Mirza Finishes Day 1b at the Top
Day 1b finished on Saturday in the 2015 Mid-States Poker Tour Ho-Chunk Gaming Wisconsin Dells Main Event and 44 players remain. Former MSPT champion Jason Mirza ended the day at the top with 330,500 in chips to have the chip lead, although Thomas Peebles made a pretty good run at it.
Mirza previously won the MSPT Milwaukee Main Event back in April, keeping the title on home turf and securing himself a payday of $147,529. Mirza defeated a field of 635 entries and has set himself up for another deep run after he solid Day 1b performance. Here, Mirza will be looking to claim the top prize of $98,907.
It was going to be close between Peebles and Xao Yang for the second biggest stack, as the two were sitting over 200,000, but on the last hand of the night Peebles sealed the deal.
Peebles raised from middle position and Kou Vang reraised all in for 47,100. Peebles snap-called with the 
and was against the 
of Vang. He stayed ahead and knocked Vang out, finishing the day with 295,500. Yang finished with 268,500.
Rounding out the top five were Matthew Vaughn (248,500) and John Hayes (219,500).
MSPT Pro Blake Bohn was unable to make it though to Day 2, and with one event left Mark Hodge will stay above Bohn on the MSPT Player of the Year leaderboard. Hodge also busted earlier in the day.
A total of 69 players will return for Sunday's Day 2, the 44 who remained from Day 1b and the 25 who were left from Day 1a. The top 36 spots will pay, so about half of the returning field will go home empty handed.
Ernest Garrett was the 26th player that made it through Day 1a, but he sacrificed his stack to give Day 1b a shot and was unable to make it through.
Day 2 will begin at 11 a.m. local time and before the day is done, a champion will be crowned.