2am: Felix Stephensen leads 21 survivors in UKIPT5 Nottingham High Roller
The UKIPT5 Nottingham festival began in earnest today as the high rollers rolled into town to play the £3,000 + £200 High Roller. It was an eight max tournament with one re-buy allowed and 45 players entered, six of whom took up the option to re-buy. One of those was Felix Stephensen and his second bullet went far better than his first and he leads tonight.
He was first out just 30 minutes into play when holding ace-queen he flopped a queen and turned an ace only to run into an opponent with aces. The 24-year-old Norwegian, who has lived in London for three years, is playing his first UKIPT outside of the capital and ran his second stack of 25,000 all the way up to 145,000 by the time today's ten levels had ended. "I caught some good hands, picked some good spots, got people to call when I had it and fold when I didn't," was his precise summary of how his day unfolded.
The Man Utd fan leads a chasing pack that includes: Ivan Luca (122,500), Ian Simpson (115,200) and Rapinder Cheema (109,200) who were the only other players to finish with six-figure stacks. For Luca it was a continuation of an amazing run since he came to Europe in December, a second place in the EPT11 Malta €10,000 High Roller the highlight so far. Contrastingly to that Rapinder Cheema, who won UKIPT5 London in January, was playing his first ever High Roller, he needed two bullets but will be back tomorrow with a chunk of chips.
The full list of survivors can be seen below:
Felix Stephensen, United Kingdom, 145,000
Ivan Luca, Argentina, 122,500
Ian Simpson, United Kingdom, 115,200
Rapinder Cheema, United Kingdom, 109,200
Ludovic Geilich, United Kingdom, 87,000
Thiago Nishijima, Brazil, 82,300
Keith Johnson, United Kingdom, 69,400
Mitchell Johnson, United Kingdom, 58,600
Niall Farrell, United Kingdom, 51,200
Jack Salter, United Kingdom, 50,600
Olivia Boeree, United Kingdom, 48,800
Max Silver, United Kingdom, 48,600
Bryn Kenney, USA, 47,500
Matas Cimbolas, Lithuania, 39,400
Craig McCorkell, United Kingdom, 36,000
Elior Sion, United Kingdom, 35,200
Marius Wolmarans, USA, 34,600
Tom Hall, United Kingdom, 31,900
Iaron Lightbourne, United Kingdom, 31,600
Ben Dobson, United Kingdom, 21,400
Christopher Brammer, United Kingdom, 16,800
There's still some way to go to the money as only the top seven get paid:
1st. £46,800
2nd. £33,750
3rd. £21,500
4th. £16,300
5th. £12,600
6th. £9,660
7th. £7,800
It was a stacked field and some of the big names who are free to play the Main Event tomorrow are: Jake Cody, Simon Deadman, Igor Kurganov, Sam Trickett, Ollie Price and Marcel Luske. The survivors will be back from 1pm tomorrow and play to a winner, we'll be turning our focus to the Main Event, which starts at noon, but we'll intermittently be dipping back into the High Roller and ramp up the coverage when they reach the final table of eight. But until tomorrow it's goodnight.
1:40am: Done for the day
Day 1 of the UKIPT5 Nottingham High Roller is over, 21 players from the 51 entries (45 uniques, 6 re-entries) have survived. Felix Stephensen is chip leader, whilst Neville Gothold and Neil Strike were eliminated during the last five hands.
1:25am: Last five hands
The last five hands have been called. It looks like Felix Stephensen may have taken the chip lead, he's up to around 115,000, whilst Ivan Luca has lost a few but still have a six figure stack. Ludovic Geilich is also running up a stack.
But, Simon Higgins and Kuljinder Sidhu have been knocked out. 23 players are left.
1:20am: Strike gets a double
Down to just 10,300 Neil Strike three-bet shoved over the top of Keith Johnson's 3,000 opening bet, Jack Salter smooth called and Johnson then got out the way.
Salter: [Tc][Td]
Strike: [6h][6s]
Flop: [7h][Qh][Jd]
"We want a heart," said Salter.
Turn: [9h]
"Maybe we don't want a heart," said Salter.
River: [Th]
"The most brutal heart," said Salter. Double up for Strike who moves back to around starting stack.
