Day 1b of the PokerStars European Poker Tour Vienna main event began yesterday in Austria’s beautiful Kursalon event center, with many familiar faces walking through its doors.  As is often the case at major poker tournaments that feature two starting days, the second flight attracted significantly more players then the first, basically assuring this event would end up being the largest poker tournament ever held in Vienna. 

353 players in total started Day 1b, enough to push the total registration for the €5,300 buy-in event to 587.  Of those 353, 192 have already been sent packing including such big name pros as David Benyamine, John Juanda, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, J.P. Kelly and Luca Pagano.

The list of 161 Day 1b players that weren’t eliminated featured quite a few notable pros as well including Daniel Negreanu, Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Nacho Barbero and tennis legend Boris Becker.  When combined with Day 1a’s survivors, those pros will be just a few of the stand outs of a total 278 person Day 2 field, still quite a-ways from the 80th person money bubble.

Day 2 of the PokerStars Vienna main event starts at noon local time- or around 3 a.m. PT.  To follow all the Day 2 players today as they battle for a top prize worth €700,000, check out live updates and chip counts on the PokerStars blog.