Day 1b Concludes; Bianco the Big Stack Heading to Day 2
It's pushing 2 o'clock in the morning in Atlantic City, and with Daylight Savings time happening this evening the clock will soon be leaping forward to 3 o'clock. It was late morning on Saturday that play began here at the World Series of Poker Circuit Main Event at Caesars Atlantic City. And after nearly 15 hours and two Day 1 flights play has finally concluded, with Benedetto Bianco having claimed the overall chip lead to begin tomorrow's Day 2.
Day 1a saw 304 players enter this $1,675 buy-in event, with roughly half of them surviving nine 40-minute levels to survive. Of that group Bianco finished with a whopping 174,600 chips, more than 60,000 more than his nearest competitor, Leo Walker.
Others accumulating six-figure stacks during the day's first session included Patrick Houchins, Gary Bolden, Harry Korotki, and Micah Raskin. Five-time WSOP-C ring winner Mark Smith made it through to tomorrow as well, as did Christopher Leong who has picked up two rings just this week at WSOP-C Caesars Atlantic City.
The evening session then saw a number of players who busted from Day 1a re-entering to see if the second flight might work out better for them. There were a total of 214 entries for Day 1b, with a little over half of them making it to day's end. A total of 270 of the original 517 entries will be returning on Sunday.
Some saw their Saturdays punctuated by bustouts in both flights today, including Chris Reslock, Steve Dannenman, Kyle Bowker, and Roland Israelashvili. Meanwhile, Timothy Finne, Matt Glantz, and Travell Thomas were among the group who fell in Day 1a but made it through Day 1b.
Those accumulating the biggest stacks during the latter session included Gregory Mitchell (118,900), Raymond Morgan (98,000), and John Evans (92,900). Thus will Bianco continue to enjoy a comfortable margin ahead of the pack for the start of play tomorrow.
Play begins at noon local time Sunday, which after setting those clocks forward will be here that much sooner. And we'll be here again, too, to bring you all of the action as the quest to find the next WSOP Circuit Main Event winner continues.