09:50am: Top o' the mornin' to ya
Good morning! It's a brisk sunny winter's day here in Dublin and an earlier start than usual on the UKIPT. For most folk 10am would be considered a late start but in the world of poker 10am is positively the crack of dawn.

The UKIPT Main Event is the first of the big events in the 67 tournament schedule that makes up the UKIPT/EPT Dublin festival that runs until the 20th February. Whilst the EPT last touched down in Dublin in October 2007, the UKIPT has been heading to Dublin on the regular and was last here at the end of February 2015.

There have been some memorable final tables in Dublin, Max Silver obliterated the final table competition in four hours, Joeri Zandvliet won his second UKIPT title here and last year we had, perhaps, the most memorable UKIPT final table of all time.

In the red corner was Max Silver, he just loves playing in Dublin on the UKIPT, one win and a fourth prior to last year and he was chasing his second UKIPT title in his home city, a win that would put him in exalted company.

In the blue corner was Kevin Killeen, one of the bright young things of Irish poker and a tour regular who'd not had a big result on the UKIPT...yet. Backed by a vociferous rail, who were all dressed in onesies, they sung their man to victory: "We don't take silver we only take gold," was the chant that lives long in the memory.

Over the next six days we're hopeful this edition of UKIPT Dublin will more than match those that have gone before.

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

The largest weekly buy-in online poker tournament in the world continues to attract the world's best players and showcase some tremendous poker, and today's Super Tuesday was no exception. When it came down to the final two players we saw two Scandinavian warriors going at it in for almost an hour an entertaining heads-up battle on the PokerStars felt. After former TCOOP winner ministerborg quickly rejected the thought of a heads-up deal, it would be mahmuttt88 who overcame the chip deficit to claim the Super Tuesday crown and almost $100,000 in prize money!

A field of 515 players would turn out for the $1,050 Super Tuesday which meant a prize pool of $515,000 was formed to easily surpass the advertised guarantee. The top 63 players finished in the money but the $2,266 min-cash eluded fishbones11 from Canada who was our unlucky bubble.

After eight and a half hours of grinding the final table was formed when short-stacked Jason "jdtjpoker" Wheeler moved all in from under the gun with [ac][ts] only to find ministerborg make the call in the big blind with a dominant [ah][jc]. The board bricked out and our final table of nine was set as follows:

Final Table Lineup
Seat 1: Sergio "zcedrick" Aido (88,383 in chips)
Seat 2: ministerborg (558,003 in chips)
Seat 3: tots18 (116,916 in chips)
Seat 4: mahmuttt88 (488,643 in chips)
Seat 5: canario508 (213,352 in chips)
Seat 6: tonkaaaa (168,738 in chips)
Seat 7: PhilRoyal888 (386,330 in chips)
Seat 8: ShefanHilaly (424,512 in chips)
Seat 9: Alexander "Schildy1984" Debus (130,123 in chips)

It would only take a few moments to lose our first player with Alexander "Schildy1984" Debus the one to fall. The former WCOOP champion three-bet all in preflop with [8c][8h] but PhilRoyal888 made the call with a superior [js][jc]. The board ran out [2c][4s][3h][3d][Ad] which was no help to Schildy1984 who picked up $8,549 for ninth place.

canario508 survived elimination with a double up holding ace-queen against the king-queen of ministerborg, before mahmuttt88 took another slice out of the chip leader with an ace-high flush.

