Saturday is done and the second day of Harrah's Rincon Main Event action is in the books. After Day 1A attracted 131 entrants on Friday, Satuarday's Day 1B drew 175 entrants, bringing the total field size of 306 entries.
With just over 300 players, the total prize pool for the event comes in at $459,000 with the top 33 finishers earning a payday and the winner taking home a six-figure payday of $107,862.
That means most of the 18 Day 1A survivors and 25 Day 1B survivors will be leaving Southern California with a payday. Ten of these 43 will return at noon on Sunday and leave empty-handed though.
Poker pro David Randall ended Day 1A on top, but the overall chip leader heading into Day 2 action is Lynda Tran. She surged to the top of the counts late in Day 1B play after a gigantic three-way all-in where she held pocket kings against both pocket queens and A-10. The cowboys held and she ended the day with 331,000, which was just enough to edge out Randal and his 330,000 chips.
Day 1B worked out less well for Allan Le, who spent much of the day near the top of the counts before losing a crucial coinflip late in the day to bust. Joining him on the rail was reigning Rincon Main Event winner Joe Kuether, Dwyte Pilgrim, Matt Salsberg, David "ODB" Baker, Rex Clinkscales, and Matt Affleck, who will be joining Bernard Lee in the booth for livestream commentary on Monday.
It may sound like all the notables busted yesterday, but that is far from the case. Former November Niner Soi Nguyen, Cornel Cimpan, Chad Brown, Christina Lindley, and Tripp Kirk all survived the day to join the likes of Randall, Eric Baldwin, Ray Henson, and Dana Kellstrom for Day 2 on Sunday.
The plan on Sunday is to play from 43, through the money bubble, and down to the nine players who will take their seats at Monday's ESPN3 livestreamed table. Be sure to follow all the action with our live updates today and check out the video coverage from Rincon on Monday.
Here are the top ten overall chip counts heading into Day 2:
1. Lynda Tran - 331,000
2. David Randall - 330,000
3. Soi Nguyen - 298,000
4. Anas Adawi - 286,500
5. Ryan Leng - 284,500
6. Eric Baldwin - 260,000
7. James Czarnecki - 221,000
8. AJ Souksavath - 201,500
9. Ray Henson - 185,000
10. Loni Harwood - 183,500