To read updates from level 17 onward, click here.
2.05pm: Break
There have been some sweaty palms over the last few hands with several players all-in but surviving their showdowns.
The latest man to tempt fate was Dominic Wells whose relief was plain as his [As][Td] stood up against Epameinondas Sintos
' [Ad][7d].
The players are now going to take a 15 minute break to gather themselves and take a breather after all the tension.
We'll be returning shortly for level 17. See you then!
1.54pm: Hand for hand!
Joshua Sklar has just been eliminated, making a move with [Jc][Qc] only to run into the dominating [As][Js] in Daniel James' hand.
He couldn't spike a queen, meaning we are down to 48 players. So just one more elimination till the money, the play is hand-for-hand.
Tense!
1.34pm: Carroll eliminates Shaw's stack
Shaw has been short of chips for a long time and moments ago, he finally played his last hand.
He was very unfortunate, calling a shove blind v blind versus the currently unstoppable Adam Caroll with pocket tens.
Caroll had been applying some bubble pressure with [7d][5d] and looked set to double Shaw until the flop of [As][Kh][5s][2c][7s] appeared - the river curtailing Shaw's tournament.
"Ooooh," sighed the table sympathetically.
"It's ok," Shaw said philosophically. "You were on a move and it worked out, that's the way it goes sometimes..." He leaves and we are now 49-handed, two spots off the bubble...
1.28pm: Imrie out-kicked and kicked out
Leo Imrie has provided an entertaining presence at the felt but his tournament ground to a halt moments ago.
Holding [Ah][Th] on a [As][9s][7d] board, he committed all his chips versus Adam Carroll, only to get the bad news he was in big trouble, Carroll exposing [Ac][Qc].
Two bricks on turn and river sealed his fate. No more we'll hear Imrie's dulcid tones.
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 2,500-5,000-500
1.08pm: The bubble approaches
It seems scarcely possible but in the first hour and a bit of play, we have already reduced the field from 91 to 53!
47 places are paid, meaning there are some stressed faces out there amongst the shortstacks. Can they make it through and earn themselves a payday?
Once there are 48 players left, the action will be hand for hand. The pressure rises...
12.57pm: Ganatra no longer comin atcha
We're sad to report that Nilay Ganatra is just one of the plucky players to have been sent spiralling out of contention in recent times. THe rate of eliminations is incredible...just 61 remain now from the 91 who started the day.
Here are some others whose dreams of UKIPT glory will be shelved till another day.
Mats Rosen
David Barnes
Adam Mały
Clive Jones
Mark Prescott
Christopher Slade
Nilay Ganatra
Asgar Dharamshi
Carl Poulman
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 2,000-4,000-500
12.46pm: "Floor, cross it off"
With the pressure on, it's good that many of the players are enjoying some light-hearted banter at the felt.
After Richard King had his queens cracked after calling a shortstack's three big blind shove with [Ac][9c], he called the floor over.
"Floor he's had his one time, can you cross it off please," he joked.
"It was a bit of a loose call if you ask me, " Leo Imrie added, getting into the spirit of things.
12.34pm: It's over for Kozlov
Valerij Kozlov has run the wrong side of variance in the opening two levels and there is little breathing space to lose pots without facing elimination.
A big pot with [As][7s] versus big slick saw him lose most of his chips to Clive Jones, and Louis Hennessey finished the demolition job, calling Kozlov's shortstacked shove with [Jd][Qd] and finding himself ahead of [Td][9c].
A board of [Kd][Kc][5h][8s][5c] saw Hennessey take down the pot and send Kozlov to the rail. Bad news for him but meanwhile Hennessey is having a great day.
"I started with around 40k, up to 100 now!" he said cheerfully.
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 1,500/3,000/400
12.26pm: Bustout city
As we expected, there's been a fast start with a flurry of players. There's no waiting around for the shortstacks here - they know if they don't chip up soon, their days will be numbered.
Here are some of the early fallers:
Neil McCulloch
Hasan Gul
Andrea De Giorgi
Gladys Long
Danny Blair
Ali Shoubber
Mark Norman
Nick Morris
Jen-Yue Chiang
Cesar Santos
12.15pm: Fordyce - one flip
We can expect to see a cavalcade of coinflips to play out today. Leo Imrie just had his first, and it proved an unpleasant experience.
Paul Fordyce was the man to deal the pain, re-shoving for 31,000 after Imrie had opened to 6,000. Imrie made a quick call with [Ah][Qd] and Fordyce showed pocket fours for a classic race.
A board of [Kh][6h][5c][3h][8s] meant Fordyce's luck had held and he chips up to 65,000 - Imrie down to 40,000.
"That's what you need, eh?" a tablemate said with a smile, slapping Fordyce on the back as he gathered his newly won chips together.
12.00pm: UKIPT Series 4 FInal Day!
Welcome back for the final day of Series 4 at The Hippodrome Casino. 313 players have been crammed into three days of hard and fast poker and 91 have survived to today's final.
Victor Nikolaevich Ilyukhin holds the chip lead with 189,800 though the large blinds and aggressive play we've witnessed over the last few days means this could change in almost the blink of an eye. The full chip counts can be found here.
The prize pool of £75,905 will be distributed as follows:
1st £14,790
2nd £9,400
3rd £7,040
4th £5,700
5th £4,490
6th £3,430
7th £2,520
8th £1,850
9th £1,520
10th-11th £1,275
12th-13th £1,125
14th-15th £1,010
16th-17th £895
18th-20th £780
21st-23rd £705
24th-27th £630
28th-31st £555
32nd-39th £485
40th-47th £435
We'll be playing to a winner today so there will be plenty of twists and turns on the road ahead. The players are keen and we are moments away from the start, so good luck one and all, let's get this underway!
