8.55pm: Day 1B is done
At that's a wrap for Day 1B of UKIPT Cork, roughly 101 of the 244 players have made it through. We think Fintan Gavin may well be the chip leader, confirmation of that and the rest of today's action coming up in the end of day wrap. -- NW
8.45pm: Last three hands
The clock was paused with 14 minutes left and each table will play three more hands before play ends for the night. -- MC
8.40pm: Cody Canned
Jake Cody couldn't mount the comeback. The Team PokerStars Pro was down to around 6,500 and called all in from the big blind with queen-ten when Dara Fitzgerald set him in from the small blind. The latter hel ace-jack and held. -- MC
8.35pm: Derrick looking for back to back final tables
Chris Derrick was one of the dominant figures at last month's UKIPT Edinburgh, eventually finishing 5th, and he's starting to make his move late on here after a double up.
The flop was out as [jh][4h][2s] and he and Daniel Ward got the chips in. Ward opened [5c][4c] and was ahead of Derrick's [ah][qh] for a flush draw. The board ran out [ts][9h] to save Derrick on the river. He's up to 36,000. -- MC
8.20pm: How bad does Fintan Gavin run?
He thinks pretty bad as he hit quads when he didn't need to. Others might think differently to the former UKIPT Edinburgh champion who is the current chip leader on 110,000 chips.
He was raking in huge pot that saw him eliminate Xia Ke and filled the PokerStars Blog in on the action.
Gavin raised from the cut-off and four-bet when Ke three-bet off the button. Xe called to see a [2c][2h][6s] flop appear and when Gavin led for 9,000 he moved all in for 26,000 with ace-ten. Seeing as Gavin was sat with [6h][6c] he wasn't afraid to call.
The board ran out [6d][js] to make him quads! Gavin turned to a table mate after Ke had left and said, "How bad do I run? I make quads when I don't even need to!" -- MC
8.08pm: The level is up but the below don't have the chips to play
Allen Joy, Paul Fitzpatrick, Paul Leckey, Nelius Foley, John Stokes, Roland van der Struik, David Connolly, Adrian Gray, Daniel Banton, David Price, Chris Pyke, Jaye Renehan, Willie O'Brien,Gary Hughes, Noel Christopher Murphy, James Rushton, Nikita Novikovs, Gediminas Matas, Denis Murphy, Jamie Daly, Mark Baxter, Noel O'Sullivan, Damian Hunter, Jed Tribe, Ray Foley, Mike Ryan, Ronan Gilligan, Takayuki Watanabe, Alexander Popp, Noel Dillon, Jamie Dale and Przemysław Dajer. -- MC
8.05pm: Both champs going strong
The two remaining UKIPT champions in the field today are both going strong and I just saw both of them take down a pot.
UKIPT3 Galway winner Emmett Mullin bet 3,875 on the river of a [6s][Ac][8c][7c][Jh] board after a tank his opponent called but mucked when Mullen showed [Ad][9d], Mullen is up to 49,000.
At the same time as that was happening Fintan Gavin was eliminating Allen Joy, the latter shoved for less than 2,000 with [Jc][6h], Gavin called with [Ad][7h] and his hand held on the [Qh][4c][Qs][10d][10s] board. The UKIPT2 Edinburgh winner has 55,000. -- NW
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 300-600, ante 75
7.56pm: O'Deary for O'Leary
Kevin O'Leary busted from a nearby table and told us of his exit: "Aces can't beat jack-seven!" he said after he got his last 6,000 or so in. -- MC
7.53pm: A bluff turned into value for Worley-Roberts?
This hand is one for the UKIPT Day 1B scrapbook, and it enabled Deborah Worley-Roberts to rise up to around 60,000 in chips.
The hand started with a mid position raise to 950 from Marius Stauga and calls from Worley-Roberts (hijack) and the big blind. The flop came [4c][jd][2d] and Stauga's 1,300 c-bet was only called by Worley-Roberts. As the [2c] came down Worley-Roberts stared at Stauga as he bet 2,100. She called very quickly to see the [3h] river.
Worley-Roberts' stance didn't off put Stauga from empting the clip with a 2,600 bet. It's what happened next that was a little bizarre: Worley-Roberts raised to 8,000 and was called fairly quickly.
"Ace high," announced a resigned sounding Worley-Roberts and she held her cards face-down and ready to muck. It was not her mucking though but Stauga! Ace-high was good for the pot and Worley-Roberts raked in those chips with her jaw almost resting on the rail of the table. -- MC
7.47pm: O'Kearney still spinning
It's been some comeback for Dara O'Kearney here in Cork. The Irishman was down as low as 1,000 earlier but now has 55,000. "Steady progress to up past 55k without showdowns at #ukiptcork," he tweeted minutes ago. -- NW
7.40pm: More for Philip
Level 7 has indeed been lucky for PokerStars Team Online's Dale Philip as he now has exactly 54,325 after a set over set coup. "Set over set a tough player to stack him. 77 vs 55 on 752 flop, all in on K turn. Up to 54,325 which is double average." The tough player Philip refers to was Matt Heap.
