Event #10: $1,675 MAIN EVENT

There's a familiar face captaining the WSOP Circuit Main Event at Harrah's Cherokee.

North Carolina native Jason Sandling (pictured) finished Day 1B with 340,000 chips, riding a rush into the overall lead across both flights.

Sandling won this event four years ago, collecting more than $200,000 and his first gold ring on home turf. He's gone on to add a second one since, and he's in position for another deep run this weekend.

He's not the only one in that position, though. This trip to Cherokee is the 12th for the WSOP Circuit, and five more of the previous champions also remain: Brad Albrinck (169,000), Daniel Weinman (110,500), Ryan Jones (78,000), John Bowman (75,500), and Charles Johnson (74,500).

Of course, there are still a couple hundred people in the arena alongside them. The first set of hurdles are clear, though, and 182 players — less than 20 percent of the total field — advanced through the two flights.

Here's the overnight top five:

Jason Sandling - 340,000
Errol Manson - 328,500
Andrew Mousmoules - 314,500
Clifford Billups - 289,000
Peter Vitantonio - 269,000

Friday's Day 1A flight drew 408 entries, and another 652 joined Day 1B to bring the total field to 1,060. That attendance creates a prize pool of nearly $1.6 million for the final 108 players to share.

Sandling sets the pace for the remaining field, but it's packed with fellow ring winners, bracelet winners and other standouts.

Ben Keeline is one of those bracelet winners, the Colossus champion from 2016. Keeline has a WSOP Circuit ring, too, and he's built the sort of stack that makes him a contender for another. He ended Day 1B with 201,000 chips, about twice the average.

Vitantonio doesn't have a bracelet (yet), but he does have three Circuit rings and more chips than Keeline at the moment. The Ohio pro advanced through Day 1A, so he had Saturday off with a top-five stack already in the bag.

The depth of talent remaining extends beyond the group of blossoming Circuit regulars, too. Josh Arieh and Erick Lindgren were pioneers of the TV generation of poker, two of the first US players to sign major online poker sponsorships. They each hold a pair of WSOP bracelets, but neither has their name in the Circuit record book to date. Arieh will return for Day 2 with 253,500 chips and Lindgren with 169,000.

Nine-time ring winner Robert Hankins (154,000) and five-timer Kurt Jewell (174,000) are also among the remaining field, as are Jonathan Hilton (189,000), Joseph Cheong (141,500), Kyle Cartwright (123,500), Aaron Massey (117,000), Keven Stammen (95,500), and Dylan Wilkerson (80,000) to name just a few more.

Click here for the complete chip counts.

They and the rest of the 182 who bagged will return to action Sunday at noon. Getting down to 108 and across the money bubble is the first order of business, and they'll play on for ten one-hour levels. Everyone who finishes in the money will earn around $3,000 at minimum, but the top prize is nearly 100 times that amount — $294,152.

Sunday's Day 2 begins at noon.

The clock is paused near the end of the night, and each table will play seven more hands before bagging up for the night.

Ben Keeline opens with a raise to 4,800 under the gun, and two players call behind him.

The flop is    . Keeline and the next player check, and the button bets 9,000. Keeline check-raises to 32,000, the player in the middle folds, and the button moves all in for a few thousand extra. Keeline calls the remainder to put him at risk.

Keeline:   
Opponent:   

The   turn and   river fill out the board with blanks, and Keeline collects the knockout pot with an overpair.

Ben Keeline - 165,000

Cody Pack open-shoves for about 25,000 in middle position, and Scott Anderson puts him at risk from the small blind.

Pack:   
Anderson:   

The board runs out blanks, coming      . Anderson wins the pot with his pair of queens, sending Pack to the exit in the last level of the night.

Scott Anderson - 175,000
Cody Pack - Eliminated

For the last couple levels, there has been an abandoned stack of about 275,000 chips sitting at Table 30 Seat 3. The owner of the chips remained a mystery to reporters for a long while before a player finally returned to sit down behind the biggest stack in the room.

His name is EJ Manson, and he barely stuck around long enough to spell it. He peeked at one hand, told a friend he was going back to the bar, and darted out of the room once again.

Manson is the chip leader at the moment, but it doesn't look like he won't be adding to that count for now.

EJ Manson - 275,000

Fuad Razavi opens to 4,100 from middle position, the cutoff calls, as does Nick Palma in the big blind. 

The flop comes    , Palma checks and Razavi bets 10,000. The cutoff raises to 24,000 and Razavi shoves. The cutoff snap calls all in for 95,000 with    a set of eights. 

Razavi turns over    for a flush draw. He hits it right on the turn with the  , and the river   does not pair the board so Razavi's flush holds to eliminate his opponent and be among the chip leaders.

Fuad Razavi - 220,000

A player is all in for his last 16,000 with    and is racing against Jonathan Hilton's   .

The board comes       and Hilton makes a full house to eliminate his opponent. 

Jonathan Hilton - 75,000

Loni Harwood (pictured) is all in for around 26,000 pre-flop against Jerry Burgess, who has her covered.

Harwood:   
Burgess:   

The board runs out      , and Burgess wins the pot with his pair of queens. Harwood is eliminated, wishing her table luck as she exits.

Jerry Burgess - 65,000
Loni Harwood - Eliminated