9.30pm: The Final Table
After three days of hardcore poker, we have reached the cusp of this tournament's finale.
There are just eight men remaining in contention with the trophy just a fingertip away.
Here's how they will line-up when they return tomorrow:
Dale Garrad - 1,640,000
Rouxel Julien - 1,516,000
Andrey Veselov - 1,116,000
Steve Critchley - 786,000
Alex Kaczmarek - 704,000
Andy Purser - 630,000
Sebastian Jung - 421,000
Jorge Cortes - 408,000
Well that's it for today. Click here to view the wrap of the day's events. Thanks for following!
We'll be back with the rest of the staff, players and enthusiastic railbirds tomorrow to see how this plays out.
A champion is waiting to be crowned. See you tomorrow at 1.00pm sharp for his ascension!
9.20pm: Kai-boshed! (Kai Brown - 9th - £2,950)
Kai Brown was well in the danger zone and found himself unable to pull himself out.
Two big cards in [Qc][Jh] looked like a good hand to jam and pick up some blinds but when Russian Andrey Veselov made a snap-call, he must have suspected the worst.
It wasn't good news for him - Veselov tabling pocket aces.
A board of [Kc][Js][3h][Kd][Qd] saw Brown's slim hopes evaporate and he slipped away from the table hunting the £2,950 that was rightfully his for his 9th place finish.
And all those shenanigans meant out final table was set! Details to follow shortly...
9.05pm: Fontan runs dry (Paul Fontan - 10th - £2,470)
Julien Rouxel is an unstoppable force right now.
Paul Fontan was the latest victim - the pair warring preflop - Fontan with [Kc][Qh] and Rouxel [Td][Tc].
A painful(for Fontan) board of [6s][9s][Qc][Th][Kh] saw the Frenchman take another scalp - he rises to an even more commanding position.
Fontan meanwhile was left to visit the cash desk and collect his £2,470 for 10th place. Good game!
The players are now 9-handed thus being consolidated to a single table - although the final is officially 8-handed so we are one elimination away from Day 2 ending...
9.03pm: Chip Standings
Here's how the final 10 line-up - Julien Rouxel refusing to concede his stranglehold on this tournament.
Julien Rouxel France 1430000
Dale Garrad United Kingdom 970000
Steven Critchley United Kingdom 855000
Andrey Veselov Russian Federation 800000
Alexander Kaczmarek United Kingdom 735000
Andrew Purser United Kingdom 560000
Kai Brown United Kingdom 560000
Sebastien Jung France 480000
Paul Castrillon Fontan Spain 430000
Jorge Barcelo Spain 246000
9.00pm: Back in effect
The players are ready to do battle once more. Who will fall tantalisingly short of the dramatic finale to this tournament?
8.50pm: Break!
The players are taking their regular 15 minute interval following the end of level 22. We'll be back in a few shakes of a lamb's tail to play to the final. See you then.
8.46pm: Emil Georgiev eliminated in 11th spot - £2,470
Emil Georgiev has ridden his luck over the last few levels, surviving several all-in showdowns as a big to medium dog.
Finally though the huge stack of Julien Rouxel has swallowed him up, ironically on one occasion where Georgiev had the edge.
His [Ad][Kc] was beaten by the [Kd][Qh] of Rouxel over the [Qd][5d][6h][4c][Ts] board.
"****" expleted Georgiev as he left to collect his £2,470 from the cash desk.
8:28pm: It's a Jung-le out there (Antonio Battaglia eliminated in 12th spot - £2,170)
Sebastian Jung just picked off Battaglia'a aub-10 BB shove with pocket eights.
Battaglia was flipping with [Kd][Qh] but a board of [7h][9c][4c][Jc][6h] gave the Italian no help and he claims 12th spot for £2,170.
We continue 11-handed...
A long period of no eliminations, in which time we've seen several double-ups by the shorter stacks was finally broken, Rupom Pal the unfortunate shatterer of this pattern.
