* CLICK TO REFRESH FOR LATEST UPDATES
* Day 1A consists of twelve 45 minute levels - currently playing level 8
* 144 of 214 players remain
* Late registration is closed
* This is an archive of earlier updates, current Day 1A updates can be found here
4:55pm: Wheeler can't spike
Level 8: Blinds 400-800, 100 ante
Down to just 6,000 Jason Wheeler moved all in from early position, Ross Loggie isolated all in from late position and everyone else folded.
Loggie: [Ad][Ac]
Wheeler: [3d][3s]
The [8d][Qd][Td][Ts][Kd] board brought no help for Wheeler and he was on his feet even before the river card arrived. --NW
Ross Loggie, 25,300
4:50pm: Big stack battle
The big stacks at Table 19, Vahid Karimkhanezand and Matt Davenport, just went to war in a four-bet pot, and at the end of it, the stacks had evened out a lot.
A couple of tablemates said that Davenport had cold four-bet preflop from the small blind. By the river, where a [4d][4s][9d][8h][3s] board rested, around 46,000 had made it into the middle. Davenport moved all in for 35,600 and went into statue mode as Karimkhanezand talked to him, "Show if I fold, no? Sick fold if I do it!" He ended up folding and lost of the table immediately entered into discussions about what each player could have had. --MC
Matt Davenport, 82,000
Vahid Karimkhanezand , 90,000
4:30pm: Chip leaders
Level 8: Blinds 400-800, 100 ante
Back in the day level eight was the final level on Day 1 of UKIPT Main Events, but the chip leaders heading into this level have five more levels to play before they - and everyone else - bags and tags.
Vahid Karimkhanezand is the only player to breach the 100,000 chip mark so far, he leads with 1110,000.
| Name | Country | Status | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vahid Karimkhanezand | Iran | 110,000 | |
| David Pollock | Ireland | PokerStars qualifier | 99,100 |
| Kalidou Sow | France | 93,000 | |
| Joao Simao | Brazil | PokerStars qualifier | 90,100 |
| Andras Korodi | Hungary | PokerStars qualifier | 87,000 |
| Wei Li | Ireland | 81,000 | |
| Mahmood Rasheed | Ireland | PokerStars qualifier | 80,200 |
| Felix Schlott | Germany | 79,000 | |
| Nikolay Tsanev | Bulgaria | 78,000 | |
| Jose Lopez Tapia | Spain | 78,000 | |
| Henry McGrath | Ireland | 77,000 | |
| Anders Mattias Overland | Sweden | 77,000 | |
| Stephen Malone | Ireland | PokerStars qualifier | 72,300 |
| Vladas Burneikis | Lithuania | PokerStars qualifier | 67,000 |
| Luiz Duarte Ferreira Filho | USA | PokerStars player | 65,000 |
| Michael Ferrari | USA | 65,000 | |
| Vladimir Velikov | Bulgaria | 64,700 | |
| Paul Romain | UK | 61,000 | |
| Matthew Davenport | UK | 57,000 |
4:20pm: MacDonnell talks good, showdowns bad
Level 8: Blinds 400-800, 100 ante
Marc MacDonnell, according to former tablemates Chris Dowling and Emmett Davis, lost with aces to an opponent's pocket queens in the last level but talked a great game in doing so.
MacDonnell three-bet his opponent and then called the four-bet while verbally indicating it was probably a bad call. The flop fell ten high and MacDonnell led with more verbal and got his opponent to shove. Unfortunately for MacDonnell, his powers stopped there as a queen appeared on the river to send him to the rail. -- MC
3:58pm: Risk takes one as break comes
Level 7: Blinds 300-600, 75 ante
It seems as if Nick Abou Risk and Chris Dowling have been tangling in a fair few pots today. The latest one went the way of Abou Risk.
He called a Dowling raise and a 1,500 c-bet on an [ad][4c][js] flop. The [2c] turn was checked through before Abou Risk led for just 600 on the [2d] river. Dowling smiled and his opponent said, "Let me take this one, you can take the next one."
Dowling (still smiling) pointed at Abou Risk while folding and said to the dealer, "That's binding!"
