The second day of the EPT Dublin festival took place today and central to the day's festivities was Day 1A of the UKIPT Main Event. The tour is in its fifth season and Dublin has been an ever-present stop, producing four champions in the shape of Max Silver, Joeri Zandvliet, Richard Evans and Kevin Killeen.

The latter was one of the 214 players to take to the felt today and by the end of twelve 45-minute levels, 52 remained. Vladimir Velikov has the overnight bragging rights of being chip leader after he amassed an impressive 301,500, 12 times more than starting stack. He was potentially the leader before he cracked an opponent's aces at the death when he flopped a straight with jack-nine. The Bulgarian is no stranger to success as he's a former Sunday Million winner and at December's Eureka Prague he scored a €170,180 payday by finishing second in the High Roller event.

Other big stacks and notables to make Day 2 were: Joao Simao (253,600), David Pollock (240,000), Vladas Burneikis (199,800), Ranno Sootla (191,300), Dan Carter (186,600), Peter Eichhardt (170,300), Domenico Vivolo (169,500), Erik Olofsson (160,600), Scott Margereson (123,600), Dermot Blalin (111,200), Chris Dowling (103,800) and reigning champion Kevin Killeen (48,000)

Mr UKIPT himself Jake Cody played today but had one of those days at the tables. He busted midway through the day but a lot of the damage occurred earlier when he turned two pair only for his opponent, Sean Prendiville, to river a straight. No doubt we'll be seeing the Team PokerStars Pro in the UKIPT High Roller and EPT Main Event, two of the marquee tournaments of a festival that promises to be Ireland's biggest and richest ever.

Cody wasn't the only player to find it a struggle today. Former champions Nick Abou Risk and Josh Hart both got off to a good starts but busted with decent holdings; Steven van Zadelhoff recently won a triple crown online but couldn't transfer that hot streak over to the live arena; Andy Black was back on vocal form but the cards didn't fall his way; Marc Macdonnell's aces couldn't hold against an opponent's queens and former EPT Grand final champion Mohsin Charania went from big stack to out after losing big pots with kings and ace-king in quick succession.

Other notables to hit the rail included: Emil Patel, Jack Sambrook, Rasmus Agerskov, Senh Ung, Jason Wheeler, Emmett Davis, Aaron Gustavson, Jared Jaffe, Dietrich Fast, Jacob Bazeley and November Niner Pierre Neuville.

This UKIPT stop has been predicted to have a big turnout by the powers that be, so a packed room is expected tomorrow as the tournament aims for four-figure status. The 10am GMT start time stays in place for one more day so that should help stagger the flow of hopefuls. Another 12 levels will be played out before all survivors will convene for Day two on Friday.

Join the blog back here then, but for now, click the links below to catch up on the day's action:

Level 1-8 updates
Level 9-12 updates

PokerStars Blog Reporting Team at UKIPT5 Dublin: Marc Convey and Nick Wright. Photos by Mickey May. She's been dosing up on Penicillin for the last five days so is ready to fight any bacteria who try to steal her pictures! Follow the PokerStars Blog on Twitter: @PokerStarsBlog

* CLICK TO REFRESH FOR LATEST UPDATES
* Day 1A consists of twelve 45 minute levels - currently playing level 9
* 120 of 214 players remain
* Late registration is closed
* You can catch up with Level 1-8 coverage here

5:30pm: There's a new chippie in town as Abou Risks busts
Nick Abou Risk will not become a three-time UKIPT champion in his hometown after he busted in a big pot that made Ranno Sootla the (likely) new chip leader.

Sootla told the blog that Abou Risk raised from under the gun and he defended his big blind to head to a [k][j][5] flop that contained two hearts. A four landed on the turn and Sootla bet 18,000 (into what he thought was 23k) and called when Abou Risk shoved for 30,000.

Sootla opened king-jack and survived a blank river against Abou Risk's ace-king.

Ranno Sootla, 160,000
Nick Abou Risk, eliminated
-- MC

5:15pm: Cody can't stop the rot
Level 9: Blinds 500-1,000, 100 ante

At the very end of level eight we lost Team PokerStars Pro Jake Cody. Sadly for him is stack only went in one direction today. Still he's got the chance to bounce back tomorrow - literally - as he's going to be taking part in the Dodgeball Trampolining.

Gg either ran into it a lot or got run over #UKIPTDublin

— Jake Cody (@JakeCody) February 10, 2016

5pm: End of the road for Ruzzi
Level 9: Blinds 500-1,000, 100 ante

I arrived at the table to see the cards already on their backs, it was Matias Ruzzi who was all in, the Argentinian had [Ah][Js] whilst Amgd Nadr had [As][Qc].

The [6c][7h][6s][Kh][Qh] board eliminated Ruzzi and boosted Nadr to 70,000. --NW

Key UKIPT5 Dublin Facts:

- 25,000 starting stack
- Blinds starting at 50/100 for 250 big blinds
- Levels are 45 minutes on Day 1 and they'll be 12 of them. From Day 2 onwards levels increase to 60 minutes.
- Day 1A is today, Day 1B takes place tomorrow, the field will then combine for the first time on Friday. We'll reach the money during the 10 levels of play on Day 2 and then play down to a final table on Saturday. Sunday is a rest day, and then on Monday the final table will play out on the TV table on EPTLive with cards-up coverage and bring Season 5 of the UKIPT to a close. Cue mad celebrations and swigging of champagne from the trophy (possibly).
- Full UKIPT5 Dublin schedule here.
- There's a boat load of other events today including a €5,000 (!) Hold'em event and two live satellites to the Main Event tonight. Those satellites start at 16.00 GMT and 21.30 GMT.
- It's not all about the poker here in Dublin. There are plenty of #StarsFun activities including Dodgeball Trampolining. Yes, you read that right Dodgeball Trampolining.

PokerStars Blog Reporting Team at UKIPT5 Dublin: Marc Convey and Nick Wright. Photos by Mickey May. Follow the PokerStars Blog on Twitter: @PokerStarsBlog