The last flight of the P1M Guarantee Main Event is underway with players quickly filling up the tables at PokerStars Live Manila. There will be two day 1d heats to qualify into the final day, one at 215pm and the other at 530pm. The earlier heat has a P1000 entry fee and unlimited re-entry, and the last heat will have a P2000 buyin and is a freezeout event. Random updates will be posted right here.

10:30PM: Lima eliminated by Perreau; day 1d ends with Perreau on top

After Jun Labadan's elimination, it was down to the bubble stage. This ended quickly with Roque Lima moving all and getting called by David Perreau and another player. At the flop of [7d][jd][as], Perreau went all in and faced Lima on a showdown when the other player folded. Lima had [qc][7h] and Perreau had [ac][6c]. The turn of [3d] and river of [2d] failed to improve Lima's pair and he bubbled to the final day. With his elimination, Perreau ended the day as the chip leader with 184.5K chips.

10:15PM: Gutierrez cracks aces, avoids elimination; Hui rails Issa

Pedro Gutierrez gambled with his pocket sixes without realizing he was up against pocket aces. It was a good all in with the board running [5d][4c][7c][8d][qd] giving him a straight and a double up to over 100k.

At the other table, Jean Issa moved all in and was followed by Yao Hui with more chips. Issa had pocket sevens and Hui had pocket kings. The board ran well for Hui as it improved him to a full house [4h][8d][4d][2c][kc] even if he didn't need it.

10:00PM: Rockets for Ona gives him the chip lead

Antonio Ona became the chip leader while holding [ad][ah] against a player who shoved with [kc][as]. The board was [2d][ks][jd][7c][th]. Ona now has over 200k chips.

9:45PM: Erquiaga rails Villanueva, over 150K

Dave Erquiaga ended JR Villanueva's day in a hand that began with him raising to 25k on the cutoff seat. From the small blind seat, Villanueva moved all in. After Ronald Dimaano on the big blind folded, Erquiaga called. Villanueva had [as][9h] and Erquiaga had [qs][th]. With the board running [9s][3c][js][6h][tc], Villanueva was eliminated and Erquiaga climbed to 150k chips.

9:30PM: Labadan doubles up through Lima

In a battle of the blinds, short stacked Renato Labadan moved all in and was called Roque Lima on the big blind. Labadan had king-jack and Lima had ace-queen. The board was good to Labadan who connected with both of his cards awarding him a double up. Several hands later, Labadan moved all in again, he had 21.5k chips. He wasn't called and he earned the blinds and antes.

9:00PM: Ortanez rails a couple; Ona burns two

Christian Ortanez claimed a couple of heads in two separate hands. In the first hand he called a player's all in. He had pocket nines and the all in player had six-seven offsuit. The board ran 7-Q-Q-K-K and Ortanez won with his nine kicker. On his next win, Ortanez defended his big blind and auto-called a player's shove. Ortanez had queen-eight against ace-seven. The board landed him a straight with his eight and he scooped up another pot.

At the same table as Ortanez, Antonio Ona was placed in a tough spot when his initial raise of 10k saw one player (with 9300) move all in and Ashley de Guzman following suit with an additional 27.8k for Ona to call. After tanking, Ona called generating a hefty side pot. The first all in player had [ad][6c], De Guzman had [ac][qc] and Ona had [8d][8h]. The board ran [th][6d][td][8s][kc] giving Ona the solid win with a full house. He eliminated both of his opponents.

8:45PM: Gutierrez rails two, climbs to over 120k

With already a big stack to aid him, Pedro Gutierrez pumped it up more in two hands back-to-back. In the first hand, he limped in the 2k big blind, then JR Villanueva re-raised to 5200, the big blind player shoved his 10k stack, and both Gutierrez and Villanueva called. At the flop of [qc][8h][5d], Gutierrez bet 5k then called a raise to 11k by Villanueva. On the turn of [ac], Gutierrez moved all in with a large stack for Villanueva to call. He opted to fold and Gutierrez took the side pot. On the showdown with the all in player, Gutierrez had [ah][kd] and was ahead against [qd][jd]. The river of [7c] ended the hand with Gutierrez winning the pot while railing a player.

On the next hand, Gutierrez had't arranged his chips yet when he called the all in of a player with 24,700 chips. Gutierrez had [kd][qd] and his opponent had [th][ts]. The window card was a good one with the flop of [kh][9s][5s]. The turn of [6s] and river of [7d] sealed the win for Gutierrez and he shipped in another sweet pot. Gutierrez now has around 120k chips.

8:30PM: Ortiz doubles up

Chris Ortiz mustered up the guts in this hand and it proved to be fruitful in the end. It began with him raising to 3500 only to get challenged by a three-bet by the big blind to 9800. Ortiz quickly called and the dealer laid out the flop of [3s][td][ac]. The big blind player went all in with his remaining 10k and with only 7100 in his arsenal, Ortiz] dumped it in the pot. The bb player had pocket kings and Ortiz had ace-four diamonds. With the turn of [7h] and river of [jd], Ortiz scooped up a double up while crippling down his opponent.

8:15PM: Ortanez doubles up and rails Gopez; Felix rails one

Christian Ortanez was all in with Ronaldo Barbon and Edilberto Gopez with him in the hand. Ortanez had pocket sevens and was up against ace-king and ace-two. The board landed another seven giving him a set and the win. Gopez was railed in the process.

Edgar Angelo Felix and another player called a short stackedplayer's all in on a board of [5c][js][as]. On the turn of [7s] both checked, but on the river of [9d], Felix led out for 5500 and eventually his opponent called. Felix won the hand against the all in player with his [qs][5s] landing a flush.

8:00PM: Late registration ends

Late registration of the final heat of day 1d has ended with 148 players in the books. There are currently 95 players remaining. They will play down to 15 players.

7:45PM: Aquino earns a good pot

Raul Aquino earned a good pot that we caught on the river. With a board of [2s][jh][6d][6h][ac], Aquino bet 3500 and got his challenger to call. Aquino revealed his full house with pocket jacks. His opponent showed his ace two pairs on the river.

7:30PM: Hyongchol Kim and Labadan current leaders

With 115 players still in the field and late registration still open, Hyongchol Kim seems to be the current leader with nearly 50k chips, that's around 4x the average stack. Jun Labadan sits with over 40k.

7:15PM: Notables at the felt

As we are catching the action late, here are some of the notables left in the field: Joven Huerto, Dave Colclough, Jessie Leonarez, In Sin, Anacleto Quijano, Edgar Angelo Felix, Jean Issa, Regie Ann delos Reyes, Edilberto Gopez, and Seyedomid Hadipour.

7:00PM: Action at the 2nd heat of day 1d

Now that the first heat has concluded, we zone into the second heat with 137 entries so far in the books. Since this is a freezeout tournament, those eliminated will not be allowed to re-enter. There are currently 109 players left in the field.

6:45PM: Padernal boots Shin; day 1d first heat ends

Manny Padernal called Jae Wook Shin's all in preflop and it was a showdown. Shin had [qh][jh] and Padernal had [ah][ks]. The board ran [ac][2s][9h][6c][8c] and Shin was eliminated. With 7 players remaining, they bagged up. Padernal ended the first heat of day 1d as the leader with 175k chips.

6:30PM: A big hand for Leano, down to the bubble

Derek Leano called a player's all in of 50.5K leaving himself just under 20k behind. Leano had [jc][jd] and was up against [kh][th]. When the flop landed [jh][9h][td], Leano had a set but his opponent had a pair straight flush draw. The turn of [8d] kept Leano ahead, and when the river felted the last remaining jack, [js], Leano exclaimed in celebration at his quads. This left 8 players in the table with only 7 qualifying into the final day.

6:15PM: Leano breathes a sigh of relief

Derek Leano was in a hand with a short stacked player who was all in. After both hole cards were revealed, Leano was way ahead with pocket aces and was up against jack-ten. When the board ran 10-9-4-Jack, Leano was suddenly behind, but with the river landing an ace, Leano jumped back in the lead with a set and eliminated his opponent.

6:00PM: Shin goes up and then gets chunked

At the first hand of the final table of 11 players, one player went all in and Shin shoved as well. Shin had [9d][9c] and was looking to avoid two overcards [ah][qd] to win the pot and eliminate a player. The board ran [2d][6c][7d][9h][tc] and Shin scooped the pot with a set and sent one to the rail.

Shortly after, Shin lost a chunk of his stack when his [as][qs] failed to land a higher hand against Alejevel Yburan with pocket kings. Yburan nears 100k chips.

5:45PM: Sigua doubles up through Shin

In a battle of the blinds, Aristotle Sigua and Jae Wook Shin battled for a pot that had Sigua getting the best of it. Catching the action only on the river, the board showed [3h][ts][3s][6h][4h]. Acting first was Sigua who laid out a bet sending Shin tanking for a bit. Shin then shoved his bigger stack and in a snap, Sigua called. Shin had [7s][5c] for a straight however Sigua had [3d][td] for a full house.

5:30PM: Day 1d P2000 heat setting up

The second heat of day 1d is about to get underway. We will have updates for you after the first heat has ended.

5:30PM: De Guzman climbs to over 70K; Padernal wins four way shove, has over 70K

We didn't catch most of Joe De Guzman's rise but in a recent hand, he claimed another head and big pot with his pocket jacks. With that win, he surged past 70K chips.

At another table, Manny Padernal earned a sweet pile of chips after winning a four-way all in jackpot. He had [ad][kd] and was up against pocket jacks, king-jack, and another short stack with 10-7. The board banged an ace on the flop giving him the lead that held on to the end. Having the most number of chips,Padernal climbed to almost 80k chips.

5:15PM: Leano gaining ground

Derek Leano is picking up some chips. He railed a player with his ace-five besting king-five and then won another pot with his king-queen out-flopping pocket jacks with a queen landing on the board. This gave him a happy double up.

5:00PM: Players dropping fast

It seems there are player hitting the rail almost every second. Recent casualties were John Tech and Yao Hui. Antonio Angeles railed two players instantly, one of them being Jean Issa. Angeles had pocket kings against one player's pocket jacks and Issa with ace-queen. The board ran a dramatic [ad][3h][th][kd][2s].

4:45PM: Big stacks

Getting a feel of who the big stacks are at this time, John King and Jae Chul Chang are well over double the average stack however both are seated at the same table. Joseph Sia is also sporting a hefty stack at his table.

4:30PM: Leonarez eliminated

With the blinds and antes forcing short stacks to shove lest they get blinded out, Jessie Leonarez moved all in and was up against a fellow countryman Aristotle Sigua with a higher stack. Leonarez had [ks][qs] and had to get lucky on the board against [ah][8s]. The board did not do him any justice as it ran [2h][7c][6c][6h][8h] and he was eliminated.

4:15PM: Late registration closes

Late registration is now closed and we have entered the freezeout stage of the first heat of day 1d. There were a total of 135 entries with 66 remaining. It was announced the 7 players will qualify into the final day.

3:15PM: Notables and Info

After one hour of play, that's 4 levels, there are 107 entries already posted on the screen with 20 of them having already hit the rail. Among those seen battling it out at the felt are Jean Issa, John Tech, Yao Hui, Jae Chul Chang, Edilberto Gopez, and Joseph Sia to mention a few.

If you were thinking that after the Easter weekend things might now return to a quieter, steadier tempo you'd be wrong. Even I thought there might not be much to note this weekend, just the usual schedule of high stakes weekend majors, etc., etc. But I was wrong. There's plenty. 

Mountains to climb

So let's start at the top. Or should that be the bottom?

Mountain Series

If you haven't already seen details of our mountain series (I don't know about you but this always makes me think of the yodelling mountaineer on the "Price is Right") we're giving away more than $4 million in guaranteed prize money in what is our newest tournament festival. 

As crazy as this sounds the Mountain Series features ten events over four days (April 7-10) with progressive buy-ins ranging from $11 (Mount Sugarloaf) to the $2,100 (that would be Mount Everest). Get all the details, the nuance, and the fun, on the Mountain Series homepage.

Storm forecast

We don't usually do weather forecasts but it is only right to point out that there's a storm brewing, a Sunday Storm to be exact, scheduled to blow in on April 17 at 13:30 ET on the dot. 

This one though is the Fifth Anniversary edition of the Sunday Storm, which makes it all right. 

With a buy in of just $11 the Storm is one of the more accessible Sunday Majors, and with a $1 million guarantee it's desirable too. What's more the usual slate of satellites could win you entry for as little as $0.11 - that's back of the sofa money folks - while a VIP Bash satellite can be entered for just 100 StarsCoin. No doubt you'll want the details, all of which can be found on the Sunday Storm homepage.

Stateside

Our friends over in New Jersey have wasted no time at all in stirring up headlines. Like this one: "$50,000 guaranteed in the PokerStarsNJ Sunday Special Big Game". 

That takes place this Sunday at 18:00 ET, but it's not just about the poker. Reading through the small print for a second it seems, yes... that's right... it says here that players who take part in the event also get the chance to "pick a team to win the College Basketball Championship game". 

Choose correctly and you'll get a ticket to two All-in Shootout Freerolls taking place on April 6, with $15,000 to be won. Choose incorrectly and what the heck, you'll get the consolation of an All-in Shootout Freeroll with $5,000 to be won. 

Quite frankly you're on your own with the college pick, but find all the details of the event on the Sunday Big Game homepage.

CardHunt

By happy coincidence $5,000 also happens to be the amount won every day during the PokerStars CardHunt promotion, which runs through to April 15. 

Once again, the people in the promotions department have excelled themselves (we lock them in a room and force them to), creating a daily poker puzzle which you'll find in your Challenges window. Follow the instructions to complete the puzzle. In short that entails winning hands with certain cards. We've explained everything here just in case.

London calling

There are now just five days until the United Kingdom and Ireland Poker Tour returns for its sixth season, kicking off at the Hippodrome Casino in central London. UKIPT6 London begins next Tuesday, April 5, with the final table of the Main Event bringing the festival to an end on April 10, all of which will be covered on the Blog. 

In between there are 70 scheduled tournaments, with the usual online satellites offering the chance to win your seat for a fraction of the price. Either way the Hippodrome is always a great place to play poker, and to celebrate and/or commiserate afterwards. Here's what we wrote about the festival earlier.

That's everything. Play well on PokerStars this weekend, be nice to your dealer, and as always send any thoughts and comments to us on Twitter: @PokerStarsBlog.

The last day one flight of the PokerStars Live Manila P1M Guarantee Main Event has concluded with another 22 players qualifying into the final day. In the first heat of the day, Filipino player Manny Padernal ended the day as the chip leader with 175k at bagging. At the second heat of the day, Frenchman David Perreau claimed the top spot with 184.5k chips.

The day began quite fiercely with many players taking to the felt in the first heat. This qualifying heat had a P1000 unlimited re-entry buy-in which pooled in a total of 135 entries. With quite a fast structure, big names were dropping like flies such as John Tech, Edilberto Gopez, Jay Lubas, Jean Issa, and John King. By the end of late registration, only 66 remained in the field with only 7 players guaranteed a spot into the final day.

As play continued, Dereck Leano picked up some sizable winning pots that sent his stack up from the dumps. Joseph Sia seemed to have a big stack for the entire day. Aristotle Sigua railed one of the toughest players in the field, Jessie Leonarez, and held on to it into the final table.

The player to give most mention to however was Padernal who earned one of the happiest pots of the day after winning a four-way all in. Padernal had [ad][kd] that found an ace on the flop against three shorter stacks. The hand that sent him to the top of his heat was when he railed Korea's Jae Wook Shin as the bubble holding big slick again.

At the second heat, the buy-in was P2000 with no re-entry allowed. By the end of late registration, the heat saw 148 players with only 15 of them making the cut into the final day.

It took a while for the field to downsize but players Christian Ortanez, Dave Erquiaga, and Pedro Gutierrez were picking up some big pots and sending numerous players to the rail. Although Ortanez and Erquiaga steered clear of danger, Gutierrez lost a lot of his chips and eventually had to find a spot to double up. He took a stand with his pocket sixes but faced a player with pocket aces. With some luck, Gutierrez was able to double up when he connected with a straight.

With action down to two tables, Antonio Ona had the biggest stack with over 200k chips which he won after eliminating two players simultaneously with his pocket eights improving to a full house. Ona ended the day second in his heat with 178,500 chips.

As for Perreau, he earned his top spot in two moments. He three-bet all in on top of Erquiaga's raise and won the pot without a challenge. He then followed it up with his [ac][6c] eliminating Roque Lima in bubble position.

With all day one flights concluded, action will resume tomorrow at 1230PM. For a read on some of the action of day 1d, proceed to this link: Day 1d Updates.

You might already have it marked on the calendar; you may even be counting down the days. Alternatively you might be grinding away in satellites, or giving the new Spin & Go's a try, which so far have turned a few dollars into a package worth $9,000 for more than 150 players. But whatever you're doing, you're likely of the same mind - that one way or another the EPT Grand Final is not to be missed, and you need to get there.

We salute that attitude, because we happen to think it's dead right. The EPT Grand Final in Monaco is an event like no other, in a part of the world like no other. As if that wasn't enough the EPT festival is probably the best of its kind anywhere.

Part of that is because while the action at the tables is the best of its kind, events away from the table offers a few more reasons to be cheerful, from prizes and parties, even a career change. It's called #StarsFun, and here are some of the details.

Sports Simulator Challenge

I know what you're thinking. Come on, it's just a video game. But poker players like to win, and that extends to beyond the table. One minute you're running deep in a tournament, the next you can think of nothing but beating a high score. That's where the EPT Grand Final "Hexathlon" comes in.

Running between April 27 to May 5 from noon to 10pm, the 'Hexathlon' will award prizes for the daily high score and overall leader board prizes, with members of Team PokerStars Pro taking part. The games played include football, field hockey, golf-putting, American football, basketball and tennis.

1st: ESPT Barcelona Main Event package + Helicopter ride for two
2nd: 'Sunday Bundle' of online tickets + Helicopter ride for two
3rd: Helicopter ride for two

Charity Event in aid of Right To Play

There will be more prizes on offer in the Right To Play charity event, taking place on April 30 at 7:30pm. These have taken place at every EPT stop this season, proving hugely popular, not just for the cause itself but for the spirit at atmosphere in which the tournaments are played.

In Monaco there will be more of the same, and more great prizes to be won. The format is still a €150 buy in with unlimited €50 rebuys, and as before various Pros are expected to turn out, with prizes donated by EPT Travel. What do they include? Glad you asked.

1st: €1,000 in cash
2nd: iPhone 6 Plus
3rd: €550 in Live Event tournament credits
4th: iPad Air 2
5th: Weekend away for two
6th: Apple watch
7th: €330 in Live Event tournament credits
8th: Dinner for two

Live SPIN & GO

There's something oddly enthralling about a live Spin & Go, which never fails to attract a sizeable rail, not least when the wheel is spun and when three players sit down to play for big money. In Monaco you can do the same, as the revolutionary online format goes all "real life".

