5:55pm: Dinner break
The players are now on a one-hour dinner break.
5:45pm:Davey amongst the departed
Daragh Davey had fallen along with a fair few players the last two levels. Around 80 players remain as the dinner break looms.
Davey informed Dara O'Kearney that he lost most of his stack on the river of a [ax][7x][8x][ax][2x] board holding pocket queens. He called an opponent's shove and was shown ace-seven. Then he shoved fumes with [8s][9s] and ran into aces.
He's joined on the rail by: Robbie Bull, Dean Nolan, Victor Ilyukhin, Steven Rinadi, Thomas Airlie, Katherine Breyer, Tufayal Ahrned, Daniel Coll, Matthew Ireland, Jamie MacLean, Adrian Yap, Min Ji, Xia Ke, Jose Jimenez,Danning Li and Matthew Davenport. -- MC
5:30pm: More counts
Here are some more chip counts, this time of some of the names and notables in the field:
Dominik Nitsche, 43,000
John Angus, 38,000
Dara O'Kearney, 37,800
Rapinder Cheema, 36,200
Rupert Elder, 35,800
Pieter Visser, 24,700
Richard Jones, 22,000
Leon Louis, 21,200
Michael Kane, 18,200
5:20pm: Eagers holds as Huxley slips
There was a bet of 1,500 (or at least some part of 1,500) in front of Phil Huxley (cut off) and an all-in shove in front of Patrick Eagers (button).
Action was on Huxley and he requested a count of the shove - it was 7,725 in total - and he then went into the tank to consider his course of action. He remained there for a couple of minutes before saying. "Ok I call."
Huxley: [Ah][2h]
Eagers: [Qs][Qc]
The ladies held up as the board ran [7s][Kd][7h][Ts][8d] to drop Huxley back down to 24,000. -- NW
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 300/600, ante 75
5:15pm: Hutchison spikes river to survive
We've had some brilliant efforts by players defending their UKIPT title (Max Silver and Brett Angell spring to mind) but it's fair to say Dean Hutchison's day has gone only one way so far - south.
It just got a whole lot better though as he managed to double through Brent Burnett to survive. All the money went in pre-flop with Hutchison's shove amounting to 7,525 and the PokerStars Qualifier had the defending champion in a world of hurt as he held [Ks][Kd] to Hutchison's [Ac][Qs]. The [2d][Qd][Js][8s][Qh] board meant Hutchison spiked the river to survive and doubled up to over 15,000. - NW
5:05pm: Comeback and the big stacks
Mudasser Hussain dropped down to around 10,000 early on in this tournament but has recovered to around 65,000 for a top-ten stack, despite folding on the flop in a three-way pot.
Scott Brown opened to 1,300 from under the gun and picked up calls from Rapinder Cheema and Hussain in late position. The flop fanned [td][ah][9s] and the action was checked to Hussain who bet 1,300. Brown check-raised to 3,200 and Cheema was quickly scared off. Hussain took a little while longer to fold.
He sits amongst these fine players:
Grant Smith, 81,000
Kyle Maguire, 79,000
Anthony Sinott, 77,000
Colin McConaghy, 71,000
Kevin Whelan, 70,000
Roberto Morelli, 69,000
Arjin Singh Moti, 66,000
-- MC
4:45pm: Yap trapped
Adrian Yap is the latest player to bust out of the Main Event and it was John Angus who did for him. The latter opened to 1,100, Yap shoved for what looked like 7,000 and Angus made the call.
Yap showed [6d][5d] and was in deep trouble as Angus had [Ad][Ac], the [9h][Qh][2c][4s][Qs] board didn't give Angus any reason to sweat, Yap wished the table good luck as he left. 93 players from the 115 who started Day 1A remain. -- NW
4:38pm: Nitsche puts Whelan in his place
Kevin Whelan was cruising and clear chip leader on more than 75,000. Then Dominick Nitsche clipped his wings so he couldn't fly as high (62,000).
The two players were heads up and a [ah][9c][qs][3c][9s] board sat neatly in front of their dealer. Whelan's action was fast-paced; Nitsche's more considered. The former led for 4,500 and 6,500 on the turn and river as soon as the dealer had laid down the cards. His German opponent called fairly quickly on the turn but took longer on the river.
Whelan opened [as][kh] but lost out to Nitsche's [ac][qc].
"Nitty call!" commented one table mate.
"Very nitty!" replied Nitsche who rose to around 40,000.
