Martin Kradlak raised to 8,000 from the button and Arian Hassankash moved all in from the small blind. Kradlak let out an exasperated sigh before making the call for all of his chips.
Martin Kradlak: A?Q?
Arian Hassankash: A?K?
The board ran out 3?K?J?10?8?. Hassankash hit a pair of kings on the flop, but Kradlak picked up a backdoor straight draw. The ten on the turn completed his straight to give him the double up.
Ian Simpson raised to 10,000 from the button and Jacob Mulhern called in the big blind.
The flop came 6?K?5?. Mulhern checked and Simpson bet 7,000. Mulhern put in the check raise to 25,000 and Simpson called.
The turn came the 5? and Mulhern shoved all in for the rest of Simpson's stack.
"It's all fun and games, isn't it?!", said Simpson as he pondered his move. He eventually made the call and players flipped their cards.
Ian Simpson: A?6?
Jacob Mulhern: Q?7?
Simpson had a pair of sixes and Mulhern had a flush draw that he'd used to semi-bluff the pot.
The river came a 7x to give Mulhern a pair of sevens. With that, Simpson was eliminated from the tournament and Mulhern claimed the pot and took the chip lead.
Andrew Hanak had been sitting on a short stack for a few circuits before he moved all in for 17,000 on the bubble. He was called by Renee Xie, who had him well covered. Players flipped their cards.
Andrew Hanak: 5?5?
Renee Xie: A?K?
It was a coinflip situation with Hanak holding pocket fives up against Xie's ace king suited. The board ran out 10?Q?9?4?J?. Hanak managed to hold until the river, which brought Xie the nut straight.
Hanak was eliminated on the bubble and all other players have now made Day 2 and are in the money.
Day 1b of the PokerStars UKIPT Blackpool Main Event, running at The Sandcastle Grosvenor Casino, has now concluded. A total of 137 entries were made in the flight, and of those 21 players made it through and into the money.
They will join the remaining field from the other two starting flights to make for 40 players returning for Day 2.
Jacob Mulhern finished as the Day 1b chip leader with 590,000 and also leads the tournament across all flights. Mulhern scored his biggest tournament victory back in 2017, when he won ��650,000 in a Dusk Till Dawn event. He won't top that this weekend, but he's in a solid position to vye for the top spots.
Daniel Laidlaw of the UK finished the flight in second place. Laidlaw qualified for the event via online satellite and will be looking to cash out on the opportunity. He's not the only one. Seven players from today's flights were PokerStars qualifiers, including four who made the top ten.
Third in chips was Craig Watson with 335,000. Below you can find the top ten from the flight.
Day 1b Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chips
1
Jacob Mulhern
United Kingdom
590,000
2
Daniel Laidlaw
United Kingdom
405,500
3
Tuan Le
United Kingdom
316,000
4
Constantin Erhan
Moldova
267,500
5
Martin Kradlak
Slovakia
251,000
6
Daniel Jackson
United Kingdom
244,000
7
Renee Xie
United Kingdom
232,000
8
Wendy Watson
United Kingdom
225,500
9
Aleksandrs Golubevs
United Kingdom
185,000
10
Guillermo Gordo
Spain
181,000
Daniel Laidlaw
Day 1c also concluded just moments after Day 1b. There were 39 entries to the turbo flight and seven players made it through to Day 2. Robert Boon finished as chip leader with 178,000.
Across all three starting flights, 262 entries were made, making for a prize pool of ��254,140. Payouts are yet to be announced, but will be published on PokerNews as the information becomes available.
As Day 1b was the biggest in terms of entries, many of the overall chip leaders emerged from that flight. PokerStars Team Pro player Sam Grafton, who led Day 1a, will head into Day 2 fourth in chips.
Day 2 of the Main Event will commence Saturday at 12 p.m. local time. Stay tuned as PokerNews bring live updates straight from the tournament floor and follow the action deep into the money.
