Day 1B of the 2018 WSOP Main Event is in the books and as expected it saw bigger attendance compared to the first day of the world’s most prestigious No-Limit Hold’em tournament. As many as 2,378 entrants participated in Day 1B action, but just under 1,900 made it through the end of the final fifth level of the day.

France’s Smain Mamouni, former WSOP Circuit gold ring winner, ended the day as the chip leader with a stack of 311,600. Mamouni kept quiet for the greater part of the day, patiently waiting for the final hands of the day to built his stack and emerge as the chip leader.

Toward the end of Day 1B, the player won a three-way confrontation that helped him seal the largest stack of the night. Aside from Mamouni, there was one more player to pass the 300,000 mark at the Brasilia poker room of Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino yesterday. That player was Spain’s Samuel Bernabeu.

Bernabeu was consistent in his play throughout the day to eventually bag and tag 309,500 and thus secure a comfortable entry into Day 2 of the World Championship, which is set to be played Thursday, July 5 at the host casino.

Despite their excellent performance on Day 1B, both Mamouni and Bernabeu finished behind Day 1A’s chip leader Truyen Nguyen, who collected 324,800 Monday night at the casino.

Notables who entered this year’s WSOP Main Event on Day 1B and made it through the end of the second starting flight included Alex Foxen, who bagged 242,300 last night, 2014 WSOP APAC Main Event winner Scott Davies (171,200), three-time gold bracelet winner Shaun Deeb, and Michael Mizrachi, among others.

Six-time WSOP gold bracelet winner Chris Ferguson, who won the Main Event back in 2000, and two-time Main Event champ Johnny Chan will join the club of former winners of the major tournament to have made it into Day 2. Joe McKeehen, Joe Hachem, and Scotty Nguyen were some of the former champions to secure a Day 2 spot during Day 1A of the event.

John Hesp, who finished fourth in last year’s edition of the World Championship for $2.6 million, was spotted at the tables of the host casino yesterday. The player progressed into Day 2 with 63,900.

Combined with the 925 entries from Day 1A, this year’s edition of the Main Event has so far attracted a total of 3,303 entries. More than 2,500 contenders survived through their respective starting flights to return at the host casino on Thursday and play Day 2.

Day 1C, the final starting flight, is set to take place today starting 11 am local time. A total of five two-hour levels are scheduled to be played. Organizers expect that the July 4 celebrations could affect attendance, but it is yet to be seen whether this would be the case.

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