Day 2 on the UKIPT is always a frantic one and today proved no different. The 351 survivors from Days 1A and B combined for the first time and were spread high and wide due to play starting nine-handed. A large number of bust outs happened early on in proceedings due a higher than normal Day 1 survivor rate. Then there was the bubble to deal with and the usual mass exodus once it burst.
As you can see the waters were choppy but Dario Carrion had a vessel to cope and its bowels had storage enough to pack in 967,000 chips after eight one-hour levels. He didn't sail over the horizon and out of sight though as close to his stern you'll find Pablo Galache (783,000), Jeffrey Brouwer(737,000), Isidoro Barreña (733,000), Niko Kettunen (670,000), Aleksandar Abtovic (666,000), Steinar Edduson (663,000), Victor Gimenez (592,000) and long-time Day 2 chip leader Daniel Price (575,000).
Many of Carrion's chips were earned in the last level of the night when he five-bet shoved with pocket eights and got a call out of Daniel Perkusic holding ace-jack. Neither player connected with the board and no prizes for guessing who'll be the happier tonight.
Other players who sailed through to Day 3 include: Sam Grafton (463,000), Tomeu Gomila (175,000) and Richard Pearson (142,000). Around 61 players made it through the day.
Hand for hand play in a tournament can really eat into valuable time so it was nice to see that avoided today. Rolf Tomas was unlucky to bust in 129th place after running kings into aces and before Tournament Director Luca Vivaldi could initiate hand for hand play, three players busted almost simultaneously.
Alex Ferguson, Salvador Mosteiro, Lukasz Jankowski all departed and split 128th and 127th place between them, meaning each took away €1,130 apiece for a €30 profit! Ferguson also won a last longer he was in too and that netted him another €800.
Fatima Moreira de Melo had an unsettling day due to many table changes. She said she found it hard to get used to her opponents and what they were up to. It certainly had an affect on her accruing chips but she managed to squeeze into money, busting in 116th place for €1,775. That's almost enough money for the €2,200 High Roller event and that's exactly where the Team PokerStars SportStar headed.
Katja Spillum Svendsen came third here last year but she won't be able to repeat that this year but can be proud of her 93rd place finish for €2,020. Other players who fell but secured cashes were: Lasse Frost (100th - €1,775), James Atkin (82nd - €2,020), Lewis Swift (105th - €1,775) and overnight chip leader Julian Cabello (73rd - €2,020).
More than half today's field left disappointed after failing to secure a cash and they included: Jack Stanton, Alexander Stevic, Malte Moennig, Ognyan Dimov, Dan Stacey, Sebastian von Toperczer, Pieter de Korver, James Mitchell, Olga Iermolchevad, Tobias Peters and Paul McTaggert.
Tomorrow is a new day for the remaining players and they'll be setting themselves a new target. Actually, one simple target will be at the forefront of their minds: make the final table! As long as play doesn't slow down too much, the field should be whittled down to eight within another eight levels meaning everyone will be able to attend the official players party that kicks off at 10pm at Guey restaurant five minutes walk from the venue.
Play restarts at Midday CET tomorrow but for now, why not check out all the action from today and the payouts so far by clicking the links below. You can also take a look ahead to tomorrow with the overnight chip counts and seat draw
Levels 11-14.
Levels 15-18.
Payouts so far
Day 3 seat draw
Day 3 chip counts