Spin & Go's will be running from April 27 to May 4 between 1pm-8pm, with the replica wheel awarding up to €10,000 per spin in each three-handed game. That's the most we've ever offered in a live setting, and guaranteed to draw a crowd.

Buy-ins range from €55 to €550, awarding the following maximum prizes per spin:

€50 + €5, win up to €1,000
€100 + €10, win up to €2,000
€200 + €20, win up to €4,000
€500 + €50, win up to €10,000

Ideas Hub

Away from the tables PokerStars is once again looking to tap into the creative genius of its players in our Ideas Hub, which runs from April 30 to May 2, from 5pm to 9pm each day. Players are invited to come along and share their PokerStars ideas with representatives from the company. It's a forum that has come up with various creations that have transformed the playing experience on PokerStars, and it's a tradition we're keen to continue. Come along and tell us about your big idea.

Dealer Auditions

Alternatively if you're interested in working for the world best poker dealer team, then you'll be interested in our Dealer Auditions taking place on the final day of the EPT Grand Final, May 6 at 2pm. They're open to anyone who meets the criteria. Email ept@pslive.com for details, or visit the Information Desk at the event.

Player Party

Lastly, it wouldn't be an EPT finale without a player party, which this time signs off Season 12 in spectacular fashion at Jimmy'z nightclub. It all kicks off at 10pm, with free drinks available up until midnight. After that the Riviera is your Oyster - as it is for the duration of the festival. Few places match the Riviera for climate, beauty and general joie de vivre. Whether your interests lay at the table or off it, the festival is not to be missed. Find all the details you'll need on the EPT homepage.

The world's largest online poker site, PokerStars, an Amaya Inc. (NASDAQ: AYA; TSX: AYA) brand, today announced a partnership with the New Jersey chapter of Autism Speaks, the world's leading autism science and advocacy organization. Through its Corporate Giving Programme, Helping Hands, PokerStars will become a Premier Sponsor of Autism Speaks, supporting ongoing research, advocacy and awareness efforts during Autism Awareness Month in April - and beyond.

In March, PokerStars re-entered the United States by launching its platform in New Jersey and is continuing to show its dedication to the state by bringing awareness to autism research through one of the causes' largest champions: Autism Speaks - New Jersey Chapter. This cause is especially important to some of the Team PokerStars Pros, particularly Chris Moneymaker, whose life has been affected by autism.

"Today, autism is a complex and often misunderstood disorder that affects 1 out of 68 children and millions of families, including many of those within the PokerStars family," said Eric Hollreiser, Vice President of Corporate Communications for Amaya Inc. and PokerStars. "We are eager to partner with Autism Speaks New Jersey to help raise funds and awareness for this important work."

The brand will kick off Autism Awareness Month by participating in Light It Up Blue, an international, annual campaign led by Autism Speaks, which sees thousands of iconic landmarks, skyscrapers, schools, businesses and homes across the globe unite by shining bright blue lights on April 2nd, in honor of the millions of individuals and families affected by autism. The colour is in reflection of the Autism Speaks logo, which is blue because boys are four times more likely to be affected than girls - with 1 in 29 boys diagnosed with autism. PokerStars will play its part in the day by changing its striking red spade logo to blue, to help raise awareness. PokerStars' fundraising efforts will be further supported through various campaigns and events throughout 2016 - culminating with the Autism Speaks black tie gala in Spring 2017.

"We are thankful for the generous support of PokerStars and their commitment to raising autism awareness and promoting inclusion and acceptance by leveraging their global platform," said Heather Hays, Executive Director, Autism Speaks New Jersey. "During the month of April and over the next few months, we will be announcing exciting fundraising initiatives and events with PokerStars NJ and Helping Hands to further engage with local communities and encourage friends, neighbors and families to support autism awareness."

"My family and I were delighted to learn of PokerStars' commitment to Autism Speaks New Jersey, which - in turn - will raise funds and awareness for research and advocacy across the country," said Team PokerStars Pro Chris Moneymaker. "Our family has been and is currently affected by this disorder, and as a dedicated member of the PokerStars family, I am personally touched by the brand's decision to support a cause near to my heart."

To learn more about PokerStars and Autism Speaks New Jersey or to donate to this important cause, please visit http://www.pokerstarsnj.com/about/charity/autism-speaks.

The final day of the PokerStars P1M Guarantee Main Event will see the return of the 51 players, all of them having qualified at the previous day one flights. Everyone is already guaranteed P4000 with Filipino player Pedro Gutierrez getting a double up as he was the only player who qualified with two stacks. Though that is indeed a happy reward for everyone having survived the grueling day one flights, the real target today is to capture the first place purse of P190,000. In addition to the cash prize, the top 5 players will receive a seat worth P25,000 to the Manila Megastack 5.

Entering the day as the overall chip leader is Filipino player Julius Lagman with 262,500 chips. This is nearly 2.5x the average stack of the day. Right behind him is China's Zhinning Chen with 237,500 chips, followed by Filipino Vivencho Nachor with 219,000 chips, and Christopher Mateo also from the home country with 213,000 chips. These four players are the only survivors who crossed the 200k chip mark.

Joining the leaders is Frenchman David Perreau who bagged up the most chips, 184,500, at the final heat of the Main Event last night. Other notable players who also won the majority of their battles and secured a seat today were China's Yao Hui, PokerStars regular Nickolai Alexandrov, Joseph Sia, Dave Erquiaga, Manny Padernal, and Anacleto Quijano.

Along with the big stacks today are many short stacks needing to get beefed up early. Among those are Edwin Marzan, John King, and Julius Clark Trance. It is worth acknowledging that Trance is one to watch out for as he most definitely earned the title of having the most lives at yesterday's final heat.

For those who bust out early, not to fret as there is more poker in store with the Deepstack Turbo Freezeout kicking off at 215PM. Buy-in for this event is P5000 accompanied by a starting stack of 10,000 chips. Later in the evening, at 7pm, the all in one handed shootout event, famously known as Flipout, will be happening, and will certainly liven up the hearts of those feeling lucky.

We will be posting random updates on the action today. We also have updates on some of the action at yesterday's day 1d heats.

Here we go! The PokerStars Live Manila P1M Guarantee gets underway with 51 players returning for their final battle. The eventual winner will take home P190,000 in cold hard cash and the victory trophy. Coming in with the largest stack is Julius Lagman with 262,500 chips and bringing up the rear is John King with 25,000 chips. We will post random updates throughout the day and a blow-by-blow reporting of the final table.

6:50PM: Michael De Leon wins the Main Event!

Michael De Leon and Julius Lagman saw 9 hands at the heads up round with the last one finally seeing some cards on the board. Action went, De Leon shoved and Lagman called. De Leon had [kd][4c] and Lagman had [kc][3c]. This was a must win hand for De Leon because if Lagman were to double up, the chip lead would quickly shift. When the dealer laid out the flop of [7d][4s][jh], De Leon improved to a pair, and with the turn of [9c], that was it. Lagman was drawing dead and De Leon reigned victorious. De Leon earned himself P140,000, the Main Event trophy, plus a seat to the Manila Megastack 5.

Although he ran one spot short, Lagman collected P130,000 for his deep run plus a seat to the Manila Megastack 5.

6:45PM: Heads Up

We are now down to the last two players.
Michael De Leon 3,495,000
Julius Lagman 1,590,000

Blinds up 80k/160k ante 20k

6:40PM: Antonio Ona settles for third place - P115,000

After losing to Julius Lagman, Antonio Ona was all in and Michael De Leon made the call. De Leon had [ad][9s] and Ona had [4s][7s]. The board offered no improvement for Ona and he finished his run in third place. He collected P115,000 and a seat worth P25K to the Manila Megastack 5.

6:30PM: Lagman hits Ona again

Both Antonio Ona and Julius Lagman were at it again with Ona holding [qd][9s] and Lagman with [th][ts]. The board bricked and Lagman hits back at Ona. Lagman now at 1.5M chips.

6:25PM: Ona retaliates

Immediately after losing to Julius Lagman, Antonio Ona retaliated and took his chips back. He went all in with [jd][th] and Lagman called with [qh][jc]. The board produced a ten on the flop giving Ona a pair that held on to the end. He is back up to over 1.4M while Lagman fell to 660K.

6:20PM: Lagman doubled up by Ona

After several orbits of no flop action, the two short stacks were all in, Julius Lagman and Antonio Ona. Lagman had [as][5s] and Ona had [ad][9h]. The board was nutty as it ran [kd][ah][3c][2s][4s] landing Lagman a straight on the river and a double up to 1.3M chips.

6:15PM: Blinds up

Blinds are up to 60k/120k with 20k ante. We are still three-handed.

6:10PM: De Leon takes down another big pot

Michael De Leon is clearly way ahead in chips and he earned another big pot in a hand against Antonio Ona. With a pot of 650k already in the middle and a board of [th][7d][8h][ac][2d], De Leon bet 300k and was shipped the hefty pile after Ona folded. De Leon now has 2.5M chips, nearly half the total number of chips.

6:05PM: Vivencho Nachor finishes in 4th place - P55,800

With nothing but shoves going on, Vivencho Nachor moved all in with 510k and Michael De Leon tossed in the binding chip. Nachor had [jc][9d] and De Leon had [qc][jh]. The board ran [8h][jd][3h][td][as] and with that, Nachor took 4th place. He earned P55,800 and a seat worth P25k to the Manila Megastack 5.

6:00PM: Jay Lapidin ends in 5th place - P40,600

Jay Lapidin was the next to fall. He shoved with 700k and Michael De Leon entered the challenge. Lapidin had [kd][td] and De Leon had [9c][9s]. The board ran low and De Leon's hand sent Lapidin packing in 5th place. Lapidin earned P40,600 and a seat worth P25k to the Manila Megastack 5.

5:55PM: Lagman takes chip lead with a big double up

Julius Lagman went all in and Vivencho Nachor made the big call of 890k. Lagman had [ad][kd] and Nachor had [ah][js]. The board bricked and Lagman doubled up to 1.9M chips. He is the current chip leader.

5:50PM: Ona folds to Nachor

Antonio Ona raised to 250k only to face Vivencho Nachor's shove of an additional 885k. Ona folded.

5:45PM: Sam Peralta exits in 6th place - P32,100

Sam Peralta went all in with his 435k stack and Vivencho Nachor matched him up. Peralta had [ah][3h] and Nachor had [4h][4c]. The board ran [qc][qs][kc][7d][4h] filling up Nachor to a dominating boat and Peralta exited in 6th place. He collected P32,100 for his finish.

5:40PM: Ona pushes out Nachor

From the button Vivencho Nachor raised to 160k and Antonio Ona on the big blind called. At the flop of [kd][3h][jd], both checked to get a free turn of [7h]. Ona took the reins and bet 150k, Nachor quick-called. On the river of [6c], Ona announced all in and won it without a challenge.

5:35PM: Darwin Santelices railed by Lapidin in 7th place - P25,400

With action folding to the blinds, Darwin Santelices went all in with his ailing 190k chips and big blind Jay Lapidin called. Santelices had [qc][ts] and was behind Lapidin's [kh][5c]. The board offered no help to Santelices and he bowed out in 7th place. He earned P25,400 for his finish.

5:30PM: Lagman dodges two overcards

With blinds up to 30k/60k and 10k ante, players saw Vivencho Nachor raise twice with no challengers. On his third raise he laid out 200k and ulius Lagman answered with a shove to a total of 400k. Nachor called. Lagman had [7h][7s] and Nachor had [ad][jh]. The board bricked and Lagman doubled up to almost 900k chips.

5:25PM: Celebratory flush for Peralta

Sam Peralta went all in with his remaining 300k and Antonio Ona called after Vivencho open folded his [ad][2d]. Peralta had [ks][js] and Ona had [kd][jh]. Despite having similar hands, the board showed why suited cards are an advantage. It ran [jd][3s][4s][ts][qh] giving Peralta flush and a double up to over 600k.

5:20PM: Ona doubles up and goes into 1M range

Antonio Ona went all in and this time there was action with Vivencho Nachor calling. Ona had [ac][ts] and Nachor had [kc][jh]. The board kept Ona ahead [as][qh][8s][kd][5c] and he was awarded a double up. Ona entered the 1M chip mark.

5:15PM: Blinds are up

Back from the break, blinds are up 25k/50k with 5k ante. The first six hands saw Antonio Ona, Michael De Leon, Sam Peralta, Jay Lapidin, Julius Lagman and Vivencho Nachor win the blinds and antes with shoves/raises that saw no callers. Only Darwin Santelices hasn't taken his share of the blinds and antes.

5:05PM: Nachor tanks Peralta

With a raised pot preflop before them, the dealer felted [th][7s][6s]. Sam Peralta bet 40k but then tanked when Nachor moved all in. Well covered by Nachor, Peralta squirmed in his seat then opted to fold. Nachor now has over 1.5M chips.

5:00PM: Santelices doubles up through Nachor

Darwin Santelices was all in with [ad][7h] and big stacked Vivencho Nachor called with [3h][3d]. The board landed an ace at the flop and Santelices higher pair held on for a double up.

4:50PM: Zhinning Chen bows out in 8th place - P21,100

Zhinning Chen was all in with his short stack and Vivencho Nachor felt obliged to call with his massive arsenal. Chen had [ad][qs] and Nachor had [jh][2d]. The board was [4c][9d][6c][ks][2c] connecting Nachor with a pair and Chen bowed out of the Main Event. He earned P21,100 for his finish.

4:45PM: De Leon rails Pumicpic in 9th place - PP16,900

Conrado Pumicpic's aggression at the table was put to a dead halt when he tangled against Michael De Leon in an all in shove preflop. De Leon had [ah][kd] and Pumicpic had [as][th]. The board ran [4d][ac][4s][3s][5s] allowing De Leon's kicker to be in play. After the chips were counted, Pumicpic was covered and he was the first casualty of the final table. He earned P16,900 for his finish.

4:40PM: Nachor takes on Pumicpic and climbs to 1M chips

Vivencho Nachor backed down on Conrado Pumicpic's all in earlier but not this time. Nachor raised to 85k, Pumicpic shoved, and Nachor called. Nachor had [as][ks] and Pumicpic had [6h][6d]. The board ran [ts][4d][4c][ac][5h] giving Nachor the win and the massive double up. He now has over 1M chips. Nachor also won the next hand by shoving and finding no callers.

4:35PM: Pumicpic's aggressive plays

Conrado Pumicpic defended his big blind in a hand against Vivencho Nachor. It began with Nachor raising to 80k and Pumicpic calling. At the flop of [jc][2c][th], both players checked. On the turn of [8h], Pumicpic checked again, Nachor bet 115k, and Pumicpic snap called. On the river of [3s], Pumicpic quickly announced all in and won the hand with Nachor folding. Pumicpic showed his [kc][5c] bluff.

Pumicpic continued with his control of the table when he shoved again on top of Michael De Leon's raise of 80k. De Leon folded and Pumicpic took down another pot. He revealed his pocket twos.

4:30PM: Pumicpic wins first hand; Peralta wins next hand

Conrado Pumicpic raised to 260k on blinds of 15k/30k with a 5k ante. Antonio Ona tanked for a bit then opted to fold. Pumicpic won the first hand of the final table with no callers.

Action folded all the way to the small blind Sam Peralta who raised and won it with big blind Julius Lagman folding

4:15PM: Final Table of Nine

Sam Peralta 540k
Julius Lagman 435k
Conrado Pumicpic 560k
Darwin Santelices 405k
Jay Lapidin 730k
Vivencho Nachor 710k
Zhinning Chen 290k
Michael De Leon 725k
Antonio Ona 705k

4:00PM: Lapidin rails two

Jay Lapidin railed David Perreau when his queen-jack bested Perreau's king-queen with a jack gracing the felt. Immediately after, he called Ronald Dimaano's all in and took that down too. Dimaano had [js][ts] and Lapidin had [ah][5h]. The board ran [2s][td][jd] giving Dimaano the jump to two pair, then the turn of [ad] gave Lapidin hope, and with the river of [2h], Lapidin landed a higher two pair. Lapidin now has 730k chips. With Ronald Dimaano's elimination, the final table of nine was determined.

3:45PM: Exciting win for Santelices; Marzan's ladies fall to Ona

Action began with Manny Padernal all in with his remaining 21k chips and was called by five players. At the flop of [6s][5d][9d], three players checked, David Perreau shoved, and without much hesitation, Darwin Santelices followed suit. Everyone got out of the way and it was a three-way showdown. Padernal had [ts][2s], Perreau had [9s][8s] top pair, and Santelices with [ad][7d] gut shot flush draw. The turn landed [3c], Perreau still ahead, but with the river of [jd], Santelices connected with a nut flush. Santelices doubled up through Perreau and claimed the pile in the middle. He now has around 570k chips.

Edwin Marzan bowed out when his pocket queens could not hold up against Antonio Ona's ace-eight off suit. An ace landed on the turn.

3:30PM: Leano rails Ramel, climbs to over 600k; Chen doubles up

Action began with Ponciano Ramel raising to 50k only to see Dereck Leano three-bet to 185k. After the rest of the players folded, Ramel decided to tango and placed all his chips in the middle. Ramel had [ac][kh] and Leano had [kd][ks]. The board bricked and Leano scooped up his winning pot while Ramel got up to leave.

Zhinning Chen was once holding a big stack but after many pitfalls, he was down to 130k and needed to land a double up to be in fighting contention. He moved all in with [kh][qc] and was called by Ronald Dimaano with [th][tc]. The shove was a good decision as the board kindly felted [6s][kc][7d][qd][7h] pairing up both of his cards and bagging the double up.

3:15PM: A happy moment for Perreau's ducks

Catching the action only on the river, Arthur Uyao was all in and a side pot between Ronald Dimaano and David Perreau was generating some intensity. The board showed [4h][3c][9s][ad][2s] with Perreau laying out a 52k bet. This sent Dimaano tanking and the crowd hushing. He eventually called and shook his head in disbelief when he saw Perreau's [2d][2h] set. Dimaano had [td][th]. Interestingly, Uyao had [3h][4c] for two pair but not good enough and Perreau was shipped a massive pile. Perreau now has 490k chips.

3:00PM: Santelices ends Erquiaga's run; Pumicpic badbeats Regidor, climbs to 600k

Darwin Santelices finished off Dave Erquiaga who lost a chunk of his chips earlier to Sam Peralta. Erquiaga decided to go all in with [tc][2c] and was called by Santelices with [kd][td]. The board ran [th][7d][9s][7s][8h] and with that, Santelices won with his higher kicker.

Meanwhile, Conrado Pumicpic has done it again. Jovanie Regidor was all in with pocket queens and was momentarily looking good against caller Pumicpic with pocket jacks. Regidor's hopes of a double up were painfully crushed when a jack landed on the turn giving Pumicpic the lead and all of his chips. Pumicpic is now the leader with 600k chips.

