…he pushed all in on the river of a 9-8-A-4-K board holding K-7, only to find Simon Zach holding A-7 to take the pot and send Brian to the rail, to the bemusement of the table.

Patrick McCloskey is also OUT, he pushed with 9-9 only to run into Van Hoang’s A-A (again!). The 10-4-10-5-2 board provided no outdraws, sent McCloskey to the rail, and made Hoang a strong contender for the GUKPT Grand Final 2008 seat which is awarded to the chip leader at the end of today’s play.

Dan Owston eliminated Jason DeFreitas when a short stacked Jason pushed with Q-8 and ran into Owston’s dominating K-8. No queen on the board left Dan looking very happy…

…that was until he doubled up Sami Mahmoud, who had already tripled up by catching a set of fours on the river when shortstacked, Mahmoud shoved with J-J and Dan called with A-Q. The 9 high board didn’t scare Sami, who raked in the pot and is now back up to 30k.

Van Hoang takes out another with the pocket rockets.

Dan Owston, one of our resident Blue Square Poker online qualifiers.

… Mark Friedman back with the chip leaders after his QQ held up against Allan’s AK .. allin preflop … 60k pot.

First card out is an ACE ! … the river is a QUEEN !

Van Hoang 103125
Richard Wheatley 101850
Ben Vinson 75850
Simon Zach 67950
Keith Hawkins 62275
Matt Novak 60225
Lewiss Stevens 56025
Paul Webster 53550
Jean-Luc Belin 49500
Brian Johnson 47750
Owen Lock 45400
Martin Bader 45300
Dave Barnes 42025
Rumit Somaiya 38375
Jason Defreitas 38050
Liam Flood 36650
Mark Friedman 36375
Michael Greco 35125
Michael Muldoon 34525
Ross Boatman 34100
Gareth Ower 33550
Richard Ashby 33325
Olegas Kovaleskis 32450
Allan Rudge 30625
Michael Ellis 29850
Dan Owston 28700
Ashley Hayles 27375
Norman Gold 27325
Ali Sarkeshik 26950
Mark Bointon 26375
Steve Mitchell 26350
Ben Roberts 23875
Thomas Dunwoodie 22975
John Dwyer 20800
Paul Murrell 20125
Patrick McCloskey 18325
Norman Rad 16625
Kevin Jenkins 16400
Paul Moss 15825
Edward Cahill 15350
Steve Gibbons 15025
Karl Mahrenholz 10600
Sami Mahmoud 5175

Each leg of the GUKPT is broadcast on Channel 4. The show airs every Tuesday and Sunday night just after midnight. This is the first time a UK Poker tour rather than a ready made for TV show or one-off tournament has been televised on mainstream TV. The remaining schedule is detailed below - including the Grand Final being screened within days of completion!

Leg 10a (Blackpool) Sunday Dec 2nd - 00:05
Leg 10b (Blackpool) Tuesday Dec 4th - 00:05
Grand Final a (London) Sunday Dec 9th- 00:05
Grand Final b (London) Tuesday Dec 11th- 00:05

Blinds 600-1200 ante 75

Last level for today … play resumes tomorrow at 1:30PM with the combined first two days into Day 2 proper.

…eliminated by Michael “Beppe DiMarco” Greco, who held Q-Q against Ian’s J-J. It all went in preflop, and the queens held.

…as is Ian Cox and Willie Tann.

Nik Persaud is also OUT after he ran his J-8 into Van Hoang’s A-A.

Jason Medley raised preflop, and Michael Ellis re-raised. Meds shoved and Ellis called. Meds had 8-8 and Ellis had A-10…a 10 high flop gave Ellis the pot and left Meds down to 8k, shaking his head at the call.