At the top of play yesterday the PokerStars Blog joked with UKIPT2 Nottingham runner-up Brett Angell that he was due a little bit luck deep in a UKIPT. He lost a hand where he was a 98.7% favourite and had had his aces cracked by king-queen three-handed on his technique to that runner-up finish at UKIPT2 Nottingham. We'll gloss over the reality he also hit his own 2% shot at that final table.
Perhaps the poker gods were listening as today he hit his own 1% shot against Vladimir Troyanovskiy when there have been 26 players left. Both held ace-king, Troyanovskiy had considered one of Angell's suits dead though, but four diamonds later the Boro boy had doubled up. That gave him the chip lead and, although Troyanovskiy would really lead for many of the day, Angell eliminated two players late directly to sit atop the chip counts when the general table was set. That is how the eight players will line-up when play starts tomorrow:
Seat one: Nickolas Davies, United States, PokerStars Player, 4,000,000Seat two: Rasmus Agerskov, Denmark, PokerStars Qualifier, 3,150,000Seat three: Sandro Mescola, Italy, 1,145,000Seat four: Vladimir Troyanovskiy, Russian Federation, PokerStars Player, 2,705,000Seat five: Brett Angell, United Kingdom, 5,190,000Seat six: Fabrizio Fuchs, Switzerland, PokerStars Qualifier, 1,240,000Seat seven: Caicai Huang, United Kingdom, 1,960,000Seat eight: Mark James, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, 2,300,000
Although he'll start the general table fourth in chips the tale of the day was undoubtedly Troyanovskiy. When the day started with 51 players left Troyanovskiy was away from the pack and that trend continued for all but a small part of the day. The Russian, who has $2.6m in lifetime cashes, including a runner-up finish to Vanessa Selbst within the 2013 PCA $25k High Roller, placed on a clinic of tricky poker play and had his opponents right where he wanted them.
With 12 players left he had 1 / 4 of the chips in play after which came the hand of the tournament up to now. Nickolas Davies four-bet jammed pocket queens for 2,235,000 (about 55 big blinds) and Troyanovskiy called with ace-king. The queens held, but had he hit one in all his overcards he'd was as much as 7,500,000 - good for 35% of the chips - and also you sense he'd have had one hand of the trophy.
That hand vaulted Davies into the chip lead and he spoke to the PokerStarsBlog about it when play ended. "It was a dumb spot," he said. "I spoke to a few players better than me they usually agree it is a really weird spot. He's really tricky and sticky and the money probably means less to him than the win," said Davies. "So I DID NOT wish to get into some stupid battle with him post-flop so I shoved and if we needed to run it, we run it, but you never need to flop for 100 big blinds with 11 players left."
Davies, who gave a small fist pump after winning the hand explained it thus, "I HAVE numerous 11th-15th place live finishes in my career so it meant so much to win that hand."The 30-year-old, who plays professionally and favours tournaments, is originally from Oregon but is now one of the Americans exiled in Playa Del Carmen. He's been in Europe since EPT100 Barcelona and in fact travelled here with Nick Rampone and, the runner-up in that tournament, Samuel Phillips. Davies starts second tomorrow, but his group of friends could well be celebrating a win tomorrow evening.
Another player to position on an assured performance today so one can the general table was Rasmus Agerskov. The Danes' day was all about one hand - pocket kings. First he had them cracked by Nic Szeremeta's ace-king, then he eliminated Jose Rubio with the cowboys, before getting revenge on Szeremeta when he cracked the prestigious poker jack of all trade's aces.
He won numerous pots without kings after all and if his luck holds he may add a UKIPT Main Event title to the UKIPT High Roller title he won in Edinburgh in January.
Whilst it's hard to appear beyond the highest four with regards to picking a winner - they've more chips after all and are all have pedigree - we shouldn't strike a line throughout the bottom 1/2 the chip counts just yet.
Mark James played the fast stack superbly and looked solid when he finally got his hands on some chips. Caicai Huang is an experienced live player, she has a career high live cash of £42,750, and tomorrow could become the primary ever female winner of a UKIPT Main Event. Fabrizio Fuchs battled back from precarious positions greater than once to make the overall and although Sandro Mescola starts because the short stack he definitely has the distinction of his opponent's, who folded on multiple occasions to his three-bets and post-flop raises.
When play resumed on Day 3, at a few ticks past noon, there have been 51 players vying for the overall eight spots and warranted payday of £12,800. Just one player though was still looking for a second UKIPT Main Event title. Ludovic Geilich made another deep run in a UKIPT before falling prey to Troyanovskiy, who flopped a suite when Geilich had an overpair to a low flop. The UKIPT4 Marbella champion having to accept 21st place five days on from his eighth place finish at UKIPT4 Isle of Man 2.
The Scot wasn't the one talented player to perish over the seven and just a little levels of play as: Jason Barton (51st), Chris Sly (38th), Keith Hawkins (23rd) and Thomas Dunwoodie (17th) all racked up another UKIPT cash just perhaps not the only they wanted. Whilst amazingly the chip leaders from both Day 1A and Day 1B were still going, Eric Theissen (47th) and Gino Levrini (15th) couldn't make the overall though.
The PokerStars Blog makes every final table though and we'll be back from 12.30pm as we play to a winner, someone will walk away with £133,500, the title of UKIPT Grand Final Main Event winner and, of course, a trophy! Always remember the trophy. To look an entire list of payouts (and what is still up for grabs) and relive all today's action please click the links below. For now though, goodnight.
PayoutsLevels 19-22Levels 23-26
All photos are copyright of Danny Maxwell
Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: UKIPT]
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