He jammed [Ah][4d] into Julien Rouxel's dominating [Ac][Jc].
There was no last minute outdraw to rescue him, Rouxel's hand improving to a straight and adding even more chips to his enormous, heaving pile.
Pal though ends up 13th for £2,170 - a very creditable performance.
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 10,000-20,000-3,000
7:48pm: Low Watt-age(Steve Watts eliminated in 14th spot - £1,950)
It's all over for Steve Watts. The last of his chips went in with 2-4 against chip leader Julien Rouxel but he muttered "Jacks versus Aces" to his friend as he left glumly.
A good performance nonetheless from Watts who finishes up just short of the final table, his 14th place good for £1,950.
7:30pm: Watts gets shocking news
Nasty for Steve Watts. He got his chips in with pocket aces versus Steven Critchley's pocket kings but a board of [2h][9s][3c][Qs][Kh] saw Critchley overcome his equity disadvantage to win the pot and move to 640,000.
Watts was less than pleased.
"First time I've had 'em, and this happens!" He's down to 160,000 but still in contention.
7:20pm: Chapions roster trimmed
There can be only one winner here and the following have just been cut from the list of potential UKIPT5 Super Series champions.
| 17 | Andrew King | United Kingdom | £1,735 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18 | Yunheng Wu | China | £1,525 |
| 19 | Vimal Patel | United Kingdom | £1,525 |
| 20 | Stephen Hancox | United Kingdom | £1,525 |
| 21 | Vimal Patel | United Kingdom | £1,380 |
| 22 | Mario Trattou | United Kingdom | £1,380 |
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 8,000-16,000-2,000
7:05pm: Patel move falls on stony ground
Vimal Patel just tried to pull a sneaky move on Dale Garrad.
With a [Ah][7s][5d][8s] board showing, .Patel led for 16,000 - called by Garrad.
The river came the [Qc].
Garrad led for 37,000 and Patel now check-raised all-in for 170,000. It put Garrad in a tough position, but eventually he made the call with [Ac][Tc] for top pair and Patel acknowledge a good call, tapping the table and getting his belongings.
"I had no idea what he had. I just decided it made no sense."
Garrad's star continues to rise - up to 750,000 or so now. Patel finishes 18th
6:50pm: Mario gets bowzered
It was always going to be a stuggle for Mario Trattou to recover after the break having returned to just a single small blind.
The task proved beyond him and he busts in a creditable 22nd place for £1,380. Well played sir - all the best to you and the rest of the myriad Trattou's!
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 6,000-12,000-2,000
6:40pm: Back for the final table run-in
We're back for the final table and the current chip counts have just been posted here.
Just as a teaser here's the top 5 stacks as we head into the end game:
| NAME | COUNTRY | STATUS | TABLE | SEAT | Chips L19 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Julien Rouxel | France | 11 | 8 | 1333000 | |
| Antonio Battaglia | Italy | 1 | 4 | 850000 | |
| Dale Garrad | United Kingdom | 11 | 7 | 650000 | |
| Paul Castrillon Fontan | Spain | 7 | 2 | 486000 | |
| Rupom Pal | United Kingdom | 1 | 5 | 420000 |
6:25pm: Break-Time
The end of level 19 means the 22 remaining players get another chance to stretch their legs and explore the cavernous depths of The Hippodrome Casino.
We'll be back shortly to play down to the final table. Full chip counts of the remaining players incoming...
6:13pm: Harti-gone!
James Hartigan's dream of further tournament glory has ended, though he was upbeat about the whole experience.
"I ran A-Q into aces, and my final hand was inconsequential. I thoroughly enjoyed it though." He was slightly upset at swapping 10% with Joe Stapleton, backing it up with some mathematical proofs.
"10% of nothing is still nothing."
