After a busy September dominated by a 70-event WCOOP festival, normal service resumes with the Sunday Million back.

Weekend highlights

--Pedro "pcayobh" Cayo wins Sunday Million
--Nice2MU wins the Sunday Warm-Up
--Dan Stacey Wins the UKIPT Main Event in the Isle of Man, winning more than £24,000.
--More than 220,000 players have already registered for the first event of Common Cents.

Round up of latest results

There was a sense of it being good to be back this weekend as the Sunday Million returned in its usual guise, rather than being cloaked in WCOOP ermine. Some 5,714 players thought something the same, particularly Pedro "pcayobh" Cayo of Brazil, who ran out this week's winner which, as Martin Harris reported, was worth more than $177,000.

The Sunday Warm Up was also back, with the $75,000 first prize going to Finnish player Nice2MU. As David Aydt reported it was a straight no-deal finish, and you can read his report of the final table here.

In the real world, at PokerStars' home in the Isle of Man, the UKIPT came to a close yesterday with the conclusion of the Main Event. As we reported the final table was a half and half affair, with eight players reduced to two in short order, before a heads-up finale of more than four hours sealed it for British player Dan Stacey, who collected £24,170 for the win. Read the full report, along with all out UKIPT coverage, here.

Here are all of those results in full:

PokerStars Sunday Million (10/4/15)
Entrants: 5,714
Prize pool: $1,142,800.00
Places paid: 855

1. Pedro "pcayobh" Cayo (Brazil) $177,136.70
2. David Gomez "hUeLeSaBuStO" Antelo (United Kingdom) $131,422.00
3. loopers33 (Denmark) $92,566.80
4. Andreflk13 (Brazil) $64,168.22
5. VVVolkov1988 (Russia) $47,997.60
6. CocaPornStar (Russia) $36,569.60
7. passthepuck (Canada) $25,141.60
8. Robin "robinho" Ylitalo (Sweden) $14,285.00
9. S7v7nEL1v1n (United Kingdom) $8,913.84

PokerStars Sunday Warm-up (10-04-15)
Entrants: 2,385
Prize pool: $477,000.00
Place paid: 342

1. Nice2MU (Finland) $75,366.00
2. konraad (Denmark) $56,605.59
3. bebaimis777 (Lithuania) $40,545.00
4. ragAAAila19 (Romania) $27,904.50
5. BusiLy (Ukraine) $21,226.50
6. maxmoench90 (Germany) $16,456.50
7. Cesargril444 (Brazil) $11,686.50
8. J-Rod Fett (United Kingdom) $6,916.50
9. M_Semensky (Bulgaria) $4,054.50

UKIPT Isle of Man Main Event
Entrants: 349
Prize pool: £131,562
Place paid: 47

1. Dan Stacey (United Kingdom) £24,170
2. Paren Arzoomanian (United Kingdom) £19,000
3. Michael Fletcher (United Kingdom) £12,560
4. Rodger Reynolds (United Kingdom) £10,170
5. John Lawson (Isle of Man) £8,020
6. Chris Swinden (Isle of Man) £6,120
7. James Walsh (Ireland) £4,500
8. Elliott Hayes (United Kingdom) £3,307

The weekend's top winners

$215 Sunday Million: pcayobh (Brazil) $177,136.70
$215 Sunday Warm-Up: Nice2MU (Finland) $75,366.00
$530 Sunday 500: hdjgkfkgsdl (Germany) $58,995.25
$215 Sunday Supersonic [6-Max]: nailuj90 (Germany) $47,102.91
$215 Sunday 2nd Chance: chry1982 (Argentina) $36,108.00
$109+R Sunday Rebuy: MuckCallOK (Austria) $33,179.80
$11 Sunday Storm: erikdoni1611 (Germany) $25,156.31
$109 Sunday Kickoff: Zareta (Brazil) $25,095.49
$320 Saturday Super-Knockout: Powergolf (Denmark) $23,908.85
$162 Sunday 6-Max: faffo1987 (Switzerland) $20,840.45

Click here for all the weekend's major results on PokerStars for the weekend October 3-4, 2015.

Coming up this week

If you hadn't already heard we're trying something a bit different on PokerStars this week. Well, when we say different, it's a new thing, but the plan is the same - win big for a small buy-in. But while there's small and smaller, this time we've gone for "smallest". One cent. You can't get much lower than that.

It's called Common Cents, which says everything you need to know. With buy-ins as little as one Cent you can win thousands, which is exactly the plan for the more than 220,000 players who have already signed up for the Common Cents opener later today. Prize pool? A guaranteed $100,000. First prize? $10,000. With numbers like that you get the idea as to why it's called Common Cents.

Find all the details here. And if you don't already have a PokerStars account it's the perfect opportunity to test yourself. You can open your account here.