1:15am: Cody knocked out by his hand
A gruesome exit for Team PokerStars Pro Jake Cody to tell you about now...
After Kuljinder Sidhu opened, Neville Gothold moved all-in for 26,000 and Jake Cody then moved all-in from the big blind for less (around 18,000) and Sidhu folded. Gothold showed [Ts][4s] whilst Cody had pocket aces. Cody famously won a big pot on his way to winning EPT Deauville with ten-four, cracking kings in a huge pot. Well this time it would be he who had a big pocket pair cracked by the ten-four as the flop contained two tens and gave Gothold a lead that he didn't relinquish on the turn or river.
Kevin Allen and John Haigh have also been eliminated.
1:05am: Prize pool information
We've just had the prize pool information through. The winner of the UKIPT5 Nottingham High Roller will collect £46,800 and the top seven finishers will get paid:
1st. £46,800
2nd. £33,750
3rd. £21,500
4th. £16,300
5th. £12,600
6th. £9,660
7th. £7,800
12:55am: Last level of the night
We're into the tenth and final level of the night, 28 players remain. At the end of this level play will end for the night and they'll return at 2pm tomorrow and play to a winner.
Blinds up: 600/1,200 ante 200
12:50am: Simpson doubles, Sidhu left short
A fortuitous double up for Ian Simpson has seen his stack surge upwards and left Kuljinder Sidhu severely dented. It all went in pre-flop with Simpson four-bet jamming for 33,700 with [8c][8d] and Sidhu calling with [Td][Ts]. "Nice hand," said Simpson when he saw he was behind. The [8s][Kh][Jd] flop gave him the lead and left Sidhu shaking his head. The [6d] turn and [9h] river doubled Simpson to around 69,000 and left Sidhu with 17,000.
12:40am: Counts from table 14
14 1 Neville Gothold, 26,000
14 2 Jake Cody, 19,700
14 3 Ivan Luca, 128,000
14 5 Elior Sion, 15,800
14 6 Ian Simpson, 42,600
14 7 Kuljinder Sidhu, 43,000
14 8 Simon Higgins, 23,000
12:30am: Kurganov curtailed
Igor Kurganov is the latest exit from the tournament, 28 players remain.
12:20am: Counts from table 11
11 1 Neil Strike, 13,300
11 2 Ben Dobson, 39,000
11 3 Jack Salter, 55,000
11 4 Mitchell Johnson, 47,000
11 5 Iaron Lightbourne, 32,000
11 7 Matas Cimbolas, 25,400
11 8 Keith Johnson, 22,000
12:05am: Counts from table 12
12 1 Liv Boeree, 58,000
12 2 Tom Hall, 18,000
12 3 Felix Stephensen, 70,000
12 4 Marius Wolmarans, 58,000
12 6 Bryn Kenney, 18,000
12 7 Max Silver, 60,000
12 8 Niall Farrell, 43,000
Blinds up: 500/1,000, ante 100
11:50pm: Counts from table 13
13 1 John Haigh, 28,800
13 2 Craig Mccorkell, 43,000
13 3 Christopher Brammer, 11,125
13 4 Kevin Allen, 28,300
13 5 Olov Jansson, 12,000
13 6 Rapinder Cheema, 80,000
13 7 Ludovic Geilich, 22,500
13 8 Thiago Nishijima, 61,500
11:35pm: Simpson makes a good calldown
Every time we walk past his table Ian Simpson seems to be involved in a pot and it was no different on the last occasion. He opened to 1,800 from the hijack, Kuljinder Sidhu three-bet to 4,000 and Simpson called.
Simpson then proceeded to check call bets of 4,500 and 7,800 respectively on the [6s][7d][Jc] flop and [9s] turn before both players checked the [Ah] river. "One pair," said Simpson showing [5d][5h], Sidhu couldn't beat it and Simpson took the pot.
11:20pm: Trickett gone, Jones can't keep up
Sam Trickett and Rhys Jones are the latest players to have busted from the High Roller.
11:05pm: Higgins wins, Hall jamming
A decent sized pot just now for Simon Higgins as he took some chips from Ian Simpson. It was the UKIPT4 London runner-up who opened the action, raising to 1,600, Higgins called as did Jake Cody from the big blind.
