Ben BenbaLamb (pictured) has had quite an eventful 2011 World Series of Poker (WSOP). He started the Series off by taking second in a $3,000 buy-in Pot Limit Omaha event for $259,000. Then, it was on to a win in the $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha Championship for $814,000 and his first WSOP bracelet. But he wasn’t done there. Lamb made the final two tables of the $10,000 No Limit Hold’em Six-Handed Championship for $56,000.

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More recently, Lamb final tabled the $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship for an amazing haul of $201,000. As a result, he owns the second spot in the WSOP Player of the Year race behind Phil Hellmuth. Now, a deep run in the Main Event may be in the offing, as the Las Vegas resident landed at the top of the pack on Day 1B with 188,000 in chips.

Lamb doubled up an opponent towards the end of Saturday’s action after the money went in on the turn of a Q-5-8-4 three-spade board. Lamb held J-10, including the jack of spades, for straight and flush draws, while his opponent flipped up pocket queens for top set. The river was the jack of clubs and Lamb fell back to under 200,000. However, he ended the day strong at 188,000.

A total of 985 players turned out for Day 1B, with 626 surviving to see Day 2B on Tuesday. Attendance was down sharply year-over-year, as in 2010, a total of 1,489 players turned out for Day 1B, a drop of 34%. The total field size in this year’s Main Event is 1,882 entrants, which is 732 fewer than last year.

Among those finding room to wiggle on Day 1B was David Bakes Baker (pictured), who flipped over pocket kings on a board of 7-2-3-8-4 to move to 55,000 in chips. Baker posted several updates throughout the day, one of which comically read, “The only read I have on my table is that it smells like shit.” He ended the day at 49,000 after starting with a stack of 30,000.

Bracelet winner Dan djk123 Kelly doubled up in a hand in which he made a full house at the same time an opponent hit a heart flush. The board showed 7-5-2-5-A with three hearts and Kelly tabled 7-5 for fives-full. His opponent revealed 10-9 of hearts for a flush, but the hand wasn’t without controversy.

“At some point, chips got mixed up and it was unclear how much the other player had put in and owed Kelly,” coverage found on WSOP.com narrated. “This brought forth a bit of debate between several players including William Thorson and the dealer in an attempt to figure things out. Eventually, it was settled and Kelly doubled up.” Kelly ended the day at 75,000.

Relaying his progress throughout the day to his 2,200 Twitter followers was Jonathan FatalError Aguiar (pictured), who explained that he was dealt cowboys seven times on Day 1B: “21,100 to end Day 1. Had K-K 7X, won all 7, but biggest one was ~16BB.” Earlier in the day, he chided, “Dude in the 9 seat who told me to stop staring at him in pots b/c ‘it’s not intimidating, it’s irritating’ is gonna have an irritating 4 hrs.”

Mike timex McDonald was involved in a controversial hand in which he showed A-Q on a board of A-3-J-K-3 for aces-up. His opponent held K-J for kings-up, but the dealer misread the hand: “The dealer mucked his hand and the floor had to be called so that McDonald’s A-Q could be retrieved from the muck, allowing him to scoop the pot.” So much for retirement.

PocketFives.com members were out in earnest for Day 1C on Saturday, which kicked off at Noon PT from the Rio in Las Vegas after Annie Duke, Brad Garrett, and Ray Romano issued the “Shuffle up and deal” command. Among those who coughed up the $10,000 buy-in today was former #1 ranked Steve gboro780Gross, who posted on our WSOP Twitterpage sponsored by 24hPoker, “Best tournament of the year today. Don’t think I’ve ever been so excited for a Day 1.”

Recounting his Day 1B run was 2011 PokerStarsCaribbean Adventure Main Event champ Galen Turk MalloyHall (pictured), who Tweeted, “Ended the day with 58K. Could not be any more stoked with how I played… Won like 35% of the pots and won ridic chips w/o showdown.” Meanwhile, Jason TheMasterJ33 DeWitt chirped, “61.6K. Lost a 34K pot with a queen flush draw vs. ace high flush draw. Day 2 starts on Tuesday with 250-500 blinds.”

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