Pennsylvania Casino Revenue Falls For First Time Ever

Published on January 18, 2014 by April Gardner

Pennsylvania has had a pretty good run of luck since they opened their first casino back in 2006. The state has saw year after year increases in gaming revenue at the casinos for every year since 2006, until 2013.

Last year, Pennsylvania experienced their first revenue decline in history. The casinos are far from struggling, but after adding a few new casinos the previous year, the numbers dipped to $3.11 billion. That figure represented a decline of $44.4 million.

"It was going to be virtually impossible to keep up the pace from 2012," said Gaming Analyst Trevor Sams. "The competition is growing in the Northeast, and the Pennsylvania casinos experienced the loss of the excitement that came from new casinos in 2012. It was a perfect storm for a revenue decrease."

Pennsylvania still remained comfortably as the second largest gaming market in the US. The state took that distinction away from New Jersey several years ago, and has yet to relinquish the title. Nevada is the only state that currently brings in more gaming revenue from their casinos than Pennsylvania.

The biggest competition moving forward for Pennsylvania appears to be New York and Massachusetts. The latter has already authorized new casinos, while New York, one of the most populated places in the world, is expected to add new gaming options in 2014.

New Jersey is also expected to rebound from the slump that has occurred since the 2008 economic recession. New Jersey is fighting federally to add sports books at their Atlantic City casinos, and the state has already added online casinos to its repertoire late in 2012.

"It is going to be interesting to watch the gaming market on the East Coast unfold over the next several years," said Sams. "Not only are the Northeast states getting involved, but if Florida lawmakers decide to alter their laws, that could create the biggest competition for Pennsylvania over the next decade."

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Mr. Shanish knocks out four in a row to capture Sunday Warm-Up Title!

The Sunday Warm-Up continued to blaze hotter and hotter as the weather got colder this November weekend, with a whopping $925,600 in the prize pool. 4,628 players bellied up to the virtual felt to take their shot at the massive payout, and the top 675 finishers got paid for their efforts. Of course, the big money was concentrated at the final table, so after a little less than nine hours of grueling poker, the nine survivors gathered 'round the final table.

Action was tentative to start off, with players avoiding any major confrontations in the first few hands, but as the blinds and antes grew, the short stacks had to take their shots to double up just to stay alive. Melano26 put his last few chips in the middle with A♠-8♠ and found a caller in CruSader1981. Big stack angevert then moved all in over the top to isolate, and CruSader1981 got out of the way. Angevert was ahead with J♦-J♠, and the flop of J♥-7♠-Q♣ left melano26 needing to catch runner-runner perfect to stay alive. The 2♥ on the turn meant that melano26 was drawing dead, and when the meaningless 6♠ rolled off on the river, melano26 was busted in 9th place ($7,404.80).

Floes came into the final table as the second-shortest stack, and it was just a few hands after melano26's elimination when floes open-shoved from the small blind with A♦-5♣. It was a good time for the move, with a bunch of dead blinds and antes in the pot, but Mr. Shanish woke up with A♣-J♣ in the big blind and made the easy call. Already a dominant favorite, Mr. Shanish took final control on the flop as it came down 9♦-3♥-J♥. Running nines on the turn and river gave Mr. Shanish a full house, and gave floes 8th place money to the tune of $11,750.00.

Bahneyyy lost most of his stack in a huge hand earlier at the final table, but held on for a few more orbits before he got it all in preflop with A♠-5♣ against CruSader1981's A♣-9♠. The board did nothing to help Bahneyyy, running out 8♣-J♣-2♥-3♣-9♥, and CruSader1981 picked up some much-needed chips as Bahneyyy busted in 7th place ($20,826).

CruSader1981 played his short stack well, but he eventually found a number of outs he couldn't fade when he went out in 6th place ($30,082) at the hands of angevert in this hand.

After a lengthy period of five-handed jousting, one misstep by cspdealer left him watching the game from the sidelines after busting in 5th place ($39,338). The aggressive Mr. Shanish opened for a raise from the button, and cspdealer re-raised from the big blind with K♦-J♠. Mr. Shanish moved all in over the top, and cspdealer called, only to find he was dominated by Mr. Shanish's A♠-J♣. The flop hit both players as it came down A♣-K♣-9♥, but Mr. Shanish's top pair was well ahead of cspdealer's middle pair. The Q♥ on the turn gave cspdealer few more outs to stay alive, but the Q♣ on the river ended his tournament.

After losing a big pot to double up the short-stacked $saxo$, Mr. Shanish came right back on the very next hand to bust rivermanl in 4th place ($52,296.40). Rivermanl moved all in preflop from the small blind on a steal with Q♠-5♠, but Mr. Shanish found J♣-J♥ in the big blind and made the easy call. The flop of T♣-7♥-7♣ helped neither player, but the 5♣ on the turn gave rivermanl a few more ways to survive. None of those ways included the T♦, so when that fell on the river, there were only three.

With the stacks exceptionally close, the final three survivors took a few moments to discuss a deal. With the stacks almost even, the players decided on an even chop of the remaining money, with $10,000 left in the middle for the eventual champion. That locked up $106,468.22 for each player, a pretty good day's work by almost any standard. With their six-figure payday in hand, the remaining three players settled in to duke it out for the last $10K.

It only took a few minutes of folding before a big confrontation brewed up between our three survivors. The ever-aggressive Mr. Shanish opened for a raise from the small blind with A♦-9♥, and $saxo$ moved all in over the top with 3♥-3♠. The race was on as the flop came down 7♥-8♠-Q♥, and $saxo$ had faded the overcards. The 2♥ gave both players a flush draw, and the 4♥ on the river gave Mr. Shanish the bigger flush to send $saxo$ home in 3rd place.

Heads up play lasted only three hands, and Mr. Shanish won all of them to secure his extra $10,000 and the Sunday Warm-Up title. The last hand went down like this -

When the dust cleared, Mr. Shanish's aggressive play had locked up the last $10K on the table and made a $116,468.22 payday for himself. Congratulations to Mr. Shanish and all our Sunday Warm-Up players!

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MicroMillions 6: TOFF7 tops the field in Event #84 ($8.80 NL Hold'em)

It was a sneaky victory.

