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.