Silver Shines on Day 1B of UKIPT Dublin

Everything Max Silver did on Day 1B of the UK and Ireland Poker Tour Main Event in Dublin yesterday turned to gold, as last year´s winner commenced the defence of his UKIPT tile.

Max Silver leads a quality field going into Day 2 which includes previous UKIPT winners Joeri Zandvliet and Nick Abou Risk as well as PokerStars pro player Liv Boeree.

Max carries 195,600 chips into Day 2, with Billy Crystal lookalike Kevin Williams trailing in second on 167,800 chips, and veteran UK poker player David Maudlin giving chase in third with 148,500 chips.

The UKIPT Dublin Stats

433 players joined in the festivities yesterday, making a total entry of 718 and creating a prize pool worth €348,230 with € 83,500 being awarded to the Main Event winner. Max Silver collected €72,000 for his victory last year – indicating just how popular this event has grown in only the UKIPT´s second season – and players all the way down to 90th will collect at least €650.00. With such a large entry, there are also 77.50 UKIPT Leaderboard points up for grabs, and any of the top 16 players in the leaderboard competition could springboard into the overall lead following the early demise yesterday of current leader Rupinder “Buckaroo” Bedi.

Early Eliminations on Day 1B

In contrast to the slow departures lounge of Day 1A, there was a steady flow of players exiting from the tournament through Day 1B. Early eliminations included David Vamplew who came second in a set (3´s) v set (10´s) call against Martin Blom, and last year´s UKIPT Leaderboard winner, Chris Brammer. PokerStars pro Jude Ainsworth failed to make it to the dinner break when his Kings were trumped by a river Ace, and Kevin “ImaLuckSac” MacPhee´s luck ran out when his AK failed to connect against pocket sevens.

Silver´s Rise Starts Late – Very Late

Max Silver had been having a fairly ordinary day in the life of a UKIPT Champion until the last couple of hands in the penultimate level of the day. First he was lucky not to be crushed holding A♥ 10♥ against a pair on a flop of 9♠ 9♣ 9♦, until the 9♥ came out on the turn and he chipped up to 70,000 chips on the strength of his Ace kicker. Then his pocket Aces held in a four-bet hand, before Max took down a three-way pot with A♦ K♣ against A♥ J♣ and 9♣ 9♠ – Max spiking an Ace on the river to take the chip lead.

Williams and Maudlin also Late Achievers

Kevin Williams had also left it late in the day to spring an Ace-Ace ambush against a player betting hard with Queens, but Dave Maudlin waited until well beyond the eleventh hour to make his impression on the event. With blinds of 500/1,000, Maudlin made it 2,500 to play and called when Robert Murphy three-bet him up to 7,000. The flop of 10♦ J♥ A♠ prompted Murphy to throw another 9,000 into the pot, which Maudlin called, and the same pattern occurred after the 9♠ turn – only for 17,000. After the 8♣ river, Maudlin changed tact – moving his stack all-in – and was promptly called by Murphy who revealed pocket Jacks for a flopped set. Maudlin however, had been protecting his pocket Queens, and the 8♣ gave him a rivered straight.

Looking Ahead to UKIPT Dublin Day 2

205 players remain in the UKIPT Dublin Main Event as the two Day 1 fields combine later today. The plan is to play a further ten one-hour levels today and down to a final table on Sunday. It will not be late into Monday night before we know who is going to be the UKIPT Dublin 2011 Champion, but the player most looking forward to today´s action will be last year´s winner, Max Silver.

Combined Chip Counts from Day 1A and Day 1B