^
12:45pm: Chips!
Level 4: Blinds 150-300, 25 ante
Plenty of big names amongst the 177 players who've entered so far on Day 1A. A round-up of some of the names and notables in the field can be seen below.
| Name | Country | Status | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jack Sambrook | UK | 33,900 | |
| Sean Prendiville | Ireland | PokerStars player | 33,800 |
| Nick Abou Risk | Canada | PokerStars player | 29,200 |
| Dermot Blain | Ireland | PokerStars player | 26,300 |
| Ronan Gilligan | Ireland | PokerStars qualifier | 26,050 |
| Josh Hart | UK | PokerStars player | 25,800 |
| Chris Dowling | Ireland | 25,500 | |
| Rasmus Agerskov | Denmark | 25,400 | |
| Jake Cody | UK | Team PokerStars Pro | 25,000 |
| David Lappin | Ireland | PokerStars qualifier | 24,800 |
| Joseph Lalor | Ireland | PokerStars qualifier | 24,000 |
| Matthew Davenport | UK | 23,600 | |
| Daniel Carter | UK | 22,400 | |
| Marc Macdonnell | Ireland | PokerStars player | 19,400 |
| Andy Black | Ireland | 15,600 |
12:35pm: Blain hoping for a better craic of it in Dublin
Level 4: Blinds 150-300, 25 ante
Dermot Blain is a household name in poker and a regular on the EPT, it wasn't always that way though. In fact the last time the EPT was in town - October 2007 - was the first time Blain had played at an EPT festival. "I played it but I didn't play the Main Event because I busted my bankroll," he told the PokerStars Blog.
"I was playing 2/5 and 5/10 cash games and a Swedish guy flopped three kings against my flush draws three times and wiped me out. I'm hoping for some redemption," he said with a smile. He's at the same table as Jake Cody and currently has around 26,300. --NW
12:30pm: All about the antes
Level 3: Blinds 100-200, 25 ante
When the antes kick into a tournament, the action normally spikes as there's more chips on offer to be won. That "extra" action can result in the rate of eliminations going up per level. Four players have departed in level 3 and they are: Padraigh Cody-Lally, Shakhabiddin Muradov, Noel Murphy and Evangelos Tsairis. -- MC
12:15pm: Smith sends Yamauti to the rail
Level 3: Blinds 100-200, 25 ante
"All in on table two," was the call from the dealer. This sort of action this early in a tournament is rare, so I wandered over to the table to get the low down on what was happening.
Gareth Smith was the player who was all in, he'd shoved on the river for about 12,600 into a pot of roughly 8,500. His opponent, Laercio Yamauti, was eyeing up the [Kd][Ac][2d][4d][Ts] board and debating what to do. He actually had less than Smith - it looked to be right around 10,000 - and after about a minute he called.
Smith showed [Ad][9d] for the nuts and Yamauti tapped the table, as it was an all in he had to turn his hand over and he revealed [As][7s] as he left the table. --NW
12:05pm: The UKIPT has arrived
Level 3: Blinds 100-200, 25 ante
If one had to define the UKIPT using only player names, three of the first names of most people's lips would be Jake Cody along with serial qualifiers Dara O'Kearney and David Lappin.
The Team PokerStars Pro and the local lads were seen waiting for their seat allocation along with former UKIPT champion Josh Hart and three-time UKIPT finalist Chris Dowling. They may be late but at least they can brag that they made the antes! -- MC
11:30am: Day 1A up to 160 entries as first break hits
Level 2: Blinds 75-150
Players continued to trickle in from the fresh winter air outside, taking off scarves and jackets, readying themselves for battle.
Peter Eichhardt, who narrowly missed out (10th) on the EPT12 Barcelona final table has taken his seat a couple of tables along from Marc MacDonnell, who felt similar joy/disappointment at EPT12 Prague Main Event(14th). Other players in before the first 20-minute break included Dermot Blain, Matt Davenport and Zoltan Gal. The one and only player to bust before the break was Andrea Gilligan. -- MC
11:10am: Don't judge a poker player by his appearance
Level 2: Blinds 75-150
When online poker first started becoming popular online qualifiers were looked down on by their live poker playing counterparts. Online qualifier was just another way to say 'fish' or 'fun player'. Over time that changed, with the reputation doing a complete 360. Online players then began to look down on live players as dinosaurs of the game.
Now I think there's one section of poker players who are still looked upon as being generally bad, I'm talking about 'old' players. Five years ago the general consensus was that if a player at your table had grey hair he was likely passive, tight and generally easy to play against.
Increasingly I don't think that's the case anymore. Older players - especially those who're retired, self-employed or semi-employed - have lots of time to devote to the game, plenty of resources to learn from and are increasingly using that time to put in hours grinding online.
Take Joseph Lalor for instance. He's a 55-year-old computer software writer who lives in Dublin, he's playing today and he's busy doing a crossword between hands. You'd think he was probably a recreational poker player who's taking his shot at a UKIPT as it's in his home town. You'd be wrong.
