8.51pm: The day is done!
Eight levels of fast, frantic and serious poker played out here in Bristol and we saw some dramatic pots, moments, risers and fallers as a big group took to the felt bidding to be crowned the UKIPT Bristol champion.
The final analysis showed Jonathon Prested had "best"-ed (but not busted) the field with well over 120,000.
You can read the details below or you can wait for the more condensed recap - coming shortly...
Thanks for following and make sure you are with us tomorrow where a new slew of warriors will take to the felt including Team PokerStars Pros Liv Boeree and Vicky Coren, homegrown talent James Dempsey and many other players hopeful of throwing their hat into the ring of potential UKIPT champions.
We'll see you back at the felt at 12.00pm sharp. -- RS
8.47pm: Barr set too high for Williams
Jonathan Barr made a move late in the day, shoving over a Kevin Williams open with [7c][8c] in a bid to boost his stack.
WIlliams made the call with [Ac][Ks] and looked in good shape to further enhance his chip stack - however Barr did hold potentially dangerous live cards.
This potential was realised in dramatic form, a flop of [7h][7s][6d] spelling disaster for Williams.
The [Ah] turn brought just a sliver of hope, but Williams' desperate calls for an ace river came to nothing as the [5d] appeared to give Barr a big double through.
Williams meanwhile takes a hit but is still well-placed with 43k, having 4-bet shoved the very next hand, increasing his stack effectively. -- RS
8.44pm: Last four hands before the end of play!
Just four hands remain in level 8, before the players bag and tag 'em for the evening.
8.34pm: The role-call of the damned
We've been collecting players who have busted recently.
Here they are. Bad luck all.
Nicholas Romanello, Ralph Silva, Alan Vinnicombe, Ian Cole, Borui Xu, James Rann, Jonas Stromsten, Richard Collis, Matthew Kerry, Richard Trigg, Kevin Allen, Ivan Sampson, Maz Bowers, Marc Hunter, Darren Corbett, Michael Doverklint, Connor Ross, Carwyn Jenkins, Morgan Sorfleet, Nigel Baker, William Bennet, Isaac Downes, Ben Newman. -- RS
8.22pm: Trigger shoots final bullet
Rick Trigg's stack has been up and down like a yoyo today but finally the fat lady has sung and she's singing his name.
The big set back to his stack saw him go to war with ace-king, only to lose the resultant 35k flip, meaning he now had a mere 6,500 in play.
When someone aggressive opened, he drew his line in the sand, 3-betting with [Ad][8c], only to get called by A-T.
"I'm in trouble. I need an eight!" he told friend Chris Moorman on the neighbouring table.
The flop came [Qh][Js][9h] causing Trigg to revise his request.
"Now I need a ten!"
The turn however fulfilled his now redundant original request, peeling the [8c] and when the river bricked the [4d], Trigg's hopes of an unlikely comeback were dashed. -- RS
8.12pm: Chips and fish
As the last level of the day gets underway Adam Forsyth (60,000) and Kieran Plater (58,000) are both well placed.
However, Malcolm Dagger, Jonathan Spinks, Joel Beverley and Simon Brooks will not be winning UKIPT Bristol. -- NW
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 300-600 ante 75
8.05pm: Tweet Tweet
Some information gleaned from twitter: Matt Crocker has doubled his short stack up to a below average stack Aces against Ace-King boosting him to 11,350.
Meanwhile Raj Verma has lost a big pot and is back down to 40,000. -- NW
7.55pm: It's a race
As the blinds get bigger in comparison to the stacks, its not surprising that we're seeing players take more flips for their stacks.
In one such race Isaac Downes opened to 1,050, Sam Grafton flat-called and Andrew Laurie then re-raised to 3,700. Back on Downes he moved all-in for around 22,000, Grafton folded but Laurie made the call.
Downes: [10d][10h]
Laurie: [Ac][Kc]
The board ran [5h][Ad][6s][5c][2h] and Laurie spiked his overcard on the flop to eliminate Downes. -- NW
7.43pm Williams fires up the leaderboard
Kevin Williams has just won a big coup to boost him up the chip rankings. Holding K-Q he went to war with a table-mate who had K-7 on a K-Q-7-7-K board.