Image of the day

UKIPT Isle of Man winner Dan Stacey

Onwards

In the meantime, send us your thoughts and comments to us on Twitter: @PokerStarsBlog. And good luck at the tables this week.

They'd been waiting three weeks, all of those Sunday Million players for whom the weekly $215 no-limit hold'em tournament on PokerStars is a must-play event. After going on hiatus during the recently completed World Championship of Online Poker, the Milly was back in action today and a big group of 5,714 joined the fun.

Speaking of patience, it would take more than 12 hours to find a winner in this one, and when the last hand was dealt it was Brazil's Pedro "pcayobh" Cayo winning all of the chips and the biggest chunk of the prize pool, earning a nice first prize of $177,136.70 for his achievement.

Thanks to that big field, the prize pool added up to $1,142,800, thereby besting the $1 million guarantee. Right around the tournament's five-hour mark the bubble burst, and as the field shrunk below 855 players it was Charlie "Epiphany77" Carrel who'd conjured up enough chips to sit in the chip lead.

Carrel would remain with a big stack as the next few hours passed and the field whittled further, with the eliminated including Grzegorz "DaWarsaw" Mikielewicz (618th, $365.69) and Liliya "liay5" Novikova of Team PokerStars Pro Online (358th, $468.54), and Team PokerStars Pro Marcin "Goral" Horecki (305th, $502.83).

Finally, though, Carrel fell below the average and eventually went out in 24th ($2,685.58).

A short while later they were down to 18, with ibarchimovic having by then ascended to claim the top spot in the counts.

MaxBNuts (18th), alexserge (17th), and HustlinUrM$$ (16th) were the next out, each earning $3,199.84. GhettoHomie (15th), Rick7BR (14th), and Froston06 (13th) followed them railward, picking up $4,914.04 apiece.

By then ibarchimovic had become short and soon after went out in 12, followed by grinberg 1 (11th) and droulis9 (10th), with those three each cashing for $6,628.14.

With the tournament approaching the 11-hour mark, Pedro "pcayobh" Cayo had the chip lead by a wide margin as the final table began.

Seat 1: Pedro "pcayobh" Cayo (Brazil) -- 16,161,297
Seat 2: Robin "robinho" Ylitalo (Sweden) -- 3,081,632
Seat 3: David Gomez "hUeLeSaBuStO" Antelo (United Kingdom) -- 7,618,862
Seat 4: CocaPornStar (Russia) -- 5,008,192
Seat 5: loopers33 (Denmark) -- 9,657,745
Seat 6: VVVolkov1988 (Russia) -- 5,712,273
Seat 7: Andreflk13 (Brazil) -- 6,752,934
Seat 8: passthepuck (Canada) -- 1,156,248
Seat 9: S7v7nEL1v1n (United Kingdom) -- 1,990,817

They were nearly an orbit into the final table when S7v7nEL1v1n, down to just under 930,000, open-pushed all in from middle position and got one caller in leader Pedro "pcayobh" Cayo in the next seat. S7v7nEL1v1n had [4c][4h] and hopes the small pair would hold against Cayo's [9h][8h], but the [Jc][6s][Kh][8s][3h] board gave the latter a better pair and knocked S7v7nEL1v1n out in ninth.

A short while later Robin "robinho" Ylitalo open-pushed a stack of almost 805,000 -- just over two big blinds -- from the hijack seat and after loopers33 reraise-shoved from the small blind it was just the two of them. Ylitalo had [Td][8c] and loopers33 [Ah][Kd], and after a [5c][3h][Jd][2d][5s] runout, Ylitalo was done in eighth.

The blinds moved up to 250,000/500,000 (with a 50,000 ante), and soon a short-stacked passthepuck pushed all in from the button for just 206,248 or less than a small blind. Pedro "pcayobh" Cayo called from the small blind and David Gomez "hUeLeSaBuStO" Antelo checked from the big, then those two checked it down as the board came [Ts][5h][6h], then [Jd], then [3d]. Cayo tabled [Qc][4h] and Antelo [Kh][Qd], and after passthepuck mucked Antelo took the small pot. That ended passthepuck's run in seventh.

Just three hands later, Pedro "pcayobh" Cayo made a 2x raise to 1 million from early position, then CocaPornStar reraised to 2.25 million from the button. It folded back to Cayo who shoved all in with the leading stack, and CocaPornStar called with the almost 1.05 million left. It was [Qc][9c] for Cayo and [As][8d] for CocaPornStar. The community cards then came [9s][Ks][Qh][Qd][Th], giving trip queens to the chip leader and knocking CocaPornStar out in sixth.

About five minutes after that hand, VVVolkov1988 open-pushed from under the gun for almost 4.1 million (just over eight BBs) and loopers33 called from the big blind. loopers33 had [4c][4d] and VVVolkov1988 [Ad][9d]. The [9c][7c][7h] flop put the at-risk player in front with nines and sevens, and VVVolkov1988 was still ahead after the [As] turn. But the river was the [4s], hitting loopers33's hand and eliminating VVVolkov1988 in fifth.

