Full Tilt Poker UKIPT Galway Main Event Day 3: Alan Gold Leads Final Table
The Full Tilt Poker UKIPT Galway Main Event continued on Sunday as 51 players returned returned to the Full Tilt Village for Day 3 action. It took eight levels of play, but eventually that field was whittled down to the final table of eight. Sctoland's Alan Gold, who finished as the Day 1a chip leader earlier in the week, holds the biggest stack headed into the final table with 4,050,000. He was consistently at the top of the leader board and used his stack to play aggressively and constantly apply pressure to shorter stacks looking to ladder up. It proved a successful strategy that has him in contention for the €205,600 first-place prize.
Here's a look at the final table:
| Seat | Name | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Christy Morkan | 695,000 |
| 2 | Alan Gold | 4,050,000 |
| 3 | Daragh Davey | 3,435,000 |
| 4 | Jonathan Slater | 1,600,000 |
| 5 | Dimitri Pembroke | 1,915,000 |
| 6 | Damian Porebski | 695,000 |
| 7 | Benjamin Spragg | 1,440,000 |
| 8 | Paul Febers | 2,910,000 |
Tim Michels, a German PokerStars qualifier, began the day as chip leader with 835,000, but he faced some stiff competition in Irish legend Padraig Parkinson, Team PokerStars Online's Dale Philip and highly-respected pro Max Silver.
At the beginning of Day 3, all of the returning 51 players were in the money, but each had dreams of making it through to the final table and a chance to lift the coveted trophy. As well as the prize money up for grabs, there was an FTP Qualifier Last Longer Sponsorship Promotion for 10 of the players. The last one standing would receive a prize package including buy-ins and expenses to every remaining stop on the UKIPT Season 4. Of the 10 Full Tilt qualifiers who started the day, three made it to the final table: Gold, Daragh Davey and Day 1b chip leader Damian Porebski.
The day started fairly quickly with the short stacks looking for a spot to get their chips in and double up. In less than 15 minutes, the first player was out with Hungary's Mikos Soproni hitting the rail, one of the Full Tilt qualifiers. He had already shoved once, but when he made his next all-in bet with the A♥5♠ he ran into the A♠J♠ of Andrew Dwyer and got no help on a A♣8♥7♣9♣10♣ board.
Soon after that, David Parkinson hit the rail with and ill-timed four-bet shove holding the A♠2♠ into Raul Paez’s A♥A♣. The board ran out A♦9♣9♠4♣6♦ and that was all she wrote for David Parkinson. Meanwhile, Padraig Parkinson exited the tournament a short time later holding the A♦10♠ on a flop of A♣5♦2♠. Unfortunately, his opponent, Christopher Morkan, had him out-kicked with the A♠J♣. The last two cards were the 9♦ and Q♣ to send the Irish legend to the rail.
Spain's Paez went on to make the final 11, but would go no further. A controversial figure throughout the three days of play, he had a habit of taking a longer time than many others to come to a decision; in fact, he was the only player to have the clock called on him on Day 3. It happened twice, and both times it was Silver who decided enough was enough. The second time Silver felt moved to tell him, "Five minutes. There's no reason. If you're going to call, then call. You're wasting time." Paez would eventually fall on the feature table when he four-bet all in with the K♣K♠ into the A♠A♥ of then chip leader, Paul Febers. The J♦7♠4♣Q♠J♣ board sent Paez away with €10,670 for his troubles.
When down to the unofficial final table of nine, Davey was lucky to survive when his three-bet all in with the 9♠9♥ was called by the A♠A♣ of Febers. The cards fell 8♥8♣4♣K♥9♣ and Davey hit his two-outer on the river to keep the dream alive. From there, it fell to Silver to become the final table bubble boy when he got his final chips in preflop with the 10♥10♦. Ironically, it was Davey who delivered the killer blow holdinthe K♥K♦. The cards ran out 5♣9♠3♠9♠2♠ and there was to be no two-outer for Silver.
The final eight players will return at 12 p.m. local time on Monday to play down to a winner. Join the PokerNews Live Reporting Team then for all the action and eliminations on the way to crowning a FTP UKIPT Galway champion. Until then, watch FTP Ambassadors Martins Adeniya and Sin Melin square off in an intense game of Connect Four. You read that right:
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