TOFF7 started the final nine as the short stack and would reprise that role several times throughout the final table.

Our eventual champion started six, four and three-handed play as the shortstack and went into the heads-up match with a 2-to-1 chip defecit.

But TOFF7 always doubled up when necessary. Then, in the final few hands of play, TOFF7 came out of the wordwoorks and toppled over waytoray, who had dominated the majority of the final table.

Aside from waytoray, TOFF7 outlasted a field of 11,478 players. They all paid $8.80 a piece and created a $91,824 prize pool.

TOFF7 took a big chunk of that, winning $11,048.70 for taking down Event #84.

His journey from shortest stack to champion started at the...

Final table

Seat 1: waytoray - 9,452,546
Seat 2: wjscjfrb00 - 2,617,358
Seat 3: caaarlserg - 7,553,253
Seat 4: Taarps - 5,950,831
Seat 5: AngelLV99 - 9,732,169
Seat 6: archi239 - 7,353,238
Seat 7: neafana - 3,956,190
Seat 8: fartovick25 - 8,598,459
Seat 9: TOFF7 - 2,175,956

waytoray doubled TOFF7 up after a flip on the second hand of play but then dealt an elimination the next.

Blinds were 125K/250K with a 31.25K ante and wjscjfrb00 raised to 600,000 from under-the-gun. caaarlsberg called from his immediate left and waytoray did the same from the big blind.

The flop came 9♦4♥2♥ and wjscjfrb00 moved all-in for 1.92 million. caaarlsberg folded and waytoray called with 9♠8♠.

wjscjfrb00 needed some help with A♦K♣ but the turn brought an 8♣ instead. The A♥ on the river was too little too late and wjscjfrb00 was eliminated in 9th, a finish worth $624.40.

Another quick one

A few hands later we had another flip and another elimination.

fartovick25 raised to 600,000 from the hijack and Taarps moved all-in from the big blind for 5.78 million. fartovick25 called all-in with A♣Q♦ and Taarps tabled J♦J♠.

The board ran 6♠6♦9♣K♠2♦ and fartovick25 hit the virtual rail while.

fartovick25's 8th place finished earned the Ukranian $918.24 while Taarps chipped up to 11.15 million.

My way or the waytoray

waytoray doubled up another player, lost the lead and then came vaulting back. The comeback and temporary dominating chip lead started with another elimination.

Blinds were up to 200K/400K with a 50K ante and waytoray raised to 880,000 from middle position.

neafana moved all-in for 1.94 million when action folded to him in the big blind and waytoray called. Then we had another flip that fell in waytoray's favor.

neafana showed A♥T♥ and was up against waytoray's 5♦5♥. The board ran J♦2♦4♦J♠2♠ and neafana won $1,836.48 for finishing 7th.

This hand put waytoray back up to 11 million and the Serbian player chipped up to 14.5 million before taking a massive lead.

waytoray raised to 1.32 million from the hijack and Taarps moved all-in for 7.2 million from the button. The blinds folded and waytoray called.

waytoray: J♥J♣
Taarps: A♥K♦

It was waytoray's day for flips as the board ran 4♠6♦2♠3♣Q♣ and eliminated Taarps in 6th place. Taarps won $2,754.72 for the finish while waytoray took the lead with 23 million.

This gave waytoray about 40 percent of the chips in play with five players left.

Then waytoray's final table clout increased even more.

A few hands later, waytoray raised to 1.32 million again and action folded to archi239 on the big blind. archi239 moved all-in for 5.63 million and waytoray called.

This time waytoray was behind with 9♦8♦ to archi239's A♦3♦.

But things where going waytoray's way. The flop paired waytoray's nine and archi239 was out in 5th, earning $3,672.

Now waytoray had more than half the chips in play with 31 million.

Turning tides

The way was paved with destruction, but then waytoray's massacre came to halt. First waytoray dipped to 26 million after doubling TOFF7's A♣K♣ up with A♥J♠.

Then waytoray lost the lead to AngelLV99.

waytoray raised to 1.32 million from under-the-gun and caaarlsberg moved all-in for 4.26 million from the button. AngelLV99 called from the small blind and waytoray called as well.

The flop came J♦5♠5♦ and AngelLV99 moved all-in for 11.23 million. waytoray folded and showed one card, the J♠, while the other two players revealed both.

caaarlsberg: A♣T♣
AngelLV99: 9♦9♥

An 8♠ came on the turn and a 6♣ was the last card caaarlsberg saw this tournament. AngelLV99 took the lead with 24.92 million, waytoray dipped to 22.43 million and caaarlsberg won $4,591.20 for finishing 4th.

Falling angel

AngelLV99 had the lead while TOFF7 started three-handed play as the short stack with 10 million.

This quickly changed after TOFF7 moved all-in from the small blind with pocket fours and got called by waytoray's overcards.

The fours held up and TOFF7 doubled up to 15.24 million.

Then AngelLV99 took a large hit. Blinds were 400K/800K with a 100K ante and AngelLV99 raised to 1.6 million from the button. TOFF7 folded and waytoray shoved for 12.64 million.

AngelLV99 called with Q♣J♦ and waytoray showed A♦5♣. The board came K♣7♥7♣6♣A♥ and waytoray doubled up to 25.99 million while AngelLV99 dropped to 14.21 million.

Then things got worse for AngelLV99.

Two hands later, waytoray raised to 1.76 million and AngelLV99 re-raised to 2.72 million.TOFF7 folded and waytoray moved all-in.

AngelLV called with T♠T♦ and was ahead of waytoray's A♠T♣.

But it wasn't meant to be for AngelLV99.

The 9♣2♣5♦3♣Q♣ board brought four clubs and a flush for waytoray. AngelLV99 was out in 3rd -- taking $6,611.32 in the process-- and play went...

Heads up

waytoray - 41,194,704
TOFF7 - 16,195,296

After a few small hands, players cut a deal and waytoray got guaranteed $11,179.54 while TOFF7 secured $10,058.70.

This still left $1,000 and MicroMillions glory for the champion.

In order to win, TOFF7 was in need of a double up.

