1.05am: Day 1A is done
That ladies and gentleman is the end of the first of three monster Day ones at UKIPT London. According to the tournament clock just 45 of the 194 players who began today with 15,000 chips have made it through to Day 2. A wrap of the day's play is on its way. -- NW
12.55am: Last four hands
The clock has been paused and four more hands will be played before players bag and tag for the night.
12.50pm: Fewer tables, fewer hands, fewer bust outs
The action has slowed considerably in this level, as far as we can tell just two players have suffered the double barrelled hurt of busting before the end of the day but after the last tube. They are: Nurullakhon Nazrullaev and Caroline De Weerdt.
Roughly 15 minutes left to play. -- NW
12.40am: Mistake leads to profit
Kamal Choraria opened to 2,800 from under-the-gun, it folded to Nicholas Jamieson on the button and he, not seeing that Choraria had raised slid out a bet of 2,500, the dealer informed him of the prior action and he made up the extra 300, both blinds folded.
The [6d][6s][Ks] flop was checked by both players, on the [5d] turn card Choraria fired out a bet of 4,800, call from Jamieson. The [5h] filled out the board, Choraria fired a second barrel, this time 5,500 and, after a brief think, Jamieson made the call. This led to a 'snap muck' (as the kids call it) from Choraria and Jamieson took the pot without having to show his cards. -- NW
12.30am: One for the showreel
If you want a one-hand indication of the way poker is played these days, this one ought to do it. Ben Jackson, our tournament chip leader, got things started, raising to 2,500 from the cut-off.
Alex Lindop called from the small blind, and Daniel Charlton gave them both a spin from the big blind.
The flop came [7d][10c][9d] and all three players checked. The turn was the [10h] and Lindop bet 5,300. Only Jackson called.
The river was [4h] and now Lindop counted out a mighty 18,800, something close to a pot-sized bet. Jackson called it, though, and Lindop showed [js][8s] for the flopped straight.
Jackson was beaten, but showed them [10d][6d] for his top trips.
So there you have a raise with crap, a couple of light defends, a slow-played top pair, a slow played straight, a slow-played top trips, and then a polarising pot-sized river bet, with a crying call. Etc., etc. That's the way they do it. -- HS
12.20am: Top of the pops
As we approach the final hour of the day, here are the chaps with the chips:
Benjamin Jackson United Kingdom 195,000
Philippe Souki United Kingdom 165,000
Adrian Veghinas Romania 130,000
Patrick Simcoe United Kingdom 124,500
Scott Shelley United Kingdom 115,000
Tristan Taylor United Kingdom 108,400
Vincent Gabel Belgium 98,900
Daniel Moosah United Kingdom 97,400
Mathew Perry United Kingdom 85,000
12.15am: Let's look on the bright side...
...at least James Finigan, Edward Roger, Calvin Fagan, Nikodimos Protopapas and Ondrej Goetz can get the last tube home. They are out. -- HS
12.05am: And another chip leader
Ben Jackson's quiet domination of Day 1A continues apace. He now has about 180,000, which is leading at this stage. -- HS
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 600-1,200 ante 100
12am: Diaz dented by Scarman
As he was stacking up something like 50,000 chips, Mark Scarman said, "I just didn't think he had anything." He was talking about a hand he had just played against Adrian Diaz of Spain, which resulted in a double up for Scarman.
Scarman had opened from the cut off, then called Diaz's three bet from the small blind. "He'd been doing that a lot," Scarman said, defending his flat call with what would soon be revealed to be [ks][8s].
But that's getting ahead of ourselves. After the pre-flop jousting, the flop came [4s][7h][8d] and Diaz checked. Scarman shoved, for what turned out to be 22,600.
Scarman seemed shocked that he was even being asked to count out his bet, and was even more surprised when Diaz called. The third surprise came when Diaz tabled [8h][5h] for top pair, smaller kicker, plus inside straight draw (and, I suppose, backdoor hearts).
But none of those came in on the [8c][jd] turn and river. Scarman got the full double up and now has a decent stack going into the last level of the day. -- HS
11.50pm: Chip leader
As things stand the chip leader is Adrian Veghinas, he's on 122,000, seems like having a broken arm hasn't stopped him picking up a lot of chips. -- NW
11.40pm: Fun on fifth street
Two hands now that saw players put to tough decisions on the river...
In the first there was roughly 18,000 in the pot and a complete board of [4h][4d][10d][Ah][Jh] was on the felt. It was Dara O'Kearney who faced a decision as he had been set all-in for his last 27,500 by Cesar Garcia Dominguez.
He went deep into the tank but eventually elected to fold his hand and preserve the rest of his stack.