The players are on their third break of the day. --MC
3:55pm: On the rail
Level 7: Blinds 300-600, 75 ante
There's no easy way to say this but, if you're a fan of any of the following it's bad news as: Richard Dubini, Joseph Lalor, Xiaoyang Luo, Ovidiu Balaj, Robert Finlay, Alexandre Viard, Gearld Haslauer, Kelvin Kerber, Michael Jurik, John Daly, Marc Macdonnell, James Foley, Aaron Gustavson, Rodrgio Perez, Mark Jones, Florian Bussmann, Frank Knight, Paul Leckey, Jared Jaffee and Nick Slade. -- NW
3:50pm: Pollock flush with chips
Level 7: Blinds 300-600, 75 ante
Earlier we reported that David Pollock had a stack of around 85,000, probably good for the chip lead, and he's now up to about 94,000 after winning a hand against Jack Sambrook.
It was button versus small blind and Pollock checked on the turn of a [6d][6h][Ad][4d] board, Sambrook bet 3,500 and Pollock then check-raised to 7,000 total. Call from Sambrook.
The [7c] completed the board and Pollock bet 7,000 and Sambrook quickly called. Pollock showed [Qd][2d] and Sambrook opened [Td][9d] before mucking. -NW
David Pollock, 94,000
Jack Sambrook, 27,000
3:47pm: Classic Andy Black
Level 7: Blinds 300-600, 75 ante
Back in the olden days of poker (when online players were still thought of as the value in the game) there were a lot more characters about. Unfortunately, as any game/sport gets more professional, a lot of those characters disappear. Andy Black is one of those characters and his personality dominated many tournaments just as his skills on the baize did.
He hasn't been seen as much in recent years but he's back on old form today. He was busy chatting to floor person Nick when he peaked at his holding and immediately moved in from middle position for 11,800. The action folded around to the big blind and he looked down and then up at Black, saying, "It's close."
That's when Black, sat with pocket threes (later shown) went into verbal overdrive trying to get his opponent to fold. After a couple of minutes where barely a breath was had, the big blind folded. Black showed his hand and the big blind admitted he folded pocket fives.
Standing up to talk to the blog, Black said he had a good idea he was potentially behind when he heard his opponent's opening line so used all the old verbal tricks to get him off it. He added he would've taken a race on but there was a good chance he had fours-through-sevens. -- MC
3:35pm: Doing it for Iran
Level 7: Blinds 300-600, 75 ante
There aren't too many Iranian players who enter the UKIPT but there are two of them in the field today. One of the two, Vahid Karimkhanezand, is doing really well as he's up to 60,000 after winning a three-way pot.
He and two opponents all put in 2,700 pre-flop and the flop fell [Kh][7c][3s]. A 3,800 c-bet from Karimkhanezand got the job done. --NW
3:20pm: The €5,000 event isn't getting any easier
Level 6: Blinds 250-500, 50 ante
The €5,000 event is now up to 15 runners but the field's only got tougher. That's because the seven additional players who've entered include: Adrian Mateos, Steve O'Dwyer, Mike McDonald, Ivan Luca, Connor Drinan and Nick Petrangelo. --NW
3:12pm: Need a Hand finding the venue, champ?
Level 6: Blinds 250-500, 50 ante
Fintan Hand was losing a small pot to Zoltan Gal but still had the time to inform the blog that his friend and a reigning UKIPT Dublin champ Kevin Killeen, who was recently sat on an adjacent table, had a little difficulty in finding his way to the venue today.
Apparently he got as far as the nearby Aviva sports stadium and then got his way to the back of the venue before finally finding his way in. Must be hard to find your way around your home city! At least he knows his way around a poker table. Killeen is sat alongside another UKIPT champ in the shape of Josh Hart, who has 48,000. -- MC
Want to start your own UKIPT campaign? Sign up for PokerStars and start your journey. Click here to get an account.