2:45PM: Peralta doubles up; Berber's cowboys burned by Pumicpic

Sam Peralta shoved his short stack several times and no one was brave enough to call. When his chips grew to 150k, he shoved again and this time found a caller in Dave Erquiaga on the big blind. Peralta had [ad][kc] and Erquiaga with [ac][5s]. The board was a beauty for Peralta as it spread [qd][4d][jd][9c][th]. He doubled up with his dominating straight.

Bryan Berber on the other was not so fortunate. He was all in with Conrado Pumicpic right there with him. Berber had [kh][kd] and Pumicpic held [qd][qc]. As poker goes, when the flop was laid out, [2h][as][qh], Pumicpic quickly seized the lead and with the turn of [8s] and river of [js], Berber was eliminated from the field. Pumicpic climbed to over 400k.

2:30PM: Big pot for Chen, Heinikangas railed; Ona tanks De Leon

Zhinning Chen and Niilo Heinikangas faced off with Chen holding ace-queen and Heinikangas with ace-jack. The board ran a surplus of low cards which allowed Chen's higher kicker to give him the edge. Heinikangas bowed out and Chen climbed to 540k chips.

Antonio Ona and Michael De Leon tangled in a hand that had a big pot preflop already weighing down the middle of the table. At the flop of [3s][3d][6h], Ona bet 45k and De Leon flat-called. On the turn of [jd], Ona was relentless and moved all in for a total of 135k for De Leon to call. Although De Leon had a big stack backing him up, he tanked for a long time until his indecision led to a timed out. Ona was awarded the pot.

2:15PM: Stroem rails Corpuz then falls to De Leon

Tommy Stroem snap called Martin Corpuz's all in and it was a showdown with Corpuz holding [as][qc] and Stroem with [6h][6d]. The board ran [th][7h][8d][6s][8h], giving Stroem a sweet boat and all of Corpruz's chips. His win however was short-lived because several hands later, he snap called Michael De Leon's all in and despite exposing the bluff, he still lost all his chips. De Leon had [3h][9h] while Stroem had [ah][qs]. The board ran [9s][qc][6h][kh][3d], landing De Leon two pair.

2:00PM: Hui railed by Ona

Yao Hui and Antonio Ona were all in. Hui held [ah][6h] and Ona with [kc][jc]. The board landed a king for Ona and Hui was sent packing.

1:45PM: Segismundo crushed by Leano's boat

Dereck Leano was shipped in a hefty pile of chips when he doubled up against Emman Segismundo. Leano had pocket fours and Segismundo had ace-three. On a board of [3d][4c][3s][td][qh], Leano trapped Segismundo to eventually get his full house paid to the last chip. This left Segismundo with 1k and he busted out immediately after.

1:30PM: Eliminations galore

After one hour of final day action, 13 players have already fallen to the wayside. First to get the domino boot rolling was Kevin Paul dela Cruz followed by Christian Ortanez, Nominel Maturan, Joe De Guzman, Anacleto Quijano, Cristopher Runas, and surprisingly, one of the big stacks of the day, Christopher Mateo.

It was a wild five days at PokerStars Live Manila with the P1M Guarantee Main Event charging in like a tornado. This was the first time an event of its kind was introduced in the country. Players could choose between three different qualifying tournaments with each one representing a different structure and a different buy-in. There were a total of four day one flights with two heats per flight. With blinds escalating every 15 minutes, it was nothing but action all around the room. At the end of all the flights, the event saw a total of 885 entries, which resulted in an overlay, and only 51 qualifying into the final day.

Fighting his way through the madness of the final day was Filipino player Michael De Leon. De Leon began the day in the middle of the pack and landed some big pots, one especially when he railed Norway's Tommy Stroem with his [3h][9h] against Stroem's [ah][qs]. Both players connected on the board however De Leon further improved when his other card also found a pair.

Upon entering the final table, De Leon was second-in-chips to Filipino player Jay Lapidan but only by a single 5k chip. Kicking back cool at the table, players were clearly unaware of the silent storm about to make landfall at the table. And then it happened. The aggressive playing Conrado Pumicpic was first to feel the blow when De Leon killed his flame in 9th place.

Having reached the 1M chip mark, he watched again in silence as Vivencho Nachor tried to seize control after eliminating Zhinning Chen in 8th place. The other big stack, Lapidan joined the fun and railed Darwin Santelices in 7th place. But Nachor wasn't done. He tested the table with numerous raises and won many pots until he ended Sam Peralta's day in 6th place. Then the storm that was De Leon made his move again.

He eliminated Lapidan in 5th place with his [9c][9s] standing strong against [kd][td]. Minutes after, it was Nachor's time to feel the winds pin him down. Nachor moved all in with [jc][9d] and was unable to get past De Leon's [qc][jh]. He finished in 4th place.

At three-handed, De Leon was impenetrable with over half the chips in play in his section. And it just kept growing. The two short stacks finally had to get something going and they battled against each other while De Leon sat in wait for the next opportunity to lay his siege. He didn't have to wait long as Julius Lagman crippled down Antonio Ona, and De Leon finishing Ona off in 3rd place.

The heads up round began with De Leon ahead in chips, just past a 2:1 advantage. He had to be careful against Lagman for two reasons. Lagman came into the final day as the overall chip leader and most especially that one double up would instantly flip the chip lead. After eight hands of no flop, Lagman called De Leon's all in on the ninth hand. De Leon had [kd][4c] and Lagman with [kc][3c]. When the flop ran [7d][4s][jh] De Leon was on his way to the title, and with the turn of [9c] and river of [qh], De Leon exclaimed a breath of victory, earning himself the P140,000 first place purse and the prestigious Main Event trophy.

For a detailed read on the action at the final day and the final table, just click the link Final Day Action.

Final Table Payouts
1st Michael De Leon - Philippines - P140,000 (deal made)
2nd Julius Lagman - Philippines - P130,000 (deal made)
3rd Antonio Ona - Philippines - P115,000 (deal made)
4th Vivencho Nachor - Philippines - P55,800
5th Jay Lapidan - Philippines - P40,600
6th Sam Peralta - Philippines - P32,100
7th Darwin Santelices - Philippines - P25,400
8th Zhinning Chen - China - P21,100
9th Conrado Pumicpic - Philippines - P16,900

Live victories and Major online victories. The final table players of the $425,000 guarantee Sunday Warm-Up had both and looking to claim yet another win. However, bjartefau would quietly stay in charge and after a chop attempt went for naught, bjartefau would take away the full $77,610.00 as this week's winner.

Read on below for the final table action.

Guntis "poker@luffyD" Aleskins, runner-up in 2014 World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) Event #2 and the Sunday Million back in 2013, would not get that long deserving Major title after finishing in 14th place ($2,505.12) here.

Imluckbox proved to own the logon name towards the latter part of the eighth hour, after being all-in with big slick [Ks][Ah] against LeoAlcantara's aces [Ac][Ad]. A turned straight [Th] [Qd] [3c] [Js] [3s] would right the ship all the way to nearly taking the chip lead by the end of the hour. Imluckbox got close here finishing in 11th place in February , but looking to take a big chip stack into the final table instead of another near-miss.

The ten players remaining at the eighth hourly break would come back to hand-for-hand play and determine who would get a shot at $77K and a consolation prize of $3,192.80. imluckbox continued the upwards streak 20 minutes into hand-for-hand play with the blinds up to 50K/100K ante 10K imluckbox would raise to 262,500 as LeoAlcantara was now the player in trouble shoving all-in for 1.57 million. imluckbox made the call with [Kd][Qc] as LeoAlcantara turned up [Ad][Th]. The king would wait until the turn to appear [7c] [7h] [Jh] [Ks] [Ts] as the final table started up below:

Seat 1: Bruno chato (1321468 in chips)
Seat 2: bjartefau (1859139 in chips)
Seat 3: Aguskb (3875410 in chips)
Seat 4: Pa3yM (1507930 in chips)
Seat 5: imluckbox (5344511 in chips)
Seat 6: poosnack11 (2417989 in chips)
Seat 7: Spowi07 (2160709 in chips)
Seat 8: dennishtm (3649927 in chips)
Seat 9: TMoney0209 (2422917 in chips)

While hand-for-hand play lingered on for 20 minutes, eliminating the first player at the final table would only take three hands. Shortly after the blinds moved up to 65K/130K ante 13K poosnack11 would open for a min-raise UTG as dennishtm shoved for 3.6 million two chairs over. Poosnack11, fresh off a Sunday 2nd Chance victory last month, would make the call all-in with queens [Qd][Qh]. Dennisthm's [Ks][Ad] was up for the challenge flopping an ace [Ac] [2d] [7d] [3c] [Js] knocking out poosnack11 in ninth place ($4,175.20).

There would be no flipping for dennishtm's next challenge. With the blinds moving up 80K/160K ante 16K Spowi07 tried to squeeze the chip leader for the blinds with a 1.91 million chip shove holding [Kc][7h]. But, dennishtm was ready to rock with a better kicker [7d][Ah] and the diamond [8d] [6d] [9d] [Jd] [8s], along with four on the board, helped end Spowi07's night in eighth place ($7,122.40).

Five hands later dennishtm kept up the aggression with a raise to 347,200 as Bruno chato shoved for 1.5 million. Imluckbox did not want to give away the big blind and re-shoved for 5.29 million holding pocket tens [Th][Ts]. Dennishtm would concede the floor and folded as Bruno chato turned up [Tc][As]. Bruno "Bruno chato" Nunes was looking for his second Major victory this year after taking down the 2016 Turbo Championship of Online Poker (TCOOP) Event #7 for $49K. The second win would need to wait another day as Nunes' [Tc][As] failed to find an ace on the [7c] [6s] [2h] [3s] [Ks] board to take $12,034.40 in seventh place.

On the next hand dennishtm was at it again looking for a third elimination three-betting Pa3yM all-in. Pa3yM was up for a fight calling all-in for 2.18 million with [Ad][9c] and towering over dennishtm's [8s][Ah]. But, another four-flush for dennishtm [Th] [3s] [2h] [5h] [6h] would send Pa3yM to the sidelines in sixth place ($16,946.40).

Bang. Bang. Bang. A poker tournament reporter's dream as frighteningly quick exits would leave us with four players still in the 80K/160K ante 16K blind level. The PokerStars Host did not even have the chance to say good luck to Nunes yet and a second player would be asked to leave. This time it was TMoney0209, who has WCOOP and TCOOP final tables including one this year in TCOOP's Event #47 earning $66K for sixth place. But, those cashes could not get queens [Qd][Qh] to hold against bjartefau's [Ad][Kc] on the [2s] [Ah] [7s] [7c] [3h] board earning another big cash of $21,858.40 in fifth place.

Why stop at three straight? Not sure if I have seen this outside of a TCOOP tournament but on the fourth consecutive hand another player with impressive online and live wins would be asked to come back at another time. Aaron "Aguskb" Gustavson won the European Poker Tour London Main Event in season six and the Sunday Warm-Up. Unfortunately, Aaron's return to the Sunday Warm-Up final table would not end in victory after shoving 2.73 million over a raise and a call with big slick [Kc][Ac]. It looked good for Gustavson after bjartefau called with [Ad][Tc] but a ten on the flop [4s] [Qh] [Ts] [3s] [5c] would end his run at a second Warm-Up title in fourth place ($28,735.20).

After that furious run the players would try to settle down with some chop talks. After looking at the chip and ICM chops the threesome decided they were better off playing it out for the $77K still sitting up top.

About ten minutes later with the blinds up to 100K/200K ante 20K with bjartefau holding over half the chips in play imluckbox and dennsihtm would flip their near identical stacks to see who would play heads-up for the title. Dennishtm's [As][9s] would not catch up to imluckbox's pocket sevens [7c][7d] on the all-low [8c] [6d] [2s] [2h] [2d] board as dennishtm was left with less than a small blind. Those chips would go to imluckbox on the next hand as dennishtm pick up $41,752.00 in third place.

Bjartefau would start with a 14.1 million to imluckbox's 10.4 million and with a low blinds, could have been a long, drawn-out battle for the Sunday Warm-Up title. But, bjartefau threatened to end it quickly after notching two big pots in the first three hand taking a 17.9 million to 6.6 million lead.

Ten minutes later after hanging around and scoring a double-up, imluckbox would briefly take the chip lead.

For one hand.

Another ten minutes later with the blinds up to 150K/300K ante 30K and bjartefau holding a 17 million to 7.5 million chip lead imluckbox would shove over a min-raise with [Ah][9d] as bjartefau snap-called with pocket jacks [Jh][Jc]. A lack of an ace on the [3c] [Kh] [7s] [5h] [8s] board shipped $77,610.00 and the weekly Sunday Warm-Up title to bjartefau!

PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up results (04-03-2016)

Entrants: 2,456
Prize pool: $491,200.00
Places paid: 360

1. bjartefau (Norway) $77,610.00
2. imluckbox (Australia) $58,290.70
3. dennishtm (Austria) $41,752.00
4. Aaron "Aguskb" Gustavson (Mexico) $28,735.20
5. TMoney0209 (Canada) $21,858.40
6. Pa3yM (Russia) $16,946.40
7. Bruno "Bruno chato" Nunes (Brazil) $12,034.40
8. Spowi07 (Austria) $7,122.40
9. poosnack11 (Canada) $4,175.20

Want to gear up for the Sunday Majors or the upcoming Spring Championship of Online Poker? Click here to a get PokerStars account.

Could a $500,000 deal really fall apart over as little as $2,000? If you've followed the Sunday Majors at all over the years, you know the answer is a resounding "yes." When tonight's field was down to four players, chip leader neto gol cleverly used his position to squeeze a little extra cash out of his opponents during the deal negotiations. One, however, was unwilling to budge. Once HKongBanker and Lekerov offered enough extra incentive to neto gol to inch the deal closer, AlexanGeo decided he wasn't willing to sweeten the pot any further from his end. This move appeared to offend neto gol, who wondered why AlexanGeo thought he could remain exempt from his demands. It appeared that the 40 minutes of negotiations over the division of over half a million dollars in prize money would evaporate over $2,000, but neto gol finally relented. Neto gol got the largest share of the four-way deal, but busted in third place, leaving Lekerov heads-up with AlexanGeo. Although Lekerov had a huge chip advantage and AlexanGeo got his chips in with the worst of it, he hit the perfect river card to double up in a massive pot and completely turn the tables. Moments later, AlexanGeo closed out the upset win and defeated Lekerov to claim his first Sunday Million title.

Two weeks later, the effects of the massive 10th anniversary Million are still being felt. Although down from last week's 7,000+ players, the Million drew a robust crowd of 6,271, bringing the total prize pool up to $1,254,200.00. 900 players earned a share of it with $190,767.96 up top.

The blinds were up to 150,000/300,000 with ten players remaining. With the action folded to him in the small blind, chip leader neto gol made it 750,000 to go and ShaiStar moved all-in for 5.23 million from the big blind. Neto gol called, his [9c][9s] crushing ShaiStar's [2c][2d]. The nines held up on the [Ks][7c][7s][6h][Qd] board and neto gol advanced to the final table, ending ShaiStar's run in tenth place.

Final table chip counts

Seat 1: AlexanGeo (10,626,949 in chips)
Seat 2: SPEWTARD (6,109,022 in chips)
Seat 3: neto gol (23,572,413 in chips)
Seat 4: placebo36251 (2,597,056 in chips)
Seat 5: gigibaston (3,614,760 in chips)
Seat 6: HKongBanker (2,326,872 in chips)
Seat 7: Achilles591 (4,856,102 in chips)
Seat 8: Lekerov (4,920,288 in chips)
Seat 9: GR8MIND (4,086,538 in chips)

Once again, the Million produced a distinguished final table. Tonight's final nine included a SCOOP champion, a Super Tuesday winner, and two players who have previously final tabled the Million. Gigibaston was runner-up back in October 2012 and Achilles591 finished ninth in January 2013.

Lekerov got off to an excellent start at the final table when he doubled through neto gol. Lekerov's [Ac][Jc] flopped aces and jacks against neto gol's pocket sevens and he moved up to 9.5 million in chips. Two hands later, HKongBanker also doubled, his [As][Kd] flopping a king and rivering an ace against Achilles591's pocket jacks. Achilles591 was left with 3 million in chips and a few hands later, three-bet shoved for 2.36 million with [Ks][Qc]. Unfortunately for him, neto gol called with [Ac][Qs] and turned an ace to eliminate Achilles591 in ninth place.

Moments later, Lekerov opened for a min-raise to 800,000 with [Kd][Jc] and GR8MIND moved in on the button for 1.9 million with [Kh][8h]. Lekerov called and flopped a jack on the [Jd][Tc][6c][2d][9c] board, ending GR8MIND's run in eighth place. Four hands later, AlexanGeo opened for 800,000 with pocket threes and placebo36251 called all-in for 777,056 with [Qs][8s]. Although the [Qc][7h][2s] flop favored placebo36251, AlexanGeo spiked the [3d] on the turn to make a set. The [Kd] peeled off on the river and AlexanGeo raked in the pot, while placebo36251 hit the rail in seventh place.

With the blinds up to 250,000/500,000, SPEWTARD three-bet shoved for 9.46 million with [Kc][Js] and initial min-raiser Lekerov called with [Ac][Qc]. Although SPEWTARD picked up a flush draw on the turn, Lekerov made aces up on the [Ad][8c][4c][7c][Qh] board and sent SPEWTARD packing in sixth place. With that pot, Lekerov took the chip lead with 21 million, neto gol hot on his heels with 18.1 million.

However, on the next deal, AlexanGeo opened for 1,000,000 on the button and gigibaston three-bet to 3.25 million from the big blind. AlexanGeo popped it to 6,952,500, gigibaston shoved and AlexanGeo called. AlexanGeo's [Ah][Td] held up against gigibaston's [Ad][9d] on the [Ks][6c][6h][3h][Th] board and gigibaston's run at the title came to a close in fifth place.

At this point, the final four agreed to pause the action and discuss a potential deal. Here's how they stacked up:

neto gol 22,611,595
Lekerov 17,845,331
AlexanGeo 16,082,525
HKongBanker 6,170,549

When presented with chip chop and ICM numbers, AlexanGeo, HKongBanker and Lekerov were quick to agree to the ICM deal. However, neto gol wanted more. He asked for $3,300 from each player added to his $135k ICM share (which would bring it up to about $2k over chip chop). HKongBanker offered $3,000, and Lekerov was willing to reduce his share from $127,524 to an even $125k. AlexanGeo, however, felt that an extra $5,700 was plenty for neto gol and wasn't willing to donate to the cause. HKongBanker, the short stack and perhaps the most motivated to close the deal, upped his contribution to $4,400, but Lekerov held fast to his $2,752 contribution.

Neto gol seemed satisfied with these numbers and the final table host recalculated the shares. However, when the numbers were presented again, neto gol didn't snap-agree like his three opponents. Instead, he wanted an explanation from AlexanGeo as to why he was too good to give up any money.

neto gol: hmmm
neto gol: hmmmm
HKongBanker: cmon neto, lets be friends
neto gol: i dont understand
neto gol: why alexan is thinking hes the best here
neto gol: and cant give me my k
AlexanGeo: hahahaha
HKongBanker: you got your 7k
neto gol: 2
neto gol: thats not the question

Neto gol stated that if the situation were reversed, he would have given up $2,000 to AlexanGeo. As neto gol claimed "It's not an ego thing," HKongBanker grew worried the deal would blow up... they had been stopped down for 40 minutes for negotiations at this point.