With 400K/800K blinds and a 100K ante, waytoray raised to 1.6 million and TOFF7 made it 6.4 million. waytoray moved all-in for 39 million and TOFF7 called all-in.

waytoray: A♦9♥
TOFF7: T♣T♦

The board ran 8♦Q♦7♣6♦2♣ and TOFF7 doubled up to 36.39 million while waytoray dipped to 21 million.

Then it ended.

waytoray lost a few more million and then moved all-in for 15.42 million from the small blind. TOFF7 called and we had the final showdown of the tournament.

waytoray showd K♦8♣ for his tournament life while TOFF7 had him dominated with A♥8♦.

The final board read Q♦3♠T♥3♦9♥ and TOFF7 became our newest MicroMillions champion.

waytoray won the agreed-upon $11,179.54 while TOFF7 took the extra $1,000 and boosted his earnings up to $11,048.70.

MicroMillions-84: $8.80 NL Hold'em
Entrants: 11,478
Prize pool: $91,824.00
Places paid: 1,440

1. TOFF7 (Portugal) *11,048.70
2. waytoray (Serbia) *$11,179.54
3. AngelLV99 (Russia) $6,611.32
4. caaarlsberg (Lithuania) $4,591.20
5. archi239 (Russia) $3,672.96
6. Taarps (Latvia) $2,754.72
7. neafana (Romania) $1,836.48
8. fartovick25 (Ukraine) $918.24
9. wjscfrb00 (South Korea) $624.40

That's it for Event #84. The MicroMillions are coming to a close but there's still a chance to get in on the action. Several events --including the $22 Main Event with a $150K guarantee for first-- have yet to start, so check out the MicroMillions homepage for a list of the remaining tournaments and qualifiers to each one.

Alexander Villegas is a freelance contributor to the PokerStars Blog.

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A Herculean task makes progress

^

Unless you've been living under the poker community version of a rock for the last couple of months, you're aware that, in early August, PokerStars signed an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice that settled their suit against us. That agreement also included PokerStars acquiring many of the assets of Full Tilt Poker and committing to pay back their non-U.S. players within 90 days.

It is safe to say that we've been hustling to meet the 90-day stipulation (which falls on November 6th, coincidentally the day of the U.S. presidential election). Most of the poker community has been incredibly gracious and patient about waiting for the big day, but there are a few people who have wondered out loud, "Seriously - how hard can this be? Push the big green button on the servers, wait 30 seconds, and the famous Full Tilt deck-fanning animation appears on computer screens the world over."

If only it were that easy.

More than just a green button

For Exhibit A, I offer this video (along with some great commentary by PokerStars Head of Corporate Communications Eric Hollreiser) of the Full Tilt Poker servers and associated bits being airlifted into the Isle of Man from Guernsey on Friday, September 21st. And yes, that's a Lockheed C-130 Hercules bringing the CPUs in. I mean, we love the Manx 2 planes over here in the Isle of Man, but they're not equipped to carry 15 tons of computer hardware. In fact, that Hercules payload represents about half the total weight of computer server equipment that's coming over; the rest came by more traditional methods.

Eric Hollreiser reporting live from the airfield

To nobody's surprise, our IT people have abandoned their weekends to start the process of plugging cable A into socket B (I was just at corporate headquarters and saw some of the five kilometers of cables there). They have to go through the process of reassembling this 30 tons of silicon and metal and then ensuring that when they do, in fact, push the big green button, they are serving Full Tilt Poker to the Internet. Having spent 25 years in the IT business before joining PokerStars, I can tell you this is a daunting task; I'm supremely happy that our IT folk are as competent and dedicated as they are.

Of course, we didn't move all the hardware to the Isle of Man just because we discovered there was a Hercules available to do it. PokerStars chose the Isle of Man for its headquarters (and license) for many reasons back in 2005. It has a steady government and world-class civic and IT infrastructures. But one of the most compelling reasons for choosing the Isle of Man was its strong gaming regulations. They take very seriously their obligation to monitor their gaming licensees and provide oversight that further protects players.

Lee Jones

Furthermore, this discussion doesn't touch on myriad other aspects of restarting Full Tilt: staffing, organizational dynamics, account security, policy and procedure (I could go on).
But the bottom line is that non-US Full Tilt players will have access to their money by November 6th and Full Tilt Poker will be dealing cards that day, too.

Lee Jones is the head of Home Games at PokerStars and has been involved in the professional poker world for over 25 years. You can read his occasional Twitter-bites at @leehjones.

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Monster Pot Report: USA binks week's biggest play money pot

After several weeks of monstrous action at the high stakes Play Money tables, things cooled off a little to end the month of January. There were only two pots in excess of 2B chips and no action at all at the 5M/10M tables.

This week's top spot went to America, with 'GQ Jay29' earning 2.25B chips when his pocket aces held up against the pocket tens of 'viziato1991' at the 2.5M/5M tables. The board brought a range of unthreatening undercards and understandably all the chips went in the middle.

It was an almost exact reversal of fortunes in the second biggest hand of the week worth 2.07B chips. This time 'viziato1991' held the aces against a slightly improved pocket jacks for 'GQ Jay29'. They didn't wait until the second betting round this time around as all the chips went in after five pre-flop raises. The result was the same, with the aces holding up on a board of undercards.

There was one notable hand at 2.5M/5M that didn't quite scrape into the biggest of the week - it marked the return of 2003 WSOP Champion Chris Moneymaker to the Play Money tables. Chris has held the top spot on the Billionaire Club World Rankings for many weeks, as his competitors have been unable to reel him in.

He got off to a fine start on his return, lodging a 1B chip pot when his pocket tens became a set against 'GQ Jay29's aggressively played top pair. Things turned later in the week though for Chris, as he finished 1B down for the period - making it tight at the top in the latest World Rankings.

It was a hand of Omaha that took the honours at the 1M/2M stakes for the week. 'StakAttack22' claimed 65% of a five-way 1.23M chip pot when his flopped set of queens held up against the range of draws held by his opponents. 'mplsT' and 'hamid.felted' claimed a side pot each after starting the hand with superior stack sizes.