3pm: November Niner Neuville takes his seat
Level 6: Blinds 250-500, 50 ante
Pierre Neuville is a recent entry into the tournament. The Belgian had a fairytale run to the WSOP Main Event final table in 2015, where he eventually finished seventh for over $1,200,000. He's usually seen on the EPT, but as the UKIPT event leads into the EPT he's arrived early. He's up to 27,000 at the moment. --NW
2:50pm: Those we were just getting to know...
Level 6: Blinds 250-500, 50 ante
Don't worry guys, the festival is long: Dietrich Fast, Romain Lewis, David Lappin, Erini Kavvou, Brian Reinert, Marko Simic, Riccardo D'Urso, Horst Christ, Andres Viola, Jacob Bazeley, Patrick Brooks, Gareth Smith, Dan James, Peter Johnston, David Benington, Guillaume Diaz and Wei Jie have all busted. -- MC
2:38pm: Cody chopped in half
Level 5: Blinds 200-400, 50 ante
Jake Cody's dropped to around 11,600 chips after his two pair was no good against Sean Prendiville's rivered straight.
The action was three-way to a [kc][ah][2h] flop and Cody check-called a bet from Prendiville with the third party folding. The [8s] turn was checked through before Cody checked over the [qs] river to his opponent. Prendiville had 8,750 remaining and into the middle they went. Cody called with [ad][8d] but it was no good against his opponent's [js][ts]. -- MC
2:28pm: Carter and chips
Level 5: Blinds 200-400, 50 ante
Dan Carter's looking a little smug and why not. He's up to around 55,000 after getting a river bet paid off holding queen-ten, good for a full house on a [6s][6c][th][4d][tc] board.
A few other counts:
David Pollock, 85,000
Rasmus Agerskov, 12,000
Joao Simao, 37,000
Dermot Blain, 26,000
Aaron Gustavson, 24,500
-- MC
2:10pm: Beware the Greek with chips
Level 5: Blinds 200-400, 50 ante
Georgios Zisimopoulos has managed to achieve something that on the face of it should be impossible. He's been on a heater over the last year but has mostly flown under the radar whilst riding the wave.
It all started for him at EPT11 Malta were he took down the IPT Main Event, winning €142,205. Since then he's gone on to win two €5,000 side events on the EPT, made a further nine side event final tables on the EPT and finish second in the Amsterdam Masters Classic. In total he's racked up over $850,000 in winnings since the start of 2015.
He's off to a good start here in Dublin too as he's already up to 46,000. He's got UKIPT4 Isle of Man runner-up Ciaran Heaney at his table and Paul Leckey. -NW
Georgios Zisimopoulos - 46,000
Ciaran Heaney - 27,075
Paul Leckey - 8,400
2pm: Ung empties the clip
Level 5: Blinds 200-400, 50 ante
Gareth Jennings believed Seng Ung had a hand but it took a river shove for him to finally believe.
Ung raised to 900 from middle position and was called in three spots, including Jennings in the next seat. Ung continued for 1,800 on a [5d][7h][3d] flop and was only called by Jennings. He called another 3,500 on the [2c] turn but snap folded after Ung shoved for around 10,000 on the [th] river.
That put Ung up to around 25,000. Other notables at the table:
Steven van Zadelhoff - 17,000
Matt Davenport - 42,000
--MC
1:45pm: Play resumes
Level 5: Blinds 200-400, 50 ante
Players are back in their seats for the second third of the day's play.
1:26pm: Break time
Level 4: Blinds 150-300, 25 ante
That's the end of level four and players are now on a 20 minute break. --NW
1:25pm: Gone
Level 4: Blinds 150-300, 25 ante
A total of 193 players have entered the tournament so far - late registration is open until the start of level seven - and the rate of exits has gone up a notch in level four as the blinds and antes start to eat into the starting stack.
Among those who've exited so far today are: Yew Kan, Choukri Chergui, Vytautas Aganauskas, Steven Campbell, David Chaussouant, Dimitri Miuccio and David Brady. --NW
1:20pm: Oi, get back to work you!