With four left Pedro "pcayobh" Cayo continued to lead, hovering just under the 30 million-chip mark, while loopers33 and David Gomez "hUeLeSaBuStO" Antelo both battling with just under half that and Andreflk13 the short stack with a little under 5 million.

They were edging toward the 12-hour mark when Andreflk13 min-raised to 1.2 million from the button, Pedro "pcayobh" Cayo shoved from the small blind, then Andreflk13 called all in with the just over 8.1 million left behind. Cayo had [9h][9d] while Andreflk13 was looking for an ace with [Ac][9s]. The board rolled out [8s][Qs][Jd][Qh][6s], the nines had held, and they were down to three.

A couple of minutes later the tournament was paused so the remaining players could discuss a possible deal. Pedro "pcayobh" Cayo had 30,412,216 and the lead, loopers33 was next with 13,930,816, and David Gomez "hUeLeSaBuStO" Antelo third with 12,796,968.

Both "ICM"-based numbers and "chip chop" figures were proposed, leaving $20K aside for which to play in both cases. But the players couldn't agree to either set of figures nor to any adjustments, and play soon resumed.

It wasn't long after that when loopers33, down just just over 7.2 million (about nine BBs), open-pushed from the small blind and Pedro "pcayobh" Cayo called from a seat over. loopers33 had only [5s][2s], but both cards were live versus Cayo's [Ah][8h]. The flop came [9c][Kh][As], however, to pair Cayo's ace. The [3c] turn did provide a gutshot wheel draw for loopers33, but the river was the [Ts] and they were down to two.

Pedro "pcayobh" Cayo had a better than 2-to-1 chip lead to start heads-up play with 38,649,432 to David Gomez "hUeLeSaBuStO" Antelo's 18,490,568.

Cayo immediately began carving away at Antelo's stack, and after just over 20 hands between the pair Antelo was down to just over 6.35 million while Cayo was up over 50 million.

Then with the blinds at 500,000/1,000,000, Cayo limped in from the button, Antelo checked, and the two players saw a flop come [Jc][Ts][9d]. Antelo checked, Cayo bet 1 million, and Antelo called. The turn then brought the [5h] and checks from both.

The river was [7c]. This time Antelo shoved all in with the 5,350,568 he had left, and Cayo made the call in a flash. Antelo turned over [Qc][4d] to show he had queen-high, while Cayo had rivered a jack-high straight with [8d][5s] to win the pot and the title.

Antelo, a Spaniard playing from the U.K., tweeted thanks to his followers after the final hand, calling it one of those days you dream about when you start to play poker and thanking those who railed him to the end:

Meanwhile huge congratulations to Pedro "pcayobh" Cayo for topping this week's big Sunday Million field to earn a handsome first prize of $177K-plus!

10/4/15 Sunday Million ($215 No-Limit Hold'em) results
Entrants:  5,714
Prize pool: $1,142,800.00
Places paid: 855

1. Pedro "pcayobh" Cayo (Brazil) $177,136.70
2. David Gomez "hUeLeSaBuStO" Antelo (United Kingdom) $131,422.00
3. loopers33 (Denmark) $92,566.80
4. Andreflk13 (Brazil) $64,168.22
5. VVVolkov1988 (Russia) $47,997.60
6. CocaPornStar (Russia) $36,569.60
7. passthepuck (Canada) $25,141.60
8. Robin "robinho" Ylitalo (Sweden) $14,285.00
9. S7v7nEL1v1n (United Kingdom) $8,913.84

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Everyone recovered from the WCOOP party yet? Nice2MU certainly looked ready for life after the big tournament series claiming the Sunday Warm-Up title this week and earning $75,366.00.

Read below for the recap of Nice2MU's victory.

Right around the time the Minnesota Vikings conceded their match to the Denver Broncos and over eight hours into this contest, Viking8844 would join them on the sidelines earning $3,100.50 in 12th place.

Two minutes after that bebaimis777's king-jack would send Houbanan away short of the final table in 11th place ($3,100.50) setting up hand-for-hand play. Bebaimis777 took a final table chip lead into SCOOP 2013's Event #21-H, but after the eighth place finish, the Lithuanian will be looking for something more substantial with this major final table.

