Day 1B has ended after 15 levels of play on the second of two starting flights in the $1,675 Main Event. There was a whopping $1,000,000 guaranteed in the prize pool, and that was more than surpassed across two days.
Leading the way at the end of Day 1B is Philipp Salewski with 336,000 chips, followed by Matthew Higgins in second with 326,000 chips. Both of these players will find themselves in the top five going into Day 2 on Sunday.
Last year's defending champion Brad Albrinck (pictured) has bagged a massive stack worth 316,500, good for third in chips, with a solid shot at back-to-back titles for his third World Series of Poker Circuit ring. Both of his rings come from Main Event wins, with his first win at Horseshoe Cincinnati back in 2013.
Albrinck started the day off slow but steady, and picked up the pace later in the day. He picked up kings just when an opponent held queens, and followed that up with picking up queens himself and extracting more chips to add to his stack. Albrinck went on to eliminate WSOP bracelet winner Jonathan Hilton, and continued to apply pressure as the end of the day approached. Look for Albrinck to put his stack to work and gun for yet another title.
A total of 579 entries came through the cage by the end of registration today, bringing the total entries for the tournament to 957. The prize pool guarantee was smashed, as predicted, for a total of $1,435,500. There will be a total of 99 spots paid in this event, with first place taking home $272,744 and a min-cash worth $2,943. The top three spots will pocket six-figures.
A full list of payouts is available under the Prizepool Tab.
Day 1A finished with 378 entries and Nathan Gentry bagged the lead with 399,500 chips. Gentry carries this over to lead on Day 2 on Sunday after bagging the biggest stack across the two starting days. David Jackson (357,000) and Tyler Phillips (328,500) rounded out the top three stacks from the opening flight.
Notable players from Day 1B that managed to bag chips going to Day 2 include Sue Faber (212,500), Marvin Rettenmaier (129,500), Mike Wang (118,000), Mark 'Pegasus' Smith (107,000), Chun Law (104,500), Robert Hankins (101,000), Kyle Cartwright (77,500), John Holley (70,000), Kirk Shelmerdine (59,400), Ryan Jones (48,000), and Janet Fitzgerald (44,500).
Unfortunately not all of the familiar players in the field were able to find bags. Some of the players that ran out of luck today included David Bach, Maurice Hawkins, Cotton Snuffer, Josh Cranfill, Ryan Leng, Cory Waaland, Kindah Sakkal, and Kurt Jewell.
Day 2 begins at 12:00 p.m. on Sunday and blinds are increasing to 60 minutes. There will be a total of 10 levels played on Day 2, and Day 3 will resume on Monday at 12:00 p.m. to play down to a winner.
Day 2 seating assignments can be found under the Reports Tab.