Level 4: Blinds 150-300, 25 ante
PokerStars' Christin Maschmann, who's soon to relocate to Dublin from the Isle of Man office, has seen her UKIPT adventure come to a premature end. It was clear she was in trouble from the following tweet:
Ran AK on TK885 board into Aces. Only 10BB left. #FFS #UKIPTDublin #NeedASpinUp 🍀🍀🍀
— Christin Maschmann (@DavinaDarr) February 10, 2016
Then the blog ran into her on the sidelines and her face said it all. She informed us that she was down to five big blinds and in the big blind when she picked up ace-ten. She moved all in after a raise but her opponent had her dominated with ace-king and there was no hope for the German native. Maschmann will be back for the ladies event on Saturday, but until then, she'll be working at the information desk in her role as Ideation Manager. So if you have any great poker ideas, pop by and see her! -- MC
1:10pm: Sick sit and go
Level 4: Blinds 150-300, 25 ante
There are nine events on the EPT Dublin Festival schedule today, the biggest of which is a €5,000 hold'em event. So far there are just eight entrants in that event but what an eight! How's this for a line-up:
Andrew Lichtenberger
Charlie Carrel
Ben Heath
Chance Kornuth
Joao Vieira
Paul Newey
Andrew Leathem
Kyle Frey
Tough crowd!
One player who wouldn't look out of place in that field is Jason Wheeler, the American qualified for the UKIPT Main Event and has recently taken his seat in that. --NW
1:05pm: Good turn for Wenzelburger
Level 4: Blinds 150-300, 25 ante
With a [Qs][5c][2s][Th] board on the felt Philipp Wenzelburger moved all in for 10,950 into a pot roughly 14,000. It was a heads-up pot against Chris Simpson and the latter asked for a count before making the call.
Simpson: [Kc][Kd]
Wenzelburger: [Qh][Ts]
The German had turned two-pair to take the lead and he held onto it on the [4d] river. After that hand Simpson is down to 11,500 whilst Wenzelburger is up to 36,000. --NW
12:55pm: Dowling assesses the Risk
Level 4: Blinds 150-300, 25 ante
"He said he was afraid of you, now he plays every pot with you!" commented Marc MacDonnell after Chris Dowling took Nick Abou Risk off a hand on the river.
Burak Kavas had limped in from second position before Dowling raised from the next seat. Abou Risk called in the big blind and Kavas called to make it a three-way affair heading to the flop. It spread [9d][td][7d] and all three checked to the [jh] river where Abou-Risk led for 1,400. Kavas folded to leave Dowling make a considered call to see the board complete with the [9s]. Abou-Risk checked, and then folded, to Dowling who bet 3,200.
Emmett Davis can also be found sat at this table to make it the trickiest in the room, as far as we can tell/judge. -- MC
Best welcome home present I could ask for. Got @ballymorechris @nickabourisk and @Irisheman on my table for #UKIPTDublin
— Marc Macdonnell (@sluglife87) February 10, 2016
12:45pm: Chips!
Level 4: Blinds 150-300, 25 ante
Plenty of big names amongst the 177 players who've entered so far on Day 1A. A round-up of some of the names and notables in the field can be seen below.
| Name | Country | Status | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jack Sambrook | UK | 33,900 | |
| Sean Prendiville | Ireland | PokerStars player | 33,800 |
| Nick Abou Risk | Canada | PokerStars player | 29,200 |
| Dermot Blain | Ireland | PokerStars player | 26,300 |
| Ronan Gilligan | Ireland | PokerStars qualifier | 26,050 |
| Josh Hart | UK | PokerStars player | 25,800 |
| Chris Dowling | Ireland | 25,500 | |
| Rasmus Agerskov | Denmark | 25,400 | |
| Jake Cody | UK | Team PokerStars Pro | 25,000 |
| David Lappin | Ireland | PokerStars qualifier | 24,800 |
| Joseph Lalor | Ireland | PokerStars qualifier | 24,000 |
| Matthew Davenport | UK | 23,600 | |
| Daniel Carter | UK | 22,400 | |
| Marc Macdonnell | Ireland | PokerStars player | 19,400 |
| Andy Black | Ireland | 15,600 |
12:35pm: Blain hoping for a better craic of it in Dublin
Level 4: Blinds 150-300, 25 ante
Dermot Blain is a household name in poker and a regular on the EPT, it wasn't always that way though. In fact the last time the EPT was in town - October 2007 - was the first time Blain had played at an EPT festival. "I played it but I didn't play the Main Event because I busted my bankroll," he told the PokerStars Blog.
