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3:55pm: Top two for Engel

Samantha Abernathy raised from the cutoff to 175,000 holding [9s][9d] before Ari Engel three-bet on the button to 515,000 with [ac][tc]. Action passed to Abernathy who called to see a flop of [as][4c][td].

That was a great flop for Engel with top two pair and he continued for 445,000. Abernathy's cards were quickly in the muck as she slips to 2.6 million chips.

3:50pm: Dunst clubbed
Level 28: Blinds 40,000/80,000 (10,000)

Ari Engel raised from under the gun with [as][tc] and action moved to Tony Dunst in the big blind who popped it to 325,000 with a monster [kd][ks].

Engel made the call and the flop landed [4c][6c][3c]. It was not a flop that Dunst liked as he checked and Engel checked behind. The turn was the [7s] and again both players checked. The river brought the [jc] to put four clubs on board and Dunst checked for a third time to Engel who tossed out 225,000. Dunst made a crying call with his kings but Engel would take it down with his flush.

3:45pm: Lynskey gets a little loose
Level 28: Blinds 40,000/80,000 (10,000)

Tony Dunst opened with a raise from under the gun to 175,000 with [ah][kh] and play folded to Alex Lynskey in the big blind. Lynskey only held the [7h][4c] but he decided to put his new chips to work as he raised to 470,000.

Dunst wasn't going to let Lynskey get away with that as he moved all in and Lynskey quickly let it go. Lynskey drops back to 1.2 million.

3:40pm: Lynskey doubles
Level 28: Blinds 40,000/80,000 (10,000)

The last Australian in the field Alex Lynskey just found himself a lucky double through Ari Engel.

Engel raised to 175,000 from under the gun before Lynskey moved all in from the button for his last 175,000. It folded back around to Engel and he snapped it off.

Engel: [ah][ts]
Lynskey: [as][7h]

"Seven!" called Lynskey's big group of rail birds as they sweated his possible elimination.

The [4d][6s][8d] flop gave Lynskey a gut shot draw and a little extra hope.

The [7d] rolled off on the turn and Lynksey took the lead as the crowd roared.

"Let's f***ing go!" shouted one of Lynskey's supporters.

He just needed to fade a nine or ten to double up and he and the [8h] river saw him survive for a much-needed double up.

3:30pm: Dunst battles with Engel
Level 28: Blinds 40,000/80,000 (10,000)

Ari Engel opened to 175,000 under the gun before Tony Dunst put in a sizable three-bet from the small blind to 550,000 with [7s][7h]. Engel held [jd][td] and peeled to see a flop of [3s][5c][8c].

It was a good flop for Dunst's hand and he continued for 450,000. Engel let it go and Dunst collected the pot.

3:20pm: Engel with a pair
Level 28: Blinds 40,000/80,000 (10,000)

After three-bet shoving with pocket jacks the previous hand, Alex Lynskey opened the action with a raise to 160,000. Samantha Abernathy made the call in the small blind with [9s][7s] and Ari Engel came along in the big blind with [th][5h].

The flop landed [kd][5c][4h] and action checked to Lynskey who continued for 175,000. Abernathy folded but Engel called with his middle pair before both players checked down the [3s] turn and [9d] river.

Engel tabled his hand and collected the pot to leave Lynskey on the short stack with about 1.2 million.

3:15pm: Updated chip counts
Level 28: Blinds 40,000/80,000 (10,000)

Tony Dunst - 8,925,000
Ari Engel - 8,290,000
Samantha Abernathy - 3,335,000
Alex Lynskey - 1,325,000

3:10pm: Play resumes

Players are back to the action. Blinds are now 40,000/80,000 with a 10,000 ante.

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2:55pm: First break of the day

Our remaining four players have stepped away for their first 15-minute break of the day.

2:50pm: Dunst takes over the chip lead
Level 27: Blinds 30,000/60,000 (10,000)

On the last hand before break, Tony Dunst has taken a chunk out of the stack of Ari Engel to take over the tournament chip lead.

Dunst raised the button preflop to 135,000 with [ad][9h] and Engel defended his big blind with a call holding [kc][7s].

The flop landed [ac][9c][6d] and Engel checked to Dunst who bet another 135,000. Engel came back with a check-raise to 405,000 with just king-high. Dunst made the call with his top two pair and the turn was the [qc]. Engel picked up a flush draw and fired a hefty bet of 735,000. Dunst called and managed to fade the flush on the [5h] river.

Both players checked it down and Dunst took it down to reclaim the tournament chip lead. Dunst has around 8.9 million to Engel's 8.2 million.

2:45pm: Dylan Honeyman eliminated in 5th place (AU$340,000)
Level 27: Blinds 30,000/60,000 (10,000)

The action hasn't slowed on the Aussie Millions final table as we've just lost another player. This time it was Australian Dylan Honeyman who fell after a rather dramatic run out of the board ultimately went against him.

The hand start with an under-the-gun raise from Tony Dunst to 125,000. Ari Engel called on the button and action was with Honeyman in the small blind. He thought for a bit before raising it up to 380,000. Dunst four-bet to 800,000 which forced Engel from the hand, before Honeyman went all in. Dunst made the call and the cards were on their backs.

Honeyman showed [jh][js] and was up against Dunst's [ad][kd] in a classic race situation but Honeyman took a big lead when the [th][jd][3c] flop was spread. Honeyman's set left Dunst needing a queen for the Broadway straight. The turn was the [kc] which didn't change anything, but the river fell the [qs] to give Dunst the straight for the knockout blow!

Honeyman did well to climb a couple of pay jumps as the short stack at the start of the day, but in the end, it was a cruel way to fall. He takes home AU$340,000 for a great tournament.

2:30pm: Kitty Kuo eliminated in 6th place (AU$270,000)
Level 27: Blinds 30,000/60,000 (10,000)

We have lost Kitty Kuo from the final table in sixth place.

After successfully sneaking through a couple of blind steals, Kuo three-bet all in with [as][jd] from the small blind over the top of an open-raise by Ari Engel on the button. Dylan Honeyman tank-folded from the big blind, but Engel made the call with [9h][9d].

Kuo would need some help but the board would brick out [7s][4d][qc][qs][6c].

It was a great run by one of Asia's most popular players as she takes home AU$270,000 for her sixth place finish.

Engel now has a commanding chip lead with around 10 million of the 22 million chips in play with five players remaining.

2:25pm: Lynskey on the comeback trail
Level 27: Blinds 30,000/60,000 (10,000)

Alex Lynskey is back in it after landing a double up against Samantha Abernathy.

Abernathy raised to 125,000 from under the gun and it folded around to Lynskey in the small blind. He moved all in for his last 655,000 and after a few moments Abernathy made the call.

Lynskey: [ah][ad]
Abernathy: [tc][9c]

It was a sick flop with [4c][7d][8c] arriving to give Abernathy both straight and flush draws. She couldn't find help on the [4s] and when the [4h] river peeled off Lynskey's cheer squad on the rail erupted.

The Australian young gun's aces hold and he stacks up over 1,300,000.

2:20pm: Dylan doubles
Level 27: Blinds 30,000/60,000 (10,000)

Shortstack Dylan Honeyman found a double up through chip leader Ari Engel.

Engel jammed from the cutoff and it folded to Honeyman in the small blind. He gave it some thought but committed for his last 740,000.

Honeyman: [7s][7h]
Engel: [5h][2h]

Honeyman was way in front and while the [ks][2s][3s] paired Engel, Honeyman was still in great shape holding the only spade of the two. The [6h] turn did give Engel a gut shot straight draw but the [jc] bricked out and Honeyman scored himself a double up.

2:10pm: Bad runout for Lynskey
Level 27: Blinds 30,000/60,000 (10,000)

The hand began with Ari Engel raising to 135,000 with [7h][5h] and when it folded to Alex Lynskey in the big blind he opted to defend with [ac][7c].

