Ben Petrillo Bags Huge Lead After WSOP Circuit Cherokee Main Event Day 1b
Day 1b of the World Series of Poker Circuit Harrah’s Cherokee $1,700 Main Event has come to an end with 102 players remaining out of the starting amount of 619 entries. Along with Day 1a's 381 runners the total field increased to a smooth 1,000 entries.
After 13 hours of play, it was Ben Pertillo who bagged a staggering 768,000, so much that it is good for 300,000 more than the next closest competitor. Petrillo was spotted in the middle part of the day with a big stack and then went off the radar for a bit before gaining a huge amount right as play ended.
Next in chips, some distance behind was Preston McEwen, with 472,000.
Just behind McEwen at the end of the day was Fikren Kovac with 454,000. He was spotted after dinner with a large stack and continued to rise in the counts until the end of the day.
In third place to end the day was well known WSOP Circuit grinder Dan Lowery, who finished a smidge behind Kovac with 451,000. Lowery gained momentum late in the day that launched himself to be among the chip leaders.
Charles Davis bagged 431,000 and David Attride finished the day with 399,000 to round out the top five chip stacks of Day 1b.
A few well-known players who made it through Day 1b were Marshall White (261,000), Steve Karp (233,000), Hamid Izadi (108,000) and Ryan Jones (104,000).
The 102 players who survived the day will combine the 60 survivors from Day 1b for a total of 162 remaining to start Day 2 which gets underway Sunday, December 8 at noon local time.
PokerNews will continue coverage of the Main Event on Day 2 as the money bubble will burst early and the players will look to make a deep run and survive until the final day on Monday.
and Wheeling was off to a flying start immediately.
Ben Petrillo raised his opponents bet of 11,000 to around 28,000. The third player in the hand contemplated his options for a while before shoving all in, which was for slightly less than Petrillo's raise. The original bettor thought before folding.
against the flush draw 
of his opponent. The turn was the 
and the river came the 
to come up blank for the flush draw and Petrillo collected the remainder of his chips
