lappin (44th, £2,230), Tom Ward (45th, £2,230), Nicholas Newport (54th, £2,230) and Dean Lyall (55th, £2,230) all cashed but crashed out before the end of the day.

That's all from us on Day 2, to catch up on all of today's action, or to see the overnight chips counts, the payouts so far and tomorrow's seat draw click on the links below:

Levels 9-12
Levels 13-16
Chip counts
Payouts
Seat Draw

All photos are copyright of Rene Velli

12:50pm: Flips cost Sasek and Teng
They say you have to win flips to win tournaments. Milan Sasek and Andrew Teng tried that but it didn't work out well for them.

Sasek didn't even have a sweat post flop as Michael Kane flopped him dead with [ad][jc]. Sasek had pocket fives and the board ran [ac][Js][Jd][Qs][4s] to make Kane a full house. He moved up to 520,000.

Soon after, Andrew Teng told the Blog that he put his last 110,000 in with king-queen but failed to hit versus an opponent's pocket tens.

Thirty players remain in the Main Event! --MC

12:33pm: Jacobus Visser doubles through Ben Glanton
Jacobus Visser was all-in pre-flop for 106,000 with [Kh][Kc] and up against Ben Glanton's [Ad][Qd]. The [3h][6s][3h][7c][5d] board kept Visser in front and he doubled to 225,000, whilst Glanton is down to 265,000. -- NW

12:27pm: Bad timing sees off Williams and McKay
The last thing you want to see as a player when you shove your short stack from late position is the big blind snap calling.

James Williams shoved with king-ten from the button only for Ronni Borg to wake up with pocket queens in the big blind.

A minute later, Stephen McKay shoved from the cut-off with [as][js] and was called in a flash by Nie Jianhui who looked down at [ah][ac] in the big blind. He called and survived the [2s][3d][Jc][8s][th]. -- MC

12:15pm: Hall and Davies both bust
Two early exits to tell you about...

In the first Tom Hall shoved for roughly 110,000 from the button with [Qs][Jd] and Sindre Haugen looked him up from the big blind with [As][10d]. The Norwegian held on a [4h][3s][8c][5h][8s] board and yet another deep run by the 10th place finisher at this year's PCA came to an end.

On an adjacent table Daniel Charlton raised to 13,000 with [3c][3h] and called when Nathan Davies shoved for 64,000 with [10c][10s]. The shortstack was ahead to the river of a [4c][6h][8s][2c][3d] board when Charlton spiked a set.

Both players collect £2,570. -- NW

12:01pm: Shuffle up and deal!
Cards are in the air for Day 3 of UKIPT Edinburgh.

11:50pm: Lundy leads the way
Welcome back to the Assembly Rooms for Day 3 of UKIPT4 Edinburgh. Yesterday was all about making the money and today is all about making the final table of eight players. The remaining 36 players negotiated the bubble just fine, how far will they make it today?

An odds on favourite to make the final table is runaway chip leader, Jon Lundy. The Geordie won a huge pot at the death last night to bag up a near three-times average, 771,000. He eliminated long-time chip leader Patrick Weifels when he four-flushed the unlucky German, both held ace-king.

The red spade of PokerStars still has two players flying the flag, both are short though. Boeree comes back with 150,000 after a late surge from a micro-stack and Mickey Petersen has slightly less with 99,000. Both had to navigate tricky periods of play yesterday and are optimistic about having an easier time of it at the tables today.

Other notables include Andrew Teng (93,000), Chris Gordon (364,000), Daniel Charlton (267,000), James Williams (109,000), Nicolas Cardyn (95,000), Sam Grafton (163,000), Tom Hall (113,000) and Tim Finne (205,000).

Cards will be in the air very shortly.

PokerStars Blog reporting team at PokerStars UKIPT Edinburgh: Marc Convey and Nick Wright. Photos by Rene Velli.

8.50pm: Overnight chip counts
Here are the overnight chip counts, Jason Beazley has a narrow lead from Team PokerStars Pro Liv Boeree. The final table starts at noon local time tomorrow and it should be a cracker.

Jason Beazley, United Kingdom, 2,300,000
Jacobus Visser , Netherlands, PokerStars Qualifier, 265,000
Ciaran Heaney, Ireland, PokerStars Qualifier, 363,000
Tomasz Raniszewski , Poland, PokerStars Qualifier, 490,000
Dean Hutchinson, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, 1,290,000
Liv Boeree, United Kingdom, Team PokerStars Pro, 2,229,000
Michael Kane, United Kingdom, 505,000
Eldon Orr, Northern Ireland, 1,136,000

8.45pm: Jon Lundy eliminated in ninth place (£8,830)
With all the short stacks shoving it was somewhat surprising that it's start of day chip leader Jon Lundy that has gone out in ninth.

He open shoved for around 450,000 with [As][Ks] and Jason Beazley called with [Jh][Jd]. The [10d][9d][7h][4s][7c] board meant Lundy was out in ninth, that Beazley is probably overnight chip leader at also that he won the Skrill last longer which is worth a further £1,100.

A wrap of the days play is on the way as are overnight chip counts. -- NW

8.35pm: Lots of all-ins, no calls
There have been at least four all-in shoves since the unofficial final table commenced. Jacobus Visser (twice), Tomasz Raniszewski and Ciaran Heaney those who've picked up chips by moving all-in. You can see all the chip counts of the final nine right here.

8.20pm: Final table re-draw
Here's the re-draw of the final nine players, players will keep these seats for the official final table.

Seat 1: Jason Beazley
Seat 2: Jacobus Visser
Seat 3: Ciaran Heaney
Seat 4: Tomasz Raniszewski
Seat 5: Dean Hutchinson
Seat 6: Liv Boeree
Seat 7: Jon Lundy
Seat 8: Michael Kane
Seat 9: Eldon Orr

With around 1,900,000 Liv Boeree has the chip lead but Jason Beazley (1,600,000) is not far behind. -- NW

8.10pm: Dean Hutchinson doubles through Jacobus Visser
I don't know how the money went in but Dean Hutchinson was all-in pre-flop for around 700,000 with [Ks][Kc] and found a willing opponent in Jacobus Visser, who held [Ac][Qh]. Yet again two black kings faded the overcard as the board ran [7c][4d][3d][8s][Qd] to double Hutchinson to around 1,400,000 and drop Visser to roughly 250,000.

The final nine players are now redrawing to the unofficial final table, when we lose one more player the final table will be set. -- NW

8.05pm: Ben Glanton eliminated in 10th place (£7,320)
After Ben Glanton opened from the cut-off, Jason Beazley three-bet from the small blind, Glanton then moved all-in for roughly 400,000 and Beazley snap called.

"I'm in trouble," said Glanton as he showed [Ah][Kh] and he was as Beazley had [Ks][Kc]. The [Jc][10c][4c][4d][Jd] board kept Beazley in front and sent Glanton to the rail. "See you all in Dublin I hope," he said as he left the table.

Meanwhile there was a hand brewing on the other table...-- NW

Blinds up: 15,000/30,000, ante 4,000

8pm: Liv Boeree takes the chip lead
What a level it has been for Liv Boeree, she started it as the shortest stack with just 170,000 and has ended it as chip leader with over 1,600,000.

As reported below she doubled up twice to reach around 800,000 but since then she's been on an absolute tear. "We're getting bullied by a girl here boys," said Michael Kane tongue firmly in cheek. But they are.

The biggest pot that she won was a blind on blind battle against Dean Hutchinson, on the turn of a [3c][2h][5d][6h] board Boeree bet 70,000 and Hutchinson check-called. The [10s] completed the board, Hutchinson checked, Boeree bet 200,000 and again Hutchinson called, but he mucked when Boeree showed [5c][4s] for the turned straight.

She's won a bunch of small pots that haven't gone to showdown too and has overtaken Eldon Orr who has around 1,450,000. -- NW

7:45pm: Ho Yin Lee Eliminated in 11th place (£7,320)
Ho Yin Lee couldn't keep surviving the amount of all ins he was putting himself through.

His final move came after Jacobus Visser raised to 51,000 and was called in two spots. He shoved for 327,000 from the big blind and was heads up after Visser shoved to isolate.

Visser: [kc][ks]
Lee: [as][3s]

The board ran [2d][kd][jd][8h][2c].

Visser moved up to more than 1.1 million -- MC

7:32pm: Lucky Liv doubles again
Liv Boeree was giddy with delight after hitting a lucky river to double up.

She open shoved for 354,000 from under the gun and was looked up by Ciaran Heaney in the big bind.

Boeree: [kh][qc]
Heaney: [qs][qh]

The board ran [8s][js][8c][ah][kd].

Boeree called for a ten on the river but jumped in delight as a king was good enough. Heany dropped to 650,000. -- MC

7.20pm: Liv Boeree doubles through Jacobus Visser
From early position Liv Boeree moved all-in for 164,000, it folded to Jacobus Visser in the big blind and he dwelled before making the call.

Boeree: [Kd][10h]
Visser: [Qh][9d]

The [Kh][10d][9h] flop had something for everyone, but the [5c] turn and [3h] kept Boeree in front and she doubled to around 350,000 which is the most she's had in the last couple of hours but is still less than half the average stack, -- NW

7.15pm: Tomasz Raniszewski doubles through Jason Beazley
From under-the-gun Jason Beazley raised to 50,000 and then called when Tomasz Raniszewski moved all-in from the big blind for 233,000.

Raniszewski: [10c][10h]
Beazley: [Ks][Qh]

The [3c][9d][8d][7d][6s] board kept the Polish player in front and he doubled to around 500,000 whilst Beazley slipped to 830,000. -- NW

7.05pm: Daniel Charlton eliminated in 12th place (£6,350)
A total cooler has seen Daniel Charlton depart in 12th place...

From under-the-gun Dean Hutchinson raised to 50,000, Charlton moved all-in for 440,000 from the button and Hutchinson made the call.

Charlton: [Js][Jh]
Hutchinson: [As][Ad]

The board ran [3s][5c][6d][3d][3h] and Charlton wished the players good luck before leaving the table. -- NW

7pm: The state of play for the remaining 12 players

Four more players need to bust before play ends for the night. The average stack at the moment is 712,000 (30bb).