Meanwhile on an adjacent table there was a blind on blind battle going on. There was a pot of roughly 29,000 in the middle, which was surrounding a [3h][9h][8h][5s][8s] board, Diego Ivan Arbuello had fired out a bet of 19,000 and action was on Mark Gardner. After a short while Gardner totted up the requisite calling chips and slid them into the pot, Arbuello rolled over pocket threes whilst Gardner showed [Ad][9d] as Arbuello took the pot. -- NW
11.30pm: Lindop straightened out by Jackson
Alex Lindop went into the following hand with a spring in his step. He had just flopped a straight flush with his [as][5s], which connected rather nicely with the [2s][3s][4s] spread in the middle of the table. (He didn't get massive value, but was still grinning about it.)
However, all of what he won, and more, was soon heading to Ben Jackson after the following coup.
Jackson opened to 2,100 from the cut off and Lindop called from the big blind. Only those two were interested, and they went to a flop of [4d][js][9h]. Lindop checked, Jackson bet 2,200 and Lindop called.
The turn was [5s] and Lindop checked again. Jackson be 4,700, which Lindop called, taking them to a [9c] river. Only now did Lindop take the lead. He bet 10,000. Jackson was unperturbed, however, and counted out 33,800.
Lindop seemed very tempted, but eventually folded. "Show the bluff," he said. "I had a nine."
Jackson neither showed his hand nor responded in any way. We will never know. -- HS
11.20pm: Clarke clips Turker
Tim Clarke does not quite have the monstrous stack he had earlier this afternoon, but he is still looking strong. And he is still getting heavily involved when given the chance.
There was 5,300 in the pot pre-flop, which suggests a bet and a call, with Clarke in the cut off and Sadan Turker in the big blind. Most likely Clarke opened and Turker defended.
The flop was [ac][7d][3c] and when I arrived, there was 5,800 in front of Turker and 9,500 in front of Clarke. This suggests a check-raise from Turker after Clarke's c-bet, but then a three bet from Clarke over the top of that. (This might not be precisely what happened, but it fits the visible facts.)
Anyhow, Turker called, taking them to a [10d] turn. Turker checked, Clarke bet 11,500 and now Turker tanked long and hard again. Eventually he folded, leaving Clarke to stack up about 75,000 chips.
But Turker, and readers of PokerStars Blog, seemed intrigued as to what Clarke could be playing there.( And what Turker could check-raise, call and then fold.) -- HS
11.15pm: End of the chapter for Channing
Neil Channing is one of the latest exits from this tournament, as are Nicholas Meng, James Rann, Robert Garfield, Jan Nakladal, Vikrum Mehta and Allen Richie. -- NW
11pm: Chip counts
A few chip counts as we move into level 10: Scott Shelley (75,000) he told me, "I called with bottom pair on the river for my tournament life in a 70k pot," given his stack he was obviously right. Chris Welsh (90,000), Richard Sinclair (23,000), Marty Smyth (22,000), Nik Persaud (40,000) and Tim Clarke (39,000). -- NW
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 500-1,000 ante 100
10.45pm: Down to 60
There's no easy way to say this but: Angus Buckle, Paul Byrne, Carlo Gabriele, Andrey Veselov, Nathan Davies, Marc Hunter, Chris Bjorin, Pia Jeppesen, Simon Randall, João Paiva, Michael Panteli and Chihao Tsang are all reasons why the field of 194 that started today is now down to 60. -- NW
10.35pm: Okie Doke
Dara O'Kearney - known to many in poker circles as 'Doke' just got a treble up and is now back above average stack, my thanks to David Lappin for relaying some of the specifics of the hand.
There was an open from early position from a player with [Ad][8d] he had been moved by the time I got there so I don't have his name, O'Kearney flat called from a stack of 16 big blinds (16,000) and Vikrum Mehta also called.
So three to a flop of [3d][4c][Jd], c-bet of 2,300 from the opener, flat call from O'Kearney, raise to 5,600 from Mehta, re-raise to 13,600 from the original raiser, call all-in from O'Kearney, call from Mehta.
There was now a side pot of around 4,000 as the [8s] fell on the turn. Having now picked up a pair to go with his nut flush draw the original raiser moved all-in for around 25,000, Mehta, who had around 35,000 back folded. The river was a blank and O'Kearney's hand held up. -- NW
10.25pm: Lappin loses with the ladies
"Back down to 4k for the 3rd time today. This time its serious. 4bbs," tweeted David Lappin, a short time ago. I saw him standing on the rail and as I suspected it wasn't good news. "I actually had pocket queens but ran into pocket aces," he told me. He's now stood railing his friend Dara O'Kearney, which was fortunate as he recounted a big pot that O'Kearney just played. -- NW
10.15pm: Latest exits
There's no easy way to say this but: Mohammad Ali, Darren Woodcock, David Welch, Daniel Watson, Hugo Felix, Michael Doverklint, Gary Mills, Ruslanas Rudycevas, Alistair Voyvodech, Samuel Newman, Avihay Ohana, Callum Gordon, Katja Svendsen and Christopher Jones have all been knocked out. -- NW
10pm: Top 10 at 10
Here are the top 10 chip stacks as level nine gets underway, there's three players over 100,000 and it's Daniel Moosah who leads the way.