The flop landed [6c][kc][5s] to see Lynskey find a nut flush draw and Engel hit bottom pair. Engel continued for another 140,000 and Lynskey made the call.

The best card in the deck for Engel arrived on the [5d] turn as he avoided the flush and improved to three of a kind. Lynskey check-called another 285,000 and got perhaps the worst card in the deck for him when the [as] arrived on the river.

Lynskey had improved but was still ahead and when he checked, Engel went for 505,000 value. A call from Lynskey saw him drop down to 745,000 in chips.

2:10pm: Pair versus pair
Level 27: Blinds 30,000/60,000 (10,000)

Kitty Kuo raised from the hijack position to 125,000 holding [5d][5s] and play passed around to Samantha Abernathy who made the call in the big blind with [8s][8d].

The flop landed [as][kh][6d] and Abernathy check-called for a bet of 100,000. The board got scarier for the small pairs when then [qh] hit the turn and both players checked. The river was the [3s] and again it was checked down with Abernathy's pair of eights taking it down. She's now up to four million in chips while Kuo is getting pretty short.

1:55pm: Another for Abernathy
Level 27: Blinds 30,000/60,000 (10,000)

Dylan Honeyman opened with a raise to 125,000 from the hijack position holding [ks][qd] before Samantha Abernathy three-bet to 275,000 in the small blind with [as][ts]. Honeyman thought briefly before making the call and the flop landed [ah][7h][7d].

Hitting top pair, Abernathy led out with a bet of 325,000 and that was enough to take it down.

1:45pm: Six on the river saves Samantha again!
Level 27: Blinds 30,000/60,000 (10,000)

On Day 4, Samantha Abernathy was involved in an interesting hand where she spiked a six on the river to hit a set and crack the pocket kings of Mikel Habb.

Well, Abernathy has done it again with a six on the river sparing her from doubling up Dylan Honeyman.

Abernathy opened with a raise to 125,000 from the cutoff. Honeyman three-bet to 260,000 from the big blind before Abernathy declared herself all in and Honeyman snapped it off.

Abernathy held [ah][kc] but Honeyman had the goods with his [ac][ad]. The flop of [5c][9c][8c] brought three clubs but that was no help to Abernathy as Honeyman held the best club. The turn was the [7d] which brought a few murmurs of a potential chop as Abernathy would need to somehow find an off-suit six on the river.

The dealer burned and there it was...the [6h]! The crowd roared as the popular Abernathy was saved from doubling up her dangerous opponent as they chopped it up!

1:40pm: Engel with the cold four-bet

Alex Lynskey opened with a raise to 125,000 holding [kd][js], before Tony Dunst three-bet in the cutoff to 275,000 with unknown cards. Action then passed to Ari Engel who decided to get involved from the small blind with [ac][9h].

Lynskey got out of the way, and Dunst gave it a little thought before also stepping aside.

1:30pm: John Apostolidis eliminated in 7th place (AU$210,000)
Level 27: Blinds 30,000/60,000 (10,000)

It hasn't taken long to lose our first player from the Aussie Millions Main Event final table with the lone amateur, John Apostolidis, the one to fall.

On the third hand of the final table, Apostolidis raised from early position to 205,000 and action folded around to Samantha Abernathy in the small blind. She moved all in and Apostolidis made a quick call.

It was a coin flip with Apostolidis making the call with [ah][kc] against Abernathy's [qs][qh].

The board ran out [5d][jd][8c][4h][7c] and after a quick count down of chips, it was deemed that Abernathy had Apostolidis covered.

It was a great run by the Melbourne local as he captures the biggest result of his career with his 7th place worth AU$210,000.

Meanwhile Abernathy is up to around 3.5 million in chips.

1:20pm: John jams first hand
Level 27: Blinds 30,000/60,000 (10,000)

First hand and first pot to John Apostolidis.

It folded to Apostolidis in the cutoff and he moved all in for 950,000.

The whole table folded and Apostolidis showed [jd][jc].

12:50pm: Cards in the air!

Action is now underway here for our Aussie Millions final table.

To avoid spoilers we'll be reporting on a 30-minute delay.

Stay tuned!

12:35pm: Delayed start

As is usually the way with any televised final table production, there will be a slightly delayed start. The players are just fulfilling some media requirements with photos and interviews before things get under way.

12:30pm: Welcome to the final table

The 2016 Aussie Millions Main Event has come down to the final seven players. Before the day is through one of them will be crowned champion and take home AU$1.6 million in prize money.

It's an exciting final table line up with a great mix of players. We have two female players in Kitty Kuo and Samantha Abernathy, a couple of Australian young guns with Alex Lynskey and Dylan Honeyman, seasoned pros Tony Dunst and chip leader Ari Engel, and the lone local hope John Apostolidis.

2016 Aussie Millions Final Table
Seat 1: Dylan Honeyman (Australia) - 885,000
Seat 2: Alex Lynskey (Australia) - 2,390,000
Seat 3: Tony Dunst (United States) - 5,990,000
Seat 4: Samantha Abernathy (United States) - 2,485,000
Seat 5: Ari Engel (Canada) - 8,155,000
Seat 6: Kitty Kuo (Chinese Taipei) - 1,005,000
Seat 7: John Apostolidis (Australia) - 960,000

To compliment our coverage there will be a live stream of the final table hosted by Jason Somerville on Twitch at RunItUp.TV. The stream is free and with hole cards on a thirty-minute delay. In an attempt to help our readers avoid spoilers, we'll also be posting content on a thirty-minute delay.

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Take a look at the Aussie Millions official website for tournament schedules, structures, news and information from the Crown Poker Room in Melbourne.

Live updates brought to you courtesy of Brad Kain and Heath Chick. Photos by Jonno Pittock and Christian Zetzsche.

Top 10 NO deposit Bonus offers @

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47 players will get paid, with the winner taking home £16,590. You can see the entire payout structure here

Overnight chip counts of the 106 survivors can be seen here.

9:15pm: King of the hill
Just like on Day 1A of this event the chip leader didn't emerge to very late on. You don't get much later than the final hand of the night and Andrew King won a 160,000 chip pot on the final hand to finish on 201,600, good for the Day 1B and overall chip lead.

Andrew King - chip leader

In the hand in question he held aces and was up against an opponent who'd called his raise with [8][2]. An A-8-2 flop sparked the action and propelled King to the top of the chip charts. The Irishman is a seasoned campaigner who has over $520,000 in lifetime earnings. In November he earned $136,946 when he finished second in a WSOP Circuit event in Rozadov. He'll be a tough man to catch tomorrow.

Leslie Rycroft

But for that hand I'd be writing about how Leslie Rycroft had fared best of all on a day when 217 players entered the tournament to take the total number of runners to 351. He finished on 176,200 and looks primed to make a run at the first prize of £16,590. Other players who had a good Day 1 include: Simon Brooks (167,500), Cloudio Devito (151,800) and Tom Waterman (128,200).

No second UKIPT Series title for Cody

Only 67 players advanced to Day 2 and a number of big names fell short of that goal. Among them was Team PokerStars Pro Jake Cody. He won the first ever UKIPT Series event but lost a race with eights against ace-king to bust out during level nine.

Christopher Yong is another UKIPT Series champion who suffered the same fate, whilst the likes of Albert Sapiano, Dean Clay, Karim Louis and Allan Pike also busted out during the opening dozen levels.

What a wonderful setting for a poker tournament

Those who did make it through will join the 39 Day 1A survivors tomorrow to play to a winner here at The Hippodrome Casino. Chip counts and the seat draw will be posted overnight. Keep an eye here and on the @PokerStarsBlog and @UKIPT accounts for that information. Day 2 action starts at noon, join us then.

