10:45pm: Sam Grafton eliminated in 9th place (€10,300)
Sam Grafton had a fifth of the chips in play not that long ago but he's just been eliminated by Katja Svendsen who will enter tomorrow's final table as the chip leader.
Svendsen opened to 85,000 from under the gun and called when Grafton three-bet to 200,000 from the button. Both players checked the [5c][kd][4c] flop before she led for 275,000 on the [tc] turn. Call.
Grafton was left with 853,000 and Svendsen set him in on the [7d] river. Grafton called with [jh][jd] but Svendsen opened [ac][ah].
Full chip counts and a wrap of the day's play will be up on the blog shortly. Cards up action will be shown on PokerStars.tv from 1pm CET time tomorrow and the updates run alongside the delayed coverage. -- MC
10:30pm: Espinosa over three million
Rodrigo Espinosa has moved clear at the top with 3.25 million after forcing Marcin Barwinski off a hand.
He raised to 80,000 from under the gun and Barwinski defended his big blind to see a [8d][tc][qd] flop where both players checked.
Espinosa's delayed 90,000 c-bet was check-raised up to 315,000 by Barwinski on the [7s] turn. Call. Barwinski led for 375,000 on the [9d] river but folded to a raise to 1,075,000. He dropped to 1.493 million. -- MC
10:25pm: Hamilton getting short
He was already the short stack but Gareth Hamilton's down to 11 big blinds after he lost two pots in a row.
First of all he raised from under the gun but folded to a Christian Bauer three-bet.
The next hand he peeled from the big blind after a raise to 85,000 from Sam Grafton. Both checked the [6s][9d][qh] flop before Hamilton led for 77,000 on the turn. Grafton called and both players went back to checking on the [9c] river. Grafton opened [as][8s] and it was good at the Irishman mucked. -- MC
10:05pm: Grafton squeezes a profit
Sam Grafton hadn't won a pot since the tournament had been down to one table but a well-timed squeeze play worked for him to get him back up to 1.45 million.
Marcin Barwinski raised to 80,000 from the hijack and was called by Jake Cody on the button before Grafton bumped it up to 280,000 from the big blind after thinking for a few minutes. Both opponents made a reluctant looking fold. -- MC
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 20,000/40,000 ante 5,000
9:50pm: Cagey play on final table bubble
It's completely understandable that the play is cagey, and it has, when all the remaining nine players want to make the final table tomorrow. That's especially true when you add in the fact they've gone from playing short-handed to a full ring of nine.
Gareth Hamilton's the player most at danger and he was the first to make a move. The action folded around to Javier Elorza in the cut-off and he raised before Hamilton shoved for 612,000 from the small blind. The Spaniard took his time and mucked. -- MC
9:20pm: Final table redraw
Below is the seat draw for the final table and the chip stacks of the nine remaining players. It's very close at the top with just 13.5 big blinds separating the top four players.
Katja Svendsen, Norway, PokerStars Qualifier, 2,344,000
Gareth Hamilton, Ireland, 743,000
Marcin Barwinski, Poland, PokerStars Player, 2,206,000
Rodrigo Espinosa, Spain, PokerStars Qualifier, 2,002,000
Jake Cody, United Kingdom, Team PokerStars Pro, 1,667,000
Daniel Rodriguez, Spain, PokerStars Player, 611,000
Sam Grafton, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, 1,712,000
Christian Bauer, Germany, 2,400,000
Javier Elorza, Spain, PokerStars Qualifier, 1,200,000
9:05pm: Antonio Moreno eliminated in 10th place (€8,420)
And we're down to the unofficial final table of nine here in Marbella...
Jake Cody opened to 62,000 and then called when Antonio Moreno moved all-in for 400,000.
Cody: [Ac][10s]
Moreno: [Ad][4h]
The [7s][7h][Kd][Jc][10c] board looked for a while like it'd end in a chop but Cody rivered his kicker to eliminated Moreno and climb to 1,700,000. There will now be a 15 minute break whilst a redraw for the final table is done. -- NW
8:58pm: Grafton loses a bunch to Svendsen
It's been a very profitable period of play for Katja Svendsen. Sam Grafton was the latest to fall victim and dropped to 1.3 million as she rose to 2.25 million.
The action folded to her on the button and she raised to 65,000. Grafton was in the big blind and three-bet to 145,000. Call. The board ran out [2h][as][2s][4d][6s] and Grafton checked all three streets to the Norwegian. She bet 150,000 and 250,000 before checking behind on the river.
Grafton called both bets and opened [kd][jd] at showdown. Svendsen opened and scooped. -- MC
Blinds up: 15,000/30,000, 4,000 ante
8:45pm: Espinosa takes huge pot from Bauer
There's not a lot to choose between the big stacks right now with a number of players hovering between 2.3M and 2.5M. There are three players at the feature table in that ballpark because Rodrigo Espinosa just won a big pot against Christian Bauer.
Bauer (cut off), Sam Grafton (button) and Espinosa (big blind) all put in 50,000 pre-flop and the dealer fanned [9c][7s][Jd] on the felt. It was checked to Grafton who bet 80,000, Espinosa called, Bauer check-raised to 333,000, Grafton folded and Espinosa then re-raised to 720,000. After a bit of a think Bauer folded the [Js] face up and Espinosa also flashed a jack as he took the pot.
The feature table chip counts are as follows:
Christian Bauer, 2,427,000
Rodrigo Espinosa, 2,409,000
Katja Svendsen, 2,307,000
Sam Grafton, 1,577,000
Daniel Rodriguez, 713,000
8:35pm: Jaroslaw Lipien eliminated in 11th place (€8,420)
Left short on chips after doubling up Gareth Hamilton, the Pole couldn't recover (although he tried to) and is out in 11th.