Table 1:
1. Tomasz Raniszewski - 295,000
3. Jason Beazley - 1,135,000
4. Michael Kane - 332,000
5. Jon Lundy -631,000
6. Eldon Orr - 1,250,000
7. Ben Glanton - 1,050,000

Table 2:
3. Ho Yin Lee - 450,000
4. Daniel Charlton - 485,000
5. Jacobus Visser - 640,000
6. Ciaran Heaney - 1,000,000
7, Dean Hutchison - 990,000
8. Liv Boeree - 170,000

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

6.45pm: Break time
The players are on a 15-minute break.

6.44pm: Chris Gordon Eliminated in 13th place
Chris Gordon busted and made a dash for the airport to try and make his flight, which was due to leave in an hour.

He and Eldon Orr took to a [2c][qc][6s] flop before the chips went flying in.

Orr: [qh][6h] for top two pair.
Gordon: [ac][3c] for nut flush.

The board ran out [7d][th] to send the pot Orr's way. -- MC

6:35pm: Lee lives again!
It's doesn't seem to matter if Ho Yin Lee gets it in good or bad, when he's all-in he's going to win.

His latest escapade was a tale of two hands. On the first he raised to 40,000 from the cut-off from a stack of 325,000 and Ciran Heaney defended from the big blind. On the [Qc][5c][Qh] flop Lee c-bet 40,000, Heaney made it 80,000, Lee raised to 140,000 and then folded when Heaney set him all-in.

That left him with only 138,000 and it went in a couple of hands later when he found [Qh][10d], he found a willing caller in Dean Hutchison who held [Ah][7h]. The board ran [9c][Jd][4d][Ac][8h] and Lee rivered a straight, whilst Hutchinson slips to 745,000. -- NW

6:25pm: Nicos Nicolaou eliminated in 14th place (£5,580)
Nicos Nicolaou waited until he had blinded all the way down to 55,000 before he made his move, which was to be his last.

Chris Gordon opened to 40,000 before Nicolaou made his move. Jon Lundy was in the big blind and successfully isolated by raising to 120,000.

Nicolaou: [tc][8d]
Lundy: [ks][kd]

The board ran [8s][9h][ac][kh][6d] to settle the matter on the turn.

Lundy's stack grew to more than 700,000. -- MC

6:15pm: Raniszewski riding his luck
Tomasz Raniszewski has more than 300,000 now but he could have easily been out.

He found himself all in against Liv Boeree with a dominated ace but the board double paired for a chop.

Two hands later he moved all in for 146,000 and was called by Daniel Charlton.

Raniszewski: [3h][3c]
Charlton: [kc][jc]

The board ran a Pole-friendly [3d][2c][5s][6h][js]. Chartlon was left with 760,000. -- MC

6:05pm: Ho Yin Lee doubles again
It been a case of double up, lose some chips, double up, lose some chips for Ho Yin Lee the last couple of levels and he's just doubled up again.

After a raise to 40,000 from Tomasz Raniszewski, Lee shoved for 143,000 and when it got back to Raniszewski he made the call.

Lee: [Ks][Kh]
Rainszewski: [10d][10h]

It was a battle of the big pairs and the kings won as the board ran [2h][5c][7c][6d][7s]. Lee up to 300,000, Raniszewski down to 140,000. -- NW

Blinds up: 10,000/20,000, ante 3,000

5:55pm: Ashiq Abdullah eliminated in 15th place (£5,000)
Down to just 111,000 Ashiq Abdullah moved all-in from middle position with [10c][7c] and after a long tank Ciaran Heaney called from the big blind with [Kc][8d]. It proved a good one as the board came [6c][5d][As][Qh][5h] to send Abdullah to the rail. -- NW

5:40pm: Yiannis Liperis eliminated in 16th place (£5,000)
First to go from the final two tables was Yiannis Liperis and he was the victim of one of those bloody blind on blind battles.

From the small blind Ben Glanton made it 40,000 to play, Liperis shoved for roughly 200,000 and Glanton made the call.

Glanton: [Ah][Qc]
Liperis: [Ac][7h]

The [4c][Jh][Ks][6s][4h] board kept Glanton in front and he's now up to 860,000. -- NW

5:35pm: Larsen and Silver take the side event headlines

Rasmus Larsen and Max Silver have gotten in to steal the headlines before the Main Event has a chance to crown a champion and claim the most glory.

The £2,000 buy in High Roller Event attracted 26 unique players with eight re-entries, helping to create a £68,000 prize pool. Team PokerStars Pro Jake Cody bubbled the event in seventh before his good buddy Jamie Sykes lost heads up to Larsen. Here are the full results:

1st. Rasmus Larsen, Denmark - £22,430
2nd. James Sykes, United Kingdom - £15,500
3rd. Kenny Broad, United Kingdom - £9,900
4th. Aleksandras Voisnis, Lithuania - £7,580
5th. Stephen Teatum, United Kingdom - £5,930
6th. Leonard Readle, United Kingdom - £4,620

Somebody try and stop Max Silver, we dare you!

His amazing run of form shows no sign of slowing down after he took down the Edinburgh cup for £10,280.

The £300 buy in event attracted 127 unique players with 25 re-entries, helping to create a £46,600 prize pool. Here's how the final table finished:

1st. Max Silver - £10,280
2nd. Richard Pearson - £6,970
3rd. Ellie Biessek - £4,640
4th. David Maudlin - £3,800
5th. Alain Bauer - £3,050
6th. Michael Bull - £2,360
7th. Padraig McDonagh - £1,750
8th. John Thain - £1,290

5:30pm: It's a shoving game
Get your chips in first and you'll win the pot. That seems to be the name of the game right now.

Chris Gordon elected to lay down a big hand in a pot Jason Beazley and preserve the 600,000 he had behind.

The Londoner opened to 36,000 and was called in position by Beazley en route to a [tc][kc][jd] flop. Gordon checked over to Beazley who bet 59,000 and was treated to a check-raise to 156,000. Beazley's had an answer and it was to shove.

Gordon tanked for a couple of minutes before he opened folded [kh][th] for two-pair. "Good fold," said Beazley. -- MC

5:20pm: The shoving stakes
Whilst Ho Yin Lee was doubling up on table two, a couple of players were trying to do just that on table one.

Both Jon Lundy (380,000) and Yiannis Liperis (195,000) open shoved but neither got any action.

Still 16 left, you can see the current chip counts by clicking here. -- NW

5.15pm: Ho Yin Lee doubles up
We'd gone 25 minutes or so without an all-in and call - probably the longest without today - and then Ho Yin Lee got looked up by Ciaran Heaney.

Lee shoved for 102,000 - less than six big blinds - with [10c][8s] and Heaney called from the big blind with [Ah][2c]. The [6c][4c][7d] flop wasn't the worst for Lee as it gave him a double belly buster straight draw. It duly hit on the [9s] turn and it was a good job it did as the river was the [Ad].

He's up to 220,000 whilst Heaney is down to 630,000. -- NW

5pm: Play slows
All that stacking of chips into racks and moving tables must've tired the players out as the action has been slow so far this level.

One player bucking the trend was Ashiq Abdullah, who has been showing off his two handed shoving technique. He doesn't really have enough chips to justify the two-handed technique but he has fine form.

The shoves have enabled him to go from 148,000 up to 190,000. No a lot of extra chips but they all help. -- MC

4.45pm: Final two-table re-draw and chip counts
When the field got down to 16 there was a complete re-draw of those remaining, here's how they line-up and stack up

Table 1:

1. Chris Gordon - 670,000
2. Nicos Nicolaou - 440,000
3. Jason Beazley - 730,000
4. Michael Kane - 680,000
5. Jon Lundy - 440,000
6. Eldon Orr - 590,000
7. Ben Glanton - 620,000
8. Yiannis Liperis - 180,000

Table 2:

1. Ashiq Abdullah - 148,000
2. Tomasz Raniszewski - 520,000
3. Ho Yin Lee - 185,000
4. Daniel Charlton - 926,000
5. Jacobus Visser - 647,000
6. Ciaran Heaney - 750,000
7, Dean Hutchison - 445,000
8. Liv Boeree - 322,000

PokerStars Blog reporting team at PokerStars UKIPT Edinburgh: Marc Convey and Nick Wright. Photos by Rene Velli.

UKIPT Edinburgh started with nearly 50 tables across both day ones, and by Sunday evening, just one table remains. Eight players are still in with a chance of being the fourth ever champion north of the border, seven spots away from a trophy and £93,900. Who will follow in the footsteps of Nick Abou-Risk, Fintan Gavin and Nicolau Villa-Lobos?

The mathematical favourite heading into tomorrow is Jason Beazley, who bagged up 2,300,000 for the chip lead. He secured his place at the top of the leader board by bursting the final table bubble. Jon Lundy moved all in with ace-king and Beazley found jacks behind him, made the call, and survived a ten-high board. Yet again, the beginning of day chip leader failed to make it to the end of the day. Will the same fate await Beazley tomorrow?

One player who will try and seal that fate is a certain Liv Boeree. The Team PokerStars Pro had a difficult 2013 before finding renewed confidence in 2014 after her 50th place finish at the recent PCA Main Event. She'll enter the final table second in chips by just 71,000 and looks in a dangerous mood.

She was short for a day and a half but showed gritty determination and patience until fortunes turned her way. One standard, and one lucky, double up saw her get back to average, and from there she took off and bossed proceedings until the day's end.

Here's how the final table will line up:

Seat 1. Jason Beazley, United Kingdom - 2,300,000
Seat 2. Jacobus Visser , Netherlands, PokerStars Qualifier - 265,000
Seat 3. Ciaran Heaney, Ireland, PokerStars Qualifier - 363,000
Seat 4. Tomasz Raniszewski , Poland, PokerStars Qualifier - 490,000
Seat 5. Dean Hutchinson, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player - 1,290,000
Seat 6. Liv Boeree, United Kingdom, Team PokerStars Pro - 2,229,000
Seat 7. Michael Kane, United Kingdom - 505,000
Seat 8. Eldon Orr, Northern Ireland - 1,136,000

Mickey Petersen was the other representative from Team PokerStars today and he too dug his heels in and played a patient game. It took a very unlucky turn of events to ruin his day. He and Jacobus Visser both held ace-queen and played out an all in pot worth more than the average at the time. Visser's holding was both diamonds though and found three friends on the board to flush away the Dane's hopes.

Ace-queen was also good for Ciaran Heaney to bust the dangerous Tim Finne, who had made his move with ace-seven. Chris Gordon, Sam Grafton, James Williams and Tom Hall are other players that the finalists will be very glad busted before they could show off their recognised skills tomorrow.