The online grinder has now been joined on table 10 by Team PokerStars Pro Liv Boeree, she's slightly below average on 22,400. -- NW
7.30pm: Room 101
With 143 players remaining in the field today that means 101 have been sent to the rail. The latest of those is Jamie Dale who tweeted. "Bust ukipt cork didnt play great was down to 18 bigs rejammed KT from SB v btn open he had JJ geeg."
Refreshing to hear a player admit to not playing well rather than getting unlucky. -- NW
7.25pm: More for Nealon
It's all going Fergal Nealon's way at the moment, James Rushton open shoved for around 8,000 with [As][9d] and Nealon called from the big blind with pocket sevens.
A [10d][3s][6c][2h][3d] board kept the Irishman in front and he's now up to around 80,000. -- NW
7.20pm: Philip picks off the bluff
There was roughly 2,750 in the pot and a complete board of [8s][10d][10c][7c][Js] on the felt, Dale Philip (small blind) led for 1,250 only for Noel Dillon (cut-off) to make it 3,500 total. Back on Philip he tanked for sometime before announcing call. "Good call," said Dillon as he tabled [Ad][Qd], Philip showed [Kh][Jh] to claim the pot, he's up to 37,000 now. -- NW
7.15pm: Gavin still going strong
Fintan Gavin has been moved to Jake Cody's table, who's back down to 6,500, and chugging along nicely.
He opened to 850 from late position and was called in three places before a [9c][qd][qh] dominated the table centre. Gavin continued for 1,600 and was only check-called by Dara Fitzgerald in the big blind.
The turn appeared as [5c] and Gavin bet 3,200 when Fitzgerald checked to him again. Fitzgerald folded and Gavin flashed the [9d] whilst saying, "I flopped it." He's up to 44,000 as a result. -- MC
7.05pm: Bull-ied
UKIPT Bristol third place finisher Robbie Bull just got six bet off a pot, he tweeted: "35k going into 200/400. Average is 25k. Some European lad 6 bet shoved 100bbs in my eye with the 910ss #itwasgood." -- NW
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 200-400, ante 50
6.42pm: Break time
The players are now on a 15-minute break. -- NW
6.40pm: Team Pro Update
Liv Boeree and Dale Philip are trotting along very nicely on 29,000 and 31,500 respectively, but what of Jake Cody?
The shiny new team member wanted to be part of Kool and the Gang rather than the grind his day had been so far. He's halfway there after a double up put him into black for the day.
Xia Ke opened to 650 from under the gun and was called by Paul Quinn in the next seat before Cody jammed 7,700 in from the cut-off. Ke folded to leave Quinn to make the call.
Quinn: [qs][qh]
Cody: [kd][kh]
The board ran a blank [5h][4d][jc][2s][6s]. -- MC
6.35pm: Chip counts
Here's a few chip counts at the end of Level 6: Hasmukh Khodiyara (19,500), Dara O'Kearney (25,500), Fintan Gavin (38,000), Ollie Schaffmann (7,900), Chris Derrick (9,700), Neil Rawnsley (7,000), Ronan Gilligan (5,800) and Jamie Dale (5,300). -- NW
6.25pm: The curse is lifted
Fergal Nealon had joked to me that the eight seat at his table - the one to his left - was cursed as three players, including Jamie Sykes and James Walsh, had been eliminated whilst sitting in it today.
The latest player to take the hot seat is David Croke, he was quickly informed by Nealon of the curse, but it seems he may have broken it as he just won a huge three way pot with pocket kings against the ace-queen of Robert Boon and the pocket nine of another player. That is until he turned to Nealon and said: "As soon as you told me about it I physically swapped the chair with one from another table!"
We'll be keeping a close eye on table 12 seat five - which is where he put the 'cursed' chair - to see if it continues. As for Croke he's up to 48,000 after winning that big pot. --NW
6.15pm: Another double for Nealon
After getting lucky to hit a three outer on James Walsh, Fergal Nealon has just doubled agin and is now the likely chip leader as he has 70,000. He tweeted. "And we have lift off-70k, guy opens button,i 3bet 10s bb to 2.4k playing 33k,he makes it 9k playin 40,I ship he calls with kqss. Faded 2 overs and fdraw on turn aswell." -- NW
6.05pm: Walsh washed away
James Walsh has just been eliminated from the main event, with Fergal Nealon the man who took most of his chips.
The latter filled me in on the hand, "There was a raise from under-the-gun to 650, I'm next to act and flat called with ace-king. Then James made it 4,000, it folds back to me, I've got about 16,000 and he's got a little more. I moved all-in and he calls with kings. I got lucky and turned an ace. I've flatted there to make something like that happen, I can't put him on aces or kings and don't think he makes it that big with queens. I got lucky though."
Just a couple of hands later Walsh shoved for his last 2,000 with [Js][10s], Robert Boon called with [Ad][Qc] and only moved further in front on the [Qh][3c][Ad][Qd][6c] board, he's on 49,000 and is one of the chip leaders. -- NW
5.55pm: That tingly feeling
Deborah Worley-Roberts is having a great day. After her "naughty corner" table broke she has integrated into main event society with great success to her stack.