8:45pm: Day 1B is done
Level 12, Blinds 1,000-2,000(300 ante)

Time's up! Day 1B has just ended and it looks as if roughly 70 players have advanced and they'll join the 39 survivors from Day 1A. A recap of today's action is on the way.

8:25pm: Falling short
Level 12, Blinds 1,000-2,000(300 ante)

Commiserations to Christopher Yong, Oliver Simpson, Cheryl Pulver, Chris Beattie, Allan Pike, Mats Rosen, Wayne Gotting, Oliver Lawrence, Tautvydas Tukaciauskas, Christopher Cancelliere, Neil McCulloch, Mark Poi, Chris Da-Silva and Alex Wakeham who've all fallen just short of making Day 2.

8:15pm: Last level
Level 12, Blinds 1,000-2,000(300 ante)

The twelfth and final level of the day is under way. Just 80 players of the 217 who started remain.

8:10pm: The Wright stuff
Level 11, Blinds 800-1,600 (200 ante)

As we move towards the last level of the day it's Tim Wright who appears to have the chip lead. He's got around 130,000 which puts him clear of Joshua Varghese (107,000) and Timotheos Timotheou (105,000). As we saw yesterday though a lot can happen in a level of poker.

8:05pm: Daley dominated by Millman
Level 11, Blinds 800-1,600 (200 ante)

Neither James Millman nor Julian Daley had that many chips so when Daley raised and Millman shoved for 17,500 and Daley called, you knew this pot was going to be crucial to them both. It was Millman who had the best of it as his [Ks][Jd] dominated Daley's [Qd][Jh]. There was no sick outdraw as the board ran [9d][Js][5d][4s][3d].

7:55pm: The final furlong
Level 11, Blinds 800-1,600 (200 ante)

There's less than an hour of play left now but for some the end of their tournament is permanent. UKIPT regular Dean Clay is one of those who's recently busted and he's been joined on the rail by Antonio Horta, Anthony Gardner, Jamie Sampedro, Tom Hemming and Pete Blow.

7:45pm: Double up for Gantara
Level 10, Blinds 600-1,200 (200 ante)

Down to just 6,800 Nilay Ganatra moved all in from early position and it looked like he might be about to pick up a much needed 3,400 uncontested as one by one his opponent's folded. That is until action reached Philip Baker in the big blind. He got a count and then made the call:

Baker: [Ah][7d]
Gantara: [Qd][Jd]

The [5d][2d][Js] flop could hardly have been better for Baker and he held onto the lead on the [7h] turn and [Qs] river.

7:30pm: Over 50% of the field is gone
Level 10, Blinds 600-1,200 (200 ante)

Just three levels remain to be played today and just 100 of the 217 players who entered today remain. That makes the average stack 43,400 for a healthy 43.4 big blinds.

7:20pm: Cody loses race to bust
Level 9, Blinds 500-1,000 (100 ante)

Jake Cody started this level with just 15 big blinds and unfortunately the Team PokerStars Pro wasn't able to spin it into something more substantial.

He told the PokerStars Blog that in his exit hand Gerhard Lillie opened from the cut-off with ace-king, Cody then jammed for 25,000 with pocket eights and Lillie called. The flop came [10h][9h][6h] and both Cody and Lillie had a heart in their hand. The turn paired the six and the river was the [Ah] to give the pot to Lillie.

Cody - all smiles despite busting

7:15pm: Going, going, gone
Level 9, Blinds 500-1,000 (100 ante)

Almost 100 of the players who entered Day 1B have now busted from the tournament. 125 of 217 remain, but: Phillip Gregg, Marius Dandu, Cusco Guillem, Samuel Meeuse, Stephen Holloway, Peter Drakeford, Miroslav Ivanov, Daniel Rohrbasser, Stephen Walker, Shvan Frost, Adam Benson, Oliver Hill, Graziano Pirovano, Matt Prosser, Jamie Low, Matthew Whiting, Thian Chung Wu, Matt Tandy, Karim El Rharbaoui, Leo Madden, Yongduo Peng, John Rigolli, Daniel Newhan, Marius Zalpys, Jie Zhang, Hicham Anbry and Lucien Tartan are not among them as they're all out.

7:05pm: Big stacks
Level 9, Blinds 500-1,000 (100 ante)

Below are the stacks of the top 10 as level nine got under way. Joseph Chacholiades leads the way woth 87,000. Team PokerStars Pro Jake Cody has some work to do if he wants to crack the top 10 though as he stated level nine with 15,000.

Name	Chips
Joseph Chacholiades	87,800
Westley Sargeant	76,000
Pierre Khoury	75,000
Cloudio Devito	74,600
Nicholas Case	70,000
Vincent Moses	65,200
Tom Waterman	64,000
Huy Nguyen	62,000
Dominic Wells	60,000
Bojan Zekic	59,200

6:50pm: Prizepool and payout information
Level 9, Blinds 500-1,000 (100 ante)

Drumroll please...there were a total of 351 players in this event and together they created a prize pool of £87,750. It'll be split 47 ways with a min-cash worth £480 whilst the winner will collect £16,590. The entire payout structure can be seen here.

6:25pm: Eight in the books
Level 8, Blinds 400-800 (100 ante)

Level eight is over and the players are now on a 20 minute break.

6:20pm: Some you win, some you lose
Level 8, Blinds 400-800 (100 ante)
Two hands and two all ins from Alexander Spadijer but, sadly for him, two different results.

In the first he was all in for roughly 6,000 with [Ah][Ts] and up against Catalin Dumitrascu's [Ah][Ks]. The [6d][7d][Tc][2h][As] board meant he doubled to around 13,200.

On the very next hand Mihaly Jancso limped from early position, he then moved all-in and when it got back to Jancso he tanked before saying: "Let's gamble."
Jancso: [4c][4h]
Spadijer: [Ad][8s]

The board came [7d][2h][9c][5d][Qs] and Spadijer seemed pretty chilled about his fate as he took a puff on his e-cigarette before leaving the table.

6:05pm: Cloudio Devito down, but definitely not out
Level 8, Blinds 400-800 (100 ante)

Cloudio Devito was looking for a double knockout as he held [Kh][Qh] and had two opponents all in and at risk. They both had ace-king, but the [2d][4s][4d][Ks][Tc] board meant he took a 15K hit. Despite that he's still got about 72,000 and he's one of the chip leaders.

5:50pm: Gone
Level 7, Blinds 300-600 (75 ante)

There's no easy way to say this, but if you were following these updates for information on: James Copeland, Cayetana Belsue Pastor, Sung Hee Yun, Sang Leung, Daniel Cameron, Christian Friedel, Tom Getgood, Xingchen Zhou, Viraj Patel, Colin Marks, David Bailey, Andrew Chandler, Albert Sapiano, Stelyan Georgiev or Wayne Pentelow then you can close this tab, as they're all out.

5:40pm: Yong looking to complete the hat-trick
Level 7, Blinds 300-600 (75 ante)

One man who knows a thing or two about winning tournaments at The Hippodrome Casino is Christopher Yong. In March 2015 he won the UKIPT Series 7 event here - good for £10,986 - and then followed that up by taking down the Autumn Classic in November, which earned him a further £10,142.

Neither of those wins were his biggest cash in this venue in 2015 though as in January of last year he placed fifth in the UKIPT Main Event and took home £24,600 for that performance.

Christopher Yong

5:30pm: King unhappy about a ruling
Level 7, Blinds 300-600 (75 ante)

Andrew King is not happy about a ruling in a hand he just played:

He'd reached the river in a pot against Benjamin Woodhouse and the board was [Qs][6c][6s][9c][9s]. Woodhouse bet 1,200 and King then threw out one blue 5k chip and one red 1k chip. The dealer then said something (it was inaudible to me) and Woodhouse immediately turned over [Ad][As] as he'd thought the dealer had said "call".

