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Brad Willis is the PokerStars Head of Blogging

Phil Hellmuth once famously said, "If there weren't luck involved, I would win every time," and it's a throwaway comment worth remembering as we look back at the inaugural Global Poker Masters which last night was won by Italy after they defeated Russia heads-up to win the title.

Nearly 1 million viewers watched the action unfold on Twitch.tv this weekend but few observers gave Italy a chance. When a betting site opened a book on this event Italy were rated as fifth favourites at odds of 22/1, Russia, as sixth favourites were even longer odds to win the title. But this was a eight horse race and a poker race at that. Anything can happen and it usually does, as the saying goes 'that's poker!' If you missed any of the action from the event you can catch up right here.

Still, heading into the second and final day of the competition it seemed the bookies might have got this one right. Team America had locked up an automatic semi-final spot, narrowly edging out Team Germany to top spot in the opening round of sit and gos. Those two had inevitably been amongst the favourites before play began. As for Italy, well they were in the middle of the pack, but as history has shown us they usually start slowly when they win the Football World Cup.

They stumbled their way through the heads-up quarter final to advance to the six-handed semi-final. Still victory looked unlikely, they were in fifth spot when the race to the title began. Although the semi-final, which played out as a tag team six handed sit and go was very much a team event, with the teams obliged to sub players at least once an hour, if there was one man crucial to Italy's ascent to the title it was Giuliano Bendinelli. In the first days play he'd earned his team 29,000 points, more than any other player on his team, and indeed more than any other player in the event and he'd recorded Italy's only victory in their heads-up quarter final against Ukraine.

Now he'd be involved in two crucial back to back pots which would change his team's fortunes and put them on the path to victory, whilst sending the impressive Team Germany crashing out. In back to back hands Bendinelli won coin flips against Ole Schemion. In both hands Schemion held pocket nines, in the first Bendinelli had [Ac][Qc] and spiked an ace. In the second he held [Kc][Qh] and hit a king on the river.

Just like that Germany were out in fourth and Italy were sitting pretty in second. They soon took the lead and when Dan Smith of Team USA ran pocket sevens into Dario Sammartino's pocket aces - another hidden form of luck in poker - Italy were heads-up for the title with a huge chip lead.

The heads-up portion of the tournament saw the five players from each team face off in heads-up matches. They'd start with the chip stacks that they'd ended the semi-finals with and the first team to win three matches would be the champions. Despite a valiant effort from Russia, they were always underdogs to turn round a near three to one chip deficit.

And so it proved, Rocco Palumbo defeated Anatoly Filatov, Dario Sammartino overcame Alex Bilokur and Mustapha Kanit sealed the deal when he beat Vladimir Troyanovskiy to give Italy an unassailable 3-0 lead.

So there you have it, Italy are the best team in poker and when the Global Poker Masters returns in 2016 - and it will be back, - they may have a gold star sewn into their jerseys to signify that they're the champions. They may not have been rated as having the best individuals, but it pays to remember that whilst there's no 'I' in team there is an 'I' in the team won the Global Poker Masters. Forza Italia!

GLOBAL POKER MASTERS FINAL RESULTS

1st. Italy


2nd. Russia
3rd. United States of America
4th. Germany
5th. Canada
6th. Ukraine
7th. France
8th. United Kingdom

All photos are copyright of Global Poker Index

6:22pm: Break Time
Wow, those four levels just flew by. With another set of four in the can, once more the players have been liberated to go walkabout the beautiful interior of the PokerStars Hippodrome Casino for a relaxing coffee, a mollifying cigarette or they could even pop out for a breath of fresh air.

They have twenty minutes to do as they see fit. We'll be back after the break to play through the final four levels of the day.

See you shortly!

6:17pm: It's a jungle sometimes
No quarter is being given nor sought as these players go toe-to-toe in all-out poker warfare.

Naturally there are casualties of this aggressive action - most recently these players have fallen foul of variance:
Ivon Asquith, Simon Hemsworth, Adam Kossew, Javier Guzman, Jack Germaine, James Ball, Edi Paul Neacsu, Shanmugavel Gajamugarubar, Andrey Veselov, Simon Trowse and Karl Parrish
.

Just 75 remain with these latest eliminations - 40% of the field already gone with less than 2/3 of the day played.

6:08pm: Cool hand Lok busts Spalding
Luke Spalding was once of those to whom the recent levels had not been kind, but he went for a double-through in a blind versus blind confrontation with Lok Yin Justin Tsui.

The pair took the most aggressive line preflop, both of them moving their stacks into the middle and when the dust settled they tabled pocket threes (Spalding) and [Kc][Qc] (Tsui).

The board of [9c][2s][5s][Kh][4s] saw Tsui win the flip and move to 31,000 whilst Spalding shook some hands, wished the table good luck and joined the ranks of the also-rans.

6:00pm: Expect fireworks

We've been banging the whole fast-paced, superspeed drum for some time now, but this latest level increase could prove the one to seperate the men from the boys and the ladies from the girls.

That increase of the blinds from 300/600 to 400/800 and antes from 75 to 100 may not seem like a lot, but it will be a reasonable fraction of many players' stacks.

It is likely that they will begin to fight tooth and nail to protect and collect those increased blinds - the fur will fly. Hold tight - war's about to breakout.

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 400-800-100

5:50pm: Final numbers in
So, an impressive 119 players in total turned up to play today, of whom just 90 remain, nearly 25% of the field shorn from the roster in this fiery opening 7 levels.

Can this incredible pace continue throughout? Will anyone at all make it through the day?

5:40pm: Relentless pace continues
It really is tough to avoid elimination right now. The blind pressure is increasing all the time and a steady stream of hopefuls are leaving the arena, victims of the whims of the poker gods.

The latest players to have supped from the sour chalice of defeat include:

George Evans, James Rann, Adnan Abdulhusein, Mark Norman, Davide De Simone and Yiannis Liperis.

5:25pm: All's well that ends, Wells
Dominic Wells, proud sporter of his "PokerStars Live! at The Hippodrome Casino" badge, was put to a tough decision a few moments ago.

Having led out of 3,500 on an [Ac][Td][6c] board, he saw his neighbour Sandra Reid move allin for her remaining stack of 11,100.

A long period of vacillation, head-scratching and mental angst culminated in a call from Wells who showed his relief as he tabled [As][Kc] to Reid's likely chop-worth [Ad][Ks].

In fact, Wells had a very small backdoor flush redraw, but the non-club brick on the turn kiboshed any thoughts of an outdraw and the pair were left to divide the pot between them.

"That was a great bet," Wells offered generously - his stack remaining around the 30,000 mark. Reid meanwhile has somewhat less with 14,000.

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 300-600-50

5:08pm: Gone but not forgotten
The dream may be over for some but their names remain memorialised for eternity on the PokerStars Blog. Admittedly memorialised in this instance as losing parties on this occasion but we're sure they will rise like Pheonixes from the ashes come their next event. Probably.

Anyway here they are. Good game guys.

Julius Adeyemi, Mohammedhossein Sharifkazemi, Oscar Skehel, David Phelan, James Topping
and Raymond Persaud.

4:56pm: Neil down, but rises

Neil Van Der Merwe has seen his chip stack depleted over the opening levels but he may just have got the boost he needed to get his tournament back on track.

Having bet the [Ah][6c][Th] flop, he picked up one caller - the bricky [2h] appearing on the turn.

His opponent squirmed unconfortably as Van Der Merwe shoved his last 4,000 and change into the middle.

He did make the call however, only to table [Th][Js], well behind the [As][Qh] in Van Der Merwe's hands.

A [Kd] on the river kept the status quo - Van Der Merwe getting his tournament at least somewhat back on track as he jumps to 14,000.

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 250-500-50

4:41pm: Out of the running
The whirlwind pace that has been in effect ever since those incendiary antes were dropped like bombs into the mix seems unlikely to abate.

In recent times the following players have succumbed to the dynamic action taking place at the tables:

Gerald Ringe
Ian Tough
Tekin Irmak
Imran Elahi
and Spyros Mouzoura.

Good game fellas.

4:30pm: Jones rides waves of variance to survive

Timothy Jones was fairly short but just made a play to get himself somewhat back in contention. Holding [6h][7h] he jammed his stack into the middle, looking to double or bust and when he was looked up by [As][Qs] it looked more likely to be the latter.

A board of [9s][Tc][Jh] looked fairly disastrous but a spiked [6c] on the turn saw him take the lead and maintain his advantage on the [5d] river.

He breathed a sigh of relief - his tournament stack freshly invigorated.

4:20pm: Break Over - Back for Level 5

A well-earned twenty minute break is in the bag. Following close of registration, the numbers are up to 114, of whom 104 remain. We'll have official confirmation of the day's entries shortly.

For now though, the players are reseated and hungry to begin level 5. Dealers shuffle up and deal!

To read updates from levels 1-4, click here.

PokerStars Blog reporting team at PokerStars UKIPT5 Series 2:

Rod Stirzaker. Photos courtesy of Mickey May.

8:40pm: Day 1A is a wrap - Jerome O'Shea is day 1A chip leader
Just like that we have finished level 12 and Day 1A is in the bag!

Chips are just being tallied, and it's been confirmed that Jerome O'Shea's 181,700 stack is heading the 30-strong pack of enthusiastic poker players.

Lurking just behind him is the UK's Otto Castle with a grand stack of 161,900. These two are some way clear of the rest of the field.

To view the full counts from the end of the day, click here.

For now though, thanks for following what has been a fun day of poker. 12 super brisk levels saw some compelling, fast-paced poker play out as the field was whittled down from a fulsome 119 strong down to just over 30 remaining.

Tomorrow we'll rinse and repeat - the 2:00pm start gives players every chance to turn up fully refreshed and invigorated as a new slew of hopefuls takes to the felt.

We anticipate an exciting day's poker and hope you'll follow our coverage of all the thrills and spills of this UKIPT Series event. For now though it's good night and bonsoir to one and all.

8:25pm: Olmo-st there
As we approach the end of the night Olmo Sanchini has won a big pot, getting his chips in with A-J and running into not one but two players holding king-queen.

A raggy board saw him triple through to 90,000+ with an effusive Italian fistpump/scream to punctuate his success, whilst Stephen Lennon was one of those who was pipped and outkicked, and ultimately kicked out.

20:10pm: Gone-zo

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, adieu to the following, who have all succumbed before the end of the day.

Adrian Smith, Dominic Wells, Robert Crawford, Terry Pedro, Robert Crawford, Mark Bishop and Ion Lucian Daniel.

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 1,000-2,000-300

20:07pm: Bento Boxed
Fernando Bento was looking elimination full in the face when he made a move to chip up on a [9c][4c][4s] board with [Td][Jd].

When he was called by Lifan Shen, holding a flush draw with [Tc][7c], he was in surprisingly reasonable shape, his jack-high the best hand - temporarily at least.

Unfortunately for Bento it was indeed temporary as the [7s] arrived on the turn and his slim gutshot/overcard redraw failed to roll in.

Good game Bento Shen rises to 65,000.

7:45pm: Koumis gunned down by bullets
James Barnaby Koumis, better known as Barney, just made his last stand. Jonathan Rozema was the man to take him out of the action - reshoving over Koumis' initial 20,000 ish shove for his 26,000 stack.
Koumis turned up with [As][9h] but had scant hope when Rozema revealed bullets in the hole.

The board of [Ks][Ks][Kh] left Koumis praying for a one out king for a chop - never a happy situation.

It failed to materialise as the board bricked and Koumis bows out, whilst Rozema takes a jump up the chip rankings to 50,000 or so.

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 800-1,600-200

7:25pm: Crushed in the mill of variance
These players are like pieces of wheat running through a mill. Some are seeing their stacks turned into flour, some yeasty poker savvy and run-good fluid added, salted with experience and a spoonful of sweet sugar luck before being baked in the cauldron of the tournament arena- the perfect recipe for fresh bread.

Others however are merely discarded chaff - footnotes along the way to crown the eventual winner.

Sad for them - here are the latest men who may be loafing around in a different way come the end of the day:
Stefanos Moysidis, Joseph Townsend, Paulo Carlos Ribeiro Jorge, David Wellings, Youssef Darwich, Tomas Taranovas, Yusuf Heptullabhai, Neil Van Der Merwe, Christopher Gordon, Frederic Gautrin, Ales Ruzicka, Lok Yin Justin Tsui and Teoh Wui Hieng.

7:10pm: Palpable tension
There has been a significant decrease in the jocularity levels over the last level. What started out as a slight longshot of tournament glory has been transformed through ten levels of grinding into a real palpable possibility.
Nearly everyone has their poker face on now, the stakes are serious, and everyone knows it.

There are some fierce exchanges going on at the tables right now from acerbic staredowns to disgusted mucks.

The tournament is a tinderbox, any moment a random spark could ignite a furnace.

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 600-1,200-200

7:05pm: Chip Leaders
Here are the players leading the tournament as we speak. It's been a good day so far, can they maintain their impressive standing as we move through the final stages?

105000 Stuart Snowden
105000 Otto Castle
95000 Erik El Annaoui
83000 Wilson Chan
78000 Lifan Shen
78000 James Mitchell
75000 Brett Noades
70000 Nicholas Craxton

6:50pm: Mo' Levels, Mo Bustouts
Every cloud has a silver lining they say. The following players have seen their dreams of UKIPT Series glory implode however it is Friday night in the heart of London.

Great food, wonderful shows and plentiful alcohol and fun awaits you out there in the non-poker world. Enjoy!

Richard Codd, William Fasano, Karl Parrish, David Zermon, Adam Kossew, Qiuyu Huang, Karolis Masaitis, James Manlove and Youssef Darwich

6:40pm: Back for the final run-in
Well, well, well. Eight levels into the day just 71 remain from the initial 119 players.

This number will be eaten into yet further over the coming four levels. It's been aggressive, uncompromising poker throughout and there are more twist and turns to come, for sure.

Hold tight as we enter the final furlong.

To read updates from levels 5-8, click here.

PokerStars Blog reporting team at PokerStars UKIPT5 Series 2:

Rod Stirzaker. Photos courtesy of Mickey May.

4:05pm: Break Time
Well that's four closely-contested levels played through and we've seen 10-12 players lose their entire 20k starting stacks already.

At the moment we have 127 official entrants, though there is room yet for that number to rise. You've got twenty minutes of late reg to sign up if you fancy it.
The players meanwhile will be using that 20 minute break to recharge. We'll see you back here shortly.