On the [7h][5d][5s] flop Simpson bet 2,500 and Higgins was the only caller. Simpson fired another bullet on the [8d] turn, this time 4,800 and Higgins called. On the [6h] river Simpson slowed down and a bet of 5,000 from Higgins gave him the pot.
Meanwhile on another table Niall Farell opened to 1,700 only to have Tom Hall jam for what looked like 20,000. Most of Hall's chips were yellow 1K chips but there was one blue 5K chip on the bottom. "There's a blue chip on the bottom right?" asked Farrell? When he was told that there was he released his hand. "I've got a nice hand to call a 10 bb shove but not that much," said Farrell.
10:55pm: Final four tables
Ben Vinson was knocked out in 33rd, this is how the final four tables shape up:
Table 11:
11 1 Neil Strike
11 2 Ben Dobson
11 3 Jack Salter
11 4 Mitchell Johnson
11 5 Iaron Lightbourne
11 6 Igor Kurganov
11 7 Matas Cimbolas
11 8 Keith Johnson
Table 12:
12 1 Olivia Boeree
12 2 Tom Hall
12 3 Felix Vincent Stephensen
12 4 Marius Wolmarans
12 5 Sam Trickett
12 6 Bryn Kenney
12 7 Max Silver
12 8 Niall Farrell
Table 13:
13 1 John Haigh
13 2 Craig Mccorkell
13 3 Christopher Brammer
13 4 Kevin Allen
13 5 Olov Jansson
13 6 Rapinder Cheema
13 7 Ludovic Geilich
13 8 Thiago Nishijima
Table 14:
14 1 Neville Gothold
14 2 Jake Cody
14 3 Ivan Luca
14 4 Rhys Jones
14 5 Elior Sion
14 6 Ian Simpson
14 7 Kuljinder Sidhu
14 8 Simon Higgins
Blinds up: 400/800 ante 100
10:55pm: The Price is wrong
Three exits to tell you about as Oliver Price, Sean Rafael and Steinar Edduson are all out. 33 players are left over five tables. This is an eight max tournament so with one more elimination the tournament staff will collapse a table.
10:40pm: Neil strikes a blow to Sion
A decent sized pot for Neil Strike early in level seven has seen him climb to around 27,000. Matas Cimbolas opened to 1,500, Craig McCorkell and Elior Sion both called and then Strike raised to 4,600 from the big blind and Sion was the only caller.
The two of them saw a [Tc][7h][4s] flop, Strike c-bet 6,000 and Sion flicked in the call. The turn was the [4h], Strike moved all-in for around 10,000 and Sion folded.
10:20pm: Complete chip counts
Late registration is now closed and below is the complete list of chip counts of the 36 players left in. Leading the way is Max Silver and he's some way clear of Rapinder Cheema - another UKIPT champion - who's second, whilst UKIPT4 London runner-up Ian Simpson lies third. At the other end of the counts Bryn Kenney and Rhys Jones are two of those in need of a double up.
Max Silver, United Kingdom, 106,000
Rapinder Cheema, United Kingdom, 78,000
Ian Simpson, United Kingdom, 75,000
Marius Wolmarans, USA, 72,100
Felix Stephensen, Norway, 63,500
Neville Gothold, United Kingdom, 51,000
Matas Cimbolas, Lithuania, 50,000
Thiago Nishijima, Brazil, 48,900
Liv Boeree, United Kingdom, Team PokerStars Pro, 47,600
Ben Dobson, United Kingdom, 47,000
Sam Trickett, United Kingdom, 46,000
Elior Sion, United Kingdom, 43,000
Chris Brammer, United Kingdom, 42,300
Simon Higgins, United Kingdom, 40,800
Kevin Allen, United Kingdom, 34,000
Jack Salter, United Kingdom, 30,000
Ollie Price, United Kingdom, 29,550
Sean Rafael, USA, 27,300
John Haigh, United Kingdom, 27,000
Craig McCorkell, United Kingdom, 26,800
Igor Kurganov, Russia, 24,475
Iaron Lightbourne, United Kingdom, 23,500
Ivan Luca, Argentina, 21,250
Kuljinder Sidhu, United Kingdom, 21,000
Ludovic Geilich, United Kingdom, 20,500
Ben Vinson, United Kingdom, 20,500
Jake Cody, United Kingdom, Team PokerStars Pro, 20,250
Niall Farrell, United Kingdom, 17,300
Steinar Edduson, Iceland, 17,300
Neil Strike, United Kingdom, 14,300
Keith Johnson, United Kingdom, 13,900
Mitch Johnson, United Kingdom, 13,400
Tom Hall, United Kingdom, 13,000
Bryn Kenney, USA, 12,450
Rhys Jones, United Kingdom, 11,250
Olov Jansson, Sweden, 9,050
Blinds up: 300/600 ante 75
10pm: End of level six
The players are now on a 20 minute break.
