by Mario Alfonsi | Published on Feb 19, 2012 | Updated on Feb 19, 2012While there isn’t much major tournament poker action in the world this week, there’s at least one event worthy of note happening in Europe. The UK/Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT) stop in Galway saw 698 players turn out over the course of two starting days with week, building a prize pool of nearly €500,000, including a first place prize of €114,900.After two starting flights, 311 players were left in contention heading into the combined Day 2. Heading into the day, it was the Netherlands’ Joris Ruijs who held the chip lead, but there was a significant among of play expected before the field would be reduced to the 81 players who would ultimately make the money.Ultimately, Day 2 surpassed all expectations in terms of the speed of play and the drastic reduction of the field. Players were eliminated in rapid succession, and by the end of play, only 59 players remained to battle for the UKIPT Galway title.The new chip leader is now Alan Gilmore, who bagged an impressive 467,000 chips to give him a slight chip lead. Ruijs is still in contention as well, as he stands as just one of four players with stacks of over 400,000 chips.But the biggest story of the tournament so far may be that of Nick Abou Risk. With a strong stack of 278,500 chips, Risk is certainly in contention. If he were able to make a run and win this tournament it would give Risk an incredible third UKIPT title in three years, having already won tournaments in Edinburgh and Galway (both in 2010).For the most part, though, Day 2 was notable for the players who were eliminated. Kevin MacPhee was bounced short of the bubble, as was World Series of Poker bracelet winner Marty Smyth. On the other hand, two former UKIPT winners – Gareth Walker and Richard Sinclair – were able to book small cashes before being knocked out of the tournament.