4:00pm: Dancing girls
If you need any encouragement to forego the sunshine and various attractions on offer in London on this beautiful weekend, consider that some of those attractions are happening right here in The Hippodrome Casino, not least of which are the dancing girls who appear with regularity every night to a fanfare of music.

Little tip - if you are thinking about stealing the blinds - doing so to coincide with the appearance of theser scantily-clad young ladies will increase your chances of getting the steal through by at least 300%.

3:50pm: Mission of Attrition
Yesterday, we saw 89 players manage to lose their 20,000 starting stacks over the course of the day. This doesn't happen by accident but design. The rapidly escalating blinds take meaty chunks out of the players stacks and scope to make sophisticated plays and already we have seen this is starting to bite.

Gone are Afloarei Constantin and Zayed Al Rufaie - the latest victims of this increasingly onerous blind pressure.

There are a host of shortstacks looking to blast their way to a double or follow them sharply out of the doors so expect many more eliminations incoming.

3:42pm: Max the King slayer
A quick detail from earlier - Max Johnson was the man who delivered the final blow to Andrew King's tournament hopes - that hand helping boost Max's early hopes.

Unfortunately for Johnson, variance has seen him slide back down the chip standings in the interim period - he now is sadly shuffling a small handful of chips and looking wistfully into the distance.

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 150-300-25

3:23pm: Shown the door, early doors
The following players have seen the lights go out in the opening few levels. It can be tough out there on the felt sometimes. We suggest finding someone to hug and possibly buying some fries. Fries always cheer you up.

Good game Christopher Allen, John Earle and Gary Taylor.

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 100-200-25

3:00pm: Royal Retreat
Long live the King - the King is dead.

Not literally of course, but Andrew King's tournament has drawn to a close. Perhaps still feeling discombobulated following that incredible hand moments ago - King went for a double-through with an aggressive shove with [As][9d].

His opponent in the hand made the call - a dejected King knowing this meant he was almost certainly behind.

"I should have 30%," he said glumly and indeed he did as he was shown [Ac][Kh].

A board of [Js][6h][Qd][Tc][7h] swiftly reduced that equity to 0% however - his opponent making broadway to send King to the rail and end a miserable morning for him.

2:52pm: Dynamic hand dethrones King
As set ups go, this hand was pretty special.

We joined the hand with Kamil Stankiewicz having made a big 7,000 raise from the blinds preflop and Andrew King pondering his decision.

"You really don't want to see a flop," he said before finally moving all-in and showing down pocket queens.

Unfortunately for him, Stankiewicz had him in bad shape - holding a dominating pair of kings.

At this point, the poker gods decided to have a little fun.

BOOM! The flop fell [Qs][5c][5h] to give King a huge advantage with a flopped full house. The turn fell the [8c] and Kamil began gathering his belongings.

Not so fast young man. BOOM! (again!)

The [Kc] spiked on the river to give Stankiewicz a winning full house and a 34,000 stack. Naturally he was all smiles and wide-eyed joy following the hand.

"I was just out the door!" he said laughing in disbelief. King is left short-ish with around 7,000.

2:45pm: Mystery man revealed
Martin Hogarty is the man who suffered that early elimination on table nine. Bad luck sir!

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 75-150

2:36pm: First elimination
We're still awaiting the full player lists so I can't confirm the identity of the first elimination just yet but table 9 has seen a bustout.

There were hushed rumours of a flush versus full house confrontation - more details as they come in.

"That was quick!" one of the players commented regarding this hasty elimination to murmured general assent from the surrounding players.

2:25pm: That's number-wang!
Early numbers suggest there are 105 or so entrants at the moment. With four levels (plus twenty minutes) of late registration however, this number should rise considerably.

We're going to make a guestimate at the final number of entrants being 133. The big question is whether the hot ribbons of golden sunshine beaming down on London Town will dissuade some players from playing - declining the opportunity to play poker in favour of a day throwing bread at ducks in the park.

2:15pm: The Fast and the Furious
With twenty thousand strong stacks, there may be a temptation to either splash around in a surfeit of pots, or rock up waiting for the perfect opportunity to present itself.

Both approaches could prove costly if what we saw yesterday is replicated here on Day 1B.

Whilst the stacks are relatively deep, the whip-quick thirty minute levels do just fly by - blind pressure accelerating quickly so sitting back and waiting is only a viable strategy for so long.

Equally splashing around in a variety of pots can be a costly venture. Lose those 4,000 playing a little too liberally and your double through (if it arrives) will only yield 32,000 instead of 40,000 - a pretty sizeable difference.

Mastering both your table, other players tendencies and the structure will be key to whoever manages to surf those choppy waves of variance with greatest aplomb.

2:00pm: Cards are in the air
TD Luca's dulcid Italian tones have informed the players that we are underway. Clicking chips, gentle chatter and focused faces abound.

Day 1B is GO GO GO!

1:58pm: Day 1B of the UKIPT5 Series 2 London

Welcome back to The Hippodrome Casino for day 1B of the PokerStars UKIPT5 Series 2 London. For those wondering what all the numbers secreted liberally around the title of the event mean - this is the UKIPT's 5th season and it's the second series event of that season.

All the reasons the UKIPT has flourished over five seasons were on show yesterday as a a healthy 119-strong field packed into the casino to play out twelve highly-entertaining levels. Jerome O'Shea was the man who made hay most effectively, climbing to the top of the chip standings once the 30 remaining stacks were reckoned at the end of the day.

Today is a sunny, bright, beautiful day. It's also the weekend and the second of two starting days. All these elements are working synchronistically toward today's field being even more fulsome, a bonanza of poker lurking in wait for our plucky entrants.

A quick rundown of the format. We'll be playing out 12 thirty-minute levels, starting with 20,000 stacks. There will be two twenty minute breaks following levels 4 and 8 and an expected finishing time of 8:45pm or so.

That's it! We're moments away from the start - good luck all.

PokerStars Blog reporting team at UKIPT5 Series 2 - London: Rod Stirzaker. Photos by Micky May.

6:30pm: Break it up folks
Another four levels, another all too brief respite from the action for our players. Twenty minutes are theirs to spend as they will on this balmy Saturday evening before donning arms and joining the fray once more.

While they recuperate from what has been an action packed four levels, we will do likewise. We will return shortly for the final four levels of the evening. We anticipate some incendiary poker over what have traditionally proved to be the most aggressive levels of the opening days of Series events. Hold tight, there may be shockwaves headed your way.

6:27pm: Roll-call of the damned
With the blinds now a big chunk of many players' stacks, there is no hiding. Confrontation is inevitable and we are seeing that confrontation take its toll on the field.

Most recently we have lost Mark Carlos Nunez, Neil Kapoor, Lee Tyson, John Bradley, Robert Angood, Kamil Stankiewicz, Mark Jefferies and Andrea De Giorgi.

Well played all, bad luck the run has ended.

6:20pm: Sting in the Tal
Tal Mirezki and Daniel Doyle just played out one of those incredible hands that seem to have become the norm in recent times.

We joined the hand with the pair having gone to war preflop - Doyle holding the bigger stack and the upper hand - his pocket queens a sizeable favourite versus Mirezki's [8s][9s].

That was transformed by the flop however - "WOW," gasped Ilana Belsky as the board peeled off [9c][8d][9h] to give Mirezki a boat.

The turn was the [Th] and the dramatic denouement to the hand suggested by the title was a rivered [Qs] to twist the fickle hand of good fortune back in Doyle's direction once more.

Mirezki flew out of the arena like Lewis Hamilton and a smiling Doyle looked vaguely stunned as he swept up his 30,000 stack.

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 400-800-100

5:55pm: Private Ryan wins the war
Ryan Reece is quietly going about his business, but has made an effective climb up the chip rankings, winning a preflop battle with Benjamin Meyer when his pocket Kings bested Meyer's unfortunately out-gunned pocket queens.

That hand left Reece with 28,000 and Meyer with a proverbial bowl of rice.

5:42pm: Craig's list of victims gets bigger
Andrew Craig has seen his stock rise efficiently over the day - currently one of the chip leaders.

Most recently we joined him on the river of a [Qs][9h][9d][6c][9c] board - Craig leading out for 6,000.

His opponent in the hand - Gary Brown - uhmmed and ahhed - finally making the call.

"Good call," Craig said quickly, tabling pocket sevens.

"No, you're good, I called ace-high," Brown revealed - Craig rising to 67,500 and possibly the chip lead whilst Brown is down to a sub 20,000 stack.

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 300-600-75

5:30pm: Ross out-kicked and kicked out
Kenneth Ross (we beleive, although his ID card left with him) has been eliminated - his desperate 5,000 ish shove with [As][9s] running into Matthew Bryan's dominating [Ac][Qc].

The board of [Qd][4s][8s] gave him a sniff of an outdraw but it bricked out with the [4h][6d] and Ross somewhat ungallantly threw his all-in triangle across the table at seeing his draw whiff.

Bryan meanwhile climbs up to 18,000 or so.

5:15pm: The Graveyard Shift
We were always entering an attritional phase of the tournament - a number of shortstacks are being forced to gamble and many of them are falling afoul of coin-flips, blind steals and other methods of poker defeat.

This is a long list of recent KO's - look away now if violence offends you.

Marino Mura, Kfir Irgi, Michael Nesbeth, Cesare Moro, Charlene Coleman, Marcus Lidgett, Nicolas Berry, Max Johnson, Edoardo Santino Rocco, Kenneth Ross, Richard Steele, Jodi Hurly and Mohammed Himedan
- (....take a breath....) - have all busted out.

At present, we are looking at 134 total runners, of whom 90 or so are still in contention.

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 250-500-50

5:02pm: Quad-tastic times for Tomlinson
It's been a difficult day up till now for Hannah Tomlinson. She's been at an aggressive table and seen her initial 20,000 stack depleted somewhat. Her fortunes changed round a few moments ago however in one of the most dramatic hands of the day.

Table 10 was the table that saw Kamil Stankiewicz win that topsy-turvy queens-kings confrontation earlier and this hand was if anything more dramatic.

We joined the hand at the preflop stage - Bojan Zekic, Max Johnson and Tomlinson all sitting with all-in triangles in front of them

Tomlinson was the shortest stack with around 7,500 and looked in bad shape when the hands were turned on their backs.

Zekic: [Ad][Kd]
Johnson: [Qh][Qd]
Tomlinson: [7h][7c]

Needing a spate of clubs or a seven to flop, Tomlinson pulled off the unlikely trick of flopping a set whilst remaining behind, the board peeling [4d][6d][7d] to give Zekic a currently-winning flush.

"I have options," Tomlinson joked and one of those options was realised as the [7s] binked on the turn amidst some sharp intakes of breath from the other players. That gave her the unlikely and impregnable hand ranking of quads. Delicious. The irrelevant [4c] on the river ended proceedings and Tomlinson's stack had jumped up to a more respectable 27,000 or so.

Meanwhile former high flyer Max Johnson was eliminated as Zekic's flush had dusted him off in the overpot - Zekic left with 17,000 or so following the hand.

That table is crazy - beleive us.

4:45pm: Hanchard heads straight for the top
Naith Hanchard may well be our chip leader right now, courtesy of a huge hand that played out versus Aleksandar Spadijer moments ago.

Both players had in excess of 25,000 so when a series of raises saw them both put their stacks in on the [9d][Ts][Qh] board, it was no surprise to find them both holding monsters.

Pocket nines for Spadijer for a set, however Hanchard had [Kd][Jc] for no less than the nuts.

He wasn't home and hosed just yet though, any pair up would see him cede the pot, but a [3h] then [4h] run out kept Hanchard in the ascendancy and Spadijer accepted his fate with dignity, wishing everyone good luck.

Hanchard was left with a huge pile of chips - his stack now worth 55,000 - quite possibly good for the chip lead. Very tasty.

4:35pm: Man Down!
The frothy waters of variance have taken another clutch of victims, Karim Louis, Scott Coleman, Yang Liu, George Hassabis and Amar Al Hussona the men to have succumbed gasping under their bubbling waves.

4:25pm: Back in effect
The break has come to an end - coffees and other reinvigorating beverages supped - the players are back at the felt ready to do battle once more.

The end of level four and its corresponding break also means we will have the final tally of entrants shortly, and therefore also the prize pool - how exciting!

To read updates from levels 1-4, click here.

PokerStars Blog reporting team at UKIPT5 Series 2 - London: Rod Stirzaker. Photos by Micky May.

8:55pm: End of Day 1B - Jonathan Bridges Snatches Chip Lead!
The last three hands played out with the same levels of aggression we saw all day.

There was time for Ryan Reece to make a late three-bet shove with [Jh][Qd], only to get a call from a dubious-looking Cristian Iuga.

"That's not too bad," an excited Reece yelled as he saw he was in a flip versus Iuga's snowmen.

It looked significantly worse however when the board fell [8s][3d][9s] to give Iuga a set.

"Still got a ten!" Reece continued yelling and though the turn was the [As] - a miraculous [Tc] appeared on the river - huge fistpump from Reece as he was back up to 67,000 or so.

"Thanks for that" said Iuga to the dealer - a tad glum.

While this drama was taking place Dahe Liu was busy losing some of his monster stack and Jonathan Bridges was busy chipping up. We're just checking but we expect Bridges to be confirmed as the overall chip leader with 251,300 shortly. Liu should be in second place with 199,600 and Sean Murphy will be in third with 193,700.

Here are the end of day 1B chip counts and the combined chip counts for Day 2.

And just for your perusal enjoyment and general merriment, here is the seat draw for Day 2

Thanks for following today's play here on the PokerStars blog.

The day's been full of twists, turns and drama and we're looking forward to seeing how the final day plays out.

We'll be back tomorrow at 12:00pm this time (don't snooze through the first few levels!)

See you here for the resumption as we play through to crown our 2nd UKIPT Series champ of the season. Bye for now - enjoy your evening folks!

8:33pm: Kerr flipped out
Short and desperate - Marc Kerr found an ace to shove with but Naith Hanchard was happy to take him on with deuces and did so successfully - flipping up the counts to reach 75,000 or so.

Kerr however shook hands and hit the rail. Good game. 31 remain...

8:25pm: Liu moves into the lead
We're seeing some major swings out there on the felt right now - Dahe Liu has amassed an enormous stack of chips, including the first full twenty-strong stack of blue 5k chips.

