When play started today the 62 remaining players were guaranteed a Geordie score of at least £1,300 but eyes were already looking skywards at the £105,900 up top and the minimum payout of £10,250 for making the final table.
It took more than seven levels for 62 to become eight and the man currently looking most likely to claim the six-figure payday is Jack Sambrook. He bagged up 2,413,000 to take the chip lead into the final table. It was a late surge that took him to the top. He won a 900,000 chip pot from Alex Jobling and then eliminated Ian Burdon in 10th when his [Ad][Kd] made the nut flush to bust Burdon's pocket jacks. He leads an all UK final table.
For much of the day Chris Ferguson (no not that one, although many internet warriors thought it was) looked destined to have the overnight chip lead. He won two huge pots from Timothy Chung to become the first man to climb over the million-chip mark.
From that point on he positively crushed his table. With 13 left Ferguson had over 1,700,000 whilst the nearest challenger on his table had just 370,000. It was only Sambrook's late surge that denied him top dog status. He's the only other player with more than two million, he bagged up 2,045,000.
Two other players will go to tomorrow's final with a seven figure stack. In third place is Alex Jobling (1,198,000). A friend of UKIPT champion Gareth Walker he described Jobling as a student and MTT grinder. Jobling has in fact just finished University, he's already beaten his best UKIPT performance to date a 27th place finish at UKIPT2 Edinburgh.
The other million-chip man is well known to poker fans, Sam Holden will take 1,122,000 to the final. The forensic science graduate shot to prominence when he final tabled the 2011 WSOP Main Event, where he finished ninth for $782,115. He proved he's no one trick pony by finishing 55th this year. He too has recorded his best UKIPT finish here in Newcastle, a 12th place at UKIPT Edinburgh his previous personal best.
The remaining half of the final table is made up of Ewan Brown (832,000), David Knight (683,000), Dan Hemmingway (446,000) and Anthony Shields (402,000), though with blinds only 12,000 - 24,000 ante 3,000 no one is in short stack territory.
Of course with 54 players who came back today busting out it's no surprise that we lost a few big names along the way. On the UKIPT they don't come much bigger than Team PokerStars Pro Jude Ainsworth. This was his first UKIPT main event cash and he eventually busted in 24th place when he lost that most classic of races ace-king versus Jason Cockburn's pocket queens.
There were quite a few players in today's field who could have made their second UKIPT final table but ultimately none of them could quite manage to get there. Brett Angell (16th), Barry McMahon (17th) and Lee Atherton (30th) all went deep but not deep enough, still it's another solid showing by them on the UKIPT. Atherton has now cashed in three of the four main events this season.
The final table starts at noon tomorrow, this is how the players will line-up
Final table:
Seat 1: Anthony Shields, PokerStars qualifier, United Kingdom, 402,000
Seat 2: Jack Sambrook, United Kingdom, 2,413,000
Seat 3. Sam Holden, United Kingdom, 1,122,000
Seat 4. Dan Hemingway, United Kingdom, 446,000
Seat 5. Ewan Brown, PokerStars qualifier, United Kingdom, 832,000
Seat 6. David Knight, PokerStars qualifier, United Kingdom, 683,000
Seat 7. Alexander Jobling, PokerStars player United Kingdom, 1,198,000
Seat 8. Chris Ferguson, PokerStars player, United Kingdom, 2,045,000
To catch up with all today's play click on the links below:
Level 17-20 updates
Level 21-24 updates
To see who's finished where so far click here.
We'll be back tomorrow from noon to bring you all the action from the final table.
All photos are copyright of Mickey May. There's Chuck Norris, then her, then everyone else. You've been warned.