HKongBanker: it's a huge sum of money, please don't do this over 2k

Just as things were looking grim, neto gol said he was kidding and agreed to the terms.

neto gol: OK AGREE I WAS JUST KIDING

Cards went back in the air and it wasn't long before HKongBanker committed the rest of his chips pre-flop. He opened for 1.2 million from the small blind with [Ah][7s], Lekerov shoved for 23 million from the big blind with [9c][9s] and HKongBanker called. Although HKongBanker flopped a seven, he did not improve any further on the [Ts][7d][4c][Th][4d] board and went out in fourth place, while Lekerov moved into the chip lead with 30.8 million.

Then, in the largest pot of the tournament thus far, Lekerov opened for a min-raise to 1,000,000 and neto gol called from the big blind. Neto gol checked the [Ts][7s][7h] flop, Lekerov bet 888,000 and neto gol raised to 2,607,840. Lekerov three-bet to 5 million, neto gol four-bet, Lekerov shoved and neto gol called, his flopped trips with [7d][8h] up against Lekerov's nut flush draw with [As][Ks]. The [Qh] turn was good for neto gol, but the [4s] river was a disaster, making Lekerov an ace-high flush. Neto gol hit the rail in third place as Lekerov raked in the 34.7 million pot.

Heads-up chip counts

Seat 1: AlexanGeo (18,282,525 in chips)
Seat 8: Lekerov (44,427,475 in chips)

Lekerov had nearly a 2.5 to 1 chip lead going into heads-up play and took half of AlexanGeo's stack straight away. On a [Th][6d][2d] flop, AlexanGeo check-called 932,400, then led out for 1,929,312 when the [Qs] turned. Lekerov called and the [Kc] hit the river. AlexanGeo fired another 3,627,106 and Lekerov raised to 17.26 million. It was too rich for AlexanGeo and he gave up his hand, leaving himself with 7.6 million behind. However, AlexanGeo doubled a few hands later when his [3h][3d] flopped a set against Lekerov's [Kc][Qc]. Back up to 23 million in chips, AlexanGeo picked up [Kd][9h] and three-bet Lekerov's 1.2 million min-raise to 3,000,000. Lekerov four-bet to 6 million, AlexanGeo shoved and Lekerov called, revealing [Ah][Qd]. It looked like it could be the end for AlexanGeo when the flop came down [7h][5c][5s] and the [4c] turned, but amazingly, the [9c] rivered, making AlexanGeo a winning pair of nines. He took down the massive 46.8 million pot, leaving Lekerov on 15.9 million.

With the blinds up to 300,000/600,000 and 11.5 million behind, Lekerov picked up [Ac][Ks] and opened for 1.2 million. AlexanGeo shoved from the big blind and Lekerov called.

Lekerov [Ac][Ks]
AlexanGeo [4d][4s]

AlexanGeo had the poker gods on his side again as the board rolled out [8s][6c][5c][Qs][7d]. His pair of fours improved to an eight-high straight and AlexanGeo locked up his first Sunday Million title.

Congratulations to AlexanGeo on joining the ranks of Sunday Million champions! He banked $144,100.20 for the win, while runner-up Lekerov earned $125,000.00.

PokerStars Sunday Million results (4/3/16)
Entrants: 6,271
Prize pool: $1,254,200.00
Places paid: 900

1. AlexanGeo (Greece) $144,100.20*
2. Lekerov (Kazakhstan) $125,000.00*
3. neto gol (Brazil) $142,082.26*
4. HKongBanker (United Kingdom) $90,000.00*
5. gigibaston (Romania) $52,676.40
6. SPEWTARD (Peru) $40,134.40
7. placebo36251 (Canada) $27,592.40
8. GR8MIND (Canada) $15,050.40
9. Achilles591 (Luxembourg) $9,720.05

*= reflects the results of a four-way deal that left $20,000 in play for the winner

A look at all the major stories from this past weekend on PokerStars.

Weekend highlights

* AlexanGeo wins the Sunday Million which again featured a big field
* Bjartefau takes down the Sunday Million
* London set to host new UKIPT season

Round up of latest results

Kristen Bihr put it best. She made the point that the effects of the enormous Tenth Anniversary Sunday Million two weeks ago are still being felt. Looking at the numbers this weekend she was absolutely right.

It's worth noting this for the future - that in the wake of a big anniversary tournament, the disturbance to what we consider routine takes some time to settle. Last weekend there were more than 7,000 players, and this week more than 6,000 - still some way above average.

And with big fields come big prize pools. In this case a first prize of $144,000, which went to Greek player AlexanGeo after a four-way deal.

As Bihr reported, it appeared at once stage that deal would collapse over the relatively modest sum of $2,000. Reason prevailed though, which you can read about in the report.

Elsewhere in the Sunday Warm-Up bjartefau captured the first prize of 77610, ahead of a final table that also featured Aaron "Aguskb" Gustavson, and Bruno "Bruno chato" Nunes. David Aydt has the full report, which you can read here.

Here are those results in full:

PokerStars Sunday Million results (4/3/16)
Entrants: 6,271
Prize pool: $1,254,200.00
Places paid: 900

1. AlexanGeo (Greece) $144,100.20*
2. Lekerov (Kazakhstan) $125,000.00*
3. neto gol (Brazil) $142,082.26*
4. HKongBanker (United Kingdom) $90,000.00*
5. gigibaston (Romania) $52,676.40
6. SPEWTARD (Peru) $40,134.40
7. placebo36251 (Canada) $27,592.40
8. GR8MIND (Canada) $15,050.40
9. Achilles591 (Luxembourg) $9,720.05
* reflects the results of a four-way deal that left $20,000 in play for the winner

PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up results(4/3/16)
Entrants: 2,456
Prize pool: $491,200.00
Places paid: 360

1. bjartefau (Norway) $77,610.00
2. imluckbox (Australia) $58,290.70
3. dennishtm (Austria) $41,752.00
4. Aaron "Aguskb" Gustavson (Mexico) $28,735.20
5. TMoney0209 (Canada) $21,858.40
6. Pa3yM (Russia) $16,946.40
7. Bruno "Bruno chato" Nunes (Brazil) $12,034.40
8. Spowi07 (Austria) $7,122.40
9. poosnack11 (Canada) $4,175.20

The weekend's top online tournament winners

Click here for the complete list of major results on PokerStars for the weekend of April 2 to 3, 2016.

From online to live

Our attention now turns to London where the United Kingdom and Ireland Poker Tour begins its sixth season tomorrow at the Hippodrome Casino.

There's not much to add to what we've already written about it, other than to say that our live coverage begins when play starts on Wednesday for the Main Event, continuing through the final day on Sunday. For details of the Tour itself, check out the UKIPT homepage.

That's everything for another weekend on PokerStars. As always send your questions and comments to us on Twitter: @PokerStarsBlog.

It's an easy mistake to make. Even as you read this you might be looking at pictures of Monaco, or the Salles des Etoiles where the EPT Main Event takes place, with its retractable roof and uninterrupted view of the Riviera, and be thinking: "nice, but surely not something I could ever do." 

Salles des Etoile in Monaco

You wouldn't be alone either. Over the years we've met a great many men and women who thought the same: it happens to other people, those with more time and money, and besides it's a game for young men with the brains of mathematicians- in short: not me. Funnily enough we meet these people in Monaco, just as they're about to sit down to play the EPT Grand Final Main Event. 

This week we heard from two more. 

Gun Täljö and Eva Jiretorn are two Swedish women packing sun block and card protectors ready to board flights to the Mediterranean coast in about three weeks from now. Both are recreational players, both work full time, both have those doubts and obligations that make trips like this seem impossible. And yet both are about to play the biggest tournament of their lives thanks to a few Euros in a PokerStars Spin & Go. 

Poker has never been more than recreation to Täljö, 56, who while working a job she loves as an economic administrator, has been playing poker for as long as she can remember. It's a great way to unwind away from work and win a few Euros, especially in quick tournaments with small fields, the games she prefers because, as she explained it, she lacks patience.  It makes her a perfect fit for Spin & Gos. 

Gun Täljö

And so last month Täljö logged on in the usual way, and feeling adventurous switched to €10 Spin & Go's from her usual €7 games. She described what happened next as "truly amazing". In the first Spin & Go she played that night she won €20. In the next a Monaco package worth €9,000. 

"EPT is something I never ever even imagined playing... and to win was truly a shock," she said, before confessing: "When I really try to qualify for something I normally never do but when I don't that's when I succeed."

Something similar happened to Eva Jiretorn.

By day she handles communications for one of Sweden's largest banks, at other times she's a recreational poker player both online or live, and has been for around five years now. She's even tried an EPT Ladies event before. But now she's on her way to her first EPT Main Event. 

Eve Jiretorn

"I felt a little bit bored since I only had one tournament going and it was very late at night," said Jiretorn. "Then I remembered that a friend of mine played just a few weeks ago and won a package to Monte Carlo. I thought to myself 'why not give it a shot?' I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the golden ticket, and then I won the Sit & Go too." 

The result for Jiretorn, just like Täljö, is a package worth €9,000 that includes luxury accommodation at the Monte Carlo Bay Hotel and Resort, travel expenses and that Main Event seat - and all for a few Euros spent playing what she going to play anyway. The sunshine, the scenery, and the unforgettable experience we throw in for free.

That's their story, and we'll look forward to hearing how it ends. For now, feel free to start your own story. Just remember it can happen, and you'll be in good company. 

Don't believe us? It only takes a minutes to open a PokerStars account to begin your EPT campaign Click here to get started.

Imagine waking up tomorrow and finding there was no more online poker. Imagine there were no more poker rooms. Imagine you couldn't even find a table to cover with a cloth and use to deal a game among your friends.

There are a lot of first world luxuries we take for granted these days, and among them is waking up every day knowing we have a place to play. We are the lucky ones.

Around the world, there are millions of children who have no place to play...at all. They don't have fields on which to play football. They don't have playgrounds. They have empty land and no idea what to do with it. The play in garbage dumps or busy streets.

That's where Right to Play comes in. It works to transform the lives of millions of disadvantaged children in some of the world's poorest communities. Using the educational power of sport, games and play, they equip children and young people with the learning, health and social skills to overcome the effects of poverty, disease and war.

Right to Play builds new play spaces all over the planet so children can learn sports and games. It's not just a matter of physical education. It empowers and educates the children while giving them essential life skills needed to overcome the effects of disease, conflict, poverty, and create a sustained change in their communities. Each one of those play spaces can cost as much as €6,000 to build.

On April 10, you can support that effort, play against Team PokerStars Pros, and make a difference in the lives of children all over the world.

Sunday's tournament runs at 14:30 ET. The buy-in is a simple $2, half of which goes to the prize pool and half of which goes to Right to Play.

PokerStars supports Right to Play through its corporate giving program "Helping Hands." Over the past two years, PokerStars, its staff, and its players have helped fund the training of more than 6,000 volunteer coaches who will in turn support more than 400,000 children worldwide. Now, Helping Hands is aiming to help build play spaces around the globe.

Jake Cody and Fatima Moreira de Melo have been part of the Right to Play effort for the past two years and will be in the tournament on Sunday. They'll be joined by other members of Team PokerStars Pro and Team PokerStars Pro Online.

So, while you're sitting down for your Sunday tournaments this weekend, be sure to sign up for the Right to Play tournament. You can search for it by name in the PokerStars lobby or look for tournament #1524718479.

This week's Super Tuesday -- the weekly $1,050 no-limit hold'em tournament on PokerStars -- drew a big field as usual with 539 players taking part. But even with the big turnout it played out a bit more quickly than usual, with Russia's NEWFlat needing just 10 hours and 11 minutes to outlast everyone to earn the victory and a big $102,410 first prize.

The big field meant a prize pool of $539,000, well above the event's $425K guarantee. It took about five hours and 20 minutes for the starting field to be whittled down to 63 players, at which point former Sunday Million winner gringenkov held the chip lead with ceremore and bossamtisch not too far behind.

Just about two hours later they were down to 18, with gringenkov and ceremore still above the average while bossamtisch had slipped down in the counts to fall in 30th ($2,964.50). Meanwhile baeks22 had risen to take over the chip lead as the only player then with more than 350,000.

Bonglim (18th), Iliodoros "ILIOS72" Kamatakis (17th), and Emil "Emilohlsson" Ohlsson (16th) were the next players eliminated, each earning $4,312. Benjamin "SPEKTAH" Leblond (15th), elhilario (14th), and lulDocuments (13th) followed them to the virtual rail, picking up $5,390 apiece. Then NEED100KFAST (12th), OverTheTop43 (11th), and Sebastian "Bassysaffari" Saffari (10th) went out, taking away $6,468 each from the prize pool.

With gringenkov back in the chip lead with a little over 600,000, the final table was underway.

Seat 1: Geokarak (United Kingdom) -- 296,806
Seat 2: Larry "BBOY3110" Sharp (Costa Rica) -- 153,747
Seat 3: baeks22 (Germany) -- 526,622
Seat 4: ceremore (Switzerland) -- 315,382
Seat 5: HYZENBURG (Canada) -- 62,822
Seat 6: NEWFlat (Russia) -- 364,292
Seat 7: Aaralynn (Mexico) -- 123,939
Seat 8: Daniel "Oxota" Dvoress (Canada) -- 242,580
Seat 9: gringenkov (Brazil) -- 608,810

It was an excited final nine, as evidenced by the chat box as the final table began.

NEWFlat: gl guys!
Oxota: You too
gringenkov: gl all
baeks22: glgl
ceremore: gl !

On the third hand of the final table, the blinds were 2,800/5,600 when NEWFlat opened for 12,600 from the button, then Aaralynn shoved for 116,239 from the small blind. It folded back to NEWFlat who called, turning over [Kc][Js] while Aaralynn had [Ad][Qs]. The board then came [Jh][4h][5d][Td][8s], the jack in the window hitting NEWFlat's hand and knocking Aaralynn out in ninth.

A short-stacked HYZENBURG managed to hang on another 25 minutes after that, but finally open-shoved from the cutoff for 40,022 (about 5.5 big blinds) with [Kd][Th] and got looked up by NEWFlat on the button with [As][8s]. The [Qh][4d][Jd][6d][7h] board hit neither player, and HYZENBERG was done in eighth.

About a half-hour after that it was Geokarak open-shoving from under the gun for 103,026 (about 11.5 big blinds) and getting one caller in gringenkov from the big blind. Geokarak had [As][2s] while gringenkov had woken up with [Qc][Qs], and five cards later -- [Th][5c][Kc][Qh][6h] -- gringenkov had a set of queens and Geokarak was on the rail in seventh.

Not longer after that it was NEWflat opening for just over 2x with a raise to 21,200 from the button, then Daniel "Oxota" Dvoress reraised all-in for 107,938 from the small blind and NEWflat called the push. Dvoress had [Kd][Ts] and a couple of live cards versus NEWflat's [Ah][Qd], but the board came low -- [3s][3d][7h][8s][4c] -- and Dvoress' run ended in sixth.

"u guys wanna see numbers?" asked NEWflat following Dvoress' knockout, but ceremore responded "bit early for me" while gringenkov added "let's play for 102k :) gl" and the final five continued on through the tournament's 10th hour.

A few minutes later NEWFlat made another just-over-the-minimum raise to 25,440 from early position and baeks22 defended from the big blind with a call. The flop came [5d][Jh][6c], and after baeks22 checked NEWFlat continued for 19,314. At that baeks22 check-raised all-in for 98,832 and NEWFlat called.

baeks22 turned over [9d][8s] for a gutshot draw while NEWFlat had a pair of jacks with [Js][8c]. The turn was the [Ad] and river the [9h], and baeks22 was eliminated in fifth.

A little later in the last hand before the 10-hour break, Larry "BBOY3110" Sharp opened for 26,400 from early position, then NEWFlat three-bet to 66,000 from the big blind. Sharp reraised all-in for 264,768 and NEWFlat called, turning over [As][Qd] while Sharp had [Ac][2d]. The [9d][Qh][Tc][Th][4h] runout gave NEWFlat two pair and sent Sharp out to collect fourth-place money.

The remaining trio took their break, with NEWFlat way out in front with more than 1.8 million while gringenkov was in a distant second with just over 671,000 and ceremore was third with about 216,000.

Soon gringenkov raised 3x from the small blind to 42,000, ceremore three-bet to 116,889 from the big, gringenkov pushed all-in for 459,879 total, and ceremore called.

gringenkov had [Kd][Qs] but needed lots of help versus ceremore's [Ad][As]. The [2c][Qh][Td] flop did bring one pair for gringenkov, but neither the [6c] turn nor [4s] river helped any further and gringenkov was cut down in third.

With that pot ceremore was up to 993,284 to start heads-up play versus NEWFlat who still led with 1,701,716. NEWFlat would then win the first hand between the pair to grab almost 130,000 off ceremore's stack, then suddenly the tournament came to an abrupt conclusion after heads-up hand number two.

It began with NEWFlat making a 2.5x raise to 35,000 from the button and ceremore calling, and the two of them saw a flop come [3s][Th][Ks]. ceremore checked, NEWFlat bet 35,000, then ceremore raised to 99,778. NEWFlat responded with a reraise to 236,306, ceremore pushed all-in for 828,462 total, and NEWFlat called.

ceremore: [Kd][6s]
NEWFlat: [Ah][Ad]

ceremore had flopped top pair of kings but this time NEWFlat had the aces in the hole. The turn was the [Jh] and river the [Jd], giving NEWFlat the better two pair and the win.

Congratulations to NEWFlat for racing through this week's Super Tuesday in just over 10 hours to win all the chips and a nice six-figure score.

4/5/16 Super Tuesday ($1,050 No-Limit Hold'em) results
Entrants: 539
Prize pool: $539,000.00
Places paid: 63

1. NEWFlat (Russia) $102,410.00
2. ceremore (Switzerland) $75,460.00
3. gringenkov (Brazil) $55,247.50
4. Larry "BBOY3110" Sharp (Costa Rica) $42,042.00
5. baeks22 (Germany) $29,645.00
6. Daniel "Oxota" Dvoress (Canada) $22,907.50
7. Geokarak (United Kingdom) $17,517.50
8. HYZENBURG (Canada) $12,127.50
9. Aaralynn (Mexico) $8,947.40

* Day 1A is over - read a full report of the day here.
* 39 remain (of 146 Day 1A entries)
* Day 1B starts tomorrow at 11:00am

12.45am: It's all over
Level 12 - Blinds 1,000-2,000 (300 ante)

Play has ended for the night - you can read a full wrap-up to today's play here. --JS

12.35am: Pause the clock
Level 12 - Blinds 1,000-2,000 (300 ante)

There will be three more hands for the night. --JS

12.25am: Late night casualties
Level 12 - Blinds 1,000-2,000 (300 ante)

They made it all the way to the last level, but these players won't be making it to the bag-and-tag stage or Day 2:

David Radnor, Alexios Zervos, Andres Luis Viola, Jaroslaw Szyndler, Neill Howard Williams, Nadeem Hussain, William Davies, Seth Webber, Marco Vasconcelos, Jamie O'Connor, and Miguel Riera Suarez.