A pretty harsh cooler, Williams will no doubt not be bothered at all as he is now on 50k, which will be amongst the leaders at this stage. -- RS
7.36pm Roberts flying flag for the ladies
There are several women from the opening Day 1a roster still holding their own, but it is Deborah Roberts who is heading them at the moment.
Most recently, her pocket sixes connected sweetly with a [6s][5c][3d] flop and she squeezed several chunky bets out of her opponent before breaking the bad news that they were way behind.
She is now up to 42k... -- RS
7.28pm Moorman stares oblivion in the face
Chris Moorman just saw most of his stack evaporate. The hand saw him open the pot preflop with [7c][8c], picking up one caller who check-called Moorman's c-bet of 1,200 on a 7-3-2 rainbow board. The turn was the [Tc] and when Moorman led for 2,300, he was raised to 5,200.
He called and then faced a 3,600 bet - his opponent with 10,000 back - on the [3s] river.
Again he called only to be shown pocket eights.
"I should have shoved the river," he said regretfully.
Moorman was left with just under 9,000. "I won't be coming back tomorrow with 9k," he said indicating he might be making a move sooner rather than later... -- RS
7.25pm: Three into one does go
When play started today the players were scattered across three different areas. With the field of 235 now down to 144, almost all the players are now condensed into the main tournament room, with only two tables still in the secondary area.
Amongst the players on those two tables are Ben Jenkins (36,000), Bruce Atkinson (34,000) and Kevin Killeen (12,000).
Meanwhile, in other news Chris Moorman is down to 8,500, Raj Verma is up to 70,000 and Jack Sambrook has slipped to 28,000. -- NW
7.10pm: Back from the break
Players are back in their seats now and cards are in the air. This is level seven of the eight scheduled for today. -- NW
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 200-400 ante 50
6.50pm: Break it down!
The end of the sixth level of the day means it's time for another of those breaks. The smoking balcony is filling up faster than a gas hoarder's can during a zombie apocalypse and we too are taking a short twenty minute break.
Back soon for level 7... -- RS
6.47pm: Crocker the unsung crooner
Matt Crocker was pretty short and decided to go for a double-through with [Kc][8c], besting his opponent's [Ah][Js] when an 8 spiked on the flop.
Up to 5,750, Crocker seemed a little upset we witnessed this minor suckout.
"Oh you turn up now to get all these details but you missed it when I was singing songs!" -- RS
6.42pm: Taking the count
A couple of quick chip counts for those of you following these two young UK high fliers.
James Mitchell - 23,000
Kevin Williams - 24,000
6.36pm: Persaud pushes for the chip lead
Nik Persaud has ascended to a proud stack of 45,000, which places him near the chip lead at this stage.
When first pushed as to where he got his chips from he was less than forthcoming at first - "I've just been pinching blinds!"
Like bloodhounds on the scent though, we weren't to be put off by this and eventually Nik cracked and revealed all.
"The biggest pot I played, I limped under the gun with [7d][5d] and saw a four-way flop of 3-4-6.
I bet out half pot and the button and big blind called.
The turn was the [Ks] - I lead out for 1,800, button calls and now the big blind check-raises another 4,000. I made the call and when the river fell the [Th] he moved all-in. Turned out he had K-4 and had made 2 pair on the turn..." -- RS
6.30pm: Exits
There's no easy way to say this but if you were following the progress of: Shaun Conning, Martin Mulsow, Jamie Dale, Katie Lindsay or Thomas Piccirilli then you can go ahead and close this window as they're all out. -- NW
6.22pm: Chip counts
Still in and going strong (or otherwise) are: Kevin Williams (26,500), Thomas Hall (36,300), Joe Grech (45,000), Sam Grafton (23,000 - an uptick from his low of 6,000), Matt Crocker (2,300), Thomas Ward (37,000), Dan Carter (26,000), Marc MacDonnell (24,000), Nicky Romanello (19,000) and Nik Persaud (42,000). -- NW
6.15pm: Mitchell gets a rub down
From Sam Grafton, although we should say it was all good natured.
James Mitchell opened from the hi-jack, Grafton passed his small blind and Alan Yau then moved all-in for less than 2,000 and Mitchell made the obligatory call.
