The second Epic Poker League Main Event got off to a start yesterday at Palms Casino in Las Vegas, seeing 97 players put down a $20,000 buy-in to compete for a total prize pool of $2,301,200.

Among the runners were a large number of especially American pros, who had either bought into the event directly or qualified via live satellites held at Palms in the days leading up to yesterday's Day 1.

These included some big names from the American tournament circuit, with 50 players making it on to Day 2, all headed by current chip leader Jamie Kaplan.

Kaplan wasn't eligible to play in the event according to the Epic Poker League's seeding system, but he managed to qualify for the event in the smaller Pro/Am event, eventually ending his first day in the Main Event as the chip leader with 324,600 chips.

Kaplan is followed in second place by Daniel O'Brien with 321,400 and Alec Torelli in third with 231,500, while the winner of the first Epic event one month ago, David "Chino" Rheem, is also doing well in sixth place with 173,300 chips.

Other notable players still alive at the tables include Andrew Robl, Adam Levy, Allen Bari, Justin Bonomo, Erik Seidel, Mike Matusow, Andy Frankenberger, Chau Giang, Tom Dwan, Ben Lamb, Huck Seed, and Phil Hellmuth.

Players like William Reynolds, Vanessa Selbst, Thomas Marchese, Scott Seiver, Phil Laak, Michael Mizrachi, John Racener, Isaac Haxton and Gavin Smith, in turn, are all out.

A winner is expected to be found on Friday night, with the second champion of the Epic Poker League looking to collect a first prize of roughly $750,000.