3:15pm: End of Level 6
The end of level 6 also means we are now having our second 15 minute break of the day. To bring you up to speed, the latest eliminations from proceedings include Luca Falaschi, multiple UKIPT champ Duncan McLellan, David Clifton-Burraway, Robert Beckett and Daniel Gaina
That also ends the live coverage from this page but dry your eyes folks as we will be picking up from level 7 onwards in a fresh, all-new, shiny update page. See you in 15 minutes for the resumption. -- RS
2:50pm: Busted
The roster of potential champs has been reduced further over the last level. The dream is over for the following players though on the plus side that clears their diary to enjoy the many diversions London has to offer. Enjoy your evening guys.:
Daniel Laming, Yannick Bourdain, Matias Ruiz Virals, Jesse Algranti, Erol Taylan, Nadeem Younas, Gomez De La Corte. -- RS
2:48pm: King Kongsgaard
Soren Kongsgaard is climbing the Empire State building, swatting bi-planes and beating his chest right now.
Metaphorically speaking of course.
In reality the polite Dane is quietly stacking up chips after winning an impressively large pot. This is how we got there:
The action opened with Matias Ruiz Virals raising to 700, Markos Georgiou making the call only for Kongsgaard to spoil the party, popping the action up to 1,900. Virals made a quick call, as did Georgiou.
The board of [Ks][9d][5h] saw the action checked to Kongsgaard who reacted to this by leading out 3,200. Virals called, Georgiou ducked out of the way.
The [3s] on the turn saw Virals check once more and Kongsgaard bet out 5,200, only to wince as Virals went all-in for his remaining 15,000 or so.
Kongsgaard was unhappy at this strong action but being offered a good price from the pot he made a very quick call with [As][Kd] for top, top and was rewarded as Virals could only showdown the eyebrow-raising [Jd][Tc] for a gutshot.
The [Ts] on the river proved insufficient improvement for Virals and he crashes out, whilst a beaming Kongsgaard moves up to 48,000. -- RS
2:35pm: Chip counts
Here's a look at how some of the names and notables are getting on:
Rhys Jones, 44,000
John Eames, 42,000
Rory Liffey, 33,000
Tom Langley, 26,600
Louise Duffy, 26,000
Mickey Petersen, 22,000
Mat Frankland, 15,000
Jake Cody, 13,600
Pablo Gordillo, 13,500
Duncan McLellan, 10,000
David Clifton-Burraway, 6,000
2:20pm: High Roller update
The High Roller is down to eight players and although the top seven were due to get paid the chip leader - Owain Carey - suggested a deal that would see all eight get paid and everyone agreed to it. So £350 has been taken off each payout to provide an eighth place prize of £2,450.
At the moment Carey has a huge chip lead and he has over 40% of the chips in play with eight players remaining. Here's how the final table stacks up:
Seat one: Sergio Aguilar, 39,000
Seat two: Morten Klein, 40,000
Seat three: Christos Kyprianou, 145,000
Seat four: Jonathan Wong, 80,000
Seat five: Gareth Teatum, 85,000
Seat six: Owain Carey, 400,000
Seat seven: Vasile Stancu, 45,000
Seat eight: Victor Ilyukhin, 170,000
The blinds are currently 1,500/3,000 ante 400. -- NW
2:15pm: Registration closed
Day 1A's registrants are all in the books now. The passing of level 4 means no more entrants will be allowed to participate today and we'll be able to bring you the final tally of players shortly.
Expect that number to be around the 142 mark.
One player to have enjoyed the opening period is Markos Georgiou, who has risen to 42,000 or so, his ascent assisted by one of those "live misclicks" we mentioned earlier.
We aren't 100% sure of the details till we get a chance to clarify with Georgiou but it seems his intention to call was interpreted as a raise by the dealer and a dynamic was set up which saw Georgiou fight for the pot four-bet what he assumed was a light 3 better.
