UKIPT Galway - Thomas Finneran Leads after Day 1a

The first stop on the 2012 PokerStars UKIPT saw 298 players convene at midday for Day 1a in the Inis Mór ballroom at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Galway. There followed eight levels of fast and furious tournament poker which saw Thomas Finneran end the day as chip leader with 89,600 chips. Close behind him are Emmett Mullin and George Stoddart with over 84,000 each.

Previous success is no guarantee in this game; two-time UKIPT champion Joeri Zandvliet was the very first player out of this €700 Main Event, and the rail soon filled around him as the likes of Fergal Nealon, Liam Flood, Fintan Gavin and Day 1a’s sole Team PokerStars Pro Jude Ainsworth were eliminated. In all, over half were sent to the cash tables or out to join Galway’s vibrant nightlife over the course of play, leaving 136 to return to the felt on Saturday.

Click here to view the chip counts of all Day 1a survivors.

Day 1b looks set to top 300 players and bring fresh faces to the first UKIPT of the New Year. Follow the action as it happens on the PokerStars Blog and check out www.ukipt.com for full player lists and event gallery.

Day 1b starts at 12pm local time – Team PokerStars Pro Liv Boeree and Team Online’s Mickey ‘mement_mori’ Petersen along with Grzegorz ‘DaWarsaw’ Mikielewicz will be amongst the players, while side events also get underway.