The show resumes at midday on Monday and although Beazley and Boeree start as favourites, they won't have it all their own way. The chip lead changed hands multiple times today and may well do so tomorrow. The UKIPT Edinburgh trophy could still find a home in Holland, Poland, Northern Ireland, Rep. of Ireland or could even up here in Scotland as Michael Kane carries the host nation's hope. We think it's a final table that could blow the bloody doors off!

For now, click on the links below to catch up on all the day's action and to see who's won what, so far.

Levels 17-20.
Levels 21-24.
Prize pool and payouts.

All photos are copyright of Rene Velli. He's had a beard since he was eight so be careful of stealing his photos

1:20pm: A couple of bumps in Boeree's road
Team PokerStars Pro Liv Boeree has lost a couple of pots that went to showdown...

In the first she limped form the small blind and Eldon Orr checked his option. They both checked the [10h][10d][3c] flop and the [2d] fell on fourth street. Boeree fired out a bet of 50,000, Orr raised to 155,000 and Boeree smooth called. The [4s] completed the board, Boeree checked and Orr bet 250,000. After getting a count Boeree said: "Maybe you've got there with ace-five," before making the call, Orr showed [Qh][10c] and it was good.

An orbit later Boeree raised to 80,000 on the button and Jason Beazley defended from the big blind. The [Ah][5h][Ks] flop was checked through and the [5s] hit the turn. Boeree fired out a bet of 75,000 and Beazley called. There was no betting on the [9s] river though, "I have a nine," said Beazley, showing [Qh][9h], Boeree nodded and mucked her hand. -- NW

1:10pm: Tomasz Raniszewski eliminated in 5th place (£26,430)
Tomasz Raniszewski was very short stacked and managed to double up, but it was a short-lived reprieve.

The action folded to him in the cut-off and he moved all in for 198,000 with [kc][3c]. Eldon Orr called from the big blind with [td][8d] before the board ran [2d][6h][ks][9c][8s].

A few hands later the action folded to Raniszewski on the button and he moved all in again. Dean Huchison re-raised from the small blind and successfully isolated.

Raniszewski: [3d][3s]
Huchison: [as][qc]

The board ran [th][qh][8s][6d][7s] to pair the Scot's queen.

"Let the games begin!" shouted Huchison, to the delight of his rail. -- MC

Blinds up: 20,000/40,000, ante 5,000

12:50pm: Jacobus Visser eliminated in 6th place (£20,710)
It's a hat-trick of knockouts for Liv Boeree in under 25 minutes as she just sent Jacobus Visser to the rail in sixth place.

He shoved under-the-gun for 151,000 with [9s][6s] and Boeree made the call with [Ah][7s] from the button. The board ran [Jc][2d][Ac][Qh][Kd] and just like that we are five handed.

Since that elimination Boeree has won two small pots and now has roughly 4,000,000 of the 8,540,000 chips in play. "Relentless," said Fraser Macintyre who's watching from the rail. -- NW

12:30pm: Michael Kane eliminated in 7th place (£15,570)
Liv Boeree has passed the three million chip mark after she eliminated Michael Kane in 7th place.

The action folded around to Dean Hutchison on the button and he raised to 60,000. Boeree was in the small blind and flatted before Michael Kane moved all-in for around 500,000 from the big blind. Hutchison folded but Boeree checked Kane's stack size and called.

Kane: [qs][js]
Boeree: [as][qc]

The board ran [8c][td][4s][3d][7c].

Kane was asking for a nine but it never came. The Team PokerStars Pro set the trap perfectly pre-flop and gained all the rewards. -- MC

12:15pm: Ciaran Heaney eliminated in eighth place (£11,060)
It didn't take long for the first exit of the final table, just five minutes in fact.

From under-the-gun Liv Boeree opened to 60,000, Jason Beazley flat called from the hijack only for Ciaran Heaney to move all-in from the button for 261,000. Back on Boeree she got a count and then called, whilst Beazley folded.

Boeree: [Qh][Qc]
Heaney: [Ah][10s]

The [4s][Qs][8c] flop all but ended the hand, the [5s] turn gave Heaney flush outs but he missed them on the [4d] river. He collects £11,060 for finishing eighth, whilst Boeree now has the chip lead. -- NW

12:10pm: Cards in the air
Play is underway, there's 32 minutes and 16 seconds left in level 24. A reminder of what they're playing for.

1st. £93,900
2nd. £59,180
3rd. £42,430
4th. £33,700
5th. £26,430
6th. £20,710
7th. £15,570
8th. £11,060

12:05pm: Delayed start
With all the fanfare surrounding the final eight players, the start has been delayed. There will be 32 minutes left to play of 24 when cards are in the air.

11:30am: Beazley & Boeree head final table
It's final table day here at Assembly Rooms where the fourth ever UKIPT Edinburgh champion will be crowned.

The two players at the top of the chip counts are leading the headlines; Jason Beazley because he's in pole position and Liv Boeree because she's Liv Boeree. The Team PokerStars Pro is just 71,000 behind Beazley and came storming back into contention in the latter stages of yesterday.

Beazley also has momentum after he eliminated the dangerous Jon Ludy to snatch away the lead from Boeree, and burst the final table bubble. These two players have around half the chips in play and are the ones to catch.

If poker, and UKIPT Edinburgh specifically, has taught us anything it's do not rule out the other players. No one gave Nicolau Villa-Lobos much of a chance last year as he entered the final table languishing in last place but he proved everyone wrong and mounted a stunning comeback to claim his maiden live title.

Here are the eight contenders:

Seat 1. Jason Beazley, United Kingdom - 2,300,000
Seat 2. Jacobus Visser , Netherlands, PokerStars Qualifier - 265,000
Seat 3. Ciaran Heaney, Ireland, PokerStars Qualifier - 363,000
Seat 4. Tomasz Raniszewski , Poland, PokerStars Qualifier - 490,000
Seat 5. Dean Hutchison, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player - 1,290,000
Seat 6. Liv Boeree, United Kingdom, Team PokerStars Pro - 2,229,000
Seat 7. Michael Kane, United Kingdom - 505,000
Seat 8. Eldon Orr, Northern Ireland - 1,136,000

Play, as ever, is due to start at midday, so join us back here for all the action and talking points from what promises to be an exciting day.

When Max Silver demolished the UKIPT Dublin final table in just four hours it was a record that we didn't think we'd see broken. But today Team PokerStars Pro Liv Boere was just one card away from doing just that and winning her second major title. As it is it the river card kept Dean Hutchison alive. And two hours later, after a back and forth heads-up battle, he continued Scotland's amazing record in Season 4 of the UKIPT by becoming the fourth Scot to claim a UKIPT4 Main Event title.

Between them Boeree (five) and Hutchison (one) had eliminated every player at the final table and going into heads-up play Boeree had a 5,320,000 to 3,045,000 chip lead. It was all one way traffic to begin with as Boeree stretched out to a 6,500,000 to 1,700,000 advantage. Then came the turning point.

Hutchison three-bet all-in for 1,715,000 with [Ah][4d] and Boeree snapped him off with pocket kings. The [5d][7d][2h] flop gave Hutchison a gutshot straight draw, the [Jd] turn a flush draw and the [3c] a straight and the pot.

The chip lead changed hands on multiple occasions over the next 90 minutes before Boeree flopped top two pair only for Hutchison to turn a pair and river a better two-pair. That left Boeree with fewer than 20 big blinds and just 10 minutes later she committed them with [5c][3c] on a [4d][5s][6c] flop. A good hand for sure, just not as good as Hutchison's [6s][5d]. She got no help on the [Kc] turn or [8d] river and Hutchison's rail erupted in delight.

"If the kings hand held against A-4 it's obviously a different story." Boeree told PokerStars Blog. "At the start of heads-up I felt like I had him pegged and was confident that I was going to win. But, he adapted really well and became a lot more aggressive, which not only made him harder to play against but made it higher variance."

Today Boeree was on the wrong side of that variance, but she will be back for the next UKIPT in Dublin and is clearly hungry for more after a great start to 2014. "My top priority is winning another major title, the goal is still the Triple Crown. But a UKIPT title would've been great."

As for Hutchison, a cash game pro who freely admits he doesn't play a lot of tournaments, his previous biggest live cash wasn't even down to him and came when he was 5,700 miles away. The Scotsman is friends with, amongst others, Ludovic Geilich and had a percentage of him when he won UKIPT4 Marbella in June. Hutchison was in Las Vegas playing the WSOP at the time so wasn't there to watch his friend win. However, Geilich was on the rail today and confirmed that he had a percentage of Hutchison in this tournament.

"I decided to play at the last minute," said Hutchison. "It was a hard final table, my friend (Michael Kane) was on the final table and it was really good having a rail and their support, it'll be a great memory. At the start of heads-up my confidence was really low and she ground me down. Fortunately I got lucky with A-4 against kings, that got my confidence up."

The start of the final table saw three players eliminated in the opening 25 minutes all at the hands of Boeree. The players hadn't even got comfy by the time Ciaran Heaney departed in eighth, his [Ah][Ts] started and stayed behind Boeree's pocket queens. A few hands later and Michael Kane was feeling the same pain. His 17 big blind shove with [Qs][Js] picked off by Boeree, who had flatted Dean Hutchison's raise with [As][Qc].

And 15 minutes later the start of final table short stack, Jacobus Visser, shoved five big blinds with [9s][6s] and lost out to Boeree's [Ah][7s]. Boeree now had almost half the chips in play, whilst everyone else had picked up an extra £15,000 whilst twiddling their thumbs.

So suddenly it was a party of five, however just 20 minutes later five became four. Tomasz Raniszewski losing a flip with pocket threes against Hutchison's [As][Qc] when a queen flopped.

Four handed play lasted an eternity - well in comparison - but after 40 minutes Boeree decided she quite fancied knocking another player out. She opened with pocket eights and called Eldon Orr's 25 big blind shove. The Northern Irishman had [Ah][Ks] but the pair held up to win the classic race.

During three-handed play each player took it in turn to have the chip lead and after Dean Hutchison doubled through Jason Beazley there was just six big blinds separating the three players. It would soon go heads-up though as Boeree won another race, this time she had the [Ah][Kh] but she outflopped Beazley's pocket tens and rivered another ace for good measure. Beazley, who started the final table as chip leader, collected £42,430 for his third place finish.