After twenty minutes of tense hand-for-hand play, no one was ready to step away from the potential $75,366.00 up top. A few minutes more with the blinds up to 50K/100K ante 10K Malaka$tyle was trying to add some more dollar signs to this late tournament run but sitting on a shortstack of 441K. Malaka$tyle would push from cutoff as bebaimis777 was there to make the call holding pocket eights [8d][8c]. Malaka$tyle's [Qs][Kc] failed to connect with the nine-high [3c] [9d] [7d] [9h] [7s] board as the final table started up below:

Seat 1: BusiLy (5115338 in chips)
Seat 2: konraad (4336399 in chips)
Seat 3: maxmoench90 (1604900 in chips)
Seat 4: J-Rod Fett (2150045 in chips)
Seat 5: Nice2MU (1653319 in chips)
Seat 6: Cesargril444 (2827602 in chips)
Seat 7: ragAAAila19 (1349812 in chips)
Seat 8: bebaimis777 (3395774 in chips)
Seat 9: M_Semensky (1416811 in chips)

Only six hands into the final table maxmoench90 would min-raise from early position as M_Semensky shoved 1.25 million from the small blind. BusiLy however did not give in to the pressure and re-shoved from the big blind for 5.2 million. Maxmoench90 gave up the raise as a donation as M_Semensky showed big slick [Kc][Ad] versus BusiLy's nines [9h][9s]. A nine on the [2s] [9d] [3h] [8d] [6c] flop would put M_Semensky to bed early in ninth place ($4,054.50).

Shortly after the blinds moved to 65K/130K ante 13K a three-way all-in preflop broke out between Cesargril444, J-Rod Fett, and konraad. It was easy to see the reasoning as J-Rod Fett held pocket jacks [Jc][Js], Cesargril444 showed queens [Qc][Qd], and konraad covered everyone with kings [Kc][Ks]. The heavy pre-flop favorite nailed a third king on the flop [Ah] [Kh] [9h] [6d] [8c] to send J-Rod Fett home in eighth place ($6,916.50) and Cesargril444 with seventh place cash ($11,686.50).

The carnage did not stop there as maxmoench90 tried to muster up a stack on the next hand after shoving 848,900 chips from the cutoff. Bebaimis777's [Th][Ks] was enough to make the call, and a good one as well dominating maxmoench90's [Qd][Ts]. No shortstack comeback for maxmoench90 as the [2c] [7d] [Kd] [Td] [Ad] board spelled out sixth place ($16,456.50).

Five handed play would continue through the remainder of the ninth hour. But, 12 minutes into the tenth hour of play with the blinds recently moving up to 125K/250K ante 25K BusiLy pushed all-in for 1.44 million as Nice2MU was happy to re-shove with pocket tens [Th][Tc]. RagAAAila did not join in from the big blind as BusiLy turned up [8h][Kc]. BusiLy would catch a pair on the river [5h] [3d] [Jh] [2d] [8c] but it was not big enough to continue, exiting the Sunday Major in fifth place ($21,226.50).

Although chat box chirped for a deal after BusiLy's demise, the rest of the party was not willing to pause as four-handed play pressed on.

Nice2MU went from "well I guess fourth place cash is nice" to "NEW LIFE!" as ragAAAila19 and Nice2MU both pushed preflop with nearly equal stacks. RagAAAila19's big slick would flop a king, but Nice2MU's pocket fives found a five on the river to knock ragAAAila19 down to under a big blind.

Five minutes later ragAAAila19 spun up those scraps to eight big blinds and looked to double again after shoving pocket fours and getting a call from Nice2MU's deuces. But, a split pot would prevent ragAAAila19 from earning that needed double-up.

With the blinds up to 200K/400K ante 40K ragAAAila19 found a pair of nines [9h][9d] to push 2.4 million over konraad's opening raise. Konraad made the call with [Ah][7c] flopping a straight flush draw [4c] [5c] [6c]. The turned [4h] gave hope but the river [Kc] did not, ending ragAAAila19 comeback bid in fourth place ($27,904.50).

Four hands later Nice2MU would min-raise from the button as bebaimis777 shoved for 6.67 million holding a suited connector [5d][6d]. Not the easiest call to make, as Nice2MU only covered by a million, but it was done. Holding [Td][Ah] Nice2MU hit a ten on the flop [Ks] [3d] [Th] [Js] [4s] on the way to knocking out bebaimis777 in third place ($40,545.00).

Both players had the deal button checked off but immediately un-checked them as Nice2MU carried a 15 million to 8.8 million chip lead into heads-up play.

This was a good financial decision for Nice2MU as the chip leader would wear down konraad eventually taking a 19.6 million to 4.1 million lead after 15 minutes. With the blinds up to 250K/500K ante 50K konraad need to make something happen and shoved holding [Js][5h]. But, Nice2MU was there to make the call with [9d][Ah]. The ace-high was enough on the [Th] [6s] [2d] [Qh] [7h] board as Nice2MU claimed the weekly Sunday Warm-Up title and $75,366.00!

