The second of three World Series of Poker main event start days over the weekend saw 2,144 players register, but by the time the chips were bagged early Monday morning just 1,428 were still standing and will go through to Day 2.
At the close of play for Day 1b the largely unknown Trey Luxemburger was holding the chip lead for the day on 193,450, hotly pursued by nearest rival Sarkis Hakobian on 190,125.
Notable names going through to the next round include Marvin Rettenmaier, Erik Seidel, Matt Affleck, Vanessa Selbst, Mike McDonald, Scott Seiver, Allen Cunningham and former Main Event winners Dan Harrington and Huck Seed.
Also going through are Brandon Shack-Harris, David Williams, Phil Galfond, Jeff Madsen, Jonathan Little, celebrity players Ray Romano and Kevin Pollak and NASCAR’s Jason White.
Out for this year are Chris Moorman, Bertrand Grospellier, Joseph Cheong, Andy Black, Paul Volpe, David Sands, Scott Clements, Vivek Rajkumar, Dan Shak, Kevin Saul, Dan O’Brien, Frank Kassela, Philipp Gruissem and Robert Mizrachi.
Officials expect a very large field for the final start day today at Day 1c amid unofficial reports that over 3,000 registrations have already been achieved. Some big names expected to take their seats for 1c include Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, and previous WSOP main event champs Joe Cada and Joseph Hachem.
One notable absence will be the legendary Doyle Brunson, who has tweeted that he will not be entering.