9:55pm: Sidhu takes a seat
Kuljinder Sidhu is the latest player to take a seat, taking the total number of entrants to 51.
9:45pm: Geilich gets some back
The PokerStars Blog arrived at the table to see a bet of 3,400 in front of Craig McCorkell (button) and a bet totalling 6,950 in front of Ludovic Geilich (cut-off) so it looked like McCorkell had three-bet and Geilich had then come back over the top with a four bet from his stack of 30,000. After thinking for about 20 seconds McCorkell made the call.
The two of them saw a [7h][6d][2d] flop, Geilich checked, McCorkell bet 5,300 and Geilich smooth called. The [6h] fell on the turn and both players declined the chance to bet and then followed suit on the [9s] river. Geilich opened [Ac][Kh] and it was good. He's back up to around 43,000 whilst McCorkell is down to 24,000.
9:25pm: Goulder gone
Alex Goulder has a great record in tournaments at Dusk Till Dawn but won't be winning this one. Marcin Milde and Anthony Nicholls are also out.
Out hiroller, gonna jump in the main event sat now.
— Alex Goulder (@cambridgealex) April 14, 2015Blinds up: 250/500 ante 50
9:15pm: Gothold gets hold of some of Higgins' chips
In such a stacked field it's somewhat of a surprise that the chip lead is currently held by Neville Gothold who has no recorded live cashes, but we do know that he played the High Roller here in Season 4.
He's the chip leader courtesy of winning a big pot against Simon Higgins, who was the incumbent when the hand started. The action was started by Higgins, he opened to 1,000 and then called when an in position Gothold three-bet to 2,700. The flop fell [4c][3c][Qd] and Higgins check called a bet of 4,800. Gothold fired again on the [Kc] turn, his bet was 7,500 and as Higgins pondered his option Gothold inhaled deeply from his plastic cigarette. The [Jh] finished off proceedings and both players checked. Higgins showed [As][Kh] but Gothold had [Kd][Jd].
"You bet three times with the worst hand and then check with the best hand," said Higgins to Gothold. "I thought you had trips of ace-queen," replied Gothold. "I wasn't sure and I was getting nervous," he added. After that hand Gothold is up to 80,000 whilst Higgins is down to 65,000.
9pm: Luske and Kellett on the rail
Just four exits so far in this tournament, with Richard Kellett and Marcel Luske the last two to head to the rail.
8:50pm: Up to 50
The total number of entries has ticked up to 50. Six players have re-entered so far, they are: Sam Trickett, Igor Kurganov, Chris Brammer, Ivan Luca, Rapinder Cheema and Felix Stephensen.
8:35pm: Trickett gets tricky
Sam Trickett might be on his second bullet of 25,000 but this one is going far better than the first as he's now over the 50,000 mark after winning a big pot against Anthony Nicholls.
Pre-flop Nicholls opened from the hijack, Trickett three-bet to 2,400 from the big blind and Nicholls flat called. On the [8d][5c][Kd] flop Trickett bet 4,000 and Nicholls gave him action. Both players checked the [Td] flop and Trickett then swiftly bet 15,000 on the [2s] river. In short order Nicholls made the call, Trickett rolled over [Jd][5d] and Nicholls - who was down the other end of the table to Trickett - leaned forward to peer at Trickett's cards, saw that he had a flush and then mucked his cards. Nicholls is down to just 4,200 as a result.
Blinds up: 200/400 ante 50
8:20pm: Some counts
Here are some more counts of those playing today. We're tracking everyone over on the chip count page and updating it as often as we can.
