What are you doing here? All the cool kids are following final table updates in this post.
3:10pm: Final table chip counts and seat draw
It's 29-year-old professional poker player Fernando Marin who takes the chip lead into the final table. Brett Angell's title defence continues, although he finds himself in a far different position than he did at the start of the UKIPT4 London final table.
Three months ago he was chip leader going into that one, now he's the second shortest stack with just under 20 big blinds. We've had three players win two live UKIPT titles but no one has ever won two in the same venue. Can Angell do it?
Paul Simmons, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, 1,840,000
Christopher Yong, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, 3,510,000
Lawrence Bayley, United Kingdom, 1,930,000
Martin Hanham, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, 1,805,000
Brett Angell, United Kingdom, 910,000
Rapinder Cheema, United Kingdom, 3,590,000
Fernando Marin, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, 4,055,000
Joakim Sorensen, Sweden, 715,000
3pm: Andrew Mytton out ninth, final table set
Start of day chip leader Andrew Mytton has just been eliminated in ninth place meaning the final table of UKIPT5 London is set.
He shoved for 670,000 with [A][Q] but ran into the dominating [A][K] of Matthew Hanham. No ladies appeared in the community cards and Mytton headed to the exit £7,200 better off.
The eight remaining players are now on a 45 minute break, we'll bring you news of the seat draw and chip counts shortly. -- NW
2:55pm: Final table set!
Officially the final table starts with 8, but the remaining players will be consolidated on the last single table of the tournament - call it what you will.
We'll have news of their chip stacks shortly, it looks like Fernando Marin will be the man heading the chip counts with over 3.5 million. -- RS
2:50pm: Bounsall bounced in 10th
Alex Bounsall was only just stacking up his newly-won bounty before it had been snatched from under his nose.
He woke up with pocket tens in late position and with the blinds advancing as they have been, there was no chance he was folding this hand.
Involved in a preflop war with Rapinder Cheema, he got the bad news that he'd run into Cheema's pocket queens in a nasty cooler.
A board of [Jd][9d][4h][8d][4s] raised his hopes briefly as he picked up a straight and flush draw but once more the draw missed and he was left to go and collect his £5,900 from the cash desk.
2:40pm: Seoane eliminated in 11th
Miguel Seoane's stack had started to shrivel up and feeling the pressure of the blinds, he decided the time was now when he took a peek at a couple of suited connectors - [5c][6c].
Unfortunately for him lurking in the wings was Alex Bounsall who pounced with alacrity with pocket nines.
Seoane hit a pretty juicy-looking flop of [7c][5d][3s]to give him plenty of outs, but they steadfastly refused tio materialise as the board ran out devoid of upset, coming [Kd][7d] to scupper his hopes.
Seoane collects £5,900 for his 11th place finish--RS
Blinds up: 20,000/40,000, 5,000 ante
2:30pm: Jamie O'Connor busts in 12th
Jamie O'Connor has seen big stacks come and go in this tournament but everytime one has disappeared, like an accomplished stage magician he has rustled another one back up.
Finally though the run-good hat ran out of comeback rabbits and the curtain has fallen as his shove with pocket threes for around 500,000 was picked off by Lawrence Bayley with [As][Jc] and Bayley duly won the flip over the [Jd][2s][8d][7h][4h] board.
O'Connor goes out 12th, collecting £5,250 for his finish, -- RS
2:20pm: Clarke chucked in 13th
Chuck Clarke has runa foul of that old devil variance. Tossed on its horns when he ran his ace-queen into Bayley's pocket queens, he was pitchforked through the heart when his shove with ace-six ran into the [As][Ts] of Andrew Mytton and he failed to spike.
Clarke had a smile on his face as he resignedly accepted his fate and toddled off to cash in his £5,250 payout. -- RS
2:20pm: Eights are snow joke for Simmons
A pair of eights is often given the poker nickname 'the snowmen' due to their resemblance to one another and Paul Simmons just played two huge pots with that very hand.
In the first Fernando Marin opened to 85,000 on the button, Simmons three-bet to 235,000 from the small blind only for Rapinder Cheema to move all-in from the big blind for 1,105,000.
Marin swiftly folded but Simmons got a count before looking at his own stack, which was around the two million mark. Eventually he decided to call and to showdown they went.
