Wazwaz, Plesuv, and Leng Among Chip Leaders after Day 1b of Monster Stack
Day 1b of Event #30: $1,500 Monster Stack No-Limit Hold’em is in the books after a wild day of poker action at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino. A total of 1,972 players entered on Day 1b to create a total field of 3,520 when combined with those players who entered Day 1a for a $4,699,200 prize pool.
At the end of Day 1b, there were 701 players left standing. Those survivors combined with the 518 at the end of Day 1a created a remaining field of 1,219 who will converge tomorrow for Day 2.
Brooklyn's Rajaee Wazwaz (510,500) emerged as the Day 1b chip leader after he bagged 515,000 in chips, closely followed by well-known Moldovan high roller Pavel Plesuv (483,000) and Ryan Leng (475,000), who recently shipped Event #23: $1,500 Eight Game Mix 6-Handed for $137,969.
Day 1b Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rajaee Wazwaz | United States | 510,500 | 170 |
| 2 | Pavel Plesuv | Moldova | 483,500 | 161 |
| 3 | Ryan Leng | United States | 473,000 | 158 |
| 4 | Mitchell Collins | United States | 465,000 | 155 |
| 5 | Dylan Linde | United States | 443,000 | 148 |
| 6 | Francois Pirault | France | 440,500 | 147 |
| 7 | Joshua Gordon | United States | 440,500 | 147 |
| 8 | Yeon Bae | South Korea | 433,500 | 145 |
| 9 | La Sengphet | United States | 428,000 | 143 |
| 10 | Matthew Eng | United States | 424,500 | 142 |
Several other players bagged as well and will continue on to Day 2 including Andrew Neeme (304,500), Nate Silver (200,500), Jesse Sylvia (129,000), and Bin Weng (64,000) who had a large stack most of the day but dropped significantly before play was halted.
While many players are advancing to Day 2, the majority were not so fortunate and found the rail rather than a bag, such as; Maria Ho who was eliminated early in the day, Kathy Liebert who was taken out when her opponent flopped two-pair to crack her aces, and Mustapha Kanit who was dramatically felted by quads when he had flopped top full boat in one of the hands of the day.
Day 2 will commence tomorrow at 10 a.m. local time with the 1,220 returning players. It will be a full day of action as there is still quite a bit of play before the money bubble hits with the top 528 players guaranteed at least a $2,404 min-cash with all players having their eyes on the $610,347 top prize and the coveted gold bracelet.
PokerNews will be on hand to provide all of the monster stack coverage tomorrow. Stay tuned!
, the player in middle position checked Pirault bet 8,000 and that was enough to scoop the pot. 
, Upeshka De Silva bet 3,500 and was raised by a player behind him to 15,000.
but both players checked. 
and De Silva bet 37,500 but his opponent mocked and there was no showdown.
. From early position Mustapha Kanit bet 4,500 and was called by Marc-Andre Ladouceur.
. Kanit loaded up and fired a large overbet of 26,000 into a pot of about 19,000. Ladouceur called again.
. Kanit jammed all in and was snap called.
for quads to the astonishment of the table as Kanit showed 
giving Tardif a pair of queens and keeping him alive in the tournament.
. Liebert bet 5,000 two of her opponents folded, Galper went all in and Liebert called.
flop. The player on his left bet 2,000, the big blind folded and Gates called. The turn was the 
but Pirault showed them the bigger straight with