Monday, October 31, 2016

Sky Bet Names WeinerNO Deposit bonus $43

skybet sky betSky Betting & Gaming has appointed Jochen Weiner as managing director of its Sky Bet Deutschland business in Germany.

In his new role, he'll lead Sky Bet’s approach to expand its presence in Germany, reporting on to chief executive Richard Flint.

Weiner served as managing director of Tipp3.de, the now-defunct online betting operator of German telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom, from 2015 until earlier this year.

More at iGaming Business

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Five things (six?) for the weekend on PokerStarsNO Deposit bonus $43

The usual Five things from the week on PokerStars.

As one event concluded this week another got under way, each marking the top of an era within the PokerStars world.

First there has been the last ever Eureka Poker Tour event in Hamburg, won by Dinesh Alt who picked up a primary prize of €69,120. Howard Swains watched all of it and provided live updates from the start, that you would be able to read here. You too can jump straight to the general table report of Alt's win here.

As the doors closed in Germany they were opening in Birmingham, where the last ever UKIPT event was getting under way on the Star Casino. That was yesterday, with Day 1B (and a turbo Day 1C) starting today (and tonight), and with live updates provided by Marc Convey and Nick Wright who've been with the UKIPT from the beginning. They'll have all of the news from Birmingham through to the general table this weekend. Atone for yesterday, and tune in today by clicking here.

We say the last UKIPT and the last Eureka event, but only by name before they become PokerStars Festivals. For more on those...

Talking of PokerStars Festivals the primary of them is solely weeks away, and it is a first for brand new Jersey.

As we reported yesterday, October (and the beginning of November) will feature three weeks of without equal poker experience in New Jersey as PokerStars hosts its first major live and online events there in succession.

It starts with the brand new Jersey Championship of Online Poker, 43 events kicking off on October 15 with $1.2 million of prize money guaranteed over the Championship. That's immediately followed by the PokerStars Festival Atlantic City, with a $1,100 buy in Main Event and live updates at the PokerStars Blog. We'll have more details towards the event, but for now read all about it here.

Ready to start out playing on PokerStars? Click here to get started.

The world beyond poker featured at the blog this week within the type of interviews with prominent members of different pursuits.

First the familiar sight of Fatima Moreira De Melo, a former gold medal winning hockey player turned poker pro who spoke to the blog about her experiences this summer on the Isle of Man TT races, and the way optimisation applies to all aspects of life, whether it's riding a motorcycle at 200 mph around Snaefell Mountain, or teaching hockey to an area team.

Then on Wednesday we featured a work by Lina Olofsson who in a bid to understand her own son's fascination with eGaming, spoke to 2 members of Team Liquid, about how their lives mirror the poker world and the way eGaming has become a world phenomenon.

While the last UKIPT event plays out in Birmingham plans are afoot for the following and penultimate EPT event in Malta.

The Portomaso casino hosts the Tour from October 18 to 29, with 84 events at the cards for players seeking to ring as much summer out of the year as possible.

The 12 day festival offers something for each more or less poker player, and partners with the Italian Poker Tour to supply various tournaments including a 10K event, a 25K and the 5K Main Event, you can qualify for on PokerStars and, as we detailed this week, you are able to do so for €10 in special Spin & Go's now running until October 10. If things spin your way you'll turn that right into a package worth €7,500, details of which you could find here.

This week's podcast - with special guest star Kevin Martin - is now live...

"Joe's in Amsterdam, celebrating his 43rd birthday. But he's taken day trip from partying for this week's podcast. He and James discuss poker news - including the recently announced partnership between PokerStars and the GPL. The men also meet up with Kevin Martin from Team Online to speak bromance, TwitchCon, and the rigors and tribulations of being a DJ on a Canadian rock station.

"There's a recap of the EPT Malta Spin & Go promotion, plus the most important advisory regarding satellites for January's event within the Bahamas (clue: it is not called the PCA anymore). And Gabe Nagy tests his knowledge of the Ryan Reynolds movie 'Van Wilder' in 'Superfan vs Stapes'."

#EPTNotLive

Listen to this week's podcast here.

This weekend is the second one $1 Million Freeroll on PokerStars, starting this Sunday at 12:04 ET. There's still time to win your seat in a regular All-in Shootout Qualifier, details of you can find here. There's million within the prize pool with $10,000 guaranteed for first place.

Stephen Bartley is a staff writer for the PokerStars Blog. Follow him on Twitter: @StephenBartley.


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Brianm15 stages spectacular comeback to take down Sunday Warm-Up!NO Deposit bonus $43

Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for sunday-warmup-promo1.jpg This week's Sunday Warm-Up again saw the $750,000 guarantee shattered, as 4,412 entrants built a tremendous $882,400 prize pool. As always, the overall table was a hard-fought affair, lasting ninety minutes before brianm15 came from an enormous short-handed chip deficit to top chip leader witcherd heads up for the title and the additional $10,000 left at the table after a four-way deal was cut. Witcherd, who held the chip lead from the time the overall table started until earlier than heads up play commenced, picked up $113,400 for second place while winner brianm15 logged an $85,000 victory.

Frugtplukker was the general table bubble boy, collecting $5,294 for 10th place when his pocket eights couldn't delay. Witcherd came into the general table with the largest stack, but pocktnizzles and Supa4real were also stacked deep because the final nine consolidated to play for the large money.

Almost once the general table started, it was time for probably the most tournament's scheduled breaks. After a handy guide a rough five-minute pit stop, short stack jouby44 picked up his namesake hand in late position and moved all in with 4♠-4♣. Brianm15 defended his big blind with A♥-9♦, and the race was on. That race led to 9th place for jouby44 because the flop came down 7♣-A♣-6♥ to offer brianm15 top pair and leave jouby44 drawing thin to mention alive. The turn and river brought no help as they came down T♥-T♠, and jouby44 was the primary elimination from the general table, picking up $7,059.21 for 9th place.

warmup 10.18.jpg

Jordie1982 went out in 8th place in very unlucky fashion after you have all his chips in as a large favorite over brianm15. After action folded around to his button, Jordie open-shoved with A♥-Q♣. Brianm15 made the decision from the small blind with K♦-Q♠, and Jordie1982 looked poised for a double up, especially when the flop came down 8♠-2♠-6♣. The 7♠ at the turn gave Brianm15 a couple of more outs to the flush, however it was the K♣ at the river that shipped the pot Brian's way, leaving Jordie1982 out in 8th place ($11,030.01).

It was changing into an evening of nasty river cards, and BillieD was the following victim to be washed away when he ran afoul of chip leader witcherd. At the short stack, BillieD open-shoved with Q♠-Q♦, and super stack witcherd defended his small blind with K♠-5♠. The flop was harmless, coming down 9♥-A♦-6♥, and the 8♥ at the turn was no help to either player. However the river peeled off the K♥, giving witcherd the larger pair, and the last of BillieD's stack besides. BillieD picked up $19,854.01 to assuage the pain of the bad beat.

Witcherd claimed another victim when his 6♠-6♥ not just held up against kingsofcards all-in, but actually improved significantly along the way in which. Kingsofcards moved all in for an enormous preflop raise from the cutoff with 4♣-4♠, and witcherd called from the small blind with sixes. If kingsofcards was in trouble preflop, the 6♣-J♣-8♥ left him drawing to running perfect cards to stick alive. None of these running perfect scenarios included the 9♦, so when that peeled off at the turn, the king was dethroned and drawing dead. The river was a meaningless J♦, and kingsofcards was done in 6th place ($28,678.01). After that hand, witcherd's chip stack was nearly twice that of his nearest opponent.