However ministerborg regained the ascendency with the elimination of tonkaaaa. ministerborg opened with a raise preflop and tonkaaaa flat-called in the big blind before both players checked the [6c][ts][5d] flop. tonkaaaa led out with a bet on the [7h] turn and ministerborg made the call to see the [8s] complete the board. tonkaaaa checked it over to ministerborg who bet enough to put his opponent all in. tonkaaaa made the call and tabled a deceptive [ac][ah] however ministerborg showed [8h][9h] for the ten-high straight. Aces cracked left tonkaaaa to depart in eighth place for $11,587.50.

tots18 landed a double up with pocket sevens against ace-queen to leave Sergio "zcedrick" Aido crippled. With just over three big blinds, zcedrick moved all in with [qd][jd] and was called by mahmuttt88 who had made a cheeky under-the-gun raise with [7h][td]. zcedrick held the lead on the [Tc][6c][Js] flop and nothing changed on the [4h] turn, however the [7s] appeared on the river to improve mahmuttt88 to two pair for the knockout. zcedrick, who was once seated on arguably the most famous SCOOP Main Event final table in history, picked up $16,737.50 for his seventh place finish.

Just three hands later and tots18 would also be eliminated from the final table. After ShefanHilaly raised from under the gun, tots18 moved all in holding [ac][jc]. The table folded back around to ShefanHilaly who made the call with a dominant [ah][qd]. The board bricked out [8s][6c][9h][4s][3s] to leave tots18 to collect $21,887.50 for sixth place.

Play settled down a little with five left, with most players out of the danger zone. mahmuttt88 and PhilRoyal888 held a slight advantage with canario508 the short stack.

However canario508 was quick to turn that around with two big pots in succession. The first was a Broadway straight against ShefanHilaly and that was followed with a full house next hand against ministerborg.

mahmuttt88 kicked up the aggression to increase the chip lead, before ministerborg took over at the top after the elimination of ShefanHilaly in a cooler of a hand. After a raise and a call preflop, both players checked the flop before the fireworks erupted on the turn. The board read [4h][5d][Jh][Tc] and ShefanHilaly led out with a bet from the big blind. ministerborg raised and ShefanHilaly moved all in. ministerborg made the call and ShefanHilaly tabled [4c][4d] for a flopped set of fours. However ministerborg had caught gold on the turn with [td][th] for a set over set! The river was the [kd] leaving an unlucky ShefanHilaly to depart in fifth place for $28,325.

Just two more hands would pass before canario508's tournament also came to an end. After a raise and call preflop, canario508 moved all in over the top of both opponents with [qc][jd] however couldn't shake ministerborg from a dominant [as][qs]. canario508 took the lead with a pair of jacks on the [9c][3c][Js] flop, and the [2c] turn was a brick, but the [As] ace from space arrived on the river to give the pot to ministerborg with a pair of aces. canario508 picked up a very nice $40,170 for fourth place.

The three-handed battle was an intense one between PhilRoyal888, ministerborg and mahmuttt88, but it was ministerborg who was able to chip away to build a handy lead.

PhilRoyal888 got caught on a bluff with ace-high which failed to get past ministerborg's flush before mahmuttt88 inflicted further pain with a full house to leave the former Sunday Warm-Up winner in some trouble.

With a stack of almost fourteen big blinds, PhilRoyal888 moved all in from the button with [kh][tc]. mahmuttt88 found [ac][7c] in the big blind and made the call which paid off on the board of [2h][9c][As][5h][Jh]. mahmuttt88 took it down to leave PhilRoyal888 to collect a handsome $52,787.50 for third place.

Heads-up chip counts
Seat 2: ministerborg (1,410,440 in chips)
Seat 4: mahmuttt88 (1,164,560 in chips)

The stacks were pretty close and mahmuttt88 was quick to throw up the idea of a deal, but ministerborg wasn't interested.

mahmuttt88 said, "deal?"
ministerborg said, "no thanks"
ministerborg said, "lets play"
mahmuttt88 said, "ok gl"
ministerborg said, "ty"
ministerborg said, "u2"

ministerborg won the first two significant pots, holding an ace both times, to jump out to a two-to-one chip lead. However mahmuttt88 chipped away at the deficit before landing a major blow with a turned straight that got paid off on the river.

mahmuttt88 was winning more than a fair share of the pots without getting to showdown to claim the lead with a minimum of fuss.

ministerborg fought back with a Broadway straight of his own, but the momentum was with the player from Finland and the final pot would ultimately be pushed in the direction of mahmuttt88.