12.10am: What's all the commotion?
Level 12 - Blinds 1,000-2,000 (300 ante)

I heard a bit of hubbub coming from Jamie O'Connor and Jack Salter's table, and when the floor were called I went to check out what was going on.

First - the action leading up to it. It was pre-flop, and Massafumi Saito had opened to 3,600. O'Connor called, before a player then shoved for around 14,000. It folded back to Massafumi Saito who made some sort of gesture which two players at the table were sure was Saito saying "call", while everyone else at the table (Salter included) insisted he didn't (Salter is sat opposite Saito).

The floor ruled that as the majority of players think he didn't say call, that the ruling would be he'd folded. Then O'Connor snap called with the [qh][qd] - "I couldn't say anything, I was still in the hand!" he said - which would go on to beat the player-at-risk's pocket sixes. --JS

12am: Final level of the night
Level 12 - Blinds 1,000-2,000 (300 ante)

It's all gone up - the blinds and the antes. Only 45 minutes of play remain before the remaining players will bag and tag, earning themselves two days off before Saturday's Day 2. --JS

11.53: A tight squeeze
Level 11 - Blinds 800-1,600 (200 ante)

Dealer, small blind and big blind hands create an interesting dynamic; not only are players sat right next to each other, but their play throughout their time together has no doubt been influenced by each other's styles.

One hand we just caught started with a button-open to 3,600 from Steven Herron, which was flatted by former chip leader Emran Hussain out of the small. Jabran Zahid then woke up ion the big blind and put out a raise to 14,000.

Heron wasted no time in folding, while Hussain had a trickier decision on his hands - eventually folding, but showing an ace as he did it. Ship this one to Zahid. --JS

11.45: End of the night lull
Level 11 - Blinds 800-1,600 (200 ante)

Maybe it's the time of the day when play tightens up. Maybe the players are tired. Heck, maybe I'm just tired and missing all the action (don't tell my boss). But there doesn't seem to be much going on in the room right now action-wise.

Here's what I have seen though:

After Jamie O'Connor opened to 3,000, Jack Salter 3-bet to 8,400 only for O'Connor to 4-bet to an even 18,000. Salter gave it up.

I also saw the UK's William Davies bust with pocket fives to Simon Dryan's pocket tens. The board was safe all the way for Dryan and Davies hit the rail.

And I just wanted to point out that Gerald Ringe has by far been the smartest dressed player in the room today. He looks like he's either come straight from a wedding, or is going to some bizarre ceremony which takes place after 1am in London town. Whatever his reason, he deserves props. --JS

11.39pm: No Nevanlinna Land for Vasconcelos
Level 11 - Blinds 800-1,600 (200 ante)

Jussi Nevanlinna took a while to call an opponent's shove, but when he did, it was correct and his stack grew to 101,000.

The action folded around to Marco Vasconcelos on the button and he moved all in for his 10,900. Nevanlinna was in the big blind and made the call.

Vasconcelos: [td][2d]
Nevanlinna: [jh][8h]

The board ran [kh][2c][8c][qc][9s] to send Vasconcelos on his way. -- MC

11.27pm: Soders all luck for Tomas
Level 11 - Blinds 800-1,600 (200 ante)

Tomas Soders was up and out of his seat after a he witnessed a horrible flop in his attempt to double up.

He had three-bet all in for around 27,000 and saw David Lega move all in behind, for a little more. The original raiser folded and the cards were flipped up.

Soders: [ad][kd]
Lega: [jh][jd]

The board ran [2s][js][4h][5s][7s] with Soders drawing dead by the turn. -- MC

11.15pm: Another level
Level 11 - Blinds 800-1,600 (200 ante)

Two more levels to play before Day 1A is done. --JS

11.11pm: Matas Cimbolas - your new chip leader
Level 10 - Blinds 600-1,200 (200 ante)

Who's running good now, eh Matas?

Lithuania's Matas Cimbolas has shot into the chip lead, after winning a pot against the man he just claimed was on a hot streak, Simon Brooke. We didn't catch the action but it must have been a big pot, as Brooke's stack as nowhere near what it was, while Cimbolas has heaps.

We just caught a hand where he added even more to his growing stack. It started with an open to 2,500 from David Radnor, which found callers in Brooke, Cimbolas and one other player. "How much do you have?" Cimbolas asked Radnor. "Just under 40," came the reply. "OK, I quietly call..." said Cimbolas.

The flop came [5c][4d][ad] and it was checked around, so we saw the [kd] land on the turn. Radnor checked to Brooke who led for 2,000, and then Cimbolas went from quiet to loud - making it 14,000 to play. Everyone folded, and Cimbolas now sits with 181,000. --JS

11:10: Brooke the hook
Level 10 - Blinds 600-1,200 (200 ante)

"You run so good!" said Matas Cimbolas to Simon Brooke after the latter took out Oliver Morgan. Brooke was all in for 12,000 earlier on, and now has 135,000 or thereabouts.

The two players were heads up to a [qd][7d][as] flop where Brooke set Morgan all in for 27,000. Call.

Brooke: [ac][7c] for two pair.
Morgan: [td][9d] for a flush draw.

The board ran out [4s][6s] to miss Morgan and he hit the rail. - MC

10.51pm: Webber puts his passport issues behind him
Level 10 - Blinds 600-1,200 (200 ante)

Seth Webber - the PokerStars Qualifier who had a bit of a mishap with his passport earlier today (see our 5:46pm post) - has just secured himself a double by winning a race.

He got his last 11,800 all-in with the [5c][5h] and was called by a player with the [ad][qh]. The [jh][3s][4c][3h][8d] board ran out pure for Webber though, and he's now up to 25,800. --JS

10.45pm: Bedtime for...
Level 10 - Blinds 600-1,200 (200 ante)

Say goodnight to: reigning UKIPT champion Vladas Tamasauskas; Tony Andreou, Andreas Olympios, David Leja, Parham Ahoor, Ka Him Li, Cusco Bach Guillem, Imran Shafi, Oscar Iscla Serradell, Nicholas Crisp, Charles Kolade Akadiri, Richard Steele, Mike Panteli, Bhavin Khatri, Dominic Wells and Mikhail Pokrepa. -- MC

10.30pm: Last three levels of the night
Level 10 - Blinds 600-1,200 (200 ante)

The players have retaken their seats to play out the last three levels of the night.

During the break we found out that Johann Bjornsson had gotten his stack courtesy of Richard Kellett. Bjornsson six-bet all in with ace-king, ran into Kellett's kings, but spiked an ace to double to a huge stack. --MC

10.15pm: Break time chip counts
Level 9 - Blinds 500-1,000 (100 ante)

Players are taking a quick 15, so while they do that I had a look around the room at some of the notable stacks:

Emran Hussain - 170,000
Johann Bjornsson - 160,000
Catalin Lesuc - 109,000
Matas Cimbolas - 86,000
Jack Salter - 51,000
Jamie O'Connor - 69,500

See you shortly. --JS

10.10pm: The Turk is (almost) back
Level 9 - Blinds 500-1,000 (100 ante)

"There you go, the Turk is back!" exclaimed Yucel "Mad Turk" Eminoglu after he spiked an ace on the river.

He got his short stack in (on the turn we believe) with [ah][3h] and was called by Dominic Wells and his [ks][tc]. The board read [qd][6c][6h][kd] and the river came [as]. Wells dropped to 6,500. -- MC

10pm: Uselis needs no heart to double
Level 9 - Blinds 500-1,000 (100 ante)

Gediminas Uselis has doubled to around 90,000 chips after he faded a heart that Edmund Yeung needed to bust him.

Uselis opened to 2,200 and was called in one spot before Yeung squeezed to 9,000 from the small blind. Uselis was the only caller to the [ah][8h][3d] flop where he called a 9,700 c-bet from his opponent. The turn was the [6d] and Yeung wasted little time in setting Uselis in for his last 21,000. Call.

Yeung: [kh][jh] for a flush draw.
Uselis: [ad][qc] for top pair.

The [7c] river changed nothing and Yeung dropped to 42,500. -- MC

9.50pm: Sweet for Salter
Level 9 - Blinds 500-1,000 (100 ante)

Jack Salter - who became known for his triangle pose whenever he went all-in during his 2nd place run at the 2014 EPT Grand Final - is pulling some new moves here at UKIPT 6 London; a result of which is that he's chipping up nicely.

In one hand against Carlos Mocchett, Salter completed the open of 2,000 from the big blind and the two saw a flop. It was the [jd][8d][7s] and both checked, taking us to the [kh] turn. Salter now took the betting with a bet of 2,800, which was called. He did the same on the [9h] river, only now the bet was 7,500. That was too much for Mocchett, and Salter moved up to around 46,000. --JS

9.40pm: House-over-house cooler
Level 9 - Blinds 500-1,000 (100 ante)

"Nice hand!" said Chris Phillips to David Lasierra after he called the latter's shove on the river and saw the bad news.

The board read [qh][7h][9h][as][9s] and Lasierra moved all in for 33,100. Phillips called with pocket sevens for a full house, but Lasierra opened [ah][ad] for an even bigger full house and he moved up to 110,000. Phillips nearly has to start all over again after dropping to 31,000. -- MC

9.30pm: Blinds up again
Level 9 - Blinds 500-1,000 (100 ante)

We're now playing 500-1,000 with a 100 ante. Four more levels for the night. --JS

9.25pm: When two big stacks collide - Romanian style
Level 8 - Blinds 400-800 (100 ante)

You've always got to stick around when you see two of the heftier stacks in the room prepare to play a pot together, and that's exactly what just happened.

It started with an open from one of the biggest stacks in the room at dinner, belonging to Catalin Lesuc. He made it 2,100 to play, only for Alexios Zervos - who had even more chips at the beginning of the hand - to make it 5,700 instead. It folded back around to Lesuc who made the call.

The dealer burned and dealt the [ah][7d][3s] flop, and after Lesuc checked Zervos put out a c-bet of 6,300. It was an easy call for Lesuc - he just threw some chips in before he'd even confirmed the amount.

The turn was the [4c] and the same thing happened - only this time Zervos' bet was 9,500. That took us to the [6h] river, and Lesuc basically insta-shoved for 66,200. Zervos squirmed and got out of his seat in annoyance. There was a straight draw out there now, but whatever Zervos though Lesuc had he clearly thought he was beat. He made a very reluctant fold, allowing Lesuc to scoop the pot and take his stack up to around the 100,000 mark, while Zervos has dipped to a still-very-healthy 86,000.

"Ahh - Romanian style!" Zervos said to Lesuc, who smiled. We therefore presume Lesuc is Romanian. If he's not, it would have been a rather odd thing to say, wouldn't it? --JS

9.20pm: So long, Albert
Level 8 - Blinds 400-800 (100 ante)

Albert Sapiano had fared very well in all in showdowns today, but variance finally caught up with him. The Pokerstars Blog had witnessed the first three, and got there just after the fact on the fourth.

His table mates explained that Sapianio had over-called a limp before a player raised and Dainis Budovskis shoved. The original limper folded, as did the raiser, but Sapiano called all in for around 12,000 with king-queen. He was in bad shape though as Budovskis held a dominating [ah][ks] and improved as the board came [7c][6d][ac][4c][7h]. -- MC

9.07pm: All the all-ins - but it's a no-go for No
Level 8 - Blinds 400-800 (100 ante)

It's been a hectic start to Level 8 - everywhere I looked there were red triangles flying. The players at risk seemed to be winning all the pots too; Andres Viola secured a full double-up, Paul Morris got his shove through, as did Parham Ahoor.

One player wasn't quite as fortunate though - despite having by far the best hand.

Antoine No had got his last 11,000 all-in with the [kh][kc] against Xizhe Yuan's [qh][qd], and things looked rosy. But the flop came the [3d][qc][5s], followed by the [3s][3c], and the cowboys were killed by the queens. No was outta here.

We'll try and keep up with all the action! --JS

9pm: Those we have loved
Level 8 - Blinds 400-800 (100 ante)

There are five levels left in the day, these players have played their last level for UKIPT6 London though: Chris Gordon, Yucel Eminoglu, Morten Mortensen, Tai Tan, Alan Gilmore, Jon Wong, Luke Gamble, Nezar Abdulrhaman, Yunheng Wu, Luke Haward, Ilan Florian Valentin Hannich, Paulius Cerniauskas, John Kitchen, Hamidreza Rajabi Montazeri, Morten Mortensen, Niko Koop, Phil Gould, Chris Phillips, Raymond Power, Ivan Dragoev, Simon Appleby, Gediminas Uselis, Charles Kolade Akadiri, Paul Morris, Michael Reid, Ramzi Jean Dagher, Marian Albert Didita, Hilmi Ture, Daniel Rudd, Ilan Florian Valentin Hannich, Paulius Cerniauskas, Jamie Rutherford and Antoine Louis. -- MC

8.45pm: Dinner time's over - we're back in the game
Level 8 - Blinds 400-800 (100 ante)

The remaining 93 players (of 146 entries) are taking their seats after the dinner break. We're going to play five more levels tonight, ending play at the end of Level 12.

The chip leaders in the room right now are Catalin Lesuc with 118,000, Emran Hussain with 110,000, and Anthony Kennedy with 95,000. Meanwhile, here are some stacks from the notables in the field:

Jack Salter 54,000
Matas Cimbolas 35,000
Jamie O'Connor 20,000
Vladas Tamasauskas 7,800
Adrian Mateos - Out --JS

7.48pm: Dinner time
Level 7 - Blinds 300-600 (75 ante)

The players are on a 60-minute dinner break. --MC

7.45pm: Adios Mateos!
Level 7 - Blinds 300-600 (75 ante)

In the penultimate hand of Level 7, right before the players went on their dinner break, we lost Adrian Mateos from the UKIPT Main Event.

It was an interesting hand too. Mateos kicked off proceedings with an open, only for Emran Hussain to 3-bet. Another player then flatted, only for Mateos to shove for around 18,000. Hussain then re-shoved over the top, only for the other play to call all-in!

So what were the hands? Aces, kings and queens? Ace-king all round? Nope.

Adrian Mateos [8h][8d]
Emran Hussain [as][ac]
Unknown player [ks][qs]

Mateos had shoved with eights, while the other player called off his tournament life with king-queen suited. Both proved a bad idea after an ace fell on the [td][kd][ah] flop, which was then joined by the [7s] and [th] on the turn and river.

Mateos and the unknown player were both eliminated, while Hussain now sits with one of the biggest stacks in the room - around 86,000. --JS

7.42pm: Danilo and Kellet on the up
Level 7 - Blinds 300-600 (75 ante)

There's more than one way to boost one's stack in a poker tournament; Danilo and Richard Kellet just proved that. The two players are sat at adjacent tables and the concurrent hands they played took very different paths.

Danilo had [ah][ad] and got his 24,150 stack in preflop versus Oscar Iscla Serradell who held [qc][qh]. The board ran out [kh][9c][6d][8h][8s] dropping Iscla down to 60,000.

Kellett meanwhile, had a trickier route to a pot win. He, Gerald Ringe and the small blind all took to a [6c][8d][5h] flop with around 12,500 in the middle. The small led for 4,200 before Kellett raised to 9,000 from middle position. Ringe was in the cutoff and tanked before calling, which seemed to aid the small blind in his decision to fold. Both players checked the [2h] turn before Ringe folded to a 23,000 bet from Kellett on the [qd] river. Kellett, who busted the High Roller earlier and was alate entry to the Main Event, has already got up to around 60,000. -- MC

7.30pm: Haward exits - but not without his stone
Level 7 - Blinds 300-600 (75 ante)

Some players use coins; others use cuddly toys. For Luke Haward, his card protector of choice is a large, smooth, grey pebble. And he almost forgot it.

David Radnor kicked off the action with an open to 1,300, which Haward then 3-bet to 3,500. Matas Cimbolas - on Haward's left - then folded his hand, only for Elias Christodoulou to make it 9,000 to play.

Radnor stroked his beard in contemplation, but opted to let this one go. Haward then leaned out and flashed a stare towards Christodoulou and his chips. He shoved - but it was only for a few thousand more. Christodoulou called.

It was the [td][ts] in front of Harder, but he was trailing the [jh][js]. The board ran out [4s][7s][5c][kh][ks] and Harder was eliminated as Christodoulou started stacking chips while being massaged.

"Good luck guys," he told the table. "It was nice to meet you," replaied Cimbolas, always a friendly person at the tables.

Harder was half-way out the door when he heard a call to him: "Don't forget your stone!" shouted Cimbolas.

I don't know where Harder is now, but I'll bet he's just a stone's throw away. --JS

7.15pm: Salter pays off Greene
Level 7 - Blinds 300-600 (75 ante)

We finally managed to catch a hand with Jack Salter in it. The Brit has been quietly accumulating chips all day, although the hand we witnessed saw him lose a smallish pot.

He opened to 1,150, and it folded around to David Greene in the big blind, who made the call. The flop came [jd][4c][2d] and Greene checked, allowing Salter to put out a c-bet of 1,200. Greene bumped it up to 3,200 at this point, and Salter threw out calling chips.

The turn came the [qs], and the action slowed entirely with both players checking. But on the [kh] river Green continued with his aggression, putting out a bet of 4,000. Salter smiled as he stared at Greene, and eventually made a call. He'd muck though when Greene turned over his [kc][qd] for runner-runner two-pair. --JS

7pm: Level up, registration closes
Level 7 - Blinds 300-600 (75 ante)

The start of Level 7 has commenced and that means registration has closed. The clock says that 146 players have registered, we'll get confirmation of that number shortly. -- MC

6.55pm: Crazy action
Level 6 - Blinds 250-500 (50 ante)

There's no 'waiting around for a good hand' for some players. This hand happened so quickly that we didn't even bother getting anyone's names - we just want to bring you the hyper-aggressive action.

So, a player from early position made it 1,100 to go - pretty standard at a 500 big blind level. Then the player to his immediate left instantly made it 5,100. Then the player to his immediate left shoved all-in for around 16,000. A female player in the big blind thought for about 20 seconds before folding, and the original raiser let his hand go with a sigh. The player who 3-bet insta-called and turned over just the [kh][ts] - and he was the player at risk! Get this though - the player who shoved over the top of him only had the [as][3d]!

The board ran out blank for the 3-bettor ([3c][4h][2s][8c][5d]) and his Main Event was over.

Pointing to the two players who folded pre-flop, another player at the table said: "Guaranteed you both had better hands than that!"

