Day 1b of the World Poker Tour Bay 101 Shooting Star Main Event took place on Tuesday and saw approximately 360 players enter the field, including 25 Shooting Stars, each with a $2,500 bounty on their head. Registration for re-entries will remain open until the start of Day 2, but already there have been 635 entries between the two starting flights, making it the largest Bay 101 Shooting Star in history. After 10 levels of play, Rhea Motley bagged up a hefty 243,100 to finish as the chip leader, for which she was awarded a $10,000 prize.
Day 1b Top 10 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | 161,300 |
Motley got a good deal of her chips in Level 5 with the blinds at 150/300/50 when she eliminated Shooting Star and WPT Champions Club member David Williams. It happened on a flop of 
when Williams got his stack of 34,000 all in holding the 
and was up against the 
of Motley. The 
turn gave Williams the lead with a pair of aces and left Motley drawing to one out headed to the river. Wouldn’t you know it, the 
spiked to give Motley the win and the $2,500 bounty.
With all the bounties in play, action was fast and furious. Shooting Stars Dan Shak and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier both fell in the first two levels of play (Grospellier would re-enter and finish the day with 112,200), and then reigning World Series of Poker National Championship winner Ryan Eriquezzo joined them on the rail in Level 3 with the blinds at 75/150/25. It happened when Eriquezzo was all-in from middle position holding the 
and was racing against the 
of Noah Vaillancourt in the cutoff. The 
flop was no help to Eriquezzo, and neither was the 
turn. That meant he needed either an ace, four or jack on the river to stay alive, but it wasn’t in the cards when the 
blanked. Eriquezzo was eliminated, but unfortunately for Vaillancourt his victim wasn’t a bounty.
Shooting Star Tom Marchese had an interesting day, one that started off badly. In Level 4 with the blinds at 100/200/25, Marchese was down to just 3,350 when he got it all in from the cutoff holding the . The button and both blinds called, and then all three active players checked it down as the board ran out 
. Marchese tabled the best hand and quadrupled up. Minutes later, he’d double up two times and put himself right back in contention before finishing the day with 115,000.
In Level 8 (300/600/75), the defending Bay 101 Shooting Star champ, Moon Kim, was eliminated. It happened when he got all in preflop and received two calls. The 
flop saw a late-position player bet 7,600 to force the other player to fold, and the cards were turned up. Kim held the 
, but it was behind his opponent’s 
. The 
turn was no help to Kim, and neither was the 
river. With that, there was guaranteed to be a new champion at the Bay 101.
Joining Kim on the rail throughout the day were Shooting Stars Chris Moorman, Vince Van Patten, Phil Hellmuth, Darryll Fish, Joe Serock, Amanda Musumeci, Joseph Cheong, Allen Cunningham, John Juanda and Barry Greenstein. While many fell, other Shooting Stars survived the day including Andy Frankenberger, Eugene Katchalov, Jason Somerville, Scott Seiver, Maria Ho, Christian Harder and Dan Kelly.
The remaining 249 players from both starting flights will return to the Bay 101 for Day 2 action at 11 a.m. PT on Wednesday. Stay tuned to PokerNews.com for a full recap of the day’s action upon completion of play.
Past WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star Champions
| Season | Player | Entrants | Earnings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Phil Gordon | 243 | $360,000 |
| 3 | Danny Nguyen | 438 | $1,025,000 |
| 4 | Nam Le | 518 | $1,198,300 |
| 5 | Ted Forrest | 450 | $1,100,000 |
| 6 | Brandon Cantu | 376 | $1,000,000 |
| 7 | Steve Brecher | 391 | $1,025,500 |
| 8 | McLean Karr | 333 | $878,500 |
| 9 | Alan Sternberg | 415 | $1,039,000 |
| 10 | Moon Kim | 364 | $960,900 |
Photo and data courtesy of WorldPokerTour.com.
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