He has 250,000 right now, meaning he's scorched ahead of his rivals Darren Murphy and Jonathan Bridges for the chip lead.

What an exciting finish to the day!

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 1,000-2,000-300

8:22pm: New Chip Leader - Murphy top of the tree
Darren Murphy is currently the man all else are looking up to - his 175,000 good for the chip lead as we approach the final level.

8:16pm: Nothing to show for their hard day
It's a harsh, unforgiving world the poker jungle.

These players have found this out, grinding their way through the best part of the day only to bust just prior to its end. Good game to all the following:

Benjamin Rathjen, Shvan Frost, Tautvydas Tukaciauskas, Andrew Craig, David Barnes, Tomasz Kozaczuk, Daniel Doyle, Michael Taynton, Taka Masa Endo, Anthony Fernandez,Daniel Brock, Heinz Frye, Istvan Karikas, Russell Tarbox, Alessandro Marega and Ramzi Pekhazis.

8:03pm: That's just the way it is
The home stretch is in sight and it remains Jonathan Bridges heading this field - his stack a fulsome 118,000. Given the smaller field yesterday generated a 180,000+ chip leader though, he is unlikely to remain at the head of the counts if he stays still.

Use your strength young padawan!

There are now 47 players left from the 131 who started the day.

7:55pm: The Art of War
Adhering to the principles laid out by the infamous general Sun Tzu in his much-lauded philosophical treatise will serve these players well as they enter this difficult part of the tournament.

"Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder and crush him... Pretend inferiority and encourage his arrogance"- Sun Tzu , The Art of War.

Draw your opponents into mistakes, mislead them about your hand strength, make them play to your tune. Battle is engaged now - each hand of blind and antes is significant to nearly every player.

Who can display the skills and serendipity to finish the day atop the chip counts?

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 800-1600-200

7:48pm: Prizepool
A quick reminder of the prizepool. The 250 total entrants will be playing for a combined total of £60,625, with a first prize payout of £12,820.

Click here to view the full payout spots.

7:30pm: The plot thickens as the field thins
More eliminations I'm afraid. There has been a steady stream of players heading to the growing throng at the bar over the last six levels or so and this looks unlikely to abate anytime soon.

Well played the following but your day is done:

Ferenc Nadori, Peter Ali, Denis O'Mahony, John Crossan, Phillip Fetzer, James Thomson, Sebastien Jung, Peter Upton, Mats Rosen Pihl, James Edward Hall, Gary Brown, Benjamin Meyer, Donghong Yu, Antoine Erwan, Andreea Raluca Ciobanu, Robert Malvasi, Kwok Wau Li, Jill Scott and Ramzi Pekhazis.

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 600-1200-200

7:20pm: Leading Lights
Here are some of the stacks heading the action at the moment, Jonathan Bridges looking like he's clear of the field as we speak::

Jonathan Bridges120,000
Darren Murphy 80,000
Cristian Iuga 65,000
Matthew Buckland60,000
James Conteh 58,000
Paul Damian 50,000
Dalius Balciunas50,000
Leah Reeman 50,000
Dahe Liu 45,000
Andrew Craig 40,000
Naith Hanchard 35,000

7.05pm: Missing in action
Goodbye mes amis. Your arduous, hard-fought day is done. You have performed with grace and dignity and brought great honour to your prestigious houses.

Enjoy your break brave warriors, for it is well earned:

Ilana Belsky, Jesse Chambers, Thomas Drew, Georgios Kyriacou, Tal Mirezki, Benjamin Swans, Mario Trattou,Stephen Bridges, Christopher Yong, Mohammed Himedan, James Morris and Ramzi Pekhazis.

6:55pm: Back for the final countdown
What a day it's been so far. We barely had the chance to mention Chris Wong - the defending UKIPT Series champ - having sat down and busted, unable to continue his recent successes here at The Hippodrome Casino.

There have been myriad exciting hands played out today and we expect the action to ramp up another notch as the chunky blinds take another hefty rise.

Good luck to the remaining 62 players as we play out the final four levels of the day.

To read updates from levels 5-8, click here.

PokerStars Blog reporting team at UKIPT5 Series 2 - London: Rod Stirzaker. Photos by Micky May.

14:12pm: Break Time Well, that breathless period of poker has ended with the end of level 16. The players are now going on a break to get some brief respite before they return to determine who will be the bubble boy. We'll be back in twenty minutes for the resumption. See you shortly!

14:05pm: Chan busts 33rd, hand for hand engaged... Wilson Chan has been battling with a shortstack for some time and when he found [Ah][Js] and a limping cut-off, he happily jammed his stack into the middle. The limper however had some strength with pocket sixes and made the call - duly winning the flip over the [Qc][9c][Qd][Qs][6h] board to send Chan to the rail. Good game sir, with 32 left we are officially on the bubble, the tournament clock is being paused for any allins and we are playing hand for hand. It's tense out there...

14:03pm: Bridges comes crashing down
A huge hand just played out between Jonathan Bridges and Jerome O'Shea. The pair went to war preflop for their monster stacks and when the cards were turned over - Bridges was in dire shape - his [Ac][Ks] a huge dog to O'Shea's serendipitously-timed pocket aces. No redemption on a bricky flop meant O'Shea rises to over 600,000 - clear chip leader of the tournament - whilst Bridges is left now short and in trouble with around ten big blinds. "Hand of the year," commented a railbird as the chips were handed over to O'Shea.

14:00pm: West goes North
Tense moment for Marcus West as he found himself all-in, reshoving on Joseph Roberts' opening raise to 11,000 for his 40k ish stack holding [ah][ks]. When Roberts called with [As][9d], West was dominating, though that is no guarantee in poker. However a helpful board of [5h][Qh][7s][3c][2d] saw him home to a double through to 95,000 whilst Roberts suffers a corresponding dip, dropping to 80,000. Just 33 are left now, we are two places off the money...

13:51pm: Casualties grow as bubble approaches
Variance is a difficult beast to tame and few are completely safe out there as the bubble looms into view. For evidence of this, look no further in the following llist of bustouts than the name of Darren Murphy, who came into the day third in chips but now finds himself on the rail. NO ONE IS SAFE! Bad luck guys: Darren Murphy, Rafael Henderson, Eldad Korn, Leah Reeman, Paul Damian, Garry Sleet Cristian Iuga.

13:45pm: El Annaoui bows out
Erik El Annaoui was in possession of a very short stack which he decided to move allin versus the preflop raise from Cypriot Alexis Savvides. His [8s][6s] was live but unsurprisingly behind Savvides [Ac][Kh] and although he remained live till the river a board of [Jd][9s][9h][Qh][Ad] saw his tournament life extinguished. Savvides meanwhile moves to 170,000. Also going great guns at that table is Hannah Tomlinson, who has worked her starting stack from the day with great aplomb - now up to a potentially chip-leading 295,000.

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 2,500-5,000-500

13:30pm: Moneyspots approach Nails will be bitten to the quick, pulses will race and dreams will be dashed. Joy and tears lie in wait for these intrepid players.

13:18pm: O'Shea takes scalp to further title ambition
Jerome O'Shea has had a sturdy start to the day, bolstered by his recent dismissal of Jonathan Rozema. Rozema had shoved for around 50,000 from early position and O'Shea tanked for some time before calling with pocket nines. The board ran out [Kh][7d][2s][Js][8s] to leave Rozema on the rail and O'Shea proudly organising his new 225,000 stack.

13:10pm: Wilson punctured Wilson Chan and Patrick Murray just went to war - a preflop battle seeing the pair get to a [6s][5s][4c] board. Murray moved his last 28,000 or so into the middle and Chan probably felt quite happy, calling with pokcet jacks on this seemingly safe-ish board. When the cards were flipped - Chan was indeed ahead as Murray tabled [As][Ks] - although Chan recognised the potential of his opponent's strong draw with a whispered, "Wow!" He survived the [9d] on the turn but the [Qs] on the river saw Murray win what had become a huge pot - the Irishman moving to over 120,000 whilst Chan has been knocked back to 30,000 or so.

13:08pm: Rampant opening We started with 61 but in just over one hour the field has lost 16 of those and we are down to 45 already. Can this incredible rate of attrition continue?

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 2,000-4,000-500

13:04pm: Gone, gone, gone The pace hasn't relented in these early levels. We're seeing aggressive play, pushing of edges and all-round brutality at the felt. The latest players to feel the brunt of this maelstrom of fiery chaos are: Ricky Davies, Dalius Balciunas, Bojan Zekic, Chihao Tsang, Timothy Jone and Ben Mensa-Bonsu. Well played all - enjoy your sunday.

12:49pm: Borza meets Italian Resistance Antonio Borza looked like he might just blind steal his way to the chip lead. He got 3 or 4 shoves through, before finally shoving from the button and running into his earlier nemesis, Carmine Belvedere, once more. Borza had made a legitimate shove with [As][3h] from the button and it turned out he was marginally ahead - the Italian having called the 25,000 shove with [Kd][Jc]. Borza's slim equity edge dissolved however on the [Kh][Qc][Ts] and any slim hopes a gutshot jack would dig him out of his predicament disappeared as the board ran out [4d][Td]. "It's frustrating," Borza said sadly to his loyal railfan as he left after shaking hands with his conquerer. Belvedere meanwhile now has 190,000 and is in prime position to battle for the title.

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 1,500-3,000-400

12:40pm: Fours is with Reeman James Rann just made a button shove for his 41,000 stack, Leah Reeman snap-calling from the small blind and the big blind dropping out. "Seat four, table four" said Reeman with a shrug, turning up [4c][4s]. "I like your thinking," laughed Raan, who was flipping with [As][6d]. The laughter ended however as the board ran out [8c][3d][2c][7h][3h] - Raan losing the flip and hitting the rail as Reeman's stack increases to 93,500.

12:30pm: Dropping like flies A host of small and medium stacks have bitten the dust in the early going. Good game the following: Catalin Dumitrascu, Mike Lee, Naith Hanchard, Nicholas Craxton,Ian King, Benjamin Fergus-Woolf, Kieran Plater and Ben Mensa-Bonsu

12:22pm: Borza Italia
Antonio Borza has come unstuck in the early levels - holding [Ah][Qd] on a [Jd][Ac][8c] board - he and Italian tablemate Carmine Belvedere backed their holdings with their stacks - Borza getting the bad news that he was marginally but crucially outkicked by Belvedere's [As][Kh]. A non-helpful runout of [3d][7c] saw the Italian's advantage remain and Borza was left with just a sprinkling of chips - around 11,000 - with which to mount a comeback. Hope springs eternal however - Borza got two blind steal shoves through to move to around 25,000 - he's still got skin in the game.

12:20pm: Mitchell-(not)in Man
Former Irish open winner James Mitchell is a big name casualty from the early levels. Another BVB confrontation saw Mitchell and Jitesh Mistry reach a [6s][5d][4c] board - Mitchell shoving over Mistry's initial bet with the pair and straight drawing [7h][5c.] Mistry shrugged and called with [As][6d] for top, top and his hand held as the board ran out [9s] [Td]. Mistry up to 140,000 - Mitchell's gone.

12:10pm: Davis finds little sixes
As expected, it's been a quickfire start to the day, Martin David one of the early victims when he went ot war in the blinds for his 40,000 stack versus James Tiltscher. David held [6s][6c], Tiltscher [Kh][Qs] and the latter won the flip over the [Kc][7d][5d][Jc][8c] board. Tiltscher moves into top ten chip contention with 150,000 whilst David's Sunday has been freed up to go and jump in some of the gathering puddles in Leicester Square - or pursure more mature, productive pursuits as seems likely.

12:00pm: Shuffle Up and Deal! We're underway. Good luck all!

11:55pm: Welcome back to the final day of UKIPT5 Series 2 London We're back at The Hippodrome Casino for the final day - players are buzzing with anticipation, there's a standard and strangely comforting drizzle dampening the streets of London - everything is as it should be and we're primed and ready to go. We've had two dense and hotly contested days of poker leading up to this point - 12 superquick 30 minute levels each day have seen the 250 strong field shorn to less than 25% of its initial size - 61 players left still holding onto dreams of a financial return for their investment. Day 1B's larger field produced the lion's share of chip heroes - Jonathan Bridges the biggest hero of all - his 251,300 seeing him clear by over 50,000 from his nearest challengers - Dahe Liu and Darren Murphy. Murphy has shown his skills here at The Hippodrome before - a final table berth at the UKIPT Series in September 2014 evidence of this. That day his tilt at the title ended in 6th place for £3,900 and he'll be looking to better that achievement here if the winds of fortune favour him, Liu will also be a threat for the title with three previous UKIPT cashes and nearly $120,000 in live tournament cashes to his name. He went about his business with inscrutable efficiency yesterday - watch out for this player. You can view the full chip counts from the start of the day here.

Today will see the remaining 61 players play to a winner. That seems like a lot of poker to get through but the earlier start of 12:00pm and the sharply-increasing blinds mean we'll see that bulky number whittled down to a single champion in next to no time. Before that, there's some crucial poker to be played out though. We'll be kicking things off momentarily so good luck one and all - let's get this underway!

PokerStars Blog reporting team at UKIPT5 Series 2 - London: Rod Stirzaker. Photos by Micky May.

4:40pm: Shabtay picks wrong moment to go for broke(16th)
Lior Shabtay is the latest man to fall foul of the variance beast - his shove with pocket threes running into jacks.

The [Ks][Ts][5c][Qs][4d] gave him a shot of survival as he held the only spade but his time finally ran out and he finishes in 16th for £805.

4:30pm: Van Kraayenburg eliminated (17th)
Chris Van Kraayenburg has seen his chances of progression evaporate. Having been crippled in a trips versus house cooler earlier, he moved his final minute stack into the middle and received three callers.

The board was checked to the turn of a [7c][8c][4c][tc] board - Giovanni Canali betting out 35k to a series of folds and showing down [Ts][Jc].

Kraayenburg couldn't beat that and drops out 17th, collecting £805.

That hand brings us down to 16 runners. There is a quick redraw for the final two tables and we'll be back at it in no time...

4:20pm: Tomlinson faces uphill battle
Erstwhile top 3 stack Hannah Tomlinson has taken a dive down the chip standings - her stack a mere 90,000 now.

She hasn't had the most fortunate time of it, losing out with [Ad][7d] on a [9d][7c][5d] board versus neighbour Sandra Reid's pocket tens.

That hand helped boost Reid to over 275,000.

