8:40pm: Play is over
The final whistle on Day 1B has been blown and players are bagging and tagging their chips. Daniel Sochanek ended the day as chip leader with 167,200. A wrap of the day's events will be up on the blog shortly and Day starts at Midday CET tomorrow. -- NW
8:20pm: Final four
The clock has been paused and each table will play four more hands. -- NW
8:15pm: Davey's bluff timing way off
He may have been free-rolled into this event by virtue of his UKIPT Season 4 Leader Board victory, but Dara Davey will still be annoyed at the manner of his bust out to Roland Morckhoven.
Sam Grafton told the blog, "He shoved a flop when that man (pointed to Morckhoven) had the nuts!"
Morckhoven moved up to 170,000 as a result. -- MC
8pm: Diaz departs; Iermolcheva soaring
Gaelle Garcia Diaz, the multi-lingual PokerStars TV presenter has failed to repeat her deep run from Season 4, where she came 40th for €2,590.
Olga Iermolcheva on the other hand seems to be playing lots of pots at her table. Her high VPIP has helped her up to 145,000.
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 600-1,200, ante 200
7:42pm: Bluff your way to 50k
Tobias Peters has got to the 50,000-mark after bluffing Juan Mañez off a hand. The latter raised fro mid position preflop and Peters called from the hijack. The flop fanned [3d][tc][3s] and Mañez gave up the initiative by checking. He called a bet from his Dutch opponent and checked again on the [9c] turn. Peters fired 6,800 and Mañez admitted defeat with a fold.
"Show the bluff!" said a table mate and Peters obliged by showing [ad][8s] before responding with, "Are you going to show the next time I ask then?" -- MC
7:30pm: Gone
It's quite close but no cigar for: Alvaro Martin Recio, Thomas Brownlee, Fernando Perez, Iulian Enache, Francisco Manuel Salvador, Ivan Kalac, Manuel Solis, Charles Shaw, David Kristek, Sebastian Barhs, Peter Jaksland and Adrian García as they're all out. --NW
7:20pm: Manx man making money (well chips)
The PokerStars Blog arrived at table 26 to see a three-way all-in in progress. Dariusz Dejko was the shortest stack of the three, David Tierney was all-in for just over 14,000 and Alberto Blasi was the covering stack.
Dejko: [Ah][Qs]
Tierney: [Ad][Kc]
Blasi: [Ac][Ks]
The [6d][6h][Jd][2d][5d] board meant Tierney - who's from the Isle of Man - four flushed Blasi to nearly triple up, Djeko was eliminated and Blasi slipped to 23,000. -- NW
7:12pm: Morckhoven trips up
Roland Morckhoven still has a stack worth 104,000 despite running two pair into the trips of Ross Mannion.
Those two and Dara Davey saw a [9d][6s][9h] flop where the action was checked to Morckhoven on the button. He bet 3,300 and was only called by Mannion in the big blind. Both players checked the [ad] turn before Mannion led out for 6,700 on the [8c] river. Morckhoven called with [8d][6h] but lost out to Mannion's [qd][9d] who's stack rose to 78,000. -- MC
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 500-1,000, ante 100
7:05pm: A brutal way to go
Getting counterfeited is high on the list of 'worst ways to exit a poker tournament' it's probably nestled inbetween 'aces cracked' and 'got it in drawing dead' in terms of pain, which is something Keith Cummins can relate to right now.
Just bust, got in my last 13bb with 22 vs KQ, 886,J,6 #counterfited #UKIPTMarbella
— Keith Cummins (@Keith_Cummins) June 18, 2015Mick Graydon had a pretty gruesome bust out too, but looked on the bright side of life:
No joy in #UKIPTMarbella top 2 into set. Best ukipt destination to bust early anyway. Back to my holiday
— Mick graydon (@BIGMICKG1) June 18, 20157pm: More chops than a Butchers
There are many reactions to chopping a pot - most of which don't involve singing - and never was this starker than the contrasting reactions of a pair of players at table nine and table 18.