Simmons: [8d][8s]
Cheema: [Ad][10h]
"I thought you were making a move on him," said Cheema pointing at Marin, who with his big stack has been very active. A [6s][2d][Ks][As][Kd] board favoured Cheema and he doubled to 2,300,000.
A couple of hands later Simmons raised to 85,000 with [8s][8c] and called all-in for 920,000 when Miguel Seoane moved all-in. The Spaniard had [Ad][Qc] and Simmons had to dodge over cards once more with the snowmen. The [7c][3s][2d][5d][7s] board kept Simmons in front and he said: "I don't think I'd have played eights again if I'd lost the pot."
He's back up to around 1,900,000 whilst Seoane is down to 400,000. -- NW
2:10pm: O'Connor doubles up
Jamie O'Connor had lost a big pot to Fernando Marin and was down to under 10 big blinds when the action folded to him in the small blind. He moved all-in for 385,000 and Brett Angell got a count before calling from the big blind.
O'Connor: [As][Kh]
Angell: [Jc][9d]
The [7c][3c][Kc] flop kept O'Connor in front but gave Angell a flush draw, the [Jh] turn gave him additional outs but he missed them all on the [10d] river. Angell down to 1,100,000, O'Connor back up to the relative safety of a 20 big blind stack. -- NW
2:05pm: In the money finishers today
Half the field who started the day have now been eliminated, here's a look at who's finished where so far today:
14th. Marek Banas, Poland, £4,740
15th David Gomez, Spain, £4,740
16th Angelo Milioto, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, £4,230
17th RIchard Milner, United Kingdom, £4,230
18th Hak-Mann Lee, Sweden, £3,730
19th Rory Foster, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, £3,730
20th Tony Martin, United Kingdom, £3,730
21st Tomas Raniszewski, Poland, PokerStars Qualifier, £3,230
22nd Chaz Chattha, United Kingdom, £3,230
23rd Christopher Nazer, United Kingdom, £3,230
24th Andrew Black, Ireland, £2,730
25th Clayton Ka Cheuk Koo, Hong Kong, PokerStars Qualifier, £2,730
26th.Ross Boatman, United Kingdom, £2,730
2pm: Marek Banas eliminated in 14th spot
Christopher Yong and Marek Banas just flexed their muscles preflop, although Yong proved the man whose biceps bulged the biggest - the pair getting it in pre - Yong turning over kings to Banas comparatively puny-looking [Kh][Qs].
"That's a good match up for you," table commentator Lawrence Bayley observed wryly, the table laughing at the ridiculous redundancy of the comment.
A good match up indeed and once the board had run out [9s][7d][5h][Ah][5h] Banas had been eliminated in 14th spot for £4,740 and we were down to 13 players. --RS
1:50pm: David Gomez eliminated in 15th place (£4,740)
Brett Angell has done his chances of winning back to back UKIPT titles no harm as he just won a race to eliminate David Gomez in 15th place. The UKIPT4 London champion opened to 80,000 from under-the-gun with [5s][5d], Gomez shoved for 555,000 with [As][Qh] and after getting a count Angell made the call.
The [2s][5c][8s] flop was gin for Angell and he stayed infront on the [Qc] turn and [Kh] river. He's up to around 1,700,000. -- NW
1:40pm: Chips by table
When we got down to the final 16 players there was a complete re-draw, this is what the random computer generator - and by that we mean the pick a card system - spat out.
Table 1:
Miguel Seoane Spain PokerStars Qualifier 1,325,000
Andrew Mytton United Kingdom PokerStars Qualifier 785,000
Lawrence Bayley United Kingdom 1,665,000
Christopher Yong United Kingdom PokerStars Qualifier 2,230,000
Chuck Clark United Kingdom 825,000
Marek Banas Poland 610,000
Joakim Sorensen Sweden 680,000
Martin Hanham United Kingdom PokerStars Qualifier 625,000
Table 2:
Fernando Marin United Kingdom PokerStars Qualifier 1,880,000
Paul Simmons United Kingdom PokerStars Qualifier 1,610,000
Rapinder Cheema United Kingdom 1,395,000
Jamie O'Connor United Kingdom 1,650,000
Brett Angell United Kingdom 1,350,000
David Gomez Spain 655,000
Alex Bounsall United Kingdom 1,070,000
1:35pm: Chip counts
The tournament staff did full chip counts at the break and here's how the remaining 15 players stack up.
