The third day of the 2025 PartyPoker Tour Glasgow has come to an end. Well, more or less, that is; at the time this recap is being written, the £150 PLO Masters Big O is still going, as well as the £60 Satellite to the £500 Main Event.
The two most intriguing tournaments of the day, though, have both concluded. The poker.pro live coverage team mostly focused on Day 2 of the £150 Mini Main Event today, and it’s been a blockbuster of a tournament. The other gem on Thursday’s tournament schedule was the first flight of the Main Event, where 15 players managed to find a bag for Day 2. Let’s go through what went down at the Alea Casino Glasgow today.
A Marathon Day for Mini Main Event Players
The first tournament of the day was Day 1d of the Mini Main Event. This was the fourth and final starting flight, and it attracted 79 entries. This meant that the flight would end when only 16 players remained, who all would advance to Day 2.
Day 1d finished just a couple of minutes before Day 2 started, meaning that the 1d survivors potentially had a long day of poker. Before cards were in the air, the floor shared the final numbers of the tournament. A total of 468 entries had created a £58,406 prize pool, with a £10,260 first-place payout. Needless to say, there was a lot to play for.
92 players entered Day 2, but “only” 71 would be in the money. It didn’t take too long before the burst; David Langsdale ran his A♣K♦ into the A♠A♥ of Li, and with that, all players were “ITM” and guaranteed £260.
Perhaps, PartyPoker Team Pro Jaime Staples was the most familiar name still in the mix. There would be no super-deep run for the Canadian, though, as he soon would be knocked out by his own girlfriend, Rebecca Hardisty. With Staples no longer in the tournament, poker host Glenn Brown was the only PartyPoker Tour Ambassador still in the mix. Eventually, Brown would join Staples on the rail as his pocket tens came up short against two queens.
A while later, Adam Buxley would be eliminated by John Bradley, and a three-table redraw was commenced. The pots had become a lot more significant, and with some short-stacked players, there were several all-in situations happening with just minutes apart. Three tables soon became two, and Robert McKeown was the chip leader at this point. The average stack was just shy of 1,400,000, and McKeown was sitting very healthy with roughly 5,000,000 in chips.
McKeown was one of the players seated at Table 2, and such, he had a great seat to witness one of the craziest hands ever played in the Alea Casino. Steamrolling, epic plays, floor rulings, insane runout… the hand had it all, and it will be remembered for quite some time.
At 02:21, Craig McCairns was eliminated in tenth place, meaning play was over for the day. The nine remaining warriors bagged their chips, and they will return to the final table tomorrow, Friday, August 16, at 15:00. Gajanthan Kamalanathan is the current chip leader, but it will be a fierce fight for the £10,260 first-place prize, and the coveted PartyPoker trophy. Below are the chip counts for tomorrow; the seat draw won’t be conducted until tomorrow.
£150 Mini Main Event – Final Table Chip Count
| Position | Player | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gajanthan Kamalanathan | 5490000 | 69 |
| 2 | Robert McKeown | 3475000 | 43 |
| 3 | Christian Watt | 2625000 | 33 |
| 4 | Laurynas Jakutis | 2460000 | 31 |
| 5 | Derek Curran | 1450000 | 18 |
| 6 | Daniel Hawkes | 1250000 | 16 |
| 7 | Callum Reid | 940000 | 12 |
| 8 | David Anderson | 710000 | 9 |
| 9 | Marc Moody | 390000 | 5 |
Although Day 2 of the Mini Main Event was the priority for poker.pro during Thursday, one must not forget that the first flight of the Main Event kicked off at 14:00. 59 entries meant that £25,771 was contributed to the prize pool, and the top 15 players (aka, 25 % of the total amount of entries) would bag their chips for Day 2.
£500 Main Event – Day 1a Chip Counts
| Position | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zhen Zhen | 375,000 |
| 2 | Dean Lyall | 353,000 |
| 3 | John Clements | 275,000 |
| 4 | James Grogan | 262,000 |
| 5 | Carl Cotton | 205,000 |
| 6 | Roderick Macneil | 205,000 |
| 7 | James McAulay | 174,000 |
| 8 | Ross Haffie | 163,000 |
| 9 | Ryan Allan | 155,000 |
| 10 | Patrick Murphy | 146,000 |
| 11 | Ben Crichton | 141,000 |
| 12 | David Morris | 136,000 |
| 13 | William Haughey | 132,000 |
| 14 | John Dick | 124,000 |
| 15 | Joe Dixon | 109,000 |
That’s a wrap for the poker.pro live coverage for today. Tomorrow, the focus will be on the final table of the Mini Main Event, but the chip counts from the two Main Event flights will also be shared, as well as all photos and results from various tournaments.
Have a good night’s sleep, Glasgow.