In the first chopped pot that the PokerStars Blog saw, Oscar Enríquez opened to 2,200 and then called when Rodrigo Jimenez three-bet to 5,100. The two players checked it all the way down on a [8h][7d][6d][2d][3c] board and both players had ace-jack. The two of them laughed about it and shook hands as the dealer split the chips down the middle.
Meanwhile across the room Tataru Valentina was all-in for 5,400 with [Ac][7s] and had found a caller in the shape of Luis Joaquin Ruiz, who had pocket queens. The board ran [Ad][5s][3c][2h][4c] giving both players a straight. When the river card hit Valentina - who was behind pre-flop - banged his fist on the table extremely hard as he'd been denied a double up. Ruiz was more passive about it and merely took his bet of 5,400 back to allow the dealer to divvy up the blinds and antes. -- NW
6:55pm: Mitchell and Grafton on the move
Virtually all the tables in the downstairs room have been broken now. One of the most recent to break was the one containing Sam Grafton and James Mitchell.
Grafton has been moved two to the left of UKIPT4 Leader board champion Dara Davey, who looked up at us and commented, "It was such a quiet table as well!" Grafton, who's known for his booming voice, (ironically) quietly smiled.
Mitchell arrived at his table and promptly three-bet to 4,500 from the hijack after Alexandr Cagrov had opened to 1,700 from early position. Cargov came back with a four-bet to 10,500 and Mitchell folded to drop to around 50,000. -- MC
6:40pm: The numbers are in
Drumroll please...the total number of runners in the UKIPT5 Marbella Main Event is 841! A total of 492 players entered Day 1B of the UKIPT5 Marbella Main Event and 349 played on Day 1A. That makes the split of players over the two start days 58.5% to 41.5% in favour of Day 1B. -- NW
6:30pm: Check you later
No chips left for this poor bunch: Tomasz Wrobel, Gleb Krochmalis, Antonio Melendez Marin, Thierry De Quick, Arnaud Louis Peyroles, Marc Radgen, Simen Enggrav Iversen, David Algarra, Ben Farrel, Oscar Enríquez Cabello, Garret Devine, Miguel Gurrea Monton, Aitor Larbide Aldasoro, Jose Luís Perez, Alexis Zervos, Roseline Sekartjem, Carlos German Serrano, Mauricio Oscar Riachi, Marcos Martín Martínez, Georgios Papadopoulos, Gary Johnson, Wilfrid Fouillaret, Gytis Lazauninkas, Marco Silva Valente, Sameer Singh, Conor Beresford, Benjamin García, Patrick Wiefels, Steven Mcintrye, Andres Molina, Mario Sanchez, Stefano Locorotondo, Jose Luís Plaza, Frederic Mark Hebette, David Martin Santana, Ross Greig, Marc Victor Uzan, Paul Bambrough, Jose Ignacio Albert, Luis Ramirez, Carlos Sánchez, Jesus Antonio Hervas, Paul Lozano, Kim Sundin, Elliot Sorsky and Joao Vasques Rosa Nunes. -- MC
6:15pm: Big stacks
During the break the tournament staff kindly got the dealers to note down the biggest stack at each table. These ladies and gentleman are therefore your chip leaders as level eight gets under way.
Javier Torregrosa, 106,900
Grzegorz Grochulski, 105,200
Jerome Sgorrano, 100,000
Davide Andreoni, 88,000
Niko Kettunen, 88,000
Malte Moening, 85,000
Philipp Schimmerl, 82,000
Jose Luís Rodriguez, 80,000
Linda Alexandra, 78,200
Antonio Fernandez, 78,000
Jorge Antonio Juste, 77,200
Manuel Antonio Rupert, 75,700
Alvaro Picatoste, 74,400
Alex Ferguson, 70,700
6:10pm: Malte Moening the chips in
Malte Moening, who came third in the EPT10 Grand Final, has more than doubled up to 85,000 after he made a flush versus Spyridwin Koukouris.