This was the point at which the floor was called. After the TD had established how King had bet it was ruled that it was a raise and Woodhouse - who had exposed his cards - now had the option to call or fold, but he couldn't take any aggressive action, which ruled out raising.

Woodhouse said: "I'm just going to call," intimating that he may well have raised had he the chance to. He called and King mucked but wasn't happy. He believed that Woodhouses' hand should've been declared dead. He's asked the cardroom manager to print off a copy of the rules. We'll let you know how this goes, but it might not be the last we hear of it.

After that hand King is down to around 13,500.

5:20pm: Paul gets taller
Level 6, Blinds 200-400 (50 ante)

Maria Bergdahl is the latest player to bust from this tournament and it's Richard Paul who got her chips. She shoved for around 7,800 with [Ad][Th] and Paul then re-shoved for about double that with [As][Qs]. The button folded what he later said was ace-king and looked on as the [Kd][4s][9h][6c][4d] board sent Bergdahl to the rail.

Paul stacked chips, but he too could've been on the rail had things played out differently.

5:10pm: One in, one out
Level 6, Blinds 200-400 (50 ante)

In order to get all the alternates seated we have, of course, needed to lose some players. Whilst it's happy days for the alternates, it's bad news for: Laurie Stone, Brett Kennedy, Alexandros Papadopoulos, Yunyi Zhang, Laszlo Balogh, Jonathan Tay, Jonathan Spelman, Artur Palaj, Favius Ventel, Sid Joshi, Ahmed Abdin, Mason Hyatt, Nick Berry, Neculai Ungureanu, Gonzalo Veiga, Frederick Evans, Robert Moubert and Sadam Safdar as they're all out.

5pm: Enter Cody
Level 6, Blinds 200-400 (50 ante)

One of the late alternates is none other than Team PokerStars Pro Jake Cody. He's on record as saying he loves this format and it loves him too as he took down the first ever UKIPT Series event. That was way back in April 2013.

Team PokerStars Pro Jake Cody

4:50pm: Barron the chip king
Level 5, Blinds 150-300 (25 ante)

It's been a superb start to this tournament for Jeff Barron. He's up to 47,000 and is picking up where he left off, as he finished runner-up in the Autumn Classic that was held here in November.

4:40pm: The fallen
Level 5, Blinds 150-300 (25 ante)

The number of exits are ratcheting upwards, and somewhere in the region of 20 players have now busted out of this tournament. They include: Andrei Dragnea, Carol Hambleton, Filimon Meichanetzidis, Angelos Goulianos, Chetan Patel, Connor Ross, Gordon Strank, Nathan Lee, James Edgington, David Dawson, Paul Housam, Kelvin Mullis, Christopher Phillips and Karim Louis.

Karim Louis

4:25pm: Late registration is closed
Level 5, Blinds 150-300 (25 ante)

If your name's not down you're not coming in because late registration in this event has just closed. The tournament director informed the players that 218 have entered so far today and that there are a further 11 alternates waiting to be seated.

These numbers are, as yet, unofficial, but it looks like the total number of runners in this tournament is going to be around 365.

4:05pm: Break time
Level 4, Blinds 100-200 (25 ante)

That's four of today's dozen levels in the books and the players are now on a 20 minute break.

3:45pm: 187 and counting
Level 4, Blinds 100-200 (25 ante)

There's still a steady stream of players entering this event and the total for Day 1B is currently 187. There are currently six tables in use in the Poker Deck part of the casino and a seventh was about to open. Among the players seated up there is Albert Sapiano.

He finished fifth in the Summer Classic here in July 2015 and has over $330,000 in lifetime earnings.

Albert Sapiano

3:35pm: Two more out
Level 3, Blinds 75-150

The 'seat open' call is being heard more frequently now. Alexis Savvile and Yunheng Wu have also exited this tournament during level three.

3:30pm: Louis getting low
Level 3, Blinds 75-150

Karim Louis is down to around 7,000 after losing a chunky pot. There was roughly 6,800 in the pot by the time he reached the river of a [Kd][3d][6h][4c][6d] board. His opponent - Mike Lee - set him all in and Louis didn't think too long before mucking his hand.

3:15pm: A quiet start
Level 3, Blinds 75-150

It's all rather quiet at the moment. Both in terms of big pots/exit and the atmosphere. The general ambience is one of quiet contemplation among the players. There's usually at least one or two 'characters' or boisterous players who can be heard above the riffling of chips but not today, not yet anyhow.

The rising blinds will of course force the action as the day continues but as of yet there's just been one exit and the players are keeping it snug. Perhaps that's a consequence - and many would argue a welcome one - of this being a straight freezeout. There's no safety net if you get it wrong so the risk/reward balance tips heavily towards the risk element.

3:05pm: A few familiar faces
Level 2, Blinds 50-100

We're up to 164 players now on Day 1B and there are a few players in the field who've had decent success here in the past. Like Allan Pike. He won the Spring Classic in this very casino in March 2014 and followed that up with a fourth place finish in the UKIPT Series 4 a month later. 2014 was a good year for him as he also cashed in the EPT London Main Event in October of that year.

Dominic Wells is another regular on the UKIPT and here at The Hippodrome Casino. A third place finish in the Autumn Classic in January 2014 is the closest he's come to lifting a trophy here, but he also had a fourth place finish in the Autumn Classic in November of last year and he has a 10th place finish in the UKIPT Series 6 to his name.

Beating both though, in terms of live winnings, is Karim Louis. He's got over $138,000 in lifetime earnings, the bulk of that came way back in 2008 when he finished runner-up to Julian Thew in a £1,000 event in Brighton.

2:55pm: Parker gets his coat
Level 2, Blinds 50-100

Aside from bubbling the tournament being first out is probably the worst feeling you can have. The unfortunate player to exit first today is James Parker.

2:45pm: From Brazil to London for Baltic Blonde
Level 2, Blinds 50-100

Daiva Barauskaite is one of the familiar faces we've spotted in the field today. Her twitter feed suggests she's recently back from a trip to South America and has swapped the beaches of Rio for the bets of The Hippodrome. Easy decision right?

Easing my way back into poker after a 2 month break @PSLive_Hippo pic.twitter.com/70RoDFV7W4

— Daiva Barauskaite (@baltic_blonde) January 30, 2016

2:35pm: Advance to level two
Level 1, Blinds 25-50

On Day 1A we did get a bust out during the opening level (and a Royal Flush!) but despite there being more players on Day 1B - and therefore more hands dealt - all 144 players who've entered so far have made it safely through to Level 2.

2:20pm: Busy
Level 1, Blinds 25-50

The players just keep on coming! The board is showing that 133 players have entered Day 1B so far. There's a steady stream of eager hopefuls queued up at the cash desk waiting to get their tickets so that number is sure to rise significantly before late registration closes at (roughly) 4.25pm.

As suspected play has spread up to The Poker Deck, there are currently three tables in use up there with a couple more ready to be used if required.

Join the queue buddy

2:04pm: Let's go
Level 1, Blinds 25-50

Shuffle up and deal! Action is under way.

1:45pm: Day 1B set to start
Welcome to live coverage of Day 1B of the UKIPT5 Series 3. Yesterday 134 players entered the fray with 39 of them making it through to Day 2.

On Day 1A the main Matcham Room was packed and with today expected to be busier the Poker Deck will also be in use at the start, meaning play will be split across two floors.

The target for anyone with aspirations of the overnight chip lead is 170,900 as that's what Sam Orledge finished on last night. A surge in the final level of the day saw him pip Chris Gordon to the chip lead. You can catch up on Day 1A action here.

Chris Gordon

Action will start at 2pm.

