Dario Minieri just added another victim - his Aces were always well ahead of the opponent’s AK and he added a sizeable chunk to his now-35k stack.

 (Apologies for the shocking subject title by the way. My addiction to bad puns is comparable to a smoking addiction.)

Andrew Grimason is “stuck in reverse”. In a few words for his avid fans it appears he is playing “flawlessly” but “missing flops”. Lets hope he can get this car moving and gather some chips and be amungst the high rollers for day two.

Elsewhere Ollie Boyce is still hanging in with 7,200

A big pot was brewing at another one of our more interesting tables, which features Jonathon Wong, Mick McCool, Dave Colclough, and Maria Maceiras. It was folded to Maceiras in the cutoff, who made it 2100 to go. Dave Colclough then re-raised to 6300 from the big blind. Maceiras didn’t take long to 4-bet all-in for a grand total of 18650. Colclough went in the tank for a considerable amount of time, and eventually laid it down. The hand puts Colclough down to 25k, and bumps Maceiras up to 27k.

Padraig Parkinson’s tournament life was on the line in a classic coinflip; his 66 vs AK.

The sixes held up though and Parkinson doubled through. With only 8 or so thousand chips and the blinds at 300/600 the amiable Irishman will have to get lucky a few more times to make a big impact in this tournament yet.

Jay Renehan with around 75k is your new chip leader! I got there just as the enormous mound of chips was being passed to Jay but apparently it was one incredible hand.

Basically, one guy moved in preflop with 55 and was called by both Jay and another player. The flop was 4s 8c 5s and there was a bet, a raise, and a call. The turn brought down a Qh. It was here that all the money went in the middle.

The other guy showed (what else?) pocket Aces but Jay had stuck gold dust - pocket 8’s for set over set and set over Aces. They held up and Jay is currently in dreamland.

Roland De Wolfe just took down another sizable pot. Details are sketchy, but from what we hear, De Wolfe was playing a raised pot, and the flop came out 246 rainbow. All the money went in on the flop, with De Wolfe’s 88 facing up to his opponent’s A6. The snowmen didn’t melt, and De Wolfe finds himself back in the 35k region again.

In other news, there was some minor hubbub over at Andy Black’s table a while ago, with one of his tablemates being questioned over whether or not he is allowed to use a poker chip as a card protector. Andy justifiably thought this wasn’t exactly appropriate, considering the player in question had just put out a 2600 chip bet in a raised heads-up pot, and eventually tournament co-ordinator Liam Flood was called over who ruled that it was allowed, and that the game of poker should continue, before he and Andy decided to trade friendly insults (mostly centering around Flood’s choice of tie). Thankfully, it all ended amicably.

Latest Chip counts from CityWest

John Duthie 21,100

Brian “fox” O Keefe 25,200

Andy Greekfish 8,100

Ollie Boyce 8,900

Ivan Donnaghy 7,100

Doyle Brunson 15,400

Andy Black 37,000

Des Wilson 8,200

Dan Bolton 41,000

Todd Brunson 12,000

Kieren Small 21,000

Mick McCool 40,000

Dave Colclough 24,100

Ciaran Burke 19,000

Eoghan O Dea 13,000

John Kabajj 26,000

Andy Grimasson 21,000

Ciaran O Leary 15,500

Graham Clarkson 34,000 

One of the bonuses of being allowed inside the rail is that you can peek at poker legends’ holecards as they see them. I was standing behind the biggest legend of them all, Doyle Brunson, and saw him squeeze out a pair of Jacks. Here we go!

Then it all got a bit strange. The UTG player raised to 4k (blinds at 200/400 remember!), was called by a shortstack, and then Michael Finn re-shoved for about 10k more! So over to Doyle who is in a horrible spot. He chuckles to himself and wisely folds the Jacks as UTG calls.

The hands?

UTG: As Kd

Shortstack: Ad Qs (ouch!)

Finn: QQ

Ironically the board came down 7 8 9 10 2 so Doyle would have made the straight! As it was Finn’s hand held up and he won a healthy pot. Doyle is doing well though, even without handing out bad beats, with a 45k chip count.

Interesting hand involving the popular Sorel Mizzi. On a board of 5/Q/J, Sorel bet and was called. The turn brought an A and this time the action went check/check. The interesting action was the river however which brought at T into the mix. Mizzi made a huge overbet to the tune of 8000. After a few moments dwell up he was called. Mizzi duly turns over the K for the win. Last year’s final tablist is now back up to 25,000

Ciarán O’Leary escaped elimination just now, doubling up with AhQc against his opponent’s JsTs. O’Leary went on his customary walkabout from the table during the all-in, but survived and now has about 13000

Also, UK player Rosey Bensley was eliminated over on the Mizzi/Fougeron/Brunson table of death. She raised pre-flop in early position to 1500, and was called by the big blind, who checked the 9hJc5c flop, at which point Bensley moved in for 3550. She was quickly called, and her opponent turned over 9c9s for a flopped set, and Bensley tabled Ac3c for a flush draw. The Ks turn and Kd river were no help, and Bensley is eliminated from the tournament.