Monday at the Bellagio was all about Antonio Esfandiari and his dominating start to the World Poker Tour’s Festa al Lago. But as 215 players crammed their way into the Fontana Lounge Tuesday for Day 1b the story quickly became about the prize pool.

At $5,354,400 the 2008 prize pool is now the biggest in Festa al Lago history. With a buy-in bumped from $10,000 to $15,000 and a total field of 368 players this year the prize pool is also the largest of the Season VII WPT schedule. First place will pay $1,411,000, which is also the largest first place prize of Season VII.

Only two players managed to end the day with chip stacks larger than 200,000. Leading the way was Daniel Schreiber. The 2007 World Series of Poker Heads-Up champion bagged 206,925 at the end of the night while Brian “tsarrast” Rast managed to chip up to 206,225.

Those two players, along with the other 143 survivors from Day 1b, will join the 101 survivors from Day 1a at Noon PT on Wednesday for Day 2 action. But nobody from Day 1b was able to get anywhere near Esfandiari’s stack from Day 1a. “The Magician” finished with 313,000 and is the only player above 300,000.

Day 1b Top Ten Chip Counts

1. Daniel Schreiber - 206,925
2. Brian Rast - 206,225
3. Nenad Medic - 167,250
4. Ryan Young - 156,725
5. Toto Leonidas - 149,775
6. Doug Lee - 144,500
7. Matt Giannetti - 139,950
8. Kasey Nam - 132,075
9. Edward Margolin - 131,600
10. J.C. Alvarado - 129,700

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