UKIPT5 Series 3 key facts:
- 20,000 starting stack
- Blinds starting at 25/50 for 400 big blinds
- Levels are 30 minutes throughout and they'll be 12 of them today.
- On Sunday the Day 1B survivors will join the 39 players who advanced from Day 1A and play to a winner from noon.
- No re-entry here, this is an old school straight freezeout.

Fancy playing a UKIPT? There are always plenty of online satellites, click here to get an account.

PokerStars Blog Reporting Team at UKIPT Series: Nick Wright. Photos by Mickey May

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There's a debate over which is tougher: defeating a large field tournament or the smaller fields in tournaments like the Super High Rollers that have become so popular among the elite players? While mixed games do not bring the masses (337 players signed up), they definitely bring the talent. Several former -COOP champions were battling late for the $25,000.00 guarantee TCOOP 2016 $215 Event #40 HORSE title. And one of them would take a step closer to the Triple -COOP as WCOOP champ maggess88 claimed the win and $12,974.50.

Want any proof that the mixed games tournaments are tougher to claim a -COOP win despite their (usually) smaller fields? Check out this table on the money bubble:

That's WCOOP 2014 Event #11 and WCOOP 2015 Event #6 champ Matt "Plattsburgh" Vengrin.

Sam "ugritaly" Fazzino who already picked up two victories in this series winning Event #3 and Event #28.

Toby "810ofclubs" Lewis who has EPT, TCOOP, and WCOOP titles.

Grebinat took third a few days ago in Event #24's PLO8 6-Max tournament.

Villepn is going for the Triple -COOP after winning a SCOOP title in 2010 and the WCOOP title last year defeating Andy McLEOD (who finished ITM here taking 27th for $454.95) heads-up for the Event #54 Razz championship.

Rounding around the table guns_n_fight has a MicroMillions title.

Still like your chances?

SCOOP 2013 Event #16-M champ thefish01x would sadly take away zero dollars after finishing on the 48 player money bubble.

Floating over to other tables one could find a Red Spade holding on for dear tournament life as Team PokerStars Pro George Danzer safely made it into the money and, like Villepn, is trying to complete the Triple -COOP with a victory today. Unfortunately, this was not his day as cladarth would eliminate Danzer in the Stud round earning $657.15 for 22nd place.

Ouchbadbeat would add a precious few TCOOP Player of the Series points after finishing in 18th place ($657.15) to break the tie for third with TCOOP 2014 Player of the Series Christian "CMoosepower" Elgstrøm.

After Lewis was eliminated in 17th place ($657.15), the final two tables quickly got work as only 13 would make it to the third hour of play after chip leader SharkBoy217 eliminated Das Kapital author (not really) Karl Marx in 14th place ($909.90).

The switch from Star Trek to Star Wars did not help Vengrin after ditching the Klingon avatar for Yoda as Vengrin and Fazzino would both fall to maggess88's aces in the Stud Hi/Lo round. Lack of the Force was worth $1,179.50 for both Fazzino and Vengrin finishing 11th and 12th place respectively.

Matt "Plattsburgh" Vengrin

On the final table bubble with the stakes at 25K/50K ante 5K still in the Stud Hi/Lo round SlyderS1 would take on chipleader SharkBoy217 all-in after receiving the door cards. SlyderS1's deuces never improved [2s] [5s] / [2c] [Td] [9d] [Kh] / [7s] as SharkBoy217 found a trey on seventh [Qd] [Th] / [5c] [3s] [7h] [6d] / [3h] to start up the final table below:

Seat 1: scrubbyz (216476 in chips)
Seat 2: Piipboy (180045 in chips)
Seat 3: RL1D (42548 in chips)
Seat 4: cladarth (280118 in chips)
Seat 5: Donald (64840 in chips)
Seat 6: maggess88 (140012 in chips)
Seat 7: berserk64 (183599 in chips)
Seat 8: SharkBoy217 (577362 in chips)

In of the seventh hand of the final table with the stakes moving to 30K/60K ante 6K Piipboy would raise to 39K over a raise by SharkBoy217 as cladarth came along for the ride. Cladarth would check-call fourth street looking for a decent Razz hand. Showing [7h][4c][6d] cladarth would lead out on fifth as SharkBoy217 looked for easier prey and folded. Piipboy's decent starting hand crumbled only notching a king-queen [3h] [8c] / [5d] [Ks] [8d] [Qs] / [3c] as cladarth's nine-seven [4d] [Ad] [7h] / [4c] [6d] [9h] / [As] was enough to knockout Piipboy in eighth place ($1,516.50).

On the next hand moving to Stud and 40K/80K ante 8K limits, RL1D was all-in for 22,548 with a [5c] showing as scrubbyz and Sharkboy217 stayed in. SharkBoy217 bet fourth street as scrubbyz called all-in for 41,476. RL1D would take down the main pot with trip eights and trip fives (ok, it's a full house but looks bigger) [8s] [4d] / [5c] [5h] [5s] [8c] / [8h]. Scrubbyz's split kings would not improve [3d] [Kd] / [Kh] [7s] [Qh] [5d] / [4h] but SharkBoy217's flush draw did [Tc] [Kc] / [6c] [2h] [9c] [Qs] / [Jc] handing $1,853.50 to scrubbyz in seventh place in a second TCOOP final table this week after placing third in Event #32 for $19K.

During the hold'em round with the bets going up to 50K/100K we would say farewell to yet another familiar face. Anders "Donald" Berg is well known for making the -COOP tournaments his bankroll multiplier, winning three WCOOP titles and two SCOOP titles while barely missing on a TCOOP title last year in Event #48's 8-Game tournament taking fourth. The wait for the Triple -COOP would continue as RL1D raised all-in preflop for 71,644 with cladarth in the small blind and Berg in the big blind calling. Berg's remaining 6,036 would be placed in the middle after calling cladarth's flop bet. Berg's [7d][Jd] would turn a straight draw after cladarth's [Ks][8d] flopped a pair of kings. But, RL1D's [Ac][Jc] found an ace on the river [Kc] [3h] [5d] [6h] [Ad] to stay alive. The former Team PokerStars Online Pro however could not overcome cladarth for the side pot finishing in sixth place ($2,527.50).

Anders "Donald" Berg

With SharkBoy217 still holding the chiplead in the Omaha Hi/Lo round berserk64 would raise as maggess88 three bet from the big blind. Berkserk64 shoved all-in for 35K more as maggess88 called with queens [Qs][Qd][2h][6c]. Berserk64's low wrap hand [4s][Ah][5h][3s] could not catch any luck [Qc] [Jd] [4c] [5d] [3h] as maggess88's straight would send berserk64 off in fifth place ($3,538.50).

Five minutes later in the Stud round RL1D was not able to build after knocking out Berg and shoved all-in for 65,684 after the door cards were dealt. SharkBoy217, after losing the chiplead to maggess88, stayed around with jacks that's flourished into a jacks full [Td] [Jh] / [Js] [Ks] [Jd] [Qh] / [Ts]. RL1D's hand failed to blossom [3s] [Tc] / [5d] [8s] [9d] [Kc] / [4c] ending the tournament in fourth place ($5,223.50).

WCOOP 2015 Event #56 champ maggess88 would carve into cladarth's stack, doubling through in the Stud Hi/Lo round for a 1.06 million chip pot. On the next hand and moving to hold'em with betting at 80K/160K SharkBoy217 raised from the button as cladarth called all-in for 16K and maggess88 called. After checking the flop with the board showing [6d] [7c] [Td] [5h] maggess88 bet the turn as SharkBoy217 swam for clearer waters. Maggess88 turned over a pair with a straight and flush draw [8d][7d] as cladarth's pair of fives was alive [5c][3d]. But, an [8h] river would excuse cladarth in third place ($7,245.50) narrowing missing out on TCOOP title number two after winning last year's Event #2.