Sadly, for Boeree the fairytale ending to go with the dream start didn't materialise."It was almost the perfect final table," she said.

UKIPT4 Edinburgh Final Table result:
1st. Dean Hutchison, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player - £93,900
2nd. Liv Boeree, United Kingdom, Team PokerStars Pro - £59,180
3rd. Jason Beazley United Kingdom - £42,430
4th. Eldon Orr, United Kingdom - £33,700
5th. Tomasz Raniszewski, Poland, PokerStars Qualifier - £26,430
6th. Jacobus Visser, Netherlands, PokerStars Qualifier - £20,710
7th. Michael Kane, United Kingdom - £15,570
8th. Ciaran Heaney, Ireland, PokerStars Qualifier - £11,060

That's it from UKIPT Edinburgh, the PokerStars Blog will be back with EPT Deauville coverage from Sunday. To read all of today's coverage click here and to see all 63 in the money finishers click here.

All photos are copyright of Rene Velli

We are poker. It's not only our business, it's a passion too. But those of us who work at PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker are in a bit of a netherworld. We provide the most online poker games of any company on the planet (by far), but we can't play in those games for real money. We offer what we and many other believe are the best run live poker tournaments in the world, but the main events of most of those tournaments are usually off limits to us.

But this past October, we did an experiment: Rational Group (PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker) employees were allowed to play in the UKIPT main event on the Isle of Man - we wanted to see how it felt to us and how the community responded. I wrote about that in an earlier blog post.

So it was pretty exciting for us when our colleague Chris Jonat ended up at the final table of the main event, ultimately finishing 4th for £34K. In fact, we had the final table live webcast up on the TV's at the Isle of Man office, and when Chris busted out, there was a spontaneous standing ovation all over the office.

After the UKIPT event was over on IoM, the banners were down from the Villa Marina, and the last player was seen safely home, we asked ourselves how it went. As with anything you do, we felt there were ways we could improve. But to the question of Rational Group employees playing in the main event, the answer was an almost unanimous "Yes!"

First, and most importantly, the players loved it. They saw the elegant patches on our sleeves and said "So you work for PokerStars? What department?" Our people said, "So you play on PokerStars? What do you like? What do you not like?" And we were off to the races - people with a common interest (poker played on PokerStars) finally sitting down at a poker table together and sharing thoughts, ideas, and stories.

We were a little worried how people would respond when one of our employees hit a two-outer or whatever. And as you might expect, PokerStars and Full Tilt employees gave and took their share of bad beats. The penultimate PokerStars employee to depart the main event was Chris "What a shirt!" Straghalis, who busted 19th to a three-outer. Everybody said, "Bad beats. In a poker game. Whouda thunk?"

Furthermore, we were delighted by the response inside PokerStars and Full Tilt. More than 30 people from the Rational Group put up their own money to play in the UKIPT event, and the buzz in the offices was palpable. All during the week of the event, the context of virtually every water cooler discussion was what was happening down at the Villa Marina. Who's playing, who has chips, and when are you going down to see the show?

With this first success under our belt, we're going to expand this trial to the UKIPT stop in Dublin (not coincidentally, also home to a Rational Group office). So you will see PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker employees playing in the UKIPT main and side events at Dublin. Based on our experience in the Isle of Man last year, we think you'll love it. Our employees will be sporting patches (or some other clear form of identification) and will be happy to answer almost any question you can throw at them about working for the Rational Group.

But with that said, don't expect us to be pushovers at the table. We spend most of our time running online poker games and live poker tournaments. But when we sit down at the table, we're there to play.

See you at the felt; bring your A-game.

Lee Jones the Head of Poker Communications at PokerStars; he first joined the company in 2003. He has been involved in the professional poker world since the mid 1980's.

4.25pm: Straight flushes and great calls just before the break
UKIPT Edinburgh Day 1A had reached the halfway point with four levels in the past.

Just before the break a rare sight was seen as Ronni Borg of Denmark made a straight flush to get up to 29,000.

Also doing well is Neil Rawnsley who made a great call to eliminate Jack Salter. The board read [Qs][6d][4h][8h][6s] and around 10,000 chips had ventured to the centre of the table.

Salter shoved for around 13,000 and he made a tank-call for most of his stack. It was a good call with pocket jacks as his opponent could only muster [as][td] for a bluff. That put Rawnsley up to 38,000. -- MC

4:15pm: Respect your Elder
EPT7 San Remo champion Rupert Elder is one of the alternates in the field today. His twitter feed suggests that he should've been recovering from an operation on a leg he broke in Las Vegas but a scheduling mix up means he's here in Edinburgh.

We're going to try and grab him on the break to find out exactly what went on. But what we do know for sure is that he has Jack Ellwood to his left and Andrew Hulme across the table. -- NW

4:10pm: Mortensen shoves; Derrick folds
A couple of hands to tell you about from different tables...

In the first Morten Mortensen shoved all-in for 5,600 over the top of a raise and a call. The original raiser folded but both players folded to give him the pot.

Meanwhile Chris Derrick was getting busy, raising it up to 1,125 over a raise to 400 and a call. He did get action though, first William Cheung cold called, the original raiser (Keith Christie) folded but Kevin Steward also called.

On the [2d][7d][Qh] flop Derrick continuation bet 1,600, Cheung folded, Steward check-raised to 3,600 and Derrick smooth called. On the [10d] turn Steward continued for 4,500 and Derrick folded. "You have queens or sevens?" asked Derrick, to which Steward nodded. "I folded an overpair," said Derrick.

4:05pm: Sykes up over 50,000
Jamie Sykes made a deep run in Nottingham, busting in 11th place and he looks set for another deep run.

Coolered another big stack KK vs AK on AKxxx in a 3bet pot, up to 50k and change. #stillaskillgame #UKIPTEdinburgh

— Jamie Sykes (@gotdeuces) January 16, 2014

4:00pm: Silver's run comes to an end
Max Silver's came sixth at EPT Prague in December for €160,200 and followed that up last week at the PCA with a ninth place finish for another $135,400. His incredible run in tournaments had to come to and end soon, and it turned out to be today.

He raced for his final chips with pocket eights but failed to stay ahead of an opponent's ace-queen.

He was joined on the rail by Aleksandar Sukalo, Joscha Rutert, Gordon Huntly and Anthony Hamilton. -- MC

3:50pm: Get in quick if you want to play Day 1A
There is only about 50 minutes left before registration closes on Day 1B of UKIPT Edinburgh, so if you're on your way or in the vicinity, you'd better hurry up! -- MC

3:35pm: Barber a cut above
The current chip leader is Lewis Barber, he's up to 48,500 after winning a pot against Ondrej Drozd. The latter raised to 450 from middle position and Barber peeled from the button. The [9c][4d][5d] flop checked through and the [Jd] fell on the turn. First to act Drozd took a stab at the pot but Barber called his bet of 700. The [3h] fell on the river, Drozd checked, Barber bet 1,000 and Drozd mucked his hand. -- NW

Blinds up: 100/200, 25 ante

2:25pm:Farrell falls foul of a bluff
Niall Farrell and Magnus Martin tangled in a chopped pot earlier and the two have locked horns together once more, with the former failing with a bluff.

The two had made it to the turn where the board read [4c][Jh][2s][Qc] where Farrell bet 800 from the big blind after Martin had checked from the small blind. Martin called and check-called another 2,025 on the [3d] river.

Farrell quickly opened [kc][tc][ for the bluff and lost out to Martin's [jd][ts]. He dropped to 7,600. -- MC

3:10pm: Table 13 - unlucky for some?
A new table, number 13, has opened up and it might prove unlucky for some. That's because it contains Jack Salter, who finished third at UKIPT4 London, Max Silver, who's UKIPT victory during Season 1 in Dublin is now not even in his top five cashes and Thomas Partridge, who won the PokerStars Baltic Festival in Tallinn in 2009.

This tournament has proven to be unlucky for Stephen Ng as he's the latest player to exit this tournament. The tournament board is showing that 104 of 108 entries remain. -- NW

2:55pm: Elvis has left the building
Bruce "Elvis" Atkinson was the latest player to depart after he ran a flopped top pair into Stephen Docherty's slow played pocket aces.

Atkinson called from second position, as did Docherty in the next seat, before David K Lappin raised to 525 from the small blind. Both opponents called to the [5c][9h][3c] flop where the action was checked to Docherty. He bet 1,500 and made a quick call when Atkinson shoved for 8,600 after Lappin had folded.

Atkinson: [ks][9s]
Docherty: [Ad][Ac]

The board ran out a blank [Th][7s].

Atkinson joined Mark Lane on the rail after he departed shortly before. -- MC

2:35pm: Chip counts
Some are up and some are down, here's the (rough) counts of the name and notables two levels into the tournament.

Jake Cody - 18,100
Phil Baker - 11,100
Ian LeBruce - 23,600
Leon Louis - 19,800
Jack Ellwood - 24,300
Niall Farrell - 28,000
Max Silver - 7,800
Andrew Ferguson - 31,900

Paul McTaggart - 9,400
Ben Jenkins - 13,800
Tim Davie - 29,500
Dean Lyall - 19,800
Neil Rawnsley - 19,000
Jamie Sykes - 18,000
Jack Salter - 17,000
Chris Derrick - 21,000
Thomas Ward - 28,000

2:25pm: A catch up with Max Silver
Max Silver is here playing Day 1A after making a quick dash from the Bahamas where he finished 9th in the PCA Main Event for $135,400. We caught up with him in the break to see how's he's feeling after getting so close to the final table, how he's feeling about the day so far and UKIPT Edinburgh in general.

"I feel pretty good, not so jetlagged and had a really good time at the PCA. I don't feel too disappointed with my result and am not angry about anything I did. It was a really good result and a lot of money, so yeah, I feel good!"

"I made some second best hands today and made one bluff at the end of level two that didn't work out. I wouldn't change any of my moves though and it's a long day ahead."

"I treat every event as separate, no matter what the buy in or the stature. This is a good event to win!"

Silver started level 3 with 7,800 chips. -- MC

Blinds up: 75/150

2pm: End of the level and a couple of exits
That's two levels in the books and the players are now on a 20 minute break. Although for two of them the break will be permanent, as Oliver McDonald and Nathan Gallagher
are both out. -- NW

1:50pm: Morten Mortensen doubles up
It looked like it might be a short day for Morten Mortensen, the Dane, who has final tabled an EPT and a WSOP event, was down to just 3,900 before doubling up through Mark Lane.

