Two tournaments. One at the final showdown and the other just getting started.
On one side: Seven PLO wizards looking for a bracelet and seven-figure score in the $52,000 Pot Limit Omaha Championship. Benny Glaser came in as the short stack but would still have fancied his chances. Stephen Chidwick started the final day with marginally more chips but ended with them all after a marathon heads-up battle against Yang Wang. Glaser hit the rail in sixth.
Chidwick started heads-up with a 3:1 deficit but doubled through Yang before grinding him down to the felt. Chidwick left with his second bracelet and $1,357,000. Matt Hansen wrote a full report.
On the other: 254 players all eyeing the $50 million guaranteed in the Super Main Event. Add this number to the 461 players who played Day 1A, and you get 715 – still a way off the 2,000 entries the WSOP needs to avoid an overlay.
Shots fired
Some players are doing more than others to help the cause.
Chris 'BigHuni' Hunichen fired his max two re-entries on Day 1B, but the $78K investment could prove a wise one. He finished with 2,920,000, the fourth-biggest stack of the night.
Alex and Kristen Foxen both dipped in for a re-entry (Alex had two) and both found success with their subsequent stacks. Kristen ran hers up to 1,760,000 (30th) and Alex finished 7th best with 2,900,000.
PokerStars founder Isai Scheinberg also progressed with a big stack of 2,555,000.
Jonathan Little fired his second bullet after trying out Day 1A for size, and he made it through this time with a stack of 665,000. Triton Million winner Alejandro Lococo also got through with a big stack of 2,240,000.
Going for Gold
Day 1B also saw Jamie Gold rolling back the years in a bid to recreate the 2006 magic.
One hand saw him crack Jianwei Lin’s aces with 
after backdooring a flush on a 
board.
“Six-high no pair,” Gold quipped, tabling his hand. Lin didn’t see for a good few seconds and uttered a disappointed “Oh!” when he realized what had happened.
Gold stacked up ahead of the dinner break but went downhill after and didn't find a bag for Day 2.
Meanwhile, Joe Cada was getting big FOMO stuck at home.
Getting tough at the top
However, if we'd run an 'end of day chipleader' contest, we would definitely have paid out. Fedor Holz would have been one of the most picked players from the field, and he ended Day 1B with a monster stack of 4,880,000 – almost three starting stacks more than Jiaze Li in second.
That's good for the overall lead from the two Day 1s played so far, with Holz edging Juan Pardo, who bested Day 1A with a stack of 4,585,000.
And what of Phil Hellmuth? No sighting today, and it looks like he's getting himself mentally rested and prepared for a late-reg assault on Day 2 on Monday.
The weather outside might be frightful, but Hellmuth is bringing the #Positivity to Paradise.
PokerOrg prowling the floor
You can keep bang up to date with the Super Main Event in Instant, where you can watch the stream, check the chip counts, and get exclusive behind-the-scenes coverage from the floor.
Tiffany Michelle found commentator Ali Nejad taking a well-deserved break from sitting down and watching everyone play Day 1B, by walking round the tournament floor and watching everyone play Day 1B.
Nejad and team will be back with the Day 1C live stream from midday on Saturday. You can watch it in Instant, where you'll also find updates on everything else happening in Paradise. And tomorrow, that means a one-day PLO battle for a bracelet.
Meanwhile, you can watch a rerun of Day 1B below.
