Marco Bognanni Leads the 12 Survivors From Day 1B

Photo:  Chipleader Marco Bognanni

There were 239 entries on Day 1B of Zynga Poker WPT500 Las Vegas, but only the final 5% (12 players) advanced to Day 2. The big stack from this starting flight belongs to Marco Bognanni, who bagged 842,000 (105 big blinds), enough to give him the overall chip lead after the first two flights.

Bognanni catapulted from a below-average stack to the chip lead in the final minutes of the day when he picked up in a three-way all-in situation, and the aces held up against and .

Here are the official chip counts for the 12 survivors from Day 1B:

1.  Marco Bognanni  –  842,000  (105 bb)
2.  Trey Morris  –  820,000  (103 bb)
3.  Mo Nuwwarah  –  718,000  (90 bb)
4.  Nikita Luther  –  713,000  (89 bb)
5.  Hong Zhang  –  488,000  (61 bb)
6.  Yo Hwan Lim  –  339,000  (42 bb)
7.  Colton Blomberg  –  181,000  (23 bb)
8.  Sanjay Taneja  –  171,000  (21 bb)
9.  Meherzad Munsaf  –  151,000  (19 bb)
10.  Rich Dixon  –  145,000  (18 bb)
11.  Noam Fater  –  141,000  (18 bb)
12.  Johannes Mueller  –  72,000  (9 bb)

And here are the Day 1B players who were eliminated in the money:

13th:  Zachary Mullennix  –  $1,200
14th:  Yiannis Liperis  –  $1,200
15th:  Fen Tisov  –  $1,200
16th:  Harry Lodge  –  $1,200
17th:  Sean Jazayeri  –  $1,200
18th:  Scott Montgomery  –  $1,200
19th:  Luiz Ferreira  –  $1,200
20th:  Erwann Pecheux  –  $1,200
21st:  Mike Markos  –  $1,200

22nd:  Sebastian Toro  –  $900
23rd:  Jisup Hwang  –  $900
24th:  Allen Ayers  –  $900
25th:  Fabian Gumz  –  $900
26th:  Abou Sy  –  $900
27th:  Renny Morales-Osorio  –  $900
28th:  Barry Peters  –  $900
29th:  Van Vo  –  $900
30th:  Darren Rabinowitz  –  $900

Action ended for this flight with 32:11 remaining in Level 19, with blinds at 4,000-8,000 and a big blind ante of 8,000. Day 2 will start where the earliest field finished, so none of the players will miss any blind levels, and most will see the blinds roll back.

After two starting flights, the overall field size is up to 444 entries, creating a prizepool worth $222,000 and counting. There are still six more flights over the next three days to build the prizepool higher and higher. Within each starting flight, the final 12.5% finish in the money, guaranteed at least $900 each, and the final 5% advance to Day 2, where they’re guaranteed at least $1,500 each.

Day 1C begins tomorrow (Sunday) at 11:00 am with unlimited re-entries until registration closes after the second break (about 3:30 pm). Turbo Flight 1D begins later that day at 7:00 pm, with 15-minute levels until registration closes at 9:15 pm, followed by 20-minute levels after that. Both flights will pay 12.5% of the field, and the final 5% will advance to Day 2, which begins at 1:00 pm on Wednesday.

Stay tuned to WPT.com for continuing coverage throughout the Zynga Poker WPT500 Las Vegas.

Photography by Jamie Thomson / PokerPhotoArchive

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