He got into poker at school although back then it was draw and stud poker. However, he started playing online intermittently about ten years ago and began taking it more seriously about five years later. Since then he's had much success (his largest online score is $130,000) and he's made the final table of the Sunday Million twice - once when it was a WCOOP event.
We know all this because Lalor final tabled UKIPT5 Bristol in August, where he finished fifth winning £16,000.
Old guys, and gals, can play too. -- NW
10:55am: Get in cheap
Level 2: Blinds 75-150
The €1,100 buy in for this UKIPT may look small when you consider the levels of some of the tournament buy ins throughout the EPT Dublin Poker Festival, but it's still a considerable about of money to many. When money was tight as a student, many of us compared the cost of everything to a pint of beer ("I'm not paying that, I could drink four beers for that!". Apparently, a pint of Guinness in Temple Bar will set you back €5.50, which means you could drink 200 pints for the cost of an entry ticket.
Never fear though as you can always qualify via a live satellite here at the RDS in Dublin. As written below they are scheduled for today at 16.00 GMT and 21.30 GMT. The same tournaments yesterday generated 27 seats between them but today's are expected to generate many more. Get involved and come and join the fun on the cheap. -- MC
10:40am: Taking the Risk of turning up early
Level 1: Blinds 50-100
One of the 110 players who've taken their seats during the opening level is two-time UKIPT champion Nick Abou Risk. He used to work for Full Tilt and is seated at the same table as PokerStars Staff Member Christin Maschmann.
"I haven't got up this early in forever," said Abou Risk when we passed by his table. -- NW
10:20am: Well done to 90 of you!
Level 1: Blinds 50-100
As was mentioned in the opening post, the UKIPT has a pre-dawn start time today. Okay, maybe that's not quite true but us poker folk barely know that 10am exists, or if we do, it's only witnessed with our own eyes when making a mad dash to make a hotel breakfast on tour.
Therefore, congratulations to the 90-odd players that actually made it to the RDS for the start of play today. Specifically (because we recognise who they are) well done to PokerStars staff member Christin Maschmann; local Irish poker star Andy Black; former EPT player of the year Fernando Brito; former UKIPT London finalist Rasmus Agerskov and Dan Carter. -- MC
09:50am: Top o' the mornin' to ya
Good morning! It's a brisk sunny winter's day here in Dublin and an earlier start than usual on the UKIPT. For most folk 10am would be considered a late start but in the world of poker 10am is positively the crack of dawn.
The UKIPT Main Event is the first of the big events in the 67 tournament schedule that makes up the UKIPT/EPT Dublin festival that runs until the 20th February. Whilst the EPT last touched down in Dublin in October 2007, the UKIPT has been heading to Dublin on the regular and was last here at the end of February 2015.
There have been some memorable final tables in Dublin, Max Silver obliterated the final table competition in four hours, Joeri Zandvliet won his second UKIPT title here and last year we had, perhaps, the most memorable UKIPT final table of all time.
In the red corner was Max Silver, he just loves playing in Dublin on the UKIPT, one win and a fourth prior to last year and he was chasing his second UKIPT title in his home city, a win that would put him in exalted company.
In the blue corner was Kevin Killeen, one of the bright young things of Irish poker and a tour regular who'd not had a big result on the UKIPT...yet. Backed by a vociferous rail, who were all dressed in onesies, they sung their man to victory: "We don't take silver we only take gold," was the chant that lives long in the memory.
Over the next six days we're hopeful this edition of UKIPT Dublin will more than match those that have gone before.
Key UKIPT5 Dublin Facts:
- 25,000 starting stack
- Blinds starting at 50/100 for 250 big blinds
- Levels are 45 minutes on Day 1 and they'll be 12 of them. From Day 2 onwards levels increase to 60 minutes.
- Day 1A is today, Day 1B takes place tomorrow, the field will then combine for the first time on Friday. We'll reach the money during the 10 levels of play on Day 2 and then play down to a final table on Saturday. Sunday is a rest day, and then on Monday the final table will play out on the TV table on EPTLive with cards-up coverage and bring Season 5 of the UKIPT to a close. Cue mad celebrations and swigging of champagne from the trophy (possibly).
- Full UKIPT5 Dublin schedule here.
- There's a boat load of other events today including a €5,000 (!) Hold'em event and two live satellites to the Main Event tonight. Those satellites start at 16.00 GMT and 21.30 GMT.
- It's not all about the poker here in Dublin. There are plenty of #StarsFun activities including Dodgeball Trampolining. Yes, you read that right Dodgeball Trampolining.
PokerStars Blog Reporting Team at UKIPT5 Dublin: Marc Convey and Nick Wright. Photos by Mickey May
Top 10 NO deposit Bonus offers @
Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: UKIPT]
No comments:
Post a Comment