2019 WSOP Main Event: Day 1B Draws 1,915 Entries

Day 1B of the 2019 World Series of Poker $10,000 no-limit hold’em main event saw a total of 1,915 players take their seats, bringing the total number of entries to 3,250 through the first two starting days. That pace is just 1.6 percent behind the 2018 main event, despite the fact that this year’s day 1B took place on July 4, America’s Independence Day. Day 1C has historically seen the largest turnout of the three starting flights, which means that this year’s main event is on pace to be one of largest in the tournament’s history.

After the fireworks died down on the Las Vegas strip, a total of 1,417 players bagged up chips after five two-hour levels of play on day 1B. They will combine with the 960 that made it through day 1A on Saturday, July 6 for day 2AB, which will begin with a total of 2,377 players.

The chip leader from day 1B is British poker pro Adam Owen, who ended the day with 351,800. Plenty of other notable players bagged up big stacks, including Asi Moshe (330,200), 2018 WSOP $888 bracelet winner Galen Hall (295,700), 2015 WSOP $1,500 no-limit hold’em shootout champion Barry Hutter (196,500), Jonathan Jaffe (184,600), and Olivier Busquet (180,300).

Busquet bagged a top 50 stack on day 1B after late registering following his elimination from the final table of the $5,000 six-max no-limit hold’em event. He placed fifth in that tournament for $154,112.

Allen Kessler is not known for running up big stacks early in events, but that is precisely what he did on day 1B. The man known to many in the poker world as “The Chainsaw” won a chunk of his 301,800 (a top five stack) through an absolute cooler, flopping quads against a full house with pocket fours on a 7-4-4 board. Brazilian poker pro Andre Akkari captured the hand on video and took to Twitter to share.

E esta no Main Event da WSOP eh mole? @AllenKessler ! pic.twitter.com/3qCJ7A66in

— andre akkari (@aakkari) July 5, 2019

Plenty of big names were also eliminated from contention on day 1B, including 2017 main event fourth-place finisher John Hesp, Sean Winter, Barry Shulman, Dan Shak, Valentin Vornicu, Anthony Zinno, Max Pescatori, Cord Garcia, Xuan Liu, and Craig Varnell.

Five former main event champions played on day 1B, with each of them surviving to day 2. 2013 world champion Ryan Riess bagged the largest stack among the five with 89,300. The other four prior winners of this event who made it through were 2004 champ Greg Raymer (73,100), 2005 winner Joe Hachem (61,300), 2012 champion Greg Merson (25,000), and 2000 winner Chris Ferguson (36,100).

Day 1C kicks off at 12:00 a.m. PT on Friday, July 5.

To see a complete list of chip counts from day 1B survivors, CLICK HERE.

Here is a look at the top ten stacks from day 1B:

For more coverage from the summer series, check out the 2019 WSOP landing page, complete with a full schedule, results, news, player interviews, and event recaps.

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