"Can't win them all," Whelan muttered to himself. -- MC
4:25pm: Latest exits
This event is a straight freezeout which is bad news for: William Cheung, Andrew Ross, Andrew McAllister, Greg Disbrey, Majid Iqbal, Mark Eadie, Vincenzo Crolla and Daniel Bakchiev who are all out. -- NW
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 250/500, ante 50
4:05pm: Break time
The players are on their second 20-minute break of the day.
4:05pm: Action table sees two depart
"You should stay here," said Hai Tao Wu. "This is the action table!"
He wasn't wrong after two players departed in one hand.
Thomas Stewart opened to 1,000 from the hijack and was called by Arjin Singh Moti before Phil Huxley squeezed to 3,200 from the button. Tung Chun Wong was in the small blind and moved all in for 7,150. Stewart paused and then he too moved all in for 16,500. Moti gave it some though and made the call. All that action was enough to scare off Huxley.
Stewart: [jc][js]
Moti: [kd][ks]
Wong: [ah][ks]
The board ran a blank [7s][7h][4s][ts][2d] to send Stewart and Wong to the rail. Moti's stack rose to around 60,000. -- MC
4pm: Visser picks the wrong time to go fishing
Jacobus 'Pieter' Visser put up a fine performance in Season 4 here in Edinburgh, finishing sixth for £20,710. He was off to a solid start today but just lost a chunky pot to Jack Maskill, who also had success last time the tour was in town, taking down a £100 side event.
It started with Visser - which means fisherman in Dutch - raising to 900 from the cut off, Maskill three-bet to 2,500 out of the small blind and Visser flicked in the call. Maskill didn't slow down post-flop either betting 2,500, 5,300 and all-in for 11,050 on the flop, turn and river of a [7s][Jd][Qc][Th][2d] board. His Dutch opponent called the first two bets but couldn't call the third barrel. Pot to Maskill. -- NW
3:55pm: Wong doubles
Tung Chun Wong just doubled up through Stephen Ng but he got lucky to do so. He shoved for 6,400 from the button with [Ad][9c] and Ng called from the big blind with [Ah][Qh]. The [3s][7d][Jd][8h][Th] board meant Wong made a straight on the river to stay in the tournament. -- NW
3:50pm: Registration closed
Registration closed at the beginning of Level 5 and Day 1A has attracted 115 players. Many more are expected tomorrow with the hope of getting close to a 400-player total. -- MC
3:40pm: The lure of the UKIPT is strong for Nitsche
A few days ago, Team PokerStars Pro Jake Cody tweeted his thoughts on the UKIPT:
Yes!! You won't find a better regional tour in the world #UKIPT #UKIPTEdinburgh https://t.co/PSyoypLgWw
— Jake Cody (@JakeCody) November 17, 2015It should come as no surprise to hear that, despite being in Macau a few days ago, Dominik Nitsche was one of the last players to enter today. The German three-time bracelet winner has swapped playing High Rollers, big buy in Main Events and Super High Rollers in exotic locations to playing a UKIPT in drizzly Edinburgh. You just got to love this tour. -- MC
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 200/400, ante 50
3:25pm: #DoubleWithQuads
You don't win a UKIPT by giving up. It also helps if you flop quads every now and again. Rapinder Cheema has gotten back to his starting stack by doing just that.
He and Mudasser Hussain had made it to the river where the board rested as [jc][4d][js][td][3c]. Hussain checked from the big blind to face a 7,000 bet (5,125 behind) from Cheema on the button.
"Show if I fold?" asked Hussain. No response came but he decided to call anyway and then said, "Nice hand" when Cheema opened [jd][jh]. He dropped down to 10,850. -- MC
3:20pm: Creeping up
There's not long now until late registration closes and the tournament clock is currently showing that 114 players have elected to play Day 1A. Amazingly that number is incredibly close to the figure for last season's UKIPT Edinburgh event. Back then 116 players played Day 1A and Leon Louis topped the pile, he'll be hoping to repeat the trick today. -- NW
3:10pm: Lyall loses out to Smith
It's an early bath for Dean Lyall as a bluff against Grant Smith went wrong. The PokerStars Blog arrived at the table to see a complete board of [Qc][8s][Ks][5h][4s] on the felt. There was roughly 19,000 in the pot and on the river Smith had bet 3,500 and Lyall had shove for about 10,000 more.
At this point Smith was in the tank as he considered his options, he then announced call and Lyall - who finished fifth at UKIPT1 Manchester in 2010 was forced to show [Ad][Td] for just ace high, Smith meanwhile opened [Kc][8c] for two pair. He's now up to around 57,000 and is one of the early chip leaders. -- NW
3:05pm: The fallen
Six players have been shown the exit door so far on Day 1A. They are: Javed Ullah, Hamed Nikjeh, Chun Kit LeeAllan Ranaldi, Paul Hughes and Mark Docherty. -- MC
2:55pm: Phil hits double top
Phil Huxley has made a great start to the second period of play. He was dealt aces and used them to find more than a full double up to 44,000 (roughly).