Hannah meanwhile has lost several other important pots and is very much in push/shove mode right now.

4:15pm: Mistry solved (18th place)
Jitesh Mistry was forced to make a dash from the tournament midway through and he has failed to return, culminating in him blinding out in 18th spot.

He collects £715 in absentia and we continue 19 handed...

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 6000-12000-2000

4:02pm: Current chip counts
Here are the current standings with 20 players remaining.

Jerome O'Shea 700000
Dahe Liu 430000
Hannah Tomlinson 400000
Otto Castle 400000
Alexis Savvides 320000
James Tiltscher 255000
Chris Van Kraayenburg 245000
Giovanni Canali 235000
Lior Shabtay 215000
Sandra Reid 192000
Joseph Roberts 190000
James Evans 185000
Ryan Reece 175000
Carmine Kevin Belvedere 175000
James Evans 165000
Robert Tyley 160000
James Conteh 120000
Lee Hanlon 95000
Brett Noades 90000
Shaun Montana 80000
Matthew Buckland 80000
Jitesh Mistry 50000

3:45pm: Latest Fallers
There's nowhere to hide right now with the blinds biting substantial chunks out of all but the elite chip leaders.

The most recent men to be swallowed up and digested by these advancing blinds are:
Brett Noades, Shaun Montana, Marcus West and Patrick Murray.

Good games!

3:20pm: Bridges busts 26th
A day that started so brightly has dimmed considerably for Jonathan Bridges.

After losing out with pocket sevens versus the pocket nines of Chris Van Kraayenburg, his final few chips were thrown in with [Qs][3s] versus Lior Shabtay's pocket sixes.

His hand dominated, the board didn't come to his aid, running out [8c][Ts][Ac][4c][4h] to consign him to the list of nearly men with £595 his consolation.

3:15pm: Spadijer runs into nuts
Another short stack Aleksandar Spadijer went for a double with 66 but ran into both Alexis Savvides' reshove with king-queen and crucially Hannah Tomlinson's fortuitously-timed pocket aces.

He ended up losing to both players, the board running out [qh][th][9h][Ac][5s] - Tomlinson winning a huge pot to jump up over 300,000 whilst Spadijer ends up 28th for £535.

Following him close out of the arena was Stuart Snowden, who busts 27th, winning £595.

3:10pm: Sanchini loses head as snowmen melt
A harsh elimination for Olmo Sanchini saw him go toe-to-toe with compatriot Giovanni Canali - holding a crucial advantage with pocket eights versus Canali's sevens.

The board seemed relatively safe till the rivee, peeling off [As][Kc][Kd][2s][7h] but that crucial spike sees Canali jump to 110,000 and Sanchini bust.

That crucial and excruciating river card saw the hard done by Italian hit the table with his hand, utter several expletives referencing the faecal matter of a male cow and storm out of the arena.

Bad luck sir - don't forget to collect your £535 for 29th! We continue 28-handed...

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 4000-8000-1000

3:00pm: Quickfire busts following bubble
No surprise that the bursting of the bubble has precipitiated a rash of eliminations.

Soon following Mike Lee out the door were Darren Fuller and Gary Wilson - the key difference being both secured a payout of £535 for their efforts.

2:44pm: Bubble bursts - Mike Lee crashes out
Mike Lee was sitting with 2 big blinds and looking down the barell so when Matthew Buckland min-raised from the hijack, he vacillated for some time - the rail grew - the clock was called...and he finally made the call for his tournament life.

His reason for these extended deliberations was made plain as he turned over the paltry [2c][3s] which was live at least versus Buckland's [As][Ks].

The board however failed to provide deliverance - peeling off [4d][9s][8s][Qc][9c] - Buckland's ace-high good at showdown and Mike Lee becomes the official tournament bubbler.

He was also the last surviving "PokerStars LIVE! at The Hippodrome Casino"-sponsored player. Bad luck Mike.

However that left 31 players with guaranteed remuneration - hooray!

It's fair to say we can expect a number of these to loosen up their raising requirements over the coming hands - expect carnage shortly...

2:30pm: Back for the Bubble!
32 players remain in contention, though one man or lady will be left with a sour taste in their mouth once we have our next elimination.

Jerome O'Shea remains the out and out chip leader following that huge hand with Jonathan Bridges - his stack over 710,000.

The next few hands should prove very interesting...

To read updates from Levels 13-16, click here.

PokerStars Blog reporting team at UKIPT5 Series 2 - London: Rod Stirzaker. Photos by Micky May.

6:25pm: Final Table Chip Counts

Here's how they will line up on the final table - Dahe Liu leading the way.

Dahe Liu 1014000
Otto Castle 759000
Alexis Savvides 748000
Giovanni Canali 659000
Jerome O'Shea 572000
Carmine Kevin Belvedere 534000
Lee Hanlon 481000
Ryan Reece 241000

6:05pm:Sandra Reid out 9th - Final Table Set!
Reid has survived some ropey moments in parlaying her initial investment into a 9th place finish but she could go no further than that.

Earlier on when she managed to spin a pittance back into a stack once more - a frustrated Jerome O'Shea (who she rivered in the pot) - let out an exasperated exclamation "Why won't you just die!"

It was uttered in jest, though he was clearly keen on polishing Reid off and finally his wish came true, as he called her shove with [Ac][Kh] - dominating Reid's sub ten-BB shove with [Kd][Qs].

A board of [Ks][Th][3c][4d][9c] kept Reid interested till the last but finally she was dusted off - finishing up 9th for £1,310.

And that is our final table set!

We'll have chip counts and player profiles up shortly but for now the players are taking a short break to gather energy before we play out the final. See you shortly.

5:55pm: Buckland perishes in 10th
Matthew Buckland has been patient since having his wings trimmed in unfortunate circumstances (A-K losing out to K-J)

He was to prove unfortunate once more as he went for a double up with K-J and looked in great shape versus Alexis Savvides' K-T.

A board of [Ts][6c][3h][Qd][Th] however failed to comply with his desire to double through and he was left victim of one more crucial outdraw - hitting the rail in 10th place for £1,110.

That hand left 9 players still in the running, meaning we are consolidating down to one table - although the official final table will only start when there's 8 players left.

So close now!

5:46pm: Robert Tyley busts 11th
Robert Tyley had less than ten big blinds when he found [Ks][Qc] and re-shoved over an opening raise, only for Belvedere Carmine to re-shove behind him.

The opening raiser looked pained but laid his hand down - leaving Carmine to table pocket aces.

The outlook was bleak for Tyley and a bricky board confirmed his demise - he busts 11th for £1,110, Belvedere up to 520,000..

5:35pm: Tiltscher out in 12th
A strange end to James Tiltscher's tournament.

First off Matthew Buckland jammed his shortstack into the middle for 150,000 (less than ten bigs) and Tiltscher folded A-Q offsuit.

His table found this incredible laydown very amusing, Tiltscher defending his play by exclaiming "I don't want to call of half my stack!"

A few hands later he made a raise and picked up the blinds with 9-5os, showing his hand down again and claiming it was his favourite hand.

Finally, he jammed for 150,00 0 on the turn of a [4h][3s][3c][5d] board, Alexis Savvides making the call with [Ah][5h] and winnning on the brick river versus Tiltscher's [Qh][2c] semi-bluff.

Exciting finale but Tiltscher busts in 12th for £990.

5:25pm: Pre-break chip counts
Here's how the players stood at the end of the previous break(eliminated players italicized):

Name Chips Two Tables
Dahe Liu 739000
Giovanni Canali 666000
Alexis Savvides 652000
Jerome O'Shea 581000
Otto Castle 494000
Carmine Kevin Belvedere 448000
James Tiltscher 343000
Sandra Reid 187000
Lee Hanlon 184000
Matthew Buckland 176000
Ryan Reece 157000
Hannah Tomlinson 132000
Robert Tyley 116000
James Conteh 88000

5:23pm: Conteh crashes out 13th
A desperate James Conteh jammed his final few chips with [Tc][5s] - up against chip leader Dahe Liu's pocket sixes.

A board of [9s][Ac][7d][Qh][As] saw Liu's preflop equity edge maintained and we lose Conteh in 13th for £990.

5:20pm: Liu doubles Tyley
Robert Tyley just received a welcome boost to his stack - shoving his last 100,000 with [Ac][Kc] and picking up a quick call from Liu with [Qc][Qh].

The board of [4h][Tc][3s][Ah][9c] was great news for Tyley - he wins the flip to spin up to over 200,000. Liu's stack could afford to take the hit and he remains the chip leader.

5:15pm: Tomlinson busts 14th
A frustrating run of cards has seen Hannah Tomlinson bust in 14th for £895, having contended the chip lead earlier in the day.

That leaves Sandra Reid as the sole remaining female player.

5:00pm: Run-in to the final table
With 14 left, the final is tantalisingly close - almost within reach.

Here are the 14 players still contending the title:

There's everything to play for, it's proved very hard to predict just who will rise from the pack and become a force so far in this tournament.

The players are back from a twenty minute break and we are ready to resum. Good luck all!

To read updates from levels 17-20, click here.

PokerStars Blog reporting team at UKIPT5 Series 2 - London: Rod Stirzaker. Photos by Micky May.

10:15pm: Giovanni Canali wins UKIPT5 series 2 London!(£12,820) - Otto Castle 2nd (£8,630)
The heads-up was an interesting affair - Canali perhaps getting the better of the cards, putting in a few big three-bets to Castle's button raises.

Castle called several times looking for a benevolent flop but it never seemed to come - Canali's continuation bets always winning him the pot.

A short-stacked Castle began to jam preflop more often - Canali frequently looking at his hand before laughing and throwing away 5-3os and such.

Eventually Canali issued a semi-ultimatum. "I am feeling it, so if you shove next hand, i just might..."

Well, guess what happened? A button shove from Castle and a quick and definitive call from Canali who proudly tabled [Jh][9h] - sadly dominated by Castle's [As][9s].

It looked like Castle might get a foothold in the heads-up at last but it wasn't to be - a board of [Jc][7h][3d][8s][9c] securing the pot and the tournament for the Italian.

After a mammoth day, everyone looked shocked at the sudden ending, but the beaming visage of Canali told you all you needed to know about who had come out triumphant.

"I'm ecstatic, really happy. It hasn't sunk in yet. I'll struggle to sleep tonight," gushed Canali following his win.

He collects £12,820 for the win whilst Castle can be proud of his efforts in coming 2nd for £8,630.

Well played both!

To read a wrap of the day's events, click here.

Thanks for following us on our journey to crown a new UKIPT Series champ.

As usual, it's been a blast - thanks to the staff at The Hippodrome Casino for making us feel so welcome.

9:40pm: Savvides bows out in 3rd place (£6,090)
Alexis Savvides has been a thorn in the side of everyone at this final table - a sure sign he has talent.

At last he came unstuck though, raising to 135,000 before Giovanni Canali re-raised to 560,000 - a big three bet.

"Have you got anything?" asked Savvides with one of his trademark giggles.

"Huge, huge" said Canali. "I never lie."

Savvides thought it over - before moving allin, called quickly by Canali with pocket tens.

Savvides nodded in reluctant semi-defeat, tabling pocket sevens and when the board ran out [9d][Ts][2c][Ah][5s] - that was it, his day was done.

He kept the grin that has been on his face throughout this tournament and disappeared to collect his prize money.

Well done sir, that leaves Otto Castle and Giovanni Canali vying for the title - Canali with around a 4-1 chip lead.

Who will rise to the challenge?

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 40000-80000-5000

9:25pm: Liu Busts in 4th place (£4,940)
Pocket nines for Liu and 500,000 in his stack meant just one thing. Shove-time.

Giovanni Canali elected to reshove with another big holding four-handed - [As][Ts] and the Itlian hit a decisive flop - the board being dealt out [Ad][Ac][7h][7s][2h].

Warm handshakes were the order of the day and we continue four-handed - Canali now with the chip lead in this topsy-turvy final.

9:10pm: Battling for the title
Four-handed they have retaken their seats - Alexis Savvides returning with what looks like a lobster's tail (his dinner not a wierd appendage.)

Who can show the greatest skills/ run-good and take this down?

8:50pm: Break time
The players are just taking a twenty minute break to gather their thoughts. Just before the break Otto Castle raised to 50,000, which was three-bet to 170,000 by Giovanni Canali.

Castle took a short while before annoucning all-in for his 597,000 stack and although Canali requested a count - halfway through he said, "Don't worry, I call."

His [Ks][Qh] was a dog to Castle's [Ah][Kc] and the board of [Ac][5s][3s][Jd][5d] saw him secure a double through.

That hand leaves the chip standings as follows: -
Alexis Savvides - 1,915,000
Otto Castle - 1,390,000
Dahe Liu - 1,085,000
Giovanni Canali - 675,000

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 30000-60000-5000

8:35pm: Liu suffers at hands of Savvides
Dahe Liu just raised the button to 100,000, called by Canale and a giggling Savvides in the blinds.

The board fell [9c][2c][5h] - Savvides leading for 100,000 - called by Liu.

The turn was the [Kh] - again Savvides fired - this time for 170,000 - quick call from Liu.

The river was the [8s] and again there was a barell from Savvides of 300,000. Liu pushed a chip over the line indicating call - only to get the bad news that Savvides had rivered a highly disguised two pair with [8d][5s].

Liu mucked. "Big blind special" commented Giovanni Canali as Savvides took the chip lead - allowing himself another giggle.

8:25pm: Liu sees off Reece(5th £3,900)
Dahe Liu has held some pretty cards in recent times, but his reputation as an active player has meant he is getting paid almost everytime he gets them.

The latest coup saw him raise to 100,000 from the button - big blind Ryan Reece jamming allin for just under 300,000.

A quick call from Liu with queens, a resigned-looking Reece flipping sixes and a board of [Jc][Jh][7h][2d][2h] means we lose Reece in 5th place and we are now 4-handed for the title!

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 25000-50000-5000

8:12pm: Hanlon exits in 6th place (£2,960)
Lee Hanlon has skirted elimination many times on his way to the final 6, but finally, he faced the gauntlet one too many times.

Jamming his 6BB stack (250,000) UTG with [Jc][8h], Savvides made the call with [Ah][Td] and a board of [5c][7d][Ks][7c][6h] saw the Cypriot home as he jumps up to 1,600,000 and Hanlon is finally shown the door.

Well played sir, enjoy your trip to the cash desk.

