The PokerStars North American Poker Tour Las Vegas Main Event continues today from Resorts World Las Vegas. The $1,650 buy-in event offers a $1,500,000 guarantee and Day 1e will get underway at 11:00 a.m. PST.
Players will begin with a stack of 30,000 in chips and blinds will start at 100/100/100. Levels will be 40 minutes in duration and there will be a 60-minute dinner break after Level 8. Registration will remain open until the end of Level 10, and Day 1 will conclude after 14 levels are played.
This tournament features unlimited reentries, and approximately the top 15% of the field will be paid. There are two starting flights left, and after this penultimate flight, the Day 1f turbo flight which begins at 8 p.m. will be the last chance for players to find a bag.
Players who bag will return for Day 2 tomorrow on November 9. Day 3 will commence on November 10 and the tournament is scheduled to conclude with Day 4 on November 11, with the final two days slated to have live-streamed cards-up coverage.
Through the first four starting flights, the NAPT Main Event has seen a total of 533 entries and 118 players have bagged for Day 2 thus far. Canada’s David Dongwoo Ko currently holds the chip lead with 434,500 in the bag from Day 1a, while Boston’s Lily Lotfy has bagged the second-biggest stack so far with 420,500 from Day 1c.
Some notable players who have already secured their place into Day 2 include PokerStars Ambassador Maria Konnikova, Landon Tice, Nick Schulman, Matt Affleck, Kyna England, Jared Jaffee, Faraz Jaka, and Phil Hellmuth.
All players should be aware that a Genting Rewards card is needed before registering for any NAPT tournaments. Genting Rewards cards are free and can be picked up from the Resorts World Rewards Desk.
Stay tuned as the PokerNews live reporting team brings updates from Las Vegas until a Main Event winner is crowned, along with updates from other events throughout the NAPT festival.
Matthew "Rosey" Rosenfield, one-third of Next Gen Poker, recently sat down for Day 1e of the NAPT Main Event. The content creators are in Las Vegas for their coronation as the newest ambassadors for PokerStars, and "Rosey" is taking his shot at a share of the $1,500,000 guarantee.
PokerNews stopped by Rosenfield's table to spend an orbit (before the break) with the young poker personality. He started with 24,200 and the table was seven-handed.
Hand 1: (Cutoff) Rosenfield folded to a bet of 800.
Hand 2: (Hijack) Rosenfield folded to a bet of 600.
Hand 3: (Middle position) Rosenfield raised to 600 and the cutoff called before the button made it 2,600. Rosenfield slid out 7,000 and both players gave up the pot.
Hand 4: (Under the gun) Rosenfield open-folded.
Hand 5: (Big Blind) A player in the under-the-gun position limped in and Rosenfield checked his option from the big blind. The flop was 9♦10♦4♣ and Rosenfield check-called a bet of 600. Rosenfield check-called a bet of 1,500 on the 10♠ turn and both players checked the 3♦ river. "Pair is good," Rosenfield said as his opponent turned over Q♣J♦ for queen-high. "That's good, too." Rosenfield responded as he tossed the losing hand into the muck.
Hand 6: (Small blind) The cutoff raised to 600 and Rosenfield three-bet to 2,400. The big blind called and the cutoff tossed in the chips to see K♥7♦5♦ on the flop. Rosenfield continued for 2,500 after the flop and the big blind called before the cutoff got out of the way. The turn was A♣ and the big blind called again when Rosenfield bet 5,100. Rosenfield fired 8,000 at the 4♥ river and the big blind called. Both players turned over ace-queen to split the pot.
Hand 7: (Button) Rosenfield folded to a bet of 800.
There were a lot of ways for players in New Jersey, Michigan, and Pennsylvania to win their way to the North American Poker Tour in Las Vegas and it's finally time for players to convert their opportunity into big bucks.
Calvin Kelleher, Sridhar Sangannagari, and Barrett Lipkin are among those qualifiers in Las Vegas who are vying for a share of the $1,500,000 guarantee.
Kelleher and Sangannagari are from New Jersey and Lipkin hails from Pennsylvania. Sangannagari has just over $1,000,000 in career earnings, according to the Hendon Mob, and he recently finished in second place in the $600 NLH/PLO mix at the 2023 WSOP. Lipkin is a WSOP circuit ring winner and Kelleher is looking for his first major accolade.
"I want to play a big pot," Parker Talbot told Qing Liu sitting to his direct right with another sizable stack. "I wanna see a 150k stack... I don't care if it's me or you."
A hand was then dealt and Liu opened to 1,300 in early position.
"Alright," said Talbot as he three-bet to 4,300 next to act. Action folded back to Liu who called.
The dealer spread the Q♠J♥10♠ flop and Liu check-called for 2,000, while the 4♥ turn and Q♣ river were checked down.
Liu tabled 9♥8♥ and collected the pot with his straight as Talbot mucked.
"Definitely should've had ace-king," remarked Talbot.
Calvin Kelleher is now off the schneid after he fell to 7,600 in the early levels, while Barrett Lipkin has chipped up to near double the starting stack.
Sridhar Sangannagari was not so lucky, however, as he was all in for his last 20,000 with a board showing 7♦A♣6♦8♦10♣. Sangannagari had tabled 10♦3♦, but his opponent's hand was K♦3♦ and he hit the rail with the weaker flush.
Parker Talbot is setting the pace on Day 1e of the PokerStars North American Poker Tour Las Vegas.
PokerNews stopped by Talbot's table for an orbit with the popular streamer. He started with 243,000 — a total that put him among the leaders.
Hand 1: (Hijack) Talbot folded to a 3,000 raise from Nick Pupillo.
