Monroe hit all of the right notes today

Who needs sand, sunshine and sangria you probably have cards, chips and a chair? Not 409 poker players from world wide who all took part within the second of 3 starting flights of UKIPT Marbella.

A total of 39 countries were represented today and whilst the UK, Ireland and Spain accounted for 249 in their number there have been players from as far afield as Algeria and Uruguay on the felt today. When the allotted dozen 45-minute levels have been played it was the karaoke king Kevin Monroe who claimed the chip lead.

The Irishman enjoyed a incredible day running up his starting stack of 25,000 to a bag busting 321,000 by the point the overall whistle blew. 

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Just like within the England v Wales game it was an in depth run contest right up until the tip of play. Just pipped into second was Albert Sapiano who finished the day on 319,400. "I got lucky a few times," was his deadpan response to his day on the tables. A raft of different players increased their stack handsomely with David Greene (237,700), James Mitchell (224,600) and June Edwards (213,400) all well placed to make a deep run on the money.

A successful day for Sapiano

Speaking of which, at this point we've usually got the prize pool information, total collection of runners and the overnight seat draw handy. But, for the primary time on a UKIPT we're trialling something that's worked well on other PokerStars tours, a turbo Day 1C. It is a flight that's only open to anyone who busted Day 1A or Day 1B and will not wrap up until around 2.30am CET.  As a result we cannot bring you the Day 2 seat draw just yet, but control the @UKIPT and @PokerStarsBlog twitter accounts for that information, that allows you to be available before play starts tomorrow. You will see the chip counts of the 182 survivors from the hole two flights here.

Moreira de Melo must try again if she desires to make Day 2

One player who'll most definitely play Day 1C is Team PokerStars SportsStars Fatima Moreira de Melo. She got as high as 49,000 at one point today however the blinds and antes started to eat away at her stack and he or she exited three quarters of how in the course of the day.

Other familiar faces who might be back for Day 1C include: Kuljinder Sidhu, Renee Xie, Chris Dowling, Mateusz Moolhuizen and David Clarkson. That talented quintet all tried and failed at the first attempt today.

Good day for Gomez

Whilst one of the most big names faltered they'll be various notables within the Day 2 seat draw tomorrow all seeking to get themselves a Spanish Flag. The varied talents of: Diego Gomez (150,200), Lam Trinh (122,300), Kjell Lindqvist (72,500) and Niko Koop (65,000) will return tomorrow.

A tough day for Leo

Also through is De Melo's best bud, Leo Margets. The 2 were seated at adjacent tables at first of the day and that made for a jovial atmosphere of their a part of the room. Margets will return tomorrow with a stack of 43,200 and work to do.

You can atone for all of the Day 1B action here, Day 2 starts at noon tomorrow and that's the reason when we'll pick up the action again. We'll bring you a temporary overview of what happened through the turbo Day 1C as Day 2 kicks off. But for now, goodnight from Marbella.

PokerStars Blog Reporting Team at UKIPT6 Marbella: Marc Convey and Nick Wright. Photos by Mickey May and Rene Velli. Follow the PokerStars Blog on Twitter: @PokerStarsBlog 

Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: Estrellas Poker Tour]