PokerStars Sunday Warm-up results (10-04-15)
Entrants: 2,385
Prize pool: $477,000.00
Place paid: 342

1. Nice2MU (Finland) $75,366.00
2. konraad (Denmark) $56,605.59
3. bebaimis777 (Lithuania) $40,545.00
4. ragAAAila19 (Romania) $27,904.50
5. BusiLy (Ukraine) $21,226.50
6. maxmoench90 (Germany) $16,456.50
7. Cesargril444 (Brazil) $11,686.50
8. J-Rod Fett (United Kingdom) $6,916.50
9. M_Semensky (Bulgaria) $4,054.50

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Today's UKIPT Isle of Man final table was a tale of two halves. The three-and-a-half hours it took to get from eight to two players and the four-and-a-quarter hours from there to crown a winner. When the dust settled 25-year old Dan Stacey came out on top after making a great comeback to claim the title and £25,170. Paren Arzoomanian represented all staff members well with a top performance and took home £19,000 for his runner-up finish.

When heads up play began Stacey only had a little more than 1.3 million chips (to 7.5 million) but quickly doubled with a set versus two pair. It was at that point that Arzoomanian offered an even chop deal even though he had more than twice his opponent. They'd both be guaranteed £19,000 and leave £5,170 to play for. It came as no surprise to see Stacey immediately accept the deal.

Arzoomanian stretched further clear again but he couldn't finish off his opponent. Stacey doubled with pocket sixes versus ace-king and the stacks were close to even for the first time. The battle was back and forth for the next couple of hours - neither player could win when they had their opponent all in. Something had to give and it finally did just before 8pm local time.

The chips went in on the turn of a hand with Arzoomanian holding a straight to Stacey's two-pair. The river made Stacey a full house and he shouted out in delight. The (mainly) Arzoomanian supporting crowd gave both players a big round of applause which was thoroughly deserved. Stacey spoke with the PokerStars blog shortly after his victory.

On being so far behind when heads up play began, "Things turned round and I got more confident."

Dacey came sixth here two seasons ago and is growing fond of the place, "It feels like I should live here!"

This time he managed to finish off the job, "I wanted the trophy dead bad."

Back to the start of the day and Arzoomanian came tearing out of the blocks and extended his lead. Elliott Hayes ran into his full house and that left him in a position with not a lot of wriggle room. He got his chips in with pocket sixes on an eight-high flop but Michael Fletcher was sat with pocket jacks, made the call, and eliminated Hayes.

That exit opened the floodgates. Next to depart, just moments after, was James Walsh. The Irishman came into the final as the shortest stack and had just a few big blinds left when he moved all in with ace-jack. Arzoomanian woke up with pocket eights, called, and sent Walsh on his way after a blank board.

The extra chips gave Arzoomanian the license to open up and he used his stack very effectively, soon gathering half the chips in play. The one player willing to take him on was Stacey. The two tangled in a few pots with honours just about even. After they dominated the table's play for a couple of orbits, there was another elimination before the first break and then three quick ones in a short space of time after the break.

Day 1B chip leader Chris Swinden was the first of the bunch to go. He flopped second pair in a three-bet pot against Stacey and decided to move all in. His timing was off though as Stacey had flopped top pair and made an easy call to send him to the rail. Swinden got a generous round of applause from the local crowd (in to play the day's side events) but it was nothing compared to the reception John Lawson got after he busted.

He three-bet all in with ace-six but, unfortunately for him, Arzoomanian had opened with ace-queen and made the call. He went on to make two pair and Lawson seemed genuinely touched seeing a whole room of players put their hands together for him. He must be a damn good taxi driver round the local roads! A lovely side story is that Lawson has now won enough money to join his partner on her trip back to the Philippines to see her family - a promise he made if he made the final table.

Rodger Reynolds failed to get much going today and the first time he was all in he was all out. Stacey had opened the button with pocket sevens and he called after Reynolds moved all in with ace-three from the next seat. He failed to catch up and left with a five-figure payday for his troubles. Fewer than ten minutes later and the tournament was a heads-up affair after Fletcher was eliminated. He got his chips in with ace-ten in a battle of the blinds with Arzoomanian, who went on to make quads with his pocket sixes!

That's all for the UKIPT's visit to the homeland, the next stop will be the always-popular Edinburgh, taking place from 19-22 November. Another UKIPT Super Series will be taking place before that though, once again being hosted by The London Hippodrome from 14-18 October. Satellites are already running online for both events so get involved.

We'll leave with a highlights video that shows some of the fun things that have happened during our time here this week.

Photos copyright of Mickey May. Steal her pictures and she'll take you up Snaefell and leave you there

12:20pm: The rich get richer
Paren Arzoomanian just won the first significant pot of the day and as a result he's extended his chip lead over the field.

He raised to 40,000 from mid-position and Elliott Hayes called from the cut-off. On the [Ad][Th][5d][2h][Ac] board Arzoomanian bet every street and Hayes called bets of 65,000, 130,000 and 250,000 on the flop, turn and river respectively.

At showdown Arzoomanian showed [Ah][5c] for a full house and Hayes mucked. -- NW

12:07pm: Shuffle up and deal
Cards are in the air for the UKIPT Isle of Man final!

