Day two on the UKIPT is, quite simply, moving day. Whilst roughly 30% of the field advance from Day 1 to Day 2 only 12% of the players who came back for Day 2 still have an interest in this tournament tomorrow.
They've all locked up £2,730 for their efforts so far but it's tomorrow when the big bucks will be dished out. Looking most likely right now to win the £95,100 first prize is Andrew Mytton. The self-employed builder is playing only his third UKIPT and takes 1,842,000 into tomorrow. "It's the first day in my poker history that I haven't lost a flip!" he told the PokerStars Blog at the end of play.
Indeed it was a flip near the end of play that has vaulted him to the position of chip leader. "I had ace-king against my opponent's pocket queens," he said describing the most classic race of all! "He flopped a set but I rivered a flush." So not your typical classic race at all then, but one that went the way of the over cards this time thankfully for Mytton.
Today there was (almost) no moving Lawrence 'bigstealer' Bayley. Although the SuperNova Elite dropped as low at 25 big blinds at one point the Day 1A chip leader finished Day 2 fourth in chips as he bagged up 1,142,000 to leave him well placed for a shot at a final table place at least tomorrow.
With two levels to go it looked like Bayley would take the lead into Day 3. He was the first player to have over a million chips and his ascent to the top of the chip charts came in what he ironically termed an "above average spot," to tablemate Christopher Nazar. It was a spot that dreams and tournaments are made of.
After a 5.5 big blind shove of 67,000 from Gabriel Gusetoiu, it folded to David Clarkson in the small blind. He was the chip leader at the time and called from his stack of 815,000 with pocket tens. Bayley then peeked down at two aces and decided to bump the price of poker to 170,000. Clarkson, thinking Bayley only had around 500,000 total, decided to move all-in and Bayley, who actually had around 630,000, called and won a huge 1,350,000 pot.
It that wasn't bad enough for Clarkson, on the very next hand his jacks were cracked by the [Ad][10d] of Rapinder Cheema and he went from the penthouse to the outhouse in two hands. Poker it's a cruel game.
Whilst Mytton leads there's a ferocious chasing pack all looking to dethrone the current chip king. Second in chips when play starts tomorrow, with blinds of 12,000/24,000 ante 3,000, will be Fernando Marin (1,376,000). Others who enjoyed 'above average' days at the felt include: Christopher Nazer (1,140,000), he also had the chip lead at one point and Jamie O'Connor - seventh at UKIPT4 Isle of Man - was another who held the chip lead before spinning down and then up again to 1,027,000. They'll all have high hopes of making the final table tomorrow.
Another emerging story line in this tournament is that of Brett 'back to back?' Angell. The Middlesbrough based player, who finished second at UKIPT2 Nottingham, took down UKIPT4 London at The Grand Connaught Rooms in October and he's still in contention here. With a stack of 382,000 he'll start 20th of 26th tomorrow and has some work to do if he wants to make it two from two.
A couple of poker veterans proved they can mix it with the 'kidz' at the poker felt still as Andy Black and Ross Boatman showed that they've still got some wily poker skills and gas in the tank. Both will be back tomorrow but had contrasting days. Boatman was amongst the leaders for the first half of the day but had slipped below average by the time the players returned from the last break of the day. Over the final two levels he trod water and finished on 377,000.
Whilst for Black, it was the reversal of the Boatman experience. The Irishman grinded an average or below average stack for much of the opening six levels of the day but powered through in the final four to finish on 868,000. Such was the velocity of Black's rise he told the PokerStars Blog: I've been getting lots of presents. I'm thinking about offering my younger sister to the dealer."
The prize pool was announced to the players just before play began and they learned that 111 players would make the money with a min-cash worth a respectable £1,260. On the pure bubble there were numerous short stacks. The likes of Damian Robertson (11,000) and Camilla Reventlow (22,000) were well and truly in the danger zone.
As it transpired though they'd both make it safely into the money as two-time SCOOP champion Charlie Combes shoved for six big blinds with pocket sixes and lost a race against Guðmundur Gunnarsson's [As][Js] when the Icelandic player flopped an ace.
As you'd imagine the rate of bust outs after the bubble reached warp speed and two of those who crashed out soon after cashing were Team PokerStars Pros Jake Cody and Matti De Meulder. Both had come into the day with below average stacks and built them up without ever threatening the chip lead but by the time the bubble burst Cody was down to around 20 big blinds and De Meulder had fewer than 10 to his name.
Cody lost two 40-60 races to bust in 102nd, whilst De Meulder's [Ac][7d] couldn't get there against the pocket sixes of Beyazit Zorlu and the Belgian was bust in 98th place.
They weren't the only poker luminaries whose lights went out today as over the course of ten 50 minute levels we lost: Willie Tann (91st, £1,385), Billy Chattaway (86th, £1,385), JJ Hazan (59th, £1,590), Kevin Allen (46th, £1,815) and Nik Persaud (41st, £1,815).
But at least they made the money as the likes of Gary Clarke, Steve Watts, Phillippe Souki, Will Dorey, Paul Vas Nunes and Dave Shallow all left empty handed.
The 26 players who do still have chips like: Tony Martin (945,000) Miguel Seoane (766,000) and Angelo Milioto (473,000) will be back at 11am when levels are increased to 60 minutes and the first UKIPT champion of Season 5 will emerge. But for now that's all from us, you can catch up on all today's action and see the overnight chip counts and Day 3 seat draw below. So long, see you tomorrow.
All photos are copyright of Mickey May