Finally, at 500K/1M it was a split pot between 'chefandre254' & 'V3.STAFF.V3' that ranked #1. Both held AQ, and were happy to see an ace hit the board. They played it cool until the turn when they decided to play for it all. By then the flush possibility was already gone, so the chips went back where they came from with a small donation from the blinds.

Here are the top 10 hands of all time as recorded by the Monster Pot Report:

26/11/2014 5,212,320,000 Sabz.wp
08/01/2015 4,222,160,000 FunBrunette
14/01/2015 4,068,940,000 GQ Jay29
21/01/2015 3,890,420,000 viziato1991
03/11/2014 3,681,980,000 Kleppr
25/10/2014 3,601,840,000 Kleppr
21/01/2015 3,586,620,000 cENTULICA
03/11/2014 3,563,120,000 Kleppr
22/10/2014 3,528,500,000 Kleppr
20/01/2015 3,459,200,000 MoXpade

This week's biggest pots broken down by stakes were as follows:

2.5M/5M Stakes:
2,253,960,000 GQ Jay29
2,074,420,000 viziato1991
1,838,200,000 GQ Jay29
1,668,100,000 rosco2000239
1,489,200,000 GQ Jay29
1,444,160,000 noaceorking
1,438,400,000 viziato1991 & badsociety86
1,357,440,000 NickyCashOut
1,339,380,000 noaceorking
1,294,640,000 viziato1991

1M/2M Stakes:
1,234,560,000 StakAttack22
1,166,230,000 pickle 0059
1,098,720,000 hamid.felted
1,054,020,000 Cloud_Hsieh
947,420,000 Cloud_Hsieh
866,460,000 pickle 0059
835,860,000 badsociety86
829,880,000 parallelo66
823,960,000 karkeyra
810,670,000 sara800

500K/1M Stakes:
694,100,000 chefandre254 & V3.STAFF.V3
522,096,000 be2010
458,066,000 Rose177
450,636,000 keledobe
441,908,000 Rose177
413,262,000 duca.fp
413,002,000 Lucky_Bet888
409,588,000 zerohard1984
397,000,000 3rdWind
394,000,000 scotmil

NOTE: If you are a high stakes Play Money player and would prefer not to have your User ID published, please contact support@pokerstars.net

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Video Lottery Terminals Lead To Social Concerns In Italy

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Published on December 30, 2013 by April Gardner

Italy has always been strongly opposed to online gambling, allowing only a select number of operators to rule their gaming market. In recent years, the World Trade Organization has forced Italy to come into compliance with European Union trade agreements.

In the time since the country has started to comply, a different type of gambling has slowly chipped away at some social disorder. Italians are gambling at video lottery terminals at a record pace, and lawmakers are concerned that the social problems being caused by the VLT's has become too great.

Lawmakers at a regional level have started to act on the social ills associated with increased gambling problems. While the problem is one that is seen throughout Italy, with thousands of residents admitting to having a gambling problem, national legislators are turning a blind eye, according to one local lawmaker.

"The government gets the profits, the territory gets the problems," said Lombardy regional lawmaker Angelo Ciocca.

The social problems have led to a series of initiatives to try and reel in the amount of gambling in Italy. Several proposals have been acted upon, with most leading to a downsizing of VLT's.

In Pavia, it is estimated that there is a slot machine for every 104 people in the city. Similar figures can be seen in other areas of Italy.

Nationally, the government is raking in hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue from the machines, leaving lawmakers to turn somewhat of a blind eye on the possible social ills. It is a stance that is duplicated in nearly every country where gambling tax revenue is a large portion of the country's budget balancing.

There's no longer a distinction between gambling and life," said sociologist Maurizio Fiasco. "There is no separate space for gambling, it is everywhere."

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UKIPT5 London Day 2: Level 13-16 updates (2,500/5,000 ante 500)

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2:57pm: Break time
The bubble burst during the last hand of level 16 and the players can celebrate making the money during a 25 minute break. You'll find level 17 updates here. -- NW

2:55pm: Charlie Combes bubbles UKIPT5 London
On the second hand of hand for hand play the bubble burst and Charlie Combes is the unlucky player who's left empty handed.

He shoved for 36,000 from under-the-gun with 6♣6♦ and one seat along Guðmundur Gunnarsson called with A♠J♠. The K♠7♥A♥3♦Q♣ board meant Combes busted in 112th place and everyone else is now in the money.

One player who'll be very happy at this turn of events is Asaf Turgeman who was down to 7,500 and two hands away from being the big blind. -- NW

Combes shakes hands with Gunnarsson

2:45pm: Hugging the bubble
Matti De Meulder (45,000), Charlie Combes (37,000) and Chi Hao Tsang (31,000) are just three of the players who're short stacked and hoping to survive the bubble. -- NW

2:38pm: Hand for hand
We're now on the bubble! Play will now be hand for hand until we lose one more player. Mike Wellend was one of those to bust just short of the cash when his Ace-jack lost out to Christopher Nazer's pocket queens. -- NW

2:35pm: The reign in Spain
The two chip leaders at the moment both hail from Spain. Juan Riera has 485,000 whilst Miguel Seoane has 455,000. -- NW

2:32pm: Cody and Gomez apply some pressure
Just four knock-outs away from the money, we couldn't help but notice some of the big names left in the field applying pressure to their tablemates.

PokerStars Team Pro Jake Cody shoved for approximately 80k in the small blind over Lawrence Harvey's 12k mid-position open and got it through, while on another table Diego Gomez shoved his last 11 big blinds on the button, forcing the blinds to both fold. Gomez emphatically turned over his K♠7♠ and raked in the pot. --JS

2:27pm: Titans collide
A huge pot has played out on the virtual bubble between two big stacks.

Adam Kossew has been an unstoppable force today so far, building up to over 250,000, although the deck conspired to stop him in his tracks moments ago.

Holding pocket kings, he went to war with Miguel Seoane (165,000 or so) preflop only for the cards to reach showdown revealing that Seoane had him cruelly beaten with pocket aces.

"Sick," commented a tablemate with several others, including Chaz Chattha shaking their heads at the cruel vagaries of poker.

Any hopes Kossew might be able to turn the equity tables evaporated on the A♠8♦7♣ board and two bricks later he was carving his stack up like a christmas turkey and serving it up to Seoane.