A lot of chips had made it into the middle before a [kc][jc][3d] flop appear in front of her and her heads up opponent, Darren Fuller.
Fuller checked from under the gun to face a 4,200 bet from Worley-Roberts in late position. Fuller had the look as if he was about to pull the trigger but elected to fold.
"Arrghh, when you grabbed the bottom of your stack I thought you were going to shove. I got all tingly in my knickers!"
Moving on, Worley-Roberts moved up to around 40,000 chips. -- MC
5.45pm: Chip counts
There are 176 players left in today from the 244 that started meaning the average stack is currently 20,795. Here's which side of that line some of the names and notables are on right now: Daragh Davey (18,000), Rupinder Bedi (15,600), Emmett Mullin (12,500), Fergal Nealon (33,000), Jamie Dale (10,075), Przemysław Dajer (12,400), Trish Mallin (20,300), Craig Burke (37,000), John OShea (15,800), Julian Thew (19,500), Nick Newport (18,300), Nelius Foley (29,800) and Liv Boeree (25,000). -- NW
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 150-300, ante 25
5.35pm: On the move
Level five has certainly upped the pressure on the short stacks and eliminations are at a plenty as a result.
Sean Davey, Kyle Johnston, Koray Suler, Paul Campbell, Huy Nguyen, Wayne O'Donnell, Padraig Maguire, Marc MacDonnell, Joe Cahill, Roman Dohnal, Kim Andreasen, Gungor Kiyasetin, Declan Connolly, Gabriel Girigan and Gary Thompson all moved in the wrong direction. -- MC
5.20pm: Keeping up with the Robinson's
Owen Robinson shot to prominence during the first season of the UKIPT. He made three deep runs including finishing fourth at UKIPT Nottingham. Those performances helped him scoop two Irish Poker awards in 2010, as the Wexford man won the awards for Break Out Year and Player of the Year.
It's been a while since we've seen him on the tour but he's going well here in Cork as he's up to 27,000. -- NW
5.15pm: Catch the SlowDoke
As well as the UKIPT Season 3 leader board contest that we eluded to earlier there's also a UKIPT3 Best Online Qualifier leader board to be won.
Currently leading the way is Dara 'SlowDoke' O'Kearney who has won a total of 59 packages to the seven UKIPT events that have been played this season. That impressive haul puts him 10 clear of second placed MidniteKowby and a further four clear of Timmmy182 who's in third.
The online qualifier of the year will be awarded a package to a UKIPT Season 4 tournament of their choice (excluding EPT London), a seat at the UKIPT Season 3 Champion of Champions and a limited edition trophy commemorating their achievement. -- NW
5.12pm: Not Tompkins' day
It's fair to say that today was not the talented Jason Tompkins' day. He Tweeted his bust:
"N bust.... Sigh! Harsh day... 8 bigs kj One thing for sure is that he'll be back. -- MC 5.10pm: Nine lives for Kitt Kitt: [9c][9h] The [7s][3h][Qd][8s][7c] board kept Kitt in front, he's up to roughly 11,500 whilst Nguyen slips to 2,100. -- NW 4.55pm: Stubborn as a Bull The action folded around to Bull in the cut-off and he raised to 600. Senior was in the big blind and moved all in for 5,575. Bull took his time and decided the right decision was to call. Bull: [ad][jd] Off to the races as the board ran [7h][js][2s][ts][3d] to pair Bull's ace. -- MC 4.40pm: Second half kicks off We've had the total number of players for Day 1B confirmed at 244 players meaning that the total number of players in UKIPT Cork is 387. For the 200 or so who remain in action today there are still four levels to negotiate before they've made Day 2. Among those hoping to still be checking, betting and folding come the end of level eight are: Oliver Schaffmann (10,000), Neil Rawnsley (5,000), Chris Derrick (27,000) and Ronan Gilligan (18,900).
I just saw Thomas Kitt get a much needed double up, he three-bet jammed for 5,550 over an 800 open from Huy "Samurai" Nguyen. After a brief think Nguyen made the call.
Nguyen: [4d][4c]
5.05pm: The bottom line of UKIPT Cork
Registration has closed on Day 1B of UKIPT Cork bringing the total number of players to 387. Those fine folks helped generate a total prize pool €262,773.
Breaking that amount down and the top 48 players will receive a minimum of €1,315. If you're lucky enough to reach the final table on Monday then €5,910 will be locked up. All eyes will be on the €60,440 that the lucky winner will take home though. -- MC
Robert Bull made a good call to Benjamin Senior to eliminate him from the tournament.
Senior: [8d][8c]
The half time break is over, oranges have been eaten (probably), cigarettes have been smoked (almost certainly) and bad beat stories from the 44 or so players who've been eliminated already today have been exchanged (definitely).
PokerStars Blog reporting team in Cork (in order of sausages consumed at breakfast) : Marc Convey (three - but only wanted two) and Nick Wright (zero - turned down Convey's sausage). Photos by Mickey May (she's Danish, only eats bacon caesar salads).