Can Day 1b Top Day 1a of Event #39: $1,500 Monster Stack No-Limit Hold’em?
The excitement is in the air, as Day 1b of Event #39: $1,500 Monster Stack No-Limit Hold’em kicks off at 10 a.m. local time at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas.
And the anticipation is warranted coming on the heels of Day 1a, which drew a head-turning 3,945 entrants to exceed last year’s pool of 2,947 players. Day 1a generated a prize pool of $5,266,575, and saw a total of 1,242 players bag for Sunday's Day 2.
Those figures can only go up on Day 1b, as the player pool expands for an encore of the previous day, which brought plenty of energy and competition.
Pavlin Kanakikov led the charge on Day 1a, bagging an impressive 593,500 to lead a pack of 11 total players to top the 500,000 mark. WSOP bracelet winner Pei Li also made a run to the Top 25 by totaling 464,000.
Day 1a Top Ten Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chip count |
| 1 | Pavlin Kanakikov | Bulgaria | 593,500 |
| 2 | Arun Malhotra | Canada | 563,500 |
| 3 | Adrian Bertini | United States | 549,500 |
| 4 | Micha Bitton | United States | 544,000 |
| 5 | Yuhan Huo | United States | 538,000 |
| 6 | Todd Sekli | Australia | 530,000 |
| 7 | Viktor Lavi | Egypt | 516,000 |
| 8 | Fabian Gumz | Germany | 512,000 |
| 9 | Shahin Edalatdju | United States | 510,000 |
| 10 | Jorge Consiglieri | United States | 509,000 |
Other notable players from Day 1a advancing to Day 2 are WSOP bracelet winners Michael Wang (329,500), Michael Lech (269,000), Ryan Riess (135,500), Patrick Leonard (162,000), Greg Raymer (159,000) and Joe McKeehen (85,500), among others.
Today’s participants will start with 50,000 and are scheduled for 11 60-minute levels, with a break every two hours. Players bagging at the end of Level 11 will go on to play on Day 2, which is set for Sunday at 10 a.m. local time.
Follow along with PokerNews for live updates throughout the event.