Steven Williams Leads 44 More Players into Day 2

Steven Williams finished Day 1b atop the pack in the 2015 Mid-States Poker Tour FireKeepers Casino Main Event as a 2-1 chip leader over his next closest opponent. Not only that, but his stack of 400,500 also puts him around 90,000 better than the top stack from Day 1a's flight.

The man in second place that Williams doubled up on Day 1b was Dan Laduke with his finishing stack of 201,000 in chips.

In all, 44 more players are set for Day 2, including former MSPT FireKeepers champ Ryan Dykhouse (38,500). The last two MSPT Player of the Year winners, Mike Deis and Patrick Steele, also punched their tickets to Day 2, bagging up the exact same stack of 134,500.

Others to advance from Day 1b were Jake Baumgartner (86,000), Chris Moon (70,000), Jordan Johnson (64,500), and Jason Zarlenga (14,500).

There were a total of 213 entries for Day 1b, with some of them familiar faces from yesterday as they busted out and opted to reenter. There was also a turbo satellite on Friday night in the hopes of pushing this MSPT FireKeeper's Main Event over the current record of 614 total entries, set in May.

Poker won't be the only thing on the minds of players this weekend, either. As this event is deemed the Michigan State Poker Championship, many players are excited for the big Michigan State versus Michigan college football matchup that takes place on Saturday at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor. The staff has made accommodations so that the players will be able to watch the game while playing, and that should only get the blood pumping even more.

There's still one more starting day to go, and that's Day 1c that takes place on Saturday at 12 p.m. local time. Be sure to return right here to PokerNews for continued coverage.

Player	Chips	Progress
Steve Williams	400,500 85,500	85,500
Dan Laduke	201,000 154,000	154,000
David Mclaughlin	184,500 184,500	184,500
Phillip Wojtuniecki	173,500 173,500	173,500
Andrew Korby	155,000 61,000	61,000
Dylan Thomassie	152,500 5,500	5,500
Andrew Peplinski	145,000 145,000	145,000
Gus Vergos	143,000 38,000	38,000
Ron Nussbaum	137,000 137,000	137,000
Patrick Steele	134,500 2,500	2,500

Mike Deis	134,500 134,500	134,500
Wayne Smith	128,500 47,000	47,000
Troy Quenneville	115,500 115,500	115,500
Adam Lamphere	111,500 80,000	80,000
Mark Morris	109,000 109,000	109,000
Calvin Leeps	109,000 109,000	109,000
George Hamati	101,500 14,500	14,500
Jefferson Lasecki	99,500 35,500	35,500
Larry Baxter	95,500 95,500	95,500
Justin Nagle	94,500
Jon Demars	87,500 60,500	60,500
Greg Semer	87,000 39,000	39,000
Jake Baumgartner	86,000 2,000	2,000
Bryan Gwin	82,000 82,000	82,000

Santiago Vila	79,500 17,500	17,500
Robert Moria	78,500 78,500	78,500
Walter Drake	76,000 76,000	76,000
Scott Pio	73,500 34,500	34,500
Doug Bawersock	72,000 72,000	72,000
Josh Marvin	70,000 15,200	15,200
Chris Moon	70,000 64,800	64,800
Jordan Johnson	64,500 64,500	64,500
Daniel Anulare	57,000 57,000	57,000
Mike Williams	53,000 53,000	53,000

Bruce Swart	51,000 51,000	51,000
Ben Sedlecky	50,000 50,000	50,000
J.J. Adkins	46,500 25,600	25,600
Mark Johnson	42,000 4,700	4,700
Ryan Dykhouse	38,500 36,500	36,500
Kyle Pox	37,500 37,500	37,500
Mike Duckham	17,000 17,000	17,000
Jason Zarlenga	14,500 48,000	48,000
Jim Dominique	14,000 14,000	14,000