He did get one double up though, he was all-in for 102,000 and up against Jake Cody's pocket tens. A [Qs][8d][2h] flop gave Lipien the lead and rather unnecessarily Marcin Barwinski celebrated the fact that his fellow countryman had hit his over card. The board ran out [7d][5s] to double up Lipien.
A couple of hands later Lipien shoved for 240,000 with [Qc][Jh] and Barwinski called with [As][Qd]. "Jack, jack, jack," Barwinski chanted but none appeared on the [6s][5d][Kc][8s][2s] board and we're down to 10 players. -- NW
8:20pm: Emilio Navarro eliminated in 12th place (€7,510)
It wasn't that long ago that Emilio Navarro sat atop of the chip counts but a series of lost pots saw him short and forced to make a move that cost him his tournament life.
He open shoved for 490,000 and was isolated by Katja Svendsen who moved all in from the small blind.
Navarro: [4s][4d]
Svendsen: [js][jh]
The board ran [6s][9s][2s][kh][ad] to see the jacks hold to send Svendsen's stack up to 1.6 million.
Despite what must've been an incredibly frustrating period for the Spaniard, he took defeat with a smile and shook all his opponents' hands before heading off to get his money. -- MC
8:15pm: Barwinski doubles through Hamilton
Gareth Hamilton didn't keep hold of those extra chips for too long after he made a big move and doubled up Marcin Barwinski.
The two players went heads-up to an [8s][2s][jh] flop where Barwinski check-raised Hamilton's 68,000 bet up to 210,000. Call. On the [4h] turn Barwinski led for 300,000, leaving himself 470,000 behind.
Hamilton counted out enough chips to set the Pole all in and then stared at him until he had the clock called on him. Then he raised and Barwinski made the call all in with [jd][8h] for two pair, ahead of Hamilton's [kc][js]. The river came as the [7h] and Hamilton dropped back to 975,000 while Barwinski moved up to around two million -- MC
8:05pm: Gareth Hamilton doubles through Jaroslaw Lipien
A huge pot just played out on the outer table and it was Gareth Hamilton and Jaroslaw Lipien who were the combatants.
Pre-flop Lipien raised to 50,000 from the button and called when Hamilton three-bet to 146,000. On the [5c][Qh][Ks] flop Hamilton c-bet 175,000 and Lipien smooth called. The [7d] fell on the turn, Hamilton didn't slow down, instead he bet 275,000 a bet which Lipien flat called.
So there was already 1,150,000 in the middle by the time the [Ad] completed the board. Hamilton emptied the clip, moving all-in for 380,000 total, Lipien got a count and after a long tank he called, Hamilton showed [Ac][Kc] for top two pair, whilst Lipien had [As][Qc] for an inferior two pair.
After that hand Hamilton is up to 1,910,000 whilst Lipien drops to 170,000. -- NW
7:55pm: Emilio Navarro doubles through Sam Grafton
Sam Grafton has taken a lot of Emilio Navarro's stack over the last hour and it looked like he was about to scoop up the final portion of it until the poker gods intervened.
Grafton had limped from the small blind only for Navarro to shove for 440,000 from the big blind. After getting a count Grafton weighed up the situation and then made the call:
Grafton: [4s][4d]
Navarro: [Ad][3s]
Grafton was a 69% favourite to eliminated Navarro but the Spaniard won the hand as the board came [Qd][5c][Ac][7s][8d] to double him to around 900,000 and drop Grafton to 2,200,000. -- NW
7:50pm: Ken Lennaard eliminated in 13th place (€7,510)
It was unlucky thirteenth for old school Swedish player Ken Lennaard after he fell to Gareth Hamilton.
He was down to his last 346,000 when he shoved from the hijack and was isolated by Hamilton who shoved from the button.
Lennaard: [qs][jc]
Hamilton: [ah][ac]
The board ran [ks][kc][td][2d][3c] and Hamilton and his supporters, who's gather around behind him, erupted in celebration. That pot put him up to 970,000 chips. -- MC
7:40pm: Chip counts for the final 13
Here are the 100% accurate chip counts of the final 13 players at the start of level 23.
Sam Grafton, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, 2,661,000
Rodrigo Espinosa Gonzalez, Spain, PokerStars Qualifier, 1,697,000
Christian Bauer, Germany, 1,588,000
Emilio Navarro, Spain, 1,350,000
Jake Cody, United Kingdom, Team PokerStars Pro, 1,241,000
Jaroslaw Lipien, Poland, 1,147,000
Marcin Barwinski, Poland, PokerStars Player, 1,090,000
Katja Svendsen, Norway, PokerStars Qualifier, 1,064,000
Daniel Rodriguez, Spain, PokerStars Player, 769,000
Javier Elorza Pardo, Spain, PokerStars Qualifier, 764,000
Gareth Hamilton, Ireland, 597,000
Antonio Moreno, Spain, 580,000
Ken Lennaard, Sweden, 377,000
7.30pm: Final 13 back to play down to the final table
The 750 runners in the PokerStars Marbella Festival have been whittled down to the final 13 players and are all guaranteed at least €7,510. But they'll have their eyes on a bigger prize and not necessarily a monetary one.
Only eight will make the final table tomorrow and among the 13 trying to do that we have five Spaniards, two Poles, one player each from Norway, Germany, Sweden and Ireland and two Brits. And it's the two Brits who are the headline makers right now as Sam Grafton has a big chip lead and Team PokerStars Pro Jake Cody is trying to final table his first UKIPT Main Event having previously won a UKIPT Series and a UKIPT High Roller.
Play is about to restart we'll bring you the latest chip counts shortly when we receive them. -- NW
PokerStars Blog reporting team at PokerStars UKIPT4 Marbella2: Marc Convey and Nick Wright. Photos by Danny Maxwell and Rene Velli.