We'd be hard-pressed to disagree. Crazy action here on Day 1A. --JS

6.43pm: High rollers make the final table
Just eight players remain (listed below) in the High Roller Event and all are guaranteed a £7,410 payday. Luis Rodriquez from Spain - with over 1.1 million - remains favourite or the £55,650 top prize. -- MC

6.32pm: Zhou tries to hero, but comes up zero
Level 6 - Blinds 250-500 (50 ante)

It's always risky making hero calls; you'll either look like a genius, or...the opposite.

Well, it was Yingchen Zhou who we just caught attempting to hero, only to find out he was crushed. On a flop of [qd][5d][js], Zhou's opponent had shoved all-in for 11,975 and, although Zhou had him comfortably covered, he was deep in the tank. Eventually he'd cough up the calling chips, but shook his head when he saw the [ad][jh] for second pair. He gingerly turned over his [4d][4s] and the rest of the board brought him no help. --JS

6.25pm: Lesuc leading way
Level 6 - Blinds 250-500 (50 ante)

The irony of the title is not lost on us here in London. Catalin Lesuc entered level six as the clear chip leader with around 120,000. Edgar Drozdov (67,000), Tony Andreou (65,000) and Tai Tan (64,000) are amongst those in the chasing pack. -- MC

6.15pm: Back to work - end of registration looming
Level 6 - Blinds 250-500 (50 ante)

The players are back from their break, and we're now moving into Level 6. That means there's just 45 more minutes for new players to register and sit down today, otherwise they'll have to wait for one of the other starting fields (Day 1B tomorrow, or Day 1C on Friday).

Coming back from the break, here are a few notable name stacks:

Matas Cimbolas - 39,000
Jack Salter - 52,000
Chris Gordon - 13,000
Adrian Mateos - 26,000
Vladas Tamasauskas - 28,000 --JS

6pm: Players on second break, Morris won't be among those returning
Level 5 - Blinds 200-400 (50 ante)

The players are taking their second 15-minute break of the day. For James Morris, his break will be indefinite after busting in the last hand of level 5.

He tank-called a 5,000 bet on the turn and then called off his remaining 9,300 on the river when his opponent set him in. The board read [qs][2c][7s][3c][2h] and Morris' [ts][td] lost out to his opponent's [as][ad]. -- MC

5.53pm: Sapiano's hot streak continues
Level 5 - Blinds 200-400 (50 ante)

There's no stopping Albert Sapiano right now, as he's just doubled up again!

He got it in with the [qc][jc] and was up against his opponent's [as][3s]. The flop was good for Sapiano as the [js][9s][8c] gave him top pair and a gutshot. The [tc] on the turn completed that draw and the [kd] improved his hand needlessly.

Sapiano is now up to 43,000. --JS

5.46pm: Webber has the best girlfriend a man could ask for
Level 5 - Blinds 200-400 (50 ante)

PokerStars qualifier Seth Webber was here on time for the start of Day 1A but couldn't take his seat as he had left his passport at home in Brighton, on the UK's south coast. Luckily for Webber he has a very understanding girlfriend who travelled all the way up with it, allowing the South African native to finally take his seat.

"I'm in the bad books!" said a sheepish Webber. "I'll be buying the drinks though," he continued with a smile. -- MC

5.30pm: A double up and more for Černiauskas
Level 5 - Blinds 200-400 (50 ante)

There are plenty of chips being splashed about over on Table 7, and before the blinds went up we caught one hand which secured Paulius Černiauskas a much-needed double up.

It started with an open to 650 from the player to Černiauskas' right, which he then called, as did two other players. The flop was the [jh][4d][qd] and it checked to the raiser who continued for 1,250. Now Černiauskas shoved for 7,325 total, which got the other players to fold. The raiser made the call though.

Černiauskas had the cowboys - the [kd][kc] to be precise - but would have to hold against his opponent's [9d][8d] for a gutshot and flush draw. The [5h] turn was safe, as was the [3h] on the river, and Černiauskas stacked up around 22,000 to take him almost back where he started. --JS

5.25pm: Sapiano gets there again
Level 5 - Blinds 200-400 (50 ante)

Albert Sapiano has doubled once more, and needed the deck's help again.

He moved all in for 6,200 with a flop reading [ks][as][5d] and found one caller, who held [ad][kc]. Sapiano held the drawing [3s][4s] and made a wheel straight as the board ran out [2d][jc]. -- MC

5.15pm: Level up
Level 5 - Blinds 200-400 (50 ante)

5.10pm: Good bluff by Cimbolas
Level 4 - Blinds 150-300 (25 ante)

"What a legend! He's the best." Said a player at Table 4 during a hand where Matas Cimbolas took a chunky pot down uncontested.

There had been a raise to 700 and a call before Cimbolas squeezed to 2,800 from the small blind. The original raiser folded but the player on the button called to see a [9c][9h][qh] flop.

"Only one question I have," said Cimbolas. "How do I get max?"

His opponent called and the [kc] appeared on the turn. "That's a decent card!" continued Cimbolas before he bet 5,500.

His opponent folded and Cimbolas said "Oh my god, what a bluff!" He moved up to 50,000 chips. -- MC
4.55pm: Appleby bubbles High Roller

The £2,200 High Roller event only lasted three hands after Simon Appleby fell to massive chip leader, Luis Rodriguez.

The latter raised the 4,000 big blind up to 8,000 and was called by Appleby on the button, and the big blind. The board rolled out [2d][7d][4h][4s][7s] with Rodriguez betting 16,500, 26,000 and shoved the river. Appleby stuck with him all the way and called all in for around 107,000 on the river.

Rodriguez opened [7h][th] for a full house Appleby winced when he saw the holding as he new he was a goner with [ad][4d] for a smaller full house that was in the lead by the turn. Rodriguez moved up to more than 700,000 chips, nearly four times the average stack!

That pot ensured everyone still in is guaranteed £3,470. -- MC

4.40pm: UKIPT5 Dublin champ doubles up 'Team PokerStars Live at the Hippodrome' Pro
Level 4 - Blinds 150-300 (25 ante)

The man who took down the UKIPT Dublin title in February - Vladas Tamasauskas - is in the house today, and he'd been chipping up nicely. But the Lithuanian - who pocketed a staggering €176,900 for his big win and only third career cash - just took a slight knock as he doubled up Chris Gordon, a member of the Team PokerStars Live at the Hippodrome team.

Tamasauskas made it 750 to go from early position, and one player called before Gordon shoved for his short 4,575 stack. It folded back around to Tamasauskas who then slid in 30,000 for an isolation bet. It worked, as the other player got out of the way and the cards were on their backs.

Gordon: [5d][5s]
Tamasauskas: [qs][qc]

Gordon needed some home-turf help, and he got it on the [8c][5c][tc] flop. The set put him ahead, but he'd need to dodge any club or a queen to hold. The [4s] turn and [jd] river changed nothing, giving Gordon the double up to just under 10,000. --JS

4.30pm: Level 4 - shuffle up and deal
Level 4 - Blinds 150-300 (25 ante)

We're back here on Day 1A. We'll be playing two more levels before players take another break, and at that point registration for Day 1A will come to an end. If you're thinking of coming down to the Hipprodrome to play though, don't worry; there's Day 1B tomorrow and Day 1C on Friday. --JS

4:15pm: Break time

Players are now on their first 15-minute break of the day. --JS

4.10pm: Early bump in the road for Mateos
Level 3 - Blinds 100-200 (25 ante)

You might think it's always smooth sailing for the poker phenoms, but we just caught a slight slip-up from Adrian Mateos.

With the board reading [td][5d][3h][kd] and with roughly 4,000 in the pot, Mateos put out a bet of 1,675, and his one opponent made the call. After the [ah] hit the river, though, Mateos' opponent put out a chunky bet of 3,225 and Mateos snapped it off. He mucked though when he saw the villain's [7d][2d] for a baby flush. The Spaniard has around 20,000 in front of him. --JS

4.05pm: Nice turn of events for Sapiano
Level 3 - Blinds 100-200 (25 ante)

Albert Sapiano doesn't like to hang around. If he hits a board, he's happy to put chips in.

He did that just now for all his chips but found himself behind. The poker gods look favourably on him though and he doubled up after sucking out on his opponent.

The flop read [qc][8d][5s] and Sapiano check-raised all in for 5,975 after his opponent had bet 3,000. Sapiano opened [7h][8s] once he was called, behind to his opponent's [jd][js]. The board ran out [7c][ks] to make Sapinao trips and the pot was pushed his way. -- MC

3.55pm: Adrian Mateos takes his seat
Level 3 - Blinds 100-200 (25 ante)

This room of players already boasted plenty of talent, but Adrian Mateos entering the field just edged it up a notch.

Mateos is an absolute beast, who in just his early-twenties has already won more than $4.1 million in live earnings - including his profile-boosting wins at the EPT11 Grand Final ($1,214,161) and the WSOPE Main Event ($1,351,661).

Not content with just winning at the felt, Mateos is also nominated for two awards at the European Poker Awards 2016 - which will take place during the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo.

His performance in last year's Grand Final earned him a place on the short list for Tournament Performance of the Year, while his epic bluff against Johnny Lodden at that final table caused Daniel Negreanu to announce on the live stream: "We're seeing some high-level poker."

There's no doubt we'll see some high-level poker from Mateos here today, so make you stick around and keep refreshing the live updates. --JS

3.40pm: Cimbolas says his holas
Level 3 - Blinds 100-200 (25 ante)

Matas Cimbolas has taken his seat on Day 1A - but not without saying hello to no less than 10 players upon entering the room.

The talented Lithuanian - who lives right here in London with a group of grinders from his home country - called an open of 350 and saw a flop with one opponent. It came the [3h][qs][6c] and Cimbolas checked, before facing a continuation bet of 400 that he would quickly call. The turn came the [7h] and both players checked, before the [9h] hit the river. Cimbolas checked once more, and then folded when his opponent bet 700.

We'll be hoping to grab lots of action from Cimbolas throughout the day, who has $726,000 in live earnings - including a final table appearance at EPT11 Deuville. --JS

3.30pm: Level up, antes in play
Level 3 - Blinds 100-200 (25 ante)

3.25pm: High Roller Day 2 is in full swing

The UKIPT London festival kicked off yesterday with the £2,200 High Roller event, and attracted an impressive 114 entries. They helped amass a £221,166 prize pool and 28 players returned for Day 2 hoping to claim a share of it.

The final 17 will make the money and guarantee themselves £3,470, but all will be hoping to walk away with £55,650 - the prize saved for the champion. As the time of publishing, 24 players remain.

Some of the big names still in contentions are: Ben Winsor, Felix Stephensen, Niall Murray, Richard Gryko, Richard Kellett, Simon Appleby, Tamer Kamel and Lawrence Bayley. -- MC

3.10pm: Sidhu felted early
Level 2 - Blinds 75-150

Certainly one of the most decorated players in the room when it comes to UKIPT and EPT cashes, Kully Sidhu knows a thing or two about navigating these fields.

Sadly for the Brit, though, this is one event he won't be going deep in. We picked up the action on a [5s][4d][8d][qh] board, with a hefty amount already in the middle. Sidhu's only opponent in the hand, Fabian Deimann, had bet around 4,000, only for Sidhu to bump it up to what looked like 10,000. It all happened so fast that when Deimann shoved and Sidhu called we couldn't get accurate counts of the chips each player had behind, but what we did catch were the cards: [as][ah] for Sidhu, which was trailing the [4h][4s] of Deimann, who had flopped a set.

The river was the [9h] and we said goodbye to Kully Sidhu, while Germany's Deimann now sits with around 60,000. --JS

2.45pm: Blinds are up
Level 2 - Blinds 75-150

Well that went fast! It was a pretty timid first level here, but then they so often are. The blinds have moved up to 75-150, so hopefully we'll start to see some big pots brewing. --JS

2.35pm: Can we get to four figures?
Level 1 - Blinds 50-100

Most UKIPTs have two starting flights but, seeing as the Hippodrome Casino is a little snug, three starting flights have been scheduled to make sure everyone can find a day to play. Saying that though, 30 poker tables are operational and Tournament Director Toby Stone indicated that up to 350 players can be accommodated each day.

Some of those being accommodated today include: four-time UKIPT casher Mike Pantelli; EPT11 Prague third-place finisher Jon Wong; EPT12 Dublin third-place finisher Kully Sidhu; along with UKIPT regulars Albert Sapiano, James Morris and Marco Vasconcelos. -- MC

2.12pm: So, who's here?
Level 1 - Blinds 50-100

We're starting to scope out our Day 1A field, but one table caught our eye from across the room. It features the UK's Jack Salter (best known for finishing 2nd at the EPT Grand Final in 2014 for €765,000), as well as Jamie O'Connor - known as 'Ship It 2010' on PokerStars (who has an impressive $1.6 million in total online winnings). We look forward to seeing how these guys clash throughout the day. --JS

2.03pm: Cards in the air!
Level 1 - Blinds 50-100

The players have taken their seats here on Day 1A and our dealers have shuffled up. Let the first hand commence! --JS

1:40pm: Welcome to the big smoke!

Afternoon all! We're here at the beautiful Hippodrome Casino right in the heart of Leicester Square to kick off the Main Event of UKIPT6 London - the first stop of the Season 6 tour. It's a late kick-off time today, with play starting at 2pm; but we're sure you won't find any of the players complaining about their lie-in!

It's not the first event of the festival though - the £2,200 High Roller kicked off at 6pm last night (Tuesday 5th), and drew a massive, star-studded field of 114 players. It's the biggest ever standalone UKIPT High Roller, and here's a run down of just some of the names playing here in the capital:

Team PokerStars Pros Liv Boeree, Jake Cody; German (and Russian) wizards Tobias Reinkemeier, Igor Kurganov and Fabian Quoss; not to mention Victoria Coren, Pierre Neuville, Oliver Price, Jack Salter, JP Kelly, and Dara O'Kearney.

That's one stacked line-up. Only 28 players remain in that event and they'll play down to a winner today, so stay tuned for more info. You can be sure they'll all be in the Main Event at some point, whether it's here on Day 1A, or in Thursday's Day 1B or Friday's Day 1C.

Back to the Main Event, though. It was the UK's own Rapinder Cheema who took down the Season 5 UKIPT London Main Event for a first place prize of £78,825, after a deal was made heads-up with Spain's Fernando Marin (who qualified for the tournament online at PokerStars). They shared the final table run with tour regulars including Lawrence Bayley (4th) and Brett Angell (7th) - the latter of which won this very event in Season 4 for £115,083. We'd be shocked not to see them all returning to the Hippodrome felt this week.

So sit back, relax, and get ready for all the great action from UKIPT6 London. --JS

Key UKIPT6 London 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, and Day 1C takes place on Friday. The field will then combine for the first time on Saturday for Day 2. We'll reach the money during the 10 levels of play on Day 2 and then play down to a final table, which will take place on Sunday.
- Full UKIPT6 London schedule here.
- Other tournaments today include a £110 NL Holdem Freezeout Satellite to the UKIPT Main Event, and a £110 NL Holdem Turbo Deepstack.

PokerStars Blog Reporting Team at UKIPT6 London: Marc Convey and Jack Stanton. Photos by Mickey May. Follow the PokerStars Blog on Twitter: @PokerStarsBlog

London has been part of the UKIPT since the very beginning - be it as a normal stop or as a Grand Final wrapped up as an EPT (Season 1) - so it seems as right as place as any to kick off the sixth season of one of the most successful and respected tours around. A total of 54 trophies have been given out over the first five seasons, and today, the journey towards the 55th ceremony started.

The trophy will be given out this coming Sunday after five long days of poker. Luckily for the survivors of Day 1A, they have two days off now, and will be back for Day 2 on Saturday. A total of 146 players turned up to PokerStars Live at the Hippodrome Casino today with the hope of contesting twelve 45-minute levels. When the dust settled on the last of those levels, 39 remained and were led by Xizhe Yuan who amassed 286,400.

Jack Salter almost pipped him to the post in the last level of the day after a massive hand against Jamie O'Connor. The PokerStars Blog caught up with O'Connor after the hand, and despite it being "a massive blow" he was more than happy to kindly walk us through the action.

He'd opened to 4,000 before facing a 3-bet to 10,800 from Salter. O'Connor said he flatted with [ts][8s], and the flop came king-jack-four rainbow with one spade. He check-called another bet of 10,800, leading to a non-spade seven on the turn. O'Connor checked again, and Salter made it 25,000. O'Connor then made a big shove with his gutshot - clearly thinking he could get Salter off his hand - but that turned out to be ace-king, and Salter went nowhere except up the leader board.

Other big stacks included: Gediminas Uselis (252,800), Nicholas Hennessey (219,600), Patrice Brandt (215,900), Alfie Adam (207,500), Richard Kellett (187,200), Steven Herron (176,500) and Matas Cimbolas (147,300). Kellett had a very eventful day. He came back for Day 2 of the High Roller, busted 13th for £3,980, built a big stack in the Main Event, lost most of it with kings versus ace-king, laughed it off, and rebuilt to a big stack again by close of play. Full counts will be posted shortly.

You can take a look at the full end of Day 1A chip counts here.

Kully Sidhu was one of the most in-form players in the field today, coming here on the back of his third-place finish at EPT12 Dublin for €250k, but every dog has his off day, and today was Sidhu's. He was one of the first players out when he ran pocket aces in to the set of Fabian Deimann. He was joined on the rail by such notables as: reigning EPT Grand Final champion Adrian Mateos; UK legend Albert Sapiano; the only current UKIPT champion (Dublin) Vladas Tamasauskas; Team PokerStars Live at the Hippodrome's Chris Gordon and "Mad Turk" Yucel Eminoglu.

Today also saw Day 2 of the High Roller play out. The final 28 players returned hoping to (at least) make the final 17 (min cash) and beyond. Simon Appleby was the unfortunate bubble boy after his full house was beaten by Luis Rodriguez and his bigger full house. That pot put Rodriquez in a commanding position and he rode the wave all the way to the final table and beyond. He was still in with two players remaining - the situation the tournament had reached by the end of play in the Main Event (check tomorrow's blog for the final results).

Day 1A started at 2pm today but the start times are going to jump forward for the next three days. To make sure enough space is freed up for the evening side events on the festival schedule, the powers that be have moved the Day 1B,C and Day 2 start time to 11am. So join us back here in the morning where another twelve 45-minute levels await, and a whole new bunch of faces will appear. For now though, read through all today's action by clicking here.

PokerStars Blog Reporting Team at UKIPT6 London: Marc Convey and Jack Stanton. Photos by Mickey May, who will permanently watermark you if you steal her photos! Follow the PokerStars Blog on Twitter: @PokerStarsBlog

* Day 1B over. A full wrap can be found here.
* Day 1A is over - read a full report of the day here.
* Day 1B Players (39 of 161 remain).
* Day 1C starts tomorrow at 11am.