Daniel Moosah , United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, 115,000
Tristan Taylor, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, 105,000
Vincent Gabel, Belgium, PokerStars Qualifier, 103,000
Adrian Veghinas, Romania, PokerStars Qualifier, 99,000
Arkady Kielman, United Kingdom, 87,000
Benjamin Jackson, United Kingdom, 79,000
Adrian Diaz, Spain, 78,000
Jerome O'Shea, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, 67,000
Ryan Spittles, United Kingdom, 66,000
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 400-800 ante 100
9.40pm: Break time
The players are now on a 15 minute break. -- NW
9.35pm: Simcoe says give me trips
Patrick Simcoe has just eliminated Angela McFarquhar in a hand that started pretty even but had it been a fight would've been stopped on the flop.
The majority of the chips went in on a [Q][Q][6] flop, Simcoe showed [K][Q] whilst McFarquahar held pocket jacks. She got no help on the turn or river and exited the tournament whilst Simcoe is up to around 45,000. -- NW
9.25pm: Double for Pour leaves Żbikowski poor
Fowzi Pour has just doubled through to 12,600 to leave Mateusz Żbikowski with a similar amount. The former held [Kc][Qc], the latter [Qh][8h] and was thus pushed the pot when the board ran [Ah][4d][Qd][2h][4c]. -- NW
9.15pm: Chipless
There's no easy way to say this but: Mathieu Dubois, Alex Lambrou, Mike London, Noel Hayes, Charalampos Lappas, Christopher Snelling, James Lee and Simon Hemsworth are all free to concentrate on football rather than poker right now. -- NW
9pm: Huge double for Tristan Taylor; breaks 100,000 mark
An absolute monster hand now, one that left Kenneth Walshe with just one solitary chip, but no chair as he abandoned it and just walked off. But after the following hand you might not blame him.
The victor in the hand was Tristan Taylor and as he was stacking his chips he recounted the hand to me. There was a raise from middle position, Taylor flat called on the button with [6s][5s], only for Walshe to 'three-bet small', Taylor was the only caller. On the [2c][3d][Js] flop Walshe bet, in Taylor's words, small and again Taylor made the call. The [4h] turn card was gin for Taylor, even more so when Walshe led 'big', Taylor moved all-in and Walshe called with what turned out to be [Ac][Ah].
Just to rub it in the [As] completed the board, Taylor started the hand with around 51,000 so after that double up he's up to around 103,000 and is the chip leader. -- NW
8.45pm: Big stacks
Both Vikrum Mehta (72,000) and Chris Welsh (77,000) have over 70,000 and are two of the biggest stacks in the room at present. -- NW
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 300-600 ante 75
8.30pm: Squeeze gone wrong
More on that Ross Jarvis exit now, having been down to 10,000 at the dinner break it didn't get any better for the Brit. "All going downhill. 3bet AQ, missed flop and folded to a raise. 5500," he tweeted. Then eight minutes later: "Out of #UKIPTLondon. Squeezed all-in with 33 for 15BBs, called by 77. Really disappointing." -- NW
8.20pm: Gone
There's no easy way to say this but: Edward Keljik, Arrash Zafari, Vladislav Varlashin, Ivan Tikhov, Kevin O'Leary, Philip Campbell, Shah Athar, Darren Hill, Hao Xiaolong, Arun Kumar Sood, Athir Ali, Michael Chaffe, Kyriacos Dionysiou, Anthony Mowad, Ross Jarvis, Dawid Paczka, Alexander Elias, Karim Smires and Tyrone Chan are all in the half of the field that have exited this tournament.
Just 97 of the 194 players who started the day remain. -- NW
8.05pm: Chip counts
A look around the room reveals the following chip counts: Nik Persaud (33,000), Scott Shelley (14,000), Chihao Tsang (37,000), Dara O'Kearney (24,450), Pia Jeppesen (23,000), Marty Smyth (24,700) and Neil Channing (24,700). -- NW
7.50pm: Lappin at the double
It didn't take David Lappin long to get a boost post-dinner break. "Got the double... 24k. #ukiptlondon," tweeted the Irishman who recently went deep in EPT Deauville. -- NW
7.40pm: Back in their seats
The remaining players are back in their seats, they can get comfy seeing some flops and turns, whilst on the TV screens in front of them it's almost certain that Ronaldo and co will be doing some flopping and dropping to the floor, genuine or otherwise. In both realms it's definitely game on. -- NW
Reporting team in London: Howard Swains and Nick Wright. Photos by Mickey May.