Christopher Yong United Kingdom PokerStars Qualifier 2,230,000
Fernando Marin United Kingdom PokerStars Qualifier 1,880,000
Lawrence Bayley United Kingdom 1,665,000
Jamie O'Connor United Kingdom 1,650,000
Paul Simmons United Kingdom PokerStars Qualifier 1,610,000
Rapinder Cheema United Kingdom 1,395,000
Brett Angell United Kingdom 1,350,000
Miguel Seoane Spain PokerStars Qualifier 1,325,000
Alex Bounsall United Kingdom 1,070,000
Chuck Clark United Kingdom 825,000
Andrew Mytton United Kingdom PokerStars Qualifier 785,000
Joakim Sorensen Sweden 680,000
David Gomez Spain 655,000
Martin Hanham United Kingdom PokerStars Qualifier 625,000
Marek Banas Poland 610,000
1:30pm: Yong leads the pack
With just 15 left Christopher Yong is the man they are all chasing at the moment with 2.2 milllion.
The remaining players are relatively closely bunched together and it is hard to pick a winner right now. --RS
Blinds up: 20,000/40,000, 5,000 ante
1:16pm: Break time
The players are now on a 15 minute break. -- NW
1:15pm: Milioto busts in 16th spot
Crippled in a big coin flip( tens vs the AQ of Rapinder Cheema), Milioto was left with mere shrapnel (26,000) which was ground to nothing as Paul Simmons' [Ac][Js] saw off his [Qc][3c] over a [Ad][Ks][Qh][Kc][3s] board.
"Sick river," joked Milioto as he waltzed over to pick up his £4,230. -- RS
1:10pm: Milner crashes out in 17th spot
Richard Milner was short and needing to give his chances a shot in the arm, electing to shove [Ts][9d] from late position, only for Miguel Seoane to make the call with [As][Th].
Dominated and looking down the barrell, there was no escape from the firing squad for Milner as the board ran out [8d][2s][5h][7h][Ad] to move Seoane to one million and send Milner rushing to the cash desk to pick up his £4,230.
1:00pm: Lee eliminated in 18th spot
Tough times for Hak-Mann Lee. He was very unfortunate to see his hopes dissolve so close to the final in a painful pot.
A three-way allin developed between him, Angelo Milioto and Joakim Sorensen,and when the cards were put on their backs Lee must've been delighted to see his pocket queens were up against [Ah][Kh].and [Ad][Ks].
"A great spot for you," a tablemate commented, Lee holding a healthy equity advantage and potential triple up in the making although with four cards still out there in the deck waiting to be spiked - the board of [Kd][3d][4d] saw just that happen.
The writing was on the wall for Lee, his chances hanging by a thread - and the main element of interest was whether Sorensen could spike a diamond and scoop the whole pot.
Spoiler alert: he didn't. The board ran out [8s][Tc], he and Milioto chopped the pot and Lee quietly left the table to collect his £3,730. --RS
12:50pm: Rory Foster eliminated in 19th place
You've got to hand it to young Rory Foster who came up with two of the most understated lines of the day when he was up against it and at risk.
He shoved with pocket sixes for just over 12 big blinds and Martin Hanham re-shoved behind him. When Hanham showed pocket tens, Foster said: "Oh dear," and looked on as the board came [4c][3c][7h][2s][Jc].
The stacks were very close and indeed Foster was left with just 1,000 after that clash. It went in as part of the ante on the next hand and after Brett Angell raised with [Kh][Jh] everyone else folded. One by one Foster flipped his cards to reveal he had [th][4h]. "They're suited," he exclaimed, before looking at Angell's hand and adding: "Oh that suit."
The [4c][3c][7h][2s][Jc] board put Foster out of his misery and left us with 18 players in the tournament. -- NW
12:40pm: Martin gets unlucky to bust in 20th place
There must be something in the water on table three as we've seen players get unlucky to lose big pots and then when they get the rest of their stack in find lady luck has once more deserted them.