I only caught the action from the turn, but Lane bet 675 and Mortensen called. The river was the [5h] making a full board of [2c][5d][7h][jh][5h], Lane checked, Mortensen moved all-in for 2,650 and Lane called. Mortensen showed [Ah][Jd] and Lane mucked, but given that it was an all-in situation he was forced to show [10c][7s].

Pot to Mortensen then, he climbs to around 8,000, Jake Cody is at the same table he's down to 14,000, whilst Lewis Barber looks like he took most of Mortensen's chips as he's up to 37,000. -- NW

1:50pm: Silver lining for Rutert
After a great start, Max Silver's stack is on the slide. Yet again he had to lay down a hand on the river.

He was in a blind battle with Joscha Rutert and the two had made it to the river of a [4s][3h][2h][9c][2c]. Silver checked to face a 4,000 bet and took several minutes before he open-folded two black tens.

He dropped to 14,500. -- MC

1:40pm: Wrong seat Mr Lappin
Some players will do anything to get a good seat draw, just ask David K Lappin. Although, the opposite was true for Lappin as he accidentally sat down to the left of three aforementioned sharks: Andrew Ferguson, Paul McTaggart and Ben Jenkins.

Some might say his actual seat is just as hard though as he has Tim Davie and Dean Lyall to his right.

He was all-apologetic for sitting in the wrong seat but the tournament directors were in a forgiving mood. -- MC

1:25pm: No flops, no drops
It looks like the Scots reputation for being tight with money, extends to being tight with chips too. There have, thus far, been no eliminations on Day 1A, not unusual you may think given that each player starts with 400 big blinds. But, usually a couple of players bust out in the first level in a UKIPT, the victim of a cooler of perhaps unable to lay down a big hand.

Meanwhile, potential action tables include Jake Cody's, given that Morten Mortensen has sat down a few seats to Cody's left. And sat in a row at another table are Andrew Ferguson, Paul McTaggart and Ben Jenkins. Whilst Leon "Flippetyflop" Louis is a couple of seats to the left of Niall Farrell.

1:15pm: New level, new faces
Thomas Dunwoodie, Jack Elwood and Jamie Sykes have all decided to show their faces for the second level of the day. The number of players for today is fast approaching 90, with more expected to arrive through the afternoon.

Sykes had sat down a couple of seats to the left of Chris Derrick and to the immediate left of Jack Salter. While Elwood is a two to the left of Max Silver.

Silver's good start was halted ever so slightly when he admitted defeat and folded on the river in a three-bet pot.

He opened to 150 from the hijack and called when the small blinded Christopher Matthews three-bet to 400. Silver called another 400 on the [3d][9s][Ah] flop before both checked the [Qd] turn. Matthews fired 1,100 on the [Ts] river and Silver relinquished despite having his "favourite" hand. -- MC

Blinds up: 50/100

12.50pm: Stacked
There's plenty of well-known players in the field today, we'll be updating their chip counts and those of the chip leaders (when they emerge) throughout the day right here. As for now, well there's very little movement and no exits as of yet. -- NW

12:40pm: Aggressive Silver and tilted Farrell
Max Silver and Niall Farrell are both known to be aggressive players. They are sat on adjacent tables and both battled simultaneously in pots with differing results.

Silver was in the small blind and squeezed up to 650 after an open to 150 and a call in front of him. Both opponents called to a [5d][7c][3h] flop where all three checked.

Silver's delayed 1,100 bet on the [7d] turn was enough to force a fold from both opponents.

Meanwhile, Farrell was battling in a late position pot with Magnus Martin.

Farrell opened from the cut-off and was only called by Martin in the next seat. Farrell continued on a [Qh][Ts][Jd] board and called when raised by Martin.

Both players checked the [4c] turn before Farrell once again checked the over the [Kh] river to Martin, who bet 1,600. Farrell check-raised to 5,500 and was called.

Farrell opened [Ac][Kc] and chopped the pot with Martin who opened [Ah][Qc].

"Such a tilting river!" commented Farrell. -- MC

12:30pm: More faces
Despite most table playing five or six-handed there are plenty of UKIPT regulars at the felt. Irishman Phil Baker definitely fits that category, on a [As][10d][2d] he check-called a bet, "Irish call," he said as he did so. He also called a bet on the [9s] turn before making an Irish fold on the [3s] river.

Paul McTaggart has six UKIPT Main Event cashes to his name, he was busy filling out a waiver form whilst listening to Andrew Ferguson, who's on his immediate right, chat about the cost of car parking spaces in Edinburgh. There are two tables up on a raised stage, they're not feature tables as such, but one of them features Chris Derrick, who finished fifth here last year.

Whilst Andrew Hulme (same table as Max Silver) and Tim Davie are also in the field. -- NW

12:20pm: Who's about?
It's early days here in the Assembly Rooms and most of the tables are half full as players filter in the tournament room.

One player already here, who we thought would play tomorrow, was the aforementioned Max Silver. He seems in high spirits as he looks to continue his hot streak.

Also in the room are David Docherty, Niall Farrell, Thomas Ward, Andrew Ferguson, Gordon Huntly and Team PokerStars Pro Jake Cody.

The latter two of these players are sat at the same table and tangled in an early pot that made it to the river.

The board read [2c][2s][7h][3h][4h] and Cody check-tank-folded to a 1,100 bet from Huntly.

Huntly is from Edinburgh but now resides in Thailand and has made the long trip to play his hometown tournament. His trip started well last night after he chopped the £150 Six-Max Event, with an official third place finish. -- MC

12pm: Welcome to UKIPT Edinburgh!
It's time to get the UKIPT on the road for 2014, the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh is the venue for the sixth stop of Season 4 and since the last event in Nottingham the schedule for the second half of Season 4 has been announced.

As for this stop, if there's one thing we've learned from the first three seasons of the UKIPT it's that the Edinburgh leg delivers. It delivers better than Mitchell Johnson (the Aussie bowler, not the lad who led after Day 1a of UKIPT4 Nottingham), although in Edinburgh of course the swings will be of the chip variety.

If you're looking for signs of who might be holding a novelty cheque above their head come Monday then history suggests that the winner of UKIPT Edinburgh will already have a reputation within the poker world or be about to establish one. Almost one year ago Nicolau Villa-Lobos went from first to worst to seal victory and a £101,000 payday. He's since gone on to finish second in the WSOPE High Roller for considerably more.

A season prior Fintan Gavin proved a very popular winner, the Irishman finally getting his hands on a PokerStars trophy almost three years after finishing runner-up at EPT5 Barcelona.

And back in Season 1 is where it all began for the UKIPT legend that is Nick Abou Risk as he won the first of his two UKIPT titles. But Edinburgh hasn't all been about the winners, Max Silver, Joeri Zandvliet, Thomas Ward, Jamie Dale, David Vamplew and Jamie Sykes are among those who've made the final table of the Main Event here in Edinburgh.

As has George Clyde-Smith, last year he was the UK's highest placed finisher at the 2013 Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure, this year that honour went to Max Silver (9th) although UKIPT Season 3 leader board winner Tom Hall (10th) ran him close. Both will be playing this week, although given their excursions in the Bahamas you suspect they'll play Day 1B. Hall, despite being up for thirty-six hours, played the six-max event last night!

As for Day 1A, well that's about to start.

Key UKIPT Edinburgh facts

- 20,000 starting stack
- Blinds starting at 25/50 for 400 big blinds
- One hour levels, we'll play eight today with no dinner break meaning play will end around 8.45pm
- Late registration is open until the start of level five - roughly 4.30pm.
- The Assembly Rooms is a cashless venue, you can only buy-in through your PokerStars account at the venue.
- Two starting days, then Days 2, 3 and 4 will be a combined field to a UKIPT champion (cue winner's photo, trophy swinging around, celebrations in the bar).
- There's still time to win your way to the event live at the venue in a £100 + £10 unlimited re-buy satellite. Full live tournament schedule here.

PokerStars Blog reporting team at PokerStars UKIPT Edinburgh: Marc Convey and Nick Wright. Photos by Rene Velli.

8:55pm: Leon Louis leads Day 1A field
Leon Louis bagged up 122,700 to lead the 55 remaining players from the 116 starters on Day 1A. A full wrap of the day's play coming up on the blog shortly. -- MC

8:40pm: Final four
The clock has been paused and the word is that players will be dealt four more hands before they're done for the night. -- NW

8:35pm: Ward bakes Phil to pass 100k
Thomas Ward may well have moved into the chip lead after he eliminated Phil Baker whilst holding pocket aces.

Baker opened to 2,000 from under the gun and called after Ward three-bet to 5,200 from the hijack. Both players checked the [Kh][Ad][3s] flop before Baker check-called a 6,400 bet on the [Qd] turn.

That left Baker with only 9,000 back and after he checked the [Qs] river, Ward asked him a question for the lot. He tanked for a minute before he called only to be shown pocket aces for top full house. Ward moved up to around 105,000. -- MC

8:20pm: What goes up must come down the Tannerhill
Brian Tannerhill has been sat on table one in seat one all day, and has also been leading Day 1A of late. His stack has fallen to around 102,000 after he lost a couple of small pots.

One was in a battle of blinds, the other was when he was caught bluffing against Tomasz Raniszewski, also in a blind battle.

Raniszewski completed from the small blind and Tannerhill checked his option to see a [6c][9c][Kh] flop. Both players checked to the [4d] turn where Tannerhill raised Raniszewski's 1,600 bet up to 3,500. Call.

On the [9h] river Raniszewski check-called Tannerhill's 4,600 bet. The latter could only muster a bluffing [Jd][Tc] and lost out to Raniszewski's [Kd][3h]. -- MC

8.05pm: Everyone loves a chopped pot.....not!
Andrew Teng and Dean Lyall got entangled in a four-betting shoving pot but it ended in an anti-climax.

After a 1,600 open from the hijack, Teng three-bet to 3,050 from the button and Lyall four-bet all in from the small blind. The original raiser folded but Teng made an immediate call. Both opened aces and chopped the pot.

Teng's stack rose a little 27,000 and Lyall's to 15,000. -- MC

7:55pm: Brian Tannerhill leads the field
As level eight begins the chip leader appears to be Brian Tannerhill. The Scotsman, who has $3,220 in live earnings, all of which came in Edinburgh, has a stack of around 110,000.