Seoane moves to 360,000, Kossew drops to below 100,000 -- RS

2:25pm: Martin plays Sherriff
"Welcome to the table," said JJ Hazan to Tony Martn after the latter had made a hero call against Lawrence Bayley.

There was 65,000 in the pot and a complete board of A♠8♣6♣3♠8♥ on the table as the PokerStars Blog picked up the action. Martin bet 30,000 only for Bayley to raise it up to 90,000 total. Back on Martin he tanked for a while before electing to call.

"You're good," said Bayley turning over Q♠T♠ for queen high, Martin showed K♥Q♣ for the king high hero call, he's up to 325,000 as a result whilst Bayley slips to 250,000. At the same table Brett Angell has 135,000 and David Clarkson has 230,000. -- NW

2:20pm: Just short of the cash
The bubble is fast approaching as 117 players remain and 111 get paid. Those who've fallen just short include: Peter Jaksland, Ross Greig, Fabian Donovan, Attila Farkas, Ben Vinson and Sandiep Khosa. -- NW

2:15pm: Clarke "I need clubs...oh"
Gary Clarke has been grinding a short stack for some time and finally his time to showdown came.

With very few chips he committed the last of them in a three-way pot - and when Nicolas Berry bet and isolated the K♠T♠6♣ board to leave the pair heads-up, Clarke announced "I need clubs!" turning up 5♣3♣.

As it turned out, that was the last thing he needed as Berry had been betting with A♣4♣.

Live cards then, the ace on the turn however saw Clarke's hopes perish and he leaves just shy of the money. -- RS

2:05pm: The Dice Man gets caught on the river
With the blinds about to rise to 2,500/5,000, we noticed legendary poker pro Willie 'The Dice Man' Tann involved in a chunky pot with the man sitting to his right, online qualifier Haresh Thaker. The two have been rather talkative since Tann was moved to the table, so it was interesting to see how they would play against each other.

We picked up the action on the turn. with the board reading A♦9♥6♦ 2♣, Thaker checked to Tann who proceeded to bet 15,000. Thaker thought for a few moments before making the call.

The river brought another deuce, the 2♠, pairing the board and busting any diamond flush draws. Thaker checked again, leading Tann to lead out for 25k. It didn't take long for Thaker to make the call with K♦9♦ for second pair, which turned out to be good as Tann threw his hand towards the dealer. -- JS

2pm: Matti at the double
At the start of level 15 Team PokerStars Pro Matti De Meulder was sitting on a stack of just 83,000 but he's now up to 180,000 after getting a double up. "Nines against ace-eight," he told the PokerStars Blog. -- NW

Matti De Meulder

1:55pm: Chip counts
We're just 20 players off the money now, but which players are in position to bully the bubble and who'll be hanging on for dear life?

William Ho - 230,000
Billy Chattaway - 215,000
Piotr Tuczynski - 205,000
Matti De Meulder - 180,000
Kevin Allen - 180,000
Beyzait Zorlu - 140,000
Chaz Chattha - 100,000
Charlie Combes - 91,000
Diego Gomez - 60,000
Paul Febers - 64,000

With 128 players remaining the average stack is currently 143,500. -- NW

1:45pm: Prime stacks
Here is news on how some of the better known players still in contention are proceeding.

Willie Tann - The diceman has been a jovial presence all day. Wrapped up warm in a scarf he sits with a comfortable 180,000.

Jake Cody - It's been a solid day for Jake, chipping up in small increments he has a roughly average stack of 119,000 at present.

Nik Persaud - Nik's been chatty but focused and has 140,000 to his name right now.

Andy Black - A buzz of activity as usual, Black has 122,000 as we approach the money spots. -- RS

Willie Tann is warm, cosy and stacked

Blinds up: 2,500/5,000 ante 500

1:35pm: Gone but not forgotten
It continues to be a maelstrom of activity on the floor. The carpet leading into the poker room is wearing thin with the amount of traffic as players pour out by their droves with their chip stacks depleted.

Here are the most recent eliminations:

John Allison
Ewan Le Marquand
Maurizio Pili
Ryan Barr
Andrey Dimitrov
Dominic Wells
Conall Smyth
Steven Watts
Pratik Ghatge
Nicholas Atkins
Anthony Gray
Stephen Eames
Michał Ozimek
Jabran Zahid
Tai Phuoc Du
Pawan Thaper
Lawrie Inman
Brandon Sheils
Philippe Souki -- RS

1:25pm: Outer-room casualties
As players returned to their seats after the break to continue their quest for the £95,100 first-place prize, many others made their way out the door. Some of the names from the outer rooms that have been knocked out during the first level of play here on Day 2 include:

Richard Milner
Daniel Bland
Samuel Orledge
William Dorey
Guy Taylor
Thien Chung
Conall Smyth
Frank Bastow

- JS

1:23pm: Seat open
Good news for those who like short-handed poker. All tables are now playing eight handed. -- NW

1:20pm: Wellend gets there twice
On the first hand back from the break Mike Wellend moved all-in from the cut-off for 31,500 and Nick Mazur called from the small blind. Wellend was in trouble as his K♣Q♣ was dominated by Mazur's A♠K♠. The 7♠Q♦6♣ flop saw him take the lead though and just to rub it in he made his flush as the board ran out 3♣7♣.

Wellend up to around 70,000 whilst Mazur frops to 32,000. -- NW

1:17pm: Milioto rises
Angelo Milioto has breasted the 200,000 mark, his latest coup seeing him send Michele De Giovanni on his way - jacks holding versus pocket eights.

Also gone is Nick Mazur, whose slim advantage with A-2 failed to hold against an opponent's K-J - a king appearing on the flop to scupper his chances.

"Not my day" he muttered sadly as he left the table.

133 players remain, the money spots starting to come into view... -- RS

1:13pm: Clock ticks down
In the last hand before the break, online qualifier Thomas Hemming from the UK was forced to make a decision for his tournament life. Hemming had opened from the cut off before Fernando Marin shoved his larger stack over the top.

