Matthew Baker Leads 2014 UKIPT Isle of Man Main Event
Matthew Baker has finished top of the heap tonight, bagging up 235,600. Baker won a huge 100,000 pot towards the end of the day when he knocked out Chris Jonat, all the chips went in on the flop with Baker holding a set of sevens and Jonat a pair of kings. In second place was Wei Li on 172,000 and Barry Curtis finished third with 146,100.
After ten levels of fast and furious play 77 players remained as a mixture of Pros, local amateurs and staff members of the Rational Group, parent company of PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, came together to test their nerve, skill and luck at the Isle of Man UKIPT.
As expected the big guns turned out for Day 1b of the second ever PokerStars 'Home Game' including Team PokerStars Pros Chris Moneymaker, Eugene Katchalov, Luca Pagano, Matthias De Meulder, Jake Cody, Theo Jorgensen and Victoria Coren as well as PokerStars Team Online Pros Ike Haxton, Vicente Delgado and Adrienne Rowsome.
The total number of runners for Day 1b was 257, which resulted in a combined field of 402 entrants made up of 344 unique and 58 re-entries. The £350,000 guaranteed for the Main Event means there will be an overlay of £68,600 falling 98 short of the numbers required to make up that guarantee for this £700 + £70 Main Event.
Notable survivors today include Coren Mitchell (129,000), Cody (60,400) Delgado (76,000), Pagano (66,400) and Full Tilt Poker Ambasador Martins Adenya, who was the first player to be eliminated yesterday, who stormed back today to finish on an impressive 97,500.
Defending Champion Duncan McLellan re-entered after his bust-out yesterday but his attempt to climb the UKIPT Leader board ended just before the dinner break after a very swingy day following a late night. Eugene Katchalov was another player on his second bullet and had a steadier day than the erratic McLellan, but he was to fair no better today either, eventually running ace king into kings after six hours of play with no sign of an ace on the final board.
Chris Moneymaker had a swingy day too but kept his table entertained with his subtle needles, constant aggression and willingness to talk strategy to those interested. Moneymaker fell in level eight when he got it all in on the turn of a board reading 
holding 
but his opponent tabled 
and caught his 
on the river.
Haxton busted towards the end of level eight shortly after he three-bet jammed the turn with 
on a board reading 
and got a reluctant call from Martin Stuart holding 
. “I’m in bad shape against that one.” Haxton said, and indeed he was as the 
on the river was no good to leave him short.
The remaining Day 1 fields are combined tomorrow with 116 players returning to continue to fight it out for the first place prize of £65,900. The first order of business to be decided however will be the bursting of the money bubble, always a tense and exciting moment in any poker tournament. Pay-outs start at 55th place and a min-cash is worth £1,660.
Be sure to join the PokerNews Live Reporting Team from 12 p.m. as we bring you all the latest news from the felt and exclusive videos here at the home or PokerStars on the Isle of Man.