November 04 2012, Josh Cahlik

Day 1b of the 2012-13 World Series of Poker Circuit River Rock Main Event is officially in the books. A total of 352 players came out to participate in Day 1b, which makes for a grand total of 646 entrants thus far. By the end of play, 87 runners were left to advance into Day 2. Leading the way of not only Day 1b, but also the entire field, was Jingjing Liu who is sitting on a stack of 266,000 in chips.

Liu was one of several players in contention for the chip lead going into the final level of play and she officially sealed the deal thanks to one key hand at the end of the night. Action folded around to a late-position short-stacked player who moved all in holding for his last 9,000 or so. Play then folded to the small blind, who moved 40,000 all-in over the top with pocket eights. Liu woke up with the in the big blind and called. Liu’s kings were able to hold, and she scored a double knockout that boosted her stack to the 266,000 that she finished the day with.

Also among the chip leaders making it to Day 2 was two-time WSOP bracelet winner Greg Mueller. Mueller took his seat in the tournament towards the end of the registration period, and it was essentially nothing but upward trending from that point on. We caught Mueller in a hand where he three-bet to 3,500 from the cutoff seat after the player in the hijack raised. The raise was called, and both players checked the flop. Fourth street brought the , which prompted a bet of 4,000 from Mueller’s opponent. Mueller took some time before he called to see the complete the board. Mueller’s opponent moved 8,000 into the center, and Mueller wasted no time sticking with his read and calling. The player in the cutoff showed , but was ultimately behind Mueller’s slightly-better pocket pair with . Mueller ended up finishing the night with 180,300 in chips.

Other notable names that will be returning for Day 2 out of the Day b flight include Matt Levine (179,700), Joel Kaake (134,000), Sandra Wong (126,700) and Marc Verhiel (87,000).

While an impressive 87 players survived the day, others were not as fortunate. Among those who hit the rail include David “Doc” Sands, Gavin Smith, Charlie Coultas, Shawn Buchanan, Terrence Chan and Adrienne “talonchick” Rowsome. A handful of even more unfortunate souls saw elimination for the second time so far in this tournament. Scott Clements, Matt Affleck, Robert Cheung, Laurence Grondin, Sean Giesbrecht and Jason Koon all fired a second bullet for Day 1b and came up shorthanded.

The combined fields from Day 1a and Day 1b will see 146 total players return on Monday along with those who move on from Day 1c. The Tournament staff predicts that Day 1c will see the largest turnout of the starting flights. Play will begin in the River Rock Theatre at 12:00 PM PDT Sunday, so make sure to stay tuned to PokerNews for all of the coverage.

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