8:00pm: O'Shea busts in 7th(£2,165)
Alex Savvides has barely made a mistake at this final table and after raising to 80,000 and seeing Jerome O'Shea shove for around 320,000, he took a moment to consider....then made the call.

It was a brave call with [Ac][5d] but a good one - O'Shea tabling the slightly behind [Ks][Js].

A board of [8s][8h][8d][9s][7h] rewarded Savvides' bravery and O'Shea joins the rail in 7th place having made an impressive run to thsi final table.

We continue 6 handed - Savvides now in the chip lead with 1.2 million chips.

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 20000-40000-5000

7:45pm: Belvedere busts in 8th (£1,580)
He's not had the best of luck on this final table and Kevin Belvedere's day is now done.
With less than ten big blinds, when the aggressive Dahe Liu raised it up, Belvedere went for a re-steal with [Jc][Tc], only for Liu to make a swift and easy snap-call with pocket kings.

A board of [Kd][Jh][6h][7d][7h] left Liu the victor of the confrontation and we lose out first player at this final.

Good game Kevin.

7:23pm: Lucky Lee trips up Canali
Giovanni Canali must be a cool customer as he just took what was a nasty beat with very good grace moments ago.

Making a raise to 75,000, Lee Hanlon checked his stack, shrugged his shoulders, had a little think, then jammed allin for 270,000.

Canali snap-called - Hanlon asking "Ace-queen, ace-king?" hopefully as he tabled pocket fours.

No such luck - the Italian held aces and Hanlon's head was on the metaphorical chopping block.

A board of [Kh][Qd][9c][2h] peeled off - Hanlon readying himself to depart - only for the [4d] to arrive in the nick of time and save him.

"I've had some luck today!" an understandably ecstatic Hanlon said.

"I'd like to say I'm delighted for you but I'd be lying out of my backside," chipped in Jerome O'Shea from the sidelines.

Hanlon up to 540,000 - Canali down to 400,000...

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 15000-30000-4000

7:15pm: Double for Reece
Looking to make things happen, Ryan Reece shoved for his 10BB stack over the button raise from Carmine Belvedere.

Belvedere got a count (around 240,000) and made the call with [8c][8h] - in great shape to eliminate Reece, who held [Kd][5d].

A flop of [Ks][5h][3d][6c][Js] changed all that though - Reece doubling to 470,000 whilst a wincing Belvedere takes a hit and is down to roughly the same.

"I was running too good anyway," Belvedere admitted honestly as he handed over a chunk of his stack. Reece just grinned mischievously.

7:10pm: Final Table Profiles

Seat 1: Otto Castle, United Kingdom - 709,000
Otto Castle is 25 years old and works in software. He has played poker for a while but only seriously in the last 6 months. Now, however, he's looking to play more UKIPT and EPT events - in fact, any that look fun, although he has played at several London-based UKIPTs previously. He'd prefer not to mention his biggest poker win, but roughly tied with Alexis Savvides for second place coming to the final here, he's guaranteed at least £1,580 for his performance here over the weekend.

Seat 2: Jerome O'Shea, United Kingdom - 572,000
Jerome O'Shea, 54, began playing poker as a smoking-cessation aid about eight years ago, and the new habit has not only saved him money, it's racked him up $70,000 of live tournament earnings. Online on PokerStars he plays both cash and tournament poker (including a bit of Omaha and occasionally Hi-Lo), but when it comes to live events his job as a sales coordinator stop him playing "as many as I'd like." O'Shea will need a podium finish to beat his best prior live score (£6,050) but having held the chip lead he won on Day 1a for most of today, his average stack now won't faze him.

Seat 3: Dahe Liu, China - 1,014,000
Dahe Liu, 30, has been playing both the UKIPT Series and main tour for a few years, but due to time commitments (he runs his own Birmingham-based business) he can't leave to follow the full major tournament schedule Europe-wide. This hasn't stopped him cashing for over $100,000 live since 2008, including a 10th place finish at UKIPT Isle of Man in 2013. Liu comes to the final table as chip leader, insisting, "I don't gamble a lot. I haven't lost any really big pots," and that his smooth ascent to the chip lead today was down to this cautious approach. The most regularly seen on the tour of any of the finalists, his million chips are going to be an obstacle for the others.

Seat 4: Kevin Belvedere, Italy (PokerStars Qualifier) - 534,000
Carmine Kevin Belvedere, at 19, is the youngest finalist, still studying physics at Surrey University while making time for poker via a short commute to London. He plays cash games here in town, but has only ever played four live tournaments (in which he can boast three cashes); the UKIPT Series represents his first foray into tour events after he won his seat online on PokerStars. Fresh from a recent four-figure £20 rebuy win at the Empire, the enthusiastic Belvedere is another finalist who would play more live tournaments if they were available, even if he does admit to having exams in two weeks.

Seat 5: Giovanni Canali, Italy - 659,000
Giovanni Canali is a 40 year old Managing Director working in telecommunications. He started playing online 10-15 years ago, but having made the transition to playing live has enjoyed it so much that he now plays much more live poker. This is his first UKIPT, and he's loving it (this he revealed while laughing and pointing at his stack). His recent big win - £1,800 at a tournament in Reading - represents his best cash to date, but he just needs to avoid exiting the final first to outdo it.

Seat 6: Ryan Reece, United Kingdom - 241,000
Ryan Reece is a 25 year old shipping agent - involved in customs and immigration: "Lots of paperwork," he revealed with a sigh. He started playing poker at 15 years of age with his friends. "We used to play for £1 each," he revealed, "You could only win a tenner but we'd play till three in the morning!" Reece moved on to casinos, finding his niche in tournaments, which he prefers playing to cash games. Three weeks ago he achieved his biggest cash - 4th in an online tournament for €2,500, but he still prefers playing live as a rule. This is his first UKIPT.

Seat 7: Alexis Savvides, Cyprus - 748,000
Alexis Savvides, 24, hails from Cyprus but has been living in London for the past seven years. He says that he loves the pace and excitement of the city, where he works as a financier. His biggest ever live cash was for £10,000, and he really wants to beat that by taking the UKIPT Series title, although his regular game of choice is cash rather than tournaments. Savvides lies in joint second place coming into the final and has not struggled for chips during Day 2.

Seat 8: Lee Hanlon, United Kingdom - 481,000
Lee Hanlon has been playing poker for seven years, enough to describe himself at 34 as a semi-pro "online grinder" playing under the name taffyfella on PokerStars. He's previously come 3rd in a SCOOP event for $10,000 and won $42,000 in the Sunday Warm-Up but this UKIPT Series represents his very first live event and a turning point in the game for him, in terms of the buzz of the tournament. Hanlon's stack might be near the bottom of the pack on the final table, but this is unlikely discourage him; he's already locked up £1,580 in his first foray off the virtual felt, in a tournament for which he qualified online.

7:00pm: Final Underway!
So we're underway with just 8 players remaining from the 250 who started out this journey toward UKIPT Series glory.

To read updates from levels 21-22, click here.

PokerStars Blog reporting team at UKIPT5 Series 2 - London: Rod Stirzaker. Photos by Micky May.

Giovanni Canali is the UKIPT5 Series 2 London champion, having defeated Otto Castle here at The Hippodrome Casino for £12,820.

It was an emotional ride for Canali, who began the day with a shortstack.

"I came in as a shortsack, but I always felt something better was round the corner, I had an inner peace," the Italian Telecoms Managing Director said following his victory.

The final day of the event began with 61 players hopeful of victory, though the swiftly augmenting blinds saw to it that this number was whittled down to a final eight in swift fashion.

There was always likely to be carnage at the felt with aggressive poker and regular confrontations meaning every player was forced to run the gauntlet of showdowns with great regularity.

Two men who had come into the day with high hopes of a deep run were Darren Murphy and Jonathan Bridges, two of the top three stacks overnight.

Murphy was to see his fortunes wane dramatically - falling prior to the cash spots whilst Bridges had a calamitous ace-king versus aces confrontation with fellow bigstack Jerome O'Shea in the middle stages - barely surviving before squeaking into the money and perishing soon after.

O'Shea however used that cooler to great effect, parlaying his fortune into a deep run to the final table.

The man no one wanted to be today was Mike Lee - reduced to a tiny stack he was forced to call his tournament life off on the bubble with 2-3 and this proved his final contribution - missing out on the cash spots by the slenderest of margins. The rail (composed primarily of interested parties) showed a combination of empathetic sympathy and self-congratulation as they secured a cash for themselves whilst recognising Lee's misery.

With the bubble burst, the relentless pace continued unabated - a slew of exits bringing about the final 8 players in the virtual blink of an eye.

Sandra Reid was the lady who ticked the box for the last standing female and the player who just missed out on the official final table.

Her elimination left the remaining 8 players lined up on the final table as follows:

Dahe Liu 1014000
Otto Castle 759000
Alexis Savvides 748000
Giovanni Canali 659000
Jerome O'Shea 572000
Kevin Belvedere 534000
Lee Hanlon 481000
Ryan Reece 241000

Given the incendiary pace of the rest of the day, it was somewhat surprising we had to wait nearly a full two levels before seeing the final table's first casualty - Kevin Belvedere suffering misfortune and poor timing to run a re-steal into Dahe Liu's pocket kings - £1,580 his reward for 8th.

Jerome O'Shea was next to go, another re-steal attempt going awry as he crashed out in 7th spot (£2,165.)

Lee Hanlon rode his luck on more than one occasion on the final - cracking Canali's pocket aces along the way. Finally, though, the dam of good fortune broke and he was submerged in 6th spot for £2,960 - Alexis Savvides doing the crucial damage.

Ryan Reece had played fast and loose with his stack - an approach that yielded great returns right up to his elimination. Liu again was the man who took his scalp - a bigger pair seeing off Reece's bold challenge in 5th spot (£3,900).

For a while Dahe Liu, formidably dressed in his white tiger jacket, looked the only man likely to win the title - his selectively aggressive approach keeping the other players off balance for the most part.

Savvides was the man most likely to stand up to Liu however and the Cypriot won several key confrontations before a now shortstacked Liu jammed pocket nines and lost out to Giovanni Canali's ace-ten. Liu will surely be back, given the qualities he showed here and £4,940 was his reward for those skills on this occasion.

Three-handed, Alexis Savvides was surprisingly the next to go - a cooler seeing him take an aggressive line with pocket sevens, only for Canali to pick him off with pocket tens.

A set on the flop for Canali consigned Savvides to 3rd place for £6,090 - an impressive run from the talented Cypriot.

The heads-up battle saw Canali take a 4-1 chip lead, Otto Castle struggling to find traction. Finally, thought it looked as though Canali may have made a misstep and Castle could make inroads into his lead.

Promising Castle action on the next hand, Canali called Castle's shove with [Jh][9h] running into Castle's dominating [As][9s].

Canali had said he was feeling it, however, and when he spiked a jack, that was the end of Castle's circumspect and profitable run in 2nd place for £8,630.

In the final anaylsis, it was Canali who was left grinning into the cameras with the trophy, having secured the victory.

"I'm ecstatic, really happy. It hasn't sunk in yet. I'll struggle to sleep tonight," he told the blog afterward.

When asked if his success here would act as a springboard for further UKIPT challenges, he explained he hoped so:

"I've got 2 teenage children who are full of activity so when I'm not being a taxi driver for them, I'd love to play some more."

Giovanni was really a model ambassador for the UKIPT Series, pleasant and genial at the felt and really humbled and happy at his win.

We hope to see him again in the future.

For now though, that was the end of this UKIPT Series event and though we are sad to go, the PokerStars Marbella festival is just round the corner from 15th-21st June, with the €1,000 + €100 main event running from the 17th-21st.

Poker in the sun - chip up and work on your tan - is there anything better than that?

We hope you'll join us there or at least follow developments on the blog. It will be a riot - don't miss out or you'll regret it!

To read updates from the final table, click here.

For the full payouts from the event, click here.

strong>PokerStars Blog reporting team at UKIPT5 Series 2 - London: Rod Stirzaker. Photos by Micky May.

2.05pm: End of Day 1C - Dale Garrad leads overall chip Counts!
The final level saw a number of circa 150,000 stacks vying for the chip lead, but it was Dale Garrad, friend of Pokerstars LIVE! at The Hippodrome Casino, who stormed ahead.

He had a few fortunate hands in this run, but his slick finish meant he bagged up an incredible 214,000 in chips.

Quite a performance from Garrad, he was beaming at the finish to no one's surprise.

It looked as though Mario Trattou, runner-up at the UKIPT Series 6 event here at The Hippodrome Casino last year, finished up in 2nd place with 178,000 and Steve Watts was also well-placed at the death with 164,200. Let's not forget James Hartigan, who battled gamely through the day and finished up with 54,000 or so. Great powers of endurance sir!

To read a summary of both incredible days, click here.

Thanks for following. Full combined chip counts for Day 2 can be found here.

2:01pm: Final four hands
With 13 minutes left in the day, it's been determined just four more hands will be played.

1.50pm: The home stretch
The players are almost home and dry - just 35 of them left. Mario Trattou, who has form here at The Hippodrome Casino, leads the pack as we speak.

How will this last level play out?

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 1,000-2,000-300

1.31pm: Stacks of note
As the tournament enters its final phase, here are some interesting players and their totals for your delectation:

Mario Trattou - 130,000
Oliver Bassett - 120,000
Colin Lovelock - 80,000
Martins Adeniya - 58,000
Charlotte Godwin - 37,000

1:15pm: Thick and fast
The slowdown in pace during the middle stages has merely served as an incendiary catalyst for action in these latter four levels. We've seen the field ripped apart as shortstack after shortstack has busted.

We're now down to just 44 players - more in line with the other two days.

The latest players who were unable to keep the dream alive include:

Simon Brooks
Marius Lietuvninkas
Fabio Vizzarro
Duncan Wilkie
Cristina Ilie
Winston Cotgreave
Mousa Nader Zadeh
Alejandro Perez Torres

Well played all! The battle continues.

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 800/1,600/200

1:05pm: On yer way, Ladd
Graeme Ladd's tournament has come to close.

He went for a double up, jamming his final 20,000 or so chips on a [7c][7h][6c] board - only to be picked off by Oliver Bassett's pocket queens.

The board bricked out [Jh][5d] and Bassett - who is almost certainly the chip leader as we speak - was up to 120,000.

12:50pm: Roll-call of the damned
No luck for the following players - they've all hit the skids in the latter period.

