It took a level more than Day 1a, but after just over ten and a half hours, a field of 145 on Day 1b of the Bar Poker Open Florida World Championship was trimmed to just 15 survivors. That number added $41,760 to the prizepool for a grand total of $122,688. Those 15 join the 29 from Day 1a to vie for the title and the $50,000 first prize on Monday.

Leading the charge on Day 1b was Billy Hayes who bagged 790,000 chips, more than double his closest competitor Sunday, taking the overall chip lead with him into Day 2.

The race for second place is a log jam over 300,000 headed by last year's third-place finisher Nick Sims at 386,000. He's followed by Antwan Tate, who scored the day's final elimination by bubbling Victor Cerqueira to finish the day with 367,000. Just behind him is Richard Ellis who was among the chip leaders all day long. Rounding out the top five is Charles Gudaitis, who was on the verge of elimination in Level 15 with kings against aces preflop, but drilled a king to score a huge double-up which propelled him toward his 329,000 chips by night's end.

End of Day 1b Top Ten Chip Counts

The Day's Action

Hayes was among the chip leaders most of the day, but a trip to the feature table late in the day seemed to be to his liking as he then put on a big stack clinic, building to nearly a million chips before dropping a bit late. He still retains the overall chip lead for Day 2, passing Day 1a chip leader Charles Olson's 725,000 chips with his 790,000.

A new champion was guaranteed early in the day as defending champion Phil Hoff, who bubbled Day 1a, was eliminated after firing two more bullets. Hoff was unable to get any traction Sunday and was busted for good by Milton Thomas who jammed his pocket aces on a king-high board into Hoff. The champ had kinq-queen and called off his last 20 big blinds then failed to improve, ending a disappointing weekend for him.

Several players who bagged a stack on Day 1a played again Sunday, attempting to improve their stack and score a bonus $1,000 for bagging twice. Only Ronald Kaepernick was able to do so, improving his stack from 240,000 to 306,000 in the process.

Crowning a New Champion Monday

The final 44 will reconvene at the Palm Beach Kennel Club on Monday at 11 a.m. to play down to a winner.

The Day 2 seat draw and final payout information will be made available in the morning. What we do know now though is that the winner is guaranteed to receive that $50,000 for their efforts.

Play will resume at the ending point of Day 1a which was with 3:12 left in Level 18 with blinds of 10,000 / 15,000 with a 15,000 big blind ante.

PokerNews is on-site and will continue to provide live reporting updates until a champion is crowned here in beautiful West Palm Beach.