Day 1b of the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event began play today with a total of 1,489 players and a whole new crop of players hoping to etch their name into poker history in becoming the next World Champion.  For the amateur, that turned out to be good news as the pro’s in the field today just had a tough time getting it going.  Among the list of casualties on the day, chalk up the names Annette Obrestad, JC Alvardo, Brandon Adams, Ivan Demidov, Luis Velador, Jamie Gold, Joe Sebok, Ashton Griffin, Erick Lindgren, Justin Bonomo, John D’Agostino, Jennifer Tilly, Betrand Grospellier, Jeremiah Smith, Mark Seif, Sam Stein, Dan Shak, Liv Boeree, and Rafe Furst, just to name a few.  It was a tough day to be a recognizable pro¸but there are still plenty of names that made it through the day as well.

*** For Day 1b Pictures, Click Here ***

Two of the poker Phil’s (Phil Laak and Phil Galfond) made it through with stacks above 100k, Gavin Griffin cruised through the day, and Dan Harrington still has plenty of play left in him, as does Chris Bell, Ludovic Lacay and Deuces Cracked Pro Jay Rosenkrantz.  Gavin Smith grinded his way to a day 2 appearance, spending all day at the ESPN featured table under the camera’s.  And for the remaining players, step 1 is complete, and everyone is thankful.

In all, the day closed play with a little more than 1,000 players that will return on Saturday to join up with the survivors of day 1d, for day 2b of play.  It’s a lot of numbers, and letters, and mass confusion, which is to basically say, we’ve got a lot of poker to play in order to clean things up around here.  Day 1c takes place next, and should prove to have a new influx of pro’s and amateurs alike, as we inch yet one day closer to finding out who will become our next champion.