There are 24 minutes left of level 22 and then the players will head straight into level 23. -- MC

11:55am: Eight into one doesn't go...quietly
Eight players remain but only one can become UKIPT5 Isle of Man champion and scoop the first prize of £26,600. If you were a betting man (yes you!) your money today would be on Paren Arzoomanian. The 31-year-old who's originally from Sydney, now calls the Isle of Man home as he works for PokerStars in the Poker Room Management department.

The former poker pro leads a final table that shapes up like this:

Check out these final table profiles we made earlier

There are a number of intriguing story lines at this final table. Dan Stacey finished sixth here in 2013 and will be looking to do better today, whilst John Lawson and Christopher Swinden will be hoping to keep the trophy on the Isle of Man. Whatever happens it's going to be interesting.

Cards are in the air at noon, keep it right here for updates. -- NW

PokerStars Blog Reporting Team at UKIPT5 Isle of Man: Marc Convey and Nick Wright. Photos by Mickey May

If you've been in the Isle of Man this week you'll know that this tournament has been billed as 'PokerStars Official Home Game.' Tomorrow there's a strong possibility that the UKIPT5 Isle of Man Main Event trophy will not only be staying on the island, but also taking up residency in PokerStars HQ.

Three players in the final eight call the Isle of Man home and they include the chip leader. When play restarts at noon tomorrow Paren Arzoomanian, who works in Poker Room Management for the company, will be the one sitting with the biggest stack. He'll start with 2,257,000 and a lead of some 25 big blinds over his nearest challenger.

The 31 year-old, who is originally from Sydney, is no office boy who dreams of giving up the day job to play poker, this is a professional poker player who gave up the day job to work for PokerStars. Before he did though he'd ticked off the 'win a major poker tournament' lifetime achievement. In 2009 he won the ANZPT Sydney Main Event for a staggering A$ 246,500 ($174,186). He played this tournament last year too and finished 35th for £2,000. If he wins tomorrow he'll cash for over 13 times that as first prize is £26,600. He's not the first PokerStars employee to go deep in this event with Chris Jonat (4th, 2013) and Ian Marmion (11th, 2014) the standard bearers.

This is how the final table shapes up:

The nearest challenger to Arzoomanian when play begins at noon tomorrow will be a player who knows what it's like to make a final table in this event. Back in 2013 Dan Stacey finished sixth here and will be hoping to do better than that tomorrow. He was near the top of the chip counts for much of the day and had that potent combination of winning lots of small pots and then holding up in the big pots that mattered.

His aces held in a sizeable pot against Scott Byron's pocket kings and he won a 1,600,000 pot with tens against ace-king pot to eliminate Nick Smith in 13th place. He was the first player to breach the two million chip mark before falling back to an end of day 1,714,000.

With ten one hour levels scheduled today the general consensus was that play would probably end with around 10-12 players left, but despite play being deep throughout when the final level of the night started just 11 players remained. That soon became nine when Christopher Knights (11th) and Joe Grech (10th) were eliminated.

When the unofficial final of nine started it was James Walsh who was the shortest. The Irishman had just over seven big blinds to his name, whilst Craig Sewell was next in the firing line with a stack of 17 big blinds and it would be he who blinked first.

His open shove with pocket eights was called by Michael Fletcher with [As][Qh] the [Qd][4d][7s][Jc][9c] board connected with Fletcher's overcards and ended play for the day.

The exit of Sewell in ninth was, of course, the second important bubble to burst today in the Main Event and Sewell would be involved in both incidents. At noon local time 97 hopefuls returned knowing that only 47 of them would be leaving with something to show for their efforts. By the time the tournament was down to the bubble, the likes of Christin Maschmann, Kelly Saxby, Daragh Davey, Dara O'Kearney, Team PokerStars SportStars Fatime Moreira de Melo and Team PokerStars Pro Chris Moneymaker had hit the rail.

Moreira de Melo's exit meant that she was denied a UKIPT5 Isle of Man hat-trick, having finished in the money in both previous Isle of Man Main Events.

The clock was paused with 48 players left but there would be no painful wait for those clinging to a few big blinds as on the very first deal of hand for hand play Dylan Coady, who works for PokerStars as the VIP Club Manager, lost a coin-flip to exit in the most painful spot in a poker tournament. The Canadian three-bet all-in with [Ac][9c] but lost the race against Sewell's pocket sixes.

The bubble burst at 3:20pm local time but it would take over eight hours to reach the final table during which plenty of names and notables cashed but crashed: Luke Staudenmaier, a former poker pro turned PokerStars employee, was first out in the money earning £770. He was followed shortly later by Diego Gomez, the enigmatic Spaniard picked up the same payout for his 45th place finish. The last UKIPT champion in contention was also the last UKIPT champion as Bristol winner Pierrick Tallon battled his way to a 31st place finish, which earned the Belgian an Isle of Man flag and £990.

