Emmett Mullin from Omagh in Northern Ireland has beaten a field of 698 at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Galway to take down the first UKIPT trophy of 2012 and the cool €100,000 that comes with it.

The final table took just five hours to drop from the nine who made Day 4 to the last man standing. An aggressive eight made up the official final line-up (Joris Ruijs, the Day 1a chip leader, falling in 9th) featuring the two time UKIPT champion Nick Abou Risk, who wasn’t to make it a triple but exited in 7th place, winning €14,700.
Although London-based Joe Roberts started the day strongly, he finished 3rd (€51,900) meaning heads up play was an all-Irish affair. Emmett Mullin and Ronan Gilligan started play one-on-one with almost equal stacks. 

The final table is now set here at UKIPT Galway, with local player Ronan Gilligan holding the chip lead as the last nine players standing approach the business end of the tournament. The winner of this first leg of 2012 will walk away with €114,900, out of a total prizepool of €473,945. 

Narrowly missing out on a seat at the final were Thomas Hall and Alan Gilmore (the start of day chip leader), eliminated in 11th and 10th place for €5,180 each.

The final day’s play will start at 12pm when these players reconvene for the last time, to reach the official Final Table of 8, then to decide a winner:

The UKIPT Galway Main Event continued today with a combined field of 311 players returning to the Radisson Blu Hotel to play down to the money, the overall prizepool totalling €473,945. Out of a total of 698 entrants from 34 countries, 81 are paid; first prize, to be awarded with the trophy on Monday, is €114,900. 
An unpredictable day’s poker found the Day 1a chip leader Thomas Finneran on the rail outside of the money, along with EPT Champion Kevin MacPhee who was eliminated by UKIPT golden boy Nick Abou Risk.

Once the bubble burst with the elimination of Paul McGovern, the path to the rail was well trodden until just 59 remained to progress to Day 3. Out in front lies Alan Gilmore with 467,000 chips but also nearing the half million mark are Aleksandras Rusinovas from Lithuania and Kevin Monroe. All three players at the top are PokerStars qualifiers, guaranteed at least €1,420 for their efforts thus far.

Day 1b at the €770 UKIPT Galway Main Event saw exactly 400 players enter the fray, bringing the total number of runners for the tour’s first stop of the year to 698. This makes the prizepool a huge €473,945, with €114,900 awaiting the eventual winner.

In pole position heading into Day 2 will be Joris Ruijs – today’s end of day leader - with 108,100 chips, looking to consolidate his lead as the field drops from 311 towards the prize positions (starting at 81st – click here for the prizepool breakdown).

Click here for the full list of Day 2 players, with their chip counts.

Click here for a list of all 698 entrants.

The Day 1b field included some of the stand-out players of previous seasons; UKIPT Season 2 Leaderboard winner Sam Razavi, tour stalwarts Max Silver and Nick Abou Risk, and seven-time casher Rupinder Bedi were among the players who stepped up to the felt. Of these, just Abou Risk made it through to Day 2 with a decent stack of 65,500.

Team PokerStars Pro Liv Boeree played today along with Team Online’s Mickey ‘mement_mori’ Petersen and Grzegorz ‘DaWarsaw’ Mikielewicz, with Petersen still flying the online flag with 68,300.

The Main Event continues at the Inis Mór ballroom at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Galway, until the 20th February (play resumes at midday throughout), while side events and cash games run alongside it. 

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.
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.