Neal Leads After partypoker LIVE UK Poker Championships Main Event Day 1A
On Day 1a of the partypoker LIVE UK Poker Championships ￡1,100 Main Event 193 players came together and at the end of 12 levels of play just 53 remain and advance to Day 2.
Adam Neal leads the way with 987,000 after a stellar last level lifted him to within touching distance of a million chips. With the very last hand of the night, Neal picked off a bluff holding third pair and his stack will see him start Day 2 with over 120 big blinds.
"It's not been too bad," said Neal, who finished second in yesterday's Open event for just under ￡20,000. "I late reg'd so came two hours late, and had a rocky start; lost half of my stack within three hands of sitting down and it's been pretty good ever since.
"I three-bet queens and folded to a four-bet jam. I made a couple of big hero calls towards the end including on the last hand."
In the last hand, the player in the cutoff raised to 15,000 and Neal defended his big blind with nine-eight of spades. The flop came jack-eight-five with two diamonds. Neal check-called a bet and then both players checked the offsuit five on the turn.
The river was the queen of hearts and Neal bet 16,000. His opponent then raised all in for140,000 and Neal, after some tanking, called.
"I just picked up some live tells," explained Neal."He had ace-ten of diamonds so a missed a flush draw!"
And as for tomorrow, will he be taking it easy?
"I actually stream on partypoker, so I'll be doing that. But then back at it again on Friday!"
Other big stacks advancing to Day 2 include James Eftekhari (736,500)(pictured above), Fabio Sperling (588,500), Christopher Brice (532,000) and Tom High (507,000).
Notables making it through to Day 2 are former Premier League footballer [Removed:30] (479,000), Tom Hall (314,500), partypoker Dutch Ambassador Marcel Luske (228,000), German pro Manig Loeser(196,500), and former EPT champion David Vamplew (122,000).
Also making it through is yesterday's Super High Roller champion Steven Morris (pictured below), who bagged a healthy 346,000.
Day 1a recap
Several players from the Super High Roller joined the field including Martyn Frey, Keith Johnson, Tom Middleton, Chris Brammer, Jamie Whyte and Tom Hall. They were joined by partypoker Ambassadors Marcel Luske and Natalia Breviglieri.
Making the early going was Dritan Arapi after eliminating Frey ace-king vs ace-ten. Meanwhile, Breviglieri was enjoying a rollercoaster day, falling as low as 22,000 and as high as almost 200,000 before succumbing midway through the day.
Arapi held strong at the top of the chip counts, with former top-flight footballer [Removed:30] joining him, but failing to overtake him. It was only until Andrew Garland rivered a two outer that someone overtook Arapi. Tim Slater was all in with ace-king on a five-king-deuce-queen board and Garland called with ace-queen. The river was another queen, handing Garland trips and the chip lead.
Super High Roller players Brammer, Middleton and Whyte were all eliminated from proceedings, with David Vamplew and Ludovic Geilich replacing them. Vamplew stuck around while Geilich joined Brammer and co. in Day 1b which kicked off at 5 pm earlier today.
Neal enjoyed a late surge in the penultimate and then in the final level to bag the chip lead, and will be well-placed for Day 2 on Friday. Stay tuned to PokerNews for all the live updates from Day 1b, which is still ongoing, as well as tomorrow's final two flights in the partypoker LIVE UK Poker Championships ￡1,100 Main Event.