It was also two UKIPT Main Event cashes in a row for Deborah Worley-Roberts. The American, who now lives Brighton, followed up her 18th place finish in Bristol with another deep run before busting out in 28th place for a cash of £1,057.50. Adrian Filiczkowski started in pole position today and the Day 1 chip leader managed to make the money but not the final table as he finished 26th, David Clarkson secured his fourth UKIPT Main Event cash of the Season but he'd probably trade them all for one deeper run as he added a 25th place finish to previous 42nd, 31st and 42nd place cashes on the tour.

David Hill was the Isle of Man's best performer in Season 4 as he finished third in the Main Event and he racked up another cash this time round before falling in 20th. The Irish contingent has been a bit thin on the ground at this event but one of their best, David Lappin, scored another UKIPT Main Event cash and his highest finish to date before departing in 19th.

To catch up on all today's action click the links below, join us for Sunday's final table which starts at noon, here's a reminder of what they're playing for:

Levels 13-16
Levels 17-22
Prize pool and payout information

All photos are copyright of Mickey May, don't steal them, it's bad for your hygge.

You want chip counts? We've got chip counts! You'll find them here.

4:45pm: Some of the payouts so far
Play is back under way in the Villa Marina. There are 37 player remaining, here are some of the finishers so far:

The business end of the tournament is approaching and some important local people have come down to see what all the fuss is about. Below you can see a photo of Tour manager David Curtis, Group Director of the Sefton Group Adrian Brockhouse and Chief Minister of the Isle of Man Allan Bell.

PokerStars Blog Reporting Team at UKIPT5 Isle of Man: Marc Convey and Nick Wright. Photos by Mickey May

11:40am: Welcome back for Day 2
Day 2 of the UKIPT5 Isle of Man Main Event is almost upon us. The field has been whittled down to double digits as just 97 players remaining from the two starting flights. Leading the way is Day 1A chip leader Adrian Filiczkowski with 247,600, closely followed by Day 1B chip leader Chris Swinden on 245,200. The only other player over the 200,000-mark is Shane Henry on 211,500.

PokerStars' Chris Moneymaker (188,700) and Fatima Moreira De Melo (30,400) are the only Team Pros who made it through, the former with chips to play with, the latter with work to do.

David Clarkson (177,100), Joe Grech (174,100), Pierrick Tallon (170,000), Dan Stacey (159,300), Kelly Saxby (145,900), Dara O`Kearney (133,500), Adam Owen (166,700), Deborah Worley-Roberts (114,300) and Mike Panteli (110,400) are other tour regulars with six-figure stacks and high hopes for today. For a full list of the counts, click here.

No more 45-minute levels. Today they are extended to 60 minutes and ten are scheduled to be played out, unless we make the final table of eight in quick time. Before we make the final table though, there's the little matter of the bubble to navigate and get into the top 47 who will make the money and be guaranteed £770. Full payout details can be viewed by clicking here.

PokerStars Blog Reporting Team at UKIPT5 Isle of Man: Marc Convey and Nick Wright. Photos by Mickey May

There aren't many hard and fast rules in poker tournaments, but along with the blinds steadily rising and someone ending the tournament with all the chips, it seems to be the law that the second of two starting flights will always attract more runners than the first.

With late registration and late risers it's often a case of a mini-game of the tortoise and the hare as the Day 1B numbers slowly creep towards Day 1A's total before inevitably overtaking it and speeding on ahead. But, there was no chase here at the Villa Marina as before a card had been pitched 141 players were in their seats ready for 12 levels of no-limit Hold'em, eclipsing the 111 Day 1A entries from the off. By the time late registration closed that number had risen to 238, courtesy of 218 unique players and 20 re-entries and took the total number of entries in this £400+£40 tournament to 349.

A short time later the tournament staff had crunched the numbers and it was announced to the players that the winner of the UKIPT5 Isle of Man Main Event will take home £26,400, the player who loses the final hand will have £16,770 reasons to be cheerful, whilst 47 players in all will have at least £770 to show for their efforts this week. You can feast your eyes on the entire payout structure here.

Whilst the curse of the chip leader is a well worn poker maxim, Chris Swinden has laid firm foundations for a deep run in this tournament. Thanks to a last level surge when time was called on Day 1B it was the Isle of Man native who had made most headway, bagging up a chip leading stack of 245,200. Others who laid the groundwork for a tilt at a UKIPT title today include: Shane Henry (211,500), Daniel Best (177,700), Johan Bakketeig (177,500) and David Clarkson (177,100). They'll all be back at noon tomorrow for Day 2 with a spring in their step.