That chip stack got even healthier when witcherd busted his third opponent in quick succession, this time taking away bboooommmmmm in 5th place ($37,502.01). Action folded around to bboooommmmmm, who moved all in preflop from the small blind with A♥-8♣. Witcherd quickly called with A♦-T♣, and the chip leader was again within the driver's seat with an opponent all within the. flop of A♠-7♥-Q♦ did nothing to modify the preflop standings, and when the turn and river came down 3♣-Q♠, it was in all places for bboooommmmmm. The rest four players took a moment to speak about a deal, and after lengthy negotiations came to the next guaranteed money: brianm15 locked up $75,000 even, with pocktnizzles securing $77,484.15. Supa4real claimed $88,000.00, and chip leader witcherd picked up a guaranteed $113,400.00, with $10,000 left for the eventual winner. With the deal in place, the four remaining players settled in to battle for the remainder ten grand the all-important bragging rights.

The play was slower than normal once a deal was in place, but after a couple of orbits of probing and folding, pocktnizzles and witcherd squared off for one last fight. Pocktnizzles opened for a raise from the cutoff with 8♥-7♦, and witcherd three-bet from the button with Q♣-J♣. The opposite players got out of the way, and pocktnizzles moved all in excessive. Witcherd made the call, and his overcards improved to a flush draw at the 5♠-2♣-3♣ flop. The Ks at the turn was no help for either player, and witcherd still led together with his unpaired high cards. The A♣ at the river made his flush, and pocktnizzles was done in 4th place along with his $77,484.15 payday.

Brianm15 managed to double through witcherd twice with three players left to transport right into a solid second place, as Supa4real saw his chip stack start to dwindle. After a chain of raises and re-raises, the last of Supa4real's stack went in on a flop of 8♦-6♦-8♠. Supa4real was holding K♥-7♠, but brianm15 had flopped two pair with 7♥-6♥ and made the decision. The turn and river came down 5♠-6♠ to provide brianm15 the whole house and the chip lead as he bounced Supa4real in 3rd place, good for $88,000 after the deal.Tides had certainly turned for brianm15, who was last in chips with four players left. He went into heads-up play with the chip lead, and it took only a few minutes for him to complete off his penthouse to outhouse story and lock up the additional $10,000 by booting witcherd in 2nd place. The general hand appeared like this:

headsup 10.18.jpg

Brianm15 opened for a raise from the button, witcherd three-bet, and brianm15 called. The flop came down 4♥-2♠-5♣, and witcherd led out. Brianm15 made the call, and the 3♠ hit the turn. Both players checked, and fireworks erupted at the K♥ river. Witcherd checked, brianm15 led out, and witcherd check-raised all in with Q♥-5♦ for prime pair at the flop. Brianm15 quickly called with A♦-9♣, showing the turned straight for the pot and the tournament win! With the additional $10,000 for winning the tournament, brianm15 secured an $85,000 payday, while witcherd still ended up with $113,400 for his work within the tournament. Congratulations to all our final table players and everybody who cashed on this week's Sunday Warm-Up!



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Daniel Negreanu named 'poker player of the decade'NO Deposit bonus $43
^

Global Poker Index declares Negreanu 'best poker player of the past decade' on live tournament circuit.

Daniel Negreanu, a member of Team PokerStars Pro, have been recognised because the best poker player of the past decade by independent poker ranking service Global Poker Index (GPI). This recognition follows a pretty good performance by Negreanu in 2013, where he won a variety of big poker tournaments and received numerous 'Player of the Year' awards.

Daniel Negreanu is among the world's most famed poker players, winning his first World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet in 1998 on the age of 23. On the time, he was the youngest player to ever win a WSOP bracelet. Since that time, he has worked hard to maintain winning major tournaments, competing against the most efficient to become referred to as one of the vital successful poker players within the world.

daniel negreanu player of the decade.jpg

Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu

Negreanu now has lifetime winnings from live poker tournaments of $19,399,176, which places him third at the all-time winnings list. Negreanu's sustained success during the last decade is robust evidence that he's an overly skilful player on this highly competitive game.
"I'm very honoured by this award. I've worked hard on my game within the decade, in order that I'LL find how you can consistently win year in, year out against tougher and tougher competition each year," said Negreanu. "I've never desired to rest on my name alone and winning has always been important to me. The sport has changed so much during the last 10 years, however the key ingredient for achievement hasn't: confidence. I enter the following decade more confident than ever before."

This award caps off a stellar year for Negreanu, which included winning the Bluff Magazine Poker Player of the Year, the cardboard Player Poker Player of the Year, the sector Series of Poker Player of the Year, and finishing 2013 because the primary ranked player at the current GPI rankings. He's not just the most productive poker player of the last decade, but in addition the most productive poker player right now.

The GPI is the world's leading tracker of live poker tournaments, and maintains a world ranking of the world's best poker players. The GPI rankings for poker are featured within the USA Today newspaper alongside the listings for other major international sports akin to the ATP rankings for tennis and the PGA rankings for golf.

Negreanu's 2013 poker highlights
World Series of Poker Asia-Pacific Main Event: Winner ($1,087,160)
World Series of Poker Asia-Pacific Mixed Event: Final table (4th, $17,096)
European Poker Tour Grand Final Main Event: Final table (4th, $420,912)
World Poker Tour Championship Main Event: Final table (7th, $137,085)
World Series of Poker Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball: Runner-up ($107,055)
European Poker Tour Barcelona High Roller: Runner-up ($352,881)
World Series of Poker Europe High Roller: Winner ($979,955)
(all payouts in US$ equivalent)

Total 2013 live tournament winnings: $3,208,630

PokerStars is the world's largest poker room and the house of the arena Championship Of Online Poker.














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Marcin Horecki on final tables and wizardsNO Deposit bonus $43

Marcin Horecki yesterday final tabled the record-breaking Eureka Main Event where he finished 8th for €30,500. As Horecki says below, you'd take it firstly of the development but being that close and missing out is often a bit of tough. Still, it does mean that he is freerolling a variety of action, that is just in addition for the reason that he desires to win this event and the PCA! Things are going okay on the moment

marcin horecki ept prgaue ft3 season7.JPG

Horecki on the EPT7 Prague Main Event final table

Horecki finished here third for €247,000 in Season 7, back when Roberto Romanello opened the waterworks.

The PokerStars.tv crew caught up with Horecki today through the break of the EPT Prague Main Event. Click below.

Rick Dacey is a staff writer for PokerStars Blog. Follow the @PokerStarsBlog Twitter account.



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EPT13 Malta: Jakub Michalak wins €10K Single Re-entry in not up to 12 hoursNO Deposit bonus $43

The Dublin edition of this tournament went on until gone 5am. On the Grand Final in Monaco, play needed to be paused and restarted tomorrow as a result of how late it bumped into the morning. But here in Malta, it took just below 12 hours of play for us to search out our €10K Single Re-entry champion. His name is Jakub 'Olorionek' Michalak, he final tabled the WCOOP Main Event this year, and he's now €178,403 richer. Here's the way it all went down.

EPT13MALT Event 44 Winner Jakub Michalak 7525 JulesPochy.jpg

Jakub Michalak - your latest Malta champ

We had a complete of 64 players pony up the €10K, while 20 of these fired another bullet, making a total prize pool of €814,800. Just 11 players got paid, but in comparison to previous editions of this single day tournament we reached the cash relatively quickly.

Rewinding back to the beginning of the day, Max Silver was the primary double casualty. He fired two bullets and was out on both before the tip of Level 4. Mikita Badziakouski, Connor Drinan, Dario Sammartino, Nick Petrangelo, Jean-Noel Thorel, Alexandros Kolonias, and Sam Greenwood are only some of folks that re-entered. Greenwood's second bullet was an especially short ordeal - out and in in around 30 minutes.

