The final flight of the MSPT Milwaukee Poker Open brought 263 players to the felt, bringing the total number of entrants to 625 for this weekend’s Main Event. When the dust settled, it was Ken Daciolas of Chicago, Illinois bagging a whopping 542,000 chips, taking the overall chip lead into tomorrow’s Day 2.

Others bagging big include Darryl Ronconi (441,500), Jordan Miller (350,500), MSPT champ Joe Matheson (243,000), and Season 10 MSPT Meskwaki champ Steve Federspiel (242,500). They joined the likes of Jeff Minnerly (190,000), Season 8 MSPT Potawatomi Regional champ Craig Trost (180,500), former MSPT champ Dan Bekavac (153,000), Season 10 MSPT Majestic Star champ Mike Shin (135,500), Season 7 MSPT Meskwaki champ Keith Heine (96,500), and three-time MSPT champ Matt Kirby (61,000).

A host of players wound up short of a spot in Day 2, including MSPT Hall of Famer Rich Alsup, WSOP Bracelet winner Keven Stammen, Thomas Peebles, Iowa pro Jeff Fielder, Illinois pros Cody Brinn and George Dietz, and MSPT champs Jon Kim, Josh Reichard, Jason Ramos, Travis Lauson, Sean Munjal, Rob Wazwaz, John Sun and Andy Rubinberg.

Sixty-three players will earn a payday in Day 2, with a min-cash worth $2,298. The winner will walk away with $126,998, along with 1,700 points in the MSPT Hayvin Poker Player of the Year race.

Tomorrow, 78 players (16 from 1A, 27 from 1B, 35 from 1C) will return for Day 2 action at 11 a.m. to play down to a winner. You can follow all the action here on the blog, and the final table will be streamed with hole cards on Twitch and on MSPTpoker.com.