SharkBoy217's dominate chiplead was gone at this point as maggess88 headed into heads-up play with a 1.2 million to 403K advantage. That lead would grow to 1.4 million to 283K after six hands as the two players decided to end things in the hold'em round. After capping preflop and 567K in the middle, SharkBoy217 turned over [7s][Qc] only to see a bigger queen held by maggess88 [As][Qd]. The kicker would hold up on the [3s] [5s] [3d] [9h] [6d] board as maggess88 claimed the second leg of the Triple -COOP by claiming the TCOOP Event #40 win and $12,974.50!

TCOOP-40 ($215 HORSE, Turbo) results

Entrants: 337
Total prize pool: $67,400.00
Places paid: 48

1. maggess88 (Netherlands) $12,974.50
2. SharkBoy217 (United Kingdom) $9,604.50
3. cladarth (Poland) $7,245.50
4. RL1D (Norway) $5,223.50
5. berserk64 (Russia) $3,538.50
6. Anders "Donald" Berg (Norway) $2,527.50
7. scrubbyz (Canada) $1,853.50
8. Piipboy (Russia) $1,516.50

---

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6:25pm: Eight in the books
Level 8, Blinds 400-800 (100 ante)

Level eight is over and the players are now on a 20 minute break.

6:20pm: Some you win, some you lose
Level 8, Blinds 400-800 (100 ante)
Two hands and two all ins from Alexander Spadijer but, sadly for him, two different results.

In the first he was all in for roughly 6,000 with [Ah][Ts] and up against Catalin Dumitrascu's [Ah][Ks]. The [6d][7d][Tc][2h][As] board meant he doubled to around 13,200.

On the very next hand Mihaly Jancso limped from early position, he then moved all-in and when it got back to Jancso he tanked before saying: "Let's gamble."
Jancso: [4c][4h]
Spadijer: [Ad][8s]

The board came [7d][2h][9c][5d][Qs] and Spadijer seemed pretty chilled about his fate as he took a puff on his e-cigarette before leaving the table.

6:15pm: Cloudio Devito down, but definitely not out
Level 8, Blinds 400-800 (100 ante)

6:05pm: Cloudio Devito down, but definitely not out
Level 8, Blinds 400-800 (100 ante)

Cloudio Devito was looking for a double knockout as he held [Kh][Qh] and had two opponents all in and at risk. They both had ace-king, but the [2d][4s][4d][Ks][Tc] board meant he took a 15K hit. Despite that he's still got about 72,000 and he's one of the chip leaders.

5:50pm: Gone
Level 7, Blinds 300-600 (75 ante)

There's no easy way to say this, but if you were following these updates for information on: James Copeland, Cayetana Belsue Pastor, Sung Hee Yun, Sang Leung, Daniel Cameron, Christian Friedel, Tom Getgood, Xingchen Zhou, Viraj Patel, Colin Marks, David Bailey, Andrew Chandler, Albert Sapiano, Stelyan Georgiev or Wayne Pentelow then you can close this tab, as they're all out.

5:40pm: Yong looking to complete the hat-trick
Level 7, Blinds 300-600 (75 ante)

One man who knows a thing or two about winning tournaments at The Hippodrome Casino is Christopher Yong. In March 2015 he won the UKIPT Series 7 event here - good for £10,986 - and then followed that up by taking down the Autumn Classic in November, which earned him a further £10,142.

Neither of those wins were his biggest cash in this venue in 2015 though as in January of last year he placed fifth in the UKIPT Main Event and took home £24,600 for that performance.

Christopher Yong

5:30pm: King unhappy about a ruling
Level 7, Blinds 300-600 (75 ante)

Andrew King is not happy about a ruling in a hand he just played:

He'd reached the river in a pot against Benjamin Woodhouse and the board was [Qs][6c][6s][9c][9s]. Woodhouse bet 1,200 and King then threw out one blue 5k chip and one red 1k chip. The dealer then said something (it was inaudible to me) and Woodhouse immediately turned over [Ad][As] as he'd thought the dealer had said "call".

This was the point at which the floor was called. After the TD had established how King had bet it was ruled that it was a raise and Woodhouse - who had exposed his cards - now had the option to call or fold, but he couldn't take any aggressive action, which ruled out raising.

Woodhouse said: "I'm just going to call," intimating that he may well have raised had he the chance to. He called and King mucked but wasn't happy. He believed that Woodhouses' hand should've been declared dead. He's asked the cardroom manager to print off a copy of the rules. We'll let you know how this goes, but it might not be the last we hear of it.

After that hand King is down to around 13,500.

5:20pm: Paul gets taller
Level 6, Blinds 200-400 (50 ante)

Maria Bergdahl is the latest player to bust from this tournament and it's Richard Paul who got her chips. She shoved for around 7,800 with [Ad][Th] and Paul then re-shoved for about double that with [As][Qs]. The button folded what he later said was ace-king and looked on as the [Kd][4s][9h][6c][4d] board sent Bergdahl to the rail.

Paul stacked chips, but he too could've been on the rail had things played out differently.

5:10pm: One in, one out
Level 6, Blinds 200-400 (50 ante)

In order to get all the alternates seated we have, of course, needed to lose some players. Whilst it's happy days for the alternates, it's bad news for: Laurie Stone, Brett Kennedy, Alexandros Papadopoulos, Yunyi Zhang, Laszlo Balogh, Jonathan Tay, Jonathan Spelman, Artur Palaj, Favius Ventel, Sid Joshi, Ahmed Abdin, Mason Hyatt, Nick Berry, Neculai Ungureanu, Gonzalo Veiga, Frederick Evans, Robert Moubert and Sadam Safdar as they're all out.

5pm: Enter Cody
Level 6, Blinds 200-400 (50 ante)

One of the late alternates is none other than Team PokerStars Pro Jake Cody. He's on record as saying he loves this format and it loves him too as he took down the first ever UKIPT Series event. That was way back in April 2013.

Team PokerStars Pro Jake Cody

4:50pm: Barron the chip king
Level 5, Blinds 150-300 (25 ante)

It's been a superb start to this tournament for Jeff Barron. He's up to 47,000 and is picking up where he left off, as he finished runner-up in the Autumn Classic that was held here in November.

4:40pm: The fallen
Level 5, Blinds 150-300 (25 ante)

The number of exits are ratcheting upwards, and somewhere in the region of 20 players have now busted out of this tournament. They include: Andrei Dragnea, Carol Hambleton, Filimon Meichanetzidis, Angelos Goulianos, Chetan Patel, Connor Ross, Gordon Strank, Nathan Lee, James Edgington, David Dawson, Paul Housam, Kelvin Mullis, Christopher Phillips and Karim Louis.

Karim Louis

4:25pm: Late registration is closed
Level 5, Blinds 150-300 (25 ante)

If your name's not down you're not coming in because late registration in this event has just closed. The tournament director informed the players that 218 have entered so far today and that there are a further 11 alternates waiting to be seated.

These numbers are, as yet, unofficial, but it looks like the total number of runners in this tournament is going to be around 365.

4:05pm: Break time
Level 4, Blinds 100-200 (25 ante)

That's four of today's dozen levels in the books and the players are now on a 20 minute break.

3:45pm: 187 and counting
Level 4, Blinds 100-200 (25 ante)

There's still a steady stream of players entering this event and the total for Day 1B is currently 187. There are currently six tables in use in the Poker Deck part of the casino and a seventh was about to open. Among the players seated up there is Albert Sapiano.

He finished fifth in the Summer Classic here in July 2015 and has over $330,000 in lifetime earnings.

Albert Sapiano

3:35pm: Two more out
Level 3, Blinds 75-150

The 'seat open' call is being heard more frequently now. Alexis Savvile and Yunheng Wu have also exited this tournament during level three.

