Jude Ainsworth heads UKIPT Nottingham
Friday, 9 May 2014
After a steady start on Wednesday, the £1,000 UKIPT Nottingham Main Event roared into life on Thursday with 419 players taking to the Dusk Dill Dawn tables for Day 1B.
By the close, 113 still had chips with the familiar figure of Jude Ainsworth leading the charge for the £1 million prize pool. The Irishman got a handy slice of luck when his pocket jacks outran pocket kings early on and put that momentum booster to great use to finish with 238,600.
Also enjoying an excellent start to the Main Event was Richard Kellett. The Englishman chopped the High Roller for £68,000 on Wednesday and is well placed for another deep run. He bagged up 228,700.
As expected, plenty of big names chose the second flight to make their tournament bow. Former World Champ Chris Moneymaker's stay was a brief one but he'll be back for Day 1C. As will Full Tilt Ambassador Martins Adeniya who busted midway through the day. Fellow Full Tilt Ambassador Dermot Blain enjoyed more fortune, finishing the day with a very playable 70,000.
There are plenty of links between football and poker and that trend continued yesterday with former Fulham and Northern Ireland manager Lawrie Sanchez amongst the hopefuls in Nottingham.
Joining the current Apollo Smyrni boss was Reading defender Royston Drenthe. The Dutchman put the disappointment of missing out on the play offs behind with an impressive day 1b performance. They finished with 81,000 and 101,600 respectively.
The combined field from Days 1a and 1b stands at 594, well on the way to smashing the £1m guarantee. The third and final opening day is off at noon and is all set to be a biggie.
Jude Ainsworth, Ireland, 238,600
Richard Kellett, United Kingdom, 228,700
Jonas Lauck, Germany, 220,500
Andros Spyrou, United Kingdom, 211,900
Neil Raine, United Kingdom, 180,900
Van Hieu Hoang, Vietnam, 175,400
Dafydd Williams, United Kingdom, 168,400
Matthew Simpson, United Kingdom, 164,300
Patrick Lawless, United Kingdom, 156,700
Ramey Shaio, United Kingdom, 154,900