After a single preflop raise, the two players saw a flop of [Td][6d][3c]. mahmuttt88 checked from the big blind and then check-raised, but ministerborg called to see the [as] hit the turn. mahmuttt88 fired out another bet and ministerborg called to see the [7h] complete the board. mahmuttt88 bet enough to put his opponent all in and ministerborg made the call with [ts][5d] for a pair of tens, but that wasn't enough as mahmuttt88 had spiked a gutshot on the river holding [9d][8s] for a straight for the victory!

ministerborg narrowly misses a Super Tuesday title with second place worth $72,100 as our champion today would be mahmuttt88 who pockets a whopping $97,850. Congratulations!

2/9/16 Super Tuesday ($1,050 No-Limit Hold'em) results
Entrants: 515
Prize pool: $515,000.00
Places paid: 63

1. mahmuttt88 (Finland) $97,850.00
2. ministerborg (Denmark) $72,100.00
3. PhilRoyal888 (United Kingdom) $52,787.50
4. canario508 (Argentina) $40,170.00
5. ShefanHilaly (United Kingdom) $28,325.00
6. tots18 (Canada) $21,887.50
7. Sergio "zcedrick" Aido (United Kingom) $16,737.50
8. tonkaaaa (Canada) $11,587.50
9. Alexander "Schildy1984" Debus (Austria) $8,549.00

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Heath Chick is Freelance Contributor for the PokerStars Blog.

Greek mythology tells of a famous adventurer called Jason, who sailed the ship Argo, searching for the "golden fleece." Here in the poker world, we have a Jason who has experienced many adventures of his own - I thought this would be a good time to stop and recount a bit of his tale.

It was April of 2008 - almost eight years ago (a lifetime in the compressed time scale of "modern" poker) - that Jason Mercier won the EPT event in San Remo, Italy. I was there, and it was awesome to watch a relatively unknown kid from Florida dominate the pro-heavy field of an early EPT. On the last day of play, Jason was dressed as if auditioning for a "Where's Waldo" movie, which may have lulled his opponents into underestimating him. He played brilliantly; fortunately, one of his best hands was immortalized on YouTube.

When the last card was dealt, Jason had the best hand, holding 95 on a J-5-6--8-8 board. His opponent, Eric Koskas, had bet big (larger than the pot) on the turn, and then shoved the river, holding exactly clear blue sky. Jason took off his sunglasses, and looked at Eric. In the commentary booth, James Hartigan (yes, James Hartigan, even back then) and EPT founder (and legit poker junkie) John Duthie were fascinated by the play.

Hartigan: "From what we've seen of Jason, do you think he can make the call?"

Duthie: "I have no idea."

You see, at the time, Jason was a virtual unknown. I'm sure he had his circle of friends who knew he was a beast, but at the time he was just "treysfull21", another kid with a dream grinding on PokerStars.. Anyway, that kid with a dream was about to show John Duthie, James Hartigan, me, and the rest of the poker world that he was more than that. After far less tank-time than we're now used to seeing (for far less momentous decisions), Jason simply said, "I call." Koskas dejectedly turned over his K3, and was out of the tournament.

Jason Mercier was on his way to greatness. But like the Jason of Greek mythology, he had to endure a trial or two before continuing on his journey. Though he probably didn't think that the first trial would come so quickly. Mere hours after he had been awarded the trophy (and $1.3 million) he was stabbed by a knife-wielding attacker in a nightclub in San Remo - simply a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He suffered an extremely serious injury and was in the hospital for days.

But when you're destined for greatness, you don't let a mere life-threatening attack and injury get in your way. Less than six months later, Jason made the final table of the EPT event in Barcelona, taking down almost $325,000.

And so it has continued ever since. For as long as anybody can remember, Jason Mercier has been a threat, at whatever poker table he chooses.

