9:30pm: Pierrick Tallon wins UKIPT Bristol for £53,000; Chris Brice wins £42,300 for second place
There was a period of raises and folds before the final confrontation took place.
Chris Brice moved all in for 1.5 million and Pierrick Tallon looked at his cards and made the call.
Brice: [kh][4h]
Tallon: [ah][3s]
The board ran [4d][jh][ac][2c][9c] to make the Belgian top pair.
Both players shook hands and received a round of applause from everyone in the room. The whole final table, from beginning to end was played in a very respectful raise and both players seemed chuffed with their day. A full wrap of the day's play will be up on the blog shortly. -- MC
9:20pm: Halve the clock
The blinds have gone up and the players have agreed to change the length of the levels to 30 minutes. --NW
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 50,000/100,000, ante 10,000
9:05pm: Brice gets lucky to double
After a couple of shoves with no calls, Chris Brice moved all in for 1,085,000 and Pierrick Tallon called.
Brice: [9c][8s]
Tallon: [qd][9d]
Tallon was in great shape to win but Brice, somehow, found a way out on the [3s][4s][td][6s][8d] board, pairing his kicker on the river.
Game on again!
-- MC
9pm: Huge pot sees Brice drop to ten big blinds
A ten-million chip pot played out and Chris Brice lost it to drop to just over a million chips.
He opened to 250,000 and called after Pierrick Tallon three-bet to 750,000. The flop fanned [8s][3d][9h] and Tallon continued for 650,000. Brice thought for a moment and then moved all in. Tallon double checked his cards and called all in for 4,270,000.
Brice: [ah][3c] for bottom pair
Tallon: [9s][9c] for top set.
The board ran out [ad][2h] and Tallon raked in piles of chips. -- MC
8:47pm: Brice straight into the lead
Chris Brice made a straight in a hand and has taken over the chip lead with six million to 5.1 million.
He raised his button to 250,000 and Pierrick Tallon called to see a [9c][7h][9s] flop where both players checked. The turn came as the [jh] and Tallon led for 250,000. Call. The board completed with the [ts] and Tallon bet a million. Brice called and turned over [8d][8h] for a straight. Tallon mucked. -- MC
8:40pm: First blood to Brice
Chris Brice has won the first two significant pots during heads-up play and has increased his stack to around 5,000,000 meaning that not Pierrick Tallon's lead is down to around 1,000,000 in total. --NW
8:32pm: Deal agreed; play resumes
After some number crunching a deal has been agreed by the two players.
Pierrick Tallon (7,950,000) will be guaranteed £44,000 and Chris Brice (3,200,000) £42,300. That leaves £9,000 and the trophy to play for on top.
The players signed the necessary paperwork, shook hands and got back into the action. -- MC
8:10pm: Chi Zhang eliminated in 3rd place (£26,500)
It took just over ten minutes of post-dinner action before UKIPT Bristol became a heads up affair.
Chi Zhang raised to 200,000 from the button and called after Pierrick Tallon three-bet to 550,000 from the next seat. The flop came down [8d][9d][9h] and Zhang called a 450,000 c-bet from Tallon. The Belgian slowed to a check on the [6s] turn and Zhang bet 675,000. Tallon asked how much he had behind and when he found out it was 1.6 million he moved all in.
"I didn't bet to fold," said Zhang as he called. "Do you have an over pair?" he continued. He soon found out that was the case.
Tallon: [qh][qs]
Zhang: [ad][8h]
The young Brit needed to find an ace or eight on the river but the [js] confirmed his exit.
Tallon moved up to around 8 million and has agreed to talk numbers with Chris Brice, after he asked. The clock has been pause while the numbers are crunched. -- MC
7:57pm: The final countdown
Right on time the players are back in their seats and play is under way. Here's a reminder of what they're playing for.
1st. £58,500
2nd. £36,800
3rd. £26,500
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 50,000/100,000, ante 10,000
6:57pm: Dinner break
The three remaining players are now on a one-hour dinner break.
Chip counts:
Pierrick Tallon - 4,985,000
Chris Brice - 3,660,000
Chi Zhang - 2,505,000
--NW
6:50pm: Chi Zhang doubles through Pierrick Tallon
After a hero call gone wrong Chi Zhang was down to 1,320,000 and three-bet all-in for the lot after Pierrick Tallon had opened to 160,000.
The Belgian - who's been involved in a lot of all-ins at this final table - went through his customary routine, he took off his sunglasses, got a count and then began to steeple his fingers as he went through the decision making process. After a minute or so he announced call.
Zhang: [Qd][Qs]
Tallon: [As][5s]
The [7c][8h][Js] flop was a good one for Zhang but the [4s] turn made things interesting. "Sweaty, sweaty turn," said Zhang. The [8d] fell on the river and Zhang doubled to around 2,650,000 whilst Tallon is down to about 4,500,000. --NW
6:40pm: Chip counts
Pierrick Tallon - 5 million
Chris Brice - 4 million
Chi Zhang - 2.15 million
6:35pm: Otto Richard eliminated in 4th place (£21,000)
Otto Richard wasted little time in trying to regain chips but his move cost him and he busted in fourth place.
