9.20pm: Play is over for the day
Play is done for the day and Marinos Mina is the overnight chip leader with 138,300. Whilst one player lucky to still be in is Chris Dowling, on the very last hand he check-shoved a ten high flop with pocket sevens and got there against pocket aces. Bullseye. He ended up on 50,000 exactly.
A full wrap of the days play is on the way and will be posted in separate post shortly. -- NW
9.02pm: Last three hands
Tournament staff have paused the clock and announced the last three hands of play. -- NW
9pm: Chip leader
Given that he has a stack of around 130,000 in front of him Mina Marinos is one of if not the chip leader. Whilst with a stack of 125,000 in front of him Emanuele Pani is up there too. -- NW
8.55pm: Winner winner, many chicken dinners
Ladies and gentlemen, can I please have your attention. I've just been handed an urgent and horrifying exciting news story. I need all of you, to stop what you're doing and listen...
The winner of UKIPT Bristol will take home £90,400, in total 72 players will win a share of the £373,450 prize pool with a min-cash being worth £1,000. We'll have the full prize pool structure up on the blog for you shortly after play finishes tonight. -- NW
8.45pm: Chip counts
Here are the counts of a few players who are still in and folding, calling and raising during the last level of the day: Ben Vinson (24,000), Scott O'Reilley (8,300), Scott Shelley (9,600), Rupinder Bedi (12,600), Mickey Petersen (15,500), Fintan Gavin (22,000) and David Docherty (23,000).
162 players remain. -- NW
8.30pm: Akery takes a pot
He's certainly one of those players who falls into the get it quietly category. But Rob Akery is also someone who falls into the 'extremely good player' category. He's a Bristol native who has form in this very casino, finishing second in a £2,500 event in 2007 and a £1,500 event in 2008.
His talent extends outside the walls of Bristol though, he took third in the £20,000 High Roller at EPT London in October last year, but all this build up to his tournament prowess is a sham as his main game is online cash games.He's one of Britain's best consistently playing high stakes on PokerStars.
But back to this tournament, I just saw him rake in a pot that took his stack to an above average 35,000 here in Bristol although the other players at his table probably have no idea who they're up against. -- NW
8.20pm: Level up!
Level 7 is in the bag, the incrementally rising nature of poker levels meaning we are now into level 8.
300-600 ante 75 blinds mean there is a juicy prize awaiting anyone wishing to pick up the blinds and an even greater prize await those who can re-steal these steal attempts and even greater prizes await those who can...well you get the picture.
In short don't be surprised to see some pretty radical 4,5 and 6-bet re-steals this level!
8.15pm: Channing policing the table
George Clyde-Smith just felt the full force of a verbal tongue-lashing from Neil Channing and as anyone who knows Neil is only too aware, this is a painful and time-consuming experience.
The problems started when Clyde-Smith allegedly berated a player who had called his raise with A-3, leading Clyde-Smith to give an extended post-mortem of the hand.
"If you want to educate players, maybe you should consider making a training video," Channing suggested.
"I don't think I was having a go. I was talking to myself more than anyone else," Clyde-Smith responded.
"Maybe you'd be better advised to do that in your head. We were having a nice, friendly game before you turned up and decided to start berating players."
"I'm sorry if that's the impression you got."
"That's the most grudging apology I think I've ever heard."
There were one or two stifled grins round the adjacent tables as the disagreement rumbled on.
Eventually the argument ran out of steam after some desperate pleas from the dealer and play continued.
Channing - 26,000; George Clyde-Smith 18,000. -- RS
8.05pm: Chips and exits
The respective talents of the Vicky Coren table have been spread around the room as that table has now broken. The Team PokerStars Pro is on 11,500 and finds herself on the same table as Andrew Teng.
Steve Watts (29,000) is on the same table as Barry McMahaon (21,000), whilst Matt Frankland has 60,000 and we're told James Dempsey is out.
Other selected chip counts include: David Vamplew (11,600), Andrew Couldridge (52,000), Emmett Mullin (24,000), Lee Atherton (55,000) and Dom Kay (27,000).
Meanwhile Jamie Roberts and Jake Cody are also out. -- NW
7.50pm: Tompkins bashes up Barzantny
Jason Tompkins just won a 65,000 chip pot and may well now be chip leader and he won it at the expense of UKIPT Online champion Wojtek Barzantny.
The latter opened under-the-gun, Tompkins three-bet from the big blind and Barzantny made the call.
The [Jd][2d][4] flop was where all hell broke loose, Tompkins bet, Barzantny raised, Tompkins re-raised, Barzantny shoved and Tompkins called all-in.
Barzantny: [As][5s]
Tompkins: [Ac][Ah]
The turn and river were both blanks and Tompkins raked a massive pot, whilst Barzantny slipped to 19,000. Also at their table is Team PokerStars Pro Christoph De Meulder who currently has 17,000. -- NW
7.34pm: Camel going through dry spell
Keith Hawkins hasn't been able to get his engine running today and is in danger territory now with just over 6k to his name. -- RS
7.26pm: Wong doing something right
It's hard to track all the stacks in play with hundreds of players filling the casino but Kin Chung Wong is a worthy contendor for the title with what is a huge, if slightly disorderly arranged.