It wasn't a decision Hemming made lightly; in fact, he didn't make it at all. After a few minutes spent in the tank and with the 20 minutes of the first break of the day ticking away, Marin called the clock. The 60 seconds were counted down all the way and Hemming's hand was dead. He flipped over A♦T♥, before Marin showed his Q♣Q♠. - JS

1:10pm: The return of Ross Boatman
"This is my first poker tournament since March 2014," says Ross Boatman to the PokerStars Blog during the first break in play. "I've been busy doing my other job," he continues.

Indeed he has, for the past 10 months Boatman has been starring in a National Theatre play called 'Great Britain'. It's a satirical comedy about the phone hacking scandal. "I played a reporter from the gutter press," explains Boatman. "I've been an actor for 30 years and it's the first time I've worked for The National," he explained. "The play transferred to the West End at the Theatre Royal Haymarket. It was fun whilst I did it but I'm glad it's over!" he said.

As for the poker he's up to 300,000 and amongst the chip leaders presently although you might not see Boatman at too many tournaments this year. "I'm currently waiting to hear back about two roles, one's a theatre role and another is a TV part. I've also got a part in a movie, a British independent gangster film." -- NW

1pm: De Meulder looking up

Blinds up: 2,000/4,000 ante 500

12:45pm: End of level 14; Break
Following that incendiary two levels, the players are taking stock with a 15 minute break. We'll be back soon for the resumption of level 15. -- RS

12:40pm: Blood on the carpet

What a blistering opening two levels it has been. There's been wholesale slaughter at the felt, the bodies piling up as the tournament roster has been brutally cut from 216 to less than 130 players remaining.

The lightning culling of the field has meant that the average stack has risen, so this rate of attrition will have to slow. It's been an entertaining ride while it has lasted though!

Here are some of the latest casualties of the bloodshed:

Elisha Cohen
Brett Schuman
Gustav Kock
Milan Stanislav
Noel Broadbent
Jose Aguilera
Daniel Kneafsey
David Tierney
Paul Vas Nunes
Alex Spencer
George Evans
Edgard Cuenca
Robinder Dinsa
Nigel Holliday
Bogdan Jaworski -- RS

12:35pm: Big stacks: featuring Boatman, Bayley and Bounsall
The average stack at the moment is 119,000 which weighs in at just under 40 big blinds. Whilst some struggle with a short stack the big stacks are in prime position to take advantage of the impending bubble.

Ross Boatman is one of those, he's sat in the same seat the Fintan Gavin occupied for some time yesterday. Boatman started the day with just over 190,000 but was busy stacking chips and is up to 260,000. That's a good stack but not as impressive as Alex Bounsall's. He's up to 300,000 from a start of day 200,400. And Lawrence Bayley - who was the Day 1A chip leader - might have dropped a couple of big blinds but he's still chugging along nicely on 250,000.

He's at the same table as defending UKIPT London champion Brett Angell, the 'Boro boy has 90,000. -- NW

Boatman is building his stack nicely

12:25pm: Plenty of action
There's just been a nice double up on table 7 for online qualifier Dariusz Paszkiewicz, whose A♠T♠ held up against Jay Samani's K♥7♣. All the chips went in pre-flop, and Paszkiewicz let out a euphoric "YES!" as he dragged in the much-needed pot. Having started Day 2 with just 15,900, his stack is definitely moving in the right direction.

Meanwhile, a big pot was brewing over on table 12. With the board reading 7♥A♦3♣ 4♠ 6♦, Milan Stanislav from the Czech Republic led out for 23,100 into what was already a substantial pot, sending France's Vincent Meli deep into the tank. After a couple of minutes, Meli let out a loud sigh and threw his cards in the muck reluctantly.

Players from the outer tables are slowly being moved in as more and more seats become available. It seems like every other hand you'll hear a dealer announce "Seat open!", with bust-outs becoming fast and furious. - JS

12:20pm:Rigali guns down rivals
Patience is an important attribute in poker. If you can show discipline to pick out good spots, it can pay dividends, and Sophie Rigali's patience has just been rewarded. Down to just ten big blinds, she managed to find pocket aces on the button, shoved and found not one but two allins behind her, Hak-Mann Lee and Ryan Barr.

Lee was particularly unfortunate, with pocket kings whilst Barr tabled A♣J♦ - his glum face reflecting his lack of optimism at slipping the noose here.

Rigali's aces held sway over the J♥9♥2♦3♠9♦ board and she triples up to 95,000 whilst Barr's pesimism proved apt as he was stacked and quickly dissolved into the early afternoon sunshine.

Meanwhile a smiling but shell-shocked Lee takes a hit, down to 30,000 himself. -- RS

12:10pm: The numbers are in
Late last night we had confirmation that 742 players had entered the UKIPT5 London Main Event. Given where the tournament is taking place it's no surprise to learn that most of the players who entered were from the UK or Ireland.

A staggering 500 on the entrants are from the UK, which works out at 67% of the field and with 26 Irish men and woman joining the fray they account for a further 4% of the field. The top five is rounded out by Spain (23) Poland (20) and Norway (19). Third and fourth is perhaps not surprising given both countries have strong representation in the UK in terms of poker players who've relocated to make their living here in the UK. But Norway, that's a puzzler!

Lithuania - with 16 entrants - also had strong representation but there were 15 countries for whom there was one lone warrior heading into poker battle for them. If a player from Andorra, Armenia, Brazil, Canada, Croatia, Finland, Iceland, India, Lebanon, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Nigeria, Oman or Sri Lanka wins it really will be a turn up for the books. All this information is available in a pretty pie chart below. -- NW

Where in the world do these poker players come from?

12:03pm: Inman falls to Banas
Lawrie Inman was just facing a decision for his tournament life...and he made the wrong one.

Facing a board of 7♠9♠2♦J♦ Inman had led out for 28,000 and Marek Banas had moved all-in for 85,000, sufficient to cover Inman.

With over 50,000 left, Inman could have folded to fight another day, but he clearly had a very low opinion of Banas' range as he vacillated before calling with just K♠Q♣ for overcards and a gutshot.

His bold approach wasn't rewarded as Banas quietly turned over pocket deuces for a set. Inman announced "I'm dead" before grabbing his coat. He still had four outs to get him out of jail, but they didn't arrive on the full house-completing 9♣ river.