Hand 2: (Middle position) Talbot raised to 2,400 and the player in the next seat over called before Vanessa Castro came along from the button. The player next to Castro shoved with her last 4,800 and everyone called. The flop was A♣10♠7♦ and action checked to Castro for a shove of her remaining stack. Talbot and the player to his left folded before Castro held on to secure the elimination with a pair of aces.
Hand 3: (Big Blind) Talbot raised and Pupillo was the lone caller from the small blind. The flop was Q♣7♥4♣ and Pupillo checked. Talbot bet 2,400 and called when Pupillo raised to 8,000. The turn was 7♦ and Pupillo continued for 11,500. Talbot called once again and the river was A♠. Pupillo shoved the river and Talbot got away from it.
Ethan Yau sat down two seats to the right of Talbot at the conclusion of the hand.
Hand 4: (Small blind) Talbot folded to a 3,000 raise from Pupillo.
Hand 5: (Button) Yau raised to 2,000 from the hijack and Talbot called before the big blind tossed in chips to join. The flop was 10♥4♣6♦ and action checked to Talbot for a 1,200 bet. The big blind made it 6,300 and both Yau and Talbot tossed their hands in the muck.
Hand 6: (Cutoff) Talbot raised to 2,400 and the rest of the table folded.
Hand 7: (Hijack) Talbot raised to 2,400 and the big blind was the lone caller. The flop was 10♠2♥6♥ and the big blind check-folded to a small bet from Talbot.
Scotty Nguyen counted his stack down before moving all-in from under the gun for his last 5,600. Action folded to Max Lewin in the small blind who jammed behind for isolation before the big blind folded to set up a heads up runout with Nguyen at risk.
Scotty Nguyen: 10♦9♦
Max Lewin: A♦Q♣
The flop came 9♣6♥K♥, shifting the percentages and putting Nguyen square in the lead for a much needed double up, but when the turn came the Q♦, the lead swung back in the other direction.
The A♣ didn't offer another pendulum swing for Nguyen as Lewin collected the pot while Nguyen stood to head to the exit.
Day 1e of the $1,650 Main Event has come to an end at PokerStars North American Poker Tour Las Vegas and PokerStars ambassador Parker Talbot has a commanding chip lead after 14 levels of play. Talbot leads a field of 95 survivors that will return on Thursday for Day 2.
The fifth of six flights drew 449 players to Resorts World Las Vegas to play for their share of the $1,500,000 guarantee.
Talbot finished with a whopping 681,000 and his nearest competitor was Andrew Moreno with 492,000. Cade Lautenbacher finished in third on the leaderboard with 339,000 while Jeremy Eyer and Tom Orpaz rounded out the top five with 327,000 and 227,000, respectively.
Talbot dominated all day, only ceding the chip lead for a brief moment in the late levels to Moreno. The two players shared a table in the late levels and accounted for more than one million chips between them.
Day 1e Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Day 2 Big Blinds
1
Parker Talbot
Canada
681,000
227
2
Andrew Moreno
United States
492,000
164
3
Cade Lautenbacher
United States
339,000
113
4
Jeremy Eyer
United States
327,000
109
5
Tom Orpaz
Israel
277,000
92
6
Chad Brewer
United States
268,000
89
7
Daniel Chan
United States
268,000
89
8
Seunghwan Lee
United States
257,000
86
9
Scott Ball
United States
245,000
82
10
Anthony Dianaty
United States
245,000
82
Day 1e Highlights
The day started with 76 players in their seats, and among the early entrants was PokerStars ambassador Matthew “Rosey” Rosenfield. PokerNews spent an orbit with Rosenfield, one-third of the Next Gen Poker trio, picked up a few chips during that orbit but he ultimately failed to find a bag.
Other early notables included Moreno, Ben Ludlow, Nick Pupillo, and Rania Nasreddine. PokerStars ambassador Jen Shahade also took a shot in her first NAPT event, but she was out early after she called a river jam with the lesser pair. Ludlow will return with 193,000 and Nasreddine will try to spin up 59,000, while Pupillo failed to qualify for Day 2 in this flight.
Barrett Lipkin, Sridhar Sangannagari, and Calvin Kelleher all qualified for the Main Event through PokerStars promotions in their home state. Kelleher and Sangannagari represented New Jersey, while Lipkin won a trip from his home state of Pennsylvania. Lipkin found a bag with 132,000, but Kelleher and Sangannagari did not move on to Day 2.
Talbot and Moreno set the pace early with chip counts at the top of the leaderboard in Level 6. They were followed by David Stamm, who fell back to the pack and failed to make Day 2, and Vanessa Kade, who ran into some trouble early in the day before she doubled through Talbot with a pair of aces. Kade ultimately failed to make it to Day 2.
When the players returned from dinner break, Talbot still had the lead and Michael Wang was on his heels. Moreno was still keeping pace and Morgan was right there with all of them. Talbot’s lone hiccup during the day came when PokerNews visited his table for an orbit. He started with 243,000 — the highest in the room — but he ended the orbit with 204,000 after clashes with Pupillo and Ethan “Rampage” Yau.
Moreno claimed the chip lead for that brief amount of time, but Talbot was right back in control and at the top of the chip counts by Level 11 and he did not relinquish the top spot. Orpaz also went on a late run with gutsy bets against the likes of Michael Jozoff and Kathy Liebert.
Other returning players include WSOP Main Event runner-up David Williams, PokerGO personality Donnie Peters, Jesse Lonis, Mitchell Halverson, David Peters, John Morgan, Mark Seif, and Matthew Wantman.
Surviving players from all six flights will return on Thursday at 12 p.m. for Day 2. Action will continue in Level 15 with blinds at 1,500/3,000/3,000. Live stream coverage of the event will begin on Day 3.
Be sure to keep it with the PokerNews team for live updates from the floor of your favorite tournaments at NAPT Las Vegas.