Those two plus Iulian Enache were all still involved on the turn when the board read [2s][qd][3d][6d]. Koukouris led for 5,000 and was called by Enache before Moening raised to 16,626. Koukouris made a difficult looking tank call but Enache left them to it.
The board completed with the [4h] and Moening moved all in for his last 14,500. Koukouris called with [as][ah] but lost out to his German opponent who had already opened [ad][5d]. -- MC
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 400-800, ante 100
5:50pm: Seven down, three to go
The players are now on a 15-minute break. -- NW
5:40pm: Downstairs but up in chips
The number of tables in use in the downstairs tournament area - called La Caseta which roughly translated means The Booth - number just five now but there are plenty of big names and big stacks still involved down there.
They include: Ognyan Dimov (29,500), Ross Mannion (41,000), Luke Perrott (67,000), Sam Grafton (56,000) and James Mitchell (44,500).
Grafton and Mitchell are sat side by side and were involved in a three-way pot with Franjo Zivkovic. "This was meant to be an all English affair," joked Grafton as Zivkovic got involved. On the [2s][3d][7d] flop the action checked to Mitchell who bet 2,600, Zivkovic check-raised to 7,000 and both Englishmen folded.
"I was doing that if you didn't," said Grafton to Zivkovic. "It was so obvious," he needled Mitchell. "In fact I'd probably have check-called all the way down with ace high," he added getting another not too subtle dig in at this friend. -- NW
5:27pm: Some chips counts from the main room
| Name | Country | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| Rasmus Larsen | Denmark | 55,000 |
| Mick Graydon | Ireland | 44,000 |
| Malte Moennig | Germany | 42,000 |
| Paul McTaggart | United Kingdom | 39,000 |
| James Noonan | Ireland | 38,000 |
| Olga Iermolcheva | Ukraine | 37,000 |
| Alex Ferguson | United Kingdom | 34,000 |
| Tobias Peters | Netherlands | 32,000 |
| Gaelle Garcia Diaz | Belgium | 27,000 |
| Dan Stacey | United Kingdom | 26,000 |
| Lewis Swift | United Kingdom | 25,000 |
| David Delgado | Spain | 24,500 |
| Jack Stanton | United Kingdom | 21,000 |
| James Akenhead | United Kingdom | 17,000 |
| Chris Gordon | United Kingdom | 8,500 |
5:15pm: Running up a stack
Players started with 250 big blinds each and whilst no one has that amount now if you've got over 100 then you're in very good shape indeed. Members of that club include: Linda Alexandra (83,000), Tim Petzold (71,000) and Jorge Antonio Juste (61,000). -- NW
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 300-600, ante 75
5:10pm: Show to take
A bit of showdown confusion to tell you about now...
On the turn of a [Tc][Jh][Js][3d] board Keith Terence (under-the-gun) bet 1,500 only for Antonio Perez (small blind) to check raise to 3,700 total. Call from Terence.
The [8s] completed the board and Perez fired out 7,300 which was swiftly matched by Terence. Perez turned over the [Ad] but didn't open his other hole card. He was in seat ten and the dealer took these actions to mean that Perez had mucked his hand and moved his two cards towards the muck, they touched the muck, but were still clearly identifiable.
Terence had his cards in his hand and had them over the betting line and was preparing to muck them, when Perez indicated that surely Terence had to show to win the pot. At this point the dealer turned both of Perez's cards over revealing - [Ad][5h] and Terence then showed [Kh][Jc] to win the pot and the next hand could begin. -- NW
5pm: Gomez busts after failed hero call
Diego Gomez's Main Event has come to an end after he called off with ace high, only for his opponent to open top set.
Philipp Schimmerl opened to 1,100 from under the gun and called after Gomez three-bet to 3,000 from the cutoff. Schimmerl called to a [6d][9c][5d] flop where both players checked. The turn was the [tc] and Schimmerl check-raised a 1,500 delayed c-bet up to 3,500. Gomez called and then quickly called off his remaining 9,350 on the [2c] river when Schimmerl set him in.
