Falling just short in his final heads-up match against Noah Schwartz on Friday Lacay took a day off and came back Sunday firing on all cylinders.
When the day was done he bagged up 163,075 to take the overall chip lead for the combined field heading into Day 2.
He'll have a stacked field of 200 or so players chasing him, though, as they play towards the money and on.
Hellmuth, Ivey, Negreanu Survive
The line-up behind Lacay is quite literally elbow-to-elbow with big-name stars - some better off with chips than others.
The top 10 from Day 1b include WPT champ Ragi Raghavan (155,225), Igor Kurganov (136,475), Loni Harwood (112,950) and Jason Duval (110,500).
Also building big stacks were German tournament thrasher Ole Schemion (99,275), Max Steinberg (90,175), Martin Finger (83,600) and WSOP APAC bracelet winner Aaron Lim (79,100).
Poker's Big Three -- Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey and Phil Hellmuth -- also made it through albeit with less than ideal stacks.
Ivey (42,500) and Hellmuth (40,250) finished above starting stack while Negreanu barely held on with 15,300. The blinds are still just 250/500 though so there's still some wiggle room.
The official top 10 in chips for the combined Day 2 field:
1. Ludovic Lacay 163,075 2. Ravi Raghavan 155,225 3. Paul Kuzmich 145,825 4. Martin Hanowski 142,150 5. Igor Kurganov 136,475 6. Jerome Huge 118,800 7. Jyri Merivirta 114,775 8. Sam Greenwood 113,250 9. Loni Harwood 112,950 10. Jordan Cristos 111,650Official registration numbers and prize pool info will be released tomorrow. Tune in at noon for live updates right here on PokerListings.com.
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