Matas Cimbolas, Lithuania, 49,500
Steinar Edduson, Iceland, 43,500
Bryn Kenney, USA, 41,500
John Haigh, United Kingdom, 35,000
Neville Gothold, United Kingdom, 31,500
Rapinder Cheema, United Kingdom, 28,000
Olov Jansson, Sweden, 27,300
Kevin Allen, United Kingdom, 26,300
Alex Goulder, United Kingdom, 26,000
Sean Rafael, USA, 25,600
Keith Johnson, United Kingdom, 23,400
Anthony Nicholls, United Kingdom, 21,600
Thiago Nishijima, Brazil, 18,575
Marius Wolmarans, USA, 13,850
Daniel Merrilees, United Kingdom, 12,800
8:05pm: More new entries
Kevin Allen, Keith Johnson and Anthony Nicholls have taken the total number of entries in this event up to 46. Whilst Sam Trickett has busted and then re-entered.
7:55pm: Details on Gudger's exit
Our thanks to Ben Dobson for telling us about how Eleanor Gudger lost her chips. Turns out it was Iaron Lightbourne who did most of the damage. He opened under-the-gun with [Ks][7s] and next to act Gudger smooth called with pocket eights. There was unknown betting action on the [8s][6s][5x] flop, before the rest of the chips went in on the [Jd] turn. Gudger had the lead but the river was a spade to give Lightbourne a flush.
She then lost the rest of he chips in a race with tens against ace-king.
Blinds up: 150/300 ante 25
7:25pm: Break time
The players are now on a 20 minute break. A reminder that late registration is open until the start of level seven (roughly 10.10pm).
7:15pm: Up to 44
The field is up to 44 in total, although there's currently only 41 players in the field as three of those entries are re-entries.Also Eleanor Gudger appears to be the first player out of the tournament as she's now playing the satellite to the Main Event, which has just started.
Steinar Edduson is the man most likely to have got her chips as his stack is now up to 40,000.
7:05pm: The field gets tougher
This event already had a stacked field and now you can add: Bryn Kenney, Elior Sion, Matas Cimbolas and Richard Kellett - who chopped the High Roller last time we were at Dusk Till Dawn - to the field.
6:50pm: Chip counts
It's Max Silver who's jumped out to an early lead, he eliminated Rapinder Cheema to get his stack up to around 64,000 whilst Simon Higgins and Ian Simpson have also raced out of the blocks.
Max Silver, United Kingdom, 64,000
Simon Higgins, United Kingdom, 58,000
Ian Simpson, United Kingdom, 43,000
Ludovic Geilich, United Kingdom 32,500
Jake Cody, United Kingdom, Team PokerStars Pro, 28,900
Ollie Price, United Kingdom, 28,800
Niall Farrell, United Kingdom, 27,500
Ben Dobson, United Kingdom, 27,000
Ivan Luca, Argentina, 25,900
Jack Salter, United Kingdom, 25,150
Rapinder Cheema, United Kingdom, 25,000
Sam Trickett, United Kingdom, 25,000
Liv Boeree, United Kingdom, Team PokerStars Pro, 23,600
Ben Vinson, United Kingdom, 23,500
Tom Hall, United Kingdom, 23,000
Marcin Milde, United Kingdom, 23,000
Eleanor Gudger, United Kingdom, 21,800
Rhys Jones, United Kingdom, 21,700
Craig McCorkell, United Kingdom, 21,400
Marcel Luske, Netherlands, 20,700
Felix Stephensen, Norway, 18,600
Christopher Brammer, United Kingdom, 18,300
Igor Kurganov, Russia, 17,000
Mitch Johnson, United Kingdom, 16,800
Simon Deadman, United Kingdom, 15,800
Richard Kellett, United Kingdom, 13,000
Iaron Lightbourne, United Kingdom, 12,800
Alex Goulder, United Kingdom, 8,800
Blinds up: 100/200 ante 25
6:30pm: Re-buys and new entries
Both Felix Stephensen and Rapinder Cheema are on their second bullet, having been eliminated and then taken up the option to re-buy.
Meanwhile the field has got a little tougher as Sam Trickett and Igor Kurganov and both now playing.