The action folded to him in the small blind and he moved all in for slightly few than a million. Pierrick Tallon was in the big blind and called after giving it some thought.
Richard: [5h][3h]
Tallon: [kc][th]
The board ran [4d][7s][ah][tc][8s] to make the Belgian top pair. Richard shook the hands of the remaining three players and made his exit. -- MC
6:25pm: Chi Zhang doubles through Otto Richard
A big double up for Chi Zhang, but his rail - who've been here all day- missed it as they'd gone for food. Typical!
In the hand in question Zhang open shoved for 1,130,000 and after getting a count Otto Richard made the call and both Pierrick Tallon and Chris Brice folded.
Zhang: [As][9d]
Richard: [Ah][Qc]
The flop fell [6c][7c][5c] and Zhang said: "I'll take a pair," and his wish was granted as the [6s] turn card did indeed pair the board to give Zhang some chop outs. The river though was not one of those it was though the [9h] which meant Zhang won the pot outright.
He doubles up to over 2,250,000 as a result, whilst Otto slips to around 1,000,000 as a result. --NW
6:10pm: Richard limp-shoves
"No one gets shoved on more than you!" said Chi Zhang to Pierrick Tallon after the Belgian had been put to yet another tough decision.
The hand started with Otto Richard limping under-the-gun, Tallon raised it up to 220,000 on the button and it folded back round to Richard who moved all-in. After getting a count (1,980,000), Tallon let his hand go. --NW
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 40,000/80,000, ante 10,000
5:58pm: Brice joins Tallon at the top
Chris Brice and Pierrick Tallon both have around 3.3 millions chips after the former forced the latter off a hand.
Tallon raised from the small blind and Brice defended his big blind. Both checked the [6d][ah][ad] flop before Tallon check-raised Brice's 240,000 bet up to 720,000 on the [kd] turn. Brice quickly moved all in for 2,760,000 and Tallon admitted defeat with a fold. -- MC
5:45pm: Chris Brice doubles through Pierrick Tallon
Pierrick Tallon never stood a chance of eliminating Chris Brice as the latter cleverly used his one time!
The Englishman three-bet all-in for 1,340,000 and Tallon, who'd opened to 120,000 said: "It's better than king-queen," referencing the pairs last all-in, to which Brice said: "I've got better than threes!"
After thinking it over Tallon called and showed [As][Jh] which was behind to Brice's [Ts][Td]. "I'd like to use my one time please," said Brice as the dealer prepared to roll out the community cards. "It's a good time to use it," said Chi Zhang.
Indeed it was as the [3c][Kh][7d][5s][4s] board kept Brice in front and he doubled to around 1,790,000 whilst Tallon slips to 4,600,000. --NW
5:30pm: Joe Lalor eliminated in 5th place (£16,000)
Joe Lalor lost two pots in a row to Chris Brice and it cost him his tournament life.
Firstly, he doubled up Brice when he raised to 125,000 with [ah][3d] and called his shove for 535,000. Brice tabled [qs][qh] and survived the [6s][9d][tc][4h][2h] board.
That put Lalor down to 385,000 and they went in the very next hand. Brice shoved to isolate and the cards were on their backs.
Lalor: [ks][jd]
Brice: [as][qc]
The board ran [6s][th][qh][8d][5h] to make Brice top pair. The last Irishman in the field left to a generous round of applause. Brice moved up to around 1.9 million. -- MC
5:15pm: Ben Winsor eliminated in sixth place (£12,900)
No sooner had we had one all-in then there was another, but this time the short stack wouldn't survive.
Pierrick Tallon opened to 120,000, Ben Winsor shoved for 1,095,000 and after getting a count Tallon made the call. Winsor opened [Ad][Jh] but he was behind to Tallon's [As][Qd]. The [8s][9s][3c][8d][7h] board meant the dominating ace held and Tallon now has over half the chips in play. -- NW
5:10pm: Zhang doubles
"I run good!" said Chi Zhang to Christopher Brice after he flopped big to double through him.
The action folded around to Brice in the small blind and he raised to 155,000 and then called after Zhang shoved for 655,000 from the big blind.
Brice: [ks][jd]
Zhang: [as][qh]
The board ran [ad][ac][9s][8c][ts] to make Zhang trips. Brice dropped to 555,000. -- MC
5pm: Chip counts
As the six remaining players take their seats for level 27 this is how they stack up. As he has for the entire final table it's Pierrick Tallon who leads. The Belgian has more than double his nearest rival.
| Name | Country | Status | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pierrick Tallon | Belgium | PokerStars Qualifier | 4,710,000 |
| Otto Richard | France | 2,335,000 | |
| Christopher Brice | United Kingdom | PokerStars Qualifier | 1,320,000 |
| Benjamin Winsor | United Kingdom | 1,075,000 | |
| Joseph Lalor | Ireland | PokerStars Qualifier | 970,000 |
| Chi Zhang | United Kingdom | PokerStars Qualifier | 685,000 |
PokerStars Blog Reporting Team at UKIPT5 Bristol: Marc Convey and Nick Wright. Photos by Mickey May