Khadir Khoshawy
Nagaraju Krishna
Bober Raja
William Kassouf
Lee Glover
Qilin Hu
Stephen Miles
David Lloyd
Bo Bundgaard Thorsen
Brett Kennedy
Mark Shepherd
Graeme Ladd
Simon Brooks

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 600-1200-200

12:35pm: Hartigan the poker genius It's been a tough day's grind for James Hartigan but his patience is being rewarded.

He just played a pot of immense skill, doubling up with aces in the big blind versus the small blind's kings.

"It's an underrated skill waking up with aces versus kings in the blinds," he said, a nugget of poker wisdom that will surely echo through the ages.

12.25pm: Battle to the finish
The 72 players remaining have sat themselves down at the felt - chip shuffling and riffling as they are wont to do.

The game is on, the stakes are high and the stage is set. Bring it on!

To read updates from levels 1-8, click here.

PokerStars Blog reporting team at PokerStars UKIPT5 Super Series London: Rod Stirzaker. Photos courtesy of Mickey May.

The Hippodrome Casino bore witness to a tsunami of poker activity today as UKIPT5 Super Series Days 1B and 1C both played out to a finish.

At the close of play it was Andrey Dimitrov who topped the Day 1B rankings whilst on Day 1C, friend of PokerStars LIVE! at The Hippodrome Casino, Dale Garrad, had the kind of end game poker players dream of - his chip count blazing skyward in the closing levels to ensure he will return for Day 2 poised in prime position.

Day 1B started bright and early (for poker players at least), the 1:00pm start time drawing in a 100-strong field to test their luck. Numbered in their ranks were a mix of world famous sharks and lesser-known faces. One of the sharks, PokerStars Team Pro Jake Cody, jumped off a plane straight from Miami to take his shot at the tournament and although his run in Day 1B ended in ignominious elimination, he turned his luck round with his second bite of the cherry.

Day 1C proved a happier hunting ground - Cody brushing off a barren period in the early stages to rise to a 72,600 stack at the finish.

The swift thirty minute levels ensured the players waged constant war against each other and we were treated to some showtime, aggressive poker. Hitsquad member Chaz Chattha, dubbed "Live Gangster" in the course of the tournament, was in his element, a strong finish ensuring he bagged up 137,900 at the end of day reckoning. It was Bulgarian Andrey Dimitrov however who crushed the competition to accumulate a gargantuan stack of 189,400 - and all despite being close to crashing out in the early levels.

In all just 35 players survived the epic maelstrom to earn their right to partake in day 2.

Day 1C saw another block of hundred players disseminate themselves around the poker card room and engage in battle at the felt.

Day 1C played out in a slightly different fashion to the earlier days - the pace a little more sedate in the early stages. EPT commentator James Hartigan got the better of his co-commentator Joe Stapleton during this lull - progressing with 54,000 after nursing a smallish stack effectively all day.

This gentle pace was all to change however as the day wore on - the pendulum swinging back to create a devastating last few levels that witnessed knockout after knockout.

During this period several players rose to the fore. Mario Trattou, who had finished runner-up at UKIPT Series 6 in 2014, showed this deep run was no fluke, building some giant towers which left him sitting pretty in 2nd place with 178,000 at the close.

Steve Watts, 2013 Irish Open Finalist, also had a positive run, bagging up 164,200 at the close - a stack which gives him every chance of snagging the title when they return tomorrow.

However Dale Garrad's impeccable finish to reach 214,000 ensures the rest of the field will be chasing his coat-tails when play resumes Saturday.

Day 2 will begin at 1.00pm tomorrow. the remaining 92 players looking to play down to a final table. The levels will be gently massaged out to 40 minutes however we don't anticipate that will diminish the aggression on show - expect another day of pedal-to-the-metal poker to play out.

You won't want to miss the excitement, so see you there tomorrow. History beckons for one of these lucky players.

To read updates from Day 1B, Levels 1-8, click here.
To read updates from Day 1B, Levels 9-12, click here.
To read updates from Day 1C, Levels 1-8, click here.
To read updates from Day 1C, Levels 9-12, click here.

The combined chip counts at the end of both days can be found by clicking here.

The final prizepool can be found here.

PokerStars Blog reporting team at PokerStars UKIPT5 Super Series: Rod Stirzaker. Photos courtesy of Mickey May.

3.55pm: Break Time!
Another two levels in the bag and the tension has deflated from the arena like a balloon releasing air as the players stream out for a well-earned 15 minute break.

We'll be back shortly with 44 players remaining, just 5 spots from the cash positions. See you then!

3.48pm: Trouble for Yu
As expected the approach of the bubble has slowed down the players - everyone looking to hammer down a cash return for their efforts.

One man who will miss out though is Fengzhu Yu - the shortstacked player getting it in with K-5 versus K-2 and looking good for a double till a spiked deuce dashed his hopes. 44 remain...

3.34pm: Bubble Trouble!
Yes with 46 players left and 39 paid, we have reached that frightening and fascinating part of the tournament where the potential to leave without remuneration can cause players to freeze up. The big stacks will be licking their lips, knowing their fold equity has just increased dramatically. A critical period - everyone is focusing hard at the tables right now, the atmosphere taut.

3.25pm: Standing Tall
Here are the latest chip counts for you to peruse - Dale Garrad maintaining his chip lead for now. Click here to view.

3:22pm: The Unforgotten
Their collective dreams may be over but they will be forever memorialised in this post. They would probably prefer a statue or bronze bust but for now this is the best we can do!
Alexios Zervos
Ali Chaaban
Rory MacDonald
Ranno Sootla
Dominic Wells
Jan Nader Zadeh
Noel Broadbent
Dahe Liu
Marius Zalpys
Vasile-Cosmin Stancu
Neil McCulloch

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 2,500-5,000-500

3:12pm: Hartigan picks up pace
James Hartigan is showing he has the potential to make it deep here - his stack really starting to grow.

Most recently, he picked up a nice pot raising to 8,500 preflop from UTG+1 - the big blind the sole caller.

Board: [Jh][Th][6c] Check - 9,000 from Hartigan, call.

Turn: [2c] Check - 17,500 from Hartigan, call.

River: [4c] Check, snap-check from Hartigan who tabled queens. The big blind could not match or best this and threw his hand away leaving a focused Hartigan to move to 155,000...

3:08pm: Trattou and Cody share light moment
Two of the bigger stacks right now are Mario Trattou and Jake Cody. Cody is growing stronger all the time - moments ago raising and c-betting to win another pot without showdown.

"It's easy when you have table presence isn't it," said Trattou.

Cody's serious face broke and he smiled. "I had a good hand!" he protested.

"Sure you did..." Trattou responded with a touch of incredulity.

"I always have a good hand," Cody added.

"That's why you are where you are," said Trattou with a touch of apparent admiration and a wink to the rail.

Cody now up to 200,000. Trattou remains well-stacked with 175,000.

3.02pm: Shuffled off the poker coil
No longer with us - casuaties of this whirlwind start to proceedings are the following. Good game all.
Mats Rosen
Christopher Yong
Adam Reynolds
Stuart Butts
Ravi Sharda
Thomas Young
Lev Belskiy
James Catany
Lee Scott Glover
ohammed Suhail A
ndreas Achillea

2.43pm: Super Mario's Land
Mario Trattou has impressive pedigree here at The Hippodrome Casino with a number of deep runs, the pick of which was his runner-up spot at UKIPT Series 6 last year.

He was one of three Trattou brothers bidding for glory in this Super Series event - both he and his brother Nicholas (not Luigi as you might think) making it through to Day 2.

"There are 9 of us [Trattou brothers] in total. I think my mum wanted a girl so she kept going!" he said with a smile.

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 2,000-4,000-500

2:37pm: Back in the zone
The players have re-seated themselves ready for level 15. 39 spots are paid remember - we are just twenty places off that now so there might be some literally nail-biting moments ahead.

2.25pm: Break Down
Those opening levels just flew by. Two levels in and we are down to 61 players. The players can now take their regular 15 minute sabbatical to refresh and recharge. We'll be back shortly.

2:22pm: Quad Erat Demonstrandum
The cream will rise to the top. QED. Jake Cody is a beast when things aren't rolling his way.

When he gets quad sixes for a full double-up however(as achieved moments ago), he becomes a monster. Cody up to 160,000...

2:10pm: Hartigan travelling
James Hartigan has had a welcome opening to the day with that early double. He's being put through his paces by the tournament direction too, having moved tables twice in the early levels. "It's nice to get a tour of the room!" he boomed in typically audible fashion.

1.58pm: Garrad crushing
Dale Garrad came into the day as chipleader and the early going has only served to reinforce his dominance. He has just eliminated Tyrone Campisi-Green, who possesses the most impressive afro being sported in The Hippodrome Casino but sadly no longer possesses any chips. Garrad's [As][Jc] bested Campisi-Green's [Kc][Th] on a [Jc][Tc][8d][6h][3h] board - a gracious Campisi-Green offering a sincere wish of "good luck" as he bowled out of the arena. It's looking more and more like Garrad's day right now.

1.45pm: Bombastic Start
Wow! We can barely keep up with the cries of "ALL-IN!" and "CALL!" resounding throughout the poker room. We are already down to 68 players. Yes that's right in the space of a single level we have lost 24 players. Here are the most recent eliminations on the rail: Tyrone Campisi-Green United Kingdom George Alexander United Kingdom Martins Adeniya United Kingdom Joseph Craig United Kingdom Otto Castle United Kingdom Alistair Woods United Kingdom Davide Magnan Italy Allan Pike United Kingdom

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 1,5000-3,000-400

1.33pm: Hartigan rocks and rolls
James Hartigan has shown that a bit of patience and application can really work wonders in a poker tournament. He bounded over from his seat to tell us he has doubled up from his dangerously smallish 50k stack courtesy of a kings versus 9-T suited coup.

The EPT commentator is full of beans - and could now pose a real threat to the chip leaders.

1.22pm: Seat of death
The seat vacated by Otto Castle was duly filled by Sebastian-Jacob Heijnen and the shortstacked Dutchman's journey lasted little longer - losing out to Chaz Chattha when his [Jd][Qs] came second to Chattha's [Ac][8d] over a [Jh][7s][2h][As][Ks] board.

"That's the bustout seat," Chattha observed with a grin. "We'll take that right!" he said to neighbour Kalamess - the other recipient of chips donated by victims of the seat.

1.10pm: Castle toppled
Tough start for Otto Castle, who has become a victim of Estonian Ergo Kalamees.

We didn't see his exit in entirety but it looked as though he held [Ad][3d] on the river of a [8d][2h][7d][Jc][Ts] board - his flush draw whiffing versus Kalamees' [9c][6s] straight draw which got there. Already well-stacked prior to the hand Kalamees is now closing in on the top few chip leaders with around 170,000.

1.00pm: Cards in the air
The players are seated, the dealers primed and the stage set. Let's get underway!

UKIPT Super Series Day 2
We're back at The Hippodrome Casino to continue on our journey to crown the UKIPT Super Series Champion. Yesterday was an incredible day of poker - two meaty poker days crammed into one standard day - twists and turns abounding over the 24 total levels played out. Day 1C created the overall chip leader - friend of PokerStars LIVE! at The Hippodrome Casino Dale Garrad blitzing his way through the last few levels to snatch the chip lead with an even 214,000 in chips. When they resume today, Day 1B's foremost chip gatherer Andrey Dimitrov will be the man best placed to topple Garrad's supremacy - his 189,400 giving him every chance of a destructive tun through the field. Neither should ignore the threat of the talented field lurking behind them however. The 92-strong field has top-notch players such as Hitsquad member Chaz Chattha and Triple Crown winner PokerStars Team Pro Jake Cody secreted away in its number. There's also the well-stacked Mario Trattou, one of two Trattou's in the field, who has shown he has what it takes to run deep at The Hippodrome having finished runner-up at UKIPT6 last year. Click here to view full chip counts at the start of the day. It should be a fascinating day's poker and we are really looking forward to seeing how it pans out.

Being day 2, the levels have been extended to 40 minutes, giving the players extra room to make some creative plays and the intention is to play to a final table - depending on how quickly things play out. We're starting at 1.00pm and the poker room is already beginning to fill up with enthusiastic staff and players. Good luck one and all!

PokerStars Blog reporting team at PokerStars UKIPT5 Series 2: Rod Stirzaker. Photos courtesy of Mickey May.

9.30pm: The Final Table
After three days of hardcore poker, we have reached the cusp of this tournament's finale.

There are just eight men remaining in contention with the trophy just a fingertip away.

Here's how they will line-up when they return tomorrow:

Dale Garrad - 1,640,000
Rouxel Julien - 1,516,000
Andrey Veselov - 1,116,000
Steve Critchley - 786,000
Alex Kaczmarek - 704,000
Andy Purser - 630,000
Sebastian Jung - 421,000
Jorge Cortes - 408,000

Well that's it for today. Click here to view the wrap of the day's events. Thanks for following!

We'll be back with the rest of the staff, players and enthusiastic railbirds tomorrow to see how this plays out.

A champion is waiting to be crowned. See you tomorrow at 1.00pm sharp for his ascension!

9.20pm: Kai-boshed! (Kai Brown - 9th - £2,950)
Kai Brown was well in the danger zone and found himself unable to pull himself out.

Two big cards in [Qc][Jh] looked like a good hand to jam and pick up some blinds but when Russian Andrey Veselov made a snap-call, he must have suspected the worst.

It wasn't good news for him - Veselov tabling pocket aces.

A board of [Kc][Js][3h][Kd][Qd] saw Brown's slim hopes evaporate and he slipped away from the table hunting the £2,950 that was rightfully his for his 9th place finish.

And all those shenanigans meant out final table was set! Details to follow shortly...

9.05pm: Fontan runs dry (Paul Fontan - 10th - £2,470)
Julien Rouxel is an unstoppable force right now.

Paul Fontan was the latest victim - the pair warring preflop - Fontan with [Kc][Qh] and Rouxel [Td][Tc].

A painful(for Fontan) board of [6s][9s][Qc][Th][Kh] saw the Frenchman take another scalp - he rises to an even more commanding position.

Fontan meanwhile was left to visit the cash desk and collect his £2,470 for 10th place. Good game!

The players are now 9-handed thus being consolidated to a single table - although the final is officially 8-handed so we are one elimination away from Day 2 ending...