"I was playing 2/5 and 5/10 cash games and a Swedish guy flopped three kings against my flush draws three times and wiped me out. I'm hoping for some redemption," he said with a smile. He's at the same table as Jake Cody and currently has around 26,300. --NW
12:30pm: All about the antes
Level 3: Blinds 100-200, 25 ante
When the antes kick into a tournament, the action normally spikes as there's more chips on offer to be won. That "extra" action can result in the rate of eliminations going up per level. Four players have departed in level 3 and they are: Padraigh Cody-Lally, Shakhabiddin Muradov, Noel Murphy and Evangelos Tsairis. -- MC
12:15pm: Smith sends Yamauti to the rail
Level 3: Blinds 100-200, 25 ante
"All in on table two," was the call from the dealer. This sort of action this early in a tournament is rare, so I wandered over to the table to get the low down on what was happening.
Gareth Smith was the player who was all in, he'd shoved on the river for about 12,600 into a pot of roughly 8,500. His opponent, Laercio Yamauti, was eyeing up the [Kd][Ac][2d][4d][Ts] board and debating what to do. He actually had less than Smith - it looked to be right around 10,000 - and after about a minute he called.
Smith showed [Ad][9d] for the nuts and Yamauti tapped the table, as it was an all in he had to turn his hand over and he revealed [As][7s] as he left the table. --NW
12:05pm: The UKIPT has arrived
Level 3: Blinds 100-200, 25 ante
If one had to define the UKIPT using only player names, three of the first names of most people's lips would be Jake Cody along with serial qualifiers Dara O'Kearney and David Lappin.
The Team PokerStars Pro and the local lads were seen waiting for their seat allocation along with former UKIPT champion Josh Hart and three-time UKIPT finalist Chris Dowling. They may be late but at least they can brag that they made the antes! -- MC
11:30am: Day 1A up to 160 entries as first break hits
Level 2: Blinds 75-150
Players continued to trickle in from the fresh winter air outside, taking off scarves and jackets, readying themselves for battle.
Peter Eichhardt, who narrowly missed out (10th) on the EPT12 Barcelona final table has taken his seat a couple of tables along from Marc MacDonnell, who felt similar joy/disappointment at EPT12 Prague Main Event(14th). Other players in before the first 20-minute break included Dermot Blain, Matt Davenport and Zoltan Gal. The one and only player to bust before the break was Andrea Gilligan. -- MC
11:10am: Don't judge a poker player by his appearance
Level 2: Blinds 75-150
When online poker first started becoming popular online qualifiers were looked down on by their live poker playing counterparts. Online qualifier was just another way to say 'fish' or 'fun player'. Over time that changed, with the reputation doing a complete 360. Online players then began to look down on live players as dinosaurs of the game.
Now I think there's one section of poker players who are still looked upon as being generally bad, I'm talking about 'old' players. Five years ago the general consensus was that if a player at your table had grey hair he was likely passive, tight and generally easy to play against.
Increasingly I don't think that's the case anymore. Older players - especially those who're retired, self-employed or semi-employed - have lots of time to devote to the game, plenty of resources to learn from and are increasingly using that time to put in hours grinding online.
Take Joseph Lalor for instance. He's a 55-year-old computer software writer who lives in Dublin, he's playing today and he's busy doing a crossword between hands. You'd think he was probably a recreational poker player who's taking his shot at a UKIPT as it's in his home town. You'd be wrong.
He got into poker at school although back then it was draw and stud poker. However, he started playing online intermittently about ten years ago and began taking it more seriously about five years later. Since then he's had much success (his largest online score is $130,000) and he's made the final table of the Sunday Million twice - once when it was a WCOOP event.
We know all this because Lalor final tabled UKIPT5 Bristol in August, where he finished fifth winning £16,000.
