iPOPS: 2 BBP Brits & An $89,300 Czech

The iPOPS Live kicks off tomorrow in Prague, but at 16:00 two Black Belt Poker players will be playing for an $89,300 first prize in the grand finale of the iPOPS Main Event.

The iPOPS (iPoker's Online Poker Series) was a mini-series of four events with a value-quenching $1 million in guaranteed prize pools. In total, there was in excess of $150,000 in added money, including a whopping $77,125 overlay in the $125+10 Main Event.

This monetary carrot lured 3,383 to the felt, included 16 players who had won free seats courtesy of Black Belt Poker. As well as adding seats to our weekly tournaments, we also held daily Bang For Ya Buck MTTs which offered players the chance to win a seat for a single buck. Meanwhile, 'FlopTheNuts77' received free entry just for bubbling Event #1 as part of our exclusive Bust a Black Belt promotion.

As such, Black Belt Poker boasted a near five percent of the field, including Nik Persaud, Neil Channing, Richard Ashby and Toby Lewis, as well as Blue Belts Jamie Burland and Ben Meredith who both managed to cash. The stars of the day, however, were Rupinder 'AceSingh' Bedi and Richard 'generalshifty' Hurst who survived to the final 27, and will now play to a conclusion at the iPOPS Live tomorrow.

Rupinder is a well-known circuit player from Leicester who has enjoyed a number of results including a GBPT title, a DTD Monthly Freezeout victory, and a final table in the GUKPT Blackpool. Richard, meanwhile, is a regular on Black Belt Poker shores, and is a former Purple Belt who recently cashed in the Black Belt Nottingham Live. In doing so, he earned an extra 10 percent to his prize for being Orange Belt, as well as $100 for eliminating bounty Jake Cody.

Having lost a crucial pot just moments before the final whistle, Rupinder was left with just a few big blinds, but thankfully iPoker have come to his rescue and modified the structure to enable more play. Blinds will therefore start at 10,000/20,000 with a 40-minute clock, meaning Rupinder now has a fighting chance with over 10 big blinds, and Richard a much more manageable 25 big blinds.

The chip counts heading in to tomorrow are as follows:

Anastasiya3250 -- 626,755.06
CurtisCTUfrom24 -- 971,299.60
geoffowen -- 2,214,830.15
GrinderBerlin -- 907,542.32
TonyMontana147 -- 696,249.92
BlinkyBill00 -- 3,177,658.96
generalshifty -- 507,207.34 (D)
Veryunique -- 1,524,204.00 (SB)
heyjoe26 -- 2,464,969.37 (BB)

mitchelll -- 2,570,963.85 (SB)
panjodeluxe -- 4,194,546.70 (BB)
AceSingh -- 206,085.45
gliiiiip -- 1,239,831.76
ShaneGamble -- 889,053.26
fladfisk1l1 -- 582,330.93
nbban -- 944,745.87
Chuikapridi -- 1,615,161.41
JonnyWhite22 -- 1,078,997.58 (D)

Nickval79 -- 1,124,955.12 (BB)
daramcc -- 1,023,706.82
XENOC1DE -- 800,550.95
whatdoiwant -- 746,129.80
poomhead -- 224,191.60
POKZ1337 -- 1,085,977.56
EuroxxBuster -- 684,230.44
NashvilleSkyline -- 1,085,448.46 (D)
mick44yx -- 642,375.72 (SB)

The event runs alongside the iPOPS Live €700+70 Main Event with the final table scheduled for 13:00 on Sunday, December 11. Good luck to both Rupinder and Richard, and congratulations to everyone who cashed in the inaugural iPOPS. You can follow Richard's progress on Twitter @generalshifty.