9.03pm: Chip Standings
Here's how the final 10 line-up - Julien Rouxel refusing to concede his stranglehold on this tournament.

Julien Rouxel France 1430000
Dale Garrad United Kingdom 970000
Steven Critchley United Kingdom 855000
Andrey Veselov Russian Federation 800000
Alexander Kaczmarek United Kingdom 735000
Andrew Purser United Kingdom 560000
Kai Brown United Kingdom 560000
Sebastien Jung France 480000
Paul Castrillon Fontan Spain 430000
Jorge Barcelo Spain 246000

9.00pm: Back in effect
The players are ready to do battle once more. Who will fall tantalisingly short of the dramatic finale to this tournament?

8.50pm: Break!
The players are taking their regular 15 minute interval following the end of level 22. We'll be back in a few shakes of a lamb's tail to play to the final. See you then.

8.46pm: Emil Georgiev eliminated in 11th spot - £2,470
Emil Georgiev has ridden his luck over the last few levels, surviving several all-in showdowns as a big to medium dog.

Finally though the huge stack of Julien Rouxel has swallowed him up, ironically on one occasion where Georgiev had the edge.

His [Ad][Kc] was beaten by the [Kd][Qh] of Rouxel over the [Qd][5d][6h][4c][Ts] board.

"****" expleted Georgiev as he left to collect his £2,470 from the cash desk.

8:28pm: It's a Jung-le out there (Antonio Battaglia eliminated in 12th spot - £2,170)
Sebastian Jung just picked off Battaglia'a aub-10 BB shove with pocket eights.

Battaglia was flipping with [Kd][Qh] but a board of [7h][9c][4c][Jc][6h] gave the Italian no help and he claims 12th spot for £2,170.

We continue 11-handed...

A long period of no eliminations, in which time we've seen several double-ups by the shorter stacks was finally broken, Rupom Pal the unfortunate shatterer of this pattern.

He jammed [Ah][4d] into Julien Rouxel's dominating [Ac][Jc].

There was no last minute outdraw to rescue him, Rouxel's hand improving to a straight and adding even more chips to his enormous, heaving pile.

Pal though ends up 13th for £2,170 - a very creditable performance.

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 10,000-20,000-3,000

7:48pm: Low Watt-age(Steve Watts eliminated in 14th spot - £1,950)
It's all over for Steve Watts. The last of his chips went in with 2-4 against chip leader Julien Rouxel but he muttered "Jacks versus Aces" to his friend as he left glumly.

A good performance nonetheless from Watts who finishes up just short of the final table, his 14th place good for £1,950.

7:30pm: Watts gets shocking news
Nasty for Steve Watts. He got his chips in with pocket aces versus Steven Critchley's pocket kings but a board of [2h][9s][3c][Qs][Kh] saw Critchley overcome his equity disadvantage to win the pot and move to 640,000.

Watts was less than pleased.

"First time I've had 'em, and this happens!" He's down to 160,000 but still in contention.

7:20pm: Chapions roster trimmed
There can be only one winner here and the following have just been cut from the list of potential UKIPT5 Super Series champions.

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 8,000-16,000-2,000

7:05pm: Patel move falls on stony ground
Vimal Patel just tried to pull a sneaky move on Dale Garrad.

With a [Ah][7s][5d][8s] board showing, .Patel led for 16,000 - called by Garrad.

The river came the [Qc].

Garrad led for 37,000 and Patel now check-raised all-in for 170,000. It put Garrad in a tough position, but eventually he made the call with [Ac][Tc] for top pair and Patel acknowledge a good call, tapping the table and getting his belongings.

"I had no idea what he had. I just decided it made no sense."

Garrad's star continues to rise - up to 750,000 or so now. Patel finishes 18th

6:50pm: Mario gets bowzered
It was always going to be a stuggle for Mario Trattou to recover after the break having returned to just a single small blind.

The task proved beyond him and he busts in a creditable 22nd place for £1,380. Well played sir - all the best to you and the rest of the myriad Trattou's!

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 6,000-12,000-2,000

6:40pm: Back for the final table run-in
We're back for the final table and the current chip counts have just been posted here.

Just as a teaser here's the top 5 stacks as we head into the end game:

6:25pm: Break-Time
The end of level 19 means the 22 remaining players get another chance to stretch their legs and explore the cavernous depths of The Hippodrome Casino.

We'll be back shortly to play down to the final table. Full chip counts of the remaining players incoming...

6:13pm: Harti-gone!
James Hartigan's dream of further tournament glory has ended, though he was upbeat about the whole experience.

"I ran A-Q into aces, and my final hand was inconsequential. I thoroughly enjoyed it though." He was slightly upset at swapping 10% with Joe Stapleton, backing it up with some mathematical proofs.

"10% of nothing is still nothing."

5.52pm: The dam bursts
It's fairly typical that the bursting of the bubble precipitates a cavalcade of eliminations - those shortstacks who had been gamely hanging in there freed to make aggressive moves with the certainty of a paycheck should it all go awry.

There have been a number of eliminations in this period - just 22 players remaining as the players approach their latest 15 minute break of the day.

Here's the order in which they have been busted.

23 Nicolas Athanasiou United Kingdom £1,380
24 Timothy Gray United Kingdom £1,240
25 Jake Cody United Kingdom £1,240
26 William Fasano United Kingdom £1,240
27 Andrey Dimitrov Bulgaria £1,240
28 John Lucarotti United Kingdom £1,100
29 James Hartigan United Kingdom £1,100
30 Rapinder Cheema United Kingdom £1,100
31 Andrew Christoforou United Kingdom £1,100
32 Xiaoyang Luo China £975
33 Gordon Strank United Kingdom £975
34 Danny Blair United Kingdom £975
35 Daniel Laming United Kingdom £975
36 Jonathan Rozema Netherlands £975
37 Elias Christodoulou United Kingdom £975
38 Alex Bounsall United Kingdom £975
39 Angelos Anastomoses Greece £975

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 5000-10000-1000

5.22pm: Cogito Ergo Zero Sum - The Bubble Bursts!
Lithuanian Ergo Kalamees is the man fated to occupy that ill-coveted position.

With around 11 big blinds (93,000) he made an understandable shove from the small blind for 93,000, only for big-stacked Frenchman Julien Rouxel to snap-call.

The Tournament Director was informed, the other players huddled round the table like eager beavers to witness the drama and the cards were flipped.

Rouxel :[Ah][Kh]
Kalamees: [Kc][Jc]

Kalamees looked miserable realising he was in bad shape to survive.

A board of [Ad][5d][5h][Qc][6d] confirmed his worst fears and he finishes without a payout.

Bad luck sir!

Meanwhile the rest of the players held a muted celebration at all cashing. Steve Watts was particularly happy as he had been all-in on the bubble in the same hand as Ergo.

Holding a flush draw on the turn, he spiked the heart required on the river, bellowing "'Ow do you like them apples!"

There was general laughter and one disbeleiving onlooker commented with a smile "Is he for real?"

Steve Watts is definitely for real and it is unlikely that's the last we've heard of the garrulous player.

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 4,000-8,000-1,000

4.43pm: Bounsall Taxed
A hairy moment for Alex Bounsall, calling all-in with jacks on the bubble - he was up against ace-king and survived the flip - his chances boosted by a two players folding ace-king and ace-queen.

"You can't be afraid of the bubble," he said, following his promotion from 53,000 to 130,000.

4.35pm: Hand for hand!
40 players left, 39 paid. The pressure is on.

4.30pm: Chattha flushed out
A harsh exit for Chaz Chattha who becomes a victim of Julien Rouxel in a horrible cooler - his [Jd][8d] making a flush against Rouxel's superior [Ad][4d].

"I had top pair as well," he lamented sadly as he left to a chorus of sympathetic noises from his table.

A miserable ending for the affable Chattha but we know we'll see this crusher back sooner rather than later.

4:25pm: Rowshanei scalped by Cody
Hamid Rowshanei saw the busy Jake Cody raise and saw an opportunity to potentially double-through with pocket threes, jamming all-in.

Cody made the call with [Ah][6h] and duly won the flip over the [As][2c][5h][Jd][Js] board to end Rowshanei's participation agonisingly short of the money.

Cody moves to 260,000.

42 players left. So close!

4.20pm: Back for the bubble
Just 43 players remain as the players retake their seats for level 17 and beyond.

It's tense out there and there will be 5 unhappy players before we breach those payout spots.

Who will be first to blink?

To read updates from Levels 13-16, click here.

PokerStars Blog reporting team at PokerStars UKIPT5 Super Series Rod Stirzaker. Photos courtesy of Mickey May.

Day 2 of the UKIPT5 Super Series held the promise of a rich day of poker full of incident and so it proved - a classic day's poker unfolding before our eyes as Dale Garrad, friend of PokerStars LIVE! at The Hippodrome Casino, translated his start of day chip lead into an an end of day chip lead - an impressively consistent performance.

92 players returned to The Hippodrome Casino's poker arena with hope in their heart, a glint in their eye and swagger in their step but precious few would survive the frenzied start that saw a third of the field perish in the wake of the first few levels.

With the waters of variance frothing like a group of frenzied sharks feeding in a bubble bath, player after player was sent flying to the rail, the field shorn apart in quicksmart fashion during this tumultuous period.

39 players would receive monetary compensation for surviving the carnage and the players became naturally more reluctant to commit their chips as the payment cut-off point approached.

Eventually Ergo Kalamees was the man to miss out on a cash prize by the slenderest of margins - one of Julien Rouxel's many victims of the day. Once the unfortunate Estonian had claimed the bubble for his own, the shackles were off and all-out war was resumed once more.

Jake Cody had come into the day with a shortish stack, but with the help of some useful cards and his usual high calibre of play, he began to look like a threat for the title.

His charge up the leaderboard took him well into the money but faltered prior to the latter stages. EPT commentator James Hartigan was another to make hay during the day and he too earned a berth within the cashspots before busting with a smile on his face.

"I thoroughly enjoyed it," he beamed as he sauntered over to collect his hard-earned payday.

It was a less enjoyable experience for Chaz Chattha, the hitsquad member looking like making a run at the chip lead before a flush versus flush cooler against Julien Rouxel stopped him in his tracks 2 spots off the money.

Once the payments were assured, the earlier high attrition rate continued unchecked and in no time, the players found themselves nine-handed.

With the official final table just one elimination away, Kai Brown was the man to miss out - Russian Andrey Veselov polishing him off with aces.

That left the remaining eight players lined up as follows, Dale Garrad snatching the lead from fellow big stack Julien Rouxel right at the death:

The final table will play out tomorrow at 1.00pm. The players will have the luxury of 50 minute levels to engage in and it should be an absorbing tussle for the title.

A UKIPT champion will be crowned and we can't wait to see who it is. Join us as we find out who the latest man to taste UKIPT glory will be.

To read updates from levels 13-17, click here.

To read updates from level 17 onwards, click here.

For all the confirmed payouts and the final prize structure, click here.

PokerStars Blog reporting team at PokerStars UKIPT5 Super Series: Rod Stirzaker. Photos courtesy of Mickey May.

5.00pm: Dale Garrad wins UKIPT5 Super Series for £28,300!

The heads-up may have started with Julien Rouxel in the ascendancy but from the moment it started, it was one way traffic - Dale Garrad blitzing his way to victory.

The pair traded a number of smaller pots but three large ones ensured the destiny of the title would head Garrad-wards.

The first saw a series of raises Julien Rouxel 180,000, Garrad 380,000, Rouxel 925,000 and Garrad shoved over the top instantly, leaving the Frenchman to fold just as quickly.

Garrad now had the lead.

The second key pot saw Garrad raise the button to 180,000 - called by Rouxel.

The flop of [Kd][Qc][8h] was checked by both players, but come the turned [6c], the action went check, Garrad 225,000 and Rouxel sprung into life with a check-raise to 475,000.

Garrad rubbed his chin and called.

The river saw a draw-completing [Tc] arrive - Rouxel leading for 700,000 and Garrad calling immediately.

Pocket sixes for Garrad - an exasperated Rouxel turning over [Ks][8c] for a flopped top two, undone on the turn.

The end was imminent with Garrad now a 6-1 chip leader.

It arrived when Garrad raised the button to 150,000, called by the Frenchman.

The [As][9s][3h] board saw both players check.

A [Qh] on the turn however precipated the critical action.

Check, 150,000, check-raise all-in from Ruxel and call!

Dale held [Ac][7s] for top pair and Rouxel tabled [6h][8h] for a semi-bluff. Needing a heart to survive ROuxel instead watched the meaningless [3s] roll off - Dale's supporters cheering wildly as their man completed the heads-up destruction of Rouxel.

Rouxel smiled wryly, accepting that it was not to be his day - although the £18,800 he collects for second place will go some way to softening the blow of defeat.

It was Dale Garrad however who had bested the rest of the competition to blaze his way to glory, the trophy, the tournament win and a pleasant £28,300 in winnings.

"I'm exhausted, but it feels great," Garrad enthused following his victory.

Click here for a final wrap of the day.

Thanks for following and congratulations Dale Garrad, UKIPT5 Super Series Champion!

4.10pm: Andrey Veselov crashes out 3rd(£13,760)
He's been short for sometime, and finally Veselov found what looked like a good spot to pick up some chips, jamming pocket fours on the button.

Timing is everything in poker though and when Rouxel snap-called and showed down tens, it was looking bleak for th Russian.

The board of [Ts][2s][8s] was interesting, giving the Frenchman top set but the Russian a flush draw. He gathered his things but Garrad was sure he was fated to stay in. "put your coat back on...."

He was wrong however. The board bricked out [Ad][Jd] and Veselov's day was completed in 3rd spot - the princely sum of £13,760 awaiting him at the cash desk.

Heads up then for the trophy. 4,125,000 for chip leader Julien Rouxel and 3,085,000 for local favourite Dale Garrad.

Who will win this titantic struggle?

4.02pm: Rouxel goes straight for double
Three-handed most of the play has been between Garrad and Rouxel - the pair sparring regularly.

Given the dynamic between them it was no surprise when blind versus blind it all kicked off.

Garrad limped in, as he has been prone to do, and Rouxel checked his option.

A board of [7h][6d][4h] saw Garrad check, Rouxel bet 75,000, Garrad check-raise to 210,000, Rouxel make it 400,000 and Garrad shove.

Rouxel called, showing down [5d][8c] - the nuts!

Garrad sighed and rolled his eyes to the heavens as he turned over aces.