Inman out, Banas rises to 175,000... --RS

Blinds up: 1,500/3,000, 400 ante

11.50am: Dropping quickly
It's a poker cliché, but Day 2 always sees carnage in the opening levels as players bust out at a frightening speed. It's been no different here at The Hippodrome Casino as 'seat open' has been the phrase of the opening level.

Another batch of players have felt the hangman's noose tighten around their tournament life as: Shaun Conning, Smit Trivedi, Martynas Vitkauskas, Bouali Saiah, Lee Brooks, Daniel Bland, Michael Lee, Scott Walker, Martyn Frey, Andrew Lees, Danny Toffel, John Cleverly-James, Jack Loraine, Ilana Belsky and Gerry Lillie have all been unceremoniously dispatched. -- NW

11:40am: There's no escaping the shuffle
You'd be hard pressed to escape the sound of chips rustling and shuffling in the Hippodrome Casino today, as we've currently got play spread out across four areas on three different floors. Everywhere you turn there's action, but as more and more people begin to bust they'll eventually come together in the main rooms.

Over on the Hippodrome's Poker Deck you'll find Team PokerStars Pro Matthias De Meulder, online poker beast Ben 'vindog03' Vinson, and Spain's Diego Gomez. Fresh off a deep run at the PCA, Gomez came into day 2 fourth in chips. With only three tables on the deck, it wont' be long before they're moved to join the rest of the action. -- JS

Diego Gomez

11:36am: Slick Dubai runs into bullets
Dave "Dubai" Shallow came back with high hopes of spinning up his 30BB stack but a harsh cooler has had the opposite effect.

Raising UTG to 6,000 with A♦K♥, Shallow saw start of day chipleader Piotr Tuczynski 3-bet from UTG+1 to 12,500 and Clayton Ka Cheuk Koo make a committing 4-bet from the button. Shallow announced all-in, Tuczynski shrugged and did the same - understandable as he had Q♦Q♥ but button Koo made a delighted snap-call as he held A♠A♣ - a beautiful time to find the nuts.

A board of 7♥8♠J♣5♥2♣ held few gremlins for Koo and he punched the air as he trebles up to close to 300,000. Tuczynski drops to 230,000 and Shallow is out.

"Bad luck mate," Shallow was told, but he was upbeat. "It's alright son!" he said with a smile as he departed the tournament arena to go and enjoy the rest of his day. --RS

Cold deal sees Dubai iced

11:25am: Cody climbs, De Meulder drops
Contrasting fortunes for the two members of Team PokerStars Pro in the opening level of the day. Jake Cody started the day with 78,500 but is up to almost 100,000 after winning a three-way pot. He opened to 5,100 on the button and both Andrew Sweeney and Rumit Somaiya tagged along from the blinds.

The flop was a tasty looking A♠Q♥K♣, it checked to Cody, he bet 8,500 and Sweeney was the only caller. The 6♦ fell on the turn and a second barrel of 13,700 from Cody was enough to earn the triple-crown winner the pot.

Unfortunately it's not been a good start for Matti De Meulder, the Belgian has dropped to 40,000 from his start of day 64,200. -- NW

11:20am: Brooks overthrown by Koo
Lee Andrew Brooks is the latest man to see his UKIPT hopes dissolve.

He got into a preflop war with Clayton Koo, though his A-5 was severely outgunned by Koo's pocket queens.

He failed to hit across the 6♥4♦T♥3♦T♠ board and was left congratulating his opponent and spilling out of the tournament arena to discover alternate diversions for fun on this bright Saturday in London.

Koo meanwhile moves to 90,000. --RS

11:05am: Fast start causes carnage
It's no fun sitting and grinding a microstack all day. Many of the shorter stacks have taken the aggressive route toward chipping up, looking to spin up or go home trying. This has led to a number of eliminations in the early going, uniquitous shouts of "seat open at x" echoing round the poker room.

Here are some of the players whose bid for glory was shot down:

Oliver Simpson
Jon Warmerdam
Alexander Steblina
Richie Allen
Andrew Lees
John Cleverly-James
Miguel Riera Suarez

Bad luck guys! -- RS

10:45am: The march to the money begins
Over the first three days of the UKIPT the numbers have been steadily going up. Over three starting flights 742 players entered the fray and as Day 2 starts just 216 remain. That number will steadily decrease.

The first milestone, as such, will be the money! Over 50% of the remaining field will get paid as 111 players in total will make the money. A min cash is going to be worth £1,260 whilst the winner of UKIPT5 London will take home £95,100. The full payout structure is as below.

1st. £95,100
2nd. £58,000
3rd. £41,000
4th. £31,000
5th. £24,600
6th. £18,600
7th. £13,300
8th. £9,138
9th. £7,200
10th - 11th. £5,900
12th - 13th. £5,250
14th - 15th. £4,740
16th - 17th. £4,230
18th - 20th. £3,730
21st - 23rd. £3,230
24th - 27th. £2,730
28th - 31st. £2,350
32nd - 39th. £2,070
40th - 55th. £1,815
56th- 71st. £1,590
72nd - 95th. £1,385
96th - 111th. £1,260

Chips mean prizes

The overall chip leader heading into Day 2 is Piotr Tuczynski, the Pole topped the Day 1B chip counts and starts today with 332,100. Other players well placed to make a deep run are: Lawrence Bayley (265,000), Ross Boatman (190,100), Nik Persaud (179,600) and Willie Tann (169,300).

There are still two members of Team PokerStars Pro in contention with Jake Cody (78,500) and Matti De Meulder (64,200) back for Day 2. Play is about to get under way the plan today is to play 10 levels of 50 minutes which should mean play finishes around 8.30pm.

Let's shuffle up and deal.

PokerStars Blog reporting team at PokerStars UKIPT London: Rod Stirzaker, Nick Wright and Jack Stanton. Photos by Mickey May

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RPT St Petersburg: From zero to $300,000 hero

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When you start a final table as the short stack, you have two real choices: show no fear and go for the win, no matter how unlikely, or exert minimal risk and hope to climb a few cash positions.

Oleg Suntsov was in just this sticky spot yesterday, starting the final table of the inaugural Russian Poker Tour event in St Petersburg so behind the pack he was in danger of being cast adrift.

