Because of the higher numbers in the final two starting days (or the laziness of people who can't be bothered to register until the last minute), it was Days 1A and 1C which were pooled together for Day 2a, the survivors from those respective days combining to form a starting field of 2,412.
Although Black Belt Poker left a few soldiers back at the barracks, we still had a handful of troops leading the front line. Jerome Bradpiece sadly slipped away early doors (call-mucking into flopped trips according to my thirdhand source), but Tristan McDonald and Warren Wooldridge both saw their stacks soar. "I was a bit nervous at the beginning," confessed Warren. "There was this one hand I raised it up with A-Q and the big blind called. I bet 2,200 on an A-K-2 flop and he raised to 5,000. I called. On the K turn, which I thought was a terrible card, I check-called 4,800, and after it went check check on the 2 river, he just mucked."
After later doubling up with aces versus queens, the comeback was complete, and Warren ended up transforming a paltry 19,525 into a whopping 109,500 to finish the day. Tristan, meanwhile, enjoyed a similar venture, starting the day with less than the starting stack and leaving with 106,000. "I'm really happy considering what I began with," he added. "I only started with 19,900, so it's gone really well today." Tristan spent all day on the feature table, where he took on an eclectic line-up that included Daniel Negreanu. Dropping by at the death was Praz Bansi, the Hit Squadder emerging as one of the Brit's best hopes when he turned 65,725 into 196,800 without breaking a sweat. When asked about the sudden up-rise, Praz simply replied with a smile, "I don't want to talk about it."
Perusing through the two rooms, I stumbled upon a number of familiar names from the UK circuit such as Mike Ellis, Dan Carter, Andrew Seden, Steve Jelinek, Jeff Duvall, JP Kelly, Dave Colclough, Tony Salmon, Devilfish, Sunny Chattha, Barny Boatman and more. Whilst Andrew Teng, Michael Greco, Jeff Kimber, Julian Thew, James Mitchell and James Akenhead all bit the dust - the latter shoving A-2 into A-K - many survived including multiple GUKPT winner Priyan Demel. Priyan had around 60,000 with one hour to spare, the majority of which came when he three-bet A-K from the small blind. The button called and we saw an A-J-2 flop where Priyan checked, the big blind shoved for 25,000 and Priyan called. His opponent held A-J for top two, but Priyan spiked a king on the turn to award him the pot.
Even the Irish had a few survivors, one of whom was Padraig Parkinson who boasted almost 150,000 when I wandered by. During the opening levels, I caught Padraig chugging a beer at the felt. "I missed breakfast," he smirked, "so I'm having an Irish lunch. Despite his stack, Parksinon remained modest: "My record getting past Day 1 is really good, it's just that I have trouble making Day 3." "Day 3 was the final in 1999," I replied. Meanwhile, a few tables up, former Irish Open finalist Nicky Power was busy nurturing a short stack like a newborn. He did get fruity on one hand though, raising UTG with 6-4, before betting every street of a 4-K-5-6-4 board. "He wasn't a happy bunny when he saw my hand," beamed Nicky. "I think he must have had ace-king or something."
According to the magic screen, 1,359 players will be returning on Monday, to be joined by the survivors of Saturday's batch. Paul Jackson, Ross Boatman and Jake Cody will be there, but so will the Black Belt Poker cavalry as Blue Belts Chaz Chattha, Owen Robinson and Jamie Burland, along with online qualifiers Mandy Card and Alan Vinson, look to emulate the success of Praz and co. and secure their spot in Day 3. Good luck, gang!
Official (known) UK Day 1D counts:
Gregory Howard -- 78,800
Paul Jackson -- 66,775
Chaz Chattha -- 63,475
Talal Shakerchi -- 57,650
William Brewin -- 53,275
Nick Gibson -- 52,875
Redmond Lee -- 51,400
John Spillane -- 49,450
Ross Boatman -- 44,675
Paul Carr -- 44,300
Curtis Ledger -- 43,125
Jamie Burland -- 42,225
Paul Parker -- 40,000
Jake Cody -- 36,400
Josh Gould -- 31,725
Mandy Card -- 31,450
Chris Brider -- 27,300
Fran Egan -- 23,225
Rob Sherwood -- 21,475
Audley Harrison -- 17,475
Ali Sarkeshik -- 14,700
Andrew Feldman -- 13,850
Kevin Parkes -- 12,900
Surinder Sunar -- 9,825
Alan Vinson -- 5,425
Previous WSOP Reports: Vegas Blog:
Employee of the Month
Fairytale Endings
Must Be Nice
Make Mine a Double
Blonde on Blonde
Summer of Sam
Chuft to Bits
Under the Radar
Taking Notice
BBP Braced for WSOP Main Event
WSOP Main Event - Day 1A
WSOP Main Event - Day 1B
WSOP Main Event - Day 1C
WSOP MAin Event - Day 1D
May 23: My Old School Teacher
May 31: Welcome to America; Let the Institutionalising Begin
June 1: Pleasure & Pain
June 5: 100% British Beef
June 9: Alphabetti Spaghetti & Giant Meatballs
June 13: Colour Me Up
June 14: The Crying Game
June 20: Last Gasps
June 25: Dancing With the Devil
June 30: The End of a Streak
July 6: Tournament of Famous People
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