Schimmerl opened [ts][th] beating out Gomez's [as][kc]. -- MC
4:45pm: Exits
As the blinds go up, naturally so does the rate of fallers. Among those who'll be able to enjoy the late afternoon sun here in Marbella (tough life) are: Abdelkader Benhalima, Ruben Veras, Stoyan Todorov, Peter Ockenden, Miguel Gurrea, Brahim Oubella, Zelko Adzaga, Giancarlo Martagni, Jose Francisco Romero, Luis Miguel Magan, Marco Pacini, Andrey Dimitrov, Cesar Sanz Alba, Aras Janulis, Jurgen Siegwart Bielz, José Martínez Cao, Antonio Guimaraens, Samuele Grassi, Adrian Ko, David Wilkes, Liam Duffy, Silas Meyer, Adrián Donoso, Roberto Rodriguez, Jose Gomez, Francisco Torres, Roberto Gomez, Radostin Todovichin, Francisco Manuel Rebolo, Nikita Staroverov, Hector Ballester and Javier Carpio. -- NW
4:30pm: James joins James
James Mitchell had just been spotted and has been drawn at the same table as James Akenhead. Mitchell has won nearly $1.7 million in live tournaments and a lot in live cash games as well. His biggest result to date was for €600,000, which he got for winning the 2010 Irish Open.
Mitchell has 36,000 chips and that was after he folded to a 22,600 shove (15k in pot) an opponent made on the turn of a [3s][2d][7d][6c] board. -- MC
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 250-500, ante 50
4:15pm: Double up for Pastor
Moises Pastor just pulled off the old call, call, shove trick and as a result he got a double up through Stefan Batalka.
From under-the-gun Pastor opened to 1,000 and then called after Batalka three-bet to 2,500 from the button. The flop fell [Jh][8h][7d] and Batalka bet 3,000 with a flourish, Pastor was much more workmanlike in placing his chips into the pot.
So to the [5s] turn they went, another check by Pastor and another extravagant bet from Batalka, this time a looping high chip toss was his chosen method of putting 6,000 into the pot. Back on Pastor he picked up a blue 5k chip and a gold 1k chip and started doing the 'chip twirl trick' before electing to call.
The [5h] finished off proceedings and Pastor took less than ten seconds to pile his chips into one tower and push them over the line, Batalka quietly said: "I call," and Pastor turned over [6c][5c] for trip fives, it was good as Batalka had pocket queens. The all-in shove was for 14,600 and Batalka was left with around 10,000 after shipping his chips to Pastor. --NW
4:05pm: The confidence quads gives you
Lewis Swift had dropped a few chips this level before he got up to around 33,000 by powerfully playing pocket jacks on a very dangerous board.
He was battling heads up with Antoni Faisca Blanco and the two had made it to the turn where the board read [7s][kd][ts][ac]. Swift bet 2,300 from under the gun and Blanco check-called from the small blind. The board completed with the [9d] and Swift moved all in for 11,475 when Blanco checked to him once more.
The Belgian admitted defeat and threw his cards in the muck. Swift opened [js][jh] and Blanco nodded before turning to neighbour Tobias Peters for a conversation that involved a lot of head shaking.
While the dealer was shuffling for the next hand, a player at the table had his hand in the air trying to attract a waitress just as Olga Iermolcheva was walking by. She instinctively gave him a high-five and caused the table to erupt in laughter. -- MC
3:55pm: Very nice for Veiga
Hands up who's played as high as $200/$400 no-limit Hold'em online? Anyone who has is in exalted company and there's (at least) one such player in the field today. His name is Diogo Veiga and the Portuguese player is no slouch at tournaments either as he's got lifetime earnings of over $220,000. These winnings were boosted recently by a deep run in the EPT Malta Main Event where he finished 31st.
He's up to around 46,000 in this tournament by virtue of winning a sizeable pot against Laura Gallardo. We picked up the action on the turn of a [4c][4d][8c][Ks] board to see Veiga betting 2,800 and Gallardo making the call. On the [5s] river Veiga reached into his stack again and settled on a bet of 7,050, this sent Gallardo deep into the think tank, she eventually elected to call, but mucked when Veiga turned over [Ad][Kh] which was good for the pot. -- NW
3:40pm: Swift double up for Lewis
Lewis Swift was in the happy camp during the break. He popped by media row to tell us how get got up to 32,000 with quad sixes.
