UKIPT6 London: Irina Nikolaidi bags ‘ladies day’ chip lead on Day 1B

“At major horse race meets across the UK, you’ll find that Thursdays are traditionally branded as Ladies Days. They help bring a touch of grace and elegance to an industry that’s (normally) very male dominated. Sound familiar?

There are seven (out of 80) ladies in the field today and that’s enough for us to (unofficially) name today Ladies Day on the UKIPT.”

That’s what my colleague Marc Convey wrote at the beginning of Day 1B, and boy (or should I say girl) was he right.

Day 1B chip leader Irina NikolaidiThe women in this field today dominated the chip lead all day, and in the end four of that seven bagged and tagged their chips ready for Day 2. In the end though, it was Irina Nikolaidi who secured the chip lead with 277,900. Nikolaidi led for portions of the day before winning a big pot right at the end to secure the pole position.

A total of 161 players registered to play today, and in the end only 39 survived.

But back to the ladies for a moment. Those who survived were a talented bunch indeed; Leo Margets will be taking 78,000 through to Day 2, while Maria Lampropoulos bagged up 63,800, fresh off her 2nd place finish at Eureka6 Rozvadov for €95,404.

A good day for Leo

Maria Lampropoulos going strongIt was Sirilux Ho who came from nowhere to be a dominant chip leader earlier – at one point having 300,000 when the average was just 50,000! According to one of her table mates, she made seven straights in a row! She ended the day with 203,400. We look forward to seeing all four back for Day 2 on Saturday.

Seven straights in a row for Sirilux HoSome of the more well-known names who survived the day include James Mitchell (194,800), Louis Salter (32,400), David Docherty (161,500), and Team PokerStars staff member Richard Connolly (131,500). When it came to the biggest stacks at the end of the night, the players who most-closely followed were Paul Romain (232,900) and Daniel Palsson (225,700). For full end of day counts click here.

Where there are survivors though, there must be players who didn’t make it, and we had plenty of those. PokerStars Team Online’s Mickey Petersen unfortunately couldn’t get much going today, while former November Niner Andoni Larrabe also failed to reach the end of Level 12.

Mickey couldn’t make itThe great John Gale also joined us for most of the day too. The two-time WSOP bracelet winner made his return to poker last year following a two-year absence caused by serious medical issues (notably a brain tumour), only to win a bracelet! Unfortunately, he couldn’t hold on to come back on Saturday.

No luck for John GaleOther players who won’t be joining us on Day 2 include Deborah Worley-Roberts, Chris Yong, Steve Watts, Marcin Milde, and Neil Raine.

It’s been a great day of action though (check out all the live coverage here), and we’re expecting an even bigger turnout tomorrow – full of big names and maybe even a PokerStars Team Pro or two (wink wink).

So join us back here on the PokerStars Blog for Day 1C at 11am tomorrow. Until then, salut!

PokerStars Blog Reporting Team at UKIPT6 London: Marc Convey and Jack Stanton. Photos by Mickey May, who will not take lightly to you serendipitously stealing her photos! Follow the PokerStars Blog on Twitter: @PokerStarsBlog

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