It's almost a shame that Day 1A of the Monster Stack is about to bag for the night because as we walked the field on the day 2 bubble, you'll see at the end of our sojourn quite the table of notables.

Defending Thunder Valley Main Event champ Travis Egbert, legendary WSOP announcer Lon McEachern, and newly crowned WPT world champion Scott Stewart are all seated together having a blast as they're about to bag up.

Ah well, we'll see them all in Day 2.

Cornel Cimpan sits second in chips in Day 1A of the Monster Stack as registration is now closed

After 12 levels of play in Day 1A of Event #10: $400 Monster Stack, 354 entries have already built $116,820 toward the prizepool, passing the $100,000 guarantee.

From the remaining 120 players, 54 will bag and advance to Thursday's final day of play with a min-cash (total to be announced later tonight) locked up.

A look at the chip counts of those still battling for a place on Day 2 sees Nikolay Maslovtsov atop the counts as the only player to have crossed half a million thus far.

Also on the list is popular poker announcer / commentator / crusher when he plays, Jeff Platt.

1. Nikolay Maslovtsov - 508,000
2. Cornel Cimpan - 413,000
3. Douglas Dossett - 327,000
4. Atsushi Mineki - 323,000
5. Jeff Platt - 297,000
6. Evgenii Tsoi - 278,000
7. Joseph Arent - 274,000
8. Yeshayah Goldfarb - 269,000
9. William Sandberg - 247,000
10. Steven Weestberg - 243,000

Ariel Shefer has won his second WSOP Circuit ring here at Thunder Valley

He won the $600 H.O.R.S.E. event last fall here at Thunder Valley and while the mix has changed to T.O.R.S.E. this series, Ariel Shefer went and won the event again this time.

Shefer defeated Terry Johnson heads-up to claim the $8,276 first prize along with that second WSOP Circuit ring in three months.

Stay tuned here at PokerOrg for a complete recap of the event plus an interview with Shefer as we catch up on what he's been up to since his last win.

Here's the recap of his first win , and when he said then that he'd be travelling more to focus on winning rings, he's really committed to that.

It's an interview you won't want to miss.

The first 8 levels of the day are in the books in Event #10: $400 Monster Stack, and the $100,000 guarantee is already in the rear-view mirror.

Once the 304th entry of the day took their seat in Level 8, the six-figure guarantee was reached.

With four more levels of registration in this flight and with Day 1B set to start at 3 p.m. PT, this series' edition of the Monster Stack is going to be a big one here at Thunder Valley.

Here's a look at the current chip counts with 8th place finisher in The Opener Douglas Dossett topping the counts and multi-time ring winners Jasthi Kumar and Denis Lee also in the top ten.

1. Douglas Dossett - 306,500
2. Nikolay Maslovtsov - 225,000
3. Jasthi Kumar - 209,500
4. James Ebergenyi - 182,500
5. Albert Tapia - 178,000
6. Daniel Mendez - 172,000
7. Griffin Willis - 165,000
8. Denis Lee - 165,000
9. William Sandberg - 155,000
10. Joseph Arent - 143,500

Jasthi Kumar is among the chip leaders through 8 levels of the Monster Stack