He was in the small blind and was one of two players who called a min raise. The flop fell [6c][jc][qc] and all three checked to the [6d] turn where Swift led for 1,200. He was called in one place and the board completed with another queen. Swift led for 4,000 and called all in when his opponent set him in with king-queen for a full house. -- MC
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 200-400, ante 50
3:20pm: Break time
The second break of the day has arrived. Registration will be closed once level 5 commences. -- MC
3:15pm: Many bustouts already
There's always the sun, sea and ...... sangria for the following: Maria Celia Montoya, Santiago Parra Garcia, Alfredo Urtubia, Joaquin María Gil, Vicente Besalduch, Ruben Cortes Esteban, Dean Hutchinson, Bruno Ortuño, Gonzalo Veiga, Kieran Woods, Silviu Petrica Togui, Andrea Manzoni, Milan Rabsz, Rafael Muñoz, Henri Luc Thomas, Daniel McHugh, Fernando Heredia, Cristian Martinez, Jeronimo Linero Marin, Gerard Cordier, Jakub Krehla, David Riches, Steven Bartley, Sergey Dozhdev, Daniel Jonathen, Manuel Clement Bujalkdon, Zack Goldsmith, Ryan Townsend, Thomas Hagmann and Adrian Costin Constantin. --MC
3pm: Delgado joins the party
Table 14 just got a lot tougher as Vicente Delgado has taken up situ in seat seven. The Spaniard, who lives in London, has racked up over $1,700,000 in lifetime earnings on PokerStars and over $200,000 in the live arena. His biggest individual online cash came when he won a WCOOP bracelet in 2014. He took down the $10,300 NL Hold'em [8-Max, Re-Entry, High Roller] for $702,625. --NW
2:50pm: Carter got
"Who's ready to party?" said Dan Carter as he walked towards media row. "I got it in pre-flop with aces," began the UKIPT1 Coventry fourth place finisher. "I raised to 800 from the cut-off, the button (Luis Joaquin Ruiz) raised to 1,800 and the small blind (Mykyta Ishchenko) cold called. It was the buttons third three-bet against me and I was just going to peel but when the small blind cold called I have to three-bet and made it 5,100 total. The button then clicked it back and I six-bet jammed for around starting stack (25,000) and he called. He had queens and flopped a queen."
Carter seemed philosophical about his exit and said: "I bought some shorts with me in case this happened, time to go for a walk." Yep there are certainly worse places to bust a poker tournament than sunny Marbella. -- NW
2:40pm: Chips and tales from the basement
The overspill room downstairs is more like a basement but that's a good thing as it's the coolest place to play with its shade and tiled floors.
Sam Grafton can be found there with a 55,000 stack. A healthy place to be and allows him the space to call a three-bet pre flop before folding on a flop. Luke Perrott (8th at UKIPT5 Nottingham) was busy getting his stack in on an adjacent table. He raised to 1,500 and was called in one spot before EPT Deauville winner Ognyan Dimov squeezed to 2,500. Perrot shoved for around 14,000 and took the pot down.
Down from them, you'll find Paul McTaggert (33,000), Mick Graydon (36,000) and Dan Stacey (22,500) sharing a table and all comfortable. James Akenhead has won some chips back and is back up to 18,000, shy of the 38,000 that Tomeu Gomila has amassed one more table along. -- MC
Blinds up: 150/300 ante 25
2:20pm:Chip counts
A few counts from around the main tournament room:
Dara Davey, 40,000
Olga Iermolcheva, 35,700
James Noonan, 32,000
Dan Carter, 25,300
Jack Stanton, 23,000
Gaelle Garcia Diaz, 22,000
James Atkin, 18,000
2:10pm: Day 1B up to 440 players!
Registration is open for two more levels and players keep arriving. The tournament clock is saying 440 have entered so far.