9:50pm: Day 1B in the books

That's all for updates from an exciting Day 1B. A full wrap can be found here. --MC

9.35pm: Last four hands of the night
Level 12 - Blinds 1,00-2,000 (300 ante)

Each table will play four more hands before bagging up for the night. -- MC

9.32pm: Not to be outdone...
Level 12 - Blinds 1,00-2,000 (300 ante)

The action from her neighbouring table might've been too much to bear for Sirilux Ho as she was soon back in the action herself, and back on the rise, after losing a chuck of her stack again.

Mark Wates raised to 6,000 and was called in one spot before Ho moved all in from the big blind. Wates called all in for around 55,000 and the third player folded.

Ho: [8c][8d]
Wates: [ts][td]

The board ran [8h][7h][2d][5s][2s] to make Ho a lucky full house and a 106k stack. "That's why we play poker!" said a philosophical Wates. --MC

9.20pm: Nikolaidi flushed with chips, a lot of chips
Level 12 - Blinds 1,00-2,000 (300 ante)

The Ladies Day torch has passed from Sirilux Ho to Irina Nikolaidi, the latter taking over the chip lead (with 280,000) after a huge pot versus Daniel Palsson.

She raised to 6,000 from mid position and then emptied the clip with bets of 8,000, 16,000 and 40,000 on each street of a [js][2h][ah][qh][4s] board. Palsson was in the big blind and called all the way but mucked upon seeing Nikolaidi's [kh][5h] for a flush. -- MC

9.02pm: Last level of the night
Level 12 - Blinds 1,000-2,000 (300 ante)

9pm: Queen Sirilux
Level 11 - Blinds 800-1,600 (200 ante)

Sirilux Ho's stack had dropped back from the dizzying heights it was at earlier on, but she just knocked out Kevin Barden to get back up to 195,000.

Ho raised from early position and Barden peeled from the big blind to see a [jd][5d][2h] flop appear. Ho continued for 5,000 and called after Barden check-raised all in for around 60,000.

Ho: [qc][qs] for an over pair.
Barden: [as][kd] for two overs and the nut flush draw.

The board ran out [3c][2c] to see the queens hold up. -- MC

8.45pm: It's now ladies night, and the feeling's right
Level 11 - Blinds 800-1,600 (200 ante)

We have four women remaining at the end of this day we dubbed ladies day, due to the dominant performances from the females in the field. It's only right that one of them end the night as chip leader, right?

Well, it's certainly a possibility, as here's how they stack up right now:

Sirilux Ho - 211,000
Irina Nikolaidi - 185,000
Leo Margets - 136,000
Maria Lampropoulos - 82,000 --JS

8.38pm: Ice, Iceland, baby
Level 11 - Blinds 800-1,600 (200 ante)

Haukur Bodvarsson, who's part of an ever-growing crew from Iceland that love, and travel, to play the UKIPT, has dropped down to starting stack after losing a race.

He squeezed all in after a raise to 4,000 and a call from Christian Friedel. The raiser folded but Friedel called all in for 28,600.

Friedel: [8h][8c]
Bodvarsson: [as][qh]

The board ran [2d][8s][jh][ac][5d] to make Friedel a set. Bodvarsson was disappointed to lose the hand but happy to hear his friend - Daniel Palsson - is one of the chip leaders on 187,000. -- MC

8.25pm: Ladies event rolls on with Lampropoulos
Level 11 - Blinds 800-1,600 (200 ante)

We've been mentioning it throughout the day, but Day 1B really is all about the ladies. Adding to that theme just now was Maria Lampropoulos, fresh off her second-place finish at Eureka Rozvadov (her boyfriend, Ivan Luca, took that title down).

Anyway, before the blinds went up Lampropoulos began the hand with an open to 2,600, before Jason Lam 3-bet to 6,200. Anthony Harnden in the big blind then jammed for his last 11,000, resulting in a shove from Lampropoulos for he remaining 33,200. Lam made the call and the three revealed their cards.

"OHHH!" roared the table, as both Lam and Harnden turned over pocket jacks (Lam had the reds, Harden the blacks). But an even bigger "OHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" came when Lampropoulos turned over her [kh][kd].

The board ran out [7d][as][7h][5h][qd] and Lampropoulos raked in the whole shebang, continuing the dominant performances of the females in the field here today. She's up to 82,000 now. --JS

8.15pm: Level 11 has arrived
Level 11 - Blinds 800-1,600 (200 ante)

Only two more levels of play today before the remaining players bag and tag. There are 56 players still in this one. --JS

8.10pm: There's always the London Cup on Saturday
Level 10 - Blinds 600-1,200 (200 ante)

The UKIPT6 London Main Event is over for: Team Online's Mickey Petersen,
Jonathan Reynolds, Mohammed Abdullah, Eric Le Goff, Robin Fisher, Mark Lane, Shane, Marcin Milde, Fabio Sperling, Deborah Worley-Roberts, Amar Al Hussona, Cristina Illie, Chris Yong, Martin Leines, Moshe De Leon, Eirimas Livonas, Javier Sanchez Zarco, Virgo Laansoo, Vimal Patel, Matias Ruzzi, David Lopez Llacer, Peter Feher, Alexander Zeligman, Alastair May, Terence Jordan, Simonas Rimsa, Adrian Memed, Micael Raschdorf, Tobias Wenker, Terry Schumacher, Philippe Karim Souki, Alejandro Perez Torres, Najam Qureshi, Rain Koov, Matthew Davenport, Lev Belsky, Kevin Walshe, Andrew Keep, Shvan Frost, James Gray, Christian Mihu, Benjamin Raven, Yiannis Liperis and Jesse Algranti. -- MC

8pm: Sick, sick hand, but you can't crown Jewell the winner
Level 10 - Blinds 600-1,200 (200 ante)

It might not have been the biggest pot, but that might have been the sickest I've seen today.

I picked up the action on the [jh][9d][8d] flop - a very wet board indeed. Gavin Jewell put out the first bet, before Rodrigo Strong raised it up. Then David Murphy shoved all-in for 18,300, Jewell called that bet, and Strong moved all-in himself for about 30,000 on top. Jewell snap-called and the cards were on their backs.

Gavin Jewell - [td][7d]
David Murphy - [js][8s]
Rodrigo Strong - [ad][jd]

Everyone had something big. Jewell had flopped a monster with his straight and up-and-down straight flush draw; Murphy had flopped two-pair; and Strong had top pair and the nut flush draw.

Both Strong and Murphy were all-in and needed to hit. Well, the [4d] his Strong hard. He now had the nut flush draw and took the lead over Jewell. At this point, Murphy was going to be headed to the door.

But then Boom! The case [jc] hit the river, giving Murphy a full-house and a full treble-up. Strong still won a decent side pot.

When the dust had settled, Strong had 60,000, Murphy had 56,000, and Jewell was crippled down to just 5,300. He doubled up on the next hand though, so we could see an epic comeback coming.

Sick hand, eh? --JS

7:46pm: King Connolly
Level 10 - Blinds 600-1,200 (200 ante)

PokerStars Staff member Richard Connolly was happy for us to include the following hand after he had secured the pot for more than a double up.

Wenbin Chen opened to 2,600 from the hijack and was called in one spot before Connolly squeezed all in for 19,100 from the small blind. Chen shoved as well and the third party folded.

Connolly: [kc][kh]
Chen: [ad][jc]

The board ran [tc][6d][4c][8c][8h] and Connolly relaxed after living anxiously through every street of the board. -- MC

7.30pm: Back to the action
Level 10 - Blinds 600-1,200 (200 ante)

The 67 players have returned from their break and we're now in Level 10. Here are the biggest stacks in the room right now:

Sirilux Ho - 252,000
Daniel Palsson - 186,000
Irina Nikolaidi - 138,000
Jason Lam - 152,000
James Mitchell - 120,000 --JS

7.15pm: Last break of the day

Three more levels after the players come back from a 15-minute breather.

7.10pm: Ladies day in full swing on the UKIPT
Level 9 - Blinds 500-1,000 (100 ante)

We half jested in the blog earlier that today (being a Thursday of a festival) was the unofficial ladies day of the UKIPT, due to the high turnout of the fairer sex. Fast-forward a few hours and two of those ladies are dominating.

Irina Nikolaidi, who's already been on our radar today, is still cruising with 145,000 but Sirilux Ho has come from nowhere to lead with a massive 275,000!

Nikolaidi has been moved from her original table and was a raising machine for the period we viewed her new table. One of her 3x raises was called by Josh Green in the big blind and a [7d][jc][9d] flop appeared. Nikolaidi continued for 3,000 and Green check-called to the [th] turn. Both players checked before Green check-called an 8,000 bet on the [3h] river. Nikolaidi opened [jh][jd] for top set and Green said nice hand before folding.

We haven't seen any of Ho's hands today but a tablemate told the blog that she made six/seven straights in a row. In one hand she made a straight to eliminate a player who held two pair and then she took care of the talented Neil Raine. The latter made a move with a flush draw but Ho was already sitting there with a made ten high straight. -- MC

7pm: Raising issues lead to sick run-out
Level 9 - Blinds 500-1,000 (100 ante)

Eww. That was pretty gross.

Donal O'Connor had made a standard open which was 3-bet by Finn Stewart to 6,500. O'Connor then min-raised to 13,000, which Stewart then intended to call, but accidently put out enough chips that it had to be considered a raise.

Tournament Director Luca Vivaldi was called over to inform Stewart that he had to make it the minimum bet of 19,500. He threw in the extra chips to complete his accidental raise and the action was back on O'Connor.

He then jammed for 63,500 total, obviously sensing weakness. And Stewart snap-called, having him covered.

It was the [qh][qc] for Stewart, who was in fine shape when O'Connor gingerly turned over his [9h][th]. All eyes were on the felt as the dealer put out an [8d][kd][9d] flop. O'Connor had connected, so there was always a chance. The [kh] changed nothing, so it was all down to the river.

The [9s]. O'Connor made an unlikely set, and secured the win. "Well done," said Stewart.

O'Connor now sits around 129,000, while Stewart took a hit down to 37,000. --JS

6.50pm: Mitchell shoots up the chip counts
Level 9 - Blinds 500-1,000 (100 ante)

A big hand just played out between Irish Open winner James Mitchell, LAPT9 Chile winner Rodrigo Strong, and Germany's Kevin Barden, which has seen Mitchell rocket up the chip counts.

Barden kicked off the hand with a standard open which Strong then 3-bet, leading to a cold 4-bet from Mitchell to 21,000. Both Barden and Strong called and the three saw an [8h][5s][9s] flop fall down. It checked to Mitchell who jammed for his whole 33,700 stack. Barden thought for a minute before throwing his hand away, and then Strong started to work through the hand himself. He counted out calling chips, but took his time, glancing up at the tournament clock.

The chips eventually found themselves in the middle, and Strong turned over [ac][kd] for ace-high. It was a hero-call gone awry, as Mitchell had the [ad][as] in his holding. The [7s] and [3s] completed the board, giving Mitchell some major wind in his sails. He now sits with around 130,000, while Strong is down to 33,000. --JS

6.36pm: Take a nice long Knapp
Level 9 - Blinds 500-1,000 (100 ante)

"Good luck guys!" said a gracious Daniel Knapp after he busted to Donal O'Connor.

The latter had raised to 2,000 from early position and was called in one spot before Knapp squeezed all in for 12,700 from the small blind. O'Connor was the only caller.

Knapp: [as][2h]
O'Connor: [3c][3h]

The board ran [5d][tc][5c][5s][6h] to see the threes hold up. -- MC

6.32pm: Level up
Level 9 - Blinds 500-1,000 (100 ante)

6.26pm: The Spanish are coming
Level 8 - Blinds 400-800 (100 ante)

Walking around the room, the three biggest Spanish names in the room belong to Leo Margets, Andoni Larrabe, and Sergio Aido.

If they need an introduction, here you go: Margets is an experienced pro with plenty of cashes on the circuit; Larrabe is best known for finishing 6th in the 2014 WSOP Main Event for $1,622,471; and Aido is absolute beast and UKIPT champion - taking down this very event in 2013 for £144,555. Here's a hand for all of them from the last orbit.

Margets took hers down; she opened to 1,700 from the hijack and got a caller from the big blind. The flop came [qh][7c][kd], it checked to her and she took it down with a c-bet of 1,800. She's up to roughly 40,000 now.

Meanwhile, Larrabe didn't fare as well. A player opened to 1,600 from the hijack and Larrabe flatted out of the big blind, only to see the [3h][qh][ks] fall on the flop. The November Niner check-called a bet of 2,100, leading us to the [8h] turn. This time Larrabe check-called a bet of 5,000. There'd be no more betting on the [jc] river though, and Larrabe had to muck when his opponent showed [kd][4d] for top pair. He's still healthy with 57,000 though.

So, what would we find on the usually hyper-aggressive Sergio Aido's table? Cold-four bet jamming? Seven-bet pots?

Nah, Aido is just chilling on his phone. He does have 37,000 though, so he's having a good day so far. --JS

6.20pm: 307 in, so far, for UKIPT6 London
Level 8 - Blinds 400-800 (100 ante)

Registration closed at the end of Level 6 and the tournament clock showed, since then, that 161 players entered today. After the TDs double and triple-checked, that number has been confirmed.

Add that to the 146 that entered yesterday and you get 307 players that gave entered so far. That prize pool is getting juicy so get yourself down to the Hippodrome Casino tomorrow to be in with a chance of a slice of the money on offer. -- MC

6.12pm: Momma getting salty?
Level 8 - Blinds 400-800 (100 ante)

Deborah Worley-Roberts and Louis Salter have battled in a few pots today. Their banter indicates so. Salter can probably handle Worley-Roberts from a poker point of view, we're not sure that he's had enough life experience to cope what comes out of her chops though.

Worley-Roberts opened to 2,000 from early position and Salter defended his big blind to see a [4c][5h][8s] flop fan in from of them. Salter check-called 2,200 there and another 3,000 on the [6c] turn. He checked for a third time on the [ad] river and Worley-Roberts said. "You've been getting so lucky against me." before checking behind.

Salter opened [jc][5c] and lost out to Worley-Roberts' [ah][6h].

"Momma got you!" Worley-Roberts gently needled as she raked in the pot to rise to 57,000.

Salter, who dropped to 31,000, didn't respond but did say, "It's okay," after Worley-Roberts followed up with, "You can call me Momma if you like!" -- MC

5.55pm: Milde caught in the Raine
Level 8 - Blinds 400-800 (100 ante)

Two UK players we haven't discussed much are Marcin Milde and Neil Raine. The latter is an online grinder with just shy of $850,000 in tournament winnings under his screen name 'heffs976', not to mention the near $250,000 he's picked up on the live felt as a regular on the UKIPT circuit and more. Meanwhile, Milde won the Sunday Million last year under the name 'Marcin123' for a whopping $230,614 - his second big win in that event, the first of which came back in 2011 when he chopped it for $128,000.

The two players are sat right next to each other right now and just played a cheeky pot with each other from the blinds. Milde limped the 800 and Raine bumped it up to 1,800, while Milde would call.

The flop was the [5h][qs][7h], which Raine continued on for 1,700 after it was checked to him. Milde went nowhere, taking us to the [6c] on the turn. It was classic turn action - check check - so the [kc] came down on the river. Milde checked once more, and Raine put out a tiny bet of just one big blind (800). Although it was cheap, it wasn't enough for Milde to call, as he threw his hand away.

Milde is currently sitting with 44,300, while Raine has 34,000. --JS

5.47pm: Five more levels for tonight
Level 7 - Blinds 400-800 (100 ante)

The players' bellies are full and they are back in their seats for five more levels of poker. -- MC

4.45pm: Dinner time

Our players have gone on a 60-minute dinner break, so we'll catch you back here in an hour. --JS

This Gale too weak to knock over Nikolaidi's stack
Level 7 - Blinds 300-600 (75 ante)

The rich are getting richer here in London. Irina Nikolaidi just took out John Gale to rise to around 135,000.

Gales raised from the hijack and picked up three callers en route to a [7d][9s][6d] flop. There was around 9,000 in the middle and the action checked to Gale who moved all in for 12,500. Nikolaidi was in the small blind and she snap moved all in as well when it was her turn to act. All others folded.

Gale: [ad][8c] for an open ended straight draw.
Nikolaidi: [tc][8d] for the flopped nuts.

The board ran out [2d][5s] to make Gale a straight but it was too low. He wished everyone luck and trotted off. -- MC

4.20pm: For those we're lost...
Level 7 - Blinds 300-600 (75 ante)

If this were an awards show, this would be the part where they show the black-and-white film of all the people who have moved on recently. Get ready to get weepy, because here comes the list of bust-outs:

Philip James Ward, Vytautas Rubezius, Tobias Marcus Schmecht, James Ernest Barney, Jay Samani, Miaden Ivanov, Oskar Thor Jonsson, Nico Nicolaou, Gianluca Rinaldi, Alain Deniz Saka, Benjamin Mark Boulden, Emma Jayne Wilkinson, Sarfraz Ali, Catalin Irinel Dumtrascu, Russell Darren Wood, Umar Akram Aslam, Daniel Alan Burrow, Paul Findlay, Paul Scott Williams, Jacqueline Cachia, Michael Anthony Glasspell, Brian Delaney Junior, Quoc Huuy Le, Rahim Tadj-Saadat, Richard Jones, Paula Lou Mcghie, Steve Watts, Markus Kuhnen, Jesse Isaac Chambers, Dean Stuart Lyall, Joakim Rahmouri, Michael John David Kossov, and Nuno Daniel Cardoso Simoes. --JS

4pm: Price of poker going up
Level 7 - Blinds 300-600 (75 ante)

We've moved into Level 7, which means registration for Day 1B is now closed. One more level and then our players will go on a 60-minute dinner break. --JS

3.50pm: Palsson's not making friends but flushes
Level 6 - Blinds 250-500 (50 ante)

I'm sure he has plenty of pals off the felt, but Daniel Palsson just won a pot that's certainly going to make Anthony Harnden think twice about being buddies.

Palsson kicked off the with an open to 1,100 which was called in the three spots, including both blinds. The flop had plenty of potential for calling hands, as it came the [9h][5d][8d]. It checked to Palsson who continued for 3,200, Harnden made the call, as did the player in the big blind. That took us to the [6d] turn, which was no doubt an action card.

Both the big blind player and Palsson now checked to Harnden, who fired 6,000 into the middle. The other player got out of the way but Palsson went nowhere, instead choosing to jam his 19,375 stack. Harnden made a quick call but must have been gutted to see his [7s][9s] for a straight was beaten by Palsson's [ad][9d] nut flush. The [6s] river changed nothing.

