3.40pm: End of the level
That's the end of level 18, you'll find level 19 updates in a new post.
3.35pm: Pang pings the river
Another double up now for a player at risk...
It was Callan Pang at risk, all-in for 98,000 with [Kd][Qs] and behind to Aaron Armstrong's [Ac][9c]. The board came [Jd][5d][5h][6s][Ks] and Pang hit his pair on the river to survive, although he seemed more concerned with his phone than with his newly acquired chip stack.
3.20pm: Kimber and Zimbler keep it chatty
Two of the more experienced players left in the field are Jeff Kimber and Paul Zimbler and they're sharing the same table, in fact they're sat across from one another. It's Zimbler who's faring better as he's on around 300,000, whilst Kimber is hovering around the 100,000 mark.
The two of them are merrily chatting away, Barny Boatman's bracelet win at the WSOP has been a topic of conversation as has tournament variance, with Kimber saying how Chris Brammer didn't make a Day 2 at the WSOP in his first 20 tournaments in 2012 and then on his 21st he cashed for $200,000.
3.10pm: Bryan at the double
At least eight players have already been eliminated in the money since the bubble but Matt Bryan is not yet part of that statistic. He was all-in for around 55,000 with pocket tens and up against James Greenwood's [Ks][9h]. A [Qd][9d][6h][6d][4h] board kept him in the tournament and he let out a huge sigh of relief once the river had been dealt.
I'll be updating the payouts page throughout the day so keep an eye on it to see who has cashed.
Blinds Up: 4,000 - 8,000 ante 1,000
3pm: The bubble has burst
There was no hand for hand play on the bubble as four players were eliminated before hand for hand play could come into effect. I caught one of them in which Peter Mok holding [Kd][Qs] eliminated Adrian Ko spiking a king to bettter Ko's pocket sevens.
The other players to bust on the bubble were Gary Penn, Christopher Stock and Adrian Lambe.
This all meant that Ignacio Harris made the money with a single ante chip having been reduced to that when he lost with [As][4s] to David Lu's [Ac][8s] on the bubble. He exited on the very next hand, but crucially he was in the money.
2.50pm: Big stacks
The current top five as the bubble approaches are:
Benjamin Miller, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, 420,000
Peter Mok, United Kingdom, 365,000
Paul Zimbler, United Kingdom, PokerStars qualifier, 300,000
Eoin Starr, Ireland, 293,000
Paul Dando, United Kingdom ,PokerStars Player, 242,000
2.45pm: Bubble trouble
The bubble is looming here at The Hippodrome Casino in London as just 65 players remain, Kelly Saxby, Keith Sanderson, Yigit Isilsoy and Robert Cooling all recently busted.
2.30pm: Back from the break
I was handed another bunch of exit cards during the break so I can tell you that: Nicholas Cox, Kay Anne Wookey, Kenneth Hill, Majid Ejlal Noubarian, Ivor Sampson, Ali Zihni, Dale Garrad, Aleksei Serbin, Ellie Biessek, Ruslanas Rudycevas, Nicholas Holbrook, Wai Kwan Yuen and Alex Spencer have all been eliminated.
72 players remain and during the break tournament staff did counts of the biggest stack at each table, when I have that information I'll get it up on the blog.
Blinds Up: 3,000 - 6,000 ante 1,000
2.05pm: Exits
We're down to 74 players now as the end of level 16 approaches, recent exits include: Fei Jiang,Michael Doverklint, Lotfi Boughanmi, Simon Brooks, Adam Pogonowski, Glenn Watson, Kevin Maslen, Ganapathy Samiappan, Alexander Martin, Mark Shepherd, Quoc Nong, Kashif Shirazi and Kenji Kimura
The players are now on a 20 minute break.
1.55pm: Bradpiece loses flip to bust
From under-the-gun Jerome Bradpiece opened to 11,000 and was three-bet smallish by Peter Mok and when it got back to Bradpiece he shrugged and said: "I'm going all-in anyway," and moved all-in for around 85,000 and was snap called by Mok. It was a classic race with Bradpiece holding queens, to Mok's ace-king. All was rosy for the overpair until a king spiked on the river to eliminate Bradpiece.
1.35pm: Going eight hand
Just 80 players remain in the tournament so play will now be eight handed for the duration.
Blinds Up: 2,500 - 5000 ante 500
1.35pm: Five alive
I decided to take a look at how the top five stacks coming into today had fared in the opening two and a half levels. Our survey said...(starting stack in brackets)
Callum Palfrey, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, 305,000 (253,500)
Benjamin Miller , United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, 270,000 (205,500)
James Thomson, United Kingdom, 255,000 (200,800)
William Ullauri, Ecuador, PokerStars Player, 150,000 (195,400)
Philip Baker, United Kingdom, 145,000 (194,800)
1.25pm: Huge double for McCluskey
Mark McCluskey just got a big double up at the hands of Alfie Baldwin.
The latter opened to 8,000 with pocket jacks, next to act McCluskey jammed for 71,800 and when it folded back to Baldwin he made the call. A low [2d][6d][2c][9d][5d] board kept McCluskey in front and left Baldwin with around 30,000.
1.15pm: 100, 99, 98
Less than 100 players remain now here at the UKIPT Series2 at The Hippodrome Casino in London's West End.
Imoh Deme Poi, Jason Lam, Christopher French, Arvydas Merfeldas, Liudas Slikas, James Dunmall and Mohammed Himedan the latest to exit.