Most recently, he boosted his chip stack by battling with Anthony Forsyth-Forrest.
The pair were heads up on a flop of [Jc][7d][6s] - Wong leading out from the small blind for 3.2k...called by Forsyth-Forrest.
The turn was the [Qh] and now Wong raised the price to play to 5.1k.
This was also called.
Finally the [Ts] appeared on the river - and now Wong quietly counted out 15k - a large bet for most of Forsyth-Forrest's stack. The stress of the decision was etched onto his face, but eventually he decided against making the call - laying his hand down, leaving the quiet assassin Wong to sweep up the pot. Forsyth takes a hit back to just under 20k. -- RS
7.20pm: Atherton bowls a googly
During the break Lee Atherton tweeted a bit of a googly. "Up to 33k at break. Avg 24k. How I got there isn't for Public consumption just yet."
Meanwhile Joe Roberts is on the up: "Hold qq vs qj on T93 all in on the flop in a 3b pot for 31k." -- NW
7.10pm: Back from the break
The 189 players who're left are now back in their seats and level seven is underway. -- NW
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 200-400 ante 50
6.50pm: Half-a-dozen done
That's the end of level six, players are now on a 20 minute break. -- NW
6.44pm: Doctor ailing
One would think holding a royal flush versus quads would be the springboard to build an impressive stack, but James "The Doctor" Dempsey's chips have sprung back into their initial starting position of 15,000.
"I bluffed them off," he announced proudly with a grin on his face, -- RS
6.41pm: Keys locked out
Sadly it looks as though we missed James Keys final hand, suffice to say he has been struggling with a shortish stack for some time and unless he has been moved recently, we have to think he has finally succumbed to the waves of variance. -- RS
6.35pm: Bullets misfire for Hutton
Holding aces on a [K][6][7] board, Joe Hutton committed the rest of his stack over the course of the [5][3] turn and river, only to discover his opponent held pocket sixes for a flopped set.
Easily covered Hutton headed to a friend to furnish him with the grisly details of his exit in classic poker fashion. -- RS
6.28pm: Channing turning up the heat
Neil Channing's early pressure looks to be paying off. The most recent hand saw him raise the river of a [Ks][Qd][8c][9h][Qc] board.
Facing a bet of 1.5k, Channing now bumped it up to 4.5k and his opponent tanked for a while before making the call, only to find Neil with the nut full house - [K][Q].
Usually one to provide ample commentary on a hand but rarely one to issue a rubdown to an unfamiliar opponent, Neil maintained a respectful silence as he swept up the chips that have bolstered his stack to an impressive 31,750. -- RS
6.40pm: Bad news tweets
Twitter is seemingly the bearer of bad news at the moment with most of the tweets of the 'I lost a pot,' variety. Two recent examples:
"Just lost a 35k pot with AK v AA Still have 20k," tweeted Chris Dowling
"Missed open ended straight flush draw on turn but played it slow to limit damage. 12k," was the tweet from Rupinder Bedi. -- NW
6.35pm: Barzantny bringing it
The good form Wojtek Barzantny displayed in the UKIPT Online event has been carried with him into the UKIPT Bristol main event. He's up to 48,000 after five-betting Christophe De Meulder off a hand in a blind versus blind battle. The Belgian Team PokerStars pro looked like he wanted to six-bet shove but ultimately folded his hand to slip to 26,000. -- NW
6.25pm: UKIPT champion Burland busts
My thanks to Fintan Gavin for telling me about UKIPT Brighton Season 1 champion Jamie Burland's exit hand.
He got it all-in with [A][Q] against Dan Morgan's pocket jacks, Morgan flopped a set, but there was also a ten on the flop meaning Burland had a re-draw to a staright. However it didn't materialise on the turn or river. After that hand Morgan is up to 30,000. - NW
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 150-300 ante 25
6.09pm: The nearly men
More sad music, more exits. Bad luck guys.
Barry Perkin
Stuart Kinghorn
Kevin Wright
Benjamin Senior
Steven Gray
David Kilmartin
Keith Smith
David Phelan
Tudor Purice
Daniel Haw
Brett Angell
Sam Onions
Michael Brock
Daniel Gallagher
Chris Glanville
Philip Pattende
Peter Sudnik
R Tadj-Saadat
Christopher Sly
Graham Carter
Anthony Gale
James Teirney
Daniel Kind
Thomas Butcher -- RS
6.03pm: Vinson not invincible
Ben Vinson is widely regarded as one of the best young players in the UK and has built up an enviable string of domestic results to back up this claim.
He appeared to be making serene progress up the leaderboard today, although that progress has been dramatically derailed at the hands of Jason Kemp.
The hand in question was what might be termed a standard cooler, Kemp raising the button with kings, Vinson 3-betting, before Kemp shoved all-in.
An easy call with aces for Vinson meant he was in pole position to relieve Kemp of his 13,500 stack.