Palsson ain't here to make more pals; he's here to make flushes. --JS

3.45pm: Chips ahoy!
Here's a list of some big stacks and notables:

Jason Lam - 98,000
Irina Nikolaidi - 91,000
Andoni Larrabe - 62,000
David Clarkson - 65,000
Robert Haigh - 58,000
Sergio Aido - 55,000
Paula Mcghie - 52,000
Oliver Greer - 51,000
Neil Raine - 50,000
Leo Margets - 47,000
John Gale - 45,500
Louis Salter - 45,000
Philippe Souki - 36,000
Deborah Worley-Roberts - 36,000
James Mitchell - 31,800
Danny Toffel - 28,500
Marcin Milde - 23,500
Paul Romain - 24,000
Maria Lampropoulos - 23,000
Josh Green - 18,000
Mickey Petersen - 14,000
Thomas Dunwoodie - 9,750
--MC

3.30pm: Voctor leaves opponent needing doctor
Level 6 - Blinds 250-500 (50 ante)

When a player leaves the tournament room in a hurry, taking their ID number card with them so we can't identify them, it's usually after they've busted in a fashion they're not entirely happy with. For one player just now, this was entirely the case; his tournament coming to an end at the hands of Nadeeka Voctor.

There was around 5,000 in the pot when the flop came down, and although we missed the action it's safe to assume there was a standard open which had been called by five players. The board showed the [8c][js][ac], and Voctor took the betting lead making it 2,800, which only one player called. The turn was then the [5h], and now the bet from Voctor was 3,000. His opponent opted to raise it to 7,000 leaving himself just 6,450 behind. Voctor made the call and the two saw a turn.

The [6s] fell and Voctor threw out two blue 5,000 chips, putting his opponent all-in. It didn't take him long to call, and it took him even less time to exit the tournament area after he saw his [as][qs] was beaten by Voctor's [ah][8d].

While his opponent was left with a sick feeling, Voctor stacked up around 50,000 in chips. --JS

3.15pm: We're back and taking it up a notch
Level 6 - Blinds 250-500 (50 ante)

The 128 remaining players of our 156 Day 1B starting field have re-taken their seats, and we're now playing 250-500 with a 50 ante. --JS

3pm: 2nd break of the day
Level 5 - Blinds 200-400 (50 ante)

Players will be back in 15 minutes after a short break. --JS

2.53pm: Nicolaou's brutal double take
Level 5 - Blinds 200-400 (50 ante)

An interesting pot looked like it was playing out over on Table 6, where there was around 30,000 in the middle by the river. The board read the [js][5d][3h][3d][4d], and Donal O'Connor had put out a bet of 8,625. Nico Nicolaou had made the call, leaving himself just 7,000 behind, and the action was on Finn Stewart. For a minute it looked like he might raise, but it turns out it was just calling chips he was counting. He slid them across.

O'Connor flipped over the [3s][4s] for a runner-runner full-house, but Nicolaou hadn't quite caught it as he turned over the [ah][2h] for a straight like it was the winner. He quickly realised though, and let out a big sigh. Stewart mucked and O'Connor raked in the massive pot. --JS

2.40pm: No Wattage
Level 5 - Blinds 200-400 (50 ante)

Steve Watts' day as come to an end.

He told the blog he lost a big pot versus Daniel Knapp when he flopped top two pair. Knapp turned a straight though and the chips went in.

Watts then busted to Kevin Walshe when he shoved on the river with the board reading [2c][9s][5h][qs][as]. It was a case of bad timing though as Watts' [ts][5c] had fallen behind Walshe's [ac][jc] on the river. He wished everyone luck and went on his way. -- MC

2.32pm: Done and dusted
Level 5 - Blinds 200-400 (50 ante)

A few of the players who have busted so far on Day 1B include Marius Zalpys, Noel Broadbent, Graeme Milton Hibbert, Henryk Nowakowski, Dino Brivati, and Paula Lou Mcghie. --JS

2.22pm: Clock called; Wu waits wondering
Level 5 - Blinds 200-400 (50 ante)

"Floor please, to table 9!" we heard the dealer shout, so we popped our heads over to see what was up. It turned out Irina Nikolaidi was in a heads-up with Xinyu Wu; there was roughly 30,000 in the pot, the board showed the [kh][qc][6s][5s][th], and Nikolaidi had checked to Wu on the river.

With no bet to call, Wu's decision was either check it back or make a bet. He'd been thinking about it for so long, though, that the clock had been called (by whom I'm unsure), and he was told by the floor that he had one minute left to act.

He would eventually check, and Nikolaidi revealed her [kc][jc] for top pair. It was good for the win forcing Wu to muck. "Phew!" proclaimed a relieved Nikolaidi as she raked in the decent pot. --JS

2.16pm: Level up
Level 4 - Blinds 150-300 (25 ante)

2.10pm: Notable counts
Level 4 - Blinds 150-300 (25 ante)

Chip counts from a few notables in the tournament:

David Docherty - 38,000
Richard Jones - 8,800
Team Online's Mickey Petersen - 21,000
Neil Raine - 29,000
Chris Yong - 37,000
James Mitchell - 41,500
Steve Watts - 28,100
Maria Lampropulos - 20,000
John Gale - 31,700
Thomas Dunwoodie - 29,300
Deborah Worley-Roberts - 34,000
Lois Salter - 24,500
Josh Green - 42,000
Leo Margets - 28,000
Paul Romain - 32,000
--MC

1.53pm: Strong LAPT winner comes to London
Level 4 - Blinds 150-300 (25 ante)

Last month I was lucky enough to head to Chile for the LAPT tournament series, the winner of which was the fantastically-named Brazilian called Rodrigo Strong. He took down $120,565 for his victory in Vina del Mar.

Well, Strong is here amongst the action on Day 1B at UKIPT London. But before you think "Crikey, Brazil to London is a long way to go", I can assure you that Strong currently resides in Barcelona.

He's an interesting fellow with some offbeat poker habits - including getting up from the table in-between hands to whisper notes into his smart phone. Let's see if Strong's techniques can lead him to his second major PokerStars Live event in two months. --JS

1.43pm: Some early fallers
Level 4 - Blinds 100-200 (25 ante)

The Day 1B field has grown to 148 players but the following aren't among them anymore: Sui Hong Sung, Keith Christie, Orpen Kisacikoglu, Johann Schroder and Huy Nguyen. --MC

1.30pm: Play resumes
Level 4 - Blinds 100-200 (25 ante)

The second part of today's play is underway. -- MC

1.15pm: Break time

Our field of 125 players have gone on a 15-minute break. --JS

1.10pm: Gale takes one from Nikolaidi
Level 3 - Blinds 100-200 (25 ante)

With the board showing the [3h][5c][6h], John Gale checked it to Irina Nikolaidi who put out a 600 bet. That wasn't enough for Gale, who made it 1,800 to see a turn. Nikolaidi obliged and it came the [2c], and now the bet from Gale was 3,300. It was called once more and the two saw the [td] land on the river. Both checked and Gale showed his [6s][7d] - good enough for the win. --JS

1.05pm: Ladies day, oh boy
Level 3 - Blinds 100-200 (25 ante)

It might be the unofficial ladies day here on Day 1B (see our 12.40pm post) but that doesn't mean the gents are going to display any poker chivalry.

Deborah Worley-Roberts opened to 450, only for a male player to make it 1,500. If that wasn't enough, another dude then made it 3,900 to play. "Oh, boy," said Worley-Roberts, who had a hand she liked but had to let it go. --JS

1pm: Do you believe in lucky poker rooms?
Level 3 - Blinds 100-200 (25 ante)

We're not that superstitious on the PokerStars Blog but if we were called Chris Yong, we would be, and we'd be playing as much as possible at PokerStars Live at the Hippodrome.

Yong, who's playing today, only has nine results on the Hendon Mob, dating back to December 2014. Of those nine results, four of them have been played out in this very room and make up 83.6% of his total winnings.

Yong's Hippodrome highlights:

12.45pm: Three hands, three players, one table
Level 3 - Blinds 100-200 (25 ante)

One table is getting more than it's fair share of action; after finding an interesting hand to write about, the next one was just as intriguing, so I was forced to stick around. Eventually I had to pull myself away and get back to my laptop to type them up.

The first of the three hands began with an open to 475 from Steve Watts, and both Finn Stewart and Dan Knapp called from the small and big blinds. The dealer put out the [4d][9s][td] flop, and it checked to Watts who continued for 875. Both players called, and the turn came the [6s]. It checked to Watts again, and this time the bet was 2,475, which Stewart called. Now Knapp decided to move all-in for 26,200 - a massive shove for 174 big blinds. Both Stewart and Watts quickly folded.

The next hand went like this. It started with an open from Steve Watts again, which got three callers including Stewart and Knapp again. The flop came the [ac][9s][7s] and it checked back to Watts who made it 600, and this time only Finn Stewart called (he was the small blind position). The turn came the [7c], and Stewart check-called again - this time a bet of 1,200. That took us to the [8h] river, which Stewart would again check. Watts fired out 3,500 and Stewart called, but quickly mucked when Watts revealed his [5c][6c] for a rivered straight.

The, finally, after Stewart had called bets from Watts both pre-flop and on the flop, the board read [6c][3s][9c][kd]. Watts fired for 1,700 which got a call, leading to the [ts] river. Watts put out 6,350 and Stewart called, resulting in a quick muck from Watts as Stewart showed his [ah][kh] for the win. --JS

12.40pm: Thursday is ladies day at UKIPT
Level 3 - Blinds 100-200 (25 ante)

At major horse race meets across the UK, you'll find that Thursdays are traditionally branded as Ladies Days. They help bring a touch of grace and elegance to an industry that's (normally) very male dominated. Sound familiar?

There are seven (out of 80) ladies in the field today and that's enough for us to (unofficially) name today Ladies Day on the UKIPT.

The last lady to take her seat was Maria Lampropulos, from Argentina. Lampropulos has been on hot form this year, with two five-figure scores. The biggest of these was for €95,404 when she finished second at Eureka6 Rozvadov a month ago. Who beat her to the title? None other than her boyfriend, Ivan Luca! -- MC

12.30pm: Level up
Level 3 - Blinds 100-200 (25 ante)

12.15pm: Spread your wings Day 1B
Level 2 - Blinds 75-150

A total of 75 players have taken their seats so far on Day 1B, which means there isn't enough space in our main room. The floor staff have taken measures by opening up two extra rooms with tables in them.

In one room, there are only two tables and that's where Team Online's Mickey Petersen, Richard Jones (3rd at UKIPT5 Nottingham) and professional Fantasy Premiere League player* David Docherty can be found sitting.

Back in the main room, Paul Romain (who came 32nd at the recent UKIPT5 Dublin) and Steve Watts (who's a former professional footballer and tour regular) have taken their seats.

*Docherty is actually a professional poker player and just is having an (annoyingly) good season in the FPL game. -- MC

11.54am: Official High Roller final table results

We informed you earlier that Linus Loeliger from Switzerland took down the High Roller event this morning for a cool £55,650. The final table was super-deep and the final day took over 13 hours to be completed. Below are the official final table results. -- MC

11.46am: Blinds up
Level 2 - Blinds 75-150

11.45am: Mitchell arrives
Level 1 - Blinds 50-100

James Mitchell has taken his seat here on Day 1B. The British pro has $1.7 million is live earnings, with his biggest score coming from a win in the Irish Open for €600,000. Mitchell also has wins from other UK poker tours, plus plenty of deep runs in EPT and UKIPT events. He even came 11th here in London back in 2011 for a not-too-shabby £35,000, so he'll be hoping to go even deeper this time around. --JS

11.37am: Strong start for Gale
Level 1 - Blinds 50-100

The man we just wrote about - John Gale - has got off to a very nice start. Picking up the action on a [th][jd][qh][qc] board, two players checked to Gale and he put out a bet of 2,100 into a roughly 3,000 pot. One of the other players then made it 6,000 to go, resulting in one fold but a call from Gale.

The river was the [3d] and both players opted to check. Gale flipped over the [8s][9d] for a flopped straight, while his opponent's [ac][ts] was no good.

A great first orbit for Gale, who's up to about 36,000 already. --JS

11.35pm: Green wins some green
Level 1 - Blinds 50-100

Josh Green barely had an eye on a hand he was playing, as he was rapidly typing into his phone, but it didn't matter as he still took a pot down without showdown.

Green called a raise to 250 along with three other players and all took to a [ks][7c][3c] flop. The action was checked to Green who bet 600 after peering up from his device. Only the original raiser called but he took folded to a 1,000 bet on the [6s] turn. -- MC

11.26am: A Gale just blew in...
Level 1 - Blinds 50-100

One player in today's field who needs no introduction is Mr John Gale - but we're going to give him one anyway.

Gale is something of a British poker legend, and one of the first faces this writer remembers from poker on TV when he won the PCA Main Event back in 2005 for $890,000. Gale has gone on to amass an incredible $3.8 million in tournament winnings, including two WSOP bracelets - the second of which he won last year.

Now, there wouldn't normally be anything surprising about that; great players win bracelets every year. But the thing is that Gale had been away from the poker world for three years, dealing with several serious medical issues including a brain tumour.

His triumphant return at the WSOP resulted in him getting back on the felt in his homeland, playing his first ever UKIPT event in Bristol back in August. He told my colleague Marc Convey back then how much he enjoyed the event, and how well run he thought UKIPTs were. He clearly meant it, because he's in the action here today.

Make sure you stick around to see how Gale gets on throughout this Day 1B. --JS

11.15am: Guys are no time keepers
Level 1 - Blinds 50-100

How do you guarantee a person will be late? Ensure they're male and play poker.

It's not surprising that (with an 11am start time) the field is a little thin on players this AM. A couple of players to turn up bang on time though were Leo Margets and Deborah Worley-Roberts. And wouldn't you know it, they've been drawn in seats next to each other on table ten.

"This is the best looking table in the room!" remarked Worley-Roberts after Margets sat down to her right. -- MC

11am: Shuffle up and deal
Level 1 - Blinds 50-100

Cards are in the air for Day 1B!

10.45am: Day 1B to start shortly
Welcome back to PokerStars Live at the Hippodrome Casino for the second of three UKIPT6 London starting flights. Day 1B is due to start at 11am where another twelve 45-minute levels are scheduled for play. That's what the Day 1A players did yesterday and a target has been set for today's players.

Xizhe Yuan just beat Jack Salter to the top spot after ending the day with 286,400. The challenge for today's players is not to just beat it, but to try and pass the 300k mark. Those registered for today and maybe up for the challenge are: Team PokerStars Jake Cody and Mickey Petersen; Robert Haigh, Neil Raine, David Docherty, Rainer Kempe and Jerome Bradpiece.

The High Roller event was concluded in the early hours of this morning and was taken down by Linus Loeliger. He defeated long-time chip leader Luis Rodriquez heads-up to claim the trophy and £55,650 top prize.

Key UKIPT6 London 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 1B is today, Day 1C takes place tomorrow, and the field will then combine for the first time on Saturday for Day 2. We'll reach the money during the 10 levels of play on Day 2 and then play down to a final table, which will take place on Sunday.
- Full UKIPT6 London schedule here.
- Other tournaments today include a £110 NL Holdem Freezeout Satellite to the UKIPT Main Event.
PokerStars Blog Reporting Team at UKIPT6 London: Marc Convey and Jack Stanton. Photos by Mickey May. Follow the PokerStars Blog on Twitter: @PokerStarsBlog

It will be like stepping back in time - in a good way.

On Saturday, April 9, I will touch ground in Hamburg, my birth town. The city-state was also the place where I started working for IntelliPoker, PokerStars' poker school.

Back then "playing for play money" meant to practice and learn the basics of the game. Things have changed. Nowadays you can play for millions and even be part of the Billionaire's Club. Exciting tournament series now exist to build similar challenges for prestige like they do the real money universe.

As it happens, one of these will also be touching down on Saturday: The Elite Series!

The online event will run April 9-17, the exact time frame that I will be traveling in Germany and visiting family. My parents haven't seen me in a year, but they will have to live with me playing poker some of these days. They know how much I love the game and that I wouldn't pass on the opportunity to play on PokerStars again.

The poker action won't start before Sunday evening for me, though. Saturday will be dedicated to enjoying Hamburg and meeting friends. Sunday evening at my dad's, after my baby half-brother has gone to bed, I will set up a Twitch stream and play the Progressive Super Knockout at 15:00 ET. Knockouts are the most fun, right?

After this I will be back for Women's Tuesday on April 12 and play at least one of the events on that day. Wednesday my journey will bring me back to Hamburg where I will enjoy some culture that the city has to offer (as opposed to the nightlife on Saturday) and head to the hotel early for Event #17, a No-Limit Omaha8 tournament. Omaha8 is my second favourite game. Playing it No-Limit is crazy, though.

On Thursday I will hop on a train to the Harz mountains where my mum lives and spend some time with her before playing as many of the Hourly Hypers on Saturday as time (and my mum) allows.

I am already registered for the tourneys I will play (except the hypers), so search for "Davina Darr" in the client and join me in those events.

There will be a review article after the tournament series in which I will hopefully be able to report about taking down multiple events, and maybe you will find your name in an epic hand we played together.

Let's do this!

Last week I started streaming on Twitch. It's something I've wanted to do for a long time. I'm an avid Twitch user myself. Over the past 4-5 years, I watched a ton of Starcraft and Dota streams. I just never knew what kind of content I wanted to make streaming myself. However, when this year started out slow and I couldn't really get myself to pick up the grind, I figured it was time for something new. So I did what I should have done a long time ago: just turn the camera on.

I was so perfectionistic about streaming that it stopped me from doing it. Only now I realize it's a process. You fix something every day, and you make it better step by step with the help of people watching. Every morning I try to implement some stuff people have been asking for and it's very gratifying to show improvements have been made. One of the things I've always liked about social media is the contact with people. Twitch is one step further. It really is like hosting a TV-show for people, and they get to help improve the show. There is so much interaction. I really don't think you can get much closer to people you like to follow than on Twitch.

As for my content, I started out doing what I would normally do when playing poker: play Pot Limit Omaha. However, I don't think PLO is that well suited for streaming, so I'll probably do that on a designated day. You make a lot of money by fighting for the small pots and noticing little mistakes in betting ranges from people. It's less linear than Hold 'em. I really like to interact with the chat, play music, and browse videos. Combine that with PLO, and it becomes too hectic. Either your stream or your play suffers. Viewers told me they would like to see some MTTs. So I figured, "What the hell?"

I used to love to play tournaments. The glory, the tension, the fact there was a champion at the end. Over the years that changed greatly, and I started to really dislike them. My atrocious tournament record may or may not have played a part in that. Playing them on stream and talking about them has changed everything. I feel like I've come full circle in my career, and now I can approach poker from a different point of view. It's like I was finally able to take a step back and appreciate the game for what it is. A big part of this comes from the enthusiasm viewers have. It's nice to see poker through the eyes of people who just started falling in love with it.

Yesterday I did something that might come as a surprise: I won a tournament.

It was a small buy-in, but finishing at the top of 1,181 players for $2,685 felt great. I liked the grind, I liked the decisions that I had to make, and I was happy to enjoy my first time winning a tournament on stream. There is always a lot of hype around final tables and going deep in tournaments. It was awesome to experience it firsthand. Streaming has rekindled my love for poker as PLO had done a few years ago. Regardless of the necessary variance that comes with winning a tournament, it still feels like I'm on the right track, and I can't wait to see where this is all going.