Damian Porebski Leads Day 1B; UKIPT Galway Hits €140,000 Overlay
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After just 231 players turned up for Day 1A of the UKIPT here in Galway, all eyes were on the board as to what the final number would be for Day 1B. There was a €1 million guarantee meaning that 769 players were needed otherwise there would be an overlay. Even the most optimistic among those in charge of the UKIPT probably did not believe that number of people would make it to Galway for the second start day. After giving people the chance to register up to the end of the dinner break, the final number was 629 meaning a total of 860 players for the first ever Full-Tilt-Poker-run UKIPT event. An overlay of €140,000 will no doubt prove painful though.
After ten levels of action, Damian Porebski was the chip leader for the Day 1B field with 205,200 – a substantial sum but it also serves to indicate how huge Alan Gold's lead was from Day 1A. The latter finished with over 270,000 from a field that had over 400 less runners! Nevertheless, Porebski will be going into Day 2 in second place. Also doing well was Tim Slater who finished today with 187,500 – thanks in huge part to a double elimination hand late in the day.
With over 400 more players than Day 1A, the poker room was absolutely full with a queue quickly gathering as the day started. No doubt the car park across the road was equally busy as a public service announcement late in the day reminded one patron to move his car as it was about to be towed away. Among those playing the second start day were Full Tilt Ambassadors Sin Melin and Dermot Blain as well as the myth wrapped in an enigma that is Full Tilt Professional Viktor "Isildur1" Blom. Unfortunately, none of the three managed to make it into Day 2 – Blain lasted the longest before he was crippled and eliminated in the last level of the day. Melin meanwhile was eliminated fairly early on while Blom ran jacks into kings just after dinner.
Some peoples' days were incredibly short like that of double-UKIPT winner Nick Abou Risk, who managed to bluff his stack into a straight flush while High Roller fourth-place finish Chris Day ran ace-king into aces preflop and admitted with hindsight he could've taken it a bit slower. Former EPT winner Roberto Romanello was another who had a short day. There were cameos from many of the original players from UK's Channel 4 ground-breaking poker show Late Night Poker, including Liam Flood, Simon Trumper and Dave 'Devilfish' Ulliott though only Flood would make it through the day – he was helped early on when he flopped trips against top two pair and then rivered quads for a full double up.
Others who did make it through included Team PokerStars Pro Jake Cody who managed to come back from losing half his stack to finish the day with 98,700. Team PokerStars Online's Dale Philips finished with 83,200 while the winner of the Irish Poker Championships Trevor Dinneen continued his good run by ending the day with 166,600.
Tomorrow, the remaining players will be combining with Day 1A's survivors as they continue to play through the tournament. A total of 104 places will be paid with €2,180 for 104th while the winner will take home a huge €205,600. We'll be restarting again at 12 p.m. local time and the PokerNews Live Reporting Team will bring you all the details of the goings on in Galway from the first shuffle to the last river. Don't forget that as an added bonus, we'll also be covering the €10,000 Super High Roller – that event will be starting at 2 p.m. local time.