Blinds Up: 2,000 - 4,000 ante 500
1.05pm: Short stacks fight back
It's not all doom and gloom for the short stacks here as some of them are doubling up. First Michael Doverklint doubled with [Ac][Kd] against James Fielden's [Ad][9c] on a [Js][Jd][8c][Tc][5h] board, Doverklint's all-in call was 29,700 so he's up to around 65,000 whilst Fielden drops to 18,500.
And Sergey Chernykh was all-in for 35,400 with [Ks][Qs] and up against big stacked Philip Baker who held [As][7h]. The board came [Js][Kh][Td][2c][Kc] and Chernykh hit trips to stay alive.
12.55pm: Blind man's bluff
Dale Garrad came back today with an above average 80,800 but didn't get off to the best of starts when he lost a flip.
UKIPTSeries - crippled AK v 66... Opponent celebrated like he'd won a bracelet... I'm happy he's happy. 10bb spinnnnnnnn
— Dale Garrad (@DaleGarrad) June 30, 2013
But he's just got some chips back shoving, I think blind, for 15,900 with what turned out to be [As][9s] and getting a call from Jerome Bradpiece with [Qs][Js] from the big blind. A [4h][4s][8h][7c][5c] board kept him in front and he doubled up to around 10 big blinds.
12.45pm: More exits
"Two seats on four.,"
"Seat open table nine."
"Seat on five." etc
Yep there has been a flurry of exits early on here at The Hippodrome Casino, finding themselves with a day free to enjoy the sunshine are: Andrew Huelin, Richard Dawson, Richard Ellis, Maziar Seirafi, Peter Drakeford, Richard Wooldridge, Daniel Brown, Renata Jack, Adam Refoufi, Attila Csáka, David Dean, Philip Lee, John R. Hayes, Kelvin Richard Mullis,Andres Campero Nunez and Dale Jordan.
Renata Jack was knocked out by Alfie Baldwin, the latter had a pair of fives and they held against her A-9, Baldwin is now up to 52,000.
Blinds Up: 1,500 - 3,000 ante 400
12.35pm: Stacked
A quick glance through the Day 2 seat draw was all it took for Table 9 to jump out at me as one to keep an eye on. It's absolutely stacked. There were no fewer then four 100,000 plus stacks at the table when play got underway today and James Thomson the Day 1A chip leader who has over 200,000. If one of more of them clash that could lead to an even bigger stack being created.
Table 9
9 1 Michael Tucknott United Kingdom PokerStars Player 75,000
9 2 Ellie Biessek United Kingdom 102,900
9 3 Simon Griffin United Kingdom PokerStars Qualifier 130,300
9 4 Jason Lam United Kingdom 32,500
9 5 James Thomson United Kingdom 200,800
9 6 David Dean United Kingdom PokerStars Player 80,000
9 7 Madhavan Kasthuri India 152,900
9 8 Ruslanas Rudycevas Lithuania PokerStars Player 40,200
9 9 Aaron Armstrong United Kingdom PokerStars Player 165,600
12.25pm: Slater gambles - loses
Another player who knows what it's like to make a UKIPT Main Event final table has been unceremoniously bounced from this tournament in the opening level of Day 2.
The action was opened to 5,500 by Nimisha Rattan, next to act Tim Slater moved all-in for around 40,000 and when it folded back to Rattan she made the call.
"Got to have a gamble," said Slater showing [Ad][Ts], he was racing against Rattan's pocket eights. The pair held as the board ran [5h][2d][0c][6s][Kc]. Table six is one to watch as it contains not only Rattan but Adebayo Odetoyinbo and overnight chip leader Callum Palfrey.
12.10pm: Seat open
It didn't take long for the first exit to occur, just a couple of minutes in fact and I've already heard the cry of seat open two times today, Christian Derie, Connor Budden
and UKIPT3 Newcastle runner-up Alexander Jobling those to have exited. Usual start of Day 2 carnage then.
But I've also witnessed a double up and it was that classic race of ace-king against queens. The at risk player - Daniel Brown - had [Ac][Kd] all-in for 17,200 and was up against Daniel Blake's pocket queens. The [2h][3c][As][6c][9s] board ruled in Brown's favour and reduced Blake's stack to around 40,000.
12pm: Day 2 set to start
Welcome to the second and final day of the UKIPT Series2. A total of 478 players entered over the two starting flights and just 131 remain. Leading the way is Callum Palfrey, a PokerStars qualifier from Bournemouth. He's got a massive 253,300 but as we know the Day 1 chip leader never wins the tournament right?
Well despite that poker myth, Palfrey is in pole position to take the lions share of the prize pool, the details of which were announced late last night. In total 56 players will make the money with the winner taking a massive £26,140, whilst a min-cash is worth £490. This is what the players are playing for today.
1st.£26,140
2nd. £17,390
3rd. £10,720
4th.£8,260
5th. £6,230
6th. £4,345
7th. £3,190
8th. £2,320
9th -10th. £1,885
11th-12th. £1,595
13th-14th. £1,305
15th-16th, £1,015
17th-24th £815
25th-32nd. £725
33rd-40th.£635
41st-48th.£550
49th-56th. £490
There are 15 tables in action, all playing nine handed, with two tables still in use in the Poker Deck and the other 13 down here in the Matcham Room. The start of day seat draw can be found here. As soon as the field is reduced to 80 players play will go eight handed. Players are now in their seats, the button will start on seat three, action is about to get underway.
All photos are copyright of Neil Stoddart.