Old guys, and gals, can play too. -- NW
10:55am: Get in cheap
Level 2: Blinds 75-150
The €1,100 buy in for this UKIPT may look small when you consider the levels of some of the tournament buy ins throughout the EPT Dublin Poker Festival, but it's still a considerable about of money to many. When money was tight as a student, many of us compared the cost of everything to a pint of beer ("I'm not paying that, I could drink four beers for that!". Apparently, a pint of Guinness in Temple Bar will set you back €5.50, which means you could drink 200 pints for the cost of an entry ticket.
Never fear though as you can always qualify via a live satellite here at the RDS in Dublin. As written below they are scheduled for today at 16.00 GMT and 21.30 GMT. The same tournaments yesterday generated 27 seats between them but today's are expected to generate many more. Get involved and come and join the fun on the cheap. -- MC
10:40am: Taking the Risk of turning up early
Level 1: Blinds 50-100
One of the 110 players who've taken their seats during the opening level is two-time UKIPT champion Nick Abou Risk. He used to work for Full Tilt and is seated at the same table as PokerStars Staff Member Christin Maschmann.
"I haven't got up this early in forever," said Abou Risk when we passed by his table. -- NW
10:20am: Well done to 90 of you!
Level 1: Blinds 50-100
As was mentioned in the opening post, the UKIPT has a pre-dawn start time today. Okay, maybe that's not quite true but us poker folk barely know that 10am exists, or if we do, it's only witnessed with our own eyes when making a mad dash to make a hotel breakfast on tour.
Therefore, congratulations to the 90-odd players that actually made it to the RDS for the start of play today. Specifically (because we recognise who they are) well done to PokerStars staff member Christin Maschmann; local Irish poker star Andy Black; former EPT player of the year Fernando Brito; former UKIPT London finalist Rasmus Agerskov and Dan Carter. -- MC
09:50am: Top o' the mornin' to ya
Good morning! It's a brisk sunny winter's day here in Dublin and an earlier start than usual on the UKIPT. For most folk 10am would be considered a late start but in the world of poker 10am is positively the crack of dawn.
The UKIPT Main Event is the first of the big events in the 67 tournament schedule that makes up the UKIPT/EPT Dublin festival that runs until the 20th February. Whilst the EPT last touched down in Dublin in October 2007, the UKIPT has been heading to Dublin on the regular and was last here at the end of February 2015.
There have been some memorable final tables in Dublin, Max Silver obliterated the final table competition in four hours, Joeri Zandvliet won his second UKIPT title here and last year we had, perhaps, the most memorable UKIPT final table of all time.
In the red corner was Max Silver, he just loves playing in Dublin on the UKIPT, one win and a fourth prior to last year and he was chasing his second UKIPT title in his home city, a win that would put him in exalted company.
In the blue corner was Kevin Killeen, one of the bright young things of Irish poker and a tour regular who'd not had a big result on the UKIPT...yet. Backed by a vociferous rail, who were all dressed in onesies, they sung their man to victory: "We don't take silver we only take gold," was the chant that lives long in the memory.
Over the next six days we're hopeful this edition of UKIPT Dublin will more than match those that have gone before.
Key UKIPT5 Dublin 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 Friday. We'll reach the money during the 10 levels of play on Day 2 and then play down to a final table on Saturday. Sunday is a rest day, and then on Monday the final table will play out on the TV table on EPTLive with cards-up coverage and bring Season 5 of the UKIPT to a close. Cue mad celebrations and swigging of champagne from the trophy (possibly).
- Full UKIPT5 Dublin schedule here.
- There's a boat load of other events today including a €5,000 (!) Hold'em event and two live satellites to the Main Event tonight. Those satellites start at 16.00 GMT and 21.30 GMT.
- It's not all about the poker here in Dublin. There are plenty of #StarsFun activities including Dodgeball Trampolining. Yes, you read that right Dodgeball Trampolining.
PokerStars Blog Reporting Team at UKIPT5 Dublin: Marc Convey and Nick Wright. Photos by Mickey May. Follow the PokerStars Blog on Twitter: @PokerStarsBlog