UKIPT Galway: Day 2, level 8&9

Updates from day 2, level 8 of UKIPT Galway, brought to you by Rick Dacey.

Level 8: blinds 300/600 (75)
Play has started for the day with a redraw and players have taken to their seats. Chipleader Gavin O'Rourke, who has been drawn to the right of a jealous looking Jerome Bradpiece, is straight into the action. Raising with [as] [3s] he is shoved on by short stack James Finigan who tables [ah] [9h]. A cruel [3c] on the turn sends Finigan to the rail and gives boosts O'Rourke to 110,000.

Jerome Bradpiece is the next player to get it all-in. When Nicholas Hahn raises from the cut-off it doesn't take Bradpiece too long to decide his [qh] [qs] is good enough to ship in with his 6k short stack. Hahn snap calls with pocket Kings but when the flop runs out [as] [qd] [jd] Hahn is left in bad shape and Bradpiece more than doubles up to 16,700.

2.35pm: What has Wealthall done to Channing?
The newly appointed UKIPT host Nick Wealthall has been making the rounds of the tournament floor. Unfortunately I was out of earshot for this conversation between Wealthall and British poekr stalwart Neil Channing. It would be an absolute winner for a picture caption competition.

3.01pm: Making a late shove into the box
Teddy Sheringham is in his seat and has shoved his chips across the line. Much like his old playing days he's working a late run into the tournament area well and has chipped himself up to around 15,000. If he keeps this up he might see his 20,000 starting stack for the first time!

Level 9: blinds 400/800 (100)
Some serious chips are starting to be slung about here at the Radisson hotel and the all-in quota is rapidly rising. Clement Thumy has just survived after shipping in 12k from the big blind into pocket 9's. Three betting has well and truly entered the building.

3.41pm: Duthie takes a hit
Team PokerStars Pro John Duthie has been chipping up in these first couple of levels but has just lost a fair chunk of those winnings to Brit William Martin. On a [7d] [th] [6h] flop Martin led 3100 and Duthie made it 8000 to go and Martin called before checking the [kc] turn. Duthie bet out another 8200 and Martin spent a good few minutes staring at the board before moving all-in for an additional 26,550 putting the pressure back on the European Poker Tour founder. Duthie eventually passed knocking his stack back down to around 35k. Martin is approaching 75k.

4.10pm: 133 players left and Parkinson appears to want knock them all out
The starting field has almost been halved with close to 40 players dropping in the first two levels of the day. Overnight big stacks Kieran Walsh and Christopher Brammer have continued scooping in chips and look to be joint chip leaders on around 140,000 while the man on a mission - in more than one sense of the word - is Padraig Parkinson who is absolutely flying. Washing down pots liberally with Guiness Parkinson has boosted his stack from a day start of 22,750 to somewhere in the region of 85,000 to 111,000. Take a look at his stacking and you'll see why creating an approximation is being such an issue. The tournament directors are doing what they can but a Parkinson in full swing is difficult to manage to say the least.