Colin Wu Leads UKIPT Edinburgh

Local poker player, Haitao “Colin” Wu, made a storming late run to take control of the UK and Ireland Poker Tour´s Day 1a at Edinburgh´s Corn Exchange yesterday.

In a field which resembled a “who´s who” of British and international poker, Colin had been making steady progress throughout the day but, just prior to bagging and tagging, collected a 90,00 chip pot when he flopped a set against a pair of aces.

A Top Quality Field at UKIPT Edinburgh

Day 1a´s in these types of events are usually pretty subdued, but a star-studded cast brought a sense of anticipation as the players started the day. The undisputed stars of the show were 2003 WSOP Main Event winner, Chris Moneymaker, and the man who aspires to follow in his footsteps, November Niner Sam Holder. The many qualifiers among the 246 who took their seats were also delighted to see Jake Cody, David Vamplew and Liv Boeree playing – unless, of course, they were seated at their tables!

Day 1a – No Soft Option

Traditionally, Day 1a´s in major poker tournaments have been seen as the “soft option”. Many more players will be taking to the felt today (Friday) due to the proximity to the weekend, and maybe they will be glad that they did! Many of the players participating in Thursday´s action have a rich history of UKIPT success – Season One UKIPT Brighton winner Jamie Burland and this year´s UKIPT Nottingham champion Gareth Walker both made it safely through to Day 2, along with UKIPT regulars Mike Hill and Paul Nash.

Some Guys Have All the Luck!

Inasmuch as poker skill and strategy often win the day, sometimes you need a little nudge from Madam Fortune as well. Yesterday, Canadian poker player Kevin Ayow got an almighty push from Lady Luck when raising Adam Henriksson´s Q♠ Q♥, Owen Robinson´s A♣ K♣ and Jost Beifuhs´ A♦ A♠ with his pocket Kings. Luckily – very luckily – for Ayow, a King appeared on the turn and the Canadian collected a massive pot which sent him scorching up the leaderboard.

Selected Chip Counts from the UKIPT Edinburgh Day 1a