Tobias Peters, who recently won the High Roller Event at Eureka Hamburg for €37,548, has his stack in the black. He was in the small blind and three-way to the turn of a [5d][9h][3c][6c] board. Antoni Faisca Blanco bet 900 from the big blind but snap folded after the Dutchman check-raised to 2,700.
Olga Iermolcheva, from the Ukraine, will be hoping to continue her good form from 2015. She came second at LAPT Panama just over a month ago, earning her a career-high score of $113,580. Also spotted were serial UKIPT casher Chris Gordon and gentleman Diego Gomez. -- MC
1:55pm: Heard the one about the Englishman, Irishman and Scotsman?
There's a strong British and Irish presence at table 42. In seat six sits Daniel Stacey, he final tabled UKIPT4 IOM just a few weeks after finishing 10th at UKIPT4 London. He's taken a knock early and is down to 16,000. His decline may well be responsible for the fact that Paul McTaggart - who's in seat seven - is up to 36,000.
A couple of seats to their left is Mick Graydon, he's got almost $500,000 in live tournament earnings and has final tabled both an EPT and a UKIPT - the first ever one in fact. That's not the only first that Graydon is known for as he was Ireland's first Supernova Elite. Completing a triumvirate of firsts is that fact that Graydon is without his usual German Shepherd card protector/lucky charm. "If I win this then that's getting retired," joked Graydon. -- NW
1:45pm: One and a half in a row for Santana
David Santana is hitting all the right notes here in Marbella, as he just won a big pot against Steven Bartley and the Irishman has dropped to less than 10,000 as a result.
The pre-flop action is unknown but on the monotone [6h][5h][Th] flop Santana fired out 1,075 and Bartley barely hesitated before calling. The [4h] turn was always going to be an action killer or an action generator and it proved to be the former as both players checked and the [Jh] rolled off on the river. Bartley checked the action to Santana and despite all the hearts he had the heart to bet, 2,825 to be precise, Bartley called very quickly but saw the bad news as XX had [Ad][Kh] for a king high flush. Bartley couldn't beat it and mucked his hand.
On the very next hand Santana played another chunky pot, this time against Magnus Karlsson. He bet the flop and turn of a [As][3h][Qs][2d] board for 525 and 1,350 respectively, before check calling a bet of 1,600 on the [6h] river. Both players had ace-king and chopped the pot.
A decent start for Santana then and the same is true for Sam Grafton, who's also at that table, he's up to 37,000. - NW
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 100-200, ante 25
1:35pm: Break time
Two levels down and time for a quick break. Join us back here soon
1:18pm: Efimova runs into a set
Irina Efimova had gotten off to a positive sight but ran into a set to drop back to 23,000 chips.
The Russian raised to 350 from under the gun and picked up four callers en route to a [qs][6d][3d] flop. She continued for 1,800 and was only called by Dario Carrion in the big blind. The turn was the [7s] and he check-called another 2,750 before the board completed with the [5c]. The action went check-check and Efimova mucked upon seeing Carrion's [3s][3h] for a flopped set. -- MC
1pm: Suarez amongst three early fallers
Manuel Rocha Suarez has the unfortunate title of being the first player out here on Day 1B. No details but it's safe to say he won't be satisfied with the bite he had of UKIPT Marbella.
It wasn't long before he had company on the rail. Jose Ignacio Albert and Raul Martinez Requena also departed before the end of the first level. -- MC
Blinds up: 75/150
12:55pm: Fergie time
Alex Ferguson is off to a good start in Marbella:
Nice start to #UKIPTMarbella pick up 11k first with Full House. TT on 233T8 board. Let the run good continue please.
— Alex Ferguson (@AlexFergielive) June 18, 201512:40pm: Early bump in the road for Bosley
Ian Bosley had a deep run in the last UKIPT event, finishing 45th out of 1,026 runners at UKIPT5 Nottingham. He's playing today in Marbella but his hopes of another deep run in a UKIPT main event were just dented as he lost a big pot (by level one standards) to Hector Camarote.