The turned [7s] gave Garrad some outs but despite Garrad's vocal rail calling for a 7 or ace, it didnt arrive and Rouxel had finally gained the chip lead back - up to 3,000,000.

Garrad meanwhile drops to 3 million.

3.32pm: Critchley departs in 4th place (£11,105)
Needing to make a move before the chunky 25,000/50,000 blinds swallowed him up, Critchley jammed his 560,000 into the middle with K-5, only for Garrad to make another good call with [Ks][Ts].

A board of [Js][6s][8h][7h][Ah] saw Garrad's equity advantage hold and Critchley departed with a series of handshakes and some heartfelt applause, his gutsy challenge for the title gunned down in 4th spot.

£11,105 awaits him at the cash desk but meanwhile we continue 3 handed - Garrad now a monster chip leader.

3.30pm: Garrad the cunning linguist
Dale Garrad has more than one string to his bow - regularly translating Julien Rouxel's French outbursts to his friends on the rail.

Just before the break Rouxel three-bet a Garrad 80,0000 open successfully - Garrad laying his hand down.

Rouxel conversed in French with his pals on the rail.

"I hope that means "I had it there," joked Garrad to some laughter.

3.25pm: Back in effect
The players have retaken their seats and we are back oin the game. Good luck all!

3.20pm: Chip counts
Here's how they stand as we move into the end game - Dale Garrad with a healthy advantage going into the final stretch.
Dale Garrad 3,455,000
Julien Rouxel 1,770,000
Steve Critchley 575,000
Andrey Veselov 1,420,000

3.10pm: Break Time!!
It's been non stop action at the felt since we sat down, these players playing this final table out with aggression and panache. The remaining four players now have a 20 minute sabbatical to catch their breath and perhaps indulge in another glass or two of champagne. We'll be back shortly to play to a winner.

3.03pm: Kaczmarek exits 5th(£8,710)
Alex Kaczmarek hasn't really been able to find too many spots to chip up today. He lost half his stack doubling up the mini stack of Steve Critchley - his A-2 losing out to Critchley's desperation shove with T-4.

He did manage to then double up with tens versus Dale Garrad's A-8, but his second attempt to pick up a double off Garrad was less successful.

This time when the pair battled preflop, it was Garrad who had the edge - his [Ac][Qd] winning out versus Kaczmarek's [Ad][Td] over the [8d][8h][5h][6s][2c] board.

Goof game Kaczmarek - enjoy your £8,710 in hard-earned winnnings.

2.44pm: Scratching the Critch
Steve Critchley just suffered a painful beat at the hands of Andrey Veselov to leave his stack in tatters.

The pair were three-way with Dale Garrad to a ten-high board and got their stacks in - Garrad deciding to escape the pot.

Critchley's K-T had a healthy edge over the Russian's [Qs][Ts] but spades on turn and river turned his backdoor flush into an actual one.

Critchley let out a strangled groan - left with just a pittance following the hand.

Veselov meanwhile moves up to 1,500,000, challenging for the lead following that slice of fortune.

2.30pm: Purser exits in 6th(£6,590)
The spate of quick eliminations continues - Andy Purser the next man to go. Holding pocket nines he was happy to jam over the toip of the busy Julien Rouxel's open to 80,000 for his 600,000 stack.
However Steve Critchley was lurking behind with pocket tens and made the cold call, duly eliminating the affable Purser when the board ran out [As][3s][Ah][2h][8h].

"Nice hand Steve," Dale Garrad offered as Purser departed to collect his £6,590.
Garrad is several glasses of champagne in at this point. "I hope I get to sit here drinking champagne all afternoon. I play better drunk anyway," he joked as the tournament continued 5 handed.

2.23pm: SPain-ful river sees Cortes out in 7th(£4,840)
Julien Rouxel and Jorge Barcelo Cortes both decided they liked the [8d][7s][6c] board so much they went to war, Rouxel jamming and Cortes making the call.

Cards on their backs Cortes had a healthy advantage with [Ks][9s] v Rouxel's [Th][5c].
However the board ran out [3c][9h] to sounds of "ouch" from the wincing rail and Cortes was out - his hand bested by Rouxel's straight.

He collects £4,840 for his 7th place finish and we continue 6-handed, Rouxel having vaulted into the lead once more.

2.15pm: Jung is first man down (8th - £3,555)
It's a surprise that no one has been eliminated yet. We've seena number of all-ins and finally one of the shortstacks loses out.

Sebastian Jung was that man, the Frenchman making an understandable button shove with [Kd][7s] - only for Garrad to make a good call with [Ks][Jh] in the small blind.

The board of [Js][9c][7d][6d][3c] saw Garrad home and Jung was left to shake hands, get a smattering of applause and disappear to the cash desk to retrieve his £3,555 for 8th place.

Well played sir! Garrad rises to 1,550,000.

2.10pm: Set up hand sees Rouxel rise again
Rouxel really has an aggressive game - so when he peeled a Critchley bet on a [4s][3c][6c] board - checked the [2s] turn along with Critchley and bet 450,000 on the [5h] river, it was no surprise Critchley was curious enough to pay him off,

This time Rouxel had it however - showing [7h][7d] for the straight. The unfortunate Critchley however rolled over pocket sixes for a flopped set! Nasty river - Rouxel back contending the chip lead once more with 1,500,000.

2.02pm: The lay of the land
Dale Garrad 790,000
Julien Rouxel 1,000,000
Jorge Barcelo Cortes - 366,000
Andy Purser - 520,000
Alex Kaczmarek - 490,000
Steve Critchley - 1,400,000
Andrey Veselov - 1,300,000
Sebastian Jung - 320,000

1.50pm: Jung survives tens moment
A little luck for Sebastian Jung has also seen him home to a double up - his [Ad][9d] connecting sweetly with the [5d][3d][2d][7c][2c] board to see him home to a double-through to 900,000.

The shortstacks are running very well versus the bigger stacks so far - the chip count landscape being turned on itsq head.

1.47pm: Veselov's knavery earns double
A preflop war between Andrey Veselov and Dale Garrad saw Garrad call Veselov's 650,000 re-shove with ace-king and lose out to the Russian's pocket jacks over a baby board.

"Nice hand," said Garrad charitably as he handed over a chunk of shis stack - down to 700,000 now.

1.40pm: Critchley on the march
A huge hand just played out - Steve Critchley jamming for his entire 701,000 stack over the top of a Rouxel open to 60,000.

Rouxel winced a littled but then made the call with pocket nines. He was in trouble as Critchley rolled over kings - duly winning the pot over the [8h][5d][3d][Kc][Jc] board.

"I wish I could fine tune my game to get kings every two hours," joked Garrad.

"Then I wouldn't have to raise with J-7 suited."

Not that I'm admitting to raising with that of course," he added quickly. The upshot of the hand was that Steve Critchley is now challenging chip leader Dale Garrad with 1,450,000. Rouxel has been knocked down to 800,000.

1.35pm: Rouxel applies pressure
Unperturbed by losing that early big pot versus Dale Garrad, Julien Rouxel has turned into a betting machine, applying pressure in a variety of spots and forcing folds from almost everyone entering a pot with him.

It's interesting as the players know if they get in a tangle with the Frenchman, their tournament life could well be on the line...

1.32pm: Champagne reception
The players have all been given a glass of champagne to celebrate their final table appearance. Bottoms up!

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 10,000-20,000-3,000

1.15pm: First blood Dale
You sense Dale Garrad and Julien Rouxel will have some intense battles out there today. The pair were at each other's throats yesterday and the early going suggests more of the same is in the offing.

Moments ago, Garrad limped in from the small blind on Rouxel's big blind. Check from the Frenchman.

The [As][Kc][3d][4s][Qs] board saw Garrad lead for 25,000 flop, 42,000 turn and 81,000 river, where Rouxel suddenly raised to 305,000.

Many people would have baulked at calling such a large portion of their stack but Garrad is made of sterner stuff than most, insta-calling with [As][8c] for top pair.

ROuxel tabled [Kd][7c] having turned his second pair into an unsuccessful bluff.

"Nice snap-call," said Rouxel with a wry smile.

"It's too early for that!" Garrad replied. Garrad up to 2 million, Rouxel takes a hit - down to 1.1 million.

1.06pm: Cards in the air
The players have been buffed, photographed, and are on their way.

Let's see how this final plays out...

The Final Table
Welcome to The Hippodrome Casino for the final table of the UKIPT5 Super Series London!

We've seen three fierce days of poker play out - the 291-strong field whittled down to these final eight competitors ready to vie for the trophy.

Here's how those players will line-up at the start of play.

Dale Garrad will lead the finalists by a slender margin from Frenchman Julien Rouxel, though the stacks are in close enough proximity that any of these players could easily make a chage at the title with a fair wind behind them.

To view full profiles of the final tablists, click here.

We're moments away from the start. Good luck to all the combatants. May the best man win!

PokerStars Blog reporting team at PokerStars UKIPT5 Super Series: Rod Stirzaker. Photos courtesy of Mickey May.

The Hippodrome Casino staged the final of the UKIPT5 Super Series today and in just four swift hours Dale Garrad blitzed his way to the title, defeating Frenchman Julien Rouxel heads up to win the plaudits, trophy and £28,300 in prize money.

"I feel exhausted but great," he said with a beaming smile following his win. "It's nice to get some recognition for being able to play poker."

Three unrelenting days of poker preceding the final had condensed the field to 8 remaining players - lined up as follows.

Days 1A,B,C and 2 at the Super Series had been characterized by high quality, aggressive play and the final was no different. Barely a hand was checked down, the players keen to stamp their authority on the table whenever possible.

During the early exchanges , eliminations were at a premium, mainly as the shortstacks were running well at showdown, but that was all to change.

Sebastien Jung was the first of a rush of eliminations, the Frenchman busting out in 8th spot for £3,555 - the first of Garrad's victims on the final.

Julien Rouxel had been incredibly busy in the early levels and so it was no surprise he took the next scalp - sending Spanish computer programmer Jorge Barcelo Cortes on his way in 7th for £4,840 - Cortes unlucky his superior straight draw bricked out.

Steve Critchley had earned himself an early double -up and when he eliminated Andy Purser in 6th place for £6,590 with a pair of tens, he was starting to look a genuine threat for the title.

Alex Kaczmarek found the final table tough going - unable to find too many spots, he saw his challenge fade in a still highly-creditable 5th spot for £8,710 - Garrad doing the damage with a dominating ace once more.

Critchley's ascent up the leaderboard was halted by Russian Andrey Veselov - the advertising executive spiking a backdraw flush draw to win a huge pot and cripple him - an anguished, strangled scream from Critchley audible evidence of his pain.

He found himself unable to recover from this setback - ultimately crashing out in 4th place for £11,105 as he became a member of the ever-increasing "Busted by Garrad" club.

There had seemed an inevitability that the two most aggressive players over the final table - Julien Rouxel and Dale Garrad - would end up the two men contesting the trophy and so it proved - Veselov blinding down to a relatively low stack before running his fours into Rouxel's pocket tens.

£13,760 was the Russian's reward - leaving Rouxel and Garrad to blast it out between them.
"I get the feeling this won't last long," joked Garrad near the start of the heads-up and this slice of wisdom proved prescient as in less than one level he had turned round his starting deficit to best Rouxel and take the trophy down - Rouxel collecting £18,800 for his runner-up berth.

Final Standings

1 Dale Garrad United Kingdom £28,300
2 Julien Rouxel France £18,800
3 Andrey Veselov Russian Federation £13,760
4 Steve Critchley United Kingdom £11,105
5 Alex Kaczmarek United Kingdom £8,710
6 Andy Purser United Kingdom £6,590
7 Jorge Barcelo Cortes Spain £4,840
8 Sebastian Jung France £3,555

"He was a very good player," Garrad said of his beaten opponent. "I just had to try and keep control of him."

Asked about his plans later, Garrad was honest.

"I'm toying with the idea of getting drunk. I think that idea will win out!"

It's been an incredible four days here at The Hippodrome Casino. We've had a really exciting tournament, a riveting inferno of a final table and as usual the staff have played a huge part - putting in a massive effort to ensure the players have enjoyed their stay.

Huge congratulations to Dale Garrad - whose good humour and affability have won him many friends - and whose poker skill has won him many shekels.

We'll be back on the tour for the Edinburgh leg of the UKIPT 19th November - 22nd so if you fancy trying to emulate Garrad's achievement, there's your opportunity.

That's it from us for now though - thanks for following our coverage. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

To read updates from the final table, click here.

PokerStars Blog reporting team at PokerStars UKIPT5 Super Series Rod Stirzaker. Photos courtesy of Mickey May.

We are back at the PokerStars Live Manila poker room at City of Dreams Manila awaiting the start of day 1a of the P1 Million Guarantee Main Event. This will be the third and last edition of this event for the year. Buy-in for the event is P5,000. This is a re-entry tournament so players can get back in the game if they find themselves on the rail early. Players should be happy to know that in addition to the first place cash prize, a P100,000 Macau Poker Cup package will be awarded to the eventual winner.

The previous P1 Million Guarantee Main Event winners were Rey Concepcion (May) and Wally Sombero (July), well-known poker veterans from the Philippines. Let's see if they will make their way to the felt today to try to bag another one.

The P1 Million Guarantee series began two days ago with a P200,000 NLH side event. There were a total of 168 entries with fifteen of them seeing the money. By the end of the night, it was heads up between two local players, David Erquiaga and Danilo Munoz, after Ka Cheong Wong from Hong Kong was eliminated in third place. Erquiaga would eventually get the best of Munoz to claim the first win of the series and the PHP70,500.

Last night saw another local winner, Alvir Innocentes. Innocentes bested a field of 123 entries at the P300,000 NLH side event and took home the PHP78,000 first place cash prize.

Among those who made the money in the first two events, local player Antonio Abesamis was running hot and impressively saw a profit in both. Abesamis placed 7th in the first event and 5th in the second event. We will surely keep an eye on him if he attends the main event today.

Another player seeing the money this series was King Lun "Alan" Lau (Hong Kong) who is currently in second position at the Asia Player of the Year 2015 leader board. Only a very small margin of points separates him and first position player Ka Cheong Wong (Hong Kong). Fourth position player Yang Zhang (China) also cashed, however fifth position player Pete Chen, from Chinese Taipei, was not so fortunate.

We will be posting updates of some of the action throughout the day so stay tuned!

Good luck to all the players!