The second day-one of the 2009 World Poker Tour Bay 101 Shooting Star Championship attracted 256 entrants, before summarily dismissing all but 95 of them during a fast first day of heated tournament action. 

Day 1b's attendance was nearly double that of Day 1a's, and together they created a total field of 391 players and a prize pool worth over $3,700,000.

Once again the field was littered with pro players called "Shooting Stars," each with a $5,000 bounty on their head awarded to the player that knocks them out.  Many of these "Shooting Stars" have already been dispatched with, leaving barely more than a signed T-shirt to show they competed at all.

Some of the "Shooting Stars" already eliminated during Day 1b include Nenad Medic, Jennifer Tilly, Ted Forrest, Antonio Esfandiari, David Williams, David Chiu, Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi, John Phan, Phil Laak, Nam Le, Scotty Nguyen, Barry Greenstein, Michael Binger, J.C. Tran, Chau Giang, Jeff Madsen and Chris "Jesus" Ferguson.

Of the 95 surviving players some "Shooting Star" pros did pull through including Brandon Cantu, T.J. Cloutier, Howard Lederer, Allen Cunningham and All Strategy's Daniel Negreanu.  Other "non-Shooting Star" pros also made it past Day 1b including Isaac "WestmenloAA" Baron who finished Day 1b first in chips- good for a $10,000 chipleader bonus.

Day 2 of the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star Championship begins today (3/18) at 10:45 a.m. PT.  To follow all the action checkout worldpokertour.com for live updates, photos, chip counts and videos starring PokerRoad's own Amanda Leatherman.


Story by Mark Anderson