Mitchell: [Ad][Qh]
Yau: [As][6s]
The [10s][Ks][8s] flop killed the hand dead and the board ran out [Kh][4h]. The dent to Mitchell's stack was minimal and Grafton went to town at the expense of his friend. "Unlucky Mitchell," he said. "Once I saw the [8s] I knew you weren't winning that hand." He then turned to Yau and said: "That'll teach him to raise our blinds with that off-suit broadway trash!"
6.05pm: Hawes unseated*
Richard Hawes has battled gamely today, looking to lift his stack into contention following some early damage.
Unfortunately though, it proved a hurdle he was unable to jump.
*Nick Wright takes the blame credit for that pun. -- RS
5.53pm: Trigg's star rising
Rick Trigg may have started the day on a downward spiral but he's picking up pace as we move through the day, most recently flopping a set of threes on a [9d][6d][3s] and getting his opponent to pay him off on all three streets (finally for the remainder of his stack) with A-9.
That hand moves Trigg up to 27,000.
"Now I've just got to get past 30,000, I'm making a habit of reaching that then donking them all off..."
Let's hope Trigg can reverse this pattern today... -- RS
5.50pm: Exits and chip counts
There's no easy way to say this but Richard Haile, Chris O'Donnell, Wayne Bentley and Sam Holden will not be winning UKIPT Bristol as they are all out.
However the following are all in with a shot: Raj Verma (34,000), Ben Jenkins (27,000), David Lenz (29,200), Jon Spinks (10,700), Paul McTaggart (35,000) and Ben Martin (48,000). -- NW
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 150-300 ante 25
5.40pm: Moorman at the double
Chris Moorman just doubled up and for the first time this tournament his stack is in the black as it's now 20,500.
He was kind enough to recount the hand to me, "I opened on the button to 700 with [8d][5d] and the small blind (Fergal Nealon) called. The flop was 4-4-6 with two diamonds and he check-called 850," continued Moorman.
"The turn was an off-suit three, he checked to me again, I bet 1,900, he moved all-in and I called all-in for my last five thousand. He had pocket fives, the river was seven to give me a straight."
That river card was very bad news for all the other players in the field. -- NW
5.30pm: Richard Hawes is not a horse
Richard Hawes grabbed our arm as we passed to comment on the sheer number of horse references in his updates.
"I always get referred to as a horse!" he complained jovially.
We can only apologise Richard but we do have to write these updates on the hoof.
Richard Hawes holding steady at 8,000.... -- RS
5.20pm: Chip leader
During the break Jack Sambrook - who finished seventh at UKIPT Newcastle - tweeted. "Steady 45k at 2nd break. 150/300 when we return."
By my reckoning that makes Sambrook the current chip leader. -- NW
5.06pm: Always look on the bright side
Lee Michael Mulligan recently fired the last of his chips into a pot, and was pessimistic about his chances.
The board read [Ks][Td][6s][7h], and having bet 1,000 on the flop, called by Witold Nosko, he pushed his remaining 4,500 into the middle on the turn.
Nosko uhmmed and ahhhed before saying "good luck," and calling.
"Good luck? That's me done then," said Mulligan before finding out he was actually in great shape - his [Ac][Kc] well ahead of Nosko's crucially out-kicked [Kd][Qh].
A blank [8s] on the river secured Mulligan's double-through to 10,500.
"I was sure he would have aces," he revealed as Nosko counted the damage to his stack, now reduced to 13,400. -- RS
4.57pm: Latest eliminations
It's a brave man who takes on the sea of turbulence and bests its dangerous waves.
The latest mariners to be swept away in a seaspray of misfortune are Simon Coles and Rickard Pantzare, whose journeys have ended at the bottom of Davey's locker. -- RS
4.45pm: The many faces of Sam Grafton
If you've ever encountered Sam Grafton at a poker table you'll know that he's one of the more talkative players on the circuit and he's also someone who will show his emotions at the table through a range of expressions. Behind all that bluster is, of course, a sharp tournament mind.
Grafton's yet to have a really big score on the UKIPT, 14th in Coventry during Season one his deepest run so far. And he's struggling here in Bristol, he had 17,000 at one point but has slipped to 6,300. For now though enjoy this excellent series of photos our snapper caught earlier. -- NW
PokerStars Blog reporting team in Bristol (and their favourite Sam) : Rod Stirzaker (Sam Fox) and Nick Wright (Sam Spade). Photos by Mickey May (Yosemite Sam)