5.52pm: The dam bursts
It's fairly typical that the bursting of the bubble precipitates a cavalcade of eliminations - those shortstacks who had been gamely hanging in there freed to make aggressive moves with the certainty of a paycheck should it all go awry.
There have been a number of eliminations in this period - just 22 players remaining as the players approach their latest 15 minute break of the day.
Here's the order in which they have been busted.
23 Nicolas Athanasiou United Kingdom £1,380
24 Timothy Gray United Kingdom £1,240
25 Jake Cody United Kingdom £1,240
26 William Fasano United Kingdom £1,240
27 Andrey Dimitrov Bulgaria £1,240
28 John Lucarotti United Kingdom £1,100
29 James Hartigan United Kingdom £1,100
30 Rapinder Cheema United Kingdom £1,100
31 Andrew Christoforou United Kingdom £1,100
32 Xiaoyang Luo China £975
33 Gordon Strank United Kingdom £975
34 Danny Blair United Kingdom £975
35 Daniel Laming United Kingdom £975
36 Jonathan Rozema Netherlands £975
37 Elias Christodoulou United Kingdom £975
38 Alex Bounsall United Kingdom £975
39 Angelos Anastomoses Greece £975
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 5000-10000-1000
5.22pm: Cogito Ergo Zero Sum - The Bubble Bursts!
Lithuanian Ergo Kalamees is the man fated to occupy that ill-coveted position.
With around 11 big blinds (93,000) he made an understandable shove from the small blind for 93,000, only for big-stacked Frenchman Julien Rouxel to snap-call.
The Tournament Director was informed, the other players huddled round the table like eager beavers to witness the drama and the cards were flipped.
Rouxel :[Ah][Kh]
Kalamees: [Kc][Jc]
Kalamees looked miserable realising he was in bad shape to survive.
A board of [Ad][5d][5h][Qc][6d] confirmed his worst fears and he finishes without a payout.
Bad luck sir!
Meanwhile the rest of the players held a muted celebration at all cashing. Steve Watts was particularly happy as he had been all-in on the bubble in the same hand as Ergo.
Holding a flush draw on the turn, he spiked the heart required on the river, bellowing "'Ow do you like them apples!"
There was general laughter and one disbeleiving onlooker commented with a smile "Is he for real?"
Steve Watts is definitely for real and it is unlikely that's the last we've heard of the garrulous player.
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 4,000-8,000-1,000
4.43pm: Bounsall Taxed
A hairy moment for Alex Bounsall, calling all-in with jacks on the bubble - he was up against ace-king and survived the flip - his chances boosted by a two players folding ace-king and ace-queen.
"You can't be afraid of the bubble," he said, following his promotion from 53,000 to 130,000.
4.35pm: Hand for hand!
40 players left, 39 paid. The pressure is on.
4.30pm: Chattha flushed out
A harsh exit for Chaz Chattha who becomes a victim of Julien Rouxel in a horrible cooler - his [Jd][8d] making a flush against Rouxel's superior [Ad][4d].
"I had top pair as well," he lamented sadly as he left to a chorus of sympathetic noises from his table.
A miserable ending for the affable Chattha but we know we'll see this crusher back sooner rather than later.
4:25pm: Rowshanei scalped by Cody
Hamid Rowshanei saw the busy Jake Cody raise and saw an opportunity to potentially double-through with pocket threes, jamming all-in.
Cody made the call with [Ah][6h] and duly won the flip over the [As][2c][5h][Jd][Js] board to end Rowshanei's participation agonisingly short of the money.
Cody moves to 260,000.
42 players left. So close!
4.20pm: Back for the bubble
Just 43 players remain as the players retake their seats for level 17 and beyond.
It's tense out there and there will be 5 unhappy players before we breach those payout spots.
Who will be first to blink?
To read updates from Levels 13-16, click here.
PokerStars Blog reporting team at PokerStars UKIPT5 Super Series Rod Stirzaker. Photos courtesy of Mickey May.