The action to the river is unknown but with the board showing [Ac][9h][9c][Kc][3d] and action on Bosley, his Spanish opponent bet 4,500 out of turn. Bosley now took his time before eventually electing to call this chunky bet. Camarote turned over [Qc][6c] for the nut flush and Bosley grimaced before showing [Jc][Tc] for a good, but second best hand. -- NW
12:30pm: Pub game or poker game?
Back in 2009 James Akenhead was one of the most exciting players on the planet. His fearless, aggressive style helped him to the WSOP and WSOPE Main Event final tables that year. Luck wasn't so kind in the proceeding years and the Londoner ceased being a professional to open a pub and restaurant.
It's good to see Akenhead in the field today but he might not be so happy to be here after he lost a big hand to start off his tournament.
The flop read [9s][8s][kh] and Akenhead led for 375 from the big blind. A player in mid position folded but Silas Meyer called from the small blind to see an [8d] turn that was checked through. Meyer then led for 1,125 on the [7s] and faced a raise to 2,850 from Akenhead. The action didn't stop there though as the Dane three-bet to 9,000. Akenhead looked confused but flicked in a chip to call and was shown [5s][6s] for a straight flush!
Akenhead just shook his head and stared down at the floor. Never nice to lose nearly half one's stack so early on. -- MC
12:15pm: Packing them in
The tournament clock is still showing that 400 players are registered but we suspect that's a little on the low side as players continue to take their seats here.
We'll be keeping track of the names, notables and big stacks over on the chip counts page. One player we'll be keeping an eye on is James Akenhead, indeed news of a big hand involving him is coming shortly. -- NW
12:05pm: Let's go!
Play is under way. -- NW
11:45am: Back for more on Day 1B
Welcome back to Casino Marbella for Day 1B of UKIPT Marbella. Yesterday attracted a record 349 players and that number is expected to be eclipsed today. Actually, there are already more than 400 players registered meaning the main tournament room isn't big enough to seat everyone. Not to worry, as there's an overflow room that's was used for side events and satellites yesterday and shall be used today until the numbers have been whittled down enough.
Julian Cabello was the only player to pass 200,000 after ten levels of play yesterday and has set a high benchmark for those playing today. Those who have spotted around the complex include EPT11 Deauville champion Ognyan Dimov; UKIPT4 Edinburgh champion Dean Hutchison; Alex Ferguson, Dan Carter, Ross Greig, Andrew Hedley, UKIPT4 Leader board winner Dara Davey; Lewis Swift and Sam Grafton.
Grafton's girlfriend, Floor person Kate (formerly known as Dealer Kate), is also here so we'll try and get her to do some work seeing as it's going to be so busy! PokerStars blog contributor Jack Stanton (who you may remember from the UKIPT5 Nottingham blog) has dropped his quill after winning a seat online.
Cards are due in the air at Midday CET but there could well be a delay as the mass of players try to find their seats.
Key UKIPT5 Marbella Facts:
- 25,000 starting stack
- Blinds starting at 50/100 for 250 big blinds
- Levels are 45 minutes on Day 1 and they'll be ten of them. From Day 2 onwards levels increase to 60 minutes.
- Day 1B is today and the field will then combine for the first time tomorrow, before (hopefully) playing down to a final table on Saturday and then to a winner on Sunday. Cue mad celebrations and jumping in the pool with the trophy (possibly).
- Full UKIPT5 Marbella schedule here.
- It's not all about the poker here in Marbella. There's some fun stuff too like an official party. That takes place on Saturday June 20th from 22.00 until late at Guey Marbella. Spots are limited and players need to contact info@estrellaspokertourhotels.com to sign up, wristbands are required for entry but the good news is there's an open Bar for the first two hours of the party.
- Players in Marbella will also be able to enjoy a wide-range of off the felt activities, including karting, water sports and more. Contact info@estrellaspokertour.com if you wish to book any activity.
PokerStars Blog Reporting Team at UKIPT5 Marbella: Marc Convey and Nick Wright. Photos by Mickey May