Day 3 of UKIPT Marbella Kicks Off Today

Most of the poker world’s attention may currently be on the WSOP in Las Vegas, but that does not mean that live tournament poker has stopped everywhere else. In fact The United Kingdom and Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT) got underway in the Spanish resort of Marbella earlier this week.

Yes, you read that right. A poker tournament bearing the name of the UK and Ireland is taking place in Spain. It is the product of a joint deal between the Spanish Poker Tour (ESPT) and the UKIPT Poker Tour, both of which are run by PokerStars.

The deal has proven to be a successful one so far, as shown by the huge turnout of players at this year’s event. A total of 841 hopefuls took it to the felt in the first two starting flights of the UKIPT Marbella, a nice increase of last year’s turnout of roughly 750 players.

351 players made the cut from both starting flights to Day 2, but competition proved to be even fiercer as just 61 survived to make it to the third play of play. A home player, Dario Carrion Morenilla, currently tops the chip ladder heading into Day 3 with 967,000 chips to his name.

Carrion had a huge boost to his chip stack late in Day 2 after he won a showdown against fellow tournament player Daniel Perkusic and took a pot of more than 600,000 chips.

He is followed by another Spaniard on the chip ladder. Pablo Galache finished the second day of play with 783,000, and has put himself in a stellar position going into Day 3.

Dutchman Jeffrey Brouwer will have the third largest stack at the start of play, with 737,000 chips to his name, with yet another home player, Isidoro Barreña hot on his heels with a stack of 733,000.

The top 128 players in this event made the money, which means all remaining players will be fighting for a bigger return on their €1,100 buy-in. The first player to be eliminated on Day 3 is set to leave with €2,380 (around US$2,700), while those finishing in top 20 will receive at least €5,850 (around $US$6,640).

Ninth place, which will be the last place at the final table, is set to get €11,200 (around US$12,715), which is far cry from the first place cash prize of €150,800 (around US$171,240). As always, we at PokerTube will keep readers updated with news of the UKIPT Marbella as the event progresses.

Photo: Mickey May, PokerStars Blog