6:15pm: New table of death emerges
We're up to 36 runners now and a new table has opened up and it's some line-up, check this out:
15 1 Tom Hall
15 2 Ivan Luca
15 3 Ludovic Geilich
15 4 Craig Mccorkell
15 5 Felix Stephensen
15 6 Liv Boeree
15 7 Christopher Brammer
So in turn we have Tom Hall - UKIPT3 leader board winner, Ivan Luca the Argentinian who's been on a tear since he came to Europe and was runner-up in the €10,000 High Roller at EPT11 Malta in March. Ludovich Geilich, the UKIPT4 Marbella champion who is always entertaining to watch and is in form having won a £400 event for £27,500 at the weekend.
To his left sits Craig McCorkell, bracelet winner, third place finisher in the EPT11 London £10,000 High Roller and a man with over $1,780,000 in lifetime earnings. That figure is dwarfed by Felix Stephensen, the Norwegian finished second in last year's WSOP Main Event and earned $5,147,911 for that performance. When he glances to his left he'll be starring at Team PokerStars Pro's Liv Boeree and she's got the dangerous Chris Brammer on her left. He won the UKIPT1 leader board and was at one time the number one ranked online tournament player.
Fancy yourself in that line-up?
6pm: Pots for Higgins and Deadman
They'll be no limping at table 14! Neville Gothold tried though, he limped under-the-gun, Marcel Luske then called from under-the-gun+2 only for Rhys Jones to make it 700 from one seat along. It folded round to Simon Higgins in the small blind, he raised to 2,200 and one by one everyone folded. Things getting aggressive already then.
One table over Alex Goulder opened to 350 from under-the-gun and picked up three callers including Simon Deadman who was on the button. On the [8d][6s][Jc] flop it checked round to Deadman, he bet 1,100 and John Haigh was the only caller. Both players checked the [3d] turn and the [4s] completed the board. Haigh check called a bet of 2,200 and said: "It's good," when Deadman showed [Jd][9h].
Blinds up: 75/150
5:50pm: Cody ready to battle
A poker training session with Carl Froch has put Jake Cody in a bullish mood.
@UKIPT Nottingham high roller today lets doooooo it
— Jake Cody (@JakeCody) April 14, 20155:45pm: More names enter the fray
The tournament board is showing that 27 players are now in this event. Among the latest editions are EPT10 Monte Carlo runner-up Jack Salter, Ben Dobson and Iaron Lightbourne.
5:30pm: Cheema takes one from Silver
No big pots of note yet but Rapinder Cheema - who's playing his first UKIPT High Roller - just took a pot from Max Silver, which will no doubt be good for his confidence.
Silver opened from mid-position and Cheema smooth called from the small blind. On the [3d][Qd][8s] flop Silver c-bet 450 and Cheema again called. The [2h] turn was checked through and Cheema then fired 700 on the [2d] river, Silver released his hand and the pot went to Cheema.
5:20pm: Tough crowd
With this being a high roller it's highly unlikely there will be many 'easy' tables in the room but table 14 looks to have a particularly gruesome line-up. We'll be keeping a close eye on this table that's for sure.
14 1 Neville Gothold
14 2 Jake Cody
14 3 Marcel Luske
14 4 Rhys Jones
14 5 Mitchell Johnson
14 6 Felix Vincent Stephensen
14 7 Ben Vinson
14 8 Simon Higgins
5:10pm: And we're off
Action is under way in the high roller.
5pm: The high rollers are in town
Welcome to Day 1 coverage of the £150,000 GTD UKIPT5 Nottingham High Roller coverage. With the buy-in weighing in at £3,000 + £2,00 we need 50 bums on seats for the guarantee to be met. That target was helped along by last night's live satellite which generated six seats. Mitch Johnson, Marcel Luske, Neville Gothold, Marius Wolmarans, Eleanor Gudger and Ian Simpson have all got in for a discount.
Action has yet to start - many of the high rollers took part in a 5-a-side football tournament this afternoon and are heading here from that - but we've spotted Max Silver, recent Sunday Million winner Marcin Milde and UKIPT5 London winner Rapinder Cheema in the building.
The plan today is to play 10 levels each of which will 45 minutes meaning play will end around 1.30am. Each player starts with 25,000 chips and they have the option to re-buy once should they bust before late registration closes at around 10.10pm. The players who are here have just been called to their seats and action is about to start.
PokerStars Blog reporting team at UKIPT5 Nottingham: Nick Wright. Photos by Mickey May