Around 16,000 gathered in the middle of the table by the time the board read [5s][4s][7d][ac] and the action was still three-handed. Norbert Bobra and Andrew Ross checked to Huxley who moved all in for 13,150.
Bobra folded but Ross asked, "How much is that?" He started to run his head and then called with [ah][jd] for top pair. It was no good though as Huxley opened [ac][as] for top set. The river was the [2c] and Ross, who dropped to 5,500, said, "Nice hand." -- MC
2:45pm: Kane gets some back from Sharp
Just before the break Michael Kane got back some of the chips he'd previously lost to Eammon Sharp (see 2pm post). He opened to 450 on the button and both Victor Ilyukhin (small blind) and Sharp (big blind) called.
On the monotone [9s][2s][Js] flop Kane c-bet 700 and Sharp was the only caller. The [Qd] turn checked through and Kane then bet 1,500 on the [4d] river which was quickly called by Sharp. The Scotsman opened [9h][2c] and Sharp mucked his hand. --NW
2:40pm: Big stacks
As the players settle back into their seats for the fourth level of the days, here's a list of those on the up:
Omid Nikjeh, 56,000
Davie Gallacher, 55,000
Kevin Whelan, 54,000
Sunil Moti, 47,000
Tufayal Ahrned, 45,000
Patrick Francis Letham, 45,000
Shahid Sardar, 44,000
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 150/300, ante 25
2:20pm: Break
That's the end of level three and the players are now on a 15 minute break. --NW
2:15pm: Chip counts
We're up to 108 runners here on Day 1A and below are the counts of some of the names and notables in today's field:
Phil Huxley, 20,400
Dara O'Kearney, 29,500
Dara Davey, 26,600
Richard Jones, 25,800
Dean Lyall, 25,000 (just sat down)
Rapinder Cheema, 19,000
Rupert Elder, 18,000
Robbie Bull, 17,600
Dean Hutchison, 16,000
Michael Kane, 15,600
2pm: Sharp pain for Kane on the river
Michael Kane has dropped down to 16,000 chips after a straight on the turn went sour on the river.
He was heads up with Eammon Sharp to the river where a [tc][9h][2c][qs][6c] board rested. Kane bet a healthy 4,200 and Sharp made a quick call. Kane opened [jd][8h] for a straight but Sharp made a flush on the river with [qc][7c] and raked in the chips to rise to around 33,000. -- MC
1:45pm: Elder enters the fray
There's a strong contingent of poker players who call Edinburgh home with the likes of Dominik Nitsche, David Vamplew and Andrew Teng amongst them. Also part of that group is EPT7 Sanremo champion Rupert Elder and he's taken the number of EPT winners in the UKIPT5 Edinburgh field to one.
He's got almost $2,000,000 of live winnings to his names with $1,355,000 of that coming from his EPT victory where he defeated a field of 987 to claim the title. He's made infrequent appearances on this tour and is still searching for his first cash on the UKIPT. -- NW
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 100/200, ante 25
1:40pm: Tough times for UKIPT London champion Cheema
UKIPT5 London champion Rapinder Cheema finds himself at a tough table. To his direct left is Mudasser Hussain and across the table he can see Sunil Moti and Dara Davey.
To make life more difficult, he has dropped to 16,125 after a four-way pot. The flop was spread as [9c][ts][8h] and Cheema bet 750. He was only called by Moti in the small blind who led for 1,500 on the [jc] turn. Cheema called and tank called another 2,500 on the [2d] river. Moti announced he had a straight and opened [qh][2h]. Cheema shook his head and mucked. -- MC
1:25pm: Fashionably late?
Poker players aren't exactly known for their punctuality, missed flights and late arrivals to tournaments are common place and even sometimes intentional as players simply opt for more rest.
So on the face of it there was nothing unusual about Dara O'Kearney, Dara Davey, Gareth Chantler and Phil Huxley turning up at the start of level two, however Huxley informed the PokerStars Blog that all was not as it seems. "We got lost!" he stated. "We were wandering around a housing estate for about 30 minutes trying to find this place. I trusted Dara, he had Sat Nav."
Huxley is down on the player list as German, as that's where he spends most of his time but travelled up via train from Birmingham this morning for the event and plans to take in the sights should he bust out early. "It's a nice place to visit as well as play poker," he told us. "I busted a tournament in Blackpool last week and it was like a desolate wasteland outside." -- NW
1:10pm: There's a new sidekick in town
Dara O'Kearney runs best when he has a sidekick in town with him, but what's he do without David Lappin (usual sidekick) who, to our knowledge, has stayed back in Malta to grind online?
