Day 2 of Event #51: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Monster Stack has come to a conclusion with Salvatore Bianco topping the remaining 576 players.
The day began with 3,826 players returning from the 7,862-player starting field as players eyed reaching the money by day's end so that they could be guaranteed a piece of the $10,613,700 prizepool.
As expected, play was fast and furious as players located in five different sections of the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino broke into each room until the tournament eventually had everyone located in the Pavilion Room. Once play reached the bubble, hand-for-hand wouldn't be necessary as six players would be eliminated to leave the remaining 792 players guaranteed at least $2,759.
Once play was halted one level early for the night, there would be just 576 players remaining with Salvatore Bianco leading the charge with 847,000 in chips. A plethora of notables are still in contention with the likes of Martins Adeniya (577,000), Soi Nguyen (495,000), Joe Serock (413,000), Jeff Madsen (381,000), and Maria Ho (364,000) still alive.
Play is set to recommence at 3 p.m. on Saturday afternoon, and the PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be on hand to provide extensive live coverage throughout the day.
With that, we'll leave you with a video of bracelet winner Bryan Campanello discussing the Monster Stack event and see you back here on Saturday to follow along.
No less than six players busted just as the floor told the dealers to stop play and they would be going hand-for-hand.
Although being told he was in the money as 792nd place, Ricky Clark was delivered a bad beat by the tournament director when there was some confusion if he bubbled or snuck into the money before eventually being told he was officially a joint 793rd place elimination.
For Clark, his final hand would see him flop a set of queens on a board with two clubs but be run down by Ben Marsh's when a landed on the river.
But what that meant was there were only 792 players left and they were all in the money. Hand-for-hand play was avoided and the players then headed off on a 20-minute break.
A mass exodus out of this event and towards the payout cage is expected to begin when play resumes.
Nine tables here in the Orange section of the Amazon room are being moved in conjunction into the Red section of the Brasilia room.
With the Orange section of the Amazon room normally reserved for the 4:00 p.m. tournaments, the Event #54: $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Low that is set to take place there has already been pushed back to a 6:00 p.m. start time.
With 20 tables already empty, more Monster Stack tables from the Orange section will have to be cleared as Event #54 is expecting to draw a decent showing of players looking to get there Omaha Hi-Low fix - the third last Omaha event of the series.
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With around 5,000 in the middle and the board reading , Ole Schemion checked out of the small blind as his opponent bet out 2,500.
Schemion went into the tank for several minutes before check-raising to 9,200. His opponent instantly folded and Schemion scooped the pot to climb to over 80,000 in chips.
There was huge demand for this Event #51: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Monster Stack, so much so that a second flight was added and players were still taking their seats for the second start at 10:30 p.m. on Thursday night.
The numbers would eventually cap out at a huge 7,862 entries which generated a staggering prize pool of $10,613,700. The winner is set to receive $1,327,083 and making the final table will guarantee a six-figure pay-day.
Today the remaining 3,826 players will take their seats in an attempt to play their way towards that goal in this five day tournament.
Pierre Calamusa is the overnight leader having bagged a staggering 243,000 chips at the close of play in Flight A. That is remarkable 79,000 ahead of his nearest rival.
There are a number of Pros still in the field, many of whom decided to register at the last minute, and some of the notables who we will be reporting on today include Jimmy Fricke (75,600), Sofia Lovgren (76,100), Ryan Riess (62,300), Humberto Brenes (47,500), Erick Lindgren (46,500) and Maria Ho (41,200).
Action resumes at 3 p.m. today with ten scheduled one-hour levels of play with no dinner break.
The PokerNews Live Reporting team will bring you all the latest news from the Monster Stack Tournament as the players return for the long march towards a million dollar pay-day and a WSOP gold bracelet.
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board with two clubs but be run down by Ben Marsh's 
when a 
landed on the river.
and Fakhimi scooped the pot to climb to over 500,000.
, Ole Schemion checked out of the small blind as his opponent bet out 2,500.
