Thomas Ward, who hails from Scotland and has seven cashes on the UKIPT, was just eliminated in a blind-versus-blind hand against Benjamin Spragg.
It happened after action folded to Spragg in the small blind and he raised to 23,000. Ward was in the big and responded by three-betting all in for around 250,000. Spragg snap-called and Ward discovered that he was in trouble.
Spragg:
Ward:
The flop made things very interesting as it paired Spragg's queen but also gave Ward an open-ended straight draw. The turn was of no consequence, and neither was the river. Ward missed his outs, shook hands with few opponents and then took his leave in 46th place.
After Steven Cheeke opened for 50,000 from the hijack, Daniel Tighe shoved all in from the small blind. The big folded and Cheeke wasted little time in calling off for roughly 180,000.
Tighe:
Cheeke:
It was a classic race, but things were looking good for Tighe on the flop. Much to his dismay, the dealer burned and turned the . "You run pretty good man," Tighe told Cheeke with a hint of disgust in his voice. Cheeke remained silent as the dealer completed the board with the river.
Tighe thought that he had been eliminated, but a quick check of the stacks revealed that he had 67,000 remaining. He moved all in the very next hand and took down the blinds and antes.
Team PokerStars Online's Dale Philip opened preflop to 20,000 then called off another 64,000 when Full Tilt qualifier William Colin moved all in. Philip showed but he was dominated by Colin's which improved to a set on a board.
Barely a couple of hands later and Jack Salter opened the button to 21,000 before Philip moved all in for 184,000. Salter thought for a minute before making a good call with since Philip had . But the poker gods were kind to the Scot and he flopped two pair to double back up on a board.
Action folded to Gareth Hamilton in the hijack and he shoved for 99,000. Mark Spelman was to his direct left in the cutoff and asked for a count before moving all in over the top. The button and blinds got out of the way and the cards were turned on their backs.
Hamilton:
Spelman:
Hamilton was in bad shape and was looking for either an ace or hearts. The flop wasn't much help, and neither was the turn. In order to survive, Hamilton needed an ace on the river, but it was not meant to be as the blanked.
As predicted there was an interesting dynamic as three Full Tilt Qualifiers were seated at the same table at the start of Day 3. They went to war.
Mikos Soproni opened the action by shoving all-in and getting no callers. The next hand Damien Porebski was all-in, again no callers. John Mackey was next to go all-in, but still no one had a hand to call.
Mikos Soproni again moved his chips over the line, but this time he was called by Andrew Dwyer. Soproni’s was up against the dominating of Dwyer. The board ran out and after fifteen minutes of play Soproni was out.
The winner of the Galway UKIP Main Event will receive €205,600, but there is another important prize up for grabs for the ten remaining Full Tilt qualifiers. As well as the prize money for wherever they finish, they are competing for a Last Longer Sponsorship promotion.
Outlast the other qualifiers and they will win a prize package including buy-ins and expenses to every remaining stop on the UKIPT Season 4 tour. So far five have been announced with more expected shortly. Not only that, any Full Tilt qualifier who makes the final table will receive a unique jacket.
It could lead to some interesting dynamics between the players as this package could be worth around €10,000.
The ten left are:
Barry Donovan
Ryan Straub
Paul Delaney
Dara Davey
Alan Gold
Damian Porebski
Miklos Soproni
William Colin
Welcome back to the Full Tilt Poker UKIPT Galway Main Event. What started with 860 players is now down to 51, each looking to survive today and earn a coveted spot at the final table. The man best positioned to make it is our chip leader, Tim Michels, a German who qualified for this tournament through PokerStars. His stack of 835,000 is best, though it's barely ahead of Andrew Dwyer (813,000) and Dino Sabatini (755,000).
Those three men are the big stacks with the next closest competitor, Tony Martin, sitting with a more modest 583,000. Others still in contention are Jonathan Slater (578,000), Daniel Wilson (533,000), Barry Donovan (520,000), Jack Salter (520,000), Raul Paez (514,000), Max Silver (435,000), Ido Aboudi (415,000), Padraig Parkinson (397,000), Daniel Tighe (359,000), Simon Brooks (321,000) and Richard Owens (321,000).
Day 3 will kick off at Noon local time, which is less than an hour from now. The PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be there to bring you all the action, so stay tuned. Until then, check out the following video on an embarrassing controversy that happened midway through Day 2.
flop made things very interesting as it paired Spragg's queen but also gave Ward an open-ended straight draw. The 
turn was of no consequence, and neither was the 
river. Ward missed his outs, shook hands with few opponents and then took his leave in 46th place.
river.
.
giving Fields a flush draw.
and Fields was eliminated.
vs 
which improved to a set on a 
board.
. But the poker gods were kind to the Scot and he flopped two pair to double back up on a 
board.
turn. In order to survive, Hamilton needed an ace on the river, but it was not meant to be as the 
and after fifteen minutes of play Soproni was out.