5:20pm: End of level 8; break
The end of level eight signals it is time for the players to once more pour out of the card room to recharge batteries with caffeine, nicotine, fun and general frolics.
We'll be back in 15 minutes for level 9 which will resume in a new post. See you shortly!
5.10pm: Sapiano hits downward spiral
It appears Sapiano's streak of upward form has abandoned him - his stack dipping perilously close to that danger zone of 10-15BBs - a glum, slumped demeanour expressing how his luck has turned.
Recently he bought himself a little time - somewhat fortunately running his jacks into kings in a preflop tussle and coming out on top when a jack spiked.
"Ouch," commented an interested onlooker adroitly.
It looks likely two of the beneficiaries of Sapiano's misfortune are well-stacked tablemates Scott Glover
(85,000) and Andrey Dimitrov, whose earlier shortstackedness has dissolved in a fanfare of trumpets as he is now potentially the chip leader of the tournament with 98,000.
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 400-800-100
4:55pm: Snapshot of the felt
Here are a couple of the stacks that might be of interest to you out there.
First there is Jake Cody. We have yet to capture Jake Cody play out a pot of note, and his stack is sitting at a slightly-below-average-though-above-starting-stack amount of 27,000.
Next up we have Chaz Chattha, making steady, quiet progress, having risen to 39,000.
Finally there is popular young UK pro Alex Goulder. Goulder registered late but this has not proved an impedement to his chip accumulation skills and he has a comfortable stack of 33,000 right now.
4:41pm: Wellings on march from zero to hero
The pacy structure and aggressive nature of play here at the Hippodrome means players' fortunes can fluctuate and alter in the blink of an eye.
Just ask David Wellings, who in his own words "was going home a few minutes ago." Several pots later - the most recent seeing him oust Vincent Pritchard ace-king versus ace-queen - his fortunes have been transformed.
The big beaming smile on his face tells the whole story. He isn't amongst the chip leaders just yet with his circa average 35,000 stack but the dream of glory and riches lives on for now.
4.32pm: Guven exits as Davage trips up Zadeh
Onur Guven has just expired - his final act to push his chips in with T♦7♦ on a Q♦2♣6♦ board.
The major portion of the pot however was played out between Glen Davage and Jan Nader Zadeh - a series of raises culminating in Davage moving all-in.
A pensive Zadeh uhmmed and ahhed over his action, scrunching his face in various different ways before saying, "ok" and throwing in the call with pocket aces.
The mental coin flip fell the wrong side however - Davage showing down a flopped set of deuces and duly winning the pot as the board bricked out.
Zadeh drops below 20,000 then, and Davage was left happily arranging his newly-acquired 55,000 stack.
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 300-600-75
4.10pm: Trouble in paradise
With some players careering up the rankings, others' paths are correspondingly bleak and some, such as the following, have seen all hope of a deep run in Day 1B dissolve like salt crystals in hot water.
Here are the latest players with something to brine, er...whine about as they are out. Bad luck guys.
Barny Koumis
Lucas Blanco
Victor Victorovich Ilyukhin
Michael Quinn
Shantanu Banerji
Simon Brooks
Rahim Tadj-Saadat
Jiaqi Fan
Stuart Richardson
Wentao Pei
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 250-500-50
3:48pm: Double for Dimitrov
A poor day for Andrey Dimitrov might just be turning around.
He's been sitting on a shortish stack for a while, picking up the odd set of blinds with a shove all-in.
Finally though he has found a double-through, jamming pocket kings for his 7,300 stack and getting an understandable call from Tyrone Campisi-Green with A♦K♠.
The board ran out T♥4♥4♦T♣4♠ to turn his 70% equity in the pot into 100% and he is back above 15,000 - still short but with a modicum of wiggle room at least. Campisi-Green meanwhile could well afford to take the hit as he still has over 40,000 to his name.
