Motley, a gaming industry vet playing the event as part of her "bucket list," had a day to remember. She busted Shooting Star David Williams to collect his $2,500 bounty and bagged the chip lead for the $10k bonus at the end of the night.
She'll start Day 2 with 243,100 - slightly ahead of 2011 WPT Bay 101 runner-up and WSOP bracelet winner Steven Kelly with 233,500.
Rounding out the top 5 from Day 1b are WeiKai Chang (195,400), Numit Agrawl (193,200), and Noah Wiseman (191,700).
All will trail Day 1a chip leader Andrew Lichtenberger, however, when play picks up again as he'll start with 341,100.
The total number of entries so far is 635 but could increase slightly with registration still open until the start of play today. Still the total crushes the previous record of 516 and the prize pool will be the largest ever.
Somerville, Ho Off to Solid Starts
The Day 1b field was packed with notables as expected, some faring better than others.
Taylor Von Kreigenbergh (182,900), Jeff Gross (179,800), Jason Somerville (153,000), Scott Seiver (137,900), Maria Ho (132,500), Tom Marchese (115,000) and Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier (112,200) were among the better off.
The top 10 in chips from Day 1b:
1. Rhea Motley 243,100 2. Steven Kelly 233,500 3. WeiKai Chang 195,400 4. Numit Agrawl 193,200 5. Noah Wiseman 191,700 6. Jesse Yaginuma 184,600 7. Taylor von Kriegenbergh 182,900 8. Jeff Gross 179,800 9. Tim Couse 177,300 10. Danny Wong 161,300Play picks up again at 11 am PT with 249 returning players plus any new entries. Follow along with the WPT Live Updates.
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