Dave Alfa continues his 2019 heater, Sam Washburn still in contention in Tunica Main Event.
January 27, 2019 (Tunica) - Both starting flights of the World Series of Poker Circuit Main Event at Tunica are now complete, and Johnny Landreth (pictured) has bagged the biggest stack from the Day 1B flight.
Day 1A had a total of 243 slips sold, with 30 players remaining at the end of the night. Day 1B pulled in 396 entries, and when the last chance saloon had closed for business, 47 players found a bag. The total of the two starting flights is 639, having 77 of those entries making it to Day 2.
The 639 slips sold destroyed last years total and accumulated a total prize pool of $968,085. The total number of players in the tournament to cash is 72, with a min-cash pulling in $2,711, and first place paying a staggering $198,451 for the eventual champion.
The 77 players that made it through their respective Day 1 will all be chasing to catch Landreth, who finished Day 1B with, 673,000 in chips. Landreth is a circuit regular that has almost $400,000 in WSOP cashes, and three rings already to his name.
One of his rings is from a Main Event in the 2014/2015 season, coming in this very building at the Tunica Main Event for a cool $147,388 first place prize. The Lanette, AL native was hovering around average for most of the day, but shortly after the last break he took down a few pots and catapulted near the top of the pack, ultimately ending the night as the tournament chip leader.
Kyle Cartwright bagged the Day 1A chip lead with 611,000, and will be coming into Day 2 second on the leader board. The only other person to hit the 600,000 mark is Gennady Kalin, with a stack of 600,000. Some other big stacks heading into Day 2 include Dave Alfa (569,000) and Richard Hines (565,000), rounding out the top five.
Alfa is on fire to start the year, grabbing two rings in Choctaw earlier this month. One of his rings came in the biggest Main Event field this year, having 1,161 players in the Choctaw main. He took down the tournament for a career high $320,998 and will be looking to add another six figure cash to his resume here in Tunica.
Vincent Moscati will be starting the day sixth in chips with 535,000. Moscati is a well-known circuit grinder, boasting almost $640,000 in WSOP cashes, and already has in incredible seven rings to his name. Look for him to make a splash on Day 2 as he looks to add his first Main Event win to his resume, along with ring number eight.
Some other well-known players advancing include ring winner Justin Sharpe (475,000), circuit regular Darren Martin (341,000), Damjan Radanov (323,000), Mike Cordell (294,000), two-time ring winner Brian Jennings (272,000), and seven-time ring winner Joshua Turner (265,000).
The remaining players from the two starting flights will combine to play Day 2 on Sunday at noon. A total of 10, 60-minute levels will be played or until the final table is reached before bagging up and heading to Day 3. Play begins at level 18 with the blinds at 3,000/6,000 and a 1,000 ante.
Here are the top 10 chip counts after Day 1B. For full chip counts click on the REPORTS tab, above.
1 - Johnny Landreth - 673,000
2 - Kyle Cartwright - 611,000
3 - Gennady Kalin - 600,000
4 - Dave Alfa - 569,000
5 - Richard Hines - 565,000
6 - Vincent Moscati - 535,000
7 - Roger Campbell - 522,000
8 - Trace Henderson - 511,000
9 - BJ McBrayer - 481,000
10 - Justin Sharpe - 475,000