Eventually he won the hand with what seemed to be a light holding given the demeanor of the rest of the table but Georgiou was happy with his decision-making. "I had a lot of fold equity there I think" he said, sweeping up the chips that have elevated him to near the top of the leaderboard. -- RS
Blinds up: 150/300 ante 25
1:55pm: Exits
Just 123 of the 142 entrants remain as: Mazalahedwa Bako, Sebastian Malec, Philip Campbell, Rupom Pal and Chris Brammer are all out. -- NW
1:40pm: Cautious Cody negiotiates early levels
Jake Cody has added his formidable poker presence to the list of hopefuls in attendance.
Already up to 5th in the England all-time money list for live tournament scores, Cody has dominated tournaments across the globe. What is the secret of his success, how does he continue to pick up these chunky scores?
"I just keep folding," he told us with a grin. At least that is the tale from today. Cody maintaining his 25,000 starting stack. As the day progresses we anticipate seeing Cody playing a few more hands. We'll settle for just one in fact. Come on Jake! -- RS
1:35pm: More names!
The number of players on Day 1A is steadily creeping upwards and there are now 138 players who've elected to play today. They include: Tom Langley, Robert Boon, David Clifton-Burraway, Daniel Laming, John Eames, Lee Atherton, Mat Frankland and Team Pro Online's Mickey Petersen. -- NW
Just sat down for #UKIPTLondon at @PSLive_Hippo and place seems packed, good to be back here - my favourite place to play poker in London!
— Mickey Petersen (@mickeydp) January 21, 20151:25pm: Chip drought
25,000 is a lot of chips but coolers, lack of concentration or live misclicks can all contribute to an early exit.
Here are some of those to have perished over these first few levels:
Isaac Opoku Wiafe, Dean Perry, Erik Ladanyi and Allan Watson Graham, David La Ronde, Ryan Kelly, Terence Jordon and Craig Grant and Ian Frazer.
Bad luck guys! Enjoy the rest of your day.-- RS
1:20pm: Back in effect
CIgarettes smoked, coffees drunk and tales told, the players are back at the tables to cross swords for another four levels. -- RS
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 100-200 ante 25
1pm: Break time
The players are now on a 15 minute break. -- NW
12:55pm: Poker quiz
Let's play a game of Who am I?
For 10 points can you name the person in the picture below.
Need more clues, ok. This player has almost two million in lifetime earnings and finished third in the EPT Grand Final in Season 3 when he looked like this
Got it yet? Well he's Danish and is seventh on their all-time money list. Ok your time is up. The player in question is Søren Kongsgaard and between 2006 and 2010 he racked up a string of cashes at events around the globe and was a fixture on made for TV poker shows like Late Night Poker and The Poker Million.
Then, it all went quiet. There are no cashes on his Hendon Mob page between January 2011 and March 2014 when he cashed in a LAPT event in Chile. Only he didn't because as he told the PokerStars Blog during the first break. "No, not me. I've never been to Chile." But, his story is no poker player goes busto shocker. "I got married and stopped playing live and instead played online," says the 27-year-old.
And his attendance at the UKIPT marks a rare live appearance for the Dane who now lives in Chiswick with his wife and two children. "I don't really play poker any more, I played professionally for six years but the games are getting tougher so I now concentrate on sports betting, specialising in football."
He's down to about 20,000 from his starting stack of 25,000 in London at the end of the first three levels. -- NW
12:35pm: Sweden makes frosty start
Craig Sweden is a familiar face to patrons of the london poker scene, a regular attendant at some of London's major casinos and poker tournaments.
He's had a slightly unfortunate start, check-calling a roughly 3,000 bet from Antonio German on the turn of a [8s][8c][5c][7d] board before checking and facing a larger bullet of 6,500 from German on the [Th] river.
He squirmed and vacillated over his decision, verbally running through his opponent's potential holdings.
After apologising to the table over his extended ruminations Sweden finally, and reluctantly threw his hand away.
"Nice hand" he offered resignedly to German who indicated he thought Sweden was probably well behind.
Sweden drops to around 17,000, German up to 33,000...-- RS
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 100-200
12.05pm: High Roller resumes
When we last checked in with the High Roller there were 23 players remaining from the 49 entries (46 uniques, three re-entries) and it was Christos Kyprianou who led with a stack of 106,000. There were three levels left in the night and a lot happened in those two hours.
