A whopping 502 players (nearly doubling last year’s 252 entries for Day 1a) took to the felt today in hopes of securing a bag to Day 2 of the MSPT Venetian $3,000,000 Guaranteed, $1,600 Buy-In Main Event. When the dust had settled, just 63 made it through the day, with Ben Diebold’s eye-popping 596,500 in chips leading the way. Diebold, who was already accumulating a big stack near the end of the day, tacked on another 150,000 in the final few minutes to ensure the day’s overall chip lead. Diebold’s biggest prior poker accomplishment was shipping the 2018 Card Player Poker Tour event in Jacksonville, Florida for just over $75,000, and he’ll be looking to crush that score with a deep run here.

The rest of the top five include Kiat Lee (581,500), Peter Nigh (458,000), Danny Wong (384,000), and Samuel Tsehai (348,500). Others that were able to secure a bag include Frederik Brink (314,000), 2017 WSOP Main Event runner-up Daniel Ott (300,000), Season 9 MSPT JACK Cleveland champ Abdul Amer (236,000), German crusher Manig Loeser (235,000), Peter Vitantonio (192,000), who final tabled this very event last year, 2018 WSOP Main Event third-place finisher Michael Dyer (183,500), Season 9 MSPT Mid-Season Championship runner-up Felipe Davila (170,000), and former WSOP November Niner Amir Lehavot (151,500).

A pair of former WSOP Main Event champs headline some of those that wouldn’t make it through Day 1a, as Martin Jacobson and Joe McKeehen both failed to advance. Others that will have to try again on another flight include Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Faraz “The Toilet” Jaka, Nick Pupillo, “Mad” Marvin Rettenmaier Wendy Freedman, Vojtech Ruzicka, and former MSPT champs Richard Bai, Sam Vizza, Mike Shin, Kfir Nahum, and Chris Moon.

Registration is open for Tuesday’s Day 1b flight, which will kick off at 12:10 p.m. local time. The third and final flight kicks off Wednesday at the same time, and all remaining players will return Thursday at 11 a.m. for Day 2 action. Players can fire an unlimited number of bullets up through the break at Level 12. Be sure to tune in to blog tomorrow and follow all the action as we inch closer to making the $3,000,000 Guarantee for the MSPT Venetian $1,600 Main Event!