Day 1b of the MSPT Potawatomi attracted 327 runners, which means along with Day 1a’s 269 the total field stands at 596 entries. That makes this the second-largest major poker tournament ($1,000+ buy-in) in Wisconsin history only behind the MSPT Potawatomi in Spring 2015, which drew 635 entrants.

The total prize pool of $596,000 -- well ahead of the advertised $200K GTD -- will be distributed to the top 54 players. A min-cash will be worth $2,306 while the eventual winner will walk away with $138,385.

The player best positioned to make a run at it is Jill Bryant, who led the 62 surviving Day 1b players with 371,000. That is quite a bit ahead of Day 1a chip leader Songjie Zhou, who bagged 283,000.

Others who advanced from Day 1b were Alex Aqel (352,500), Eric Maier (206,500), two-time MSPT champ Jeremy Dresch (199,500), poker author Jim McManus (174,000), Rob Wazwaz (114,500), 2016 MSPT Iowa State Poker champ John Sun (98,500), former MSPT champs Dan “DQ” Hendrickson (86,000), Andy Rubinberg (78,000), and Rodger Johnson (75,000).

Of course not everyone was fortunate enough to make it through the Day 1b field. Among those to try and fall were three-time MSPT champ and current Season 7 Player of the Year leader Carl Carodenuto, MSPT Pro Blake Bohn, “To Hell w/ Howard’s” Howard Hankin, and former MSPT Potawatomi champs Jason Mirza, Dan Goepel, and Travis Lauson.

On Sunday at 11 a.m. local time, the 62 surviving Day 1b players will join the 49 from Day 1a to play down through the money on the way to crowing a champion. We’ll be here to bring you all the action, so be sure to join us then.