Blinds up: 400/800, 100 ante

7:45pm:I'll show you mine, if you show me yours!
It was an offer that Niclos Cardyn could hardly refuse. "I show one, you also?" asked Sven Wendt before he folded to a turn bet after previous aggression.

The pot started with a Cardyn raise to 1,500 from hijack and a Wendt big blind defend from Wendt. The flop fell [Ts][Jc][6s] and Wendt led for 1,000 and called when Cardyn raised to 3,500. On the [Qd] turn Wendt checked to Cardyn who bet 7,650.

Wendt tanked, had a joke around, made his offer and folded showing the [3d]. Cardyn allowed him to pick one and the [7d] was exposed. Cardyn moved back up to 29,000. -- MC

7:35pm: Gone
There's no easy way to say this, but If you had a betting slip with the name of: Enzo Gomez, Amit Patni, William Cheung, Daniel Brook, Keith Christie, Matas Cimbolas, Kyle Maguire, Christopher Matthews, Emran Hussain, Ian Walker, Robert Gregory, Vitezslav Filip, Morten Mortensen, Ronnie Ballantyne, Kia Ross, Paul Dixon, Mark Baxter, Pawel Swenarek, Callum Richardson, Antonio Crolla or John Boyle on it then you can tear it up as they're are all out. -- NW

7:20pm: Davie done for
A recent Day 1A casualty is Tim Davie, his former tablemate, David Lappin, gave me the details. "He lost a big one with aces against queens, all-in pre-flop. A queen came on the turn, That left him with about one big blind, he spun it up to around eight big blinds and then he busted. -- NW

7:10pm: More chip counts
A delve into the field has unearthed the following chip counts:

Andrew Hulme - 19,800
Jamie Sykes - 29,500
Phil Baker - 23,000
Ian LeBruce - 44,500
Andrew Ferguson - 16,000
Ben Jenkins - 29,400
Leon Louis - 51,000
Chris Derrick - 59,800
David Lappin - 9,250
Dean Lyall - 12,500
David Docherty - 29,000
Thomas Ward - 53,000
Thomas Partridge - 11,000
Nick Newport - 45,000
Nicholas Cardyn - 29,000
Rupert Elder - 17,700
Andrew Teng - 16,500

7:00pm: Jamie Sykes talks to the blog about his last two levels
The PokerStars Blog had lined up Jake Cody for a quick word in the break, but he was coolered and left the building. That left us with the next best thing, his roommate from last night and finalist last season here in Edinburgh, Jamie Sykes.

"It's been a rough couple of levels where I've lost two 20k pots; one jacks against ace-queen and then ace-queen versus three-four off on a ace-deuce-three flop. He bet-called the flop like a huge hero and I never begrudge anyone who shows that much heart. I felt like he deserved to win as he showed the most heart! I've only got top pair where he was really creative there!"

"I've got a pretty good table and I'm going to continue to play like I have done and hope to get in some good spots. You can't win it on day one, I'm going to try and steadily accumulate chips rather than try and run the table. I have an aggro-image from earlier so I think I'll get paid if I hit something."

6.50pm: Chip counts
As we enter the last two levels these are the top 10 chip stacks:

Patrick Weifels - 89,000
Brian Tannerhill - 85,000
Vytenis Salickas - 73,250
Andrew Moore - 66,250
Erdim Koz - 61,800
Daniiar Bakchiev - 61,000
Ondrej Drozd - 59,000
Leon Louis - 53,000
Colin Gillon - 50,325
Stephen Docherty - 46,850

Blinds up: 300/600, 75 ante

6.32pm: Break time
The remaining players are now on their final 15 minute break of the day. -- NW

6.25pm: Cody cut down
There was a Jake Cody shaped hole in the seat he'd previously occupied. I made the universal sign for 'gone' to Morten Mortensen and he nodded. "He got it in with aces against jack-ten on a 10-7-3 rainbow flop. His opponent (Daniiar Bakchiev) turned a jack. It was a big pot."

Indeed it was as Bakchiev is up to 52,600. As for Mortensen he's struggling along on 8,825 but that's better than it has been. "I got down to 3,500 on about the fifth hand of the day. So it's been a grind and a boring one at that." -- NW

6.15pm: Ace on the river
No, the poker book written by Team PokerStars Pro Barry Greenstein, it actually happened in between Philip Baker and Kovacs Gergo to stop the pot swelling more than it might've.

Baker opened from the button and just flat called when his Hungarian opponent three-bet from the big blind. The flop fanned [Jc][Jd][Th] and Gergo checked to Baker who wasted little time in betting 3,200. Call.

The turn fell as the [3s] and Baker bet 3,400 when the action was checked to him once more. Gergo called again before he checked for a third time on the [As] river.

"Terrible card for me!" said Baker as he checked behind and opened [Qd][Qc].

"No, great card for you!" responded Gergo as he showed [Kc][Kh]. Baker dropped to 25,500. -- MC

6:00pm: McTaggart busts
With six UKIPT Main Event cashes to his name it's fair to say the Paul McTaggart knows a thing or two about making a deep run. However, he'll have to wait until Dublin to make another one in a UKIPT Main Event as he's just busted.

Andrew Ferguson told me that McTaggart jammed Q-10 into the pocket kings of Paul Reaney for about 3,000 chips and got no help.

5:50pm: Ellwood has no choice but to settle for defeat
News reached us that Jack Ellwood busted in the last level in a strange hand recounted for the blog by Rupert Elder and Andrew Hulme.

Hulme opened to 700 before Andrew Moore misclick raised to 1,100, the consensus was he probably meant to make it 2,100 (Moore was away from the table as the story was being told).

Ellwood then four-bet to 2,150 and was called by Moore after Hulme folded. The rest of the chips went in on the flop containing a four, which had connected with Moore's pocket fours. Ellwood had aces and failed to catch up. -- MC

5:45pm: Exits
We're still at the stage of the day where the exits are a trickle rather than a torrent. Renzo Huerzeler, Sam Onions, Jack Ellwood (see above), Marc Hunter and Niall Farrell
are all out.

Blinds up: 200/400, 50 ante

5:35pm: Cardyn can't call
Nicolas Cardyn and Nicholas Newport tangled in a big pot that ended with the former laying down trip jacks.

The two had made it to the river with around 15,000 in the middle and a board that rested as [2h][Jd][Js][6h][Td].

Newport was under the gun and checked to face a 8,800 from his French opponent. He responded by moving all in for 19,225. Cardyn tanked for an age before he open-folded [as][Jc] face up. He begged Newport to show but the Irishman smiled and slid his cards to the dealer. Cardyn was left with 27,000, a healthy stack that may have affected his decision. -- MC

5.25pm: Barber cuts Cody's chips
Four players, including Lewis Barber (small blind) and Jake Cody (big blind) all put in 1,900 pre-flop, which suggested it was a three-bet pot and watched on as the dealer spread a [10s][5s][9c] flop, first to act Barber led for 3,600 and Cody was the only caller.

On the [9h] turn Barber bet 8,500 into a pot of roughly 15,000 leaving himself just 18,000 back. With action on Cody he began riffling a stack of black T100 chips that he'd removed from his stack of roughly 31,000. He then placed them to one side and took the red T500 chips from his stack. Another minute or so passed during which the bespectacled Cody cut a confused figure. Evidently someone at the table - although it wasn't Barber - had waited long enough for the Team PokerStars Pro to make his decision and called the clock.

As his countdown reached 15 seconds Cody pushed his cards towards the muck, pot to Barber. -- NW

5:20pm: Gomez gets there versus Rawnsley
Neil Rawnsley's good start was halted by Enzo Gomez after the latter turned a straight and engineered a full double up.

Rawnsley opened to 650 from mid position and was only called by Gomez in the small blind en route to a [Kd][8s][6s] flop. Rawnsley continued for 725 and was check-called to the [9h] turn. There, Gomez treated his opponent's second bullet for 1,300, to a raise to 3,500. Rawnsley stared at the board and made on the call.

On the [3d] river Gomez shoved for his remaining 9,200. Rawnsley went deep into the tank and went a darker shade of red as he pressurised himself into making a decision. He came and calling and was shown [7s][5h] for a straight by Gomez.

"Nice catch," said Rawnsley who dropped to 26,500. -- MC

5.05pm: LeBruce wins with ace high
They say home advantage is a tangible thing when it comes to poker and UKIPT Edinburgh is going pretty well for local boy Ian LeBruce thus far. The local lad, who when he's not playing poker is part of a business called Cappuccino Ads, recently won a UK entrepreneurs award and he had to get quite creative to win a pot Paul Dixon.

The latter hand fired 1,100 on the turn of a [4h][9s][3s][3c] board and Lebruce called to created a pot of around 6,200 as they went to a [10d] river. Dixon led out of 1,650 and after tanking for some time LeBruce made the call. Dixon was hesitant to show so LeBruce did the honours, rolling over his [Ah][Qd], which was good. Some call that.

4.50pm: Operating room or Assembly Rooms, with Rupert Elder
The saying, "Break a leg!" is something one would say to another person when they want to wish them luck on a venture about to be embarked.

At the WSOP in 2012 former EPT San Remo winner Rupert Elder actually did break a leg and had to have screws inserted into his leg. Elder was due to have those screws out today, but he's playing here instead.

PokerStars Blog caught up with him in the break to get to the bottom of the story, and this is what he had to say:

"I thought I had a hospital appointment at 7:30am to have the screws taken out of my leg but it turned out I was due in three days ago to have a pre-op assessment. I misread the letter though and they had actually rescheduled it. I went to the hospital and they told me my operation had been cancelled and they booked me in for a new one."

"I didn't sleep last night as well as I must've been nervous. I got home at 9:00am and decided to come and play this and it's going well so far; I've only played 50 minutes of a level and have 32,000!"

Break a leg, Rupert! (Not literally). -- MC

4:35pm: Halfway home
Four levels down, four more to go before the Day 1A players can bag their chips. If that process were taking place right now the player with the most to bag would be Vytenis Salickas. He's got 77,000 after getting mighty lucky to eliminate Paul Davies. I didn't see the hand but Tim Davie told me that Davies flopped a set of fives on an [A][5][3] flop, Salickas set him in with [A][K] and hit running cards to make a bigger full-house. Ouch.