3.36pm: Sapiano climbs through counts
Albert Sapiano, one of the handful of re-entrants, has been going along much better today than yesterday - having already accumulated 58,000, close to the Day 1B chip leaders.
As we joined his table he was busy three-betting a tablemate and winning the pot before showing down pocket sixes. He seems confident and in the zone right now...
3.28pm: Number crunched
The vagaries of poker variance mean there will be victims of misfortune as the day progresses.
These are the players to have found themselves on the wrong side of all-in showdowns during the initial stages.
Laurent Alix
Christopher Scholes
John Eric Tavss
Mustafa Kubilay
Se Jin Hwang
Vasile Cosmin Stancu
Hui Jin
Christakis Trattou
Panikos Chattalou
Neophytos Neophytou
Marghidan Gabriel
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 200-400-50
3.20pm: The big thaw - back for level 5
The players have been de-frosted and are ready for action once more. 90 players remain of the original 100 to have entered and are back and ready to enter the fray.
Good luck all in level 5.
3.05pm: Frozen in Time
That's the first four levels of the day in the bag! It's been an exciting start and there is likely only more drama to come so rejoin us in 15 minutes once the players have had a breather and we'll resume arms once more. See you then!
3.02pm: Ravindran heading the counts
It's early days but with close to four levels under our belts, it looks like Ravindran may well be the chip leader with 53,000.
We think most of this came courtesy of a big preflop war with Jiaqi Fan, whose stack was left devastated after the hand - down to 3,700.
It looked like at showdown Ravindran held the winning hand of 3-2 - showing he has some unorthodox plays in his arsenal.
We'll keep an eye on how this interesting player progresses as the day goes on. He clearly didn't earn his nickname Superman without good cause!
2.50pm: Far from idle Chattha
Chaz Chattha has had a better start to day 1B than finish to Day 1A.
Moments ago he sent Marghidan Gabriel to the rail, picking off his turn bluff with A-Q on a A♦5♦4♥Q♣ board.
Gabriel had turned 8♥9♥ into an airball bluff and with no equity he departed the table even before the irrelevant K♣ appeared on the river.
Chattha up to 39,000 and looking in good position to go deeper than he managed yesterday.
2.36pm:Bitter pill for Trattou as Quinn-in strikes
Michael Quinn has taken down a medium-sized pot courtesy of the second Trattou plying his trade in the field - Nicholas Trattou the man to suffer on this occasion.
The hand opened with a raise to 550 from under-the-gun man Trattou, called by Michael Quinn, Martin Comitti and big blind Jake Cody, lurking out of position to the three.
A board of J♥9♠2♣ failed to entice any action, the four active players checking it down.
Come the turned 6♣ however, Trattou was the first man to take an aggressive action, betting out 1,250 - Quinn being the sole caller.
The A♥ on the river saw Trattou fire again - 3,500 the bet - and again Quinn made an instant call.
There was now a short delay as both players refused to turn their hands over.
"Throw your hand away if you don't want to use it," urged Quinn, prompting Trattou to turn over K♠T♠ for king-high.
Quinn exposed A♣4♣ for a turned flush draw that had become top pair to claim the pot.
He rises to 36,000 - Trattou dropping below his 25,000 starting stack. Cody, attired in baseball cap and PokerStars branding, watched on quietly for now. He is slightly down from his starting stack to around 20,000.
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 150-300
2:25pm:Bumper field
It was pleasing to see 88 players arrive to take to the felt yesterday evening and strangely today, we have exactly 88 so far once more!
This number has been bolstered by at least four or five players who have availed themselves of the oppportunity to take a second bite of the cherry, after falling afoul of variance in Day 1A.
Numbered in their midst is Chaz Chattha, a member of the fabled Hitsquad and a man with impeccable poker credentials.
Watch out table 6!
2.11pm: Invasion of the antes
We told you the structure would zip past in quicksmart fashion. Already level three has seen the introduction of antes, making those preflop pots and blinds that little bit more juicy and the battles over them that little bit more fiercely contested.