One of the numerous 'man of the moment' players in poker at the moment is New Zealand's David Yan. On the end of September he enjoyed a deep run within the Eureka6 Hamburg Main Event (16th - €3,880), which he was only playing as it was on his approach to a tournament in Berlin. He went and won that one for € 124,635. Then Yan turned up in Malta and took down the €25K Super High Roller for €465,800. However, it wasn't his day today. He got unlucky to bust when his ace-ten was outdrawn by Charlie Carrel's ace-eight.

The players took a 75-minute dinner break around 7:30pm and just 17 players returned. Scott Seiver had the chip lead with 850,000 and blinds at 8K/16K, good for 53 big blinds. Remember that in a sooner or later turbo, this wasn't the deepest stacked event. Seiver's nearest competitors were Italy's Rocco Palumbo (840,000), followed by Pratyush Buddiga (810,000) - who entered this event with just 20 minutes left of registration for a 12 big blind stack.

EPT13Malta Steve O'Dwyer #44 NL Holdem Single Re Entry 8 Handed Manuel Kovsca 33.jpg

Another cash for O'Dwyer

Last year's winner of this event in Malta was Mr Steve O'Dwyer, and the 'Irishman' got off to a super start today winning four-bet pots with abandon. He rode that wave right into the money, eventually busting in 10th place for €20,400. However, Romania's Pasquale Grimaldi wouldn't be capable of earn a dime, suffering a brutal flush over flush to Charlie Carrel which crippled him and would see him make a muted exit within the next hand for a 12th place finish.

EPT13Malta Pasquale Grimaldi #44 NL Holdem Single Re Entry 8 Handed Manuel Kovsca 30.jpg

Grim for Grimaldi

Diego Zeiter was the following to bust, followed by O'Dwyer, which meant we had our final table of nine. Here's how they stacked up:

1. Behzad Ahadpour - 525,0002. Rocco Palumbo - 660,0003. Pratyush Buddiga - 1.38 million4. Morten Mortensen - 285,0005. Jakub Michalak - 1.31 million6. Scott Seiver - 975,0007. Orpen Kisacikoglu - 305,0008. Charlie Carrel - 2.44 million9. Adrian Mateos - 520,000

Morten Mortensen wouldn't last too long, getting it in with sixes against Scott Seiver's nines and never catching any help.

With eight left Rocco Palumbo managed to double up, meaning the fast stacks became Adrian Mateos and the thrill loving guy from Iran via New York, Behzad Ahadpour. This guy was truly the life and soul of this tournament, enjoying reckless abandon - from raising and playing pots having only seen one among his cards, to looking to re-arrange his flights home on the table once he came upon another €10K tournament was going down tomorrow.

Ahadpour would get pretty lucky to treble up through Pratyush Buddiga and eliminate Adrian Mateos. It was a three-way all-in pre-flop and Buddiga had queens, Ahadpour had tens, and Mateos had ace-queen. A 10 at the river sent the Spaniard out and halved Buddiga's stack.

EPT13Malta Adrian Mateos #44 NL Holdem Single Re Entry 8 Handed Manuel Kovsca 23.jpg

Adios Mateos

Buddiga's luck wouldn't improve and he'd be the following man out. He shoved over Ahadpour's raise with pocket sixes and was called by the king-queen, and a queen at the turn saw his chips ship Ahadpour's way.

EPT13Malta Pratyush Buddiga #44 NL Holdem Single Re Entry 8 Handed Manuel Kovsca 8.jpg

Bye bye Buddiga

That took us right down to six, where it truly became the Behzad Ahadpour show. His demise was pretty entertaining to mention the least; first, he doubled up Jakub Michalak. Then he doubled up Rocco Palumbo; then Ahadpour open shoved and was called by Scott Seiver with ace-ten. "I'm in order that tired, I MUST go," said Ahadpour, showing the ten-eight. However, he wasn't going just yet. An eight appeared at the turn to double him up, hurting Seiver's chances within the process. Then finally Ahadpour was all-in with the eight-five against Michalak's pocket fives on an 8♣5♠T♦ flop. JUST A LITTLE bad luck, sure, but Ahadpour wasn't dissapointed when was eliminated. Heck, he even got a round of applause from the table and the rail!

EPT13Malta #44 NL Holdem Single Re Entry 8 Handed Manuel Kovsca 12.jpg

Behzad Ahadpour - very entertaining

Scott Seiver and Orpen Kisacikoglu would go away us next. Jakub Michalak's ace-six sucked out against Seiver's pocket jacks by hitting an ace, then Kisacikoglu was all-in for 3 big blinds with nine-six and couldn't beat Charlie Carrel's king-queen. After which there have been three.

EPT13Malta Orpen Kisacikoglu #44 NL Holdem Single Re Entry 8 Handed Manuel Kovsca 39.jpg

Kisacikoglu fell in 4th

It was time to talk about a deal. Charlie Carrel had the chip lead with 3.66 million, playing Jakub Michalav's 2.905 million and Rocco Palumbo's 1.735 million. They cut an ICM deal that gave Carrel the lion's share and kept €17,475, the trophy, and the distinction still to play for.

After a couple of chips had passed back and forth, Charlie Carrel's chances were struck down when he called Rocco Palumbo's three-bet shove with ace-seven and was up against ace-queen. He couldn't find any help and a hand or two later he was out.

EPT13Malta Morten Mortensen #44 NL Holdem Single Re Entry 8 Handed Manuel Kovsca.jpg

Carrel won in Dublin, but finished third here

Palumbo had the lead going into heads-up but things weren't going his way. He got coolered in a single hand when his two pair was beaten by Michalav's bigger two pair, then lost a string of small pots to bring his stack quite low. He did make one brilliant call though to provide himself a fighting chance; he called three barrels (the third of which was an all-in bet) with only a pair of fives on an A♥5♠2♦T♠6♣ board and was right, as Michalav had king-queen for air.

But after all it came all the way down to a race. Deuces for Michalav, king-nine for Palumbo, the ducks held up and we had ourselves a winner.

Congratulations to our latest EPT13 Malta champion, Poland's Jakub Michalav.

EPT13MALT Event 44 Winner Jakub Michalak 7540 JulesPochy.jpg

Michalav and friends, including Sebastian Malec

EPT13 Malta €10,000 NLHE Single Re-entry 8 Handed

Dates: October 24, 2016Players: 64Re-entries: 20Prize pool: €814,800

* Indicates a deal was made

Place Winner Country Sponsor Prize (EUR)
1 Jakab Michalak Poland   178,403*
2 Rocco Palumbo Italy   138,763*
3 Charlie Carrel United Kingdom   170,754*
4 Orpen Kisacikoglu Turkey   80,250
5 Scott Seiver USA   63,550
6 Bahzad Ahadpour Iran   49,700
7 Pratyush Buddiga USA   39,100
8 Adrian Mateos Spain   30,550
9 Morten Mortensen Denmark   23,200
10 Steve O'Dwyer Ireland   20,400
11 Diego Zeiter Germany   20,400

Jack Stanton is a contract contributor to the PokerStars Blog. Photos by Jules Pochy and Manuel Kovsca.



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MicroMillions 6: fzmas annihilates Courchevel final table to win Event #79 [$3.30 PL Courchevel]NO Deposit bonus $43

I don't speak Swedish, but I FEEL "fzmas" is loosely translated as "terminator." With seven players remaining in MicroMillions Event #79 Pot-limit Courchevel, fzmas took out all six opponents including the general three players in precisely four hands. That's right, three players liquidated in just four hands. Courchevel must come easy to fzmas, who encountered little or no resistance en path to a slightly easy victory.

MicroMillions 6 Event #70 $3.30 PL Courchevel attracted 2,493 runners. These bodacious and adventurous Courchevel enthusiasts boosted the prize pool to $7,479.00. The highest 320 places paid out with $1,273.45 put aside to the eventual champion.