For instance, many well-known players are no-limit hold'em tournament specialists, and couldn't even tell you the rules of seven-card stud. Jason has reached WSOP final tables in pot-limit Omaha and deuce-to-seven triple draw. And won an EPT Open Face Chinese Poker (OFC) event.

Furthermore, he routinely plays in the biggest cash games around - at this year's PCA, I saw him playing heads-up OFC against Shaun Deeb for big money, which is kind of akin to asking Michael Jordan if he'd care for a game of HORSE (the basketball kind).

In short, despite his youth, Jason Mercier is a renaissance man of poker - a guy who excels at all aspects of the game, has been doing it for a very long time, yet continues to stretch and expand with the game (witness the high-stakes OFC expertise).

Finally, all that poker expertise and skill are wrapped up in a fine young man who is understated and genuinely fun to be around. Of course, we're proud to call him a member of PokerStars Team Pro, but that's not why I've written about Jason. This piece was really about noting somebody who exemplifies a true professional player - one who adapts to the game as it changes (often pulling those changes along behind him). Jason maintains a broad footing on the game (tournaments, cash, unusual variants) and lets his results speak for themselves.

Jason Mercier joined PokerStars in November of 2004 - eleven and half years ago - during the infancy of online poker and PokerStars. And since then, he's played millions of hands on PokerStars, against tens of thousands of opponents around the world. Jason is now one of the longer threads in this fabric of poker players we call PokerStars, and the thread grows with every hand he plays, both online and at live events.

Postscript: In January of this year, Jason finished 20th in the PCA main event (the highest finish of any PokerStars sponsored player) and then went to Melbourne, Australia and came third in the AU$100k event at the Aussie Millions, winning AU$602,700. He's talking about buying a sailing vessel and going in search of a golden fleece; don't bet against him.

The European Poker Tour returns to Dublin tomorrow after an eight year break. It should only take a hand or two to feel back at home.

Dublin is a poker town, and while the EPT has been away the UKIPT has made it home, so in many ways the UKIPT Main Event, which gets the festival started, is a fitting way to mark our return to the Royal Dublin Society.

The UKIPT Main Event will look a little different this time around, with three days of action before play takes a day off ahead of the final table on Monday. You only have to take a look at the schedule to see why.

There are 67 events planned over nine days, and while the UKIPT gets up to speed the €25K High Roller event will run alongside, starting on Friday and ending on Sunday.

Sunday also happens to be when the EPT Main Event kicks off, something no player would wish to miss, including those at the UKIPT Main Event final table. The least we can do for them is pause the action while they join the festival's main feature. They then play down to a UKIPT champion on Monday.

At which point the Single Day High Roller will have started, with a €10,000 buy-in for those with richer tastes. That should have its winner a few hours ahead of the closure of late registration in the EPT Main Event 15 minutes before Day 2 starts on Tuesday.

The last marquee event of the festival is the €10,000 High Roller starting on Thursday February 18, which will race the Main Event to a winner. The three-day event ends on Saturday just as the Main Event does the same.

So there you have it. The nine day, 67 event Dublin festival wrapped up in just over 300 words.

Regardless of whether you're in Dublin to play any of these events, or indeed any of the side events designed to suit all tastes and bankrolls, be sure to follow everything on the PokerStars Blog. Our team will be covering all of the above with live updates from start to finish each day. You'll also find regular reminders on our Twitter account which you can follow: @PokerStarsBlog.

Furthermore much of what takes place will be on EPT Live from Day 2 of the Main Event, a great way to stay up to speed on the general sense of what's going on, even if you just leave Joe and James talking to themselves while you get on with something else.

Like I said, it all starts tomorrow at 10am, unusual given that's the middle of the night for some players. Nevertheless, that's when we'll be there, having stayed up all night giddy with excitement.

And if you make the trip to Dublin, be sure to stop by and say hi.

Find full details on the EPT Dublin homepage. Bookmark www.pokerstarsblog.com/ to ensure you don't miss a thing.