Hippodrome dealer Ryan Crane is leading the 31 players who have made it through Day 1a of Unibet Brighton, the first Unibet UK Poker Tour event of 2017.
Crane, whose biggest live poker cash to date was £7,559 for third place at Super Stack London last September, bagged up 228,700. Unibet Ambassador Ian Simpson is currently third – the 2013 Irish Open champion has 200,400.
Unibet Day 1a attracted 116 players. Among the day’s survivors were top German pro Manig Loeser who now lives in Brighton Marina, only a stone’s throw from where the event is being held at the Rendezvous Casino. The partypoker WPT National Rozvadov champion ended Day 1a with 67,100. Unibet Ambassador David Vanderheyden has also made it through with 65,500 and fellow Ambassadors David Lappin and Dara O'Kearney plan to re-enter.
Among those competing today are Unibet Ambassador Daiva "BalticBlonde" Byrne, poker bloggers Jack Stanton and Jen Mason, Unibet Open commentator Marc “The Conv” Convey, UKIPT Brighton winner Jamie Burland and UKIPT Cork finalist Deborah Worley-Roberts who both live in the city. There are 80 players so far.
There are five Unibet UK Poker Tour stops this year with each boasting a £220 buy-in, £40,000 guarantee Main Event. Players get a 25,000 starting stack and it’s 40 minute blind levels with one re-entry per starting day up to a maximum of £880. You also have the option of both Day 1a and 1b and taking your biggest stack through to the Final Day.
As well as the cash prize, each Unibet UK Poker Tour champion will get a custom trophy and a package worth €2,000 for a Unibet Open event. A €2k Unibet Open package will also go the online qualifier who lasts longest in each event.
After Brighton, the tour is heading to Glasgow (June 2-4), Nottingham (August 25-27), Brighton again in October and Manchester December 8-10.