Day 1b of the Mid-States Poker Tour Meskwaki Main Event attracted 210 entries, and along with Day 1a’s 195 brought the total field up to 405 entrants. That has created a $405,000 total prize pool – well ahead of the advertised $300K guarantee – that will be distributed to the top 45 players.

A min-cash is worth $1,957, while the eventual winner will take home $93,922. The man best positioned to make a run at it is Jason Bender, who bagged up the chip lead among the 36 surviving players with 324,500. That is well ahead of Day 1a’s Troy Repp, who bagged that flight’s lead with 269,000.

Others who bagged on Day 1b were MSPT Pro Matt Alexander (206,000), World Series of Poker bracelet winner John Reading (197,000), two-time MSPT champ Carl Carodenuto (173,500), and poker pro Aaron Massey (95,000), who looks to pass John Sun (he busted on Day 1b) on the MSPT Season 7 Player of the Year leaderboard. Right now they sit one and two with just three stops remaining in the year.

Of course not everyone was so lucky to bag and tag. Among those to fall over the course of the day were former MSPT champs Ken Pates, Keith Heine, and JJ Olson; MSPT Michigan State Poker Championship runner-up Cy Church; MSPT Wisconsin State Poker champ Andy Rubinberg; and MSPT regulars Gennady Shimelfarb, Jim Boone, and Rob Wazwaz, just to name a few.

The surviving 69 players from both starting flights will return at 11:00 a.m. local time on Sunday to play down to a winner. Join us then as we bring you all the actions and eliminations straight from the floor of the MSPT Meskwaki Main Event.