Here's a look at some other chip leaders and the stacks of the notables in the field today:

Patrick Weifels - 65,000
Erdim Koz - 43,000
Jake Cody - 32,000
Phil Baker - 18,000
Ian LeBruce - 25,000
Jack Ellwood - 9,500
Leon Louis - 43,000
Andrew Ferguson - 24,600
Ben Jenkins - 25,000

Paul McTaggart - 3,350
Tim Davie - 47,000
Dean Lyall - 5,600
Rupert Elder - 32,000
Neil Ranwnsley - 38,000
Chris Derrick - 20,500
David Lappin - 23,600
Thomas Ward - 35,600
David Docherty - 17,000

Late registration is now closed, the board shows that 101 of 116 entrants remain although we'll bring you confirmation of the total numbers for today shortly. -- NW

PokerStars Blog reporting team at PokerStars UKIPT Edinburgh: Marc Convey and Nick Wright. Photos by Rene Velli.

If the PCA is the traditional start to the year on the EPT then Edinburgh is the traditional* start to the year on the UKIPT. Whilst the PCA might have cleared up once and for all that which starting day you choose matters for little and that it's really a matter of personal preference, 116 players plumped for Day 1A here in Edinburgh. After eight levels of play that number had been reduced to just 55 and its Leon Louis who leads with 122,700.

*yes we know it's only the second season in a row but how else do traditions start?

The long-time grinder, who has live results dating back to 2007, shot to prominence in 2013 when he final tabled the $10,000 WCOOP Main Event. That score earned him $159,975 but it's a far cry from his usual game online. "I play hyper-turbo heads-up sit and gos on PokerStars," he told PokerStars Blog. And he's one of the best as Louis is a regular at the $100-$300 level.

He won his biggest pot of his day against Ian LeBruce, with kings against ace-jack on a jack high board, LeBruce finished with chips, but with just 3,800 is bottom of the pile.

Another familiar face was just pipped at the post by Louis as Thomas Ward finished on 119,000. The UKIPT4 London runner-up and UKIPT2 Edinburgh fourth place finisher found that irresistible combination to enjoy a braw day at the felt. "I ran really good and played well too," he told PokerStars Blog. "I won a 100k pot with aces against kings which helped." And Ward was honest about the opportunities he's been afforded since cashing for £118,000 in London back in March. "It's allowed me to travel and play more events, which is something I wanted to do."

Other players who enjoyed a decent day included: Patrick Weifels (98,500), Brian Tannerhill (95,900) and Ben Jenkins (88,500). "I god moded the last level," the Full Tilt Poker Ambassador told me. "I won a flip and a big pot with aces against a pair and a draw."

Flying the Red Spade with pride today was Team PokerStars Pro Jake Cody, the Englishman was even early (perhaps in preparation for impending fatherhood?) doing a series of interviews for local and national press. Sadly for Cody, his night ended early too. Though at least he dispelled the myth that he 'always gets there' as he lost with pocket aces against the jack-ten of Daniiar Bakchiev. The chips went in on a 10-7-3 flop and Cody looked likely to take the pot of over 50,000. A jack on the turn sent the pot Bakchiev's way and kicked Cody to the rail.

Although Cody was the only representative of Team PokerStars in the field today, he wasn't the only EPT Champion but he should've been. At the WSOP in 2012 former EPT San Remo winner Rupert Elder broke a leg and had to have screws inserted into his leg. "I thought I had a hospital appointment at 7:30am to have the screws taken out of my leg but it turned out I was due in three days ago to have a pre-op assessment. I misread the letter though and they had actually rescheduled it. I went to the hospital and they told me my operation had been cancelled and they booked me in for a new one."

That misread was a lucky break (sorry) for Elder as he navigated his way through the day to finish on 41,300. Other notables who'll be back for Day 2 include Nicholas Newport (33,100), Andrew Teng (27,100) and Chris Derrick (51,500).

Of course simply having a reputation or being in form isn't enough to carry you through eight hours of poker. You'd be hard pressed to find a player from the UK in better form than Max Silver. Just this week he finished ninth in the PCA Main Event, in December he placed sixth at the mammoth EPT Prague, in November he took down the £2,000 High Roller at UKIPT4 Isle of Man and perhaps the biggest achievement of the four he somehow managed to get Vanessa Selbst to deal when they chopped the £2,000 UKIPT4 London High Roller in October.

Those scores total around $480,000 but today they counted for zero as Silver was bounced less than halfway through the day. We caught up with him prior to that and he was in good spirits, especially about his near miss at the PCA. "I don't feel too disappointed with my result and am not angry about anything I did. It was a really good result and a lot of money, so yeah, I feel good!"

The last of Silver's stack went to Jack Salter, who finished third at UKIPT4 London, however Salter wouldn't be long for this tournament either. Other big names to fall during the opening flight included: Jamie Sykes, Paul McTaggart, Niall Farrell, Morten Mortensen, Jack Ellwood and Phil Baker.

You can see a complete list of Day 1A survivors here and relive today's action by clicking on the links below.

Levels 1-4
Levels 5-8

That's it from Day 1A, we'll be back for Day 1B from noon, when the B will undoubtedly stand for 'bigger' as we expect a bumper Day 1B field here at the Assembly Rooms in Central Edinburgh.

All photos are copyright of Rene Velli

4:23pm: End of the level
That's the end of level four, you'll find level five updates in a new post shortly. -- NW

4:20pm: Easy come. easy go for Antony Hallam
On the river of a [3d][5d][8d][9s][Jd] board Antony Hallam (under-the-gun) bet 3,600, his lone opponent was David Phelan. "Did you get there again?" asked Phelan as he hovered the chips over the betting line. Eventually he dropped them over the line, Hallam showed [Ac][Kh], but Phelan showed [10s][9d] to take the pot.

On the next hand there was 2,350 in the pot by the time he and Steve O'Dwyer made it to the [7c][10s][2h] flop. O'Dwyer bet 1,350 only for Hallam to check-raise to 2,800. After a bit of a stare the EPT9 Grand Final winner released his hand. -- NW

4:15pm: Killeen loses out to O'Dwyer and Thomson
Two lost pots on the trot have seen Kevin Killeen's stack drop to around 9,000.

First up, Steve O'Dwyer opened to 550 from under the gun before Kevin Thomson three-bet to 1,100 from two seats along. Killeen was in the big blind and four-bet to 1,800. O'Dwyer moved out of the way before Thomson shoved for his last 2,600. Call.

Killeen: [8d][8h]
Thomson: [Ad][Js]

The board ran [As][Jd][7c][Qs][Ah] to fill Thomson up.

The very next hand, Killeen and O'Dwyer battled in the blinds and O'Dwyer's aggression in position won him the pot. Killeen gave up to a 1,900 bet on the turn of a [7c][8c][4s][Tc] board. O'Dwyer moved up to 41,000. -- MC

4:05pm: Two-pair gets it done for Bertram
Gary Bertram got put in a difficult spot by Philip Gould but he successfully wriggled out of it.

On the turn of a [2d][3h][Kc][7c] board an in position Bertram bet 1,200, Gould check-raised to 2,700 and Bertram smooth called. There was no 7,100 in the pot as the [9c] completed the board. Gould didn't hesitate to fire out a bet of 4,600 and Bertram didn't take too much longer to call, "Two-pair," said Bertram turning over [Kh][2c], it was good as Gould mucked his hand. -- NW

3:55pm: The old call then five-bet
A curious hand just played out on table eight involving four different player and a five-bet!

The action was started by Graham Carter, he made it 450 to go from under-the-gun+1, Viktor Leonov flat called from the cut-off, only for Sean Prendiville to make it 1,000 to play from the button. The small blind passed, but Ho Yin Lee then cold four-bet to 2,100 from the big blind.

After Carter folded, Leonov then made it 7,450 to go and everyone folded. Pot to Leonov. -- NW

3:50pm: Double up for Michal Wesolowski
"Re-raise all-in," said the dealer as UKIPT4 Isle of Man winner Duncan McLellan pushed his stack of 15,600 over the line. He'd decided to isolate the all-in shove of 2,300 of Michal Wesolowski and for a while it looked like it might be three's company as Jordan Wong tanked on the button. However, with Wong eventually folding it was time for a showdown.

McLellan: [Ac][10c]
WesolowskI: [Kh][Qh]

A [8d][Qs][7s][2h][5h] board gave WesolowskI a much needed double up and dropped McLellan to 13,300. -- NW

3:40pm: Thanks for the call
James Walsh is a player who likes to have a giggle at the table, especially when he has a big stack or a Guinness in his hand. There's no Guinness to be had but he's smiling again after doubling up.

Viktor Leonov opened to 450 from mid position and was called by Ho Yin Lee on the button before Walsh shoved from the small blind for 4,325. Leonov folded but Yin called after some pretend folding antics from Walsh.

Walsh: [ks][kc]
Yin: [6c][6s]

The board ran [9s][5d][Ah][9c][5h].

"Thanks for the call," said a beaming Walsh. -- MC

3:25pm: Zero Sum game
It's been a good start for some...

Level 3 of #UKIPTEdinburgh just started and I'm up to 55k from 20k starting, this is fun.

— Manig Loeser (@swordfish007) January 17, 2014

And a bad start for others...

#UKIPTEdinburgh a disaster sofar haha! Ran 3 barrel bluff in nice spot but got called after a long tank :( we got 7k at 75/150 so can spin

— Chris Ferguson (@chrisferg89) January 17, 2014

Blinds up: 100/200, ante 25

3:10pm: Team Online time
Dale Philip and Mickey Petersen are here representing PokerStars Team Online this week and one is looking fresher than the other.

Philip made the most of being at the PCA and was pictured tubing on the lazy river just a couple of days ago. It's also his birthday today, so we were not surprised to see him yawning shortly after turning up. He was sat on 18,500.

Petersen, as we wrote earlier, is at a tricky table and will need to be as fresh as possible to succeed. He took Aaron Spence off a hand to move up to 22,000.

Spence rose to 450 from early position and was called by Petersen (mid position) and Phillip Huxley (button) en route to a [3d][4s][5s] flop.

