UKIPT London's a record breaker

UKIPT London's a record breaker

Friday, 8 March 2013

Attracting large fields isn’t something the organisers of UKIPT have struggled with this season and their latest tournament incarnation in London has been no different.

Over the past three days the £700+70 Grand Final Main Event in the UK’s capital has attracted an impressive 1,099 player, thanks in part to yesterday’s 491 entrants.


The bumper field has not only been well stocked with online qualifiers, such as Day 1B chip leader Luke Bird, but world-class pros who are used to grinding $10,000 buy-in events on a bi-monthly basis. Indeed, it seems that this season – and at UKIPT London especially – the tour has grown in popularity and is now seen as a worthwhile proposition for some of the game’s best.


Yesterday’s surviving cast was certainly a testament to that fact, as the final 116 players consisted of poker stars both old and new. Having already taken down two events this season, Wojtek Barzantny could be on course for a third after bulldozing his way through the day and finishing with a commanding 275,900 chips.


However, the young German won’t have an easy ride when Day 2 kicks off later. Also making through a tough day was the likes of Marvin Rettenmaier (129,900), Ben Vinson (125,500), Olivier Busquet (45,900) and Rupinder Bedi (43,400).


He will maintain his lead though when the three starting fields are merged into one homogenous pool of 248 hopefuls all looking to claim the lion’s share of the £746,221 prizepool. Indeed, after passing the 144th place bubble, each player will be looking to scoop the £156,800 top prize.


The chip leaders heading into day 2 are as follows:


Wojtek Barzantny Germany 275900
Weideng Wang United Kingdom 213400
Benjamin Jackson United Kingdom 197700
Luke Bird United Kingdom 196800
Thomas Hall United Kingdom 181600
David Urban Slovakia 162400
Daniel Rudd United Kingdom 161500
Philippe Souki United Kingdom 159800
Patryk Slusarek United Kingdom 159100
Paul Kerr United Kingdom 150000


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Tags: UKIPT Grand Final 2013, Wojtek Barzantny, Marvin Rettenmaier