Day 1b of the Mid-States Poker Tour Running Aces Main Event attracted 170 entries, which along with Day 1a's 177 brought the total field up to 347 entrants, up from last September's 328. That has created a $347,000 prize pool that will be distributed to the top 36 players with the eventual winner taking home $83,773.
The man from Day 1b best positioned to make a run at it is Nathan Baum, who finished the 33 survivors as chip leader with a stack of 252,000. That is just slightly behind that of Day 1a chip leader Leo Fussy, who bagged 275,000.
Baum currently resides in Lincoln, Nebraska, but before that spent time on the East coast. That's where he dabbled in poker at Parx Casino, notching five cashes for lifetime earnings of $24,377. That included $17,646 for a runner-up finish in the 2012 WPT Parx Open Poker Classic $1,000 Bounty and a win in the 2013 Parx Casino Monday Green Chip Bounty for $2,744.
Others who bagged big stacks were Aalok Arora (213,500), Adam Dahlin (188,500), Jephtah Olupo (183,500), and Babe O'Gorman (164,000), who round out the top five.
Some other players who advanced, albeit with smaller stacks, were former MSPT champ Rodger Johnson (126,500), past MSPT Running Aces winner Mark Sandness (105,500), Tyler Caspers (95,000), Kou Vang (70,500), and MSPT Team Pro Matt Kirby (64,500).
Of course not everyone was so lucky. Among those to fire and miss on Day 1b were MSPT Pro Blake Bohn; former MSPT Running Aces champ Ken Pates; World Series of Poker bracelet winner John Reading; Wisconsin's Matthew Vaughan, Rick Syverud, and Larry Ormson; and defending champ Peixin Liu, who was eliminated when his pocket aces were cracked on the turn by an opponent's two pair.
The 33 Day 1b survivors will join the 36 from Day 1a on Sunday at 11 a.m. local time for Day 2 action. That's when they'll play through the money on the way to crowning a champion. Of course you can follow the action throughout right here in the live blog, while the final table action will be live streamed with hole cards on a 15-minute delay.