It's a subtle but significant change in the course of the tournament and as we saw yesterday, this will really serve to stimulate the action.
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 100-200-25
1.50pm: Hwang barrels out
An inauspicious pot from Se Jin Hwang saw him take a super aggressive line early doors - only for Andrew Purser to pick him off.
The hand in question saw Purser lead for 800 on a K♦8♠3♥ board - raised to 2,300 by Hwang. Purser made the call.
The 6♣ on the turn saw Hwang fire barrel two for 3,500. Purser again check-called.
A rivered Q♦ was met with a slow check from Purser and Hwang munched on some food before moving his full stack (10,000+) over the line.
Instant call from Purser and the look of anguish on Hwang's face showed he had a strong feeling he was behind. Purser tabled K-Q for top 2 to take down the pot and send Hwang on his way.
"When I call the turn, I've really got to call the river" Purser added as Hwang grabbed his things and departed. Purser up to 45,000...
1.32pm: Double Trouble
The opportunity to buy in twice has been taken by several of yesterday's unfortunate busters.
One of those is Albert Sapiano. Sapiano has been a mainstay of the English poker scene for some time and his unorthodox style can pose problems for his opponents.
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 75-150
1.20pm: Wells Go Far?
Dominic Wells is a familiar face to patrons of the Hippodrome Casino, having made many deep runs at various events here.
He clearly enjoys his sojourns to the heart of London and he has already seen his stock rise in the opening levels.
His upward trend has come larely courtesy of tablemate Christakis Trattou.
The first pot of note saw Wells lead out for 500 on the turn of a A♠T♦5♣K♥ board - only for Trattou to make it 1,500. Wells called and the Q♠ on the river saw both players check it down - Wells exposing A♣7♣ to scoop the pot.
The next hand Trattou made it 400 to go and in-position Wells put in a big three-bet to 1,550. Call from Trattou.
The board fell K♣J♦7♦ - Trattou checked, Wells led for 1,500 and Trattou called.
The 8♣ on the turn saw a similar pattern, check 2,500 barrel from Wells, call.
The rivered A♣ was checked once more - Wells rubbing his chin in contemplation before deciding to "empty the clip" - barrel number three a chunky 4,500.
A quick call from Trattou with A♠Q♦ was no good versus Wells' dominating top two A♥K♠.
A big pot for Wells at this stage - he moves to 36,000 - amongst the chip leaders at this early stage.
1.00pm: Cards in the air
The TD has directed the dealers to begin proceedings so we're off! Let's see how this interesting day pans out...
Day 1B of the UKIPT5 Super Series
Welcome back to The Hippodrome Casino for Day 1B - and later 1C - of the UKIPT5 Super Series London. Yesterday we saw Day 1A play out with drama and alacrity - the impressively large 88-strong field being whittled down to just 27 survivors in 12 swift, action levels.
Click here to read how the day played out.
Today's contingent of players will find themselves immersed in the same environmental conditions as yesterday's group:
- 25,000 in chips;
- 30 minute levels (with a welcome 15 minute break following each batch of 4)*
* Note that on Day 2 the level lengths will be extended to 40 minutes and the final will be comprised of 50 minute levels - the structure extending as the stakes rise, which should be an attractive proposition for the players.
As we said before, there are two days' worth of poker being packed into today's schedule with Day 1B beginning at 1.00pm and Day 1C will follow hot on its heels at 7.30pm.
This close density of punchy poker should ensure we have plenty of exciting tales to bring you as the day progresses so keep those eyeballs fixated on the blog - we wouldn't want you to miss out!
We're moments away from the start so good luck one and all.
PokerStars Blog reporting team at PokerStars UKIPT5 Super Series: Rod Stirzaker. Photos courtesy of Mickey May.
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[Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: UKIPT]
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