With nine remaining, action went hand-for-hand. Sweden's fzmas had amassed the most important stack with 3 million, while two short stacks, Sabr1988 and kuzbass 71, were looking to keep their heads above water with under 500K apiece.

Sabr1988 became the unlucky "bubble boy" after you have it all-in preflop with J♠ flashing because the door card. Sabr1988's A♥A♣K♣5♠5♥ lost to tapadeli's A♦K♥J♣9♥6♣ when the board ran out K♦Q♣J♥7♠2♦. tapadeli won the pot with two pair and Sabr1988 bubbled off the overall table in ninth place. The general table of eight was set.

MM6 E79 FT.jpg

Event #79 - Final Table Chip Counts:Seat 1: pulya1980 (1,537,172)Seat 2: tapadeli (1,032,425)Seat 3: kuzbass 71 (762,078)Seat 4: hustler1984 (496,763)Seat 5: avictoria (1,396,307)Seat 6: ivanvilchez8 (1,747,256)Seat 7: fzmas (3,067,713)Seat 8: nastine666 (2,425,286)

The Courchevel final table commenced during Level 41 with blinds at 60K and 120K. fzmas held an organization lead with 3 million, while hustler1984 clung to the quick stack with a shade under 500K.

tapadeli eliminated in 8th place

It didn't take very long before someone became the primary casualty on the final table. With 9♦ showing because the door card... pulya1980 min-raised 240,000 and tapadeli called all in for 150,347.

pulya1980: 9♣9♥6♥4♠2♦tapadeli: Q♦Q♠J♥T♠2♣

The board ran out 9♦8♣2♥5♣3♥. pulya1980 flopped a collection of nines, but rivered a six-high straight to win the pot. tapadeli flopped a straight draw, but didn't improve. Argentina's tapadeli became the primary player to exit on the final table and hit the street in eighth place, which paid out $74.79.

hustler198 eliminated in 7th place

Canada's hustler198 was on life support upon getting crippled and nearly obliterated in a prior hand. The hand that at last did him within the... 7♦ was the door card, so big-stacked bully fzmas opened to a heady raise of 420,000, super-short hustler1984 called all-in 66,763, and avictoria often known as (fzma's original raise) from the massive blind. Three-handed. On a flop of 7♦7♠3♥, fzmas fired out 97,676 and avictoria foled. Heads-up. Both players tabled their cards:

fzmas: 7♣6♠5♥5♦4♠hustler1984: A♦Q♣9♥8♦6♣

The turn was the 6♥ and the river was the 3♠. fzmas flopped trips and turned a whole house to win the pot. hustler1984 could only muster up two pair -- sevens and sixes. For a seventh-place finish, hustler1984 collected $149.58.

ivanvilchez8 eliminated in 6th place

On first street, the 9♠ was visible. ivanvilchez8 opened to 490,000, fzmas bumped it as much as 1,610,000, and ivanvilchez8 called all-in 467,256.

fzmas: A♦A♥7♣7♥3♦ivanvilchez8: A♣K♣Q♣Q♦8♥

fzmas was ahead with Aces against Queens. The board ran out 9♠6♠4♥4♠T♣. Both players only improved to 2 pair, but fzmas's two pair (Aces and fours) was superior to ivanvilchez8's two pair (Queens and fours). Argentina's ivanvilchez8 busted out in sixth place, which paid out $224.37.

kuzbass eliminated in 5th place

Another shorty bid goodbye. With 9♣ showing on first street, short-stacked kuzbass 71 open-shoved for 174,156 and both fzmas and nastine666 called. On a flop of J♦9♣8♥, fzmas fired out 480,000 and nastine666 bailed. Heads-up.

fzmas: K♣Q♣T♠8♦5♦kuzbass 71: A♣K♦9♦5♥4♦

fzmas flopped a straight and kuzbass 71 was in serious trouble. The turn was the 3♥ and the river was the J♠. kuzbass 71's two pair was no match against fzmas's Queen-high straight. fzmas dragged the pot and added more chips to his big stack. Russia's kuzbass 71 went busto in fifth place, which paid out $373.95.

avictoria eliminated in 4th place

Four-handed went quick. When you blinked, you missed the action. The 8♣ was the door card. avictoria opened to 700,000, fzmas bumped it as much as 2.3 million, and avictoria called all-in for 936,307.

fzmas: Q♣Q♦T♥8♦7♣avictoria: K♠Q♠Q♥J♣5♦

The board ran out 9♣8♣7♦3♠2♣. Unfortunately, avictoria didn't improve on a couple of Queens and lost to fzmas's rivered Queen-high flush. Germany's avictoria took home $523.53 for a fourth-place finish.

nastine666 eliminated in 3rd place

On the very next hand, Brazil's nastine666 met an unfortunate fate. Guess what appeared because the door card? Yes, another ominousrominous nine! The 9♦ was exposed on first street, fzmas opened to 700,000, nastine666 bombed it all-in for 2,011,130, and fzmas called.

nastine666: K♦Q♥9♥7♦4♠fzmas: A♣Q♣9♣8♣3♦

The board ran out J♠J♦9♦5♠8♥. Both players had two pair -- Jacks and nines -- however, fzmas held an Ace-kicker and won the pot. Belarus' nastine666 busted out in third place, which paid out $707.81.

HEADS-UP: pulya1980 (Russia) vs. fzmas (Sweden)Seat 1: pulya1980 (2,617,519 in chips)Seat 7: fzmas (9,847,481 in chips)

With two remaining, fzmas held a commanding lead approximately 4-to-1, however. Although heads-up only lasted two hands, fzmas lost the primary pot and coughed up a huge advantage.

pulya1980 eliminated in 2nd place; fzmas is the brand new Courchevel champion!

On the primary hand of heads up, pulya1980 avoided a quickie elimination and doubled up. pulya1980 won the primary pot with full boat holding A♣K♠Q♣6♦6♣ against fzmas' A♠8♣7♠4♠3♥ after the board ran out A♦Q♠Q♦J♦4♥. pulya1980 dodged a bullet, as fzmas' lead was trimmed to simply two million (7.2 million to 5.2 million).

Despite the initial setback, fzmas stopped pulya1980's comeback dead cold. At the second hand of heads-up, delivered a knock-out blow.

On the overall hand of the tournament, fzmas flopped a flush and that's the reason all she wrote. Another nine because the door card, with the 9♠ exposed on first street. fzmas raised to 600,000, pulya1980 bumped it as much as 1,400,000, and fzmas called. The flop was J♠9♠4♠. pulya1980 fired out 2,800,000, and fzmas called. The turn was the 5♣, pulya1980 bet 1,035,038, and fzmas called.

pulya1980: Q♥9♦9♣5♦2♣fzmas: Q♣J♣T♠6♠2♦

The T♦ fell at the river, which failed to held pulya1980. fzmas won the hand with a flopped flush.

For a soulful and hard-nosed runner-up performance, Russia's pulya1980 collected $897.48.

Congrats to Sweden's fzmas for winning Event #79 Courchevel and taking home a first-place prize worth $1,273.45.

MicroMillions-079 $3.30 PL CourchevelEntrants: 2,493Prize pool: $7,479.00Place paid: 320

1. fzmas (Sweden) - $1,273.452. pulya1980 (Russia) - $897.483. nastine666 (Belarus) - $707.814. avictoria (Germany) - $523.535. kuzbass 71 (Russia) - $373.956. ivanvilchez8 (Argentina) - $224.377. hustler1984 (Canada) - $149.588. tapadeli (Argentina) - $74.79

MicroMillions is nearly over! For more info including a schedule of remaining events, visit the MicroMillions 6 home page.

Pauly McGuire is an author and freelance contributor to PokerStars Blog.



