The first two hands after the break were action packed and saw two players sent home.
The first hand saw Phil Vera eliminated. The action started when Chris Moneymaker opened to 4,000 and Scott Heiser called. Peter Priest raised to 12,000 and Mike Melkersen four bet to 30,000 and the action folded to Vera.
He decided to go all in for his last 6,000 thinking he would get about six to one on his money. The action folded back to Priest and he called the 30,000.
The flop was seven high with two hearts, and Priest checked. Melkersen shoved for 78,000 and Priest folded.
Melkersen had for ace high against the of Vera once Priest was out of the hand. The board finished and gave Melkersen the win and eliminated Vera.
On the next hand, Charles Murray, who had been waiting for a moment to shove was eliminated. He was seen exiting the tournament behind Vera.
Peter Priest had a bad run of hands and when the dust settled he was eliminated. Priest's elimination would end play for the day about half way through level 13.
On one hand, Priest called a 40,000 river bet by Chris Moneymaker on a four flush board. Moneymaker had the in his hand and he won the hand. On the next hand, Moneymaker finished the job he started.
Three players saw the flop of and Moneymaker and Priest got all in. Priest had against the of Moneymaker. The board finished and Moneymaker won the hand and eliminated Priest. The players will now bag for Day 2.
Former World Series of Poker Main Event Champion and the Hollywood Poker Open ambassador Chris Moneymaker leads the five players from Day 1a who have made it to Day 2. Moneymaker is almost 200,000 ahead of the next closest player, after a series of hands that led to Peter Priest being eliminated and Moneymaker separating himself from the pack.
Three hands spelled doom for Priest, who was sitting with a healthy stack coming back from the final break.
He got in a hand with Mike Melkersen and Phil Vera. Vera was all in for less and Melkersen shoved a seven-high flop after Priest checked. Priest said he folded pocket tens, which would have been good enough to win the hand for a huge pot.
Instead, Priest would hit a set against Moneymaker and called a bet of 40,000 on the river of a four-card flush board. Moneymaker had the in his hand for the flush and put another dent in Priest's stack.
On the next hand, Moneymaker finished Priest off when he flopped top pair with the against the middle pair of Priest, who held . The two players got all in on the flop and the board ran out , giving Moneymaker the elimination and sending Priest home.
Moneymaker finished with 371,800 and will take that into Day 2, followed by Dennis Summers (199,700), Mike Melkersen (161,400), Scott Heiser (128,000), and Josh Smith (39,100).
The Day 1a flight drew 45 players, and Saturday's Day 1b field is expected to have somewhere around 80.
Stay tuned for that Day 1b at 11:15 a.m. local time and see who will earn their spot in Day 2 of the HPO Charles Town Regional Main Event.