3:30pm: Louis getting low
Level 3, Blinds 75-150

Karim Louis is down to around 7,000 after losing a chunky pot. There was roughly 6,800 in the pot by the time he reached the river of a [Kd][3d][6h][4c][6d] board. His opponent - Mike Lee - set him all in and Louis didn't think too long before mucking his hand.

3:15pm: A quiet start
Level 3, Blinds 75-150

It's all rather quiet at the moment. Both in terms of big pots/exit and the atmosphere. The general ambience is one of quiet contemplation among the players. There's usually at least one or two 'characters' or boisterous players who can be heard above the riffling of chips but not today, not yet anyhow.

The rising blinds will of course force the action as the day continues but as of yet there's just been one exit and the players are keeping it snug. Perhaps that's a consequence - and many would argue a welcome one - of this being a straight freezeout. There's no safety net if you get it wrong so the risk/reward balance tips heavily towards the risk element.

3:05pm: A few familiar faces
Level 2, Blinds 50-100

We're up to 164 players now on Day 1B and there are a few players in the field who've had decent success here in the past. Like Allan Pike. He won the Spring Classic in this very casino in March 2014 and followed that up with a fourth place finish in the UKIPT Series 4 a month later. 2014 was a good year for him as he also cashed in the EPT London Main Event in October of that year.

Dominic Wells is another regular on the UKIPT and here at The Hippodrome Casino. A third place finish in the Autumn Classic in January 2014 is the closest he's come to lifting a trophy here, but he also had a fourth place finish in the Autumn Classic in November of last year and he has a 10th place finish in the UKIPT Series 6 to his name.

Beating both though, in terms of live winnings, is Karim Louis. He's got over $138,000 in lifetime earnings, the bulk of that came way back in 2008 when he finished runner-up to Julian Thew in a £1,000 event in Brighton.

2:55pm: Parker gets his coat
Level 2, Blinds 50-100

Aside from bubbling the tournament being first out is probably the worst feeling you can have. The unfortunate player to exit first today is James Parker.

2:45pm: From Brazil to London for Baltic Blonde
Level 2, Blinds 50-100

Daiva Barauskaite is one of the familiar faces we've spotted in the field today. Her twitter feed suggests she's recently back from a trip to South America and has swapped the beaches of Rio for the bets of The Hippodrome. Easy decision right?

Easing my way back into poker after a 2 month break @PSLive_Hippo pic.twitter.com/70RoDFV7W4

— Daiva Barauskaite (@baltic_blonde) January 30, 2016

2:35pm: Advance to level two
Level 1, Blinds 25-50

On Day 1A we did get a bust out during the opening level (and a Royal Flush!) but despite there being more players on Day 1B - and therefore more hands dealt - all 144 players who've entered so far have made it safely through to Level 2.

2:20pm: Busy
Level 1, Blinds 25-50

The players just keep on coming! The board is showing that 133 players have entered Day 1B so far. There's a steady stream of eager hopefuls queued up at the cash desk waiting to get their tickets so that number is sure to rise significantly before late registration closes at (roughly) 4.25pm.

As suspected play has spread up to The Poker Deck, there are currently three tables in use up there with a couple more ready to be used if required.

Join the queue buddy

2:04pm: Let's go
Level 1, Blinds 25-50

Shuffle up and deal! Action is under way.

1:45pm: Day 1B set to start
Welcome to live coverage of Day 1B of the UKIPT5 Series 3. Yesterday 134 players entered the fray with 39 of them making it through to Day 2.

On Day 1A the main Matcham Room was packed and with today expected to be busier the Poker Deck will also be in use at the start, meaning play will be split across two floors.

The target for anyone with aspirations of the overnight chip lead is 170,900 as that's what Sam Orledge finished on last night. A surge in the final level of the day saw him pip Chris Gordon to the chip lead. You can catch up on Day 1A action here.

Chris Gordon

Action will start at 2pm.

UKIPT5 Series 3 key facts:
- 20,000 starting stack
- Blinds starting at 25/50 for 400 big blinds
- Levels are 30 minutes throughout and they'll be 12 of them today.
- On Sunday the Day 1B survivors will join the 39 players who advanced from Day 1A and play to a winner from noon.
- No re-entry here, this is an old school straight freezeout.

Fancy playing a UKIPT? There are always plenty of online satellites, click here to get an account.

PokerStars Blog Reporting Team at UKIPT Series: Nick Wright. Photos by Mickey May

Top 10 NO deposit Bonus offers @

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Remko and Donnie are still Down Under for the 2016 Aussie Millions, where they recap the A$100,000 Challenge and preview the Main Event final table.

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6:25pm: Eight in the books
Level 8, Blinds 400-800 (100 ante)

Level eight is over and the players are now on a 20 minute break.

6:20pm: Some you win, some you lose
Level 8, Blinds 400-800 (100 ante)
Two hands and two all ins from Alexander Spadijer but, sadly for him, two different results.

In the first he was all in for roughly 6,000 with [Ah][Ts] and up against Catalin Dumitrascu's [Ah][Ks]. The [6d][7d][Tc][2h][As] board meant he doubled to around 13,200.

On the very next hand Mihaly Jancso limped from early position, he then moved all-in and when it got back to Jancso he tanked before saying: "Let's gamble."
Jancso: [4c][4h]
Spadijer: [Ad][8s]

The board came [7d][2h][9c][5d][Qs] and Spadijer seemed pretty chilled about his fate as he took a puff on his e-cigarette before leaving the table.

6:15pm: Cloudio Devito down, but definitely not out
Level 8, Blinds 400-800 (100 ante)

6:05pm: Cloudio Devito down, but definitely not out
Level 8, Blinds 400-800 (100 ante)

Cloudio Devito was looking for a double knockout as he held [Kh][Qh] and had two opponents all in and at risk. They both had ace-king, but the [2d][4s][4d][Ks][Tc] board meant he took a 15K hit. Despite that he's still got about 72,000 and he's one of the chip leaders.

5:50pm: Gone
Level 7, Blinds 300-600 (75 ante)

There's no easy way to say this, but if you were following these updates for information on: James Copeland, Cayetana Belsue Pastor, Sung Hee Yun, Sang Leung, Daniel Cameron, Christian Friedel, Tom Getgood, Xingchen Zhou, Viraj Patel, Colin Marks, David Bailey, Andrew Chandler, Albert Sapiano, Stelyan Georgiev or Wayne Pentelow then you can close this tab, as they're all out.

5:40pm: Yong looking to complete the hat-trick
Level 7, Blinds 300-600 (75 ante)

One man who knows a thing or two about winning tournaments at The Hippodrome Casino is Christopher Yong. In March 2015 he won the UKIPT Series 7 event here - good for £10,986 - and then followed that up by taking down the Autumn Classic in November, which earned him a further £10,142.

Neither of those wins were his biggest cash in this venue in 2015 though as in January of last year he placed fifth in the UKIPT Main Event and took home £24,600 for that performance.

Christopher Yong

5:30pm: King unhappy about a ruling
Level 7, Blinds 300-600 (75 ante)

Andrew King is not happy about a ruling in a hand he just played:

He'd reached the river in a pot against Benjamin Woodhouse and the board was [Qs][6c][6s][9c][9s]. Woodhouse bet 1,200 and King then threw out one blue 5k chip and one red 1k chip. The dealer then said something (it was inaudible to me) and Woodhouse immediately turned over [Ad][As] as he'd thought the dealer had said "call".

This was the point at which the floor was called. After the TD had established how King had bet it was ruled that it was a raise and Woodhouse - who had exposed his cards - now had the option to call or fold, but he couldn't take any aggressive action, which ruled out raising.

Woodhouse said: "I'm just going to call," intimating that he may well have raised had he the chance to. He called and King mucked but wasn't happy. He believed that Woodhouses' hand should've been declared dead. He's asked the cardroom manager to print off a copy of the rules. We'll let you know how this goes, but it might not be the last we hear of it.