Spence continued for 950 and only Petersen called to the [2s] turn. He checked it over to Petersen who bet 1,650. Spence procrastinated for a while and open-folded pocket jacks. -- MC

2:55pm: Chip counts
With only two levels in the books there's not been that much movement but here are the chip counts of some of the names and notables:

Martins Adeniya - 31,500
Sin Melin - 21,500
Dominik Nitsche - 18,800
Dave Shallow - 14,600
Sean Prendiville - 19,300
Richie Lawlor - 14,300
Sunny Chattha - 19,000
Liv Boeree - 28,000
Dara O'Kearney - 26,500
Tom Hall - 19,800
David Vamplew - 11,050
Keith Hawkins - 22,000
Simon Deadman - 27,000
Ludovic Geilich - 32,100
Julian Thew - 33.500
Kevin Allen - 15,500
Duncan McLellan - 16,800
Emmett Mullin - 25,500

Tim Slater -34,000
Chaz Chattha - 16,000
Sam Grafton - 17,000
Dermot Blain - 36,500
Kevin Iacofano - 14,250
Kevin Williams - 11,000
Kevin Killeen - 16,700
Steve O'Dwyer - 24,600
Ollie Schaffmann - 32,000
Vicky Coren - 23,000
Mickey Petersen - 24,000
Fraser Macintyre - 23,000
Chris Ferguson - 9,000
Steve Watts - 16,000
Deborah Worley-Roberts - 29,500
Andy Black - 28,000
Daragh Davey - 15,000
Richard Evans - 26,000

2:45pm: Boeree off to a strong start
Liv Boeree was one of the late comers, taking her seat near the end of level two. It's not taken her long to get going though as she's up to 28,000 already. She told the PokerStars Blog that she got three streets of value with jacks on a 9-2-2-2-K board and has won a couple of other pots too. -- NW

2:40pm: A catch up with Tom Hall
Tom Hall, like Max Silver yesterday, has travelled to Edinburgh from the Bahamas after just missing out of the PCA Main Event final table. His tenth place finish won him $112,400 but he was devastated at the time and gave one of the most moving exit interviews ever seen on the EPT. The blog caught up with him during the break to see how he is now.

"I'm still a little bit jet-lagged but it's nice just to be playing another tournament. It's surreal being back in the UK as I was in the Bahamas such a short time ago. It is good to be back again and I have all the options open to me again at the beginning of a tournament, and will roll off the confidence I've gained."

"I'm able to take this tournament as a whole new thing. If it was a 10k it might be a bit of a push to get through it, but I've had a lot of experience in these so it's not a problem for me." -- MC

2:20pm: 260 in so far
With two levels and a break left to register, 260 players have entered so far on Day 1B. Team PokerStars Pro Liv Boeree was one of the latest to enter. -- MC

Blinds up: 75/150

2pm: Break time
The players are now on a 15 minute break. -- NW

1:58pm: More exits
Joseph Lalor, Frank Wellens, John Gillett, Mark Bamber and Nick Cole are all out before the first break. Both Bamber and Cole were eliminated on the table that contains Deborah Worley-Roberts and Michael Piper and Piper told PokerStars Blog about their exits.

Bamber made a straight with J-5 on a 10-9-8-Q board, but Paul Kerr had K-J for a better one. And Cole flopped top pair, top kicker only to run into top two pair. So there's a lot of chipped up players on that table, including Piper who's up to 32,000. -- NW

1:50pm: Worley-Roberts on the up
Deborah Worley-Roberts is up to 28,000 after she allowed Paul Kerr to bet into her on three streets before she became the aggressor.

Kerr opened to 300 from the button and bet 350, 1,000 and 2,000 on a [Tc][Qd][9h][4c][3h] board. Worley-Roberts was in the small blind and just called all the way before she raised to 6,000 on the river.

Kerr smiled at her and told her she had it before mucking. -- MC

1:40pm: Ask Sam anything
UKIPT regular Sam Grafton has made the trip from London to Edinburgh to play in this event. The PokerStars Blog know this because they had a chat with him when he arrived late last night. But, also because of the following tweet:

Yes I'm playing UKIPT. Yes I'm wearing a hoodie. Yes I'm folding a lot. Anything else anyone wanna know.

— Sam Grafton (@SquidPoker) January 17, 2014

The PokerStars Blog can attest that Grafton is a very good conversationalist, an excellent tweeter and has strong views on many poker topics. Go on ask him something. -- NW

1:35pm: A win is hard to repeat
It's hard to win one UKIPT title as it is; winning two is a whole other type of challenge. Isle of Man champion Duncan McLellan is finding that out today.

The flop was out as [ac][7s][3h] and McLellan bet 550 from second position, into three players. Two of them called to the [jd] turn where the action was checked to Michal Wesolowski. He bet 800 and was only called by McLellan before the board completed with the [6s].

McLellan check-called a 1,100 bet but mucked and dropped to 13,200 upon seeing Wesolowski's [ad][9d]. -- MC

1:25pm: Straight flush
I missed the hand but Gareth Teatum just flopped a straight flush! But, perhaps he didn't win as big a pot as he'd like as when he was stacking his chips he said: "I played it wrong." Either way the [10s][9s] was in front of him and had connected very nicely indeed with the [6s][7s][8s] flop.

What a pretty hand. -- NW

1:10pm: Mickey meet Vicky
The 'late' table mentioned below is now a whole lot tougher as Team PokerStars Pro Online Mickey Petersen now occupies the one seat, he's across the felt from Team PokerStars Pro Vicky Coren. Petersen has Fraser Macintyre on his direct left, whilst Phil Huxley sits to the direct right of Coren. Completing a terrifying line-up is UKIPT Nottingham runner-up Ollie Schaffmann, he's on Coren's direct left. -- NW

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 50-100

1pm: Sasek showing his intentions; two go early
It takes a big move to surprise the uber-aggressive Ludovic Geilich and his eyes were wide open when his neighbour, Milan Sasek, made his move.

He was battling heads-up with John Gillett and the two players took to a [5h][4c][2c] flop. Gillett was in the small blind and had 5,700 out in front of him. Sasek wasted little time in shoving for around 23,000.

Gillett was taken just as much by surprise as Geilich, event to the point where he might've thought the move unfair. He had little choice but to fold.

There are two players with no choice early on though as you need chips to have choices in the main event. Mark Barnber and Donatas Didika have already been eliminated. -- MC

12:45pm: Table mates
With so many big names in the field today the law of averages dictates that a few of them will be seated around the same nine handed table and indeed there are few interesting tables dotted about the tournament arena. At one such table you'll find Tom Hall, David Vamplew and Keith Hawkins. The latter two are side by side with Vamplew having position.

UKIPT Champion of Champions Richard Evans and Daragh Davey have joined Sin Melin and Andy Black to form an early contender for table of death. Whilst poker journalist Dave Woods has found himself at the same table as a Team PokerStars Pro.

Just starting UKIPT Edinburgh. Vicky coren two to my left. We're on the 'late' table. It's like being back at school

— Dave Woods (@DaveJWoods) January 17, 2014

12:35pm: Good start for Slater
"I finally got my bink," said a beaming Tim Slater to the PokerStars Blog. The UKIPT2 Newcastle fifth place finisher is fresh off a £42,500 win from last weekend and he's off to a good start here in Edinburgh after winning a 12,000 chip pot on the very first hand.

"I raised to 125 with queens, Ade (Adebayo Odetoyinbo) made it 425 to play, Chaz (Chattha) made it 1,500 and I peeled," he told the PokerStars Blog. "The flop was Q-9-3, he bets 1,600 and I call. Jack on the turn, Chaz checks, I bet 2,400 and he calls. The river is a five, he checks, I bet 6,000, he folds aces face up and I show him the queens because I like him." -- NW

12:25pm: A scene still emerging
There are many players waiting in line to get their seat assignment so the make up of a lot of tables is still to be decided.

Steve O'Dwyer, for example, is a lone figure at this table - not a sight his future tablemates will want to see.

UKIPT Isle of Man champion Duncan McLellan has the dangerous Kevin Allen sat directly to his right and tour ambassador Sin Melin will need some headphones to cope with the lively Andy Black.

Melin took an early hit when she battled an aggressor from under the gun. He bet 300 on the turn of a [6d][Ts][As][9c] board and she called before both checked the [kd] river. He opened [ac][jd] and took the pot as Melin mucked. -- MC

12:10pm: Big names, same chip stack
As usual a glance down the provisional Day 1B player list has unearthed a slew of big name players, who've all opted to play the second of two starting days. The following players aren't necessarily in their seats yet, but they're all down to play: Steve O'Dwyer, Andy Black Ben Mayhew, Dave Shallow, Dara O'Kearney, Daragh Davey, David Vamplew, Deborah Worley-Roberts, Dominik Nitsche, Duncan McLellan, Fintan Gavin, Fraser Macintyre, JP Kelly (deep breath), Julian Thew, Kevin Allen, Kevin Iacofano, Kevin Killeen, Manig Loeser, Richard Evans, Sam Grafton, Sean Prendiville, Simon Deadman and Sunny Chattha, -- NW

12:00pm: Shuffle up and deal
The ever efficient UKIPT Tournament Director Toby Stone has got the action underway right on time. -- MC

11:50am: Second flight about to sprout wings
Welcome back to the beautiful Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh for Day 1B of the UKIPT, the first of many stops to come in 2014. Day 1A attracted 116 players but today's number is expected to dwarf that. The tournament room holds 32 tables and most, if not all, will be in use.

Only Jake Cody represented the Red Spade yesterday whereas today, Vicky Coren, Liv Boeree and Dale Phillip will be looking to fare better and make day two. Word on the Edinburgh street is that it's Phillip's birthday today, so we're wishing him a day full of big hands that hold up.

Full Tilt Poker Tour Ambassadors, Sin Melin, Dermot Blain and Martins Adeniya will also be in attendance along with a host of big-name players.

Tom Hall, fresh(ish) from his PCA adventure (10th in the Main Event for $112,400) has made the long journey as he tries to earn points in an attempt to defend his UKIPT Season 3 player of the season title.

A new year with fresh ambitions, and poker room packed full of professionals and amateurs alike, offer a fantastic environment for a full day of action-packed poker.

Key UKIPT Edinburgh facts
- 20,000 starting stack
- Blinds starting at 25/50 for 400 big blinds
- One hour levels, we'll play eight today with no dinner break meaning play will end around 8.45pm
- Late registration is open until the start of level five - roughly 4.30pm.
- The Assembly Rooms is a cashless venue, you can only buy-in through your PokerStars account at the venue.
- Two starting days, then Days 2, 3 and 4 will be a combined field to a UKIPT champion (cue winner's photo, trophy swinging around, celebrations in the bar).

PokerStars Blog reporting team at PokerStars UKIPT Edinburgh: Marc Convey and Nick Wright. Photos by Rene Velli.