If the event is in Las Vegas then you can expect to see the poker elite att he event and the Bellagio's Festa al Lago is no exception. Stars such as Doyle Brunson, Daniel Negreanu, Brad Booth, Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, Johhny Chan, Gus Hansen and "The Professor" Howard Lederer were all in attendance and with 360 more registered players the total for the tournament is 368.

The buy-in for this event is $15,000 dollars and when combined witht the 368 brave souls that put down that much cash you get a huge prize pool of $5,354,400 dollars up for grabs. This is the largest prize pool in the Festa al Lago's history. Fifty players with place in the money and whoever takes first place will walk away with a cool $1.411 million dollars.

Day 1b brought alot of talent to the tables including 23 former WPT winners such as Rynie Campbell, Nenad Medic, Brandon Cantu and Nick Schulman but at the end of the day it was Canadian poker professional Nedad Medic leading the former winners pool with 167,250 in chips which was good enough for second place only sitting behind Brian "tsarrast" Rast with 206,225 in chips. Here is you top ten from day 1b:

1. Brian Rast - 206,225
2. Nenad Medic - 167,250
3. Ryan Young - 156,725
4. Toto Leonidas - 149,775
5. Doug Lee - 144,500
6. Matt Giannetti - 139,950
7. Kasey Nam - 132,075
8. Edward Margolin - 131,600
9. J.C. Alvarado - 129,700
10. Michael Glasser - 127,475

Day 1 b adds two more Canadian poker players to the top ten mix, joining Jennifer Tilly is Nedad Medic and Doug Lee. Michael Phelps did not sign up for this event so we will have to wait to see how the Olympian holds up at the tabels but with Phil Hellmuth as his guide I am sure he will be well coached. Still the big story of the tournament is the massive chip lead that Antonio Esfandiari has over the rest of the field. with 313,000 in chips he has more than 100,000 or 129 big blinds more than anyone else. This is going to make for a long day for anyone sitting at his table as Esfandiari is a cash game specialist how knows how to use a chip stack against his opponents.

Here is a look at the top twenty players for the start of Day 2:

1. Antonio Esfandiari - 313,000
2. Nicholas Sliwinski - 209,800
3. Brian Rast - 206,225
4. Jennifer Tilly - 195,050
5. Jeremiah Vinsant - 184,575
6. Andrew Robl - 173,450
7. Nenad Medic - 167,250
8. Ryan Young - 156,725
9. Johannes Van Til - 151,000
10. Toto Leonidas - 149,775
11. Jason Mercier - 145,500
12. Doug Lee - 144,500
13. Joe Sebok - 142,050
14. Matt Giannetti - 139,950
15. Johnny Chan - 138,000
16. Kasey Nam - 132,075
17. Edward Margolin - 131,600
18. JC Alvarado - 129,700
19. Michael Glasser - 127,475
20. Brad Booth - 123,500

Canada has four players in the tops twenty, be sure to check back tomorrow for an update on where our Canadian poker crew ended on the first day of combined play.