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UKIPT6 Birmingham: Nathan Webb weaves his solution to the highest on Day 1BNO Deposit bonus $43

2016 UKIPT Birm Nathan Webb MickeyMay 105278.jpg

What an afternoon for Webb

UKIPT Birmingham moved throughout the gears today as 158 players entered the fray throughout the second of 3 starting flights. The last two to take their seats were Igor Kurganov and Griffin Benger. Unfortunately for Kurganov he was also one of the crucial last out, busting a couple of hands from the end, however the November Niner made it through with 70,100.

Ukipt6 birmingham main event day1b griffin benger.jpg

Benger got busy

Leading the way in which on the end of eight quick fire 45-minute levels was Nathan Webb who bagged up an outstanding 159,200. The 35-year-old finance director from Worcester got his books within the black way to a flush over flush hand halfway during the day. Another big pot on the death meant the Worcester based Dad of 1 pipped Caicai Huang to the chip lead. Huang finished seventh within the UKIPT4 London Main Event and can return with 134,900 tomorrow. She's handily placed as are: Colin Gillon (114,600), Claudio Cambianica (100,500) Mian Wei (97,700), David Gallagher (97,400) and Louis Salter (90,900).

Ukipt6 birmingham main event day1b liv boeree.jpg

Half day for Boeree

Liv Boeree was another player who took good thing about late registration, she took her seat during level five. The Team PokerStars Pro was almost out within the exact same level. She got her starting stack in with A♠7♠ on a 5♠3♠4♦ flop and had to hit against the pocket kings of Simon McGechie. She was a 60-40 favourite and the Poker gods smiled on her as a turned straight gave her a lock at the hand. She finished the day on 57,100 and completes a triumvirate of Red Spades who'll be in business on Day 2 as Chris Moneymaker and Jake Cody both advanced on Day 1A.

Other big names still within the mix for the general UKIPT Main Event trophy are: Dom Kay (80,400), Eleanor Gudger (76,200), Neil Raine (63,400), Timothy Chung (59,000), David Docherty (49,500), Deborah Worley-Roberts (45,900), Mark McCluskey (45,600), Richie Lawlor (36,700), Kelly Saxby (26,600) and Richard Jones (25,100). You'll be able to view full end of day chip counts here.

Notable for his or her absence on that list are Dara O'Kearney, Brett Angell and Ludovic Geilich but they'll yet join the 84 players who made it through to Day 2. We are saying may, as a turbo Day 1C flight - for anyone who's bust Day 1A or 1B - starts at 10pm. Same structure but 20 minute levels in place of 45 minutes. Way to a tweet we all know that O'Kearney can be firing a second bullet and he might be joined by the 2 UKIPT champions.

They'll be no live coverage of that flight, but keep watch over the widget at the right hand side of the page (the ground of the page if using a mobile device) and the @PokerStarsBlog and @UKIPT twitter accounts and we'll post the Day 2 seat draw and complete Day 1 chip counts before play begins tomorrow at noon.

You can scroll all the way down to atone for all today's action. See you tomorrow for moving day and the bubble. --NW

6:18pm: Final four handsLevel 8 - Blinds 400/800 (100 ante)

The clock have been paused and they will be four more hands before play is finished for the day. --NW

6:08pm: Gillon's got a gallon nowLevel 8 - Blinds 400/800 (100 ante)

Colin Gillon's stack had dropped back a bit, but he just secured a double after a battle of blinds versus Tomasz Wrobel.

The action folded around to Gillon within the small blind and he completed. Wrobel raised to 2,500 within the big blind after which called after Gillon came back with a raise to 6,500. The flop fanned 3♥2♣T♠ and Gillon continued for 5,800. Call. Wrobel called another 10,200 at the K♠ turn after which faced an all-in bet worth 26,950 at the 9♠ river.

He called with A♣T♣ but Gillon had got there at the turn with K♦6♥ and scooped within the big pot to come again with regards to the chip leaders. -- MC

2016 UKIPT Birm ColinGillon MickeyMay 105229.jpg

King Gillon

5:55pm: PokerStars memories, with Daragh DaveyLevel 8 - Blinds 400/800 (100 ante)

Daragh Davey told the blog he's very sad to overlook the last ever UKIPT before it's rebranded, but his partner is expecting a baby, so his priorities lie elsewhere for now.

There was a time when the Irishman never missed a stop. Not even that, there has been a time where he never missed a tournament at a stop. That dedication to playing all of the events helped secure him back-to-back Player of the Year titles in Season 4 and 5, for arguably the best achievement within the tour's history. Dara was kind enough to discuss this in his UKIPT memory:

UKIPT Nottingham 2015 DaraDavey MickeyMay 63499.jpg

Mr consistency

"My favourite memory is from EPT/UKIPT London 2014, the overall stop of Season 4. Entering it am neck and neck with Max Silver and Tomaz Raniszewski for the player of the season leaderboard with a passport to the entire next season because the prize.

"I was playing a £300 side event with a couple of days left within the two-week festival, have 2 cashes already and that i know if I make ninth place or better it is going to be nearly impossible for the opposite two to catch me. We get right down to 10 handed and it seems like its taking forever! Finally someone busts and that i get out of my seat and celebrate with my friends. I very rarely celebrate in poker but that felt like 16 months of labor completed. That stop ended with Kevin Killeen coming 3rd within the EPT main event as well, which was another brilliant moment!"

5:45pm: Bish bash boshLevel 7 - Blinds 300/600 (75 ante)

A premium hand versus premium hand encounter where one player has fewer than 20 big blinds can be going to finish in a pre-flop all-in. That is what happened when Ali Zihni found ace-king and Mudasser Hussain awoke with aces.

The T♠2♠8♠6♦9♣ board kepy Hussain in front, he was all-in for just below 12,000. Zihni is all the way down to 35,000. --NW

5:35pm: Chip daddiesLevel 7 - Blinds 300/600 (75 ante)

With just over a degree left to play, listed here are probably the most big stacks within the room:

David Gallagher - 105,000Mian Wei - 91,000Louis Salter - 90,000Dominic Kay - 90,000Colin Gillon - 86,000Eleanor Gudger - 78,000Claudio Renzo Cambianica - 75,000Deivis Rinkevicius - 71,000--MC

5:25pm: Benger getting busyLevel 7 - Blinds 300/600 (75 ante)

It hasn't taken Griffin Benger long to get into the groove of this tournament. He opened to 1,300 from under-the-gun+1 and called after Neil Ryder had three-bet to 3,100 from the cutoff. The 2♣T♠K♥ flop checked through and the J♥ fell at the turn. Benger checked again after which called Ryder's bet of 4,000.

The A♦ fell on fifth street, both players checked and Benger showed down Q♥9♥ to win the hand. "THAT IS WHAT you get for slowplaying," said Ryder. After that hand Benger is as much as 41,000. --NW

Ukipt6 birmingham main event day1b griffin benger.jpg

Benger's building a stack

5:18pm: Easy game for GudgerLevel 7 - Blinds 300/600 (75 ante)

In an excellent world, we'd win every pot with no need to turn down, unless we've got the nuts. We are not sure if Eleanor Gudger had the nuts in a hand that got her as much as around 90,000, but it's unlikely.

Pablo Lamas raised from the button and Gudger (small blind) and the massive blind called to look an A♦6♠7♥ flop appear. Lamas continued for 2,200 and only Gudger check-called to the A♠ turn where she called another 3,000. The board completed with the 3♠ and Gudger checked for a 3rd time. Lamas didn't bet, or check behind so far as lets see; he just mucked his hand and gave up the pot to his opponent. --MC

Ukipt6 birmingham main event day1b eleanor gudger.jpg

Gudger having a super day so far

5:02pm: Doh for DokeLevel 7 - Blinds 300/600 (75 ante)

Dara O'Kearney's had some good times and a few bad times at the UKIPT. Unfortunately for him his latest memory can be filed within the latter category.