The field was reduced to just 11 players and whilst Kyprianou managed to increase his stack to 120,000 it was only good for third place overnight. Leading the way as Day 2 starts is Owain Carey, who with a stack of 315,000 has a monstrous chip lead over Victor Ilyukhin (156,900) who's in second place. The Day 2 seat draw and prize pool is as below, we'll be checking in with the High Roller throughout the day. Blinds are 1,200/2,400 ante 300 as play resumes, when eight players remain they'll combine to one table.
Table 1:
Owain Carey, 315,000
Rhys Jones, 39,400
Vasile Stancu, 63,400
Morten Klein, 33,200
Rokas Asipauskas, 47,000
Gareth Teatum, 57,700
Table 2:
Jonathan Wong, 69,900
Christopher Kyriacou, 40,800
Christos Kyprianou, 120,000
Victor Ilyukhin, 156,900
Sergio Aguilar, 33,100
And a reminder of the prize pool:
1st. £44,900
2nd. £32,420
3rd. £20,700
4th. £15,700
5th. £12,100
6th. £9,290
7th. £7,480.
12:00pm: Wham Bram thank you Ma'am
Anyone unfortunate enough to have been allocated table 7 in the table draw will face the task of subduing the rampaging figure of Chris "NigDawg" Brammer if they are to propser through the day.
Brammer's online expolits led him to top the P5 rankings in 2012 - with some labelling him "the new Moorman" - and he has remained a highly-ranked figure in the world of online poker ever since. His live resume might not quite have the same list of sterling achievements just yet, though he can still boast a host of enviable scores - including final tables at both the WSOP and WSOPE in 2012, both good for $200,000+ scores.
It is surely only a matter of time before Brammer's talent yields that marquee tournament win his resume suggests he is capable of. Could this be the year he nails it? -- RS
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 75-150
11:35pm: Rise and shine!
Poker players can sometimes struggle to adjust to new conditions and they are facing some unfamiliar territory here.
Firstly, the 11:00am starting time may be a shock to the system for some of those used to the traditional later starts for live events. A quick caffeine-inspired slap in the face from an espresso should catalyse the transition from sleepy grinder to finely-tuned poker warrior.
Secondly, the shorter levels mean there is slightly less time to sit back and wait to pounce, which might push the action somewhat.
It would be folly to overstate this of course - 25,000 stacks allow plenty of play and the stack sizes will remain deep for some time. On the other hand, players may look at the clock counting down from 40 instead of 60 every level and feel the need to knuckle down and fight that extra bit harder for those pots. -- RS
11:20am: Three times a winner?
Play is spread around ten tables here in the Matcham Room at The Hippodrome Casino but one face immediately stands out in the crowd and it belongs to Duncan McLellan. Whilst Daragh Davey may have won the Season 4 leader board and proved his consistency, McLellan was arguably the MVP of last season.
The Corby based builder took down two UKIPT titles and also won the Nottingham Cup. He even had a poker move named after him by UKIPT host Nick Wealthall - high praise indeed. So if you see McLellan call a three-bet out of position then check raise the flop, well, you've been 'Duncan'd'.
He plays a brand of high variance poker so expect him to get his hands on a big stack or die trying here on Day 1A. -- NW
10:55pm:Welcome to UKIPT5 London!
This year may have started with a brisk, bitter cold snap banishing memories of the hottest year on record last year, but the inclement conditions can't stop the UKIPT barrelling into The Hippodrome Casino, London town for 2015's first stop on season 5's tour.
A healthy attendance is expected with no less than three starting days. A few points of order to run through. The tournament format has been altered slightly; 40 minute levels now the order of the day. Shorter levels than we have seen previously then, though compensating for this reduction is an increase in the stacks to a very healthy 25,000 chips.
Plenty of play for your money then and given the chunky attendance at the High Roller yesterday, there is optimism about attendance levels, which should mean there will be a bumper prize pool for the players to fight for.
Play is set to start at 11:00pm here at the Hippodrome and the shortened levels mean we will be cramming 12 of them into the day, ready for a circa 7:30pm finish.
Everyone has now taken their seats, the air is filled with the familiar sounds of clicking chips and we are off!
Good luck one and all. -- RS
PokerStars Blog reporting team at UKIPT5 London: Nick Wright and Rod Stirzaker. Photos by Mickey May