The 2015 World Series of Poker Main Event continues to grow.
On Monday afternoon, the second of the two starting flights got cards in the air at noon and 1,716 players put up the $10,000 for their final shot at a bracelet this summer in one of poker's prestigious events.
George Danzer got the day's festivities started when he gave the "Shuffle Up and Deal" announcement after they unveiled his 2014 WSOP Player of the Year banner, which is now hanging on the wall in the Brasilia Room.
Danzer's good fortune didn't stop there. The defending WSOP Player of the Year finished the day with a healthy stack of 96,300 chips.
While Danzer was the center of attention at the beginning of the day, it was Hamid Feiz (pictured below) who stole the show by the day's end. Feiz ended the day with 182,675 in chips, which is for the chip lead of Day 1B, as well as the combined overall chip lead so far.
Joining Feiz at the top of the Day 1B chip counts are Adil Khan, Srikath Koneru, Ed Grau, Marko Neumann, and Yong Lu. They bagged 156,800, 154,725, 148,800, 146,675, and 141,750 in chips, respectively.
Those were the names that ended at the top, but the chip counts are still shark infested. Dominik Nitsche (128,725), Matt Salsberg (113,025), and Shawn Cunix (108,375) each bagged over 100,000 chips and there are plenty of pros who could be over that milestone with one pot.
Greg Raymer (92,200), Brian Hastings (87,500), JC Alvarado (83,500), and Brian Rast (88,825) are near the six-figure mark, while Christian Harder (70,725), Todd Brunson (57,925), Jason Mercier (66,325), Jesse Sylvia (46,650), and Phil Galfond (33,400) all bagged close to an average stack or better.
Not everbody was that fortunate though as many of the games best players hit the rail before the day's final hand. Steve O'Dwyer, Galen Hall, Scott Seiver, Eugene Katchalov, Dan Smith, Mohsin Charania, Rob Mizrachi, Eric Baldwin, Jonathan Little, Barry Hutter, and Ben Lamb were just a handful of the players who will have to wait until next year to take their shot at a Main Event title.
Late registration was open until the fourth level of play and when that was closed, the total size of the Main Event grew to a total field size of 2,457 players. By the day's end, there were unofficially 1,154 who survived Day 1B. Combined with the 470 players who bagged chips in Day 1A, there are approximately 1,624 players still alive.
Those players still alive will come back to the Rio on Wednesday at noon to play another five levels when Day 2 gets underway. The threestarting flights will be separated, with those who played on Day 1B, only playing Day 2 with other players who played Day 1B.
Day 1C has historically been the biggest of the starting flights and the staff doesn't expect that to change this year, with tables being allotted for the Main Event in all three of the rooms in the Rio Convention Center.
Cards will get in the air for the final starting flight on Tuesday at noon. Check back with WSOP.com for complete coverage of the day's action.