The latest player to fall foul of this one-two knockout combo was Tony Martin. In the pot that did for most of his stack he three-bet to 130,000 from the big blind after Fernando Marin had opened to 69,000 from the cut-off. Back on Marin he moved all-in for 994,000 and Martin snap called.
Marin: [Ac][9d]
Martin: [Ad][Kd]
The [7d][10c][8d] hit both players hard, the [6h] flop only hit Marin though and he held on the [Jc] river. Martin looked disgusted and rightly so.
On the next hand he shoved for 152,000 from the small blind with [Kc][9d] and Paul Simmons - a little reluctantly - called with [Jh][9s]. The board ran [3h][6c][Js][7s][3c] and Martin was out in 20th. -- NW
12:32pm: Bayley clips Angells wings
Lawrence Bayley and Brett Angell have been bantering regularly at the table, but their friendly verbals have been matched by equally competitive sparring on the felt.
Angell has probably edged the early exchanges of chips although Bayley won the most recent battle, three bullets fired across the [Th][8c][5d][4c][7h] board - the last a chunky 425,000 bet - eventually dissuading a suspicious-looking Angell from calling.
Angell remains at 1.3 million, Bayley around the 1 million mark.
As Bayley noticed the photographer snapping Angell and him together, he queried whether the photo would be posted on the blog with the caption #gingerswithstacks.
Who are we to stand in the way of a young man's dreams?
12:27pm: Chattha silenced
Chaz Chattha has been a quietly effective force in this tournament. Having suffered a torrid day 1, he showed great resilience to hang in there and wait for his chances to arrive. Eventually they did and he has parlayed them into an impressively deep run here, although finally he faced one showdown too many and exits in 22nd place.
Christopher Yong did for Chattha's chances of further progression, Chattha battling a Yong late position raise with ace-jack, only to find Yong close to the top of his range with A-Q.
No surprises on the board and the game was up for Chattha who collects £3,230 for his troubles.
Yong moves to 1.2 million.
Tomasz Raniszewski has also succumbed in 21st spot(£3,230), leaving us 20-handed for the title. -- RS
Blinds up: 15,000/30,000, 4,000 ante
11:55am: Chattha gets a double
After Christopher Yong opened to 51,000 Chaz Chattha moved all-in for 243,000 and after getting a count Yong put in the extra.
Chattha: [6c][6h]
Yong: [As][7s]
It was a race, but Chattha had some help in his corner as JJ Hazan - who's waiting to play the pot-limit Omaha side event - was sweating the action. "Hold," said Hazan as the dealer fanned a [5c][8h][2h] flop. The [Js] turn and [Jd] river kept Chattha in front and he survived. "I want a percentage for that," quipped Hazan. "We're going out no matter what," said Chattha. -- NW
11:40am: Kingdom crumbles for Nazer
Christopher Nazer started the day well placed with a stack of over 1.1m. But, if we needed proof that no-limit Hold'em tournaments are a cruel mistress then Nazer's demise is it as in two hands he went from well stacked to out and pocket kings played a part in both hands.
In the first Christopher Yong opened to 51,000 from under-the-gun and Nazer bumped the price of poker up to 153,000 total. Back on Yong he asked Nazer how much he was playing. "About one point one million," was the reply and after cutting out varying amounts of chips Young settled on four-betting to 270,000. Nazer then took some time processing this information before announcing that he was all-in. Yong had just over 800,000 total and after a peak back at his cards he half sighed before making the call.
Yong: [Kc][Kh]
Nazer: [Jd][Jc]
The [Ac][Ks][Ah] flop left Nazer all but drawing dead and the [6h][9s] turn and river were not the perfect, perfect run of cards he needed.
On the next hand Nazer shoved with [Ks][Kd] and got a call from Tony Martin who held pocket sixes. When the [2h][2s][Jc] flop fell Nazer said, "there's the jack!" the [6s] turn was a bitter blow to his chances of recovery and the [4c] river saw him eliminated in 23rd place. -- NW
11:30am: Black out
It's been a bad opening period for those harbouring hopes of seeing one of the old school campaigners roll back the years.
