Cates nearly grabbed the chip lead with 198,425 but was narrowly edged out by Clement Tripodi who amassed 207,500.
Meanwhile Brunson and Obrestad came close to hitting the 100,000 mark.
Once again the numbers were good but not spectacular. A total of 1,942 players bought into the tournament today, which is slightly down from last year. That brings the overall total up to 2,885 over two starting days.
Fortunately the WSOP is expecting a massive Day 1c so this year’s tournament could still potentially flirt with 7,000.
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While Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu and Phil Hellmuth won’t make an appearance until Day 1c there were plenty of interesting players in the field.
Poker pros Liv Boeree, Xuan Liu, Terrence Chan, Chris Moorman, Amanda Baker, Dan Harrington, Annette Obrestad, Greg Mueller, Lauren Kling and Erik Seidel all took a seat on Day 1b.
Comedians Ray Romano and Brad Garrett once again made their annual pilgrimage to the Main Event. Romano built a decent stack while Garrett was eliminated.
MMA superstar Georges “Rush” St-Pierre also made an appearance for 888poker.
He improved on last year’s performance in the Main Event, building a stack of over 40,000 chips, but was crippled when his pocket kings were out-flopped by an opponent’s ace-five. He was then eliminated in one of the last hands of the day.
Brunson Kicks Off Day 1b with Epic Shuffle Up and Deal
Perhaps the highlight of the day, however, was the shuffle up and deal by living legend Doyle Brunson.
Brunson, who previously said he was going to skip the 2013 WSOP because of the long hours, was offered a seat into the Main Event by the WSOP and he snatched it up.
He was also presented with a commemorative bust that the WSOP says will be the start of a physical poker hall of fame.
It’s not time to retire just yet for Brunson, however, as the Texas Dolly bagged around 90,000 chips.
Meanwhile some of the Day 1b bustouts included Erick Lindgren, John Monnette, Kevin Saul, Scotty Nguyen, Lex Veldhuis and Danielle Anderson.
Check back tomorrow at noon Las Vegas time for live coverage of what should be the biggest day yet at the 2013 WSOP Main Event.
Here’s a look at the preliminary top 10 chip counts to end the day according to WSOP.com:
1. Clement Tripodi – 207,500 2. Dan Cates – 198,425 3. Robert Russ – 176,650 4. Rullo Gianluca – 167,800 5. Robert Neyhorayan – 146,100 6. Sorel Mizzi – 134,100 7. Olivier Elissandre – 128,975 8. John Ott – 126,375 9. Tyler Denson – 125,000 10. Richard Hu – 118,450Visit www.pokerlistings.com