Day 1a of the $1,100 Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) Season 14 Finale at Venetian Las Vegas has come to an end and two-time WSOP bracelet winner Shannon Shorr is the chip leader after almost a full 16 levels of play.

Shorr dominated a field of 227 players to lead the 25 survivors that will return on Saturday to play for their part of the guaranteed prize pool of $300,000.

Shorr bagged a leading 485,000 and he is followed closely on the leaderboard by Peter Mavro in second with 453,000. Nicolas Milgrom finished in third with a bag of 413,000, while Ping Liu and David Erquiaga round out the top five with 359,000 and 351,000, respectively.

Among the other players that survived Day 1a included WSOP bracelet winner Darren Rabinowitz (297,000), defending champ Eric Baldwin (228,000), bracelet winner Ben Moon (63,000), and three-time bracelet winner James Collopy (47,000).

Those that didn’t make it included MSPT Hall of Famer's Umut Ozturk, Rob WazWaz, Aaron Massey, MSPT champ James Romero, and Michael Rossitto, who busted in the final hand of the night when he jammed his Big Slick into the pocket Kings of Ping Liu.

WSOP bracelet winner Jared Jaffee also made a charge throughout the day and held an early chip lead, but he couldn’t punch his ticket to Saturday’s finale in the first flight.

Romero was also factor throughout the afternoon, and he commanded one of the leading chip stacks until he ran into Fiodor Martino losing one of the biggest pots of the day.

He picked up a few chips after the setback but eventually hit the rail early in Level 13, while Martino finished strong with 324,000.

Day 1a ended with 12:00 remaining in Level 16 and blinds at 3,000/6,000/6,000 and the final starting flight will kick off on Friday, December 29th at 11:10 a.m. and players will once again play 40-minute levels until approximately 11% of the field remains.

The surviving players from both opening flights will meet on Saturday, December 30th at 11:00 a.m. for the Day 2 finale.