Main Event
Day 1a Completed
UK & Ireland Poker Tour Galway
Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
UK & Ireland Poker Tour Galway
Buy-in
€1,000
Prize Pool
€970,000
Entries
860
Level
28
Blinds
40,000 / 80,000
Ante
10,000
Level 10
: 600/1,200, 200 ante
The Full Tilt Poker United Kingdom & Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT) Galway Festival continued Thursday with the start of the €1,000,000 Guarantee Main Event. The €1,000+€100 buy-in tournament meant the event would need to attract 1,000 players to meet the guarantee, but a rare overlay is more than likely after a modest 231 players turned out for the first starting flight.
After ten one-hour levels of play, that number was reduced to approximately 74 with Alan Gold and his stack of 272,700 leading the way — that's nearly twice as much as the next closest competitor! We missed how Gold acquired all those chips, but he seemed to get most of them in the last two levels of the night where his stack seemed to increase exponentially.
Another man who finished with a big stack was Mark Spelman, who got many of his chips in the last level of the night when his 
won a 155,000-chip pot against Ali Abdallah's 
on a 
board. Talk about a nasty river! Spelman bagged 140,000 and is among the top stacks.
Others who advanced to Day 2 were FTP qualifier Miklos Soproni (175,900), PokerStars player Ben Bauer (142,600), star of Ireland's The Apprentice Cahal Heapes (50,400), Vitalijs Polukejevs (114,100), Max Silver (91,700), Keith Hawkins (63,100), Roy "The Boy" Brindley (58,100) and the star of the film Bet, Raise, Fold Danielle Andersen (37,600).
Unfortunately not everyone was fortunate enough to survive the day. FTP Professional Gus Hansen was among the eliminated. Hansen fell in Level 6 (200/400/50) on a board reading 
. Hansen had checked to Malta's Charlo Azzopardi, who proceeded to bet enough to cover the "Great Dane." Hansen, as he is prone to do, hit the tank and began talking to himself. "I did this to myself," he lamented before calling off his stack. Azzopardi then tabled 
for pocket rockets, which bested the 
of Hansen. With that Hansen took the long walk of loneliness out of the tournament tent, across the foyer and into the Players' Lounge where he played Pacman and talked to PokerNews' Laura Cornelius, which you can view by scrolling down.
Others who fell on Day 1a included Full Tilt Poker Ambassador Ben Jenkins, Frank Lillis, Surinder Sunar, Liv Boeree, Patrck Smyth, Barny Boatman, Ian Cordts, John Duthie, Peter Garrett, Lisa Hawkes, Shaun Hegarty, Conor O'Driscoll, Michael Frisby, Henry Port, Matthew Humphrey, Chun Ho Law, Con Collins and FTP Ambassador Martins Adeniya.
Adeniya, who talked to PokerNews in depth about his week spent in Galway as a FTP Ambassador, got the last of his chips in with the 
against Ben Bauer's 
. The board ran out 
and Adeniya took his leave in the last level of the night.
"I’m going out drinking tonight with a few of the boys and just a bit of relaxing outside of play," Adeniya said of his evening plans while adding that he now plans to play the FTOPS.
Day 1b will kick off at Noon local time and is expected to draw a massive field. Among those planning to attend are FTP Ambassadors Sinem Melin and Dermot Blain; FTP Professional and online legend Viktor “Isildur1” Blom; FTP UKIPT High Roller champ Sergio Aido; the fast-talking David “Devilfish” Ulliott; and Team PokerStars Pro and Triple Crown winner Jake Cody, just to name a few. Until then, good night from Galway!
![[user76023]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
Level 10
: 600/1,200, 200 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
272,700
72,700
|
72,700 |
|
140,000
-15,000
|
-15,000 |
|
114,100
-22,400
|
-22,400 |
|
91,700
-7,600
|
-7,600 |
|
||
|
63,100
43,100
|
43,100 |
|
58,100
-6,900
|
-6,900 |
|
37,600
-2,400
|
-2,400 |
|
||
Level 10
: 600/1,200, 200 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
Busted | |
|
|
Busted | |
|
|
Busted | |
|
|
Busted | |
|
Busted | |
|
|
Busted | |
|
|
Busted | |
|
|
Busted |
Level 10
: 600/1,200, 200 ante
The clock has been paused and we're playing four more hands before calling it a night. We're headed out to the floor to catch any last-minute action and to compile a list of notable chip counts. Stay tuned for both as well as a full recap of the day's action.
Level 10
: 600/1,200, 200 ante
Ireland’s Dermot Fleming opened for 2,400 and was called on the button by Ben Bauer.
The dealer dealt a flop of 
.
First to act, Fleming bet 6,500 leaving him just over 15,000 behind. Bauer studied his opponent and sized up his remaining stack. He had Fleming more than covered and bet enough to put Fleming’s tournament life at risk.
Fleming looked pained and started to calculate what to do with barely half an hour left of the day to play and a well below average stack.
At an adjacent table Aidan Connelly, with a big stack, announced all-in and was quickly called by the player to his left, a UK PokerStars qualifier Martin Hanham, for his last 20,000. It was to be his last action of the main event.
Harman had 
but Connelly had 
and a board of 
overkill sent Hanham home empty handed.
Back at the other table Fleming again studied his stack and looked longingly at the chips in the pot. Could he make the call? Should he?
He folded and Bauer showed him a card. The 
Keith “The Camel” piped up, “The seven? Was that it?”
Perhaps Fleming will have a restless night wondering if he folded the best hand, but at least he’ll be back for day 2 which is more than can be said for the unfortunate Hanham.
Level 10
: 600/1,200, 200 ante
Roy Brindley has doubled up after surviving a bit of a sweat, he had on a 
board against Paul Allen's and managed to avoid both heart and king on the turn and 
river.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
65,000
45,000
|
45,000 |
Level 10
: 600/1,200, 200 ante
We saw Team PokerStars Pro Liv Boeree exiting the feature table area, which led us to believe that she had been eliminated. Sure enough, a quick check with the table confirmed that she had opened with 
only to be three-bet by Kieran Furey. Boeree shoved her short stack, Furey called with and the lovely lady was unable to improve.
As we were getting those details, Furey ended up busting in the very next hand. It happened when Barry Foley opened for 2,000 from early position and Furey moved all in from the cutoff for roughly 20,000. George Stoddart then moved all in over the top from the small blind and Foley got out of the way.
Stoddart:
Furey: 
Furey was dominated, but the 
flop lifted his spirits as he picked up a flush draw. Unfortunately for him, his spirits were soon crushed after the turn and river both failed to deliver a diamond.
Meanwhile, PokerStars qualifier Marek Hanzlik of the Czech Republic was eliminated by Malta's Emmanuel Mizzi after running the 
into his opponent's . The board ran out 
and that was all she wrote for Hanzlik.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
70,000
-13,525
|
-13,525 |
|
|
Busted | |
|
|
Busted | |
|
Busted | |
|
||
Level 10
: 600/1,200, 200 ante
Ali Abdallah must have been feeling pretty good to put it in with on the river of an board for a 155,000 chip pot. That good feeling quickly turned into a rancid sickness though when Mark Spelman turned over for quads to win the pot. Abdallah was left with just 5,100 after this brutal cooler.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
155,000
71,000
|
71,000 |
Level 10
: 600/1,200, 200 ante
Full Tilt Poker Ambassador Martins Adeniya has been eliminated, his last chips going in with against Ben Bauer's and the board coming in Bauer's favour.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
Busted | |
|
|
||