Sadly the same can't be said of those representing Team PokerStars Pro today who one by one were ceremoniously despatched from proceedings. First to go was Luca Pagano. The Italian holds the record for most cashes and most final tables on the European Poker Tour but his second shot at this tournament went the same way as the first. He flopped top two pair against Deborah Worley-Roberts on a [3h][5d][4d] board when the American had [Ad][3d] for 'everything' as Pagano put it. Whilst Worley-Roberts might have feared an attack of 'too many outs' syndrome a third three on the river saw Pagano tripped out of the tournament.

Whilst it was a rare appearance on this tour for him at least Liv Boeree and Jake Cody, who were both playing for the first time today, know they won't have too long to wait for another shot at a UKIPT title having both come close in the past to winning a UKIPT Main Event.

For Cody his demise was a case of the best hand failing to hold...twice. His first stack disappeared at the end of level three when he moved all-in with [Qd][Td] on the turn of a [3d][Qs][Tc][2c] board and got a call from Jeanne David who held [Ac][Qc]. The [Kc] river meant it was off the the registration desk for Cody as he quickly re-bought.

The second bullet was far more of a grind as around seven levels later he still had his starting stack of 25,000 when he got in a flip with tens against ace-jack which he lost. That left him on fumes and another lost race with pocket sixes against [Qd][Jd] (queen on the flop) meant Cody was not only left potless but also out of pocket to the tune of $100 thanks to a last longer bet with Chris Moneymaker.

In comparison to Cody's day, Boeree's Main Event experience was far more benign until her exit hand when a failed river bluff shove with ace high, on a seven-high board, was picked off by an opponent who held pocket queens.

It was much the same story for a couple of famous Isle of Man athletes who were both playing with a PokerStars patch today. Conor Cummins is a Manx motorcycle road racer who suffered a huge crash on his home roads in 2010 but made a full recovery and is back competing at the top. Whilst Zoe Gillings-Brier is a professional British snowboarder and a veteran of three Olympic games. Both of their tournaments came crashing down today though with Gillings-Brier now the proud owner of the 'aces cracked to bust a tournament' poker badge as her pocket rockets were cracked by kings, all in pre-flop.

Her exit is far from the end of her association with PokerStars though as it was announced today that PokerStars is going to be sponsoring her by playing a significant part in her Olympic programme by supporting her to train and compete towards the biggest competition of her career to date - the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, which is being held in Pyeongchang; South Korea.

They were in good company on the rail though as the likes of: Paul Newey, Fintan Gavin, Simon Trumper, Alli Mallu and Katja Spillum Svendsen were all eliminated and bragging rights in the PokerStars Isle of Man office will not belong to Chris Straghalis, Rick Dacey, Rebecca McAdam, Matthew Hilger or Eoin Kennedy.

A total of 65 players did advance to Day 2 though and will join the 32 who made it through from 1A. The Day 1B survivors include those listed below who are notable for the size of their stack, the reputation behind it or both:

Paul Moran, 176,100
Joe Grech, 174,100
Pierrick Tallon, 170,000
Dan Stacey, 159,300
Kelly Saxby, 145,900
Luke Fern, 145,400
Adam Owen, 116,700
Deborah Worley-Roberts, 114,300
David Hill, 113,100
Michael Panteli, 110,400
James Walsh, 84,000
Luke Staudenmaier, 55,400
Diego Gomez, 49,800
Dylan Coady, 43,200

To catch up on today's action and to see the overnight chip counts and seat draw click on the links below. The PokerStars Blog will be back from noon tomorrow for what, if history is anything to go by, will be a hectic day of poker.

Levels 1-5
Levels 6-12
PokerStars.tv feature interviews
Start of Day 2 chip counts
Start of Day 2 seat draw

Photos copyright of Mickey 'mayo' May and Danny 'cucumber' Maxwell

You can find selected chip counts from Day 1B here.


4:20pm: Gone but not forgotten
As the blinds go up on Day 1 so too does the pace of the exits, whilst there are plenty of bums still on seats here at the Villa Marina, Steven Blundell, Daniel Booth, Richard Ellis, Adrian Sovrea, David Lewis, Alberto Hernandez, Michael Booth, Kelly Saxby, Gary Whipp, Duncan Riches, David Barnes, Israel Rozental, Lewis Joyce, Luke Staudenmaier, Craig Goddard, Mike Panteli, Anthony Owens, Davide Magnan, Thomas Crozier, Christopher Corkhill, Sam Kenny, Diego Gomez, Simon Trumper, Dominic Burn, Steven Rough, Baard Dahl, Fintan Gavin and Marc Bolton have all busted their first bullet of the day.

We know for sure that Gomez, Trumper and Saxby have all re-entered but with late registration having closed at the start of level four this tournament is now a straight freezeout and anyone busting from now on will not be able to buy back in.

PokerStars Blog Reporting Team at UKIPT5 Isle of Man: Marc Convey and Nick Wright. Photos by Mickey May