Joining him at the rail are: Brett Angell, Paul Dando, Joshua Wooldridge, Ryan Plant, Dominic Burn, Michael Jones, Ludovic Geilich and Ishfaq Mohammed. --NW

Ukipt6 birmingham main event day1a ludovic geilich.jpg

Ludovic Geilich

4:46pm: Get out of hereLevel 6 - Blinds 250/500 (50 ante)

The remaining players are actually on their second and final 15 minute break of the day. Late registration will close at the beginning of level seven. --NW

4:45pm: Exit DawLevel 6 - Blinds 250/500 (50 ante)

Daniel Daw wished the table good luck and was on his way. A HANDY GUIDE A ROUGH post-mortem of the hand revealed that he'd got the last of his chips in with K♣Q♣ on a 8♣K♠T♠ flop. A FAIR hand for sure, but it surely was up against a greater one as Noel Broadbent had pocket eights for a flopped set. The 2♠ turn left Daw drawing dead and the 4♦ completed the board.

After that hand Broadbent is as much as 70,000. --NW

4:40pm: Boeree lets one go at the riverLevel 6 - Blinds 250/500 (50 ante)

"You got a suite of fours or fives?" Live Boeree asks David Wilkes after he moved all-in for 14,725 at the river. He shook his head.

The board read A♦5♥4♠7♥6♦ and there were an even amount of action that led as much as the purpose Wilkes made his final move.

He had opened to 1,200 from mid position and was called in a single spot before Boeree squeezed to 3,700 off the button. Both players called but only Wilkes hung around after Boeree c-bet the flop. The Team PokerStars Pro bet another 6,300 at the turn before she was check-raised as much as 15,000. She called and it's back to her deliberation at the river.

"Set of threes? Top set of aces?" Boeree continued to half ask. Wilkes kept shaking his head.

"I don't know how you'll have an ace in you hand," she declared before admitting defeat and folding. That dropped the Brit right down to around 40,000. --MC

4:30pm: Gudger going great gunsLevel 6 - Blinds 250/500 (50 ante)

"Seat open table 13" was the cry, it was Eleanor Gudger who was stacking chips. She's had a super couple of levels and is now as much as 85,000.

It's not gone quite besides for Jack Sambrook or Tom Hall as they're both out. --NW

4:25pm: Cold deck for CraigieLevel 6 - Blinds 250/500 (50 ante)

Kerryjane Craigie, takes care of all things poker on the Hippodrome Casino by day, but she's an average player in her own right and was playing today. I say was, because she's now perched in a seat at the sidelines because of a brutal bustout hand.

She had around 9,000 to start out the hand and raised it up from the small blind with pocket jacks. Robert Shiell was within the big blind, with king-queen, he moved all-in and Craigie snap called.

The 2-7-9 flop was safe, the jack turn even better because it reduced Shiell's outs to only the four remaining tens. But it's usually the river and a 10 popped out on fifth street to send Craigie to the rail. --NW

4:20pm: He's taking from the appropriate and provides to the leftLevel 5 - Blinds 300/600 (100 ante)

David Phelan managed a double up on one hand, then handed many of the gained chips over to David Docherty the very next hand.

He and Craig Wallace took to a 3♣Q♥Q♣ flop where the previous bet 6,000. He had around seven thousand back and was asked an issue for all of them. He called and opened A♦A♠, prior to Wallace's J♣J♦. The board ran out 5♦4♥.

The very next hand saw David Docherty open to 900 and our two friends from the hand above call. The board rolled out Q♦6♣9♥8♠T♦ without a chips getting in until the river where Phelan led for 1,500 from the large blind. Docherty raised to 7,500 and opened K♦J♦ for the nut straight when called. Phlean flashed a jack and mucked. Docherty's stack grew to around 38,000. -- MC

2016 UKIPT Birm David Docherty MickeyMay 105010.jpg

DD looking good for an eighth place finish

4pm: Chip countsLevel 5 - Blinds 200/400 (50 ante)

Here's how one of the vital names and notables are fairing on Day 1B:

Name Chips
Steve Jelinek 57,500
Gary Clarke 55,400
Ben Morrison 54,000
Eleanor Gudger 53,000
Liv Boeree 50,000
Joseph Lalor 49,050
Timothy Chung 47,000
Dominic Kay 44,000
Ludovic Geilich 43,000
Neil Raine 38,000
Richie Lawlor 34,900
Caicai Huang 34,000
Luke Perrott 33,000
Kelly Saxby 30,325
Ronit Chamani 26,000
Tom Hall 25,800
Richard Jones 24,600
Carl Harris 24,300
David Clarkson 24,000
Ali Zihni 23,600
Louis Salter 23,500
Jeremy Wray 22,500
Michael Kane 20,075
Mark McCluskey 18,325
Deborah Worley-Roberts 18,000
Mark Wagstaff 17,000
David Docherty 14,975
Dara O'Kearney 14,325
Jack Sambrook 14,000
Kerryjane Craigie 9,875
Brett Angell 7,300

Ukipt5 birmingham main event day1b timothy chung.jpg

Chung's chipped up

Ukipt6 birmingham main event day1b brett angell.jpg

Angell has work to do

3:55pm: Any two for McCluskeyLevel 5 - Blinds 200/400 (50 ante)

Mark McCluskey has cashed 3 times in UKIPT Main Events (including one final table) and a number of other side events. You do not do this by looking forward to aces. He just won a pot off Michael Jones with the mighty four-three.

The latter raised to 1,100 from the hijack and the previous tank called within the big blind. The flop fanned 7♣2♣6♠ and Jones continued for 1,300. McCluskey check-called before both went directly to check the 4♥6♥ turn and river down.

McCluskey opened 4♣3♠ to overcome out Jones' A♣T♣. "What's he got?" asked Jones.

"A pair of fours.....with a 3 kicker!" answered a kinda helpful Joseph Lalor.

McCluskey moved as much as 22,000, whereas Jones dropped to 14,000. --MC

2016 UKIPT Birm Mark McCluskey MickeyMay 105187.jpg

McCluskey massaging his stack

3:35pm: Nice turn of events for BoereeLevel 5 - Blinds 200/400 (50 ante)

Liv Boeree had barely had time to get her feet under the table before she was playing for all her chips. David Wilkes opened to 950 from middle position, Boeree smooth called from the button, just for Simon McGechie to three-bet to 2,600. Both Wilkes and Boeree called to create a corpulent pot of over 8,000.

On the 5♠3♠4♦ flop McGechie fired out of venture of 5,000. Wilkes folded and stood up from the table where he informed the PokerStars Blog of the pre-flop action and whispered. "I folded jacks, I put him [McGechie] on a large pair."

2016 UKIPT Birm Liv Boeree MickeyMay 105168.jpg

Boeree bouncing

Boeree was debating what to do along with her ~22,000 chip stack and settled on raising all-in. There has been no insta call from McGechie but after around 20 seconds on deliberation he did call and showed K♠K♥.

He was ahead within the hand but Boeree had a monster draw with A♠7♠ and was actually a near 60-40 favourite to win the hand. The 6♥ turn made the EPT Sanremo winner a straight and the A♦ was an unnecessary river card. She doubles up then to around 50,000 while McGechie slips back to starting stack. --NW

3:23pm: Second half underway without...Level 5 - Blinds 200/400 (50 ante)

Four levels down and 4 more to move. The next never made it out of the changing room at half time:

Thales Salomao, Baljit Singh, Victor V. Ilyukhin, Krishna Nagaraju, Romaine Morin, Chris Gordon, Frederick Evans, Samy Salah, Khaneshkan Sriravindrah, Matthew Pierre and Victor Ilyukhin. -- MC

3:15pm: Webb flush with chipsLevel 4 - Blinds 150/300 (25 ante)

I joined the action to look a gamble of as much as 1,000 in front of Luke Haward. It was a single 1k chip so he'd raised it as much as anywhere between 600 and 1,000. I'd never discover the precise amount as Nathan Webb three-bet to 2,100 at the button and Haward smooth called.