Find a replacement of course!
Poker player and writer, Gareth Chantler, has travelled over from Dublin with O'Kearney and seems a readymade replacement. The problem is he (literally) doesn't run as well as the Irishman...
So this Canadian wuss thought he could get through one of my Wednesday long runs but bailed out at twenty miles pic.twitter.com/VksXF6YguP
— Dara O'Kearney (@daraokearney) November 18, 2015To be fair, if both run as well at the poker tables this week as they do on the roads, O'Kearney will beat Chantler heads up on Day 2. -- MC
12:55pm: Satellite success
Plenty of people won their seat to this event online and more got in via a live satellite that was held here at the Genting Casino. It was a £100+£10 freezeout which generated six seats. Donald Elliot, Robert Fenesi, Daniel Coll, Balint Pusztai. Jack Maskill and Pafsanias Lymperopoulos were those who got in on the cheap last night. For anyone wanting to satellite their way in the good news is that there's another £100+£10 satellite tonight at 18.00 GMT. -- NW
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 75/150
12:44pm: Long way home for Kane
Michael Kane is a very good friend of Dean Huchison and also had a deep run here in Season 4, coming 7th for £15,570.
Kane looks a little glass-eyed and it's no wonder why. He just landed back in Scotland this morning after travelling all the way from Montreal, Canada, where he was competing in a WPT event.
He wasted little time in getting into the swing of things, although had to fold. He three-bet to 600 from the hijack after a player to his direct right had opened to 200. After a call both players checked an [8s][6c][jd] flop. The turn was the [4h] and Kane folded a 1,500 bet from his opponent. -- MC
12:30pm: Another Scottish champion arrives
During Season 4 of the UKIPT for a time it seemed that only Scots were allowed to win the Main Event. The first three events of the season were taken down by Ludovic Geilich, Alan Gold and Robbie Bull. Heck the fourth was even won by someone who sounded Scottish - Duncan McLellan.
The only one of those four who we've spotted so far is Robbie Bull, he defeated Ian Simpson heads-up to claim his title in London. It was his second UKIPT final table as he'd previously finished third at UKIPT3 Bristol. He's not the only UKIPT London champion in the field though as Rapinder Cheema - who won this season's London event - is also here. -- NW
12:15pm: Seven tables to start
Seven tables are currently in use so far, but that number will continue to grow as players arrive and let their presence be known.
As we've already written, defending champion Dean Hutchison has already taken his seat, obviously keen to defend his title and, if he manages to do so, he'll be the first player to do so on the UKIPT.
Leon Louis and Jacobus Visser had deep runs at UKIPT4 Edinburgh as well and are already sat down. Louis came 51st but Visser made it all the way to the final table where he finished 6th for £20,710. -- MC
12pm: Cards in the air
Day 1A has started right on time, action is under way. --NW
11:50am: North of the border
We're back in Edinburgh and it's a new venue for the tour as the action this season will take place at the Genting Club Casino. Inside the casino there's everything needed for a successful tournament and outside, should you bust, you're right next to a Nandos. It's a poker players dream location!
The Main Event carries a £700+£70 buy-in and this leg is a straight freezeout, no second chances here. But there could be a second win for Dean Hutchison, he's already in the building and will be defending the title he won in Season 4. Back in January 2014, during heads-up play, he was one card away from elimination against Team PokerStars Pro's Liv Boeree and we were one card away from the fastest UKIPT final table in history. The Scotsman rivered a straight though and the two then went back and forth for around two hours before Hutchison got over the line.
Day 1A is due to start at noon and will comprise of a dozen 45-minute levels meaning play should wrap up around 22.45 GMT.
UKIPT5 Edinburgh key 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 12 of them. From Day 2 onwards levels increase to 60 minutes.
- Day 1A is today, Day 1B takes place tomorrow, the field will then combine for the first time on Saturday, before (hopefully) playing down to a final table and then to a winner on Sunday. Cue mad celebrations and swigging of Iron Bru from the trophy.
- No re-entry here, this is an old school straight freezeout.
- Full UKIPT5 Edinburgh schedule here.
- There's a live satellite to the Main Event tonight, it begins at 18.00 GMT and the buy-in is £100+£10
Fancy playing a UKIPT? There are always plenty of online satellites, click here to get an account.
PokerStars Blog Reporting Team at UKIPT5 Edinburgh: Marc Convey and Nick Wright. Photos by Mickey May