Ross Boatman succumbed in the first moments of the day and now Andy Black has joined him on the rail. Crippled in that earlier hand, Black looked ready to spring into action at any moment with his microstack. Eventually, he made his move to double through, shoving with [As][7c] only for Jamie O'Connor to find precisely the sort of hand Black didn't want to see - [Ac][Kd].
Once O'Connor had called, a board of [4c]5s[3s][Td][Tc] didn't alter the balance of power and Black was left blinking into the morning sun - his hopes of securing the title in tatters.
O'Connor moves to over a million - his potential title chances increasing with every
passing moment. --RS
11:18am: Down to three tables
We're down to three tables in the main event as Clayton Ka Cheuk Koo has just been eliminated in 25th place. He shoved from late position for 170,000 with [Kd][9s] and Marek Banas made the call from the small blind with [Ac][7h].
The [8s][4s][7d][3h][Qs] board brought no help for the at risk player and with his exit table four was broken and the players redistributed around the room. Both Lawrence Bayley and Jamie O'Connor were moved to the same table as Brett Angell so there's now a lot of chips on table two. Overnight chip leader Andrew Mytton was moved to table one where he has over double the stack of his nearest contender.
11:13am: Angell doubles again
As starts go it's been a very lucky opening 13 minutes for Brett Angell as he's just doubled up again.
He opened pre-flop from under-the-gun and Rory Foster called from the small blind. On the [7s][6h][Ks] we didn't see exactly how but fact is very quickly there was all-in and call action with Angell all-in for 709,000. The UKIPT4 London champion showed [Kd][Kh] for top set and Foster was drawing dead with [Kc][Qc].
Angell is now up to 1,550,000 whilst Foster drops to 500,000. -- NW
11:10am: Rory Foster doubles through Andy Black
Plenty of action in the opening moments of the day, although Andy Black will wish it wasn't him who was involved as he was on the wrong side of a cooler.
From under-the-gun+1 - which is also the hi-jack as play was six handed - Rory Foster opened to 50,000, Andy Black then three-bet to 140,000 from the small blind and after tanking for about 30 seconds Foster moved all-in for 609,000 and Black made a quick call.
Foster: [Ad][Ah]
Black: [10c][10h]
In the clash of big pairs it was Foster who was dominating and the aces held as the board came [7s][9d][3c][3d][2s]. Foster up to 1,250,000, Black down to 200,000. -- NW
11:05am: Boatman exits to Angell's
What a start! With some players still unbagging their chips, there was a shout of all-in and call. Ross Boatman and Brett Angell were the two men contending the pot and the look of distress across Boatman's face spoke volumes.
We believe the chips went in on the turn of a [Ah][Kd][5h][5d] board - Ross Boatman holding [Ac][Jd], the source of his consternation plain as Angell flipped [As][5s] for a full house.
With just one out for a split, the final ace never arrived and we lose Boatman in 26th place, good for £2,730.
"Well that was worth coming in for," joked Boatman.as he moved to the cash desk and got a consolatory handshake from his multitude of poker pals, including Andy Black.
Angell doubles to 740,000 - the back to back dream getting an extra boost. --RS
Doubled very first hand... as starts go...... #UKIPTLondon
— Brett Angell (@brett_angell) January 25, 201511am: Mytton leads as Angell goes for back to back titles
Earlier this week Brett Angell tweeted the @UKIPT account with a sad face about the fact that the levels on Day 1 of the UKIPT Main Event had been reduced to 40 minutes. We informed him that the levels increased to 50 minutes on Day 2 and 60 minutes on the final day. His response "Well at least I'll get to play some 60 minute levels."
He said it tongue in cheek of course but fact is Angell is one of 26 players still in contention for the first UKIPT title of Season 5, having won the last UKIPT title of Season 4. Can he go back to back?
Angell has got some work to do as with 382,000 he's some way behind start of day chip leader Andrew Mytton who has 1,842,000. Lawrence Bayley (1,139,000) and Jamie O'Connor (1,027,000) are other proven players with seven figure stacks and with the likes of Andy Black (868,000), Ross Boatman (377,000), Tomasz Raniszewski (346,000) and Chaz Chattha (316,000) still in the mix it's shaping up to be a fascinating day of poker.
PokerStars Blog reporting team at PokerStars UKIPT London: Rod Stirzaker and Nick Wright. Photos by Mickey May