PokerStars' UK Ireland Poker Tour yesterday reached Dublin, Ireland, for its third stop this season, inviting players to take a seat at what is normally the most popular stop of the entire tour.

The UKIPT Dublin €700 Main Event last year saw more than 700 players find their way to the registration booths, creating a prize pool of €348,230.

The event was won by Joeri Zandvliet, who picked up a €83,500 first prize after beating among others 2010 champion Max Silver on the final table.

The 2012 edition of the event shot off with slightly lower participant numbers, as just 199 players registered for Day 1A.

Among the biggest names registered for the event were Ross and Barney Boatman, Jude Ainsworth, Surinder Sunar, and Sam Razavi.

Following the first day of play, William Champion of the UK took over the chip lead with a 129,700 stack, followed by Irishman Paul McCaffrey in second with 112,000.

A total of 91 players made the cut into Day 2, including a large number of PokerStars' own online qualifiers.

Day 1B started around one hour ago at the City West Hotel downtown Dublin, and so far player numbers are looking to receive a small boost, as more than 300 players have already found their seats, according to the PokerStars Blog.

Most of today's field is made up from qualifiers and lesser known pros, with EPT title holder Julian Thew and UKIPT Champions of Champions Richard Sinclair being among the biggest names registered so far.

The Main Event will continue to run all weekend, until a winner is found on Monday night.

For more information, running chip counts and updates, see the PokerStars Blog.