After that hand King is down to around 13,500.

5:20pm: Paul gets taller
Level 6, Blinds 200-400 (50 ante)

Maria Bergdahl is the latest player to bust from this tournament and it's Richard Paul who got her chips. She shoved for around 7,800 with [Ad][Th] and Paul then re-shoved for about double that with [As][Qs]. The button folded what he later said was ace-king and looked on as the [Kd][4s][9h][6c][4d] board sent Bergdahl to the rail.

Paul stacked chips, but he too could've been on the rail had things played out differently.

5:10pm: One in, one out
Level 6, Blinds 200-400 (50 ante)

In order to get all the alternates seated we have, of course, needed to lose some players. Whilst it's happy days for the alternates, it's bad news for: Laurie Stone, Brett Kennedy, Alexandros Papadopoulos, Yunyi Zhang, Laszlo Balogh, Jonathan Tay, Jonathan Spelman, Artur Palaj, Favius Ventel, Sid Joshi, Ahmed Abdin, Mason Hyatt, Nick Berry, Neculai Ungureanu, Gonzalo Veiga, Frederick Evans, Robert Moubert and Sadam Safdar as they're all out.

5pm: Enter Cody
Level 6, Blinds 200-400 (50 ante)

One of the late alternates is none other than Team PokerStars Pro Jake Cody. He's on record as saying he loves this format and it loves him too as he took down the first ever UKIPT Series event. That was way back in April 2013.

Team PokerStars Pro Jake Cody

4:50pm: Barron the chip king
Level 5, Blinds 150-300 (25 ante)

It's been a superb start to this tournament for Jeff Barron. He's up to 47,000 and is picking up where he left off, as he finished runner-up in the Autumn Classic that was held here in November.

4:40pm: The fallen
Level 5, Blinds 150-300 (25 ante)

The number of exits are ratcheting upwards, and somewhere in the region of 20 players have now busted out of this tournament. They include: Andrei Dragnea, Carol Hambleton, Filimon Meichanetzidis, Angelos Goulianos, Chetan Patel, Connor Ross, Gordon Strank, Nathan Lee, James Edgington, David Dawson, Paul Housam, Kelvin Mullis, Christopher Phillips and Karim Louis.

Karim Louis

4:25pm: Late registration is closed
Level 5, Blinds 150-300 (25 ante)

If your name's not down you're not coming in because late registration in this event has just closed. The tournament director informed the players that 218 have entered so far today and that there are a further 11 alternates waiting to be seated.

These numbers are, as yet, unofficial, but it looks like the total number of runners in this tournament is going to be around 365.

4:05pm: Break time
Level 4, Blinds 100-200 (25 ante)

That's four of today's dozen levels in the books and the players are now on a 20 minute break.

3:45pm: 187 and counting
Level 4, Blinds 100-200 (25 ante)

There's still a steady stream of players entering this event and the total for Day 1B is currently 187. There are currently six tables in use in the Poker Deck part of the casino and a seventh was about to open. Among the players seated up there is Albert Sapiano.

He finished fifth in the Summer Classic here in July 2015 and has over $330,000 in lifetime earnings.

Albert Sapiano

3:35pm: Two more out
Level 3, Blinds 75-150

The 'seat open' call is being heard more frequently now. Alexis Savvile and Yunheng Wu have also exited this tournament during level three.

3:30pm: Louis getting low
Level 3, Blinds 75-150

Karim Louis is down to around 7,000 after losing a chunky pot. There was roughly 6,800 in the pot by the time he reached the river of a [Kd][3d][6h][4c][6d] board. His opponent - Mike Lee - set him all in and Louis didn't think too long before mucking his hand.

3:15pm: A quiet start
Level 3, Blinds 75-150

It's all rather quiet at the moment. Both in terms of big pots/exit and the atmosphere. The general ambience is one of quiet contemplation among the players. There's usually at least one or two 'characters' or boisterous players who can be heard above the riffling of chips but not today, not yet anyhow.

The rising blinds will of course force the action as the day continues but as of yet there's just been one exit and the players are keeping it snug. Perhaps that's a consequence - and many would argue a welcome one - of this being a straight freezeout. There's no safety net if you get it wrong so the risk/reward balance tips heavily towards the risk element.

3:05pm: A few familiar faces
Level 2, Blinds 50-100

We're up to 164 players now on Day 1B and there are a few players in the field who've had decent success here in the past. Like Allan Pike. He won the Spring Classic in this very casino in March 2014 and followed that up with a fourth place finish in the UKIPT Series 4 a month later. 2014 was a good year for him as he also cashed in the EPT London Main Event in October of that year.

Dominic Wells is another regular on the UKIPT and here at The Hippodrome Casino. A third place finish in the Autumn Classic in January 2014 is the closest he's come to lifting a trophy here, but he also had a fourth place finish in the Autumn Classic in November of last year and he has a 10th place finish in the UKIPT Series 6 to his name.

Beating both though, in terms of live winnings, is Karim Louis. He's got over $138,000 in lifetime earnings, the bulk of that came way back in 2008 when he finished runner-up to Julian Thew in a £1,000 event in Brighton.

2:55pm: Parker gets his coat
Level 2, Blinds 50-100

Aside from bubbling the tournament being first out is probably the worst feeling you can have. The unfortunate player to exit first today is James Parker.

2:45pm: From Brazil to London for Baltic Blonde
Level 2, Blinds 50-100

Daiva Barauskaite is one of the familiar faces we've spotted in the field today. Her twitter feed suggests she's recently back from a trip to South America and has swapped the beaches of Rio for the bets of The Hippodrome. Easy decision right?

Easing my way back into poker after a 2 month break @PSLive_Hippo pic.twitter.com/70RoDFV7W4

— Daiva Barauskaite (@baltic_blonde) January 30, 2016

2:35pm: Advance to level two
Level 1, Blinds 25-50

On Day 1A we did get a bust out during the opening level (and a Royal Flush!) but despite there being more players on Day 1B - and therefore more hands dealt - all 144 players who've entered so far have made it safely through to Level 2.

2:20pm: Busy
Level 1, Blinds 25-50

The players just keep on coming! The board is showing that 133 players have entered Day 1B so far. There's a steady stream of eager hopefuls queued up at the cash desk waiting to get their tickets so that number is sure to rise significantly before late registration closes at (roughly) 4.25pm.

As suspected play has spread up to The Poker Deck, there are currently three tables in use up there with a couple more ready to be used if required.

Join the queue buddy

2:04pm: Let's go
Level 1, Blinds 25-50

Shuffle up and deal! Action is under way.

1:45pm: Day 1B set to start
Welcome to live coverage of Day 1B of the UKIPT5 Series 3. Yesterday 134 players entered the fray with 39 of them making it through to Day 2.

On Day 1A the main Matcham Room was packed and with today expected to be busier the Poker Deck will also be in use at the start, meaning play will be split across two floors.

The target for anyone with aspirations of the overnight chip lead is 170,900 as that's what Sam Orledge finished on last night. A surge in the final level of the day saw him pip Chris Gordon to the chip lead. You can catch up on Day 1A action here.

Chris Gordon

Action will start at 2pm.

UKIPT5 Series 3 key facts:
- 20,000 starting stack
- Blinds starting at 25/50 for 400 big blinds
- Levels are 30 minutes throughout and they'll be 12 of them today.
- On Sunday the Day 1B survivors will join the 39 players who advanced from Day 1A and play to a winner from noon.
- No re-entry here, this is an old school straight freezeout.

Fancy playing a UKIPT? There are always plenty of online satellites, click here to get an account.

PokerStars Blog Reporting Team at UKIPT Series: Nick Wright. Photos by Mickey May

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