Oleg Suntsov

In fact, so short was he that his 64,000 chip stack needed to double, double again - and then yet again before he could get up to the dizzy heights of chip leader Dimitru Gaina, from Moldova, who had more than 500,000 in front of him.

Yet Oleg had been chip leader after day one, a fact that implied he would not have been content to sit back at the final table in order to cash a bit extra to add to his bankroll.

And so it proved: he wanted the win, and he wanted it bad. Hours, and eight defeated players later, he had got his prize - the big prize of more than 10 million Russian rubles. That's about $300,000 to you and I.

Impressive stuff, then, from the young Russian, who is a regular player on the tournament scene in his home city of St Petersburg.

Suntsov, right, collects his bumper prize

This was a fine destination to kick off the PokerStars-sponsored Russian Poker Tour. In total, 201 players forked out $5,000 to play - way above expectations - including PokerStars qualifiers, Team PokerStars Pros Alex Kravchenko and Vanessa Rousso, and Ivan Demidov, the PokerStars-sponsored player who final tabled the WSOP Main Event just months ago.

Such was the interest that esteemed tournament director Thomas Kremser and his staff ran a list of alternates in order to squeeze everyone in.

Here's how the final table looked when they sat down:

1. Dimitru Gaina, Moldova, 501,000
2. Sergey Popuk, Russian, 302,000
3. Sergey Solntsev, Russia, 256,000
4. Vadim Markushevsky, Belarus, 256,000
5. Anatoly Ozhenilok, Russia, 203,000
6. Bulat Bikmetov, Russia, 181,000
7. Evgeny Zaytsev, Russia, 178,000
8. Alexander Pantukhin, Russia, 76,000
9. Oleg Suntsov, Russia, 64,000

First out of the door was Evgeny Zaytsev. He pushed all-in with J-J against Bikmetov's Q-Q, but neither of his two outs arrived to save him.

Soon after, Suntsov got the first of his necessary double ups - against chip leader Gaina. Gaina then completed his riches-to-rags story when he busted, pushing with an open-ended straight draw but running into Vadim Markushevsky's nut flush draw, which filled up on the river.

Dimitru Gaina

Out in seventh place was Ozhenilok, unluckily with As-Ks against Bikmetov's Q-8. The flop was 8s-4s-9x giving Bikmetov the pair, but Ozhenilok the nut flush draw. The turn, Qs, filled his flush and put Bikmetov behind with two pair - but the river was another 8, filling Bikmetov's full house.

Next out - and also very unluckily - was Sergey Popuk, who must have thought his A-A was safe against Alex Pantukhin's K-Q. Nope! The board came K-Q-5-8-7 and Popuk was collecting his coat.

Out in fifth was Bikmetov, who ran his A-8 into Markushevsky's A-J (the turn was a jack and so, in one of those completely unnecessary moments, was the river!). Markushevsky then dominated for a period - and got lucky to eliminate Solnstev in fourth place, calling with A-5 against 8-8, and waiting until the river to see an ace win him the hand.

Vadim Markushevsky

It was that man Markushevsky again who accounted for the third-place finisher, Pantukhin. This time Markushevsky called with Q-J to 7-7 - and hit a jack on the flop.

Suntsov had been quieter while Markushevsky was on his wrecking-ball run, but he had still moved up to 800,000 when the pair got to heads-up - not far short of Markushevsky's 1.2 million.

Suntsov picked up a few small pots to edge himself into the chip lead and then, as so often happens, one sledgehammer hand finished the three-day tournament off.

Markushevsky raised to 60,000, Suntsov called. The flop came 6-9-3, and both players parted with another 100,000. On the turn - a five - Suntsov bet 220,000, Markushevsky moved all in... call! Markushevsky had K-9, Suntsov the dominating Q-Q, and the harmless two on the river meant Suntsov took the crown.

The event had been a great success, and next the RPT moves to Moscow, where the main event starts on February 25.

If St Petersburg was anything to go by, it should be a cracker.

For fuller coverage of the St Petersburg event, you'll have to learn to read Russian. Once you've done that, head over to our Russian blog, and enjoy.

But for now, you may be content with a parting picture of the city...

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Book your place on the Estrellas Poker Tour

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The sixth season of the Estrellas Poker Tour is nearly upon us, with March 9 set as the date when the Casino Gran Madrid will open its doors on another year of the Tour, one that simply won't accept that it's a regional one.

If last season was anything to go by the Estrellas doesn't play by the rules. It attracts players not just from Spain, but from across Europe and beyond. It's a kind of self-fulfilling thing - the prize pools get so big that players are unable to resist, and fly in from all over the place to play. That boosts the prize pools even more. Just take a look at the Main Event in Barcelona last August, with more than 2,500 players, for what proof you might need. It now stands as the biggest freezeout tournament PokerStars has ever held.

All the more reason to start your Estrellas campaign early, by winning your way to the Spanish capital in an online satellite which are now underway on PokerStars.

It's the first opportunity of many chances to qualify during the tour's sixth season, with packages to win for each Main Events. It means you can get to Madrid in March, Marbella in June, and Barcelona in August, for as little as a few dollars, or even just a handful of Frequent Player Points.

What's more the Estrellas Poker Tour offers a few off the field bonuses. Madrid and Barcelona rank among the most beautiful cities in Europe, with character, culture and charm to sooth even the worst bad beat. And Marbella? That place will turn the dial up on your summer both on and off the felt.

This year there's also the opportunity to qualify live for each ESPT Main Event, with the ESPT and Casino Valencia joining forces to offer live satellites.

With so much action scheduled the ESPT has teamed up with the Global Poker index to reward the season's very best players. Last year the PoY contest went down to the wire. This year there will be two tiers of Player of the Year: the Silver tier will award points for all events with a buy-in of $600 and lower, while the Gold tier will count all events across the EPT Festivals, regardless of the buy-in. It means every player, regardless of stakes, can take a shot at Player of the Year glory.

The Estrellas Main Event field in Barcelona

It all starts on March 9, 2015. Find all the details for this season on the Estrellas Poker Tour website.

---

Stephen Bartley is a staff writer for the PokerStars Blog.

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