We've seen before however that the status quo can shift in the blink of an eye and the [Kh][Js][7h] board that peeled off turned the respective equities of the two player's hands on their head.
Looking for an ace for salvation, Vinson turned a few more outs with the [Qd], but a brick [3d] was of no use and Vinson quietly counted out the damage to his stack and passed it over to Kemp without a fuss.
Down to 12,500, Vinson is still well in this tournament and to his credit, he looked entirely unflustered by the whole affair. -- RS
6pm: Doc Martins
As if the table containing Team PokerStars Pro Vicky Coren, Matt Frankland, Steve Watts and James 'The Doctor' Dempsey wasn't tough enough, the one seat is now occupied by Martins Adeniya, he finished seventh at EPT/UKIPT London in September 2011 and is a very dangerous customer. -- NW
5.55pm: Kay KO's Monroe
Dominic Kay has just taken out Kevin Monroe, although he didn't think he was ahead when he called.
Kay opened the pot to 650 and got one caller before Monroe moved all-in for 4,775, back to Kay he flicked in one blue 5,000 chip and the flat caller got out the way. "You're probably ahead," said Kay as he turned over [Ac][Jd]. "No you're ahead," said Monroe, showing [Ah][10c].
A [4c][2c][Kd][6h][5d] board kept Kay in front and sent Monroe to the rail. -- NW
5.45pm: Numbers
I've just been told that the total number of runners in UKIPT Bristol is 550. That means the 315 runners from Day 1B and the 215 from Day 1A have created a prize pool of £373,450. As soon as I get confirmation of the break down of that prize pool it'll be posted on the blog. -- NW
5.35pm: Clay suffers 999 abuse
James Hinsley and Dean Clay are two of the most recent bustees.
Clay told us following his exit that he lost a big hand with queens versus nines - a nine spiking on the river to almost bust him.
Following this, he piled in the last of his chips with K-Q and up against nines again, he managed to hit both a king and a queen, but it was all for naught as his opponent hit two nines to send him to the rail.
5.29pm: Assorted counts
Like a smattering of all-sorts, here's a few chip counts for you to chew upon.
Sunny Chattha - 27,000
Neil Channing - 19,000
Rupinder Bedi - 13,250
Jake Cody - 12,500 -- RS
5.20pm: Dempsey dents poker royalty with a royal
Team PokerStars Pro Vicky Coren and James Dempsey have already clashed a couple of times today and they just played a big pot in which both of them had monster hands. I didn't catch the action first hand, but twitter revealed the tale of the tape.
"I just made a bad call wIth quads, and that's not something I can say every day. Nice hand, Mr Dempsey. #UKIPTBristol."
So just what did Dempsey have to best quads?
"Made a royal, @VictoriaCoren paid me off with quads #thegamesarestillgood," chirped Dempsey, he's up to 27,000 whilst Coren slips to 7,000. -- NW
5.10pm: Angell has wings clipped
Just before the break I saw Brett Angell walking away from the card room having been eliminated from the tournament. He told me about his exit hand which was a bit of a cooler. "I raised with [5d][4d] and got three callers. The flop was a dream [6d][7d][8s], I c-bet 1,000, got one caller and then another player made it 2,500. He had a similar stack to me so I moved all-in and he called with pocket sevens. The [6h] came on the turn to fill him up. -- NW
4.59pm: Level 5 in effect
The players have cooled off, chilled out and re-stocked on ammunition, ready to cross swords on the poker battlefield once more.
The blinds continue at 150-300...
4.56pm: Blown a Thews
You may have noticed Julian Thew's name appearing in the list of busted competitors earlier.
Just to shed a little light on his exit, he departed holding pocket tens on an [8c][2c][3s] board, leading out before shoving the [4s] turn.
His opponent called both streets holding A♣9♣ for the flush draw and gutshot straight draw and made his straight on the five river.
"Bit unlucky" was the unusually terse summary from the usually verbose James Dempsey. -- RS
4.45pm: Meet John Jacobs
Whilst John Jacobs might not be a well known poker name that jumps off the page, anyone who attended VIP Club Live: London might just recognise his name.
For Jacobs, an English student at Sheffield University, won his seat at that event by correctly predicting seven out of seven outcomes in the Arsenal versus Chelsea game. But, his run good didn't end there, two other party goers had achieved the same feat, but it was his name that got pulled from the hat to give him a free seat to the Bristol leg of the UKIPT.
"This is the biggest buy-in event I've ever played in," he told me during the break. I play low stakes tournaments online and managed to satellite into a WCOOP earlier in the year. I knocked Joseph Cheong out in that and finished in the top 500 so made some money."
And Jacob has had a cracking start to the day here in Bristol as he's up to 25,000. "I had a nice hand earlier," he said. "I three-bet pocket kings and got a caller. The flop was [A][K][6] and by the river I got it all-in against ace-king to double up." He's slipped back to 25,000 since then, but he's still well above average.
PokerStars Blog reporting team in Bristol (and their Superhero name) : Rod Stirzaker (The Courageous Phantom) and Nick Wright (The Magnificent Worm). Photos by Mickey May (The Awesome Mime).