Welcome to Day 1b of the MSPT Potawatomi Hotel & Casino!

Yesterday, the Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) kicked off their first-ever stop to Potawatomi Hotel & Casino in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and what an evening of poker it turned out to be. Expectations were high as the venue draws from several poker-heavy markets, but no one expected the turnout of 246 entries, which shattered the guaranteed prize pool of $200,000 with an entire starting flight with today's starting flight still to come.

Just 138 players are needed here on Day 1b to set a new state record for largest prize pool (the largest was 383 entries creating a $383,000 prize pool at the MSPT Ho-Chunk Gaming Wisconsin Dells earlier this year), and there is no doubt that number will be easily reached.

As for yesterday's action, just 42 players survived the night with the top four stacks being David Brown (312,500), Frank Swierczynski (295,500), Dan Goepel (263,500) and Sunny Ali (249,500). Others joining them as Day 1a survivors were former MSPT champs Ken Baime (202,000) and Jason Zarlenga (68,500); Mike Deis (150,000), who is currently second on the MSPT POY leaderboard; MSPT Team Pro Matt Alexander (107,500); circuit grinder Shiva Dudani (83,500); and World Series of Poker bracelet winner Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin (55,500).

While we won't be seeing any of those players here today, we expect to see plenty of those players willing to fire a second (or third) bullet such as Day 1a casualties Brandon "oncommand" Meyers, Judd Greenagel, Mike Holm, Ravi Raghavan, Mark “P0ker H0” Kroon, Bob Whalen, and current MSPT Player of the Year leader Kou Vang. Joining them will be those who couldn't make it on Friday including prominent Wisconsin businessman Larry Ormson, family man Paul Ranola, and World Series of Poker Circuit ring winner Chad Graves.

Day 1b is set to kick off at 4:00 p.m. CT, which is less than an hour from now. The PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be on hand to capture all the action, so be sure to stay tuned for all the latest and greatest from the MSPT Potawatomi Hotel & Casino.