Biggest UKIPT Event Under Way

Located in the Irish Sea, the Isle of Man is a British Crown Dependency and it is home of PokerStars. The reason why the UKIPT Isle of Man Season 4 is a special event is that staff members are allowed to play. In the interest of transparency, however, they must wear special staff patches.

Happily sitting at #UKIPT IOM main event...hopefully will occupy this seat all day! Be sure to say hi to Carrick out in e lobby! #pokermama
— Adrienne Rowsome (talonchick) October 3, 2014

This event, with a £350,000 guaranteed prize pool and buy in of £700 + £70, is visited by large number of poker players from Europe and America including sponsored and elite tournament poker players, creating a strong field of 145 today. A number of previous UKIPT champions also arrived to battle for the Isle of Man trophy.

Key UKIPT4 Isle of Man 2 facts: 20,000 starting stack, blinds starting at 25/5 and one hour levels.

#UKIPT Main Event time, ready to have some fun! pic.twitter.com/lIzhdfyFzz
— Matt Lambourne (@Matt_Lambourne) October 3, 2014

Day 1A finished Donald Rae leads 46 survivors after ten levels of play

Rae won the biggest pot for about 80K with AK against AQ. After playing ten levels of great poker, Donald bagged an impressive stack of 154,900 to end the Day 1A.

Other big stacks include:

Stephen Day – Ahead of a Group Staff Member (United Kingdom) 135,000

Ludovic Geilich - UKIPT Marbella Champion (United Kingdom) 123,700

Jesse O’Shea (Ireland) 118,400

David Hill (Isle of Man) 117,800

Andre Wagner (Germany) 115,400

Josh Hart (United Kindgom) 109,800

Daniel Wilson (Ireland) 96,600

Dominic Magoney (United Kingdom) 96,000

Fatima Moreira De Melo – PokerStars Sport Star (Netherlands) 91,600

Nick Smith (United Kingdom) 81,100

Made it to day 2 of the #UKIPT Isle Of Man ☺️. Play resumes tomorrow #congé#tourists#explore
— Christophe DeMeulder (@Crispokers) October 3, 2014

Dermont Blain, Martins Adeniya and Ben Jenkins, the Full Tilt Poker Ambassadors, were also part of this event and only Blain survived Day 1A, bagging 38,100. PokerStars SportStar Fatima Moreira de Melo who shared the table with the man who beat her in the Isle of Man UKIPT last year, finished first day with more than respectable 91,600.

Donald Rae leads after Day 1 of #UKIPTIoM, @Gr4vyBo4t & @Fatimademelo in top 10 - http://t.co/Wv0l5481JG
— PokerStarsBlog (@PokerStarsBlog) October 3, 2014

Notables who were eliminated during the Day 1A included: Team PokerStars Pros Luca Pagano, Eugene Katchalov (busted in the very last level of the day), Matthias De Meulder, then PokerStars Mind Sports Ambassador Jennifer Shahade as well as United Kingdom circuit regulars Jon Spinks and Max Silver. Ben Jenkins, fellow ambassador, was also eliminated in the early stages of the tournament, as were Team Online’s Vincente Delgado and Steve O’Dwayer.

The field is expected to greatly increase today, as players who were eliminated during Day 1A can re–enter in Day 1B, and those playing on Day 1B will include many more Rational Group representatives like Triple Crown winner Jake Cody and two–time EPT winner Vicky Coren.