The flop fell a monotone 3♠7♠2♠, it didn't kill the action though as Webb bet 2,625 and Haward called. The 6♠ turn saw the pattern of the hand continue, Webb bet 5,000 and Haward smooth called again.

The river was checked through, Webb opened A♣K♠ for a king high flush, while Haward held Q♠T♠ for a flopped flush which had then been outdrawn at the turn. Big hands, big pot. Webb as much as 36,000 and Haward right down to 11,800 in consequence. --NW

3:05pm: UKIPT memories, with floor person Kate BadurekLevel 4 - Blinds 150/300 (25 ante)

We've heard from numerous players so it was time to move behind the curtain with a key staff member, namely Kate Badurek who's one of the vital people working floor this week here in Birmingham.

"I used to deal at the EPT a few years ago before my services weren't required by an older regime. Then PokerStars restructured how they directed and managed events, including a fresh way to hiring dealers and floor people. Toby Stone was given the job of Tournament Director for the UKIPT and gave me the danger to come again working with the company.

2016 UKIPT Birm Kate Badurek MickeyMay 104803.jpg

Formerly referred to as Kate the dealer

"I'll be forever grateful for that chance as engaged on the UKIPT, after which at the EPT again, has enabled me to broaden my skillset and gain the experience I WANTED to progress up the ranks to the role I'VE today.

"It's been an absolute pleasure engaged on this tour with all my amazing and talented colleagues, but this is not the tip. We'll all still be around as we move right into a new era with the PokerStars Festival and Championship events.

"So I DO NOT really have a selected memory to inform you I'm afraid, the memory of all the journey is what's important to me, and that i look ahead to it continuing."

2:45pm: Power poker from GillonLevel 4 - Blinds 150/300 (25 ante)

It's rare within the early stages of a poker tournament that we get lucky enough to follow a large hand from begin to finish but I DISCOVERED a haystack and a needle at table 13 and settled in to look at a hand between Colin Gillon and Thomas Simm.

It was actually John Kitchen who got the action started, he raised to 725 from middle position, Simm three-bet to 1,900 at the button and action folded to Gillon, who was within the big blind. Think, dwell, then cold four-bet to 5,000 was the way it went, Kitchen couldn't stand the warmth and got out of there but Simm stuck around.

On the 5♠7♣5♣ flop Gillon bet 6,300 after which watched on as Simm went into the tank. Except a few hard swallows Gillon wasn't giving much away and Simm elected to fold. He drops to 27,000 while Gillon rises to 38,000. --NW

2:40pm: Rees shows he's Jack the ladLevel 3 - Blinds 150/300 (25 ante)

Jonathan Rees' stack has grown to around 57,000 after he made an excellent call in a hand versus Mian Wei.

The Welshman was within the cutoff and facing a 3,500 bet at the turn with a board reading 2♦3♠8♦4♦. He made a rapid call after which faced another 6,000 bet at the K♣ river. He took his time on that street but eventually called with J♥J♠, beating out Wei's 4♠6♥ for a lowly pair of fours. --MC

2:15pm: Break timeLevel 3 - Blinds 100/200 (25 ante)

Three levels down and that implies the players was sent on a fifteen minute break. --NW

2:05pm: One chance down, one to goLevel 3 - Blinds 100/200 (25 ante)

Not that many exits so far, but Chris Straghalis, John Ventre, Danish Ghandi and Tomasz Maciorowski are all out. They've the choice to go into the Day 1C turbo that gets underway at 10pm tonight though. --NW

Ukipt6 birmingham main event day1b chris straghalis.jpg

Straghalis could also be back

1:55pm: It is a bit flash to three-bet GordonLevel 3 - Blinds 100/200 (25 ante)

PokerStars Live on the Hippodrome ambassador Chris Gordon has just dipped below starting stack after he played two three-bet pots in a row. He was the only being three-bet, and he ended up winning one and losing one.

Ben Morrison, who came 11th on the UKIPT6 Super Series last month, was the primary player he tangled with. Gordon opened from the cutoff and called after Morrison three-bet from the massive blind. The flop came 2♦7♥6♠ and Morrison continued for 2,100. Gordon called after which bet 3,100 at the 4♦ turn after he was checked to. Morrison folded and said, "Shouldn't mess with the pros, I DO KNOW that!"

"That's the primary hand he's lost!" said Gordon to the blog. Morrison dropped to 50,000, so he's probably right on that front.

2016 UKIPT Birm Chris Gordon MickeyMay 105034.jpg

Gordon within the action

Gordon raised to 525 the very next hand and was called by Samy Salah before Graham Parkin squeezed to 1,800 from the massive blind. Only Gordon called to the 5♦6♥8♥ flop where both players checked. The board ran out 3♣Q♦ and Parkin checked to stand bets of 1,800 and 3,700. He called both times and opened A♣Q♥ to overcome out Gordon's A♦K♥. --MC

1:40pm: Bad call, good foldLevel 3 - Blinds 100/200 (25 ante)

Poker, a game of constructing decisions under intense pressure with incomplete information. Sometimes you are making the best ones, sometimes the inaccurate ones.

I picked up the action on table seven at the turn of a 3♦2♣6♦T♥ board to peer Craig Wallace betting 500 right into a pot of around 1,600, Tim Chung called, as did Richard Jones. The 9♦ completed the board and Wallace checked it to Chung. He bet 2,200, enough to do away with Jones but not Wallace, who tanked for a minute or so before calling. Chung showed J♠T♠ and Wallace wore an exasperated expression which screamed "I knew it," and he showed pocket eights as Chung took the pot.

A little while later, on a unique table, a large pot had developed between Jonathan Rees and Zoltan Havacs. AN ENTIRE board of 6♦3♣4♣Q♠J♦ was at the felt and Rees bet 4,500. Havacs weighed up his decision before folding A♣Q♣ face-up. Rees tapped the table and was kind enough to turn 3♥3♠ as he took the pot. --NW

1:25pm: The poker chaosLevel 2 - Blinds 75/150

Small seemingly insignificant actions can dramatically alter the end result of a poker hand. A card flipping face-up say, meaning a player gets a special second card. Or, relating to table three, the button being within the wrong position.

Ronit Chamani had raised it as much as 450 from under-the-gun+1 and been flat called by Joshua Wooldridge by the point Brett Angell realised he was within the cut-off and should've been at the button. The ground was called and as significant action had already occurred it was ruled the hand would play out, in preference to being a misdeal.

Action was at the UKIPT4 London champion and he three-bet to 1,500 after which tongue in cheek said to the player on his left. "Look what you've done now!". It folded back to Chamani and both she and Wooldridge smooth called.

So three to a flop then, which fell 8♠A♠7♦, a big gamble of 2,000 from Angell was enough to get the job done and he cheekily said to the dealer: "So I AM GETTING the button twice in a row next orbit right?". Nice try Brett, you should not have even had the cards that won you the pot within the first place. --NW

1:15pm: UKIPT Memories, with Jamie BurlandLevel 2 - Blinds 75/150

UKIPT1 Brighton champion Jamie Burland was a central cog within the early days of the UKIPT. Yes, that was partly as a result of him becoming a Season 1 champion, but in addition so much to do with the best way he (and his crew) embraced the tour and everything it stood for. Way to Jamie for sharing these nice memories and slightly video of his winning moment:

UKIPTBRI Jamie Burland JPG 28688.jpg

Jamie and the men (and girls)

"The UKIPT was a tour that was built on friendship. I'VE met a few of my dearest friends in poker over the felt and on the bars of a number of the stops through the years in this tour. The comradery between the players, the bloggers, the development organisers, the dealing and floor staff was tangible. For a very long time every stop felt as though it was an enormous group of like-minded people pulling within the same direction, seeking to muddle their way during the weekend before returning home and starting work on plans to make it to the following one!

"I must return to the times of Season 1 for a few of my favourite UKIPT memories. My poker travelling buddies, Kevin Williams and Owen Robinson caught the UKIPT bug within the first actual event. Owen got 4th place by and large Event for £21k and it was the shared experience of that deep run that I BELIEVE spurred us directly to continue attending every stop where possible for several years after that.

"We travelled to Vegas that summer and immediately on getting back from America, potless of course, we three travelled to UKIPT Brighton, a tournament I FINISHED up winning and a town I FINISHED up starting a family within the. comradery I described earlier will also be felt on this short clip of my winning moment, Kevin and Owen rushing to embrace me because the winning river card fell. Special times."

UKIPT - Brighton, Jamie Burland's winning moment

1pm: Tough to fold setsLevel 2 - Blinds 75/150

One wonders whether Ross Jarvis reads this blog. If he does, he'll have an interest to look that an old TV nemesis of his, Timothy Slater, was very unfortunate to become the primary player to bust to today after a suite over set cooler.

He, Dominic Kay and another player all took to a 9-T-5 flop where the fireworks went off. The third player within the hand had aces but managed to not get all his chips and that was an excellent job too as Slater had pocket nines for middle set and Kay had pocket tens for high set!

The board ran out blank and Kay shook Slater's hand who then wandered off in a daze. That put Kay into an early chip lead with 70,000. -- MC

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Kay will accept that

12:40pm: Roll up, roll upLevel 1 - Blinds 50/100

New tables are opening up as players continue to reach to take their seats on Day 1B, numerous whom have history at the UKIPT. Like Jack Sambrook, he had the chip lead going into the general table of UKIPT3 Newcastle but nothing went right at the day and he finished seventh.

Another recent arrival is Dara O'Kearney. He's essentially the most successful online qualifier in UKIPT history, mopping up seats as his bread and butter. It hasn't always been as smooth within the live arena though as a chain of near misses from two tables out have peppered his UKIPT Main Event results sheet. He put that right last month when he finished second within the UKIPT Super Series.Another player who cashed in that event is Victor Ilyukhin, he's sharing a table with former Swindon Town chairman Jeremy Wray. We've also spotted Richard Jones, Joseph Lalor, Mark McCluskey, Mark Wagstaff, David Clarkson, Chris Gordon, Ben Morrison, Jonathan Rees, Chris Straghalis and Michael Kane. --NW

12:30pm: Poker circa 2007?Level 1 - Blinds 50/100

It's great to peer that some old faces have pop out of the poker woodwork to assist us see off the tour popular. We've already mentioned old friends akin to David Docherty but we've also seen Dominic Kay, Steve Jelinek and Gary Clarke - three central figures when poker began to boom within the UK and Ireland around nine-ten years ago.

Richie Lawlor had results going back eight years but he's more current after winning his first major title in Kerry a few weeks ago, in conjunction with a tidy €65,000.

He won a small pot off the blinds giving himself a steady nudge within the right direction. He raised preflop and bet 250 on a T♠2♠8♥ flop. Both opponents players folded. -- MC

12:15pm: A COUPLE OF familiar facesLevel 1 - Blinds 50/100

A stroll across the tournament floor has unearthed a couple of UKIPT stalwarts a few of the 70 or so players who've arrived for the outlet level.

Kerryjane Craigie - who's Head of PokerStars Live on the Hippodrome - is here. She had a deep run within the WSOP Employees event, getting all of the technique to heads-up before just failing to win a bracelet. She's sharing a table with Kelly Saxby, who's a PS Live on the Hippodrome sponsored player. That may be awkward if she stacks the boss!

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KJ's got her game face on

Elsewhere David Docherty, who's made two UKIPT Main Event final tables, is on the same table as Tim Chung. That table is currently playing five handed. We spotted Ludovic Geilich getting a drink from the bar, he'll probably be joining the fray shortly.

Neil Raine has 22 cashes at the UKIPT, including three side event wins. His deepest run in a chief Event is 24th place at Cork in Season 3, how he'd like to win the overall UKIPT. A sentiment shared by everyone involved after all so it won't be easy. --NW

12pm: Shuffle up and dealLevel 1 - Blinds 50/100

Card are within the air. Only a reminder that eight 45-minute levels are scheduled for today, so play will end around 6:30pm.

11:50am: UKIPT Memories, featuring Vicky Coren-MitchellLevel 1 - Blinds 50/100

I remember the primary UKIPT event in England - it was in 2010, in Manchester. There has been an excellent atmosphere; at the Saturday night the casino was buzzing, there has been a live band, and half the Manchester United football team were playing a cash game in a corner of the cardboard room. I became determined to get into that game. I went to enroll in the gang watching them, and weirdly, a few the footballers seemed interested to satisfy me (I BELIEVE they ought to have known more about poker than I DO KNOW about football.)

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Twice an EPT champion

Now, you need to remember the fact that we were already within the money within the tournament. I WILL NOT remember what number of folks were left, 40 maybe. But I'm a professional! This was my bread and butter! The type of money available in a game stuffed with footballers paid thirty grand every week... and examine the long game if we got a standard school going... well, naturally I left my tournament chips at the table and went in to make friends. What the hell - I let my tournament stack dwindle down as I chatted and flirted with the sportsmen. Took me maybe an hour but eventually one in all them (I'd like to let you know his name but, as I say, they knew more about poker than I DO KNOW about football) said "Come on, it'd be fun to inform people we've played with you, sit down and join in."

"Sure!" I said. "Let me just get some cash chips. How much are we in for?"

The answer: it was a Saturday night, they did not wish to appear to be mugs, they were playing a fiver a head.

Meanwhile, the fellow who won the UKIPT got £60k. Marvellous."

11:30am: Welcome back to Birmingham for Day 1BLevel 1 - Blinds 50/100

Welcome back to the Genting Casino Star City for Day 1B of UKIPT6 Birmingham. After a comparatively quiet Day 1A, swarms of players are expected to descend at the cars room today. Players we all know needless to say so that they can here here include Team PokerStars Pro Liv Boeree, Igor Kurganov, Dara O'Kearney, Kelly Saxby, Richard Lawlor, Ali Zhini and Ludovic Geilich.

It promises to be a fun day, and a fun remainder of the weekend. Most are very aware that that is the last UKIPT before it's rebranded and are keen to look it off widespread. As a part of the celebrations we're in retrospect at favourite memories of the tour. Stay tuned for a perfect memory from Vicky Coren-Mitchell before cards go within the air at midday. --MC

Key UKIPT6 Birmingham information:

- 25,000 starting stack- Blinds starting at 50/100 for 250 big blinds- Levels are 45 minutes on Day 1 and they will be 8 of them. From Level 13 onwards levels increase to 60 minutes.- Day 1B is today and there is also a turbo Day 1C at 10pm that may be only open to players who've busted on Day 1A or Day 1B.- The sphere will then combine for the primary time on Saturday. We'll reach the money and hopefully the overall table too. Sunday is where the magic happens and we play to a winner. Cue mad celebrations and swigging of champagne from the trophy (possibly).- Full UKIPT6 Birmingham schedule here.

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PokerStars Blog Reporting Team at UKIPT6 Birmingham: Marc Convey and Nick Wright. Photos by Mickey May. Follow the PokerStars Blog on Twitter: @PokerStarsBlog



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